Watchdog criticises ex-bosses of king’s charity over donor dealings

Former bosses of King Charles’s charity, including the monarch’s former personal aide, Michael Fawcett, have been criticised by a charity watchdog over their handling of a series of controversial dealings with wealthy donors.The Scottish Charity Regulator said the trustee board overseeing the Prince’s Foundation (now the King’s Foundation) “had not always been up to the standard required” during a period of eight years up to 2021.The foundation came under scrutiny in 2021 over its involvement in cash-for-honours allegations involving wealthy businessmen who made cash donations to the charity and, in one case, loaned it what were later reported to be forged paintings.The allegations resulted in a Metropolitan police investigation launched in 2022 into suggestions Fawcett, the foundation’s former chief executive, offered to help wealthy British and foreign donors to the charity secure honours and British citizenship.Fawcett resigned, receiving a £60,000 pay off, after an internal review by the foundation after media reports of the allegations

So much for the dream of buying a family home | Letters

Kirsty Major (Meet the young families stuck in their starter homes thanks to the UK housing crisis, 3 January) describes a financialised housing market in which a decade and a half of interest rates close to zero, along with George Osborne’s outrageous help-to-buy policy, pushed prices from a mortgageable three or four times average earnings to more than nine times. It is now one where those with inherited property wealth or the Bank of Mum and Dad (the UK’s sixth largest lender) might compete, but those without mostly cannot. And so the social divide widens.But then Keir Starmer says he will back “the builders not the blockers”, implying that supply will fix affordability. That would need developers to increase it to the point where they had to drop prices and then keep building – and incurring losses – while prices continued to fall

An age-old problem for Hollywood stars | Brief letters

A caveat to any good news about roles for older women (Demi, Jodie and Nicole: is Hollywood finally ready to recognise complex female characters over 40?, 6 January), the Golden Globes were a depressing line-up of emaciated women with plastic faces. How can we celebrate a 50-year-old actor if she is not allowed to look 50?Helen CluttonBristol I can’t think of a better place to be incarcerated than Tan Hill Inn (‘It makes you feel like a kid again’: snowed in at Britain’s highest pub, 5 January). I’ve happy memories of taking refreshments there when walking the Pennine Way. I got locked in my local leisure centre on Saturday. It could have been serious – the snack machine was out of order

Home Office may reclassify ketamine in response to record levels of use

Ketamine, the anaesthetic taken by Elon Musk to control his moods, could be reclassified as a class A drug by the Home Office after illegal use reached record levels.Currently controlled as a class B substance, ministers are seeking “expert advice” on reclassification after an estimated 299,000 people reported use of the drug in 2023.The billionaire owner of X, who this week has been embroiled in a row over grooming gangs with Keir Starmer, has described using small amounts of ketamine “once every other week” to manage the “chemical tides” that cause depression.Dame Diana Johnson, the policing minister, will write to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) asking whether its classification should be changed and “carefully consider” its findings.Recent reports cited by the Home Office suggest the substance is often found in “pink cocaine”, a synthetic cocktail of drugs, as it announced the decision

More breast cancer cases found when AI used in screenings, study finds

The use of artificial intelligence in breast cancer screening increases the chance of the disease being detected, researchers have found, in what they say is the first real-world test of the approach.Numerous studies have suggested AI could help medical professionals spot cancer, whether it is identifying abnormal growths in CT scans or signs of breast cancer in mammograms.However, many studies are retrospective – meaning AI is not involved at the outset – while trials taking the opposite approach often have small sample sizes. Important, larger studies do not necessarily reflect real-world use.Now researchers say they have tested AI in a nationwide screening programme for the first time, revealing it offers benefits in a real-world setting

Shortage of foster carers causing ‘very real’ UK crisis, Barnardo’s warns

The UK is facing a fostering crisis where retiring carers are not being replaced by younger people, while the number of children entering care homes is rising, a charity has warned.The decline in foster carers is due to the impact of the pandemic, the costof living crisis, biological children staying at home for longer, spare rooms being used as home offices and changing family situations, Barnardo’s children’s charity said.Exclusive new polling of more than 4,000 adults for the charity showed that although nearly three quarters (73%) of adults in the UK were worried there are not enough foster carers, only 7% of those who are not currently approved carers would consider fostering a child within the next 10 years.When asked why they wouldn’t consider becoming foster carers, 82% of over-55s thought they were “too old” – despite this being the average age of a Barnardo’s foster carer – while more than a third of 25- to 44-year-olds said they already have children or want children that are biologically connected to them instead (34%).Others said they couldn’t afford it (15%) and they did not have suitable accommodation (19%)