UK’s longest-serving MPs issue joint plea for Commons to reject assisted dying bill

Britain’s longest-serving MPs, Labour’s Diane Abbott and the Conservative Sir Edward Leigh, have issued a joint call urging the Commons to reject the assisted dying bill, arguing it is being rushed through and puts vulnerable people at risk.Writing for the Guardian, Abbott and Leigh – the mother and father of the house – said there had been insufficient scrutiny of the law and urged parliament to instead focus on better health and care services.Four influential new Labour MPs have said they have also decided to oppose the bill amid concerns about the process and the pressure it has put on new parliamentarians.A landmark vote on legalising assisted dying is due to be held on Friday 29 November. It is a free vote, meaning MPs can decide whether to support or oppose it

Assisted dying: what are the ‘slippery slope’ fears in England and Wales?

One of the arguments that has come to the fore in the debate surrounding whether assisted dying should be legalised in England and Wales is the “slippery slope” theory – that even if the legislation contains watertight qualifying criteria and safeguards, the law will inevitably be expanded in time and the restrictions loosened. Here is an explanation of why lawyers disagree about the likelihood of this happening.Critics would argue that it will not. One argument is that while parliament might vote now to adopt a restricted version of assisted dying, MPs might expand it over time as assisted dying is normalised. That is the prerogative of parliament, but the more pressing concern for lawyers is whether or not there will be successful human rights challenges from people denied access to assisted dying under the current criteria, which would force an expansion in eligibility through the courts that MPs did not anticipate

Pensioners in England and Wales: how has losing the winter fuel allowance affected you?

With the loss of the winter fuel allowance potentially forcing 100,000 pensioners in England and Wales into relative fuel poverty, we would like to find out more about how losing the payment has affected people.What impact has it had on you and what changes have you made to make up for no longer receiving the winter fuel payment?You can tell us how no longer receiving the winter fuel allowance is affecting you by filling in the form below.Please include as much detail as possible. Please note, the maximum file size is 5.7 MB

Australian women to get home self tests for chlamydia and gonorrhoea – but experts urge caution

With rates of some sexually transmitted infections in Australia on the rise, women will soon be able to test themselves for chlamydia and gonorrhoea at home – but sexual health experts have urged caution.Australia’s drugs regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), has approved the rapid home test for sale, and it is expected to be available in pharmacies from 13 December, with a recommended retail price of $24. The test involves taking a vaginal swab, which is then placed in a container with testing solution.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news emailDr Sara Whitburn, the deputy medical director at Sexual Health Victoria, said while greater access to testing is crucial for reducing transmission of sexually transmitted infections, and new initiatives to encourage testing are welcome, there are important caveats around the home test.“It’s important to note that the test is validated only for vaginal samples, meaning it cannot be used to screen for oral or anal chlamydia and gonorrhoea,” she said

The horror and history of drug-facilitated rape: ‘When I woke up my body felt battered’

Gisèle Pelicot waived her anonymity to put drug-facilitated rape in the spotlight, and her experiences of sexual violence have shocked the world. So what else do we know about this most hidden of crimes?A magistrate and HR executive in her late 50s, settled, single, not dating or sexually active, Jo felt that her risk of becoming a victim of rape had passed, or was certainly low – and that drug-facilitated rape in particular was something that happened to young people, in clubs, at parties, “on the apps”. When it happened to her two years ago, it was her adult son who had to make sense of it, and explain why she’d woken up naked beside a man she had no feelings for, blood on the bed, pain between her legs, her memory of that night a blank space.Her rapist was someone she had known since secondary school, a former classmate who, until that week in November 2022, she hadn’t seen since their final A-level. At some point, he had emigrated and then connected with Jo (not her real name) through Friends Reunited

Wes Streeting orders review of physician associates’ role in NHS

Wes Streeting has ordered a review of what physician associates (PAs) do in the NHS, amid growing alarm in the medical profession about patient safety.It will examine the safety of their roles and how patients should be made aware that, despite their titles and ability to diagnose illness, they are not doctors and can only perform certain tasks.The health secretary has appointed Prof Gillian Leng, an expert in evidence-based healthcare and former chief executive of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, to lead the review.About 3,500 PAs and about 100 equivalents who work in anaesthesia – called anaesthetic associates – are working in hospitals and GP surgeries in England. Taken together the number of “medical associate professionals” (MAPs), as they are known in the NHS, is due to treble to about 10,000 by 2037 under the service’s long-term workforce plan