Rachel Reeves’s duty is to the people, not the markets | Letters

Your editorial (14 January) rightly critiques Rachel Reeves’s adherence to Treasury orthodoxy. But the persistence of this framework goes deeper than institutional inertia. It reflects a failure to recognise a choice at all – and an inability to imagine and craft better alternatives.Treasury orthodoxy is rooted in the Thatcher-Reagan era. It is not just outdated, but has become invisible to those who wield it

Weight-loss jabs linked to reduced risk of 42 conditions including dementia

People with diabetes taking medications found in weight-loss jabs have a reduced risk of 42 conditions, research has found, paving the way for such drugs being used to treat a host of health problems.The most comprehensive study of its kind showed that psychotic disorders, infections and dementia were among conditions found to be less likely to occur when using GLP-1RAs, which are found in the medications Saxenda, Wegovy and Mounjaro.The researchers compared health outcomes for people with diabetes who received usual care with those also given drugs such as liraglutide, semaglutide and tirzepatide. While the team revealed the risk of many conditions was lower for the latter group, the risk of other conditions, including arthritic disorders, was increased.And the scientists say that the benefits are not just restricted to people with diabetes, suggesting they could also be found in other people using the jabs, such as those who take them to fight obesity

Work on some of Boris Johnson’s ‘40 new hospitals’ will not start until 2039

Work on some of the 40 new hospitals Boris Johnson promised to build by 2030 will not begin until 2039, after a Labour rethink on a pledge it called “a work of fiction” by the Conservatives.The cost of completing the urgently needed new facilities has rocketed from £20bn to close to £50bn after years of limited progress since Johnson first promised them in 2019.The delay to many of the projects has prompted warnings from the bosses of some of the hospitals affected that their decrepit buildings will not survive until the date they are now due to be replaced – as far away as the 2040s in some cases – and will either fall down or face “catastrophic failure” before then.The health secretary, Wes Streeting, told MPs on Monday that construction on 16 of the 40 projects in England would begin between 2025 and 2030. But there would be no spades in the ground at another nine sites until 2030-35 and at a further nine not until 2035-39, he said

Share your experience of trying to secure in-patient hospice care in the UK

We are interested in finding out more about people’s experiences of hospice care in the UK. Whether you have tried to secure in-patient care for yourself or a loved one, we would like to hear from you.What has your experience been like? If you were not able to secure care in a hospice what happened next? Do you have any concerns?You can tell us your experience of hospice care in the UK by filling in the form below, or messaging us on WhatsApp on +447766780300. Please include as much detail as possible. Please include as much detail as possible

Can Labour cut welfare spending and still be seen as a party of social justice?

One of the most important takeaways from last week’s high court ruling declaring the government consultation on reform of incapacity benefits to be unlawful was the clarity with which it highlighted the failure of Conservative ministers to be honest about why they wanted the changes, and who will lose out as a result.The ruling effectively pointed out that the previous administration’s presentation of cuts to incapacity benefit as a positive development for low-income claimants was misleading because it unaccountably neglected to mention 420,000 of them would also be £416 a month out of pocket, and many of them thrust into abject poverty.While the consultation had emphasised the transformative job opportunities that would potentially become available to sick and disabled claimants once freed from the grip of benefit dependency, it failed to explain that the “primary rationale” of the whole exercise was Treasury spending cuts.Labour is to rerun that consultation in the form of a green paper expected in the next few weeks, and there is likely to be intense scrutiny of the clarity – and honesty – with which it presents tough policy choices made even tougher by what some would say are the unnecessarily rigid economic rules it has imposed on public spending.Few object to the need to reform the notoriously poorly designed incapacity benefit system, or to help disabled and chronically ill people get a job if they are able

Overhaul ‘unsustainable’ incapacity benefits system, Lords committee urges

Labour must carry out a root-and-branch overhaul of the UK’s incapacity benefits system if it is to rein in rising heath-related welfare spending, an influential cross-party Westminster committee has warned.The House of Lords economic affairs committee – whose members include two former Treasury permanent secretaries and a former chancellor – said major reform was needed to address the rising social and fiscal costs of disability benefits.The chair of the committee, the Tory peer George Bridges, told the Guardian the government must “step back and hold a fundamental review of the benefits system” that went beyond simply looking for “so-called savings”.The committee’s remarks came amid rising concern among disability campaigners and Labour backbenchers over the chancellor’s insistence on sticking to inherited Tory plans to cut £3bn from incapacity benefits by 2028.Fears that severe cuts to benefits would push hundreds of thousands of claimants into deep financial hardship were crystallised by a high court ruling last week that found the last government’s consultation on changing incapacity benefits was unlawful