UK housing: how has unsafe cladding affected you and your home?

We would like to find out more about people who live in homes with unsafe cladding and what their experience has been like over the years. Have remedial works been completed, are in progress, or are yet to start? Have you experienced any problems moving home, selling or remortgaging? What effect, if any, has it had on your mental and physical health?You can tell us how living in a residential building with unsafe cladding has affected you, by filling in the form below.Please be specific and include as much detail as possible. Please be specific and include as much detail as possible. Please be specific and include as much detail as possible

Tell us: do you know someone who died in pregnancy or during childbirth?

We’d like to find out more about maternal deaths in the UK as recent figures show a rise in numbers. We’re interested in hearing from anyone whose friend, relative or loved one died in pregnancy, during childbirth, or within a year of pregnancy between 2020 and 2024.What was their experience like and what kind of treatment or care did they receive? We’re also interested in hearing from healthcare professionals and their experiences.You can share your experience by filling in the form below. Please leave blank if you wish to be anonymousPlease be specific and include as much detail as possible

Archbishop of Canterbury to meet MP behind assisted dying bill

The archbishop of Canterbury is to meet the architect of a parliamentary bill to legalise assisted dying after he described a change in the law as dangerous.Kim Leadbeater, MP for Spen Valley, wrote to Justin Welby after he intervened in the debate over assisted dying. The archbishop said the MP’s private member’s bill would lead to a “slippery slope”, including a broadening of criteria and pressure on people to die prematurely.She proposed a meeting to discuss the issues. Lambeth Palace said it was trying to find a mutually convenient date

From the ‘cliff edge’ to the DWP: what will UK carer’s allowance review look at?

Ministers are to review carer’s allowance overpayments after the Guardian revealed tens of thousands of unpaid carers were being forced to collectively pay back millions of pounds – and in some cases faced criminal prosecution – for unwitting and often minor breaches of benefit rules.What are the issues the independent review will need to look at, and what options may be available to fix the problems?Perhaps the aspect of the scandal that has shocked readers the most has been the draconian penalty imposed on carers who breach the strict £151-a-week earnings limits. Overstepping the limit even by just one penny requires the entire £81.90 benefit to be paid back. So a carer who earned £1 over the threshold for 52 weeks would be forced to pay back not £52 but £4,258

British BAME and foreign doctors ‘suffer discrimination throughout careers’

British doctors of BAME origin and overseas-trained medics working in the UK experience “persistent and pernicious” inequality throughout their careers, the medical regulator has warned.The General Medical Council (GMC) said too many doctors are still being reported by their employers for alleged misconduct compared with white British-trained medics.Doctors also experience “discrimination and disadvantage” in their efforts to progress medical careers because of a hostile “culture” in too many parts of the NHS, it said.The report, by the GMC’s chief executive, Charlie Massey, is intended to stamp out discrimination.In his foreword, Massey points out that the makeup of the medical workforce across the UK is changing

Standing desks do not reduce risk of stroke and heart failure, study suggests

They have been billed as the ultimate antidote to sitting in front of a screen all day at the office. But a study suggests standing desks, which have soared in popularity in recent years, do not compensate for being inactive and may even increase the risk of conditions such as swollen veins and blood clots in the legs.Research involving more than 80,000 adults in the UK has also discovered that standing does not reduce the risk of diseases such as stroke and heart failure, despite the widely held belief that it does.The study, led by the University of Sydney, found that being on your feet for more than two hours a day may increase the risk of developing problems such as deep vein thrombosis and varicose veins. The findings were published in the International Journal of Epidemiology