Police forces report sharp rise in religious hate crimes across UK

Some of the UK’s largest police forces have reported increases in religious hate crimes in the past 18 months, figures reveal, with the number of incidents rising after the start of the Hamas-Israel conflict in autumn 2023 and again after the Southport attacks in England this summer.Forces including Greater Manchester, West Midlands and the Metropolitan police recorded sharp increases in antisemitic offences in the weeks after the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East in October last year.The same forces then saw an increase in Islamophobic offences after the knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport in July that left three young girls dead and several more injured, and led to violent disorder in towns and cities across the country.The figures, obtained by the PA Media news agency using freedom of information requests, show that Greater Manchester police recorded an average of 13 antisemitic offences a month from January to September 2023, rising to 85 in October and 68 in November before falling back over the following months.The same force recorded an average of 39 Islamophobic offences a month from January to July 2024 before a sharp jump to 85 in August, with numbers dropping again in September

NHS delays may drive patients to buy unsafe weight-loss drugs, says top GP

Long waits for NHS services could lead people to take matters into their own hands by buying potentially unsafe weight-loss jabs online, Britain’s top GP has said.Prof Kamila Hawthorne, the chair of the Royal College of GPs, warned that buying drugs online from unregulated retailers could put people at risk and they may also miss out on wraparound support offered alongside the medication.She also expressed concerns about the safety of cheaper alternatives to the pre-filled injection pens, which involve preparing part of the medicine at home.Her warning came as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) cautioned against buying illegal weight-loss medicines without a prescription through beauty salons, fake pharmacy websites or on social media, saying these products could contain “toxins and other ingredients that could cause real harm”.Andy Morling, the MHRA’s deputy director of criminal enforcement, said: “At this time of year, with many of us thinking about shedding a little excess weight, we see people offering weight-loss medicines for sale as a quick fix, without a healthcare professional’s prescription

Treasury must focus on prevention in UK public spending, says report

The Treasury needs to rethink public spending to focus on prevention of the UK’s health, crime and homelessness problems after cuts of up to 78% under the Tories, a report from Demos and the Health Foundation has found.It said prevention spending should be carved out and protected just like capital spending was from the 1990s onwards so that departments are better able to preserve budgets with long term benefits.They cited funding for preventive children’s services, which has dropped by 78% since 2010, that can in the long run reduce benefit, crime and homelessness spending. They also highlighted a 28% drop in public health funding per capita since 2015.Demos and the Health Foundation, a charity committed to public health, said their plan to overhaul Treasury rules – making sure prevention spending was identified – would ensure better long-term societal and economic outcomes

Continuing healthcare payments that are too hard to get | Letter

This isn’t just happening with support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (£100m spent in England on failed efforts to block children’s Send support, 22 December). If you are severely incapacitated physically and/or mentally, thus requiring 24-hour care, you should be highly eligible for continuing healthcare (CHC) payments, where the NHS covers all the costs of care.It seems that hardly anyone ever gets to hear about this without having done a lot of digging and searching. It seems rare for someone to be signposted to it by professionals. The hoops to jump through and bureaucratic blocks are immense

Universal benefits of a proper welfare state | Brief letters

Rather than chase after people who have not claimed what they are owed (Forget ‘benefit cheats’ – £23bn a year is going unclaimed. How do we get that to vulnerable people?, 23 December), the restoration of universal benefits without means tests, for all children and all pensioners, would be simpler and fairer. The better-off then pay their share through higher income tax. That is how a welfare state works.Dr Sebastian KraemerLondon My husband and I received letters from the DWP recently to say we’d not be getting our fuel allowance this year, total value around £300

MP calls for specific domestic violence offence in England and Wales

Officials are examining whether to change the way domestic violence crimes are recorded after a campaign by an MP who says the lack of a specific offence allows abusers to be freed early from jail.Josh Babarinde, the Liberal Democrats’ justice spokesperson, said a change would also help highlight the prevalence of domestic violence, which he said was still too often hidden.Babarinde, the MP for Eastbourne, who was first elected in July, told the Guardian that his mother was subjected to domestic violence by a man when he was growing up, something that teachers and friends were ignorant about.“I think it’s critical that the experience and trauma of survivors is honoured in the law and reflected in the criminal offence that their abuser is convicted of,” said Babarinde, who was also sometimes targeted by the man.“There’s a real stigma around it