Grooming gang victim quits inquiry panel over ‘condescending language towards survivors’

Keir Starmer’s national grooming gang inquiry has suffered a blow after a prominent survivor resigned from its overseeing panel saying she disagreed with a shortlist of two possible chairs.Fiona Goddard, who was abused by an organised street gang in Bradford while living in a children’s home, stepped down on Monday from the victims survivor liaison panel, voicing concern over political interference and the “condescending and controlling language used towards survivors” during the process.Two prospective candidates to chair the inquiry, the former deputy chief constable Jim Gamble and the chair of the child safeguarding practice review panel, Annie Hudson, are due to meet the panel on Tuesday.Terms of the statutory investigation are still being discussed by the panel of stakeholders including survivors of abuse rings, four months after the prime minister bowed to pressure and set it up.In an email sent on Monday morning, Goddard wrote that she was removing herself from the liaison panel

Low participation in medical trials puts millions of young people at risk

Millions of young people risk missing out on new treatments for health conditions and having to use medicines that are unsafe, ineffective or inappropriate because so few take part in medical research, experts have warned.Data analysis by the Guardian reveals that members of gen Z – those born between the late 1990s and the early 2000s – are significantly underrepresented in clinical trials and health studies.People aged 18 to 24 make up 8% of England’s population, but only 4.4% of those taking part in medical research.Though less affected by life-threatening conditions such as cancer and heart disease, young adults still experience a significant burden of disease

‘I wish I had taken part sooner’: how a medical trial transformed a young person’s life

Millions of young people risk missing out on new treatments for health conditions and having to use medicines that are unsafe, ineffective or inappropriate because so few take part in medical research. One of those bucking the trend explains why he signed up to a study and how it transformed his life.Gulliver Waite was diagnosed with clinical depression at 19. For years, he struggled with extremely low mood, anxiety, frequent panic attacks and occasional paranoia.“I put everything I could into working because it was basically all I could do,” he says

Millions exploited by ‘menopause gold rush’ amid lack of reliable information, say UK experts

Millions of women are being exploited by a “menopause gold rush” as companies, celebrities and influencers take advantage of a “dearth” of reliable information on the issue, experts have said.Healthcare companies and content creators saw menopause as a “lucrative market” and were trying to profit from gaps in public knowledge, women’s health academics at University College London (UCL) said.Researchers called for the rollout of a national education programme after finding a significant number of women do not feel well-informed about menopause.Writing in the medical journal Post Reproductive Health, they said: “There has been a rapid expansion in unregulated private companies and individuals providing menopause information and support for profit; this has been termed the ‘menopause gold rush’.“This fragmented landscape of menopause support and education leaves people vulnerable to financial exploitation, may propagate misinformation and is likely to amplify existing menopause-related health inequities

Don’t cut London’s affordable housing quotas, Labour MPs urge ministers and mayor

Labour MPs are urging ministers and the London mayor to drop controversial plans to reduce affordable housing quotas in the capital in order to boost homebuilding.MPs have said they are concerned about the proposals being drawn up by the housing secretary, Steve Reed, and the mayor, Sadiq Khan, in response to a sudden drop in new development in the capital.Reed and Khan are considering allowing builders to qualify for fast-track planning approval while promising to build 20% affordable homes, rather than the current minimum of 35%. Labour MPs hope to use the next few weeks before the package is formally announced to persuade them not to do so.Florence Eshalomi, the Labour chair of the housing select committee, said: “Solving the housing crisis relies not just on how many new homes we build, but also on their affordability

Will affordable housing be the casualty as London tackles its building emergency?

Sadiq Khan has known for a while that he has a problem with housebuilding in London. But last week a consultancy published figures about the scale of the problem, which prompted full-scale alarm in City Hall and Whitehall.The analysis from Molior showed that new housebuilding in the capital had collapsed. Only 40,000 homes are under construction – two-thirds the normal rate – and in the first three months of the year builders started work on just 3,248 private sector units.“It is a perfect storm of economic conditions impacting housebuilding,” said one City Hall source