‘My paedophile letters’: French surgeon to stand trial accused of abusing 299 child patients

When two gendarmes knocked on her door in 2019, Marie had no idea that she was about to find herself at the dark heart of one of the world’s biggest child abuse cases.The French mother of three, now 38, was shocked when the officers told her she had been the victim of Joël Le Scouarnec, a surgeon and an alleged serial paedophile accused of raping and sexually abusing hundreds of children.She recalled asking them: “Was I touched?”“No, madame. Raped,” they replied.“I couldn’t think they were talking about me

NHS facing ‘crisis of public trust’ as most people fear being failed by A&E services

Three in four people in the UK fear getting stuck on a trolley in a hospital corridor or an ambulance not arriving after dialling 999, prompting claims that the NHS is facing “a crisis of public trust”.Huge numbers also worry about their local A&E not having enough beds (77%) and not being able to get care at their GP surgery (70%), research also found.Public concern about the parlous state of the health service is so acute that one in three people (34%) are reluctant to seek help at A&E because they think it will be overwhelmed.Even greater numbers – 43% – are so concerned about slow 999 response times that they would be likely to take a taxi to hospital rather than wait for an ambulance.The results, in a survey by the polling company Ipsos, are “worrying and frightening in equal measure”, said Dr Adrian Boyle, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine

New laws to protect children exploited by gangs in England and Wales ‘will save lives’

Long-overdue laws to protect children forced into selling drugs across county lines will save lives and block a “brutal and lucrative criminal business”, the former children’s commissioner has said.In a series of new measures aimed at cracking down on exploitative gangs and antisocial behaviour, criminals using children to run county lines or commit other crimes will face up to a decade in prison.The new law, which campaigners have long called for, will make it a specific offence in England and Wales to use a child to commit criminal activity, while new child criminal exploitation prevention orders will also restrict criminals’ ability to operate, said the home secretary, Yvette Cooper.“The exploitation of children and vulnerable people for criminal gain is sickening and it is vital we do everything in our power to eradicate it from our streets,” Cooper said.The orders will limit suspected groomers by preventing them working with children, contacting specific people or going to a certain area, with breaches resulting in up to five years in prison

NHS failings and lawyers have destroyed memories of our baby, say parents

Losing Ben at the age of eight weeks in the paediatric intensive care unit of the Bristol Royal hospital for children in the spring of 2015 was traumatic and heartbreaking for Jenny and Allyn Condon.In the 10 years since, they say their pain has not eased but, if anything, has been made more acute by the way they have been treated by a health trust as they campaigned to find out why Ben died.“It has destroyed me,” said Jenny, who tried to kill herself and has post-traumatic stress syndrome. “I’m a broken woman. I’m in constant fight or flight

Caps unlock: a short history of writing in lower case | Letters

This is a welcome development, but far from new (The death of capital letters: why gen Z loves lowercase, 18 February). The case for lower case has been made for over 200 years, at least here in germany, where its most vocal proponents were the brothers grimm of fairytale fame: “Whoever uses capitals at the beginning of nouns is a pedant!” (I paraphrase). At the beginning of the 20th century, aesthetes and modernists like stefan george did it almost religiously. In the 60s and 70s, leftist iconoclasts again used the kleinschreibung (small-letter writing) to signal non‑conformity and progressiveness, and some of my friends are doing it to this day. As these trends have a habit of catching on internationally, I’m hoping for some cool grandpa vibes any day now

Every hour children spend on screens raises chance of myopia, study finds

Every hour young people spend in front of screens increases their chance of being shortsighted, researchers have found, with experts warning young children should have limited use of devices and spend more time outdoors.Myopia is caused by having an over elongated eyeball and is a growing problem, with research suggesting about 40% of children and adolescents worldwide could have the condition by 2050.While genetics play a role in who develops myopia, other factors that increase risk include not spending enough time outdoors and focusing on things that are close up for prolonged periods, which could explain why screen time has been associated with a higher risk and severity of myopia.Now, researchers in Korea say they have shed fresh light on this relationship in an analysis of 45 studies, involving 335,524 participants, that looked at the use of digital screen devices such as mobile phones, game consoles and television.The results, largely based on data from children, adolescents and young adults, reveal that an additional hour of daily screen time is, on average, associated with 21% higher odds of having myopia