Schools have been unable to avoid an ‘epidemic of demotivated children’ in lockdown, England’s chief schools inspector said today. Amanda Spielman told the conference of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) that young children have lost skills as basic as ‘using a pencil’ during months of home learning. She added that some parents have simply … Read more
Last month, the shooting of singer Lady Gaga’s dog-walker and theft of her French bulldogs shocked the world. But for millions of UK owners, it simply highlighted the frightening rise in dognapping. In 2020, incidences of the crime rose by 250 per cent in some areas, as demand for lockdown pets led to a shortage … Read more
Natural selection among humans is adding to the ‘epidemic’ of nearsightedness, with each successive generation in the UK gaining more than 100,000 extra cases. It is estimated that around half of the world’s population — some 4.9 billion people — will suffer from the distant visual impairment by the middle of the century. Much of … Read more
Professor Tim Spector, an epidemiologist at King’s College London, said the UK’s mini coronavirus outbreaks are ‘ripples’ caused by a failure to completely flatten the first epidemic The UK’s mini coronavirus outbreaks are just ‘ripples’ caused by the failure to completely flatten the first epidemic and not proof of a second wave, according to a … Read more
It is a hidden epidemic that has hit more than two million Britons and left them struggling through each day with debilitating pain. Chronic wounds – ulcers and cuts, usually on the legs and feet, that fail to heal – cost the NHS £5 billion every year. And they are far from a minor affliction, often … Read more
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams told residents not to call 911 to report the plague of illegal fireworks that have overwhelmed NYC because some view them as a form of nonviolent protest. Adams urged concerned neighbors to ‘go talk to young people or the people on your block who are using fireworks’ and warn them … Read more
Drug firm owners pocket £33m on back of coronavirus epidemic By Jamie Nimmo, Financial Mail On Sunday Published: 21:57 BST, 16 May 2020 | Updated: 21:57 BST, 16 May 2020 The billionaire family behind Hikma Pharmaceuticals has cashed in £33 million of shares in the FTSE100 drugs giant after its stock was boosted by the … Read more
The US drug epidemic has likely claimed the lives of twice as many Americans as currently estimated, new research suggests. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that there were 63,000 drug overdose deaths in 2016. But that estimate doesn’t include non-overdose deaths that have drugs at their root, like those from HIV, … Read more
Beijing is exploiting the disarray caused by the Covid-19 epidemic to try to move a security-sensitive British technology company to China, a leading Tory MP said last night. Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the powerful Foreign Affairs Committee, said China was ‘using the cover’ of Boris Johnson’s illness to ‘launch a raid’ on Imagination Technologies, which … Read more
At crisis levels — that is how some experts describe the increase in the numbers of people being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. New data published last week revealed there were more than 200,000 new cases diagnosed in England and Wales alone in 2017, the equivalent of one diagnosis every three minutes. ‘In an average … Read more