Fears over lack of scrutiny for key sectors as health editor position will also go in cuts aimed at saving £5.5m The BBC will no longer have a dedicated education editor as part of a cost-cutting drive that will see 100 jobs go across BBC News, under a plan that school leaders described as “deeply regrettable”. BBC staff have been told that the roles of education editor and social affairs editor are to be combined into a single position as part of a round of changes that will save £5.5m. However, prominent unions and campaigners are warning the reform will dilute scrutiny of two specialisms that are too important to go without a dedicated BBC role. Continue reading...
In today’s newsletter: rising rates of C-sections, staff shortages and years of unresolved concerns are preventing some hospitals from delivering babies safely Good morning. Over the summer, doctors in the emergency department at the North Devon district hospital in Barnstaple, one of the most remote in the UK, received a crash course on delivering a baby. Their training covered subjects nobody wants to hear about when they’re imminently expecting: shoulder dystocia, postpartum haemorrhage, and neonatal collapse. “I’m hoping that we won’t see such emergencies,” one doctor said. “It’s been an intense time.” That crash course was necessary because maternity services at the hospital have been indefinitely suspended due to staff shortages. Other remote hospitals across the country are expected
You Can See Everything, a documentary about the disgraced biotech company founder Elizabeth Holmes, has enjoyed a record-breaking opening in the US. It is a testament to how fascinated we remain by the convicted fraudster, but what is behind the enduring appeal? US technology editor Blake Montgomery tells Madeleine Finlay why Holmes continues to fascinate us, and reflects on whether the Theranos scandal has had a permanent impact on Silicon Valley Clip: You Can See Everything, A24 ‘You can’t make this stuff up’: why we remain fascinated by Elizabeth Holmes Continue reading...
Relatives recount distress and loneliness their loved ones went through in pandemic as result of isolation policy “At the time it felt like a devil’s bargain – it was horrible, but it was what [we thought] we had to do to keep people safe,” says Amy of the “devastating” and “terrifying” restrictions that led to her maternal grandparents being locked down in separate care homes during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Eva and Eric had been married for more than 60 years when her dementia and his increased frailty meant they needed separate residential support. When the first lockdown was announced in March 2020, however, it in effect cut them off from each other and their granddaughter, to whom they had been especially close after the early death of Amy’s mother. Continue reading...
This summer alone, 26 local authorities in the UK had to stop accepting fridges and freezers for recycling. Now the appliances are piling up around the country – with no proper disposal date in sight Not much is happening in the tiny Norfolk hamlet of Little Hautbois on the day I visit. The pub, once popular with airmen from RAF Coltishall, stopped being a pub a long time ago, even before RAF Coltishall stopped being RAF Coltishall. It’s not Saturday, so there are no weddings at Hautbois Hall. Nor is it 19 May, so the restless, headless ghost of Thomas Boleyn isn’t driving his carriage across the bridge over the River Bure, as he is said to do on the anniversary of the execution of his daughter, Anne. Today, a lovely autumn one, all is as it should be. But half a mile down a narrow country
The overwhelming vote by Alberta to stay in Canada gives Mark Carney political capital to focus on remaking the country's economy, writes the BBC's Lyse Doucet.
The president thrust Springfield, Ohio, into the spotlight with a false pet-eating claim - years later, it remains at the heart of the immigration debate.
Owners in England with no driveway can now slash their costs by installing a cross-pavement gully – but it’s a postcode lottery When Alison Williams bought her electric Volkswagen ID.3 two years ago, she thought she was making the right choice for the environment, having already upgraded her end-of-terrace London home with insulation and solar panels. However, charging the car has proved more costly than she hoped, as she is not able to install the cross-pavement gully – a narrow electric vehicle cable channel embedded in the pavement – that she would need to charge at home. That will remain the case despite a change in the law. Continue reading...
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