Labour should seize the opportunity to make the case for alternative ways of funding social careThe Conservative government is reported to be considering an increase of up to 1.25p in the pound in National Insurance Contributions from 26 million people…
UK government vaccines watchdog rules out Covid jabs for children
JCVI says there is insufficient evidence to support giving jabs to all 12- to 15-year-oldsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe UK government’s vaccines watchdog has decided there is not enough evidence to recommend the rollou…
Raising national insurance to fund social care is fraught with political risk
Analysis: both employers and employees pay NI but the burden weighs heaviest again on younger workersAfter months of havering, the government is poised to make two big announcements in the coming weeks. Both break manifesto pledges, both are fraught wi…
A tale of two towns: Rochdale and Braintree expose UK’s uneven asylum system
Relatively wealthy Braintree has supported just one asylum seeker in recent months while deprived Rochdale hosted 734Labour councils house eight times as many asylum seekers as Tory areas, analysis findsSituated in the heart of rural Essex, Braintree o…
It’s not just Texas – anti-abortion activists are targeting women’s rights in Europe | Mara Clarke
Draconian laws in European countries and the effects of Brexit and Covid-19 are making safe terminations harder to accessMara Clarke is the founder of Abortion Support NetworkThe state of Texas now has the most restrictive abortion law to be passed in …
Priti Patel orders review into effects of nitrous oxide
Possession could be criminalised as home secretary vows to ‘take tough action’ on use of laughing gasPossession of nitrous oxide, one of the most popular drugs among 16- to 24-year-olds, could be criminalised after the home secretary ordered experts to…
Founder of animal charity in Lincolnshire struck off by regulator
Sanctuary in Boston shut down a year after Tamara Lloyd was prosecuted over ‘appalling conditions’The founder of a £1m animal sanctuary has been struck off by the charities regulator, and the organisation she founded shut down, a year after she was pro…
Biden condemns US supreme court’s ‘unprecedented assault’ on abortion rights
President denounces justices for failing to block Texas banVows to ‘ensure woman have access to safe and legal abortions’Joe Biden condemned the US supreme court on Thursday, saying it had delivered “an unprecedented assault on a woman’s constitutional…
Salt substitutes are risky for those with kidney disease | Letters
John Rippon says the public and policymakers should be aware of the potential harm caused by potassium chloride and Mike Pender says there is no need to add more salt, or substitutes, to foodRe your report in the print edition (Salt substitute cuts ris…
Generation Covid has been hit hard. Thank goodness they’re not resentful – yet | Polly Toynbee
Jobs, wages, housing: young people are paying a price. We have to address this or risk their anger boiling overThe pandemic’s next effect might be a wave of political conflict. A rising tide of anger among young people at what they have willingly sacri…