Ministers in England have previously acknowledged that the treatment offered to patients with mental health problems suffers in comparison with those with physical ailments. In 2016, the government committed 1.3bn to transform mental health services in England, with a pledge to treat an extra one million patients by 2020-21. Crisis care These plans set out how some of that money will be spent – mostly on recruiting staff, with the main focus being on child and adolescent mental health services, therapists delivering talking therapies for adults and nurses working in crisis care. The plans also include improving staff training, encouraging […]

It was brought in sooner than expected when Prime Minister Theresa May announced a snap general election. However, MPs who served in the previous Parliament were allowed to continue their existing employment arrangements with relatives. Darren Hughes, the acting chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, said it was fair to phase out the practice. “Given the high rate of turnover of both MPs and staff, it is clear that within the next few electoral cycles it will apply to the vast majority of Parliamentary staff. “Voters must be able to have confidence that our democracy is resourced in an […]

Around 86,000 patients in Hackney, which has a high HIV prevalence rate – eight in 1,000 people – were tested as part of the research. ‘Exhausted and skinny’ Alex Causton-Ronaldson, who was diagnosed with HIV in 2014, says more accessible testing in GP surgeries would have greatly benefited him. He learned of his diagnosis at the age of 24 and said: “I lost loads of weight really rapidly. I started getting this rash all over my body and I didn’t know what it was,” he said. “I was exhausted and skinny.” At the time, he was living with his parents […]

“We have seen this in a number of other species that have spread up from England in to Scotland, but the comma is by far the most dramatic example. “It now has spread not only through the whole of northern England but up through the Scottish Borders and Lothians, through Fife and Angus. It is now on the outskirts of Aberdeen and has been spotted in recent years near Inverness.” Hop dog He said the comma was once firmly associated with the plant hop and was sometimes nicknamed the hop dog. “Although hop is still around as a wild plant, […]

Landowners reassure public over hare cull Cairngorm body urges restraint over hare cull They also said that at least 25 Scottish game estates were currently offering the opportunity to shoot mountain hares for sport. An independent review looking at the sustainability of grouse moor management, including mountain hare culling, is being established. The campaigners estimate that there are between 175,000-500,000 mountain hares in Scotland. They are classified as a priority species by the Scottish Wildlife Trust, giving them an added importance for biodiversity. OneKind director Harry Huyton said mountain hares were an iconic species in Scotland and should be protected.

They’re known as the Three Brexiteers – the ministers who all campaigned to leave the EU and are now shaping the UK’s foreign relations for years to come. Boris Johnson, David Davis and Liam Fox have been racking up the air miles to put the UK’s case… Image copyright AFP Image caption Japan is one of the many stops that Boris Johnson has made Notable omissions on his itinerary so far include Russia and China. The international trade secretary is the man with the task of banging the drum for British business overseas, with at least one eye on negotiating […]

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Under current law, any person who self-identifies as a woman can use female-only services like toilets and changing rooms A lot of the discussion online is around women-only spaces. Refuges and rape centres, even changing rooms are places viewed as “safe” by women, some of them fleeing violence, because they typically exclude men. Many of those commenting on Mumsnet fear that simply by choosing to call themselves women, “predatory males” – a minority who may want to abuse the system – could get access to those places and put women at risk. Prisons are […]

“There is some early evidence to suggest that there was an Arthur in the 4th or 5th Centuries. “Though in all likelihood he was very far removed from the romantic depictions of (writers) Thomas Malory and Alfred, Lord Tennyson.” However, just how Welsh he would have been is a “moot point”, Dr ap Huw added. Before the Saxons drove the Brythonic people (Celtic Britons) west and north, there was no recognised entity of an independent Wales, making his nationality hard to ascertain. The exhibition brings together all the crucial texts which have informed our perception of Arthur for more than […]

Image caption Hatston terminal, where the liners dock, is just a short distance from the centre of Kirkwall The ships bringing tourists to Orkney range in size from a couple of hundred passengers to the huge MSC Preziosa, the biggest ship to have ever berthed there. Image caption Shuttle bus operator Jimmy Poke says the cruise ships have been a positive thing However, Jimmy admits that there is some “negativity” on the island, with shopkeepers saying they sometimes struggle to cope with the large influxes of people and complaining that many of the tourists are not big spenders. Jimmy says: […]

That battle began on 31 July 1917, and is one of the most-remembered battles of World War One. An estimated 320,000 men were killed and wounded on the Allied side, and the conditions were nightmarish. Some parts of the muddy battlefield were so deep that men drowned. Fred, 23, got married five days before signing up. We don’t know if Charles, 22, was there, or if he was Fred’s best man, but it seems possible. What we do know is that these two young friends, who worked, played sport and went to war together, died together at Passchendaele on 12 […]