Weight loss surgery tourism needs urgent regulation, say UK experts

A booming trade in medical tourism for weight loss surgery is placing patients at risk and needs urgent regulation, experts have warned.Despite the growing popularity of injections such as Mounjaro to treat obesity, the number of patients travelling to other countries for surgery is increasing, the latest analysis suggests.And, with the wider medical tourism industry set to be worth about £300bn annually, with anticipated year-on-year growth of 25%, international regulation is urgently needed, according to a commentary in the journal BMJ Global Health.“We are seeing this ongoing increase, linked to the globalisation of healthcare and long wait lists,” said Dr Jessica McGirr of the RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences in Dublin and Imperial College London, adding that many are being marketed bariatric surgery through “before and after” images on TikTok and Instagram.“Incorrectly, surgery is often marketed from an aesthetic point of view,” McGirr said

Send parents are not ‘gaming the system’ Letters

I usually enjoy John Crace’s frank views and commentary, but was stopped in my tracks when he said the bill for special educational needs and disabilities (Send) provision was rising “thanks both to better diagnosis and to some parents gaming the system” (Labour picks on kids as Farage reaches for his human punchbag, 7 July).Sadly, when the government is challenged as to why it is not providing thousands of children with an adequate education, it often resorts to victim-blaming, implying that parents are exaggerating their children’s difficulties, and I’m astonished that John has regurgitated such nonsense.As the mother of an autistic child who needs a high level of care in his school environment, I have to fight tooth and nail every single year to prove that he still has high needs and still requires specialist provision. This is true of many thousands of parents with children in the system.Does John really believe that there are parents in enough numbers who are successfully exaggerating their children’s special educational needs and disabilities to have caused a notable increase in the bill for Send provision? Please

Protect children, not just animals, from lead exposure | Brief letters

I am glad that the government has moved to protect birds and wildlife from toxic lead exposure by banning lead ammunition (Report, 10 July). It would be great if its next move could be to try to protect the estimated 200,000 children in the UK who have asymptomatic and undiagnosed lead exposure that will cause them lifelong health and cognitive impairments. At present we have a passive surveillance system that misses 99% of cases.Lee CrawfurdSenior research fellow, Center for Global Development When working for the same civil service department as Ian Arnott (Letters, 14 July), my husband was told by a senior manager that if he wanted to “get on” in his career he should “lose the beard”. He didn’t – and he didn’t

Fauja Singh, ‘world’s oldest marathon runner’, dies in road accident aged 114

The runner Fauja Singh, believed to be the oldest person to complete a marathon, has died in a road accident in India aged 114.The athlete, who lived in Ilford in east London, was hit by a car and suffered fatal injuries while trying to cross a road in his birth village of Beas Pind, near Jalandhar in Punjab, on Monday, according to reports in India.His London-based running club and charity, Sikhs in the City, confirmed his death and said its upcoming events in Ilford would be a celebration of his life and achievements.Singh’s coach, Harmander Singh, wrote on Facebook: “It is with great sadness that we can confirm our icon of humanity and powerhouse of positivity Fauja Singh has passed away in India. Aged 114 years old

‘They lump us all together’: van-dwellers and homeowners clash over life near Bristol Downs

Lee James is cowering in the rusting Mercedes Sprinter van he calls home. He is worried sick by the growing campaign to evict van-dwellers like him from historic parkland in the wealthy north-west of Bristol.“I’m not in the greatest headspace today … I wouldn’t have anywhere to go [if I was evicted] … this is my home,” he said in the gloomy interior. “I just wish there was more kindness.”Last week, residents from the neighbourhoods surrounding the Bristol Downs, where house prices and average incomes are among the highest in the city, lobbied the Green-led council to remove the 60 to 100 vans and caravans in the park

Reform-run councils once known for green policies expected to scrap climate pledges

Two councils that have been recognised for their work to cut emissions but are now under the control of Reform UK are expected to scrap climate pledges this week.Durham county council’s deputy leader, the former GB News presenter Darren Grimes, has proposed a motion to rescind a 2019 declaration of a climate emergency, in what it is believed would be a UK first.West Northamptonshire council, meanwhile, looks set to become the first Reform-led authority to scrap net zero targets.The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, warned MPs about the climate crisis on Monday, saying he would explicitly call out politicians who rejected net zero policies for betraying future generations in an unprecedented “state of the climate” address to parliament.In what is planned to be an annual event, the energy security and net zero secretary will set out the findings of a new Met Office-led report that says the UK is already facing extreme weather and its effects