Peter Archer obituary

My friend Peter Archer, who has died aged 80, bettered the lives of many people by improving housing conditions and regenerating neighbourhoods from inner city Bristol to New Delhi. He combined a strategic vision with a belief that communities should have a voice in decisions that affect their lives.One of Peter’s greatest achievements was his establishment in 1986 of Care and Repair England, a project designed to help older and disabled people to continue to live independently by improving their existing housing conditions. He chaired the charity for 20 years and would later (in 2010) rewrite UK government guidance on home adaptations for disabled people.Born and raised in Bromley, Kent, Peter came from a family with a strong Methodist background

Marianne Rigge obituary

My wife, Marianne Rigge, who has died aged 77, was a passionate public advocate for the interests of NHS patients, and a pioneer in creating ways of giving people easier access to medical and health information.The daughter of a GP, she founded a national charity, the College of Health, with the renowned social entrepreneur Michael Young, in response to their experiences as patients and in the consumer movement. Young was the inspiration behind organisations including the Open University and the Consumers’ Association, which he launched in 1957.Marianne joined the Consumers’ Association in the 1970s, and she and Young set up the College of Health in 1983, with the aim of influencing NHS doctors to put the needs of patients at the centre of treatment and care decisions. She ran the charity as director, from Bethnal Green, east London, for 20 years and it helped thousands of people

Abuse by UK’s ‘most prolific sex offender’ was ignored at Medomsley detention centre, report finds

A man who worked as a prison officer and caterer in a youth detention centre was able to rape and torture boys for three decades while the abuse was “ignored and dismissed”, according to a report labelling him as possibly Britain’s worst ever sex offender.Neville Husband carried out at least 388 sexual offences against young men and boys between 1969 and 1985 while working at Medomsley detention centre in County Durham, but is believed have committed hundreds more crimes, which would take the total past the 450 committed by Jimmy Savile.Adrian Usher, the prisons and probation ombudsman (PPO) for England and Wales, has compiled a 202-page report on the conduct of staff at Medomsley from 1961 to 1987, in which he describes Husband as “possibly the most prolific sex offender in British history”.Husband, a former church minister and scout troop leader who died in 2010, is thought to have groomed and attacked hundreds of trainees in Medomsley’s kitchens, where he worked.Men and boys aged 17 to 21 who had been convicted of relatively minor crimes were sent to Medomsley where the ethos of the “short, sharp shock” was in place to deter them from reoffending

Experts concerned over health effects of high-dose nicotine pouches as sales soar in UK

Walk into any corner shop and you’ll see them: colourful tins stacked beside the chewing gum, boasting flavours from frosty berry and lime storm to something called Tomorrowland. Welcome to nicotine pouches – the tobacco industry’s latest diversification strategy.Marketed as “tobacco-free” but packed with nicotine, these small sachets promise a discreet buzz. Sales are rapidly climbing, and UK ministers are considering tighter rules. But are they helping smokers to quit – or hooking a new generation on nicotine? And what else are they doing to people’s health?Nicotine pouches are different from snus – a moist tobacco paste – and vapes, which deliver nicotine via inhalation

‘I don’t want anyone to suffer like I did’: the intersex campaigners fighting to limit surgery on children

What should be done about the small proportion of babies born with genitals that are neither typically male nor typically female? Many of those affected believe parents and doctors are often too quick to schedule operationsSmall Luk was initially “so happy” to be offered genital reconstruction surgery, aged eight. Doctors had told her she was a boy, but that she had an illness, which was why she couldn’t urinate standing up. “They told me this is a problem,” the 60-year-old from Hong Kong says. “And that in the future, you cannot marry, you cannot have a baby, so you need to have surgeries.”Having been bullied at school for her ambiguous gender presentation, she found the idea that she could be “modified back to normal” a compelling one

Private care providers in three English regions make £250m in three years

Private companies operating care services in just three regions of England have taken more than £250m in profits in three years, with more than a third going to providers owned by private equity firms or companies based in tax havens.New analysis by Reclaiming Our Regional Economies warned that public money is being rapidly funnelled out of the care system into the hands of private companies, rather than reinvested to improve services.The report, published on Wednesday, found that in the North East, South Yorkshire and the West Midlands, £256m in profit was made by private companies providing care services between 2021 and 2024.“Politicians and pundits tell us that there simply isn’t the money to invest in social care and that we can’t afford to borrow more to build a better system,” the report states.“The truth is that money exists in the care system but too much of it is leaking out