More than 6m vapes and pods discarded weekly in UK despite single-use ban, study finds

More than 6m vapes and vape pods are still being discarded every week in the UK, with waste management companies warning the sheer volume continues to strain recycling systems despite the ban on disposable e-cigarettes.According to research by the recycling campaign group Material Focus, the 6.3m vapes and pods thrown away each week in 2025 represented a 23% reduction from the previous year.This suggests the ban on sales of single-use vapes that came into effect on 1 June 2025 has had an impact on levels of waste, alongside a 31% drop in the number of vapes bought each week.However, the volume of waste is still creating problems

NHS bosses say resident doctors’ strike will cause ‘maximum harm’

NHS bosses have accused resident doctors of seeking to cause “maximum harm” to patients by striking for six days next month over pay and jobs.Wes Streeting has given resident – formerly junior – doctors in England until 2 April to reconsider their rejection on Wednesday of his “generous” offer to end the dispute. It would have given them £700m in extra pay over the next three years.The British Medical Association’s decision to withdraw from talks with the government and NHS chiefs aimed at settling the long-running dispute has sparked a war of words.Glen Burley, NHS England’s financial reset and accountability director, said during NHS England’s board meeting on Thursday that the BMA’s decision was “really disappointing for patients

Spanish woman who won legal battle for right to euthanasia has assisted death

A Spanish woman who spent months fighting her father for the right to euthanasia after being sexually assaulted and becoming paraplegic has finally ended her life on her own terms by means of an assisted death.Noelia Castillo, 25, had struggled with psychiatric illness since she was a teenager and tried to kill herself in October 2022 after being sexually assaulted. The attempt left her in constant pain and using a wheelchair. Eighteen months later, she used Spain’s euthanasia law, which was introduced in 2021, to secure permission to end her life.But her attempts to obtain euthanasia had been opposed by her father and by Christian Lawyers, an ultra‑conservative advocacy group that had supported him

Labour failing to shift power from Whitehall to local areas, analysis finds

Keir Starmer’s drive to overhaul public services is failing to live up to its aims of shifting power from Whitehall to local areas, a report from the Institute for Government (IfG) has found.Last summer, the government set out its three guiding principles for reform aimed at making public services such as the NHS, court system and children’s social care easier to access and better at helping people.The objectives were to make public services “organised around people’s lives”, to improve outcomes by focusing on prevention of problems, and devolving power to local areas that understand the needs of their communities best.However, the IfG’s analysis found that none of these were on course to happen by the next election, which is due by summer 2029.Stuart Hoddinott, a public services expert at the IfG who wrote the report, said: “Our assessment is that by the end of this parliament, on the government’s current trajectory, public services will be more centralised, integration will have slowed or even reversed, and a measurable shift towards prevention will not have occurred

London has England’s highest levels of child poverty, data shows

London has England’s highest levels of child poverty and most extreme concentrations of hardship, data has revealed. In two boroughs more than half of children live below the breadline.In Britain, child poverty rates flatlined in 2024-25 compared with the previous year. About 4 million youngsters (27%) live in households earning less than 60% of the national median income after housing costs are taken into account.The figures in effect set a benchmark for the government’s child poverty reduction strategy, which starts in earnest next month with the abolition of the two-child benefit limit

Coming across a terrible dilemma | Brief letters

I was struck by two adjacent headlines: “More frequent ejaculations may boost men’s fertility” and “Extra 11 minutes’ sleep each night can reduce heart attack risk”. What a terrible dilemma.Prof Gareth WilliamsRockhampton, Gloucestershire Given the impact of stress on the risk of heart attacks, I wonder how the worry about not sleeping for an extra 11 minutes is going to help me.Richard BarnardWivenhoe, Essex Let’s hope that Brabazon isn’t an entirely appropriate name for the future new town (Letters, 24 March). The Bristol Type 167 Brabazon aeroplane was an utter commercial failure – aimed at a luxury market that no longer existed