Is behaviour at work getting worse – or are we just becoming oversensitive snowflakes? | Emma Beddington

I would hate to be in human resources at the moment. Admittedly, as someone with no discernible people skills, I would always hate it, but I’ve been imagining the awkward HR meetings behind the scenes of the recent wave of “what is acceptable workplace behaviour” rulings from UK employment tribunals recently, and … oof!I’m thinking, particularly, of last week’s ruling on whether younger chatty workers disturbing an older colleague constitutes age discrimination (it didn’t), but there are many more. Comparing a colleague to Darth Vader in an online personality test resulted in a £30,000 compensation award. Leaving someone out of the tea round could contribute to unfair constructive dismissal. Sighing at a colleague could be discriminatory

Exposure to some Pfas could increase risk of multiple miscarriages – study

Exposure to some toxic Pfas “forever chemicals” may increase the risk of having multiple miscarriages, new peer-reviewed research has found.The study, which tracked about 200 women in China, found those who had at least two miscarriages, or unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortions, showed higher levels of several types of Pfas in their blood. The study adds to a long list of reproductive harms associated with Pfas exposure.“Prior studies have identified that Pfas were associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes, but the potential influence of Pfas’s exposure on [recurrent miscarriages] remained uncertain,” the study’s authors, with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, wrote. “Our investigation identified significant associations between [some Pfas] and increased risks of unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortions

Labour to abolish most short prison sentences in England and Wales

Ministers will legislate next month to abolish most short prison sentences, toughen up community punishments and introduce a Texas-inspired system whereby inmates can earn early release as part of an attempt to avert another prison crisis.Government sources said the legislation, which will bring about the biggest shake-up in sentencing laws in England and Wales for three decades, would be introduced once MPs had returned to the Commons in September.They said Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, was conscious of the need to implement the changes quickly before prisons had another capacity crunch next summer.Thousands of inmates were released after Labour won power last summer in an emergency measure to deal with overcrowding.The sentencing bill will include measures backed by the government that were recommended by the former Conservative justice secretary David Gauke in a review in the spring

Maha is backing this ‘natural’ infertility treatment. Is it the right’s path to limiting IVF?

For Erica L and her husband, in-vitro fertilization was the “nuclear option”.After two years of trying to conceive, Erica and her husband had no idea why they could not have a baby. Doctors said only that they had “unexplained infertility”, a non-diagnosis of a diagnosis that is given to an estimated 15% of people trying to conceive. Erica was not ideologically opposed to trying IVF, but felt daunted by the price and unpredictability.Then Erica stumbled across a clinic that specialized in “restorative reproductive medicine”, or RRM

Nature, respect and work all help to reduce prisoners’ reoffending | Letters

Your article about the prisoner rehabilitation project LandWorks, excellent though it was, arguably placed too much emphasis on nature as the chief factor accounting for the project’s undoubted success (‘A natural antidepressant’: how working with the land is helping ex-prisoners, 16 August).I have been a keen supporter of the project since it was set up 12 years ago. The remarkably low reoffending rate (5%) seems to me to be due largely to participants being treated with respect, together with the wraparound care they receive while working at LandWorks. This ranges, as the article explains, from help with accommodation to finding work.I am sure that, with the same dedication and kindness, a similar project could be set up in the middle of a city, also with remarkably low costs

Bringing the human touch into our cities | Letters

Carlo Ratti’s welcome call for the humanising of urban public spaces (We used AI to analyse three cities. It’s true: we now walk more quickly and socialise less, 18 August) chimes well with Thomas Heatherwick’s latest series of Building Soul on Radio 4, where his prime concern is to encourage joy in our built environment.May I make the case for a too often overlooked space in the heart of Preston? Winckley Square is composed of largely Georgian townhouses that define an undulating park.In the mid-20th century, a public space was created with paths laid out in “desire lines” across the square. By the 21st century, repeated flooding under an overarching tree canopy made for a distinctively less inviting place