Why is the number of first-time US homebuyers at a generational low?

A cornerstone of the American dream is drifting out of reach.The estimated number of first-time homebuyers in the US dropped to a little more than 1.1 million in 2024, according to data from the National Association of Realtors shared with the Guardian: the lowest level since the NAR started tracking new buyers, in 1989.Economic instability is keeping the housing market at a standstill, with the number of new home owners at its lowest point in three decades. How did we get here?Home prices and mortgage rates remain high years after the peak pandemic housing boom

Crunching the data: are resident doctors in England badly paid?

Resident doctors in England have voted to strike for five days from 25 July, reigniting one of the NHS’s most bitter industrial disputes.At the heart of the row is pay: the British Medical Association (BMA) says resident (formerly known as junior) doctors have seen their real earnings fall by more than a fifth since 2008. The government says the union’s demands are unaffordable, and they’ve already received generous rises in recent years.So are strikes an “unnecessary and unreasonable” move, in the words of the health secretary, Wes Streeting? Or a necessary step on the path to restore doctor’s pay?After the global financial crisis of 2007-08, pay stagnated across the board in Britain. But resident doctors have had it worse than most

Fundamental flaws in the NHS psychiatric system | Letters

I am disappointed to read such a scathing review of Bella Jackson’s book Fragile Minds (A furious assault on NHS psychiatry, 30 June). It is a difficult read, and yet I thought that Jackson wrote about her experiences with compassion for both patients and staff unwittingly caught up in erratic and overstretched services.I am a doctor, with experience as a psychiatric patient and as a senior “staff grade” doctor on an acute psychiatric ward. My memoir, Unshackled Mind: A Doctor’s Story of Trauma, Liberation and Healing, confirms Jackson’s claims that abuses do happen in these places. More subtly, there is a continued reliance on the disease-centred model of biomedical psychiatry without sufficient attention paid to the circumstances and adversities suffered by patients before they ever came in contact with psychiatry

The toxic effect of poverty on children’s health | Letters

In the last 18 months I’ve found myself having to respond to claims that mental health culture has gone too far, that we’re over-diagnosing mental health problems and that we’re simply medicalising the ups and downs of life. I hope the children’s commissioner’s report (Children in England ‘living in almost Dickensian levels of poverty’, 8 July) is a moment for everyone to reflect on what the “ups and downs” of life look like for too many young people: going without food, cold and mouldy homes, and not feeling safe in the area you live.There is a toxic relationship between poverty and mental health. A fact reinforced by the latest NHS data, showing that mental health problems among adults are at record levels, with people in the most deprived areas hardest hit.As the report itself cites, young people are understandably concerned about waits for mental health treatment

Pain relief is available for gynaecological procedures – so why isn’t it used? | Letters

Your article about oesophageal cancer (NHS pharmacies to pilot ‘sponge on a string’ test to spot cancer precursor, 9 July) reminds me of the recent one about poor uptake of cervical screening (One in three across UK are overdue for cervical cancer screening, 20 June). You cite embarrassment and pain as major barriers to improving screening, but the misogyny of healthcare is of crucial importance.Women wait months to see gynaecologists then are given no pain relief for painful procedures. They put up with this as they don’t want to be put back in a queue. There is access to topical lidocaine spray and entonox, and it should be routine

Doctors in England: what are your views on the planned strike action?

Resident doctors in the NHS in England are planning to strike for five days later this month from 25 to 30 July, as they push for a 29% pay rise over the next few years.The doctors’ union, the British Medical Association (BMA), says it will not accept a lower figure than 29% – because it says that’s the extent of the real-terms loss of earnings resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, have suffered since 2008.The health secretary Wes Streeting has said the industrial action is “completely unreasonable”, and the government will not revisit the 5.4% salary increase it gave resident doctors for 2025-26.Turnout in the ballot was 55%, with 90% of those who took part backing strike action