‘Group is a lifesaver’: strangers buy Wetherspoon’s meals for homeless people through app

Carl used to own pubs – several of them – and a string of hotels. Then two years ago, rising costs forced him into bankruptcy. Now he sleeps on the beach in summer, and in winter sits in an all-night McDonald’s nursing a single cup of coffee.Carl’s daughters are in a different part of the country with his ex-wife. To maintain the illusion that he lives a normal life, Carl is careful only to video-call them from the local Wetherspoon’s with a meal and a drink carefully positioned in shot

Thousands of cancer patients in England to benefit from new immunotherapy jab

Thousands of patients across England each year will benefit from a new immunotherapy treatment that can be used for several types of cancer, the NHS has announced.The injectable form of pembrolizumab, which can be administered in under two minutes, kills cancer cells by blocking a protein called PD-1, which acts as a brake on immune responses, allowing the immune system to recognise and attack cancer cells.This new form of immunotherapy will replace pembrolizumab, which is administered via an intravenous drip in a specialist clean room. Preparing and administering it can be time-consuming and expensive for NHS staff to maintain, taking about two hours per session for patient.Most of the 14,000 patients already taking pembrolizumab are expected to benefit from the new injectable version

Raise tax on alcohol and junk food to cut deaths from liver disease, experts say

Governments in Europe should impose much higher taxes on alcohol and unhealthy food to tackle the continent’s 284,000 deaths a year from liver disease, experts say.Taxes on those products should rise sharply enough for the money raised to cover the huge costs they place on health services, the criminal justice system and social services.The call for tough action on common causes of serious liver disease comes from a commission of experts from the European Association for the Study of the Liver and the Lancet medical journal.They are urging governments in Europe to ensure all alcoholic products carry health warnings and stop under-18s being targeted with online advertisements for alcoholic drinks and junk food.Bold steps are needed to combat “an escalating and unsustainable burden of liver disease”, the commission says in a report published on Wednesday in the Lancet

Dame Shirley Porter obituary

There was a time in the late 1980s when Shirley Porter was the second most famous and powerful female politician in Britain: “the Iron Lady of the town halls”. Like her heroine, Margaret Thatcher, she was a grocer’s daughter, though the family business, Tesco, was somewhat bigger than the prime minister’s corner shop. Porter’s eventual fall from grace was devastating both for her personal reputation and for Thatcherism’s perceived way of doing things. She was, simply, the most corrupt politician of her time.Porter, who has died aged 95, was pursued by the district auditor from her power base at Westminster city council, where she was leader for eight years, 1983-91, and eventually found to have acted illegally in selling council houses with the aim of increasing Conservative votes, in what became known as the “homes for votes” scandal

Slow Alzheimer’s diagnoses ‘mean UK patients missing out on experimental treatments’

People with Alzheimer’s disease are missing out on experimental treatments because they are not diagnosed early or accurately enough to be enrolled in clinical trials, a UK charity has said.Trials of Alzheimer’s drugs reached a record high this year, according to data published on Tuesday, but Alzheimer’s Research UK said too few UK patients were taking part because their diagnoses were delayed or were not specific enough.The warning suggests patients are being left behind as research gathers momentum and branches out to tackle the condition on multiple fronts, a strategy that scientists consider to be crucial for halting the disease.Dr Sheona Scales, the director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said the recent surge in clinical trials was driving demand for participants, but without a large and diverse range of patients to match to trials the UK risked missing out. “People won’t have access to the next generation of Alzheimer’s treatments,” she said

Man produces sperm from testicular tissue frozen as a child in breakthrough trial

In a groundbreaking fertility trial, a man whose testicular tissue was frozen before he underwent chemotherapy as a child to be re-transplanted 16 years later has been able to produce sperm.It is the first time a transplant of cryopreserved prepubertal testicular tissue has been demonstrated to restore sperm production in an adult patient. The 27-year-old man had the sample frozen when he was 10, before undergoing potent chemotherapy as part of treatment for sickle cell disease.“This is a huge finding,” said Prof Ellen Goossens, of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, who led the trial. “Many more people will have hope that they can have biological children