UK cancer survival rate doubles since 1970s amid ‘golden age’, report says
The proportion of people surviving cancer in the UK has doubled since the 1970s amid a “golden age” of progress in diagnosis and treatment, a report says.Half of those diagnosed will now survive for 10 years or more, up from 24%, according to the first study of 50 years of data on cancer mortality and cases.The rate of people dying from cancer has fallen by 23% since the 1970s, from 328 in every 100,000 people to 252.But cancer remains the UK’s biggest killer, the report by Cancer Research UK (CRUK) says.Progress has not been equal across all cancers, and women have not reaped as many benefits as men.
There have been greater improvements in survival for men since the 1970s but survival remains higher in women,Sustained pressure in the NHS means patients wait too long to get diagnosed and start treatment,In England, only about half of cancers are diagnosed at an early stage, and this proportion has not improved for almost a decade, the 42-page study found,The research will be published on Tuesday, the final day of the world’s largest cancer conference, the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago,The CRUK chief executive, Michelle Mitchell, said: “Over the last 50 years, the proportion of the population dying from cancer has fallen by more than a fifth because of life-saving research into new ways to prevent people developing the disease, detect it earlier when they do and develop new cutting-edge treatments.
“Yet cancer remains the UK’s biggest killer, causing around one in four deaths in the UK – far more than other disease groups,For people affected by cancer, this means lost time and fewer precious moments with loved ones,“As this report sets out, it is a time of both optimism and realism,We’re in a golden age for cancer research, with advances in digital, genomics, data science and AI reimagining what’s possible and bringing promise for current and future generations,“However, despite the best efforts of NHS staff, patients are waiting too long for diagnosis and treatment, and cancer survival is improving at its slowest rate in the last 50 years.
This is not acceptable.”Sign up to First EditionOur morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersafter newsletter promotionCancer cases would increase, not decline, if trends continued, Mitchell said.“Nearly one in two people in the UK will get cancer in their lifetime and our projections suggest that the number of new cancer cases in the UK will rise by almost a third to over half a million every year by 2040.”The report highlights that more than 460 people die from cancer every day in the UK.“If we want to change that, we need bold action from the UK government,” Mitchell said.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “It’s promising to see a significant drop in cancer mortality rates, but we know there is still more work to be done.Our Plan for Change is already making an impact, with 90,000 extra patients having cancer diagnosed or ruled out since July than in the previous year – and the highest ever proportion of patients getting a diagnosis or an all-clear within four weeks in February.”
UK sales of new Tesla cars slump by more than a third amid Musk backlash
Sales of new Tesla cars slumped by more than a third in the UK last month as the electric carmaker lost ground to China’s BYD and other rivals, amid a political backlash against its billionaire boss, Elon Musk.Tesla sold 2,016 vehicles in the UK in May, down from 3,152 in May 2024 – a 36% drop, according to the monthly snapshot from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).The Chinese carmaker BYD’s sales in the UK jumped by 407%, from 596 in May last year to 3,025 last month. It sells hybrids as well as pure electric cars. BYD first overtook Tesla in January
Amazon ‘testing humanoid robots to deliver packages’
Amazon is reportedly developing software for humanoid robots that could perform the role of delivery workers and “spring out” of its vans.The $2tn (£1.47tn) technology company is building a “humanoid park” in the US to test the robots, said the tech news site the Information, citing a person who had been involved in the project.The Information reported that the robots could eventually take the jobs of delivery workers. It is developing the artificial intelligence software that would power the robots but will use hardware developed by other companies
English-speaking countries more nervous about rise of AI, polls suggest
People in English-speaking countries including the UK, US, Australia and Canada are more nervous about the rise of artificial intelligence than those in the largest EU economies, where excitement over its spread is higher, new research suggests.A global split over what has been dubbed “the wonder and worry” of AI appears to correlate with widely divergent levels of trust in governments to regulate the fast-developing technology.The polling of 23,000 adults in 30 countries, shared exclusively with the Guardian by Ipsos Mori, also showed a quarter of people globally still do not have a good understanding of what AI is, despite it being widely described as the most transformative technology in decades.On Wednesday, Abba’s Björn Ulvaeus revealed he was writing a musical with the assistance of AI, describing it as “like having another songwriter in the room with a huge reference frame”.Britons appear to be among the world’s most worried people about the rise of AI, with two-thirds of people in Great Britain saying they are nervous about the technology being deployed in products and services, and less than half trusting the UK government to regulate AI responsibly
Trump family disown debut of crypto wallet: ‘I know nothing about this project!’
A splashy website featuring an illustration of Donald Trump, looking buff and pumping his fist in the air, appeared online on Tuesday. The image is the logo of one of Trump’s digital currencies, and the website claims to be the “Official $Trump Wallet”, hawking a product that would allow customers to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, primarily the president’s own.The website prominently features the name of Trump’s coin, $Trump, and invites people to join the waitlist to use the digital wallet. It was first noticed by the crypto newsletter Citation Needed. Magic Eden, an established cryptocurrency marketplace, said on the website that it had partnered with Trump’s official digital coin team to create the wallet
Peers vote to defy government over copyright threat from AI
Defiant peers have delivered an ultimatum to the government – calling on it to offer artists copyright protection against artificial intelligence companies or risk losing a key piece of legislation.The government suffered a fifth defeat in the House of Lords over controversial plans to allow the AI companies to train their models using copyrighted material.Peers voted by 221 to 116 on Wednesday to insist on an amendment to force AI companies to be transparent about what material they use to train their models.Speaking at an awards event after the vote, Elton John said copyright protection was an “existential issue” for artists and urged the government “to do the right thing”.He added: “We will not let the government forget their promise to support our creative industries
BBC and Sky bosses criticise plans to let AI firms use copyrighted material
The BBC director general and the boss of Sky have criticised proposals to let tech firms use copyright-protected work without permission, as the government promised that artificial intelligence legislation will not destroy the £125bn creative sector.The creative industry has said that original proposals published in a consultation in February to give AI companies access to creative works unless the copyright holder opts out would “scrape the value” out of the sector.Dana Strong, the group chief executive of Sky, compared the proposal to its own battles against TV piracy and said individuals and small companies would not have the experience and financial resources to protect their intellectual property.“Sky is one of the leading forces in trying to fight against piracy,” she said, speaking at the Deloitte and Enders Media and Telecoms conference.“As I look ahead to artificial intelligence, protecting copyright is a very big issue, and I think some of the consequences of the opt-out are impossible to police
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