Prostate cancer is most commonly diagnosed cancer across UK, study finds
Prostate cancer is now the most commonly diagnosed form of cancer across the UK, surpassing breast cancer, according to a leading charity.There were 64,425 diagnoses of prostate cancer in 2022, an analysis of NHS figures by Prostate Cancer UK found, and 61,640 new cases of breast cancer.The analysis found there to be a discrepancy at which stage men with prostate cancer were diagnosed, with 31% of men in Scotland diagnosed with prostate cancer at stage 4, compared with 21% of men in England.About one in eight men across the UK will be affected by prostate cancer in their lifetimes, with approximately 12,200 deaths each year caused by the disease.One in four black men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetimes.
They also have a higher risk of a late-stage diagnosis compared with their white counterparts.Prostate Cancer UK highlighted the apparent “postcode lottery” with regard to testing and diagnoses of the disease.It found that rates of prostate specific antigen (PSA) testing were highest in the south-east of England and lowest in the north-west.Men living in areas of higher deprivation were 29% more likely to be diagnosed with cancer that had spread than those living in more affluent areas.Chiara De Biase, the director of health services, equity and improvement at Prostate Cancer UK, said risk awareness campaigns had played a big part in the overall increase, which had led to “more men than ever being diagnosed and treated”.
“Prostate cancer is now the most common cancer in the UK, but despite this, men are facing deeply unfair inequities across the country, and their experiences vary hugely based on where they live,” De Biase said.“We urgently need an early detection programme that will address these regional inequities.”She added: “Mass risk-awareness campaigns have played a big part in causing this increase, such as how in February 2022, we launched a national campaign with the NHS to reach men across the UK to get them to check their risk of prostate cancer.“We also know that when celebrities like Bill Turnbull, Nick Owen and Colin McFarlane share their prostate cancer stories, men can be encouraged to ask about a test themselves.”Last year, prostate cancer became the most common cancer in England, but new figures from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland enabled the UK-wide analysis.
In Scotland there were 5,608 prostate cancer diagnoses, an increase of 30% compared with previous figures.Ian Walker, the executive director of policy at Cancer Research UK, said that the figures could be affected by overdiagnosis of the disease, “where PSA tests in asymptomatic men could be spotting cancers that wouldn’t cause any harm”.A panel of expert government health advisers in November said prostate cancer screening should not be made available to the vast majority of men across the UK.The UK National Screening Committee instead recommended that there should be a targeted screening programme for men with a confirmed BRCA1 or BRCA2 faulty gene variant, which means they are more at risk of faster growing and aggressive cancers at an earlier age.Men in that category could be screened every two years between the ages of 45 and 61, they said.
This is despite campaigners and charities calling for men at higher risk of developing the disease, such as black men and those with a family history of the cancer, to have screening available to them.A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We are determined to improve outcomes for men with prostate cancer, and we know that too many men in deprived communities are being diagnosed at a later stage when the disease is harder to treat.“Last week the NHS expanded access to abiraterone – a treatment that can significantly improve survival rates and give patients precious extra years of life and we are also making progress on cutting cancer waiting times – in the last 12 months, 213,000 more patients received a diagnosis for suspected cancer on time.”
The Guide #226: SPOILER ALERT! It’s never been easier to avoid having your favourite show ruined
Don’t be alarmed by the image above. I can assure you that this newsletter features no spoilers for the current season of The Traitors. We won’t be discussing the shocking departure of REDACTED, or the nefarious actions of EXPUNGED, or the fact that CENSORED is the wife/half-brother/hairdresser of NAME REMOVED. Relax, you are in a hermetically sealed Traitors safe space here.Indeed, what has gradually dawned on me while watching this latest series is how relatively straightforward avoiding spoilers has been
From 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple to A$AP Rocky: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Another visit to the UK’s putrid zombie aftermath, and the polymath rapper returns after eight years with a collb-packed blockbuster28 Years Later: The Bone TempleOut nowIt would have been hard to imagine in 2002 that 28 Days Later would spawn something so different (and that’s probably a good thing; who wants identikit sequels?). The post-apocalyptic UK is now almost unrecognisable in this Nia DaCosta-directed, Alex Garland-scripted instalment, with violent tribes competing for scant resources.Rental FamilyOut now In this Japan-set drama from director Hikari, Brendan Fraser plays an actor hoping to land a decent role after appearing in a hit toothpaste commercial. He is hired by a company that provides family stand-ins for events, leading to some unexpectedly genuine connections.The Voice of Hind RajabOut nowUsing real audio footage, this Gaza-set film dramatises the death of six-year-old Hind Rajab, who was trapped on the phone for three hours in a car surrounded by six relatives killed by Israeli forces, only to be shot dead herself, after soldiers fired 335 rounds of ammunition into the car and the ambulance that came to collect the little girl, also killing two paramedics
Jimmy Kimmel on the midterms: ‘We can’t have an election soon enough’
Late-night hosts covered alarming new comments by Donald Trump as well as his outburst at a heckler in Michigan.On Jimmy Kimmel Live! the host said that in the first two weeks of 2026, “all hell has broken loose” and “if this was Jenga, there’d be blocks of wood all over the house.”He spoke about Trump threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act as a result of his ICE officers causing chaos in Minneapolis. Kimmel joked that “he hasn’t been able to get an insurrection for years”.The host said that instead of trying to de-escalate the situation, he is doing the opposite and that “he turns the temperature up on everything but his wife
Civilised but casual, often hilarious, Adelaide writers’ week is everything a festival should be – except this year | Tory Shepherd
The sun almost always shines on Adelaide writers’ week, held on Kaurna land each year at the tail end of summer.For those who start looking forward to it as soon as soon as the Christmas tree is packed away (or earlier, frankly) there’s a sense of loss, of betrayal, at the omnishambles that has led to its cancellation this year.We’re bereft, and angry – not least because some of the most vocal critics seem to have no idea what writers’ week actually is.During Adelaide’s Mad March, the city’s parklands are home to the festival fringe’s sprawling performance spaces, bars and restaurants. On a Sunday you might leave behind the carnival chaos of the Garden of Unearthly Delights
‘Soon I will die. And I will go with a great orgasm’: the last rites of Alejandro Jodorowsky
The Chilean film-maker’s psychedelic work earned him the title ‘king of the midnight movie’, and a fan in John Lennon. Now the 96-year-old is ready for the end – but first there is more living to doThe Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.There is an apocryphal story of an ageing Orson Welles introducing himself to the guests at a half-empty town hall
Call this social cohesion? The war of words that laid waste to the 2026 Adelaide writers’ festival
How a boardroom flare-up sparked an international boycott – and a looming defamation battleIt began as a quiet programming dispute in the genteel city of churches.But by Wednesday morning, a frantic, six-day war of words had culminated in the end of the 2026 Adelaide writers’ week and total institutional collapse.What started with the discreet exit of a business titan and arts board veteran spiralled into boardroom carnage last weekend, with mass resignations, lawyers’ letters of demands and allegations of racism and hypocrisy flung by all sides.By the time the writers’ week director, Louise Adler, walked, the boycott of writers, commentators and academics had gone global and the state’s premier cultural event had become a hollowed-out shell.The cancellation of AWW may only be the opening act
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