UK medical regulator warns against buying weight-loss jabs from social media channels

Losing weight may be a common new year resolution but health experts have warned against buying medications for such purposes from social media sellers or other illegitimate channels.Jabs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro have become hugely popular for weight loss, with trials suggesting the latter can help people lose an average of 20% of their body weight after 72 weeks of treatment.However, with demand high, access on the NHS limited, a prescription required and a hefty price tag attached, the black market for such medications is booming.The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued a fresh warning to those planning to use weight-loss medications, stressing the importance of only buying them from registered UK pharmacies or legitimate retailers.“People often look for ways to support their health at this time of year but buying medicines from illegal online sellers can put your health at real risk,” said Jenn Matthissen, of the MHRA’s safety and surveillance team

Most Europeans think state pensions will become unaffordable, polling shows

Most Europeans believe their country’s state pension system will soon become unaffordable – but they also think the current scheme is not generous enough, and do not support options for overhauling it such as raising the retirement age.As populations age and fertility rates decline, Europe’s “pay as you go” state pension systems, cornerstones of the welfare state that have always relied on people in work paying the retirees’ pensions, are coming under increasingly heavy pressure.With attempts to reform them meeting stiff and sometimes violent resistance in countries including France, Germany, Spain and Italy, a six-country YouGov poll reveals the extent of the public-opinion problem governments face.Many people acknowledge state pension schemes are in trouble: majorities of between 61% and 52% in Italy, France, Germany and Spain said theirs was already unaffordable, as well as 45% of respondents in Poland. In the UK the figure was 32%

‘I tried. I felt everything’: readers tell us how they would use their last chance to send a letter

At the end of December, the Danish postal service will deliver its last letter, focusing on packages, citing the “increasing digitalisation” of society.While the public will still be able to send letters through the distributor DAO, it made us think about how we would use that last chance to send a letter.Many people responded to our callout asking what they would write in their last letter and why. Here is a selection.My wife, Penny, and I moved to Reigate, Surrey, nearly two years ago to be nearer our grandson, Remy, now aged two-and-a-half, after living in Bristol for about 45 years

Gambling firms spent nearly £5m to advertise on TfL since London mayor’s ban pledge

Gambling companies have spent nearly £5m to advertise on the London transport network since Sadiq Khan pledged to stop them from doing so, amid a prolonged impasse between the mayor’s office and the government.Khan said during his 2021 mayoral election campaign that he would order Transport for London (TfL) to extend a ban on junk food ads to cover online casinos and bookmakers as well, citing the “devastating” impact of addiction.Yet the mayor’s office has yet to make good on the manifesto promise, blaming a lack of guidance from central government on the links between gambling adverts and harm.In the meantime, the number of gambling ads has increased, including a campaign for the online casino 888 that had to be withdrawn amid an outcry about its flippant tone.Freedom of information requests submitted by the Guardian and other outlets indicate that gambling firms have run more than 500 campaigns since Khan made his pledge, at a cost of £4

AI being used to help cut A&E waiting times in England this winter

Hospitals in England are using artificial intelligence to help cut waiting times in emergency departments this winter.The A&E forecasting tool predicts when demand will be highest, allowing trusts to better plan staffing and bed space. The prediction algorithm is trained on historical data including weather trends, school holidays, and rates of flu and Covid to determine how many people are likely to visit A&E.The government said the technology allowed healthcare staff “to do the things that they’re trained to do, rather than having to be bound down by bureaucratic processes”.Ian Murray, the minister for digital government and data, said: “The front door of the NHS is the A&E department

Dagenham’s sewing machinists did not go on strike primarily for equal pay | Letters

In her long read article (‘Pretty birds and silly moos’: the women behind the Sex Discrimination Act, 18 December), Susanna Rustin details some of the women who campaigned to make illegal the many forms of legal discrimination against women in services and in the workplace. One of the key groups of women she cites in this campaign were the “187 sewing machinists at Ford’s Dagenham Plant” who “forced the issue” with their 1968 strike for equal pay.The sewing machinists did not go on strike primarily for equal pay. They were outraged that the 1967 new grade structure introduced by the Ford Motor Company had evaluated the their work as grade B. The sewing machinists believed their work was at least semi-skilled and should have been graded C