Royal College of Psychiatrists faces member backlash over Qatar partnership

The Royal College of Psychiatrists is facing a backlash from members over a controversial partnership with Qatar’s state healthcare provider.The college has signed a contract with the state-owned Hamad Medical Corporation to host international exams in Doha, enabling psychiatrists from across the Middle East and beyond to apply for membership.But the decision to hold clinical exams in a country with well-documented human rights abuses and in which same-sex relationships are criminalised has prompted more than 150 psychiatrists from leading UK hospitals and universities to sign a letter to the president of the college.“A commercial relationship with Qatar’s public health system, a de facto branch of its government, runs a risk of significant reputational damage to the college,” states the letter, which was sent in September.“Women are denied equal rights in a number of domains and there is no legal protection for domestic abuse,” the letter says

Having open conversations with boys is key to fending off the manosphere threat | Letters

It’s great to see that there are young men who are actively looking for alternatives to the kinds of masculinities displayed online (I’m a teenager who was lured into the manosphere. Here’s how to reach young men like me, 2 November). But to me, Josh Sargent’s article is about more than just the manosphere. It’s about the platforms that facilitate it, and how social media diverts attention away from things like reading and toward things that largely don’t matter. Josh says it himself: “in fairness, short-form content is slightly more engaging than Macbeth quotation flashcards”

Social media misinformation driving men to seek unneeded NHS testosterone therapy, doctors say

Social media misinformation is driving men to NHS clinics in search of testosterone therapy they don’t need, adding pressure to already stretched waiting lists, doctors have said.Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is a prescription-only treatment recommended under national guidelines for men with a clinically proven deficiency, confirmed by symptoms and repeated blood tests.But a wave of viral videos on TikTok and Instagram have begun marketing blood tests as a means of accessing testosterone as lifestyle supplement, advertising the hormone as a solution to problems such as low energy levels, poor concentration and reduced sex drive.Doctors warn taking testosterone unnecessarily can suppress the body’s natural hormone production, cause infertility, and increase the risk of blood clots, heart problems and mood disorders.The online demand for treatment is so great that medical professionals have now begun to see it mirrored in their clinics

‘Heroic actions are a natural tendency’: why bystander apathy is a myth

It was early morning on 1 January last year when Colin McGarva dived into a flooding river in Worcester to rescue an unconscious woman. McGarva said he didn’t think twice about the risk to himself, or the devastating loss his newborn son would suffer had he too been swept away by the fast-flowing icy waters.“I didn’t stop to think because the instinct – the instant reaction – is to help someone in need,” he said. “Someone’s life is an important thing. Helping is just something you have to do

Sex offender freed from Wandsworth prison by mistake is back in custody

A convicted sex offender who was released from prison by mistake a week ago is back in custody.Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, from Algeria, was accidentally freed on 29 October from Wandsworth prison in south London. He was arrested in Finsbury Park, north London, on Friday after police said they had received a call from a member of the public.The erroneous release, and that of another prisoner who was mistakenly freed, has led to mounting political pressure on David Lammy, the justice secretary, days after he introduced stringent checks for jails.Lammy had refused several times to say whether any more prisoners had been released in error in a bruising session of prime minister’s questions (PMQs) on Wednesday, having been ambushed with a string of questions

Tom Butler obituary

My friend Tom Butler, who has died of lymphoma after a short illness aged 73, was a former head of NHS mental health services in inner-city Manchester.Alongside his career in social work and mental health, Tom was a historian of social policy in the UK and author of several books, including Mental Health, Social Policy and the Law, published in 1985. As a young social worker, he pioneered the use of computer databases to improve child protection while working for Berkshire social services.He was born in Gloucester to Irish parents, Margaret (nee Bolger) and Patrick Butler, a draughtsman in the aircraft industry. Tom attended St Peter’s Roman Catholic junior school in Gloucester, where we first met