‘It was the last time Mum smiled at me’: the choirs singing to the dying in three-part harmony

A worldwide movement to sing gentle songs to the dying provides comfort, peace and release to both the suffering and the singersIt’s a warm morning in suburban Ballina, in northern New South Wales, and Joy Hurnall is lying in a recliner in her lounge room, wearing a pale blue dressing gown and a woollen shawl made by her daughter Cheryl.Having been discharged from the palliative care unit of a local hospital the previous day, the 92-year-old is relieved to be back home, surrounded by people she loves: her cousin and best friend since childhood, three of her six adult children, and dozens of long-gone relatives smiling down from framed black-and-white photographs in the bookcase behind her.The small room is full but quiet, the air infused with the gentle voices of three women from Ballina’s Threshold Choir who have come to sing to Joy. She closes her eyes and rests her hands on her lap, listening.For the next 20 minutes, the women sing four lullaby-like songs with names as soothing as they sound: You Are Not Alone, Love Transcends, Healing Light and You Are So Loved

‘There is a gap where Alex should be’: the young woman who lost her life in a neglectful prison system

“There is a gap or a space where Alex should be,” Stacie Davies said. “Wherever I am, she’s not there.”At just 25 years old, her daughter, Alex Davies, was found dead in her segregation cell at Styal prison in Cheshire on Christmas Eve last year.She had been sent to prison after pleading guilty to offences including criminal damage and possession of a knife, which she had committed while in mental health crisis.The expectation was that when Alex was sentenced, she would receive a hospital order, and four separate psychiatrists had supported a recommendation that she be transferred to hospital before sentence

AI, Covid and taxes: what is behind steep rise in youth unemployment?

Youth unemployment is at the highest level since the Covid pandemic, as younger people bear the brunt of a worsening slowdown in the UK jobs market.Excluding the peak recorded during the autumn of 2020, when the country was entering the second pandemic lockdown, the jobless rate for 16 to 24-year-olds – running at 15.3% – is at the highest level in a decade.There are a multitude of reasons why young people are struggling to find work – including the lasting scars of the Covid pandemic, rising mental health issues, the rise of artificial intelligence and tax increases. Here we dive into the details

‘It’s so demoralising’: UK graduates exasperated by high unemployment

It has been more than six months since Leah Savage, 24, started job hunting and despite applying for almost 100 jobs, she has had just two interviews in that time.“It’s so demoralising. All I do is wake up and apply for jobs. I reach out to different people and everyone says the same thing – they’re not hiring at the moment,” she said. “It’s a real struggle

English councils plan to sell off social clubs and sports centres to balance books

English councils are planning to sell social clubs, sports centres and shopping arcades as they bet on a fire sale of assets to balance the books, according to a survey of local authorities.The key cities group of councils, which represents second-tier cities in England, said 60% of councils were planning to sell assets to meet the escalating costs of adult and children’s social care.Councils have in the past come under fire for selling playing fields and land to shore up their finances, but argue they must continue to raise vital cash from asset sales or declare themselves bankrupt.The group said a high proportion of councils seeking to raise money from a fire sale of assets marked “a distinct shift from 2024, when the majority (60%) of local leaders said they would prioritise service redesigns and utilising financial reserves to weather increasing financial challenges”.Medway council in Kent said its property management strategy included the sale of a shopping centre in Rainham and a social club in Rochester to raise £20m over five years

Why the NHS doctors’ strikes look set to continue

As resident doctors began a new round of industrial action on Friday, it felt very like the other 49 days of strikes since March 2023, with medics in scrubs on picket lines outside hospitals across England amid a battle for public sympathy.The British Medical Association claimed the stoppage was wholly justified while the health secretary, Wes Streeting, riposted that it was irresponsible and risky.Meanwhile, many thousands of patients had their appointments or surgery cancelled as hospitals attempted to minimise the disruption. They were collateral damage, as usual.It is now one of the longest-running disputes in NHS history