Gren Gaskell obituary

My stepfather Gren Gaskell, who has died aged 89, was a former miner who pulled himself up by his bootstraps to become a company manager with a passion for learning. In later life he published three books, including poetry and short stories, inspired by his experiences in the coalmining community.Born in Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, Gren, short for Granville, was the son of John, a miner, and Eliza. John died in a pit accident when Gren was four, and Eliza struggled to look after him and his five siblings. Experiencing hunger and cold as a child made him count his blessings as an adult, as he championed the rights of the less fortunate

It pays to support women’s health in the workplace | Letter

The Keep Britain Working review has shed valuable light on the number of working-age adults in the UK falling out of work due to ill health (Fixing Britain’s worklessness crisis will cost employers £6bn a year, report says, 5 November). As part of this, we should also specifically acknowledge the impact of women’s health issues and the role of employers in addressing these.In a report by the NHS Confederation in partnership with our foundation, we found that an estimated £11bn is lost annually due to absenteeism for gynaecological conditions alone. And earlier this year, our research found that 15% of women report having to change to part-time work and 14% have had to quit work due to women’s health conditions. Furthermore, 32% of women reported that they aren’t receiving enough support for their health issues from their employers

Review to look at role of mental health issues in UK youth unemployment

The role of mental health issues and disability in youth unemployment will be examined by the former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn as part of a review looking into rising inactivity among Britain’s young people.Nearly a million people aged 16 to 24 are not in education, employment or training, often described with the acronym Neets. Milburn will look at ways to avoid people becoming trapped as Neets and the findings will be published in the summer.The government announced the review four days after publishing the findings of another review, by the former John Lewis boss Charlie Mayfield, which said “young adults” aged 16 to 34 were one of the key cohorts affected by an “economic inactivity crisis”.The number of 16- to 34-year-olds with a mental health condition who are economically inactive due to long-term sickness rose by three-quarters, or 190,000, between 2019 and 2024, Mayfield’s review found

Home Office data in HMRC benefit fraud trial wrong in 46% of cases

Home Office travel records used in a trial of a controversial anti-fraud crackdown under which thousands of parents lost their child benefit were so flawed that almost half of the families initially flagged as having emigrated were still living in the UK, it has emerged.The benefit is not payable if the claimant is abroad for more than eight weeks unless there are exceptional circumstances. The pilot scheme saved HMRC £17m but left 46% of the families targeted incorrectly suspected of fraud, a margin of error far in excess of the 1% to 5% scientifically acceptable.In Northern Ireland, 78% were incorrectly identified as not having returned from trips abroad and 129 families were flagged during the pilot as having left the countrywhen only 28 had actually done so.Kim Johnson, the Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, called for an urgent investigation after being contacted by several constituents who had their benefits stopped

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”