The UK faces nearly 20 years of lost pay growth, a think tank which focuses on low and middle earners says.
The Resolution Foundation said that, after taking account of rising prices, the average wage will not regain its 2008 level until 2026.more
Plans for automated surveillance of millions of bank accounts to catch welfare cheats should be scrapped, campaigners have said, warning the approach risks a repeat of the Post Office Horizon scandal.more
March 4 this year France decided to include the right to abortion in its constitution, becoming the first country to introduce such a provision into its constitution. Elsewhere in Europe, regulations vary but are mostly liberal. In the USA, from 2022, individual states will decide on the permissibility of abortion.more
A drug that could improve the quality of life of hundreds of women with womb cancer will be rolled out on the NHS across England from Tuesday.
Dostarlimab, also known as Jemperli, is an immunotherapy that works by attracting specific proteins on the surface of cancer cells to help the immune system attack them.more
'Putin's propaganda machine wants to discredit Germany, manipulate opinions and divide our society,' assessed Interior Ministry chief Nancy Faeser, referring to the conversation between Bundeswehr officers that was overheard and published by Russia. She announced increased protection against espionage and disinformation.more
Struggling single parents are being “punished” and set up to fail by an “unrealistic” government policy that forces them into near-full-time work when their children turn three, according to parents and new research.more
64 per cent of Poles declared that they would go on holiday this year. This is 9 per cent more than last year, according to the latest CBOS survey.more
Under a Labour government there would be “no option of a life on benefits”, the party has said, as it set out plans to reduce the number of young people not in work, education or training. The shadow work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, said the party would recruit 8,500 more mental health workers and promised that the sickness benefits bill would fall under Labour.more
The number of people smoking pipes, shisha and cigars in the UK has risen fivefold over a decade, and experts say this could lead to a rise in smoking-related cancers such as mouth and lung cancer.more
Catalan Maria Branyas, the world's oldest living person, celebrated her 117th birthday yesterday. The senior citizen, who was born in the USA, is an avid enthusiast of the works of Frederic Chopin.more
More than four in five outdoor billboard advertisements are in the poorest half of England and Wales, leading experts to warn that the discrepancy risks deepening health inequalities.more
British teenagers believe their generation will have a worse life than their parents, according to a new poll.
Money, jobs and climate change were named among the concerns of 1,001 teenagers aged 14 to 17 who were questioned by YouGov for children’s charity Barnardo’s.more
Szymon Holownia, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz and Donald Tusk enjoy the greatest public trust in February. Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Mateusz Morawiecki are the most distrusted, according to the CBOS poll.more
Taking an unauthorised family holiday is about to get more expensive, with the government announcing that fines for children in England missing school are to rise by 33%.more
Thousands of people came today to the area around the Orthodox church in Moscow where the funeral of opposition politician Alexei Navalny is taking place. Those gathered chanted his name. There are communication problems at the site. Representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Russia attended the ceremony.more
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has warned police chiefs that "mob rule is replacing democratic rule" and officers must therefore protect politicians and democratic processes more robustly.more
One in three Poles is worried about whether they will be able to pay their bills, and one in two will not be able to handle an unexpected expense, according to Deloitte's "Consumer Signals" survey. Thirty-eight percent of respondents said they would not have enough money at the end of the month - a 3 percentage point increase from December 2023.more
The extension of child benefit payments for all children under the age of 19 has been passed by the Dáil, with the planned extension being brought four months from September to May 1.
Currently parents only get child benefit for each child up until their 18th birthday, but under plans announced in the Budget this was to be extended to every dependent child up to the age of 19 in September.more
Sadiq Khan has hailed his Night Time Enterprise Zones programme as having “dramatically” boosted high street spending in three London neighbourhoods. more
E-cigarettes are already the most popular nicotine stimulant among school-aged youth. Nearly half of students (47.6%) admit to using them on a daily basis, with one in five (21.3%) reaching for disposable e-cigarettes mainly due to their wide availability and attractive, sweet flavours.more
J.K. Rowling criticized Sky News on X (formerly Twitter) after the British television news channel posted a story about a 26-year-old being jailed for murder and referred to her as a “woman” and not a transgender woman.more
More and more Americans see immigration as the most important issue facing their country. Immigration has become more important than the economy and inflation for the first time since 2019.more
One in four drivers in Poland wants to replace their car this year, while 61 per cent of drivers do not intend to do so, according to the "Pole in his car" report. The age of the car and its technical condition are the most common reasons for buying a new car; one in six respondents is waiting to replace their vehicle for more than 10 years, it added.more
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is conducting a thorough review of its cost of living payments to determine if more are needed, reports BirminghamLive. Charities, campaigners, and MPs have been urging for another round of financial aid as daily costs remain high, but the government has so far stated that no further payments will be made after the recent £299 sum.more
Labour is being warned by a powerful alliance of thinktanks and charities that poverty will soar if it comes to power and then fails to spend many billions of pounds on welfare reform to help those struggling most with the cost of living.more