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Council leaders warn of ‘infrastructure crisis’ that will also affect green energy schemes and hinder growthHousing projects are being delayed for years because of an “infra­structure crisis” caused by lack of capacity in the National Grid, council leaders have warned.Building schemes for thousands of homes are on hold, while new ­projects face delays of up to four years in some parts of the UK...

Progress to prevent female genital mutilation needs to be ‘27 times faster’, says UNThe number of girls and women who have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) has increased by 15% in the past eight years according to new data.Figures released by the UN children’s agency, Unicef, show that more than 230 million girls and women alive today have undergone FGM, compared with 200 million...

Research suggests every extra step up to 10,000 reduces risk even if rest of the day is sedentaryWalking up to 10,000 steps a day lowers the risk of heart disease and early death, even when spending the rest of the day sedentary, research suggests.The study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that every extra step above 2,200 steps a day –...

The Pritzker prize has been won by the 78-year-old Japanese master whose whose work ranges from an open-access Hiroshima fire station to a building seemingly made of booksFrom rows of public housing connected by elevated walkways and shared terraces, to sleek glass university buildings designed for maximum transparency between departments, the architecture of Riken Yamamoto has always been about seeing and being seen. Now...

Vast majority of parents in Save the Children survey say they cannot make the new system workStruggling 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.A year after the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, forced parents on benefits to work for 30 hours...

Inspector says he was ‘deeply shocked’ by incidents with no female officer present at young offender institutionAn “incredibly vulnerable” girl held in a young offender institution was pinned down and stripped by an all-male group of officers on at least two occasions, a watchdog has discovered.Charities have called for all female offenders to be removed from YOI Wetherby in West Yorkshire after the damning...

Food Standards Agency advises consumers with dairy and fish allergies to check labels carefullyPeople with dairy and fish allergies are being advised not to buy vegan products without checking the label carefully as they may contain animal products due to cross-contamination.The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has launched a campaign to make consumers aware of the dangers after research released by the regulatory body showed...

Exclusive: findings raise concerns over ‘two-tier service’ with poorer people also feeling less heard by medicsPoorer people find it much harder to access NHS care than the well-off and have a worse experience when they do get it, research by the health service’s consumer watchdog has found.Those on the lowest incomes have much more difficulty getting a GP appointment, dental care or help with...

David Willetts suggests policy would help spread wealth among millennials amid deepening inequalitiesMinisters should hand all 30-year-olds a £10,000 “citizens inheritance” amid fears a £1.5tn wealth transfer to millennials will deepen inequalities, a Conservative peer has urged.David Willetts, who leads the Intergenerational Centre thinktank, called for the next government to implement a major new policy to spread wealth in Britain. Continue reading...

From the Tate Britain to New York’s Met, some of the world’s mightiest galleries have signed up for my audio guides, which shift the spotlight onto female artists like Rosa Bonheur – who required a permit to wear trousers‘Do women have to be naked to get into the Met Museum?” asked a 1989 artwork by the Guerrilla Girls, the all-female-identifying activist artist collective. A...

Exclusive: Guardian investigation for podcast series Black Box reveals names connected to app that generated nonconsensual images of underage girls around the worldPrologue: the collision – podcastThe first Miriam al-Adib learned of the pictures was when she returned home from a business trip. “Mum,” said her daughter. “I want to show you something.”The girl, 14, opened her phone to show an explicit image of...

Women’s groups urge chancellor to ignore calls for tax cuts in next week’s spring budgetFurther cuts to public services in England will put gender equality “into reverse”, according to women’s groups and unions that have urged the chancellor to ignore calls for tax cuts from the right of his party in next week’s spring budget.The Fawcett Society, the TUC and Women’s Aid are among...

Women and children suffering acute malnutrition as territory faces ‘catastrophic conditions’, according to UNOne in five pregnant women treated at a central Gaza clinic are malnourished, doctors have warned, as fuel and medical supply shortages closed the last hospital operating in the north of the strip.“Every day, we see women and children coming into our clinic suffering from acute malnutrition,” said Dr Maram, the...

Rise of femicide follows country’s 2021 withdrawal from Council of Europe convention on preventing violence against womenSeven women were killed by their partners or ex-partners across Turkey on Tuesday, according to the television station Habertürk.“In total, seven women were savagely killed in İzmir, Bursa, Sakarya, Erzurum, Denizli and Istanbul,” Habertürk reported, listing the country’s major cities. Continue reading...

Fears for impact on NHS workforce as leaked letter reveals ministers stall on aim to increase trainee doctors to 15,000 by 2031Ministers have dramatically stalled plans to double the number of doctors being trained in England by 2031 in a move that has caused dismay across the NHS, as well in medical schools and universities, the Observer can reveal.In June last year, ministers backed...

CAA proposals would allow operators to fly drones at low heights beyond the line of sightDrones could be used for critical medical deliveries, as well as inspections of railways, powerlines, and roads under new proposals put forward by the UK’s air travel watchdog.The proposals, set out in a consultation published on Monday by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), would allow operators to fly...

Insecure jobs and high housing costs make it hard to maintain decent living standard, says abrdn Financial Fairness TrustBritain’s insecure jobs market and high housing costs are leading to the growth of a precarious middle class struggling to maintain a decent living standard on household incomes as high as £60,000 a year, a report has said.A study released by abrdn Financial Fairness Trust, a...

Local WhatsApp group started by two mothers concerned about online safety attracts more than 4,000 membersMore than 4,000 parents have joined a group committed to barring young children from having smartphones, as concerns grow about online safety and the impact of social media on mental health.The WhatsApp group Smartphone Free Childhood was created by the former school friends Clare Fernyhough and Daisy Greenwell in...

Amina Noor travelled from north London with the child to Kenya where the procedure was carried out in 2006A woman who was found guilty of handing over a three-year-old British girl for female genital mutilation (FGM) during a trip to Kenya has been jailed for seven years.Amina Noor, 40, was convicted last year of assisting a Kenyan woman to carry out the procedure overseas...

In today’s newsletter: A good night for Keir Starmer and a bad one for Rishi Sunak – who now has more to worry about from Reform UK• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. While you were sleeping, the Conservative party was having another meltdown. As was widely predicted, it lost two previously safe seats to Labour after yesterday’s byelections, with...

Carla Dejonghe has persuaded her municipality to consider impact of its policies on single peopleFor much of the past decade Carla Dejonghe has worked to highlight the ways in which single people are often disadvantaged, whether through higher household expenses or the assumption that they are available to work evenings and weekends.However, in recent weeks the Belgian councillor has taken matters into her own...

Clinics de-listed people without warning, forcing them to go private or find another NHS practicePatients across England who failed to visit their dentists since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic have been systematically barred by some clinics from getting NHS treatment.Dental practices across the country informed patients they could no longer get NHS treatment, citing non-attendance over a period of two years or more...

Young people with complex needs face long waits for places because providers fear negative watchdog reportsSome care homes in England are refusing to take children with complex needs because they are worried it might affect their Ofsted inspection ratings, fuelling concern that vulnerable young people in the social care system are having to wait months or even years for a stable home.Last month, an...

Teenagers are coerced into committing crime for someone else’s benefit, according to social justice groupsAlmost half of the victims of criminal exploitation in the UK are British boys aged under 18, according to a report calling for new laws to acknowledge them as ­victims of modern slavery.The analysis, by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) thinktank and the charity Justice and Care, found that...