Latest news with #BBCRadio4
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Social housing complaints soar as watchdog warns of 'simmering anger'
Complaints about substandard living conditions in social housing in England are more than five times higher than five years ago, according to the housing watchdog. Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway said there was an "imbalance of power" in the tenant-landlord relationship and "simmering anger at poor housing conditions risked becoming social disquiet". He warned without change England risked the "managed decline" of social housing. Asbestos, electrical and fire safety issues, pest control and leaks, damp and mould are among the complaints, the watchdog receives. In its latest report, the Housing Ombudsman, which deals with disputes between residents and social housing landlords in England, said that the general condition of social housing - combined with the length of time it takes for repairs to be done - is leading to a breakdown in trust. "You've got ageing homes and social housing, you've got rising costs around materials, for example, and you've got skills shortages," said Mr Blakeway, who spoke to the BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "You put all that together and you end up with a perfect storm and that's what's presenting in our case work. That is not sustainable." He said tenants have "little say in the services they receive, however poor they are" and that this is leading to "growing frustration". While he acknowledged that social landlords are putting in "record amounts" for repairs and maintenance - £9bn between 2023 and 2024 - there had been historic underfunding in social housing. He also said that while landlords have faced "funding uncertainties", they needed to address their communication with tenants that sometimes "lacks dignity and respect". According to the ombudsman's report, there were 6,380 complaints investigated in the year to March 2025 - up from 1,111 in the year to March 2020. Referring to English Housing Survey estimates, it also found that an estimated 1.5 million children in England live in a non-decent home in 2023, and 19% of those live in social housing. The Housing Ombudsman is calling for a "transformative overhaul" of the current system, including an independent review of funding practices and the establishment of a "national tenant body" to "strengthen tenant voice and landlord accountability". That would be separate to the ombudsman, which has the power to order a landlord to apologise, carry out works or pay financial compensation. "The human cost of poor living conditions is evident, with long-term impacts on community cohesion, educational attainment, public health, and economic productivity," said Mr Blakeway. "Without change we effectively risk the managed decline of one of the largest provisions of social housing in Europe, especially in areas of lowest affordability. "It also risks the simmering anger at poor housing conditions becoming social disquiet." This is "neither fanciful nor alarmist", he said, adding that tenant activism formed its roots decades ago in the 1960s, and referencing the ongoing "shock" over the Grenfell Tower fire and the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak in recent years. The 2017 tower block blaze which killed 72 people, and the death of Awaab in 2020, caused by prolonged exposure to mould in his home, have put the spotlight on housing standards and safety. Housing campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa told the BBC that he was "shocked but not surprised" by the ombudsman's report. He pointed out that for complaints to reach the ombudsman, tenants will have to formally raised the issue with the landlord. Mr Tweneboa said social housing residents he has spoken to say they feel they are not listened to and that the culture within housing organisations "just isn't right". "They feel they are just a rental figure at the end of each month." "In some cases, residents are left to suffer for years," Mr Tweneboa says, adding that he knows of instances in which families with children have to "defecate in bin bags, urinate in bottles because they've been without a toilet for months". The National Housing Federation, which represents England's housing associations, said quality and safety of homes was their "top priority", and the sector was spending record sums on repairs and maintenance. Chief executive Kate Henderson said: "Crippling cuts to social housing over many years have exacerbated quality issues, as the ombudsman recognises, and only an increase in funding can address this over the long-term." Overcrowding is a "significant contributor" to issues such as damp and mould, she added. In a statement, a Ministry of Housing spokesperson said: "Everyone deserves to live in a safe, secure home and despite the situation we have inherited, we are taking decisive action to make this a reality." "We will clamp down on damp, mould and other hazards in social homes by bringing in Awaab's Law for the social rented sector from October, while we will also introduce a competence and conduct standard for the social rented sector to ensure staff have the right skills, knowledge and experience to do their jobs effectively." Plans to tackle IOM's key housing issues unveiled Rat infestation is blighting area, say residents We're treated like peasants, say tenants in fight over mouldy homes
Daily Record
2 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Record
Holidaymakers warned of increased arrest risk as destination becomes 'police state'
A former British ambassador has called for the Foreign Office to caution against travel to the country Former British ambassador to Egypt, John Casson, has urged the Foreign Office to issue a travel warning for Brits considering trips to Egypt, citing heightened risks of arrest in the popular tourist destination. Serving as the ambassador from 2014 to 2018, Mr Casson labelled the nation a "police state" that is "violent and vindictive" during his appearance on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Thursday. Mr Casson's remarks come in the wake of a UN panel's decision, which found that Alaa Abd El-Fattah, a British-Egyptian pro-democracy campaigner jailed since December 2021 on charges of disseminating false news, is being unlawfully held by Egyptian authorities. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) declared that Mr Abd El-Fattah's incarceration was politically motivated. Speaking to the Today programme, Mr Casson said: "This is a police state in Egypt: it's violent, it's vindictive," and added, "It's abusing a British citizen, Alaa Abd El-Fattah – tortured him. It's kept him in prison on bogus charges. It's causing a lot of distress to his family." He further criticised the Egyptian government's interference with the British embassy's operations: "But it's also abusing the rights of the British Government to do its normal business, and it's blocking our embassy for the most fundamental function of visiting and supporting British nationals when they get into trouble. "And that's why, with other parliamentarians today... I'm calling now for our Government to use all the tools it has to protect not just Alaa Abd El-Fattah, but all British citizens in Egypt. And that means, especially now, our official travel advice needs to caution against travel to Egypt." Mr Casson, alongside prominent figures such as Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws and former Middle East minister Lord Hain, urged a government review of the travel advice for Egypt in The Times, stressing the gravity of the situation following the ordeal of Brit Alaa Abd El-Fattah. Speaking to the BBC, Mr Casson saidt: "After four years as ambassador in Egypt, if a friend or family came to me today and said, 'Should we be booking our winter sun in Egypt?', I would be saying you're taking a real risk. "If you get into any kind of difficulties, you post the wrong thing on social media even, there's no guarantee (of) your right to be protected. "There's no guarantee of due process, and we can't even be sure that the British embassy will be able to visit you or support you in the normal way." Mr Casson recounted chilling memories: "If I just think back to the four years I spent in Egypt, there was a Cambridge University student who was tortured to death over a period of several days in police cells. "There was a British woman who went on for a beach holiday in Egypt, and found herself in prison for a year because she had too many painkillers in her luggage. "There was a string of child kidnap cases where British children were abducted by their estranged Egyptian parents, and the Egyptian authorities did not give protection to the rights of those children or the rights of their British families." Italian PhD student Giulio Regeni was kidnapped and murdered in Cairo in 2016. Italy accused Egyptian police officers of his murder, a claim Egypt refuted. In 2017, British national Laura Plummer was handed a three-year sentence in an Egyptian jail for bringing 290 Tramadol tablets into the country. Mr Casson told the BBC: "Of course, our civil servants are always cautious about offending a country like Egypt, and that's why we're really saying this: this needs political will. "It takes political will and a readiness to take real action and say that Egypt can't have it both ways. Egypt pretends to be a friend. "It depends on British visitors to keep its economy afloat, and we need to demonstrate that that is not compatible with abusing our citizens and blocking our embassy. We can't have business as usual." Last week, 100 MPs and peers urged Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to "deploy every tool" available to help free Mr Abd El-Fattah.
South Wales Guardian
2 days ago
- Lifestyle
- South Wales Guardian
Ella Mills knew she would be deemed a ‘nepo baby' when creating Deliciously Ella
The businesswoman, known for her cookery books that promote a plant-based diet, is the great-granddaughter of Lord Alan John Sainsbury, of the Sainsbury's supermarket-owning family. She told Good Housekeeping UK: 'I passionately wanted to do Deliciously Ella on my own. Of course, it didn't take journalists long to link the dots and I felt so bad in retrospect. 'I knew people would say I was just a nepo baby, but you don't sell 100 million products because 40 years ago Sainsbury's went public. 'At the same time, having that connection meant I had a subconscious wish to do something quite different, against the odds, as my great-grandfather had done.' In the mid-2010s Mills was touted as a pioneer of the 'clean eating' movement, despite telling a magazine in 2016 that 'I would never use the word 'clean'.' The concept, promoting minimally-processed foods, was controversial, with Nigella Lawson telling BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour that 'behind the notion of clean eating is an implication that any other form of eating is dirty or shameful'. During this time, Mills received backlash for her gluten, meat and dairy-free recipes, as well as her personal wellness journey, which was associated with the clean eating movement. She told the magazine: 'It (the backlash) was instigated more by the media than by social media. 'I don't have it as bad as some people who've been trolled, but I'm aware that a fair share of people don't like me, for sure. 'I accept that if you have a public platform and you share your opinion with the world, the world is quite right to have an opinion back. 'If I can help people to eat more plants and have a more natural diet, then that's more important than anything a troll can say about me.' Speaking further about the wellness industry, she said: 'You have this bizarre, quite ironic dichotomy: as our collective health gets worse, the wellness industry gets bigger, noisier, more confusing and more niche. 'If you go online, people are following these extreme morning routines, achieving so much by 9am. 'My concern is that too many people think that their health is synonymous with expensive powder and wildly elaborate routines. 'Everything I suggest is evidence-based. It's not about gimmicks or fads. I changed my diet (to plant-based) and it changed my life.' In the summer of 2011, Mills was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which is when your heart rate increases very quickly after getting up from sitting or lying down, according to the NHS website. In her book, Deliciously Ella, published in 2015, she said that changing her diet meant 'in less than two years I was off all the medication I should have been on for life'. Read the full interview in Good Housekeeping UK's July issue, on sale from June 29.
Leader Live
3 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Leader Live
Ella Mills knew she would be deemed a ‘nepo baby' when creating Deliciously Ella
The businesswoman, known for her cookery books that promote a plant-based diet, is the great-granddaughter of Lord Alan John Sainsbury, of the Sainsbury's supermarket-owning family. She told Good Housekeeping UK: 'I passionately wanted to do Deliciously Ella on my own. Of course, it didn't take journalists long to link the dots and I felt so bad in retrospect. 'I knew people would say I was just a nepo baby, but you don't sell 100 million products because 40 years ago Sainsbury's went public. 'At the same time, having that connection meant I had a subconscious wish to do something quite different, against the odds, as my great-grandfather had done.' In the mid-2010s Mills was touted as a pioneer of the 'clean eating' movement, despite telling a magazine in 2016 that 'I would never use the word 'clean'.' The concept, promoting minimally-processed foods, was controversial, with Nigella Lawson telling BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour that 'behind the notion of clean eating is an implication that any other form of eating is dirty or shameful'. During this time, Mills received backlash for her gluten, meat and dairy-free recipes, as well as her personal wellness journey, which was associated with the clean eating movement. She told the magazine: 'It (the backlash) was instigated more by the media than by social media. 'I don't have it as bad as some people who've been trolled, but I'm aware that a fair share of people don't like me, for sure. 'I accept that if you have a public platform and you share your opinion with the world, the world is quite right to have an opinion back. 'If I can help people to eat more plants and have a more natural diet, then that's more important than anything a troll can say about me.' Speaking further about the wellness industry, she said: 'You have this bizarre, quite ironic dichotomy: as our collective health gets worse, the wellness industry gets bigger, noisier, more confusing and more niche. 'If you go online, people are following these extreme morning routines, achieving so much by 9am. 'My concern is that too many people think that their health is synonymous with expensive powder and wildly elaborate routines. 'Everything I suggest is evidence-based. It's not about gimmicks or fads. I changed my diet (to plant-based) and it changed my life.' In the summer of 2011, Mills was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which is when your heart rate increases very quickly after getting up from sitting or lying down, according to the NHS website. In her book, Deliciously Ella, published in 2015, she said that changing her diet meant 'in less than two years I was off all the medication I should have been on for life'. Read the full interview in Good Housekeeping UK's July issue, on sale from June 29.
South Wales Argus
3 days ago
- Lifestyle
- South Wales Argus
Ella Mills knew she would be deemed a ‘nepo baby' when creating Deliciously Ella
The businesswoman, known for her cookery books that promote a plant-based diet, is the great-granddaughter of Lord Alan John Sainsbury, of the Sainsbury's supermarket-owning family. She told Good Housekeeping UK: 'I passionately wanted to do Deliciously Ella on my own. Of course, it didn't take journalists long to link the dots and I felt so bad in retrospect. 'I knew people would say I was just a nepo baby, but you don't sell 100 million products because 40 years ago Sainsbury's went public. Good Housekeeping UK July issue (Jonty Davies/ Good Housekeeping UK/PA) 'At the same time, having that connection meant I had a subconscious wish to do something quite different, against the odds, as my great-grandfather had done.' In the mid-2010s Mills was touted as a pioneer of the 'clean eating' movement, despite telling a magazine in 2016 that 'I would never use the word 'clean'.' The concept, promoting minimally-processed foods, was controversial, with Nigella Lawson telling BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour that 'behind the notion of clean eating is an implication that any other form of eating is dirty or shameful'. During this time, Mills received backlash for her gluten, meat and dairy-free recipes, as well as her personal wellness journey, which was associated with the clean eating movement. She told the magazine: 'It (the backlash) was instigated more by the media than by social media. 'I don't have it as bad as some people who've been trolled, but I'm aware that a fair share of people don't like me, for sure. 'I accept that if you have a public platform and you share your opinion with the world, the world is quite right to have an opinion back. Ella Mills on the cover of Good Housekeeping UK (Jonty Davies/Good Housekeeping UK) 'If I can help people to eat more plants and have a more natural diet, then that's more important than anything a troll can say about me.' Speaking further about the wellness industry, she said: 'You have this bizarre, quite ironic dichotomy: as our collective health gets worse, the wellness industry gets bigger, noisier, more confusing and more niche. 'If you go online, people are following these extreme morning routines, achieving so much by 9am. 'My concern is that too many people think that their health is synonymous with expensive powder and wildly elaborate routines. 'Everything I suggest is evidence-based. It's not about gimmicks or fads. I changed my diet (to plant-based) and it changed my life.' In the summer of 2011, Mills was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), which is when your heart rate increases very quickly after getting up from sitting or lying down, according to the NHS website. In her book, Deliciously Ella, published in 2015, she said that changing her diet meant 'in less than two years I was off all the medication I should have been on for life'. Read the full interview in Good Housekeeping UK's July issue, on sale from June 29.
