Latest news with #Dayan
The Guardian
22-03-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Brexit a key factor in worst UK medicine shortages in four years, report says
Drug shortages in the UK have risen to their worst level for four years, official figures show, with Brexit considered a key reason so many medications are scarce. Drug companies notified the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) about disruptions to supply 1,938 times during last year – the highest number since the 1,967 seen in 2021. Medications to treat epilepsy and cystic fibrosis are among those that pharmacists are finding it hard or impossible to get hold of, creating risks for patients' health. The figures have emerged in a new report by the Nuffield Trust health thinktank, which obtained them under freedom of information laws from the DHSC, which oversees the availability of drugs UK-wide. The number of supply disruptions fell after 2021, to 1,608 in 2022 and 1,634 in 2023. But it suddenly shot up again last year to 1,938, the data shows. Mark Dayan, a policy analyst at the Nuffield Trust and its Brexit programme lead, said: 'This wave of medicine shortages has already meant people struggle to find the drugs their doctors told them were needed for conditions like epilepsy and cystic fibrosis. It's very worrying that it appears to be rolling on at full force into a third year.' The report says that while drug shortages have become a problem globally in recent years, the UK is facing 'a worsening situation' compared with the rest of Europe because of Brexit. 'Elevated and troubling levels of medicine shortages are continuing, with no consistent sign of improvement. The UK has had the lowest import growth in medicines of any G7 country, driven by a reduction in EU imports,' the thinktank adds. United Nations trade data, which Dayan and his colleagues analysed, shows that the UK 'once again has the lowest rise in imports of medicines of all G7 countries since 2010'. 'The total value [of imports] has fallen by almost 20% since 2015, the year before the EU referendum, in cash terms – an indication of how medicine supply chains have shifted away from the UK,' the report says, with 'little sign of a stable recovery since'. HM Revenue and Customs data shows there has been 'a decline [in imports] focused clearly on imports from the EU, adding to the evidence that new trade barriers related to Brexit are a likely explanation'. In addition, UK drug exports to the European Economic Area – the 27 EU states plus Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein – have fallen by a third since before the UK voted in 2016 to leave the EU. The National Pharmacy Association voiced alarm earlier this month about 'a growing crisis in medicine supply'. All 500 of the pharmacies it surveyed said they could not dispense a prescription at least once a day because drugs were unavailable. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion 'Pharmacies are at the sharp end of medicines shortages and frequently have to turn away distressed, frustrated and sometimes angry patients,' said Nick Kaye, the NPA's chair. He urged ministers to allow pharmacists to offer patients a safe alternative to their usual medication if it is not available, to help them manage their condition. 'It is particularly frustrating for pharmacists to be unable to meet a clear need when they have a perfectly safe and effective solution in their pharmacy already,' he added. Dayan warned that with the EU taking concerted action to reduce drug shortages by sharing supplies and increasing its domestic production, 'there is a real risk we will be left out as the EU unveils big plans to safeguard its own supply'. Brexit 'does seem to have pushed us out of some European supply chains', he added. A DHSC spokesperson said: 'This government inherited ongoing global supply problems, but we have robust measures in place to mitigate disruption for patients. We are strengthening our domestic resilience further by investing up to £520m to manufacture more medicines, diagnostics, and medical technologies in the UK. 'We are also working closely with the NHS, regulators and other key partners to cut red tape to grow our life sciences sector, and with international partners to bolster supply chains.'
The Guardian
02-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Hopeful or ‘hate-fuelled'? Film of controversial play about Israel gets London premiere
The premiere of Caryl Churchill's short play Seven Jewish Children at the Royal Court theatre 16 years ago proved to be one of British theatre's most controversial opening nights. Audiences were immediately divided by the British playwright's deliberately stripped-back treatment of Jewish generational fear and Israel's history of conflict. The public attacks it prompted have echoed on. In 2022, Churchill was deprived of the lifetime European Drama award she had received earlier in the year, due to criticism of the play and her pro-Palestinian campaigning. Now the play has been filmed and is to open officially in London at the end of this month, at a time when the Middle East has been rocked by devastating violence and, in Britain, allegiances are more contested than ever. Behind the film is London-based Omri Dayan, a 23-year-old US-Israeli director, who said this weekend that he was 'braced' for all the contention to come, but was drawn to make his version 'not because of its politics, but because of its humanity – for me it is a family story.' Like the play, Seven Jewish Children: A Film for Gaza tells its story through glimpsed moments of Jewish family life. It starts with the Russian pogroms of 1903 and finishes with the 2008-09 Israeli action in Gaza, Operation Cast Lead. With a repeated refrain, each family questions in turn what they should tell a young daughter – setting up taboos that, it is implied, will have serious consequences. Making his film, Dayan said, was the first time he had embraced his heritage in his work. 'This play made me realise that I am Jewish, I am the son of Israeli parents, and this is a story I need to tell,' he said. And it was a family project. The director's father, Ami Dayan, and his grandmother – the Israeli actress Rivka Michaeli – are in his cast. 'Because the film is rooted in family, them being right beside me really helped,' said Dayan. Churchill, 86, has given the film her approval. Made by a crew of 50 which worked for nothing and included Israelis and Palestinians, it will be shown free on Monday 31 March in London, at the Prince Charles Cinema off Leicester Square, to raise money for Medical Aid for Palestinians. It will then be released on YouTube. When Churchill wrote the play she stipulated it could be read or performed anywhere as long as no admission fee was charged and a collection was taken for this charity. The director hopes the film will go on to be shown to invited groups in universities, schools, community groups and synagogues. 'The script is so clear, even though the issue is so complex,' said Dayan. 'The play did an incredible job of showing what different positions have been taken, as well as looking at the times we are in. I hope that the film helps in the same way.' Before the film starts, a note on the screen spells out it was made before the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel. However, Dayan and his team were editing the film that day. 'We took a break for a while,' he said, 'because I didn't want what we did to be a reaction. We had all known, of course, that there was going to be another chapter one day. It is incredibly sad.' While he anticipates protest, as well as support, Dayan said he hopes that audiences from all sides will listen. 'We hope that [we] can guide people to a place where they are not putting up their usual defences,' he said. 'Everyone has a view, but we are asking them to put those aside for 15 minutes, to let the characters speak. Then afterwards, if they want to, they can pick up set attitudes again afterwards.' Some critics at the time argued the play was antisemitic. The Times's 2009 review said it was evidence of 'straitjacketed political orthodoxy', while novelist Howard Jacobson described it as a 'hate-fuelled little chamber piece' in the Independent, warning it was part of 'a gradual habituation of a language of loathing'. Jacobson added: 'Caryl Churchill will argue that her play is about Israelis not Jews, but once you venture on to 'chosen people' territory – feeding all the ancient prejudice against that miscomprehended phrase – once you repeat in another form the medieval blood-libel of Jews rejoicing in the murder of little children, you have crossed over. This is the old stuff.' In contrast, the Guardian's Michael Billington praised Churchill for capturing 'the transition that has overtaken Israel, to the point where security has become the pretext for indiscriminate slaughter', adding: 'Avoiding overt didacticism, her play becomes a heartfelt lamentation for the future generations who will themselves become victims of the attempted military suppression of Hamas.' In the aftermath of the row, the Guardian also ran a full transcript of the play. Dayan believes many attacks on the play 'had no true merit' because the people criticising it had not seen it. 'There is a real fear that goes down generation to generation that Churchill shows. This play should be seen as something that can help explain it,' he said. 'Instead, there was a real jump to delegitimise it.' Last week the BBC's board apologised for 'significant and damaging' mistakes in the production of a documentary on Gaza which featured the son of a Hamas official. It has now been taken down. Dayan said he had not seen the programme, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, but believed it should still be available to watch. 'I don't yet know the details,' he said, 'but it should be shown as long as there is full disclosure. It is very difficult to tell these stories now, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. My instinct is that it should be seen. Discussion is the most important thing.' Such divisions in culture and over media coverage must be fought if they lead to censorship and 'cancellation', he argues. 'We have already been disinvited from showing our film at festival for the Jewish community at a centre in New York.' Influenced by Lars von Trier's film Dogville, Dayan set his film on a basic sound stage, with different domestic spaces marked out on the floor: 'My first thought had been to set each scene in its location, but it didn't work,' he said. Dominic Cooke, the original director of the play, has saluted his choices, calling the film 'a terrific achievement'. 'Caryl's vision of an Israel trapped in cycles of trauma is sadly more pertinent now than ever,' Cooke added. Dayan said he hoped reaction to his film would take the form of conversation, not argument: 'I'll be pleased if people see it, even if they go on to disagree about it. That was part of the intention of making it; that, and the fundraising.'
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Holocaust memorial chair: Musk's call for Germany to ‘move beyond' Nazi guilt is dangerous
The chair of Yad Vashem, Israel's official Holocaust memorial, said Sunday tech billionaire Elon Musk's call for Germans to 'move beyond' the crimes of Nazi Germany is dangerous for the country's democratic future. 'Contrary to @elonmusk advice, the remembrance and acknowledgement of the dark past of the country and its people should be central in shaping the German society,' Chair Dani Dayan said in a post on the social platform X, which Musk owns. 'Failing to do so is an insult to the victims of Nazism and a clear danger to the democratic future of Germany,' Dayan continued. Dayan's post came in response to a video of Musk's virtual address on Saturday to a far-right German political party, Alternative for Germany (AfD). In his remarks, Musk reiterated his support for AfD, told Germans they should be proud of their heritage and said they should 'move beyond' the 'past guilt' of older generations. 'First of all, I wanted to really say that I'm very excited for the AfD, and I think you are really the best hope for Germany,' the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said in his remarks. 'Something I think that is just very important is that people take pride in Germany and being German. This is very important,' Musk continued. 'It's, you know, it's OK to be proud to be German. This is a very important principle.' Musk said German children should not bear the responsibility for crimes past generations committed, an apparent reference to the Holocaust and crimes committed by the Nazi Party. 'I think there's, like, frankly, too much of a focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that,' Musk said. 'Children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents or even let alone their parents, their great grandparents, maybe even.' Musk, the richest man in the world and the leader of President Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency, has raised eyebrows in recent weeks with his embrace of far-right political parties in Europe, including the AfD. The remarks Saturday also come after Musk faced backlash for making a controversial gesture during his post-inauguration speech on Monday that some critics compared to a fascist salute. In the face of the backlash, Musk seemed to dismiss the concerns in a social media post that was filled with puns based on the names of some of the Nazis' most infamous leaders. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
26-01-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Holocaust memorial chair: Musk's call for Germany to ‘move beyond' Nazi guilt is dangerous
The chairman of Yad Vashem, Israel's official Holocaust memorial, said on Sunday tech billionaire Elon Musk's call for Germans to 'move beyond' the crimes of Nazi Germany is dangerous for the country's democratic future. 'Contrary to @elonmusk advice, the remembrance and acknowledgement of the dark past of the country and its people should be central in shaping the German society,' Chairman Dani Dayan said in a post on X. 'Failing to do so is an insult to the victims of Nazism and a clear danger to the democratic future of Germany,' Dayan continued. Dayan's post came in response to a video of Musk's virtual address on Saturday to a far-right German political party, Alternative for Germany (AfD). In his remarks, Musk reiterated his support for AfD, told Germans they should be proud of their heritage and said they should 'move beyond' the 'past guilt' of older generations. 'First of all, I wanted to really say that I'm very excited for the AfD, and I think you are really the best hope for Germany,' the Tesla and SpaceX CEO said in his remarks. 'Something I think that is just very important is that people take pride in Germany and being German. This is very important,' Musk continued. 'It's, you know, it's okay to be proud to be German. This is a very important principle.' Musk said German children should not bear the responsibility for crimes past generations committed, an apparent reference to the Holocaust and crimes committed by the Nazi Party. 'I think there's, like, frankly, too much of a focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that,' Musk said. 'Children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents or even let alone their parents, their great grandparents, maybe even.' Musk, the richest man in the world and the leader of President Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency, has raised eyebrows in recent weeks with his embrace of far-right political parties in Europe, including the AfD. The remarks Saturday also come after Musk faced backlash for making a controversial gesture during his post-inauguration speech on Monday that some critics compared to a fascist salute. In the face of the backlash, Musk seemed to dismiss the concerns in a social media post that was filled with puns based on the names of some of the Nazis' most infamous leaders.
