Latest news with #National Health Service
The Guardian
6 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
The gambling industry is a licence to print money. Tax it properly – and turbocharge the fight against child poverty
From 1945 to 1951, a Labour government, struggling to pay down Britain's war debts in what became known as the 'age of austerity', created Britain's welfare state, pioneered a free National Health Service and implemented family allowances. In the 1970s, facing an oil shock and rising deficits, Labour introduced child benefit for 7 million families. By 2010, despite a global financial crisis, the government had raised tax credits from zero in 1997 to £30bn, taking millions of pensioners and children out of poverty. It is to the credit of Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves that within days of entering office, they set up the child poverty review with a remit to ensure an 'enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament'. Now, for a fraction of that £30bn spent in 2010, they can resume Labour's historic role and immediately take the first 50,000 children out of poverty without dropping manifesto commitments. As a former chancellor who understands why it matters to balance the books, I sympathise with Reeves's fiscal inheritance. This autumn, as growth is hit by tariffs and trade restrictions, and the fiscal position weakens as we come to terms with defence requirements, a history of low productivity and steep interest payments, the window for long-promised social improvements might appear to be closing. But having been invited to respond to the government's consultations on both child poverty and gambling taxation – and following recent reports from the Social Market Foundation and the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) – it's clear that we can identify sources of revenues to fight the war against child poverty. The first step is raising billions by taxing the extraordinarily profitable gambling and betting industry, without affecting lotteries or bingo. There is an urgent need to act. I have not seen such deep poverty since I grew up in a mining and textiles town where unemployment was starting to bite hard. Now, each night, 1 million children in the UK try to sleep without a bed of their own. Two million households live without cookers, fridges or washing machines, and many are without toothpaste, soap or shampoo. It is heartbreaking that 3 million children go without meals because their families run out of food. The decisions of previous Tory governments have pushed 4.5 million children into poverty. This is a national scandal and a stain on our country's soul. Britain is now enduring the worst levels of child poverty since modern records began, even worse than in the Thatcher-Major years, and far worse than in most European countries. Yet without action to improve family incomes, the numbers will, on the government's own definition of poverty, rise to a wholly unacceptable 4.8 million children by 2029. These are austerity's children, the victims of 14 years of Tory rule, an era whose most vindictive act was to treat newborn third and fourth children as second-class citizens, depriving them of all the income support available to their first and second siblings. By next year, every other child in cities such as Manchester and Birmingham will be condemned to poverty. In 2010, the Trussell Trust ran 35 food banks in the UK. Now, along with independent ones, there are 2,800. Since the election, the number of homeless children in temporary accommodation in England has risen by 17,510 to 169,050. This summer, Dickensian levels of poverty have been reported by the children's commissioner. If we look into the eyes of these young Britons, we won't like what we see: instead of a generation filled with optimism about the future, we'll see among too many a deep, impenetrable sadness reflecting a loss of hope. Yet without action the government will have little chance of meeting its well-publicised target that 75% of children will be ready for school at age five. The child poverty review, when it is published, will deserve credit for proposing more breakfast clubs, free school lunches, family hubs and additional childcare. Moving thousands into better-paid jobs will also help. Sadly, however, none of these measures will prevent child poverty continuing to rise. School lunches are worth £12 a week per child, and breakfast clubs £9 a week, but under the two-child benefit cap families have lost £66 a week for their third child. If they have a fourth child, the total is £132 a week. The Conservative party cultivated the myth that poverty is the fault of work-shy parents and a culture of dependency. Yet 70% of children in poverty live in families where someone is working but on pay too low to make ends meet. Many of the rest are single parents unable to work because they cannot afford childcare or are coping with illness in the family. Abolishing the two-child rule – what the children's commissioner says has to be 'the foundation for all else' – would cost £2bn in 2025-26 and £2.8bn by the end of the parliament. As the Resolution Foundation has shown, almost 500,000 children can be lifted out of poverty by 2029-30 at a total cost of £3.5bn. Inaction will cost more. Currently, local authorities and the NHS are picking up huge bills for ill health, homelessness and the cost of supporting children in care. For every 100,000 children, each 1% increase in child poverty forces an additional five of them into care. Each child looked after by the care system costs an estimated £1.2m in terms of lost productivity and their use of public services. Excluding the lottery, betting and gaming was an £11.5bn sector last year that incurred only £2.5bn in tax. As much as £3bn extra can be raised from taxing it properly. Remote gaming duty (effectively the tax on online slots games) is about 35% in the Netherlands, 40% in Austria, 50% in Pennsylvania and 57% in tax haven Delaware, two of the few US states where it is legal. Yet the same activity is taxed at just 21% in the UK, raising only £1bn. Applying a 50% levy – much less than the 80% tax on cigarettes and the 70% tax on whisky – would raise £1.6bn more. Raising the general betting duty on bookmakers' profits from 15% to 25% could generate an additional £450m, after returning £100m as additional support to boost the horseracing industry. To achieve parity with their online equivalents, machine game duty payable on the revenue from in-person slot machines should also increase from 25% to 50%. According to IPPR estimates, this would raise an additional £880m. The government could then start to reduce child poverty. Unlike almost all other businesses, most gaming and betting is exempt from VAT. Its most addictive practices are responsible for social harm that costs the NHS and other public services more than £1bn a year. Gambling levies aren't the only source of revenue that could pay to alleviate child poverty. But this should be one straightforward budget choice. The government can fulfil today's unmet needs by taxing an undertaxed sector. Gambling won't build our country for the next generation, but children, freed from poverty, will. Gordon Brown was UK prime minister from 2007 to 2010 Comments on this piece are premoderated to ensure discussion remains on topics raised by the writer. Please be aware there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site.
Telegraph
26-07-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
This killer of men can no longer be ignored
In medical circles, prostate cancer is often known as 'the invisible killer'. Its early symptoms are hard to detect and it may remain undiagnosed until too late. Some 10,000 men a year are diagnosed with prostate cancer only after at least three visits to their GP. And every year, some 12,000 lives are cut short unnecessarily by the failure to treat this hidden menace before it has spread beyond the prostate gland. So The Telegraph is proud to announce a new campaign calling for a targeted National Health Service screening programme for prostate cancer. It is nothing short of a scandal that such a programme does not already exist. We ardently hope that you, our readers, will join us in a mission to right this wrong and thereby save, over time, many thousands of lives. The importance of early detection and diagnosis has been demonstrated by the huge improvement in survival rates for breast cancer since mass screening for women aged 50-70 was introduced by the NHS in 1988. Since then, it has reduced deaths from breast cancer by at least 20 per cent. The NHS is now extending breast screening to women in their 40s and 70s. Yet there is still no equivalent mass programme for prostate cancer, which is the most common form of cancer for men and the second biggest killer. Middle-aged men are notoriously reluctant to visit the doctor. Prostate cancer presents a particular problem, because patients are embarrassed and may have unjustified fears that a medical examination would be unpleasant. A mass screening programme would help to remove the myths and stigma. The reality is that PSA blood tests — which are simple, cheap and painless — should be routinely offered to patients who are at risk of prostate cancer, especially if they have a family history of the disease. Yet in reality many GPs seem reluctant to do so: more than 5 per cent of prostate sufferers had to make five surgery visits before being offered a PSA test. The answer to this injustice is to roll out a national screening programme, as Prostate Cancer Research and many experts have long advocated. Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, has lent his support to the Telegraph campaign, but the decision lies with the UK National Screening Committee. We can only hope that its members recognise the overwhelming body of evidence in favour of screening for prostate cancer. The Telegraph will play its part in making sure that the invisible killer can no longer be ignored.
Medical News Today
25-07-2025
- Health
- Medical News Today
Is rheumatoid arthritis an autoimmune disease?
Yes, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease. It occurs when a person's immune system attacks the body's tissues, damaging their RA, immune cells cause inflammation in the synovium, the lining of a person's joints. The autoimmune process may begin years before a person develops symptoms and may start elsewhere in the body before presenting in the to the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS), it is unclear exactly what triggers the immune system to do this in a person with RA. However, the interaction of genetic and environmental factors may be the people, such as those with a family history of RA, may have a higher risk of developing the if someone has repeated exposure to an environmental trigger, their immune response may also repeatedly activate and trigger the development of certain antibodies typically associated with there is no single test to diagnose RA, blood tests may allow healthcare professionals to look for certain autoimmune markers and antibodies that signal the condition. For example, many people with RA have antibodies called rheumatoid factors in their blood. This antibody is a type of protein that the immune system typically uses to protect the may also test for cyclic citrullinated antibody (CCP Ab), which is a more specific autoantibody for everyone with RA will have high levels of rheumatoid factors, and some people without RA can have high levels. Therefore, doctors will use a variety of diagnostic steps to diagnose a person, not just one. To treat RA, healthcare professionals may prescribe immunosuppressant medications, such as disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and drugs suppress parts of the immune system to slow or stop it from attacking a person's body. This can help to reduce inflammation in RA and prevent or slow further joint immunosuppressant drugs have different effects on a person's immune system. People with RA can speak with their healthcare team if they want to learn more about the options available to more about RARheumatoid arthritis outlookHow does RA affect different parts of the body?Recognizing signs of RAHow common is RA?Risk factors for RA
Reuters
22-07-2025
- Health
- Reuters
Doctors' strike in England will go ahead after pay talks fail
LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - A planned five-day junior doctors' strike in England will go ahead this week, their trade union announced on Tuesday, saying health minister Wes Streeting had not gone far enough in negotiations over pay and conditions. Junior doctors, also known as resident doctors, had voted to strike following the government's award of a 5.4% pay rise. The union argues this falls far short of the 29% needed to restore their earnings to 2008 levels. The strikes will begin at 0600 GMT on Friday. Talks with Streeting and government officials over the last few days to reach a compromise have not seen a breakthrough, the British Medical Association (BMA) said in a statement. 'What we have seen so far is a series of 'no's – no to movement on pay, no to student loan forgiveness, no to any credible move forwards," BMA co-chairs Melissa Ryan and Ross Nieuwoudt said in a statement. "What we need to see are some ways forward, some kind of positive approach to get us out of this dispute." Streeting said the strikes would disrupt patient care and put additional pressure on the state-run National Health Service. "The BMA would have lost nothing by taking up the offer to postpone strike action to negotiate a package that would improve the working lives of resident doctors," Streeting said in an emailed statement. The BMA co-chairs said their door remained open, but added "we don't accept we can't talk about pay."
