A US researcher at Stony Brook University in New York is suggesting that the mental health condition depression may be caused by a virus, bacterium or parasite – opening up the possibility of treating depression as an infectious disease. Read more...
A specialist clinic dealing with cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) has seen its youngest case of FGM in London, involving a three-year-old girl. Read more...
A redress scheme for tenants introduced by Housing Minister Brandon Lewis has failed to log any complaints against letting agents in the two months since its launch. Read more...
Police are calling for witnesses to a hit-and-run incident, in which a cyclist was knocked from his bike in London’s East End and killed. Read more...
A new report by the National Audit Office (NAO) has said that, although the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) is on target to slash £300 million a year from the Legal Aid budget, it remains “out of touch” with the impact of the cuts, especially on the family court. Read more...
The director of the European policing agency, Rob Wainwright, has warned that people traffickers are using social media sites to groom young women into believing they are being offered jobs in childcare or cleaning in the UK and other EU member states, before being trafficked into the sex industry. Read more...
A convicted fraudster jailed for 10 years in 2010 is facing a court battle with his ex-wife, who claims he hid the couple’s financial assets from the family court during their divorce hearing in 2004. Read more...
The Communities Secretary Eric Pickles had ordered Town Halls to sell off any council homes worth more than £1 million, in order to fund more social housing projects.
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The City of London Police fraud squad has arrested an investment banker in a police operation which targeted 20 people suspected of making bogus insurance claims worth thousands of pounds. Read more...
A husband whose wife died from food poisoning after eating reheated food at a pub has told Snaresbrook Crown Court that she began shaking and her eyes “rolled back into her head” the day after eating the Christmas meal at the Railway Hotel in Hornchurch, Essex in 2012. Read more...
House prices have risen again this year – with London homeowners enjoying an 18% rise in property prices and homeowners across the country seeing the value of their homes rise by an average of 6.8%. Read more...
A new report focusing on low-income households and debt levels among social housing tenants has concluded that the government’s austerity measures are impacting severely on the finances of social housing tenants. Read more...
The devastated husband of a young mother killed on a road while out jogging is calling for road safety measures to be introduced on a dangerous road where his wife was killed by a motorist. Read more...
The Polish ambassador to the UK, Witold Sobkow, has criticised David Cameron’s proposals to limit EU workers’ access to Britain’s in-work benefits, which often top up low-paid workers’ salaries. Read more...
Labour leader Ed Miliband has said that if the UK is to compete in the 21st century – and “win the race to the top” – more women engineers must be trained.
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A leading judge has called for the next government to set up a Royal Commission on the penal system to look into sentencing policy – including the relationship between crime rates and sentencing policy and how the budget for the penal system should be spent. Read more...
A woman from South Wales is suing the NHS for £750,000, after doctors failed to treat her symptoms as urgent, with the result that her cancer is now terminal. Read more...
The parents of Ashya King – who was taken to Prague for life-saving proton beam therapy for a brain tumour – have said they fear returning to the UK in case their son is taken away from them by social services. Read more...
The birth mother of TV chef Ross Burden has revealed her son died from Legionellosis as a result of an infected water supply at the hospital caring for him in New Zealand.
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A cross-party committee of MPs has raised concern over the service bereaved families are receiving from consular staff abroad. Read more...
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg has told the Sunday Express newspaper that mental health is still top of his party’s agenda – and reforming mental health services will be a “front-page” pledge in the Liberal Democrat Election Manifesto. Read more...
An estimated 800 African migrants have been rescued off the coast of Italy since Thursday (20/11/14), according to a news report from AAP. Read more...
Public Health England (PHE) is offering guidance to employers on recognising the signs of domestic abuse among employees. Read more...
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has warned that cuts to mental health budgets – and a sharp fall in the number of mental health beds available – are putting mental health services across England under “unprecedented strain”. Read more...
Cornwall Council has announced a tenancy amnesty which would enable people in social housing committing tenancy fraud to hand in the keys to the property without fear of prosecution. Read more...
The parents of a teenager whose brain tumour was missed on a scan at a private hospital have secured an ot-of-court compensation settlement – even though the hospital failed to accept liability. Read more...
Figures obtained by London newspaper the Evening Standard show that the number of fines given to cyclists who have ridden their bikes dangerously more than doubled in 2013.
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The incoming head of Territorial Policing, Assistant Commissioner Helen King, has said that Londoners may in the future be able to accompany police patrols in a scheme similar to the US “ride-along” scheme.
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Police officers in London have arrested a man caught trying to dump a body in the River Thames. Read more...
A former detective who worked for Scotland Yard’s paedophile unit has been issued with a harassment order after he threatened his former girlfriend. Read more...
NHS watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published data on every NHS trust in England which provides mental health services, to inform the public how the commission decides on which services to inspect and the aspects of care it focuses on. Read more...
The UK is granting British citizenship to record levels of people, according to figures from the European Commission’s official statistics organisation Eurostat. Read more...
Hospital managers at Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospital Trust are threatening families who refuse to take responsibility for elderly relatives with court action. Read more...
Supporters of immigration to the UK are to stage a solidarity walk in support of detainees at Gatwick Immigration Detention Centre.
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Labour MP Diane Abbott is calling for tax breaks for Londoners who agree to social housing being built near their homes.
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The impact of Legal Aid cuts were not “thought through” early enough by the government, according to the National Audit Office (NAO). Read more...
A court has banned seven men from Birmingham from going near girls under the age of 18 unless they are personally associated with them, after Birmingham City Council and West Midlands Police staged a joint child protection initiative over concerns a 17-year-old girl in care was at risk of child sexual exploitation. Read more...
A senior nurse who works in an NHS neurological unit is suing the health service after she watched her pregnant sister die as a result of medical blunders during her care. Read more...
A 45-year-old security guard who worked at a shopping centre in Hull has been convicted of benefit fraud, after he told claims officials he was unable to walk and claimed disability benefits. Read more...
Watchdog Ofsted has said many children are being put at risk of being sexually exploited as a result of failings in children’s services at local councils. Read more...
Figures from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) have recently revealed that in many areas NHS patients are struggling to book GP appointments – and ratings for GP surgeries are falling. Read more...
A leading member of the Armed Forces has said that women should not be given roles in frontline combat as they lack the “killer instinct”. Read more...
Tenants on the New Era housing estate in east London are facing uncertainty – and possible eviction – after the owners of the estate appeared to have scrapped plans not to impose a sharp hike in rents before Christmas. Read more...
Figures for house prices in September have shown that in London property has fallen in value faster than anywhere else in the UK, signalling a slowdown in the house price boom. Read more...
A social housing tenant who hoarded refuse and was “aggressive” towards housing officers has been evicted by North Hertfordshire Homes (NHH) after fifty years of living at his property. Read more...
NHS staff are interviewing detainees at Dover Immigration Removal Centre to assess their mental health – including asking them whether they hear voices. Read more...
Police watchdog Her Majesty^s Inspectorate of Constabulary has said that 800,000 crimes every year go unrecorded because of police “obsession” with hitting crime targets. Read more...
A cyclist who was knocked from her bicycle and dragged along the road by a skip lorry has spoken out about her experience to mark Road Safety Week, which began on Monday (17/11/14). Read more...
A man who posted intimate images of his former girlfriend online as an act of revenge porn has been sentenced to 12 weeks in jail. Read more...
Supreme Court judge Lord Toulson has said that UK courts have taken rulings in the Strasbourg court “too far”. Read more...
A 30-year-old woman from Liverpool has been jailed for a £212,000 benefit fraud, which also involved her 64-year-old parents. Read more...
The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) has agreed a £5.5m payout to a man who was left with life-changing injuries following a boating accident 10 years ago. Read more...
A mother whose daughter was killed by her partner – whom she did not know was a convicted murderer – says that probation officers should have warned her daughter about her partner’s background. Read more...
A family is suing Thomas Cook and Jet2 Holidays after all 20 members of their party fell ill on the “holiday from hell” to San Antonio in Ibiza. Read more...
The Health and Safety Executive has successfully prosecuted a Cardiff company, after a worker fell 8ft from a single storey roof when a beam he was standing on gave way. Read more...
A month-long inspection of the construction industry by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has revealed that 40% of construction sites are failing to protect workers adequately. Read more...
A 25-year-old man from Blackpool has denied charges of child cruelty at Preston Crown Court, after tests showed his three-year-old daughter had ingested cannabis.
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A 29-year-old mother has been convicted of benefit fraud, after her Facebook relationship status revealed that she was not a “single mum” – but was in a relationship with her landlord. Read more...
A forklift truck driver is facing the prospect of undergoing two transplant operations without the support of his wife and child, because they are unable to meet minimum income requirements for a visa. Read more...
A south London waste company has been prosecuted after Health and Safety Inspectors found that staff were frequently put at risk from heavy machinery left in a dangerous condition. Read more...
A divorcing couple in dispute over their joint assets has spent more than £900,000 in legal fees to resolve their disagreements over assets worth £2.9 million. Read more...
The Haringey branch of mental health charity Mind has said that the poorest people in the community are suffering most from mental health issues – and as a direct result of government cuts to Council Tax benefit. Read more...
A joint initiative between The Guinness Partnership, housing association Family Mosaic and the London Borough of Hackney has led to the recovery of the one-hundredth illegally sublet council property in Hackney, east London. Read more...
A dentist in Nottingham has been suspended pending an investigation into alleged failures in hygiene at his practice and the death of a female patient from an infection contracted after dental treatment at the surgery. Read more...
Research by The Rental Exchange has found that nearly one-third (29%) of social housing tenants would like to own their own home using Right-to-Buy. Read more...
Research by the Centre for Market and Public Organisation (CMPO) at Bristol University has found that London schools do better at GCSEs because so many of the pupils come from immigrant families. Read more...
The Home Secretary has ordered a review into how MI5 handled child abuse allegations against public figures. Read more...
Convicted police killer Harry Roberts was released from jail on Monday (10/11/14), after serving 45 years of a life sentence for three murders. Read more...
Figures from market research agency ICM suggest that once mortgage interest rates rise to 2%, one-third of homeowners would struggle to repay their mortgages every month. Read more...
The government has succeeded in signing Britain up to the EU Arrest Warrant again – which is a component of 35 EU justice measures common to member states. Read more...
A gun amnesty in London by the Metropolitan Police resulted in a full-scale alert after a WWII bomb was handed in at Sutton Police Station. Read more...
In a speech to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) conference in London, the Prime Minister has said that the UK will not remain in the EU “come what may”. Read more...
Peabody housing association says that it has seen an 825% rise in the number of domestic violence cases reported on its housing estates, since introducing a campaign to prevent persecution six years ago. Read more...
The President of the Family Division Sir James Munby is to rule in a case in which parents who have learning disabilities and are on a low income were denied Legal Aid to fight a case against Swindon Borough Council, which is putting their child up for adoption.
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Conservative ministers are planning to ban EU migrants from claiming out-of-work benefits as part of the government blueprint for Universal Credit. Read more...
The last member to be jailed out of an eight-member human trafficking gang has been jailed for two years and nine months by Lewes Crown Court. Read more...
The head of Public Heath Lancashire, Dr Sakti Karunanithi, has warned that fracking in Preston may impact on the mental health of residents. Read more...
The scientist who invented the Pill has suggested that in the future more people will turn to IVF to have children – and sex will be demoted to being “just for fun”. Read more...
UK restaurants and catering outlets will have to spend millions of pounds checking ingredients which may cause allergies, as new EU regulations come into force on 13 December. Read more...
The German Institute for Economic Research has said immigrants are welcome in Germany to fill significant skills gaps in an ageing population. Read more...
The Ministry of Justice has confirmed that a serious further offence review will take place into the case of a man who is suspected of murdering a woman in an act of cannibalism. Read more...
The Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk has accused the NHS of failing to put mental health on a par with physical health. Read more...
The shortage in affordable housing has led to many people aged 35 to 40-plus getting trapped in the rental market instead of owning their own homes. Read more...
A man who claimed disability benefits while competing in bodybuilding contests has been jailed for six months by a court in South Wales. Read more...
New guidelines on sexual activity among schoolchildren from the Department for Education (DfE) have sparked a backlash, after Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and the Education Secretary Nicky Morgan appeared to back penetrative sex for 13-year-olds. Read more...
The London Mayor’s public watchdog London TravelWatch is urging him to abandon plans for a “big bang” introduction of cycle superhighways across London, saying that the proposed rollout of cycle-only routes will “bring havoc to bus lanes”.
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A joint operation between Scotland Yard, the National Crime Agency (NCA) and French customs has prevented cocaine worth £40 million reaching the streets of London. Read more...
The High Court has approved a settlement of £120,000 for the future care of a child, whose hip dysplasia was diagnosed three months too late to enable her to have a procedure as a baby, which would have prevented further surgery. Read more...
A British Airways (BA) staff member broke down and apologised to the family of Jimmy Mubenga during the trial of three G4S guards at the Old Bailey. Read more...
The parents of a 26-year-old woman who died from sepsis after her waters broke at 24 weeks have agreed an out-of-court settlement with the hospital they hold responsible for her death. Read more...
A cage fighter who repeatedly stabbed his pregnant girlfriend has been jailed for 19 years by a judge at Hull Crown Court. Read more...
A report by the independent monitoring board for HMP Pentonville in north London has blamed funding cuts for a rise in violence among prison inmates at the jail. Read more...
The government is to introduce new rules on child maintenance which would mean non-resident parents who do not keep up their child maintenance payments will potentially harm their credit rating. Read more...
New research by leading migration experts at University College London (UCL) has suggested that migrants have contributed £20 billion to the UK economy in taxes over the last ten years. Read more...
A Supreme Court ruling has allowed a mesothelioma victim’s family the right to claim compensation for his illness, even though he did not work directly with asbestos. Read more...
Independent watchdog The Office of the Information Commissioner is to investigate a Twitter app launched by Samaritans, which detects when a Twitter user is suffering from depression. Read more...
A jury at the Old Bailey has heard how G4S guards ignored the cries of deportee Jimmy Mubenga as they restrained him while loading him onto a flight at Heathrow Airport. Read more...
A Court of Appeal ruling could mean that women who drink alcohol while aware they are pregnant could face criminal charges. Read more...
The Patients’ Association says that NHS patients making complaints about poor service or GP negligence are made to feel frightened and victimised by NHS staff as a result. Read more...
Housing association Phoenix Community Housing (PCH) in southeast London is tweeting every time a house is lost to Right-to-Buy, to highlight the number of homes being sold to the private sector. Read more...
Leeds Crown Court has named the teenager who stabbed teacher Ann Maguire to death in 2013 as 16-year-old Will Cornick. Read more...
Chancellor George Osborne has said that the UK government will continue to place Britain’s national interest first, after Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel signalled there was no room for movement on limiting EU migration to the UK. Read more...
An investigation by The Independent has revealed that Cornwall Council has paid out £8,000 in Housing Benefit on homes recently bought by tenants under Right-to-Buy and rented back to the council. Read more...
A man who was diagnosed with a mild brain injury after a car accident has been awarded £4 million in compensation after the injury left him with cognitive impairments and caused him to undergo a personality change. Read more...
A tummy tuck plastic surgery patient operated on at a North London clinic four years ago was left looking as though she had three navels, according to papers lodged in the High Court and seen by London newspaper the Evening Standard. Read more...
The co-founder of Movember – which encourages men to grow moustaches every November to raise awareness about men’s health – has said that men often do not look after themselves “until it is too late”. Read more...
Justice Secretary Chris Grayling has announced that police cautions are to be scrapped in England and Wales, to make sure criminals are not made to feel they are getting away “scot free”. Read more...
Italian officials, lawyers and aid groups working with refugees rescued under the Italian government’s Operation Mare Nostrum search and rescue scheme are warning that many more people will die at sea now the operation has ended. Read more...
A debate on gay marriage in the House of Lords has been told that a gay man could only sue his husband for adultery if his partner had sex with a woman. Read more...
A benefit claimant who failed to report a change in circumstances when she started a second job has been sentenced to a 12-month Community Order and 100 hours of unpaid work by Derby Magistrates’ Court. Read more...
A report from Real Life Reform has revealed that nearly half of all families in social housing have no money left once they have paid their bills. Read more...
Ministers have recommended that more resources should be devoted to address mental health issues in the military. Read more...
Islington Council has announced that it will buy back 20 homes sold under Right-to-Buy to house people on the council’s waiting list. Read more...
A court has jailed a woman for eight years, after an attack on her partner which police said was one of the worst cases of domestic violence they had seen. Read more...