23 h. ago Hidden symptoms of 'hole in the heart' that thousands have without knowing

In an Instagram post, she said she had recently had 'keyhole heart surgery' at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London. But she only received her diagnosis last year.

Politics

4 d. ago Scottish designer Sophie McGown wins top fashion award for jewellery brand loved by Princess of Wales

Fashion Designer Sophie McGown has raised thousands for mental health causes with her ‘Issy Star’ earrings.

Politics

9 d. ago Trump’s tech tariffs are total chaos – and everyone’s paying the price

From iPhone airlifts to Nintendo delays, Trump’s trade war has thrown the tech world into confusionHello, and welcome to TechScape. Today’s news: Donald Trump’s tariffs spread confusion like a germ, tech takes two kinds of environmental tolls, Meta faces an antitrust trial, and I’ve been watching two excellent pieces of serialized fiction on Instagram and TikTok.OpenAI countersues Elon Musk over ‘unlawful harassment’ of companyFederal workers fear Musk’s ‘efficiency’ agency is using AI to spy on them: ‘They are omnipresent’ Continue reading...

Economics

9 d. ago Thousands could be wrongly diagnosed with serious conditions due to major NHS blunder

Synnovis, a lab service provider for almost 200 GP surgeries and six hospitals in London, is failing to deliver accurate results 'on a daily basis', medics say.

Politics

1 week ago Health secretary orders inquiry into how botched NHS hearing tests may have blighted the lives of thousands of children

The errors could have hampered the learning and communication skills of those affected, with 'devastating and lifelong' consequences, Wes Streeting said.

Society

2 w. ago US supreme court blocks ruling that 16,000 fired federal workers must be rehired

Probationary employees laid off in Trump administration’s purge lose reinstatement in 7-2 ruling over legal standingUS politics live – latest updatesThe US supreme court has handed Donald Trump a reprieve from a judge’s ruling that his administration must rehire 16,000 probationary workers fired in its purge of the federal bureaucracy.A day after ruling in the White House’s favor to allow the continued deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members, the court gave the White House a less clear-cut victory in halting the order by a California court that dismissed workers from six government agencies must be rehired. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago ‘No guidance and no leadership’: chaos in US health agencies after mass firings

On 1 April, thousands of workers at HHS and agencies like the CDC were let go, leaving those left to piece together the cuts and mourn the research that can’t go forwardFor the past two months, members of the Elon Musk-led “department of government efficiency” (Doge) have stalked the halls of the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Atlanta headquarters.Several employees told the Guardian that if a Doge staffer walked through their offices and saw a badge at an untended workstation, its owner would be fired promptly. Firing someone for a security violation gave Doge an excuse to circumvent the defenses of civil service protection, or performance reviews, or seniority. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago ‘No guidance and no leadership’: chaos and confusion at CDC after mass firings

On 1 April, thousands of workers at HHS and agencies like the CDC were let go, leaving those left to piece together the cuts and mourn the research that can’t go forwardFor the past two months, members of the Elon Musk-led “department of government efficiency” (Doge) have stalked the halls of the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Atlanta headquarters.Several employees told the Guardian that if a Doge staffer walked through their offices and saw a badge at an untended workstation, its owner would be fired promptly. Firing someone for a security violation gave Doge an excuse to circumvent the defenses of civil service protection, or performance reviews, or seniority. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago THOUSANDS of men with prostate cancer are at increased risk of early death due to scandalous postcode lottery

To maximise survival chances, the NHS should diagnose the disease (pictured, file photo) and start treatment within 62 days of a patient being referred by a doctor.

Events

2 w. ago Doge’s attack on social security causing ‘complete, utter chaos’, staff says

Understaffed agency sent into ‘death spiral’ as employees warn Musk-led cuts will lead to structural collapseOffice closures, staffing and service cuts, and policy changes at the Social Security Administration (SSA) have caused “complete, utter chaos” and are threatening to send the agency into a “death spiral”, according to workers at the agency.The SSA operates the largest government program in the US, administering social insurance programs, including retirement, disability and survivor benefits. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Layoffs threaten US firefighter cancer registry, mine research and mask lab

Government staffing cuts have gutted a small U.S. health agency that aims to protect workers

Events

3 w. ago Trump fires scientist team studying STD outbreaks as 10,000 workers laid off

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's labs have been dismantled by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as thousands of workers are laid off

Events

3 w. ago EEOC chief shift focus to investigating DEI but her methods provoke outcries

The acting chief of the top federal agency for protecting worker rights has signaled a pivot toward prioritizing President Donald Trump’s campaign to stamp out diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the private and public sectors

Events

3 w. ago Trump and Musk have ushered in a terrible era of cataclysm capitalism. But I have a plan to counter it | Julia Steinberger

The speed with which US democracy is being dismantled is dizzying, but if we organise resistance now we can stop thisEverything is moving too fast. The Trump-Musk administration is tearing through US government, universities and health organisations, firing tens of thousands of employees, eliminating billons in funding. The scope and speed of the attack is dizzying. It is almost impossible to keep up with the ongoing destruction, let alone to organise the resistance. None of this is accidental.We need to understand the origins of the Trump blitzkrieg to counter it in the US and prevent it from spreading abroad. The speed of the attack can be traced to Trump strategist and “accelerationist” Steve Bannon, and aligns with his information warfare tactic to “flood the zone” to confuse, disengage and disorient. Whether on climate or Covid, rumours, lies and conspiracy theories create a chaotic cacophony, leaving the public disoriented, fearful and prey to oversimple Trumpist messages: bla...

Politics

3 w. ago US health agency layoffs gut mine safety, infertility and smoking programs

Thousands lost jobs as sweeping cuts reshape public health, leaving experts and lawmakers scrambling From experts in mine safety to smoking and infertility – mass layoffs hit branch after branch of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s plan to downsize nearly a quarter of the 82,000-person workforce took effect.Even as the sprawling nature of layoffs became apparent on Tuesday, a complete accounting was elusive. Layoffs were undertaken with few public details, with even apoplectic congressional lawmakers left in the dark. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Here's where jobs and programs are being cut at the nation's top health agencies

Thousands of people at the nation’s top health agencies were laid off Tuesday

Society

3 w. ago Musk’s Doge to fire all local workers and US diplomats from USAID, sources say

Unofficial Trump adviser’s cost-cutting team to finalize shuttering the foreign aid agency on which millions dependUS politics live – latest updatesElon Musk’s cost-cutting team is finalizing the dismantlement of the US Agency for International Development, ordering the firings of thousands of local workers and US diplomats and civil servants assigned to the agency overseas, two former top USAID officials and a source with knowledge of the situation said on Tuesday.On Friday, Congress was notified that almost all of USAID’s own employees were being fired by September, all of its overseas offices shut, and some functions absorbed into the state department. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Thousands of US health agency workers laid off in overhaul led by RFK Jr

Trump administration begins reducing Health and Human Services workforce as Kennedy plans up to 10,000 job cutsThousands of Health and Human Services (HHS) employees across the country are being dismissed on Tuesday as the Trump administration begins implementing its workforce-reduction plan, which could ultimately remove 10,000 staff members from the department through forced layoffs.The job cuts mark the first tangible impact of the health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s departmental overhaul announced last week, landing just days after Donald Trump moved to strip collective-bargaining rights from workers at HHS and other federal agencies. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Thousands of workers at nation's health agencies brace for mass layoffs

As they readied to leave work Monday, some workers at the Food and Drug Administration were told to pack their laptops and prepare for the possibility that they wouldn’t be back

Politics