Arts institution will also merge costume departments to be ‘match fit’ after funding cuts and soaring material costs The Royal Shakespeare Company has defended plans to reduce its workforce by 11% and merge its costume departments by saying the proposal will ensure it is “match fit” as it faces a “perilous situation”. Daniel Evans, the RSC’s joint artistic director, told the Guardian the reduction in staff numbers could save £2.8m a year, as the organisation attempts to address a shortfall thought to be between £5m and £6m. Continue reading...

Chris Whitty contrasts systematic approach in children and calls for more research into managing infections in elderly The medical profession must do more to prevent and manage infections in elderly people as the current methods are “hit and miss”, the chief medical officer for England has said. Writing in his annual report for 2025, Prof Chris Whitty said preventing and treating infections had led to “extraordinary improvements in life expectancy over the last 150 years”. Continue reading...

Amazon Web Services owns the basic infrastructure for other businesses to operate online, turning even governments into its serfs, says the leader of MeRA25, Yanis Varoufakis

The affected area is Sarre Penn and the adjacent River Wantsum, near Canterbury, say officials.

Shabana Mahmood is expected to say the era of permanent protection for refugees is over, in major changes to the UK's asylum and immigration system.

Officials urge vaccination against mutated strain of virus that may be more transmissible than usual Hospitals are bracing for a once-in-a-decade flu season, with a mutated version of the virus that is spreading widely in younger people expected to drive a wave of admissions when it reaches the elderly. The threat has prompted NHS managers to redouble efforts to vaccinate staff and communities, expand same-day emergency care and treat more patients in the community to reduce the need for hospital stays. Continue reading...

Local people describe devastating impact of millions of toxic beads from Southern Water site near Camber Sands * What are bio-beads used for and how did they get spilled on to Camber Sands beach? The massive spill of plastic beads at Camber Sands is devastating for local people, wildlife and tourism and the beads are dispersing along the coast, residents heard at an emotional public meeting on Thursday. Millions of tiny, toxic plastic beads are thought to have escaped into the sea from Eastbourne sewage works in East Sussex about two weeks ago when a screen keeping them in broke. They began to wash up on Camber Sands beach last Thursday, with the situation worsening over the weekend. Continue reading...