After years hidden away, Oldham’s memorial to six local volunteers who died fighting fascism in the Spanish civil war has been restored to public view, marking both a victory for campaigners and a renewed tribute to the town’s proud International Brigade heritage, says ROB HARGREAVES
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Semantics instead of treatment
The move away from an ‘illness’ to ‘personal responsibility’ puts the onus on the patient to find the answers, so they can get themselves better, writes Ruth Hunt
Two solidarity messages by poet and mental health campaigner, Hussain are projected onto residential buildings
While pretending to seek peace, Europe is heading toward a collision course with Russia – using security guarantees, troop deployments, expropriation and censorship as tools, writes SEVIM DAGDELEN
Alba party leader KENNY MacASKILL makes some suggestions on how to save our pubs and reduce irresponsible drinking
The catastrophe unfolding in Gaza – where Palestinians are freezing to death in tents – is not a natural disaster but a calculated outcome of Israel’s ongoing blockade, aid restrictions and continued violence, argues CLAUDIA WEBBE
Opinion polls point to electoral collapse, parliamentary rebellion and a looming leadership challenge as Starmer’s Labour haemorrhages working-class support and the far right exploits the vacuum left by a hollowed-out party, says NICK WRIGHT
The long-term effects of chemical weapons such as Agent Orange mean that the impact of war lasts well beyond a ceasefire
THE demand for psychiatric services, including inpatient beds, is at an all-time high, but the capacity to treat such inpatients has not kept up, with some regions in the UK faring worse than others, the Royal College of Psychiatrists report from 2019 found.
This has resulted in the threshold for getting admitted increasing, leaving service-users who are unwell, including some people with a serious mental illness such as depression not meeting the threshold for admission.
These service-users might be offered therapeutic tools through Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) and receive, for example, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) or they might try to find a therapist, on a private basis, who can help them deal with their symptoms.
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GEOFF BOTTOMS, who has worked in a palliative care hospice for 11 years, argues the postcode lottery for proper end-of-life care must be ended to give the terminally ill choice and agency
ANSELM ELDERGILL asks whether artificial intelligence may decide legal cases in the future, in place of human judges, and how AI could reshape the legal landscape
JOHN GREEN explores the argument that psychiatry needs to move away from the idea of just seeing and treating the individual
Removing unnecessary bureaucracy and other avoidable costs could save up to a quarter-billion, giving us painless solutions to protect legal aid, writes PROFESSOR ANSELM ELDERGILL