Rishi Sunak wants vaccine taskforce-style strategy to tackle NHS ‘missions’ like cancer and obesity

Published

3 years ago

November 28, 2022

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Rishi Sunak hopes a “blueprint” inspired by the coronavirus vaccine rollout will help tackle the NHS’s four “healthcare missions” of cancer, obesity, mental health and addiction.

The prime minister has announced more than £113m in funding for research into new treatments and technologies with the aim of encouraging breakthroughs.

Ministers believe tackling the key challenges could save the health service and the economy billions, with obesity alone estimated to cost £6.1bn a year.

But the NHS is also struggling with a record treatment backlog and staffing crisis, with nurses preparing to strike next month over pay and patient safety.

The British Medical Association welcomed the “injection of funding” for research but warned it must be coupled with further investment in the NHS and in the welfare system.

Medical academic staff committee chairman Professor David Strain said: “Doctors are already struggling to pick up the pieces of a broken social safety net.

“A stronger social safety net, backed by well-funded public services, would save thousands from needing the NHS’s services at all.”

Prof Strain said the government needs to invest more in the NHS “here and now” – saying the extra £3.3bn of funding announced in the autumn statement was an “effective pay cut to the health service’s budget”.

“This is impeding the NHS from getting on top of the backlog and providing treatment to patients who desperately need it, causing untold suffering across the country.”

In his autumn statement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt promised an additional £3.3bn in funding for the NHS for each of the next two years.

But nearly all of that will be eaten up by the costs of inflation and growing demand, with just £800m left over for the improvement of services, according to analysis by the Nuffield Trust.

Mr Sunak, Health Secretary Steve Barclay and Business Secretary Grant Shapps will meet NHS leaders, global chief executives and key industry figures on Monday.

“The NHS faces real pressures, which is why we are investing over £100m in the technologies and medicines of the future to address some of the biggest public health challenges facing our country,” Mr Sunak said.

The government hopes to follow the vaccine approach with its “missions” by harnessing the best research expertise, removing unwarranted bureaucracy and strengthening partnerships with businesses.

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Research into mental health will get £40.2m, addiction £30.5m, cancer £22.5m and obesity £20m.

Each mission will be led by an independent expert, who will be chosen by a panel that will include Dame Kate Bingham, who headed the vaccine taskforce.

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “It is welcome that NHS and life sciences leaders are being brought in to help fix the mess the Conservatives have made.”

Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman Daisy Cooper said the “level of ambition for health research is long overdue”.

“But as health and care services prepare for one of the most difficult winters in memory, the government needs to urgently demonstrate this level of ambition when it comes to GP appointments, ambulance delays, discharges to social care and hospital beds,” she added.

“Our health and care services are stretched to the brink of collapse after years of mismanagement by this Conservative government.”

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Thousands defy ban to join Pride march in Budapest

Published

2 hours ago

June 28, 2025

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Thousands defy ban to join Pride march in Budapest

If Hungary’s authorities thought banning this year’s Pride march would keep people off the streets, they were wrong.

Thousands turned out in Budapest, defying a law which said LGBTQ+ events like this should be cancelled to protect children.

The crowd was determined to fight for their rights.

“This is a special march, not just because it was the 30th, but also because it was banned,” said Orsi, who proudly wore a rainbow headband and waved a rainbow flag.

“I mean that’s all the more reason to go out on the street and show that Budapest and Hungary is a place where everybody is welcome, where love is equal,” she added.

Attendees had been warned that just being there could mean a 500 euro fine or prison time for the organisers.

They were told police would use facial recognition cameras to identify them, but they didn’t care.

Orsi said it was worth a fine.

Leonas had travelled from Poland to show his support and was also happy to take the risk.

“LGBT rights are attacked across the whole world, and we need to defend each other and work with each other,” he said.

Viktor Orban’s government has repeatedly pitched family values against LGBTQ+ rights.

“The mother is a woman, the father is a man and leave our kids alone,” he told conservative audiences in the past.

He says he is protecting Hungary’s Christian values, but critics say this is just part of a wider attack on democracy which has happened during his 15 years in control.

The Pride ban is just the latest targeting of LGBTQ+ communities.

In 2020, the country abolished its legal recognition of transgender people, and in 2021, politicians passed a law banning the depiction of homosexuality to under-18s.

While many were outraged by the attempt to cancel the Pride march, a small number of far-right activists organised demonstrations to show their support:

“Hungary and the Hungarian nation don’t want the aggressive LGBTQ+ propaganda. They are dangerous for our families, they are dangerous for our kids,” said Gabor Kelemen, a member of the 64 Counties Youth Movement.

However, the packed streets showed many disagree.

At one point, as far as the eye could see, the march snaked through streets and across the city’s bridges. The sound of drums and whistles mixing with gay anthems blaring out of speakers.

The organisers said they believed this will be the largest Pride march ever in Budapest.

The crowd was eclectic, with Hungarians from different communities joining a demonstration which many believe is now part of a fight for Hungary’s future.

“This is not only about the complexity of Pride, not only about love or equality… for Hungarians, it’s about sticking together, supporting each other, showing the government that we believe in a different kind of Hungary. We believe in freedom, we believe in democracy,” said activist Adam Kanicsar.

Despite the ban, today Pride attendees were celebrating a victory. But make no mistake, many in Hungary do not support the parade or what they see as an attack on traditional values.

Next year, the country will hold a general election, a vote which will expose how divided Hungary really is.

World

Chants of ‘death to America’ at funeral for Iranian military commanders and scientists

Published

2 hours ago

June 28, 2025

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Chants of 'death to America' at funeral for Iranian military commanders and scientists

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Tehran to mourn top military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Iran’s 12-day war with Israel.

State-run Press TV said the event – dubbed the “funeral procession of the Martyrs of Power” – was held for 60 people, including four women and four children.

It said at least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among the dead, including head of the Revolutionary Guard General Hossein Salami and the head of the guard’s ballistic missile programme, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.

Their coffins were driven to Azadi Square on trucks adorned with their pictures as well as rose petals and flowers, as crowds waved Iranian flags.

Chants of “death to America” and “death to Israel” could be heard.

Attending the funeral were Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures, including Ali Shamkhani who was seriously wounded during the fighting and is an adviser to Iran‘s supreme leader.

There was no immediate sign of the supreme leader in the state broadcast of the funeral.

Iran’s president later thanked people for turning out.

“From the bottom of my heart, I thank you dear people,” Mr Pezeshkian wrote on social media.

“With love, you bid farewell to the martyrs of our homeland, and our voice of unity reached the ears of the world.”

Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi called the deaths “hard and painful”.

Seemingly referencing the recent airstrikes, he added: “Institutions and structures, however important and valuable, return with new glory and greater strength over time, even if it takes years.”

Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said its attacks on Iran aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.

The US joined in by launching strikes on three nuclear enrichment sites in Iran, which Donald Trump said left them “obliterated”, however the exact extent of the damage remains unclear.

Iran denies having a nuclear weapons programme and the UN nuclear watchdog, which carries out inspections in Iran, has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons project.

Over almost two weeks of fighting, Israel claimed it killed around 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, before a ceasefire began on Tuesday.