Total of 25 people shot in early morning Pretoria attack, with victims including 12-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl

Gunmen have stormed into a hostel in South Africa’s capital and killed at least 11 people, including a three-year-old child, and injured more than a dozen others.

“I can confirm that a total of 25 people were shot,” police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said of the early morning attack in Pretoria. She said 14 people had been hospitalised.

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Total of 25 people shot in early morning Pretoria attack, with victims including 12-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl

Gunmen have stormed into a hostel in South Africa’s capital and killed at least 11 people, including a three-year-old child, and injured more than a dozen others.

“I can confirm that a total of 25 people were shot,” police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said of the early morning attack in Pretoria. She said 14 people had been hospitalised.

Continue reading...

Total of 25 people shot in early morning Pretoria attack, with victims including 12-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl

Gunmen have stormed into a hostel in South Africa’s capital and killed at least 11 people, including a three-year-old child, and injured more than a dozen others.

“I can confirm that a total of 25 people were shot,” police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said of the early morning attack in Pretoria. She said 14 people had been hospitalised.

Continue reading...

Exclusive: Research prompts warning that authorities rely on companies to carry out basic functions

The scale of the reliance of London councils on private consultancy and outsourcing firms is laid bare in a report that shows the local authorities paid them more than half a billion pounds last year.

The report by the Autonomy Institute and the CADA Network has prompted warnings that councils have a “sustained reliance” on such companies to carry out basic functions.

Continue reading...

Exclusive: Research prompts warning that authorities rely on companies to carry out basic functions

The scale of the reliance of London councils on private consultancy and outsourcing firms is laid bare in a report that shows the local authorities paid them more than half a billion pounds last year.

The report by the Autonomy Institute and the CADA Network has prompted warnings that councils have a “sustained reliance” on such companies to carry out basic functions.

Continue reading...

Exclusive: Research prompts warning that authorities rely on companies to carry out basic functions

The scale of the reliance of London councils on private consultancy and outsourcing firms is laid bare in a report that shows the local authorities paid them more than half a billion pounds last year.

The report by the Autonomy Institute and the CADA Network has prompted warnings that councils have a “sustained reliance” on such companies to carry out basic functions.

Continue reading...

Banks and specialist lenders will not pay tax on compensation payouts, sidestepping 2015 rule

Ministers are being urged to close a loophole that will allow UK banks and specialist lenders to avoid paying £2bn in tax on their payouts to motor finance scandal victims.

Under the current law, any operation that is not a bank can deduct compensation payments from their profits before calculating their corporation tax, reducing their bill.

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The Green party leader on his ‘floordrobe’, doomscrolling, and getting arrested on Waterloo Bridge

Born David Paulden in Greater Manchester, Zack Polanski, 43, changed his name at 18 to reflect his Jewish heritage. He studied acting at Aberystwyth University and worked in community theatre and as a hypnotherapist. In 2017, he joined the Greens. He was elected deputy leader in 2022 and leader in September. He lives in London with his partner.

When were you happiest?
Last summer with my boyfriend Richie. We had no plans – it was just wonderful.

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Some say it’s overdiagnosis, others say it’s greater recognition. But it’s clear we must think about how our society is impacting human development

• Gabor Maté is the author of The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture

Does the rise in diagnoses of ADHD mean that normal feelings are being “over-pathologised”? The UK’s health secretary, Wes Streeting, seems to suspect so. He is said to be so concerned about a sharp rise in the number of people claiming sickness benefits that he has ordered a clinical review of the diagnosis of mental health conditions, and autism and ADHD.

I was diagnosed with ADHD (ADD, as it was then most often called) decades ago, in my early 50s. As I wrote in my book on the subject, Scattered Minds, it “seemed to explain many of my behaviour patterns, thought processes, childish emotional reactions, my workaholism and other addictive tendencies, the sudden eruptions of bad temper and complete irrationality, the conflicts in my marriage and my Jekyll and Hyde ways of relating to my children … It also explained my propensity to bump into doorways, hit my head on shelves, drop objects, and brush close to people before I notice they are there.”

Gabor Maté is an international public speaker and retired physician. His most recent book is The Myth of Normal: Illness, Health and Healing in a Toxic Culture

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