Charities campaigning for the end of the barbaric and ignorant abuses of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Forced Marriage (FM) in the UK have had considerable support from the government and agencies in the last year or so.

In February last year the Metropolitan Police announced that, as well as prosecuting those carrying out FGM in London it would prosecute all those involved in sending girls abroad to be genitally mutilated, including the families and relatives who order it and those who book the flights and other arrangements. Those caught face prison sentences of up to 14 years.

And this month the government announced 7 year jail terms for those arranging forced marriages in the UK, under the 2014 Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act. Continue reading →

Animal welfare charities are concerned about the increased use of live cats, foxes and badgers as “bait” to give pit bulls and other dangerous dogs their first taste of blood when being trained for illegal dog fights.

Also used are other, weaker dogs that are tied to a tree so that they can’t escape, or have their jaws taped shut so that they can’t fight back when thrown into a room with fighting dogs.

The authorities have warned that those looking for bait animals to be killed by their dogs will search the classified ads in newspapers for people offering dogs free, and then turn up with children in tow, to imply that the doomed animals are going to a good home.

Fox hunts use fox cubs as bait to train hound packs to kill, a practice known as cubbing.

New research by the NSPCC indicates that the number of abuses by the late Sir Jimmy Savile was at least 500, with most victims being aged 13-15 and the youngest allegedly two.

The research, commissioned for a recent BBC Panorama programme, Savile: The Abuse of Power, shows that the disc jockey generated 16 complaints to Thames Valley Police over his abuse of the psychologically vulnerable at Broadmoor Hospital, where he had unprecedented access to patients, and where some awe-struck civil servants referred to him as “doctor”.

The late Cardinal Basil Hume, when the Archbishop of Westminster, put doctor Savile up for membership of the historical and exclusive London Athenaeum club, and he was accepted in 1984 when the Cardinal’s spokesman noted: “He is a great admirer of what Jimmy has done for young people”.

The National Trust, the UK’s largest charity, is facing a growing crisis as its army or 70,000 volunteers gets older and weaker, and as visitor numbers increase and opening times extend.

One 65 year-old volunteer pensioner, Miranda Spatchurst, told the Daily Express that the Kent property where she works really needs seven helpers but often only has two or three turn up, “making it very hard to even get a tea break”.

Many of the Trust’s volunteers are in their 80’s and their is a view that the next generation of those in their 60’s who might otherwise provide free labour will need to be working longer before they receive a state pension, and will be more inclined to enjoy their harder-earned retirement, rather than work for free.

The Charity Commission has expressed its concern that a convicted paedophile and member of the Manchester Moston Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses was reportedly allowed to question two of his victims – aged five and ten at the time of the offences – at a meeting held by elders of the church.

Jonathan Rose, 40, was jailed for nine months for the offences and the two women, now in their 20’s and 30’s and calling for Rose to be barred from the church, were apparently subjected to warnings about bearing false witness (lying) and then to questions related to whether they had encouraged Rose, or enjoyed the experience.

Jehovah’s Witnesses, unlike judges and juries, believe that incidents must be observed by at least two people to be credible, something that is almost never going to happen in cases of child abuse.

A ground-breaking study funded by Diabetes UK has established the value of a strap-on artificial pancreas in treating Type 1 diabetes.

The device, which monitors blood sugar levels every 12 minutes and then pumps in the right amount of insulin, was worn by 24 adult sufferers every night for four weeks – the longest time by far without medical supervision – and resulted in the amount of time blood sugar levels were in the safe range being increased by 13.5%.

Diabetes UK described the results as “hugely exciting” .

The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) has warned that anxiety is a mental health problem that is now felt a lot, or all of the time, by one in five people, with nearly 50% generally feeling more anxious than they used to and 60% feeling anxious on a daily basis.

The survey, of 2,300 adults, indicated that money worries were the biggest cause.

Meanwhile the Financial Ombudsman has revealed that the 13,659 people contacting them last year for help with a mortgage or secured loan problem was the highest number ever recorded. And the Citizen’s Advice Bureau now names council tax arrears as most common debt worry, for the first time ahead of credit cards.

A guide, Are You Anxiety Aware? is offered by the MHF.