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Israel hits Lebanon with massive wave of airstrikes amid ceasefire uncertainty
(www.theguardian.com)
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Trump threatens CNN over its Iran coverage after announcing ceasefire plan
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Reform stooge Richard Tice has taken to Twitter to complain about the number of NHS staff who called in sick over 2025. Apparently, health service workers took an average of 19 sick days last year.
And if that doesn’t get you all riled up and right-wingy, 5 of those days were for mental health reasons! The scandal!
Not that he’d want our advice, but Tice needs to be careful sharing anti-NHS-worker shit like that. After all, people might mistake him for a Labour MP.
Reform privatisation dogwhistle
Here’s some slop for you:
NHS staff took 28m sick days incl 8m for mental health in 2025:
Keen to hear from other businesses whose staff take:
Average 19 days sickness pa
Including:
5 days mental health issues pa
https://t.co/Q1Cild9fRE— Richard Tice MP
(@TiceRichard) April 7, 2026
What a regrettably common treat – a Reform tweet with a Daily Mailsource. You just know it’s going to contain some proper tripe.
First and foremost, why on earth are we framing the National Health Service as a business? Oh yeah, it’s because Tice and his Reform cronies desperately want to run it as a private business. The point is sustaining a healthy population, not turning a fucking profit – but of course, that’s lost on the likes of Tice.
Nobody mention the pay restoration
For the ‘context’ on Tice’s statistics, we can look to the Mail’sarticle itself:
Resident doctors will today cause more misery, cancellations and delays with another walkout in pursuit of a 26 per cent pay rise.
The number of sick days taken by NHS staff due to poor mental health has soared by 42 per cent since 2020 and comes amid wider concern about the nation’s approach to such issues.
The NHS in England lost 28million days to staff sickness in 2025, up from 21million in 2020 and higher than in any previous year, according to newly published data.
Of these, more than one in four – a record 7.9 million – were due to ‘anxiety/stress/depression/other psychiatric illnesses.’
Ah yeah, we’re having a bash at the British Medical Association (BMA) resident doctors’ strike. Cunning avoidance of mentioning the reason for that ‘26% raise’ goal, too.
The workers are striking in pursuit of pay restoration to match 2008 levels. Since then, they’ve suffered massive real-terms pay cuts – down to a low of -32% in 2022. Of course, they can’t let the government get away with that.
How do diseases spread again?
And then there’s the bit about all those lazy doctors taking sick days. I wonder why the people who work around sick people all the time are getting sick so often? Could it possibly be due to the communicable nature of disease? Someone should really start looking into this ‘germ theory’ I’ve been reading about.
Likewise, could the rising frequency of mental health leave have anything to do with the massive strain of NHS work?
Quite apart from the constant pressure of working with sick and dying people day-in and day-out, the NHS is also massively understaffed. As such, the workload of each individual NHS worker is massive – and it’s only getting worse. According to research from the BMA:
The average number of doctors per 1,000 people across the EU members of the OECD, for which data is available, is currently 3.9. Germany has 4.5. England, by comparison, has just 3.2 and would need an additional 40,000 doctors to reach the OECD EU average.
What’s more, those NHS staff are also working with lower resources compared to similar countries. Take hospital beds as an example – the BMA stated that:
Compared to other nations, the UK has a very low total number of hospital beds relative to its population. The average number of beds per 1,000 people in OECD EU nation js is 4.6, but the UK has just 2.4. Germany, by contrast, has 7.8.
Combined with staffing shortages, an insufficient core bed stock means that hospitals are less able to cope with large influxes of patients, for example during winter or periods of high demand.
Moral panic
The Mail goes on to make (or, at least, write) several points in quick succession – they may even be loosely related to one another:
The health service has lost 151.6million days to sickness since records began in their current form in mid-2019, meaning 6 per cent of all working days were lost to poor health – three times more than the average across all sectors.
Furthermore, the NHS lost 262,592 days to industrial action by resident doctors last year, with the British Medical Association marching its members out on strike in July, October and December.
From yesterday, new laws passed by the Government mean employees are entitled to sick pay from their first day in a job.
Only in the Daily Mailcould you get what appears to be a staccato list of shit that sounds vaguely scary to right-wingers. Staff taking sick days! The unions are staging walkouts! Workers get sick pay! It’s like a fucking neo-Nazi Buzzfeed.
Not to beat a dead horse or anything, but again – NHS workers come into contact with sick people. Their absence rates are going to be higher than other sectors. Particularly, that is, given that we’re consistently cramming too many sick people into too little less space.
Sick leave – important, actually
On top of this, the NHS employment body also highlights that ‘presenteeism’ (turning up whilst sick) can negatively affect both the quality of your work, and the state of your mental health. Given that health workers often make life-or-death decisions, those negative impacts matter.
Likewise, NHS workers also have a duty to stay home if their illness could be transmitted to their patients. This is particularly true given that, by their nature, many of the patients in a hospital are at an increased risk of infection.
Of course, we can also expand that point out more broadly. If more workers across every in-person sector took sick leave to prevent the spread of infection, the workplace would be safer for everyone – and particularly for immunocompromised colleagues.
Oh would you look at that – we’ve reached the end of the article. I haven’t even made a single crack about Reform leader Nigel Farage never turning up to do his job, but you don’t hear Tice complaining. Never mind, I’m sure it won’t be long til Reform don’t bother turning up to work again.
Featured image via the Canary
From Canary via This RSS Feed.
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Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu’s attack on Iran has disrupted oil supplies and markets across the globe. And fuel companies have wasted no time in, shall we say, ‘responding’. UK forecourts over the Easter weekend were charging on average £1.57 a litre for petrol, and £1.89 for diesel.
Again, as with concern over UK jobs, fretting over fuel prices is nothing compared to the threat of genocide. But as with all aspects of the cost of living crisis, rising prices affect people’s lives.
Fuel prices all over the place
And with the cost of fuel being so volatile, some motorists are beginning to worry about their car usage. According to data from ChooseMyCar.com, 29% of drivers now say they will use their car less. Over a quarter (27%) say they will cut down the number of miles they usually drive in an effort to save money.
This ongoing issue adds to further difficulty for UK drivers, who were already having to deal with an increase in fuel duty, after it was cut by 5p in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Despite calls to reverse this decision, the government is still set to go ahead with the fuel duty hike, which will rise in three different stages, starting by 1p in September 2026.
The sudden spike in prices has also caused many drivers to panic buy. In some places, 90-car long queues have formed at petrol stations, resulting in fuel shortages in a number of stations.
Such is the anxiety caused by further potential increases, alongside the recent hikes, that a fifth (20%) of road users say they will keep their car more filled up than usual. Meanwhile, 17% say they drive more slowly and carefully to save on fuel consumption.
But perhaps more worryingly, 14% of UK drivers say they will have to cut back spending in other areas of life, such as entertainment or food, to cover fuel costs. The cost of living crisis has long been an issue for millions in the UK. Food and energy bills remain significantly higher than pre-2022 levels. And with fuel prices increasing once again, it appears that many more will suffer financial blows.
In response to the data, Nick Zapolski of ChooseMyCar.com has offered drivers several fuel-saving tips:
The Iran and US situation has got worse over the past month or so, and this has bumped up our fuel prices, which have reached higher than £1.57 per litre for petrol, and are approaching £2 for diesel, in many places.
Understandably, this is worrying news for a lot of drivers. Even though we’ve only seen initial price rises, 70% have said they’ve already been affected by the new increased costs. With various government laws and changes over recent years, drivers have suffered a number of financial setbacks – this is just the latest. As a result, it’s causing millions of drivers to panic buy.
But, before making any drastic decisions, I urge drivers not to do this. It’s understandable, but there’s not much point. Spikes in prices can lead to petrol shortages, but these issues are usually sorted very quickly. Supply is still flowing normally, so there’s no need to change your fuel-buying habits. At the moment, you’re just queuing up when you don’t need to, and it’s causing stations to run out of fuel!
If you’re worried that you’ll struggle to cover the cost of any increased prices, there are small bits you can do to help keep the cost down. While some of these tips may sound a bit unusual, they help regulate your car’s temperature, which can make a huge difference.
Here are ChooseMyCar.com’s tips to lower your fuel consumption:
Watch your accelerator and check your tyre pressure
As whacky as it sounds, a bowl of water on your passenger seat is a great deterrent for unnecessary acceleration and braking. It sounds a bit strange, but it’s a simple and brilliant reminder to drive gently. If you hit the accelerator too hard, you’ll see water pour over the sides. Likewise, if you’re driving too fast and braking hard, you’ll notice water on the seat. The best bowls to use for this are small cereal bowls, with water about an inch from the top.
[Note: this Canary writer, a trained professional driver, thinks driving around with an actual bowl of water is a terrible idea. It’s likely to result in dangerous distraction and a sopping wet passenger seat. However, visualising an imaginary bowl and driving accordingly does make sense. Smooth driving, using anticipation to avoid jerky movements, saves fuel and is safer.]
Under-inflated tyres aren’t just dangerous, they increase your car’s overall fuel consumption, too. When tyres are too soft, they bend more as they roll along the road. This creates more rolling resistance, which means your car has to work harder to move forward. To ensure your tyres aren’t causing you to use so much fuel, check their pressure at least once a month.
Reduce your speed and use cruise control when appropriate
Watching your speed isn’t just a legal requirement, it’s also a simple way to use less fuel. Your car will use more fuel if you drive at a higher speed, particularly when going over 70mph. And driving at 70mph instead of 80mph, which 17% said they would do, could save you up to 25% in fuel.
Your car will use up a lot of energy if it’s constantly speeding up or slowing down, so it’s best to maintain a consistent, steady speed when possible. Cruise control can be an effective fuel-saver on flat long surfaces, such as motorways, and may save your vehicle up to 14% more fuel in the process.
Empty your car out or, to save most fuel, don’t use it at all
Excess weight in your car can be a real fuel burner. It’s good practice to empty your car daily, especially if you have particularly heavy items in there. So make sure you don’t drive to work on Monday morning with a load of weekend clutter still in the boot.
Consider cycling to your destination if that’s practical. Not only will you save money on fuel, but you can also cancel your gym membership too. As a quick example, if your journey to work is two miles, it could take less than 15 minutes to bike and, most importantly, would save you money.
Featured image via the Canary
By The Canary
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Meta employee in London accused of downloading 30,000 private Facebook images
(www.theguardian.com)
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