Grapevine

Social Care Network | The Guardian

• 'Don’t expect a survivor to tell you her experience of undergoing FGM'

  Specialist social workers explain how they support women and girls affected by the practice
  

  When social worker Sam Khalid [not her real name] first began working with women affected by female genital mutilation (FGM), she found there wasn’t much awareness of the brutal practice in the UK.

  She was in her first year at university, in 2011, on a placement with a Women’s Aid team. “The service I was placed in was just starting its FGM unit, and I learned about the practice and met and spoke to many survivors,” she says.

  This article was amended on 12 December 2018. An earlier version referenced statistics from a recent Guardian article which was taken down after the Guardian was notified of a fundamental error in the official data on which it was based.

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• We want to attract the right people with the right values to social care | Caroline Dinenage

  New government recruitment campaign will raise the image and profile of the sector

  This year we are celebrating the 70th anniversary of our amazing NHS, but we must not forget that adult social care is also marking 70 years. The National Assistance Act 1948 that created many of the core elements of the modern social care system came into effect on the same day as the NHS act.

  In the NHS’s birthday month we have heard many stories of the dedicated nurses, doctors and support staff who have been saving and transforming lives across its seven decades. While these staff are rightly seen as the backbone of the NHS, hardworking care workers, nurses, social workers, managers and occupational therapists are, likewise, the foundation of the adult social care sector – and they have been on the same 70-year journey as colleagues in health. They are two sides of the same coin – inseparable and essential to each other.

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• The UK project giving refugees another chance at childhood

  Young refugees face unspeakable trauma to get here. But a cross-charity initiative is helping them to rebuild their lives
  

  It is hard to be an adult when you feel like you haven’t had the chance to be a child.

  This simple statement has stayed with me over the last 12 months of working with young refugees and asylum seekers. Among them, a 17-year-old boy forced to sleep in a railway station for months; and another who witnessed the killing of his brother and father and escaped from his home country in fear of his life.

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• UN: spend an extra £5tn by 2030 to tackle global 'care crisis'

  Report highlights risk of rising inequality against women worldwide

  The world economy faces a looming “care crisis” risking further division between men and women across the planet, according to a UN report calling for governments and companies worldwide to spend at least an extra $7tn (£5.3tn) on care by 2030.

  Making the case for spending on support for children, old people and the neediest in society to double by the end of the next decade, the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) warned demographic changes alone mean the current path for care funding falls far short of requirements.
  

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• Theresa May got it wrong with her cash boost for the NHS. Here's why

  Assessing what the health service needs is essential before giving it more money to meet demand

  Four key things were missing from Theresa May’s announcement of extra money for the NHS.

  There was no admission that there is an NHS crisis that needs tackling. Or that money is needed now for both the the health service and social care. Without this emergency cash injection, there will be insufficient time and resource to make the necessary preparations to avoid a repeat – or indeed worsening – of last year’s winter crisis in the NHS and social care with the trail of waits, delays, suffering and extra deaths that accompanied it.

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Opinion | The Guardian

• Russia has offered a short ceasefire in Ukraine – but here’s what Putin really wants | Andriy Yermak

  As part of the price for peace, Moscow would like sanctions on Russian airlines lifted. That’s no surprise: they’re vital to the Kremlin’s war machine

  On Monday, the Kremlin offered a three-day pause in hostilities against Ukraine in May, to coincide with Moscow’s celebrations of the end of the second world war. In a context where Ukraine is calling for an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, and the US a permanent one, Russia wants concessions before a lasting pause or permanent peace can even be discussed. Central to the Kremlin’s demands is the removal of sanctions – especially those restricting its aviation sector.

  We must be cautious not to make concessions prematurely, under the guise of quick progress. The short pause offered would not make a meaningful difference to the war, and accepting it would enable a regime that has repeatedly shown intent to prolong its war of aggression and undermine this chance for a just, fair and lasting peace.

  Andriy Yermak is head of the Ukrainian presidential office

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• The Guardian view on Canada’s Liberal election: Carney’s triumph is a rebuff to Trump | Editorial

  The US president’s territorial and economic threats have prompted voters to unite against his bellicosity

  Canada’s astounding election comeback by the Liberals will hearten many outside its borders as well as within. The governing party’s Lazarus moment was sparked by a man who was not on the ballot – though he took the chance to reiterate that the country should become the 51st US state, implying that voters could then elect him.

  By then it was already clear that Donald Trump’s threats had backfired. Monday’s result was a clear repudiation of his agenda. For two years, the Conservatives’ Pierre Poilievre looked like a dead cert as the next prime minister, assailing Justin Trudeau’s government on issues including the cost of living, housing and immigration. His party built a 25-point lead. But within four months, Mr Trudeau’s resignation, his warning that Mr Trump’s “51st state” remarks were no joke, and the imposition of swingeing US tariffs, transformed the contest. Mr Poilievre lost his seat. The Liberals are embarking on a fourth term, though this time perhaps as a minority, under Mr Trudeau’s replacement Mark Carney.

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• The Guardian view on teachers’ pay: ministers must fund an increase | Editorial

  Schools are tough workplaces, and the government should endorse the case for higher pay

  Teachers deserve a pay rise. So it was good to learn that the independent pay review body is expected to recommend an increase of around 4% in England for 2025-26, along with 3% for NHS workers. There are staff shortages across many parts of the public sector. Schools are not unique in having trouble with recruitment and retention. But the importance of education means that the government must do all in its power to prevent children from missing out, and fund the increase in full.

  By refusing to do so, ministers would send the wrong signal to a beleaguered profession and the country at large. There are strong arguments for investing in public services across the board – and not only in England. But the case for ensuring that there are enough teachers should be unarguable for a government that is hopeful about the future and wants voters to feel the same.

  Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.

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• Pete Songi on Conservative preparations for England’s local elections – cartoon
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• Extra time in exams is a challenge to the system | Letters

  Readers respond to an article about the increasing number of children who are given special ‘access arrangements’ for exams

  Sally Weale’s article on the increased use of “access arrangements” for children who would otherwise be at a disadvantage in exams gave a reasonable account of the logistical demands that this places on schools and colleges (Extra exam time: why do so many schoolkids suddenly need it?, 23 April). As an assessor for such arrangements in a large further education college, I am aware that the year-on-year increase in them was established long before Covid, suggesting another possible mechanism for the trend beyond the likely culprits outlined by Weale.

  To sit still, concentrate at length, recall and regurgitate knowledge, generate creative ideas, endure fatigue, write legibly, spell accurately and process large amounts of text accurately and at speed, during a strictly timed examinations season, still seems to be regarded as the gold standard for children’s assessment. This is despite there being no meaningful correlation to any real-world application (that I can think of).

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