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Calls for House of Lords reform have resurfaced this week after the government suffered another Brexit set back in the upper house. The Daily Mail, which staunchly backed Britain's exit from the European Union, said it is "time to pull the plug on the Lords" on its front page and called its representatives "Traitors in Ermine". Peers backed retaining key aspects of the EU's single market this week through continued participation in the European Economic Area (EEA) by 245 votes...

A pioneering new citizens’ wealth fund in the UK could provide a universal annual cash dividend and eventually a weekly basic income, a new report has claimed. According to research by City, University of London and the Friends Provident Foundation the UK government should create a citizens’- owned investment fund to pay for an annual cash payment to everyone in the country. The report says the fund would be a powerful new anti-inequality instrument, allowing a dividend of £430 per person after...

Budget cuts will make the next term for new councillors increasingly tough, new research has revealed, with spending by boroughs falling by a fifth over seven years. London’s authorities saw a 19 per cent fall in their budgeted expenditure (per head) between 2010/11 and 2017/18 (excluding education, public health and policing). This has hit inner London authorities hardest: the largest falls occurred in Newham (-33 per cent), followed by Westminster and Camden (both -29 per cent), while Sutton’s budgets only experienced...

Child abuse survivors who grew up in 'hellholes' run by the Home Office and other institutions have been 'ignored', their 'complaints and accounts sidelined', the Independent Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales (IICSA) heard today. The Home Office, local authorities, their insurance companies, police and social workers who disbelieved abused children, all came under fire. The inquiry set up by Theresa May as Home Secretary heard how these institutions had all failed shockingly to protect many of...

A drug developed to treat brittle bones could cure baldness, suggests a new study. Researchers found that the drug, originally designed as a treatment for osteoporosis, has a "dramatic stimulatory effect" on human hair follicles donated by patients undergoing hair transplantation surgery. Currently only two drugs - minoxidil and finasteride - are available for treatment of male-pattern balding. But both those medications have side effects, and often produce disappointing hair regrowth results. The only other option available to patients is...

Police have revealed that 11 tower blocks were targeted in a city centre in April

The term 2018-22 will be one of the toughest the Conservatives have faced in Wandsworth, Councillor Ian Lewer says. Following a shock win the Deputy Mayor for the borough predicts that the next four years are likely to be some of the most challenging that the party has faced in its now 40 year rule. Aside from having to manage a council with the lowest majority since 1986, "the number of issues facing the authority are huge and complex," Lewer said....

The Home Energy Resources Unit, or HERU, generates enough power to heat a home for a day

A chemical sensing chip has been developed that detects cocaine "within minutes."