Prince Philip: Mark Drakeford offers condolences

Mark Drakeford, first minister of Wales, has offered his condolences to the Queen and Royal Family on behalf of the Welsh Government.

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  • Prince Harry is talking in 'therapy speak' so how would a therapist decode what he's really saying?

    After years as a senior practising therapist (I did 15 before retiring), you tend to be able to spot what we call “therapy speak” from a mile off. It tends to happen to people who’ve had a lot of sessions, over a very long time. They may have started all stiff upper-lipped, but after enough work, they end up speaking like us. Judging by his latest podcast appearance, in which he spoke with American actor Dax Shepard, Prince Harry is a prime example. Some of the words and phrases he uses – the focus on “awareness”, compassion and “lived experience”, how he is now “comfortable being able to discuss [his] struggles”, is “listening to [his] body” and learned to “pluck [his] head out of the sand – could be lifted straight from one of my therapists’ rooms. I would guess he’s had integrative psychotherapy, which is an eclectic style, and a good amount of psychodynamic therapy, which will often revisit childhood experiences, ask clients to look into their upbringing, and consider whether trauma or a lack of attention from primary care givers has affected them. “To me it’s always so fascinating to hear about someone’s struggles and then being able to trace it back to not what’s wrong with you, but what happened to you?” Harry said at one point. That’s psychodynamic therapy in a nutshell. That approach is particularly obvious when he spoke about consciously trying to “parent” his son, Archie, in a different way from his own upbringing. He spoke of “breaking the cycle” of inherited “pain or suffering” from his father, Prince Charles, who had his own difficulties as a boy. When Harry said he is “going to make sure I break that cycle so I don’t pass it on”, he’s reflecting the common psychodynamic method of having clients avoid what we call “repetition compulsion”: repeating traumas they themselves endured. Humans are naturally inclined to repeat trauma, but in consciously saying: “I recognise that, it’s a pattern, and I want to break free from it”, we can end the cycle. Clearly, Harry is actively involved in that process. Prince Harry is a product of his environment and experiences. He was once in the Royal family, at Eton, in the Army, in the tabloids, but now he is in Los Angeles, independent, and with Meghan, who certainly seems emotionally enlightened. That, as well as a hearty dose of therapy that may well be continuing, seems to have changed him profoundly. As told to Guy Kelly Sheri Jacobson is founder of Harley Therapy

  • Peter Mandelson is wrong about Labour’s ‘hard left’ – socialism can win elections

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  • Pupils in England ‘waiting up to five years for special needs plan’

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  • Indian variant ‘will get everywhere’ as cases double for second week in a row

    Cases of the new Indian variant have more than doubled for the second week in a row – with 1,313 cases confirmed – and some scientists fearing the B.1.617.2 variant will become dominant in the UK. The clusters remain predominantly located in the North West and London, but health officials in Bedford have also raised alarm at an apparent spike. In Blackburn, where multi-age surge vaccination will take place from Monday, as well as Bolton, the B.1.617.2 variant is thought to have driven a doubling of infections over the past seven days. It has spread three times faster than previous variants of concern, such as that from South Africa, according to analysis by the Telegraph. Experts are now urgently trying to establish to what extent the new Indian variant is more transmissible than the dominant one discovered in Kent last year, and whether it can get round the protection offered by vaccines.

  • Every patient to have right to see a GP as NHS abandons ‘total triage’

    The NHS on Thursday night performed a climbdown over plans to use online and telephone "screening" for GP appointments and announced that every patient would now have the right to see their doctor face-to-face. The Telegraph revealed on Wednesday that family doctors had been told to introduce a system of "total triage", meaning those seeking to see their GP were being discouraged and told to have an online or phone discussion first. But NHS England has now ordered that the system be abolished amid a mounting backlash from patients' groups and doctors. New guidance to all GPs will instead say that every practice in England must make "a clear offer of appointments in person" and respect the preferences of patients. Dr Nikki Kanani, the NHS medical director for primary care, and Ed Waller, the director of primary care, wrote to all GPs on Thursday night to inform them that the new operating procedures supersede all previous guidance. "GP practices must all ensure they are offering face-to-face appointments," the letter says. "While the expanded use of video, online and telephone consultations can be maintained where patients find benefit from them, this should be done alongside a clear offer of appointments in person. "Practices should respect preferences for face-to-face care unless there are good clinical reasons to the contrary, for example the presence of Covid symptoms." It came after the Patients' Association, the Royal College of GPs, the British Medical Association and Jacob Rees-Mogg , the Commons leader, all raised concerns about the NHS proposal for "total triage".

  • Prince Harry talks of his ‘genetic pain’ in podcast with Dax Shepard

    The Duke of Sussex has compared life in the Royal family to a mix between being on The Truman Show and being in a zoo. He admitted that he realised in his 20s that he did not want the “job” or to be a part of that “operation”, having seen what it did to his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. Prince Harry, 36, said it was when he started therapy, following a conversation with Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, that “the bubble burst” and helped him “pluck his head out of the sand,” realising he needed to use his position of privilege to help others. In a wide-ranging, 90-minute interview with American actor Dax Shepard for his Armchair Expert podcast, the Duke described how he was told he needed help as a child, his lack of self-awareness when he was “going wild” in his younger years and how the feeling of helplessness was his “achilles heel”. He said he had “always felt different” and suggested he felt far more connected with people he had met in Africa and on other continents than those within the confines of the palace. The Duke, who was promoting his new AppleTV series about mental health, The Me You Cannot See, appeared to criticise the way he had been raised by his father, revealing he had deliberately adopted a different parenting method to “break the cycle” of pain and suffering. Privilege The Duke acknowledged that he was born into a life of great privilege, which had given him “the most unbelievable front row seat” as he travelled around the world, seeing people who were suffering and developing empathy. He said: “My education was not at school, my education was about meeting people across the Commonwealth. “The reality is, you meet these kids and go into these communities all over the world and it just puts it into context and that’s why I feel more comfortable being able to discuss my own struggles now, because I do it to help other people.” He said he did not consider it “complaining” but sharing his own vulnerabilities and experiences, because in doing so, he knew that it would have a positive impact on someone else’s life. The Duke said he felt “way more connection” to those “emotionally free people and systemic free people” he had worked with in Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. “The privilege does give you blinkers,” he said. “Mine were never particularly on straight. I’ve always felt different.” He credited his late mother for that feeling, saying the impact she had on him in the short time they had together was “huge” because all she wanted to do was to ensure they had as normal a life as possible. The Duke suggested that the fairytale dream of princes and princesses was out of step with reality. “My wife had the most amazing explanation to that: ‘You don't need to be a princess, you can create the life that will be better than any princess.’ “And that’s coming from her own lived experience. We got together and she was like 'wow, this is very different to what my friends at the beginning said it would be’.”

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  • Scientists call for ‘surge’ vaccinations against India variant following rise in cases

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  • China: Beijing's Muslim community gathers for Eid payers at mosque

    Beijing's Muslim community gathers for Eid al-Fitr prayers to mark the end of Ramadan at the Niujie Mosque - the capital city's biggest and oldest mosque. The Chinese government has been facing intense criticism for its treatment of minority Muslims in the country. At least one million Uyghurs and people from other mostly Muslim groups have been held in camps in China's northwestern Xinjiang region, according to rights groups, who accuse authorities of forcibly sterilising women and imposing forced labour. Millions more Muslims in China allegedly live under a tough system of surveillance and controls.   Beijing flatly denies any abuses in Xinjiang, describing detention centres there as vocational training centres intended to boost incomes and deter extremism.

  • Police order release of men detained in immigration raid after Glasgow standoff

    Two men detained by UK immigration officers in Glasgow on Thursday were released hours later after hundreds of protests surrounded a Home Office van to block the removal. Police Scotland said they took the decision on safety grounds after around 200 demonstrators took to the streets following a raid at a property in Pollokshields, within Nicola Sturgeon's constituency, just before 10am. The attempted removal sparked an angry response from neighbouring residents and politicians as it coincided with the start of celebrations for Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim festival marking the end of Ramadan. Staff from UK Immigration Enforcement are believed to have swooped on a property in Pollokshields, as campaigners questioned why the widely condemned practice of dawn raids appears to be recurring in Glasgow, the only dispersal city for asylum seekers in Scotland. Ms Sturgeon accused the Home Office of creating a "dangerous situation" and described the Government's immigration policy as "unacceptable" as she led the objections from politicians and campaigners. One man positioned himself under the Home Office van to prevent it from being driven off, while chants of "Leave our neighbours, let them go" and "Cops go home" rang out at the scene.

  • Britain losing out in race to open borders to holidaymakers as EU nations lift restrictions

    Germany, Spain and Holland have on Thursday become the latest European countries to open their borders to British holidaymakers, prompting warnings that Britain is in danger of being left behind as it maintains tough restrictions on arrivals. Germany from yesterday (thur) will admit anyone with double vaccinations without them having to do a PCR test - even if they come from a higher risk "amber" list country. They will be exempt from quarantine while any incoming passenger who requires a test to enter will be able to have one free of charge. Spain and the Netherlands have gone further by allowing anyone from countries with low infection rates to enter without having to do either a PCR test or to prove their vaccination status. The Netherlands has set a threshold of fewer than 150 cases per 100,000 - which would include the UK - while Spain is considering 50 or 100 per 100,000. By contrast, Britain requires anyone from a “green” list country to take a PCR test on or before the second day of their arrival in the UK, even if they have been fully vaccinated. Only 12 countries or territories are currently on the green list including Portugal, Israel, Gibraltar and Iceland. Anyone coming from an amber list country - which covers the vast majority of Europe - are required to quarantine for ten days and have two PCR tests on days two and eight of their self isolation. The moves will pile pressure on the UK which stands out as having the toughest border regime by requiring PCR tests even for those who have been fully vaccinate. Henry Smith, chair of the all party Future of Aviation group, said the moves by other European nations highlighted “the very real risk that our overly cautious reopening risks leaving the UK recovery behind and places UK aviation at a competitive disadvantage. “It also reinforces that the Government must take urgent action to reduce the cost of testing through measures such as removing VAT and work urgently towards exempting vaccinated passengers from onerous restrictions. “Our aviation and travel industries will be vital to our economic recovery and placing them at a competitive disadvantage to our competitors makes no sense whatsoever and this must be considered at the highest levels of Government ahead of the first review point.”

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  • Leigh-Anne Pinnock praised for discussing fiancé Andre Grey’s colourist tweets in racism documentary

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  • Have your say: Will the 21 June 'Freedom Day' be changed because of Indian COVID variant?

    Cases of the Indian COVID variant have more than doubled in a week, sparking concerns that further measures will be needed to stop its spread, including local lockdowns.