Five babies have been born in ambulances, A&E departments and a hospital reception because North Devon's maternity service no longer has enough staff to provide the care women should be able to rely on. That is a shocking failure of one of the NHS's most basic promises: that when a mother goes into labour, safe help will be there.
Years of Neglect
This crisis did not appear overnight. It is the product of years in which successive governments allowed NHS staffing gaps to deepen, services to be hollowed out and maternity care to come under intolerable pressure, particularly in more isolated communities. North Devon is now paying the price.
Government Must Act
Ministers cannot undo years of neglect overnight, but they can stop accepting a system in which childbirth becomes a postcode lottery, and expectant mothers are left fearing whether they will reach proper care in time. The Government must now guarantee the staff and funding needed to reopen the unit safely, set a firm timetable for doing so, and make clear that no community will again be left without proper maternity provision because years of neglect were allowed to become the norm.
A True Hero
There are moments when courage is not measured in words, medals or speeches, but in the instinct to run towards danger when every part of you should run away. That is what Andrew Franks did. Already stabbed and bleeding, he confronted a terrorist, tripped him, warned worshippers to lock the doors and bought precious seconds that helped prevent a massacre inside a Manchester synagogue. He nearly died for it.
A year on, Andrew still lives with terrible injuries and trauma, while the families of Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby live with unbearable loss. Our Pride of Britain Awards exist to honour people exactly like Andrew: ordinary men and women who, in extraordinary moments, reveal the very best of us. His bravery saved lives. We should never forget it.
Celebrity Traitors Returns
Celebrity Traitors is back, bringing with it the glorious mix of suspicion, scheming and famous faces turning on each other that made it such irresistible television. The cloaks are out, the round table is waiting, and nobody can trust anyone. For viewers, that means one thing: wonderfully wicked telly is back.
