Niamh Mcintyre

Local authorities in England spent approximately £327m less in real terms on parks and open spaces in 2020–21 than in 2010–11, with nearly three-quarters cutting spending. The reductions were most severe in deprived areas: 87% of councils in the poorest fifth cut their parks budgets, compared with 58% in the most affluent fifth. The cuts have contributed to deteriorating paths, playgrounds and buildings, fewer Green Flag submissions, staff losses and greater reliance on volunteers. Sunderland reported a 92% reduction in parks spending in the analysis, but disputed the figure, saying expenditure had been moved to other departmental budgets. Experts and local-government representatives said the government’s £39m levelling-up commitment was inadequate compared with the decade’s losses and called for substantially greater, long-term investment.

An Observer investigation found that 114 privately run children’s homes in England received Ofsted’s lowest “inadequate” rating, with around 20 linked to private-equity-backed providers. Inspection reports described poorly trained staff, chaotic management, unsafe environments, failures to respond to self-harm, disrupted sibling contact and excessive reliance on agency workers. Several homes subsequently closed. Local government representatives and a government-backed review warned that profit-seeking, debt, shortages and the movement of children away from their communities indicate a broken care market. The companies involved defended private provision and disputed links between ownership and poor outcomes, while reformers called for regional oversight and a broader reset of the system.

The live coverage reports continued fighting and humanitarian suffering in Ukraine, particularly at Mariupol’s besieged Azovstal steelworks, where Ukrainian forces said civilians and wounded people remained trapped. US officials rejected Vladimir Putin’s claim that Mariupol had been liberated, while Russia continued to blockade the plant and rejected an Easter truce. Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Russia of planning a staged referendum in occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and said Ukraine needed $7 billion monthly to sustain its economy. The United States announced an additional $800 million in military assistance, including artillery and Phoenix Ghost drones, and planned allied defence talks in Germany. The World Bank estimated Ukraine’s infrastructure damage at $60 billion, while reports described alleged mass graves, civilian deaths, war crimes investigations, refugee assistance, sanctions, and continued Western military and reconstruction support.

NHS waiting lists in England reached a record 6.2 million people in early 2022, including 23,281 who had waited more than two years for treatment. Emergency-care performance also deteriorated, with record numbers waiting over 12 hours in A&E and ambulance response times reaching their longest levels on record. COVID-19, staff absences, high hospital demand and delays in social-care discharges were identified as key causes. Doctors, NHS leaders and health experts warned that the government’s goal of eliminating two-year waits by July was increasingly unlikely without resolving wider systemic problems.

England’s emergency-care system is facing severe ambulance delays, hospital handover backlogs and overcrowded A&E departments, with some 999 callers waiting up to 22 hours. Dr Katherine Henderson of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine says the NHS is failing its basic obligation to treat seriously ill patients promptly. A survey found that 80% of emergency-department leads were holding ambulances daily, while more than half reported patients staying in A&E for over 24 hours. Staff shortages, COVID-related absences, high demand and a lack of hospital and social-care beds are identified as the main causes. The government and NHS say staff are working under exceptional pressure and remain committed to improving care.

William Coleshill, a former Conservative councillor who leads the conspiracy-theory and anti-vaccine group Resistance GB, was among protesters who confronted Labour leader Keir Starmer outside parliament. A man and a woman were arrested after a traffic cone was thrown at a police officer, while online supporters circulated debunked claims linking Starmer to Jimmy Savile and alleged that the confrontation had been staged. The incident highlighted how anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine networks overlap with far-right, far-left and QAnon-related activism. Hope Not Hate warned that declining participation by less committed activists could leave protest groups smaller but more radicalised.

Downing Street reversed its earlier refusal to say whether the public would be told if Boris Johnson were fined by police for attending parties that breached COVID-19 rules. The Metropolitan Police said it would not name people receiving fixed-penalty notices, while the government maintained that it intended to publish the final Sue Gray material after the police investigation. Johnson also faced parliamentary criticism after implying that Keir Starmer had failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile; Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said the remark was inappropriate, although not technically disorderly. Conservative MP Peter Aldous called for Johnson to resign, and Andrew Mitchell warned that Partygate could fracture the Conservative coalition. Separately, Department of Health and Social Care accounts revealed almost £9bn in losses on pandemic PPE purchases. Johnson travelled to Kyiv to meet Volodymyr Zelenskiy amid the Ukraine crisis, while ministers promoted a forthcoming levelling-up programme.