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Received today — 18 December 2025

Long waits and ‘unacceptable’ lack of data at NHS gender clinics in England, review finds

18 December 2025 at 14:04

Impossible to judge safety or effectiveness as adult clinics not systematically recording outcomes, Dr David Levy finds

Doctors treating vulnerable patients with gender dysphoria have no way of assessing whether the NHS treatment provided has worked because outcomes are not systematically recorded, a damning official inquiry into the clinics has found.

Waiting times for a first appointment at NHS adult gender dysphoria clinics (GDCs) in England are projected to reach 15 years unless there are improvements, the review found. The number of people seeking treatment is rising significantly and on average patients are already waiting five years and seven months for a first assessment.

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© Photograph: Shivansh Gupta/PA

© Photograph: Shivansh Gupta/PA

© Photograph: Shivansh Gupta/PA

Received yesterday — 17 December 2025

Rights group challenges trans-inclusive swimming policy at Hampstead Heath

17 December 2025 at 13:08

Allowing entry on the basis of self-identification of gender rather than biological sex is unlawful, high court told

Rules permitting trans women to share female changing facilities and swim in a women-only pond are discriminatory and unlawful, the high court has heard.

The City of London Corporation is breaching equality legislation by allowing trans people to use the single-sex ponds on Hampstead Heath, according to a claim brought by the rights group Sex Matters. It is seeking permission to challenge the admission regulations.

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© Photograph: Hollie Fernando/Getty Images

© Photograph: Hollie Fernando/Getty Images

© Photograph: Hollie Fernando/Getty Images

‘Don’t be disheartened by mistakes’: 10 lessons my artist father taught me

17 December 2025 at 07:00

David Gentleman’s brilliant career spans eight decades, from watercolour painting to tube station murals to drawing the Tottenham riots. Here his daughter, the Guardian journalist Amelia Gentleman, dispenses his invaluable advice

When we were children, my father, the painter David Gentleman, never offered much advice to me or my siblings. If we wanted to draw, he would hand out pencils and let us get on with it. He was encouraging, but never gave us instructions. If we were enjoying ourselves, more paper was available; but if we wanted to go and do something else, that was fine too. The idea of teaching people how to do things still makes him uncomfortable, so his latest book, Lessons for Young Artists, has come as a surprise to us all. At 95, he has attempted to distil everything he has learned about working as a painter since the late 1940s into clear advice. These lessons are not aimed exclusively at art students, or even at older people who want to paint, but are for anyone wondering how to build a life and career as a creative person.

I haven’t inherited his artistic talents, but I have picked up other important things from growing up with someone who has managed to spend the past eight decades earning a living from what he enjoys doing most. Over the past two years, as he wrote this book, I’ve spent hours in his Camden studio, talking about painting and drawing and helping him search for pictures to illustrate his ideas. Here are 10 things I’ve learned from a lifetime watching him work.

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© Photograph: Courtesy of Amelia Gentleman

© Photograph: Courtesy of Amelia Gentleman

© Photograph: Courtesy of Amelia Gentleman

Received before yesterday

Campaigners in legal effort to suspend trial of puberty blockers in England

11 December 2025 at 08:16

Letters arguing research could harm participating children sent to medical regulators, health secretary and NHS

Campaigners have begun a legal process intended to suspend a clinical trial of puberty blockers on the grounds that the research could prove harmful to the children taking part.

The study was commissioned in response to last year’s review of gender identity services by Dr Hilary Cass, which found that gender medicine was an “area of remarkably weak evidence” and “built on shaky foundations”.

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© Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

© Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

© Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

UK porn traffic down since beginning of age checks but VPN use up, says Ofcom

10 December 2025 at 01:41

Visitor numbers to UK’s 10 most-visited services have settled at a ‘lower level’ than before 25 July, report finds

Traffic to pornography websites in the UK has fallen in the wake of age checks being introduced this year while use of specialist software to dodge viewing restrictions has increased, according to the communications watchdog.

Ofcom said the enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate fall in visits to popular online porn publishers, including the most visited provider in the UK, Pornhub.

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© Photograph: DCPhoto/Alamy

© Photograph: DCPhoto/Alamy

© Photograph: DCPhoto/Alamy

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