An in-depth attempt to explain nearly five years of levelling up funds: what they are, why they are, and why people have been so unhappy with them

With ⁦Amy Borrett⁩ and ⁦Anna Gross⁩

(The first in a 4-part series about levelling up)
on.ft.com/3Ux0AYE

Deaths from alcohol are up 41% on pre-covid rates. Men still make up 2 in 3 deaths, but rates are rising faster for women, who are targeted by 'gendered promotions' about female empowerment and motherhood, says IAS's Dr Katherine Severi

More Financial Times: on.ft.com/3U8mZdl

Huge thanks to the wonderful editors who worked on these pieces - Esther Bintliff, Nicola Davison and Elizabeth Pears - and to peerless data maestro Amy Borrett!

'The UK has experienced the largest increase in relative child poverty between 2014 & 2021 of any advanced economy, according to estimates by Unicef. At the same time, 3.3mn children in the UK still live in “absolute” poverty.' Peter Foster & Amy Borrett ft.com/content/55072b…

🚨 The gap between the most and least-developed economies is back to 2015 levels, widening at a record pace over the last 2yrs. UN Development lead Achim Steiner warns of 'very serious divergence', with greater polarisation and gridlock on key global issues #HDR2024 on.ft.com/4cbNK8Z

🫨🫨Real concerns among Uni heads about drop in international students enrolments for this coming academic year — snapshot via Enroly shows 37% fall Jan 23-Jan 24. Unis heads partly blaming hostile political environment and ban on dependants. Via @ft

on.ft.com/42UmSG9

The UK’s dentist crisis in two grim charts.

And the scale of backlog of overseas dentists seeking to sit exam to qualify to work in UK — top reporting via @ft Laura Hughes and datameister Amy Borrett

ft.com/content/70363c…

UK employers race for staff visas ahead of new immigration rules on.ft.com/3uu8BTX

Changes to England's student loan system have increased repayments for the lowest earning graduates, who are disproportionately women.

If you want to see how you are affected by recent changes and potential future reforms, this Financial Times article should help: on.ft.com/49178U3

Prescriptions for #adhd drugs have surged, largely due to rising demand from wealthier patients. Growing awareness of ADHD has led more adults to seek treatment, with long NHS waiting times (>10yrs in some areas) leading many to go private Financial Times
on.ft.com/42s4unL

Rishi Sunak vivienne stern So how bad is it? Well, see this chart from Amy Borrett using PwC UK analysis of 70+ uni FY21-22 accounts shows how if overseas students fall by 13-18% then 80% of unis go into deficit. It’s almost certainly worse than this now. /4

NHS mental health services are under huge strain.
New referrals up 50% since 2018, private 'out of area' bed costs at record highs and bed occupancy >100% in some areas. Anna Gross and I looked at the detrimental impact of privatising services Financial Times
ft.com/content/c10f08…

The costly and controversial outsourcing of mental health in England:
Spending on private “out of area” beds by NHS mental health trusts has reached record levels in the UK, and is 43 per cent higher than it was five years ago. W/ Amy Borrett 1/3
ft.com/content/c10f08…

And data from the wonderful Amy Borrett shows the number of providers has been dropping for years….

New #Pisa data shows an steep fall in global education outcomes during the pandemic, especially in the OECD ➡️ Better Policies for Better Lives. Developed countries no longer have a monopoly on good education says Andreas Schleicher, warning Covid is not the only cause of decline

More Financial Times: on.ft.com/486vCKV

NEW: Thought the cost-of-living crisis was on the wane? Not according to this disburbing CitizensAdvice data, via @ft Financial Times_FLIC Amy Borrett.

Why? Housing costs, frozen benefits, end of energy bill support.

A winter crisis looms.

FREE TO READ ft.com/content/c26926…