Stressed civil servants are encouraged to talk to counsellors about the pressures they are under. Some believe that quite a few MPs may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as they cope with coffins dumped at their constituency surgeries, smashed windows, death threats, round-the-clock negative social media, and endless cancelled plans, putting their relationships and health under huge strain. Brexit anxiety is having a detrimental effect on people's mental health. See and

13-year-old Nadia Sparkes is called ‘Trash Girl’ for encouraging her peers to clean up their environment. Upset by street litter, she began picking up items and binning them at home; collecting 3,000+ litres of litter. However, school bullies called her ‘Trash Girl’, threatened her with a knife, and chased and punched her. Once she sat in class covered in orange juice that had been thrown in her face. Unafraid, she used the ‘Trash Girl’ name in a positive campaign to encourage others to take action on litter through an online community group that was celebrated by Greenpeace, WWF and Keep Britain Tidy, with online followers of 4,000+. Local artists depicted her as a superhero character, which is being shared in schools to educate students on litter prevention, but Nadia was not championed at her own school and had to leave. However, this term she had a ‘brilliant’ first day at her new school.

Blood transfusions in the 1970s and 80s infected 4,800 patients with hepatitis C or HIV. As a public inquiry into the contaminated blood scandal begins this week, the victims and families of the 2,000 who died want justice and the Government held to account. The stigma attached to HIV meant that victims received hate mail and death threats, and the scandal was hushed up. This inquiry will finally give people the opportunity to tell their stories as evidence is heard. One victim said, ‘They will be horrified to hear what happened’. The UK relied on blood products from America manufactured from blood from thousands of paid high-risk donors (prisoners and drug addicts). Campaigners say there is evidence that the health service knew the blood was contaminated but carried on giving it, and there have been allegations of a government cover-up.

After the Second World War many said, ‘Never again’. For decades extreme nationalism was considered a threat. In 2019 it has re-emerged with European far-right parties forming a new alliance led by US strategist Steve Bannon, wanting to ‘promote’ right-wing populist groups in Europe. Matteo Salvini, Italy’s leader of the extremist League party, has joined ‘The Movement’ and has gathered right-wing Netherlands Party for Freedom, Germany’s AfD, Danish People's Party, the Finns Party and other extremist populist parties to form a new alliance, injecting their rhetoric into the EU; selling themselves as ‘maintaining or protecting their heritage and their people (they warn that refugees, Muslims, empowered women, and the EU bring unwanted change, which is a bad thing). A YouGov survey for voting intentions shows that the European parliament will be significantly different after 25 May with 35% of seats taken by socialists, Greens, the European People’s Party, and other anti-European parties. See