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Prisoners fear they are being singled out as troublemakers for speaking Welsh – because baffled guards can’t understand them. Inmates at HMP Berwyn, a 2,100-capacity ‘super prison’ in Wrexham, North Wales, complained to jail chiefs that warders were threatening to remove their privileges if they caught them using their native tongue. A report by the Independent Monitoring Board revealed how Welsh speakers said guards who didn’t understand the language suspected they could be hatching plots or insulting warders. Inmates at HMP Berwyn , a 2,100-capacity ‘super prison’ in Wrexham, North Wales, complained to jail chiefs that warders were threatening to remove their privileges if they caught them using their native tongue When HMP Berwyn opened in 2017, experts hailed its ‘values’, which included vows to ‘embrace Welsh language and culture’. But the inspectors found a number of Welsh-speaking inmates have complained of discrimination, reporting: ‘Some concerned prisoners speaking Welsh who

Tomboys must not be encouraged to think they should change sex just because of the way they like to dress or play, schools have been told. The guidelines come in new Government instructions for teachers talking to children about transgender issues. The move has led to calls for controversial transgender charities such as Mermaids to be barred from any role in education. It comes after Equalities Minister Liz Truss announced that the Government has rejected calls from trans-rights campaigners to allow adults to change their legal gender at will. Ministers have now followed up by telling schools to reject teaching materials that encourage children to question their gender if they like clothes and toys usually associated with the opposite sex. The guidelines come in new Government instructions for teachers talking to children about transgender issues (file image) NHS figures show the number of girls seeking to change gender and become boys has risen sharply in recent years. Some experts b

A man says he has been left devastated after a leading fertility clinic used his sperm against his wishes to father nine children with same-sex couples and single women. Neil Gaskell told Care Fertility in Manchester – which describes itself as ‘one of the world’s leading providers’ of IVF – that he wanted his sperm to go only to heterosexual couples when he agreed to become a donor in 2010. But clinic officials were forced to confess that ‘mistakes had been made’ when an official audit by the fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority , revealed five children had been born to three same-sex couples, including a set of twins, using Mr Gaskell’s sperm. The 49-year-old was also told that he was the biological father to 13 children in total – including a further four born to three single women and four more to heterosexual couples. Neil Gaskell (pictured with paperwork from his four-year legal battle) told Care Fertility in Manchester he wanted his sperm to go o

It is only a few short months since she had her own experience of loneliness – so it is little surprise that the Duchess of Cornwall has issued a personal plea for everyone to support the elderly. In a video message, Camilla, 73, urges the nation to 'break the silence in which many live, perhaps with a telephone call to a grandparent, a card to an elderly neighbour or by hosting your very own virtual event'. She was speaking to back a nationwide day to celebrate older people next weekend, called Silver Sunday. 'It is a day that offers us all the opportunity to focus on older people's contributions to our communities and to our society,' she said. 'As a member of Silver Sunday's target audience, I can honestly say that it is a completely brilliant initiative. The Duchess of Cornwall has issued a personal plea for everyone to support the elderly 'Its aim is to tackle the blight of loneliness that affects so many, and which, very sadly, has increased signif

Patients as young as 15 are being given hip and knee replacements because they are so overweight, shocking new NHS figures have revealed. Statistics exposing the dire state of Britain’s obesity crisis also show that patients under 25 are undergoing heart bypasses because of their weight. Data shows that the number of obesity-linked operations is rising year by year for all ages, with younger generations having to battle conditions usually associated with ageing.  The figures, published by NHS Digital, show that in 2019/20, one man aged between 20 and 24, received a coronary bypass, with obesity given as one of the main reasons why he needed it. Patients as young as 15 are being given hip and knee replacements because they are so overweight, shocking new NHS figures have revealed (stock image) Two men and one woman in their early 20s were given coronary stents – tubes that increase the blood supply to the heart – for the same reason last year. A total of 30 people under 30 have needed k

Parents are being kept away from their babies in intensive care as hospitals impose ‘horrendous’ social distancing rules, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. One mother, Taylor Moss, told of her anguish at how visits to her seven-week premature baby, Tyger-Rose, were being restricted.  Her daughter was given less than a five per cent chance of survival and has been in intensive care for the past ten days.  But the hospital only allows one parent in at a time. Ms Moss said: ‘We had to pick alternate days to see our child. It made us feel horrendous, and me very vulnerable. It was horrible.’ The campaign has today been backed by Stoke MP Jonathan Gullis, whose first child, Amelia, was kept in hospital for a week after she was born last month with a high temperature, and needed antibiotics. Pictured, Mr Gullis, partner Nkita and baby Amelia, now all back at home Another new mother told how she was not allowed to hold her baby for more than 24 hours after giving birth. She said: ‘I spent the wh

A professional football side almost missed their match yesterday after an anti-coronavirus spray stopped the team bus in its tracks. Players at League One side Oxford United had taken their seats on the bus when the vehicle was sprayed with the alcohol-based aerosol.  But when the driver then blew into the breathalyser, it recorded a positive reading and immobilised the engine for six hours. The players and coaching staff were left scrambling to make the journey to Accrington Stanley’s Crown Ground for the 3pm kick-off. When the driver then blew into the breathalyser, it recorded a positive reading and immobilised the engine for six hours (file image) The players and coaching staff were left scrambling to make the journey to Accrington Stanley’s Crown Ground for the 3pm kick-off. Pictured, Oxford manager Karl Robinson Manager Karl Robinson, whose squad has been plagued by injuries in recent weeks, said: ‘We spent a lot of money making sure our players are safe and everything that goes

Students and parents have started to demand tuition fee refunds as universities abandon face-to-face teaching because of Covid outbreaks. Thousands of freshers are currently locked down in their rooms as rising cases of the virus devastates the start of term. The intake has already endured the summer grading fiasco and some are now stuck inside while being charged up to £9,250-a-year in tuition fees, plus rent. Larissa Kennedy, president of the National Union of Students, told the Mail on Sunday: ‘In what is looking set to be an increasingly unclear and volatile year for universities, we must seriously look at reimbursements for students whose quality of learning has been significantly impacted. ‘It is also essential that housing providers allow students who may decide to either leave university or return to family homes to end their rental contracts and not be penalised for making decisions based on their own safety and those of local communities.’ Students at university of Manchester

It might seem steep to pay £60,000 for a cupboard door – but that’s what one wooden panel is expected to fetch at auction this week because it features an original painting by one of the country’s most successful living artists. Jack Vettriano painted Suddenly Last Summer directly on to the boiler cupboard door in the one-bedroom London flat where he used to live. The artist, who also used the Knightsbridge flat as his studio, painted a stylish woman, leaning against a car and smoking a cigarette, to hide the unsightly panel back in 1999.  And when he sold the flat to move back to Scotland in 2013, the door was included. A wooden panel is expected to fetch £60,000 at auction this week because it features an original painting by one of the country’s most successful living artists, Jack Vettriano The buyer sold the flat two years later but sensibly kept the door with its 37in x 24in signed oil painting, which is being sold at Christie’s on Tuesday. Vettriano, 68, once explained: ‘To cove

Electric scooter owners are offering online guides showing users how to override the devices’ speed-limiting software to reach up to 40mph. A Mail on Sunday investigation has unearthed dozens of shocking video tutorials encouraging riders to manipulate the battery-powered vehicles and break the law.  In one clip, a British rider promises viewers that their scooter will ‘go like a rocket’. ‘I don’t think you would feel safe going any faster but it’s so much fun,’ he adds. Rental e-scooters were made legal on some roads in Britain this summer with their speed capped at 15.5mph. Electric scooter owners are offering online guides showing users how to override the devices’ speed-limiting software to reach up to 40mph. An e-scooter user is seen riding through the pedestrianised town centre of Middlesbrough  But our investigation has revealed how, with just a few taps of the device, owners can easily hack into the software and increase the top speed of some of the most popular scooters sold i

In her gleefully indiscreet political diaries, Sasha Swire was eager to spill the beans about the time she was on the receiving end of David Cameron's clumsy flirting.  But as these exclusive pictures show, the gossipy MP's wife wasn't exactly demure in her own interactions with the former Prime Minister. Draping her arm intimately over Mr Cameron's shoulder, the Westminster socialite leans in closely to whisper something unknown in his ear as they mingle at a lavish Tory fundraiser. The photographs where taken at the Black and White Conservative Ball in 2006, just weeks after Mr Cameron had become Tory leader and Lady Swire was still in the foothills of her social climbing. As these exclusive pictures show, Sasha Swire wasn't exactly demure in her own interactions with the former Prime Minister Draping her arm intimately over Mr Cameron's shoulder, the Westminster socialite leans in closely to whisper something unknown in his ear as they mingle at a lavish Tory