Society

It was a detail that most novelists or screenwriters would have rejected as being too much. Shortly after yesterday’s announcement that the Princess of Wales will be hospitalised for up to a fortnight after abdominal surgery at the London Clinic, a second proclamation was made. We learnt that King Charles is to attend hospital next week for treatment of an enlarged prostate. One day, two senior royals, two health conditions. Yet what makes the events newsworthy beyond mere gossip and speculation are the differences – and similarities – in how the stories have made it into the public domain. Most well-wishers will be grateful for the relative candour with which

We won’t know for some time what the outcome of the claim that a London school has broken the law by refusing to allow ritual prayer on its premises will be. But whatever the result, the case neatly exposes the problems of the rights culture we now live in. The school is Katharine Birbalsingh’s Michaela School in Brent, an non-religious establishment where roughly half the intake is Muslim. Until recently Muslim pupils engaged in a daily prayer ritual. But after this created disorder, unpleasantness and some intimidation of teachers, the governors introduced a blanket ban on all ritual prayer, apparently with the result that calm and order were quickly restored. 

Despite warnings that self-driving cars are not yet safe to hit the roads, the government is pushing ahead with making automated vehicles (AVs) legal. But their rush to get driverless cars approved before the technology is ready is irresponsible – and could turn our roads into a giant testing ground. This would bring risks not only to other drivers, but to those using the AVs themselves. The government has heralded AVs as the start of a transport revolution and the solution to road safety concerns. Indeed, research has suggested that AVs could create 342,000 additional jobs in the UK, bring in £66 billion to the economy by 2040 and improve the mobility of the disabled and the elderly.