Ramzy Alwakeel

jfc what the actual fuck

This isn't about bashing the NHS - those who work within it are heroes who put in vast amounts of unpaid overtime just to keep the system on its feet. It's about ministers being honest about the crisis it faces. The government didn't even reply to our requests for comment.

2,300 people died waiting for a UK council house last year Investigation finds underhand tactics used by UK councils to cut wait lists as time runs out for thousands

The same applies in waiting lists for housing - here's a story by @martinrw.bsky.social from a few years ago.

www.opendemocracy.net/en/council-h...

It's obviously not realistic for people to be treated instantaneously, but there are ~30k ppl a year who die without treatment that should already have had it.

For all the govt's talk of the NHS being on the 'road to recovery', the % of ppl being seen in 18wks actually fell last month.

Should clarify - the point of this isn't that people are dying *because* they can't get care (though that may also be happening). It's more insidious: there are huge, previously unreported, numbers of ppl who simply die before they get to the front because the waits are so long.

NHS waiting list delays see thousands die after waiting too long - Hyphen Exclusive: Up to 28,908 patients died in 2024/25 after waiting over 18 weeks, while Asian British children are overrepresented on wait lists

And here's the first part of the investigation, in which we revealed that nearly 30,000 people a year die after waiting longer than the statutory 18 weeks for treatment – without ever getting to the front of the queue.

hyphenonline.com/2026/02/23/n...

‘He couldn’t breathe’: boy’s ordeal shows NHS waiting lists reality - Hyphen Families who languished on NHS waiting lists for eye treatment and paediatric care for months urge ministers to move faster to clear backlog

He was left struggling to breathe because he waited so long to have his tonsils out. He spoke to
@lucascumiskey.bsky.social – full story here 👇

hyphenonline.com/2026/02/24/n...

A little boy, with a cannula in his hand and another going up his nose, sits up on a hospital bed. The right of the image is a separate picture of the same boy, now looking happy and healthy, in his dad's arms.

The second part of our investigation into the effects of excessive waits for NHS treatment is out.

We found that kids from Asian backgrounds are overrepresented on paediatric wait lists – kids such as Rayyaan, pictured here. 🧵

NHS waiting list delays see thousands die after waiting too long - Hyphen Exclusive: Up to 28,908 patients died in 2024/25 after waiting over 18 weeks, while Asian British children are overrepresented on wait lists

Tens of thousands of ppl have died after waiting more than the statutory 18 weeks for NHS treatment – often for severely life-limiting conditions like cateracts – since Labour came to power pledging to slash waits.

7,737 had waited more than a year when they died.

hyphenonline.com/2026/02/23/n...

In 2024, writes Samir, Labour won a majority of 13,400 votes: "Nearly 30% of voters are Muslim, making it something of an outlier at the last election, which saw independent, Green & Workers Party candidates cut similar majorities down to the hundreds in several seats with high Muslim populations."

Labour and Greens vie for Gorton and Denton’s large Muslim vote - Hyphen The Greens are deploying Urdu and Punjabi speakers while Labour calls in its national big guns ahead of the by-election on 26 February 2026

🔴 Gorton and Denton's large Muslim population (nearly 30% of the seat) is a key target for political parties in the by-election.

Are their messages getting through? @sajeraj.bsky.social visited Longsight for @hyphenonline.com to find out.

hyphenonline.com/2026/02/17/g...

18,000 Home Office staff still missing Windrush training - Hyphen The Home Office agreed to give all immigration employees new training after the Windrush scandal. Six years on, thousands haven’t done it

NEW from @anitamureithi.bsky.social: 18,000 Home Office immigration staff still haven't had equality and human rights training – 6 years after the HO accepted a recommendation from the Windrush Lessons Learned Review that *all* immigration & policy officials do it.

hyphenonline.com/2026/02/19/1...

That last point. She’s exactly right.

Pepper spray used on 10% of teens at young offender institutions - Hyphen Figures revealed after high court quashes appeal against rollout of Pava spray in YOIs on basis its use would be ‘extremely rare’

Here's the full story from @lucascumiskey.bsky.social now leading @hyphenonline.com.

hyphenonline.com/2026/01/19/p...

...that the spray was used on 1/10 of all young people being held at two of the three institutions where the trial is taking place in just its first seven months. (The third institution doesn't appear to have told the council overseeing it how many times the spray has been used.)

Screenshotted text (with 'extremely rare' highlighted) reads: This, then, is how the decision-making process developed and concluded. It is plain that the Secretary of State was closely involved in the formation of the PAVA policy and was insistent upon thorough safeguards being introduced concerning its use, as well as constant “live” monitoring and oversight of the limited use of PAVA which she expected to be extremely rare in view of the limitations upon its use: viz, as a last resort, and only where there is an immediate threat of life-changing or life-ending violence.

🔴 A judicial review against the govt's rollout of pepper spray (PAVA) in young offender institutions was dismissed today, meaning its use will continue.

The judge cited govt assurances that the spray would only be used in 'extremely rare' instances. But Hyphen can reveal...

Yemeni steelworkers who 'built UK' still waiting for pensions - Hyphen Thousands of workers had their pension payments stopped with no explanation a decade ago. Now their families are paying the price

Read the full story at @hyphenonline.com.

hyphenonline.com/2026/01/07/y...

Meanwhile their advocates say the DWP is missing in action. One campaigner told Hyphen: "The shutters are up by the British government." The DWP told us it was "aware" of the "ongoing issue" – which first emerged over a decade ago.

The UK govt claimed in early 2022 that the problem – caused by the civil war and changes in Yemen's banking sector – had been solved, and that payments would resume.

But four years on, we found that workers and widows are dying with years of missing payments still owed to them.

A black and white image of men in hard hats illuminated by the sparks from a blast furnace during steel production.

🔴 NEW from Aisha Rimi on Hyphen: a generation of Yemeni steelworkers who helped build post-war Britain in the 1950s/60s are still owed years' worth of pension payments, leaving some destitute.

(Pic: Getty)

ok this looks pretty awesome

Chris Rea's death has hit me in a way I didn't expect - he was/is a favourite of my mum, one of the first albums I remember her buying, and the fact he's died at this time of year given his biggest hit, and the way I've always thought about it, is especially poignant. RIP.

For years I've been boring people with my tedious theory that Driving Home For Christmas can be understood as a song about dying just before Christmas ('red lights all around' like in a hospital bed, 'holy ground', 'I sing for you though you can't hear me' etc). Which means...

I know we all deserve some time
off, but Thursday 18 December is very much not "the last day before Christmas".

What’s happening with the UK Islamophobia definition? - Hyphen Experts weigh in on the UK’s attempt to codify a problem some call anti-Muslim racism or anti-Muslim hatred

Can the UK really define Islamophobia without using the word Islamophobia?

Saman Javed looks back at the disputes and false starts in Britain's journey to an official definition of the problem, including the row over what to call it.

hyphenonline.com/2025/12/17/i...

Mohamed Shahin: imam’s detention sparks protests across Italy - Hyphen Activists say the government’s move to deport Muslim cleric is linked to a hostile portrayal of Muslim men by Italian media

Protests have been held across Italy against the detention of imam Mohamed Shahin.

The far-right government of Giorgia Meloni is moving to extradite Shahin — despite prosecutors dismissing criminal charges against him.

✍🏽Dalia Ismail

hyphenonline.com/2025/12/11/m...

Lack of interpreters contributed to 34 baby deaths last year - Hyphen MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy calls for ringfenced cash to tackle problem as research by National Child Mortality Database finds issue is worsening

🔴 NEW: gaps in translation services were linked to the deaths of 48 kids in the UK last year, inc 34 babies.

@bellribeiroaddy.bsky.social: “We know language barriers are an impediment to women accessing maternity services.”

✍️ @weronikas.bsky.social

hyphenonline.com/2025/12/03/t...

How can Labour claim to promise change when it has not yet scrapped the regressive two-child benefit cap? - Hyphen Despite the party’s commitment to progress, Keir Starmer has refused to overturn a policy that’s disproportionately affecting Muslim children and their mothers

And this excellent first-person piece from
Nadeine Asbali, published last year, on the myriad ways that the benefit cap entrenches inequality – particularly when it comes to the incomes of mothers

hyphenonline.com/2024/07/11/h...

Two-child benefit cap: data reveals impact on Muslim children Labour MPs and party’s Muslim network add to pressure on ministers to axe two-child benefit cap in light of Hyphen’s findings

With the government expected to scrap the two-child benefit cap in today's budget, here's a reminder of the disproportionate impact of the policy on Muslim families 👇

hyphenonline.com/2025/06/02/t...