North London Chinese Association 北倫敦華人協會

Follow here: https://www.newham.gov.uk/carersweek

Book for free: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/stmarksbeckton/2222454

Our Chairside Chat series is back and we are excited to announce a special fundraising event with two remarkable humanitarians!

Dr Naseem Ghazali, a trustee of MERCY Humanitarian UK is an Oral & Maxillofacial-Head & Neck Surgeon that has done humanitarian work in Cambodia, Nepal, Morocco, and Gaza. She is joined by Dr Mariam Karimi, an anaesthetist who has worked with NGOs in Tanzania, Myanmar, Thailand, Gaza, and South Sudan.

🗓 Saturday, 13 June 2026
⏰ 2PM – 5PM
📍 Education Malaysia (Malaysia Hall), London,
W2 3ST.
🎟 Tickets: £20 | Students: £10
📲 Scan the QR code to purchase or via:
https://www.zeffy.com/en-GB/ticketing/chairside-chat-with-humanitarian-series-3
☕️: Light refreshments provided 🧁

Join us to listen, learn, and be inspired! 🤍

From Sky News: https://news.sky.com/story/uk-faces-economic-catastrophe-unless-it-adapts-to-young-people-rewired-by-smartphones-13547229?

The UK is facing an “economic catastrophe” unless it adapts to younger generations who have grown up in a digital world, a former minister has warned.

Alan Milburn is due to publish an interim report next week that examines why almost one million 16 to 24-year-olds are not in employment, education or training (NEET).

It will conclude that a “rising tide of mental ill health, anxiety, depression and neurodiversity” is a big factor in this economic inactivity.

Speaking to The Times, Mr Milburn rejected claims that young people are “snowflakes” – and said the country is at risk “of just writing a whole generation off”.

According to the report, the rise of smartphones and social media has led to a “bedroom generation” that suffers from poorer sleep and lower levels of concentration.

“Every one of a group of ten 12 and 13-year-olds told us they went to bed between midnight and 3am because they were scrolling on their phone,” it will warn.

The report will describe young people as different – and not worse, lazier or less intelligent than their peers in other age groups.

“They have grown up in a digital world that has rewired how they communicate, form relationships and manage stress,” it will say. “They have fewer experiences of workplaces, and they present with higher levels of anxiety and depression.”

COVID is also thought to have played a factor, as many 16 to 24-year-olds would have been in high school or college during lockdown closures.

Mr Milburn believes the UK’s one million NEETs could plug labour shortages in the British economy, as long as employers are willing to make accommodations for them.

Speaking to the newspaper, he went on to warn that welfare reforms will be a “necessity” to help younger generations enter the world of work.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics suggest youth unemployment reached 16.2% in the three months to March – the highest level in 11 years.

St Anne’s Limehouse is proud to launch a new
exhibition
The Original Chinatown: Myths and Realities
March 20th 2026 – July 2026

This exhibition celebrates the first London Chinatown
found right next to St Anne’s, which flourished
1900-1955, and had all but disappeared by the 1960’s.
Extraordinarily, this small community became the focus
of international attention through its portrayal in films,
fiction and popular music. Its depiction in the national
press was often sensationalist and scurrilous. And
myths created then were so powerful that they persist to
this day, long after Chinatown itself.
Yet Limehouse Chinatown was, in fact, an urban village,
where ordinary people lived, worked and went to school.
We have testaments and documents from families who
lived here and from people who visited here for work or
pleasure. We feature instillations by ceramicist Charles
Ng exploring the realities of daily life in this community.
The image of these four young girls illustrate how
Limehouse Chinatown was always an interracial
community. This was its great strength, but also a
factor in the community’s ultimate demise and,
unhappily, a trigger for some of the most pernicious
Sino-phobic mythologising ….
Andrew Humphrey will be running some of his superbly
researched walking tours of Chinese Limehouse to
coincide with the exhibition.
Other events in the church are to be arranged.
ENTRANCE IS FREE BUT DONATIONS FOR THE
CHURCH RESTORATION FUND ARE WELCOME
OPEN: THURSDAY, FRIDAYS, SATURDAYS 10- 4
CONTACT Philip Reddaway on philipcfsa@gmail.com

From Sky News: https://news.sky.com/story/new-pill-doubles-survival-time-for-pancreatic-cancer-patients-trial-finds-13549699?dcmp

Researchers found that the median survival time for patients on a drug called daraxonrasib was 13.2 months compared to 6.6 months for those receiving chemotherapy.

A new pill helped to double the survival time for patients with an advanced and aggressive form of pancreatic cancer when compared to chemotherapy, a trial has found.

The drug called daraxonrasib works by locking onto the mutated KRAS gene, which is found in more than 90% of pancreatic tumours.

The gene continuously signals cancer cells to grow, but the drug shuts this off, thereby stopping tumours from spreading.

Pancreatic Cancer UK said new treatments targeting the gene variant are “some of the most exciting developments” in a very long time, and called for clinical trials in the UK.

The trial, presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting in Chicago, compared 500 patients with advanced pancreatic cancer which had spread to other organs.

The patients, based in North America, Europe and Asia, had previously received treatment and were still able to carry out most of their daily activities.

Some 248 of them were given darazonrasib, while the other 252 received chemotherapy. Most of them had tumours with specific mutations of the KRAS gene.

Researchers found that the median survival time for patients on daraxonrasib was 13.2 months compared to 6.6 months for those on chemotherapy.

The median time without cancer progression was similar in both groups, at 7.3 months for those on daraxonrasib and 7.2 months for chemotherapy patients.

The study also found that daraxonrasib resulted in fewer serious side effects, with 43.6% of patients on the drug experiencing severe side effects, compared to 57.5% of those receiving chemotherapy.

Just 1.2% of people in the daraxonrasib group stopped treatment because of side effects compared to 11.2% of the chemotherapy group.

Anna Jewell, director of services, research and innovation at Pancreatic Cancer UK, hailed darazonrasib as one of the “most exciting developments” in pancreatic cancer treatment, as patients were given “months more precious time with their loved ones”.

“Crucially, these results suggest that daraxonrasib is able to keep the cancer under control for longer,” Ms Jewell said.

“There are now several KRAS inhibitor drugs in clinical trials around the world, which are showing promising results.

“We now need to ensure that these clinical trials are available in the UK, and that crucially these new treatment types are fast-tracked for approval – as recognised in the National Cancer Plan.”

From the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/23/world/europe/phone-theft-threats-london.html?smid=whatsapp-nytimes

Tens of thousands of smartphones were reported stolen in the British capital in recent years. For some victims, losing their phone was only the beginning.

The crime Alex Pikula reported to the police was one they had heard before: An e-bike rider had zoomed past as Mr. Pikula left a theater in London’s West End, ripping his phone from his hands.

It was frustrating, Mr. Pikula thought, but that was that.

He was wrong.

His mother soon started receiving strange texts, claiming to have her son’s emails and bank information. Then she received a video of a man brandishing a gun. Then came threats of sexual assault and death.

“I know who you are and where you live,” read one, full of obscenities and typos. “I’ve killed or far less than a phone before,” it went on. “We will see if you value your life over this phone.”

All of the messages wanted her to do one thing: unlink her son’s Apple ID from his stolen phone.

A Citywide Scourge

Mr. Pikula knew the chances that the police would recover his phone were slim.A record 81,000 phones were reported stolen in London in 2024, the year Mr. Pikula, 37, was visiting from Chicago. Even though that number fell to about 71,000 last year, the scourge of thefts — and the police’s struggle to stop it — has made both residents and tourists uneasy.

Last year, London’s main police force, the Metropolitan Police, started focusing more on international networks that ship stolen phones to China, where the devices are sold on the black market.There, the gangs can run into a problem. Unless the phone is unlinked from an Apple ID, they cannot reset it for a new buyer.

Mark Rowley, the commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, told reporters that criminals were trying to reset phones to take a new user’s ID.

The Home Secretary announces a new route for skilled workers, strengthened border security and an end to free movement as part of a new immigration system.

Image of a female engineer working

From the Gov.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home-secretary-announces-new-skills-based-immigration-system

The Home Secretary announces a new route for skilled workers, strengthened border security and an end to free movement as part of a new immigration system.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid today (Wednesday 19 December) set out plans for a new single, skills-based immigration system which marks the end of free movement.

The new immigration system will introduce a new route for skilled workers which favours experience and talent over nationality. It will enable employers to have access to the skills they need from around the world, while ensuring net migration is reduced to sustainable levels.

The White Paper proposals will, in line with the recommendations made by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC);

• remove the annual cap on the number of work visas issued
• widen the skills threshold to include people with qualifications equivalent of A levels
• ends the requirements for labour market tests by employers wanting to sponsor a worker.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said:

Today’s proposals are the biggest change to our immigration system in a generation.

We are taking a skills-based approach to ensure we can attract the brightest and best migrants to the UK.

These measures will boost our economy and benefit the British people.

There will also be a new route for workers at any skill level for a temporary period. This will allow all businesses have the staff they need as we move to the new immigration system but ensure they have the incentive to train young people in the future.

The 12-month visa will provide access to the labour market, but no access to benefits. People arriving on this route will not be able to bring family members with them, won’t accrue rights to settle in the UK and will have a 12-month cooling off period once their visa expires. These proposals will be discussed with business as part of the extensive engagement programme planned.

The White Paper proposals will also ensure there is no limit on the number of genuine international students, who can come to the UK to study. Proposals extend the time they can stay post-study to find employment to six months for those who have completed a bachelor’s or master’s degree and 12 months for those who have completed a PhD.

The White Paper proposes measures to improve border security checks and support frictionless flow of legitimate passengers’ checks. These include:

• creating a single, consistent approach to criminality by aligning both EU and non-EU criminality thresholds
• ending the use national ID cards as a form of travel documentation for EU citizens as soon as is practicable, given these documents are more insecure and open to abuse than passports
• introducing an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme to allow vital information to be collected at an earlier stage before visitors, who does not require a visa, travel. This will give visitors greater certainty that they will be able to enter the UK on arrival
• allowing citizens from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, USA, Singapore and South Korea to use e-gates to pass through the border on arrival, alongside EU and UK citizens

The Immigration and Social Security Coordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill to be published on Thursday 20 December ends free movement and creates the legal framework for the future borders and immigration system. It also creates the legal framework for a future, single benefits system that will apply to both EU and non-EU nationals and maintains the Common Travel Area between the UK and Ireland.

The new immigration and borders system will be implemented in a phased approach from 2021 following an extensive 12-month programme of engagement with businesses, stakeholders and the public by the Home Office.