UK Briefs

Postcode lottery for dental carePATIENTS seeking NHS dental treatment face a postcode lottery in the availability of care across England, according to consumer organisation Which? Its survey found more than half of surgeries are not taking on new NHS patients, with only 36 per cent taking on all those seeking NHS treatment. While this is an improvement on 2005, when 31 per cent were taking on all NHS patients, in some areas of the country the figure is much lower, including Yorkshire and Humberside at 15 per cent.GLOOMY YOUNGSTERS: People become more positive as they get older, US scientists have found, overturning popular conceptions about ageing on their head. It is the young who tend to have a “glass half empty” view of the world, the research suggests.TULIP GIRL: A four-year-old girl who died from leukaemia is to become the first British child to have a tulip named after her.Madalyn Elly Barnett from Pinner, Middlesex – who has a Dutch mother – lost her battle with the disease in 2005.NUMBER BLINDLESS CLUE: Scientists at University College London have pinpointed the part of the brain responsible for an inability to deal with numbers which afflicts as many people as dyslexia. Number blindness is known as dyscalculia, and like the reading and writing learning disorder dyslexia, it affects about five per cent of the population, but is less well recognised.MORRISONS SALE? Morrisons is said to be considering selling up to 1bn worth of stores in a bid to defend itself from potential private equity takeover approaches. The supermarket chain is in discussions with property tycoons Sol and Eddie Zakay over a 26-site deal in what would be Morrisons’ first ever store sell-off, according to the Sunday Express.SHARK DIE: Three sharks have died after being moved to a sea life centre. The blacktip reef sharks were among five moved 70 miles from the Sea Life Centre at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, to a refurbished tank at their sister aquarium in Hunstanton. CUT DRINK, CUT CRIME: Support for prisoners with an alcohol addiction falls far short of the help available to those with drug problems, a report claims. Alcohol Concern, which wants ring-fenced funding for programmes to reduce dependence on alcohol in a bid to cut crime, claims 35 per cent of all prisoners say they have a drink problem.

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