Readers respond to the Labour leader’s conference speech and plans for changes to social care and the state pension triple lock

In the aftermath of Andy Burnham’s speech to the Labour conference, media discussions are focusing on how to define social care and estimate its cost (How will Burnham’s national care service work – and how will it be funded?, 29 September).

Most arguments assume that any new system will look like the existing one, with services outsourced to large companies, using contracts without scope for innovation, with rigidly defined targets, often delivered using poorly rewarded, precariously employed migrant workers.

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Exclusive: Campaign comes amid backlash against tech company’s involvement with Israeli military and Trump’s ICE crackdown

• UK politics live – latest updates

Tens of thousands of people have formally demanded NHS England blocks the Palantir-powered national medical data platform from handling their personal information.

More than 44,000 people have filed legal objections to their health data being shared with, stored in or used by the nationwide Federated Data Platform (FDP) operated using the US company’s AI technology.

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• ‘Oozing everyman charm’: what the papers said about Burnham’s speech

Andy Burnham has suggested that it would not be legitimate for a party to form a majority government with less than 30% of the vote.

In his Today interview, asked why he wanted electoral reform and a move towards proportional representation, Burnham replied:

I found it better being elected under a different system as mayor of Greater Manchester, where people had one or two, they could put that on the ballot paper.

Because you had a reason to stop on every doorstep and chat to people who might not always support your party and try and get their second preference.

No, it could happen with any political party. It’s whether that would be a legitimate government.

I think you’ve got it completely wrong really, if you don’t mind me saying, to put it like that, because I have put out … a vision for a national care service.

There are pensioners out there who watch your programme who are paying for care costs from their basic state pension. Now, is that right or fair?

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When Dean Perryman's best friend Rob Clancy took his own life, he wanted to create something positive from an unimaginable loss. His idea was simple; reserve an empty chair in a pub and invite anyone who needed a conversation to sit down.

Charlotte Howard has been turned down for breast reduction surgery by the NHS, despite daily pain.

Cross-partisan support in Washington on issues like pesticides and food additives pose a threat to the industry’s bottom line

Some of the biggest food and agriculture corporations in the US are funding a campaign that pays social media influencers to combat elements of Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Make America Healthy Again platform, according to an investigation by the Guardian and Documented, an investigative watchdog and journalism project.

The ascension of RFK Jr to secretary of health and human services has boosted his putative campaign to end chronic illness in the US, which he believes is primarily caused by processed foods and dyes, exposure to certain chemicals, and poor farming practices, along with an overuse of what he falsely claims are dangerous vaccines. The “Maha” movement blends long-running mainstream concerns about food and farm safety with conspiracy theories about everything from medicine to milk. A Maha “summit” in Washington this week will feature JD Vance and several members of Trump’s cabinet.

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Many products aimed at women over 45 lack meaningful quantities of key nutrients, consumer watchdog Which? found

Menopause supplements costing more than £400 a year are no better than a £22-a-year multivitamin, according to analysis by the consumer watchdog Which?.

Which? found that many popular supplements that are aimed at women over 45 going through menopause or perimenopause lack meaningful quantities of key nutrients, yet cost 20 times more than standard multivitamins.

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A bad breakup had made me afraid I would be mired in anger for ever. But on that family hike, in our fear and horror as we awaited the air ambulance, my old hurts took on a different hue

To steal a well-known line, 2023 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. My annus horribilis began when a long-term relationship broke up in January, only six months after we had bought our first home together. I was about to turn 38 and the future I thought was mine – marriage, children – all fell apart. What followed was blow after blow: my sister announced her engagement, I was told by a fertility doctor that I was “not a suitable candidate” for egg freezing, and I soon began having multiple panic attacks a day.

Ordinarily, my work would have been my solace; when I wrote, it was as if time was suspended. But now, my words abandoned me. They would not come, no matter how much I tried. So, in April, I decided to take the rest of the year off to recover. As I was self-employed, this was not a choice I made lightly – but my heart was broken and so too, it seemed, was my brain.

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Rosie Stewart played for Ireland and was a founding member of Ulster Women's Rugby but died after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

A force should have flagged mental health services after a family called about their son, IOPC says.

Social anxiety is more common than many think. Here's what you need to know about the condition.

The PM was at times emotional during his conference speech in which he outlined his long-term plan for the UK.

Andy Burnham wants to outline his ideas for a free-at-the-point-of-use social care system in his first speech to Labour conference as prime minister.

Sir Andrew Dilnot, who proposed reforms 15 years ago, says the cost of such a scheme would be "very substantial".

Dr Chris McCarthy talks through the four considerations you need to make before buying your pillow.

East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust says it has launched an "urgent" investigation.

Andy Burnham said the proposed care service would be laid out in detail and put on the ballot at the next general election.

Statistics Jersey says the  2026 Children and Young People’s Survey will open in October.

There have been too many cases of staff abusing patient trust, and enough is enough, the head of the NHS in England says.

Lisa Carroll, 47, who was diagnosed with rare form of ovarian cancer, urges women to check symptoms.