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Hundreds of thousands more patients are being forced to wait longer than four hours for emergency care as A&E departments across the country struggle due to closures and staff shortages. Official NHS data reveals a growing crisis in England’s A&E wards with one in every three patients now waiting four hours or more for emergency treatment in the worst affected areas. The figures, released by the Department of Health on Friday, show that during the week up to April 7, 33,225 patients were forced to wait longer than four hours compared with 13,081 in the same week last year, a rise of 250 per cent. Official NHS data has revealed one in every three patients in England's A&E wards now wait four hours or more for emergency treatment in the worst affected areas An additional 146,000 patients waited more than four hours to be seen in casualty in the six months between October and April compared with the same six-month period during the previous yea...

The police commander in charge of Margaret Thatcher’s funeral on Wednesday has provoked outrage by condoning disrespectful demonstrations planned outside the ceremony. Metropolitan Police commander Christine Jones is also facing criticism for encouraging protesters to contact police if they want to stage demonstrations. Last night Baroness Thatcher’s former press secretary Sir Bernard Ingham said the force was ‘conniving at a display of bad taste’. Preparations are underway near St Paul's Cathedral ahead of the funeral of Baroness Margaret Thatcher. The police commander in charge of the funeral on Wednesday has condoned demonstrations planned outside the ceremony Ms Jones, who masterminded security for the Royal Wedding, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘We are not there to uphold respect, we are there to uphold the law. ‘If people want to come up to London and protest at the funeral then they will be allowed to do so. It’s a balancing act between the right to ...

Norman Tebbit will go to his grave wondering if he could have saved Margaret Thatcher from being deposed as Prime Minister if he had not left her side. He stepped down from the Cabinet in 1987 to protect another Margaret, his wife, paralysed in the Brighton bombing three years earlier that Tebbit only narrowly survived himself. ‘I might have been able to save her, or least let her go in her own time, instead of being forced out by those I call the “Brussels irregulars”,’ he reflects with a bloodless smile as we sit in the study of the Tebbits’ elegant home in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.  Norman Tebbit will go to his grave wondering if Margaret Thatcher could have been saved from being deposed as Prime Minister if he had not stepped down in 1987 Upstairs, Margaret Tebbit is with one of a team of carers that help her husband look after her. She was also a close friend of Lady Thatcher, but is too frail to attend Wednesday’s funeral. Tebbit has spent the mor...

Barry Strevens was the longest-serving member of Margaret Thatcher’s personal protection force. For more than 20 years, from her days as Opposition leader of the Conservative Party through to the day she quit as Prime Minister, Detective Chief Inspector Strevens, now 69, was constantly by her side. He was head of Mrs Thatcher’s security detail when she left office, accompanying her to Buckingham Palace to tender her resignation to the Queen. In later years, Strevens was one of only a handful of people who visited her regularly, up until her death at the Ritz hotel last Monday.   I wonder if all those rejoicing at Lady Thatcher’s death would feel the same if they had any idea of the true nature of her final months: of the loneliness and frailty that she faced with such courage that it was heartbreaking to watch. The desire to protect her during that time was as strong as it had ever been, only now the threat came from within, from the countless mini-strokes t...

Fraud victims complain they are being denied justice as police no longer routinely investigate the crimes. As of this month, anyone who walks into a police station or rings 999 to say they have been scammed is told to ring a Government-funded call centre or visit a website instead. The Action Fraud phoneline is not manned by police or civilian staff, but by employees of a private firm that also runs hotlines for the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and BBC. People hit by fraud are joining a queue of people, many who just want to get through to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (pictured here with Katherine Jenkins) Operators take down the victim’s details, give them a crime reference number and then decide if there is enough evidence for police to investigate properly. Last night credit card fraud expert Andrew Goodwill told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Police are putting themselves at arm’s length from the public.   More... Too much texting can make you ...

A tony gardening club in Manhattan has been rocked by accusations of public sex, boozy parties, arson and violence, it was revealed today. The Roosevelt Island Garden Club has been in a state of turmoil since it elected a new president, April Ward, last fall. 'Since she came, oh my God, everybody’s fighting,' said Raphael Elbaz, a longtime garden member. 'It’s like the slave became the king.' Scandal: Wild accusations of arson, public sex and booze-filled parties has rocked the Roosevelt Island Garden Club Ward, who asks to be called 'Madam President' at meetings, campaigned for the job to reform a group she believed to be totally mismanaged. She said group funds were spent on wild parties featuring grilling, bonfires, and resulting in fights and adultery, leading to at least one divorce. 'We have people in the club who are recovering alcoholics or addicts; they can’t be around people drinking,' she told the New York Times. ...

Carol Thatcher said yesterday that she was expecting a ‘tough and tearful week’ as she prepared for her mother’s funeral. Speaking outside the family home in Belgravia, Central London, Margaret Thatcher’s daughter said she felt ‘like anyone else who has just lost a second parent’. But dressed in a black shawl, black trousers and clutching a pair of sunglasses, Ms Thatcher made clear she had found comfort in the messages of sympathy and support. Scroll down for video 'Tough and tearful': Carol Thatcher made the poignant comment to media gathered outside the family home in Chester Square, London Grateful: Miss Thatcher, 59, whose twin brother Mark can be seen standing behind, thanked well-wishers for their outpouring of sympathy and support   VIDEO   See Carol Thatcher's poignant tribute to her mother  'A tough and tearful week even for the daughter of the Iron Lady Giving an ‘enormous personal thank y...