Archive for April 2025

BASW International Chair, Janet Walker considers social work’s important role in an increasingly unstable world.

Scottish Care says care packages which are 15 minutes in length, never mind five-minutes, are undignified and untenable. CEO of Scottish Care Donald Macaskill said social care is about relationships, not tasks, and people receiving care in their home deserve to be treated with dignity: “The growing use of five-minute visits to support some of our most valuable citizens is quite frankly obscene.

The day I learned my great-grandfather was a killer, certain aspects of my own life became clear to me, snapping into focus with an almost audible click. I grew up hearing that my great-grandfather had been a powerful man who was equal parts obstinate, harsh and unlikeable. But until that day, I had no idea he had also been capable of maiming and killing thousands of people without remorse. As horrific as that realisation was, it was also revelatory. It led me to reflect on the power of addiction and the toxicity of family secrets, what counts as poison and what counts as elixir, and whether and how redemption is possible, and for whom.

Good news for worms: Researchers have found a treatment that extends roundworms’ lives by up to a factor of ten. They’ve also learned how to give mice an extra 50 percent of healthy longevity. And a healthy-life-extending treatment is now being tested on dogs whose owners are eager to keep their beloved pets around as long as possible. But what about us? Can medical science help more people—perhaps even most—live past 90 and longer in good health?

LB706, introduced by Omaha Sen. Terrell McKinney, would require emergency dispatchers to screen incoming calls for signs of mental health-related issues, such as threatening self-harm or severe distress. Under the bill, if mental health concerns are present, the dispatcher would flag the call as a “mental health priority,” prompting dispatch of an APS social worker alongside an officer.