Brentford

A 16-year-old boy is recovering his hospital after being stabbed in north London yesterday afternoon.

The victim was attacked on Broadlands Close, Highgate, shortly after 16:00.

He was treated at the scene and then taken to hospital where he remains in a stable condition, the Met Police has said.

No arrests have been made, but officers are continuing to investigate, the force added.

New signalling on the Piccadilly line is the “number one priority” for Transport for London (TfL), according to the network’s boss.

London Transport Commissioner Mike Brown said the increase to capacity would be “like an entirely new service in London”.

Modern signalling allows more trains and a more reliable service on Underground lines – meaning the Piccadilly line could run every 90 seconds.

TfL has already commissioned 94 new trains to replace the 50-year-old rolling stock on the line, with the first expected in 2023.

Their design will allow 12% more passengers to board – but it could be boosted by 60% with a more regular service.

That would allow 21,000 more passengers to use the line every hour.

The £2.45 billion signalling upgrade was shelved in 2018 as TfL tightened the purse strings in an effort to cut its deficit.

Labour assembly member Joanne McCartney – who represents Enfield and Haringey – said the difference between the Piccadilly and Victoria lines was now “very stark”.

She said it would be “completely bonkers” if new trains ran on the line for years without a signalling upgrade.

Ms McCartney said: “For my part of north London this is our main route into Heathrow, the UK’s biggest airport – and it’s also the most affordable route.”

The Piccadilly line carries more people to Heathrow than any other train to any other airport anywhere in the world.

A chilly start with mist and fog clearing to give another dry and bright day with periods of sunshine but also cloudy at times. Winds turning to the south east and freshening in the late afternoon.

Maximum temperature: 6 to 9°C (43 to 48°F).

ASP Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Bodycams have been given to hospital staff to make them feel more safe around potentially violent and aggressive patients.

Security staff, casualty nurses and medical teams at Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals are trialling them in an attempt to deter confrontations and boost confidence among the workers.

The cameras attached to their clothing are not running the whole time but can be triggered by a button if the staff member feels the need to.

They have to tell the patient or visitor that the camera is about to be turned on.

A mirror image of what is being recorded can be seen by the other person as it is happening.

ASP Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Steven Hill, non-clinical risk manager for ASP Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said the idea came after staff highlighted in a survey about their working environment that dealing with an aggressive or violent incident at work was a concern.

He said there are on average about 23 to 25 incidents of violence and aggression – both physical and verbal – towards staff reported every month across the trust.

Workers in security, the Intensive Care Unit, Patient Advice and Liaison Service and Accident and Emergency across the two hospital sites have been issued 24 cameras between them.

The cameras are about the size of a small matchbox.

In the three months since the trial started there have been 24 pieces of footage recorded.

Reuters

There will be 33,000 police officers in London by April next year, the head of the Met has said today.

Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said the force would reach 31,500 by spring, and 32,300 by early autumn this year.

Officer numbers in the capital began falling in 2016, and dipped below 30,000 two years ago – the first time since 2003.

Recruitment has since risen with cash from City Hall, with 31,000 officers now in place.

But the Mayor of London and the Met believe the capital needs an extra 6,000 police to tackle high violent crime.

There were more homicides in London last year than any year since 2008, and over 15,000 knife crimes.

Dame Cressida told the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee today that the Government’s police settlement would help the Met to reach next year’s 33,000 target.

The Commissioner said it was a “huge achievement” that between 350 and 450 officers were going through training at Hendon police college each month.

People aged between 16 and 25 can now apply to be part of Transport for London's Youth Panel, which helps shape the Mayor's transport strategy and road safety campaigns.

Applications for the volunteer posts are open until 29 February.

Soho Police has thanked people for their patience after areas of central London had to be evacuated for the second time in 24 hours, after remains of a WW2 bomb were found.

Money raised by the sale of cemetery land should be spent on tree planting in Brent.

This is the view of Brent Council’s resources and public realm scrutiny committee, which recommended that the extra cash be used to improve the borough’s environment.

A report by the committee’s chairman, Cllr Matt Kelcher, noted the council recently made £700,000 from the sale of additional cemetery space.

It suggested that it be put to good use and, given that it was raised by the council’s environment department, should be “ring fenced for a project with an environmental theme”.

The report stated: “The council currently does not have the revenue budget to replace all diseased or dying trees it removes (outside of those removed as part of the footway improvement plan), or to plant all of the mature trees it would like to.

“The presence of mature trees on our streets can help to reduce levels of carbon in the atmosphere and significantly reduce stormwater run-off.”

It explained that there is a clear need to tackle Brent’s air quality, particularly in light of the council’s decision to declare a climate emergency last year.

Waltham Forest residents with learning disabilities are dying decades earlier than average, often from preventable and treatable conditions.

Data from the Learning Disabilities Mortality Review Programme shows residents with learning disabilities in the borough have an average life expectancy of 57 for men and 55 for women.

This means, on average, men with learning disabilities are dying 22 years earlier and women are dying 29 years earlier than their non-disabled counterparts.

A report presented to the adult social care scrutiny committee read: “These deaths are not always due to complex co-morbidities but frequently to do with preventable and treatable conditions.”

Almost a third of deaths in people with a learning disability were due to respiratory conditions, while almost a fifth were caused by circulatory system diseases.

The NHS Long Term Plan aims to reduce these preventable deaths by improving the uptake of annual health checks.

Waltham Forest Council chose not to comment on life expectancy among people with learning disabilities, stating the meeting was intended to examine their life chances.

A chilly start with some fog patches. Clearing to be dry with bright or sunny spells that last into the afternoon. Some fog patches may be reluctant to clear in places, lifting into areas of cloud.

Maximum temperature: 6 to 9°C (43 to 48°F).

Thousands of seeds from trees in Cumbria have been added to a global seed bank.

The Millennium Seed Bank, which is run by the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, is designed to store the genetic code of British trees, in case they should be threatened with extinction.

BBC

Nic Tweddell is one of the Kendal Conservation Volunteers who helped to collect the seeds in Cumbria, and he says they have to be collected at exactly the right time.

Quite often we'd think it was a good moment and come back to where we'd found suitable trees, and we'd see no, they're not quite ready yet."