Britain should consider making the legal drinking age 21 as it has “lost the plot” when it comes to regulating alcohol, policy pundits claim. The UK has one of the worst problems in Europe with a fifth of children aged 11 to 15 drinking at least once a week.

The NHS is having the “life squeezed out of it” by cuts imposed because of deficits, says the UK’s nurse leader. Dr Peter Carter, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, congratulated ministers for tripling the health budget since 1997.

An investigation by an undercover reporter working as a prison officer has exposed conditions in a private jail where inmates have easy access to drugs and mobile phones and subject overstretched staff to intimidation if they are too diligent in their work.

Ministers face a fight to get controversial new laws on detaining mentally ill people through Parliament. The bill, which will allow people to be held against their will even if they have not committed a crime, has been attacked by the Tories as “punitive”.

{mosimage}They joined forces with the Lib Dems and mental health experts to condemn the plan which they said would prevent sufferers from seeking help. Shadow health minister Tim Loughton predicted that the controversial legislation could “ping pong” between the two chambers.

He said that it was nine years since the government first said it would address mental health legislation, but after two drafts of the bill and pre-legislative scrutiny, including evidence from mental health practitioners, it appeared “the government did not listen”.

“This will only add to the stigma of mental health. It will drive people underground and prevent people from getting the help that they need.” He called on the government to retain the Lords amendments, which he said he was “quite happy with”.

Decades of Government attempts to control illegal drugs have had “minimal” impact on levels of use and led to a position where Britain has the worst addiction levels in Europe, a report will say this week.

MI5 is adopting tactics used by the police to keep tabs on paedophiles and other sex offenders to monitor the activities of known or suspected Islamic extremists, The Times has learnt.

Childcare that would allow pupils to spend 50 hours a week in school could undermine family life, teachers said yesterday.

A computer analyst who posted a message on the internet offering to help suicide attempts was cleared yesterday of breaking the law after a judge ruled that there was insufficient evidence.

More than half of the population carries a gene that makes people more likely to pile on the pounds, scientists announce today. They hope the discovery could eventually lead to treatments to help people lose excess weight they carry simply because of their genetic make-up.

A woman suffering from a perforated duodenal ulcer died as a result of a gross failure to provide basic medical attention by NHS staff on two separate occasions, an inquest ruled yesterday.