I never give to people who approach me in the street asking for money to cure cancer. The reasons I don’t give are numerous: we’ll never cure cancer; too much is spent on cancer research and treatment; cancer is a better way die than most others; and the whole enterprise carries a terrifying utopian odour of trying to achieve human perfection.

“Cancer, we have discovered, is stitched into our genome,” writes oncologist Siddartha Mukherjee in his Pulitzer prize-winning history of cancer, The Emperor of all Maladies. “Cancer is a flaw in our growth, but this flaw is deeply entrenched in ourselves….We can rid ourselves of cancer, then, only as much as we can rid ourselves of the processes in our physiology that depend on growth—aging, regeneration, healing, reproduction.” In other words, cancer is us. Cure of us of cancer and you cure us of being human.

There are, of course, many cancers, and we must be careful of lumping them all together, although the underlying processes of uncontrolled cell reproduction are the same. The commonest skin cancers can be removed without any threat to life, and deaths from childhood leukaemia have been dramatically reduced in my lifetime. But is cancer ever “cured”? Death may be averted at considerable cost, perhaps at the possibility of being able to reproduce - but cancer is always there, lurking. In 2014 the UK spent £370m on cancer research, far more than on any other disease category. Compare that expenditure with £109m on mental health or £9m on injuries and accidents, the major killer of young people.

And only cancer has its special fund for treatment, avoiding the rational decision-making of the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). When it comes to cancer, the emperor of all the maladies, we are downright irrational. The NHS is spending millions keeping people alive for a few more weeks, which may make sense for them but not for society.

“In Glasgow, where I was born, death seemed imminent; in Canada, where I trained it was inevitable; but in California, where I live now, it’s optional,” says Ian Morrison, once president of the Institute for the Future. Death is not yet optional in Britain, and of the four main ways to die—sudden death, dementia, organ failure, and cancer—cancer has been the best. (I know you chose sudden death, but think of those around you—no time to say goodbye. I write “has been” because death from cancer is beginning to look like death from dementia or frailty, taking years and years with quality of life slowly draining away. Life expectancy in Britain has increased by 10 years since 1960, but the length of time in ill health has increased more—and can now be over 20 years for women. Is this progress?

What is the ultimate aim of cancer researchers? Most won’t think about this: they are immersed in their particular projects, hoping to achieve further funding—sometimes by hyping their achievements. But somebody ought to think about the long term aim. I hope not in an overcrowded world--because without death, every birth would be a tragedy. Could the aim be the avoidance of aging? That might seem attractive to our profoundly ageist society, where the old are shoved into corners and looked after by underpaid staff, while women in their 50s are expected to look like women in their 20s.

We forget—or may never have fully accepted—that cancer is predominantly a disease of the elderly. Your chances of developing cancer increase exponentially as you age.

Geoffrey Rose, one of Britain’s leading epidemiologists, used to point out that if we were to eradicate death from cancer, life expectancy would rise by less than four years. Yet the difference in life expectancy between the richest and poorest in Britain is around 20 years.

The following year corrupt officials, businessmen and politicians pinched at least $30m from the Malawian treasury. A bureaucrat investigating the thefts was shot three times (he survived, somehow). Germany said it would help pay for an investigation; later, burglars raided the home of a German official and stole documents relating to the scandal. Malawi is no longer a donor darling. It now resembles a clingy lover, which would be dumped were it not so needy. It still gets a lot of foreign aid ($930m in 2014), but donors try to keep the cash out of the government’s hands. 

Foreign aid can work wonders. It set South Korea and Taiwan on the path to riches, helped extinguish smallpox in the 1970s and has almost eliminated polio. Unfortunately, as Malawi shows, it is liable to be snaffled by crooks. Aid can also burden Foreign aid can work wonders. It set South Korea and Taiwan on the path to riches, helped extinguish smallpox in the 1970s and has almost eliminated polio. Unfortunately, as Malawi shows, it is liable to be snaffled by crooks. Aid can also burden weak bureaucracies, distort markets, prop up dictators and help prolong civil wars. Taxpayers in rich countries dislike their cash being spent on Mercedes-Benzes. So donors strive to send the right sort of aid to the places where it will do the most good. How are they doing?

A decade ago governments rich and poor set out to define good aid. They declared that aid should be for improving the lot of poor people—and not, implicitly, for propping up friendly dictators or winning business for exporters. It should be co-ordinated; otherwise, says William Easterly of New York University, “the poor health minister is dealing with dozens of different donors and dozens of different forms to fill out.” It should be transparent. Where possible, it should flow through governments.

These are high-minded ideals, reflecting the time they were laid down: the cold war was over and the West had plenty of money. They are nonetheless sound. Aid-watchers, who row bitterly over whether the world needs more foreign aid or less, mostly agree with them. They tend to add that aid should go to relatively free, well-governed countries.

By almost all of these measures, foreign aid is failing. It is as co-ordinated as a demolition derby. Much goes neither to poor people nor to well-run countries, and on some measures the targeting is getting worse. Donors try to reward decent regimes and punish bad ones, but their efforts are undermined by other countries and by their own impatience. It is extraordinary that so many clever, well-intentioned people have made such a mess.

Official development aid, which includes grants, loans, technical advice and debt forgiveness, is worth about $130 billion a year. The channels originating in Berlin, London, Paris, Tokyo and Washington are deep and fast-flowing; others are rivulets, though the Nordic countries are generous for their size. More than two-fifths flows through multilateral outfits such as the World Bank, the UN and the Global Fund. Last year 9% was spent on refugees in donor countries, reflecting the surge of migrants to Europe.

As the aid river twists and braids, it inundates some places and not others. India contains some 275m people living on less than $1.90 a day. It got $4.8 billion in “country programmable aid” (the most routine kind) in 2014, which is $17 per poor person. Vietnam also got $4.8 billion; but, because it is much smaller and rather better off, that works out to $1,658 per poor person (see map). By this measure South-East Asia and South America fare especially well.

African leaders pledged on Monday to reprioritise agriculture in their national policies and increase state spending to end hunger across the continent by 2025.

At the conclusion of a meeting at the African Union at addis ababa ministers agreed to take a more holistic approach to tackling hunger. They committed to working with the private sector, farmers' groups, civil society and academia to increase productivity, while also addressing the underlying causes of malnutrition.

Despite strong economic growth across many parts of Africa over the past 10 years, nearly a quarter of the population – about 240 million people – are undernourished, of whom more than 40% are children under five.

Ministers promised to accelerate efforts to meet the targets of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADp, which emerged from the Maputo agreement in 2003. The programme committed African governments to spend 10% of national budgets on agriculture and increase productivity by 6%. Over the past decade, only 10 countries have achieved these goals. Leaders also pledged to give women access to more land and credit – 70% of Africa's agriculture workforce is female – and make the sector more attractive to young people by increasing the use of technology. The final declaration did not set out any concrete targets or cash commitments, and it will therefore fall to delegates at next year's agriculture-focused AU summit to put flesh on the bones.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, chairwoman of the AU commission, rejected suggestions that the declaration is just another document to be shelved alongside countless others. "What is important is the political commitment to end hunger, that we should make it our state policies and make sure the poor are taken care of," she said.

"Africa is a very different place now from the Africa that was [two decades ago] … We've spent these past days discussing these matters because we are committed to doing something about it [hunger]. We will implement, and we are already implementing, these things. We are not starting from scratch. This is just to escalate [progress] because we are troubled that people on the continent are still undernourished and don't get enough food. We are determined to deal with it. Rest assured this will not just be another piece of paper.  Asked how African governments can increase funding for agriculture when a large chunk of their money comes from international donors with their own ideas about how it should be spent, Dlamini-Zuma expressed confidence that donors will be supportive.

"What we are saying is when donors give us [money] they should be linked to what our priorities are and, if a country wants to end hunger, donors must also accept that their budgets will be used to end hunger. I do hope there is no donor that can say, 'No, I would like people to be hungry'."

She added that African countries, few of which trade beyond their own borders, need to increase their trading partners. Brazil and China were mentioned as important trading partners.  Delegates heard from former Brazil president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva about the Fome zero (zero hunger) programme, introduced during his two terms in office. Through job creation, targeted support for farmers, an increased minimum wage and a cash transfer programme, Brazil managed to achieve significant economic growth and poverty reduction within eight years.

Lula told the conference that the Brazilian experience could be adapted to suit the needs of African countries. But the crucial thing, he said, is the commitment of politicians to see through their vision to end hunger. He urged for the needs of the poor to be embedded across all government policy.

"If the state does not take care of these people, the national budgets will be fully directed to the organised sectors of the society. Therefore, the government needs to earmark a part of the budget for the poor. If this is not done, the problem of hunger will not be solved today, or by 2025, or never. 

Mariah Carey wayward sister is facing a $2 million lawsuit after the singer's older sibling 'nearly killed' a truck driver while allegedly drunk driving on the wrong side of the road, DailyMail.com can reveal.  

Alison Carey, 55, has been accused of causing an accident that left Long Island resident Joe Criscione permanently 'lame and disabled' in March 2014, court documents claim.

The older Carey, who has struggled with drug addiction and prostitution, was driving erratically along the County Rd 39 - a two-lane highway - in Southampton, New York around 6 am., according to the police report obtained by DailMail.com.

Carey failed to 'keep her motor vehicle on her own side of the roadway...negligently and carelessly crossing over into the portion of the roadway on which the plaintiff was operating his vehicle,' documents state. The collision resulted in 'serious injuries' for Criscione, who claims he was forced to quit work temporarily for a year and eventually had to retire early because of his injuries. He is now looking for $2 million in compensation. 

In a police report documented that morning, Carey told authorities she was 'not sure what happened.' She responded to the lawsuit claiming she has 'no knowledge or information sufficient enough to form a belief' as to the allegations against her.

In fact, Carey's attorney argued she acted in self-defense as she was 'suddenly confronted with, and was called upon to act in, an emergency situation not created by [her] own acts. 

Criscione has alleged Carey was driving drunk, however no DUI charges were ever filed.  

In an exclusive interview, his wife Lauri spoke about the traumatic event, claiming Carey was driving at high speed on the wrong side of the road and totaled her husband's truck and left him a virtual invalid.

'My husband was heading out to work, he worked for the town of East Hampton as a heavy equipment driver and had been a commercial driver for over 20 years, it was his first accident, he's a pretty good driver,' she says. 'It was lightly raining before she [Alison Carey] came into his lane and hit him, one witness was on the phone calling the cops, as before she took him out, she nearly took out a bunch of other people. 

'So she goes over to my husband's lane, he goes into the other lane to get out of the way, she then realizes, I guess, where she is, the wrong side of the road, and turns the car, and hits him head on. It totals a 14,000lb truck.'

Alison – who is eight years older than Mariah – has been rumored to be on the brink of homelessness, broke, working as a prostitute, and suffering from many health complications including HIV.

A 51-year-old man was today arrested over the murder of a 14-year-old girl feared to have been chopped up for kebab meat in 2003.

Schoolgirl Charlene Downes was last seen 14 years ago after disappearing from her home in Blackpool, Lancashire. 

No trace of her has ever been found but claims have been made that her body was chopped up and went 'into kebabs' at a takeaway in the seaside resort.

Last month her parents, Karen and Robert, vowed to sue Lancashire Police after learning crucial CCTV footage of her last movements was sat in archives for 12 years.

But yesterday the force finally announced a major breakout in the case - one of their longest investigations - after arrested a man on suspicion of her murder.

A Lancashire Police spokesman said: 'The man, aged 51, who lived in Blackpool at the time of Charlene's disappearance, is currently in custody.

'Charlene was just 14 years old when she was last seen in Blackpool on Saturday November 1 2003.

'A £100,000 reward remains on offer for information leading to the conviction of her killer or killers. 'The investigation is one of the largest and longest running in the history of Lancashire Constabulary.'

Charlene's murder investigation has been dogged by problems ever since in launched.

A 2007 murder trial collapsed because of police errors and the IPCC watchdog ruled the force's blunders mean the killer may never be found.

Social media posts have given an insight into the life of a young father who died after he was restrained by police. 

Father-of-one Rashan Charles died following a struggle with an officer in a shop in Hackney, east London, on July 22.

Members of the community have since rallied to pay tribute to the youngster - whose social media posts make reference to repeated attempts on his life, with his Instagram profile named, 'Hard to Kill'.

This comes amid violent clashes on the streets of London in recent days, as impassioned protesters seek justice for the 20-year-old's death. In 2013 he wrote: 'I've been shot at, I've been stabbed but I still aint leaving the block. Shout out to all my haters.'

In another he said, 'Respected by most and hated by many', and made reference to being held in youth custody.

Friends say Mr Charles was a good father to his baby daughter.​

Jada, Remiya's mother said her son was a 'caring and generous' father and a respected member of his local community. 

Harrowing CCTV footage has emerged which shows Mr Charles being chased amid claims that he was trying to 'swallow an object'. He ran into the store in Kingsland Road, London at 1.45am on July 22 after failing to stop for police. 

He can be seen wrestled to the floor as he appears to try to swallow an item. The policeman can be seen holding his hand briefly over the Mr Charles' mouth. 

Police and the IPCC said Mr Charles was pronounced dead at the Royal London Hospital but would not comment on whether he stopped breathing beforehand.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said the Independent Police Complaint's Commission was now investigating. 

A spokesman for the Charles family accused police officers of 'killing youths on the streets' and forcing them into gangs, during an impassioned speech at a vigil in the 20-year-old's memory last weekend. 

However protests followed as mobs of furious demonstrators set wheelie bins and mattresses on fire and attacked vehicles.

Experts have warned that slavery is more profitable than ever with traders making 30 times more than in the 18th and 19th century.

Human rights researcher Siddharth Kara calculated that nowadays each victim makes an average of £3,030 a year for those who exploit them - with some making more than 10 times that figure.

Meanwhile sex trafficking makes up half of the profits of the illegal industry despite those victims only accounting for 5% of modern slaves. It can bring in profits of more than £27,000 per person.

Mr Kara told The guardian human life has become more expendable than ever.

'Slaves can be acquired, exploited and discarded in relatively short periods and still provide immense profits for their exploiters.

He added: 'Unless slavery is perceived as a high-cost and high-risk form of labour exploitation, this reality will not change.'

Kara's calculations were based on data from 51 countries recorded over a 15-year period as well as thousands of victims of slavery.

According to experts the scale of slavery has dramatically increased - with approximately 21 million people being exploited worldwide compared to the 13 million people who were sold as slaves between the 15th and 19th century. They were identified by police, charities and welfare experts as potential victims of so-called modern slavery, which includes human trafficking and forced labour.

But the figure could merely be the 'tip of the iceberg', with many more unreported cases, the study by the Children's Commissioner for England warns.

Anne Longfield has urged politicians to stamp out the 'horrendous exploitation' of youngsters by adults.

She said slavery was just one of several serious issues that forced millions of children across the country to live 'vulnerable or high-risk lives'.

Her report cites the latest figures from the Government's national referral mechanism (NRM), the official framework for identifying and helping victims of slavery and trafficking. Some 1,204 children aged up to 17 were referred to the NRM last year for suspected domestic servitude, labour or sexual exploitation in England – an increase of a third, from 901 in 2015.

British nationals were the biggest group at 247, with 209 of them feared to have been caught up in sexual exploitation.

They were followed by 223 Albanian youngsters, of whom 150 were referred for potential labour exploitation. The third highest source of referrals were 200 Vietnamese children, with 101 of them feared trapped in forced labour.

Nigerian children also made up 40 of the NRM referrals in 2016, with 18 of these for suspected domestic servitude.

However, the report says there are many 'invisible children' who may be 'particularly vulnerable' due to gaps in identification.

These youngsters may 'have been victims of modern slavery but not reported to the national referral mechanism'.

A 16-year-old boy was today found guilty of killing a Polish man with a single 'Superman punch' after mocking his English in an attack outside a takeaway. 

The defendant, who was 15 at the time of the attack, had denied the manslaughter of Arkadiusz Jozwik, but was found guilty by a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Mr Jozwik, 40, had been drinking vodka with two friends and had just bought a pizza when he was set upon outside a row of takeaway shops in Harlow, Essex, shortly after 11.30pm on August 27, 2016.

He died two days later in hospital from head injuries.

Rosina Cottage QC, prosecuting, earlier told the week-long trial that the defendant moved behind Mr Jozwik, jumped up from the ground and used the 'whole force of his body' to hit Mr Jozwik with a 'Superman punch'.

The defendant, who was in The Stow shopping precinct after going to a kebab shop, said he hit Mr Jozwik, who was known to his friends as Arek, 'to defend my friend. Ms Cottage said laughter could be heard during the incident, and the defendant agreed with her description that this was 'around the time he (Mr Jozwik) was saying 'fight me' and weaving around'. 

He also agreed with Ms Cottage's description that this was because Mr Jozwik 'looked such an idiot'.

Ms Cottage said: 'If you didn't like it, you could have scarpered, couldn't you?'  The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, replied: 'Yeah.'  

The court also heard there was some laughter 'about their English' (of the Polish men) and the defendant moved behind Mr Jozwik before striking him. 

The defendant will be sentenced on September 8 at Chelmsford Crown Court.

A terrorist who infiltrated the British military has been jailed for 18 years for supplying bombs to dissident Irish republicans. 

Former Royal Marine Kiaran Maxwell stashed anti-personnel mines, mortars, ammunition and 14 pipe bombs - four of which were later used - in 43 purpose-built woodland hides at eight locations in Northern Ireland and England.

Bomb-making materials were found in barrels and buckets buried in the ground as well as an adapted Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) pass card, a PSNI uniform and a police stab-proof vest.

Maxwell was driven by 'republican sympathies and a hostility to the UK' and the lasting effects of a sectarian attack that left him with a fractured skull when he was 16, the court heard.

Questions have now been raised as to how someone with a background of Republican sympathies passed vetting for the Marines - as police admit it is likely that more of his bombs remain in the hands of senior Continuity IRA members.   

The 31-year-old, who is originally from Larne in Co Antrim and was with 40 Commando based at Norton Manor Camp in Taunton, Somerset, at the time of the offences, pleaded guilty to preparation of terrorist acts between January 2011 and August last year, possessing images of bank cards for fraud and possessing cannabis with intent to supply.

Sentencing, Mr Justice Sweeney said: 'I'm sure that you were and will remain motivated by dissident republican sympathies and a hostility to the UK. Father-of-one Maxwell had researched 300 potential police, government and military targets before his plot was foiled when members of the public stumbled across his weapons hides by chance, the court heard. His defence barrister had previously told the court Maxwell 'feared violence' on a daily basis as he grew up as a Catholic in his hometown of Larne.

In 2002, he was 'beaten by golf clubs, iron bars and hammers' and 'left for dead in a field' by loyalists.

A doctor's report said Maxwell had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the immediate aftermath, which persisted into his 20s.

However a prosecutor said there was 'no direct evidence' Maxwell's offending was motivated by the beating.

Police still haven't found all the lethal devices constructed by Maxwell during his years of treachery in the ranks of the Royal Marines.

The Republican terrorist spy amassed an astonishing arsenal as he seemingly plundered military stores and ranges at will. 

Only one other person has been arrested over the conspiracy and there are fears those who encouraged the bombmaker may never be brought to justice. 

Senior male doctors get four times as many bonuses as their female counterparts, a report has revealed.

The latest figures show that more than 52 per cent of 43,856 NHS hospital consultants in England received some kind of merit-based award ranging between £17,000 and £77,000.

However, out of those receiving them for the first time in 2015 just 65 were women while 252 were men. Yet the research by the Advisory Committee on Clinical Excellence Award also found that women were at no disadvantage when it came to actually receiving the bonuses they applied for - both male and female consultants had a 26 per cent success rate.

Clare Marx, president of the Royal College of Surgeons, believes the report shows that women are receiving less bonuses because they are less inclined to ask for them.

She told The daily telegraph : 'We find that women are unlikely to put themselves forward unless they feel they can tick all the boxes – whereas by and large men are more likely to just give it a whirl. 

'It's the same for new jobs, it's the same for job promotions. But the other issue that concerns us is that they are less likely to be encouraged. 

'A lot of the conversations about future careers happen in the men's changing rooms, women just aren't there when these chats are going on. Of the 96 staff who were paid more than £150,000 by the organisation last year, just 34 were women.

Sir Philip Hampton, who is currently co-chairing a review aimed at increasing the women in senior roles in finance, blamed the female presenters themselves for the pay gap claiming that they 'let it happen'.

The City grandee also said that in his experience he had 'never, ever had a woman ask for a pay rise'.

He told the London evening standard Thursday: 'How has this situation arisen at the BBC that these intelligent, high-powered, sometimes formidable women have sat in this situation?

'They are all looking at each other now saying: "how did we let this happen?" I suspect they let it happen because they weren't doing much about it.'