Balance February 18 - 9

BE INSPIRED
TWEET
First time I have
picked up your
great magazine
- brightened up
my commute.'
Laura Jones
@little_misstizz

TWEET
'@BalanceLDN is my
absolute favourite
read. I feel healthier
just looking at the
pictures!'
Ryan Hand
@RyanHand

Sleep
SOOTHING NEWS
Isn't the world a richer place
when you've had a good
night's sleep? And we mean
rich: sleep deprivation is
said to cost the UK economy
around £30billion a year,
with 200,000 working days
lost to a lack of kip and one
in three Britons affected by
insomnia. Now, Business In
The Community (a network
of businesses created
following the Brixton Riots
in 1982), is taking action
with the launch of the first
Sleep and Recovery toolkit
for employers. It's being
trialled by the likes of retail
giants Unilever, Anglian
Water and Royal Mail. The
info contains 'lots of simple
steps for employers of
all sizes and sectors to take
in supporting better sleep
for staff and reducing or
preventing work being the
cause of sleep deprivation,'
explains Dr Justin Varney,
National Lead for Adult
Health and Wellbeing at
Public Health England. Visit
bitc.org.uk to find out more,
while drinking a strong
coffee, if you need one.

Politics
Finance
FINK TANK
One of the world's most
influential money
managers has warned
the super-wealthy: you
really need to do more for
society. Laurence Fink,
chairman and CEO at
BlackRock, who manages
around £4.5trillion, has
sent a strongly worded
letter to more than 1,000
CEOs saying big business
needs to have more of a
conscience. 'To prosper
over time, every company
must not only deliver
financial performance, but
also show how it makes
a positive contribution
to society,' he writes.
'Companies must ask
themselves: How are we
managing our impact on
the environment? Are we
working to create a diverse
workforce?' It is hoped
CEOs listen, rather than
printing out Fink's letter
and using it to dry their
tears of laughter.

MAY'S WARM FRONT
Compassion, warmth and
empathy aren't qualities
you'd necessarily level
at our Prime Minister.
However, Theresa May has
proved a lot of people wrong
by hiring a Minister For
Loneliness. Tracey Crouch,
Minister for Sport and
Civil Society, takes on the
mantle in a bid to address
a problem that impacts
9 million Britons. The
Prime Minister explains:
'For far too many people,
loneliness is the sad reality
of modern life. I want to
confront this challenge for
our society and for all of us
to take action to address the
loneliness endured by the
elderly, by carers, by those
who have lost loved ones -
people who have
no one to talk to or share
their thoughts and
experiences with.' The idea
is inspired by the late MP
Jo Cox, who was murdered
by a right-wing extremist
in June 2016. She felt a
minister was needed to
combat the issue properly.

February 2018 BA LA N CE

Medicine
OF MICE AND MEN
As a species, there aren't
many things we can all
agree on. But if there's one
thing that unites us all,
it's the notion that cancer
can, quite frankly, go away.
News of a 'cancer cure' will
no doubt result in much
rolling of the eyes and
mutterings of 'We've heard
it before,' but research at
Stanford University School
Of Medicine feels like a
significant step. An agent
that contains two immuneboosters was given to mice
with tumours, injected
directly into the affected
areas. Ronald Levy, a senior
researcher, explains: 'In
the mice, we saw amazing,
bodywide effects, including
the elimination of tumours
all over the animal.' Of the
90 mice trialled, 87 were
cured. Yes, mice aren't
humans, but a human trial
is currently underway. B

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http://bitc.org.uk
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Balance February 18
