Packed lunches: pupils face ban in new school food plans

No 10 aims to boost take-up of school meals as report by Leon suggests link between nutrition and academic performance

Enda Kenny threatened with excommunication over abortion reform

Irish government on course to push through protection of life in pregnancy bill

Labour unveils plan to promote food-growing culture in Britain

Plant fruit trees on housing estates and vegetable patches in schools to address 'nutrition recession', party says

This breastfeeding ‘cat fight’ sets mothers up to fail

Rebecca Schiller: With support funding cut, and negative messages about the 'breastapo', even I, a doula, am sick of breastfeeding

Drugs policymakers of the 1980s knew the score

Mary O'Hara: This is not the time to undermine harm reduction strategies such as the needle exchange programme, bravely, and surprisingly, initiated by Thatcher and her Tory government

Maternity wards close 1,000 times a year to expectant mothers, figures show

Shortage of midwives and beds resulting in women being forced to travel up to 65 miles to other wards or to give birth at home

Blackpool to extend free breakfast scheme to 12,000 primary school pupils

Pilot scheme success prompts council to roll out £1.3m scheme to provide fruit, yogurt and bread to town's 33 primary schools

I applaud Nadine Dorries for talking about her hair loss

Katherine Baldwin: As a fellow alopecia sufferer, I sympathise with the MP. Women who are struggling with this taboo-ridden condition need help

Turf wars escalate in the battle for Britain’s allotments

John Harris: For the past century, councils have prided themselves on giving people small patches of land to cultivate. But now, with money and land in short supply, many want to take them away

Welfare cuts raises question of who ultimately pays for your fags and fats?

Stewart Dakers: Increased longevity means young workers are picking up the bill for the past self-gratifications of the old