| It's a system proving so slow and cumbersome that a vigil took place outside the Home Office in central London this weekend, with attendees telling of their frustrations over a lack of information from the Government. New government figures show that around 71,800 visas have been issued to Ukrainians under the Homes For Ukraine sponsorship scheme, but less than a third have arrived in the UK. Many Britons wishing to host Ukrainian refugees in their homes say people have been left "in limbo" because of delays processing visas. And it may be that the onerous process of applying to host Ukrainians fleeing Russian invasion is influencing the areas of the country where most people are coming forward. In the North of England, as our graphic below shows, the five local authority areas where people are most likely to successfully apply for a visa are among the most affluent (and rural) in our region. The North's big cities and towns have seen a much lower rate of visas issued per 10,000 households.  The areas of the North with the highest proportion of Homes for Ukraine visas. Image: Lisa Walsh
Looking across the country with the help of our interactive map, the areas with the highest rates are largely in leafy parts of the Home Counties and the shires of the South East. Sunder Katwala, Director of the think-tank British Future, said the North was no less welcoming than the South East and "the appetite to help Ukrainian refugees has been spread across the country". But he said: "Where we might be seeing a difference, however, is a socio-economic bias in terms of who has the room to host people and the time to complete the onerous process of finding and matching someone then completing a complicated visa process. That means better-off people in the Shires may have had more time to jump all the hurdles most quickly." Earlier this month, Manchester families sponsoring Ukrainian refugees complained the Homes for Ukraine scheme is a "frustrating shambles" that is leaving them and the desperate people they are helping in limbo. Helen Lyndon, 49, a secondary school teacher, wanted to become a sponsor with her family and found the delays "so frustrating". "There are huge delays," she said two weeks ago. "We have done advanced checks, taken documents to the Town Hall and had a home inspection from Stockport Housing to make sure we have enough space. "But what is frustrating is that other people are getting seen quicker. There doesn't seem to be any chronological order or system or logic to what is happening." 
Ukraine visa map  The areas of the North with the highest proportion of Homes for Ukraine visas per 10,000 households. The highest rates are in the darkest green. Click on the image to see the interactive map.
Speaking of Hambleton in North Yorkshire, one well-known local resident is getting some unwanted attention after it was revealed he could spend £13,000 a year heating his new swimming pool. Chancellor Rishi Sunak is having a new pool, gym and tennis courts built at his 1.5m mansion near Northallerton. But the staggering rise in energy prices mean that the cost of heating the Richmond MP's new pool has shot up by £3,500 a year, reports the Mirror. And the amount he is splashing out on heating the pool has left locals in his constituency unimpressed. Retired shopworker Pauline Porter, 69, said: "It is disgusting, especially in these times. They have no idea how normal people live. They just don't care."
PM says Angela Rayner smear was 'not in my name'  Angela Rayner has been criticised for her accent, her appearance and her experiences
Boris Johnson was in campaigning mode in Greater Manchester this morning with just a few days to go until the local elections on May 5. And another challenging topic likely to face him on his visit is the "misogynistic" claims made about local MP and Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner in an anonymous briefing to the Mail on Sunday this weekend. In an attack which appeared to have time-travelled from the 1950s, the article claimed an unnamed Tory MP had told the newspaper Ms Rayner crossed and uncrossed her legs on the Labour front bench during Prime Minister's Questions in an attempt to distract Mr Johnson. According to the Daily Telegraph, the PM sent Ms Rayner a letter yesterday and moved to assure the Ashton-under-Lyne MP that the comments were "not in his name", expressing his sympathy over the anonymous attack. And this morning Shadow chancellor and Leeds MP Rachel Reeves said the vetting process for Parliamentarians needs to be improved. Asked if she thinks there should be an internal investigation, Ms Reeves told Sky News: "Yeah – I mean, I think that too many people think this sort of thing is just acceptable so it's got to be called out and right from the top. "But there are just too many stories and not just of sexism, but also things like… we've got a Conservative MP in Wakefield who's been convicted of sexual offences against a child. He's still a Member of Parliament. He hasn't handed in his resignation yet."
As Beth Abbit wrote for the Manchester Evening News last night, "any young woman aspiring to a life in politics may well look at today's grim commentary and flinch - how could they not?". "But Ms Rayner says she hopes the experience 'doesn't put off a single person like me, with a background like mine from aspiring to participate in public life'. "She is right to hope. After all this attempt to undermine a powerful, working class woman has failed. They'll try it again of course. Next time, let's see if they're brave enough to be named." NHS facing 'the biggest health challenge in living memory'  A&E figures across the country have worsened over the last month (Image: Daily Mirror/Andy Stenning)
A new report out today by Unison sets out how ambulance workers are being "overwhelmed" and suffering from stress when they finish their shifts because of the pressures they are facing. The union said staff shortages, lack of capacity in hospitals due to Covid and long-term underfunding have all contributed to "major problems" over the past few months. And at NHS trusts across the North, medics are being placed under enormous strain in what is described as "the biggest health challenge in living memory". As Helena Vesty reports this weekend for the Manchester Evening News, a record number of patients were forced to wait more than 12 hours for a bed at two Greater Manchester hospitals last month. Around one-third of patients at each of the region's A&E's waited more than four hours in the emergency departments - and after a highly pressured Easter weekend. Dr Chris Brookes, joint interim Greater Manchester medical executive lead for acute care, said: "Hospitals across Greater Manchester – and the rest of the UK – have had to make extremely difficult decisions due to the Covid-19 pandemic, including pausing non-urgent operations. "We understand how difficult waiting for treatment has been and we are sorry patients have had to endure these waits.
'The mental health pandemic is going to last far beyond Covid-19'  Dan McLaughlin says the pandemic 'definitely' worsened his symptoms
There's been a surge in mental health issues across the UK in the wake of the pandemic, with unprecedented demand and huge backlogs putting a massive strain on services. Dan McLaughlin, 27, who lives in Salford, has type two bipolar disorder. He is one of the many people across the country who have struggled with their mental health over the last two years. Speaking to Annie Gouk on the latest episode of The North in Numbers podcast, he said: "The pandemic definitely worsened my symptoms, to the extent that I was hospitalised on a mental health ward. "It's something that I thought would never happen. But it happened to a great deal of people over the pandemic. We had two pandemics - the coronavirus pandemic and the mental health pandemic. I think the mental health pandemic is going to last far beyond Covid-19." In the first year of the pandemic, global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25%, according to the World Health Organisation.
Meanwhile, the number of referrals for specialist NHS mental health care reached a record high in England by the end of 2021.
'Good value for money': Lead commissioner at Liverpool council defends his pay  Mike Cunningham is the former Chief Constable of Staffordshire Police
A lot of lives on Merseyside were changed last March when then-Communities minister Robert Jenrick rose in Commons to outline the results of one of the worst council inspection reports of all time at Liverpool's local authority. Among them was Mike Cunningham, a 60-year-old ex-chief constable challenged to lead the turnaround of the teetering Liverpool City Council and its toxic culture of intimidation within key council departments and millions of pounds of wasted taxpayer cash. Mr Cunningham, originally from Crosby but now based in Lancashire, was asked to lead a team of four experienced commissioners installed at the Labour-run council. He tells the Liverpool Echo's Liam Thorp the problems he found actually went beyond those identified in the inspection report. And he addressed the criticism levelled at his team, who were granted a backdated, 50% increase to their already substantial fees, paid for by the cash-strapped city. He said he understood local anger but added: "What I would say, as a reminder, it is conceivable that poor management at Liverpool Council has led to the waste of many millions of pounds. So I think if we can help the council to make decisions that gets some of that back, then I would like to think we have been good value for money."
Why huge challenges lie ahead for South Yorkshire's next mayor  Andrew Carter, chief executive of the Centre for Cities think-tank
Six candidates are fighting it out to be the next metro mayor of South Yorkshire in the May 5 local elections, replacing the outgoing Dan Jarvis. And while the winning candidate will not have any direct powers over schools, a leading think-tank says they should use their high profile position to champion the improvement of primary and secondary education attainment. Improving education and skills for young people, franchising buses, and driving growth in Sheffield's city centre should be the new Mayor of South Yorkshire's top priorities for 2022, according to a report published by Centre for Cities today. Currently, every local authority across the South Yorkshire area performs below the national average in school achievement. The report urges the next mayor to bring together school leaders from across South Yorkshire to discuss common difficulties and establish best practice, as well as championing the work of education charities. Centre for Cities Chief Executive Andrew Carter said: "As South Yorkshire emerges from the pandemic and grapples with a growing cost of living crisis, the new mayor will face huge challenges to repair the damage and get the region on the path to success."
The call for the next mayor to focus on buses was echoed by Yorkshire union members over the weekend, as they called on all mayoral candidates to commit to beginning the statutory investigation into public control of South Yorkshire bus services within 100 days of taking office, if elected. Trade unions from across Yorkshire & the Humber met in Hull for the Yorkshire & Humber TUC's Annual Regional Conference and the vote in favour of the 100 day pledge passed unanimously. It followed a similar vote in 2021 which led Tracy Brabin, the new mayor of West Yorkshire, to begin the bus franchising process (issuing the statutory notice of intent) just 50 days after she was elected. 
Sign up to The Northern Agenda Has a friend forwarded you this edition of The Northern Agenda? You can sign up to receive the latest email newsletter direct to your inbox every weekday by clicking on this link.  Northern Stories  Yvonne Blenkinsop was described as a "true hero of the city"
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The family of Yvonne Blenkinsop, Hull's last remaining Headscarf Revolutionary, have said she lived a "wonderful life" after she passed away on Sunday at the age of 83. Yvonne, along with Lillian Bilocca, Mary Denness and Christine Smallbone, campaigned for safety improvements for Hull's fishing fleet following the Triple Trawler Tragedy of 1968. A total of 58 crew members were lost when the St Romanus, Kingston Peridot and Ross Cleveland trawlers all sank within a few weeks of each other in the winter of 1968. -
Newcastle has been named the worst city in Europe for nitrogen dioxide pollution in the air, according to a new study. The city recorded the highest concentration of NO2 across the continent in March, according to scientists at air quality monitoring firm Airly. But the "oversimplified" findings have reignited a row with council bosses, who insist that they are not an accurate picture of Newcastle's pollution problem. -
It was nice while it lasted, but former shadow chancellor Ed Balls has ruled himself out of running as the Labour candidate in the Wakefield by-election. The Strictly Come Dancing star responded to speculation by denying he was considering a political comeback by tweeting that he had "no intention of putting myself forward" for the contest. The West Yorkshire constituency is due to elect a new MP after incumbent Imran Ahmad Khan was convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage boy. - Political leaders in Cheshire, Warrington and the Liverpool City Region have highlighted 'growing issues' with the recruitment and retention of children's social workers. A letter to Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi was signed by Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram and council leaders. They said: "We are proud of the difference [social workers] make in difficult circumstances. We know, however, that current issues facing the children's social care workforce present a significant challenge not just in our region, but across the country."
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The remains of an historic human body is being exhumed in the grounds of a former police headquarters. PGL children's activity holidays, which bought North Yorkshire Police's base at Newby Wiske Hall, near Northallerton last year, confirmed an archaeologist initially identified "a spread of bone and a human molar" during works to install drains beside the 17th century manor house. After the remains were first spotted by builders, work to transform the hall into a centre for up to 550 children stopped immediately. 
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