The bleak numbers that reveal Hurricane Melissa’s scale of destruction

A week after Hurricane Melissa slammed into the Caribbean, the full scale of its path of destruction is starting to become clear.

Melissa made landfall in southwestern Jamaica last Tuesday as a powerful Category 5 hurricane, the Caribbean nation’s strongest-ever storm to directly hit its shores, and the first major hurricane to do so since 1988.

With wind speeds of up to 185mph it went on to tear a path through Cuba, the Bahamas and Bermuda before moving off to the north on Friday. As of Monday, the death toll stands at 67.

Below we look a the numbers that reveal why Melissa was branded one of the worst to make landfall in the last 25 years.

Government officials and meteorologists have described the storm as unprecedented, after it rapidly intensified due to exceptionally warm sea-surface temperatures and favourable conditions in the atmosphere.

The rarity of a storm of such severity, and the scale of the damage inflicted on the affected land, has guaranteed that the storm will go down in history as one of the most devastating on record.

Barring Covid-19, Jamaican prime minister Andrew Holness said the storm may not only be storm of the century, but “disaster of the century”.

Estimated costs of damage vary wildly and it may be too early to gauge accurately. As it stands though, AccuWeather estimates $48bn to $52bn in damage and economic loss across the western Caribbean.

The total population of all the islands affected is at least 25 million people. Western Jamaica was one of the hardest-hit areas, while Cuba, Haiti and The Bahamas were also severely impacted, with thousands of homes damaged.

Here’s a look at some of the numbers by country:

The Jamaican prime minister said the “scale of destruction is unlike anything we have seen in decades”.

“Entire communities along the storm’s path were flattened, trees snapped like twigs, and the once-green Cockpit Country now bears a haunting, winter-like appearance,” he wrote on X.

Government officials in the Caribbean say that damage assessment is still ongoing, as aid workers attempt to reach isolated communities.

“Our immediate priority is to restore electricity and telecommunications and to ensure that essential services, particularly at the Falmouth Hospital, are stabilized,” Mr Holness said on X, adding that Jamaica would rebuild “stronger and wiser”.

Meanwhile, Jamaican health minister Christopher Tufton recognised that the death toll in Jamaica was probably higher than what has currently been reported because many places are still hard to access.

Following the devastation, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) said that it would make a record payout to Jamaica of $70.8 million.

A team from the US is being activated by the State Department, deploying a disaster response team, which will assist with providing food, water, medical supplies hygiene kits, temporary shelter and search and rescue support .

The UK, meanwhile, initially offered a £2.5 million support package last week, before later announcing a further £5 million. Canada’s secretary of state is providing $7 million CAD in support of the emergency relief.

On Saturday, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) announced that it had received 2,000 boxes of emergency food assistance shipped from Barbados, to be distributed in shelters and in the most-affected communities in the St. Elizabeth area

UNICEF – the UN’s children’s agency – said water, sanitation and hygiene kits for about 14,500 people and nutritional supplies for over 4,000 children had been supplied before Melissa hit. Another $1 million was allocated to support immediate emergency response.

The UN Populations Fund has provided up to 5,000 reproductive health kits and 4,000 dignity kits provided. A further $4 million from its Central Emergency Response Fund has also been allocated to affected people in Jamaica. Medical kits for about 11,000 were provided by the Pan American Health Organisation.

“Millions are caught in Hurricane Melissa’s path and need urgent help. We’re working with the governments of Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba to save lives” said the UN’s humanitarian aid chief Tom Fletcher.

“The priority now is to get help to those who need it,” said Pearnel P. Charles Jr., Jamaica’s minister of labour and social security during a brief stop en route to Black River for the first time with long-awaited relief supplies.

Why I’ve had the names of all my ex-lovers’ mothers tattooed on my torso

Harriet Richardson is not an angry person. Except, it seems, when it comes to art. “You could draw a line through most of my projects and find them founded in anger. Revenge. Fury.”

It was during her first Edinburgh Fringe that her newest idea blossomed. “I don’t know if you know much about the comedy circuit…” The 30-year-old asks, squinting her eyes at me. Male comedians? I’ve only ever heard wonderful things.

She nods and lets out a weary breath. “I have genuinely started to believe that God put them on the earth to annoy ideas out of me.” Ideas like her 2023 performance art piece, in which Richardson spent Valentine’s Day conducting 100 online speed dates with 100 people, including total strangers, close friends, and exes. The dates were livestreamed, so anyone could observe the awkward pauses and the flirting. Even then, she was interested in the art of endurance. While each person had a five-minute slot, Harriet sat at her laptop for 16 hours.

In Edinburgh, she started to think about the “Madonna-Wh***” complex: the distinction made between women who are seen as disposable versus women who are supposed to be revered and respected. What if the two opposites were combined? What if, in fact, they were brought intimately together? Harriet selected her own body to represent the former group. And for the latter… what better symbol than that of the mother?

The concept for ‘Temporary’ came from this dichotomy. Richardson would get a tattoo of the names of her 14 ex-lovers’ mothers, all the way from her first teenage boyfriend to her most recent (and most grown-up) break-up.

“I was very conscious not to use men’s names,” Harriet explains. “The people that are, arguably, more important to me than the men – are the women who raised them.”

Finding the names of her ex’s mothers was no simple task. For 12 of them, Richardson could rely on memory, her own diaries, or Facebook accounts – publicly available information which no one thinks twice about displaying on social media. (Until, perhaps, your ex-lover decides to get it tattooed on their body.)

One man who’d ghosted her before a date later told her over the phone that he’d done so because of his dad’s birthday. With the work for ‘Temporary’ already underway, Harriet asked him for a reminder of his dad’s name. And then, just out of interest: What was your mum’s name again? “As soon as he said it, I went and wrote the name down in, like, 10 places.”

Richardson didn’t tell any of her exes what she was up to: that, she says, would have felt like asking permission. “It’s an act of self, not a collaboration.”

Some required more painstaking research. To track down the names of two mothers of men whom she’d had fleeting encounters with, Richardson hired a private investigator, who assured her he would use only legal, above-the-board methods.

“It’s open access information and free will,” The artist says. “It’s not invasive. You can’t say it’s unethical. Or at least, it’s no more unethical than having sex with me and then not speaking to me again.”

Once the names were found, fact-checked, and organised, Richardson went to David Walker, a tattoo artist in Liverpool, along with Emily Lomas, who filmed and photographed the process. A few hours later, the deed was totally, irreversibly done.

But it would be another six months before Harriet showed the tattoo to the world. She loved the idea of it being just for her. “I was a bit hesitant. But somewhere along the way, I thought no, I’m really proud of it.

“And it is for me. That’s the full stop. I’ve believed that since I came up with the idea, and since I got it done.”

Harriet is not sure if any of the mothers have seen the tattoo, but she does know that one of their sons has. After posting ‘Temporary’ on Instagram on 20 October, one ex-lover reacted to her story with a “clapping” emoji. When she asked if he had any other comments, he mutely sent a smiley face. “An emoji.” She loves it. “The fact that it can’t even be written in, like, pen and ink. It’s so symbolic of that relationship.”

It’s no coincidence that Richardson got this particular tattoo during her newfound and painfully realised celibacy. “Every single addiction I’ve ever had is a moderation one,” Harriet says from her London flat, a statue of a naked woman’s torso sitting demurely behind her. “You can’t live without food, so you have to find a way to have a healthy relationship with it. It’s the same with people. You can’t just not see another human ever again.”

And after years of painful relationships with what she describes as “dismissive-avoidant” men, Richardson was in the market for a self-policing strategy. The tattoo is long term, not just in its existence, but in the artist’s dedication to maintaining it.

Harriet describes her vision to me: any potential new partner will be asked for their mother’s name upfront, and have the tattoo explained. If they go on to spend the night together, she will go to the nearest tattoo parlour the next morning and get the name added.

“It’s a hard boundary that I now have to exercise. It means they see the real me very quickly – they can’t have sex with me unless they know me. That’s a novelty. I’ve had full relationships with men who never got to know any parts of me that were worth knowing.”

It’s a good measure, the artist muses, of which people to let into her life. If they have a problem with the tattoo, then how likely is a sustainable relationship? “This piece will change who I sleep with. That’s the point of it. I have a sex and love addiction problem. I don’t want frivolous encounters that don’t care about me.”

Public reaction to the tattoo has been volatile. Some love it, while in others it seems to inspire passionate revulsion. She has been accused of being anti-feminist, self-hating, and attention-seeking. Those who dislike it are disturbed by the concept of a young woman marking her body permanently based on the men she’s had sex with, and choosing to continue the ritual throughout the rest of her life.

However, Harriet has noticed that people’s feelings seem to change with time. One comment called the work disgusting, only to return a day later and confess that they actually quite liked it. In response to the claims of anti-feminism, Harriet keeps it short. “I feel like I’m taking control and power back. I don’t really have much else to say apart from: it was my choice. There’s nothing more feminist than a woman making a choice about her own body.”

Especially illuminating is the discourse about the number. Under every comment which says 14 is far too many or too few people to have slept with by the age of 30, there will be a reply underneath, earnestly explaining that they thought the opposite. Richardson finds it comforting. “If 20,000 people think I’m a sl*t and 20,000 people think I’m a virgin, it must mean I’m somewhere in the middle, which is a person.”

Six months down the line, she loves the list of mothers, Harriet says, and finds the whole thing funnier than she had expected. “I have moments, like when I’m in the shower and imagine us all squished in there together, or on the treadmill and it’s all of us running, each mother complaining about being dragged along for the ride. I like that none of them chose to be connected, or for me to be connected to the rest of them – but now they are. I think it’s quite nice that we share something in common.”

The reaction Harriet was most scared of was of her own mother. Her parents were always strict and conservative, “which, by the way, explains absolutely everything,” and tattoos were an obvious no-go. Her mum’s reaction was straightforward: “You’re 30, it’s your body, you can do what you want. I don’t want to see it, I don’t want to look at it, please don’t tell me.”

Though the tattoo is, by design, never truly finished, Harriet finds satisfaction in imagining a metaphorical line under the list as it currently stands. “[The men] all have something in common, and it’s not necessarily something I want to entertain again. I didn’t have to put 19-year-old Harriet through all of that, but I obviously did, in a way, to become who I am today. I regret some of the relationships. But I just know I’ll never regret that tattoo. It’s so cool.”

It’s a wider symbolism which characterises the piece for Harriet. “It feels like I’m closing a chapter, not just on ‘straight white man who’s in control of me’, but on ‘straight’ and ‘white’ and ‘man’, individually, as concepts.” It ties into questions she’s been wrestling privately about sexuality, what sex means to her, and who she’s attracted to.

And what about the anger which fuelled the concept in the first place? Harriet no longer feels it. Her projects, though founded in provocation, are always the motor by which she processes things. “I forgive a lot of the people on the list, I forgive the people from Fringe, and in short, I’m over it. I’m not angry anymore.” She laughs. “I’m sure I’ll find something else to be angry about soon.”

Worker dies after being trapped under collapsed medieval tower in Rome

A man who was rescued after spending 11 hours underneath the rubble of a partially collapsed medieval tower in Rome has died in hospital, local authorities have said.

Octay Stroici, a 66-year-old Romanian worker, was taken to Umberto I hospital shortly after being pulled from the debris, Italian news agency ANSA reports, citing health sources.

“I express deep sorrow and condolences, on behalf of myself and the government, for the tragic loss of Octay Stroici, the worker who was killed in the collapse of the Torre dei Conti in Rome,” Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni said in a statement after midnight. “We are close to his family and colleagues at this time of unspeakable suffering.”

As many as 140 firefighters worked for nearly half a day to rescue Stroici as his wife followed the effort.

Lamberto Giannini, city police chief, said that he had been taken to hospital in a “serious condition”. He reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest in the ambulance.

“The rescue operation took a long time because every time a part of the worker’s body was freed, further collapses occurred, burying him again under the rubble,” Giannini told state television station Rai.

Parts of the 29-metre Torre dei Conti, near the Colosseum, crashed to the ground on Monday morning. A second incident happened while firefighters were working on the structure. None of the firefighters were injured.

The first collapse occurred after 10.30am. Eleven workers were on the site at the time, local media reported. Another then occurred as rescuers were pulling labourers from the rubble, around 90 minutes later.

A second worker, 64, was pulled out almost immediately and hospitalised with serious but not life-threatening head injuries, while two more workers suffered minor injuries and declined hospital treatment.

“It all happened suddenly,” one of the workers on site, who was not named, told ANSA. “Then I only saw the cloud of dust and the rescuers.”

Gaetano La Manna, another worker, told Il Messaggero: “I heard a bang and everything came crashing down, everything collapsed.”

Debris fell from above and cut his face and the back of his head.

Adriano De Acutis, commander of the Rome Fire Brigade, said Stroici was “was conscious when he emerged”.

He was pulled from the rubble at around 10.30pm.

The prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation for negligent disaster and negligent injury.

The tower, which was due to be converted into a museum and conference space, is located halfway along the Via dei Fori Imperiali, the broad avenue that leads from central Piazza Venezia to the Colosseum.

The building was still standing, but showing significant internal damage.

It once hosted city hall offices but has not been in use since 2006 and was being worked on as part of a four-year renovation project due to end next year, according to Rome city authorities.

Due to the EU-funded restoration work, the area around the tower was closed off to pedestrians.

The building was erected by Pope Innocent III for his family in the early 13th century, and was originally twice as high, but was scaled down after damage from earthquakes in the 14th and 17th centuries.

John Lewis has gone full Adolescence in its 2025 Christmas advert

Oh, they grow up so fast. The John Lewis Christmas advert, the sickeningly British festive institution, has just turned 18. In that time, we’ve had eight prime ministers, two monarchs and 19 seasons of Strictly Come Dancing. Its success has been down to its foolproof formula: impossibly saccharine, a little bit sad and unbelievably sparkly. To really get the tears flowing, the JL advert must – and I repeat, must – have a twinkly, slowed-down piano ballad cover version of a nostalgic hit from a boomer’s youth (preferably sung by Elton John, or Richard Ashcroft, or Ellie Goulding). Bonus points for using an adorable five-year-old and/or an anthropomorphic animal as the protagonist. Anyone remember that lonely elderly man trapped living on the moon (2015)? Or the misunderstood boxer dog with a passion for trampolines (2016)?

This year, though, the John Lewis advert might just be too grown-up. They’ve stripped away the lovable fictional characters, Up-style elderly people and Santa Clauses and gone full Adolescence as we watch an emotionally repressed teenage boy trying to connect with his dad. We just might learn something, though.

We meet a headphone-wearing teenager who is scrolling on his phone on Christmas Day. The focus shifts to his wearied dad, who is performing the most festive task ever: clearing up discarded wrapping paper from the floor. Mid-tidy, he finds an unopened present addressed to “Dad”, and inside is a vinyl record of Alison Limerick’s Nineties club classic “Where Love Lives”. The son nervously watches on as his dad approaches the record player, drops the needle and closes his eyes. He’s transported back to a party from his heyday.

At the rave, the dad is grooving in a crowded, sweaty warehouse when he spots his son across the room. The partygoers disappear, and the pair are left alone to confront the distance between them. The music changes to a sentimental acoustic version of “Where Love Lives” (by British singer-songwriter Labrinth). Here’s the real twist – and bear with me – the son becomes a toddler again, taking his first steps towards his dad, and then becomes a newborn baby, cradled in his father’s arms. We arrive back at the present day and the pair share a teary hug – one that, it seems, is well overdue. (The tagline brings us back to the retail reality: “If you can’t find the words, find the gift.”)

Who knew that the John Lewis advert could verge on becoming a form of societal commentary (even if it is subtly suggesting we fix broken family bonds with a Lynx boxset)? It’s completely topical – thanks to the success of the record-breaking series Adolescence, about a boy indoctrinated by misogynistic social media influencers, which thrust the masculinity crisis into national conversation earlier this year. Really, nothing feels more 2025 than a comment on the state of boyhood. Sure, it’s watered down, but if you really read between the lines of this advert, it’s fairly meaningful.

Granted: a John Lewis advert being this on-the-nose feels odd. It’s a complete break from tradition that may shock its most loyal purists. Bring back the silly creatures, jingle bells and Ellie Goulding vocals, they might say. But if this advert brings two family members that little bit closer, or inspires someone to have a long-overdue conversation, we’ll let John Lewis go off script. Just this once.

Israeli military’s top lawyer arrested after leaking footage of soldiers ‘abusing’ Palestinian detainee

Israel’s top military prosecutor has been arrested after admitting to leaking a video that showed Israeli soldiers allegedly abusing a Palestinian prisoner at the Sde Teiman detention camp.

The chief military advocate, Major General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, resigned on Friday after taking full responsibility for the leak and was arrested on multiple charges on Monday, including abuse of office and breach of trust.

The widely circulated footage caused an international uproar when it was first released by Israel’s Channel 12 in August 2024. The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called the leak “the most serious public relations attack” against Israel to date.

Maj Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi said that she had leaked the video to counter criticism that the military was prioritising Palestinian detainees over Israeli troops. In her resignation letter, she said the military had a “duty to investigate when there is reasonable suspicion of violence against a detainee,” according to excerpts published in Israeli media.

“Unfortunately, this basic understanding – that there are actions which must never be taken even against the vilest of detainees – no longer convinces everyone,” she wrote.

Mr Netanyahu had singled out the incident as the target of an “independent, impartial investigation” to discover exactly how the leak had emerged in recent days, eventually leading to the prosecutor’s arrest.

The footage showed a Palestinian detainee, blindfolded and lying on his front among several rows of prisoners, at the notorious detention camp in the Negev desert.

He is then seen being picked out of the group and taken to a corner where several soldiers are seen surrounding him from behind and moving back and forth, covering themselves with shields.

The man was later admitted to hospital with rib injuries so severe that he is said to have been unable to walk, according to Israeli media. On its release, a United Nations spokesperson called the footage “shocking”. It also sparked major protests in Israel in support of the soldiers after multiple members of the IDF’s Unit 100, including a captain and a major, were arrested.

Five reservists were charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm, including the charge of using a “sharp object” to stab the detainee.

On Monday, it emerged that the detainee had been released as part of a prisoner-hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-right national security minister, said Maj Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi was arrested on Sunday night.

At a court hearing on Monday, the judge extended her detention by 48 hours until Wednesday, according to a copy of the decision.

The court said she was being held on suspicion of offences including fraud, breach of trust and obstruction of justice.

Police conducted a search for Maj Gen Tomer-Yerushalmi on Sunday after her family raised concerns about her safety and police found her abandoned car near the beach in Tel Aviv, Channel 12 reported. Police said she was found soon after the search began.

Enriching escapes: find your perfect luxury break

Trump weighs in on ‘tragic situation’ as more Andrew revelations emerge

US President Donald Trump said he feels “badly” for the royal family amid the continuing fallout over Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s ties to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

It comes as reports claim that Andrew “refused to sign off” on royal statements that supported the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex abuse.

A source close to the King and Queen said the former prince would veto references to abuse victims in all statements since his disastrous 2019 Newsnight interview, blocking the Palace from acknowledging them, according to The Times.

But in the King’s latest statement, in which he stripped Andrew of his royal titles, he made clear his support for survivors in the line: “Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.”

When questioned about the King’s decision to remove Andrew’s prince title, the US president said: “It’s a terrible thing that’s happened to the (royal) family.”

On Thursday, the King took the dramatic decision to officially remove Andrew’s Prince and Duke of York titles and HRH style, following pressure over his ties with Epstein.

‘National scandal’: Victims of pregnancy drug call for public inquiry

At aged 50, Susie Martin has already undergone her fair share of health procedures. She has endured dozens of surgeries – once going through five procedures in a single year – and will need to have screening for the rest of her life.

She believes it’s all because of a drug her mother was given by medics during pregnancy.

Ms Martin is one of the hundreds of victims of a “silent scandal” involving the pregnancy drug diethylstilbestrol – a synthetic form of the female hormone oestrogen, commonly known as DES, which has been linked to cancer. Like many others, she says the drug, also known as DES, caused her to develop a lifelong gynaecological condition. She now lives in fear for her health, facing tests each year to ensure she hasn’t developed cancer.

A campaign group of more than 300 people, including Ms Martin and her mother Jennifer Bradley, is calling on the government to launch a public inquiry to address what it describes as a national scandal.

With more than 300,000 having been given DES before it was banned in the UK, campaigners have compared the scandal to Thalidomide, which resulted in thousands of children being born with defects.

Clare Fletcher, partner at the Broudie Jackson Canter solicitors, which represents the group, said: “This is the silent scandal, with victims suffering in pain for decades with limited medical support and no government recognition for what they have been through.

“It is one of the most devastating pharmaceutical failures in UK history and the people whose lives have been marred by it deserve answers.”

She called on the government to “take responsibility” for mistakes of the past and set up a statutory public inquiry to into how the scandal happened and how it was able to be covered up.

She added: “It is a national disgrace that victims have been ignored, disbelieved and humiliated when all they wanted was fair treatment. It is crucial that these sufferers are finally given the truth and afforded access to the compensation they deserve.”

DES was prescribed to pregnant women from 1940 to the 1970s to prevent miscarriage, premature labour and complications of pregnancy.

It was also used to suppress breast milk production, for emergency contraception and to treat menopausal symptoms in women.

In 1971, researchers linked DES exposure to a type of cancer of the cervix and vagina called clear cell adenocarcinoma, prompting US regulators to say the drug should not be prescribed to pregnant women.

However, DES, which is also linked to other cancers such as breast, pancreatic, and cervical, continued to be prescribed to pregnant women in Europe until 1978.

Jennifer Bradley, 82, was prescribed DES in 1968 when she was pregnant due to the risks of her having a miscarriage.

After having a miscarriage, she was prescribed the drug again in 1970 when she was pregnant with her daughter, Susie Martin.

In 1974, after watching a TV programme which showed that daughters of women who had taken DES were developing cancer, Ms Bradley asked her GP about the concerns. Her doctor, she says, dismissed them.

“I didn’t take it lightly. I asked questions about it because of the Thalidomide thing in the 50s, and I was assured it was safe. This doctor refused to even look at my medical records. He sent me off.”

Ms Bradley told The Independent about the shock of being asked by her daughter in the 1990s if she had taken the medication after she was diagnosed with adenosis in 2000.

“I was so shocked, and I felt so guilty. She’s always tried to protect me from it, but she’s had to have so many intrusive procedures. It was terrible,” she said.

Since her diagnosis, Ms Martin has had to have between 20 and 30 surgeries. She will have to undergo screening for the rest of her life.

“I’ve had this big weight hanging over me all the time,” she said. “It does have a huge impact; you always worry the diagnosis will come back worse than last time.

“There was physical pain as well as emotional pain. It’s caused sleepless nights, time off work, and time away from my children.”

Hundreds of drug companies made DES around the world, and it was marketed under numerous brand names, which makes holding firms liable difficult. It was never patented and was cheap and easy to produce.

Compensation schemes have been set up for DES victims in the US and the Netherlands, but the UK does not have one.

“There’s been no justice at all. There’s been a lot of support worldwide, but there’s been nothing in the UK,” Ms Martin told The Independent. “It’s a national scandal and it’s very frustrating but I’m hoping [the government] will put it right.”

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) told the PA news agency that correspondence was sent by the Committee on Medicines Safety (CSM) in 1973 to inform UK doctors of a US study into instances of vaginal adenocarcinoma.

This advised that no similar cases had been found in the UK, and the letter did not explicitly contraindicate the use of DES in pregnancy and pre-menopausal women.

A spokesman said: “We apologise for this error and for any distress caused to patients and the public.

“At the time of the communication in 1973, usage in pregnancy in the UK was considered to be much lower than in the US which, coupled with the lack of UK cases of affected children, led to the conclusion that communicating to doctors on the available evidence was sufficient.

“This position was supported by the September 1972 CSM minutes, which show the Committee agreed that no action was necessary beyond continued surveillance, as there was no evidence the US findings applied in the UK.”

Later, in 1981/82, Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry datasheets said DES was specifically contraindicated in pregnancy or for women who might become pregnant.

The MHRA said its sympathies lay with those affected by DES, adding: “The committee’s work predates the existence of the MHRA, when medicines vigilance was only in its infancy and there were no electronic records or systematic monitoring of prescriptions.

“There has been a step change in reporting and record keeping since this time and today’s regulatory frameworks are significantly different.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “There are harrowing accounts of harm caused by the historic use of DES, with some women still suffering from the associated risks of this medication which have been passed down a generation, and not feeling adequately listened to or supported.

“The Secretary of State has been clear that he has been looking seriously at this legacy issue and carefully considering what more the government can do to better support women and their families who have been impacted.

“As a result, he has asked NHS England to urgently work closely with local cancer alliances to make sure that GPs are aware of the follow-up guidance for those exposed to DES, so that those who could benefit from additional screening aren’t missing out.”

The new DES Justice UK group has been formed following a year-long ITV News investigation. It is made up of women who took the drug, but also their daughters, sons and granddaughters who have suffered medical issues such as infertility, reproductive abnormalities and increased risk of cancer.