Joyce Carol Vincent was 38 years old when her decomposed body was found in her bedsit in Wood Green, London, in 2006. She had been dead for almost three years and no one — family, friend or ex-colleague — had reported her as a missing person. How could it happen in this day and age?

Her sad and lonely death  has been honoured by film-maker Carol Morley in her soon-to-be-released documentary Dreams of a Life.

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The images still haunt us on TV replay, as does the reality that such death and destruction can be wreaked by such a small but clever cell of fanatics.

New York has come back stronger but irreparably rocked, as the healing mission of therapist, Dr Paula Madrid proves

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New York Memorial Garden that commemorates
the British killed on 9/11/01

Those working on the front line at street level have been concerned for years about large groups of young adults creating their own parallel communities with different rules, says social reformer Camilla Batmanghelidjh. 'It costs money to care. But it also costs money to clear up riots, savagery and antisocial behaviour,' says the founder of Kids Company. 'I leave it to you to do the financial and moral sums.'

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While fans find it hard to believe Amy Winehouse, a young, rich and talented singer, could fall so hard so fast, many clamour for some serious, meaningful help for wayward youngsters with this killer tendency.

Middlegate, the only teen rehab in the UK, closed in February 2010.  Since then Sarah Graham, an addictions expert and campaigner, has been vocal in her mission to re-establish some form of residential treatment for the youth that cannot get better in the current system of 'help within the community'.

In an admirable move, Amy's father Mitch Winehouse wants to establish a Foundation that will open a Treatment Centre for those unable to afford expensive private treatment. That way something positive could come from Amy's death.

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Barely a day passes without news of yet another manufactured drug flooding our UK market place — 'plant-food', meow meow, crystal meth — causing more damage, fear and confusion in the seemingly unwinnable battle against spiralling drug use and addiction, writes Clea Myers.

Before I read it in The Independent, I had no idea that Russia accounted for a third of the world's heroin addicts. And now a cheaper, man-made form nicknamed krokodil (crocodile) is taking over from the customary heroin imported from Afghanistan

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'What would you say was the worst thing that ever happened to you?' Roberta, the new friend that I made on my travels to Goa, asks me over a drink. Unsure of my answer, I fire back, 'What about you?' writes Clea Myers.