Payouts over deafness rocket
Defence chiefs are facing a £ 100million compensation bill over troops suffering post-combat deafness.
Up to 2000 serving and former military personnel are understood to be planning legal claims.
The Ministry of Defence has already paid out almost £70million in the past eight years to 10,339 troops found to have hearing loss or severe tinnitus caused by the noise of battle.
But that is expected to exceed £100million in the next few years, because of the rising size of payouts.
Many have claimed careers were destroyed after they were medically downgraded.
Al l troops are given earplugs or headphones to use during live f iring training.
But many ditched the hearing protection during firefights in Afghanistan and Iraq as they caused communication problems.
Freedom of information figures show payouts in the past few years quadrupled while the number of cases remained fairly steady.
In 2015-16, the MoD paid out £ 3.79million over 795 claims but in 2018-19 its bill was £11.73million for 809 claims.
The average payout was about £ 14,500 but some High Court awards have hit six f igures, with lawyers arguing troops should be compensated for loss of future earnings.
Last year, ex- Royal Marine Alistair Inglis, 39, of Plymouth, received more than £ 500,000 for hearing damage suf fered whi le serving in Afghanistan.
His payout included about £ 480,000 for future loss of earnings and pension.
Alistair’s lawyer Harry St e inberg sa id : “Hi s employer failed to protect him in a job where he was putting his life on the line.”
An MoD spokesman said: “We have measures in place to minimise the risk of hearing loss to service personnel.”
British scientists have invented a sex gel for male impotence that could be on the market later this year.
The gel contains no drugs – just alcohol and water – but it produces an effect in just five to 10 minutes, according to researchers who trialled it on 1000 men.
Med3000 – made by Futura Medical – is expected to retail for just a few pounds.
A happy marriage is the most important thing to achieve by the time you turn 50, a survey has revealed.
More than a third of over-50s polled said this was their top priority.
Meanwhile, some 15 per cent believed they should be a good gardener by 50 – and four per cent thought you should have smoked cannabis in Amsterdam.