Tensions are mounting as the second phase of the "world's largest election mobilisation exercise of man and material" gets under way, said Reuters. 

Since India's six-week electoral marathon kicked off last Friday, officials have been climbing mountains, crossing rivers and flying helicopters to reach voters in remote regions. And further challenges are being raised by the mammoth vote, which is expected to deliver Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) "another landslide victory", said CNBC.

Attacks and accusations
The prime minister was accused of hate speech this week, after he told a Hindu audience that Muslim opponents give "your hard-earned money" to "infiltrators". Amid growing controversy over his campaign, votes had to be recast in the state of Manipur after "armed men attacked polling stations", said The New York Times. The election has also been plagued with AI-generated deepfake videos of Bollywood actors criticising Modi.

Modi's opponents are attempting to capitalise on "simmering discontent" among voters, said The Guardian. The country is suffering from a "chronic lack of jobs" for young people, and inflation has made "everyday life a struggle for poorer Indians". Farmers, "a huge and influential vote bloc", also say they have "suffered" under Modi's leadership.

State of the opposition
India's elections "stand out for their undemocratic nature", Christophe Jaffrelot said at Le Monde. Modi's party has sought to transform the country into a Hindu state "where Muslims would be no more than second-class citizens". The country is shifting from democracy to "electoral authoritarianism".

It would take a "miracle" to topple the BJP, said the NYT. The National Congress Party, which once ruled India almost unchallenged, now languishes "deep in the political wilderness". The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), a 27-member coalition of opposition parties, has been divided by ideological differences. "Even with the election in full swing", the alliance is yet to announce a candidate for prime minister.

The question is not so much whether Modi will win the election, said one observer, but whether the opposition can stay "alive to fight another day so that democracy in India survives".

For hay fever sufferers, the arrival of spring heralds hefty doses of antihistamines, nasal sprays and eye drops, but now hope is at hand.

People with the most acute pollen allergies are sometimes referred for immunotherapy, and new research "highlighting its effectiveness" may lead to the treatment becoming "more widely available on the NHS", said the Daily Mail.

What is immunotherapy?
In essence, immunotherapy aims to "induce a shift in the immune response" of a patient, said Samuel J. White and Philippe B. Wilson, from Nottingham Trent University, on The Conversation. So instead of producing histamines that cause the classic symptoms of hay fever, the body produces "antibodies that can neutralise the allergen" and prevent an allergic reaction from occurring.

The process of immunotherapy trains the body to "avoid its overreaction" to a specific allergen, said Healthnews, and build a "tolerance" to it. Immunotherapy can be administered in two ways: under the skin via an injection (subcutaneous), or via the newer method of under the tongue using liquid drops or tablets (sublingual).

How is the treatment accessed?
Only 2,839 of the estimated 13 million hay fever sufferers in the UK are currently receiving the recommended three years of immunotherapy treatment, according to research by the British Society for Allergy & Clinical Immunology. The use of immunotherapy in the UK "severely lags behind the US and Europe", consultant paediatrician Dr Tom Dawson told the Daily Mail, despite the UK being "at the forefront of allergy research".

The treatment costs around £2,000 a year per patient, but supporters argue that in the long term, immunotherapy could save the NHS money, by resulting in fewer people succumbing to severe conditions such as seasonal asthma.

Not all patients will experience a complete relief of symptoms through immunotherapy, said White and Wilson, and it "may not be a suitable option for everyone". It also requires a long-term commitment to regular treatment and can often take "several months or even years to see the full benefits". For many hay fever sufferers, though, immunotherapy could be a "valuable tool" in easing their symptoms.

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The cost of living crisis has made the UK a poorer, more anxious nation – and worse is yet to come 
Andy Beckett for The Guardian
Following "two years of relentless price rises", writes Andy Beckett, much of the UK "seems in denial" about the harsh reality that there are "almost certainly harsher plateaux" ahead. Until government "begins to address the unsatisfied desires and vested interests" that sustain inflation, Britain is "going to remain an expensive place to live". But a "big reward" awaits a PM who can "make many voters' money worries go away".

Nationalisation is no answer to rail chaos
Daily Mail editorial board
Anyone who remembers British Rail "knows what a terrible idea renationalisation would be", says the Daily Mail. The service was "filthy, investment-starved, and even more unreliable and strike-bound than today", and "the passenger always came last". The current problems facing the UK's railways are serious, but "they certainly won't be solved by a return to the dead hand of state control".

I just don't get Taylor Swift
A.J. Willingham for CNN
Although "Swifties" are "most likely to be White suburban millennial women like me", writes A.J. Willingham, "it honestly feels like I missed a day in White woman class when they explained, in detail, all of the ley lines of feminine kinship that are supposed to connect our paths with hers".  But the days of Taylor Swift as an "ultimate cultural barometer may be waning", so if you "don't love" her, it's "probably safe to come out now".