Category Archives: Young people

Ethnic minorities in England ‘need more GP visits’ before cancer diagnosis

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One in five people on average need at least three interactions – but for ethnic minorities figure rises to one in three

Ethnic minorities and young people require more visits than other people to the GP before being diagnosed with cancer, according to new analysis.

On average, one in five people across England require three or more GP interactions before being diagnosed with cancer. But for people from ethnic minority backgrounds, the figure rises to one in three, according to analysis of the NHS cancer patient experience 2022 survey by QualityWatch, a joint programme from the Nuffield Trust and the Health Foundation.

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Sunak rejects offer of youth mobility scheme between EU and UK

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Labour also turns down European Commission’s proposal, which would have allowed young Britons to live, study and work in EU

Rishi Sunak has rejected an EU offer to strike a post-Brexit deal to allow young Britons to live, study or work in the bloc for up to four years.

The prime minister declined the European Commission’s surprise proposal of a youth mobility scheme for people aged between 18 and 30 on Friday, after Labour knocked back the suggestion on Thursday night, while noting that it would “seek to improve the UK’s working relationship with the EU within our red lines”.

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Brussels proposes return to pre-Brexit mobility for UK and EU young people

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Commission to seek approval from leaders to start talks with UK on visa-free exchanges for 18- to 30-year-olds

The European Commission has proposed opening negotiations with the UK to allow mobility enjoyed before Brexit to millions of 18- to 30-year-olds in a major concession.

It said it would now seek approval from individual EU leaders to start the talks, which could partly eliminate one of the most controversial elements of Brexit, a block on the right to live in one another’s countries, albeit for a limited period and with conditions.

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A bipartisan committee set out to end Queensland’s politicisation of youth crime. It failed spectacularly

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Disappointment and frustration as parliamentary inquiry into youth justice reform ‘degenerates into a squabble’

Queensland’s only independent state MP, Sandy Bolton, had high hopes last October when she was made chair of a parliamentary committee tasked with coming up with solutions on youth crime.

It was the first parliamentary committee to be independently chaired in more than two decades, and Bolton hoped it would stymie the politicisation of the issue by taking “a collaborative and bipartisan approach” that would lead to “constructive solutions”.

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Teasing children about weight increases risk of self-stigma as adults, study finds

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Research reveals ‘long-lasting effects’ caused by pressure from parents, families, bullies and the media

Parents who tease their children about their weight are putting them at greater risk of feeling bad about their bodies decades later, regardless of whether they grow up to have obesity or not, a groundbreaking study has found.

Thirteen-year-olds who felt pressure from family members to shed pounds and endured weight-based teasing showed higher levels of internalised weight stigma when they turned 31, according to research by the University of Bristol published on Tuesday in the Lancet Regional Health Europe journal.

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Veteran trans campaigner: ‘Cass review has potential for positive change’

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Stephen Whittle talks about life for young trans people in the 1970s and now, and the influence of ‘anti-trans’ views today

When Stephen Whittle transitioned as a teenager in 1975, he was one of only a handful of young people in the UK to be offered hormone treatment and, later, surgery.

Almost half a century later – much of it spent fighting for trans rights – he said there was “masses” he agreed with in this week’s review of the NHS’s gender identity services by Hilary Cass. He said he also believed the report had been influenced by groups and individuals with “transphobic” views, and said the “potential for positive change must be backed with resources”.

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Mother criticises ‘agenda from above’ after release of Cass report

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Parent of trans girl says report promotes agenda that ‘things need to be made more difficult’ for children with gender dysphoria

While the Cass report’s 400 pages will be pored over and debated, one thing is certain – young trans people face an anxious future.

The mother of a 17-year-old trans girl who was a patient at the now-shut Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust said she had initially welcomed Cass’s inquiry, but had been left “disappointed”.

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What are the key findings of the NHS gender identity review?

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Report by Dr Hilary Cass finds young people being let down by lack of research and evidence on medical interventions

A review into the NHS’s gender identity services has found that children and young people have been let down by a lack of research and evidence on medical interventions in a debate that has become exceptionally toxic.

Dr Hilary Cass said her report was not about defining “what it means to be trans” or “undermining the validity of trans identities”, but about “how best to help the growing number of children and young people who are looking for support from the NHS in relation to their gender identity”. Here are the review’s key findings.

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Support positive masculinity in England and Wales schools, union conference told

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Boys and young men need guidance – not punishment – to avoid ‘manosphere’, teacher tells NEU

Teachers should promote positive masculinity in schools in England and Wales in order to support boys who might otherwise feel demonised and end up turning to “the manosphere” for hope, a union conference has been told.

Charlotte Keogh, a secondary school English teacher from Worcestershire, said boys and young men needed support and guidance as they grappled with ideas about masculinity, rather than being punished and silenced.

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Boy, 15, dies after attack outside school in France

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Teenager was assaulted by several people who fled scene in country’s latest incident of school violence

A 15-year-old boy has died after he was badly beaten in a town south of Paris, in the latest incident of school violence in France.

Thursday’s attack comes at a time of heightened tensions in French schools. Earlier this week a teenage girl was temporarily left in a coma after being beaten outside her school in Montpellier, in the south of the country. In that case, three alleged attackers have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder of a minor, one a girl from the same school.

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Queensland LNP vows to ditch ‘detention as last resort’ approach to youth crime

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Opposition leader David Crisafulli says LNP would rewrite Youth Justice Act ‘to put victims first’ if it wins October election

The Queensland Liberal National party opposition has vowed to remove the principle of detention as a last resort from the Youth Justice Act before year’s end if it wins the state election.

Speaking in Townsville on Tuesday, the LNP leader, David Crisafulli, revealed more detail about the party’s “Making Queensland safer laws” and accused Labor of having a “conga line of crises”.

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World Happiness Report sounds alarm about the welfare of young people

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Lack of education, training and housing is behind loss of gen Z’s traditionally positive outlook

Something is going wrong for young people between the ages of 15 and 24 in the UK, across Europe, the US and Australia.

The latest World Happiness Report shows that while not all teenagers and young adults are suffering, a large and growing number cannot cope with being left adrift with few qualifications on an economic sea that is more testing with each passing year.

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‘You have to stand out’: six Dagenham teenagers on their future prospects

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Final year students from Goresbrook school talk about housing, higher education and social media – as well as hopes and fears

Zainab Shehzadi has a long list of worries: robots stealing jobs from humans, the damage wreaked on the climate by previous generations, turmoil in other countries, fighting fierce competition to secure a job that pays enough to live a comfortable life.

It’s a lot for a 17-year-old to take on, but she sees it as a reflection of the uncertain world she has grown up in. “We’re living in an age where everything is changing very rapidly,” she says.

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More young people being radicalised online, says UK counter-terror officer

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Senior detective warns children are accessing extreme material as a result of lockdowns, after a 20-year-old was jailed on Monday

A senior counter-terrorism officer has warned that children and young people are increasingly being radicalised online after spending long periods on the internet during the pandemic.

Det Supt Andy Meeks said a growing number of vulnerable people were accessing extreme material after spending hours unsupervised online.

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Young carers in England and Wales ‘forced out of education’ by benefit rules

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Charities and education providers say young carers should be eligible for welfare when they study more than 21 hours a week

Young carers in England and Wales are being blocked from staying in education and going to college or university by benefit rules that unfairly penalise them, according to a coalition of charities and education providers.

The group of more than 200 organisations and representatives is lobbying ministers to exempt young carers – those aged 16 to 24 who often look after relatives – from the rule that makes them ineligible for the government’s carer’s allowance if they study for more than 21 hours a week.

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People in 20s more likely to be out of work because of poor mental health than those in early 40s

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Resolution Foundation report calls for action as number of young people experiencing poor mental health increases

Young people are more likely to be out of work because of ill health than people in their early 40s, a report calling for action on Britain’s mental wellbeing crisis has found.

People in their early 20s with mental health problems may have not had access to a steady education and can end up out of work or in low-paid jobs, the Resolution Foundation research revealed.

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‘It’s on our doorstep’: Bristol’s fearful parents seek answers after three knife deaths in three weeks

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As teenage victims are mourned across the English city, some believe the return of youth centres would keep children safer

Terre Baptiste has been checking her teenage son’s whereabouts compulsively since a 16-year-old boy was fatally stabbed two weeks ago in a park a mile away from their home in the east of Bristol.

“It is very worrying,” says Baptiste, in her living room. “Bristol isn’t a perfect city. But there weren’t stabbings one after the other. It was few and far between. Now it is on our doorstep.”

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‘Toxic’ online culture fuelling rise in sexual assaults on children by other children, police warn

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Observer investigation in England and Wales reveals 40% increase in reports of sexual assaults and rapes where both victim and perpetrator were under 18

An alarming rise in sexual assaults on children by other children is being fuelled by access to a “toxic” online culture, Britain’s most senior child protection officer has warned, as an Observer investigation revealed a sharp increase in abuse by under-18s reported to police.

Police records of rape, sexual assaults and incidents of abuse carried out by young children in England and Wales have all seen a significant increase since the Covid pandemic. The Observer has also uncovered an 81% rise in reported incidents that took place on school property. One leading expert said the problem had reached “alarming levels”.

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Brianna Ghey’s mother warns tech bosses more children will die without action

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Exclusive: Esther Ghey says she believes social media use left her daughter vulnerable, while killers were able to access violent content online

The mother of Brianna Ghey has called for her murder to be a “tipping point” in how society views “the mess” of the internet, warning that a generation of anxious young people will grow up lacking resilience.

Esther Ghey said technology companies had a “moral responsibility” to restrict access to harmful online content. She supports a total ban on social media access for under-16s – a move currently under debate in certain legislatures, including Florida in the US.

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Number of young Australians in psychological distress continues sharp rise

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Annual Hilda survey of 17,000 Australians shows ‘clear trend of younger people becoming lonelier and feeling more isolated as time goes on’

Australians are experiencing a large up-tick of psychological distress, with loneliness rising sharply among young people during the pandemic, a new study has revealed.

The annual Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (Hilda) report examines data gathered between 2001 and 2021, by tracking over 17,000 people in over 9,000 households.

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