Covid school closures in UK damaged ‘very fabric of childhood’

Inquiry hears of children exposed to pornography and suffering ‘grievous’ harm without protection of schools

The Covid pandemic disrupted the “very fabric of childhood”, the UK inquiry has heard, on the first day of a four-week session devoted to its impact on children and young people.

Clair Dobbin KC, counsel to the inquiry, said in her opening submission on Monday that some of the evidence drawn from the 18,000 stories and 400 targeted interviews would be “hard to listen to”.

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Majority of girls and young women in UK alter behaviour to feel safe, study finds

Girlguiding survey reveals rising fears of harassment, with many avoiding public transport or changing what they wear

Two-thirds of girls and young women have changed their everyday behaviour to try to stay safe, with 31% avoiding taking public transport alone, according to a survey by the Girlguiding charity.

The research found that 56% of girls and young women in the UK aged between 11 and 21 said they feel unsafe travelling by themselves, up from 45% in 2022, while almost one-third said they avoided public transport altogether.

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Sweden to implement nationwide mobile phone ban in schools

From autumn 2026 all schools and after-school clubs must collect and hold students’ phones until the end of the day

Sweden is to implement a nationwide mobile phone ban in all schools in an attempt to improve security and study conditions for students.

From the next school year, starting in autumn 2026, it will be compulsory for all schools and after-school clubs to collect students’ phones and hold them until the end of the day.

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Junk food leads to more children being obese than underweight for first time

Cheap ultra-processed food behind rise in overweight children, with one in 10 now obese globally, says Unicef

More children around the world are obese than underweight for the first time, according to a UN report that warns ultra-processed junk food is overwhelming childhood diets.

There are 188 million teenagers and school-age children with obesity – one in 10 – Unicef said, affecting health and development and bringing a risk of life-threatening diseases.

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School absence a big factor in child mental illness in England, data shows

Loughborough University and ONS study of 1 million school-age children reveals risks increase with longer absence

School absences “significantly contribute” to children’s mental ill health, according to research backed by the Office for National Statistics that shows the risks increase the longer a child is absent.

“Our research shows that the more times a child is absent from school, the greater the probability that they will experience mental ill health,” the authors, from Loughborough University and the ONS, concluded.

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‘No place in children’s hands’: under-16s in England to be banned from buying energy drinks

Government to ban sale of energy drinks with more than 150mg of caffeine, citing concerns over obesity and lack of concentration

Under-16s in England will be banned from buying energy drinks such as Red Bull and Monster because they fuel obesity, cause sleep problems and leave them unable to concentrate.

Health experts, teaching unions and dentists welcomed the ban and said it would boost children and young people’s health. It fulfils a pledge Labour included in its manifesto for last year’s general election.

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‘So aware of their emotions’: Pupils are standout stars in new series about Yorkshire academy

Educating Yorkshire Part 2 shows inspirational teachers negotiating challenges in young people’s lives

“Basically, there’s summat wrong with me. I’m like … a psychopath. Genuinely!” A teenage girl with the face of an angel is confiding in Mr Wilson, one of the student managers. He listens solemnly, but his mouth twitches with the beginnings of a smile.

“I’m going to start by disagreeing with you,” he says with all the seriousness he can muster. “You’re not a psychopath.” The girl in the sky-blue hoodie relaxes and rewards him with a broad smile.

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Japan rocked by bullying scandal after team withdraws from high school baseball tournament

Koryo high pulled out of the popular competition after an outcry over reports that some of its members had bullied a junior player

One of Japan’s most popular sports tournaments is reeling after the sudden withdrawal of a team whose teenage players have been accused of abusing a younger teammate.

Koryo high school, which had been representing Hiroshima prefecture in the summer high school baseball championships, announced on Sunday it would no longer take part.

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Starmer declines to rule out election pledge-breaking tax rises in budget after claim Treasury must fill £40bn deficit – as it happened

Prime minister defends government’s handling of economy but will not give assurances over not raising income tax, employee NI or VAT

Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, has urged Keir Starmer to call Donald Trump to encourage him to use his influence to block Israel’s plans for a “full occupation” of Gaza.

In a statement, Davey said:

[Israeli PM Benjamin] Netanyahu’s latest proposals for the occupation of all of Gaza are utterly horrifying.

If realised, they will only wreak yet more destruction on Gazans - while gravely endangering the lives of the hostages still held in Hamas’ captivity.

I see NIESR is talking today about a £41.2bn hole in the UK public finances

Two things are newsworthy:

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Funding for English youth clubs aims to keep children off smartphones

Keir Starmer says £88m package will help tackle trend of young people becoming ‘disconnected from their communities’

Youth clubs and after-school activities in England will receive a funding injection of £88m as ministers try to get more children away from smartphones and computer screens.

The package, which Keir Starmer announced on Tuesday, is intended to give pupils access to sport, outdoor activities, art, music, debating and volunteering.

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UK should act to stop children getting hooked on social media ‘dopamine loops’

Beeban Kidron says it is not ‘nanny state’ to prevent firms investing billions on making platforms addictive from targeting under-18s

A leading online safety campaigner has urged the UK government to “detoxify the dopamine loops” of addictive social media platforms as tech companies prepare to implement significant child protection measures.

Beeban Kidron, a crossbench peer, asked the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, to use the Online Safety Act to bring forward new codes of conduct on disinformation and on tech features that can lead to children becoming addicted to online content.

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Keir Starmer and Friedrich Merz sign UK-Germany friendship and cooperation treaty – UK politics live

UK PM and German chancellor sign first bilateral agreement between the UK and Germany since the second world war

While Rushanara Ali is answering the urgent question in the Commons, Keir Starmer is speaking at the event where he is announcing a “civil society covenant”.

There is a live feed here.

Why does this government think a 16-year-old can vote but not be allowed to buy a lottery ticket or an alcoholic drink, marry or go to war, or even stand in the elections they’re voting? It isn’t the government’s position on the age of maturity just hopelessly confused?

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Voting age to be lowered to 16 in UK by next general election

16- and 17-year-olds will be able to vote in all elections as part of changes including easier voter registration and crackdown on foreign interference

The voting age will be lowered to 16 in the UK by the next general election in a major change of the democratic system.

The government said it was a reform to bring in more fairness for 16- and 17-year-olds, many of whom already work and are able to serve in the military. It brings the whole of the UK voting age to 16. Scotland and Wales have already made the change for Holyrood and Senedd elections, as well as local council elections.

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Children investigated over Russian and Iranian plots against UK, says police chief

Teenagers suspected of being hired by criminals paid to carry out acts on behalf of states, it is understood

Schoolchildren have been arrested by detectives investigating Russian and Iranian plots against Britain, a police chief has said, as he warned hostile state aggression was rising and youngsters were at risk.

Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism unit, said children in their “mid teens” had been investigated. It is understood they were suspected of being hired by criminals paid to carry out acts for Russia and Iran.

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Secondary schools in England to tackle ‘incel’ culture and teach positive role models

Government says new guidance will challenge ‘manosphere’ myths as DfE reports epidemic-scale misogyny

Secondary school pupils in England are to be taught about “incel” culture and the links between pornography and misogyny as part of long-awaited statutory government guidance due to be published on Tuesday.

It will include a new focus on positive role models for boys and challenge “myths about women and relationships that are spread online in the ‘manosphere’”, but will warn schools against “stigmatising boys for being boys”.

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Thursday briefing: Why young people fear ‘there’s nothing here for us’ in England’s coastal towns

In today’s newsletter: As a new Guardian project begins, we hear from the teenagers navigating deprivation, isolation and a sense of being forgotten

Good morning. A few weeks ago, 18-year-old Tamsin Jarman-Smith, born and raised in a small town just outside Blackpool, sat on a battered sofa at House of Wingz, a community youth organisation tucked down an alleyway a few streets from the beach, and explained what it felt like to be a young person growing up in a coastal town.

“I’m lucky because I found this passion for dancing and I come to this place, which has saved me I think, especially my creativity and hope for opportunities for myself, but lots of people my age feel like there is nothing here for them,” she said.

Europe | Talks over a British and French migration deal remained deadlocked on Wednesday night, as negotiators haggled over how much Britain will pay towards the cost of policing small boat crossings.

UK news | Campaigners have decried as “dangerously naive” the UK government’s sweeping deal with Google to provide free technology to the public sector.

Europe | Police have raided the headquarters of France’s far-right National Rally and seized documents as part of an investigation into alleged illegal campaign financing.

UK news | Thames Water has refused to claw back almost £2.5m paid to senior managers from an emergency loan that was meant to keep the failing utilities company afloat.

Housing | The Bank of England has rolled out looser mortgage rules that policymakers hope will help 36,000 more first-time buyers on to the housing ladder each year.

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‘Will AI take my job?’ A trip to a Beijing fortune-telling bar to see what lies ahead

Amy Hawkins visits one of the many bars popping up across Chinese cities offering drinks, snacks and a vision of the future

In the age of self-help, self-improvement and self-obsession, there have never been more places to look to for guidance. Where the anxious and the uncertain might have once consulted a search engine for answers, now we can engage in a seemingly meaningful discussion about our problems with ChatGPT. Or, if you’re in China, DeepSeek.

To some, though, it feels as if our ancestors knew more about life than we do. Or at least, they knew how to look for them. And so it is that scores of young Chinese are turning to ancient forms of divination to find out what the future holds. In the past couple of years, fortune-telling bars have been popping up in China’s cities, offering drinks and snacks alongside xuanxue, or spiritualism. The trend makes sense: China’s economy is struggling, and although consumers are saving their pennies, going out for a drink is cheaper than other forms of retail therapy or an actual therapist. With a deep-rooted culture of mysticism that blends Daoist, Buddhist and folk practices, which have defied decades of the government trying to stamp out superstitious beliefs, for many Chinese people, turning to the unseen makes perfect sense.

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Smartphone bans in Dutch schools have improved learning, study finds

After initial concerns, pupils are said to be more focused and have better social interactions with each other

Bans on smartphones in Dutch schools have improved the learning environment despite initial protests, according to a study commissioned by the government of the Netherlands.

National guidelines, introduced in January 2024, recommend banning smartphones from classrooms and almost all schools have complied. Close to two-thirds of secondary schools ask pupils to leave their phones at home or put them in lockers, while phones are given in at the start of a lesson at one in five.

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One in four young people in England have mental health condition, NHS survey finds

Rates are higher in young women as in young men and mental ill health up across age groups, study shows

Sharp rises in rates of anxiety, depression and other disorders have led to one in four young people in England having a common mental health condition, an NHS survey shows, with young women more likely to report them than young men.

The study found that rates of such conditions in 16- to 24-year-olds have risen by more than a third in a decade, from 18.9% in 2014 to 25.8% in 2024.

More than a fifth (22.6%) of adults aged 16 to 64 have a common mental health condition, up from 18.9% in 2014.

More than one in four adults (25.2%) reported having had suicidal thoughts during their lifetime, including about a third of 16- 24-year-olds (31.5%) and 25- to 34-year-olds (32.9%).

Self-harm rates have quadrupled since 2000 and risen from 6.4% in 2014 to 10.3% in 2024, with the highest rates among 16- to 24-year-olds at 24.6%, especially young women at 31.7%.

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Met officers’ strip-search of black girl at school was gross misconduct, panel finds

Disciplinary hearing finds two police officers’ search of Child Q, 15, was disproportionate and humiliating

Two police officers who were involved in the strip-search of a black teenager at her school have been found to have committed gross misconduct.

The search at a school in Hackney, east London, was “disproportionate, inappropriate and unnecessary” and made the girl, known as Child Q, feel degraded and humiliated, a panel concluded at the end of a four-week misconduct hearing.

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