Government on track to lower minimum age for train drivers to 18 in Great Britain

Labour will introduce legislation to lower the minimum age for train drivers to 18 in the House of Commons this week, as figures show fewer than 3% of drivers on Great Britain’s railways are under 30.The government is pressing ahead with its proposals for teenage recruits, lowering the minimum age from 20, in a move that ministers hope will stave off a potential shortage of thousands of drivers.A looming mass exodus through retirement threatens to intensify driver shortages and worsen train reliability, with a lack of crew already a big cause of late-notice cancellations.The current average age of Great Britain’s 24,000 train drivers is 48, and about 25% of them will reach retirement age before 2030.According to a National Skills Academy for Rail report, that could mean a shortfall of 2,500 drivers in four years’ time

Mandelson revelations show need for tougher UK constraints to resist rule of the rich | Heather Stewart

Peter Mandelson’s personal disgrace is deep and unique, and may yet bring down a prime minister – but by laying bare the dark allure of the “filthy rich”, it also underlines the need for tougher constraints on money in politics.It is hard to know what system or process could have shielded sensitive government decisions from the risk that a senior cabinet minister might nonchalantly pass on the details to a friend, the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.But Epstein’s efforts to influence government policy – working to water down Alistair Darling’s bonus tax at a time when the banks had crashed the British economy, for example – underline the powerful forces with which politicians are faced.One bulwark against this is the expectation that most will display a probity and strength of character Mandelson clearly lacked.The Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, spoke for many on Thursday when he unfavourably compared the disgraced Mandelson with the late Alistair Darling

‘It felt hypocritical’: child internet safety campaign accused of censoring teenagers’ speeches

An internet safety campaign backed by US tech companies has been accused of censoring two teenagers they invited to speak out about the biggest issues facing children online.Childnet, a UK charity part-funded by companies including Snap, Roblox and Meta, edited out warnings from Lewis Swire and Saamya Ghai that social media addiction was an “imminent threat to our future” and obsessive scrolling was making people “sick”, according to a record of edits seen by the Guardian.Swire, then 17, from Edinburgh, and Ghai, then 14, from Buckinghamshire, had been asked to speak at an event to mark Safer Internet Day in 2024 in London in front of representatives from government, charities and tech companies.The tech-backed charity also edited out references to children feeling unable to stop using TikTok and Snap, social media exacerbating a “devastating epidemic” of isolation, and a passage questioning why people would want to spend years of their lives “scrolling TikTok and binge-watching Netflix”, the edits show.The 2026 iteration of the Childnet-run event takes place on Tuesday with more than 2,800 schools and colleges listed as supporters

‘I fell into it’: ex-criminal hackers urge Manchester pupils to use web skills for good

Cybercriminals, the shadowy online figures often depicted in Hollywood movies as hooded villains capable of wiping millions of pounds off the value of businesses at a keystroke, are not usually known for their candour.But in a sixth-form college in Manchester this week, two former hackers gave the young people gathered an honest appraisal of what living a life of internet crime really looks like.The teenagers in the room are listening intently, but the day-to-day internecine disputes they hear about is not the stuff of screenplays.“It’s just people getting into these online dramas and they’re swatting and doxing each other and getting people to throw bricks through their windows,” one of the hackers says.If the language sounds unfamiliar, it should – “swatting” and “doxing” involve people outing each other online by posting their genuine identities – but their message is clear: though cybercrime may seem alluring, the reality is anything but

Super Bowl 2026: Seattle Seahawks v New England Patriots – live

Seahawks 3-0 Patriots, 6:51 1st quarterGood first down by NE, who nearly force Darnold into a mistake – a batted ball is almost intercepted as the QB ends the play on his back.Big drive coming upCredit the Seattle defense for making life uncomfortable for Maye and forcing the punt. Now if they can come back and get in the endzone, we will start to wonder about the Pats hanging on and keeping this game competitive.That’s another way of saying this drive represents an early gut-check form New England.Seahawks 3-0 Patriots, 7:11 1st quarterOn 1st & 10 Maye is under pressure! Hall has a Super Bowl sack, pushing the pats back 10 yards and back into their own territory

Winter Olympics 2026: USA take gold in figure skating team event – as it happened

You can read a full report from Sunday’s action here:Final team standings69 USA 68 Japan 60 Italy 56 Georgia 54 CanadaMen’s standings200.03 Malinin (USA) 194.86 Sato (JPN) 179.62 Rizzo (ITA) 171.93 Gogolev (CAN) 154