Starmer urged to prioritise child sexual exploitation victims

Keir Starmer must move the conversation on child sexual exploitation away from sensationalism to support for victims who have had help and protection reduced in recent years, charities, campaigners and experts have said.A joint statement, whose signatories include government services contractors such as the Salvation Army and the Snowdrop Project, says changes in the law have made it harder for survivors to be recognised as victims and to access support services.Their intervention comes after the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, announced an urgent national review of the scale of grooming gangs and a series of other measures to tackle them.The move followed increasing pressure on the government to act since the issue was taken up by the billionaire Elon Musk on his social media platform, X. Ministers have denied that they would not have acted if Musk had not spoken out

Calorie labels encourage people to eat less by only a single crisp, study says

Calorie labels on menus and food packets encourage people to choose healthier options but only to the tune of 11 calories – the same as a single Pringle crisp.That is the finding of a study into how effective menu listings are at prompting consumers to select less calorific food.“Our review suggests that calorie labelling leads to a modest reduction in the calories people purchase and consume,” said Dr Gareth Hollands from the social research institute at University College London, a senior author of the findings.Displaying calorie information in cafes, restaurants and supermarkets only leads to a reduction on average of 1.8% in the total amount of calories people consumed

Are the young really so down on democracy? | Letters

It’s naturally concerning that a recent poll on which you report (13 January), and which Owen Jones refers to (Young people are abandoning democracy for dictators. I can understand their despair, 14 January), suggests that one in five young Britons would prefer an unelected dictator to democracy. However, comparing this with a 2022 poll gives rise to a more optimistic view: that among young Britons, support for unelected dictators appears to be falling, while support for democracy appears to be modestly increasing.In the 2022 poll, by the thinktank Onward, only 72% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 76% of 25- to 34-year-olds agreed that democracy is a fairly or very good system of government (as against 94% of those aged 65-plus), while an astonishing 60% of 18- to 44-year-olds agreed that “a strong leader who does not have to bother with parliament and elections” is a fairly or very good system of government (as against 27% of those aged 65-plus). That poll didn’t ask respondents to choose between democracy and dictatorship, so comparison requires caution, but on any view the generation gap on support for democracy and dictatorship is not new, and the appeal of unelected dictatorship among the young appears to be on the wane

Woman with ‘distorted notion of revenge’ sentenced for stabbing transgender woman

A woman who carried out a transphobic stabbing attack motivated by a “distorted notion of revenge” has been sentenced to more than eight years in youth detention.The victim, a transgender woman who was 18 at the time, was stabbed nine times in Harrow last February in an attack involving five young people wearing masks, the Old Bailey heard.She only survived because passersby stepped in to help, the court was told.After stabbing the victim nine times, Summer Betts-Ramsey, 20, told a friend: “It deserved it.” She admitted possessing a knife and causing grievous bodily harm with intent

Ryan Wellings jailed after partner Kiena Dawes took her own life

A violent and controlling “monster” who subjected his late partner, Kiena Dawes, to repeated assaults, bullying and belittling has been jailed for six and a half years.A jury at Preston crown court found Ryan Wellings, 30, guilty of assault and coercive and controlling behaviour on Monday.His victim for two years was Dawes, 23, who took her own life, blaming Wellings from “beyond the grave” for her death. The same jury found him not guilty of manslaughter.On Thursday, the honorary recorder of Preston, Judge Altham, jailed Wellings, a man described by the prosecution as an “entitled, aggressive bully” and by Dawes’s friends as a “horrible little bastard” with a jealous streak who did not like being answered back to

Incapacity benefit cuts consultation was ‘misleading’ and unlawful, judge rules

Labour’s plan to push through £3bn of cuts to incapacity benefits has received a setback after a judge ruled an official consultation setting out the proposals was misleading and unlawful.The high court said the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) had presented UK-wide incapacity benefit assessment reforms as a way to support disabled people into work without making clear the “primary rationale” of the proposals was cost savings.The consultation, which was carried out by the previous government in autumn 2023, failed to mention that 424,000 disabled people would see their benefits cut, many losing £416 a month, the judge found.Documents released to the court also revealed that internal DWP estimates suggested the reforms to the “fit for work” test known as the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) would push 100,000 highly vulnerable disabled people into absolute poverty.Ellen Clifford, a disability activist who launched the legal challenge, said the proposed cuts had been “prioritised over lives”