An award-winning school in Essex aims to help improve job prospects of pupils with special needsLiam, 18, who has learning disabilities, had always been told by family members that he would never find work. It was upsetting to hear but, with 95% of people with learning disabilities unemployed, not an unreasonable assumption. When he secured a job planting trees for a conservation charity, he was so happy he burst into tears.Liam got his job thanks to an unusual training and employment scheme set up by an award-winning special educational needs and disabilities (Send) school, Market Field in Elmstead, Essex. The scheme seeks to address the woeful employment prospects for the school’s graduates. Autistic people and people with ADHD and learning disabilities struggle to find work throughout the UK, but especially so in deprived rural areas such as east Essex. Continue reading...
by Sally Weale Education correspondent on (#5XJMN)
Academics voice ‘deep concern’ proposed cuts will have disproportionate effect on womenHundreds of female professors working in UK higher education have joined forces to write to university bosses urging them to abandon planned cuts to pensions, arguing they will have a disproportionately damaging impact on female academics.More than 800 of the most senior women working in the sector have signed a letter that has been sent to Universities UK, the umbrella organisation representing higher education institutions, voicing their “deep concern” and calling for a last-minute rethink. Continue reading...
by Samantha Lock (now); Lois Beckett, Alexandra Toppi on (#5XHX7)
Volodymyr Zelenskiy says new round of negotiations ahead but that deal would have to be subject to referendum; Joe Biden rejects suggestion he was calling for regime change in Moscow. Follow live updates
The drama picked up three major awards, including best picture, while best actor winner Will Smith had a viral confrontationCoda has been named this year’s best picture at an Oscars ceremony that featured an unusual confrontation between Will Smith and Chris Rock.The Apple TV+ drama, bought from 2021’s Sundance film festival for a record-breaking $25m, became the first film from a streamer to win the award. It’s a remake of French film La Famille Bélier, focusing on the only hearing member of a deaf family. Continue reading...
The Apple TV+ family drama, about a girl living with her deaf family, beat out competition from The Power of the Dog and Belfast• Follow all the action with our liveblog
Chastain’s performance as the televangelist’s wife who rebels against Christian conservatism takes the top acting prize• Follow all the action with our liveblog
Min Aung Hlaing also urges ethnic minorities not to support militias opposed to army ruleMyanmar’s top general has vowed to intensify action against homegrown militia groups fighting the military-run government, saying the armed forces would “annihilate” them.Gen Min Aung Hlaing, speaking at a military parade marking Armed Forces Day on Sunday, also urged ethnic minorities not to support groups opposed to army rule and ruled out negotiations with them. Continue reading...
Fraser is Australia’s first success of the night, continuing Dune’s early run of wins at the 2022 Academy Awards• Follow all the action with our liveblog
Police say two terrorists were shot dead after they began firing at police in city of Hadera, as Israel hosts envoys from four Arab statesIslamic State has claimed responsibility for an attack in which two Israeli police were killed in the northern city of Hadera on Sunday. The claim was made in a statement posted on its Telegram account.Police said that “two terrorists arrived at Herbert Samuel Street in Hadera, and began shooting at a police force there,” resulting in two deaths. Continue reading...
Campaign launched to make company first supermarket group to pay milestone figure of £9.90 an hourMajor investors have launched a campaign calling for Sainsbury’s to help tackle the cost of living crisis by becoming the first supermarket group to pay all its workers the “real living wage” of £9.90 an hour.Legal & General Investment Management, Nest (National Employment Savings Trust), which is Britain’s largest workplace pension scheme, and several MPs have formed a coalition to push for the change after reports that increasing numbers of supermarket workers are having to turn to food banks to feed themselves and their families. Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#5XJGW)
People died in ‘unexpected, unexplained or self-inflicted’ circumstances from 2000 to 2020The first inquiry of its kind held in England is investigating the deaths of 1,500 people who died while being cared for as patients of NHS mental health services in Essex.They died in circumstances that were “unexpected, unexplained or self-inflicted” between 2000 and 2020 and while they were receiving treatment from NHS mental health trusts that for years had faced persistent complaints of providing poor care.Serious concerns about patients’ physical, mental and sexual safety while on a ward, including claims of sexual harassment and sexual assault.Big differences in the quality of care patients received, “both in staff attitudes and in the use of effective treatments”.Patients and their families being given too little information about their treatment, likely length of stay and chances of recovery. Continue reading...
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor on (#5XJGV)
Charity says children’s futures blighted by Covid, mental health issues and financial hardshipChildhoods have got worse in the UK, with the majority of adults believing children’s futures have been blighted by the Covid pandemic, declining levels of mental health and financial hardship, a survey has found.More than half of parents and nearly two-thirds of grandparents believe life is more difficult and stressful now than when they were children, citing money issues, house prices, the climate crisis and emotional anxiety linked to school and social media, according to the charity Action for Children. Continue reading...
by Vikram DoddPolice and crime correspondent on (#5XJD6)
Review may look at communications between police and City Hall after clash with Sadiq Khan but will not ‘change any outcomes’Cressida Dick has won a victory after the government agreed to a review of how she came to leave office after a clash with the London mayor, Sadiq Khan.The Home Office is expected to announce it will ask Sir Tom Winsor to examine how Dick came to be ousted as commissioner of the Metropolitan police last month, a government source confirmed. Continue reading...
Met police decided not to proceed after ‘thorough assessment’ of allegations relating to actorClaims by 20 women of sexual harassment and bullying against the actor Noel Clarke will not lead to a criminal police investigation, according to the Metropolitan police.Clarke was the subject of complaints of groping and sexual misconduct in incidents between 2004 and 2019. He is best known for his work on the “hood” series of films, beginning with Kidulthood in 2006, and the BBC’s Doctor Who. Continue reading...
Electoral judge outlaws leftist ‘propaganda’ at Lollapalooza, months before October electionArtists and celebrities in Brazil have voiced outrage after an electoral judge ordered one of the country’s biggest music festivals to outlaw “political demonstrations” by performers after a legal challenge from President Jair Bolsonaro’s political party.Lawyers representing Bolsonaro’s Liberal party made their petition to the supreme electoral court on Saturday after Brazil’s far-right leader was pilloried at this weekend’s Lollapalooza event by pop stars and rappers, including the British singer Marina. Continue reading...
A cold front will push down from the north in midweek and temperatures will plummet, Met Office saysSnow could fall in parts of the UK this week, with temperatures set to plummet over the coming days, forecasters say.The Met Office said the country would see colder, cloudier and more unsettled weather from Monday, with the risk of wintry weather in the middle of the week. Continue reading...
Positive Action in Housing says visas not being granted and refugees seeking sponsors are putting themselves in dangerA charity that is helping Ukrainian refugees trying to come to the UK has said no visas have been granted to those it is supporting, nearly a fortnight after a government scheme was launched.The head of Positive Action in Housing, Robina Qureshi, said the government’s Homes for Ukraine scheme had given people “false hope” and amounted to a “gimmick”. Continue reading...
Suspect arrested as victim of attack in Bethnal Green is named as Yasmin Begum, 40A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman was stabbed to death while her children were at school.The victim of the attack in Bethnal Green, east London, has been named as 40-year-old Yasmin Begum, who was from the area. Continue reading...
• 21-year-old takes victory in Belgian classic race• Girmay becomes first Eritrean to win Word Tour raceBiniam Girmay became the first rider from Eritrea to win a cycling World Tour (elite) race when he prevailed in the Ghent-Wevelgem classic on Sunday.The Intermarche-Wanty Gobert rider beat France’s Christophe Laporte (Jumbo Visma) and Belgian Dries Van Gestel (TotalEnergies) after he and three other riders attacked 24 kilometres from the finish. The 21-year-old Girmay mastered the cobbles along the 248.8-km course in Belgium and had just enough has left for a perfect sprint finish. Continue reading...
The transport secretary is expected to close loopholes to ensure ferry companies pay the UK minimum wageGrant Shapps is writing to the chief executive of P&O Ferries urging him to announce a U-turn on the decision to sack 800 workers without notice, as unions pledged to “ratchet up the fight” after a weekend of protests.The transport secretary is expected to present a package of legislation on Wednesday to close loopholes and ensure ferry companies running regular services to and from the British Isles pay their crew the UK minimum wage. Continue reading...
Toxicology test indicated presence of 10 substances including marijuana, antidepressants and opioidsThe Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins had at least 10 different substances in his body when he died suddenly in Bogotá, according to a preliminary toxicology test carried out by Colombian authorities.The 50-year-old musician was found dead in his hotel room on Friday afternoon hours before the band was due to perform at Colombia’s Estéreo Picnic festival as part of its South American tour. The Grammy Award-winning group had been due to headline one of Brazil’s biggest music festivals on Sunday night. Continue reading...
PPE Medpro, which is linked to Michelle Mone, appears to have made huge profit on 25m gowns that were never used by NHSPPE the government bought for £122m from a company linked to the Tory peer Michelle Mone was purchased from the Chinese manufacturer for just £46m.The extraordinary profits apparently made by PPE Medpro and its partners in the supply chain are revealed in documents leaked to the Guardian, including contracts and an inspection report for sterile surgical gowns supplied by the firm. Continue reading...
Data covering seven-year period up to the start of 2019 shows that women accounted for only 10 of 114 fatalitiesBeing male, unable to look beyond your mobile phone and unfamiliar with the avalanche forecast: these are critical risk factors on Scotland’s mountains, according to the country’s foremost female climbing expert.Heather Morning, who took up her post as chief instructor at Glenmore Lodge, Scotland’s national outdoor training centre, earlier this month, is urging visitors to “think winter” this springtime, as Police Scotland revealed on Friday that mountain rescues are up 40% in recent weeks, with climbers misreading treacherous conditions on the peaks. Seven people have died on the hills this month alone. Continue reading...
Zahawi reviews policy after ‘hugely distressing’ case of Child Q, searched by police without parental consentThe government will issue “much tougher guidelines” on strip searches of children in schools, in the wake of the Child Q scandal.The education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, said he found the case of the child – who was subjected to an intimate strip search by police officers in her school when she was 15 without parental consent and in the knowledge that she was menstruating – “hugely distressing”. Continue reading...
by Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent on (#5XJ43)
TfL exploring options after transport secretary blocks planned development on tube station car parkThe simmering row between London’s political leaders and central government over transport funding is escalating on a fresh battleground: possible legal action over suburban station car parks.London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, has urged the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, to rescind his decision to block a planned affordable housing development on a tube station car park. Continue reading...
A pioneering programme hopes to support children newly arrived in the UK until they can integrate into classroomsMany of the pupils who arrive in Gemma Patel’s classroom at Birmingham’s City academy don’t speak.“When students first come to us, they often don’t talk, they don’t communicate,” she said during a break from teaching a lesson on verbs. “It’s not because they can’t, but because they haven’t necessarily felt able to before.” Continue reading...
Exclusive: Workers report drops in pay and shift frequency, while others say petrol payments do not reflect soaring pricesTom* started working for Amazon as a delivery van driver in Norfolk nearly three years ago. Since then, his rates of pay have been revised numerous times, including at least four changes since September. He and his partner are probably going to have to abandon hopes of buying a home together, as the money Amazon had promised was not sustained.“All of us are constantly terrified of never having enough money to survive,” he said. “It really is the most toxic industry.” Continue reading...
Chems-eddine Hafiz says rightwing candidates are competing with each other to criticise Islam and MuslimsA rise in anti-Islam rhetoric in the French presidential election campaign risks creating a “spiral of hatred”, scapegoating law-abiding Muslims in a similar way to the discourse against Jews in the 1930s, the rector of the Paris mosque has said.“I’m extremely worried,” said Chems-eddine Hafiz, the rector of Paris’s historic Grande Mosquée. “We’re in a society that is fractured and searching for itself, a society that is weakened and fearful after the pandemic. The fact of looking for a scapegoat – there have been precedents to that: in 1930 when the finger began to be pointed at Jews who became ‘the problem of a whole society’ … Today it’s no longer Jews, it’s Muslims … I thought in the 21st century we’d be safe from that type of discourse.” Continue reading...
by Angela Giuffrida in Rome and agencies on (#5XJ33)
Robert Adela secures first mandate after replacing Joseph Muscat, who stood down amid fallout from Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murderMalta’s Labour party has claimed victory in a general election, securing a third term in government despite a legacy of corruption and after the lowest turnout in decades.If confirmed, this would be the prime minister Robert Abela’s first electoral mandate after replacing Joseph Muscat, who stood down as prime minister in January 2020 amid a government crisis stemming from the murder of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Continue reading...
US secretary of state says there is no strategy for Russian regime change as Biden comments face criticismThe US has no strategy of regime change for Russia, secretary of state Antony Blinken told reporters on Sunday after president Joe Biden said Russian Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power”.His words came after Biden condemned Putin as a “butcher” who could no longer stay in power in a historic speech in Poland. Biden appeared to urge those around the Russian president to oust him from the Kremlin.Russia is trying to split Ukraine in two to create a Moscow-controlled region after failing to take over the whole country, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence said on Sunday.The Russian-backed self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine could hold a referendum soon on joining Russia, the rebel region’s news outlet cited local leader Leonid Pasechnik as saying on Sunday.Russia struck military targets in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv with high-precision cruise missiles, the Russian defence ministry said on Sunday. Russia hit a fuel depot being used by Ukrainian forces near Lviv with long-range missiles and used cruise missiles to strike a plant in the city being used to repair anti-aircraft systems, radar stations and sights for tanks, the ministry said.Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has called on the US and Europe to supply more planes, tanks, anti-missiles defences and anti-ship weaponry, arguing that Europe’s own security was at stake. “This is what is covered with dust at their storage facilities … this is all for freedom not only in Ukraine – this is for freedom in Europe,” he said in his nightly address.Two humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from conflict zones have been agreed for Sunday, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk has said, including from Mariupol.Russia has started destroying Ukrainian fuel and food storage depots, meaning the government will have to disperse the stocks of both in the near future, Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Vadym Denysenko has said according to Reuters.The Kremlin has again raised the spectre of the use of nuclear weapons in the war with Ukraine. Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who is deputy chairman of the country’s security council, said Moscow could use them to strike an enemy that only used conventional weapons.Russian forces appear to be concentrating their effort to attempt the encirclement of Ukrainian forces directly facing the separatist regions in the east of the country, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said in its latest intelligence report on the war in Ukraine.Ukrainian troops are reporting that Russian forces are deploying white phosphorus against them near the eastern city of Avdiivka. While these reports cannot be confirmed, Zelenskiy told Nato leaders earlier this week that Russia had used phosphorus bombs that had killed adults and children.Russian forces seized Slavutych, a northern town close to the Chernobyl nuclear site, on Saturday and took its mayor, Yuri Fomichev, prisoner. However, after failing to disperse the numerous protesters in the main square on Saturday – despite deploying stun grenades and firing overhead – the Russian troops released the mayor and agreed to leave. Continue reading...
Education secretary’s hint comes after reports chancellor will look again at a further council tax rebate after criticismRishi Sunak is planning further help with the cost of living, the UK education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, has said, adding that it would “irresponsible for me to say ‘job done’” days after the spring statement.Zahawi’s hint came amid reports Sunak will look again at a further council tax rebate in the autumn, after the chancellor was widely criticised for a statement that appeared to do little to ease the pressures of rising energy prices and inflation. Continue reading...
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