Arrival of Israeli troops in the southern border town has choked aid supplies, as hunger deepens in southern Gaza
Fayiz Abu Ataya was born into war and knew nothing else. Over his first and only spring, in a town stalked by hunger, he wasted away to a shadow of a child, skin stretched painfully over jutting bones.
In seven months of life, he had little time to make a mark beyond the family who loved him. But when his death from malnutrition was reported last week, it sounded a warning around the world about a rapidly deepening crisis in central and southern Gaza, triggered by the Israeli military operation in the southern town of Rafah.
The comedian’s remarks on a podcast join his cheerleading of genocidal violence and jokes about suffering children in Gaza
There are few things certain in life except death, taxes and the knowledge that every single goddamn day you can look at the news and find a rich man complaining about how feminism and wokeness have ruined the world.
Madeleine Hewitt says it’s time people who support the movement recognised that nothing in nature exists independently. Greg Blonder notes that many of the problems we need to solve are the result of the growing population itself
The Global Footprint Network says we are in ecological overshoot, with humanity using the resources of 1.7 Earths. The UN has made clear that our unsustainable demand for resources is driving the triple planetary crisis: climate change, biodiversity loss, and increasing levels of pollution and waste. And despite the rhetoric of Silicon Valley, technology is not our saviour; it is found to mitigate global extraction by only 5%.
Readers respond to an article by Sebastian Doggart on being flogged at Eton and share their own experiences of corporal punishement at school
Sebastian Doggart’s article resonated with me (‘It gives me no pleasure, but I am going to have to beat you’: was I the last boy to be flogged at Eton?, 25 May). I had the dubious honour of being the first pupil to be beaten (or receive the “whacks” as we used to call it) by the newly appointed headmaster of my prep school, when I was also 13. Separately, the deputy headmaster was an enthusiastic administrant of the hairbrush whacks, but unlike the claim from the Eton teacher that he derived no pleasure, in my situation, on several occasions I remember having the distinct feeling that one of us was most definitely enjoying it (and it wasn’t me). Being the same age as the author, I know exactly what he experienced, in a very dark time of appalling treatment of children who were entrusted by their parents to these individuals and institutions. Dr Julian Stone Buckland, Oxfordshire
• I despaired at the response of Tony Little, questioned during his tenure as headmaster of Eton in 2002-15 about the school’s practice of flogging, which had ended years before. Sebastian Doggart gave an account of his brutal abuse, and asked Little if it was something the school should be ashamed of. “It was a different time,” Little said. “It’s hard to get back into the mindset of what happened 25 … years ago.” No, it’s not. Tap anyone over 50 on the shoulder and ask them. Lynne Scrimshaw London
This is no ‘tragic mishap’ | Votes and phones for teenagers | D-day and Dunkirk’s domination | On the hunt for Private Eye | One-word slogans
I was transfixed by the look in the eyes of the boy in the centre of the photo of devastation in Gaza (‘Bodies everywhere’: the horrors of Israel’s strike on a Rafah camp, 29 May). This is no “tragic mishap”, but an act of war. Instead of platitudes, the UK should immediately cut off the supply of arms to this out-of-control regime in Israel. Mike Godridge Brampton, Cumbria
• I have met numerous under-16s with more common sense than many MPs. If Labour legislates to allow a person to vote the day after their 16th birthday, how can parliament legislate to prevent that same person owning a smartphone the day before their 16th birthday (MPs urge under-16s UK smartphone ban and statutory ban in schools, 25 May). Kim Thonger Collyweston, Northamptonshire
Squeals and growls tend to occur in groups, finds study of infants aged up to 13 months
It might sound like a stream of jolly nonsense, but the peculiar sounds babies produce could be an attempt to practise the vocal control necessary for speech, researchers have suggested.
A study analysing the sounds made by infants during their first year of life has found squeals and growls tend to occur in groups.
Inclusive clubs provide a supportive environment for LGBTQ+ children amid growing antagonism toward transgender inclusion in athletics
Like many seven-year-olds, Gregory’s daughter discovered her love for soccer on the playground at recess. She started coming home talking about the sport and asked to join her friends’ recreational team. Gregory, an attorney in Portland, Oregon, whose name we’ve changed to protect his family’s safety and privacy, signed her up. But his daughter ended up getting assigned to a different team than the one her friends were on.
Gregory was concerned about his daughter not being on a team with a coach and players she knew – she’s transgender and he wanted her to be in a supportive environment. Gregory’s wife called the league’s coordinator to see if they could get their daughter on the original team and to explain the reasoning for their request, but he said she shouldn’t be playing on a girls’ team if she’s trans. “We were told that she would have to play on a boys’ team if she wanted to play in games,” Gregory told the Guardian. He immediately withdrew his daughter from the league.
Ellen Roome says firms should be required to hand over data in case it can help parents understand why their child died
A woman whose 14-year-old son killed himself is calling for parents to be given the legal right to access their child’s social media accounts to help understand why they died.
Ellen Roome has gathered more than 100,000 signatures on a petition calling for social media companies to be required to hand over data to parents after a child has died.
In the UK, the youth suicide charity Papyrus can be contacted on 0800 068 4141 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org, and in the UK and Ireland Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.
Experts say government’s relaxation of rules on staff ratios for two-year-olds is putting children at undue risk
Toddlers have been “sold out” to balance the books of the government’s childcare bill, according to nursery providers, who say young children have been put at risk by changes in supervision rules.
The deaths of two babies in nurseries made headlines last week but frontline workers say they are also concerned for the safety of older toddlers after the government relaxed rules on staff ratios.
In what is believed to be the first global estimate of the scale of the crisis, researchers at the University of Edinburgh found that 12.6% of the world’s children have been victims of nonconsensual talking, sharing and exposure to sexual images and video in the past year, equivalent to about 302 million young people.
Even with a ban, gen alpha will find a way to connect with people online. It’s up to the platforms – and grownups – to ensure a safer internet
In the olden days, I sat in front of an enormous CRT monitor and waited for my 14,400-baud modem to connect. For a few hours I talked to my friends via internet relay chat (“online”). When I was finished I stood up, left the family room and hung out with my cats (“offline”).
The distinction between online and off has changed a lot since then. Relationships moved from LiveJournal to IRL. We had to use email for work. Banks closed their physical branches in favour of apps. Slowly but surely, our “online life” just became life. Society now straddles the two worlds, with the same terrible people gathering in dog parks and neighbourhood Facebook groups.
The unequal distribution of resources needs to be addressed at government level
It is commendable of the Observer to highlight the crisis of child poverty, but the government – and prospective governments – should prioritise tackling the poverty crisis (“Britain 2024: The scandal of child poverty”, Focus and Editorial).
Unfortunately, Rishi Sunak did not address poverty at all when he mapped out his five “priorities” in January 2023, nor did our PM-in-waiting, Keir Starmer, feel that the issue of poverty was important enough for Labour’s six “first steps”. It appears that it requires a former prime minister – Gordon Brown – to become the driving force for ending child poverty, demanding a multibillion-pound package from the state.
[CW: eugenics, racism, violent child abuse incident] Guardian: "His little brother, two-year-old Torsten Savage, is on his iPad somewhere upstairs. Simone, 36, in an apron that strains across her belly, has her daughter, 16-month-old Titan Invictus, strapped to her back. The imminent arrival of their fourth child, a girl they plan to name Industry Americus Collins, turns out to be only the first in a string of surprises – and one really shocking thing – that I will encounter during my day with the pronatalists." [Previously: November 2022, You say 'Eugenics' like it's a bad thing (it is)]
Observer investigation reveals use of ‘intimidating’ police tactic on at least 432 minors in 2023 under age of criminal responsibility
Hundreds of children under 10 faced stop and search by police last year, including some who were strip-searched, the Observer can reveal.
At least 432 children under the age of criminal responsibility were searched by the police forces in England and Wales in 2023, according to data.police.uk, an official site for open data on crime and policing.
I was 13 and in my first year at the elite public school when I was caught drinking. The punishment shaped my time there – and became a watershed for the institution
I am the last boy to have been beaten at Eton. I confirmed this in a conversation with Tony Little, the then headmaster of that venerable school, during his 2002-15 tenure. “Our archivist has checked the files,” he said, “and can find no record of any beating since summer 1980.”
“So if I were to say I am the Ruth Ellis of corporal punishment at Eton,” I asked hopefully, referring to the last woman to be hanged in Britain, “would I be correct?”
Commons education committee chair says online world poses serious dangers and parents face uphill struggle
MPs have urged the next government to consider a total ban on smartphones for under 16-year-olds and a statutory ban on mobile phone use in schools as part of a crackdown on screen time for children.
Members of the House of Commons education committee made the recommendations in a report into the impact of screen time on education and wellbeing, which also called on ministers to raise the threshold for opening a social media account to 16.
David Scattergood on how the work of independent fostering agencies is offering a glimmer of hope and Peter RC Williams on the government’s obligations. Plus a letter from Nina Lopez and Tracey Norton
However, there is a glimmer of hope. A small number of independent fostering agencies are charities, providing services on a not-for-profit basis. Working alongside local authorities, with no shareholders to enrich, not‑for-profit fostering agencies reinvest surplus funds back into their organisation to fund activities, educational support, and therapeutic interventions for their children. They also fund training and financial support for their foster carers, and activities such as holidays for children with disabilities and additional needs. This model should be the rule, rather than the exception for the whole sector.
Young children often love wildlife and nature but find them boring, uncool or ‘icky’ in their teens
From sniffing dandelions to prodding frogspawn and chasing butterflies, young children are often automatically and unashamedly drawn to nature. Then a chasm opens. During adolescence, many declare wildlife boring, “icky” or uncool, while the allure of social networks and fast fashion intensifies, alongside mounting pressures to conform to the norms of increasingly nature-blind communities.
In an era of climate breakdown and ecological collapse, the teenage slump in connection to wild nature is not just unfortunate, it is deeply perilous. Right now, we need to be nurturing fierce, clued-up generations of young adults, equipped and empowered to fight tooth and claw for the biosphere that supports all our lives. The rewilding movement, with its proactive, hope-infused ethos, offers inspiration and practical solutions to reconnect teenagers with nature and inspire them to demand a wilder, healthier future.
The government knows this accommodation is unsafe and potentially even deadly. Its inaction is scandalous
Parenting a young child is difficult enough. But imagine taking care of a baby inside a single bedroom shared with two or three older siblings. The bathroom and kitchen are communal, so you either have to carry the child with you or lock them in the bedroom. When you need to wash yet another set of the baby’s clothes or sterilise their bottle, you must do so using a tiny sink and a kettle in your bedroom.
That is what one woman told me it is like living in a temporary accommodation hostel with her young children in England. When I interviewed her, she detailed how, in the first months of bringing up her newborn son, she worried for his safety and health, specifically because of that accommodation. Her story is not unique: a recent investigation by my colleagues at Inside Housing found more than 35,000 households like hers, living in temporary accommodation with children under five across England, Scotland and Wales in 2023.
Katharine Swindells is the deputy features editor at Inside Housing
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The sex and relationships educator Jo Morgan discusses what she believes a sex education curriculum should look like
Last week, Rishi Sunak’s government issued new draft guidance on sex education. It included a ban on teaching sex education before children are nine years old and a ban on teaching “gender ideology”.
Jo Morgan is the author of Empowering Relationships and Sex Education: a Practical Guide for Secondary School Teachers and the founder of the consultancy Engendering Change.
At Tea Magic in New York, I’m happy to indulge my girls and their friends in the latest soft-drink craze. Until things kick off
Last Friday, I took four nine-year-old girls to their favourite after-school hang-out, Tea Magic, a place that is distinct from, and in their view superior to, Shiny Tea, Gong Cha Tea, Coco Tea and Mochi Dulci. If you had to create in a laboratory an environment to appeal to tween girls it would be this one: on each wall, huge Hello Kitty-type murals and a menu involving combined fluorescent syrups and a range of brightly coloured add-ons loosely inspired by the tapioca “boba tea”. Within seven minutes, everyone was jacked up on sugar, including a group of girls from a rival elementary school, whereupon things briefly got exciting.
As someone who grew up in the era of Panda Cola, I’ll admit that fashion as expressed through the medium of soft drinks is something I occasionally struggle with. Fifteen years ago, I was kind of on board with iced coffee, which was a mistake. (First, the ice means you get less coffee, which means the Man wins again. Second, when the ice melts, you are effectively drinking coffee-flavoured water; wise up people, this isn’t desirable). More recently, when fruit-flavoured seltzer became a thing in New York – specifically, the brand La Croix – I wasn’t on board with that, either, mainly because I’m not 14 years old, and also because we buy our seltzer in 32-can off-brand crates from Costco that cost about half the price.
After old rivalries between Dogon farmers and Fulani herders erupted into violence, exacerbated by Islamist rebels, thousands of the semi-nomadic pastoralists have fled to camps in towns, leaving their cherished animals and way of life. Many must beg to survive at sites lacking food and clean water, with no end in sight to the conflict
Yesterday was the seventh National Numeracy Day in the UK. You can take the numeracy challenge (email sign-up, throw-away should work). Research in 2019 reported that 56% of adults in the UK have numeracy levels which are those expected of a primary-school child (Entry Level 3 or lower). National Numeracy (Wikipedia article), which organises the day, has reported on the role of confidence and the gender divide in maths. A Parliamentary Research Briefing describes government initiatives to improve numeracy, including the delayed Multiply programme for adults, maths hubs and an advisory committee. The Impact Report for National Numeracy Day 2023 says that "103,280 people took action on the National Numeracy Challenge" last year.
The quote is from the former chair of National Numeracy:
A YouGov poll for the charity suggests that while four out of five people would be embarrassed to confess to poor literacy skills, just over half would feel the same about admitting poor maths skills. "It is simply inexcusable for anyone to say: 'I can't do maths.' It is a peculiarly British disease which we aim to eradicate. "It doesn't happen in other parts of the world. With encouragement and good teaching, everyone can improve their numeracy." Mr Humphries said just 15% of Britons studied maths after the age of 16, compared with 50-100% in most developed nations.
Children used to obsessively put CDs and 7-inches on repeat, but streaming means they need digital devices and parental permission to play music. And there’s little being done to help
My daughter is nine years old. When I was her age, in 1989, I had my own small cassette player and a beloved pile of my own tapes – brand new, or made up of songs from the radio – that I could listen to whenever I wanted. The same went for my parents’ modest CD collection (Genesis’s Invisible Touch was awesome; their three Lionel Richie albums were boring). There were a few vinyl records knocking about and there were at least two radios – invariably set to Capital FM – that I could turn on whenever.
My daughter has none of these things. The only way she can access music is by making me get my phone out and play a song on my Spotify account. The inconvenience is trifling, but more painful and alarming is the growing gap between us when it comes to musical experience.
There are real benefits to a society where people feel safe enough to leave their babies and bikes on the street. How have the Danes achieved this level of faith in their fellow citizens?
Over the years, Denmark has emerged as the good faith capital of the world. Nearly 74% of Danes believe “most people can be trusted” – more than any other nationality. On wider metrics, such as social trust (trusting a stranger) and civic trust (trusting authority), Denmark also scores highest in the world, with the other Nordic countries close behind.
The political scientist Gert Tinggaard Svendsen argues that trust accounts for 25% of Denmark’s otherwise inexplicable wealth. By his reckoning, a quarter of that wealth comes from physical capital (means of production and infrastructure), half comes from human capital (the population’s level of education and innovation), and the unexplained final quarter is trust: they don’t sue one another, they don’t waste money on burglar alarms, businesses often make binding verbal agreements without sweating the contract. People who hold power in Danish institutions – the government, police, judiciary, health services – are trusted to be acting in society’s best interests, and there is very little corruption.
Steven Anderegg allegedly used the Stable Diffusion AI model to generate photos; if convicted, he could face up to 70 years in prison
The FBI has charged a US man with creating more than 10,000 sexually explicit and abusive images of children, which he allegedly generated using a popular artificial intelligence tool. Authorities also accused the man, 42-year-old Steven Anderegg, of sending pornographic AI-made images to a 15-year-old boy over Instagram.
Anderegg crafted about 13,000 “hyper-realistic images of nude and semi-clothed prepubescent children”, prosecutors stated in an indictment released on Monday, often images depicting children touching their genitals or being sexually abused by adult men. Evidence from the Wisconsin man’s laptop allegedly showed he used the popular Stable Diffusion AI model, which turns text descriptions into images.
In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453 or visit their website for more resources and to report child abuse or DM for help. For adult survivors of child abuse, help is available at ascasupport.org. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International
Concerns about Neil Foden’s behaviour were raised years ago. We need to understand how such abuse is enabled
There was a moment during the trial of my former headteacher that broke my heart when I read about it. Child E was giving evidence of how Neil Foden would take her on trips to Liverpool, pulling over in country lanes on the way back so that he could have sex with her. When the defence suggested that the purpose of these detours was so that he could recce new routes for country walks, she laughed.
Why did reading about the laugh get to me so much? I think it was because it implied a tragic worldliness. The loss of childhood innocence. Children should not be laughing, seemingly bitterly and cynically, about the sexual proclivities of adult men.
Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist
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I didn’t reduce my monthly payments and my employer switched to permanent home working
During the pandemic I did not reduce my monthly payments for childcare vouchers. As a result I have nearly £2,800 in my tax-free childcare account. I now work remotely and don’t need them but have been told I can’t get a refund.
I was paying the maximum £243 a month via salary sacrifice into my KiddiVouchers account. This worked until Covid hit but my employer has switched to permanent home working so I no longer need wraparound childcare.
I explained my change in circumstances to [the scheme provider] and requested they refund my employer so it could be repaid (after tax and national insurance) to me. My employer is happy to do this.
However, KiddiVouchers has refused because it “does not meet the exceptional or unforeseen threshold for a refund”. I can’t believe that the pandemic is not considered “exceptional or unforeseen”.
Anthony Albanese has endorsed banning children from registering social media accounts until they are 16, saying too much online engagement at a young age is seriously damaging their mental health.
Report from group set up by Catherine says business can improve early years and benefit all of society
Business investment in early childhood could unlock £45.5bn in valuea year for the UK economy, according to a report by a taskforce created by the Princess of Wales.
In the report, CEOs from eight leading companies urged “businesses of all sizes across the UK, to join us and help build a healthy, happy society for everyone”.
The Co-operative Group creating a specific early childhood fund as part of its unique apprenticeship levy share scheme, and committing to raise £5m over the next five years, creating more than 600 apprenticeships.
Deloitte focusing its ongoing investment in Teach First to include the early years sector for the first time, supporting 366 early years professionals in 2024.
NatWest Group extending its lending target for the childcare sector to £100m, launching an early years accreditation scheme to its staff and producing a financial toolkit for childcare providers to help them grow and succeed.
Ikea UK and Ireland expanding its contribution of support, design expertise and products for babies and young children to six new locations across the UK to help families with young children experiencing the greatest disadvantage.
The Lego Group donating 3,000 LEGO® Education Build Me “Emotions” sets, supported by training materials, to early years providers in the UK.
Iceland Foods providing learning, awareness and support in all 1,000 Iceland and The Food Warehouse stores by featuring emoji posters at a child-friendly height – a practical tool to help customers with young children and to create a space of understanding and support in stores.
The grave failures of politicians, civil servants and the NHS over decades must lead to change
Nothing can bring back the 3,000 or so people who died as a result of contaminated blood products given to them by the NHS from the 1970s to the early 1990s. Thousands of others continue to struggle with viruses acquired in the same way, while others live with the knowledge that loved ones, including children, died or were infected needlessly. The report of the infected blood inquiry, published on Monday, has been far too long in coming. Victims of this disgraceful episode were fobbed off for decades, before the then prime minister Theresa May agreed to a public inquiry in 2017.
That decision was taken under strong pressure from campaigners. Andy Evans, who was infected with hepatitis C and HIV as a child, has described the official response as “kicking and screaming” all the way. The statement by the inquiry’s chair, Sir Brian Langstaff, on Monday was greeted with a standing ovation. But campaigners’ relief is mingled with anger and sadness. Truth, justice and accountability should not have been delayed for so long.
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The Spark, a song created by a group of nine-to-12-year-olds including refugees, has amassed 8.6m views
It is called The Spark and has been declared the song of the summer – a viral sensation from a group of children in Ireland who filmed the video in a day.
Since launching on 15 May, the song has amassed 8.6m views and been hailed as a drum’n’bass-beat masterpiece with infectious energy.
Baby Genevieve Meehan, known to her family as Gigi, was her usual happy self when she arrived at Tiny Toes nursery on an overcast Monday morning in May 2022.
The nine-month-old girl with the striking emerald eyes had just taken her first steps and was uttering her first words. She had spent the weekend at home with her parents, enjoying cuddles and playing with her favourite toy tambourine.
Being left out of family events, sending gifts that went unacknowledged – I took it all so personally, until I realised it wasn’t my problem
I was older when I married – 38. Well, it seemed like “older” then. I had never particularly wanted kids. I didn’t not want them, either. I was just agnostic about it. Which was a good thing because my husband had been married and divorced twice, and already had three adult children. For the record, I had nothing to do with either divorce so the tension between me and his children that was evident even before our wedding had nothing to do with that.
I’ll be honest. I found them intimidating. For a start, there were three of them and one of me. So I did what I usually do when I feel overwhelmed: I tried too hard. Looking back on it now, I’m sure it was annoying – my assumption, insistence even, that we should be friends and, more than that, family. Perhaps I should have got the message that all was not rosy when one of my husband’s children, dressed in black from head to toe, arrived at our wedding so late that the ceremony had already started, while another didn’t come at all. Or my first Christmas with my husband, when “the family party” included all three of my husband’s children, their children, and both of my husband’s previous wives. But not us.
Lucretia Grindle Lutyens is a historian and writer. Her most recent book is The Devil’s Glove
The Christian Legal Centre is behind a number of end-of-life court cases that could be ‘prolonging suffering’, according to doctors. Josh Halliday reports
Medics treating critically ill babies and children are citing instances of “considerable moral distress” that they say is being caused by the actions of a rightwing Christian group involved in several end-of-life court cases.
The Guardian’s north of England editor, Josh Halliday,tells Hannah Moore that while the Christian Legal Centre is not be a household name it has become highly influential in high-profile end-of-life cases in recent years.
Cast member of Palme d’Or contender shot in Kent says the high number of chaperones and intimacy coordinators on set was over the top
Is Britain leading the way in protecting young people and children from the potential traumas of working on a film set, or has it all gone far too far? Two of the most prominent European stars attending the Cannes film festival, both with high-profile premieres, have very different views.
Franz Rogowski, the acclaimed German actor who plays a key role in Bird, British director Andrea Arnold’s contender for the top Palme d’Or prize, said this weekend that the proliferation of chaperones and intimacy coordinators that had been required on the shoot on location in Kent qualified as well-intended “madness”.
I have followed the life of this desperate child as her life has been ruined by a bankrupt system
You’re a teenage girl and you’ve been locked in a bare hospital room for more than 15 months. Your bed is a platform attached to the floor. There’s a plastic toilet and a sink moulded into the wall. Your only human contact is through a hatch in the door. Sometimes you get to hold your mum’s hand through it.
You’ve tried to kill yourself multiple times, including trying to throw yourself off a bridge over the M6. That was after escaping being driven to an unregulated children’s home miles away from your family. You can’t understand why your mum’s not able to look after you, as she does with your two siblings.
A quarter of Britain’s children live below the poverty line. Near his Fife home, the former PM shows how charities help families and says this issue must be a priority for any government
Outside a warehouse squeezed between a waste recycling plant, an auto parts outlet and a scaffolding company in Lochgelly, Fife, a blur of figures in hi-vis jackets are busily packing boxes into headteacher Ailsa Swankie’s car. Not for the first time, she is taking delivery of household essentials, hygiene products and food from the area’s heaving “multibank” – an institution she describes as an “absolute lifeline”.
The specific items differ with each pick-up – sometimes toilet rolls, other times washing powder or hot water bottles, donated by local businesses or sourced cheaply. But the need for each trip is always the same: an increasing number of families at her school who have found themselves struggling to afford what should be basic products. “We do have a lot of working families who work very, very hard, but they’re still really struggling,” Swankie says. “If I took nappies back to school, they’d all be gone by 3pm.”
Almost one in three British children now live in relative poverty. Former prime minister Gordon Brown last week referred to this generation as “austerity’s children”: children who have known nothing but what it is to grow up in families where money concerns are a constant toxic stress, where a lack of a financial cushion means one adverse event can trigger a downward debt spiral, and where parents have to make tough choices about essentials such as food and heating. Rising rates of child poverty are a product of political choices; that we have a government that has enabled them is a stain on our national conscience.
The headline rate of child poverty is underpinned by other alarming trends. Two-thirds of children living in relative poverty, defined as 60% of median income, after housing costs, are in families where at least one adult works, a product of the number of low-paid jobs in the economy that do not allow parents to adequately provide for their children. Unsurprisingly, child poverty rates are higher in families where someone has a disability, and 58% of children from Pakistani and 67% of Bangladeshi backgrounds live in relative child poverty. Child homelessness is at record levels – more than 140,000 children in England are homeless, many living for years on end in temporary accommodation that does not meet the most basic of standards. One in six children live in families experiencing food insecurity, and one in 40 in a family that has had to access a food bank in the past 30 days.
Child is in hospital in a stable condition, as police say father was found dead of self-inflicted gunshot wound
A man suspected of shooting his 6-month-old son multiple times after taking the boy and his mother hostage was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in the rubble of a suburban Phoenix home that caught fire during a swat standoff, police said.
The baby was reported to be in a critical but stable condition at a local hospital Saturday, police said in a statement. They said earlier his injuries suffered the day before were not believed to be life-threatening.
At about 3am on Friday, the father of the child allegedly broke into the home where the child and mother lived, according to police in Surprise, Arizona, about 30 miles north-west of Phoenix. The child’s father did not live in the house, police said, adding that the man held the mother and child hostage for several hours before the mother managed to escape.
Ending this shortsighted and unfair policy would lift half a million children out of poverty immediately
In Leicester, where I live and work as bishop, two in five children now live in poverty. That’s 12 pupils in every classroom struggling to focus. Some haven’t eaten breakfast. Others are no doubt worried about arguments they have overheard at home about money, and how to afford next year’s school uniform. When I visit our local schools, I hear of teachers bringing in food for pupils who would otherwise go hungry and schools covering the costs of trips to protect children from the shame of being left out. I’m hugely proud of all that our churches do to support those in need, whether it’s with holiday clubs or food hubs. But we cannot by ourselves reverse the trend of growing child poverty seen across the country. One policy change, however, could: ending the two-child benefit cap.
The limit restricts the child element of universal credit to two children per household, so that families lose about £3,200 a year for any third or subsequent child born after April 2017. This is a huge amount for any family trying to make ends meet: of the 1.5 million children affected in 2023, 1.1 million were living in poverty.
Children crying out for stability are paying the highest price for Britain’s chaotic and exploitative residential care
I’m a patron of a small local charity that helps struggling children to rebuild trust and connection. It’s called Sirona Therapeutic Horsemanship, and it works by bringing them together with rescued horses. The horses, like many of the children, arrive traumatised, anxious and frightened. They help each other to heal. Children who have lost their trust in humans can find it in horses, which neither threaten nor judge them, then build on that relationship gradually to reconnect with people.
It’s an astonishing, inspiring thing to witness, as the children begin to calm, uncurl and find purpose and hope. It can have life-changing results. But, though I can in no way speak on Sirona’s behalf, I’m painfully aware that such charities can help only a tiny fraction of the children in desperate need of stable relationships, trust and love.
Young schoolchildren from County Cork, working with a non-profit children's music & creative space, have created a piece called 'The Spark" for Cruinniú na nÓg, which is the national free day of creativity for young people, run by the Creative Ireland Programme's Youth Plan. [cw: strobe transition effect on first link]
Take a moment to imagine what you think it might sound like, before you click the link and enjoy 'The Spark'.
In 1989, a city in Utah upgraded its drinking water system, putting in a whole new system and repurposing the old one to supply cheap untreated water for irrigating lawns and putting out fires. That meant that the treated water suitable for drinking flowed from new spigots, while untreated water gushed from the old ones. Decades went by with no apparent confusion; residents seemed clear on the two different water sources. But, according to an investigation report published recently by state and county health officials, that local knowledge got diluted as new residents moved into the area. And last summer, the confusion over the conduits led to an outbreak of life-threatening illnesses among children.
In July and August of 2023, state and local health officials identified 13 children infected with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157:H7. The children ranged in age from 1 to 15, with a median age of 4. Children are generally at high risk of severe infections with this pathogen, along with older people and those with compromised immune systems. Of the 13 infected children, seven were hospitalized and two developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening complication that can lead to kidney failure.
Preliminary genetic analyses of STEC O157:H7 from two of the children suggested that the children's infections were linked to a common source. So, health officials quickly developed a questionnaire to narrow down the potential source. It soon became clear that the irrigation water—aka untreated, pressurized, municipal irrigation water (UPMIW)—was a commonality among the children. Twelve of 13 infected children reported exposure to it in some form: Two said they drank it; five played with UPMIW hoses; three used the water for inflatable water toys; two used it for a water table; and one ran through sprinklers. None reported eating fruits or vegetables from home (noncommercial) gardens irrigated with the UPMIW.
A report by Stanford researchers cautions that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children doesn’t have the resources to help fight the new epidemic.
Journalists outside a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on online child sexual exploitation in January. A new report says A.I. is adding to the problem.
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