Convicted criminals to restore Hove seafront benches
The scheme is a court-ordered punishment where offenders work in the community under the supervision of probation officers instead of being sent to prison.They will work alongside the council's highways contractor, RJ Dance, to repair the double-sided benches.Councillor Birgit Miller, cabinet member for culture, heritage and tourism, said: "Maintaining our seafront comes with many challenges, not least the scale of the task at hand."Our teams are responsible for 13km (8.07 miles) of seafront, including 6km (3.7 miles) of railings, 18 shelters and 19 cucumber benches."This is a creative solution to the challenges around seafront maintenance and I'm really looking forward to seeing the benches back to their best."We're hoping to work with more businesses and recruit further volunteers as the scheme progresses."Work on the benches is due to begin later in July.
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Times
an hour ago
- Times
Pupils to be taught strangulation is illegal to tackle ‘incel culture'
Strangulation will be taught as a criminal offence under new Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) guidance published on Tuesday, as part of an overhaul of the curriculum in England. For the first time, pupils will be explicitly taught that strangulation — applying pressure to someone's neck or covering their mouth and nose — is illegal, even if it doesn't cause visible injury. The revised guidance, the first significant update since 2020, will push secondary schools to tackle the growing influence of the 'manosphere' and incel culture, as well as emerging harms linked to pornography. However, critics said the government had watered down a previous draft, which sought to counter 'trans activist' positions. Schools will also be told not to use oversimplified diagrams or cartoons to teach about gender identity, such as the 'Genderbread Person', which had been used in some lessons provided by external providers. These can risk misleading pupils or encouraging them to question their gender unnecessarily, the guidance said. The new guidance said schools should be careful not to endorse any particular view or teach it as fact, including that all people have a gender identity. It added: 'Schools should be mindful to avoid any suggestion that social transition is a simple solution to feelings of distress or discomfort.' • Abuse claims and rape culture identified at 1,600 primary schools Pupils will be taught how online content, including AI-manipulated images and deepfakes, can distort perceptions of women, sex, and consent, which the Department for Education guidance said can 'portray misogynistic behaviours and attitudes', influencing those who watch it. Boys will also be encouraged to identify positive male role models and to challenge online misogyny. Sexual harassment, including unwanted touching, sexual language, upskirting, revenge porn and sharing intimate images without consent, will also be covered in detail. The overhaul of RSHE comes after a government consultation raised alarm over inconsistent teaching and controversial materials used by third-party providers. The Labour government scrapped earlier Conservative plans to ban sex education for children under the age of nine. Instead, the guidance advises that it should not begin before Year 5, while giving schools the flexibility to teach it earlier. The revised mandatory curriculum will be introduced in all mainstream schools from September. Mental health education will start in primary school, focusing on emotions, loneliness, bullying and seeking help. In secondary schools, suicide prevention will be taught with guidance from mental health professionals, avoiding graphic or emotive content. Other newly added topics include suicide prevention, loneliness, gambling, virginity testing, bereavement, parenting, menstrual and gynaecological health, and antimicrobial resistance. Paul Whiteman, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, warned that the expanded content risks overwhelming schools. 'The new guidance asks schools to teach more content with only the same amount of time available,' he said. 'Government cannot continue to impose additions to the curriculum without proposing how the additional teaching time needed is to be found.' Whiteman also criticised the lack of support for suicide prevention teaching: 'NAHT has particular concerns that the inclusion of suicide prevention content has not been accompanied by a commitment from the government to provide funded training for all teachers to give them both the knowledge and the confidence they need to discuss suicide prevention and self-harm with young people.' The guidance for schools has been overhauled by the government GETTY IMAGES The government said the changes were designed to reflect modern challenges facing children and equip them with the knowledge to stay safe and make informed choices. The guidance will be reviewed again before it becomes statutory in 2026. Helen Joyce, the director of Sex Matters, which campaigns for clarity on single-sex services, said: 'It's welcome that Bridget Phillipson is warning schools not to use simplistic graphics that perpetuate stereotypes or encourage children to question their gender. Far too much harm has already been done by sexist and frankly stupid teaching materials that lie to children by telling them it's your personality and interests that determine whether you're a boy or a girl.' She added: 'It's a big shame that the Department for Education has watered down sections of the draft guidance it inherited from the previous government, which sought to counter the trans activist positions adopted by many schools over the past decade. Instead of warning schools not to teach about the broader concept of gender identity, it now says pupils should not be taught that everyone has a gender identity. 'We're concerned that the DfE still doesn't seem to have grasped the harm caused by so-called social transition in schools.' • A spokeswoman for Bayswater Support Group of parents of children with transgender identities said: 'The new RSHE guidance fails to address the serious safeguarding issues around teaching gender identity to children, including the implicit message that children could have an inner identity that means their body needs fixing. 'As well as significantly weakening the clarity offered by the earlier draft guidance, this version introduces topics which are likely to be harmful to vulnerable children. For example, direct teaching about suicide may actually undermine suicide prevention strategies.'
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Children at risk of being recruited by hostile states, police warn
Counter-terror police have warned the activity of hostile states on British soil is posing a growing threat and urged families to watch for signs their children are being along with petty criminals and disillusioned people, may be more vulnerable to recruitment by Russia, Iran and China, they states are increasingly using proxies to carry out acts of sabotage and targeted violence in the UK, counter-terror police said, adding that investigating such activity now accounts for about 20% of their and teachers should "be inquisitive" and "seek help" if they think a child is at risk, police advised. Since the Salisbury poisonings in 2018 – which targeted Russian double agent Sergei Skripal – there has been a five-fold increase in police work to tackle hostile activity, commanders said."The breadth, complexity and volume of these operations has continued to grow at a rate that I'm not sure that us, or our partners internationally, or any intelligence community predicted," Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter-Terrorism Command, told reporters."We are increasingly seeing these three states, but not just these three states, undertaking threat to life operations in the United Kingdom."The youngest person arrested or investigated on suspicion of involvement is aged in their "mid-teens", he Evans, Counter Terrorism Policing's senior national co-ordinator, expressed concern other children may be encouraged online to carry out activities to earn money, without realising the implications of their actions."We really encourage people, parents, teachers, professionals just to be inquisitive," she said."If they're concerned, ask those questions, and if they think there's something they need to be concerned about, seek help and act, because we want to make sure that we're protecting people from inadvertently being drawn into this sort of activity."The Metropolitan Police is now putting additional resources into tackling hostile state activity, with training for officers in "foreign interference" and hundreds taking part in recent exercises in how to respond."We're working with local force chiefs up and down the country to raise awareness and ensure that there really is an increased understanding about this threat," Ms Evans this month, two low-level criminals were among five people convicted of involvement in an arson attack on a warehouse storing communications equipment for said the attack had been ordered by Russia's Wagner group, and that one of the ringleaders, 21-year-old Dylan Earl, had been plotting to kidnap its owner, a Russian dissident. The Met said it was also dealing with a "high volume" of threats from Iran, focused on those considered to be opponents of the Islamic Republic."We know that they are continuing to try and sow violence on the streets of the United Kingdom, they too are to some extent relying on criminal proxies to do that," Mr Murphy use of criminal proxies offers "arms-length deniability," according to Ms Evans, who blames the rising threat on the "continued erosion of the rule-based international order".The warnings came in the first specific briefing for journalists from counter-terrorism police on the threat of hostile state activity."Foreign regimes are more willing than ever to undertake aggressive actions overseas," Ms Evans said.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
British children recruited by Russia and Iran to spy against their own country and research potential targets
BRITISH children are being recruited by Russia and Iran to spy against their own country, it was revealed today. The kid spooks are said to be carrying out research and conducting reconnaissance on potential targets after being recruited online by the two hostile states. 2 Several schoolchildren, in their mid-teens, have been arrested for allegedly gathering intelligence to be used against the UK, it emerged. And more children of the same age are being investigated for clandestine activities on behalf of the hostile states. They are being recruited through online forums and then lured into working for anonymous Russian and Iranian spymasters offering financial inducements. The UK's Counter Terrorism Policing Senior Coordinator Vicki Evans said: 'Children and young people are vulnerable to this type of hostile activity,' adding; "It is a huge concern for us.' Met deputy assistant commissioner Ms Evans urged parents and carers to be 'vigilant and careful.' Ms Evans revealed how the threat from hostile states to the UK is now five times greater than at the time of Russia's 2018 Novichok nerve agent attack in Salisbury. The threat from Russia, China and Iran accounts for more than a fifth of the counter terror policing network's caseload in the UK, she said. Criminals are increasingly being used by hostile states to spy against Britain by proxy after being recruited online and promised cash which rarely materialises. Ms Evans said the use of low level criminals was 'an increasing theme' on how hostile states are working, adding the proxies and assets were 'quite disposable' once they had served their use. The C-T policing boss said international frictions and the two wars in Ukraine and the Middle East were fuelling aggressive intelligence operations in the UK and elsewhere. Is THIS the US missile that will force Putin to make peace? JASSM cruise missile could obliterate 30 key Russian bases They include arson attacks, assassinations plots and threats to journalists. Five men are facing long sentences over an arson attack on an East London warehouse storing satellite equipment for Ukraine which was ordered by the Russian Wagner group. And six Bulgarians were jailed for a total of more than 50 years at the Old Bailey in May this year for spying for Putin. Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met's SO15 counter-terrorism command, said he was surprised 'by the breadth and complexity of these operations…' Cdr Murphy added: 'We are increasingly seeing threats to life and our way of life.' He urged any criminals approached by spymasters online to get in touch with police.
