Reform ‘unpatriotic' over UK's net zero ambitions, Steve Reed warns
Steve Reed said that hosepipe bans such as the one affecting five million people in Yorkshire will become much more common in future if we fail to act on climate change.
'It's fundamentally unpatriotic of parties like Reform to refuse to act on things which are affecting our way of life so profoundly,' Reed said.
Labour will make the case for action on global warming and arresting nature loss, as a report by the Met Office found record-breaking heat is becoming the norm in Britain.
Ed Miliband accused Reform and the Conservatives of 'abandoning the fight against climate change'
JONATHAN BRADY/PA
Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said: 'Those who say 'let's abandon the fight against the climate crisis', this report is a sign of what a betrayal that would be. Because the warning could not be clearer about what is happening to our climate and the fact that our British way of life is under threat.'
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BBC News
18 minutes ago
- BBC News
Children to be taught anti-misogyny in sex education classes
Recognising misogyny, the harms caused by so-called "deepfakes" and unhealthy attitudes towards consent will be taught in sex education classes under new government guidance for will be taught "how to identify and learn from positive male role models", according to parts of the final draft of the relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) guidance seen exclusively by the in England should also "proactively" engage with parents to make sure they are aware of what is being taught, the guidance will say. But plans to impose age limits on certain subject areas, proposed by the previous Conservative government just before last year's election, will not go ahead. That earlier draft guidance had suggested sex education should not be taught before Year 5, while topics like sexual harassment and pornography should not be taught before Year the government will outline areas that should be introduced in primary school and what students should learn about by the end of secondary school in the final draft of its guidance, due to be published later Department for Education (DfE) says it will mean children don't get taught things they are too young for, without assigning specific ages to each individual will have the right to view all of their school's RSHE curriculum materials, which the charity Parentkind has welcomed. Frank Young, from the charity, says it's important that teachers consult with parents first to understand what is age appropriate for their child "so that we put parents in the driving seat".The new guidance, which schools will take on from this autumn, will come into full legal force from September 2026. It will say primary schools must cover respectful relationships, boundaries, and the risks of sharing information and images it is expected to recommend that conception, birth and puberty is taught in Year 5 or Year 6 - but this is not school teachers may also decide to discuss the sharing of naked images or online sexual content if it is affecting pupils in the school, or if they are aware students have seen pornography, under the new guidance. By the end of secondary school, students should be taught how to keep themselves and others safe, including how to avoid sexually transmitted infections and unplanned in the secondary school curriculum are expected to include lessons on:The sexual norms endorsed by so-called "involuntary celibates" (incels) or online influencersAI-generated sexual imagery and deepfakesHow pornography links to misogynySexual ethics beyond consent and the awareness of power dynamics The guidance will advise secondary schools to work closely with mental health professionals on how to discuss suicide prevention in an age-appropriate Andy Airey, Mike Palmer and Tim Owen, the founders of Three Dads Walking who each lost a daughter to suicide, have welcomed its inclusion, saying it will "save lives".RSHE became compulsory in schools in England in pupils must take part in relationships education, which doesn't involve explaining the detail of different forms of sexual activity, but can cover sensitive topics such as sexual violence in order to keep children have the right to request that their child be withdrawn from some or all of sex education, but students can choose to opt back in from three terms before they turn 16. The government is expected to release its separate guidance for schools around children who are gender-questioning the RSHE guidance, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the behaviour and attitudes of boys and young men "is one of the challenges facing us today".Schools and parents have a vital role to play in "helping children identify positive role models and resist the manipulation too often used online to groom impressionable young minds," she added. At Benton Park School in Leeds, head teacher Nik Skilton says teachers have to be "really careful" when it comes to talking to students about inappropriate online content, so that they don't highlight something to young people that they aren't already being exposed to."But, on the flip side, we've also got to make sure that we are supporting young people to protect themselves," he Skilton says schools need some flexibility in how they approach these topics, because each school has different issues to deal RSHE guidance will encourage schools to build a more positive culture, making staff and pupils aware of the danger of stereotypes and prejudice. Benton Park School has reported a decrease in the number of students experiencing sexual harassment in school since it adopted a whole-school approach to tackling such one of the student ambassadors at the school, believes social media is fuelling sexism and sexual harassment because "they appear so much on everyone's pages, on their phones, that they think it's normalised".She says it has become a lot easier to "call it out" because of the skills the school has given Karman agrees, saying she now feels like she has a voice to say: "This is not okay".
BBC News
24 minutes ago
- BBC News
Site for two emergency homeless shelters secured, charity says
A site to house homeless shelter pods has been found, the chairman of a charity has said it had been aiming to provide immediate shelter for those with nowhere safe to sleep and no other housing States revealed there were more than 60 people on an urgent waiting list for housing - one islander recently said she was "extremely lucky to live in a garden shed" when she had nowhere else to Graham Merfield said the charity had secured a site to place two pods, subject to planning approval. He said: "We are now working through the planning process and the planning team are being very helpful in helping us through that. "We're anticipating our application will go in over the next weeks and our goal is to have the first two pods here for next winter, which would be September, October time." Mr Merfield said the sleeping pods had a bed, a chemical toilet, a charging point but no plumbing and were "for emergency use only" to house one person at a said: "Those pods are really intended for the people who are really in desperate need of accommodation. They're not intended to be temporary accommodation."Our longer term goal is to build a community of modular homes to address the need for temporary accommodation."The charity said it still aimed to provide modular homes, or "tiny homes", which would have a sitting area, bathroom, kitchen, bedroom and plumbing. 'Cautiously optimistic' Following the recent Guernsey general election, the new president of the island's housing committee, Deputy Steve Williams, said he wanted to get spades in the ground and hundreds of homes under construction within his first Merfield said the charity were "cautiously optimistic" by what had been promised so said: "We've already had some positive dialogue with some of the new deputies and we're looking forward to meeting with the new housing committee under Steve Williams' leadership. "I think having the responsibility for housing under one committee rather than spread across numerous committees should bring what I think they're terming a 'laser focus' onto the housing issue."Clearly, we need see what they can do both in the short term and the longer term to address the urgent needs and the longer-term needs of more affordable accommodation in the community."
The Herald Scotland
26 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Young, angry and in debt: why Gen Z could turn to Corbyn
The opportunities are out there – to almost be a left-wing version of the populist right Reform. Standing for subterfuge and scapegoating, Reform seeks to protect the elite few. Corbyn can offer hope of a better future for the many. Last month More In Common polled 1,408 people on whether they'd vote for a Corbyn-led party. Regardless of gender, it found 10% would, with the Farage-led Reform on 27% and Labour on 20%. Much more interestingly and importantly, 32% of 18-24-year-olds – the highest for this age group for any party – said they would also do so. Reform was on just 7% for this age group. Among 25-34-year-olds, Reform moved ahead with 21% support compared to Corbyn's 14%. Support amongst older age groups continued to decline at roughly the same rate as it grew for Reform, suggesting a battle of the generations. In other words, the Gen Z generation – those born between 1997-2012 – are far more attracted to Corbyn and his politics than to Farage and his. And support across all ages in Scotland, at 18%, was the highest amongst any of the nations and regions in Britain. Without any policies yet declared, what will Gen Z be looking for and what will Corbyn and his comrades need to offer to keep them away from the clutches of a charlatan like Farage? The far left that hopes to have a home in the Corbyn party suggests a plethora of platitudes, whether it be welfare not warfare, ending austerity, taxing the rich, freedom for Palestine, climate action, and anti-racism. And since Corbyn lost the Labour leadership in 2020, he has led his Peace and Justice Project, focusing upon environmentalism, international peace cooperation, social inequality and corporate power. Read more by Gregor Gall None of these issues should be lightly dismissed but there needs to be something much more concrete to get Gen Z to turn up en masse at the polling booth to vote for the Corbyn party. It's called the security of self-interest. Unless Gen Zers have rich parents, they're the first generation that will be poorer than their parents were when they had them. So top of the priority list of policies must be housing, debt, and employment. Unless helped by the "bank of mum and dad", Gen Z-ers cannot afford, let alone get, a mortgage to put a foot on the property ladder. Forced to rent, they have no security of residence as rents rapidly rise. As demand outstrips supply, what they get for their money is pretty grotty. Thus, policies of house price control, council house building and more first-time buyer financial support as well as rent controls for flats and landlords licensed only where minimum quality standards are met. Next many have gone to college or university and graduated with debt. And that's with having worked through the time they did their degrees. Though student loan debt repayment only kicks in when earning above a certain level, the irony is that many do not get to that point for some years. Thus, reintroduction of student grants, abolishing fees, cancellation of student debt, price controls on basic food stuffs, free public transport, and a new national state bank offering low interest loans. Upon entering the jobs market these days, many will end up in jobs that are no better paid and with no more security or prospects than the ones they did during their degrees. Artificial intelligence will reduce, not increase, job opportunities at this end of the labour market. Thus a doubling of the minimum wage to £25 per hour, ending temporary employment contracts, and job security for the first five years of a job. To bastardise Oscar Wilde's saying, you can only look at stars when you're not lying in the gutter. So, only then with that firm basis securely established can the policy platform then add on those more altruistic aspects like "world peace". But before we run away thinking it's just about the policies on offer, we need to remember that the issues of the personalities and processes are important too. With chants of "Oh, Jeremy" still heard today, a party built too much around a single leader comes with dangers. Yes, it needs a clearly identifiable and credible leadership but putting too many of its eggs into one basket can be a ticking timebomb. We know this from the experience of the likes of Tommy Sheridan and George Galloway. Corbyn could easily suffer a stroke under the strain of it all. Zarah Sultana has stepped up to the plate by leaving Labour (Image: PA) Now Zarah Sultana MP has stepped up to the plate by leaving Labour. She is a still young – but not quite Gen Z - 31 year-old woman with Pakistani heritage. It could be a case of replicating the current practice of the Green parties either side of the Border of having two co-leaders. And, just as many young people flocked into Labour when Corbyn became leader in 2015, many also became disillusioned by their inability to change the party to sing in tune with him. This should not be a problem in the new political party but that does not mean that members will be happy to become just the shock troops that knock on doors and hand out leaflets come election times. All is to play for. There will be competition with the Greens because there might be some policy overlap, especially if the radical candidates win the leadership here and down south shortly. Time is of the essence, as a party not yet established and with no name has a hard hill to climb to fend off Farage. The youth and vigour of the 32% of the young Gen Zers need to be tapped into now to bring on board their peers and others. Professor Gregor Gall is a Research Associate at the University of Glasgow
