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Coverage, page 10

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Children’s care homes rely on committed people | Letter

Without the unflinching commitment of managers, social workers and those who work in them, they won’t be proper homes, writes John Burton I congratulate the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism for exposing the disgraceful state of residential childcare and the use of illegal children’s homes ( Councils pay more than £125m a year placing vulnerable children in illegal care homes in England, 8 September ). However, this is a symptom not a cause. While there are good private children’s homes (I’ve worked with some), they are defined by personal and family commitment, not profit. The same relationships are required whoever runs a children’s home, whether a charitable organisation or local authority. Without the personal, unflinching commitment of councillors, managers, social workers and, crucially, the grownups who work in the home, it can’t be a loving home. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Guardian Staff17 Sept

Thomas Tuchel’s shot at redemption begins with England’s tricky Nations League tests

It is hard to know whether haters will ever accept manager’s failed tactical shift against Argentina but positive start to preparation for Euros might help Thomas Tuchel has been back around the Premier League grounds this season and it is worth dwelling on one particular interaction he had with a colleague inside a VIP enclosure, which has doubtless been repeated elsewhere. “People are killing me,” the England manager said. At which point he might have added: Still . It is two months since England’s 2-1 World Cup semi-final defeat by Argentina in the United States and the emotion tied up in it continues to swirl. Heartbreak, pain, frustration; everything in this kind of area has touched everybody with an investment in the team. It was a result to leave scars that may never heal. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•David Hytner17 Sept
  • neutral toward Nations League · 83%

‘Amazing community’: how people are making new friends and connections as adults

As concern about loneliness and social isolation grows, we spoke to people who have joined groups and set up activities Amid growing concern about loneliness and social isolation, new research from the Institute for Public Policy Research found the number of young people in England with no close friends has risen fivefold since 2014 , with one in 20 now reporting having none at all. Making new friends as an adult is not always easy. We spoke to people who have taken deliberate steps to make new connections about what worked for them. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Nicola Slawson and Jane Clinton17 Sept

‘It bloody works’: why the world’s oldest cheddar-maker uses a ‘milk-source’ heat pump

Barber’s Farmhouse Cheesemakers can draw enough heat from cows’ fresh milk to bring water close to the boil, slashing carbon emissions In many ways, the world’s oldest cheddar-maker hews to tradition. Since 1833, Barber’s Farmhouse Cheesemakers has operated from the rolling green pastures of south-west England, milking grass-fed cows and fermenting the milk with microbial starters passed down for generations. That heritage has led to award-winning cheese, now popular across continents. But when it comes to reducing its planet-warming emissions, Barber’s is on the cutting edge. In 2024, the company began to use new ultra-efficient heat pumps from the UK startup Arkaya Energy . The devices quickly cool milk to keep it fresh, and simultaneously heat water used in milking operations, replacing conventional chillers and electric-resistance heaters. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Alison F Takemura17 Sept

‘You can’t be shy’: Joe Marchant on French lessons, England ambitions and his new famous father-in-law

Centre is back in the Prem with Sale after three years in Paris where he says he learned a lot more than the language and is ready to play for England again Joe Marchant admits he has been a disappointment. Significant developments over the summer gave rise to lofty expectations among his new Sale Sharks teammates but the 30-year-old centre knows he has not lived up to them. “When we’re playing here, people expect me to be good,” he says. “Why would it make me good in any way? I’m not the best.” Marchant is, of course, referring to his football skills rather than the rugby ones and the added expectation to perform in a pre-training kick-about after former Newcastle and England captain Alan Shearer became his father-in-law over the summer. In every other department, Marchant has done nothing but impress in his new surroundings. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Gerard Meagher17 Sept

‘A really scary place for children’: English hospitals have chronic lack of health play staff

Analysis finds only 955 play professionals supporting 21 million child hospital admissions, leaving many traumatised for life Children in English hospital with serious illnesses are being exposed to avoidable trauma because too few health play professionals are being employed, analysis by a leading charity has found. Employed by hospitals across England, these workers help to support children through the trauma and anxiety that can come with receiving medical treatment by providing play opportunities through games, toys and activities. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Tobi Thomas Health and inequalities correspondent17 Sept

The New Dark Ages by James Marriott review – a grandiose but superficial defence of reading

What is it that makes books so magical? The Times columnist somehow forgets to tell us in this lofty polemic While other kids watched cartoons, Times columnist James Marriott would spend his school holidays in bed with piles of books – “a mammoth effort of attention, perhaps the greatest I ever made” – under the spell of his father, a teacher who inculcated in him a literary zeal “not exactly common in the north of England in the early 2000s”. Twenty-five years on, Marriott fears smartphones have all but killed reading for everyone. He had to get rid of his own – “George Eliot is no match” – and now, watching the rest of us scroll, he worries not only that we will lose the ability to appreciate Middlemarch, but that we risk falling prey to tyrants and anti-vaxxers forging “a world very different to the one we have known … mystical, tribal and autocratic”. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Anthony Cummins17 Sept

Access-to-nature crisis ‘on par with that of Victorian Britain’s filthy air’

Research finds many in England lack proximity to green and blue spaces as Labour urged to speed up manifesto pledge Nearly half of all parliamentary constituencies in England have low access to nature despite a government target to ensure everyone is within a 15-minute walk from a green or blue space, new research reveals. The analysis by the Wildlife Trusts comes as the charity presents a green paper to ministers in an attempt to speed up Labour’s manifesto promise to improve access to nature and promote biodiversity. Make it more affordable for local authorities to use compulsory purchase powers for land purchase. Establish a community right to buy land for nature access. Treat nature as essential infrastructure, and free up capital funds to pay for the ongoing maintenance of natural spaces. Make it mandatory for developers to create climate- and nature-friendly housing estates. Make access to major rivers, especially those in urban areas, a statutory right. Continue reading...

The GuardianThe Guardian•Sandra Laville17 Sept