Sir David Beckham backs SafeCall campaign to help missing children

Sir David Beckham has joined The Independent’s SafeCall campaign to support missing children, urging the public to donate to a new 24-hour service that will provide help and safety to young people in crisis.

Posting to his 88 million Instagram followers, the former England captain wrote: “It’s heartbreaking that 70,000 children go missing in the UK every year. I’m delighted to support The Independent and Missing People UK charity to help launch SafeCall, a new 24-hour lifeline for vulnerable and missing young people to find safety.”

The SafeCall campaign aims to raise £165,000 to fund a free, round-the-clock service designed with young people in mind. It will provide advice, guidance and a route to safety for children at risk of exploitation or harm.

Readers can donate to the SafeCall campaign here or by texting SAFE to 70577 to give £10 to Missing People – enough to help one child get the support they need.

The appeal follows Sir David’s knighthood at Windsor Castle, awarded in recognition of his services to football and to charity. The honour reflects nearly two decades of humanitarian work through organisations including Unicef and Malaria No More.

A long-time advocate for children’s welfare, the 50-year-old founded the 7 Fund with Unicef to support vulnerable young people around the world, and has fronted campaigns tackling everything from child poverty to global emergencies.

The 50-year-old said he was “truly humbled and so grateful for this honour”, which was conferred at Windsor last week.

It marked the culmination of years of public service alongside a celebrated playing career that brought six Premier League titles, two FA Cups and a Champions League win with Manchester United, followed by spells at Real Madrid, LA Galaxy, AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain.

Sir David’s endorsement adds yet more star power to the initiative, which has already received backing from Sir Stephen Fry, Dame Esther Rantzen and Britain’s biggest crime novelist Sir Ian Rankin.

Sir Stephen described SafeCall as “a beacon of hope for young people who feel lost and unseen”. He said: “Every child deserves the chance to be found, to be safe, to be heard. I’m proud that The Independent is standing with Missing People to make that happen.”

Dame Esther added: “So many young people who suffer exploitation don’t feel they can ask for help and be listened to, at a time when they are scared, alone and vulnerable. This new service means at last there is a way to enable them to seek help with confidence and hope.”

Missing People estimates that around 70,000 children are reported missing each year in the UK. Many disappear repeatedly or because of issues linked to exploitation, family breakdown, or mental health.

Jo Youle, chief executive of Missing People, said: “Children facing harm or exploitation often feel invisible. SafeCall will be shaped by their voices – offering a safe, confidential space where they’re heard, supported and protected. Built on over 30 years of experience, this new service is designed by young people for the challenges they face today. Together, we’re building a legacy of care, protection and hope. Together, we will change young lives.”

Geordie Greig, editor-in-chief of The Independent, said: “I am so proud to launch this campaign with Missing People. With the help of our readers and supporters, we can make a real difference in tackling the crisis of missing children in this country.”

Readers can donate to the SafeCall campaign here or by texting SAFE to 70577 to give £10 to Missing People – enough to help one child get the support they need.

For advice, support and options if you or someone you love goes missing, text or call Missing People on 116 000. The service is free, confidential and non-judgemental. Or visit www.missingpeople.org.uk/get-help.

Hitler had a genetic sexual disorder, new DNA analysis reveals

Adolf Hitler had a hidden genetic disorder that would likely have hindered the development of his sexual organs, new analysis of his DNA has uncovered.

The Nazi dictator had Kallmann syndrome, which can inhibit the normal progression of puberty, suggesting it is possible that he would have struggled to form sexual relationships.

The findings are set to be revealed in the Channel 4 documentary Hitler’s DNA: Blueprint of a Dictator, which also debunks the myth that Hitler had Jewish ancestry and provides evidence that he probably had one or more neurodivergent or mental health conditions.

Scientists were able to build the DNA profile from a sample of bloodstained cloth that a US army colonel had cut from the sofa where Hitler took his own life in 1945.

While the research and its outcomes are likely to provoke controversy, the lead geneticist said that while she was conflicted about taking on the project, she wanted to ensure it was done properly.

Professor Turi King, who identified the remains of Richard III, said: “I agonised over it. But it will be done at some point, and we wanted to make sure it’s done in an extremely measured and rigorous fashion. Also, to not do it puts [Hitler] on some sort of pedestal.”

She added: “If he [had looked] at his own genetic results, he would almost certainly have sent himself to the gas chambers.”

Stories from the First World War suggest that Hitler was bullied over the size of his genitals, with his genetic condition meaning he had a one in 10 chance of having a micropenis.

A 1923 medical examination, uncovered in 2015, showed that Hitler did have an undescended testicle, giving surprising credence to the derogatory wartime song about him.

Alex J Kay, a historian at the University of Potsdam who specialises in Nazi Germany, told the documentary that this could help explain his “highly unusual and almost complete devotion to politics in his life”.

He said: “Other senior Nazis had wives, children, even extramarital affairs. Hitler is the one person among the whole Nazi leadership who doesn’t. Therefore, I think that only under Hitler could the Nazi movement have come to power.”

The DNA findings have also dispelled long-held rumours that Hitler had Jewish ancestry, and that he was illegitimately descended from a Jewish grandfather.

However, the possibility that he had one or more neurodivergent or mental health conditions was not ruled out, with some of his genes overlapping between conditions. Analysis of the likelihood that he had autism, schizophrenia or bipolar disorder placed him in the top percentile, but it is unclear which, if any, of these conditions he may have had.

Dr Alex Tsompanidis, an autism researcher at the University of Cambridge, said: “I think it’s fair to say that his biology didn’t help. I don’t think any clinical term applies here. We can’t know, we can’t diagnose. The cognitive process is likely to have been affected, but I use his behaviour, as much as genetics, when I say that.”

However, the group of researchers are keen to ensure that their findings are not used to stigmatise people with any of the conditions indicated in Hitler’s DNA.

“Behaviour is never 100 per cent genetic,” said psychologist Professor Sir Simon Baron-Cohen. “Associating Hitler’s extreme cruelty with people with these diagnoses risks stigmatising them, especially when the vast majority of people with these diagnoses are neither violent nor cruel, and many are the opposite.”

Four-word message the BBC should send Trump about his $1bn lawsuit

There’s one way the BBC could retrieve some dignity from the smoking rubble of the past week. They should send Donald Trump a four-word reply to his blustering threat to sue them in Florida for $1bn in damages: “See you in court.”

There’s barely a notable news organisation in the US that Trump hasn’t yet sued. ABC News and CBS News have demonstrated the resolve of a jellyfish in stumping up millions to settle lawsuits that were, in the view of most lawyers, perfectly defensible.

That leaves a $10bn claim against The Wall Street Journal for revealing a lewd scribble he allegedly penned to Jeffrey Epstein and a $15bn suit against The New York Times for engaging “in a decades long method of lying about your Favorite President (ME!), my family, business, the America First Movement, MAGA, and our Nation as a whole.” He’s even suing the Pulitzer Prize Committee for giving the NYT a gong.

The BBC should shame their American broadcasters for their spineless capitulation by refusing to be bullied into abject apologies or donations to Trump’s presidential library. They made an error. They have (belatedly) corrected it. They’ve expressed regret. Now move on.

If Trump had dared to sue in an English court (he can’t because he’s left it too late), the BBC could have replied with the coded response occasionally used by Private Eye: “We refer you to the reply given in the case of Arkell v Pressdram.”

This refers to a 1970s libel threat from a businessman named Arkell. The magazine considered the claim so preposterous that they replied: “Dear Sir, Fuck off, Yours, Private Eye.”

But the joke is a little too esoteric for Trump and his lawyers, so “See you in court” would do just as well.

Trump’s first problem is that, according to the BBC, Panorama is not actually available in the US and neither is iPlayer – unless you’re using a VPN in a naughty way, which you might not want to ventilate in a court of law. So what’s the damage?

Then there’s the problem that the US media is protected from liability when reporting on public figures by the landmark 1964 case of NYT v Sullivan. In that case, a remarkable judge, Justice William J Brennan, essentially gave American journalists the right to be wrong, so long as erroneous statements about public figures are honestly made.

Brennan referred to “the pall of fear and timidity” that the routine prospect of legal actions would have on journalists. He ruled: “Debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust and wide open and . . . it may well include vehement, caustic and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.”

There are no higher public officials than the president, so unless Trump could demonstrate that a BBC editor deliberately set out to damage him by splicing together two different parts of a speech, it’s difficult to see how he could succeed.

Sullivan is under more ideological and rhetorical pressure than it has been in decades, and at least two justices want to revisit it, but the Supreme Court has not yet taken any concrete step to weaken it. The governing rule remains precisely what it has been since 1964.

Was the film misleading? In the narrow sense of a bad edit, yes. That was unprofessional and wrong. But was it materially misleading in the sense of overstating Trump’s role in urging on the crowd as they headed to Capitol Hill on January 6? Several congressional and legal authorities could be cited by the BBC in its defence.

The veteran BBC Panorama reporter, John Ware, has been using the archives of The Daily Telegraph – the paper which has accused the BBC of “materially misleading” editing – to demonstrate a degree of hypocrisy.

He quotes The Telegraph’s own chief reporter, Robert Mendick, on 7 January 2021: “Trump threw on the whole, messy heap a burning match. And throughout the day he kept throwing on more. A clenched fist, and a call for action.”

Ware moves onto the former prime minister as quoted in The Telegraph on 8 January: “Boris Johnson has ‘unreservedly condemned’ Donald Trump for encouraging protesters [his emphasis] who stormed the Capitol building in Washington DC. The Prime Minister said the US president had been ‘completely wrong’ to cast doubt on the outcome of the election and to encourage the ‘disgraceful’ behaviour that resulted in four deaths…”

Then Ware quotes The Telegraph’s own columnist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard on 8 January: “The putsch has failed….the desecration of Capitol Hill by Trump mobs – on explicit incitement by the president [his emphasis] – speaks for itself.”

For good measure, he adds The Telegraph’s own Ben Riley-Smith on 13 January, referring to Trump’s “incendiary speech to supporters” prior to the “mob that stormed the US Capitol last week”.

It would be amusing for the BBC to use The Telegraph’s own reporting to bolster the case that Trump did, indeed, bear significant responsibility for the carnage that followed his speech. Indeed, numerous rioters subsequently testified that they had been motivated by Trump’s words.

All in all, Trump doesn’t have much of a case, and if BBC chair Samir Shah has any sense, he’ll announce that not a penny of licence fee payers’ money will go to furnishing the Donald J Trump Library.

Show the Americans what a British backbone is made of! Show weaselly US broadcasters how it’s done! Even Nigel Farage should cheer that on.

British journalist Sami Hamdi on way back to UK after ICE detention

Sami Hamdi is on a flight home to London after being held in US immigration detention for more than two weeks.

The political commentator was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at San Francisco International Airport after travelling there for a speaking tour on 26 October.

His family confirmed on Thursday that he was on his way back to the UK.

It was a “great relief”, they said in a statement.

“The US government agreed to allow him to leave voluntarily, with no order of deportation and no allegations.

“While we welcome this development, we want to underscore that no family should ever have to go through what we have: Sami was in the United States on a valid visa when he was abducted and detained by ICE, despite committing no crime.”

The family said Mr Hamdi had been “living in terrible conditions” since being detained, staying in a room with between 80 and 90 other people.

“All this because Sami, a journalist, political commentator, and human rights defender, spoke out against Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Sami should never have spent a single night in a cell.”

Mr Hamdi is expected to land at Heathrow on Thursday afternoon.

His family said he will continue to stand up for Palestinian rights.

“As we await our husband, son, and father’s return to Britain, we keep all political prisoners held by ICE in our hearts,” the statement said.

“He will never be intimidated into silence.

“The US government revoked his visa without informing him and proceeded to use this as grounds to detain him. In truth, they had nothing on Sami – he was targeted for his legally protected free speech. Otherwise, they would not have offered voluntary return.”

The statement said the family was “deeply worried” about the future of free speech in the US and called on the UK government to “re-evaluate its approach and increase its efforts to secure the safe release of its citizens, including when they are detained by allies”.

The California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA), whose lawyers challenged Mr Hamdi’s detention in federal court, has claimed he was detained over his support for Palestine and “punished for criticising Israel, not for any alleged wrongdoing”.

Mr Hamdi accepted an offer to leave the US voluntarily after being charged with visa overstay, according to his legal team.

But they said Mr Hamdi should have never been detained, claiming that “anti-Muslim and pro-Israel extremists” pressured the US government into arresting him.

Mr Hamdi is the managing director of The International Interest, a global risk and intelligence company, and has appeared as an analyst and commentator on British TV networks.

US officials previously said comments made by Mr Hamdi, 35, after Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack on southern Israel celebrated violence.

BBC ‘set to apologise’ to Trump as $1bn legal deadline looms

The BBC is expected to apologise to Donald Trump over its editing of one of his speeches, as his $1 billion legal threat deadline fast approaches.

Its legal team is reportedly drawing up its response to the complaint, with Trump calling on the corporation to issue a retraction, apologise and compensate him “for the harm caused” by Friday.

The editing of Trump’s 6 January speech in an edition of the Panorama programme triggered the resignation of director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness.

While multiple reports said the broadcaster’s legal team was drawing up its response to the complaint, senior figures defended the BBC’s journalism after the broadcaster was branded as “fake news” by the US president.

The US president said he had an “obligation” to sue the BBC over the incident, telling Fox News: “They actually changed my January 6 speech, which was a beautiful speech, which was a very calming speech, and they made it sound radical.”

Keir Starmer said the BBC must get its “house in order” during prime minister’s questions on Wednesday.

Perfect portraits: from groups to selfies and candid snaps, expert tips

Portrait photography has come a long way from the days where everyone needed to be smiling directly into the camera, as a flash bulb popped.

And in fact, following on from an era where social media sites offered very curated, sometimes heavily filtered snapshots of our lives, more natural, candid images that really show off our personalities and experiences are now very much on trend. Think authentic photos of genuine moments where no-one is really paying attention to the camera. Instead they’re focused on enjoying what’s happening and the people they are with. For example, friends around a table enjoying a drink and a chat. Families engaged in a favourite activity. Photos that look like a glimpse into someone’s normal every day.

The best way to capture these in-the-moment shots? On a mobile: our ever-present, hand-held, do-everything device that has steadily taken over photography in the 26 years since the first camera phone appeared. Samsung’s newest device, the Galaxy S25 FE offers a wealth of photography-first features, from multiple cameras, lenses and wide angle settings, to in-built AI technology that will help you take the best possible pictures, then easily edit them afterwards. And as a photographer who runs masterclasses in mobile photography I couldn’t wait to try it out.

The phone itself is slim and lightweight, which makes it so much easier to hold steady, for clear, crisp, blur-free images, and take discreet, candid snaps.

Of course, we all have friends, family members and even pets who love performing for the camera. But for those who are a bit more reluctant to step into the frame, the Galaxy S25 FE offers a whole host of easy-to-use, fun AI features that will have even the most camera-shy feeling completely confident and ready for their close-up.

Samsung’s Drawing Assist function is a prime example and was an absolute hit with my kids, transforming our Sunday afternoon walk from a litany of moaning and dragging feet into a fun-filled adventure involving a lucky escape from the shark that apparently now lives in the park pond, and flying through the air with some giant balloons.

And all it took was a few simple, if strategically positioned snaps and some quick sketches using the Sketch to Image* function when editing the photo. This works best when you have some space in the frame around your subjects so you can easily draw what you want to add. In the shark image, for example, we needed enough water to the left of my kids for the shark to emerge from.

In the photo where the children are flying with the balloons, I needed them to be high up against the sky, and I also wanted the trees visible to add some context to the story we were trying to tell. They’re on top of the boulders, but I had to crouch down on the ground to cut out the houses in the background. By using the Generative Edit** function I was then able to replace the boulders with trees and then used Sketch to Image to draw in some balloons to make it look like they were floating away.

You don’t need to be an amazing artist for Sketch to Image to work well either, just enough line and shape for the app to recognise what you want to add into your image. The only limit here is your imagination and creativity. Involving the kids in some fun photography also meant that I got to capture some real, candid moments of them in the beautiful Autumn sunshine, with none of the usual complaints.

While playing around with reality can be fun, the Galaxy S25FE’s other AI features can also be used to make more subtle adjustments to enhance your images.

Just a few minutes of work with the Generative Edit function on a day out with a friend, helped me erase two unwanted photobombers from a photo (in which she perfectly co-ordinated with the graffitied heart wall in Borough Market). While removing some distracting weedkiller from the table where my cat was basking in the sunshine ensured the perfect pic where I can really appreciate him in all his fluffy glory.

Aside from fun and helpful editing functions, the phone’s AI technology is also running in the background to give your photos a boost, whatever and whenever you are capturing them.

This is great when you’re shooting challenging lighting conditions, for example at night. Dark, grainy and blurred photos are a thing of the past, with Samsung’s Nightography feature. Tapping the yellow moon icon that appears in dim lighting will enable this clever function which captures multiple images and then uses AI to blend them together to create one sharper, brighter image.

This can take a few seconds, so you’ll need to keep very still when using this feature – if you can, brace your arms on a table and hold the phone with two hands to keep the camera as steady as possible. It also helps if your subject is still, so this is more for capturing adults and older kids than snapping a restless pet or fast-moving child.

For these trickier subjects, from youngsters to four-legged friends, the excellent autofocus on the device makes for pin-sharp portraits rendered in high definition. And if you couple that with the outstanding Samsung colour profile you get beautifully saturated, nicely contrasted images which really pop. All the colours are beautifully rendered and all skin tones (and fur tones) are true to life. No filters are needed here.

And this is not just true of portraits you take of other people. The 12 MP camera lens on the front of the phone makes for gorgeously rendered, high resolution selfies with a variety of crop options, so you can find the perfect angle or image composition.

Taking a selfie at a 1:1 square crop, as well as the standard 3:4 crop option means you can easily include a friend or family member in your photo. And there’s a lovely little feature where you can get the lens to zoom out a little by tapping the ‘two person’ icon to provide a little extra space.

The 9:16 crop option means you can opt for a more flattering, longer and thinner photo while the full frame cop allows you a more zoomed-in selfie.

And if you want to take your selfies to another level, the option to add a little skin toning and smoothing effect and iron out any wrinkles (or in my case remove evidence of a sleepless night) is one of the additional features that makes the selfie camera stand out!

The excellent battery life means you don’t need to worry about it lasting, even after a few hours of photo fun. And when your battery does run down, lightning fast charging will see you back at 60 per cent in just 30 minutes, so you don’t have to wait long until you are good to go again.

Overall, whether it is taking vibrant portraits of yourself or capturing creative, candid images of the people (and pets) in your lives, making memories you’ll want to share is easy and fun with the Galaxy S25 FE.

To find out more about the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE visit Samsung

*Samsung account login and network connection may be required for certain AI features.

**Samsung account login is required. Requires network connection.

British state supplied victims to ‘worst sex offender in history’ as abuse went unchecked

The state supplied victims to the “worst sex offender in our history” as systemic failures allowed widespread physical and sexual abuse to continue unchecked at a youth detention centre, a major report has found.

The prisons watchdog says survivors of Medomsley Detention Centre deserve a public apology after he found leaders at every level “failed in their duty” to protect detainees.

The centre, which operated from the site of a former Victorian orphanage in Durham from 1961 to 1987, subjected men and boys aged 17 to 21 to brutal physical and psychological abuse which often started with a punch in the face at the prison gates.

Part of a Margaret Thatcher-era policy of hitting low-level offenders with a “short, sharp shock”, violence became an embedded part of a military-style regime in which boys were beaten, strip-searched, humiliated and made to carry out a punishing routine of chores and drills.

Hundreds also found themselves subjected to horrific sexual abuse, including in the kitchens, where predator Neville Husband would rape two or three young men a day.

The government has today issued an apology to victims as a damning new 202-page report, published almost 40 years after Medomsley’s closure, laid bare the extent of failings.

Adrian Usher, the prisons and probation ombudsman (PPO), found allegations of abuse had reached the ears of government ministers, the police and the Prison Service but were “ignored or dismissed”.

Successive wardens were either complicit or “lacked dedication and professional curiosity to such an extent as to not be professionally competent”, the ombudsman said.

He identified dozens of specific cases where individuals tried to speak up, but authorities failed to act. This allowed Medomsley to operate “effectively beyond the reach of the law” for 26 years, Mr Usher found.

“I think you could argue that the leadership at Medomsley was such that every single day was a missed opportunity,” he told The Independent. “Had any of those leaders discharged their duties properly and proactively, then they would have saved the abuse of 1,000s of young men.”

Only eight former members of staff have been jailed for their role in the abuse, including two for sexual offences, following two major probes by Durham Constabulary.

Although the passage of time and loss of evidence make further convictions unlikely, Mr Usher believes only a handful of those involved in the mistreatment were ever held to account.

As of September 2021, the government had already paid out £7.2m to 1,651 victims who endured physical or sexual abuse at the centre. Since then, claims have soared to 2,852 victims. The Ministry of Justice refused to reveal the total payout when asked by The Independent.

“I think there will be members of staff who are still alive, whose own consciences will tell them that they weren’t held to account for what they did in those years,” Mr Usher added. He concluded that the fact that systemic sexual abuse had continued for so long would have required “the silence of many”.

Husband, who ran the kitchens, was jailed in 2003 for sexually abusing five teenagers at the unit. He admitted four more attacks in 2005, but died at liberty in 2010. Had he been held to account for the full scale of his offending, he would have been imprisoned for the rest of his life, the report found.

Husband – described as an “arch-manipulator” who intimidated other staff – has been linked to 388 alleged sex attacks out of a total of 549 documented sexual abuse allegations at Medomsley.

Mr Usher said: “Husband, in my view, is possibly the most prolific sexual offender in our history. Sex offenders are normally constrained by a number of factors. The first is the availability of victims. And in this case, the state was providing him with victims.

“They’re constrained by the fear of being caught, which, over a period of time, Husband would have become increasingly certain that he wasn’t going to be caught. In fact, for his entire professional career, he wasn’t.

“And then, thirdly, by their own libido, and we know that in the case of Husband, we have details of him raping two or three young men a day, and he was employed there for 18 years.”

Mr Usher said oversight and governance were ineffective, and visits from the board were treated “more like social events” to enjoy a cup of tea with the warden.

A total of nine wardens led the detention centre during its operation. Mr Usher added: “I find it extraordinary that in the entire operation of Medomsley, not one of those wardens formed a relationship of trust sufficient for a young man to be able to say what was happening to them in the kitchens.”

Although he has not made any formal recommendations, Mr Usher warned that the complaints process for children in custody remains the same today.

He also questioned why there is no independent party that proactively speaks to children in custody about safeguarding issues.

“We know that children are most likely to confide if they are being abused to people they know, and yet family members currently can’t make a complaint to a prison about the treatment of their loved one,” he added. “And there is, I think, a threshold of allegation where that shouldn’t be the case.”

Mr Usher believes victims deserve a public apology and he has urged organisations, including the police, the probation service, the prison service and the state, to examine their consciences.

Andrea Coomber KC, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, urged those in public life to read the “unbearable” details of the investigation. She said: “Thousands of young lives were ruined beneath a cloak of secrecy while many of those with the power to make it stop either contributed to the torture or turned the other way.”

She said the damning findings should alert everyone to the reality of what can happen in places of detention when appropriate safeguards are not in place.

“Almost 40 years after Medomsley’s closure, there remains a tolerance of everyday inadequacy in the treatment of children in custody that must be challenged.”

Pia Sinha, chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust, also called for those responsible for individuals in custody to reflect on the report, adding: “Today’s deeply distressing report is a sobering reminder of the importance of transparency, safeguarding, oversight, and accountability in our most closed institutions.

“The abuse suffered by the boys and young men at Medomsley represents a profound failure of care and protection, and it is vital that these truths are recognised and remembered.”

The government apologised to survivors as it announced a new Youth Custody Safeguarding Panel, which will review complaints processes, staff training and ensure the voices of children in custody are heard.

Jake Richards, minister for youth justice, said: “To the men who suffered such horrific abuse at Medomsley, I want to say again – I am truly sorry. The failings set out in today’s report by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman are truly harrowing, and we must ensure nothing like this ever happens again.

“This government is establishing a Youth Custody Safeguarding Panel to review how we protect children in custody today. It will ensure their voices are heard, that complaints are taken seriously, and that every child is kept safe from harm.”

Rape Crisis offers support for those affected by rape and sexual abuse. You can call them on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, and 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland, or visit their website at www.rapecrisis.org.uk. If you are in the US, you can call Rainn on 800-656-HOPE (4673)

If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch

If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call or text 988, or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you

Electric vehicles to face congestion charge for first time

Electric car driving Londoners are going to have to find £13.50 a day to drive their cars in the capital under plans by London Mayor Sadiq Kahn to revise the city’s Congestion Charge and scrap the Cleaner Vehicle Discount, replacing it with a new tiered system.

The announcement comes just a week after news broke of government proposals to introduce a pay-per-mile levy on electric car drivers from 2028.

The daily Congestion Charge will increase to £18 from 2 January next year, with discounts of 25 per cent for electric cars and 50 per cent for electric vans, HGVs and quadricycles, but only if they’re registered on TFL’s Auto Pay system.

From March 2030 those discounts will reduce to 12.5 per cent for electric cars and 25 per cent for electric vans, HGVs and quadricycles.

Residents who live within the charging zone and are in receipt of the Residents’ Discount prior to 1 March 2027 will still get their 90 per cent discount, regardless of vehicle fuel type. However, any residents applying for the Residents’ Discount after 1 March 2027, will only get the 90 per cent discount if they own an EV. Residents with low incomes and disabled residents will still be able to apply for the Residents’ Discount irrespective of the type of vehicle they own, but only up until March 2030.

Commenting on the changes to the Congestion Charge, Mayor of London Sadiq Kahn said, “Keeping London moving by reducing congestion is vital for our city and for our economy. While the congestion charge has been a huge success since its introduction, we must ensure it stays fit for purpose, and sticking to the status quo would see around 2,200 more vehicles using the congestion charging zone on an average weekday next year.

“We must support Londoners and businesses to use more sustainable travel, so I’m pleased that substantial incentives will remain in place for Londoners who switch to cleaner vehicles, as we work to build a greener and better London for everyone.”

Transport for London (TfL) says that the new measures have been drawn up ‘after feedback from Londoners’. However, businesses have expressed concern about the added costs for electric vehicles. The Electric London Coalition, which represents businesses such as AA, Openreach and Royal Mail, has said that it could cost a professional driver entering London five days a week up to £3,000 a year.

Edmund King OBE, AA president, said, “This is a backward step which sadly will backfire on air quality in London. Our AA UK EV Readiness Index shows that many drivers are not quite ready to make the switch to electric vehicles, so incentives are still needed to help them over the line.

“The Mayor needs to reconsider to continue to help more essential van and car journeys in the capital go electric.”

Steve Garelick, representing the GMB Union London Region, said, “Rolling back the Cleaner Vehicle Discount is an affront to working Londoners who answered City Hall’s call to go electric. This decision risks undoing years of progress, which neither our city nor its workers can afford.

“Couriers, private hire drivers, key workers – the people that keep London moving – are being punished for doing the right thing. Private hire drivers already pay substantial costs to TfL and operators to work in London. It is deeply unfair to charge them even more for simply doing their job.”

TfL claims that without the changes to the Congestion Charge there could be an additional 2,000 cars on London’s streets on an average weekday. In 2024 it says that congestion cost the capital £3.85 billion, while EVs are expected to account for 20 per cent of all vehicles in the Congestion Charging Zone by the end of this year.