Intersex people in Europe face ‘alarming’ rise in violence, EU finds

Europeans who do not fit the typical definition of male or female are grappling with an “alarming” rise in violence, the EU’s leading rights agency has said, as concerted campaigns seek to sow disinformation and fuel hatred towards them.The findings from the EU’s Agency for Fundamental Rights, published on Tuesday, were based on responses from 1,920 people in 30 countries across Europe. All of them identified as intersex, an umbrella term referring to those with innate variations of sex characteristics and which includes people who identify as trans, non-binary and gender diverse.It found that since 2019, the rates of violence and harassment against intersex people have sharply increased – particularly among those who identify as trans, non-binary and gender diverse – far outpacing the increases reported by others in the LGBTQ+ community.One in three surveyed, 34%, said they had been physically or sexually assaulted in the five years prior to the survey, up from 22% in 2019

Scrap policy that gives refugees with leave to remain 28 days to find housing, say UK groups

More than 60 homelessness and asylum seeker organisations have urged ministers to reverse an eviction policy that could leave thousands more refugees on the streets this winter.Leading homelessness organisations including Crisis, Shelter, St Mungo’s and the Chartered Institute of Housing and dozens of refugee and migrant organisations have written to the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and the housing secretary, Steve Reed, urging them to cancel a controversial new policy that halves the length of time asylum seekers have to leave government-provided accommodation after they have been granted leave to remain, from 56 days to 28 days.The organisations and refugees say 28 days is not long enough to find rented accommodation, a job and to sort out benefits, leaving them more likely to end up on the streets after being moved on from Home Office asylum accommodation.The letter warns that as well as undermining the government’s strategy to end homelessness, having a big increase in refugees sleeping on the streets will exacerbate community tensions and put rthem at risk from those expressing racist and anti-migrant sentiments.It states: “The additional pressure for local councils comes as the number of people living in temporary accommodation is at an all-time high, and a lack of alternatives will result in further use of expensive, nightly, paid options for those eligible

Privately educated still have ‘vice-like grip’ on most powerful UK jobs

The privately educated are tightening their “vice-like grip” on some of the most powerful and influential roles in British society, such as FTSE 100 chairs, newspaper columnists and BBC executives, a report has found.Those in the most important positions are five times as likely to have attended private school than the general population, showing it is still possible to “buy advantage”, according to the Sutton Trust.Since 2019, the number of privately educated elites has barely changed and in some fields is growing, the report found. The social mobility charity said it was a “disgrace” that most of the country’s top jobs were still dominated by privileged people.Overall, senior armed forces personnel were the most likely to be privately educated, with 63% of officers of two-star rank (major generals and equivalents in other services) and above attending a fee-paying school, a rise of 14% compared with six years ago

One in three GPs in England do not work in NHS, says BMJ study

One in three GPs in England do not work in the NHS, with increasing numbers seeking to move abroad or becoming a private contractor, deepening patients’ difficulties in getting appointments.The proportion of family doctors who, although qualified, do not provide care through the NHS has risen from 27% in 2015 to 34% last year, according to a study published in the BMJ.That means almost 20,000 GPs who could be working in the health service are “lost” to it and are not doing so, despite unprecedented demand for care and many government initiatives to try to increase GP numbers.While a total of 58,548 GPs in England were on the General Medical Council (GMC) register at the end of last year, only 38,626 of them were in general practice there – a difference of 19,922.The Patients Association said the findings were “deeply distressing” for patients who are often left frustrated by the time it takes to get a consultation with a GP

An image of sport for girls that lacks diversity | Letter

Your report highlights the life-changing impact of sport for girls (Girls who play after-school sport in UK 50% more likely to later get top jobs, study finds 11 September). But not all girls have equal opportunities, and representation plays a key role: two-thirds of young people say seeing diverse athletes helps them believe sport is for everyone. Yet our study of more than 4,000 online images of sport settings found that of 8,559 women pictured, just 117 were Black or south Asian. Entire communities are missing from view.If girls don’t see themselves reflected, they are more likely to miss out

‘Broken’ after the deaths of three women, Ballarat embarks on an Australian-first trial to combat gender-based violence

In the weeks after the deaths of three women in quick succession in Ballarat last year, the principals of three of the regional Victorian city’s high schools brought their students together for a joint forum.“The community was feeling pretty broken,” Stephan Fields, the principal of Ballarat high school, says.“Ballarat – like many regional centres – is highly interconnected. There was so many connections across so many schools, sport establishments and friendship groups. So it had a really profound ripple effect