Online safety campaigners reveal Starmer frustrations after Phillips exit
Internet safety and children’s rights campaigners have accused Keir Starmer of failing to act on proposals to stop children sending and receiving nude images on their phones, after Jess Phillips resigned from the government saying she was tired of seeing “opportunities for progress stalled and delayed”,The Labour politician was one of four ministers who quit on Tuesday and joined more than 80 MPs calling for the prime minister to go,In a coruscating letter she focused on a lack of urgency and boldness in tackling child abuse images, accusing Starmer of failing to take action to stop children being able to take or send naked pictures,She said: “Over a year ago I presented solutions, long worked on by brilliant civil servants, that would end the ability for children in the UK to take naked images of themselves,“We could stop this abuse.
It has taken me a year to get you to agree to even threaten to legislate in this space.Not legislate, just threaten.This is the definition of incremental change.Nothing bold about it.The announcement was meant to be in March.
”Hannah Swirsky, head of policy and public affairs at the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), said campaigners had been pushing for the government to force tech companies to block the ability to send and receive naked images on devices belonging to children.“This technology exists, it can be implemented and it would be a big step in stopping the proliferation of child sexual abuse images because it would stop a significant number of them being produced at source,” she said.Campaigners had hoped the government’s violence against women and girls strategy, published in December, would include plans to force tech companies to make the image blocker a default feature on children’s phones if they did not take action voluntarily.Instead, the strategy promised to “join forces with tech companies so we can work together to make [blocking images] a reality and better protect young people from grooming, extortion, bullying, harassment and sexual abuse.”In 2024, 91% of the reports of child sexual abuse images received by the IWF that were found to be criminal contained “self-generated” imagery, according to the charity’s research.
Police recorded 7,263 sexual communication with a child offences in the last year, almost double the number recorded since the offence came into force in 2017-18.“The government has been extremely slow, they have been too cautious and not gone as far as needed to tackle the issue of online child sexual abuse,” said Swirsky.Sources who had pushed on the policy behind the scenes said measures had found support in the Home Office and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, but had encountered a wall of inertia in Downing Street.They said that despite “private assurances” from the prime minister that he would do more to keep children safe online, it had sat on his desk “for months”.“I think there are questions to be asked about the access and the proximity of tech companies to the government and whether No 10 has been prioritising trade deals over online safety,” they said.
“It felt like some of the people who were advising on this decision were too close to the tech companies,”Others described a deep frustration at an “incremental” approach to change, saying an opportunity had been missed,“If we did this then the UK could be the world leader in tackling online child abuse, because other countries would have to follow – it’s just been painful to watch the complete lack of action,”Andy Burrow, CEO of the Molly Rose Foundation, said campaigners were “deeply frustrated” at the “logjam” that proposals had faced at the top of government,“The frustrations that Jess has expressed publicly today are the same frustrations that have been swirling privately for quite some time, and deservedly so,” he said.
“There is just this sense that it’s just been stuck in treacle in No 10,”There had been hope that the measures could be included in Starmer’s king’s speech, which is expected on Wednesday, he added,“We hoped there was a chance as of the end of last week that some of this would make its way in,” he said,“But quite where we are now, given the last 48 hours, is anybody’s guess,”
Nvidia’s Jensen Huang joins other US bosses on Trump trip to China
The billionaire chief executive of the chipmaker Nvidia, Jensen Huang, has joined Donald Trump’s China delegation after a reported last-minute invitation, highlighting the US’s AI and tech ambitions.Huang will join a roster of US bosses including the Tesla chief executive and X owner, Elon Musk, the Apple chief executive, Tim Cook, and Goldman Sachs’s David Solomon at Trump’s 36-hour meeting with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.The high-stakes summit is the first overseas trip for Trump since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran in late February. The summit is expected to cover topics including that conflict, tariffs and China’s relationship with Taiwan.Huang was not on the initial list of business delegates, according to reports
How to use spent tea leaves to smoke Chinese-style duck – recipe
A masterclass in smoking duck breasts the Sichuan way, but with used teabagsWhen I worked at River Cottage HQ, we used to smoke duck, rabbit and fish in a smoker made out of an old bread bin. It always felt like an exciting and alchemical way to cook, yielding incredible results, and it’s so simple, not least because food has been smoked since we first learned to cook over fire. Today’s recipe is my simple take on Chinese zhangcha duck, River Cottage-style and with a zero-waste twist by using spent teabags as the perfect fuel.It was always fun cooking at River Cottage: in between cooking lunch for our guests, we’d do cooking demos and sometimes cooked to camera (I have a cameo at the end of this video of Gill Meller making smoked duck that was filmed more than 20 years ago!)Zhangcha duck is traditionally smoked with camphor leaves and green or black tea, and while you can find camphor in some Asian supermarkets and online, tea alone does the job very well, too. Even still-wet spent teabags will work perfectly, imparting their incredible aroma into the meat
Weight gain as adult increases cancer risk by up to five times, research shows
Gaining weight as an adult increases the risk of cancer by up to five times, according to research involving more than 600,000 patients.Obesity can cause 13 different cancers and is thought to be linked to another eight. But less is known about the impact on cancer risk of the amount of weight put on – and when in life it is gained.To find out, researchers at Lund University in Sweden analysed weight and cancer incidence data from more than 600,000 men and women and found there was no safe age to get heavier.The study, presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, measured the weight of more than 250,000 men and just under 380,000 women an average of four times between the ages of 17 and 60
Sarah Taylor named England men’s fielding coach while Gay, Rew and Baker are called up
On a day when England named three uncapped players in their Test squad, brought Ollie Robinson out of cold storage and officially confirmed a new selector had joined the set-up, perhaps the most significant news was the identity of their fielding coach.Sarah Taylor, the former England wicketkeeper, will be in charge of the fielding drills during the three-Test series against New Zealand that begins at Lord’s on 4 June – the first female coach to work in the men’s senior setup.The fact that Rob Key, the England men’s team director, almost mentioned it in passing was fitting for a coach who has quietly risen through the ranks. Taylor, 36, has held a number of roles in the men’s game since hanging up her gloves five years ago, including spells with Sussex men and Manchester Originals in the Hundred.This latest post is just for the New Zealand series initially but may continue through the summer
Wes Streeting prepares to launch leadership challenge against Keir Starmer
Wes Streeting is preparing to launch a leadership challenge against Keir Starmer on Thursday if the health secretary can secure the support of enough MPs to trigger a contest.Streeting’s move to force a race has sparked a frantic scramble on the left of Labour to find a candidate to oppose him, with Ed Miliband and Angela Rayner both possible contenders.The health secretary, who is considered to be on the Blairite right of the party, has been organising an attempt to oust the prime minister for days since Labour’s disastrous election results, despite his friends insisting he did not want to make the first move.Andy Burnham, the Greater Manchester mayor, is the favoured replacement for Starmer by many on the soft left, but does not yet have a seat despite trying to persuade several MPs to stand down for him. His latest hopes are said to be Afzal Khan or Jeff Smith, both Manchester MPs
Coconut dal, cheesy pickle toasties, carrot halva cakes: Ravinder Bhogal’s tastes of home – recipes
Public institutions, from hospitals to museums, are the most international communities, both in the workforce and in those who visit. It’s something that became obvious to us when we were cooking our globally inspired meals for frontline workers at Kings College Hospital, London, during the pandemic. The menu at Café Jikoni, our new restaurant at the V&A East museum, speaks to the depth and breadth of east London’s diverse community, with dishes that cross borders, celebrate pluralism and taste like home – wherever that may be. After all, the best hospitality is all about making your guests feel at home.This dal wanders from India into Thailand; we make a curry paste from scratch at Café Jikoni, but using a good-quality one, such as Maeploy, is a smart shortcut
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