Funding for English youth clubs aims to keep children off smartphones
Youth clubs and after-school activities in England will receive a funding injection of £88m as ministers try to get more children away from smartphones and computer screens.The package, which Keir Starmer announced on Tuesday, is intended to give pupils access to sport, outdoor activities, art, music, debating and volunteering.The prime minister said there was a “worrying trend” of young people finding themselves “isolated at home and disconnected from their communities”.He said the funds were designed to offer young people “a better alternative” and the opportunity to “develop the confidence and life skills that no algorithm can teach”.Of the £88m package, £22.
5m is new money to fund extracurricular activities in up to 400 schools over three years,The remaining £65,5m was announced in the spending review in June,It will be spent on improving youth club infrastructure, including new gym equipment and climbing walls, in areas with high levels of child poverty and support youth work in areas with high rates of antisocial behaviour,The funds will also support local authorities to provide high-quality out-of-school activities and create thousands of places in youth organisations such as the Scouts, the Guides and the Volunteer Police Cadets.
Sign up to First EditionOur morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersafter newsletter promotionThe number of youth centres run by local authorities in England almost halved between 2012 and 2023, with council spending on youth work decreasing by 75% and the number of youth workers falling by about 4,500.In the spring UK Youth, the country’s biggest youth-work charity, called on the government to urgently increase funding and said Labour had so far spent less than the Conservatives on youth work in England.Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, last month told cabinet colleagues that deprivation, immigration and rising time spent online were having a “profound impact on society”.At a cabinet meeting, she said the government must confront people’s “real concerns” to rebuild trust.In March, Starmer praised the hit Netflix drama Adolescence and invited its makers to Downing Street to discuss the influence of toxic online material.
He told the BBC that the series shone a light “on misogyny, on online content, and this sense of children, particularly boys, getting drawn into this world”.Ministers are preparing to publish a national youth strategy in the autumn.Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, said: “Strong local youth services are the bedrock of thriving communities that give our young people safe spaces to learn, grow and reach their potential.”
Rugby in US suffers another blow as second team in a week exits MLR
Major League Rugby was reduced to eight teams on Wednesday by the withdrawal of the Miami Sharks, just a week after a founding team quit the competition and two California teams merged.Miami and MLR did not immediately comment but multiple league sources confirmed that the Sharks’ withdrawal after two years in the league was finalized on Tuesday.The Guardian understands that a request to withdraw for 2026 before a potential return in 2027 was rejected by team owners – NOLA Gold, the team that announced its exit last week, having sought a similar arrangement.NOLA and Miami could reapply to play in 2027, the Guardian was told.Last week, after NOLA’s exit and the merger of San Diego Legion and RFC LA, it was widely reported that the league could yet fall to just seven teams, the number that kicked off the competition in 2018
Jayden Nguyen’s Bombers debut could herald new era as AFL tackles cultural diversity | Jack Snape
The first AFL men’s player with a Vietnamese background, Essendon’s Jayden Nguyen, held his own against Sydney star Tom Papley on Saturday. Despite the Bombers’ 14-point defeat, Nguyen’s appearance was an important milestone for a game still struggling to come to terms with its place within multicultural Australia.The 19-year-old, whose parents arrived in Australia in the 1980s, said he hoped he had made others proud. “I’m pretty wrapped with the support I’ve got over the past few days from the Vietnamese community, and the Asian community in general,” Nguyen said after the match. “I just feel like it helps push me and makes me feel proud about myself
The Spin | Strapple, greeble, slog and kiss: how cricket’s language turns a game of numbers into poetry
Joe Root shifts his weight forward, rising with the lifting ball from back of a good length. As it nears his body he moves his hands and bat towards the ball. In one seamless motion, with the ball under his eyes, he adjusts his weight back a touch, twisting his wrists to open the face of the blade. He lets the ball come to him before directing it through the gap between third slip and gully.That is a lot of words to say that Joe Root has yet again steered one behind square for four
From the Pocket: nagging questions remain but Simon Goodwin’s gameplan ultimately marked his card
At their very best, Simon Goodwin’s Demons would fight hand to hand, square metre by square metre. Their midfielders were like snorting bulls. Their ruckman was peerless. Their key defenders would patrol and gobble, deny and thwart. In just under an hour, it all came together in a flawless, torrential, still scarcely believable flood of goals
How a controversial hand gesture divided opinion in the NRL
The NRL showed leniency on Wednesday by letting off Wests Tigers players with a warning after they used a gesture offensive to some Lebanese-Australian communities in Sunday’s victory over Canterbury-Bankstown. But the sanction is unlikely to satisfy everyone given the range of responses elicited, from those outraged to others who believe the act was “just a bit of banter”.Celebrating a second-half try to seal an upset Tigers’ win against the high-flying Bulldogs in pouring rain at Parramatta, backrower Samuela Fainu made a hand gesture known as “the khawd”, and his teammates quickly joined in.Almost one in five residents of Bankstown have Lebanese ancestry, and the Bulldogs’ fanbase has a strong association with Arab communities in Sydney’s west. The club holds an annual Ifthar dinner each year during Ramadan and one of its favourite sons is Lebanon-born former winger Hazem El-Masri
Trump announces he will chair White House taskforce for 2028 LA Olympics
Donald Trump announced on Tuesday the creation of a White House taskforce that he will lead to oversee elements of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.The president signed an executive order establishing the taskforce, which will include JD Vance as well as other cabinet members and government officials. The body will work with local and state authorities on security and transportation for the first Games in the US in nearly three decades.Trump will chair the taskforce, while Vance will serve as vice-chair and an executive director will oversee “daily operations”, according to the White House.“The LA Olympics is shaping up to be a wonderful moment for America
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