Jaywick’s continued decline and intensifying London poverty tell same story of ‘broken’ Britain
It’s Jaywick again.For the fourth time in a row the tiny, apparently unprepossessing seaside village overlooking the north sea just down the coast from Clacton in Essex has reluctantly claimed the unenviable title of England’s most deprived neighbourhood.Top of the indices of multiple deprivation since 2010, Jaywick Sands, once a popular holiday destination for working-class Londoners, has become a emblem of “broken” Britain, an exemplar of economic neglect, austerity and social breakdown, compounded by geographic isolation.Its local MP, Reform leader Nigel Farage, seemed unusually vague when asked about Jaywick’s travails on Thursday.Parts of it, he opined, seemed “depressed,” adding that he was “obviously sad that things aren’t improving more quickly”.
Well, yeah.In fact, Jaywick is, on official deprivation measures, chronically deprived: almost uniquely, it is in the 10% worst-ranked neighbourhoods in England across all seven indicators of deprivation, from employment to income, health, crime, access to housing, and environment.This dismal data picture did not tell the whole story, claimed Tendring’s council leader Mark Stephenson.He said “progress” had been made since 2019, and paid tribute to the strength of the local community: “Jaywick Sands is a truly special place, full of heart, pride and real community spirit.”Whatever the reality, Jaywick’s sticky position at the top of the rankings highlights a wider pattern of seemingly fixed relative deprivation.
At council level, Blackpool, Middlesbrough and Birmingham’s position at the top of the rankings also suggest a static deprivation hierarchy, unmoved by political fashions for “levelling up”.These left-behind town and cities are mainly post-industrial areas in the north and Midlands where living standards for many have been in reverse, where poverty levels are high and as a result, dissatisfaction with business-as-usual Westminster politics – spiced with a sharp resentment of the affluence of London and south-east – can be rife.And yet, the 2025 indices also reveal a more dynamic story, in which the myth of the capital as an oasis where the streets are paved with gold and the spoilt inhabitants surf a non-stop wave of wealth and privilege, is abruptly undermined.In 31 mainly inner London neighbourhoods, the latest index reveals, practically every resident child lives in an income deprived household.In data terms these neighbourhoods are small – 1,500 people on average, so this could refer to a housing estate or a group of streets – but large enough to be recognisably a “place”.
In the borough of Tower Hamlets, 71% of children live in income deprived households, the index reveals, In Hackney, it’s 64% and Newham 60%.It may come as a surprise to some that the percentage of children in low income households is as high (53%) in supposedly woke, wealthy Islington as it is in Burnley.For the first time, the measures of income deprivation took account of high rents (a burden endemic to London, where a privately rented two-bedroom flat can easily be £1,800 a month).By measuring household income after rent was paid (previously it measured income before housing costs), a radically different picture emerges.In many ways this seems academic.
Anyone familiar with London understands profound hardship exists amid conspicuous wealth.Yet six years ago, when the last indices were published, some London boroughs were paradoxically falling down the relative deprivation ranking, despite the highest rates of child poverty in the country.This may have political reverberations.The latest indices of deprivation will feed into the forthcoming local authority funding formula.Labour-run councils in the north of England are angry that the housing costs change will mean the promised reallocation of resources from the south may not be as generous as imagined.
For the mainly Labour-run boroughs of inner London, there is relief that official recognition of the dire impact of its dysfunctional housing market means their funding allocations may not be as depleted as anticipated,It is about time, they say, that extreme deprivation in the capital has been formally acknowledged,
Teenage boys using ‘personalised’ AI for therapy and romance, survey finds
The “hyper-personalised” nature of AI bots is drawing in teenage boys who now use them for therapy, companionship and relationships, according to research.A survey of boys in secondary schools by Male Allies UK found that just over a third said they were considering the idea of an AI friend, with growing concern about the rise of AI therapists and girlfriends.The research comes as character.ai, the popular artificial intelligence chatbot startup, announced a total ban on teens from engaging in open-ended conversations with its AI chatbots, which millions of people use for romantic, therapeutic and other conversations.Lee Chambers, the founder and chief executive of Male Allies UK, said: “We’ve got a situation where lots of parents still think that teenagers are just using AI to cheat on their homework
Microsoft reports strong earnings as Azure hit by major outage
Microsoft blew off concerns of overspending on AI on Wednesday, reporting elevated earnings even as it faced an outage of its cloud computing service, Azure, and its office software suite, 365. The strong earnings report comes a day after a deal with OpenAI pushed the value of the tech giant to more than $4tn.After its Xbox and investor relations pages went down, the company issued a statement that said: “We are working to address an issue affecting Azure Front Door that is impacting the availability of some services.”The outage did not dampen the software giant’s financial outlook. The company reported first-quarter earnings of $3
Meta reports mixed financial results amid spree of AI hiring and spending
Meta reported mixed financial results for the third quarter of 2025. The company brought in record quarterly revenue but reported a major tax bill that dampened earnings per share, the company announced on Wednesday. The financial results come as Meta ends a multibillion-dollar hiring spree focused on artificial intelligence talent.The tech giant earned $51.24bn in quarterly revenue, beating Wall Street expectations and the company’s own projections for third-quarter sales
Google parent Alphabet beats forecasts with first $100bn quarter
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, displayed steady growth in its core advertising business and cloud computing division as it reported third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, beating Wall Street estimates as it reported its first quarter of $100bn in revenue.The company thrilled Wall Street – shares rose in after-hours trading – even as it announced that it would spend billions more than previously predicted. Alphabet raised its capital expenditure guidance in financial filings, declaring it would spend between $91bn and $93bn in the upcoming year, nearly all of it on infrastructure like datacenters to support artificial intelligence products, which are becoming an integral part of the company’s business. That estimate is up from an original declaration of $75bn in February and a revised figure of $85bn announced in July.The company reported total revenue of $102
Nvidia becomes world’s first $5tn company amid stock market and AI boom
Nvidia has become the world’s first $5tn company as the artificial intelligence industry and wider US stock market boom. Just three months ago, the Silicon Valley chipmaker was the first to break through the barrier of $4tn in market value.In comparison, Nvidia’s value is greater than the GDP of India, Japan and the United Kingdom, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It has far outgrown its competitors in the chip industry, gaining momentum as numerous tech stocks have surged in recent days.Shortly after US stock markets opened on Wednesday, Nvidia’s shares touched $207
Character.AI bans users under 18 after being sued over child’s suicide
The chatbot company Character.AI will ban users 18 and under from conversing with its virtual companions beginning in late November after months of legal scrutiny.The announced change comes after the company, which enables its users to create characters with which they can have open-ended conversations, faced tough questions over how these AI companions can affect teen and general mental health, including a lawsuit over a child’s suicide and a proposed bill that would ban minors from conversing with AI companions.“We’re making these changes to our under-18 platform in light of the evolving landscape around AI and teens,” the company wrote in its announcement. “We have seen recent news reports raising questions, and have received questions from regulators, about the content teens may encounter when chatting with AI and about how open-ended AI chat in general might affect teens, even when content controls work perfectly
Jimmy Kimmel on government shutdown: ‘There is no Republican plan for healthcare’
Man who won damages over Richard III film calls for more regulation of fact-based drama
Jon Stewart on Trump’s taunts of an illegal third term: ‘We know he’s thought about it’
Steve Coogan says Richard III film was ‘story I wanted to tell’ as he agrees to libel settlement
‘We were fitted with remote control penises’: Harry Enfield and Kathy Burke on Kevin and Perry Go Large
From White Teeth to Swing Time: Zadie Smith’s best books - ranked!