BOSTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement apprehended an illegally present Dominican national convicted of heroin distribution crimes, who is currently charged with assault with a dangerous weapon and shoplifting crimes when ICE officers arrested Santor Aibar, 56, in East Boston Jan. 22.
“Santos Aibar is exactly the kind of alien offender who needs to be removed from the streets of Massachusetts,” said ICE Boston Enforcement and Removal Operations acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde. “He has already been convicted of peddling poison to our neighborhoods, and he currently stands accused of assaulting a resident with a box cutter. ICE Boston will not tolerate such threats to the people of our New England communities. We stand committed to our mission of arresting and removing such egregious alien threats.”
Aibar illegally entered the United States on an unknown date, at an unknown location, and without being admitted, inspected, or paroled by a U.S. immigration official.
The West Roxbury District Court in Massachusetts convicted Aibar Sept. 29, 2008, for distribution of of heroin and sentenced him to one year in prison.
ICE officers arrested Aibar at the Nashua Street Jail in Boston July 2, 2010, and served him with a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge.
The immigration judge ordered Aibar removed from the U.S. on Sept. 30, 2010, and ICE removed Aibar to the Dominican Republic Nov. 17, 2010.
Aibar illegally re-entered the U.S. on an unknown date, at an unknown location, and without being admitted, inspected, or paroled by a U.S. immigration official.
ICE encountered Aibar Feb. 28, 2023, following his arrest by local authorities, and issued an immigration detainer against Aibar with the Boston Police Department.
ICE determined that the state of Massachusetts released Aibar on Feb. 25, 2024, without honoring the immigration detainer.
The South Boston District Court arraigned Aibar Sept. 03, 2024, for the offenses of assault with dangerous weapon and shoplifting.
Aibar remains in custody following his apprehension by ICE.
Members of the public with information can report crimes or suspicious activity by dialing the ICE Tip Line at 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or completing the online tip form.
Learn more about ICE’s mission to increase public safety in our New England communities on X at @EROBoston.
EVERETT, Mass. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement apprehended an illegally present Brazilian fugitive wanted for armed robbery in his home country when officers arrested the 38-year-old alien in Everett Jan. 22.
“This Brazilian fugitive is facing significant charges in his home country, so he attempted to flee justice by coming here,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde. “Every day he was hiding out in Massachusetts, he posed a significant threat to our residents. ICE Boston will not allow New England to become a safe haven for the world’s criminal elements. We will continue to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing egregious alien threats.”
U.S. Border Patrol apprehended the Brazilian alien Oct. 15, 2020, after he illegally entered the United States. The Border Patrol issued him a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge. The Brazilian alien was returned to Mexico Oct. 16, 2020.
The Border Patrol arrested the Brazilian national after he illegally entered the U.S. a second time April 2, 2021. An immigration judge ordered the alien released on bond Sept. 27, 2021.
Authorities in Brazil, issued an arrest warrant for the Brazilian fugitive May 20, 2024, for armed robbery, an offense carrying a possible 16-year prison penalty.
The Brazilian fugitive remains in ICE custody following his arrest.
Members of the public with information can report crimes or suspicious activity by dialing the ICE Tip Line at 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or completing the online tip form.
Learn more about ERO Boston’s mission to increase public safety in our New England communities on X at @EROBoston.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
GAD has provided recommendations to help public sector organisations in Scotland use more consistent climate scenarios when planning climate adaptation.
Credit: Piotr Musiol, Unsplash
We have supplied advice and recommendations to the Scottish Government, as it looks to develop a climate scenario decision tool for the public sector.
The tool will provide guidance and support around the implementation of climate scenario analysis. This will enable consistent analysis of future climate-related risks across the public sector in Scotland.
After extensive research and stakeholder engagement, GAD’s team of climate risk experts set out recommendations on the:
climate change emissions pathways or temperature scenarios
time frames
climate hazards
GAD undertook a review of existing policy, guidance, and stakeholder practice on the use of future climate scenarios and hazard data.
As a result, we spoke to a broad range of stakeholders across Scotland including:
Scottish Environmental and Protection Agency (SEPA)
Scottish Water
Scottish Government
Transport Scotland
NatureScot
Credit: v2osk, Unsplash
Consistent approach
We developed options for setting national-level guidance to support the consideration of future climate change and help drive a consistent approach to adaptation planning across the public sector in Scotland.
Among GAD’s main recommendations are that:
the scenario analysis should cover both chronic and acute physical climate hazards
organisations should consider at least 2 degrees Celsius and 4 degrees Celsius temperature scenarios
scenario analysis should be updated every 3 to 5 years
Knowledge exchange
ClimateXChange project manager, Kay White, said: “ClimateXChange facilitates knowledge exchange between researchers and the Scottish Government, and this report has addressed a knowledge gap in the importance of scenario analysis in assessing and understanding uncertainty in future climate risk.
“We hope that the findings from this report further guide the development of a practical scenario analysis tool for the Scottish public sector and enable a more robust understanding of climate change for future decision making.”
Marc H. Silverman, Acting United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), New England, today announced that the U.S. Attorney’s Office has returned approximately $328,573 to the victim of a computer support scam.
A computer support scam is a type of fraud scheme where an alert appears on the victim’s computer imitating a customer support alert, tricking the victim into contacting the bad actors. When the victim contacts the scammers, the scammers then take remote control of the computer and either directly transfer money from the victim to the scammers or trick the victim into sending money to the scammers.
According to the complaint (3:24cv840), in February 2024, an elderly woman who was tricked by a computer support scheme that mimicked Microsoft customer support transferred approximately $550,000 to the scammers in two wire transfers. Within two days of the transfers, the victim and a family member reported the incident to the Simsbury Police Department, who then partnered with HSI to investigate the crime. Fortunately, one of the wire transfers, in the amount of $221,000, was reversed by the bank and returned to the victim. HSI traced the remaining money, totaling approximately $328,573, and seized it. The U.S. Attorney’s Office then filed a civil asset forfeiture action to forfeit the money to the government, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office and HSI then worked with the Department of Justice’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section (MLARS) to return the money to the victim. MLARS initiated the return of the money on February 4, 2025.
Generally, the U.S. Attorney’s Office first forfeits the money, then returns it to the crime victims, so that the crime victims have clear title to the property without risk of further litigation.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office is committed to helping victims of crime, and civil asset forfeiture is a powerful tool that allows the government to return money to victims of fraud schemes,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Silverman. “As we continue to pursue criminal prosecution of the individuals responsible for this and other computer crimes, it is equally important to ensure that the government uses all of its tools to minimize, and in this case, undo, the financial impact these crimes have on victims. This case represents the best case scenario, where nearly every dollar taken from the victim was returned to her. While it can be difficult to come forward and admit that you have been victimized by online scammers, know that federal law enforcement and our state and local partners stand ready to help you to the fullest extent possible.”
“Cyber scams run by foreign malign actors are becoming more common and more sophisticated every day,” said HSI New England Special Agent in Charge Krol. “The victim in this case contacted authorities quickly resulting in the recovery of most of her money by the bank and by HSI – a best case scenario and rare result. It is essential for victims of these kinds of cybercrimes to come forward as soon as possible. We want the public to know that help is available and to reach out immediately if they’ve been victimized by international scammers.”
If you think you have been a victim of a computer support scam, immediately contact your bank or financial institution to request a recall or reversal as well as a Hold Harmless Letter or Letter of Indemnity, and contact local law enforcement. Additionally, file a detailed complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov. The Internet Crime Complaint Center is run by the FBI and serves as the country’s hub for reporting cybercrime. Visit www.ic3.gov for updated information regarding cyber fraud schemes.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David C. Nelson.
The Lucy Letby case is the latest in a number of UK criminal medical cases that, beyond the rights and wrongs of each verdict, raise serious questions around how such cases are tried – especially when the evidence is limited, complex, and circumstantial. These cases often rely heavily on expert witnesses, whose testimony is crucial yet can be open to interpretation.
As an expert in the intersection of criminal and medical law, I am particularly concerned with how prosecution teams gather expert evidence in such cases – and how it is then communicated to juries through expert witnesses.
Generally speaking, in complex medical cases, police and prosecutors may risk becoming overly reliant on a small pool of experts when dealing with highly technical issues beyond their expertise. This dependence can inadvertently lead to “cherry-picking” – selectively presenting evidence that supports a particular narrative, while overlooking alternative perspectives that could provide a more comprehensive or balanced view.
In the Letby case, the prosecution’s selection and interpretation of evidence has now been challenged by an independent panel of 14 neonatal and paediatric experts. Letby is serving 15 whole-life prison terms after being convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill another seven at the Countess of Chester hospital in north-west England. The chair of the panel, retired Canadian neonatologist Dr Shoo Lee, was co-author of a 1989 academic paper on air embolism in babies that was used in the prosecution’s case, but now says this evidence was misinterpreted by the prosecution.
In complex medical cases, I’m concerned that prosecutors – who may lack the medical expertise needed to fully grasp these complexities – may gravitate toward experts whose opinions align with a prosecutorial narrative, whether consciously or not. This can result in a narrowing of expert perspectives which might tend to focus only on those that bolster the case for conviction, while alternative views that could provide a more balanced assessment are excluded or marginalised.
In trials where juries hear only a limited number of expert voices, there’s a risk they may not receive a sufficiently balanced understanding of the case. In addition, rare diagnoses may lack the robust scientific literature typically needed to validate medical opinions in court.
Medical experts, like professionals in any field, can have differing opinions, especially in cases involving judgment calls or grey areas in medical practice. Without exposure to a range of viewpoints, jurors may miss alternative interpretations of the same evidence, which could be crucial for fair deliberation.
Of course, the defence also has the opportunity to call its own experts, potentially offering counter-arguments to prosecution evidence. But decisions by a defence team not to call certain experts may be based on legal strategy, resource constraints, or concerns about how the testimony will withstand cross-examination. When this happens, it can amplify the weight of the prosecution’s selected experts, potentially skewing the jury’s understanding.
Jurors naturally place a high level of trust in experts, assuming their testimony is both accurate and confined to their area of expertise. So, when experts venture beyond their remit, jurors may accept these statements uncritically, unaware that such testimony may lack the depth required in such complex medical cases. This issue is particularly concerning in circumstantial prosecutions where the case often hinges more on expert interpretation than on direct evidence, increasing the risk of misunderstanding or misjudgment.
Expert overreach
Testimony from experts unfamiliar with the practical pressures of certain clinical settings may lead to distorted interpretations of what a “reasonable” course of action would have been under the circumstances. This can result in unfair judgments, particularly when the nuances of clinical decision-making aren’t fully explored.
Experts also sometimes “overreach” their duties in court, offering opinions that extend beyond their remit. In the case of surgeon David Sellu, who was jailed for gross negligence manslaughter in November 2013 before being freed three years later, having spent 15 months in prison, the court of appeal noted that expert witnesses had repeatedly expressed opinions on whether Sellu’s conduct amounted to gross negligence – an assessment the court said should have been left to the jury.
In that case, the experts directly addressed the “ultimate issue” of whether Sellu’s actions were grossly negligent. But that was for the jury to decide, not the experts, and I believe the trial judge should have intervened. A key change needed by the UK legal system, in my view, is to establish clearer guidelines to ensure experts do not exceed their role – whether in a complex financial fraud or criminal medical trial.
Incidentally, while the judge in the Sellu trial didn’t give the jury correct direction (this was a key finding by the court of appeal that made the conviction unsafe), I don’t think it was entirely the judge’s fault. The law surrounding gross negligence manslaughter, particularly when applied to doctors unintentionally causing a patient’s death, is fraught with ambiguity. The lack of clear guidelines on what constitutes “gross” negligence, coupled with inconsistent application of the law, has sparked widespread concerns about its fairness and appropriateness in the medical context..
Make-up of a jury
Letby’s trial also highlights the limitations of the current jury system in such complex medical cases. The original trial was one of the longest in UK legal history, lasting ten months. The idea of jury trials is you’re tried by your peers, but if you’re a healthcare professional, you’re arguably not really being tried by your peers.
In England, jury service is compulsory and jurors are chosen randomly from the electoral register, but there are some exemptions and deferrals available in specific circumstances, such as serious illness, disability, or full-time caregiving. Additionally, people can apply for deferral if serving would cause significant hardship due to work commitments, including shift work or conflicts with important public duties. This is particularly relevant for professionals who cannot easily take extended time away from their roles.
This adds to the question of whether a jury, composed of 12 lay people with no specialised medical knowledge, can effectively assess intricate, often conflicting medical evidence. As Rebecca Helm highlights in her book How Juries Work (2024), while expert testimony aims to enhance jury understanding of complex evidence, jurors often lack the necessary background knowledge to fully grasp or critically assess it. This can lead to challenges in properly weighing competing expert opinions, especially in adversarial systems where experts present differing views.
In the Letby case, the vast amount of medical evidence presented for each baby likely made it challenging for a lay jury to fully comprehend. Additionally, they may have felt intimidated or hesitant to ask the judge questions, further complicating their ability to critically engage with the evidence.
Of course, it’s important to understand the backdrop for cases like this. I’m very aware of how overstretched, understaffed and under-resourced our hospitals are. And in the Letby case, we know that severely premature babies who are born on the cusp of viability often have a lot of comorbidities. It’s vital that jurors have a clear understanding of such specific context – which is outside the normal experience of most of us – when they come to make their decisions.
The jury’s role is to assess expert evidence independently, yet this can be difficult without clear guidance. In the Sellu trial, the absence of a “route to verdict” document was another significant issue. While not always mandatory, such a document is often used in complex cases to help jurors separate medical facts from legal conclusions.
Without it, the jury was left without clear guidance, increasing the risk of confusion and misapplication of the law. While the court of appeal did not say a route to verdict was strictly required, it strongly indicated that its omission contributed to an unfair trial process.
Expert advisors for juries
In complex criminal cases, like fraud or medical trials, where a large amount of expert evidence is presented, it can be challenging for lay jurors to fully understand and assess the evidence. Elsewhere in Europe – including in Italy, Spain and France – expert judges or advisers are often involved in complex cases to help guide the jury and clarify professional standards relevant to the case.
Given the complexity of cases like Sellu and Letby, it’s worth considering whether jury reform is needed in the UK to ensure fair trials. A potential solution is the inclusion of an expert, such as a medico-legal advisor, who can assist juries in understanding and weighing medical evidence. This would provide clarity on complex issues and help jurors navigate the case more effectively. It would be a practical, cost-effective step that maintains the integrity of jury trials, while addressing challenges specific to complex medical manslaughter and murder cases.
This medico-legal expert would serve solely to assist the jury in understanding complex issues presented during the trial, and would have no role in the deliberation or decision-making process. They are separate to the judge who oversees the trial, and their precise expertise would be dependent on the particular nature of the case.
Of course, everything would have to be confidential in accordance with jury rules – their introduction would simply be to facilitate decision-making and explain complex matters to the jury.
I believe it’s in the interests of both parties, the defendant and the prosecution, that the jury fully understands the evidence presented in court. An impartial medico-legal expert could help ensure this understanding, without influencing the case’s outcome. Their role would be beneficial for clarity, helping both parties ensure the jury comprehends the complex evidence before them.
Further, it may also be worth considering specialist medical juries for certain complex criminal cases, such as the Letby trial, where the evidence is highly technical. The sheer volume of complex medical information presented for each baby in this case suggests that a jury without specialised medical knowledge could struggle to fully grasp the evidence.
Appeals process
One of the Letby appeal grounds involved an application to admit fresh evidence from Lee, challenging the conclusions reached from the 1989 study he co-authored. The court of appeal denied this, noting it did not meet the standards for fresh evidence. Refusals such as this highlights an essential aspect of public debate: the need for transparency about how the court of appeal evaluates new evidence, especially in cases that receive significant media attention.
While it remains to be seen whether the court grants a new appeal for Letby, after the criminal cases review commission reviews the latest evidence provided by Lee’s panel, the Thirlwall inquiry has been sitting since September 2023, looking at events at the Countess of Chester Hospital on the basis that Letby is guilty. It will ultimately make recommendations about different aspects of this wider medical ecosystem, but it’s got no legal authority. Inquiries can make valuable recommendations, but they are advisory in nature and cannot enforce legal changes or compel action.
There are numerous other examples where criminal trials have not led to the systemic-level changes that they highlight are urgently needed, beyond the individual verdict. During the trial of Hadiza Bawa-Garba – a junior doctor found guilty of manslaughter in November 2015 on the grounds of gross negligence manslaughter following the death of a six-year-old boy in her care – it was revealed that the Leicester NHS trust’s serious incident report had identified 93 failures, only six of which were attributable to the doctor herself.
Ultimately, while holding individuals accountable is essential, we must also shift our focus towards long-term, systemic reform. Only by addressing the root causes and strengthening oversight within healthcare institutions can we ensure that tragedies are never repeated. The criminal justice system, though necessary in cases of clear criminal conduct, should be complemented by proactive, preventative measures that foster a culture of safety, accountability and transparency in healthcare.
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Amel Alghrani does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
US Drug Enforcement Administration images accompanying a warning about the emergence of nitazenes in Washington DC, June 2022USDEA
In the early hours of September 14 2021, three men parked in a quiet car park in the southern English market town of Abingdon-on-Thames. The men, returning from a night out, had pulled over to smoke heroin.
Unknown to them, the drug had been fortified with a nitazene compound called isotonitazene, a highly potent new synthetic opioid. Two of the men, Peter Haslam and Adrian Davies, overdosed and went into cardiac arrest. The third, Michael Parsons, tried to save them and himself by injecting naloxone, an opioid overdose antidote. Despite paramedics also trying to resuscitate Haslam and Davies, both died at the scene.
Their deaths were among at least 27 fatalities linked to nitazenes that year in the UK. Since then, nitazenes – otherwise known as 2-benzylbenzimidazole opioids – have become more prevalent in the UK’s illegal drug supply, leading some experts to warn that they are a major new threat because of their extreme potency.
In June 2023, the UK’s most recent outbreak of deaths linked to synthetic opioids emerged in the West Midlands when drug dealers used nitazenes to fortify low-purity heroin. By August, there were 21 nitazene-related fatalities in Birmingham alone. In some cases, dealers also added xylazine (colloquially known as “tranq”), a non-opioid sedative used by vets.
The increasing availability of these and other synthetic drugs led the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to warn in August 2024 that “there has never been a more dangerous time to take drugs”. Like Haslam and Davies, many heroin users are unaware they might also be consuming nitazenes, which significantly increase the risk of overdose.
Given their potency, only a small amount of nitazene is required to produce a fatal dose. While some studies have concluded that nitazenes are even more potent than the synthetic opioid fentanyl, which causes many thousands of deaths in the US, the NCA judges it a “realistic possibility” that the potency of both substances are “broadly equivalent” – making them roughly 50 times more potent than heroin.
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Officially, more than 400 deaths plus many non-fatal overdoses were linked to nitazenes in the UK between June 2023 and January 2025. But this is likely to be an underestimate because of gaps within forensic and toxicology reporting. These figures come amid record levels of drug-related deaths in England and Wales. In 2023, there were 5,448 deaths related to drug poisoning, an 11% increase on the previous year and the highest total since records began in 1993.
This is of particular concern given that the UK has the largest heroin market in Europe, comprising around 300,000 users in England alone. While nitazene-related deaths are still relatively low (although by no means insignificant) compared with those from heroin and other opioids, these new synthetic opioids are cheap and easy to buy, and offer dealers multiple advantages over traditional plant-based drugs.
Unlike opium, nitazenes and other synthetic opioids can be produced anywhere in the world using precursor chemicals that are often uncontrolled and widely available. Producer countries including China and India have not yet banned all nitazene compounds, meaning they are sold legally – mostly online. Chemical manufacturing companies in these countries can synthesise nitazenes at scale using a comparatively easy three or four-step process.
Opioid use death rates around the world:
Estimated deaths from opioid use disorders per 100,000 people in 2021. Our World In Data, CC BY
For the past 15 years, I have researched and advised on the international narcotics industry, especially the Afghan drug trade, as an academic, UK Home Office official and consultant. I’ve observed many shifts within global drug markets, and I believe the increasing availability of synthetic drugs in the UK and Europe may represent a new chapter in illicit drug use here – with the emergence of nitazenes only adding to these concerns.
A brief history of synthetic opioids
New synthetic opioids (NSOs) are one of the fastest-growing groups of new psychoactive substances around the world. The EU Drugs Agency (EUDA) currently monitors 81 NSOs – the fourth-largest group of drugs under observation.
NSOs largely fall into two broad groups: fentanyl and its analogues, and non-fentanyl-structured compounds – these include nitazenes, among many other substances.
Many of these “new” synthetic opioids have, in fact, existed for decades. Nitazenes were first synthesised in the 1950s by the Swiss pharmaceutical company, Ciba Aktiengesellschaft, as pain-relieving analgesics, although they were never approved for medical use.
Prior to 2019, there had only been limited reports of nitazenes in the illegal drug supply – including a “brownish looking powder” found in Italy in 1966; the discovery of a lab in Germany in 1987; several nitazene-related deaths in Moscow in 1998; and a US chemist illegally producing the drug for personal use in 2003. But since nitazenes re-emerged at the end of the last decade, over 20 variants have been discovered.
Paul Janssen, the Belgian chemist who first made fentanyl. Johnson & Johnson
The most common NSO in the illegal drug market, fentanyl, was first synthesised by Belgian chemist Paul Janssen in 1960. Fentanyl, which is roughly 100 times more potent than morphine, was approved in the US in 1968 for pharmaceutical use as an analgesic.
Over the next four decades, however, illegally produced fentanyl resulted in three relatively small outbreaks of deaths in the US. A fourth, larger fentanyl outbreak in Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia resulted in about 1,000 deaths between 2005 and 2007.
The current US fentanyl crisis started in 2013, expanding to affect much of the country. Between 2014 and 2019, Chinese companies were the main manufacturers of finished fentanyl substances in the US – to combat this, both the Obama and Trump administrations lobbied Beijing to curtail the fentanyl industry.
The Chinese government responded by controlling specific fentanyl analogues. However, every time an analogue was banned, chemists there would slightly adjust the formula to produce a new compound that mirrored the banned substance.
China finally banned all fentanyl-related substances in May 2019, prompting two significant changes in the drug’s supply: a slowdown in the development of new fentanyl analogues, and a reduction in their direct sale to the US from China. Instead, Chinese companies increasingly sent fentanyl precursors to Mexican drug cartels who would synthesise fentanyl (or counterfeit medication) in clandestine labs, before smuggling it across the US border. Consequently, Mexico is now the primary source of fentanyl in the US.
But these supply changes led to another shift in the global drugs arena, as China’s chemical and pharmaceutical businesses – keen to develop new markets – adjusted their focus to producing uncontrolled synthetic substances, including nitazenes. At the same time, they expanded their geographical focus from North America to include Europe and the UK.
The nitazene supply chain
Producing nitazenes is a relatively low-cost exercise. They are largely manufactured in laboratories – both legal and illegal – in China, before being smuggled to the UK and Europe via fast parcel and post networks.
Nitazenes’ high potency means only small quantities are required, making them easier to transport and harder for border officials to detect. Some Chinese vendors have reportedly been offering to hide nitazenes in legitimate goods such as dog food and catering supplies, to circumvent custom controls. All of this decreases the risk to sellers, and lessens the price of doing business.
In March 2024, two China-based sellers operating on the dark web were selling a kilo of nitazene for between €10,000 and €17,000 (£12,000-£20,000). During roughly the same period, a kilo of heroin at the wholesale level in the UK was selling for between £23,000 and £26,000. Once bought, nitazenes are largely used to fortify low-purity heroin, although the drug can also be made into pills.
Video by The Guardian.
Nitazenes are not limited to the dark web. They are widely and openly advertised on the internet, social media and music streaming platforms. In February 2024, one China-based e-commerce site displayed 85 advertisements for nitazenes. Such sites also sell a range of other synthetic drugs, including fentanyl analogues and precursors, xylazines, cannabinoids and methamphetamine.
This means drug dealers in the UK and across the world no longer need to have established connections to underworld figures to source illegal drugs. With a click of a mouse, they can have them delivered to their home address. In this sense, the internet has democratised the drug trade by widening access beyond “traditional” criminals.
In the UK, while the supply of nitazenes is currently assessed as “low”, a number of smaller-scale organised crime groups are importing them to fortify low-purity heroin, before largely dealing it at the “county lines” level. This involves organised crime groups moving drugs – primarily heroin and crack cocaine – across towns, cities and county borders within the UK, using mobile phones or another form of “deal line” to sell to customers.
In November 2023, Leon Brown from West Bromwich was imprisoned for seven years for dealing drugs containing nitazenes – a verdict described as “a great result in our ongoing efforts to tackle county lines drug dealing” by detective sergeant Luke Papps of the South Worcestershire county lines team.
A few larger UK criminal networks have also been involved in nitazene distribution. In October 2023, the police and Border Force conducted raids across north London, arresting 11 people. They dismantled a drug processing site and seized 150,000 tablets containing nitazene – the UK’s largest ever seizure of synthetic opioids – as well as a pill-pressing machine, a firearm, more than £60,000 in cash and £8,000 in cryptocurrency. The police suspected the group had been selling the tablets on the dark web.
Anecdotal reports suggest there have been mixed reactions to the introduction of nitazenes into the illegal drug supply. Richard, a recovering heroin user from Bristol, told Vice magazine that, given their potency, some “people are scared of [nitazenes]” while others are “actively seeking” them.
As has been the case with fentanyl in the US, users build up tolerance and therefore seek stronger doses. Manny, a heroin user from Bristol, told Vice: “I smoked [heroin cut with nitazenes] and it felt like the first time I’d ever taken drugs.”
Video by Vice.
UK-based criminals also use the dark web to export nitazenes abroad. In October 2023, the Australian Border Force identified 22 nitazene discoveries in packages shipped to the country via mail cargo from the UK. British criminals have also trafficked counterfeit medicines containing nitazenes to Ireland and Norway.
Use of nitazenes is now being detected all over the world. Within Europe, Ireland experienced several nitazene outbreaks in 2023-24 while in Estonia, nitazenes now account for a large share of overdose deaths – a trend also seen (to a lesser extent) in Latvia. Preliminary data suggests at least 150 deaths were linked to nitazenes in Europe in 2023.
Nitazenes have also been discovered in fake pain medication such as benzodiazepines, oxycodone and diazepam, which widens the number of people at risk to include those with no opioid tolerance. The death in July 2023 of Alex Harpum, a 23-year-old British student who was preparing for a career as an opera singer, was a stark reminder of the danger of buying fake medicine online that may have been contaminated with nitazenes.
The nitazene ‘boom’ and the global heroin trade
For decades, Afghanistan was the world’s largest opium producer and the source of most of Europe’s heroin. Then in April 2022, the ruling Taliban announced a comprehensive prohibition on the use, trade, transport, production, import and export of all drugs. As a result, poppy cultivation has fallen to historically low levels for a second consecutive year.
While this has not, as yet, translated into a shortage of heroin on European streets, including in the UK and Germany, some indicators suggest a slowdown in heroin supplies to the UK. In the year March 2023-24, the quantity of heroin seized in the UK fell by 54%, from 950kg to 441kg. This is the lowest quantity of heroin seized since 1989, when about 350kg was intercepted.
The NCA assesses that the Taliban ban has created market “uncertainty”. The wholesale price of heroin has increased from roughly £16,000 per kilo prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to about £26,000, while anecdotal reports suggest average heroin purity for users dropped to under 30% (often to 10-20%) in 2024, compared with around 35% in 2023 and 45% in 2022.
Video by UN Story.
Even without the Taliban’s ban, heroin is not easy to produce and supply. Cultivating opium poppy is labour-intensive, taking five or six months. The static nature of opium fields means they are visible and susceptible to eradication; poppy crops can also be negatively affected by blight or drought.
Converting opium into heroin base is also a labour-intensive process that can involve (depending on the production method) at least 17 steps. Acetic anhydride, the main chemical used to convert morphine into heroin, is relatively expensive compared with synthetic precursors. Moreover, heroin is a bulky product, which means it is harder to move in large volumes.
While the relationship between events in opiate-producer countries and the introduction of synthetic opioids to consumer markets should not be overstated, this new type of drug offers economic advantages to criminals whose “sole motivation is greed”.
For decades, Turkish, Kurdish and Pakistani criminal networks have been responsible for importing heroin into the UK. Once in the UK, both Turkish and British groups largely control its wholesale supply, with some participation of Albanian gangs.
To date, there is little evidence to suggest these groups have transitioned to supplying NSOs, including nitazenes. The shifting dynamics in the global drug supply chain, however, could upend traditional markets and the gangs who profit from them.
America’s synthetic drug crisis
The synthetic opioid fentanyl has devastated the US, having been linked to about 75,000 deaths in 2023 alone. It is the primary cause of death for Americans aged 18-49. Canada, too, has experienced a wave of deaths: between January 2016 and June 2024, there were 49,105 apparent opioid deaths there, with fentanyl implicated in a large proportion.
More than 4,300 reports of nitazenes have reached the US National Forensic Laboratory Information System since 2019. They are typically used to fortify fentanyl and other opioids, which can produce a fatal concoction.
Efforts to stem the flow of NSOs, including nitazenes, from China to the US and elsewhere will prove challenging. And even if China does implement stricter controls, other countries could step in to fill the void. According to the Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking:
The overall sizes of these industries, limited oversight efforts and political incentives contribute to an atmosphere of impunity among firms and individuals associated with those industries.
While US and Chinese counter-narcotics cooperation ended in 2022 amid increasing geopolitical tensions, the following November’s summit in Woodside, California, between presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping saw them agree to recommence collaboration.
As a result, China recently closed several chemical companies that were shipping fentanyl precursors and nitazenes to the US. These vendors used encrypted platforms and cryptocurrency to conduct the deals, and mislabelled the consignments to try to ensure the substances evaded border controls. China has also outlawed more chemicals and substances, including several nitazene variants.
But President Trump’s imposition of tariffs on imports from China – which sit alongside proposed taxes on imports from Canada and Mexico, in part for supposedly not doing enough to curb the trafficking of fentanyl and its precursors to the US – threatens this counter-narcotics cooperation.
While nitazenes are not yet widely available in the US, their presence within some fentanyl batches is complicating the US opioid crisis – and according to some experts, has the potential to further increase the already shocking number of synthetic opioid-related deaths.
The UK response to nitazenes
Successive UK governments have made tackling NSOs a high priority. Shortly after the most recent nitazene-related deaths were discovered in the UK in summer 2023, the NCA launched Project Housebuilder to lead and coordinate the law enforcement and public health response.
This was soon followed by the establishment of a government-wide Synthetic Opioids Taskforce “to improve…understanding, preparedness and mitigation against this evolving threat”. Chris Philp, then the UK’s combatting drugs minister, stated that “synthetic opioids are at the top of [this government’s] list because of the harm they cause”.
The taskforce has taken a range of measures, such as controlling more NSOs as class A drugs, conducting more intelligence operations at UK borders, widening access to naloxone, and enhancing the UK’s real-time, multi-source drug surveillance system. The government also worked with the US and Canada to learn from their experiences.
Recently, the current UK government banned a further six synthetic opioids and introduced a generic definition of nitazenes as class A drugs. And the UK’s current government, unlike its Conservative predecessor, has also indicated its willingness to consider evidence from the UK’s first drug consumption facility, which recently opened in Glasgow.
Other policy measures worthy of consideration include expanding drug checking services whereby drug users submit drugs to a lab to test what is in them, then are provided with information about the sample. These services offer vital information to the public and authorities about current drug trends.
While there is high uncertainty about what is going to happen next in the UK regarding illicit drug trends, the evolution of the US drug landscape over generations provides some important lessons.
Lessons from the US
The US fentanyl crisis shows drug markets can change quickly with long-lasting consequences. Most heroin on US streets contains – or has been replaced by – fentanyl. According to DEA seizure data, US heroin seizures declined by nearly 70% between 2019 and 2023, whereas fentanyl seizures have increased by 451%.
However, illegal drug markets evolve in different ways and at different paces. In May 1989, Douglas Hogg, a UK Home Office minister, travelled to the US and the Bahamas on a fact-finding mission about crack cocaine, a drug that was predicted to spread from the US to the UK. Upon his return, Hogg noted:
The ethnic, social and economic characters of many of our big cities are very similar to those in the US. If they have a crack problem, why should not we? … The use of crack in Great Britain is likely to develop very substantially over the next few years.
But this “crack invasion”, as some called it, did not materialise in the UK to the extent it had in the US – and the same was true about a predicted wave of methamphetamine use in the UK, which remains low compared with the US.
It is also unlikely the UK and Europe will experience a synthetic opioid crisis on the same scale as the US. The first wave of the US crisis was driven by extensive overprescription of opioids for pain relief. This increased the number of people addicted to opioids, some of whom later turned to heroin, before transitioning to fentanyl. In contrast, large-scale opioid prescriptions have not been a major issue in the UK or Europe, although there is some diversion of legal fentanyl into the illegal drug market in Europe.
Video by The Brookings Institution.
According to Alex Stevens, professor of criminology at the University of Sheffield, another factor differentiating the US and Europe is the provision of drug treatment and harm reduction programmes. Opioid users in Europe, and to a lesser extent in the UK, are much more likely to be in medication-assisted treatment than their US counterparts, thus reducing the number of people at risk. These interventions are reinforced by different socioeconomic factors in much of Europe, such as lower economic inequality, stronger social protections, and better healthcare systems.
None of this, though, means the nitazene threat in the UK and Europe should be underestimated, nor that use and supply of these drugs (and other NSOs) will not increase from its current relatively low base. As the NCA recently warned:
While a zero-tolerance approach from law enforcement, plus advice to users on the heightened dangers, may contain or slow the current uptake, we must prepare for these substances to become widely available, both unadvertised in fortified mixes and in response to user demand as a more potent high.
The future of new synthetic opioids
Predicting the future of NSO use and trafficking is a challenging task. Projections for Europe range from existing opiate stockpiles ensuring that heroin consumer markets remain serviced (assuming the Taliban ban is short-lived), to a heroin shortage which results in more drug dealers turning to NSOs to plug the shortfall, which in turn could lead to lasting changes in European drug markets (as happened in a few countries following the Taliban’s first opium ban in 2000-01).
In such a scenario, it is possible that Turkish criminal networks may exploit their links with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel to source NSOs. Mexican criminal gangs also operate in Europe, which may increase the likelihood of them trying to open a new NSO market on the continent.
There is also evidence that some Italian criminal organisations have entered the NSO marketplace. In November 2023, Italian authorities announced the seizure of 100,000 doses of synthetic drugs, including fentanyl, as part of operation Painkiller, a joint Italian-American initiative.
Given the many advantages for criminal groups of NSOs, it seems likely they are here to stay. A key question is whether nitazenes (or other NSOs) will supplant traditional heroin as the opioid of choice, as they have done in the US, or remain at relatively low levels in Europe, co-existing with or mixed into the heroin supply.
In December 2023, Paul Griffiths, the EUDA’s scientific director, told Vice: “We’re not seeing much new initiation of heroin use in Europe. So in five to ten years … as heroin users get older and more vulnerable, we’re not going to have much of an opiate problem left.”
But he warned that if heroin use does dry up: “You might then see opioids appearing in other forms and preparations, such as pills, that could potentially become popular among younger age groups who currently do not appear attracted to injecting heroin.”
While previous NSO outbreaks in the UK were relatively short-lived and limited in scale, the most recent nitazene outbreak, which started in summer of 2023, has been more sustained, covered more parts of the UK, and involved more fatalities. The broader trend in Europe also suggests the prevalence and variations of NSOs are increasing at a faster pace than in previous years.
Notwithstanding, nitazene use and supply in the UK currently remains relatively low. In fact, the rate of nitazene-linked deaths – at least those officially reported – decreased between spring 2024 and the end of the year.
In the short term, then, it seems unlikely there will be a nitazene “explosion”. Rather, criminal groups will probably try to increasingly embed nitazenes into the UK drug market at a similar pace to the last 18 months.
However, this situation could change rapidly in future, especially if larger criminal networks involved in heroin importation switch to smuggling NSOs, and there is a genuine shortage of Afghan heroin. This problem would be compounded if drug users start seeking nitazenes, thus creating demand for them.
Either way, the UK government, along with its European partners, should continue to reinforce the whole drug system, to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
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Philip A. Berry does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Scientists comment on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report on Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) technologies.
Prof Hannah Chalmers, Personal Chair of Sustainable Energy Systems, Institute for Energy Systems, School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, said:
“CCUS technologies can play a unique role in tackling carbon dioxide emissions. They can be used at large industrial sites to ensure that most of the carbon dioxide produced by activities like iron and steel production is not emitted to the atmosphere. Instead, the carbon dioxide is permanently stored in geological formations (rocks). In the UK, CCUS projects are developing plans to store carbon dioxide in layers of rock that are deep underneath the sea.
“There is also ongoing work to develop and deploy cost-effective approaches to remove carbon dioxide directly from the air. This provides an important option to respond to the widely reported increases in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere that are causing significant concern.
“There is significant evidence that including CCUS in a mix of technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions will be the most cost-effective way to address climate change. Several large-scale projects have been operating in other countries for many years. Experience from these projects is being used to ensure that the CCUS projects that are being developed in the UK are designed to be reliable and cost-effective.”
Dr Stuart Gilfillan, Reader in Geochemistry, University of Edinburgh, said:
What is CCUS technology, how does it work, does it have limitations?
“CCUS stands for Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage, which is a developing technology which reduces the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) released into the atmosphere. It works by capturing CO2 at the point source, transporting it and then burying it for safe storage in rocks over a kilometre below the ground surface. Like any technology, it has pros and cons, and costs more than simply releasing the CO2 directly to the atmosphere, which is currently free. CCUS is the only currently available technology that can directly reduce CO2 emissions from sources like power plants and industrial processes. Given that global temperature records are now being broken on an almost daily basis and yesterday’s announcement of the hottest January on record, it is essential tool in the urgent fight against runaway climate change.
What is the existing evidence around the efficacy of CCUS?
“CO2 capture technology has proven successful in capturing up to 90-95% of CO2 emissions from point of sources from power stations and industrial facilities. Successful examples include the Boundary Dam power station in Saskatchewan, Canada, where a large-scale CCUS unit has been operational since 2014, capturing about 1 million tonnes of CO2 per year.
“The long-term storage of CO2 is proven by natural CO2 reservoirs around the world and engineered projects like Sleipner in the North Sea, which have been injecting CO2 beneath the seabed since 1996 without significant issues. Research over the past two decades has developed monitoring technologies that can detect and mitigate potential leakage and to ensure that CO2 remains securely buried in rocks deep underground.
What more evidence may be needed to be confident in its applications?
“No more evidence is required, as exemplified by the UK’s Climate Change Committee (CCC), which is an independent body established under the Climate Change Act who advise the government on emissions targets and report to Parliament on progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The CCC is clear that CCUS is a critical technology for the decarbonisation of the UK economy, particularly in sectors that are hard to decarbonize directly, such as heavy industry (steel, cement, chemicals) and power generation.
“CCUS is not only as a standalone technology but is an essential part of a broader strategy to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. It compliments energy efficiency, renewable energy deployment, and electrification. CCUS is a clear driver for regional economic development, particularly in regions with suitable geological storage sites and industrial bases, such as the East Coast of Scotland, the Humber region, and North East England, areas that have been ‘left behind’ in recent times.”
Dr Tim Dixon, IEA Greenhouse Gas, Director and General Manager, said:
“Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is a necessary technology for the UK and other countries to achieve net-zero, and we need all low-carbon energy technologies. The science case for the role of CCS is provided by the UK’s Climate Change Committee, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) and cannot be disputed if climate change is to be taken seriously. The key aspect of CCS is the secure long-term retention of CO2 in deep geological formations, and we have decades of experience in this from around the world. With over 40 large scale projects in operation injecting millions of tonnes every year and many pilot-scale projects, this has allowed us to test the science, the monitoring and the practicalities of geological storage of CO2. Hence CO2 geological storage is a proven technology and the regulations to enable and to ensure that it is safe and secure are based upon this sound science and experience. ”
Professor Paul Fennell FIchemE, Professor of Clean Energy, Imperial College London, said:
“The idea that Carbon Capture and Storage is an unproven technology is simply untrue. There are projects ongoing around the world, and millions of tonnes of CO2 have been safely stored over the last couple of decades. This has not happened in the U.K. because of our sclerotic inability to develop public infrastructure, not because the technology is unproven.”
Dr Greg Mutch, Researcher in Carbon Capture and Storage, Newcastle University, said:
“Carbon capture and storage is a technology that prevents carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere, by capturing it and storing it underground in ‘empty’ oil & gas reservoirs or saline aquifers. According to the world’s foremost experts on the subject, gathered to contribute the International Panel on Climate Change, carbon capture and storage processes are necessary to achieve climate change mitigation goals at lowest cost. Without scalable CCS technologies by the end of the century, climate change mitigation will cost between 29 and 297% (mean value 138%) more.[1] Moreover, CCS is predicted to provide tens of thousands of jobs in the UK, add several billion pounds in terms of gross value added per year by 2050,[2] and enable other important technologies (hydrogen production etc) that will come with further jobs and economic value.”
[1] IPCC, 2018: Global Warming of 1.5 °C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty, ed. V. Masson-Delmotte, P. Zhai, H.-O. Portner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, P. R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia, C. Pean, R. Pidcock, S. Connors, J. B. R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. Zhou, M. I. Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor and T. Waterfield, Cambridge University Press, 2018.
[2] Energy Innovation Needs Assessment Sub-theme report: Carbon capture, utilisation, and storage, Vivid Economics, Carbon Trust, E4tech, Imperial College London, Frazer-Nash Consultancy, Energy Systems Catapult. Commissioned by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, 2019.
Professor Peter Styring, Director of the UK Centre for Carbon Dioxide Utilization, Professor of Chemical Engineering & Chemistry, University of Sheffield, said:
What is CCUS technology, how does it work, does it have limitations?
“CCUS is carbon capture and storage. This has been primarily focused on CCS as the main driver. It aims to capture carbon dioxide from emitters such as power stations and industries. The current technology temperature swing absorption (TSA) using a chemical reaction with an aqueous amine solvent to capture the CO2 from the mixed waste gas and then to release it in a purified form by increased temperature chemical desorption and then further drying and purification to get a gas that can be in theory transported to a site where the gas can be stored underground. It works but at a high energy cost and the production of amine decomposition products that need to be removed and more amine added. It costs a lot!
“Limitations are the energy and financial costs, permitting regulations on solvent disclosure and the large physical footprint. Full system lifecycle analysis is required but this is not always reported.”
What is the existing evidence around the efficacy of CCUS?
“This is not proven using current technologies. The problem is that the current government funded projects use old technologies to achieve CCS and what is actually needed is a step change to new, lower cost more efficient processes such as solid based pressure swing adsorption (PSA). The whole system tends to be simpler and the energy costs and land use is significantly reduced.”
What more evidence may be needed to be confident in its applications?
“Full evaluation of new technologies and rapid acceleration from proof of concept to capture at scale. The Innovate UK funded Flue2Chem project is a good example of how this is being addressed using mid-TRL technologies. The UK also needs to move away from a single minded storage approach to adding value through the use of CO2 in the production of chemicals that would otherwise be sourced from virgin fossil carbon. SUSTAIN project is making synthetic fuels from captured CO2 and Flue2Chem is making FMCG components, including surfactants and precursors from the CO2.”
Dr Stuart Jenkins, Net Zero Fossil Fuel Fellow, University of Oxford, said:
“The Public Accounts Committee are wrong to have labelled CCUS as ‘unproven’, there are many commercial scale projects around the world, but they are right to question the current model for funding it. We need to make sure the CCUS industry becomes self-sustaining, without the need for major taxpayer funding. One option — asking fossil fuel suppliers to contribute to these costs via a carbon storage mandate — is a fair and responsible approach going forward.
In a recent report we published working with researchers at the University of Oxford and Carbon Balance Initiative [1] we looked at the use of Carbon Storage Mandates, which place an obligation on fossil fuel producers to capture and store a rising fraction of the CO2 they produce, to support the UK’s CCUS industry.
Carbon storage mandates, in tandem with carbon pricing and other mechanisms, could deliver subsidy-free CCUS to the UK and provide investment certainty for companies.”
Dr Stuart Jenkins Our report was funded by the Carbon Capture and Storage Association, and consulted regulators, fossil fuel companies, capture and storage entities, UK Government, and academics on models for CCUS sector support packages.
Professor Paul Fennell: No conflicts other than being involved in CCs research.
Dr Tim Dixon: “Tim is a Director of IEA Environmental Projects Ltd (UK), a Non-Executive Director on the Board for The International CCS Knowledge Centre (Canada). He is also proud to be an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas in Austin, and an Honorary Lecturer at the School of Geosciences at University of Edinburgh. He was an original Board Member of the UK CCS Research Centre. Previously he worked in CCS, emissions trading, clean energy technologies and related areas for AEA Technology (ETSU), for the UK Government‘s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and for the Global CCS Institute. He was the EU’s Lead Negotiator for getting CCS in the CDM in UNFCCC in 2011, and a UK negotiator for getting CCS in the London Convention 2004-7, in OSPAR 2006-7, in the EU Emission Trading Scheme 2004-8, and inputting to the EU CCS Directive 2007-8. He gives talks on climate and CCS to schools and public organisations and supported the start of Oxford Climate Society at the University of Oxford. He is a Fellow of the UK Energy Institute, and member of the UK Institute of Physics and the UK Environmental Law Association.”
Dr Stuart Gilfillan “I have received funding from TotalEnergies in the past, for research related to CO2 origins in the subsurface and reservoir connectivity and Equinor on CO2 dissolution in natural CO2 reservoirs. I currently receive funding from the Natural Environment Research Council and Carbfix on CO2 mineralisation.”
Prof Hannah Chalmers “I work collaboratively with industrial partners who are developing CCUS projects in the UK (e.g. as a member of the Advisory Board for the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre). I currently receive no funding from industry, but have received funding from industrial partners who are actively developing CCUS projects in the UK in the past (e.g. SSE plc).”
Professor Peter Styring: Peter is Professor of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry at the University of Sheffield (an investigator on Flue2Chem and SUSTAIN) and a Co-founder and Director of CCU International.
For all other experts, no response to our request for DOIs was received.
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council has launched a public consultation process aimed at gathering views on its proposed Performance Improvement Objectives for 2025-26.
From Thursday 06 February to Thursday 03 April 2025, members of the public are invited to complete a short online survey to share their thoughts and opinions on the following proposed objectives:
We will reduce the average number of days’ sickness absence lost per employee.
We will reduce council’s environmental impact through the development and implementation of a Climate and Sustainability Action Plan.
We will improve our waste management services through the implementation of technological solutions and continued communication.
We will improve communications with our customers on council services and responsibilities.
Commenting on the public consultation, Lord Mayor of Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon, Councillor Sarah Duffy, said:
“Each year our council is required to set objectives for improving how it carries out its functions and to put in place arrangements to helppromote sustainable and continuous improvements in its service delivery.To help us achieve this, we are welcoming comments on our proposed Performance Improvement Objectives for 2025-26.
“For our council to be effective, it is important that as many members of the local community offer feedback on these proposed objectives to ensure they reflect those views and address the needs of customers, residents and communities across the entire borough.”
UK Government Scotland Office Minister Kirsty McNeill in conversation at the The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), the Gathering event.
I can’t tell you how happy I am to be here, back among friends devoting their lives to a social purpose.
As some of you might know, I spent much of my life in the voluntary and community sector, both on staff and as a volunteer.
And I’m still a proud member and supporter of a lot of organisations I was involved with before I became an MP.
As a minister too I’ve had the chance to visit organisations like Greener Kirkcaldy, Bairn’s Hoose in Dundee, Macaulay College in the Western Isles, Barnardos Nurture Service Inverclyde and Bravehound to name but a few.
And I want to reassure people who do the mail outs to MPs that yes, there really is someone who reads every single bit of bumpf they are sent or handed and that’s me! That’s how I know stuff like the people in the War Memorial Trust diligently cleaning and protecting these sacred places, or about the 850 people involved in Scottish Mountain Rescue who go out in all weathers to save the lives of perfect strangers.
So I will always want to hear from and spend time with you.
Because we are pals. But because we are pals I want us to have a really honest conversation today. You are busy people – nobody here has time to beat around the bush.
So I wanted to come here today to say I think we are both punching below our weight right now – both civil society and government – because we haven’t yet found the right way to work together.
When we do, we are going to be unstoppable. But right now, we are still finding our way.
Let me give you some examples. The UK Government’s budget delivered nearly £5 billion extra for Scotland’s public services – money which, if well spent, could take pressure off of everyone here who works in health, education, transport, poverty or community development. We should be talking to each other and the Scottish Government about how to make that money have the maximum impact for Scots.
Instead almost all of our conversation has been about the changes to employer national insurance contributions. I get that this decision is unpopular in this room and we need to get into it in the Q and A. I’m not trying to shy away from the fact that we had to make tough choices and that has in turn created tough choices in your board rooms and senior management meetings. Let’s talk about it.
But I hope you can also see that we are missing out on a major chance to transform Scotland together if we aren’t collaborating on how this truly game-changing amount of money should be spent.
Or here is another example – the New Deal for Working People. Now I am a proud trade unionist and the UK Ggovernment is indebted to the trade union movement for all of their support on the development of this package. But why are the only people lobbying for it in the trade union movement itself? Because if people are better paid and better protected at work then the missions of every organisation in this room becomes easier to achieve.
The Child Poverty Taskforce on which I am proud to sit has received a lot of input and evidence on welfare questions and rightly so, but we are at risk of having lots of narrow, disjointed conversations about individual policy areas when nobody lives their lives in policy silos. No policy tweak is a substitute for creating an economy that works for working people and that’s the biggest prize on offer. Let’s all keep our eyes on it.
So I do think there are some areas where we could have worked together better in these first few months of a new government. There are national conversations you should be not just a part of but leading.
And I know what some of you will be thinking. That you don’t want to be co-opted or politicised and I understand that risk.
So I want to be really clear about this: the UK Government will never compromise your independence.
Not just because it would be improper, but because it would make you less effective, because one of your most important roles is to challenge us.
And I want to stress how much I really mean this. Not in a mealy-mouthed way to say of course there is a ‘right’ to protest and to speak out in this country.
No, I’m saying something bigger than that – that you have not just the right but the duty to challenge us when you think we’re getting it wrong.
It’s not an accident that the members of charity boards are called ‘trustees’, because they are indeed entrusted with something very important. It is their job to steward an institution on behalf of all society at large but in particular on behalf of the beneficiaries the organisation exists to support. Those beneficiaries need you to bring their perspective right to the heart of the national debate – even if, especially if, they are marginalised or traditionally shut out of power.
In my old life I often used to say to the teams I worked with that ‘campaigners make things possible, politicians make things happen’.
Civil society’s job is to inform conversations, challenge assumptions, pioneer new practice and give support that the state is unable, unwilling or not best placed to give.
Government’s job is to pass laws, devise budgets, enact policies and, above all, to reconcile competing interests for the common good. In the end, we make decisions about how best to get things done and it’s our jobs on the line if we get things wrong.
These roles in our democracy are distinct, but mutually reinforcing. Both sides need each other.
But if we are to each play our parts well then we need to have a proper dialogue. Yes you should tell us when you think we’re getting it wrong. But you should also let us know when you think we’re getting it right and, crucially, when we are not focusing on something that really matters.
Because there are some things that civil society is simply best placed to know.
One of the great privileges of my job as a minister is getting to spend so much time with civil society. From a farm supporting children with disabilities to an arts project helping people to walk the long hard road to recovery after addiction, from an organisation helping women get smart clothes for job interviews after seeking asylum or fleeing domestic abuse to community allotments that give people in mental health crisis a safe place to go, I have seen Scottish civil society at its very best when the times people face are at their very worst.
And because of this special role you have, deep in the heart of communities, you see things we in government just can’t see from where we are sitting. As you know, 36% of Scottish voluntary organisations are based in remote or rural locations. You know every nook and cranny of Scotland and wrestle with questions about how to change lives every day.
What is the best way to provide food for hungry folk, without compromising their dignity? How can we best fight loneliness so everyone feels that they matter and that they belong? Just what kind of Christmas support might make the biggest difference for the care experienced kid, not sure whether they’ll be in the same placement this time next year?
This is your expertise and we need to hear it.
Now I said earlier that we’ve both been punching below our weight. On your side I think that’s because you’ve shied away from the biggest debates about how to rewire our economy, on our side I think it’s because we’ve not yet been able to rewire government to become more open to outside expertise like yours.
You’ll have heard the Prime Minister talk about mission based government.
I am such a nerd for this, because it’s a completely different way of thinking about how this change can happen – one where the job of government is to coordinate and collaborate, not direct and dictate – and one where you have the power to make the difference for the people and places you love.
That’s why the UK Government is creating a new Civil Society Covenant, based on four principles: recognition for your contribution, partnership rooted in respect, participation so you can be heard and transparency, so that both civil society and government have the information we need to come to shared diagnosis and prescriptions.
We are doing that to unleash your extraordinary potential. There are more than 46 thousand organisations in the Scottish sector, employing 5% of Scotland’s workers and mobilising 300 million hours of volunteering every year.
Those are enormous figures.
Just imagine if those efforts could be aligned with investment from the private sector, policy ambition from UK Government and proper support from the Scottish Government.
Implementing the Covenant is where we will start, but it won’t be where we will end.
I want to see a new deal for the third sector in Scotland. That should start with multi-year funding for the sector.
Too many of you face the annual anguish of issuing redundancy notices to your own staff because there are question marks over whether your funding will be renewed and the money delivered on time.
I know many of you face significant bureaucracy and feel like you are jumping through hoops and getting tangled in red tape to access funding.
That places unfair stress on you and your staff when you want to be laser focused on helping others.
I know you’ll have a lot of questions about how the UK Government can make your lives easier and I know we will get into them in the discussion. So just let me underline that today is just the next stage in our discussions – with SCVO and its members.
As long as I am there, you will always have an open door to the Scotland Office. And when you walk through it we will sit around the table as equals and have a proper debate about how we all can play a part in creating the better Scotland we both – civil society and politicians alike – come to work every day to build.
EVERETT, Mass. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement apprehended an illegally present 41-year-old Salvadoran fugitive wanted in his home country for aggravated homicide when officers arrested the fugitive Jan. 22 in Everett, Massachusetts. ICE is withholding the fugitive’s name and likeness due to privacy issues.
“This Salvadoran fugitive attempted to flee justice in his home country by trying to hide out in Massachusetts,” said ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston acting Field Office Director Patricia H. Hyde. “Our ICE officers are the best in the business at finding foreign fugitives who don’t want to be found. Now this alien will have his day in court. ICE ERO Boston will continue our mission to prioritize public safety by arresting and removing alien offenders from our New England communities.”
The Salvadoran national illegally entered the United States on an unknown date, at an unknown location, without being admitted, inspected, or paroled by a U.S. immigration official.
Salvadoran authorities issued an arrest warrant for the fugitive for the offense of aggravated homicide Aug. 22, 2016.
ICE served him with a notice to appear before a Department of Justice immigration judge following his arrest.
Members of the public can report crimes or suspicious activity by dialing the ICE Tip Line at 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or completing the online tip form.
Learn more about the ICE mission to increase public safety in our communities on X at @EROBoston.
Green MP and party co-leader Adrian Ramsay has urged the government to divert planned new subsidies for the privately owned wood-burning Drax power station to a national home insulation scheme.
Adrian Ramsay said:
“Drax is a green energy scam, burning trees – some imported from ancient forests from as far away as Canada – subsidised by the taxpayer.
“The billions of pounds worth of subsidies run out in 2027, but the government is expected to try to renew them next week, turning taxpayer money into profits for a private company, instead of using the money to fuel a green energy revolution.
“Drax has benefitted from over £6 billion in subsidies since 2012 and neither taxpayers nor the environment can afford a penny more.
“The money should be used to help fund a national scheme of home insulation that would cut people’s energy bills and help to reduce energy use.
“Green MPs and Peers will be pressing the government to end this subsidy scandal and invest people’s money where it will make a real difference to them.”
We are pleased to advise that the section of road on the A926 from Rattray to Alyth at Pictfield which was closed for emergency gas repairs has now reopened to traffic.
Temporary traffic signals will be in operation while SGN repair works are ongoing, so some delays should be expected.
Stagecoach East Scotland have confirmed that with the road reopening, they will resume normal operation of their bus services from 2pm today. School transport contracts will also revert to their normal arrangements.
Thank you for your patience while the repairs continue.
Long-lost Iron Age artefacts discovered by Military personnel and veterans have been declared as treasure.
Parts of a Celtic chariot, thought to be around 2000 years old, were discovered underneath the airfield at RAF Valley in Anglesey during an excavation by military personnel and veterans.
The Senior Coroner for North Wales (West) has now declared these discoveries as treasure. They will be gifted to Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales.
The archaeological excavations took place in April 2024 and were led by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO). The investigation also included personnel and veterans from Operation Nightingale, a DIO initiative which supports the health and wellbeing of military personnel and veterans.
“Operation Nightingale is an innovative and award-winning programme that consistently shows the benefits that archaeology can offer to military personnel and veterans.
Congratulations to those who carried out the excavation and made this exciting discovery. Through their hard work, we are uncovering and preserving our history for future generations.”
Alistair Carns DSO OBE MC MP Minister for Veterans and People
The award-winning scheme sees wounded, injured, and sick personnel and veterans taking part in archaeological investigations across the Defence estate, providing unique experiences within the field.
The finds are believed to form part of the famed Llyn Cerrig Bach hoard, originally uncovered in the 1940s during work to extend the airfield at RAF Valley for American bombers during the Allied war effort. The hoard is one of the most important collections of Iron Age artefacts discovered in the UK, comprising over 150 bronze and iron objects deposited between 300BC and 100AD.
Among the new finds was a terret ring which would have been used to guide the reins of a Celtic chariot, featuring a red decorative inlay. The ring, found by retired RAF Squadron Leader David Ulke, is one of just three found with this particular decoration in Wales.
A second discovery, a horse bridle-bit thought to date to c. 60AD, was found by serving RAF Flight Sergeant Moore. Similar to those from the Polden Hill hoard found in Somerset, the bridle-bit would have been worn by horses pulling Iron Age chariots.
“These finds at RAF Valley are extremely exciting for all involved; the Llyn Cerrig Bach hoard is of national importance for Wales, and the United Kingdom as a whole. These new discoveries have confirmed the suspicions of earlier archaeologists that there was more to be found from this particular hoard.”
Richard Osgood DIO’s Senior Archaeologist
Richard Osgood continued: “It’s great that the personnel and veterans who take part in Operation Nightingale continue to be rewarded with finds of such historical importance. I am proud that the initiative plays a part in supporting personnel and veterans in their recovery and it’s fantastic to see the wonderful impact of this project.”
The Operation Nightingale team was given special permissions to carry out the excavation by RAF Valley, ahead of refurbishment works on the site’s airfield. Construction for these improvements began in September 2024.
“We’d been briefed on the sort of things we could expect to find, so when I uncovered the piece, I was pretty sure it was an Iron Age terret ring. To say I was the over the moon is probably an understatement! I’ve been involved in archaeology for many years and this was by far the most significant recovery I have ever made.
The fact that Operation Nightingale can bring together service personnel through archaeological digs shows how healing and helpful archaeology can be. It’s by no means a silver bullet, but many have benefitted, and I for one am one of those grateful beneficiaries.”
Squadron Leader (Retired) David Ulke Finder of the terret ring
“The search for the lost hoard was hard work and we had a huge area to cover. It wasn’t until the final day – with just 10 minutes to go – that I discovered the horse bridle-bit. At first the team thought I was joking, but quickly realised I’d found something special. Words could not explain how I felt in that moment, but it was a wonderful experience.
I’ve been involved in lots of Operation Nightingale digs now, and the experience truly is priceless for the veterans and service personnel taking part.”
Group Captain Gez Currie OBE, said: “It is incredible that we are again reminded of the significance of the site on the doorstep of RAF Valley and the importance it has in Welsh history. It was the preparation of RAF Valley in the 1940s to help prevent invasion, that brought to light the significance of this location and its links to an earlier invasion by the Romans.”
“The importance of RAF Valley to UK Defence today is beyond question, but this is a reminder that we are part of a continuum spanning over 2,000 years and we must be responsible stewards of this land. We are immensely proud to be part of efforts to discover and conserve these important artefacts from Welsh history and equally delighted that our own service personnel have been so intimately involved in these efforts.”
Group Captain Gez Currie OBE Station Commander at RAF Valley
The finds will now be gifted to the National Museum of Wales, which is home to several items from the initial Llyn Cerrig Bach hoard.
Senior Curator of Prehistory at Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales, Adam Gwilt, said: “It is amazing to think that these 2,000 year old artefacts have remained so complete and well-preserved within a shallow peat deposit, previously moved and dragged onto the airfield over 80 years ago from a nearby ancient lake!
The bridle-bit and terret are both of styles which are not represented amongst the original collection. They add important new information on the religious gifting of prized objects into the lake at the end of the Iron Age, a little before, or at around the time when the Roman Army invaded Anglesey.”
“It is great that these artefacts will be made accessible for display and public benefit at Oriel Môn. I look forward to working collaboratively in coming years with the museum, the heritage centre at RAF Valley and the Operation Nightingale team, so this great story can be celebrated and shared by all.”
Shera McAloran, who is the founder of Karri Kitchens pictured with Chris Leach from ABC Community Food Hub.
A Craigavon-based food business has been praised for their generous donation to the ABC Community Food Hub.
Karri Kitchen have kindly given 360 prepared meals to be redistributed through the social supermarkets which are part of the ABC Community Food Hub set up to help those people experiencing food insecurity.
With support from Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon (ABC) Borough Council, the Community Food Hub was co-designed to provide a centralised location for food donations to be distributed to food banks and social supermarkets within the ABC Borough.
Shera McAloran who is the founder of Karri Kitchen, said: “It is our pleasure to be able to donate some of our healthy and nutritious meals to the ABC Food Hub. As a business based in the ABC Council area, we are keen to support local organisations who are providing much-needed help to people in crisis.
“Food is a passion for our business, and we are happy to share that experience with people at a time of need. Knowing that our donations are being distributed through the hub to social supermarkets who journey alongside clients gives us confidence that what we give, makes a difference to those who need it the most.”
Chris Leech from the ABC Community Food Hub said the donation by Karri Kitchen would make an important impact. “Our primary goal is to coordinate food donations from our amazing local food sector and channel these donations to organisations who are supporting people in crisis. We are impressed by the generosity of companies like Karri Kitchen, who want to share their award-winning meals with our social supermarket and food bank network,” said Chris.
“Our strategy in 2025 is to develop this partnership between business and the community sector, ensuring that the generosity of local businesses is met with the best practice support of our local poverty relief charities.
“Appropriate food support at a time of crisis, coupled with wrap-around support, can both meet an immediate poverty need and deliver ongoing empowering support. This wrap-around support helps to tackle some of the more complex issues that many people in our community face. Businesses are happy to meet their corporate social responsibility status and know that their community benefits.”
For those seeking help from the ABC Community Food Hub, social supermarkets and wraparound services are available in seven locations, ABC Community Food Hub, Craigavon; Stepping Stones Pantry, Armagh; The Pantry, Banbridge; Freedom Foods Pantry, Lurgan; Freedom Foods Pantry, Portadown; Via Wings Larder, Dromore and the Salvation Army, Lurgan.
Meet north Wales’s newest resident: the Aesculapian snake (_Zamenis longissimus_).Nathan Rusli
All animals live in or seek a set of climate conditions they find tolerable. This “climate envelope” partially determines where animals are found, but the continued existence of many species now rests on the outcome of human-driven climate change.
Rising temperatures are moving the available climate niches of many species into areas which were previously too cool. While their ranges shift poleward or to higher elevations, their habitat downslope or closer to the equator shrinks, as it becomes too hot to live in.
Flying and marine animals are relatively free to follow these shifting niches. Birds and butterflies are two examples. New species arrive regularly in the UK with the warming climate and are generally met with excitement by enthusiasts and scientists alike, given that they are a natural effort by a species to make the best of a difficult situation.
However, many grounded species, including reptiles and mammals, cannot disperse through habitats split apart by roads and other human-made obstacles, or cross natural barriers like the Channel. This limits their ability to find suitable conditions and makes them vulnerable to extinction.
Nowhere to go?
Here is the dilemma for conservationists like us.
We normally focus on preserving species within their modern ranges, and have traditionally viewed species that end up outside theirs as a problem. But retaining the status quo is increasingly untenable in the face of unchecked climate change.
Should we consider conserving species that have moved, or been moved, outside of the native ranges that existed before industrial society and its greenhouse effect? Should we even consider deliberately moving species to conserve them? Introduced species that have established just outside of their native ranges, in slightly cooler climates, offer a glimpse of the likely consequences.
Our new study in north Wales focused on one such migrant. Aesculapian snakes (Zamenis longissimus) are nonvenomous reptiles that mostly eat rodents and are native to central and southern Europe, reaching almost to the Channel coast in northern France.
Two accidental introductions, one in Colwyn Bay, north Wales, and another along the Regent’s Canal in London, have allowed this species to thrive in Britain. It is not actually novel to our shores, but it disappeared during a previous ice age and has probably been absent for about 300,000 years.
While the introduced UK populations appear to be thriving, recent surveys of this snake in the southern parts of its range have discovered a rapid decline, potentially due in part to climate change.
A good neighbour
Given their status as a non-native species, we were keen to find out how Aesculapian snakes are surviving in chilly north Wales, further north than anywhere they currently occur naturally. To do this, we implanted 21 snakes with radio transmitters and spent two summers tracking them around the countryside.
Aesculapian snakes are elusive and wary of humans. Tom Major
Our results surprised us. The snakes had a trump card which seemed to help them weather the cool climate. They were frequently entering buildings – relatively warm refuges – while they were digesting food or preparing to shed their skin. They also used garden compost bins for shelter and to incubate their eggs.
Even more surprisingly, most residents did not mind the snakes. In fact, many had no idea they had snakes as neighbours because they kept such a low profile, typically hiding in attic corners. The snakes appear to coexist with normal suburban wildlife, and there are no indications that their presence is affecting native species.
Should successfully established, innocuous immigrants be proscribed and potentially eradicated, as is currently the case? Or should they be valued and conserved in the face of current and impending climate change?
Protecting and conserving the maximum possible diversity of species and ecosystems is the heart of the conservation agenda. However, the rapid pace of change forced upon our planet requires us to rethink what is practical and desirable to achieve.
Conservation within the silos of national boundaries is an increasingly outdated way of trying to maintain the diversity underlying global ecosystems. Instead, conservationists may need to accept that the rapidly changing environment necessitate shifts in the ranges of species. And perhaps, even assist those species incapable of moving on their own.
Introductions have allowed this snake to flourish on an island it would never naturally reach. Antonio Gandini
Unlicensed “guerrilla” releases are obviously unacceptable due to biosecurity risks (for example, the potential to introduce devastating diseases such as the amphibian-killing Bsal fungus) and other unforeseen consequences. Even legitimate reintroductions often fail, due to there being too few individual specimens, pollution or predation from invasive species.
Aesculapian snakes will be considered by the government for addition to the list of alien species of special concern, which would be grounds for eradication. It would be tragic if species such as this became extinct in parts of their natural range, while thriving introduced populations just to the north of their pre-industrial distribution are treated as undesirable aliens that must be removed.
Instead, we argue that this innocuous species should be the figurehead for new thinking in conservation biology, that incorporates the reality of impending further climate change and dispenses with the narrow constraints of national boundaries and adherence to pre-industrial distributions.
Don’t have time to read about climate change as much as you’d like?
Wolfgang Wüster receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust.
Tom Major does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Source: The Conversation – USA – By Joseph N. Cooper, Endowed Chair of Sport Leadership and Administration, UMass Boston
On the day after the New England Patriots ended their NFL season with a miserable 4-13 record, team owner Robert Kraft fired Jerod Mayo, the team’s first Black head coach. In a press conference following his decision, Kraft explained that he put Mayo in “an untenable situation” by hiring him to lead an underperforming team.
Kraft’s assessment reflects an all-too-familiar reality for Black coaches in the NFL. Though Black players account for 53% of all NFL players, only 19% of head coaches are Black men.
At the beginning of the 2024 season, the NFL set its own league record with nine of its 32 head coaching jobs held by minorities. In addition to Mayo, Las Vegas’ Antonio Pierce, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, Tampa Bay’s Todd Bowles, Atlanta’s Raheem Morris and Houston’s DeMeco Ryans are Black. They were joined by Carolina’s Dave Canales, who is Mexican American, Miami’s biracial Mike McDaniel and the New York Jets’ Robert Saleh, who is of Lebanese descent.
By season’s end, three of those coaches were gone, including the Raiders’ Pierce. Pierce, like Mayo, was given one season to turn around a team with a losing record. Saleh was fired during the season.
In my view as a scholar of race and professional sports, the firings revealed the NFL’s double standard for Black head coaches and suggest that Black men are still valued more for their athletic prowess than their leadership skills.
During a Fox NFL Sunday show shortly after Mayo’s firing, former Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski called Mayo’s firing shocking, disappointing and “unfair.”
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith was quick to blame the race of Mayo as a factor. “They call it Black Monday for a reason,” Smith said. “Jerod Mayo was clearly not given a lengthy enough opportunity.”
A checkered history
In 1921, a year after the NFL’s inaugural season, Fritz Pollard became the first Black head coach when he was hired to lead the Akron Pros. It would take nearly 70 years before the NFL had its second Black head coach – Art Shell of the Oakland Raiders in 1989.
Since then, Black coaches have had few chances in the NFL. Even fewer have succeeded. Only two Black head coaches have won Super Bowl titles: Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts in 2007 and Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2008.
To address the lack of Black head coaches, the NFL enacted in 2003 what is known as the Rooney Rule, a hiring practice named after Dan Rooney, the former owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers who sat on the NFL’s diversity committee. The rule requires teams to include two minority candidate during the interview process for head coaching jobs and was later applied to general managers, senior executives and assistant coaches.
But even with the rule, the percentage of Black coaches has consistently been lower than the percentage of Black players. Research has shown that Black coaches are both less likely to be promoted to head coaching jobs than their white counterparts and less likely to receive a second chance after a losing season.
In fact, since the Rooney Rule was instituted in 2003, nonwhite coaches have been more than three times as likely to be fired after one season than white coaches, according to data collected by the USA Today NFL Coaches Project.
Their data did not include the scores of Black assistant coaches who are routinely overlooked for their first head coaching jobs.
Eric Bieniemy, for example, shared two Super Bowl championships as offensive coordinator with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2019 and 2022. Given his experience, he was widely expected by NFL analysts to earn a head coaching job.
In order to pursue that goal, Bieniemy left the Chiefs in 2023 to join the Washington Commanders and was a favorite to become the team’s next head coach. But the Commanders were sold at the end of the 2023 season, and the new owners promptly fired him.
Bieniemy is back in the NFL after being hired in February 2025 by the Chicago Bears as their running backs coach, a lower rank than his prior position as offensive coordinator.
The benefit of the doubt
In 2020, the NFL expressed its support for the Black Lives Matter movement by promoting social justice messages on end zones and players’ helmets. The NFL also hired Roc Nation, Hip-Hop mogul Jay-Z’s company, to manage its music and entertainment.
A year later, the NFL formally ended their decades-long practice of race norming in which the league routinely gave Black players lower baseline cognitive ratings than white players in legal actions related to concussions and subsequent dementia.
But those measures, much like the Rooney Rule, have not closed the racial disparities among NFL head coaches and have not stopped white coaches from appearing to be more likely to receive the benefit of the doubt.
Still unresolved is a 2022 lawsuit filed by Black head coach Brian Flores. Despite posting two winning seasons during his three-year tenure, he was fired by the Miami Dolphins. Flores filed a suit against the NFL, the Miami Dolphins and two other NFL teams alleging widespread racial discrimination and hiring practices.
During an interview with reporters before the 2025 Super Bowl, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell defended the league’s diversity initiatives, saying, “We’ve proven to ourselves that it does make the NFL better.”
Goodell was quick to point out that the NFL’s diversity efforts do not mean a “quota system” in which a certain number of candidates of each race are hired.
“There’s no requirement to hire a particular individual on the basis of race or gender,” Goodell said. “This is about opening that funnel and bringing the best talent into the NFL.”
Joseph N. Cooper does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
The renovation and restoration of three 19th Century summerhouses in Coventry is well underway.
The Grade II listed summer houses are within the Grade II* Registered Park and Garden at Stoney Road Allotments in Cheylesmore.
The summerhouses had fallen into disrepair and are the last remaining plots of the Park Gardens, established 200 years ago.
It is one of only four remaining detached Victorian town gardens that are listed on Historic England’s Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest.
Historic England has provided a £250k grant for the restoration of the buildings. Railway Heritage Trust has also made a contribution, while support has also been provided by Network Rail.
Cllr Naeem Akhtar, Cabinet Member with responsibility for heritage said:
“It’s wonderful to see the work that is being done and I am really looking forward to returning once the restoration is completed.
“We are really grateful to Historic England for their generous support. We also value the support of the Railway Heritage Trust and Network Rail.
“There has been a lot of interest in this project, and it highlights the value we have for a wide range of heritage buildings in the city.”
The site is still actively used as allotments and sub-tenanted by the Stoney Road Gardens Association (SRGA).
Louise Brennan, Historic England Regional Director (Midlands) said:
“It is amazing to see the original features of the gardens restored.
“The Heritage at Risk funding has meant that three of the grade II listed Summerhouses have received complete repairs to the building structures, including replacement roofs, new windows and doors, reconstruction of walls with lime mortar and original bricks, timber frame restoration, and other internal repairs.
“And it’s brilliant that it’s all been achieved using traditional methods and materials, restoring the summerhouses to their original form.”
The renovation is expected to be completed by the spring.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Food redistribution charities can submit applications for grants starting at £20,000
Food redistribution charities can now submit applications for a new £15 million Government scheme, which is helping to ensure surplus food is delivered to those who need it.
Every year, an estimated 330,000 tonnes of edible food is either wasted or repurposed as animal feed before leaving farm gates. This food should be going onto the nation’s plates, but charities often lack the resources to salvage it and provide it to the most vulnerable.
The new Tackling Food Surplus at the Farm Gate scheme will strengthen links between farms and charities to help solve the problem of food surplus on farms, with grants starting from £20,000 to help organisations fight hunger in communities.
From today (Friday 7 February), applicants can submit bids outlining how they intend to form relationships with farmers to access any surplus food, and how they would seek to increase their capacity to redistribute this food to communities.
The funding can go towards purchasing new packaging and labelling equipment and vehicles to move goods from farms to a redistribution organisation, as well as new equipment, like fridges or freezers, to safely store food and ensure it lasts longer.
The fund is open to food redistribution charities and any groups with an interest are encouraged to apply.
Circular Economy Minister Mary Creagh said:
Nobody wants to see good food go to waste – especially farmers who work hard to put food on our nation’s tables. This fund will help charities work more closely with farmers to create new ways to get fresh produce to the people who need it most.
I encourage our brilliant, dedicated redistribution charities and non-profits to apply for this funding to ensure more British fruit and veg gets to those who need it most.
In a joint statement, the CEOs of The Bread and Butter Thing, City Harvest, FareShare, The Felix Project and Co-Chairs of The Xcess Group said:
As leaders of the surplus food redistribution sector and following years of campaigning, we are delighted to welcome the launch of this fund ahead of British growing season.
It presents an opportunity to make a profound impact by empowering local charities and community organisations. These groups are the backbone of British society, and we are proud to support them.
By working across the charitable redistribution sector, we can help ensure that this scheme is implemented efficiently through our joint capacity, delivers tangible value to taxpayers, and helps millions of meals reach as many people as possible at a time of considerable need.
Applications can be submitted online until 11:55am on 13 March 2025.
There is more to come as the Government moves to ensure the throwaway society is ended for good.
A new Circular Economy Taskforce, comprising members from industry, academia, and civil society across the UK, has been set up. They will lead on the development of a Circular Economy Strategy for England, which will outline how individual sectors can contribute to ambitions in this area.
This is alongside continued support for the Courtauld Commitment 2030, managed by environmental NGO WRAP, which looks to deliver a more sustainable supply chain and reduce food waste in the home – tackling food waste and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water usage.
Flexible grants to drive efficiency, support nature and climate friendly farming.
Farmers and crofters will benefit from £20 million additional capital support this year and £26 million next year, First Minister John Swinney has confirmed.
Speaking at the NFU Scotland annual conference he outlined how at least £14 million of the funding will deliver a Future Farming Investment Scheme, providing flexible capital grants.
Other significant announcements included:
an additional £7 million in 2025 through the Agri-environment climate scheme (AECS) to undertake activities supporting nature, climate and biodiversity alongside food production
hosting a new entrant’s summit bringing key individuals together to find solutions to attract more people into farming
a three year programme of national land Lidar laser scanning to accurately map terrain
committing £75,000 to RSABI (founded as the Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Institution) to provide mental health support for farmers and crofters
further details of how the routemap to implementing a new framework of agriculture support will work
a commitment to delivering ultra-high frequency (UHF) electronic identification for cows to improve traceability
Mr Swinney said:
“I want to see a farming sector that is equipped and ready to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of the future. That is why at least £14 million will be delivered through our Future Farming Investment Scheme.
“We will work at pace to consult with industry to ensure the capital grant scheme guidance and priorities work for a range of businesses and that the application processes are simple and straightforward. They will not be prescriptive, as long as the funds are used to drive efficiency or support nature and climate friendly farming your bid will be valid and could receive support.
“A flourishing Scotland means a flourishing rural Scotland. And for rural Scotland to thrive, farming must thrive. I look forward to working with the industry – building on the constructive working relationships we have with NFU Scotland to show that this government is committed to continuing to support our nation’s farmers.”
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Sir Ian Bauckham CBE is appointed Chief Regulator of Ofqual by the Education Secretary.
The Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has today (7 February 2025) announced the appointment of Sir Ian Bauckham CBE as Chief Regulator of Ofqual .
The privy council has confirmed his appointment through an order in council, after a thorough recruitment process conducted in line with the requirements set by the commissioner for public appointments.
Sir Ian will start the permanent five-year position after serving as interim Chief Regulator since 1st Jan 2024.
Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson said:
This government is committed to high and rising standards and fair assessments are crucial to this, opening the door to opportunity for children and young people and breaking the link between background and success.
With his vast expertise in education, Sir Ian is exceptionally suited to lead Ofqual in maintaining a system that provides all young people with high-quality, rigorous qualifications and training, equipping them with the skills needed to succeed.
Appointed Chief Regulator, Sir Ian Bauckham CBE said:
I’m honoured to take on this permanent role, after dedicating my career to improving education and opportunities for young people.
Qualifications are the currency of education. Ofqual, as guardian of standards, will protect their value and integrity to ensure they remain trusted by students, teachers, universities and employers alike.
Only through rigorous assessment and stable qualifications can we measure education performance and highlight areas where we can improve opportunities for all students.
Ofqual is the independent body responsible for regulating qualifications, exams, and assessments in England. It plays a crucial role in maintaining standards and public trust in GCSEs, A levels, and vocational and technical qualifications.
The Chief Regulator’s key responsibility is to ensure that Ofqual meets its statutory objectives and duties, including upholding standards and fostering confidence in qualifications and assessments.
Knighted in January 2023 for his services to education, Sir Ian has been a member of the Ofqual Board since 2018. He served as Chair from January 2021 until January 2024, when he became the interim Chief Regulator. Previously, he was the Chief Executive Officer of the Tenax Schools Academy Trust, a position he stepped down from to assume his current role. Since 2020, Sir Ian has also chaired the board of Oak National Academy.
The Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Matthew Pennycook, has written to LEASE’s Chair, Martin Boyd, to set out his priorities for the Service in their role delivering advice to leaseholders and park home owners.
Tailored support for women entrepreneurs to enter international trade.
Women-led businesses will receive more help to sell overseas after a study found Scotland could benefit from billions of pounds in extra trade.
The Gender Export Gap report estimates that Scotland’s trade could increase by between £3.4 billion to £10.3 billion over two years if women-led businesses exported at the same rate as those led by men. From 2016 – 2022, between 2% and 9% fewer women-owned small and medium-sized companies sold overseas compared to those run by men.
Actions to be introduced include targeting more women to take part in trade missions and export training programmes.
Business Minister Richard Lochhead launched the report and the Scottish Government’s response during a visit to Raven Botanicals near Haddington, East Lothian, run by Arabella and Charlotte Harvey. The sisters are speaking to a potential overseas client about their award-winning natural skincare and beauty products after participating in trade missions to the United States and Dubai.
Mr Lochhead said:
“The untapped export potential of women entrepreneurs identified by this report is astonishing. The measures I am announcing today are just the beginning. We will work with organisations such as Scottish Development International and the Scottish Chamber of Commerce to understand the specific export needs of women-led businesses and provide further assistance.
“The gender export gap is a worldwide phenomenon and the position in Scotland is typical of comparable countries. However, we are determined to improve and reap the huge economic rewards.”
Arabella Harvey said:
“As a business in the early stages of growth, we welcome the commitment to meaningful, tailored support for female entrepreneurs.
“We have faced challenges accessing export support, even though there’s clear interest from new markets. By empowering female entrepreneurs to step confidently into the global marketplace, we can secure significant economic growth and strengthen Scotland’s reputation on the world stage.”
The Scottish-Government commissioned research report was authored by Professor Norin Arshed, Dr Stephen Knox and Dr Carolina Marin Cadavid.
Steps to encourage and support more participation of women in trade is a core part of delivering the Scottish Government’s international trade strategy, Scotland’s Vision for Trade.
The work also aligns with wider action on women’s entrepreneurship. The Scottish Government confirmed in June 2023 that it would take forward all the recommendations of Ana Stewart’s Pathways: A New Approach for Women in Entrepreneurship.
Funding allocated to create more opportunities for women in entrepreneurship will increase to at least £4 million in the next financial year, as part of an enhanced enterprise package commitment of £15 million.
A food business in Lurgan has been prosecuted in court for failing to display its food hygiene rating.
Maloney’s Diner at Flush Place Business Park in Lurgan was handed a fine of £500 and ordered to pay additional costs of £163 for the failure to display a valid food hygiene rating sticker under the Food Hygiene Rating Act (Northern Ireland) 2016.
The business had been allocated a food hygiene rating of 2 following an inspection, however the business continued to display a rating of 5. Environmental Health officers from ABC Council had issued warning letters to the business in September 2024 for failing to display the correct food hygiene rating.
A spokesperson for ABC Council said the food hygiene rating scheme provides information on businesses’ hygiene standards to help consumers choose where to eat out or shop for food.
“It is a legal requirement for all food businesses to display their food hygiene rating. This prosecution reinforces that council officers are checking on businesses to ensure they are displaying the correct rating,” said the spokesperson.
“Environmental Health Officers allocate a rating based on the standards found at the time of inspection. The officer will check how hygienically the food is handled, how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored.
“They also check the condition of the buildings for cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities and how the business manages and records what it does to make sure food is safe.”
Our officers will continue to work with all food businesses in the Borough to ensure that high standards of food hygiene are achieved.
For more information about the food hygiene rating scheme in the ABC Borough please visit – www.armaghbanbridgecraigavon.gov.uk/business/food-safety/
One of ITVX’s most successful-ever comedies is set to return to the small screen tonight, thanks to Liverpool Film Office.
G’wed will be back for a second series at 10.05pm Thursday 6 February and is the tenth project to receive investment from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s LCR Production Fund which is facilitated by Liverpool City Council’s Film Office.
The first season aired in 2024 and has been streamed over six million times.
Written by Liverpool’s Danny Kenny and produced by Golden Path Productions, filming for the second series took place in Wirral and Liverpool for five weeks last summer. As part of the production fund agreement, it supported six trainees from the Film Office’s skills initiative Action!, which saw the industry-newcomers hone skills as assistant directors, and take up roles in costume, props, locations, make-up and sound departments.
The £3 million, LCR Production Fund is was launched by Mayor Steve Rotheram in 2019, and has to date invested in 10 high-end TV dramas including This City Is Ours, the Time series 1 and 2 – the first of which won a BAFTA – and Emmy Award-winning The Responder.
The Action! initiative has been made possible through £2.3m of BFI National Lottery funding which was awarded to Screen Alliance North, a new skills cluster partnership delivered by Liverpool Film Office, North East Screen, Screen Manchester and Screen Yorkshire.
The partnership aims to make the screen sector more accessible and to help build a thriving and skilled workforce across the North of England.
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:
“When I launched the LCR Production Fund, I wanted to help establish the Liverpool City Region as the ‘Hollywood of the North.’ We’ve already begun to see that pay off, supporting a number of award-winning productions.
“This investment isn’t just about making great TV—though G’wed has clearly been a hit – it’s about creating opportunities for local people, supporting our economy, and showing the world what our region can do. I’m really proud to see how our funding is helping to nurture the next generation of talent and put our region at the heart of the UK’s creative industry.”
Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Culture, Councillor Harry Doyle, said:
“This investment has helped provide opportunities for local crew and trainees – some of who were given the first step on their film and TV career ladder.
“The fund has helped bring so much to our region, from the economy to providing opportunities for local people to flourish in a career they could have only dreamt of.
“It is fantastic what has been achieved here and hope that the impact of the fund continues for many years to come.”
Action! trainee and Chargehand props on G’wed 2, Ciaran Dow Jones said: “During my placement, I worked in dressing props, which gave me great hands-on experience in creating sets and managing prop storage.
“Everyone had a real laugh on set and there was great teamwork amongst the cast and crew. The best part was the fun atmosphere – every day on set was exciting.
“Moving forward, I want to keep developing my skills in the art department while also exploring other roles in film and TV, with the goal of becoming a director one day.”
Head of Liverpool Film Office, Lynn Saunders said:
“We’re proud to have invested in the second series of G’wed and I know that it will build on the success of the first which was a hit for audiences.
“Having filmed in Wirral and Liverpool, and being solely based in Wirral, we are proud to have worked closely with Wirral Council colleagues to make this series possible. “We’re looking forward to tuning in on Thursday along with thousands of others.”
NSW Ambulance has today welcomed 91 paramedics in training who were officially inducted into the service in a ceremony held at the State Operations Centre in Sydney, providing a further boost to frontline health services across the state.
This marks the first induction ceremony of the year, with this cohort part of a Post Employment Tertiary Pathway (PETP) course. The paramedics in training are employed by NSW Ambulance while they complete a degree in paramedicine at university.
They have just completed a comprehensive 12-week induction program at the NSW Ambulance Education Centre and begin their on-road training as paramedic students from tomorrow.
The PETP course is facilitated over four years and provides an alternate pathway for people with no prior medical experience to become a paramedic with NSW Ambulance. Once these paramedics in training have completed their degree qualification, they can apply to be registered paramedics.
Natalie Saridakis, formerly an emergency medical call-taker with NSW Ambulance, is one of 19 paramedic students who have joined this class after working in NSW Ambulance Control Centres.
Brad Carr also starts his career as a paramedic student today, following in the footsteps of his paramedic father Dominic, who works as an educator for NSW Ambulance.
Starting tomorrow, the paramedics in training will initially be posted across metropolitan and regional locations in NSW for the on-road training component of their course and will return to the NSW Ambulance Education Centre and their university regularly for additional training over the four-year course.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Health, Ryan Park:
“I’m thrilled to welcome 91 new paramedic students into the NSW Ambulance service, boosting frontline health services and playing a critical role in the health and wellbeing of the community.
“By aspiring to join the paramedic ranks, these paramedics in training will become part of a legacy of service and dedication. The work they do not only changes lives but will uphold the values and standards of a profession that is deeply respected and admired.”
Quotes attributable to NSW Ambulance Chief Executive Dr Dominic Morgan:
“These paramedic students join an incredible team that is united by a shared commitment to provide emergency medical care and comfort to members of our community when it matters most.
“Paramedics are not only healthcare providers but also trusted and respected individuals in our community.”
Quotes attributable to Natalie Saridakis:
“For many years I was a carer for my mum, having frequent contact with the local paramedics.
“I was always impressed by their compassion and kindness that it really inspired me to join NSW Ambulance.
“I started out as an emergency medical call-taker which was a great start, but right now I am so excited to begin this new chapter.”
Quotes attributable to Brad Carr:
“I am proud to continue a family legacy in becoming a paramedic.
“My father has had a lengthy career, and I am looking forward to forging my own path.”
The British central bank announced on Thursday that it would cut the interest rate from 4.75 percent to 4.5 percent, citing concerns about stagnant growth.
The decision was made by the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England (BoE), which voted 7-2 to cut rates. Two committee members called for a bigger rate cut of half a percentage point.
December’s inflation rate dropped from 2.6 percent to 2.5 percent, with core inflation falling from 3.5 percent to 3.2 percent, while services inflation experienced an even bigger drop from 5 percent to 4.4 percent, providing a base for a potential interest rate cut.
The BoE said that the economy’s potential growth rate had dropped from 1.5 percent to 0.75 percent year-on-year. The bank also indicated that while it expects last October’s Budget to boost economic growth by 0.75 percent, thanks largely to greater public investment, the National Insurance rise will weigh down on activity, particularly by reducing employment.
The news last week that three people in Sydney were hospitalised with botulism after receiving botox injections has raised questions about the regulation of the cosmetic injectables industry.
The three women allegedly received injections of unregulated anti-wrinkle products from the same provider at a Western Sydney home in January.
The provider, who is not a registered health practitioner, is allegedly also linked to a case of botulism that occurred following a botox injection in Victoria in 2024.
The provider has been banned from performing cosmetic procedures in New South Wales and Victoria while the incidents are investigated. Meanwhile, health authorities in both states have issued warnings about the practitioner.
So, what exactly is botulism? And how can it be linked to botox?
Botox and botulism
Botox, or botulinum toxin, is a drug made from a toxin produced by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum.
The botox toxin is a neurotoxin, which means it prevents the functioning of cells in the central nervous system. Specifically, it blocks the messages your nerves send to your muscles telling them to contract. In this way it can temporarily reduce wrinkles.
While botox is best known for its cosmetic applications, it can also be used in the treatment of certain medical conditions, such as chronic migraines and muscle spasms.
The toxin is used in a highly diluted form in botox injections. Notwithstanding the possibility of side effects (such as temporary pain and swelling at the injection site), botox is generally considered safe when conducted by licensed health practitioners.
Botulism is likewise caused by a toxin produced by the bacteria C. botulinum.
Instances of botulism linked to botox injections in the past have been attributed to counterfeit or mishandled product. Mishandling might include contamination from the toxin source in the diluted product, leading to a higher dose of the toxin, or improper refrigeration. Poor injection technique can also be a factor.
When the botulinum toxin is not handled properly, the toxin can enter the bloodstream. This is how botulism occurs.
Botulism can also be a food-borne illness
C. botulinum can form spores and survive in tough conditions, meaning it can withstand many food preparation techniques.
People who consume homemade preserved foods such as vegetables, particularly those that are not cooked during preparation, can be at a higher risk of food-borne botulism. Lower levels of salt and acid, as is the case with mild fermentation, can also increase the risk of the toxin being present.
C. botulinum can also survive in soil and water. In this way, botulism can also be caused by bacteria from the environment. This can present as wound infections, or intestinal infection with C. botulinum in infants specifically.
Intravenous drug users are at a higher risk of wound-borne botulism, while infants tend to suffer from gastrointestinal botulism because their gut microbiomes are still developing.
Symptoms can develop within a few hours to several days after exposure to the toxin, and include drooping eyelids, difficulty breathing, facial weakness, blurred vision, difficulty swallowing and slurred speech. In infants it can cause floppy limbs and a weak cry.
It’s treated by supporting breathing if necessary, and urgently administering a botox antitoxin, which binds to the toxin, preventing it from attaching to nerve cells in the body.
Usually patients recover, although in some cases they may need to be in hospital for months, and sometimes symptoms such as fatigue and trouble breathing can last years.
The cosmetic injectables industry is estimated to be worth A$4.1 billion in Australia and forecast to grow by almost 20% annually until 2030. These recent incidents in NSW and Victoria highlight the need for stronger regulation in this booming industry.
Asking your practitioner about the injectable they’re using, and ensuring the specific product is registered with the Therapeutic Goods Administration, can further limit any risk associated with botox procedures.
If you make your own preserved foods, careful food production techniques and hygiene, as well as the addition of fermentation, acid, salt or heat treatment can limit the risk of food-borne botulism.
Thomas Jeffries does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Headline: Bathurst refuge expanded to support more women and children escaping domestic violence
Published: 7 February 2025
Released by: Minister for Homelessness, Minister for Housing, Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
More than 30 women and children fleeing abusive relationships each year will benefit from the expansion of The Orchard in Bathurst, with three new emergency refuge units opening today.
The first five units at The Orchard, Bathurst were developed and built by Housing Plus and opened in January 2023, with service delivery funded by the NSW Government’s Core and Cluster program.
Since then, it has provided accommodation for over 100 women and children escaping violent and unsafe homes.
An additional $1.95 million under the Core and Cluster program has enabled an additional three units to be built on the site.
The Core and Cluster refuge model promotes independent living by providing self-contained accommodation located next to a ‘core’ of support that facilitates access to services such as counselling, legal assistance, education, and employment support.
Plus Community, the community service arm of Housing Plus, will deliver tailored, on-site support to help victim-survivors rebuild their lives and heal from trauma.
The Minns Labor Government is building a safer New South Wales by addressing domestic and family violence at all stages, including through primary prevention, early intervention, crisis responses and recovery.
Ensuring women and children have access to safe housing and support when they leave violence is critical to helping them rebuild their lives.
The NSW Government has invested $426.6 million over four years in the Core and Cluster program to support an additional 2,900 women and children fleeing domestic and family violence across the state each year.
Minister for Housing and Homelessness Rose Jackson said:
“No woman should have to choose between staying in an abusive relationship or becoming homeless.
“This expanded refuge will help more domestic and family violence victim-survivors in the Bathurst region feel safe and supported as they leave violent situations and rebuild their lives.
“Under the Core and Cluster program, the NSW Government has committed to building 49 new refuges across the state by 2026, helping to ensure that all women and children fleeing violence can find a safe place to call home.”
Minister for the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Jodie Harrison said:
“Securing safe housing remains a critical hurdle to overcoming domestic and family violence.
“The NSW Government is supporting women and children escaping domestic and family violence by making sure they have access to housing and support services, particularly in regional areas like Bathurst.
“The Core and Cluster model not only provides safe and secure accommodation, but also tailored support on-site to help victim-survivors recover.
“Emergency refuges like The Orchard are crucial in helping women and children take their first step towards escaping violence, regaining their confidence, and rebuilding their lives in their community.”
Labor spokesperson for Bathurst Stephen Lawrence MLC said:
“The funding for and opening of three new emergency refuge units at The Orchard today is welcome support for women and children fleeing abusive relationships in my duty electorate of Bathurst.
“This a vital program funded by the Minns Labor Government securing the safety of victim survivors and supporting their recovery.”
Justin Cantelo, CEO of Housing Plus and Plus Community, said:
“The need for safe, supportive housing has never been more urgent.
“We are proud to play a part in helping women and children find safety and start the journey towards healing in the aftermath of domestic violence.”
Jenna Hattersley, Domestic Violence Services Manager at Plus Community, said:
“The addition of these three units means more women and children will have the chance to escape violence and find refuge in a place where they feel safe and supported.
“Every day, we see the difference that safe housing can make in helping people rebuild their confidence and their lives.”
A resident of The Orchard Bathurst, said:
“Thank you for everything.
“Your dedication and support to women in need of help is where The Orchard stands out.”
Support:
If you or someone you know are in immediate danger, call the Police on Triple Zero / 000.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic and family violence, call the NSW Domestic Violence Line on 1800 65 64 63 for free counselling and referrals, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
For confidential advice, support, and referrals, contact 1800 RESPECT or 13 YARN.
The Bureau of Meteorology has released its official record of Australia’s climate, water and notable weather events for 2024.
The Annual Climate Statement 2024 outlines the climate conditions across Australia in 2024. It includes information on temperature, rainfall, water resources, oceans, atmosphere and notable weather events.
The report confirms that 2024 was Australia’s second-warmest and eighth-wettest year on record.
Climatology Specialist Nadine D’Argent said that it was warmer than average throughout the year across most of the country.
“Nationally, spring was the warmest on record, winter was the second warmest on record and summer 2023–24 was the third warmest on record,” Ms D’Argent said.
“It was the wettest year since 2011, with overall rainfall 28% above average,” Ms D’Argent said.
“Tropical cyclones brought heavy rainfall to northern parts of Australia early in the year, where there was major flooding.”
“While much of northern Australia and some inland areas had above average rainfall, it was much drier than usual in Victoria, parts of South Australia and some parts of the west.”
These dry conditions and low inflows led to reduced water storage levels in some southern regions, including the Murray–Darling Basin. However, Australia’s total surface water storage volume was just under 73% at the end of 2024, which was similar to the end of the previous year.
Ms D’Argent said Australia’s climate is influenced by global patterns in the oceans and atmosphere.
“Sea surface temperatures in the Australian region, as well as globally, were the warmest on record in 2024,” Ms D’Argent said.
“Warmer oceans can increase the amount of moisture available for rainfall in our weather systems.”
Globally, 2024 was the warmest year on record and the warming in Australia is consistent with global trends.
Further information about the impact of long-term climate trends is available in the State of the Climate 2024 released by the Bureau and CSIRO in October 2024.
Facts at a glance:
2024 was Australia’s second-warmest year on record. Australia’s warmest year on record was 2019.
The national annual average temperature was 1.46 °C warmer than the long-term average and the warmest since 2019.
Annual average temperatures were warmer than average for every state and the Northern Territory.
Both national average maximum and minimum temperatures for the year were above average. The national average minimum temperature for the year was 1.43 °C warmer than the long-term average, making it the warmest annual minimum on record.
Australia’s overall average rainfall was 596 mm, which is 28% above average.
Rainfall across northern Australia was 42% above average, making it the fifth-wettest year on record.
Rainfall across parts of southern Australia was below average.
Annual sea surface temperatures for the Australian region were the warmest on record.
The extent of Antarctic sea-ice, which is the area of ocean covered by sea-ice, was below the 1991–2020 average throughout 2024.
For the full analysis and report on last year’s temperature, rainfall, water resources, climate influences and more:
Queensland overall had 768 mm of rainfall in 2024, which is 23% above average.
Rainfall was above average to very much above average for large parts of Queensland, and below average for small parts of the state’s interior and central coast.
The annual average temperature for Queensland was 1.63 °C warmer than the long-term average, making 2024 Queensland’s warmest year on record.
New South Wales overall had 581 mm of rainfall in 2024, which is 4% above average.
Rainfall was above average to very much above average for inland areas of New South Wales, and below average for the south-eastern part of the state.
The annual average temperature for New South Wales was 1.55 °C warmer than the long-term average, making 2024 the third-warmest year on record for New South Wales.
South Australia overall had 218 mm of rainfall in 2024, which is 3% below average.
Rainfall was above average to very much above average for western and north-eastern parts of South Australia, but below average to very much below average for southern and south-eastern areas of the state.
The annual average temperature for South Australia was 1.60 °C warmer than the long-term average, making 2024 South Australia’s second-warmest year on record. South Australia’s warmest year on record was 2013.
Western Australia overall had 461 mm of rainfall in 2024, which is 35% above average.
Rainfall was above average to very much above average for most of Western Australia, but below average to very much below average for parts of coastal south-west and north-west Western Australia.
The annual average temperature for Western Australia was 1.57 °C warmer than the long-term average, making 2024 Western Australia’s second-warmest year on record. Western Australia’s warmest year on record was 2019.
The Northern Territory overall had 898 mm of rainfall in 2024, which is 65% above average.
Rainfall was above average to very much above average for most of the Northern Territory.
Annual rainfall for the Northern Territory was the fourth highest on record, with the highest recorded being in 1974 with 1007 mm.
The annual average temperature for the Northern Territory was 0.95 °C warmer than the long-term average. 2024 was Northern Territory’s equal 11th-warmest year on record.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Government is investing in vital schemes to improve journey times in Wiltshire, Leeds, Essex and Buckinghamshire.
government gives the green light for 4 transformative road schemes, speeding up journey times for cars and buses, reducing pollution and improving safety
part of the government’s commitment to prioritise value for money road schemes while renewing our national infrastructure
£90 million for all 4 schemes, as the government’s Plan for Change delivers better living standards across the country
Drivers across Wiltshire, Leeds, Essex and Buckinghamshire will see faster journeys thanks to £90 million of government funding to upgrade 4 major road schemes in England.
The schemes approved today are:
A350 Chippenham Bypass phases 4 and 5 in Wiltshire
A647 Dawsons Corner and Stanningley Bypass in Leeds
South East Aylesbury Link Road (SEALR) in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
A127/A130 Fairglen Interchange in Essex
Schemes are expected to significantly speed up journeys, boosting the local economy, as well as improving links between the east and the west. They will also save businesses and road users hundreds of hours off journeys every week and deliver the government’s Plan for Change to improve living standards across the country.
The A350 Chippenham Bypass, one of the most important routes connecting the South West with the Midlands and South East, is expected to see journey times reduced by up to a quarter, with 2 sections of the road to be dualled and improvements made to the roundabout.
Local residents will benefit from reduced traffic on more local routes as well as better road safety and better access to jobs in the area. Businesses are expected to save time and money, as goods can travel more freely with improved access to a key part of the UK’s road freight network.
A total of £90 million for the 4 schemes is being contributed by the government, expected to generate millions more to the UK economy. This is part of the government’s Plan for Change to renew infrastructure and raise living standards across the UK.
The government is determined to speed up the delivery of infrastructure across the UK, which includes improving the UK’s road network for economic growth. As well as faster journeys, drivers are also set to benefit from improved road surfaces, thanks to a recently announced record £1.6 billion investment to fill the equivalent of 7 million potholes and repair roads.
The Future of Roads Minister, Lilian Greenwood, said:
The UK’s roads are the backbone of a growing economy, which is why we’re giving these vital schemes the go ahead, helping deliver our Plan for Change.
Economic growth has been stunted for too long, so we’re giving the green light and investing in vital schemes to help people get from A to B more easily however they choose to travel.
The area around the A647 Dawsons Corner and Stanningley Bypass in Leeds has seen high traffic levels worsen over the years, impacting bus services in particular. The replacement of the roundabout and structural renewal of the bypass is expected to increase the number of bus passengers, speeding up traffic for all modes of road transport.
Upgrades to the SEALR scheme will reduce air pollution in the town centre, link up new developments in the area and create more walking and cycling options, with a new 1.2 kilometre 2-lane dual carriageway link road. This scheme is also essential in enabling further housing development, which could see up to 1,000 homes added to the local area.
Drivers in Essex will also see faster journeys, as well as improved safety on the A127/A130 Fairglen Interchange. The scheme will see enhancements to the interchange and surrounding roundabouts, serving thousands of drivers every day. Basildon and Southend town centres are expected to see growth and the scheme will also improve capacity for the route serving London Southend Airport.
A significant milestone for drivers in Essex, the Future of Roads Minister, Lilian Greenwood has visited the Fairglen Interchange in Essex to mark the approval of the scheme and learn how it will benefit the local economy.
Michelle Gardner, Deputy Director – Policy, Logistics UK, said:
80% of UK freight travels on roads at some point on its journey to the end user and an efficient road network is critical to enable business to drive growth across the whole economy.
Congestion makes journey planning highly unpredictable which increases business costs through factors such as missed deliveries, unnecessary overtime, increased fuel consumption and inefficient fleet utilisation.
The schemes given the go-ahead today show how even smaller-scale strategic upgrades can have a dramatic impact across the whole network. Upgrading the national infrastructure in this way makes supply chains more resilient and enables logistics providers to ensure that the right goods are in the right place at the right time – whether that is a factory, office, hospital or doorstep.
