The government has published plans for “once-in-a-generation” reform of youth justice in England and Wales. The reforms are billed as a blueprint for earlier intervention, more targeted support and addressing the root causes of youth crime.

It’s welcome that the proposals recognise how many children in the youth justice system have grown up with instability, trauma and neglect – and that those in the system often have increasingly complex needs. They also emphasise the importance of trusted relationships with professionals, stronger families and school attendance.

The argument that youth crime is often shaped by complex needs, adversity and missed opportunities for support, maps closely onto what my colleague Jagjit Sandhu and I found in our recent study of young men who have been involved in gangs.

Gang involvement is often discussed in terms of violence, drugs, knives and policing. It can be dangerous, harmful and traumatising, both for young people themselves and for the communities around them. But focusing only on crime misses something important: gangs can also offer belonging, a sense of identity and support for young people. This is often what draws them to get involved in the first place, and what makes it difficult to leave.

Research has long suggested that gang involvement rarely comes from one cause. Young people may be “pushed” towards gangs by poverty, exclusion, victimisation or lack of support, while also being “pulled” by status, protection, identity and belonging. Gangs can offer protection, power, excitement and social support. These are benefits that, for some young people, are felt to outweigh the risks.

Our study, published in the Journal of Forensic Psychology Research and Practice, involved interviews with five young men in London who had current or previous gang involvement. The study explored how they made sense of their life experiences, relationships and sources of support.

Participants described growing up around poverty, violence, family disruption and feeling misunderstood or unsupported by adults and institutions. One young man, Jesse*, recalled times when “there wasn’t no food” and “there was no electric”. Paul described people in his community as “really good people” who sometimes felt their “only choice” was to do something wrong.

But the young men in our study were not only “pushed” by adversity. They were also “pulled” to the gang by relationships that seemed to offer something they could not find elsewhere.

For Paul, closeness came from shared experience. He described his peers as “literally like the same person [as me] but just put in different houses”. John spoke about his fellow gang members as “brothers.” Tom recalled older gang members who “showed me a lot of love” and helped him feel protected. They described these relationships as central to why gang involvement made sense to them at the time.

The young men did not use this to excuse subsequent violence or criminal behaviour. But it helped them explain why they were drawn to the gang, and why leaving was so difficult.

Why early support and relationships matter

This is where the government’s emphasis on early intervention and trusted relationships is important. The white paper presenting the proposals argues that support for children at risk of offending should be “timely, proportionate and holistic”. It should also be joined up across schools, social care, health, youth justice teams and voluntary organisations.

The proposals stress the importance of stable relationships with trusted adults such as mentors, youth workers, teachers, social workers and other professionals. These adults can help children feel safe, regulate emotions and begin to see themselves as someone with a future outside crime.

Our findings support this approach. Some of our participants wanted to move away from gang involvement, but needed help to imagine and build a different life. Tom described contact with professionals through a support service as “like two different worlds”, saying that it changed his “mind state”. Others spoke about mentoring, work, family relationships and new peer groups as helping them find purpose and belonging outside the gang.

The government’s focus on early intervention is welcome, including the expansion of programmes such as Turnaround, a voluntary support programme for children on the cusp of entering the youth justice system. It also proposes opening more Young Futures Hubs, intended to bring local services together so young people can access opportunities, mental health and wellbeing support, and help to move away from crime, and early support hubs, which offer young people mental health support without needing a GP referral.

Separately, it reiterates Labour’s manifesto commitment for new child criminal exploitation measures, including offence and civil orders aimed at adults who exploit children into criminality. The point is not only to improve outcomes for children who offend – effective early intervention also means fewer victims and safer communities.

But policy also needs to keep listening to young people with lived experience of offending. Their voices can help us understand what support looks like from the inside: what came too late, what felt irrelevant and what made change feel possible.

The need for belonging is not unusual or deviant. It is human. But not all young people have easy access to safe places, trusted adults or meaningful opportunities. YMCA analysis of local authority youth services found that spending has fallen sharply since 2010–11, with fewer council-run youth centres and youth workers than a decade ago.

Research has found crime and violence to be linked to a lack of positive relationships, education and employment opportunities and community support. When these are missing, gangs may fill the gap. Early intervention has to mean understanding what young people are looking for and offering support and opportunities that feel real to them – before gangs become the place they find belonging – and before more people are harmed.

*Names have been changed

The three-day celebration, running from May 23 to 25, drew crowds from across the region, with a packed programme of live entertainment, family activities and a vibrant parade through the town centre.

Photos from the weekend capture locals proudly marching through the streets in a colourful procession.

Festivities centred around the main stage, where live music kept audiences entertained throughout the weekend, while visitors also enjoyed a mix of food vendors, bars and traditional fairground rides.

A range of community-led activities added to the atmosphere, including a popular pet show, dog agility displays, open mic sessions and a bustling car boot sale.

Barnard Castle Meet. 25.5.2026 Photograph: Stuart Boulton/The Northern Echo (Image: Stuart Boulton)

Barnard Castle Meet. 25.5.2026 Photograph: Stuart Boulton/The Northern Echo (Image: Stuart Boulton)

Barnard Castle Meet. 25.5.2026 Photograph: Stuart Boulton/The Northern Echo (Image: Stuart Boulton)

Barnard Castle Meet. 25.5.2026 Photograph: Stuart Boulton/The Northern Echo (Image: Stuart Boulton)

Barnard Castle Meet. 25.5.2026 Photograph: Stuart Boulton/The Northern Echo (Image: Stuart Boulton)

Barnard Castle Meet. 25.5.2026 Photograph: Stuart Boulton/The Northern Echo (Image: Stuart Boulton)

Barnard Castle Meet. 25.5.2026 Photograph: Stuart Boulton/The Northern Echo (Image: Stuart Boulton)

Barnard Castle Meet. 25.5.2026 Photograph: Stuart Boulton/The Northern Echo (Image: Stuart Boulton)

Barnard Castle Meet. 25.5.2026 Photograph: Stuart Boulton/The Northern Echo (Image: Stuart Boulton)

Barnard Castle Meet. 25.5.2026 Photograph: Stuart Boulton/The Northern Echo (Image: Stuart Boulton)

Organisers have praised the enormous community effort behind the event, thanking volunteers, sponsors, local businesses and emergency services for their support in making the weekend a success.

A spokesperson said: “To the volunteers, committee members, sponsors, local businesses, entertainers, musicians, traders, food vendors, parade entrants, emergency services, community groups, and every single person who gave their time, effort, and support — we truly couldn’t do it without you.

“We hope you all enjoyed Barnard Castle Meet Weekend 2026 as much as we did, and after a little rest, we’ll start looking ahead to doing it all again next year.”

What if you could visit a place that does not exist on any map? A place whispered about online as though it sits just beyond the edges of our known world. A place known quite simply as, the Backrooms.

The Backrooms are an internet-created fictional setting imagined as an infinite network of empty, fluorescent-lit rooms. The concept centres on the idea of accidentally slipping out of normal reality and becoming trapped in this monotonous, labyrinthine environment with no clear exit.

Since first emerging online in 2019 on the online bulletin board 4chan, the Backrooms phenomenon has expanded across Reddit, TikTok, YouTube and gaming platforms, where users collectively map, narrate and extend its mythology. Common to much of the user-generated content are eerie images and haunting stories of mysterious, yellow wallpapered corridors and empty office-like spaces that exist outside of, or beyond, reality itself.

Much of the interest on the internet circulates around filmmaker Kane Parsons’ viral “found footage” videos on YouTube. Parsons took the phenomenon from low resolution static images into immersive cinematic exploration, helping to establish Backrooms as one of social media’s most recognisable horror environments. With Parsons now adapting the Backrooms for a feature-length horror thriller, the strange fictive world is rapidly entering mainstream discourse.

At first glance, the Backrooms may resemble just another accelerated urban legend (also known as “creepypasta”) such as Slenderman or The Russian Sleep Experiment. But our research suggests something more significant is occurring in terms of changing consumer interest in spaces related to horror or trauma, their mediation, and new ways of experiencing them.

Behind the yellow wallpaper

The Backrooms began with a single unsettling image posted anonymously online: a claustrophobic warren of tawdrily yellow, windowless rooms with aged carpets and harsh overhead fluorescent lights.

Intrigued by the vague mixture of menace and nostalgia that the image evoked, internet users began sharing stories and speculating that the Backrooms is a hidden dimension into which people might accidentally find themselves.

With commercial tourism, social media and vlogging much of today’s world feels overexposed and overexplained, with seemingly every destination photographed, every experience reviewed and all hidden gems channelled into content. The mystery of the Backrooms felt different.

Today, the r/backrooms subreddit contains hundreds of thousands of members, while Backrooms content across TikTok and Instagram continues to attract enormous engagement. Content tagged #backrooms on TikTok exceeds half a million posts, while Instagram fan pages such as @xbackroom, which have hundreds of thousands of followers, further extend the mythology through images, edits and speculative storytelling. Users create maps, fictional diary entries, survival guides, found-footage videos and first-person explorations that collectively expand the world.

This is one reason the Backrooms feel different from traditional horror films or ghost stories. Rather than passively consuming a finished narrative, audiences actively participate in constructing and navigating the environment itself.

Folklore scholar Michael Kinsella has described this kind of online activity as a form of “online legend-tripping” where audiences become contributors, collaborators and world-builders rather than simply spectators.

The horror of familiar places

Dark tourism research reveals that people are drawn to places associated with death, disaster, tragedy and the uncanny, whether former prisons, abandoned sites, or locations connected to unsettling historical events. These locations often involve an encounter with atmospheres that feel emotionally, symbolically or existentially charged.

The Backrooms extend this logic into new and participatory territory. Unlike virtual dark tourism that allows for “armchair travel” to real-world dark heritage sites, there is no physical location anchoring the Backrooms nor any historical tragedy to commemorate. Instead, the Backrooms provide a collectively imagined and online environment of unease, abandonment and liminality.

Interest in the Backrooms persists precisely because they lack a fixed mythology, geographical reality, or narrative history, allowing users to construct meaning around places that, nonetheless, feel uncannily familiar. With their dated decor, hotel-like hallways, overhead ceiling tiles and abandoned office spaces, the Backrooms resemble the overlooked non-places of modern life – spaces many people recognise but rarely notice.

In this sense, the Backrooms reveal how digital culture is beginning to reshape experiences traditionally associated with tourism, allowing for the mundane to become menacing.

The Backrooms operate less like a story people receive and more like a world they enter. Across YouTube videos, video games, VR experiences and TikTok edits, audiences are located inside the environment itself blurring the boundaries between storytelling, role-playing, tourism and online participation.

This boundary-crossing may help explain why the phenomenon resonates so strongly at this cultural moment. The internet is no longer just a network of information or communication platforms; it is gradually evolving into a landscape people emotionally navigate and fully inhabit.

The Backrooms points toward a future where collectively imagined digital worlds function as meaningful cultural environments in their own right: places people travel to, explore, emotionally invest in and repeatedly return to, despite never physically existing at all.

She is expected to highlight the organisation’s efforts in “disrupting Russia’s efforts to smuggle western tech, fending off cyber attacks, and countering reckless sabotage and assassination attempts”, adding, “as we remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine, Putin is going backwards on the battlefield”.

Concerns were raised a pollution incident had taken place

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This is the moment the sea turned brown at a popular Welsh beach over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The murky water at Porthdinllaen in Gwynedd sparked fears over the weekend that a sewage leak had taken place at the famous North Wales beach.

However Natural Resources Wales [NRW] has now confirmed this was not the case, and the discolouration was actually caused by algae, NorthWalesLive reports.

Arfon Hughes, environment team leader for NRW, said: “Our officers received reports of potential pollution at Porthdinllaen beach over the bank holiday weekend.

“Upon inspection, this was found to be a type of non-toxic algae called Phaeocystis – one of the most common bloom-forming algae in our coastal waters.

“The blooms can form a brown, frothy scum that is harmless and may be influenced by recent sunlight and warmer temperatures.

“Anyone with concerns about potential pollution can report them to us by calling our 24/7 incident communication line on 0300 065 3000 or by using our online incident form.”

Porthdinllaen has a sweeping sandy bay sheltered by the Carreg Ddu headland. It is famed for its beach pub, Ty Coch, which has been named among the best beach bars in the world.

As part of the brand’s Platform Beyond Vehicle (PBV) strategy, it takes the basic idea of an electric van and reworks it into an adaptable, people‑focused MPV that can serve private buyers, fleets and small businesses alike.

Built on the new E‑GMP.S skateboard platform, the PV5 Passenger uses a flat, under‑floor battery and a front‑mounted electric motor to maximise cabin space while keeping the mechanicals simple.

In long‑range 71.2kWh form, the motor produces 160bhp and 250Nm of torque, good for 0‑62mph in 10.6 seconds and a top speed of 84mph. On paper that looks straightforward, but in practice the instant response of the electric drivetrain makes the PV5 feel keener than the figures suggest, with responsive acceleration that suits stop‑start urban driving and quick dashes onto dual carriageways.

The Kia PV5 Passenger is seen near Digley Reservoir in the Kirklees area of West Yorkshire

It never feels strained in typical use, even with passengers and luggage on board.

One of the most impressive aspects is how quickly you forget you are driving a tall, boxy vehicle. The combination of a long wheelbase, low‑mounted battery pack and well‑judged suspension – double wishbones up front and a torsion beam at the rear – gives the PV5 a planted, predictable feel.

Turn‑in is reasonably sharp, body roll is well contained, and the steering is light but accurate, so it threads through town far more like a big family car than a van‑derived people carrier. A tight 5.5m turning circle makes U‑turns and multi‑storey car parks less of a chore than you might expect from something this bulky.

Refinement is another strong card. With no engine noise to contend with and decent suppression of wind and road roar, the PV5 Passenger is very smooth and quiet at typical A‑road and motorway speeds. That calm is helped by the seamless single‑speed transmission and the adjustable regenerative braking, which can be dialled up to an i‑Pedal mode for near one‑pedal driving.

The Kia PV5 Passenger

In heavy traffic this makes it feel agile and easy to control, and the whole driving experience has a relaxed, unflustered character.

Range and charging performance are well judged for its dual role as a people carrier and working vehicle. The 71.2kWh long‑range battery is rated at up to 256 miles on the WLTP combined cycle, rising further in city use, with energy consumption of around 3.2 miles per kWh. All versions can rapid charge at up to 150kW, taking the battery from 10 to 80 per cent in under half an hour on a suitably powerful DC charger. On an 11kW AC wallbox, the long‑range pack will go from 10 to 100 per cent in about six and a half hours, making overnight charging straightforward.

Where the PV5 Passenger really earns its keep is space and practicality.

Its square bodywork and flat floor translate into a cavernous, cleverly packaged cabin. The initial five‑seat 2‑3‑0 layout offers generous leg, head and shoulder room in both rows, and the low beltline plus large windows give an airy feel and excellent visibility.

The Kia PV5 Passenger

Bags of space for passengers is no exaggeration: even tall adults can get comfortable in the back, helped by useful touches such as USB‑C ports, cup holders and multiple storage trays scattered around the cabin.

Behind the second row there is a huge 1,330‑litre luggage area, accessed via a wide tailgate opening and helped by a low load lip. Getting a washing machine into the boot proved almost laughably easy, underlining just how square and usable the space is; folding the second row unlocks up to 2,300 litres if you really need van‑like carrying capacity.

The interior design leans towards robust modern workspace rather than premium MPV, but it fits the brief. A seven‑inch digital instrument display is paired with a 12.9‑inch central touchscreen running Android‑based software, with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard. The graphics are clear, and the menus reasonably logical.

The Lowdown

Kia PV5 Passenger ‘Plus’ 71.2kWh FWD 5st

Price: £38,295 OTR (£36,795 including £1,500 EV Grant)

Battery: 71.2kWh lithium-ion polymer

Power: 160bhp

Torque: 250Nm

0-62mph: 10.6sec (84mph top speed)

Charging: Up to 150kW DC, 10-80% in under 30min

Range: 256 miles (WLTP)

Tuesday’s dramatic incident in Edinburgh is the latest in a long line of retaliations, and part of a war between two notorious Scottish kingpins trading brutal blows

A Scotland drug war took a dramatic new turn today as a skip lorry ploughed through the home of a gangster blamed for starting the conflict.

The heavy truck slammed into the property on Brand Drive in Edinburgh on Tuesday afternoon, with footage capturing the moment it reversed at high speeds before smashing through the home’s front door. The building, in the city’s Portobello area, was destroyed in the collision, with emergency services quickly arriving at the scene and pictures capturing a massive, gaping hole left on its frontage.

It has been claimed the attack was carried out by the Tamo Junto (TMJ), a footsoldier gang under the control of big-time drug dealer Ross McGill, who was left incensed at the 19-year-old homeowner’s alleged attempt to rip him off in a fake money deal.

READ MORE: Serial killer ‘on the loose’ in tourist hotspot as three women found murderedREAD MORE: Three arrested after ‘shocking’ hate crime at North Down beach

The Daily Record reports that sources revealed the attack was carried out by TMJ, which targeted the 19-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, after he was allegedly hired by McGill rival kingpin Mark Richardson to rip him off in a cocaine deal paid for by £500,000 in fake cash.

One source cited by the publication said: “This lad worked for Richardson’s crew. He travelled to Dubai and was introduced to McGill by a middleman before he bought £500k worth of cocaine off him using fake notes.

“The middle man left Dubai right after the deal and was caught in Thailand and slashed across the face, but the teenage lad who bought the drugs stayed over there and has been keeping a low profile. His mum still lives at that place in Edinburgh though, so this has led to the family home being targeted.”

“The dealer has been Tamo Junto’s target since day one, so it’s no surprise to people in the know that they have done something like this.”

The bloody gang war was launched in Scotland in March 2025 after McGill was lead to understand the 19-year-old had worked for Richardson’s gang. Richardson’s crew had been targeted with a series of attacks, including firebombs and bullets fired through windows.

TMJ then went after the Daniel clan in Glasgow over their association with Richardson, targeting properties in the city belonging to high-ranking members of the family, which were set alight.

Another source told the Record that TMJ is out to “eliminate Richardson’s gang and all their associates”, saying: “TMJ have insisted since day one that the feud won’t stop until they eliminate Richardson’s gang and all their associates. This lad targeted today was a high priority but there are many more they want to bring down.”

Commenting on today’s incident, a Police Scotland spokesperson said road closures were put in place in the area after a lorry “struck a house” in the afternoon.

The spokesperson said: “Emergency services are in attendance at Brand Drive, Edinburgh following a crash, involving a lorry having struck a house, which happened around 2.25pm on Tuesday, 26 May, 2026. There are road closures in place at Christian Grove and Christian Crescent.”

Met Office maps show temperatures are set to fall sharply next week, as the national weather service warns of a ‘more changeable period’, with Atlantic weather systems bringing showers and longer spells of rain at times

Met Office maps show temperatures are set to fall sharply next week after the UK recorded its hottest May day on record.

Temperatures provisionally reached 35C at Heathrow and Kew Gardens in London on Tuesday, the Met Office said, following a scorching bank holiday weekend that saw the UK break its previous record for the hottest May temperature. On Monday, Kew Gardens hit 34.8C, beating the previous record of 32.8C set in 1922 and 1944.

While temperatures are expected to gradually decline from midweek, conditions will remain largely dry with sunny spells. However, a more changeable spell is expected from Sunday onwards as Atlantic weather systems move in from the west, bringing a mix of showers and longer spells of rain.

Wednesday is forecast to be dry for most, with highs of around 26C in London. It will be cloudier in the north-east, with some bright spells developing.

In its outlook for Thursday to Saturday, the Met Office says conditions will remain hot across parts of the south. It warned of a risk of a few thundery showers, before the weather turns cloudier and fresher from the west towards the weekend.

Its long-range outlook for Sunday, May 31, to Tuesday, June 9, states: “A more changeable period than we have seen of late, as Atlantic weather systems move in from the west to bring a mixture of drier spells and some showers, or longer spells of rain at times.

“The rain will likely be heaviest in parts of the west and northwest, with the best of the drier conditions more likely towards the south and east. Temperatures will be near-normal overall, with the warmest spots most likely across eastern areas. It will also be breezy at times, most especially across northwestern areas.”

Met Office maps for next Tuesday (June 2) show a marked drop in temperatures, with southern England and Wales expected to see highs in the late teens in the afternoon, while some parts of the south-east could reach 20C. Meanwhile, northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland are expected to remain cooler, with temperatures hovering around the mid-teens.

Ladies First has topped the Netflix charts and it unexpectedly features a famou’s actor’s child.

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Ladies First has landed on Netflix, starring the child of Doctor Who legend David Tennant.

Despite only just arriving on the streaming platform, Ladies First has already rocketed to the top spot, chronicling the story of arrogant yet charismatic ladies’ man Damien Sachs (portrayed by Sacha Baron Cohen).

While he relishes a life of wealth and influence, his existence is thrown into turmoil when, following a head injury, he awakens in a parallel universe ruled by women.

In this alternative reality, he encounters his business adversary Alex Fox (Rosamund Pike), who’s also mother to Charlie, played by Red Tennant.

What Netflix viewers may have noticed while watching Ladies First is that Red is the non-binary child of Broadchurch actor David Tennant.

Red, who was born Wilfred Tennant, made their acting debut in the 2017 film You, Me and Him, which featured their famous father.

They also appeared in a single episode of Casualty in 2022, portraying a character named Joey Parker.

In Ladies First, Red plays Alex Fox’s child Charlie, who urges their mother to “stand up for herself at work” when she’s questioning her career.

Red is the child of both David Tennant and his wife Georgia Tennant, whom he met in 2008 on the set of Doctor Who.

She guest starred as Jenny, the artificially created daughter of Tennant’s Tenth Doctor.

Georgia is also the real-life daughter of Peter Davidson, who was the fifth Time Lord in the 1980s. Despite topping Netflix’s most-watched list, Ladies First has proved divisive amongst viewers, garnering a mere 19% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

One viewer remarked: “I am truly overwhelmed how this made it to the screen.

“If I said it was utter rubbish, I would be being polite! I have no words how awful it was.”

Conversely, another user described it as an “absolute must-see”, while a fellow viewer declared it one of their “new favourites”.

Ladies First is available to watch on Netflix.

The smash has happened on Captains Clough Road at the junction with Chorley Old Road.

Police officers are on the scene and traffic is able to pass the car.

The cause of the crash is not known, but it is believed there are no serious injuries.

This the latest crash to have happened on the road, with only last summer residents calling for measures to stop the number of smashes on that stretch.

Crash (Image: Phil Taylor)

Local councillors have previously said they were in agreement with residents that something needed to be done.

Cllr Roger Hayes said last summer:“We’ve campaigned around that for a long time, and police have had several checks there – but they only have so much resources and can’t be there all the time.”

Police have ran a number of operations in Bolton to reduce the number of incidents on the road, with demonstrations also being run by the emergency services in the centre of Bolton to show the potential devastating consequences of not taking care behind the wheel.