Politics
Criminalising parents won’t fix youth crime but David Lammy doing it anyway
David Lammy has been doing the rounds on breakfast television discussing his latest plans to reform the way the justice system handles youth offenders. Promising that he will cut the number of children jailed by 25% and ending lifelong criminal records for young people, Lammy instead appears to be passing jail time onto parents instead.
Once again Lammy shows that he is more interested in statistics than in addressing the real issues behind these serious problems in our society. After all, we know the impact that under investment in communities, lack of opportunities and poverty have on the likelihood of antisocial behaviour and youth crime.
Therefore, whilst Lammy’s proposal contains positive changes such as ending lifelong criminal records for under-18s, it does precious little to address this long-neglected issue in British society.
Put simply, it will yet again pass the burden of responsibility onto increasingly overwhelmed and struggling families.
David Lammy, the Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, will introduce reforms in the Youth Justice White Paper today.
Parents and guardians could face harsher repercussions if their children break the law.
Sophy and Wilf discuss on #CheatSheet: https://t.co/tphdz3SBas pic.twitter.com/ZJKVuXRcLI
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 18, 2026
Lammy: where is the investment in youth?
Firstly, it’s important to recognise that the white paper put forward by David Lammy does include some positive measures that could improve the lives of criminalised young people in British society.
For example, alongside reducing the number of young people held in custody while awaiting trial, it will also prevent youth offences from following them into adult life. That shift could make a real difference to future opportunities for those affected, and in turn lead to far better long-term outcomes.
However, the paper still falls short in acknowledging the deeper causes of antisocial behaviour and youth crime. The drivers of youth crime run much deeper, and without serious investment in communities, the same problems will persist – only now with a wider net of criminalisation affecting entire families.
According to the Guardian, Lammy celebrated his reform proposal saying:
Growing up in Tottenham in the 1980s, my biggest fear was ending up in prison. That may sound irrational, but in truth it was the fate of so many young Black boys like me.
You saw it happen slowly at first. People missed school, got into petty trouble, started hanging around with the wrong crowd. No one stepped in to pull them back. For us, going to jail didn’t feel shocking or distant. It felt almost inevitable.
I could have been one of them, but was fortunate to get a scholarship to a state boarding school, which gave me the route out that others never had.
I often think: ‘There but for the grace of God go I.’ Even today, that line between a child who thrives and a child whose life falls apart is often painfully thin.
“Anything for an easy life”
Struggling families often have backgrounds of deep trauma, poverty, and struggle. Many families who are considered to have largely ‘given up’ feel deeply that society has given up on them first.
For example, most families living on the breadline are also surrounded by similarly deprived communities that have seen little to no investment. They’re left to cope alone, with almost no real support to help them get through relentless financial pressure and increasingly busy lives.
So, when children start to struggle, it becomes an overwhelming burden. In some cases, people step back simply because they feel exhausted, unsupported, and stuck looking at what feels like a pretty bleak future. Understanding why so-called ‘anti-social behaviour’ happens is the only way to actually fix it.
Decades of underinvestment have left communities with crumbling infrastructure, barely any green spaces, and no youth services where young people can feel safe or actually socialise.
This class-war move to continually demonise and diminish working class families for the society they are stuck with, which underpays and undervalues the work of ordinary people, runs deep in British society:
'Lord' Bamford shouts loud about scroungers on Welfare …. — Barnaclebum6 (@barnaclebum6) May 16, 2026
The Irony….
From the guy who owes over £500 Million in Taxes.
Apparently 16k of the most vulnerable families in the UK receive 60k in 'Benefits' ….no doubt extreme circumstances as this isn't usual from DWP 4 sure https://t.co/kU9kcqLLu8
People need to feel they have worth in society
Increasingly, young people are criminalised for minor offences, based on the belief that punishing low-level disorder prevents more serious crime. In reality, this has functioned as little more than a sticking-plaster solution for neglected communities, failing to address the structural causes of offending.
These policies have also disproportionately targeted minoritised groups, who are often more likely to live in deprived areas as a result of systemic inequality. Higher rates of criminalisation in such communities do not indicate an inherent predisposition to crime but rather reflect the social and economic conditions imposed upon them.
An establishment that has spent years pushing austerity – and continues to do so under this Labour government – keeps blaming individuals. All the while MPs ignore that this reflects a much bigger, structural problem in the UK.
This X account sums up the failures by this government which is coincidentally is doing precious little to address:
The Labour Party is currently an absolute shitshow and most people have already written them off.
But even this broken, hated government could still stop Reform from steamrolling everything in 2029.
Here’s what they’d actually have to do (whether they’ve got the balls is…
— Thanos Angelopoulos (@Th_Angelopoulos) February 6, 2026
Of particular note, they say:
Pump serious money into exactly those same left-behind places: vocational training centres, youth clubs, actual green factories, rebuild town centres, buses that turn up, green spaces, properly funded schools and social services.
Prevention is better than cure
Nevertheless, David Lammy does take a positive step in this white paper by seeking to reduce the long-term consequences of criminalising young people. However, it remains a measly ‘sticking plaster’ solution. It ignores the much-needed investment in young people, in society as a whole, and in any real prospect of social mobility for young people.
Instead of blaming families for youth crime, the government should improve the conditions those families are forced to live in. Better housing, security and opportunity would do far more to reduce offending. Improving these issues will improve wellbeing, mental health and the future prospects of entire families.
Finally, it has to be said: MPs are gaslighting children when they blame family poverty for behaviour. Instead, they should be facing up to the state policies that drive their lived deprivation in the first place.
That needs calling out – clearly, and by all of us.
Featured image via Getty Images/Dan Kitwood
This week’s planned Tube strikes in London have been called off.
Two National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) Tube strikes were expected to take place this week: one from Tuesday, 19 May (midday) until Wednesday, 20 May (midday), and another from Thursday, 21 May (midday) until Friday, 22 May (midday).
But these will no longer happen (nor will those set for June 16 and 18).
Why have the Tube strikes been cancelled?
An RMT spokesperson told HuffPost UK: “At the 11th hour the employer has shifted its position, allowing us to further explore our members concerns around the imposition of new rosters, fatigue and safety issues.”
HuffPost UK has reached out to Transport for London (TfL) but has yet to receive comment.
“The dispute is not over, and more strike action will follow if we fail to make sufficient progress,” RMT added.
Strikes scheduled for June 16 and 18 have also been called off, though the union has set new dates (June 2 and 4) if they remain unhappy with TfL’s response, The Independent reported.
Why were the strikes planned?
Previously, the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF), a union body which represents just over half of all Tube drivers, campaigned for a four-day work week.
TfL has since begun optionally trialling the “compressed” work week on the Bakerloo line. Drivers can opt into or out of the system.
But the RMT said that this basically amounted to packing five days’ work into four in a way which might affect the safety of their drivers and passengers. They also said the change “includes reduced flexibility over shift patterns, with the potential for only 24 hours’ notice of what shifts people will be doing”.
And they added previously that “the fact that Transport for London has made no new offer despite months of negotiation” left them “no other choice than to take strike action”.
In response, TfL said at the time: “We have set out proposals to the RMT for a four-day working week which are supported by the other Trade Union representing London Underground drivers.
“This allows us to offer train operators an additional day off, whilst at the same time bringing London Underground in line with the working patterns of other train operating companies, improving reliability and flexibility at no additional cost.
“The changes would be voluntary, there would be no reduction in contractual hours and those who wish to continue a five-day working week pattern would be able to do so.”
I had always (wrongly) assumed “allspice” was called that because it contained a little bit of many spices.
Its festive flavour is reminiscent of cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and a little bit of pepper.
But, as with paprika, the flavour isn’t made how I thought it was at all.
In fact, allspice is an unripe berry from a plant known as pimenta diocia.
Also known as Jamaica pepper, myrtle pepper, pimenta, or pimento, allspice is very much one spice, rather than a blend of them. And its processing is pretty involved, too.
How does it get from the plant to our spice racks?
According to the food publication Bon Appetit, the unripe berry looks a bit like a peppercorn grown fruits are about the size of olives.
The tree it comes from is native to Central America, southern Mexico, and the West Indies.
It can be fermented after being picked and is then dried and ground into a powder.
Pastry chef and cookbook author Caroline Schiff told Bon Appetit that she sometimes uses it in place of pumpkin spice, explaining that “I think it adds some more complexity.”
By the way, I can at least console myself that my former understanding of allspice isn’t an uncommon one ― thinking pimento is a spice mix is “a common misconception,” Caroline Schiff shared.
Why does it taste like so many spices?
Spice experts at Curio Spice Co. write that it’s just a chemical coincidence.
The berry’s pungent oils are at their most flavourful just before the berry ripens, when pimento is picked.
Those oils include “eugenol, methyl eugenol, and beta-caryophyllene,” Curio Spice Co. says.
Eugenol is responsible for the clove-like taste, methyl eugenol is common in spices like anise, nutmeg, and mace, and beta-caryophyllene is to blame for pimento’s musky flavour.
It’s also present in hops, cloves, oregano, chard, cinnamon, and rosemary.
Politics
Yvette Cooper was warned her Palestine Action article could bias jury, but ‘went ahead anyway’
The courts warned Yvette Cooper that her newspaper article on the proscription of Palestine Action ran the risk of biasing the jury during the trial of several members of the group. However, the then-home-secretary “went ahead anyway”.
Defense lawyers attempted to have the case thrown out on the grounds that Cooper had prejudiced proceedings. However, the presiding judge – Justice Johnson – ruled that Palestine Action’s proscription “required public justification”.
‘Not lawful protest’
Reporting restrictions have now been lifted on the trial of Palestine Action activists who raided an Elbit Systems factory in Bristol in 2024. Elbit is the largest producer of arms for Israel, which is currently committing genocide against the Palestinian people.
Back in August 2025, Cooper wrote an article for the Observer under the headline:
Yvetter Cooper: Palestine Action ‘is not lawful protest’
The article claimed that the charges against the group included “a terrorism connection” in the eyes of the CPS.
Because of the lifted restrictions, we now know that the CPS warned Cooper that her article ran the risk of prejudicing the jury. Likewise, as the Canary’s Skwawkbox reported at the time:
On Sunday 17 August, campaign group Defend Our Juries levelled a contempt of court complaint against the home secretary Yvette Cooper over an article in the Observer. Notably, this was after she made repeated insinuations that the government proscribed Palestine Action because of violence against people.
However, the former home secretary didn’t let that stop her.
‘She went ahead anyway’
Last November, as part of a previously unpublishable pre-trial ruling, Johnson wrote that:
It is to be taken that the home secretary was specifically advised that going ahead with the article might prejudice these proceedings, and that she went ahead anyway … The CPS made representations to the home secretary about the risk of prejudice.
It follows that the home secretary took the action that she did, and made the public statements that she did, in the knowledge that these proceedings were extant and that there might well be a question as to the impact of her conduct and her statements on these proceedings.
The defendants’ lawyers argued that Cooper’s public statements made a fair trial impossible. They submitted written statements alleging that the Observer article was:
dripping in innuendo. In one breath, she is saying that many important details cannot yet be publicly reported; in another, she is reporting some of those very details herself.
However, Johnson ruled against this defence. Instead, he argued that:
The decision to proscribe Palestine Action was highly controversial and required public justification. It is unsurprising that the government sought publicly to justify the decision that it had taken and that it relied, in general terms (without naming individuals), on Palestine Action’s activities, including the activities that have resulted in these proceedings.
In doing so, the home secretary ran a risk of causing some prejudice to these proceedings, but that is different from deliberately flouting a reporting restriction order.
Violence and property damage?
It’s noteworthy that Cooper’s article made serious allegations of violence against Palestine Action. She stated that:
Palestine Action has claimed responsibility for – and promoted on its website – attacks that have seen those allegedly involved subsequently charged with violent disorder, grievous bodily harm with intent, actual bodily harm, criminal damage and aggravated burglary.
However, in its policy paper ‘Proscribed terrorist groups or organisations’, the government felt no such need to inform the public of the group’s alleged violence. The paper instead focuses almost solely on property damage and related offences:
In several attacks, Palestine Action has committed acts of serious damage to property with the aim of progressing its political cause and influencing the government. These include attacks at Thales in Glasgow in 2022, and in 2024 at Instro Precision in Kent and Elbit Systems UK in Bristol. The seriousness of these attacks includes the extent and nature of damage caused, including to targets affecting UK national security, and the impact on innocent members of the public.
The state proscribed Palestine Action back in July 2025. However, the policy paper was last updated in January 2026, long after Cooper’s article. So, some questions arise here.
If it was so important to get the information out about Palestine Action’s alleged violence that Cooper could risk biasing a jury ahead of an important trial, why isn’t it in the policy paper? Why, instead, did the former home secretary publish this crucial public justification in the Observer, a paywalled news site?
Ultimately, all defendants in the Filton trial were acquitted of the charge of “violent disorder”. Samuel Corner, charged with “grievous bodily harm”, was also only found guilty of a lesser charge, with the jury finding he injured a police officer “without intent.”
Further sentencing
In February 2026, the High Court ruled the government proscription of Palestine Action to be unlawful.
Regarding the recent retrial, as of 12 May 2026, defendants Jordan Devlin and Zoe Rogers have been acquitted. Their four comrades were convicted after the trial judge forbade any mention of the jury’s legal right to acquit on conscience.
As Skwawkbox explained for the Canary, the government wants those four – Samuel Corner, Charlotte Head, Leona Kamio and Fatema Rajwani – sentenced as terrorists. They were convicted of criminal damage, rather than any terror offence.
Sentencing will take place at Woolwich Crown Court on 12 June 2026.
Featured image via the Canary
By The Canary
The following is an open letter from the West Central London Green Party to Paul Swaddle, leader of Westminster City Council and Conservative Party councillor for Regent’s Park Ward. It concerns his comments about two marches that took place in London on 16 May.
Dear Cllr Paul Swaddle OBE,
18th May 2026
We, as residents of the City of Westminster and members of the local Green Party, are writing to you with concerns about your comments on the two protests that took place on Saturday the 16th of May.
We are disturbed by the stark contrast in your approach to the ‘Nakba 78’ march and the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march. In your letter to the Home Secretary, you began by making gestures towards both protests, but then you swiftly transitioned to calling for a moratorium solely on the pro-Palestine marches. You clearly forgot to mention the harm that the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march caused in September, and the risk that it posed this time round.
Last September, we saw a large range of unacceptable and racist behaviour at the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ protest, with officers severely injured, Islamophobic chants and Elon Musk saying that attendees must “fight back or […] die”. Immigrants and people of colour were made to feel unsafe in the city that they call home. This year, we saw much of the same.
This movement is clearly one that inflames hatred against Muslims and immigrants. On Saturday, we saw activists take to the stage at the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ protest, mocking women who exercise their full right to wear Burqas. We saw people, including police officers, being racially abused, and we heard Tommy Robinson, the organiser of this march, talking about his desire to ‘stop Islam’.
We ask that you retract your statement that the ‘Nakba 78’ march and other similar peaceful marches “send damaging messages that extremist opinions are acceptable”, and that you rescind the labelling of protests in support of Palestine as “hate marches”. The allegation that tens of thousands of Britons of all faiths and none, including many Westminster residents, are either extremists or promoters of extremism is a baseless and inflammatory one.
We condemn your imbalanced approach to these two marches and question your intention when you specifically call for the suspension of protests in support of Palestine and not the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ protests. We are unfortunately left with the conclusion that you operate on a hierarchy of racism, where hatred against Muslims is ignored, and broad accusations of anti-semitism are used in order to crack down on the right to protest.
In our view, the double standards you are operating on and the blind-eye turned to racist behaviour calls into question your suitability as council leader of a borough filled with residents from all different communities.
We look forward to your response.
Yours sincerely,
West Central London Green Party
Featured image via Brook Mitchell / Getty Images and Carl Court / Getty Images
By The Canary
Adam Driver has responded for the first time to Lena Dunham’s claims in her new memoir that he was verbally aggressive towards her when they were working on the hit show Girls.
“I have no comment on any of that,” Adam told the press on Sunday while appearing at the Cannes Film Festival.
He added: “I’m saving it all for my book.”
Adam was at the international film festival for the premiere of his new movie, Paper Tiger.
During the news conference to promote the crime drama, Adam was briefly asked about Lena’s portrayal of him in her book, specifically if he has changed his approach to acting since his time on Girls.
His short, sarcastic answer garnered laughs from his co-stars and the audience.
Last month, Lena released her newest memoir, Famesick.
In her book, she spoke candidly about her working relationship with Adam, alongside whom she starred in Girls.
She wrote that Adam had been “short-tempered and verbally aggressive, condescending and physically imposing”, adding that the two haven’t spoken since the show ended.
While filming one of their sex scenes early on in the series, Lena alleged that Adam had “hurled” her “this way and that”.
“Stunned, I couldn’t speak for a moment, unsure of what had happened — had I lost directorial authority, allowed the scene to go off the rails, not given proper instructions? Would I be removed from my command post immediately?” she recalled.
“It wasn’t that I felt violated — and I also wouldn’t know if I had, as there was little in my sexual life that I hadn’t allowed to happen, and for no pay,” Lena added. “But I felt that something intimate, confusing and primal had played out in a scenario I was meant to control.”
Lena also wrote that when she forgot one of her lines, Adam threw a chair at a wall and screamed at her.
“I’d known them only minutes before,” she said. “But when I opened my mouth, all that came out was a stammer – until finally, Adam screamed, ‘FUCKING SAY SOMETHING’ and hurled a chair at the wall next to me. ‘WAKE THE FUCK UP,’ he told me. ‘I’M SICK OF WATCHING YOU JUST STARE’.”
While promoting the memoir, Lena didn’t seem to have any bad feelings toward Adam, telling People she has “a lot of empathy” for the Oscar nominee.
“For better or worse, it was all of our first jobs,” she claimed. “I think Adam went on a very specific ride because he had the ride of the show and then also the ride of becoming a major movie star at the same time.
“So, he was on these two tracks, and he’s a very, very serious work-focused private person. So I have a lot of empathy for that. And again, the goal was never to make Adam seem like he was in any way the outlier of the show, but just to talk about how complex and confusing those first experiences of trying to be a boss were.”
Vessels and troops from Israel have begun attacking humanitarian vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla en route to Gaza.
Global Sumud Filosu saldırı altında!
Filoya ait Munki teknesi işgalci İsrail tarafından saldırıya uğradı. Şuan tekne ile bağlantımız kopmuş durumda.
Barışçıl bir misyon olan Global Sumud Filosu hukuksuzca saldırıya uğruyor. Sen de filoyu paylaş, destek ol!
— Global Sumud Filosu Türkiye (@globalsumudtr) May 18, 2026
Israeli ships had been shadowing the fleet overnight before the attacks, then moved in.
Military vessels are currently approaching our fleet. We are on high alert as we continue towards Gaza. We refuse to be intimidated.
WATCH LIVE https://t.co/PDluE7HraJ pic.twitter.com/EgbW1hwwhp
— Global Sumud Flotilla (@gbsumudflotilla) May 18, 2026
BREAKING: A boat from the Global Sumud Flotilla has lost contact after reportedly being attacked in the Mediterranean. pic.twitter.com/00kOrHjmHr
— Global Sumud Flotilla Commentary (@GlobalSumudF) May 18, 2026
#WATCH | Footage circulating online shows the Israeli occupation forces approaching the Global Sumud Flotilla Fleet, which is en route to Gaza, in an attempt to hijack the vessels carrying peaceful activists.
Israeli occupation naval forces have seized the Flotilla and… pic.twitter.com/zjk3bqYmxz
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) May 18, 2026
Clips show Israeli inflatable attack boats crammed with heavily-armed occupation troops.
Global Sumud Filosu saldırı altında!
Filoya ait teknelere saldırı başladı. Teknelerin güvenlik kameraları saldırıyı kayıt altına almaya devam ediyor.
— Global Sumud Filosu Türkiye (@globalsumudtr) May 18, 2026
— Alex Colston (@enoughformethx) May 18, 2026
Footage streamed from one of the flotilla boats before it went dark show the assault:
BREAKING: A boat from the Global Sumud Flotilla has lost contact after reportedly being attacked in the Mediterranean. pic.twitter.com/00kOrHjmHr
— Global Sumud Flotilla Commentary (@GlobalSumudF) May 18, 2026
CCTV footage shows members of the Zionist regime have boarded one of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) ships and pointed weapons at the humanitarian activists on board.
The world is now witnessing how humanitarian aid missions face threats and pressure when trying to bring aid to… pic.twitter.com/vIKqCkQFGU
— Global Sumud Flotilla Commentary (@GlobalSumudF) May 18, 2026
Israel accused of ‘illegal acts of piracy’
The boats had set off for Gaza to replace an earlier humanitarian convoy also attacked by Israel in international waters. Participants of that flotilla were abducted and at least some beaten and tortured.
The crews of these convoys are humanitarian volunteers from an array of countries, many of them western. How many times will their governments stand by while Israel commits blatant piracy and crimes against humanity against their citizens?
Featured image via X/ Global Sumud Filosu Türkiye
By Skwawkbox
David Lammy has insisted Keir Starmer is not going set out a timetable for his departure from No.10.
The deputy prime minister insisted Starmer will “fight on” despite mounting criticism of his leadership of the Labour Party and the government.
His remarks come amid reports that the PM was contemplating announcing when he will leave Downing Street as his rivals circle.
More than 90 MPs publicly called for Starmer to step down after the party’s catastrophic performance in the elections in England, Wales and Scotland earlier this month.
Four junior ministers also quit the government, while health secretary Wes Streeting also resigned with a furious attack on the prime minister.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham is also running to be the Labour candidate in next month’s Makerfield by-election, and is widely expected to challenge Starmer himself if he wins.
But despite speculation that Starmer is already preparing to make way for a successor, Lammy claimed the prime minister is not going anywhere.
Speaking to Sky News, he said: “Let me be really clear: Keir Starmer remains the most resilient person I know in my life.
“I spoke to him twice yesterday, he has a strength of character, a fighting experience. There will be no timetables. What there is is getting on with the business of government – really crystal clear about that.
“At the moment, there is no contest. What there is is his determination to deliver for the British people, accelerate the pace over the coming months, much to do.”
“There will be no timetable for the PM’s departure.”
He later told BBC Breakfast: “I believe in loyalty, I believe in trust, I believe conviction.
“I stand by [Starmer].”
“He’s got three years. He has my full support,” he added.
Asked if that meant Starmer would fight any leadership campaign, the cabinet minister said: “He’s been crystal clear that he fights on on behalf of the British people, delivering in government, He has my full support.”
Asked if Starmer will be campaigning for Burnham despite their clear rivalry, he said: “All of us in cabinet will be campaigning to ensure there is a Labour win in Makerfield.”
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Campaigners from Resist Reform have projected messages onto Millbank Tower in London. It’s the home of Reform UK’s offices and the group is calling out the party’s allegiances to corporate elite and foreign funders.
The projections featured stark messages including “WHY THE £5 MIL NIGEL?” and “WHO IS CHRIS HARBORNE”. They’re referencing the shadowy funding arrangements surrounding Reform UK and its leadership.
Christopher Harborne, a billionaire who made his fortune in cryptocurrency, donated £5m to Nigel Farage directly. Farage justified the sum as a private gift and a reward for his hard work on Brexit and the reason for his failure to declare it.
Overall, Harborne is the single biggest donor to Reform UK, giving over £22m in the last seven years. That’s two thirds of the party’s funding. Resist Reform is a campaign exposing the billionaire funding and elite interests behind Reform UK and organising opposition to its political agenda.
Sam Simons, spokesperson from Resist Reform, commented:
Nigel Farage and his team are running a con operation, taking money from mysterious sources while pretending to represent ordinary people.
They’re funded by the very same oligarchs and wealthy interests that have fuelled the cost of living crisis, yet they have the audacity to present themselves as champions of working families. It’s a complete fraud.
The Fact that Nigel has accepted £5m and has dodged questions about it should ring alarm bells for all of us. He has built its entire platform on misinformation and false promises, accepting large sums from shadowy donors while maintaining complete secrecy about where the money comes from and what strings are attached.
He is swindling the working people by pretending he is the champion of the people. He is not, he is Christopher Harborne’s puppet. He works for billionaires.
Featured image via Resist Reform
By The Canary
As summer approaches, conscientious gardeners might be thinking about how to protect their gardens from yet another drought.
In the past few years, brutal heatwaves and hosepipe bans have become staples of the British summer.
And yes, that means yellowed, crispy-looking grass is becoming an increasingly familiar sight, too.
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) said that suntanned blades don’t always signal a crisis, though. “In hot summers with little or no rain, lawns can turn brown and stop growing. Although this looks serious, the grass will green up once rain returns,” the society explained.
However, if you have a less-established lawn and/or think your patch’s suntan is a little more serious, you can always try the “tug test”.
What is a “tug test”?
It’s simple: you grab a clump of grass and tug.
Mowing company Hayter explained on its site that the way in which your grass responds to being yanked can reveal whether it’s dead or just temporarily a little worse for wear.
“The most important thing to remember is that brown grass does not equal dead grass. It could instead be a sign of dormancy – the process of grass hibernating to conserve energy during stressful periods,” including dry spells, the mowing experts said.
The test is the “easiest way” to tell if grass is dead, they added.
How do you do a “tug test”?
Gardening experts at Green Meadow Lawncare said “dead grass will have a dead root system and therefore pull up out of the ground very easily”, while dormant grass “might appear brown and dead, but its root system will still be intact”.
So, when you gently tug at a clump of grass:
- Dead grass will pull up incredibly easily, with practically no resistance.
- Dormant grass will remain rooted after being gently tugged.
You can also try a “footprint test”
Though it might not tell you whether or not your grass is officially dead, a “footprint test” is a great way to spot drought in your backyard.
If the imprint of your shoe stays for long after you’ve stepped over your grass, that could be a sign it’s experiencing “drought stress” and is in need of thorough watering.
‘I’m terrified!’; ‘Me – watching my rights fly away because Reforms (sic) winning’; ‘Reform winning is gunna (sic) literally set us back centuries’; ‘That’s all us gays going to prison’ – these declarations are accompanied by either panicked shouting, streaming tears, or the kind of laughter that you hear in films from somebody breaking down a door with a hatchet. They always film themselves vertically, of course, because nothing says ‘I am processing complex election results’ like a juddering close-up from a chaotic bedroom, making you feel like you’re being begged for urgent aid by an earthquake survivor.
Now, I’m not terrified, either of the results or of this smorgasbord of silly sods. But I am disquieted by their demeanour.
This is performance art for the dopamine slot machine. I found it hard to stay the distance of the full selection, a mere 93 seconds. The sheer feralness of the jerky movements, the wild eyes and fluttering hands triggered something primal deep in my own self – a lizard-brain flinch. An atavistic impulse whispered to me, these creatures have not been properly socialised – back away quickly.
It is very hard to settle on the correct perspective for this phenomenon – of apparently deranged youngsters on the socials. Is this a new development at all, or has the internet just given us a front-row seat to the youthful contingent of belfry-battery?
To answer this, I have tried hard to recall my own young life. In 1986, I was 17, with no access to a portable outrage broadcaster. When I was furious, I sulked in my bedroom, wrote screeds of terrible song lyrics for a pop group that would thankfully never be formed or a letter to the NME (thankfully again, these were never printed). Or I popped out for a walk and kicked an empty Coke can. If the space-age tech of today had existed back then, would I too have filmed myself hyperventilating for the clicks of strangers? I like to think not, but if I’m honest, I can’t be sure.
For those of us Gen Xers who never meet teenagers and who hardly ever interact with young people, it’s particularly difficult to get an accurate picture of the extent of the madness among them, despite the concerning stats on their ‘mental health’. I do remember vowing to myself, back when I was the age of these phone gremlins, that I would try, when I get older, never to regard everybody aged 13 to 25 as an indistinguishable, noisy, brightly coloured mass. Because that was incredibly irritating to me. Back in my day, older people often branded my generation as layabout lunatics frothing about ‘Fatcher’ in student unions. But the vast majority of my confrères and consœurs were just like young adult humans of all ages – earthy, daft and lustful. However, even among the nuts, ferals were very rare. Now they’re the main characters in the freak show.
To get a better view of both the wood and the trees, I put the question to a friend in his early twenties, a calm and literate Gen Z specimen. ‘Yeah, you’re not wrong’, he said. He reminded me that Gen Z has higher depression and anxiety rates, and that ‘more time online equals less real-world practice at, you know, talking to people who disagree with you. And lockdown didn’t help. We have been primed to see threats everywhere.’
But then he added an important caveat:
‘But we are not the first terrified cohort. Your lot thought Thatcher and Reagan were about to push the nuclear button. Go on Bluesky right now – many of your generation, supposedly sensible people like Lib Dem councillors and sci-fi novelists, are seriously fuming that Reform are fascists, that trans people are being literally genocided etc. So it’s the same script now, but with better filters and madder eyes.’
He’s right that the unhinged look isn’t entirely age-gated. Watch Loose Women’s Nadia Sawalha do her bit – the unnerving spectacle of a 61-year-old TV presenter whispering ancient racial conspiracy theories to camera in a baby voice. The bizarre video about Israel posted last year by actress and comedian Dawn French, 67, referring to Hamas’s 7 October massacre of hundreds of Jews as ‘a bad fing’ in a similar childish whisper, was deeply disturbing.
My chum raised another point. ‘Remember’, he told me, ‘you’re seeing videos posted to TikTok’. He pointed out that these videos do not show these people’s ‘true selves’ – they are big emotional reactions for the camera. ‘I think the actual big difference between this generation and previous ones is the horrible American influence of “being in your feelings”; making big emotional displays, the more emotional the better.’
In effect, then, TikTok isn’t capturing your ‘true self’ or your precious identity, it’s capturing your best attempt at viral derangement.
It’s a grim picture. So what the hell happened? Pick your poison – smartphones arrived and personality formation got yeeted away from parents and peers and into the cloud. Economic stagnation turned many Zoomers into claimants, reading lurid tales of evil billionaires. Family structures crumbled, bad political ideas found fertile soil in locked-down brains, and maybe – whisper it – there’s something in the water.
Or, it’s all of the above, marinating together into one great big stew pot of boiling neurosis.
Whatever the cause, the result is that a large (or large-ish) chunk of young people have not been fully socialised. I’ll continue to flinch at them. And you should too – it’s the only sane reaction.
Gareth Roberts is a screenwriter, author and novelist, best known for his work on Doctor Who.
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