Politics
The House Article | How Thousands Of Ukrainian Children In The UK Are Growing Up In Limbo
More than 60,000 Ukrainian children have now spent at least past of their education in the UK since 2022 (Alamy)
8 min read
More than 60,000 Ukrainian children have grown up in the UK since fleeing Russia’s full-scale invasion. Zoe Crowther explores how the absence of a long-term settlement plan is leaving these children and their families in limbo
When Alisa Cooper fled Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine to the UK in 2022, her son Kupriian was five years old. Kupriian is now nine and only speaks English fluently. In the four years since leaving Ukraine, Britain has become the place where he learnt to read, make friends and feel safe.
“He hated me a lot at the very beginning of reception [class], and it was really hard for him – the whole process of adaptation, of learning how to speak, how to read, to do spelling,” Cooper says.
“We struggled a lot, but four years passed, and now English is his primary language. His mindset is different from my Ukrainian peers. British values, how people communicate, politeness… All the DNA of British people comes from school, so he is more deeply into the UK culture.”
Kupriian, who has ADHD, has now finally caught up on the English school curriculum with the support of his mother and teachers. “He’s happy here. He’s settled, perfectly settled here.”
Many Ukrainian children can differentiate between an incoming missile and an outgoing missile
Yet Cooper lives with a persistent anxiety about what comes next. “At first, I planned that it would be a short stay here. But now, I’d like to stay here, and I don’t want to return back, if it’s on my own will,” she says. “How can I take him from his environment, his friends, the curriculum?”
Around 218,600 people have travelled to the UK under Ukraine visa schemes since Russia’s full-scale invasion. Around 28 per cent of arrivals were under 18, meaning that more than 60,000 Ukrainian children have now spent a significant part, and in some cases all, of their education in the UK.
Maria Romanenko, a Ukrainian activist who volunteers with displaced families in Greater Manchester, says every Ukrainian child in the UK lives with some form of trauma.
“Unless they left in the first hours of the full-scale invasion, they would have seen a Russian missile out of the window, or heard a siren or heard an explosion,” she says. “Many Ukrainian children can differentiate between an incoming missile and an outgoing missile.”
Romanenko describes how many of these children also faced bullying after talking about the war at school and trying to share experiences that their peers struggled to understand. Most families who fled to the UK also had to leave the fathers and other close male relatives behind, abruptly transforming family dynamics for thousands of children.
“The family goes from two parents to one parent overnight,” Romanenko says. “And obviously that creates various difficulties and challenges, because the mothers still have to earn some money.”
Inna Hryhorovych is headteacher of St Mary’s Ukrainian school, which is part of a trust that coordinates 15 supplementary schools across the UK and supports more than 2,000 displaced Ukrainian children. It also carries out projects in hundreds of mainstream schools, with the aim of ensuring Ukrainian children retain their Ukrainian language skills, achieve Ukrainian qualifications, and can reintegrate into Ukrainian society once the war is over.
The work of St Mary’s is particularly important for the many Ukrainian children with special educational needs and disabilities, who face barriers to accessing the support they need.
Yet St Mary’s reaches only a fraction – around 12 to 15 per cent – of those affected. “What happens to the rest and how are they going to reintegrate?” Hryhorovych asks. “The danger is that they forget their Ukrainian identity.”
After arriving in the UK, many families tried to ensure their children kept ties to Ukraine by studying in British schools by day while catching up on Ukrainian schooling online in the evening.
“That means that the kids are incredibly overloaded with information, and just study twice as much as English kids normally do,” explains Romanenko.
Many of these children have therefore since given up the Ukrainian elements of their education.
The Ukrainian government has urged the UK to introduce a new GCSE in Ukrainian in order to help solve this problem. The UK children’s commissioner and multiple MPs have joined these calls, and the UK government and exam boards said last May that it was being considered – but it has not yet materialised.
Introducing a Ukrainian GCSE, however, would be far from straightforward. Developing a new qualification typically takes several years, and questions remain over whether the subject would be viable given potentially low national take-up. Ministers would also face pressure to extend GCSE provision to other community languages not currently offered, while examiners would have to grapple with how to assess pupils when many candidates would already be fluent speakers.
The House understands the government is therefore highly unlikely to proceed with a standalone Ukrainian GCSE. However, some exam boards are understood to be exploring alternative ways to incorporate Ukrainian language and cultural learning into the existing British curriculum, aimed at supporting displaced Ukrainian children without creating a new qualification from scratch.
Visa uncertainty is also limiting life chances for Ukrainian teenagers. A University of Birmingham survey in March 2025 found that 25 per cent of respondents who applied for a student loan said it was refused because of their visa status.
Hryhorovych adds that uncertainty around the future makes it very difficult for Ukrainian children to overcome their trauma.
“The healing of trauma and integration starts with hope, and hope is born from some new aspirations and goals,” she says.
“But how can you develop that hope if your aspirations have a time tag? There is a deadline to how far you can dream, how far you can aspire to, because you might be told it’s time now to go back.”
In September 2025, the UK government announced a significant extension to the Ukraine Permission Extension, adding 24 months to the original 18-month period. For some who arrived in early 2022, that adds up to a total stay of up to six and a half years.
The healing of trauma and integration starts with hope, and hope is born from some new aspirations and goals
There is growing evidence to suggest that most Ukrainians no longer see their future in the UK as short-term. According to a survey carried out by University of Birmingham researchers in October 2025, 76 per cent of Ukrainian families with school-aged children believe it will be very difficult for their children to integrate into the Ukrainian education system if they are required to return, with a further 18 per cent believing they will have at least some difficulties.
Only five per cent of all respondents to the survey said they would want to return to Ukraine even if it became safe, citing fears of renewed Russian aggression, destroyed infrastructure and economic instability.
This highlights a potentially huge issue for both Ukraine and the UK further down the line: Kyiv’s official position is that Ukrainians who fled the war will not be forced to return home, but that the government hopes people will come back voluntarily once it is safe. The UK government has meanwhile framed its Ukraine visa schemes as a temporary humanitarian sanctuary, rather than a route to settlement, in part to reflect Ukraine’s desire for the eventual return of its citizens.
Time spent on Ukraine schemes, even for children, does not count towards the 10-year period to gain indefinite leave to remain in the UK, despite the scheme protections having been extended.
Yuliia Ismail, an immigration adviser at the charity Settled, which offers free, accredited, multilingual immigration advice for Ukrainians in the UK, says the system was never designed for this scale or duration of displacement.
“It was built as a temporary solution,” she says. “But we should remember, we do have people who don’t have anywhere to return.”
Many major Ukrainian cities, including Mariupol, Bakhmut, and parts of Kherson, Chernihiv, and Kharkiv, have been mostly destroyed.
While few believe Ukrainians would be forced out of the UK immediately after the war ends, Ismail says “there is no clear plan”.
We should remember, we do have people who don’t have anywhere to return
Dr Irina Kuznetsova, a sociologist at the University of Birmingham, argues that the UK is facing an opportunity to establish a “better practice” around planning for the futures of displaced children who have fled warzones.
“These numbers [of displaced Ukrainian children] are unprecedented,” she says. “After decades, people will be looking and thinking about how we could learn from the situation.”
A report co-authored by Kuznetsova in October 2025 recommends counting time spent on Ukraine visas towards settlement, creating a five-year route to residency, ensuring access to Ukrainian language education, and expanding mental health support for Ukrainian children and adults.
Meanwhile, Cooper continues trying to shield her son from the uncertainty. “I’m trying to prevent him from having any anxiety or uncertainty about the future. That’s my job as a parent,” she says.
Sometimes, they attend a Ukrainian social club in Notting Hill for food, conversation and connection to a country that feels ever more distant from their life in London.
“No one can actually force us to do things we’re not willing to do,” she says. “It’s a really individual decision. We are not property, we can make decisions on our own.”
For policymakers, Ukrainian children in the UK are fast becoming more than a humanitarian issue. They are a test of whether Britain’s immigration, education and integration systems can adapt to support and accommodate a generation who have been shaped by war but now see Britain as their home.
Politics
Politics Home | Starmer Says Mandelson Betrayed The Country And Lied To Him About His Relationship With Epstein
Starmer said he regretted appointing Mandelson as the UK ambassador to the US (Alamy)
3 min read
Keir Starmer has accused Peter Mandelson of betraying the country and lying to Downing Street about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, as the Prime Minister comes under pressure over his initial decision to appoint Mandelson as US ambassador.
Speaking in PMQs on Wednesday, Starmer said he regretted appointing Mandelson as the UK ambassador to the US, and announced that he had agreed with the King to remove him from the Privy Council over the growing scandal surrounding his relationship with Epstein.
Starmer admitted to MPs that he was aware of Mandelson’s relationship with the paedophile financier when he appointed him as the UK’s ambassador in Washington, but said that Mandelson “lied” to him about the depth and extent of that relationship.
The PM sacked Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador in the US in September after more details about the nature of his relationship with Epstein emerged.
Starmer said that Mandelson had “completely misrepresented the extent of his relationship with Epstein and lied throughout the process”.
On Tuesday night, the Metropolitan Police confirmed it will investigate the former cabinet minister for misconduct in public office.
Earlier in the day, Mandelson, who was a key figure in the New Labour administrations of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and has remained an influential figure in the Labour Party, said he would resign from the House of Lords amid growing outrage over his links to Epstein.
The government is also planning to use legislation to remove Mandelson’s peer title — an action which no UK government has taken since World War One.
It came after millions of court documents relating to Epstein were published by the US Department of Justice, revealing that Mandelson had shared confidential and high-level UK government information with him, including that the euro bailout was coming.
Speaking on Wednesday, Starmer said: “To learn that there was a cabinet minister leaking sensitive information at the height of the response to the 2008 crash is beyond infuriating.
“And I am as angry as the public and any member of this House. Mandelson betrayed our country, our Parliament, and my party.”
“Mr Speaker, he [Mandelson] lied repeatedly to my team when asked about his relationship with Epstein before and during his tenure as ambassador.
“I regret appointing him.
“If I knew then what I know now, he would never have been anywhere near government.”
On Tuesday, PoliticsHome reported that the Prime Minister was coming under growing pressure from Labour MPs to sack his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, over his key role in the original appointment of Mandelson as US ambassador.
Questioned by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, the PM defended McSweeney, who is seen as the driving force of the Starmer project, and said he had confidence in him.
“Morgan McSweeney is an essential part of my team. He helped me change the Labour Party and win an election. Of course, I have confidence in him,” he said.
The Conservatives are calling on Starmer to publish all documents regarding the vetting of Mandelson ahead of his appointment as US ambassador. The PM has said that he intends to publish all relevant documents, apart from those that could undermine national security and international relations. MPs will vote on what should be published later on Wednesday.
The PM also said that the Metropolitan Police had been in touch “to raise issues about anything that would prejudice their investigations”.
“We’re in discussion with them about that, and I hope to be able to update the House,” he added.
Earlier this year, Suella Braverman and Robert Jenrick dramatically defected to Reform. Since then, not everything has gone to plan.
According to Politics UK, both Braverman and Jenrick accidentally voted WITH Labour to abolish the two cap-benefit cap last night on 3 January. This is a direct conflict with Reform’s party line.
🚨 NEW: Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman accidentally voted with Labour to abolish the two-child benefit cap tonight after entering the wrong lobby pic.twitter.com/RsZSHsGfMV
— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) February 3, 2026
Reform backed the wrong horses
Jenrick is the mastermind behind painting over a children’s mural in an asylum centre, so of course he found his political home with Reform. It’s the same with Braverman, who famously said that seeing a migrant plane take off to Rwanda was her “dream” and her “obsession.”
On 3 January, Nigel Farage announced that Reform would, unsurprisingly, vote against removing the two-child cap. And of course he did it with a pint in his hand:
If this doesn’t sum up Reform, I don’t know what does: kick millions of kids back into poverty (by reintroducing the two child benefit limit) so that a six quid pint of beer will reduce to £5.95…https://t.co/04sFXQthYZ
— Anne-Frances Hayes, Politics and all that. (@anne_staveley) February 3, 2026
As Alex Cocker wrote for the Canary:
Never a party to miss a vapid appeal to populism, Reform UK have announced plans to cut beer duty by 10%. Except, how do they plan to fund such a feat? Well, by reintroducing the two-child benefit cap, of course.
Under Reform’s new commitment, the party would gradually phase out business rates altogether for UK pubs. Incidentally, they’d also plunge around 350,000 children back into poverty, and 700,000 into deep poverty.
Despite Jenrick and Braverman enjoying cruelty, it appears they weren’t quite awake for last night’s vote on the two-child benefit cap.
Because they voted with Labour.
Ouch.
UPDATE: It’s been pointed out to me that because they went thru lobby the votes recorded. The record on HoC vote here. So Jenrick and Braverman voted WITH Labour to lift the two child benefit cap 🫣 https://t.co/SjVH1ZuGQ7 pic.twitter.com/R9p9DLYKXS
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) February 3, 2026
Farage looks like a fool
After Farage’s very public welcome to Jenrick and Braverman, this fuck up from the both of them makes him look a little silly.
I warmly welcome @SuellaBraverman to Reform UK! 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/eGZoK0SdKG
— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) January 26, 2026
As Maddison Wheeldon wrote for the Canary:
this latest whiplash episode suggests that Farage likewise lacks any real vision or principle. But we already knew that.
Let’s see if Farage can at least get his MPs to vote with the party line next time, shall we?
Featured image via UK Government
Whoopi Goldberg has urged Elon Musk to “sit down” and stay out of “artistic” discussions, after the divisive X CEO’s recent comments about Lupita Nyong’o’s role in the new adaptation of The Odyssey.
Last week, speculation online suggested that Oscar winner Nyong’o would be playing Helen Of Troy in Christopher Nolan’s new film, which immediately sparked backlash from some more conservative critics.
Responding to one post which claimed Lupita playing the role would “ruin” The Odyssey and another describing this as an “insult” to the source text, Musk accused filmmaker Nolan of having “lost his integrity”.
This was then debated during Tuesday’s edition of The View, where moderator Goldberg made her feelings on the matter clear.
“Musk claims that Nolan has lost his integrity… ooh, you know… because Homer described this fictional character as fair-skinned, blonde, who was so beautiful that men started a war over her,” Goldberg said.
“I don’t know if you realise this, Lupita is also considered one of the world’s most beautiful women. So, I’m not sure what you’re trying to say.”
The Sister Act star then pointed out: “You don’t have to actually go to the movie. I don’t know why you feel like you need to speak on this. And I would suggest looking in a mirror, if you have any concerns about people’s looks, if this is where we’re going.”
She added: “And don’t try to clown me, baby! I know what I look like. There are so many things I want to say to you that are rude and awful. But I won’t do it. But know that I’m thinking it.”
After her fellow panellists expressed similar feelings about Musk’s comments, Goldberg concluded: “Elon, just sit down. For this, when it comes to artistic stuff, go sit down, please.”
During the conversation, Sara Haines indicated that Musk had “bigger fish to fry than characters in a movie”, following the news that X’s offices had been raided in France, with prosecutors claiming this was part of an investigation into potential criminal offences including complicity in the possession and distribution of “child pornography images,” personal rights violations through the generation of AI-generated sexual imagery, alleged fraudulent data extraction and the denial of “crimes against humanity”.
Musk claimed this was a “political attack” while an X spokesperson claimed the raid as an “abusive act” against the company.
Last week, leaked emails also appeared to show Musk enquiring about visits to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s island in the early 2010s.
Responding to the matter on X, Musk said: “If I actually wanted to spend my time partying with young women, it would be trivial for me to do so without the help of a creepy loser like Epstein and I would still have 99 per cent of my mind available to think about other things. But I don’t.”
Donald Trump has appeared to downplay former US ambassador Peter Mandelson’s fall from grace over his links to Jeffrey Epstein.
Mandelson served as the UK’s main link to the Trump administration for much of last year until he was sacked for his friendship with Epstein, the dead paedophile.
After the US Department of Justice released a fresh batch of files unveiling Epstein’s extensive network with the elite over the weekend, it was revealed that Mandelson may have been leaking confidential government information to the disgraced financier.
The peer quit the Labour Party on Sunday night and, after intense backlash, stood down from the House of Lords though his title technically remains.
When reminded by a reporter in the Oval office that Mandelson has been forced to resign over his links to Jeffrey Epstein, Trump replied: “I didn’t know about it. I really don’t know too much about it.
“I know who he is, but it’s… too bad.”
Trump previously claimed not to know who Mandelson was during his most recent state visit to the UK, back in autumn.
“I don’t know him, actually,” he said, at a joint press conference with Keir Starmer.
Asked if he was offended by that, Mandelson brushed it off. The former US ambassador told The Times this week: “He’s so clever.
“I mean, if he had defended me, that would have been embarrassing to the prime minister.
“If he had attacked me, it would have been hurtful to me.”
He also praised the US president in the interview, saying: “You may not like all of Trump’s decisions, but at least he is decisive.”
Trump welcomed Mandelson when he first started in the job a year ago, praising his “beautiful accent” in May and welcoming him into the Oval Office in early September, shortly before he was fired.
Johanna Baxter (Lab) Julie Minns (Lab) Kerry McCarthy (Lab) Charlie Dewhirst (Con) Luke Charters (Lab) Alex Baker (Lab) Jonathan Brash (Lab) Neil Hudson (Con) Alan Strickland (Lab) Helen Hayes (Lab) Layla Moran (LibDem) Ben Goldsborough (Lab) Christine Jardine (LibDem) Chris Coghlan (LibDem)
Bridgerton showrunner Jess Brownell has a reassuring update for anyone worried about Lady Danbury’s future in the hit period drama.
After three seasons as Queen Charlotte’s right-hand woman in the popular Netflix series, Adjoa Andoh’s character has been seen in the latest run of episodes contemplating whether she wants more for herself.
After Lady Danbury’s declaration that she intends to step back from service, many fans have been concerned that this could mean Adjoa may not be appearing in the coming seasons of Bridgerton.
However, during a recent interview with Deadline, Bridgerton’s executive producer said she and her team have “no intentions” of that being the case.
“I want to say very clearly that we have no intentions of Adjoa stepping back,” she insisted. “She’s still absolutely a part of the story in season five.
She continued: “It was more about wanting to explore the dynamic between a friendship in which there’s a power imbalance, which is very on theme with this season, where we’re looking at the relationship between servants and their employers.”
She continued: “The Queen and Lady Danbury are real friends, but because of the power imbalance, it was interesting to explore what happens when Lady Danbury wants to do something for herself. It was an opportunity to explore new depth for their friendship.”
As Brownell stated, themes of power and class are being explored in all areas of Bridgerton season four, including its central love story between Luke Thompson and Yerin Ha’s characters.
Luke and Yerin recently explained how these divisions led to the setting of one of the stand-out steamy scenes between characters Benedict Bridgerton and Sophie Baek, who grow close after meeting at a masquerade ball early on in season four.
The first half of Bridgerton’s fourth season is currently streaming on Netflix, with part two following on Thursday 26 February.
Rafe Fletcher is the founder of CWG and writes The Otium Den Substack
You can regularly eat and drink for free in Singapore.
Just turn up at one of the British property seminars that pepper the city’s function rooms. Developers and agents swallow the cost of a few freeloaders because it has been a fruitful market. Singaporeans are the second largest group of foreign home owners across England and Wales.
Demand isn’t spurred by colonial nostalgia. Rather, Singaporeans can buy a second home in Britain with far less hassle than in Singapore. And developers welcome the liquidity lacking in those supported only by a British-earned income. Just as a punitive tax regime leaves British buyers short of a deposit, so builders find construction can leave them short of a profit once they have navigated nebulous planning diktats.
Confronting the resulting housing bubble may look awkward for the Conservatives. Even in 2024, 37 percent of outright homeowners voted for them, a 12-point lead on Labour in second place. But the consequences of ducking the issues are starker. Those homeowners will see values deplete anyway under Labour’s trajectory of making everyone poorer. And the Conservatives will make no inroads with a generation shut out of the housing market.
It’s a lesser problem in Singapore where 90 per cent of citizens are homeowners. A product of mass public housebuilding under the Housing and Development Board (HDB). Only Singaporeans are eligible to buy these properties. Buyers draw upon their Central Provident Fund (CPF), a forced personal savings system to put down a deposit on HDBs’ subsidised values. Mortgages are offered with fixed interest rates of 2.6 per cent.
The HDB market is heavily restricted. They can’t be purchased by non-citizens and Singaporeans can only own one unit at a time. Re-sales are prohibited for five years, so there’s no “flipping” on the back of sudden value increases. If Singaporeans want to buy a second home, they must enter the fully private market, which constitutes just 20 per cent of the country’s housing stock. Doing so incurs 20 per cent stamp duty on any second property and 30% on additional ones after that.
Hence why buying in Britain is much more attractive where non-resident stamp duty is only two percent. With far lower tax rates and HDBs available at 3.8 times average income, Singaporeans have the means to buy British stock. Penalising such foreign buyers may play well optically. But as it is, they’re vital in getting homes built. Britain’s largest developer Barratt Redrow recently blamed a lack of them for missing its sales target. International capital helps developers meet affordable housing provisions under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act. Without buyers for higher-price units, the think-tank Onward reports that the cost of delivering new homes often exceeds their capital values.
Section 106 is one of many regulatory hurdles strangling supply. Onward’s research shows that small and medium-sized (SME) developers have been effectively priced out of the market. In the late 1980s, SMEs delivered about 40 per cent of new homes; by 2007, 30 per cent; and today just 12 per cent. They don’t have the scale or balance sheet to weather the costly and cumbersome planning permission process.
Mired in such regulation, Britain’s housing policy is hardly less statist than Singapore. But that statism resides in obstructiveness instead of forcefulness. Singapore can build because the state owns 90 per cent of the land (HDBs and most private housing are on 99-year leases). A situation engineered through the Land Acquisition Act of 1966 that empowers the government to buy any land it wishes at current market value. It is frustrating for golfers as the city-state’s few remaining courses are forcibly purchased to make way for new housing. But it gives the government total control over the supply-chain and costs.
A similar land grab is probably only contemplated by Zack Polanski in Britain. And it’s more likely to resemble Zimbabwe if it comes under the Greens. But there are other lessons Britain can learn from Singapore.
Firstly, provide tax-free incentives for young people to save for a house. Robert Colville writes in The Times that Brits with student loans are paying 50p in tax from every pound they earn over £50,000 and 71p over £100,000. Getting a deposit together is often hopeless for even top-earning graduates without help from the bank of mum and dad. Something like Singapore’s CPF would allow workers to save into a specific house-buying account. It need not be compulsory nor state managed. But it should be ring-fenced and explicitly linked to first-home purchase.
Secondly, remove uncertainty. Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority fixes land use, density and infrastructure expectations in advance. Builders operate within known limits. They don’t have to contend with Section 106-esque regulations that leave developers unsure if local housing associations will even buy the affordable housing they’re obligated to provide. Get things built first.
Finally, Britain needs to stop concerning itself with fringe measures that play only to the politics of envy. I recently went to an event at the Seven Palms complex on Singapore’s Sentosa island, an enclave of wealthy foreigners. It had the ghostly feel of many of London’s high-end developments, with owners mostly in absentia. We may criticise the atmosphere created by such projects but they’re incidental to the wider problem. It’s virtue signalling rather than serious policy.
Britain’s housing crisis is not unique amongst developed nations. But alongside an acute supply shortage, it faces weakening demand. If the most talented young people don’t believe there’s a realistic route to buying, they will leave. And house prices will fall anyway while the country gets poorer. Fixing things now may unsettle Conservative voters who sit on high paper valuations. But a reckoning will come anyway. Perhaps those free evenings out in Singapore will start to dwindle.
Singapore shows the benefits of a government that acts forcefully. Britain shows the consequences of a government that meanders – forcing risk onto developers, disincentivising building and earning, and pandering to NIMBYism. Noel Skelton’s property-owning democracy was once an inspiration to a young Lee Kuan Yew.
The Conservatives need to reclaim that legacy to feed aspiration rather than resentment.
Did you know cola is made with a kola nut? The ingredient, which is from Africa, is where the fizzy drink gets its caffeine from.
Of course, some cola brands keep the other parts of their recipe top-secret. But why do beverages made by the same company seem to taste different in a glass bottle, can, and plastic bottle?
Well, according to Rowland King, a director at the glass bottles supplier, Quality Bottles, there’s real science behind the difference.
Why does cola taste different in a glass bottle vs a can or plastic bottle?
First, there’s the chemistry of each material to consider.
“Glass is chemically inert and non-porous, which means it doesn’t react with the drink or absorb flavour compounds,” King said.
“That helps keep the taste exactly as intended from the moment it’s filled to the moment it’s opened”.
Some experts think the polymer lining of tinned fizzy drinks can lead to a milder taste, while it’s possible that acetaldehyde in plastic bottles could affect the flavour.
And carbonation (bubbles) matter, too, King added.
“Fizzy drinks rely on dissolved CO₂ for their bite and freshness. Over time, plastic is slightly permeable to gas, even when sealed.
“Glass isn’t, so carbonation is typically retained more consistently, which can noticeably affect the taste and how it feels to drink.”
The screw or crown caps commonly used on glass bottles provide a tighter seal, too, allowing less CO2 to escape.
“Bottle shape also comes into it,” King continued.
“A narrow bottleneck concentrates aroma and slows down how quickly the drink hits the palate. That subtly changes the flavour perception compared to drinking from a wide can opening or pouring into a cup.”
Then, there’s temperature to consider
I personally love an ice-cold can of diet cola – sometimes called a “fridge cigarette” – because I feel like it stays cooler and crisper than plastic bottles.
But King explained, “Glass bottles are thicker and tend to chill more evenly and stay cold a bit longer once removed from the fridge. Since temperature strongly affects flavour perception, that alone can make the drink seem more refreshing.”
Of course, companies try their hardest to make their product taste as consistent as possible across a range of containers, King stated.
But, he ended, “material science is material science. The container does make a difference, especially with carbonated drinks”.
Grade II-listed Southport Pier, the oldest iron pier in the country (Alamy)
3 min read
Britain’s piers are more than Victorian seaside relics – they define the British coast and the communities that depend on them, driving tourism and underpinning local economies.
Both of us represent constituencies — Worthing West and Southport — where the state of our piers is a huge talking point for constituents.
There are currently 60 operational piers in the UK, down from 150 in the early 20th century. Sadly, last week Storm Ingrid’s 60mph winds destroyed Teignmouth’s famous Grand Pier overnight.
Other British seaside piers face a growing political crisis, with about 20 per cent at risk of being lost due to rising costs, climate change and maintenance issues. Many MPs – us included – are calling for a ‘National Pier Service’ or ‘National Piers Trust’ to manage, preserve and regenerate many of these iconic structures, which are vital to local, seasonal economies.
The benefits of such a model include economies of scale. Centralising key functions such as procurement and maintenance through bulk purchasing and shared contracts, deploying specialist expertise via a dedicated national team, and pooling insurance risks for better terms would reduce expenses and improve quality.
Commercial branding, marketing and events would attract more visitors and generate higher revenues. Centralised training and workforce development would enhance service quality and safety while minimising duplication. Collectively, these efficiencies would make limited public and charitable funding stretch further, enabling the preservation and revitalisation of more piers without placing more strain on local councils and communities.
Southport Pier is the second longest in the country and has a proud history. It closed in 2022 due to its condition, but thanks to £20m funding from central government, the pier is due to be repaired and reopened in 2027.
Worthing’s Grade II-listed art deco pier is a much-loved feature of the town for residents and visitors alike and was named UK Pier of the Year in 2019. Opened in 1862 and reconstructed in 1887 to mark the Jubilee of Queen Victoria, it survived almost complete collapse due to storm damage in 1913 and a huge fire 20 years later that could be seen as far away as Beachy Head. More recently, storm damage caused the pier to be closed for almost three months at the end of last year, during which Beccy supported the borough council’s extensive restoration work.
This month we saw DCMS announce that £1.5bn will be invested in cultural organisations over the next five years to restore national pride. The funding will protect and restore more than 1,000 arts venues, museums, libraries and heritage buildings across the country. The investment will tackle urgent capital needs, preserve local heritage, and provide accessible, no- or low-cost cultural experiences for families. We are campaigning to ensure piers are part of the funding.
This Labour government’s core mission is a decade of renewal, and Britain’s iconic piers are a national symbol of our identity – after 14 years of Tory mismanagement, they should be treated as such.
Coastal towns have long been left behind through the austerity of consecutive Conservative governments, but Labour is now working to tackle regional inequality.
To combine the history and aesthetic of piers with a modern regeneration of coastal economies, let’s invest in rebuilding and refurbishing these iconic British monuments.
Dr Beccy Cooper is the Labour MP for Worthing West and Patrick Hurley is the Labour MP for Southport
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