Half the public think Elon Musk is having a negative impact on British politics following his rants on X about Labour and Sir Keir Starmer, according to a new survey.
The South African-born billionaire has spent much of the past week attacking the prime minister over his opposition to another national inquiry into grooming gangs.
And he also asked his 212 million followers whether America should “liberate” the UK from its “tyrannical government”.
A poll published on Saturday suggested widespread opposition to Musk‘s involvement in British politics.
Read more: Why is Musk so interested in British politics? How should politicians handle Elon Musk?
Some 53% of people told Opinium they thought he was having a negative impact politics, compared to just 12% who thought he was having a positive one.
On his comments about grooming gangs specifically, 47% said they thought Mr Musk was being “unhelpful”, compared to 26% who thought the opposite.
Adam Drummond, head of political and social research at Opinium, said a “lack of enthusiasm about a foreign billionaire involving himself in British politics” was “one area of agreement” among the public.
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In other posts he expressed support for Reform UK, but called for its leader Nigel Farage to step aside.
When asked about this, 71% of Reform UK voters said the Clacton MP was the best leader they could have now.
Earlier this week, Mr Farage insisted he could repair relations with the Tesla chief executive and incoming adviser to US President-elect Donald Trump.
But he also said Musk’s support was not “crucial” and it was more important to maintain his long-standing opposition to jailed far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
The split between Mr Farage and Musk came after the billionaire expressed strong support for Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
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A Tory frontbencher is urging the government to “focus” on pupil absence after a report found as many as 300,000 children were missing from education in England last year.
Figures from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) – which compare GP registrations with school enrolment data – mark a 40% increase in unaccounted absences since 2017.
More than 50,000 students were also found to have left the state education system by Year 11, with no clear records explaining their exits.
Reacting to this, shadow education secretary Laura Trott has urged the government to shift its focus to pupil absence.
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She told Sky News: “Pupil absence is the most important thing for the Department for Education (DfE) to focus on at the moment – not cancelling new schools, diluting the academic curriculum and spending acres of civil service time on a VAT rise that will add pressure to state schools.
“We must get children back to the classroom.”
The DfE pointed to plans to “introduce children not in school registers”.
These will be introduced alongside “new protections for children being home educated when they are subject to a children’s social care investigation, and a single child identifier so children can get the right support from education, health and care services”.
Image: Shadow education secretary Laura Trott in the Commons. Pic: PA
A source also questioned the 300,000 estimate given by the EPI, claiming it is “not adjusted for the known limitations in data quality”.
They said there is a known discrepancy between the “estimated size of the England population and the number of people registered at GP practices”.
Data published by the DfE suggests that 117,000 children were missing education at any time in the 2023 to 2024 academic year. This ran from September 2023 to July 2024.
Read more: The ‘ghost children’ crisis explained Thousands are missing school – and COVID made problem worse Absence in schools is now at crisis point – this is Teddy’s story
A DfE spokesperson said: “Our mission is to break down the barriers to opportunity that are holding young people back, making sure they have the support and education they deserve, and to tackle the pattern of children falling through the cracks.”
Associate director at EPI Whitney Crenna-Jennings said: “Many thousands of children are missing or go missing from education in England – this is a critical issue that demands our attention.”
The data shows that dropouts peak in Year 10, just before students take their GCSEs, making up about a fifth of all exits.
The report also states that vulnerable groups, particularly teenagers, are disproportionately affected.
The EPI says schools should document reasons for de-registering students to improve oversight and prevent illegal exclusions.
It also recommends that there is a mandatory register by integrating data from education, health and other administrative data sources.
The family of pandemic fundraiser Captain Sir Tom Moore gained “significant” financial benefit from links to a charity set up in his name, a report has found.
Hannah Ingram-Moore, the veteran‘s daughter, and her husband Colin carried out repeated instances of misconduct, according to the Charity Commission.
The pair have already been banned from being charity trustees.
And a 30-page report published on Thursday, after a two-year inquiry, set out their failings in detail.
These include:
• “Disingenuous” statements from Mrs Ingram-Moore about not being offered a six-figure sum to become the charity’s chief executive. While she may not have been offered this, the commission said it had seen written evidence that she had set out expectations for a £150,000 remuneration package before taking on the role.
• A misleading implication that donations from book sales would be made to the foundation. The commission said the public “would understandably feel misled” to learn that sales of his autobiography did not benefit the charity. An advance of almost £1.5m was paid to Club Nook, a company of which the Ingram-Moores are directors, for a three-book deal.
• A claim by Mrs Ingram-Moore that an appearance at an awards ceremony for which she was paid £18,000 was undertaken in a personal capacity. The commission said there was no evidence to support this. While she received £18,000, just £2,000, separate from that sum, was donated to the charity.
• Use of the foundation’s name in an initial planning application for a spa pool block at their home, something the couple said had been an error while they were both “busy undertaking ‘global media work”. The block was demolished earlier this year, after the family lost an appeal against Central Bedfordshire Council’s order for it to be torn down.
Image: An unauthorised spa pool block is removed at the home of Hannah Ingram-Moore. File pic: PA
The Charity Commission opened a case into the foundation in March 2021, escalating it to become a statutory inquiry in June 2022, amid concerns about the charity’s management and independence from Sir Tom’s family.
In July, the Ingram-Moores released a statement saying they had been banned from being charity trustees.
The orders against both – meaning Mrs Ingram-Moore cannot be a trustee or hold a senior management role in any charity in England and Wales for 10 years, nor Mr Ingram-Moore for eight years – were issued in May and came into effect on 25 June.
The watchdog’s chief executive said its report had found “repeated failures of governance and integrity”, and that its inquiry had been fair, balanced and independent.
Image: Sir Tom Moore’s daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, at Wimbledon. File pic: PA
David Holdsworth, commission chief executive, said the foundation set up in Sir Tom’s name “has not lived up to that legacy of others before self, which is central to charity”.
He added: “The public, and the law, rightly expect those involved in charities to make an unambiguous distinction between their personal interests and those of the charity and the beneficiaries they are there to serve.
“This did not happen in the case of The Captain Tom Foundation. We found repeated instances of a blurring of boundaries between private and charitable interests, with Mr and Mrs Ingram-Moore receiving significant personal benefit. Together the failings amount to misconduct and/or mismanagement.”
The commission has not called on the foundation to close, but a lawyer for the family has previously indicated the charity might shut down.
Mr and Mrs Ingram-Moore described the Charity Commission inquiry as “unjust and excessive”.
In a statement, they said: “True accountability demands transparency, not selective storytelling.
“We remain dedicated to upholding Captain Sir Tom’s legacy and want the public to know, that there has never been any misappropriation of funds or unauthorised payments from the charity’s bank account, by any member of our family.”
People who hear bullying or abusive voices could find peace with the help of therapy using computer-generated avatars, according to new research.
The digital animations are created by people with psychosis to fit the voices they hear.
They then role-play with the avatar under the guidance of a therapist, learning to push back against their tormentor.
Image: The avatars are used in role-play for therapy
A study by clinical psychologists at Kings College London (KCL) shows just a few sessions of avatar therapy reduces both the distress and frequency of the voices.
Ruth spent more than five years in hospital because of her illness.
But after therapy with an avatar that she created, she’s now married and about to start a new job.
“When I hear the voices, I hear them as if they’re standing right behind me, hissing in my ear, making remarks,” she told Sky News.
She continued: “Sometimes they do a running commentary of everything I’m doing.
“And other times it’s like they are screaming and yelling directly into my ear. It can be exhausting.
“When I first started with the avatar it was pretty brutal at times, the stuff it would say.
“But over time, I learned that I could overpower that voice.”
Image: Ruth spent over five years in hospital because of her illness but she’s now married and about to start a new job
‘Face to face’
Therapy begins with people creating a digital avatar to represent the voices they hear.
They first select the right vocal sound for the avatar.
Then, in a process similar to building a police identikit image of a suspect, they choose facial features to create an image that fits the voice they hear.
During therapy, they have a conversation with the avatar, which is under the control of a clinical psychologist, learning to stand up to the distressing voices.
Image: Digitally animated avatars are created by people with psychosis to help them stand up to the distressing voices
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Dr Tom Ward, a clinical psychologist at KCL, said: “It’s typically a very powerful experience for the person.
“The voice is something that they might have been avoiding for many years, and they’re coming face to face with it so people can be understandably anxious.
“The job of the therapist is to make sure that it feels safe enough for them to interact with the avatar.”
‘Extremely important finding’
A study on 345 people, funded by the Wellcome Trust and published in the journal Nature, showed avatar therapy helped to push the voices into the background, allowing them to resume a more normal life.
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Professor Philippa Garety, the lead researcher, said it was the first therapy shown to have a sustained impact on how often people hear voices.
“This is an extremely important finding,” she said.
“Hearing fewer voices, less often, or voices going away altogether can have a hugely positive impact on their day-to-day lives.”
NICE, the authority that regulates treatments on the NHS, has backed the therapy.
It will now be rolled out to clinics in England for more real-world testing.
The requirement to bring photo identification to vote in the general election “discouraged some people” from casting their ballot, a watchdog has said.
The rule came into force in 2023 after Boris Johnson’s Conservative government introduced the new law to parliament.
But the first time the impact was tested at a general election came in July this year.
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While the Electoral Commission said “almost everyone” was able to take part “successfully”, around 16,000 people could not vote because of the ID requirement and others were put off from voting entirely.
Research carried out by the watchdog showed 0.25% of the public were turned away initially due to not having the right documents, with two-thirds of them later returning with the correct ID – but 0.08% were unable to do so.
Its polling also showed 4% of those who chose not to vote said the law was part of their reason for not participating – with those from poorer backgrounds most likely to cite not having accepted ID.
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The commission’s chief executive Vijay Rangarajan said: “This was the first time all voters across the UK were required to show photographic ID at a general election, and the data shows almost everyone was able to do so successfully.
“However, our research shows that the need for ID discouraged some people from voting – and we don’t want to see any voters lose their say.
“Public awareness of the need for voter ID is high across the UK, but there are still groups of voters that are less likely to be aware of the need to show ID or that do not have an accepted form.
“Everyone eligible should have the opportunity to vote, which is why we are recommending changes that will support those who do not currently have ID and improve the accessibility of elections, while maintaining the security of the process.”
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Among the recommendations suggested by the watchdog was a review of the list of accepted IDs, calling for it to include student Oyster cards and the Veteran card, as well as a review of the free voter authority certificate to see if issuing it digitally could increase take up.
The commission said it would review how its own public campaigns could offer more help to “minimise the barriers to voting”.
Labour voted against the law when it was brought into force by the Tories.
However, it has not committed to revoking it, pledging in its manifesto to instead “address the inconsistencies in voter ID rules that prevent legitimate voters from voting”.
Read more from Sky News: Starmer under pressure on two issues Government ‘picking pockets of pensioners’
A spokesperson from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “The government is committed to strengthening our democracy and making sure every legitimate voter can exercise their democratic right to vote.
“The government will carefully consider the report as part of our thorough evaluation of voter ID rules, to understand how they impacted voters, before bringing forward proposals in due course.”
A Conservative Party spokesperson also defended the law, saying: “Voter identification has been tried and tested in Northern Ireland since it was introduced by the last Labour government.
“In last year’s local elections in England, 99.75% cast their vote successfully, and these new figures for the general election in Great Britain show that 99.92% did so too.
“One would expect these figures to rise further as the practice is embedded, and public awareness increases yet further.”
Artificial intelligence (AI) is being used to generate deepfake child sexual abuse images based on real victims, a report has found.
The tools used to create the images remain legal in the UK, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWL) said, even though AI child sexual abuse images are illegal.
It gave the example of one victim of child rape and torture, whose abuser uploaded images of her when she was between three and eight years old.
The non-profit organisation reported that Olivia, not her real name, was rescued by police in 2023 – but years later dark web users are using AI tools to computer-generate images of her in new abusive situations.
Offenders are compiling collections of images of named victims, such as Olivia, and using them to fine-tune AI models to create new material, the IWL said.
One model for generating new images of Olivia, who is now in her 20s, was available to download for free, it found.
A dark web user reportedly shared an anonymous webpage containing links to AI models for 128 different victims of child sexual abuse.
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Other fine-tuned models can generate AI child sexual material of celebrity children, the IWL said.
IWL analysts found 90% of AI images were realistic enough to be assessed under the same law as real child sexual abuse material.
They also found AI images are becoming increasingly extreme.
Read more: New AI tool could be game-changer in battle against Alzheimer’s Why Google’s greenhouse gas emissions have surged 48% in five years
‘Incredibly concerning but also preventable’
The IWL warned “hundreds of images can be spewed out at the click of a button” and some have a “near flawless, photo-realistic quality”.
Its chief executive Susie Hargreaves said: “We will be watching closely to see how industry, regulators and government respond to the threat, to ensure that the suffering of Olivia, and children like her, is not exacerbated, reimagined and recreated using AI tools.”
Richard Collard of the NSPCC said: “The speed with which AI-generated child abuse is developing is incredibly concerning but is also preventable. Too many AI products are being developed and rolled out without even the most basic considerations for child safety, retraumatising child victims of abuse.
“It is crucial that child protection is a key pillar of any government legislation around AI safety. We must also demand tough action from tech companies now to stop AI abuse snowballing and ensure that children whose likeness are being used are identified and supported.”
Good care for pregnant women “is the exception rather than the rule”, a landmark inquiry has said.
A parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma has found there was “shockingly poor quality” in maternity services, which resulted in care that lacked compassion and a system where “poor care is all too frequently tolerated as normal”.
The inquiry’s report is set to be released later this morning and was first reported by The Times.
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The report also found that women were “treated as an inconvenience” and errors were covered up by hospitals that “frustrated parents’ efforts to find answers”.
Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, said that the experiences uncovered in the report were “harrowing”.
The Times reported that the inquiry found new mothers had been left on blood-soaked sheets for hours, berated by midwives, or in one case been dismissed as an “anxious mother” when her baby then later died from complications that she was warning about.
The report calls for a new maternity commissioner who will report to the prime minister.
Each year, around 30,000 women will suffer a negative experience before, during or after delivery.
In 2011, Sarah Embleton suffered a serious birthing tear which was missed by doctors for more than a year – leading to complications.
Image: Sarah Embleton
“I was in a lot of pain a lot of the time because obviously things that healed by themselves in a way that they shouldn’t have done, she told Sky News.
“So, urgency, not being able to hold in, needing to go to the loo, that sort of physical side was pretty horrendous.”
Read more from Sky News: Women ‘failed at every stage’ of maternity care Mother left with injuries after giving birth breaks ‘silence’ Grieving parents demand nationwide guidance after failings
She added: “Also the psychological side as well, I was diagnosed with PTSD.
“There is no area of my life that was untouched by it.”
Ten-month-old Finley Boden died “as the result of abuse when he should have been one of the most protected children in the local authority area”, a safeguarding review has found.
A report by the Derby and Derbyshire Safeguarding Children Partnership found safeguarding practices in the lead-up to the child’s death were “inadequate”.
The report said the impact of COVID and lockdown had also “severely disrupted” the “protective systems and services designed to detect, prevent and respond to maltreatment”.
It comes after Shannon Marsden, 22, and Stephen Boden, 30, were found guilty in April last year of the murder of Finley in Derbyshire.
The pair murdered the child on Christmas Day 2020, just weeks after he was returned to their care.
They burnt and beat the infant – leaving him with 130 separate injuries, including multiple bone breaks and fractures.
His injuries included a fractured thigh and broken pelvis, burn marks and 71 bruises. Finley also had sepsis and endocarditis – an infection of the lining of the heart.
Image: Stephen Boden and Shannon Marsden. Pic: PA
Social workers had earlier removed Finley from his parents as the local authority, Derbyshire County Council, believed he was likely to suffer “significant harm” at home.
He was murdered weeks after he returned to Marsden and Boden’s full-time care following a family court order made in October 2020.
One social worker warned at that court hearing that Finley would be “at risk of suffering from neglect, physical and emotional harm” if Marsden and Boden continued taking illegal drugs or failed to continue making positive changes.
A representative for Derbyshire County Council told the hearing that “all parties” agreed Finley should “transition” back to the care of his parents, but asked for this to be staged over four months and with the need for additional drug testing.
However, a guardian, employed by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) – who represented Finley at the near-two-hour hearing – argued that the transition should be faster as the couple had “clearly made and sustained positive changes”.
The final decision was made by two magistrates assisted by a legal adviser – who supported the guardian’s view that an eight-week transition was a “reasonable and proportionate” length of time.
During the couple’s sentencing at Derby Crown Court in May last year, a judge described the pair as “persuasive and accomplished liars” who inflicted “unimaginable cruelty” on their son.
The judge also said the parents lied about Finley having COVID to prevent anyone from coming to see the baby.
Both were given life sentences, with Shannon Marsden sentenced to a minimum term of 27 years, and Stephen Boden sentenced to a minimum term of 29 years.
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Prosecutors were correct to accept Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane’s manslaughter by diminished responsibility pleas rather than pursue a murder case, the CPS inspectorate has found.
Calocane, 32, stabbed to death students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates in June last year.
The attorney general ordered an urgent review into the CPS’s handling of the case after families of the three victims said they were bitterly disappointed that a murder case was not pursued by prosecutors.
They also felt they had not been properly informed about the decision before it was made.
Image: (L-R) Ian Coates, Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar
His Majesty’s Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) said in their report published on Monday that the CPS were correct to accept Calocane’s manslaughter by diminished responsibility pleas and a good service was provided to families.
However, the report said there was room for improvement, recommending that the CPS in future provide written guidance to help police family liaison officers explain legal concepts to bereaved families.
They also suggested that the use of the word “consult” when referring to engagement with the families around the legal decision-making in this case may have contributed to a general misunderstanding of the CPS’s obligations to bereaved families.
This is because there is no obligation for the CPS to “consult” victims when deciding on the evidential test of the Code for Crown Prosecutors, but rather to “inform” and “explain” their decision.
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Read more from Sky News: Nottingham attacks: Timeline of missed opportunities Killer’s ‘unduly lenient’ sentence referred to Court of Appeal
The report said: “It is understandable why the bereaved families find the decision by the CPS to accept the pleas of not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter difficult to accept.
“Their loved ones were violently killed by an offender who knew what he was doing was wrong and who intended to kill them.
“The term manslaughter has the perception to underplay the gravity of what has taken place.”
The report made two recommendations – the first that, by October 2024, the CPS must undertake a review of guidance relating to victims’ engagement to ensure all staff are aware when the use of the terms “consult” or “consultation” is appropriate.
It also recommended that the government consider whether homicide should be categorised into three tiers – first degree murder, second degree murder in cases of diminished responsibility, and manslaughter.
Image: Valdo Calocane walking along Radford Boulevard, Nottingham, prior to the attack. Pic: Nottinghamshire Police/PA
Under such a system – recommended by the Law Commission in 2006 – the unlawful killings in this case would have been categorised as murder, albeit second degree murder, according to the report.
‘Murderers can get away with murder’
Barnaby Webber’s mother, Emma Webber, said she was “disappointed but not entirely surprised” by the outcome.
“Until the law changes in this country, the diminished responsibility charge and plea means that murderers can get away with murder,” she said.
“We’ve never disputed Calocane’s mental health problem, but what I would say is that, at the moment, in this country, and you have mental health problems, it is very unlikely then you are actually going to be tried for murder.
“And it is abhorrent that it can be downgraded to diminished responsibility, just because it is how the law is stated.”
Image: Emma Webber said she was “disappointed but not entirely surprised” by the outcome of the report. Pic: PA
In response, Stephen Parkinson, director of Public Prosecutions, said: “In tragic and complex circumstances such as these, the CPS has difficult decisions to make, but must always act with independence and professionalism.
“I believe that our team did so in this case, and with considerable dedication and commitment.
“I am grateful to the Inspectorate for the care and thoroughness with which they have reviewed our actions. We will carefully consider the report’s findings.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak previously promised the victims’ families that “we will get the answers” but their calls for a public inquiry have so far gone unanswered.
Other investigations into the actions of police and mental health staff continue.
Artificial intelligence (AI) could be used to predict the type of health conditions a patient is likely to develop in the future, a study has found.
The technology could be used to help doctors when it comes to monitoring patients or making decisions around diagnosis, researchers said.
The AI tool, known as Foresight, belongs to the same family of AI models as ChatGPT but has been trained using information from NHS electronic records.
It was developed by researchers from King’s College London (KCL), University College London (UCL), King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust.
The researchers trained three different models of Foresight using data from more than 811,000 patients from two NHS trusts in London and a publicly available dataset in the US.
It was given 10 possible disorders a patient may experience next based on their records.
When using data from NHS hospitals, Foresight was able to correctly identify the condition 68% and 76% of the time. It was accurate 88% of the time when using US data.
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Zeljko Kraljevic, research fellow in health informatics, biostatistics and health informatics at KCL and the first author of the study – published in The Lancet Digital Health – said the findings show the tool “can achieve high levels of precision in predicting health trajectories of patients, demonstrating it could be a valuable tool to aid decision-making and inform clinical research”.
Senior author Richard Dobson, a professor of medical informatics at KCL and UCL and theme lead for informatics at the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), said: “It is an exciting time for AI in healthcare, and to develop effective tools we must ensure that we use appropriate data to train our models and work towards a shared purpose of supporting healthcare systems to support patients.”
The research team is now seeking more hospitals to be involved in developing Foresight 2, which Prof Dobson said will be “a more accurate language model”.
