The Sunday Times reported: “Government policy is to leave asbestos where it is unless it is disturbed and damaged, releasing fibres. But with many prefab structures built in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s now falling into disrepair, this is no longer acceptable. And, as Michael Lees, the widower of a teacher who died of mesothelioma aged just 51, pointed out, even if school buildings are in good condition, the policy does not take behaviour into account.”

As part of their campaign, the news brand called for accurate assessments of how much asbestos remains, and where, followed by a proactive timetable for removal.

The campaign told the stories of teachers and pupils who had died from asbestos exposure and examined the science behind RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) which had led to the closure of three schools since the campaign’s launch.

The campaign also exposed how the Marks and Spencer’s main store in Marble Arch was blighted with asbestos leading to the deaths of staff members.

The campaign has since received support from various former cabinet ministers and senior politicians.

The post Act Now on Asbestos appeared first on News Media Association.

With the launch, The Times published a manifesto laying out the campaign’s demands for water companies, farmers, regulators and the government: four goals that were both realistic and would make a major change. River pollution stories made the front page of The Times three times in the campaign’s first week, prompting Rishi Sunak to promise he would hit sewage polluters “hard”.

The campaign has been endorsed by water campaigners including Feargal Sharkey, welcomed by two water company chief executives and the trade body Water UK, and praised by the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats. Influential Oxford University economist and government adviser Dieter Helm called the campaign “exceptionally good”.

The last government said of the campaign: “We welcome the awareness it will raise of this critically important issue.”

The campaign has notched a series of successes, from unlimited fines for polluters to the water sector being pushed to invest a record £88 billion by 2030. Clean It Up also helped trigger a watershed apology from the water sector and the publication of the government’s sweeping “plan for water”. Several water company bosses waived their bonuses last year as a result of the pressure, and the last government later committed to banning bonuses of egregiously polluting companies — an exclusive story broken by The Times on its front page.

Campaigners from local groups such as Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, SOS Whitstable and Save Windermere to national groups such as River Action and Surfers Against Sewage have said the campaign has had a huge impact in terms of public awareness and industry action.

The campaign’s coverage has ranged from FOI-led investigations of company lobbying and contacts-based scoops. In July 2024, the UK’s information commissioner ordered water companies to be more open with their data after a 9-month long fight by Clean It Up to make six water firms release data that could reveal evidence of illegal sewage spills. Clean It Up has also focused on constructive stories where action was being taken to improve water quality, from “rewriggling” rivers to communities creating designated bathing waters.

The team at the Times have not shied away from the cost to consumers of addressing pollution, making clear in leader editorials that water bills will likely have to rise. Readers have written to tell the Times their personal stories of river pollution around the country, which were curated and published. Journalists from across the paper, including environment editor Adam Vaughan, have contributed to the campaign.

The post Clean It Up appeared first on News Media Association.

A grand total of £527,351.11 was raised by generous readers, plus billionaire philanthropists Julia and Hans Rausing donated £25,000 to both the RAF Benevolent Fund and Go Beyond, after reading about the charities’ work in The Telegraph.

Throughout the Christmas period The Telegraph shared stories of those who have been helped and supported by each charity. The stories included how vulnerable children have benefitted from the support and fun provided; heroes of the care system who ensure their patients are able to die in comfort and dignity; the assistance given to RAF service members and their families to ensure they can live in comfort and the efforts of scientists focused on finding a cure for dementia. 

The Rausings’ donations followed the Telegraph’s charity phone-in day which saw over 1000 callers pledge money. Sir Jackie Stewart, Anneka Rice and Richard Madeley were among the celebrities manning the phone lines – along with Telegraph writers who helped to raise £96,195.43 in a single day.

Sir Jackie, who set up Race Against Dementia after his wife, Helen, was diagnosed with the condition, said: “It’s very touching talking to people on the phone who are also affected by dementia.

“I want someone to find a cure for dementia in my lifetime, so we need to fund young people to do PhDs and research for that to happen.”

Other high-profile names who offered support were Florence Pugh, Jenny Agutter, Paul Chuckle, Alison Steadman, Kate Winslet and Sir James Dyson, who were interviewed or penned op-eds as part of the appeal.

The Telegraph’s annual Christmas Charity Appeal started in its current format in 1986 and has raised close to £30 million for charities since its launch.

Telegraph readers have a long history of fundraising including in 1915 for a monument for nurse Edith Cavell, which can be found outside St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, just off Trafalgar Square, as well as setting up the Cavell Nurses’ Trust to help nurses affected by their war work. In 1916, during the First World War, Telegraph readers’ donations helped supply three million rations of plum pudding for British soldiers on Christmas Day.

The post 2023 Christmas Charity Appeal appeared first on News Media Association.

Led by Caroline Wheeler, the political editor who had first worked on the story as a trainee reporter in 2001, the campaign told, through words and audio, the harrowing stories of those who were infected with deadly diseases in childhood, and the parents and siblings of those who had not survived. The Sunday Times used all its firepower to get behind the campaign – with interviews on Times Radio, audio on the site, powerful design and dedicated social media promotion.

In the run-up to the publication of the public inquiry’s report into the scandal, the campaign called for a full and fair settlement for the victims of the tragedy paid by a judge-led independent body, including for the parents of children that died and who had never received a penny.

It won the support of more than 250 MPs and peers, as well as former prime minister Boris Johnson, ex-Olympic swimmer Sharron Davies and the daughter of the late Body Shop founder, Dame Anita Roddick, who was one of thousands to die in the disaster.

During the course of the campaign, Wheeler revealed details of how children were experimented on by doctors without their consent, infecting them with diseases, including HIV and hepatitis. She exposed the full tragedy of Treloar’s, the school for disabled children in Hampshire, where almost 90 former pupils died after receiving contaminated blood. The public pressure the campaign exerted on the government forced ministers to spend more than £10 billion on a compensation package.

On the eve of the inquiry’s findings, Wheeler landed an emotional interview with Jeremy Hunt, then chancellor, who revealed that he would honour a promise to a dying friend, Mike Dorricott, by finally delivering justice for the victims. Sir Keir Starmer also wrote for The Sunday Times, backing his decision to make billions available for the payouts – meaning that the victims had secured the support of both main parties.

The campaign, and Wheeler, won plaudits from across the House of Commons and concluded with a live press conference broadcast on the BBC on the afternoon of the public inquiry’s findings.

The post Bloody Disgrace appeared first on News Media Association.

Worried grassroots coaches and parents had also contacted the Sun to explain how financial pressures were forcing youngsters out of recreational football –  denying them the massive health and socio-economic benefits of grassroots sport.

To help reverse this worrying trend, The Sun brought together grant-making charity Groundwork and the supermarket Tesco to help those football clubs in crisis.

The Footie for All Fund is the result of a truly unique and pioneering partnership which combined the wide reaching, campaigning power of The Sun.

The fund appealed for not-for-profit clubs all over the country to apply for help. To date, they have distributed more that £300,000 to teams all over the country, funding everything from children’s subscriptions to pitch rental fees, equipment and kit. Many used the funding to set up new teams to widen participation. This included adding girls’ teams,and purchasing new powerchairs for a disabled children’s football club. 

Throughout the campaign, The Sun has used its formidable voice and the power of having 360 degree coverage in print, digital, video and social channels to highlight the crisis emerging in kids sport, celebrate the huge impact small regional clubs have within their community and give practical assistance to keep them afloat.

So far the fund has supported clubs in all locations, from inner cities to isolated rural communities. They have supported all age groups up to 18, girls’ and boys’ teams, along with pan-disability clubs. The impact of grassroots sports is immeasurable and lasts a lifetime. The Sun has been proud this year in helping to make sure no child misses out. 

The Sun has over 10 million football fans reading per month. with football at the heart of our brand.  

By December all 150 grants had been given out, and The Sun team started to consider how to expand outside of football to help more grassroots clubs. Capitalising on the inspirational effect of the Euros and the Olympics, the Sun launched our Activities For All Fund, again with Tesco and Groundwork, to fund holiday clubs. They have supported everything from cricket to yoga, basketball to dance, with the aim of keeping children active and supporting the often crippling cost of holiday childcare for parents.

Footie for All and Activity for All has been backed by a host of household sporting names including England stars Millie Bright, Phil Foden, Raheem Sterling, and John Stones, Olympian Dame Jess Ennis-Hill and others like Gary Lineker and Olly Murs. We have also organised surprise visits from sports stars like Jarrod Bowen to train with kids. 

Coach Alan Moore, who runs the Gornal Community Football club in the West Midlands, said: “Thank you to The Sun and Tesco for helping us get two extra teams — it means 24 more girls are playing in a squad.” Alan can now use the £1,000 grant to open up two new squads.

The Sun visited the Crown & Manor club in Hackney, East London — one of the recipients of the initial awards — Olly, 39, said to the Sun: “In 2024 the cost of ­living is so high for so many families.

“For the kids to suffer and not be able to come and play football because their ­parents cannot afford it would be such a tragedy.

“So the fact The Sun and Tesco are doing this will help families to get their children playing football. That’s the good thing about this campaign. The grants are there to ensure no kid gets left behind.”

West Ham player, Tom Williams, said: “My eldest son Rocky played for Flackwell Heath. Grassroots football is majorly important. Both my boys have done it. It’s given them a sense of ­community and it’s been a great way to make friends.

“Kids also learn how to win and lose. They need to be taught both of those. It’s a great thing and as many people as possible should be involved in grassroots football.

“It shouldn’t come down to finances whether a kid can play or not. That is what The Sun’s grant ensures… It’s been fantastic, so all I can say to The Sun is thank you for helping us get girls playing ­football.”

The post Footie For All Fund appeared first on News Media Association.

Her commitment to public interest journalism was showcased in her extraordinary coverage of the case of Sudiksha Thirumalesh, a teenager who died while locked in a legal battle with the NHS.

Doctors had concluded treating the 19-year-old, who suffered from the same rare mitochondrial disease as baby Charlie Gard, and deemed it futile and that life-sustaining treatment should be withdrawn.

Despite Sudiksha’s ability to communicate and express her desire to ‘die trying to live’, the NHS argued in court that her refusal to accept her prognosis was delusional and indicative of a lack of mental capacity.

As a result, a judge sided with the NHS in a controversial ruling stating that the bright student was incapable of making her own medical decisions and that her fate should be decided by the courts.

A stringent gagging order had shrouded the case in secrecy reducing Sudiksha’s identity to the initials ‘ST’ and barring public discussion of the specifics of her case, effectively silencing her voice and stifling vital debates around patient autonomy and ethical decision-making in healthcare.

This legal restriction not only denied Sudiksha the chance to share her story but also shielded the NHS Trust involved from scrutiny, raising critical questions about transparency and accountability in such high-stakes medical cases.

In the face of these legal limitations, Bains was committed to ensuring Sudiksha had a voice and that her story reached the public.

She skillfully navigated the legal complexities of the case, challenging the gagging order while abiding by its boundaries.

Through a series of compelling articles, Bains brought the human element of Sudiksha’s legal struggle to light, transforming her into more than just a case number to a vibrant teenager with dreams and aspirations, trapped in a system seemingly designed to silence her.

The resulting exclusive front-page story began with Sudiksha’s haunting words: “By the time you read this, I could be dead. That’s according to my doctors who, for the last year, have repeatedly told me that I have only days to live.”

The powerful article, which conveyed the heartbreaking powerlessness the teenager clearly felt, sparked widespread calls for reform in how end-of-life decisions are handled.

Bains’ reporting did not stop at storytelling; it spurred tangible change. Her work prompted the mental health charity Mind to join Sudiksha’s parents in challenging the controversial capacity ruling.

Their eventual success in overturning this decision has set a precedent that protects other patients’ rights when disagreeing with their doctors, highlighting the profound impact of Bains’ journalism.

Her dedication was further recognised when Sudiksha’s family invited Bains to speak at their daughter’s funeral, acknowledging the critical role she played in amplifying Sudiksha’s voice.

The post Child ST Campaign appeared first on News Media Association.

Despite being bombarded with legal threats from health agencies, Mail journalists Tom Kelly, Isaan Khan and Kate Pickles painstakingly gathered the evidence to unmask rogue recruiters making millions by exploiting relaxed new visa laws to charge migrants illegal ‘work finder fees’ of up to £20,000 to secure them care jobs.

The Mail showed how a lack of basic Home Office checks on these recruits meant the care sector was flooded with untrained staff – some treated very poorly – who put the health of their elderly patients at risk.

Those cashing in on the scandal included a Baptist minister who ran an illicit sideline charging migrant workers for jobs that had netted over £1 million. 

He told the Mail’s undercover reporter that for £9,000 he could help her arrange guaranteed visa sponsorship and a care job in just three days.

They also unearthed documents showing how he was still able to operate despite his care recruitment company being suspended from the Home Office migrant sponsorship scheme a year earlier because it was suspected of illegally sponsoring nearly 400 migrants.

Three whistleblowers at another firm providing care services for the NHS described having seen around 100 overseas applicants arrive with holdalls stuffed with cash to pay senior managers for jobs. They said most had no qualifications which often left the elderly and vulnerable people they cared for at risk.

The team at the Mail also uncovered footage of a UK medical agency openly explaining how it deceived the Home Office to help migrant workers secure UK care jobs – for a charge of up to £5,000.

Migrant workers told how they had borrowed so much to pay for jobs they had been forced into debt and were forced to work 80-hour weeks but were too scared to report their mistreatment to the UK authorities for fear of being sacked.

The Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority told us it was receiving a case of suspected exploitation in the care sector every day after an unprecedented 100,000 sponsorship visas had been issued in the two years since the rules were relaxed.

The Daily Mail’s exposé had an immediate impact. After senior Labour and Lib Dem politicians demanded action into the Mail’s ‘shocking findings’, then Home Secretary James Cleverly launched an immediate investigation into the scandal and pledged a crackdown.

The post Cash For Care Jobs appeared first on News Media Association.

The FT employed image recognition tools, public records and interviews with Ukrainian officials and the children’s relatives to find the children, who were eventually found by the FT on a Russian government-linked adoption website, in one case a child had appeared under a false Russian identity. In tracking the children, the FT was aided by the state body, the Ukrainian Child Rights Protection Centre.

The FT compared photographs of the children from an official database of missing Ukrainian children with the public profiles of children up for adoption in Russia using image recognition tools. The FT said: “Reporters reviewed potential matches manually to select those likely to be a true match. The false names and ages the children had been given meant it would have been challenging to find them in other ways.

“High probability matches were shared with the CRPC, which contacted the children’s relatives and guardians to confirm each missing Ukrainian child.”

The findings from the FT’s journalism contributed to the growing evidence indicating potential war crimes and crimes against humanity by Russia, alleged by the International Criminal Court, Ukrainian government officials, and legal experts.

The FT reports: “The children were abducted from state care homes and separated from their guardians and relatives in towns across the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine that fell under the control of Russia’s invading army in 2022. They range in age from eight to 15-years-old.”

The FT also reported that the ICC have since issued arrest warrants for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and the Children’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, saying that “they bear criminal responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of the children.”

The office of Ukraine’s human rights commissioner and the CRPC are attempting to confirm the identities of dozens more Ukrainian children taken to Russia who had been flagged to them by the FT.

The post FT Investigation: Ukrainian Children Featured on Russian Adoption Sites appeared first on News Media Association.

“I checked on a prescription at 10.25am, scanned my bank balance at 2.40pm and bought a birthday card for my father at 4.05pm.

“I didn’t record these mundane actions, but Facebook did.”

In her article, Matilda goes on to note that at least 70 per cent of the UK population – more than 47 million people – use a platform owned by Meta at least once a month: “It’s not just the data that we upload to its platforms, but a whole empire of data about other activities that is fed back, allowing Meta to customise and optimise its ad business, which brought them $131 billion (£105 billion) in global revenue last year.”

Matilda began investigating after noting that Meta knew she had been in a relationship for three years – yet this was not something she had ever posted on social media.

Matilda dived into 15 years’ worth of data, receiving almost 20,000 pages of information – which included “every party invitation, holiday snap, and regrettable Facebook status update”, as well as almost 20,000 interactions over two years “with websites and apps that aren’t connected to my Meta accounts,” noting that the presentation of the data was not user-friendly and took her and another data journalist a week and extensive coding to analyse.

Matilda’s investigation revealed every time that Meta had tracked her on a third-party website or app in a 24-hour period, with the data “covering about every facet of [Matilda’s] life.”

Meta had tracked her health data, noting her prescription orders via LloydsDirect and when she booked GP appointments on eMed, as well as logging that she had browsed NHS Trust’s website four times as well as her sign up to a stem cell register. She said: “I may have accepted Meta’s terms and conditions, and agreed to its long privacy policy, but being tracked for my health inquiries still feels intrusive.”

Meta had also tracked her visits to mental health charity website, Mind, and the UK Council for Psychotherapy’s database, as well as tracking when she visited the website of the bereavement support charity Cruse.

It was also revealed that Meta had been notified when she opened a banking app – and how many times, as well as the date for when she had submitted her credit card application, when she sought advice on her pension, when she had placed bets and when she had retrieved her winnings.

The list goes on – Matilda’s alarm app was tracked by Meta, along with any use of taxi apps, train ticket apps and when she used her Tesco Clubcard. The investigation revealed the extent to which data is collected and how it is used by Big Tech. Matilda said: “Perhaps naively I was under the impression that, in the aftermath of the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, which exposed how the private information of more than 50 million Facebook users had been used to try to influence 2016 elections for Donald Trump and Brexit, this kind of pervasive data sharing wasn’t happening. Now I know better.”

The post Meta Investigation: ‘Every Scary Thing Meta Knows About Me – And You’ appeared first on News Media Association.

The campaign will use £500,000 from the Standard’s Dispossessed Fund to fund workshops about healthy relationships in schools, run by charities and groups including Youth Realities, Action Breaks Silence, UK Feminista and Tender.

Following an investigation, the Standard revealed that:

• Sexual harassment is a daily occurrence for many girls.
• Boys aged as young as eight access pornography.
• Inappropriate images of schoolgirls are regularly shared on mobile phones.
• Girls feel unsafe walking in their local area.
• “Rating” girls and posting on social media has become normalised.

The campaign aims to reach 15,000 year nine students across London, aged 13 and 14.

The Standard calls on the new government and corporates, foundations and philanthropists to back the campaign to expand its efforts.

Rachel de Souza, Children’s Commissioner for England, said: “I’m pleased to see this campaign launched at such an important moment for children who face exposure to new and emerging issues like misogyny, extreme pornography or coercion — and an urgent need for better support in navigating these. One of my biggest worries has been the fall in girls’ wellbeing — in 2023 nearly two in five 16 to 17-year-old girls were unhappy with their mental health.

“This isn’t surprising when combined with other findings by my office: that children as young as nine access porn online, with nearly half of young people saying they think girls ‘enjoy’ physically aggressive sexual activity, at a time where we see the influence of misogynists like Andrew Tate. Boys and girls are crying out for high-quality relationships and sex education in school.”

The Youth Endowment Fund backed our initiative with £368,000, taking the total committed to £868,000. Their chief executive, Jon Yates, said: “We are delighted to be joining the Evening Standard’s Show Respect campaign. These workshops help our children to build social and emotional skills to tackle misogyny, sexual harassment and gender-based violence. Evidence from the US shows that they reduce violence against girls by 17 per cent. One of the key aims of the STOP project is to run a study to test if the intervention works here and could progress to a larger scale.”

The campaign has also received backing from June Sarpong and London mayor Sadiq Khan, who described the campaign as “vitally important.” The campaign has since been nominated for the prestigious Cudlipp Award. The judges said its “detailed reportage” explored “misogynistic attitudes of teenage boys which, it is claimed, are contributing to an epidemic of violence against women.”

The post Show Respect appeared first on News Media Association.