MIKE DAVIS: Chicagoland, where teachers can support Charlie Kirk's killing, but not ICE




















After a decade of austerity closed more than 1,000 centres, the government has promised £500m to renew youth services. We tour a glossy new venue in Preston – and a girls-only one in London
Preston, Lancashire is no stranger to trailblazing architecture. The city’s bus station, the largest in Europe when it opened in 1969, is a brutalist masterpiece. Next month, a new public building opens opposite the bus station built with similar aspirations to transform local lives: a youth centre.
To a generation raised when cuts had gutted services – between 2010-11 and 2023-24, local government spending on youth services fell by 73% and more than 1,000 youth centres closed – the idea of a place designed just for young people may seem as anachronistic as coach travel, but 2026 brings big changes to youth services in the UK.
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© Photograph: Gareth Gardner

© Photograph: Gareth Gardner

© Photograph: Gareth Gardner










































Advisory firm has lost string of clients despite efforts to cut ties with co-founder after Epstein revelations
Global Counsel, the advisory firm co-founded by Peter Mandelson, is to collapse into administration, blaming the “maelstrom” caused by revelations about the former peer’s relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Companies including Barclays, Tesco and the Premier League have all deserted Global Counsel, despite the company’s efforts to sever ties with Mandelson and the company’s co-founder Benjamin Wegg-Prosser.
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© Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

© Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

© Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP


