↩ Accueil

Vue normale

‘A safe space to come and just be’: the radical, utopian return of Britain’s youth clubs

19 février 2026 à 17:05

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.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Gareth Gardner

© Photograph: Gareth Gardner

© Photograph: Gareth Gardner

Global Counsel calls in administrators, blaming Peter Mandelson ‘maelstrom’

19 février 2026 à 16:55

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.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

© Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

© Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

❌