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Idris Elba hopes providing more access to football in communities will deter youngsters from knife crime and he urged other industries to follow the Premier League’s lead.

The actor dropped in on a session run by the West Ham Foundation – part of the league’s Kicks programme supporting youngsters at risk of anti-social behaviour and youth violence by providing free weekly football.

While it could offer pathways in the sport – including coaching the next generation – Elba sees how it provides the toolset for personal development in life more broadly.

“Football has an amazing aggregated power,” Elba told Sky News. “I think that is a really good sort of example for other industries to think about mentorship programmes.

“Apprenticeship programmes that can just give young people (opportunities) because not every kid wants to play football.

“But at least we’re seeing the Premier League do something. The big tech companies, motor industry companies should say, ‘Hey, what can we do with the young people? What are their interests?'”

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The Premier League has invested more than £90m in the Kicks programme across two decades with a particular focus on reducing violent behaviour.

The need for such a scheme was reinforced by the fatal stabbings of 10 teenagers in London last year being followed by a 14-year-old’s killing in the first week of 2025.

Idris Elba speaking about the Premier League's work to tackle knife crime
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Elba speaking about the Premier League’s work to tackle knife crime


It is a year since Elba launched his own campaign, Don’t Stop Your Future, to call for greater urgency in addressing the knife crime crisis.

“Where there are young people aggregating around football, around teams, should we be messaging that knife crime is no good? Absolutely. Yes,” Elba said. “We should be messaging that wherever you can.

“Just listen to a young person once. If you’ve never asked them what their feelings are about knife crime, about what they want to do with their lives, do it. That’s one thing… The answer is up to you, but ultimately, you’re beginning the conversation.”

It was a conversation Elba had earlier this week in Dagenham with young players and coaches alongside a roundtable with community leaders impacted by knife crime.

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From September 2024: ‘Talk is good, action is more important’

“I absolutely feel that the more we talk, we can do about this, the better,” Elba said.

“Are there mechanisms where football can play a part in a larger scale? Absolutely. Let’s hope that we can all put our thinking caps on.”

That is working – as the Premier League does – with police to confront the knife crime epidemic.

“It feels probably to many that not enough is being done,” Met Police Commander Stephen Clayman, the national policing lead for knife crime, told Sky News pitchside at the Kicks programme.

“But actually, you see things like this. You only need to change the direction of a number of people. You’ve already made a huge difference.

“What you need is more of this, more investment in youth services, in these types of things, and then you start making the difference.”

Commander Stephen Clayman
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Met Commander Stephen Clayman

But can football really make communities safer by providing access to football? Or is it for authorities to search for more impactful interventions – by increasing the number of officers on the beat?

Read more:
One in five teachers ‘have seen students with knives’

“Having more cops can make a difference in some areas for enforcement, but it’s not just about enforcement,” Commander Clayman said.

You’re only going to really tackle this if you get to the root cause of why someone feels they have to pick up a knife in the first place.

“That’s not going to be the police solving that. That’s going to be people with some of the sort of coaches and mentors here that will do that and all the other services around. That’s what will make the real difference over time. It’s never going to be a quick fix.”

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From January: Britain’s knife crime epidemic

But football is trying to help in any way it can to prevent the tragedies that trouble West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen.

“Things like this really help people get off the streets and really do something with their life and make a real powerful change – I think it’s such a really important thing,” he said in an interview.

“It teaches them good habits and it teaches them a lot of different things as well. They spoke about the mental side of football and the technical side also.

“I think it also teaches about social skills. You have to play as a team, people making friendships here as well. So, I think it’s a really powerful positive thing.”

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Chancellor admits tax rises and spending cuts considered for budget

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Chancellor admits tax rises and spending cuts considered for budget

Rachel Reeves has told Sky News she is looking at both tax rises and spending cuts in the budget, in her first interview since being briefed on the scale of the fiscal black hole she faces.

“Of course, we’re looking at tax and spending as well,” the chancellor said when asked how she would deal with the country’s economic challenges in her 26 November statement.

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Ms Reeves was shown the first draft of the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) report, revealing the size of the black hole she must fill next month, on Friday 3 October.

She has never previously publicly confirmed tax rises are on the cards in the budget, going out of her way to avoid mentioning tax in interviews two weeks ago.

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Chancellor pledges not to raise VAT

Cabinet ministers had previously indicated they did not expect future spending cuts would be used to ensure the chancellor met her fiscal rules.

Ms Reeves also responded to questions about whether the economy was in a “doom loop” of annual tax rises to fill annual black holes. She appeared to concede she is trapped in such a loop.

Asked if she could promise she won’t allow the economy to get stuck in a doom loop cycle, Ms Reeves replied: “Nobody wants that cycle to end more than I do.”

She said that is why she is trying to grow the economy, and only when pushed a third time did she suggest she “would not use those (doom loop) words” because the UK had the strongest growing economy in the G7 in the first half of this year.

What’s facing Reeves?

Ms Reeves is expected to have to find up to £30bn at the budget to balance the books, after a U-turn on winter fuel and welfare reforms and a big productivity downgrade by the OBR, which means Britain is expected to earn less in future than previously predicted.

Yesterday, the IMF upgraded UK growth projections by 0.1 percentage points to 1.3% of GDP this year – but also trimmed its forecast by 0.1% next year, also putting it at 1.3%.

The UK growth prospects are 0.4 percentage points worse off than the IMF’s projects last autumn. The 1.3% GDP growth would be the second-fastest in the G7, behind the US.

Last night, the chancellor arrived in Washington for the annual IMF and World Bank conference.

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The big issues facing the UK economy

‘I won’t duck challenges’

In her Sky News interview, Ms Reeves said multiple challenges meant there was a fresh need to balance the books.

“I was really clear during the general election campaign – and we discussed this many times – that I would always make sure the numbers add up,” she said.

“Challenges are being thrown our way – whether that is the geopolitical uncertainties, the conflicts around the world, the increased tariffs and barriers to trade. And now this (OBR) review is looking at how productive our economy has been in the past and then projecting that forward.”

She was clear that relaxing the fiscal rules (the main one being that from 2029-30, the government’s day-to-day spending needs to rely on taxation alone, not borrowing) was not an option, making tax rises all but inevitable.

“I won’t duck those challenges,” she said.

“Of course, we’re looking at tax and spending as well, but the numbers will always add up with me as chancellor because we saw just three years ago what happens when a government, where the Conservatives, lost control of the public finances: inflation and interest rates went through the roof.”

Pic: PA
Image:
Pic: PA

Blame it on the B word?

Ms Reeves also lay responsibility for the scale of the black hole she’s facing at Brexit, along with austerity and the mini-budget.

This could risk a confrontation with the party’s own voters – one in five (19%) Leave voters backed Labour at the last election, playing a big role in assuring the party’s landslide victory.

The chancellor said: “Austerity, Brexit, and the ongoing impact of Liz Truss’s mini-budget, all of those things have weighed heavily on the UK economy.

“Already, people thought that the UK economy would be 4% smaller because of Brexit.

“Now, of course, we are undoing some of that damage by the deal that we did with the EU earlier this year on food and farming, goods moving between us and the continent, on energy and electricity trading, on an ambitious youth mobility scheme, but there is no doubting that the impact of Brexit is severe and long-lasting.”

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UK must prepare for 2C of warming by 2050, government told for first time

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UK must prepare for 2C of warming by 2050, government told for first time

Britain must prepare for at least 2C of warming within just 25 years, the government has been advised by its top climate advisers.

That limit is hotter and sooner than most of the previous official advice, and is worse than the 1.5C level most of the world has been trying to stick to.

What is the 1.5C temperature threshold?

Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries agreed to try to limit warming to “well below” 2C – and ideally 1.5C.

But with global average temperatures already nearing 1.4C, warnings that we may have blown our chances of staying at 1.5C have been growing.

This new warning from the government’s top advisers, the independent Climate Change Committee (CCC), spells out the risk to the UK in the starkest terms yet.

In a letter today, the CCC said ministers should “at a minimum, prepare the country for the weather extremes that will be experienced if global warming levels reach 2C above pre-industrial levels by 2050”.

It is the first time the committee has recommended such a target, in the hopes of kickstarting efforts to make everything from flooded train tracks to sweltering classrooms more resilient in a hotter world – after years of warnings the country is woefully unprepared.

Periods of drought in England are expected to double at 2C of global warming, compared to the recent average period of 1981 to 2010. Pic: PA
Image:
Periods of drought in England are expected to double at 2C of global warming, compared to the recent average period of 1981 to 2010. Pic: PA

How climate change affects the UK

The UK is already struggling to cope with the drought, flooding, and heat brought by the current 1.4C – “let alone” what is to come, the advisers said.

Just this year, the country battled the second-worst harvest on record and hottest summer ever, which saw an extra 300 Londoners die.

“Though the change from 1.5C and 2C may sound small, the difference in impacts would be substantial,” CCC adviser Professor Richard Betts told Sky News.

It would mean twice as many people at risk of flooding in some areas, and in southern England, 10 times as many days with a very high risk of wildfires – an emerging risk for Britain.

The experts said the mass building the government is currently pushing, including new nuclear power stations and homes, should even be adaptable for 4C of warming in the future – a level unlikely, but which cannot be ruled out.

At 2C, peak average rainfall in the UK is expected to increase by up to 10–15% for the wettest days. Pic: Reuters
Image:
At 2C, peak average rainfall in the UK is expected to increase by up to 10–15% for the wettest days. Pic: Reuters

Is it too late to stop climate change or limit to 1.5C?

The CCC’s Baroness Brown said in a briefing: “We continue to believe 1.5C is achievable as a long-term goal.

“But clearly the risk it will not be achieved is getting higher, and for risk management we do believe we have to plan for 2C.”

World leaders will discuss their plans to adapt to hotter temperatures at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil in November.

Professor Eric Wolff, who advises the Royal Society, said leaders needed to wake up.

“It is now very challenging even to stay below two degrees,” he told Sky News.

“This is a wake-up call both to continue reducing emissions, but at the same time to prepare our infrastructure and economy for the inevitable climate changes that we are already committed to.”

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Premier League players to take knee for first time this season

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Premier League players to take knee for first time this season

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has told Sky News players will take the knee at this weekend’s matches amid ongoing discussions about whether the anti-racism move is still effective.

Captains of the 20 clubs are understood to back the move, although players could decide individually to opt out.

The majority of Women’s Super League teams recently decided against taking the knee in games marking Black History Month, feeling it was no longer meaningful amid a rise in racism.

Arsenal's Declan Rice takes the knee in a match last season. Pic: Reuters
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Arsenal’s Declan Rice takes the knee in a match last season. Pic: Reuters

Sky News revealed last week that online racism cases in English football have quadrupled this season.

And in his exclusive interview, Mr Masters raised concerns about the anonymity of social media users posting abuse and questioned whether identity checks were now necessary.

The Premier League wants platforms to do more to change algorithms to stop players seeing the abuse, and to introduce additional protections to stop it reaching their inboxes.

Football frames racism as a societal problem – requiring education – and Sky News accompanied Mr Masters on a school visit in west London, where the Premier League linked up with Brentford.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters
Image:
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters

Taking the knee

This weekend’s matches will highlight the league’s “No Room for Racism” campaign to combat discrimination and promote equality.

It was in 2020, inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, that Premier League players started to take the knee before kick-off.

But questions about the effectiveness of the gesture have grown.

“It’s always been their choice,” Mr Masters told Sky News of the players. “It’s never been something that has been forced upon them, either collectively or individually. They had another discussion in the summer.

“They’re going to do it really at the No Room for Racism match rounds. We then decide whether they want to continue or stop. So I think they want to make sure whatever they do, it’s effective.”

The Premier League's 'No room for racism' campaign has adorned team kits. Pic: PA
Image:
The Premier League’s ‘No room for racism’ campaign has adorned team kits. Pic: PA

‘You’ll be dealt with’

This is a season that began with Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo reporting being racially abused at Liverpool, although Mr Masters said “the protocols worked”.

He added: “A lot of our players and participants, managers, referees are subject to abuse, a lot of it racism.

“And we’re trying our best to deal with that, working with our stakeholders and working with the social media companies to try to solve those issues.”

Bournemouth's Antoine Semenyo (left) was racially abused at Anfield this season. Pic: PA
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Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo (left) was racially abused at Anfield this season. Pic: PA

For the league, that is not symptomatic of racist abuse becoming more prevalent in stadiums.

“The Premier League is a very permissive environment,” Mr Masters said. “Very few other places you can come and scream and shout and support your team.

“But I think that fans know where that line is. No violence, no threatened intimidation, and no discrimination. If you do, then you’ll be dealt with.”

Polarised society

The political climate can become problematic, although Mr Masters does not directly reference the summer’s anti-immigration protests when asked.

“Those are political issues, and I think that football’s role is to provide that distraction,” he said.

“Football stands slightly to the side to where society is at the moment, where we are seeing a little bit of polarisation of views. Football, I think, can help in that aspect.”

Semenyo has been one of this campaign's star perfomers. Pic: PA
Image:
Semenyo has been one of this campaign’s star perfomers. Pic: PA

Social media anonymity

Too many feel they can hurl racist abuse at footballers on social media – and Mr Masters insists the league is “very restless” about eradicating that.

Greater identity checks could help.

Mr Masters said: “There’s an anonymity to it, I think, which, perhaps wrongly, in my view, gives people the view that they can pretty much say and do what they want.

“And I just simply don’t think it should be part of a professional footballer’s life to have to put up with this sort of stuff, which is why we’re taking what action we can.

“Obviously, anything that makes it easier [to find the perpetrators] I would be in principle supportive of, but I think it goes to a lot of other issues around freedom of information.”

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Football sees surge in online hate

AI and algorithms

There is a unit at the Premier League dedicated to pursuing social media firms over racist abuse, which has no complaints publicly about the conduct of the tech giants.

But the league’s director of content protection, Tim Cooper, told Sky News: “The platforms can do more by changing their algorithms, looking at the opting in to see abuse rather than perhaps opting out of seeing it. That would be a step in the right direction.

“And ultimately, it’s for us to keep trying to push cases through and get good real-world deterrent actions, alongside law enforcement and other enforcement bodies around the world.”

There are concerns about the use of AI to create racist images and abusers using phrases or jumbled letters to circumvent algorithms.

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“It’s very much gone beyond just a text rant now, which is obviously bad enough, but now we’re seeing that people are using images to create some of the most offensive things that you could imagine,” Mr Cooper said.

“I think video will be something in the future going forward that could be a problem, and we have seen that with deepfakes.”

Instagram owner Meta and Elon Musk‘s X both said they would not provide detail about any work to eradicate racism – declining months of requests for interviews.

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FA considering social media boycott over racism

Being on social media means children are more aware than ever of incidents of racist abuse across football.

After leading the class in west London, Premier League Primary Stars coordinator Benjamin Abrahams said: “Having to speak to young pupils about things they’ve heard, things they know about, can sometimes be tough.

“But actually, it’s a great chance to speak to them and have those open conversations. To discuss why things are said, why things happen, but [why] it’s not right, and be able to discuss what is correct and what should we all hope for.”

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