Sir Keir Starmer has met with the creators of Adolescence for talks on how to prevent young boys being dragged into a “whirlpool of hatred and misogyny”.
The prime minister hosted a roundtable in Downing Street with co-writer Jack Thorne and producer Jo Johnson to discuss issues raised in the series, which centres on a 13-year-old boy arrested for the murder of a young girl and the rise of incel culture.
He said he and his wife had watched the drama with his 14-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son, and that “as a dad, I have not found it easy viewing”.
Sir Keir said the four-part series raises questions about how to keep young people safe from technology.
Previously it was thought they were more at risk outside their homes but that’s now being “overtaken by a greater danger, which is what’s happening in the home, what’s happening in the bedroom, in the places where they’re on their own,” the prime minister said.
Image: Adolescence stars Stephen Graham and Ollie Cooper. Pic: Netflix
This type of violence against women “isn’t new” but Adolescence shows it has taken “different characteristics”, Sir Keir added.
‘No simple solution’
The meeting came as the government announced Netflix had made the show free to watch in all secondary schools across the country to help pupils understand “the impact of misogyny, dangers of online radicalisation and the importance of healthy relationships”.
Sir Keir said there is “no simple solution” or “policy lever to be pulled”, describing misogyny as “almost a cultural issue”.
He said the aim of the round table was to discuss “what can we do as a society to stop and prevent young boys being dragged into this whirlpool of hatred and misogyny”.
Image: Sir Keir Starmer holds a roundtable meeting with writer Jack Thorne (right). Pic: Reuters
‘Brilliant meeting’
Speaking after the round table, Thorne told Sky News’ arts and entertainment correspondent Katie Spencer it was a “brilliant meeting”, with young people, charities, and representatives from Netflix also present.
“There needs to be more dialogue with people cleverer than me, that’s the big solution to this problem,” he said.
“It’s about putting money in, having conversations, creating an environment which is safer for our young people.”
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The 1975 frontman Matty Healy has warned of a musical “silence” that would come without the pubs and bars that give UK artists their first chance to perform.
Fresh from headlining Glastonburyin June, Healy is backing a new UK-wide festival which will see more than 2,000 gigs taking place across more than 1,000 “seed” venues in September.
The Seed Sounds Weekender aims to celebrate the hospitality sector hosting bands and singers just as they are starting out – and for some, before they go on to become global superstars.
Healy, who is an ambassador for the event, said in a statement to Sky News: “Local venues aren’t just where bands cut their teeth, they’re the foundation of any real culture.
“Without them, you don’t get The Smiths, Amy Winehouse, or The 1975. You get silence.”
Oasis, currently making headlines thanks to their sold-out reunion tour, first played at Manchester’s Boardwalk club, which closed in 1999, and famously went on to play stadiums and their huge Knebworth gigs within the space of a few years.
Image: Oasis stars Liam and Noel Gallagher, pictured on stage at Wembley for their reunion tour, started out playing Manchester’s Boardwalk club. Pic: Lewis Evans
GigPig, the live music marketplace behind Seed Sounds, says the seed sector collectively hosts more than three million gigs annually, supports more than 43,000 active musicians, and contributes an estimated £2.4bn to the UK economy.
“The erosion of funding for seed and grassroots spaces is part of a wider liberal tendency to strip away the socially democratic infrastructure that actually makes art possible,” said Healy.
“What’s left is a cultural economy where only the privileged can afford to create, and where only immediately profitable art survives.”
He described the Seed Sounds Weekender as “a vital reminder that music doesn’t start in boardrooms or big arenas – it starts in back rooms, pubs, basements, and independent spaces run on love, grit, and belief in something bigger.”
The importance of funding for grassroots venues has been highlighted in the past few years, with more than 200 closing or stopping live music in 2023 and 2024, according to the Music Venue Trust. Sheffield’s well-known Leadmill venue saw its last gig in its current form in June, after losing a long-running eviction battle.
In May, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy announced the £85m Creative Foundations Fund to support arts venues across England.
But most seed venues – the smaller spaces in the hospitality sector that provide a platform before artists get to ticketed grassroots gigs or bigger stages – won’t qualify for the levy. GigPig is working to change this by formalising the seed music venue space as a recognised category.
“The UK’s seed venues are where music careers are born,” said GigPig co-founder Kit Muir-Rogers. “Collectively, this space promotes more music than any other in the live music business, yet it has gone overlooked and under-appreciated.”
The Seed Sounds Weekender takes place from 26-28 September and will partner with Uber to give attendees discounted rides to and from venues.
Tickets for most of the gigs will be free, with events taking place across 20 UK towns and cities including London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Leicester, Newcastle and Southampton
Paul Gallagher, the older brother of Oasis stars Noel and Liam, has been charged with multiple offences including rape.
The Metropolitan Police said Gallagher, 59, of East Finchley, north London, has been charged with rape, coercive and controlling behaviour, three counts of sexual assault, three counts of intentional strangulation, two counts of making a threat to kill and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The offences are reported to have taken place between 2022 and 2024. The charges follow an investigation which began last year, the force added in a statement.
A woman is being supported by specially-trained officers, the statement continued.
Paul Gallagher, who is about one year older than Noel and seven years older than Liam, has never been involved in Oasis.
He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 27 August.
Gregg Wallace has spoken about his sacking from MasterChef after inappropriate behaviour while working for the BBC – but insisted he is “not a groper, a sex pest or a flasher”.
Wallace, 60, has apologised after a report, commissioned by the cooking show’s production company Banijay UK, found 45 out of 83 allegations were substantiated.
In an interview with The Sun, he said: “I know I have said things that offended people… I understand that now – and to anyone I have hurt, I am so sorry.
“I don’t expect anyone to have any sympathy with me but I don’t think I am a wrong ‘un.”
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Torode, who insisted he had “absolutely no recollection” of the alleged incident, has not had his contract for the show renewed.
Wallace has now defended Torode, saying: “I’ve known John for 30 years and he is not a racist.
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“There is no way that man is a racist. No way. And my sympathies go out to John because I don’t want anybody to go through what I’ve been through.”
Image: Gregg Wallace has defended his former MasterChef co-host John Torode (left). File pic: PA
At one point, Wallace became tearful during the interview when describing the impact of the investigation on his family.
“I have seen myself written about in the same sentence as Jimmy Savile and Huw Edwards, paedophiles and sex offenders. That is just so, so horrific.”
In respect to the specific allegation of unwanted touching, Wallace denied groping a woman and said that, while he was attempting to flirt with her, he did believe the contact it was consensual.
“She gave me her phone number. I considered that to be intimacy. It was 15 years ago. Me, drunk, at a party, with my hand on a girl’s bum,” he said.
He also accepted he had briefly appeared with a sock on his private parts in front of four colleagues in MasterChef studio. But he said his is not a flasher, and people were either “amused or bemused” but not distressed.
On the broader allegations about using inappropriate language, Wallace accepted the criticism and suggested that some of his conduct could be explained by his autism and his background.
“I know I am odd. I know I struggle to read people. I know people find me weird. Autism is a… registered disability. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not real.”
He also blamed his former career: “I’m a greengrocer from Peckham. I thrived in Covent Garden’s fruit and veg market. In that environment that is jovial and crude. It is learned behaviour.”
Wallace told the newspaper he is now scared to appear in public: “I go out now in a disguise – a baseball cap and sunglasses, I don’t want people to see me. I’m scared.”
On Wednesday, the BBC confirmed a series of MasterChef filmed last year, before allegations against presenters Gregg Wallace and John Torode were upheld, will still be broadcast.