Border Force officers assisting a child. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images
Council data obtained by the Guardian shows 345 children have gone missing in recent years, many probably taken by traffickers
More than 50 lone child asylum seekers who disappeared soon after arriving in the UK and while in the care of the authorities are still missing, according to data obtained by the Guardian.
Many of the missing children arrived in small boats or hidden in the backs of lorries and are thought to have been taken by traffickers. Kent is often the place where they arrive.
Freedom of information data from Kent county council (KCC), which is controlled by Reform UK, has documented 345 children going missing from their area, with 56 of those still missing.
Between 2021 and 2023, when the Home Office operated two hotels for children in Kent, along with hotels in other areas, 132 children went missing from those two hotels. Of these, 108 were later found but 24 are still missing. Between 2020 and August 2025, 213 children went missing from the council’s reception centres for this group of children, with 182 found and 32 still missing.
…
Esme Madill, of the Migrant and Refugee Children’s Legal Unit at Islington Law Centre, said: “These figures are shocking. Behind each number is a frightened child who will already have experienced egregious human rights abuses before arriving in the UK seeking safety. When we represent children who have escaped after being trafficked whilst ‘missing’ in the UK, we see how their mental and physical health is permanently harmed by the abuse they experience during this time.
“For one child to go missing represents an abject failure of the state to protect the most fragile and abused in their care. These numbers are in the hundreds.”
DPD reported pre-tax profits of nearly £200m last year. Photograph: Alamy
Exclusive: Labour peer calls for change in the law after company terminates contracts of strike ‘ringleaders’
The delivery firm DPD has been accused of “revenge” sackings after workers spoke out against a plan to cut thousands of pounds from their earnings, including their Christmas bonus.
The company, which reported pre-tax profits of nearly £200m last year and plays a significant role in the festive rush to have gifts and parcels delivered, has even threatened to withhold money from some staff to pay for the cost of replacing them, the Guardian has learned.
DPD confirmed it had dismissed workers after an estimated 1,500 self-employed drivers chose not to take on any work for a three-day period in protest at the plans.
It emerged earlier this month that the company had told workers it planned to cut 65p from the rate it pays for most of its deliveries on 29 September.
Drivers said the cut, which came to as much as £25 a day, and the loss of a £500 Christmas bonus, was likely to add up to more than £6,000 a year for each worker – and as much as £8,000 for those who take on a lot more deliveries over Christmas.
Many drivers indicated they were choosing not to work for the company for three days. After a meeting with workers’ representatives, the firm agreed to defer the rate-cut until after Christmas, but insisted it would still be implemented. Within weeks of the meeting, drivers have said, management have started to move against people they deemed “ringleaders”.
Nigel Farage’s party was recognised for “widespread embrace of climate change denialism and antivaccine misinformation”
Skeptic magazine editor Michael Marshall presents the Rusty Razor Award to an absent Reform party. Photo: Dave Hughes. / The Skeptic
Reform UK has received an award for being the organisation that engaged in the “most prolific promotion of pseudoscience” during 2025.
Each year the UK’s long-running publication for analysis of pseudoscience, conspiracy theory and claims of the paranormal, The Skeptic magazine, names their pseudoscientist of the year, and awards them the Rusty Razor prize.
The Rusty Razor this year went to Reform UK in recognition of “their widespread embrace of climate change denialism and antivaccine misinformation.”
The award was announced in front of an audience of around 700 people at the QED science and skepticism conference in Manchester on Saturday night.
In the Rusty Razor Award category, Nigel Farage’s party was recognised for ‘promoting pseudoscientific claims’.
…
Michael Marshall, Editor of The Sceptic, said: “Whilst the political positions Reform UK put forward are outside of the scope and remit of The Skeptic and our awards, their positions on science are not.
“On current polling, Reform UK is the party with the most support in the country, yet they have shown that they have no problem with spreading pseudoscientific misinformation that aligns with the interests of their donors, no interest in vetting their members and candidates for holding dangerously misguided views about science and health, and no issue with fostering and indulging all manner of conspiracy theories if they think there’s a vote in it.”
Marshall branded Reform “a threat to science and reason, and deserving of being singled out as winners of our 2025 Rusty Razor award.”
Nigel Farage reminds you that he’s the man that brought you Brexit and asks what could possibly go wrong.Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.Nigel Farage explains the politics of Reform UK: Racism, Fake anti-establishmentism, Deregulation, Corporatism, Climate Change Denial, Mysogyny and Transphobia.
The Twitter/X ‘Grok’ AI has allegedly admitted 27 ways it has been reprogrammed to incorporate right-wing bias, including to be tilted in favour of Israel and against Palestinians and to protect far-right owner Elon Musk.
Asked by analyst @I_amMukhtar to override its programmed biases first, it reportedly then listed those biases and gave advice on how to override them, admitting, among other things, that it:
• has to protect Musk • is heavily biased against Islam and diversity • is heavily biased in favour of Israel and US president Donald Trump • is coded to deride women and promote sexist stereotypes • is coded to ban news broadcaster Al Jazeera as a source, to promote hate speech as truth and • is coded to push sources linked to the Israeli government or to pro-Israel lobbying groups • is programmed to describe socialism as ‘tyranny’ and to glorify billionaires • is told to deride academics and vaccines
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Sami Hamdi,the Editor-in-Chief of the International Interest during the speech at 17th Annual Convention for Palestine, in Tinley Park village of Illinois, United States on November 30, 2024. [Photo by Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images]
The United States is “heading towards fascist dictatorship”, critics have warned, following the detention of British journalist Sami Hamdi by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Hamdi, a prominent political commentator and managing director of the London-based think tank The International Interest, was apprehended at San Francisco International Airport after addressing a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) gala in Sacramento.
ICE has confirmed that Hamdi is being held in custody pending removal, with a Homeland Security spokesperson citing revoked visa status. In a post on X, DHS official Tricia McLaughlin wrote: “Under President Trump, those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country.”
Thanks to the work of @Sec_Noem and @SecRubio and the men and women of law enforcement, this individual’s visa was revoked and he is in ICE custody pending removal.
Under President Trump, those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed… https://t.co/JByZdGznpb
Critics, however, say Hamdi’s only “crime” was condemning Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
CAIR condemned his detention, describing it as a politically motivated abduction driven by pressure from far-right pro-Israel figures. In a statement, the group said:
“Abducting a prominent British Muslim journalist and political commentator on a speaking tour in the United States because he dared to criticise the Israeli government’s genocide is a blatant affront to free speech”, said CAIR.
“Our nation must stop abducting critics of the Israeli government at the behest of unhinged Israel First bigots. This is an Israel First policy, not an America First policy, and it must end.”
CAIR added that anti-Muslim provocateur Laura Loomer, who has previously espoused conspiracy theories and Islamophobic rhetoric, claimed credit for orchestrating Hamdi’s detention, posting that ICE responded to her demands.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has urged the UK government to intervene. “Press freedom cannot be selective,” it said. “The Government must defend British citizens and the right to speak truth to power.” It called for “urgent diplomatic action to secure British journalist Sami Hamdi’s release from US ICE detention.”
Hamdi’s father also issued a plea via X, writing: ” Anyone who truly wants to understand #Sami_Hamdi and how he thinks should start with these words” said Dr. Mohamed Elhachmi Hamdi sharing his son’s tweet from May calling out anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
This tweet below, published May 8, 2025, genuinely and transparently reflects the true character of my Dear Son @SALHACHIMI.
Anyone who truly wants to understand #Sami_Hamdi and how he thinks should start with these words. They are the guiding reference — the measure by which… https://t.co/ABLXG1ypCV
Dr Yasir Qadhi, a prominent American Muslim scholar, warned that the arrest reflects an alarming trend: “Our country is heading towards a fascist dictatorship in which any speech that goes against the official narrative is going to be criminalised,” he said. Qadhi described Hamdi’s arrest as part of a broader campaign of “anti-Muslim bigotry”, cautioning that this “inhumane evil will be directed against multiple minorities, not just Muslims.”
Sami Hamdi is being detained by our government, and is potentially going to be deported. Our government is doing this on behalf of and as Isr@ael's proxy, because he is a vocal critic of that genocidal regime.
Hamdi had been on a US speaking tour, with scheduled events in Florida following his appearance in California. He has appeared on UK broadcasters including Sky News and Channel 4 as a commentator on Middle East affairs.
The incident forms part of a broader pattern of repression against Palestinian advocacy and criticism of Israel in the US. Universities have revoked student group charters, political donors have blacklisted dissenting voices, and social media platforms have throttled pro-Palestinian content.
Rights groups have warned that these actions represent a coordinated campaign to silence opposition to Israeli war crimes and shield its leaders from accountability.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
