Hillsborough Disaster 35th Anniversary: Watch the livestream of the Sheffield Wednesday memorial
Sheffield Wednesday is holding a memorial service for those who died in the crowd crush during the Hillsborough Disaster this afternoon.
It can be watched on the Sheffield Wire livestream on Facebook here:
Sheffield Children’s Hospital sets up work placements for disabled young people
Sheffield Children’s hospital has set up the first partnership with Choices College which specialises offering supported internship courses for 16-24 years old adults, Zhaona Li reports.
The partnership aims to provide a variety of 12-week placements tailored for individuals with autism, learning difficulties and disabilities with only 4.8% of adults with a learning disability known to adult social care in England in paid work in 2023, according to NHS data.
The latest data from a Labour Force Survey shows that only around 30% of working age autistic people are in employment, compared with around 50% for all disabled people and 80% for non-disabled people.
Joan Pons Laplana, Choices College Area Manager for South Yorkshire, who is autistic, said: “That’s why I’m very passionate about this project. I got a lot of problems during my career.
“I was a bit sick of the misperception that because you have autism, you are not capable of doing a job.
“We want to change perspectives about people with additional needs. The fact is that they can be fantastic employees if they are given the opportunity.
“We support them, we help them to believe in themselves and also change perceptions of people who work with them to show that they have huge potential, to stop people thinking of the limits and to see their possibilities.”
Migration Matters Festival: International culture festival returns to Sheffield
A Sheffield festival which brings communities together by celebrating international culture is welcoming its 'best line up ever' this year.
The city's ninth Migration Matters Festival will take place on 14 June until 22 June at multiple venues across Sheffield.
Director of the festival, Sam Holland said: “This year’s festival will include our best line up yet.
“Whether you want to discover new stories about people of colour throughout history in South Yorkshire, or dance to African drum beats in the city streets, the festival will have something for you.
“We are committed to giving underrepresented communities a voice through our truly eclectic and diverse programme.”
The festival is the UK's biggest Refugee Week event, attracting 13,400 people last year.
Refugee Week is the world's largest arts and culture festival celebrating the resilience of refugees and people seeking sanctuary.
It takes place from 17 June until 23 June. This year's theme is 'home'.
Headliners for the festival in June include Grammy-nominated husband-and-wife duo, Amadou & Mariam, who performed at Glastonbury last year.
Swiss band 'Sirens of Lesbos' and prize-winning poet Roger Robinson will also be performing at the nine-day event.
Mr Holland added: "There is an increased focus on global music due to demand and after last year, where we achieved a new audience record with Kenyan band Sauti Sol."
The aim of the festival is to celebrate the positive impact migration, refugees and asylum seekers have in Sheffield, the country's first City of Sanctuary.
Sheffield became a City of Sanctuary on 18 June 2007, during Refugee Week, when Sheffield City Council agreed to support the movement.
More than 50 individual events will take place over the course of the week, including comedy nights, theatre shows, art exhibitions, dance and drag shows, and Latin American film screenings.
A live-streamed sing-a-long with six Sheffield choirs will also take place in Meersbrook Park, with the aim to send a message of hope to Palestine.
Otis Mensah, Sheffield's first poet laureate in 2018, has joined Howl Yuan as a guest curator at this year's Migration Matters Festival.
Otis is a hip hop and spoken words artist whose programme, 'Longerr Inheritances', will look at jazz experimentation and what it means play with genres and artistic expectations as Black artists and artists of colour.
Tickets for the opening and closing parties, as well as some headline events, are available to book now at migrationmattersfestival.co.uk.
General Election: Reform UK third in polls as Tory slump continues
“We’re going to replace the Tories in the red wall.” These are the bold words of Reform UK's leader, Richard Tice, but could his optimistic prediction be a realistic threat to the Conservatives come the general election?
Reform UK has jumped to third in recent voting intention polls, after 15% of respondents showed their support for the fringe party in the most recent YouGov survey. Meanwhile the Tories recorded their lowest polling level since October 2022 after former Prime Minister Liz Truss was replaced by Rishi Sunak. The data shows they are still struggling to steady the ship after the turmoil that has rocked their party in recent months and as their polls have continued to slump, Labour remains steadfastly on top on 45%.
Although the Tories are still four points clear of Reform in the most recent YouGov poll, the surge in support Reform are enjoying could have dire consequences for Sunak’s government at the next general election which will take place no later than 25 January next year.
The red wall seats Tice referred to, erstwhile bastions of reliable Labour support before Boris Johnson’s seismic victory in 2019, are exactly the seats where Reform are likely to soak up alienated voters who voted for Johnson’s promises regarding Brexit and immigration.
Such a divide in right-leaning voters will almost certainly have Labour fancying their chances to claim many of these seats back, but it is in the Tory heartland where Reform could do the most damage to Sunak.
Reform UK: The party seeking to "make Britain great"
Founded as the Brexit party by Nigel Farage in 2018, the party has evolved to encapsulate a number of populist issues on the political right, with its policies including offshore detention of asylum seekers and departure from the European Convention on Human Rights.
Further policies have included reform of the House of Lords and opposition to Covid-19 lockdowns during the pandemic.
When discussing a party shaking up politics in the UK, it should come as no surprise to detect Farage’s influence in shaping the party as a formidable political force. For a man often considered to be on the political fringes and a self branded maverick, it is hard to think of an individual who has affected politics in the UK more in the last two decades than Farage.
He was perhaps Brexit’s most visible champion since becoming leader of UKIP in 2006, 10 years later his vision of the UK leaving Europe was a reality. Senior politicians who underestimate his political nous and ability to intuit the issues that move voters do so at their own peril.
The party has been led by businessman, and founder of Brexit campaign groups Leave.EU and Leave Means Leave, Richard Tice, since 2021. Under his leadership the party gained its first MP in March this year after former Conservative Deputy Chairman Lee Anderson crossed the floor to the opposition benches.
Explaining his decision, Anderson said: “Like millions of people in this country, I feel that we are slowly giving our country away.
“Parliament doesn’t seem to understand what many British people want, and quite frankly some of them need to get out more.”
The Tory wasteland
As the general election looms, Sunak has been urgently trying to shore up support among the party faithful, but it is a battle he is fighting on many fronts.
He has been forced to try to carve out his own identity distinct from the bombast of his predecessors Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, whose electoral triumph in 2019 was only paralleled by his biblical fall from grace following the scandals of Partygate and Chris Pincher. Neither Truss or Johnson have been supportive of Sunak, and are still figures who command loyalty from some factions of the party.
But the electorate do not seem convinced by Sunak's efforts - nor do his own MPs. Anderson’s departure is only the latest in an onslaught of barbs and public spats that have come from Sunak’s own party, with Anderson being among around 60 MPs to publicly rebel against the PM in January over an amendment to his controversial bill to send Asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Loyalty to the PM seems to be in short supply from MPs who claimed a red wall seat for the Tories in 2019, with Don Valley MP Nick Fletcher refusing to condemn Anderson’s defection, saying Anderson was Ashfield’s “greatest champion and I hope they appreciate what he has done for his home town and his country at the next election”.
In 2019 Reform UK did not stand in seats won by the Tories in the previous election. That will not be the case this time around.
Anderson said: “Reform UK has offered me the chance to speak out in Parliament on behalf of millions of people up and down the country who feel that they are not being listened to.”
Sunak cuts an isolated figure as he attempts to stave off Tory in-fighting as well as trade blows with Labour in the run-up to the election.
The spectre at the feast.
The old aphorism is that a week is a long time in politics, and it may be many weeks yet before a general election takes place.
It would be naïve to suggest that Reform will eclipse the Conservatives at the next election based on these figures. However, the dangers of relying on polls to predict the outcomes of elections are well documented.
Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron can attest to this, as his grave miscalculation in public support for Brexit precipitated his ignominious resignation as PM following the 2016 referendum. Lord Cameron’s miraculous return to the political forefront may speak to a desperation among the leadership to regain credibility and stability after the fractiousness of recent years.
While these polls will alarm Tory party higher-ups, they will derive reassurance from their party's long history and robust framework of donors and campaigners to steer their party through this crisis of identity.
This is unlikely to be an existential threat to the party and it is important to put these figures in context. Lee Anderson is Reform’s only sitting MP. Reform is still controversial, advocating for a ban of “transgender ideology” in schools, with its policy outline making their position on the issue transparent: “There are two sexes and two genders.”
Last week, 10 candidates were expelled from Reform for homophobic, racist and sexist comments that they either posted or liked on social media.
Nevertheless, there is an undeniable appetite among the electorate for what Reform are selling, as borne out by their swell in the polls. Of Reform and his own reputation for not mincing his words, Anderson said: “My opinions are not controversial, they are opinions which are shared by millions of people up and down the country.”
With Labour ascendant in polls despite their own recent controversies concerning their stance on the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict and the tax affairs of Deputy leader Angela Rayner, the overriding fear amongst Tories must be the mass-exodus of right-wing voters to Reform, dividing their voter base and all but ensuring a Labour victory at the next general election.
Like a hound running down wounded prey, Reform UK continues to ruthlessly capitalise on Tory psychodrama in surveys.
They will cast a long shadow over the next election and the question is how far the Conservatives will have to adjust to win over the electorate and steer themselves away from the political wasteland a heavy defeat could leave them in.
Mother charged over death of baby boy found unresponsive in bath
Katie Dickinson, PA Media
A mother is to appear in court accused of causing or allowing the death of her baby who was found unresponsive in the bath.
Danielle Massey, 31, has been charged in connection with the death of seven-month-old Charlie Goodall at their home in February 2022.
The baby boy was found unresponsive in the bath when police were called by paramedics to a house on West Chilton Terrace, in Chilton, County Durham, on February 16.
He was airlifted to the Royal Victoria Infirmary, in Newcastle, but died shortly after arrival.
Massey has also been charged with possession of cannabis and will appear at Newton Aycliffe Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
Hillsborough Disaster 35th Anniversary: Sheffield Wednesday to host a memorial service
Sheffield Wednesday have announced that they will hold a memorial service for those who died in the crowd crush during the Hillsborough Disaster this afternoon.
The service will start at 2:55pm at the Hillsborough disaster memorial by the South Stand Bridge in Sheffield. It will continue for twenty minutes.
Hillsborough Stadium is also open to visitors today, from 10am to 4pm, for those who want to pay their respects.
"Everyone at Sheffield Wednesday expresses ongoing sympathies to the families and friends of the 97 and the wider Liverpool community affected so deeply by the disaster," wrote the team on its website.
“It’s a vicious cycle, they’re setting you up for failure”: Stories of the Home Office short term evictions
Refugees who come to England believe the current asylum system is failing and the arduous policies set make people vulnerable to human trafficking and exploitation.
The Home Office have implemented a strict 28 day eviction policy for newly recognised refugees, increasing this from seven days, but this still leaves displaced people struggling to navigate the maze of paperwork and bureaucracy.
In this period a refugee needs to find somewhere to live, open a bank account, and apply for universal credit. Many do not speak English and are prevented from working until they receive their refugee status.
Blessan Babu is a delivery and advocacy manager from SPRING, a collaboration of six organisations, including City of Sanctuary and Sheffield City Council, who help refugees settle into Sheffield. He says: “It is an impossible task you are expecting refugees to do. They’re isolated from their families with no support network and once they’ve fallen through the cracks, they’re gone. That’s when exploitation happens."
Asif (not his real name) secured his refugee status in October 2023, but shortly afterwards found himself homeless, due to the previous seven day time period being too short to set up a UK bank account and find new accommodation.
He came to the UK at the beginning of the pandemic, after fleeing civil war. Although Asif was born in the UK, this does not automatically give a person British citizenship. This can only be granted if a person is born to a parent who is either a British citizen or who has a settled status.
Asif, who can speak English, was sent to Sheffield after claiming asylum and began volunteering at the City of Sanctuary, where he made new friends and was able to work because of his medical background as an A&E doctor.
Even though Asif was employed while he waited for his Home Office decision, he still found himself homeless due to the strict eviction policy. It took almost two years for him to receive the legal status.
“When you have a decision, you don’t have time to process it," Asif says. "You don’t feel safe at all, you’re on very shaky ground. You need time and breathing room to analyse it and process it. They’re setting us up to lose, they take away your autonomy.”
Asif, who still lives in Sheffield and works for the NHS, explained the community he built at the City of Sanctuary helped him throughout the complex process. “The Home Office don’t care, they just want to send you over to the next form. In their eyes, you’re a monster, you’re not an individual and they have to check a box. It’s a vicious cycle, they’re setting you up for failure. They are abusing someone who doesn’t know how the system works. It’s a poverty trap, even if you speak the language.”
Even after Asif found a property to rent, he needed two guarantors to vouch for him before he signed the contract, something he was only able to do because he met people through volunteering.
Asif believes 28 days is still not enough time for refugees to open a bank account, sign up for universal credit, and find a new home, especially if they cannot speak English.
Hamsa (not her real name) faced short term eviction after her refugee status was approved on 21 March 2022. She says: “I had been struggling for seven years before I had this decision.”
She was living in temporary accommodation provided by The Salvation Army but after receiving her legal status, Hamsa's building manager told her she needed to leave immediately and apply for council housing. The Citizens Advice Bureau told her she should have 28 days and to not move out, but Hamsa said she was scared she was breaking the law so left.
“I got letters after letters. I had to miss work to go and ask the council for help," she says. "One day I sat there for five hours waiting to speak to someone. You can’t get on with your life or do anything.”
While she can speak English, Hamsa finds it challenging to write and read in the language, so had to wait a week, after her eviction, to be given a support worker who helped her apply for housing and universal credit.
Afterwards she was bounced around different temporary accommodation in various hotels across Sheffield for weeks, each only booked for three days at a time. At one hotel, the manager stopped Hamsa in the lift and told her she could not go up to her room because there was a festival in Sheffield and the hotel had been fully booked. “It was raining outside, all my things were on the side of the road and taxi drivers were turning me down because of all of my stuff,” she says.
Hamsa was relieved and delighted when she had a call from the council about an available property, but to her dismay, when she viewed it there were binbags everywhere and dirty nappies on the floor. She asked the council if they would clean it before she moved in, but was told she needed to do this herself. Understandably, Hamsa declined their offer because of the grim condition of the house. She has since moved into another council home.
Hamsa was given confirmation she was permitted to work after she received her refugee status, but her solicitor, who was helping her with the official paperwork, left her job, leaving Hamsa in limbo. She explained her case fell through the cracks and nobody got in touch with her about what was happening. It was also never explained to Hamsa that her salary would have tax deductions and on her first payslip she had been overpaid, a debt which she is still paying back now. “They should explain everything including benefits and taxes," she says.
Despite their harrowing experiences, both Hamsa and Asif said they were grateful they spoke English and were in Sheffield, as some refugees are taken to isolated villages, making it even harder for them to access essential services and help.
SPRING want to create a sustainable and long term solution to the lack of housing in the city. Mr Babu says: “We don’t believe in the blame game, we believe in partnership working by understanding the pressure the city council is facing and we want to be part of the solution."
He wants to see the 28 day eviction policy lengthened to 56 days. This is the same amount of time The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 automatically gives local authorities to end relief duty to homeless applicants.
“The current policy breeds modern day slavery, human trafficking and exploitation and drug dealing because there are people who will offer a warm place to stay in exchange for illegal work. They could be part of the solution to the pressure. It’s a missed opportunity, it’s a cycle of chaos.”
What Sheffield United’s future point deductions means for the club
Sheffield United will have to start their next season in the Championship with minus two points after being sanctioned by the English Football League.
Their punishment has been handed out to the Blades after the club defaulted on a number of payments in the 2022-23 season whilst they were still part of the EFL and won promotion to the Premier League.
A statement released by the club after the punishment was made official said: "While disappointed to have the deduction imposed upon the return to the EFL and highlighting that awaiting overdue monies from several other clubs affected Sheffield United's financial situation, the club took the view that it was better to reach an agreement which minimised the risks of a higher deduction or further transfer embargoes being imposed, and being distracted by lengthy and costly legal proceedings.
"The club is now in a position to close this matter and concentrate on the future."
The payments which were owed to other clubs totalled more than 550 days and triggered a penalty under the league's rules. They have also had a further two-point penalty suspended by the EFL which will be activated if the club fail to fulfil financial obligations to clubs they have agreed on a transfer or compensation with for more than five days.
The club are very likely to feel the repercussions of this punishment next season as they sit at the bottom of the Premier League, 10 points adrift from safety with five games to go.
Sheffield United will be hoping to fight for promotion in their first season back in the Championship if they get relegated but this sanction will make it a much harder task. They would start the season in 24th place looking to play catch up with the other 23 teams.
Discussing the punishment, manager Chris Wilder said: "From my point of view I’m really concentrating on the short and medium term in terms of getting our team right for next week and making sure that medium term we put in place things to be better in everything we do, whatever division we find ourselves in next season.”
As this matter has now been resolved and the club highly likely to be facing this punishment next season, they can establish their focus early and plan for the difficulties they will face next season. The Blades will hope that they do not fall foul of the EFL rules when making further payments to other clubs and do not receive an additional two-point penalty. They can now put this disappointing season aside and hope that they can overcome a setback that they should be better prepared for.
Sheffield marks the Hillsborough Disaster 35 years on
Today marks the 35th anniversary of one of football’s greatest tragedies – the Hillsborough Disaster – where 97 people were unlawfully killed attending an FA Cup semi-final tie between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, Rukanah Mogra reports.
The tragedy unfolded primarily due to overcrowding in the Leppings Lane stand, which led to a crush of fans in one of the standing terraces.
The situation was exacerbated by inadequate crowd control measures, poor stadium design, and the failure of police to properly manage the influx of fans.
Labour leader Keir Starmer took to X [formerly Twitter] to express his condolences to the victims and their families.
The Owls will host the annual memorial service to remember the 97 Liverpool supporters who lost their lives in 1989.
The service will commence at 2:55pm at the permanent memorial site adjacent to the South Stand bridge and run for approximately 20 minutes, during which time Parkside Road traffic will be suspended.
Hillsborough Stadium will be open to all visitors wishing to pay their respects throughout the day from 10am to 4pm.
Liz Truss refuses to rule out standing for Tory leadership in future
David Lynch, PA Political Staff
Liz Truss has refused to rule out running for leader of the Conservative Party again.
The Tory former prime minister claimed she had “unfinished business” at the top of politics, as she toured the media ahead of the publication of her book, Ten Years To Save The West.
Her tenure in Downing Street lasted just 49 days, after the mini budget, which included unfunded tax cutting measures, triggered mass market turmoil.
Asked by LBC if she would want to return to frontline politics in the event the Conservatives lose the coming general election, Ms Truss said: “I definitely have unfinished business. Definitely. And I think the Conservative Party has unfinished business.
“I think, if we’re honest with ourselves, we haven’t done enough to reverse the Blair legacy.”
Sheffield Children’s Hospital sets up work placements for disabled young people
Sheffield Children’s hospital has set up the first partnership with Choices College which specialises offering supported internship courses for 16-24 years old adults.
The partnership aims to provide a variety of 12-week placements tailored for individuals with autism, learning difficulties and disabilities.
According NHS data, only 4.8% of adults with a learning disability known to adult social care in England were in paid work in 2023, a decrease from five years before.
Nearly one in four of the working-age population are classed as disabled, and in 2023, twice as many disabled people were unemployed compared to those without disabilities.
The latest data from a Labour Force Survey shows that only around 30% of working age autistic people are in employment, compared with around 50% for all disabled people and 80% for non-disabled people.
Joan Pons Laplana, Choices College Area Manager for South Yorkshire, who is autistic, said: “That’s why I'm very passionate about this project. I got a lot of problems during my career.
"I was a bit sick of the misperception that because you have autism, you are not capable of doing a job.
“We want to change perspectives about people with additional needs. The fact is that they can be fantastic employees if they are given the opportunity.
"We support them, we help them to believe in themselves and also change perceptions of people who work with them to show that they have huge potential, to stop people thinking of the limits and to see their possibilities.”
He added that that Choices College's aim is “to increase the numbers of people with disabilities to work in the NHS.”
Choices College was set up 3 years ago and 80% of participants have had a positive outcome, including gaining employment or going into further education.
Anne-Marie Lynch, Work Experience Co-ordinator at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, said: “We have been very keen to get involved in a programme that enables us to offer young people the opportunity to find out more about what it is like to be a part of the working world.
"We are very committed to providing our interns with transferable skills to carry with them into their future endeavours.”
This Saturday marks Record Store Day
Record Store Day is an annual celebration of independent record shops across the UK and is an opportunity for record collectors to get their hands on exclusive vinyl pressings only available on the day, Marti Stelling reports.
This year’s selection includes Sheffield’s very own Pulp and an exclusive recording of Def Leppard’s intimate hometown gig at the Leadmill in 2023.
The event is celebrated across 270 independent record shops in the UK, becoming the biggest new music event of the past decade since it began in 2007.
The three participating Sheffield retailers are:
- Bear Tree Records
- Unit 13-16, The Forum, 127 Devonshire Street, Sheffield, S3 7SB
- Record Collector
- 233 Fulwood Road, Sheffield, S10 3BA
- Spinning Discs
- 107 to 109 Chesterfield Road, Meersbrook, Sheffield S8 0RN
