Britain’s anxious young adults are struggling with the demands of the modern workplace, UK government adviser warns

A UK government adviser warned that rising anxiety, depression and reliance on technology are making it harder for young people to keep up with the modern workforce. Alan Milburn is set to show government and businesses that flexible working arrangements and appropriate mental health support can bring long-term economic benefits, especially as the number of economically inactive people aged 16 to 24 continues to rise.Milburn’s interim report on youth inactivity examines the impact of social media, changing work expectations and mental well-being on the growing number of young people out of education and employment, The Guardian reports.Milburn, a former health secretary under former Prime Minister Tony Blair, was tasked last year by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to investigate why almost one million young Britons fall into the category of “NEETs”, those who are not in education, employment or training.In his report, Milburn argues that companies and organizations need to understand how digital culture has changed the younger generation. Smartphones and social media have changed the way young adults communicate, deal with stress and engage in work, she said.“The system is trapping people in work rather than enabling them to work,” Milburn told the Times. “We are in danger of ruining an entire generation.”Milburn also described what he called the “bedroom generation”, whose members spend most of their time online and away from traditional workplace environments.“It’s a bedroom generation. They kind of live in their bedrooms. They’re on all the time; they’re never off. [Social media] Some evidence of functional impairment is emerging, leading to changes in their sleep patterns and concentration levels. This is affecting their ability to work,” he said.He rejected criticism that youth workers lack resilience.He said, “They’re not snowflakes. People say this is a soft generation. I clearly believe that’s not the case. This is an anxious generation.”More than half of Britain’s 946,000 NEETs have never worked before, according to government figures. The data also revealed that almost one-quarter of young people suffer from a long-term illness or disability that prevents them from working. Of those, about 43 percent cited mental health problems as the reason for dropping out of the workforce, compared to 24 percent in 2011.Officials also noted that youth inactivity in the UK is higher than in many comparable countries. Research has shown a link between unemployment in early adulthood and lower wages later in life.Milburn’s report stated: “[Young people] Different, not bad, not lazy, not less intelligent. They have grown up in a digital world that has reshaped the way they communicate, build relationships, and manage stress. They have less experience in workplaces and present with higher levels of anxiety and depression.The report comes as migration to Britain has fallen sharply after reaching a record high in 2022. According to Milburn, businesses can recruit from the large pool of inactive youth if they are provided with proper support and training.Last week, former headteacher and government adviser Peter Hyman said in The Guardian that schools were increasingly pushing vulnerable young people into long-term alienation from employment. He also called for immediate reforms, including restricting access to social media for minors.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has urged broadcaster TNT Sports to make next weekend’s UEFA Champions League final between Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain free-to-air for viewers across Britain.In a letter addressed to TNT Sports executives, Starmer said he was “saddened” that football fans in the UK will need a paid subscription to watch a Champions League final for the first time in more than three decades.“I firmly believe that the final of this competition should be free to watch, whether Arsenal make it or not,” Starmer wrote.

‘It’s bigger than Arsenal’

Starmer, a long-time Arsenal supporter, said the issue goes beyond club loyalty and is about keeping key sporting moments accessible to all.“It’s all about the teams’ supporters coming together in living rooms and pubs in every corner of the country to watch Europe’s most elite players compete,” he said.The Prime Minister said that “hard working people should not have to worry about spending money for a subscription to watch a match of such importance”.Arsenal face Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final in Budapest next Saturday, which will be the London club’s first appearance in the final in 20 years.

TNT defends sports subscription model

TNT Sports responded by saying that fans can access all three UEFA club competition finals through a £4.99 monthly subscription to HBO Max, Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming platform.The broadcaster described the offer as “exceptional value”, noting that it included not only the Champions League final but also the Europa League and Conference League finals.This season marked the first time that all three European club finals were held entirely behind a paywall in the UK.

End of a long free-to-air tradition

The Champions League Final has been available free-to-air in the UK every year since the competition’s modern format began in 1992.ITV has broadcast the final for free since 1993, while BT Sport later continued this practice by streaming the match free online after acquiring the rights in 2015.However, after BT Sport was rebranded as TNT Sports under Warner Bros. Discovery, viewers were required to register through Discovery+ and now HBO Max, which no longer offers the free viewing option.

No plans yet for ‘Crown Jewels’ status

The UK government currently has no plans to classify the Champions League final as a protected “crown jewels” sporting event, a move that would legally require free-to-air coverage.From the 2027–28 season, TNT Sports will lose its European football rights package. Paramount+ will broadcast the Champions League, while Sky Sports will handle coverage of the Europa League and Conference League.

Ramandeep Dhillon and his family often spent time outside

An Indian-origin father has died in a tragic two-vehicle crash while working a late evening Uber shift in New Zealand, leaving his family devastated.Ramandeep Dhillon, 36, of Papamoa, died on Wednesday when the vehicle he was traveling in crashed on the Te Puke Highway between Bell Road and Poplar Lane about 7.15pm.Police said one person died at the scene, while two people in the other vehicle were injured. An investigation into the circumstances of the crash continues and has been referred to the coroner.Dhillon had left home that evening after spending time with his wife Veerpal Kaur and 18-month-old daughter Kudrat. He told them he would return later for dinner, but never came back.Concern grew when he stopped answering calls, before police arrived in the night to inform his wife of his death.“I cried, I cried, I cried. I thought my life was ruined,” Kaur told the NZ Herald.Dhillon was born in Punjab, India and moved to New Zealand in 2015 on a student visa. He later returned to India in 2024 to marry Kaur after being introduced through family connections.After their marriage, the couple settled in Papamoa, Bay of Plenty, where he worked in kiwifruit orchards, Dhillon later began driving for Uber to support the family and spend more time at home after the birth of their daughter.Kaur said the job allowed him to be closer to his child, and expressed how excited he was to become a father.“He was very excited when he found out he was going to be a father,” she told the NZ Herald.The couple named their daughter Kudrat, which means “nature.” Since his death, the girl has been constantly asking where her father is.Friends and family described Dhillon as a devoted husband and father who always prioritized spending time with his daughter, even during work breaks.A close friend told the NZ Herald, “If he missed his daughter, he would come home, spend time with her and then go back to work.”His best friend of 12 years, Gurlabh Singh, said Dhillon was a positive and caring person who supported those around him, including picking him up from the airport when he first arrived in New Zealand.The GiveLittle page set up for the family has raised thousands of dollars to help cover funeral costs, rent and living expenses as Kaur and her daughter face life without her.

TOI correspondent from Washington: “Iran never won the war, but it also never lost the negotiation,” US President Donald Trump said during his first term in office in January 2020. It’s a row that may be coming back to haunt his second-term administration. After weeks of military escalation against Israel as well as Iran, a chastened Trump is now moving toward an agreement that falls well short of the maximalist goals declared at the beginning of the conflict: no “complete and total surrender” by Iran, no regime collapse in Tehran, no verified dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, and no surrender of all highly enriched uranium reserves.Instead, the immediate US objective has been somewhat limited: reopening the Strait of Hormuz and preventing a broader global economic recession caused by the disruption of Gulf energy shipments. Trump said on Saturday that the strait would be “opened up” under a new understanding with Tehran, possibly due to pressure from other Gulf allies. Ironically, the strait was functioning normally before the US-Israeli military operation began.“An agreement has been substantially negotiated between the United States, Iran and several other countries, and is yet to be finalized… The final aspects and details of the agreement are currently being discussed and will be announced soon,” Trump said on “Truth Social.” In leaks to US media, US officials claimed that the proposed agreement included a pledge by Tehran to give up its uranium and reopen the strait unconditionally. But Iran’s state-linked Fars news agency said there was no such commitment, stressing that Tehran would continue to exercise sovereign control over passage routes, timing, permits and access through the strategic waterway, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes.According to ongoing reports in Washington diplomatic circles, the proposed framework could include a series of concessions by the US, including partial sanctions relief for Iran, access to approximately $25 billion in frozen Iranian assets and a phased reopening of maritime traffic in exchange for renewed but undefined discussions on Tehran’s nuclear program.

An Indian man with a lengthy criminal record has been arrested by US immigration officials in Los Angeles and may now face deportation proceedings, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.ICE said Parminderpal Singh, 26, a citizen of India, was arrested this week and is in immigration detention pending removal from the United States.Authorities said Singh’s criminal history includes crimes including vehicle theft, grand theft, trespassing and vandalism. ICE has not yet released further details about his immigration status or any upcoming court proceedings.The arrests come as U.S. immigration authorities continue to step up enforcement operations targeting noncitizens accused or convicted of criminal offenses. In recent years, many Indian nationals have faced detention or deportation proceedings by ICE under a variety of circumstances, including criminal convictions, visa violations, and outdated immigration orders.One of the most famously discussed cases involved Subramaniam Vedam, who spent 43 years in a Pennsylvania prison in a murder case that was later overturned. In 2025, ICE took him into custody shortly after his release due to a separate decades-old deportation order tied to an earlier drug conviction. Vedam had lived in the US since childhood and faced possible deportation to India.Another case involved 53-year-old interpreter Meenu Batra, who had been living in the US for more than three decades. He was detained by ICE during a work trip in Texas in 2026 after authorities cited an old deportation order despite having legal work authorization and humanitarian protection status. He was later released after legal intervention and after a judge questioned his detention.US authorities have also deported Indian citizens convicted of financial crimes. In 2025, Angad Singh Chandhok was deported to India after serving a prison sentence in an international technical-assistance scam targeting elderly Americans. He helped operate shell companies that were used to launder millions of dollars obtained through fraud.In another recent case, Aman Kumar was arrested by ICE in California in 2026 after authorities released him following a hit-and-run incident involving a four-year-old child. ICE alleged that Kumar was living in the country illegally at the time of his arrest outside the Fresno courthouse.

Britain’s teenage rape victim criticized a judge’s decision after three boys were spared jail.

A teenage rape victim has criticized a court’s decision to release three boys from jail after they were convicted of attacking two girls in Hampshire, Britain.The victim, now 16, spoke to the BBC after the defendants were given youth rehabilitation orders instead of custodial sentences at Southampton Crown Court.“What was the point of putting me into this?” He said.The girl was 15 when she was raped in an underpass near the River Avon in Fordingbridge in November 2024 after traveling to meet a boy they had interacted with on Snapchat.In January 2025 two boys, now aged 15, were convicted of the attack and a separate rape involving another teenage girl. A third defendant, now 14, was also convicted for his role in the second attack.The court heard the attacks were filmed on mobile phones, with some of the footage later circulated online.The two older boys received three-year youth rehabilitation orders with intensive supervision and monitoring requirements, while the youngest defendant was given an 18-month order.At sentencing, Judge Nicholas Rowland said he wanted to avoid “criminalizing” the “very young” defendants, although he acknowledged the seriousness of the crimes and said that filming the attacks made them “all the more serious”.The judge also said that peer pressure had played a “big role” in the incidents.Reacting to the verdict, the victim said the verdict hit “like a rock straight in my face”.He said, “It seemed as if what the boys did was not OK, but in the eyes of the law it was OK because they were still kids.”The teen also described the emotional stress of having to relive the attacks during court proceedings.“Why did I put myself through the pain of going to court, going through the trial, reliving everything because of the evidence, and seeing it all happen again?” He said.She said she waited six months before reporting the attack because she was struggling to cope with the trauma.She said, “I said it because I was losing it. I was going fast. I needed help, but I didn’t know how to get it, so I spoke out.”His family also criticized the sentencing results and described the punishments as inadequate.The girl’s mother appealed to the authorities to reconsider the case and urged the government to intervene.“Please help,” she said.“If this was your daughter, your niece, your son, your nephew, your family member, would you be happy?”His partner said he felt “physically ill” after hearing the sentencing verdict and claimed the culprits “got away scot-free”.

A billboard put up by a candidate in the upcoming local body elections in Taiwan showing a turbaned man holding a ‘no entry’ sign has irked the small but growing Indian community on the island – and drawn a sharp rebuke from one of the country’s most senior officials.The hoardings were put up about a fortnight ago in Kaohsiung city by Lee Hung-yi, currently head of Gangming Ward in the city’s Siaogang district, who is contesting as an independent candidate in the city council elections in November. The photos circulated widely on Taiwanese social media.

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When questioned by local media, Lee spoke candidly. He said that he is not against migrant workers in general, only Indian workers. The statement drew an immediate reaction from Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s longest-serving former foreign minister and current secretary general of the National Security Council – India’s equivalent of the National Security Advisor.I feel ashamed to see a local politician doing this to gain attention. I condemn such despicable conduct in a very welcoming society. “I will continue to work hard to strengthen Taiwan-India mutual cooperation,” Wu said. Despite the efforts, Li could not be reached for comment.Indians currently living in Taiwan – they number just over 7,000, according to the national immigration agency, making them the ninth-largest foreign resident group on the island – say the billboards are troubling but not entirely surprising. “This seems to be an extension of anti-India propaganda on popular social media platforms like TikTok and Threads in Taiwan, which is being promoted by some countries that work against India’s interests,” said Arpita Biswas, a marine science research scholar at National Taiwan University who has been living in the country for the past five years. He said Taiwanese society is largely welcoming, but hostility towards Indians exists in a small section and is being amplified online. “We see anti-India propaganda posts almost every day. They are largely driven by a lack of understanding about Indians and their culture due to limited contact between people,” he said.An engineer who has lived in Taiwan for four years, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that anti-India sentiment has so far been limited to social media rather than spreading into daily conversations. “We have not faced direct racism from anyone here. But we can definitely feel the undercurrent on social media, where Indians are targeted in racist posts by people with vested interests. “It seems like this candidate is trying to capitalize on that trend to attract younger voters.”

Media professional and documentary-maker Suvam Pal, who has been in Taiwan since 2022, traced the roots of the campaign to earlier reports that the Taiwan government was planning to recruit one lakh Indian workers to address the labor shortage. “A certain section of the country’s politicians campaigned against this move, creating a kind of fear psychosis as if Indian workers would descend the very next day and take over the country. That’s not going to happen – there are many checks and balances in the recruitment process,” Pal said.

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Sikh organizations across the UK have issued a public statement urging people not to associate Sikhism with the ongoing murder trial involving the death of 18-year-old University of Southampton student Henry Novak.A statement issued by the British Sikh Federation expressed condolences to Novak’s family and described the incident as inconsistent with Sikh teachings and values.“On behalf of Sikh organizations and communities across the country, we express our deepest condolences for the tragic loss of life,” the statement said.“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Novak family and loved ones during this extremely difficult time.”The organizations said the case should not be used to make broad assumptions about Sikh beliefs or religious practices.“The incident as reported is not in keeping with the Sikh faith, the Sikh community or its principles,” the statement said.“Sikh teachings are based on compassion, justice, humility, responsibility and service to humanity.”The statement described the Sikh community as peaceful, well-integrated and an important part of British society.Community leaders urged the public to allow the legal proceedings to proceed without prejudice and called for restraint in public discussion of the case.“We respectfully urge everyone to allow the judicial process to proceed fairly and without prejudice and to refrain from making blanket assumptions or judgments about the Sikh faith or Sikh religious practices based on an individual case,” the statement said.The comments came during the trial of 23-year-old Vikram Digva at Southampton Crown Court.Following the fatal stabbing of Henry Novak in Belmont Road, Southampton on 3 December 2025, Degua denied murder and denied carrying a blade in public.The court heard that Novak, of Chafford Hundred, Essex, suffered five wounds from a 21cm kirpan, a ceremonial Sikh blade, including a fatal wound to the chest.DeGwa claims she acted in self-defense after an altercation in which she alleges Novak racially abused her, punched her, pulled off her turban and grabbed her hair during a confrontation after a night out.The defendant told the court that he feared Novak would use the saber against him.His mother Kiran Kaur is also accused of allegedly helping a criminal by removing weapons from the crime scene. She denies the allegation.The case is going on.