Protests over the use of hotels for housing asylum seekers have put police forces under "chronic pressure" when combined with other duties this summer, a senior police chief has said.

Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, chair of the National Police Chiefs' Council, told the BBC people in leadership positions in the UK needed to think about how to "reduce and diffuse tension and not sew division".

Senior officers are concerned about political and business leaders commenting on social media, sometimes spreading misinformation, though Mr Stephens didn't give names.

Police say there have been 3,081 protests between the start of June and 25 August, compared with 2,942 last summer and 928 in 2023.

The number has been pushed up by campaigns against asylum hotels, sometimes attended by hundreds of protestors on both sides of the debate.

Mr Stephens said it was everybody's responsibility, including the police, to "set the tone", but he continued to defend the right to protest.

"We all want to live in places where we can be safe, and where we feel safe," he said.

Police forces all over the country have been responding to protests this summer, pulling in officers from neighbourhood roles to do public order duties. Through the system of mutual aid, police forces with fewer protests have have sent reinforcements across the country to back up those under pressure.

In Epping, where protests began outside the Bell Hotel in July, hundreds of police officers have been involved, often keeping pro and anti-migrant groups separated and preventing activists getting into the hotel.

At least 30 more protests are planned this weekend.

On Tuesday, the Conservative leader of Epping Forest District Council said he would be asking campaigners demanding the closure of the Bell Hotel to halt their protests.

Councillor Chris Whitbread said in a statement: "I am approaching the other group leaders on Epping Forest District Council and other community leaders to jointly ask protesters to reflect on whether they continue with the twice-weekly local protests.

"If you choose to continue, it should be done considerately and calmly, with awareness of the impact on local residents and the local economy.

"The people of Epping are under great strain. As schools return this week, I appeal to the protest organisers to show restraint and give our families and children some much needed respite."

Mr Stephens said the demand on policing could be reduced by better integration of refugees.

"Where there's a lack of integration, whether that's through accommodation or placement in local communities, to a certain extent, the model doesn't matter. It's the effort that we go to work together as a community that reduces the demand on policing," he said.

Police chiefs are waiting for the government to publish plans to reform the service so it can cope better with modern challenges. They're hoping for a radical long-term strategy.

Last year, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper argued that the co-ordinated national response to the disorder in summer 2024 in the wake of the Southport attack had demonstrated the need for more centralisation.

She announced a National Centre of Policing to bring together support services for local forces, including national IT systems, shared police helicopters and a centralised forensics service.

The Home Office has been approached for comment by the BBC.

Fresh warnings have been issued by police forces and councils across the country after a rise in parking scams over the summer.

From fake text messages about unpaid tickets to tampered car park machines that secretly steal your card details, fraudsters are becoming increasingly creative.

BBC scams expert Nick Stapleton told Morning Live there are easy ways you can protect yourself so you don't fall victim to some of the most common tricks.

1. Check your fine has these three details

Genuine parking notices always contain certain details.

"Real parking fines will include vehicle registration, the time of the offence and the location it happened," Stapleton says.

"If it doesn't have these three things then it is a scam.

"A genuine fine will always come in writing and will be left on your windscreen, handed to you in person or arrive in the post."

There are three types of fines you may receive - a penalty charge notice issued by the council, a fixed penalty notice issued by police usually linked to offences such as speeding and a parking charge notice issued by a private company.

Parking charge notices "aren't technically fines, they're invoices for breaching parking rules", so you don't always have to pay them but "check carefully before refusing to pay".

2. Don't click on links in texts

If you get a text out of the blue saying you owe money for an unpaid parking ticket, stop before you click. One of the most common tricks is a fake text or email demanding payment for an unpaid fine.

These texts usually come with a link you are told to click on to pay the fine and "use urgent and threatening language to make you panic", Stapleton says.

Some scam texts might say your licence will be revoked if you don't pay for the ticket but "that's not how it works, you won't lose your license".

Some links in these scam texts take you to websites that look like official government ones.

If you're not sure a website is legitimate you can "click around on the other links".

"If you click through on other links on the page you'll notice that they don't work and that's a clear sign it's a clone site," says Stapleton.

3. Restart your device and change passwords

If you have clicked on a suspicious link, don't despair - but do these three things:

• Restart your device: A lot of the links allow a scammer to gain remote access to your device. If you restart your phone or laptop it will kill the connection

• Change passwords: If you've filled in your details on the link make sure you change your passwords to any accounts with money in

• Call your bank: Inform your bank's fraud department about the message, the link and what information you gave

You could also consider installing antivirus software then run a search to see if any malware has been installed.

4. Check for skimming devices on parking machines

A new scam, which is increasing according to the UK's national fraud reporting centre Action Fraud, targets people paying for parking at machines.

Fraudsters attach a physical device to a contactless payment reader on a parking machine and when you try to pay, the machine displays a "card declined" message.

"While you walk off to try another machine, the skimming device has already stolen your card details," Stapleton explains.

Here's how to check whether the machine has been tampered with:

• Look for an extra sticker: Check there is no extra sticker or item placed on top of the contactless payment button

• Verify Branding: Look for the correct logos and branding. Scammers often use stickers with mismatched logos

• Trust Your Instincts: If something looks or feels suspicious, do not use the machine

"Contactless readers should look like they're part of the machine. If something looks bolted on or mismatched, it's best not to risk it," he says. "Always trust your gut."

If you do feel like there's something not quite right with the machine you can pay in cash instead or through a parking app.

Watch Morning Live to get the full details on how to protect yourself from the scams

Listen to Alison read this article

It took me some time to find the front door of the Safer Living Foundation. There was no nameplate, and the building was one of many anonymous red-brick Victorian terraced houses in Nottingham. It was January 2025, and I was wrapped up against the cold as I walked up and down the street trying to find the right address.

There was a very good reason for this anonymity. The foundation works with people convicted and imprisoned for sexual offences after they have been released back into the community. The men may have been found guilty of anything from indecent exposure to viewing abusive images online to contact offences involving children.

And people who have committed sex crimes can be among the most reviled in society. At times they are the subject of vigilante action.

In May 2025, the government announced it was considering the roll-out of voluntary chemical castration for sex offenders and also looking at whether this could be made mandatory.

But while this sort of tough rhetoric grabs headlines, the Safer Living Foundation claims the work it does providing a safe space for people with sexual convictions to find support with reintegrating into society has had positive results.

And there is evidence to suggest they may be correct. Just 2% of the men who spent time at the foundation reoffended, according to its own figures. That compares to an average of 15.1% for those convicted of sexual crimes in England and Wales. The Foundation says it only takes people who say they are committed to change.

I was there to see for myself how the centre in Nottingham - the only project of its kind in the UK - operated. Over five months the BBC was given a unique insight into its work.

What none of us knew that cold winter morning was that these would prove to be its final months. In May 2025, the centre was forced to close. Persuading organisations to fund sex offender treatment had never been easy and in the tough financial climate, it had become impossible to secure the money they needed to keep going.

It's an outcome that casts light on the UK's attitude towards preventing those guilty of sex crimes from reoffending. It forces us to confront difficult questions, including whether spending public or charity money on attempting to rehabilitate sex offenders should be recognised as an effective way of preventing harm and in doing so protecting potential victims.

'I'll do whatever works'

When I eventually found the right door, it was opened by Dave Potter. He had run the service since it was set up 11 years ago.

Here, he told me, offenders meet people who have insight into their experience of having been convicted for sex crimes - both others who have been found guilty of these offences as well as counsellors - "because who else can you talk to?".

Inside, in a busy kitchen, lunch was being prepared. A handful of men of all ages, sitting and standing, quietly chatted about the day's news, football and food. In another room, a games club was taking place and elsewhere, counselling sessions were under way.

Often their partners and families wanted nothing more to do with them after their convictions, according to Dave.

Dave accepted that there would be those who wondered how he could bring himself to offer support to sex offenders. But he believed the bigger picture is what's important. "Everything we do underpins (the idea of) no more victims," he said. "I'll do whatever works to prevent further offending."

Sex Offenders: The Long Way Back

Alison Holt reports on how a Nottingham charity working with men who have been convicted of sexual offences has success in greatly reducing re-offending rates. Listen on BBC Sounds – or on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday 3 September at 11:00.

Certainly, the official statistics around sexual offending suggest that much more needs to be done to bring the numbers down. On average the police record more than 194,000 sexual offences each year in England and Wales. Of these, 40% are against children.

One child in every 10 experiences some form of sexual abuse before the age of 16 in England and Wales, according to "conservative estimates" by the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse. Many victims, both adults and children, will never feel able to speak about what has happened.

The harm caused by these offences cannot be underestimated, and that was acknowledged in most of the conversations I had at the centre with offenders, staff and volunteers alike.

At the time I visited about 60 men were enrolled as service users, but over the last decade hundreds of men and two women have been supported by staff here.

'The life I knew has completely ended'

The service users I spoke to wanted to remain anonymous. They described feeling lonely and even suicidal, and said they realised what they had done was wrong. They said they recognised the impact it had on their victims. They also talked about how the centre had helped them.

"I was petrified about leaving prison with a stigma attached," said Matt (the names of all ex-offenders have been changed). As a result of his conviction, he had lost his family, his job and everything he knew before. "The life I knew has completely ended." Without the centre he would be struggling even more, he said.

Another man, Liam, described being assaulted after he was released from prison.

"One of my neighbours found out who I was and then one night decided to come round and attack me," he said. "Physical violence, swearing at me and basically, telling everybody around there what I was," he said. He had to move.

Finding work can be a major challenge for the men, too. Some 95% of the service users here were on the Sex Offenders Register and were required to tell potential employers this.

In my conversations with them, the same words came up time and again – anxiety, low self-esteem, fear and, in particular, isolation.

While to some these risk factors could sound like an excuse for what they have done, the centre's approach is based on the idea that addressing these issues will make these men less likely to offend. And so it tries to help them rebuild their lives in a way that protects them and others.

"By treating people with decency, by looking at the whole person and not just the crime, by finding ways to manage their social isolation, their shame and their guilt, that reduces further offending down the line," Dave said.

He accepted that some might think that what the centre was doing was naïve. Before he did his job, he says, he might have agreed with the suggestion that sex offenders simply need to be punished. But now, he said, "I know what we do works. It is about understanding the harm that acting on those impulses causes. It is about understanding what they've put victims through."

Distractions from inappropriate thoughts

There is group therapy as well as weekly one-to-one counselling sessions. In one of the discussions with Dave, a man called John, who has been jailed twice for his offending, talked about how he now distracted himself if he began to have any fleeting, inappropriate sexual thoughts. He played football video games and generally kept busy.

He also described how difficult the last few months have been. A homeless man, who John had offered to help, moved into his flat and became increasingly manipulative and violent. Eventually, he threatened to tell others about John's conviction.

With support from the Foundation, John called the police and the man was removed.

"If an alcoholic has no help and support, its unlikely they'll give up booze," said Dave. He believes it can be the same with sex offenders, so the centre provided controlled support that helps them cope, even under stress.

There is support for this approach, too, among groups that work with victims.

"This project further underpins the fact that we can't make a dent in the alarming figures of a quarter of the population experiencing sexual violence by simply pledging to change things," says Lucy Duckworth, policy lead at The Survivors Trust. "We need action and funding and to have difficult conversations with those who commit this crime, to enable us to intervene earlier."

A failing in the system

The main place where sex offenders currently get treatment is in prison – but even there it is limited.

In the year ending March 2024, there were about 87,000 people in prison in England and Wales. More than 18,000 (21%) had been convicted of sex offences. Some 1,115 prisoners did start accredited treatment in prison and 1,094 people completed those courses.

The length of time the courses take means they may not be an option for offenders in jail for a short period.

Matt, who had earlier told me how worried he had been about leaving prison, took two 30-hour programmes while an inmate at HMP Whatton in Nottinghamshire, which is, according to the Howard League for Penal Reform, the largest prison for adult sex offenders in Europe. Matt said these were hugely useful to him.

"You ripped yourself right open," he said. "Laid everything on the table. Looked at how and why you got there, and how are you going to rebuild yourself? How are you going to make sure it doesn't happen again?"

But once inmates are released, accessing this kind of treatment becomes even more difficult, experts say. "That's a failing of where we're at in the system," says Nick Blagden, professor of criminological psychology at the University of Derby and a co-founder and trustee of the Safer Living Foundation.

An alternative solution is to reach people before they end up in the criminal justice system - before they harm someone. There are UK projects that do good work offering services in the community, says Prof Blagden. But given the scale of the problem, the level of support is nowhere near as "wide-ranging" as is needed, he adds. He contrasts this with Germany, where he says there is a "much more sensible" approach to funding prevention projects that provide therapy to adults who feel they might commit sexual offences.

In addition to the Nottingham centre, the foundation also ran a programme called Aurora, which provided highly confidential support, online and in person, for people with concerning sexual thoughts, before they did something that put them in contact with the criminal justice system. It had 300 people on a 12-month waiting list.

"If we had unlimited funds and resources, we would be working with hundreds of people a month," says Prof Blagden.

'We've helped a lot of lives'

Getting all this right could not be more important. The National Crime Agency estimated in 2024 that between 710,000 and 840,000 UK adults posed varying degrees of sexual risks to children.

The questions for society are: as well as making it easier for victims of abuse to be heard and believed, are we ready to challenge the behaviour, thoughts and actions of those who have offended and are at risk of offending much sooner? And are we prepared to spend money on doing so?

For its part, the Ministry of Justice says: "We are determined to halve violence against women and girls in a decade and tackling sexual offenders' criminality is a vital part of this plan."

Ministers also point to their plan for a national roll-out of "medication to manage problematic sexual arousal in sex offenders", often known as chemical castration, which is delivered through drugs alongside psychiatric work, and say they are considering whether to make it mandatory. The department also says it recently announced a record £700m increase in overall probation funding by 2028.

For decades, the mantras of many politicians have focused on being tough on crime. The use and length of prison sentences have increased as a result. However, the current overcrowding in prisons is forcing a rethink.

In May 2025, an independent review of sentencing was published. It concluded that while punishment is important, there "has been insufficient focus on reducing crime". It called for more community-based sentences and support and more use of the third sector charities and organisations.

The government has since accepted most of the recommendations across all crimes.

The Safer Living Foundation, with the guardrails it provided to support sex offenders in the community, seemed to be tailor-made for this strategy.

But the same month the review was published, the Foundation learned that its application for a lottery grant - which it needed to keep running - had been turned down.

'Fairly hand-to-mouth'

"It has been fairly hand-to-mouth over the years we've been operating," says Lynn Saunders, another of the co-founders of the Safer Living Foundations as well as a former governor at Whatton and now professor of applied criminology at Derby University. "There seems to be a big reluctance because of the nature of the work, people find it difficult to be associated with it."

In May, the centre closed, while the Aurora Project was paused.

On the final day, staff, volunteers and some of the men they have supported, packed into the small kitchen to say goodbye.

"I've decided to celebrate the fact we existed at all," said Dave. "We've helped a lot of lives and prevented a lot of victims."

A few hours later, when that anonymous front door was shut and locked, it marked the end of the project. There is no replacement and no prospect of re-opening.

If you have been affected by the issues raised in this story you can visit the BBC Action Line for support.

Top picture credit: Getty Images

BBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. And we showcase thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. You can send us your feedback on the InDepth section by clicking on the button below.

The government is planning a new law in England to stop anyone under the age of 16 buying energy drinks such as Red Bull, Monster and Prime from shops, restaurants, cafes, vending machines and online.

Up to a third of UK children are thought to consume these types of drinks every week, despite most supermarkets having already introduced a voluntary ban.

Some popular drinks contain more caffeine than two cups of coffee.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said he was acting on the concerns of parents and teachers and tackling the issue "head on", to protect young people's health.

Lower-caffeine soft drinks, such Diet Coke, are not affected, and neither are tea and coffee.

A consultation will now run for 12 weeks to gather evidence from health and education experts as well as the public and retailers and manufacturers.

TV chef Jamie Oliver has repeatedly warned of the dangers and disruption energy drinks can cause, with kids coming into school "bouncing off the walls" having had energy drinks for breakfast.

"We are talking about three, four shots of espresso in one of these things. Loads of sugar. So an absolute nightmare," he said in a video posted on X last year.

Excessive consumption is linked to headaches and sleep problems.

Too much caffeine can cause a rapid heart rate, abnormal heart rhythms and seizures too.

Although rare, there have been some deaths linked to excess caffeine.

Under current labelling rules, any drink, other than tea or coffee, with over 150mg of caffeine per litre requires a warning label saying: "High caffeine content. Not recommended for children or pregnant or breast-feeding women."

Young people have smaller bodies and their brains are still developing, which can make them more sensitive to caffeine, say experts.

For most adults, up to 400mg of caffeine a day, or about four cups of instant coffee or five cups of tea, is safe.

"By preventing shops from selling these drinks to kids, we're helping build the foundations for healthier and happier generations to come," said Mr Streeting.

Prof Steve Turner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said a ban was the "next logical step" in making children's diets more healthy.

And Prof Amelia Lake from Teesside University, who has studied the drinks' impact on young people's lives, said they had "no place" in the diets of children.

"Our research has shown the significant mental and physical health consequences of children drinking energy drinks.

"We know these drinks are part of youth culture and associated with sports, gaming, music and more, but there is a lack of clear signalling about their health consequences."

But Gavin Partington from the British Soft Drinks Association said manufacturers had already led the way with self regulation.

"As with all government policy, it's essential that any forthcoming regulation is based on a rigorous assessment of the evidence that's available," he added.

Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are also considering a ban.

The government is unable to calculate the total cost of a secret relocation plan it set up following the Afghan data leak, the public spending watchdog has said.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) estimates the cost of the massive data breach - and setting up a new scheme to relocate those whose lives might be at risk over it - to be £850m.

But the National Audit Office (NAO) says the MoD has not provided enough evidence to give it confidence in that figure, which does not include legal expenses, or compensation claims likely to follow.

The MoD said it was committed to transparency and "committed to honouring the moral obligation we owe to those Afghans who stood with us and risked their lives".

Last month it was revealed the details of almost 19,000 people had applied to move to the UK in order to flee the Taliban were leaked, when an official mistakenly emailed a spreadsheet that contained a hidden tab with the information in 2022.

It contained information like names, contact details and family information of people who believed their cooperation with British forces during the Afghanistan war put them at risk of reprisals.

The names of British officials including members of UK special forces were also included in the data breach.

More than 16,000 Afghans and family members were eligible to resettle under an existing relocation scheme.

Following the data breach, a new scheme - the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR) - was secretly set up in April 2024, allowing a further 7,000 to come to the UK.

A super-injunction granted by the High Court in September 2023 prevented the incident being reported for almost two years, before the order was lifted in July.

The MoD estimates the cost for resettling each individual to be £128,000, with the total bill for all its Afghan resettlement programmes forecast to exceed £2bn.

In a report, the NAO said the government had failed to provide sufficient evidence to give the watchdog "confidence" to say if its £850m figure was accurate.

The watchdog said: "The MoD is not able to determine exactly what it has spent on resettling people through the ARR scheme.

"This is because it did not separately identify the costs of the ARR scheme in its accounting system, meaning that these costs were not visible in its management accounts, but instead included them within its total spending on Afghan resettlement activities."

A spokesperson for the MoD said: "We are committed to honouring the moral obligation we owe to those Afghans who stood with us and risked their lives.

"Since taking the decision to support the lifting of the super injunction brought by the previous government, we have been clear on the costs associated with relocating eligible Afghans to the UK - and are fully committed to transparency.

"The cost of all Afghan resettlement schemes, including the Afghan Response Route, has been fully funded as part of the Government's Spending Review."

One of the most famous polar shipwrecks has been filmed in detail on the sea floor for the first time.

The Terra Nova carried Captain Scott and his men on their doomed expedition to reach the South Pole more than a century ago.

The British party lost the race to the pole, and died on their return journey in 1912.

The footage shows the Terra Nova colonised with sea life, but key features of the wooden ship are still visible including its wheel, winch and mast.

The wreck lies 170m down off the coast of Greenland. After the polar expedition with Scott, the ship continued in service and eventually sank in 1943 while carrying supplies to US bases during World War Two.

The Terra Nova was discovered in 2012, but the new expedition has been the first opportunity to record extensive footage of the wreck.

"To be able to see these significant parts of the wreck, it was truly awe inspiring," said Leighton Rolley, Science Systems Manager at REV Ocean.

"The wheel was sat there perfectly intact amongst the debris of the aft section of the wreck.

"When you think of the people who have stood there, manoeuvred the Terra Nova through ice, like Captain Scott… It was like, wow, if that ship's wheel could talk, it could tell an amazing history."

The Terra Nova was one of the finest polar vessels of its time and sailed for 60 years.

The ship was 57m (187ft) long with a wooden hull that was a metre thick in places to help it break through the sea ice.

Captain Scott's men embarked to Antarctica in 1910. A comprehensive scientific programme was planned for the Terra Nova expedition - along with the goal of being the first to reach the South Pole.

Scott, along with Edward Wilson, Henry Bowers, Lawrence Oates and Edgar Evans, were attempting to make history.

After trekking hundreds of miles, the British party reached the pole in January 1912, but they found they had been beaten by a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen.

A black flag, planted by Amundsen, is now on display at the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) in Cambridge along with other items from the Terra Nova.

"Their hearts must have sunk seeing this black flag against the whiteness of Antarctica," said David Waterhouse, curator of the polar museum at SPRI.

The deflated British party began their arduous return journey to their base. But they encountered unusually bad weather, and Edgar Evans died after falling while descending a glacier.

Several weeks later Captain Oates left the men's tent. His last words were recorded in Scott's journal: "I'm just going outside and may be some time." He was never seen again.

Scott, Bowers and Wilson continued on and made a final camp, but trapped by a freezing blizzard with dwindling supplies, all three perished.

A search expedition discovered their last camp just 11 miles from a resupply depot that would have provided them with food and fuel.

The Terra Nova played a crucial role in breaking the news of their death.

"In January 1913, the Terra Nova arrived at Cape Evans in the Antarctic to pick up the shore party, and they were expecting to pick up Captain Scott and his pole party at the same time," explained Naomi Boneham, an archivist at SPRI.

"But when they arrived they found out the sad news."

The ship's log records that the men had died from "exposure and want".

The vessel sailed on to New Zealand, where the tragic end of the Terra Nova expedition was announced to the world.

The new footage from the deep provides another chance to retell Scott's story, says David Waterhouse.

"It's a story that's really got the whole package - the heroism, the tragedy," he said.

"And, I guess, as British people, we like an underdog, and they were so close to being the first to the pole and making it back alive."

The ship that witnessed so much history now has a very different existence lying beneath the waves at the other end of the planet.

It's not in good condition. While the centre of the ship is relatively intact, there is a lot of damage at the stern and the bow has split into two.

But it's become a reef of life, says Leighton Rolley.

"It's full of fish, it's got corals growing on it - it's become one with the ocean."

Sir Keir Starmer's former chief of staff Baroness Sue Gray has challenged the government's plan to limit a civil service internship scheme to working-class students.

The Labour peer questioned the "evidence base" behind last month's decision to restrict a Whitehall internship to students from "lower socio-economic backgrounds".

The government argued the change will bring in "more working-class young people" widening the talent pool for a civil service that will "truly reflect the country".

But Baroness Gray told peers she was "from the most working class of backgrounds" but had "learned a lot from being around people from different walks of life".

From October 2026, Whitehall's main internship scheme designed to attract university students to the civil service will now only be available for students from "lower socio-economic backgrounds" - judged by what jobs their parents did when they were 14.

Those who are successful on the internship will then be prioritised for entry to the Fast Stream, the main graduate programme for entry to the civil service.

But Baroness Gray said: "As a former civil servant from the most working class of backgrounds, and I'm sure there are very good intentions here, I would have found it really difficult when I joined the civil service to not have a wider group that I actually was exposed to, and I learned so much from that.

"I would like to know what the evidence base is for actually reaching this conclusion, because I do think it's good intentioned, but I think there are other ways that the civil service can be opened up as well."

Labour minister Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent said this was one of the "rare" occasions she "disagreed" with Baroness Gray.

"This is not about stopping the civil service being a meritocracy. It is ensuring that the meritocracy is available to everyone, regardless of where you were born," she said

Earlier, Tory shadow Cabinet Office minister Baroness Finn pointed out that the current rules made clear a person's selection for work in the civil service "must be on merit on the basis of fair and open competition".

She said: "The changes proposed by the government to the summer internship programme would allow the child of a mechanic, an electrician or even possibly a toolmaker to apply, but discriminate against the child of a roofer, a taxi driver or a nurse, who would be deemed ineligible.

"Quite apart from dramatically reducing the range of talent, does she really believe that this is still a fair and open and indeed a sensible process?"

Baroness Gray, the daughter of Irish immigrants in 1950s Tottenham, grew up with a salesman father and a barmaid mother.

She joined the civil service straight from school after her father died when she was a teenager.

She became a household name as the Partygate investigator, and her critical report into Downing Street lockdown gatherings contributed to Boris Johnson's downfall in 2022.

She was poached from the civil service by Labour to lead Sir Keir Starmer's office as the party prepared for government ahead of the 2024 election, but infighting forced her out within 100 days of victory.

Since joining the House of Lords she has used her speeches to warn about proposed cuts to the civil service, criticising those who call public servants "pen pushers".

Making her maiden speech in the House of Lords, Baroness Gray said that the UK needs "public servants to succeed".

Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.

A former US filmmaker has launched a High Court battle against an English council to gain control of the ancestral stately home he spent seven years trying to save from ruin.

Hopwood DePree has led an operation to safeguard historic Hopwood Hall in Middleton, Greater Manchester, since 2017, and says he complied with an agreement with Rochdale Borough Council that gave him the option to buy the building.

However, the council say he did not fulfil the conditions of the deal, and locked him out in November 2024.

DePree, who published a book called Downton Shabby in 2022 about his work to restore the hall, has now taken action in an attempt to be declared its legal owner.

'Shocking' conduct

DePree says his grandfather told him stories of "Hopwood Castle" as a child in Michigan, but that he only discovered the real hall existed while researching his family history in 2013.

Parts of the 60-room building date from the 1420s, but both direct heirs were killed in World War One and the last family members moved out in the 1920s.

It was derelict by the time DePree visited, and he says he was told in 2015 that it would be beyond repair in another five to 10 years.

He moved to the UK to spearhead the effort to save it, signing a deal with the council in 2017 saying he could buy the hall for £1 on the condition he gained planning permission to develop it.

DePree began work on the crumbling building and got planning permission in 2022 to refurbish it as an event and hospitality venue. He says he has spent £750,000 of his own money on the project.

But he says relations soured when the council's Rochdale Development Agency became more involved in 2024, and DePree's legal case accuses the agency of trying to "poison everything my team and I had worked so hard to achieve".

He claims the council stopped co-operating and went behind his back, and that their conduct has been "evasive, misleading and at times shocking".

A council spokesperson said: "We don't comment on ongoing legal discussions and don't intend to elaborate on previous statements we have made on this subject."

The council has previously said any sale would depend on DePree having "a commercially viable business model to secure the long term future of the hall".

Last November, the council said it had decided not to renew the option agreement after consultants said his plans were "unlikely to be able to secure future public or private funding".

At that time, a council spokesman said DePree "had not been able to produce a viable proposal, despite having had seven years to do so", which it said was a condition of the sale. The authority said it "had a responsibility to explore alternative options" in order to "protect the public monies invested to date".

In November, council leader Neil Emmott said: "Mr DePree was asked to meet a number of conditions when we entered into our agreement with him. We would be failing in our duty to protect our historic assets if we didn't hold Mr DePree to the terms of this agreement."

The council said it spent £557,000 between 2017 and 2024 for essential repairs, with almost £1m contributed by Historic England. The council said it was now spending a further £700,000 on roof repairs and a feasibility study.

According to DePree's legal documents, the council has also argued that the planning permission was insufficient to meet the terms for a sale under the agreement. He is disputing that.

He is also disputing whether he needed to provide a "viable" business model to comply with the conditions for a sale, and his court papers say he does have "a clear vision, a plan and the resources to rescue Hopwood Hall".

'No other choice'

DePree told BBC News he believes he has complied with his end of the agreement.

"When I took the project on, the hall was just a few years from completely falling down and becoming a ruin," he said.

"We worked so hard and poured everything into it. I moved countries. I got British citizenship. I left behind a life and sold my home. I went through so much with the belief that the council was being open and honest with me, and I trusted them."

He added: "Ultimately I had an agreement that I signed with them that I fulfilled. My lawyers feel that we fulfilled that, and the council went against that, and I felt that I had no other choice other than to file court proceedings against them."

DePree and his family are involved in property development, and he sold his home in the Hollywood Hills to help fund the project.

In his former life, DePree was an actor, writer, producer and director whose early attempts to make it big in Hollywood were depicted in low-budget documentary Rhinoskin: The Making of a Movie Star.

He wrote, directed and appeared in the well-received independent rom-com The Last Big Attraction, and produced the 2010 drama Virginia starring Jennifer Connelly and Ed Harris.

Valentine Low's eminently readable, behind-the-scenes book about the royals has been making headlines, including how Queen Camilla fended off a sexual assault when she was a teenager.

Power and the Palace, published next week and written by the former royal correspondent for The Times, explores the tangled relationship between the royals and the world of politics.

From nightcaps on the royal train to discussions over the Coronation budget, here are some of the most eye-catching anecdotes in the book:

1. Queen Camilla fought off a sexual assault and got the perpetrator arrested, in an incident that took place on a train to London when she was a teenager in the 1960s, Low says in the book.

The author says the Queen told Boris Johnson the story of her experience in 2008 when he was mayor of London. Johnson's former communications director, Gutto Harri, told Low the details of that conversation.

"I did what my mother taught me to. I took off my shoe and whacked him in the nuts with the heel," Camilla is said to have told Johnson.

According to this account, Camilla was "self-possessed enough when they arrived at Paddington to jump off the train, find a guy in uniform and say 'That man just attacked me,' and he was arrested".

Buckingham Palace has a policy of not commenting on claims in books.

But a source close to the Queen said: "If some good comes of this publication, which is that the wider issues are discussed, it de-stigmatises the whole topic and empowers girls today to take action and seek help and to talk about it, then that's a good outcome."

It's a story that certainly is in keeping with Queen Camilla's outspoken campaigning against domestic abuse and violence against women.

She has visited women's refuges, challenged the taboos surrounding domestic abuse and at a reception for International Women's Day held up stones that in 1914 been thrown by suffragettes to break windows in Buckingham Palace.

2. What whisky for a royal nightcap? Michael Gove, while he was environment secretary in 2018, was said to have been invited for a late drink with the then Prince of Wales in the royal train - a dedicated train for monarchs since Queen Victoria's reign.

The drink was a Laphroaig whisky - a smoky, peaty Scottish malt, like pouring a wistful but rather melancholy highland walk into a tumbler.

Gove, on a trip with the prince, was advised not to expect a big breakfast the next morning, with Charles said to prefer a "tiny little vase of fruit and then some pressed fruit juice concoction, sort of beetroot and ginger or whatever".

3. Boris Johnson was late for a meeting in 2008 with the then Prince Charles because he'd travelled in the wrong direction on the London underground. He made sure he wouldn't be late for the next meeting by going on his bike.

That seemed to amuse Camilla, but Charles and Johnson were said to have had a frosty relationship, including a dispute over his government's plan to process asylum applications in Rwanda years later.

4. Queen Elizabeth II was a Remainer. The late Queen was careful to avoid public interventions in political matters, but the author says she was instinctively against the upheaval of Brexit.

The author quotes royal insiders and an unnamed senior minister, who said the Queen had been frustrated by some of the European Union's bureaucracy, but on balance she thought it was better to remain.

The Queen saw the EU as part of the post-war settlement that she supported, according to the book's sources.

There are other glimpses of the late Queen's dealings with politicians. She got on well with Harold Wilson and John Major but had a much more tense relationship with Margaret Thatcher.

Queen Elizabeth personally rang Tony Blair to congratulate him when the Good Friday Agreement was signed in Northern Ireland in 1998. "I thought, I bet she doesn't do this often," Blair is quoted as saying.

There were other unexpected interventions. She is said to have raised concerns with ministers that defence cuts should not threaten the Army's School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming.

5. "Does he always do that thing with you?" That was the question put by Charles to then Prime Minister Tony Blair, about Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott. The author says Prescott was in a "class of his own when it came to discomfiting Charles".

Charles is said to have explained: "When he's sitting opposite you, he slides down the seat with his legs apart, his crotch pointing a little menacingly, and balances his teacup and saucer on his tummy. It's very odd."

"Was it, asked Charles, a 'sign of hostility or class enmity?' No, said Blair. 'He just likes drinking his tea that way," writes Low.

6. 'Hardball' over funding. The book reveals negotiations over public funding for the royals when the Sovereign Grant was introduced in 2012 - and presents the Palace as cannier about money than their counterparts in Westminster.

When concerns were raised that the link with the Crown Estate profits might prove over-generous, and was likely to inflate the value of the annual grant, Low says the Palace played "hardball" and stuck to the deal.

As the BBC showed earlier this year, there was indeed a significant increase over time, with public funding trebling in real terms, to pay for repairs to Buckingham Palace.

7. Coronation showcase. It was the government, rather than the Palace, that wanted to make sure that the Coronation of King Charles III in 2022 was a well-funded spectacle.

While the Palace was wary of anything too ostentatious when people were struggling to pay their bills, the "very clear guidance" from government was there should be no cut-price ceremony and that there should be a "maximalist" approach.

In the end, the Coronation cost £72m, including £22m for policing costs.

Power and the Palace, by Valentine Low. Headline Press. Published 11 September.

Sign up here to get the latest royal stories and analysis every week with our Royal Watch newsletter. Those outside the UK can sign up here.

Sign up for our morning newsletter and get BBC News in your inbox.