Experts fear children questioning their gender may turn to hidden economy to obtain hormones illegally

Cross-sex hormones designed to masculinise or feminise a person’s body are available to buy online for less than £11 a month, with experts warning that growing numbers of under-18s may turn to the medicines hidden economy.

Last month the landmark Cass review of children’s gender treatment in England concluded there was a lack of reliable evidence supporting the use of cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers by young people questioning their gender identity.

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As someone who is unable to vote in the UK’s local elections, I hope my peers don’t waste the precious gift they’ve been given

Local elections are coming this week. After receiving far-right leaflets (“Close the borders! Pause all immigration!”) through my letterbox and paying taxes to an underwhelming council, I can’t wait to vote – except that I’m not eligible. As an immigrant with no settled status, voting isn’t one of my rights.

And while most of my friends here can vote, many say they won’t. My best friend, for example, keeps his electoral registration up to date, but rarely goes to the polling station.

Joyce Yang is a freelance writer based in London

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If the government is going to strengthen the Online Safety Act, banning social media for under-16s is not the answer

• Smartphones ban may cause more harm than good, says Molly Russell’s father

In the six years since my youngest daughter Molly died , it is striking how little has changed. Children and young people continue to face a wave of inherently preventable online harms on often negligent social media platforms. In a ferocious battle for market share, the risks on sites such as Instagram and TikTok have, in some respects, become worse.

It is therefore no surprise that there is a considerable groundswell in demands for much more to be done. Across the UK, grassroots parents’ groups are increasingly calling for a fundamental reset in the relationship between children and their smartphone use.

Ian Russell is an internet safety campaigner and chair of the Molly Rose Foundation

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here .

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The singer-songwriter’s brand of stubborn protest songs with a strain of tenderness has kept him relevant for 40 years. Here he talks about why he’s fighting for trans rights, his late-night tweeting habit and his forthcoming tour – with his son

Recently, Billy Bragg showed his two young granddaughters a little promo film he put together celebrating his 40 years of making records. The girls were nonplussed by the early scenes on picket lines and spiky festival stages, but towards the end, recognising an avuncular white-bearded bloke with a guitar, they brightened: “Look, it’s Grandad Bill!” they chorused. “It was actually all Grandad Bill,” their father pointed out, but they weren’t having any of it.

Meeting Bragg at the station car park in Weymouth – not far from where he lives along the Dorset coast – and heading up to a cafe on the headland overlooking the sweep of the bay, I sympathise a little bit with their sentiment. The first time I saw the singer in the flesh was sometime late in 1984, when he was giving it his full “one-man Clash” performance on student stages at miners’ benefits. Even at the time that felt like it might be a hard act to grow old with; yet here he is in the seaside retirement resort, still fighting the good fight.

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A devil-may-care culture led to the UK’s highest drinking rates. Are we now paying the price for years of excess?

Most people can foggily recall where they were as the clock struck midnight on 1 January 2000. Me? I hugged the jaundiced rim of a village hall toilet, vomiting 10 shades of bile. I had attempted to complete Team 2000 – a challenge set by 20 friends who endeavoured to consume 2,000 units of alcohol, 100 units each, throughout December.

Seasoned soaks might consider this eminently ­achievable – especially around the ­festive ­season – but I was just 15 years old. Later that night, in the grim depths of morning, I defecated while ­unconscious in my friend’s sleeping bag. Welcome to generation peak booze.

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The feature-free phone, launched at Milan design week, is the latest device to tap into young people’s concerns about attention-harvesting and data privacy

It’s almost enough to make you stop doomscrolling: dull devices are now cool.

The Boring Phone is a new, featureless flip phone that is feeding the growing appetites of younger people who want to bin their smartphones in favour of a dumbphone.

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Its author has had to fend off criticism and misinformation, but the report offers hope for a realistic conversation

As the dust settles around Hilary Cass’s report – the most extensive and thoroughgoing evidence-based review of treatment for children experiencing gender distress ever undertaken – it is clear her findings support the grave concerns I and many others have raised. Central here was the lack of an evidential base of good quality that could back claims for the effectiveness of young people being prescribed puberty blockers or proceeding on a medical pathway to transition. I and many other clinicians were concerned about the risks of long-term damaging consequences of early medical intervention. Cass has already had to speak out against misinformation being spread about her review, and a Labour MP has admitted she “may have misled” Parliament when referring to it. The review should be defended from misrepresentation.

The policy of “affirmation” – that is, speedily agreeing with a child that they are of the wrong gender – was an inappropriate clinical stance brought about by influential activist groups and some senior gender identity development service (Gids) staff, resulting in a distortion of the clinical domain. Studies indicate that a majority of children in the absence of medical intervention will desist – that is, change their minds.

David Bell is a retired psychiatrist and former president of the British Psychoanalytic Society

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here .

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Higher rate of 15-year-old girls drinking than in other countries plus rise in 15-year-olds smoking contrasts with fewer boys drinking

In 2000, about 19% of children under 16 in England smoked, according to Action on Smoking and Health. By 2018, this had declined to 5%.

But, according to a major report by the World Health Organization released on Thursday , a third of 11-year-olds and over half of 13-year-olds had drunk alcohol, the highest number of any country worldwide. Girls were found to be more likely than boys to have drunk at 15.

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Hundreds voice dismay at Sunak and Starmer, accusing them of misreading UK attitudes towards Europe

• UK politics – latest updates

Elena, 35, was “flabbergasted” when she heard that both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer had dismissed a proposal by the European Commission to reintroduce freedom of movement for young people between the EU and the UK.

Last Friday, the prime minister rejected the post-Brexit youth mobility deal, which would have allowed Britons aged between 18 and 30 to live, study or work in the EU for up to four years, after Labour declined the offer the previous day.

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