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BBC News
09-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Belfast Milers Meet kicks off athletics summer
World-class Canadian athlete Gabriela DeBues-Stafford will lead the entries at Saturday's Belfast Irish Milers Meet which once again is set to be held in perfect sunny conditions at the Mary Peters director Eamonn Christie has had the good fortunate of having the weather gods on his side in recent years and the athletes have responded by producing a series of brilliant runs in included last year's astonishing breakthrough by 17-year-old English talent Phoebe Gill, who broke the 45-year-old European Under-18 800m record when smashing her personal best with a one minute 57.86 performance propelled the St Alban's athlete to the Paris Olympics where she went on to reach the 800m was set to return to the Mary Peters Track this year only for injury to rule her out but Christie has still been able to assemble a strong entries list. DeGues-Stafford fifth in Tokyo Canadian DeGues-Stafford finished fifth in the 1500m at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 when she clocked her personal best of 3:58.93 as Faith Kipyegon, Laura Muir and Sifan Hassan clinched the coached in Edinburgh by 1988 Olympic 3,000m steeplechase bronze medallist Mark Rowland, the 29-year-old had a couple of comparatively disappointing campaigns in 2023 and 2002 and didn't compete in Paris last under Rowland's guidance, DeGues-Stafford is now plotting her second coming and has told Christie that she is targeting a brisk 8:40 pace in the 3,000m, which would be less that seven seconds outside her personal best of 8:33.92 set indoors in 2022."The plan is that two pacemakers will get Gabriela to halfway," Christie told BBC Sport NI."It's her first race of the year so she admits she doesn't know exactly what shape she's in but the plan is to attack the race." The men's 800m field will include twice British champion Daniel Rowden, who set his personal best of 1:43.95 in time is considerably faster that the 1:44.79 achieved by last year's Belfast winner Callum Dodds when Tom Randolph also went under 1: rivals will include his fellow Britons Justin Davies and Tiarnan Croken, who bettered the 1:46 mark 12 months ago, plus Spaniard Ignacio Fontes, who reached the Olympic 1500m final in it's unlikely that anybody will be clocking 1:57, the two-minute barrier could again be under threat in the women's 800m with emerging Britons Erin Wallace, Abigail Ives and Shaikira King in the field and Jenna Bromell leading the Irish finished second behind Gill last year when she was just outside two minutes while Ives clocked her personal best of 1:59.92 at the meeting in 2023 when finishing second behind Ireland's Louise men's 1500m has the makings of a good race with Cork athlete Darragh McElhinney taking on a field that includes four-minute miler and Ciara Mageean's boyfriend Thomas Moran plus English pair Max Wharton and Alex Melloy, who both have bettered 3:40 for the local challenge in the men's metric mile is likely to be led by Callum Morgan and UCD student and Lagan Valley club athlete Lughaidh will be much interest in Bori Akinola's performance in the 100m following an impressive winter campaign which saw him reach the 60m semi-finals at the European Indoor Championships after dethroning Israel Olatunde to win the Irish title.
The Guardian
14-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
UK riots led to deterioration in asylum seekers' mental health, says report
Last summer's riots, which took place after the murder of three girls at a Southport dance class, led to a deterioration in the mental health of asylum seekers, with many becoming fearful of walking down the street in case they were targeted by far-right protesters, according to a report. The report from the Mental Health Foundation, published on Tuesday, identified a decline in the mental health of asylum seekers as a result of the civil unrest and attacks on hotels, compared with the state of their mental health when they published a similar report in February 2024. Mark Rowland, the chief executive of the Mental Health Foundation, said: 'One key development since our last report has been that the racist riots of summer 2024 had a terrible impact on the mental health of many people seeking asylum in UK. Some people told us they were scared to leave their accommodation, risking increased isolation, and others said they feared they'd be attacked walking down the street just because of the colour of their skin.' He added: 'The climate of hostility has increased, especially on social media which played a key role in escalating tensions. Disinformation and racist rhetoric have surged, especially on platforms like X, with some of those who spoke to us reflecting they'd see hate within minutes of logging on to the website. More action needs to be taken by the UK government to stem the impact of disinformation and hate both online and offline.' The report also called for asylum seekers to have the right to work in any job if the Home Office has not processed their claim within six months, arguing that this would not only boost asylum seekers' mental health but also increase tax revenue for the Treasury. The data is based on calculations by the Institute of Economic and Social Research. According to the figures, allowing asylum seekers to work after six months would save the country £4.4bn in government expenditure, grow the economy by £1bn, increase tax revenue by £880m, reduce the mental health impacts of worklessness and destitution on asylum seekers, promote better integration, and reduce dependence on taxpayer support. The report warned that preventing asylum seekers from getting jobs was leading to 'workless stagnation'. It echoes the Lift The Ban campaign, a coalition of more than 300 charities, trades unions, businesses, faith groups and thinktanks, which have urged the government to allow asylum seekers to work in a broader range of industries. Under the current rules, only some asylum seekers who are qualified in shortage occupations can apply for jobs if their asylum claim has not been determined after a year. In practice this system bars many from working. Rowland added: 'Giving asylum seekers the right to work is a no-brainer. Everyone – from asylum seekers, to businesses, to the government, to the NHS, to our communities – benefits when asylum seekers are given the ability to support themselves. The current system, which is both harmful and expensive, cannot continue as it is.' The foundation, which supports asylum seekers and refugees with their mental health, through programmes across the UK, also highlighted in the report the acute poverty faced by asylum seekers who sometimes have to make a choice between skipping meals or paying the bus fare for a vital appointment. Some felt the words 'asylum seeker' stigmatised them. One child told researchers she hid the fact that she was an asylum seeker from her school friends for fear of being excluded by them if she told them about her immigration status. A Home Office spokesperson said: 'While the wellbeing of those in the asylum system is important, we remain determined to continue cracking down on anyone working illegally in the UK, and we certainly have no intention of creating a fast-track process so that people who come to the UK outside the established work visa rules are simply allowed to ignore them.'
