26 Wednesday April 13 2022 | the times
News
Cricket board
rebuked for
junk food ads
Andrew Ellson
Consumer Affairs CorrespondentThe England and Wales Cricket Board
has been rebuked for promoting junk
foods to children.
The Advertising Standards Author-
ity said that cricket’s governing body
must take more care not to direct ad-
verts sponsored by products that were
high in fat, salt or sugar at children.
The ECB had sent an email promot-
ing its Hundred cricket tournament
sponsored by McCoy’s crisps to nearly
400 people under the age of 16 and used
Butterkist popcorn to promote the
event on Instagram. The watchdog
ruled that the two adverts must not
appear again.
The ruling follows controversy
around the ECB’s decision to let KP
Snacks sponsor the Hundred,
which is designed to encourage
young people to play the game.
Lord Stevens of Birming-
ham, the former head of NHS
England, said the deal would
undermine the fight against
childhood obesity by per-
suading children to eat
“junk food”.
KP Snacks said it
welcomed the ruling and
would work closely with the
ECB to “take on board the
recommendations.”Boy over the
moon with
rocket logo
Rhys Blakely Science CorrespondentA six-year-old boy from Bolton has won
a competition to design the logo that
will be displayed on the first rockets to
launch satellites from British soil.
Callum Wilkinson’s work is expected
to make its debut on a rocket that will
carry small satellites from Spaceport
Cornwall in Newquay this summer.
The launch window will open in late
June and may coincide with the
Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The mission by Sir Richard Branson’s
Virgin Orbit will be the first satellite
launch in Europe.
Callum said: “My design shows orbits
made of string and has pictures on to
show what the satellites are going to be
used for.” He added: “I went on the
internet and learnt loads of things
about satellites and climate change
and then the idea just burst into my
brain, and I planned it out on the
computer before making it.
I feel very proud of myself
and really, really on top of
the world.”
As well as seeing his
winning design on the rock-
et, the Space Agency will
invite Callum attend the
first launch from the UK.Asylum seeker’s
72 calls for help
before stabbings
An asylum seeker who stabbed six
people before being shot dead by police
had called the Home Office and
migrant support groups more than 70
times before the attack.
Badreddin Abadlla Adam, 28, was
one of hundreds of asylum seekers
moved into hotels in Glasgow at the
start of lockdown.
It is understood that he had contact-
ed the Home Office, the housing and
social care provider Mears and the
charity Migrant Help 72 times about his
health and accommodation in the
period leading up to the stabbings in
June 2020.
An internal Home Office evaluation
of the attack, seen by the BBC, said that
his calls “should have acted as a warn-
ing”. It also found that Adam had com-
plained to staff in the hotel and was in
touch with the Home Office about an
assisted voluntary return to his home
country, Sudan.
The review made various recom-
mendations, including developing a
system to identify patterns of contact
that may cause concern and ensuring
hotel staff are given “mental health
awareness and de-escalation training”.
A spokesman for the Home Office
said “significant” changes had since
been made.
During the attack at the Park Inn
hotel in Glasgow, Adam wounded three
asylum seekers and two members of
hotel staff before stabbing PC David
Whyte, 42, the first officer on the scene.
Refugees for Justice was one of many
organisations and charities that raisedconcerns at the time after Mears, which
was subcontracted by the Home Office,
moved refugees from self-contained
accommodation to hotels.
Dylan Fotoohi, of Refugees for Jus-
tice, told the BBC that the Home Office
review was a “shameful cover-up at-
tempt”. The group has been campaign-
ing for an independent public inquiry
into the Park Inn incident.
Fotoohi said: “Lessons have not been
learnt, there has been no meaningful
investigation, the biased evaluation re-
port by the Home Office has been kept
hidden, and they have now expanded
the exact same practice that led to this
tragedy in Glasgow to other cities in
Scotland. This is utterly unacceptable.”
A Home Office spokesman said:
“Due to the pandemic the Home Office
had to use an unprecedented number of
hotels for asylum seekers, including in
Glasgow. The use of hotels is unaccept-
able and we are working hard to find
appropriate accommodation for asy-
lum seekers but local authorities must
do all they can to help house people
permanently.
“Since this horrific incident we have
undertaken a number of significant
changes to keep asylum seekers safe, in-
cluding how we, our contractors and
charities spot vulnerable individuals
and provide them with wraparound
support and appropriate accommoda-
tion.
“Our New Plan for Immigration,
which is going through parliament
now, will fix the broken asylum system,
enabling us to grant protection to those
entitled to it and to remove those with
no right to be here more quickly.”Matt Dathan Home Affairs EditorCallum Wilkinson, six,
found inspiration onlineJASON BRYANT/APEX NEWSWoodland joy Bluebells are in bloom earlier than normal this year. Tabitha, eight, enjoyed them in Croscombe, Somerset