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Tensions are “getting worse” a year after violent disorder spread across a city, an expert has said.

On 5 August 2024, a peaceful protest was “hijacked” by angry gangs who hurled bricks and bottles at crowds and officers. After the incident, 27 people were arrested and 24 people convicted – with the total number of combined sentences reaching 36 years.

Acting Supt Tom Cunningham, from Devon and Cornwall Police, described it as the “worst ever” disorder he has seen in his 28 years of policing.

Meanwhile, Regis Ntavuka, from the Plymouth & Devon racial equality council, said things are getting worse once again as propaganda continues to spread.

Remembering 2024’s disorder, Mr Ntavuka said there was a “difference on the day”.

“[There was] a different energy, even just walking through town people were making sure I got home safe – even the bus drivers stopped me to offer a lift.

“It was a boiling point, it was always going to happen – it was just a case of when,” he said.

He is now pushing harder than ever to reconnect the community.

“We feel that it is more necessary than ever now,” he said.

Reflecting on the potential of more disruption, he added: “In terms of the overall picture, I think it’s getting worse.

“I don’t think we should look at it as these people doing the riots are mindless idiots because propaganda can affect anyone.

“The power of language and propaganda is incredible,” he said.

Supt Cunningham said last year’s disorder broke out after two groups that wanted to peacefully protest came together, but unfortunately the event was “hijacked”.

“We will happily facilitate peaceful protests – however what we will not tolerate is people pushing that into violent disorder as we saw in Plymouth last year,” he said.

Despite the disorder, he was “really proud” of the way his officers dealt with the incident.

“They had bottles, bricks and everything else thrown at them on the night, but they brought back order to that disorder,” he said.

Midwifery students have spoken out about the uncertainty they feel as they face a shortage of job openings.

According to a survey by the Royal College of Midwives, more than eight out of 10 students due to qualify this year were “not confident” they would find a job once graduating.

Aimee Peach, a student midwife from Somerset in her final year, said: “We’re all finding it really difficult to secure positions. Last time we looked, there were five or so openings nationwide.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said student nurses and midwives were “our future workforce” and it was “unacceptable” they could not find jobs.

Ms Peach, from North Petherton, said she decided to do a midwifery degree because she loved supporting families during a “really formative time in their lives”.

“I really love watching those families blossom.

“I like to help parents make the right decisions by empowering them,” she added.

However, when she started her studies she said she quickly realised it would be more difficult than expected.

As part of the course, the students spend weeks working full-time in hospitals, while still paying for their degrees.

“It’s unpaid hours. There is student finance which does help but it doesn’t replace the loss of a wage. It’s really difficult,” Ms Peach said.

“I’m a responsible adult and have to contribute to the family household. We all have children and responsibilities, we’re juggling so much to be here,” she added.

Lucy Sheppard, a final-year student midwife from Nether Stowey in Somerset, had been working in maternity services and decided to take a midwifery course as she said it was suggested a job would be pretty much guaranteed.

But she said she was now accumulating thousands of pounds in student debt and struggling to find a job which would pay for it.

“If I knew this [when I started], I would have waited. But now it feels like I’ve done all this training, to then go back to something I was doing three years ago,” Ms Sheppard said.

Fiona Gibb, director at The Royal College of Midwives, said a need for more midwives was “widely acknowledged” and there had been “a failure to align workforce planning to the much-needed increase”.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “NHS England has set up a dedicated programme of work with employers, educators and trade unions to address this.

“We will revise the workforce plan later this year, to ensure the NHS has the right people in the right place, with the right skills to deliver the care patients need.”

A nurse received 23 fines for parking at the hospital where she works, despite paying monthly for a staff permit.

Mary Bates, from Rugby in Warwickshire, started receiving the multiple fines in June after new parking cameras were updated at Warwick Hospital.

“I got five parking fines through the post but after another five or six days I got another seven parking fines and in total at the moment we’re standing at 23 parking fines. They are £85 each,” she said.

Smart Parking, the firm that runs the car park, said the fines had been issued in error and had since been cancelled.

Staff at Warwick Hospital can pay for parking permits, which are deducted from their monthly wage and calculated based on their pay grade.

Ms Bates has been working at the hospital since 2019 and had no issues with the car park until now.

In a statement, South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are aware of the issue raised in relation to parking fines issued to a member of our staff.

“Our dedicated car parking team has been working with the individual and has investigated the matter thoroughly. Appropriate action is being taken to resolve it.”

“I emailed Smart Parking to say, look, I’ve got multiple, multiple parking fines, please can you sort this out? I do pay monthly and this is my car registration,” Ms Bates told the BBC.

“They emailed me back a generic email saying that, sorry, none of the parking fines can be discussed individually, so you will have to appeal for each one separately. So 23 appeals later, I’ve only got one cancelled so far.

“It’s more than a monthly wage of bills currently that’s stacked up and it’s getting towards the deadline so I’m hoping I don’t have to go to court. I have a job where I’ve got to put people back together literally every day and then I have to come back to this.”

In a statement, Smart Parking said: “Ms Bates is registered on the site and used the car park without issue on a number of occasions.

“We have recently changed some of technology at the site, and unfortunately this didn’t pick up that Ms Bates had already paid and so we issued some charges in error. We have now rectified the error in Ms Bates case and have written to her confirming all charges sent in error have been cancelled.”

It looks like a rave. It sounds like a rave. And it is a rave. But everyone here has one thing in common – they have all lost a loved one.

At the Southbank Centre in London on Sunday, people gathered for what is being called a “grief rave” – an event that combines music, movement and memory to help people process bereavement.

Millicent Blackwood attended in honour of her mother, who died almost four years ago.

“I grew up watching my mum dance in the kitchen when she was cooking Sunday roast,” she said.

“When I heard on the radio, there was this grief rave. What better way to represent my mum and celebrate her life.”

The grief rave was founded more than three years ago by Annie Frost Nicholson and Carlie Attridge.

“I lost a friend few years ago,” said Ms Attridge, who also founded The Loss Project, an organisation supporting people through grief.

“She was an old-school nineties raver, and I remember her every year by dancing to her favourite rave tune.”

She said they wanted to “create a space where people can express their own individual grief, but collectively join in and dance together”.

“It kind of creates a sense of joy and hope,” Ms Attridge added.

One feature of the event is the Fandango Discoteca, a small soundproof pod where visitors can be alone, choose a song that reminds them of someone they have lost, and grieve however they choose.

Emma Spearing lost her twin sister Charli more than a decade ago. She said spaces like this helped her keep her sister’s memory alive.

“I would say it’s taken me 10 years to find out who I am without being part of a pair, she told BBC London.

“So our relationship was very much like Batman and Robin. She was Batman and I was Robin.”

“The person that dies, they don’t leave us. Their story doesn’t end when they die. We keep writing their stories,” Ms Spearing added.

“And so by bringing your person and listening to their music again. Just allowing that little seed of who they are to just grow and influence the people around you.

“I think that’s what this space allows as well. It’s about celebrating that person.”