Africa-Press – Gambia. The Gambia has issued a warning to UK grandmothers to find toy-boys elsewhere.
The West African country has been known in recent years for its sexed-up reputation, where older British women would typically go on holiday in search of younger men.
But Gambian officials are putting a stop to this industry, having announced they want to end the habit of people heading to the country with the sole aim of ‘just sex’.
The director of the Gambia Tourism Board, Abubacarr S. Camara, said: “What we want is quality tourists.Tourists that come to enjoy the country and the culture, but not tourists that come just for sex.”
Camara explained that the former British colony aims to now move away from older female tourists in a bid to shift its reputation, which has previously been dubbed as a ‘real-life Tinder dream for geriatrics’ by some.
‘The Smiling Coast’ gained independence in 1965, with sex tourism making an increase in the 1990s after Thomas Cook launched budget tours and cheap flights to the destination.
Young sex workers, otherwise known by locals as ‘beach boys’, have long been spotted escorting older women out of clubs to spend the night together.Most Gambian men who do such work with older women in this way have been reportedly enticed into the industry by the lack of jobs and low wages in the country, where they can instead earn £200 for just one day of work – which equals a month’s salary.
They are said to search the white sand beaches for older women, who hail from the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany, as well as the UK.
A few of the encounters are arranged online before the women’s arrival, with the sex workers collecting them from the airport.
However, the tourism board in the country is hoping they can now attract higher-end tourists, millennials and those interested in ecotourism.The government is also thinking of introducing laws to make it easier for police to arrest local beach boys and older women engaged in sex work, in a bid to deter prostitution.
The minister of tourism and culture, Hamat Bah, echoed that The Gambia wanted to move away from nightlife to wildlife, noting that the country has more than 300 different species of tropical birds.
Meanwhile, the national coordinator at the Child Protection Alliance, Lamin Fatty, said that the British government should also step in to stop Brits from exploiting young boys in the area who become involved in the industry.
Lamin said: “The High Commission has shown some engagement. But it’s not only about engagement, we also need financial and technical assistance.
“There could be much better collaboration between both countries to put solutions in place.”
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence regarding the welfare of a child, contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000, 8am–10pm Monday to Friday, 9am–6pm weekends. If you are a child seeking advice and support, call Childline for free on 0800 111.As if flying couldn’t get any more chaotic, here’s something else to add to your checklist: check your bags.
Journalist and author Pandora Sykes says she wasn’t allowed to board because she had the wrong type of bag.
So, prepare to take notes because no one wants to hurl themselves to the airport three hours early only to find that the plane’s taking off without them and their annoying bag.
Pandora tweeted out saying: “Beware anyone being so foolish to fly easyjet – captain just refused to let us board our flights because our checked-in suitcases have USB ports (aka “smart bags”).
“EasyJet quietly changed their Ts&Cs a few weeks ago without telling their customers.”
We didn’t even know they made bags with USB ports, but it’s not like we’re going to buy one now after hearing this.
While one user asked Pandora if she’d done her due diligence, writing: “Did you remove the battery? There’s a list of things you’re not allowed to keep in your hold luggage and we tick the box to confirm we do not have these items so I guess the pilot was acting from a point of safety.”
Pandora replied saying that she didn’t see the change in the company’s terms and conditions: “No we didn’t realise they had changed their conditions (we’ve flown lots with these bags before).
“It just would have been decent to have a reminder at check in on the screen, or even get called before we get to the gate so we can remove it and still catch our flight!”For anyone wondering, easyJet’s terms and conditions state that for safety reasons a lithium battery or power banks need to be disconnected before flying.
This means that smart bag owners who are unable to disconnect the battery will be unable to fly with their luggage.
Ryanair also states that you must be able to remove the lithium battery before you put the bag in an overhead locker.
So, basically, leave your work at home and don’t take smart bags on your holiday.
British Airways has a similar policy, but adds that if you are able to remove the battery from your smart bag if the lithium battery is more than 160Wh or you do not know the Wh of the battery it will not be allowed on the flight.The money-saving expert has alerted users to a way to keep your Amazon subscription at a lower price after the retail giant announced plans to raise Prime subscription prices for the first time since 2014.
Customers should get ready for Thursday, 15 September, because Amazon is expected to hike up its prices by £1 a month.
While that might not sound like a lot, the yearly cost of Amazon Prime will go from £79 to £95, which would easily pay for your takeout this weekend.
And, with the cost of living crisis in full swing, we’ll take any help we can get.
So, what is Martin’s advice? Well, if you act quickly you might actually be able to lock in the lower Prime price for another year.
How? Well, as Martin explains: “if you currently pay monthly and you want to keep it, then the best thing you can do – provided you can afford it – is to convert now to the annual package and then you lock in at £79 for the next year, forestalling the rise.”
For anyone wondering how to switch from a monthly membership to an annual one, just log into your account, click ‘membership’, and then ‘see more plans’ pick the option you want, and you should be well on your way to saving money.
However, if you are already an annual subscriber, things become a little more tricky.These tactics, while helpful, will only stall the price hike for another year.
So, an important thing to consider now is, do you need Prime?
While the service offers you next-day delivery and priority deals, you only need one subscription per household.
So, double check that you haven’t got multiple accounts for one address, and if you do, it’s quick and free to cancel one of them.
If you’ve not yet used Prime’s services, you might be able to claim a full refund, with Amazon potentially offering partial refunds depending on what services you’ve usedDr Susan Hopkins, a chief medical adviser for the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), has warned more cases of monkeypox are being detected daily across the UK.
Dr Hopkins warned cases are predominantly being seen in people who identify as gay and bisexual and that the virus is spreading through community transmission.
The UKHSA has now confirmed 20 cases of the disease in the UK, but Dr Hopkins said updated figures will be released on Monday, 23 May.Speaking on BBC One’s Morning Show, as the Independent reports, Dr Hopkins said: “We are detecting more cases on a daily basis and I’d like to thank all of those people who are coming forward for testing.”
She added: “We are finding cases that have no identified contact with an individual from west Africa, which is what we’ve seen previously in this country.
“The community transmission is largely centred in urban areas and we are predominantly seeing it in individuals who self-identify as gay or bisexual, or other men who have sex with men.”
Dr Hopkins also recommended that anyone who is frequently changing sexual partners should visit a health centre if they have developed a rash.
While there is no ‘direct’ vaccine for the virus, Dr Hopkins did note that health officials are currently using a ‘third-generation smallpox vaccine’ on those who have come into contact with infected individuals. We’re not using it in the general population [but] in individuals who we believe are at high risk of developing symptoms,” she added.
The UKHSA is working with the NHS to determine exactly where and how the most recent cases acquired infections.
The disease was first found in monkeys and can be transmitted via close physical contact, spreading through bodily fluids or close face-to-face contact in breath droplets.
The first UK case is thought to have arrived when someone travelled over from Nigeria, but recent cases don’t have known connections to countries where monkeypox is endemic.
Connor Bamford, a virologist at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland, told LADbible last week that humans will often initially pick up the virus through contact with infected bodily fluids of rodents likes rats, mice and squirrels found across western and central Africa.
Bamford also said the general public ‘should not be too concerned’ given the relatively poor ability of the virus to spread from person to person, noting that there is about a 10% chance of onward spread.Travellers were on a flight from Luton Airport to Kaunas in Lithuania last week when a fellow passenger is said to have got very drunk.
He allegedly punched his own father and became aggressive with other passengers, so a group got together and attempted to restrain him.
In shocking footage that has been shared on social media, the man can be seen screaming at others in the cabin.
He shouts: “I don’t f*****g care who the f**k you are!”
Several men then manage to get hold of him, pulling him out of his seat.
The video was posted on TikTok along with the caption: “Citizens arrest mid-flight.”Since it was shared, the video has been viewed more than 968,000 times, with over 28,000 comments.
One user asked how people were allowed to get into this state, saying: “I don’t know why the sale of alcohol isn’t banned on flights anyway when some people act like this.”
While another put: “This is why they shouldn’t serve alcohol on planes.”
Praising the passengers for taking control of the situation, another commented: “Glad to see some strong peeps handle the situation.”
Olivia Skalska was one of the cabin crew on board the flight and said the man punched his own dad and injured another passenger.
Speaking to The Sun, she said: “He had his own alcohol and we didn’t notice it until half way through the flight.He refused to put it away and started arguing and getting rude to the cabin crew when we told him it’s not allowed.
“Then he started arguing with other passengers and got really aggressive.
“I was really scared so I tried to stay away from him, so I really didn’t get involved in the fight, but he punched his own dad and injured a passenger.”
A spokesperson for Ryanair told LADbible that the man involved in the altercation was taken in by police upon landing.
The airline said: “The crew of this flight from Luton to Kaunas (13 Aug) requested police assistance upon arrival after a passengers became disruptive in-flight.
“The aircraft landed normally and police removed and detained this individual passenger at Kaunas.
“This is now a matter for local police.”
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