label
stringlengths 5
984
| text
stringlengths 76
235k
|
|---|---|
A road through a Worcestershire village was blocked when a mobile home too big for the lane got stuck. | Road users were advised to avoid Batemans Lane, Wythall, in the Bromsgrove area, after the home made the lane impassable shortly before 16:00 BST.
PC Si Albutt, of West Mercia Police, said the home owners were "in the process of a second idea".
On Twitter, one user asked if the blockage "had planning permission".
Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.
Related Internet Links
West Mercia Police
|
A 34-year-old man has been charged in connection with a disturbance in the reception at Aberdeen city council's headquarters. | Police were called to Marischal College shortly after 09:00.
A spokesman confirmed the man will appear at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Thursday.
The council said the reception and customer service centre were closed for a short time while police dealt with the situation.
A spokesman said: "This was an isolated incident which could not have been foreseen.
"The appropriate support has been put in place for staff affected by the incident. Their wellbeing is our prime concern meantime."
|
Jeremy Corbyn has outlined Labour's five demands for supporting a Brexit deal in a letter to the prime minister. But Labour MPs campaigning for another referendum are not happy and some are considering leaving the party. | By Iain WatsonPolitical correspondent, BBC News
What's missing from Jeremy Corbyn's Brexit demands is as important as their content.
While his office insists that his basis for a deal represents the "practical application" of Labour's six tests, it is significant that there is no mention of this one: Does it deliver the "exact same benefits" as we currently have as members of the Single Market and Customs Union?
This was a test which Labour believed could not be met and cheekily played back to the - then Brexit Secretary - David Davis, his own words.
Its purpose was to give Labour cover to vote down any Conservative deal while "respecting" the result of the referendum.
Its absence now is designed to signify that Labour is serious about a deal.
On one level, it is astute politics.
EU negotiators have signalled their willingness to have a "closer relationship" with the UK than the May deal would allow.
And that they are willing to be more flexible if a proposal could command a solid majority in Parliament.
Win-win-win?
Politically, the Labour leadership believe they have a "win, win, win" scenario.
Win: They appear reasonable but Theresa May won't play ball for fear of sacrificing her party's unity on the altar of a customs union. She is potentially blamed by voters if Brexit goes badly.
Win: Theresa May accepts their customs union proposal - and splits her party.
Win: While pushing this option, any talk of a "public vote" is put off. It's party policy to keep the referendum option on the table, but it's teetering at the edge.
Read more here about the resistance to this option among some at the top of the party
But by expressing a willingness to do a Brexit deal, those Labour MPs campaigning for a 'People's Vote' are expressing, at the very least, their dismay. And some are going further.
Former party leadership challenger Owen Smith - a strong supporter of EU membership who was sacked from the front bench for supporting another referendum - has told the BBC he is considering his future in the party.
And a handful of others are considering when, or if, to resign the Labour whip.
Some on the left of the party will say good riddance to people they see as "centrists" or "Blairites/Brownites".
But the left-wing campaign group Another Europe Is Possible - led by a member of Momentum - is pushing emergency motions to Labour constituencies urging MPs to vote down any Brexit deal which Theresa May supports.
Michael Chessum, from the group, told me recently that the morale of young pro-EU activists is waning because the party leadership has not been outspoken enough against Brexit and has suggested the whole Corbyn project - putting power in the hands of members - was in danger.
That said, some non-Corbynista Labour MPs who back "Norway Plus" - single market participation and a customs union - have welcomed the leadership's stance.
As Labour's offer to the prime minister is presented as a serious offer, its terms will come under increasing scrutiny.
In particular, that as part of a customs union the UK would get a say over EU trade deals.
That would, in effect, mean a non-member state would have more influence over the EU's future trading relationships than any one member state currently has.
Labour supporters of the People's Vote campaign regard this as the equivalent of a herd of unicorns and are pressing for Labour to put this forward as an amendment in next Thursday's parliamentary votes - in the hope it's defeated.
The campaign itself has issued five questions on Labour's letter, suggesting Brussels won't buy it.
One frontbencher - Matthew Pennycook - has suggested the party must move to support a referendum, if Labour's new offer isn't accepted.
And his boss, Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer, has had to reassure concerned Labour members that Thursday's offer to the prime minister does not rule out the option of another referendum - and that Jeremy Corbyn will be writing another letter, spelling this out.
So the Brexit Rule applies to Labour as well as to the government: Every Solution Brings A Problem.
|
MPs have backed government plans for £12bn in welfare cuts, but acting Labour leader Harriet Harman suffered a significant rebellion in the vote. | The Commons backed the Welfare Reform and Work Bill by 308 to 124 votes.
Forty-eight Labour MPs defied orders to abstain and instead voted against the bill, which includes plans to limit child tax credit to two children.
Rebels included leadership hopeful Jeremy Corbyn and London mayoral candidates Sadiq Khan and David Lammy.
Of the 53 Labour MPs first elected to Parliament in May, 18 opposed the bill.
During a five-hour debate, Labour MP John McDonnell said he would "swim through vomit" to oppose the legislation.
However, a Labour amendment seeking to derail the legislation was defeated by 308 votes to 208.
Ms Harman has faced criticism for her stance, with many MPs saying she should have been more outspoken in her opposition to curbs on child tax credits and cuts to other in-work benefits.
Mr Corbyn's three Labour leadership rivals - Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall - followed Ms Harman's lead and abstained.
Reacting to the vote, Labour MP Diane Abbott tweeted: "Just voted against Tory welfare bill. Sorry for colleagues who knew it was wrong but abstained. We weren't sent to Parliament to abstain."
Conservative MP and chief secretary to the Treasury Greg Hands tweeted: "47 Labour rebels on welfare tonight. Huge. Biggest Labour rebellion for some time. Leadership crisis without actually having a Leader!"
BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith said things could not be much worse for Labour, with a fifth of the party openly defying the leadership and many more "deeply unhappy".
He told BBC Radio Four's Today programme the split ran "right up through the party, to the shadow cabinet".
The vote showed about half of the new intake were "well to the left of the mainstream", which tells us that the gravitational pull of the party is not back to the centre, but to the left, he added.
He said one of Ms Harman's aides had told him that whoever takes over as party leader has a "hell of a job on their hands".
'Nauseating'
But Mr Corbyn said the revolt had "strengthened" Labour's position against the Conservatives.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme society ought to be "deeply concerned" about child poverty and deprivation levels.
Former Labour Home Secretary David Blunkett, who also served as work and pensions secretary, said the party was in "emotional trauma", and was "not debating enough about where we go from here".
"Last night again focused on us being divided," he said, adding that the Welfare Bill was "clearly not a moment for setting out the alternative".
MPs who won their seats in May were "very lucky" and should ask themselves "why others didn't", he added.
Analysis by Ross Hawkins, BBC political correspondent
First Harriet Harman took a stand - saying Labour had to wake up and listen to voters on welfare.
Then she compromised - tabling an amendment designed to sidestep a row. And then almost 50 rebels ignored her instructions.
Were she Labour's permanent leader, her authority would be in tatters.
But it's not about her; she'll be gone by the autumn.
The real question is: could any of her would-be successors persuade the party that welfare must be reformed now?
Would they want, or dare, to try?
Read Ross's analysis in full
The bill, which also seeks to lower the overall household benefit cap from £26,000 a year to £20,000 outside of London, and £23,000 in London, as well as to train a further three million apprentices, has now cleared its first parliamentary hurdle and will move on to more detailed scrutiny.
In a passionate debate, Conservative MPs lined up to support the measures.
As well as Labour MPs who did not support the bill, it was opposed by the SNP, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Greens.
Mr McDonnell said: "I would swim through vomit to vote against this bill and listening to some of the nauseating speeches tonight I think we might have to.
"Poverty in my constituency is not a lifestyle choice, it is imposed upon people.
"We hear lots about how high the welfare bill is, let's understand why that's the case.
"The housing benefit bill is so high because for generations we've failed to build council houses, we've failed to control rents, we've done nothing about the 300,000 properties that stand empty in this country."
SNP employment spokeswoman Hannah Bardell said it was "disgraceful" that Labour had not joined her party in opposing the bill.
"Labour had the perfect opportunity to join the SNP in a progressive coalition to oppose the Tories - but with some honourable exceptions they sat on their hands," she said.
On Twitter, SNP MP Pete Wishart said it was "apparent" that Labour and the SNP together could have defeated the bill.
Tim Farron, in his first Commons speech as Liberal Democrat leader, said his party was voting against the "unfair, unwise and inhuman" proposals.
Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith said Labour was beset by "internal fear and loathing" and that the bill would put welfare funding on a "more sustainable footing" while protecting those most in need.
Speaking after the vote, he said: "Nearly 50 Labour MPs have defied their leadership and opposed our welfare reforms which will move our country from a low wage, high tax and high welfare economy to a higher wage, lower tax and lower welfare society.
"It's clear that Labour are still the same old anti-worker party - just offering more welfare, more borrowing and more taxes."
MPs who voted against the bill
Abbott, Diane - Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington
Abrahams, Debbie - Labour MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth
Ahmed-Sheikh, Tasmina - SNP MP for Ochil and South Perthshire
Anderson, David - Labour MP for Blaydon
Arkless, Richard - SNP MP for Dumfries and Galloway
Bardell, Hannah - SNP MP for Livingston
Black, Mhairi - SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South
Blackford, Ian - SNP MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber
Blackman, Kirsty - SNP MP for Aberdeen North
Boswell, Philip - SNP MP for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill
Brake, Tom - Lib Dem MP for Carshalton and Wallington
Brock, Deidre - SNP MP for Edinburgh North and Leith
Brown, Alan - SNP MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun
Burgon, Richard - Labour MP for Leeds East
Butler, Dawn - Labour MP for Brent Central
Cameron, Dr Lisa - SNP MP for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow
Campbell, Gregory - DUP MP for East Londonderry
Carmichael, Alistair - Lib Dem MP for Orkney and Shetland
Chapman, Douglas - SNP MP for Dunfermline and West Fife
Cherry, Joanna - SNP MP for Edinburgh South West
Clegg, Nick - Lib Dem MP for Sheffield Hallam
Clwyd, Ann - Labour MP for Cynon Valley
Corbyn, Jeremy - Labour MP for Islington North
Cowan, Ronnie - SNP MP for Inverclyde
Crawley, Angela - SNP MP for Lanark and Hamilton East
Davies, Geraint - Labour MP for Swansea West
Day, Martyn - SNP MP for Linlithgow and East Falkirk
Docherty, Martin John - SNP MP for West Dunbartonshire
Dodds, Nigel - DUP MP for Belfast North
Donaldson, Jeffrey M - DUP MP for Lagan Valley
Donaldson, Stuart - SNP MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
Dowd, Peter - Labour MP for Bootle
Durkan, Mark - SDLP MP for Foyle
Edwards, Jonathan - Plaid Cymru MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr
Farron, Tim - Lib Dem MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale
Fellows, Marion - SNP MP for Motherwell and Wishaw
Ferrier, Margaret - SNP MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West
Flynn, Paul - Labour MP for Newport West
Gethins, Stephen - SNP MP for North East Fife
Gibson, Patricia - SNP MP for North Ayrshire and Arran
Glindon, Mary - Labour MP for North Tyneside
Godsiff, Roger - Labour MP for Birmingham, Hall Green
Goodman, Helen - Labour MP for Bishop Auckland
Grady, Patrick - SNP MP for Glasgow North
Grant, Peter - SNP MP for Glenrothes
Gray, Neil - SNP MP for Airdrie and Shotts
Greenwood, Margaret - Labour MP for Wirral West
Haigh, Louise - Labour MP for Sheffield, Heeley
Harris, Carolyn - Labour MP for Swansea East
Hayman, Sue - Labour MP for Workington
Hendry, Drew - SNP MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
Hosie, Stewart - SNP MP for Dundee East
Hussain, Imran - Labour MP for Bradford East
Jones, Gerald - Labour MP for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney
Jones, Helen - Labour MP for Warrington North
Kaufman, Sir Gerald - Labour MP for Manchester Gorton
Kerevan, George - SNP MP for East Lothian
Kerr, Calum - SNP MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
Khan, Sadiq - Labour MP for Tooting
Kinahan, Danny - UUP MP for South Antrim
Lamb, Norman - Lib Dem MP for North Norfolk
Lammy, David - Labour MP for Tottenham
Lavery, Ian - Labour MP for Wansbeck
Law, Chris - SNP MP for Dundee West
Lewis, Clive - Labour MP for Norwich South
Long Bailey, Rebecca - Labour MP for Salford and Eccles
Lucas, Caroline - Green MP for Brighton, Pavilion
MacNeil, Angus Brendan - SNP MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar
Marris, Rob - Labour MP for Wolverhampton South West
Maskell, Rachael - Labour MP for York Central
Mc Nally, John - SNP MP for Falkirk
McCaig, Callum - SNP MP for Aberdeen South
McDonald, Andy - Labour MP for Middlesbrough
McDonald, Stewart - SNP MP for Glasgow South
McDonald, Stuart C - SNP MP for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East
McDonnell, Dr Alasdair - SDLP MP for Belfast South
McDonnell, John - Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington
McGarry, Natalie - SNP MP for Glasgow East
McInnes, Liz - Labour MP for Heywood and Middleton
McLaughlin, Anne - SNP MP for Glasgow North East
Meacher, Michael - Labour MP for Oldham West and Royton
Mearns, Ian - Labour MP for Gateshead
Monaghan, Carol - SNP MP for Glasgow North West
Monaghan, Dr Paul - SNP MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
Moon, Madeleine - Labour MP for Bridgend
Morris, Grahame M - Labour MP for Easington
Mulholland, Greg - Lib Dem MP for Leeds North West
Mullin, Roger - SNP MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath
Newlands, Gavin - SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North
Nicolson, John - SNP MP for East Dunbartonshire
O'Hara, Brendan - SNP MP for Argyll and Bute
Osamor, Kate - Labour MP for Edmonton
Oswald, Kirsten - SNP MP for East Renfrewshire
Paisley, Ian - DUP MP for North Antrim
Paterson, Steven - SNP MP for Stirling
Pearce, Teresa - Labour MP for Erith and Thamesmead
Pugh, John - Lib Dem MP for Southport
Rimmer, Marie - Labour MP for St Helens South and Whiston
Ritchie, Margaret - SDLP MP for South Down
Robertson, Angus - SNP MP for Moray
Salmond, Alex - SNP MP for Gordon
Saville Roberts, Liz - Plaid Cymru MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd
Shannon, Jim - DUP MP for Strangford
Sheppard, Tommy - SNP MP for Edinburgh East
Sherriff, Paula - Labour MP for Dewsbury
Siddiq, Tulip - Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn
Skinner, Dennis - Labour MP for Bolsover
Smith, Cat - Labour MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood
Stephens, Chris - SNP MP for Glasgow South West
Stevens, Jo - Labour MP for Cardiff Central
Stringer, Graham - Labour MP for Blackley and Broughton
Thewliss, Alison - SNP MP for Glasgow Central
Thomson, Michelle - SNP MP for Edinburgh West
Weir, Mike - SNP MP for Angus
Whiteford, Dr Eilidh - SNP MP for Banff and Buchan
Whitford, Dr Philippa - SNP MP for Central Ayrshire
Williams, Hywel - Plaid Cymru MP for Argon
Williams, Mr Mark - Lib Dem MP for Ceredigion
Wilson, Corri - SNP MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock
Wilson, Sammy - DUP MP for East Antrim
Winnick, David - Labour MP for Walsall North
Wishart, Pete - SNP MP for Perth and North Perthshire
Wright, Iain - Labour MP for Hartlepool
Zeichner, Daniel - Labour MP for Cambridge
|
Strictly Come Dancing winner Kara Tointon is to make her West End debut after being cast as Eliza Doolittle in George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. | Rupert Everett will co-star as Professor Henry Higgins, who tries to transform the Cockney flower girl in a bid to pass her off as a society lady.
Everett is reprising the role after playing Higgins at the Chichester Festival Theatre last year.
The play will open at the Garrick Theatre on 12 May.
Peter Eyre will reprise the role of Colonel Pickering, phonetics professor Higgins' friend with whom he makes the bet to transform Dolittle.
The new West End production will run until 3 September.
Tointon, who played Albert Square's Dawn Swann for four years, recently hiked across the Kaisut Desert in Kenya to raise money for Comic Relief.
|
"Did you see me at Comic Con?!" | That's the question Lupita Nyong'o asked her Twitter followers last night after she'd appeared on the panel for her new film.
But they probably weren't expecting her to reveal herself as the pink Power Ranger who'd been running around the San Diego convention last week.
She posted a video of herself dancing and posing with other fans, who had no idea that they were actually meeting a Hollywood actress.
Watch the video of Lupita Nyong'o at Comic Con.
The 34-year-old is the latest in a long line of stars to attend the world famous event in cosplay.
Given Comic Con is a huge gathering of superfans from around the globe, it's the only way celebrities can get around without being swamped.
And given Lupita Nyong'o is in Star Wars and the new Marvel film Black Panther, she's likely to be top of people's selfie lists.
She even managed to track down a figurine of Maz Kanata, her character in Star Wars.
Fan Cat Staggs passed by Lupita Nyong'o without even knowing.
Carrington J Tatum imagins what it would be like to "have Lupita Nyong'o unmask herself" to you.
Meanwhile, Noah J Nelson says that this disguise will become "iconic".
In 2013, Breaking bad actor Bryan Cranston decided to conceal his identity with a mask - of his own face.
The same year, Doctor Who star Matt Smith disguised himself as Bart Simpson to avoid being recognised.
Matt Smith also put on an American accent to cover his identity.
A year later, Maisie Williams donned a Spider-Man mask to blend in with the other cosplayers.
Maisie Williams reveled her identity on Instagram.
And in 2015, Ryan Reynolds went with a Star Wars theme for his disguise.
Ryan Reynolds claimed he donned the mask because he was late for his panel.
Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat
|
A man has been charged with conspiracy to steal following the theft of a double cash machine from an Antrim supermarket. | Police received a report a digger had been used to steal the two cash machines from Tesco Extra in the town centre at about 03:00 GMT on Friday.
The machines were recovered a few miles away from the supermarket about 30 minutes later.
The 26-year-old is due to appear at Coleraine Magistrates' Court on Monday.
|
The Scottish government has turned to crowdsourcing to come up with ideas to ease the coronavirus lockdown, setting up a website inviting people to debate the way forward. Are any of the ideas any good, and will they make any difference? | By Philip SimBBC Scotland News
What is it?
The website is essentially a combination of the Scottish government's consultation hub and a social network like Facebook.
People can post their ideas for lifting lockdown, and rate and comment on other people's ideas. Thousands of ideas have been posted, some of them attracting hundreds of comments.
Obviously this is a self-selecting survey of people who are willing to sign up to a government consultation, and can't be treated like a true opinion poll.
But it still provides a fascinating insight into what people are thinking and feeling about lockdown - and the future.
Priorities
Some ideas noticeably come up time and time again, sketching out a picture of which aspects of normal life people are really missing - or perhaps what they think could realistically be brought back.
There have been scores of posts asking for golf courses to be re-opened, with hundreds of supportive replies. It's impossible to scroll through the forum without stumbling across several of them, teeing off the same debate again. People seem to really like golf, or at least think this could be an easy restriction to lift.
Outdoor exercise is a popular topic, with suggestions ranging from hill-walking to sailing and even croquet ("there are normally no spectators") - but debate over indoor exercise is far more heated.
There are personal trainers highlighting the physical and mental health benefits of letting people make the "personal decision" to go back into gyms - possibly with some kind of booking system to keep numbers under control - but plenty of replies from people calling it "madness" to encourage "hot sweaty bodies in an enclosed environment".
Boozers are also a topic of fierce debate. One user suggested a "pub lottery system" where people could win a chance to visit their local (an idea with an average rating of one star). Practical ideas abound - from "plastic partitions at bar keeping your neighbouring drinker safe" to having outdoor portable toilets "with queues 2m apart".
However there has been scepticism from some about the effectiveness of "drunken social distancing". One pub owner posted to say "I cannot see a safe way to reopen pubs this year, or a financially viable way to do this - so please do not consider reopening pubs unless there are major breakthroughs".
Another common battleground is the humble pavement. A number of users - clearly tired of crossing the street every time they see another person approaching - have called for "one-way pavements" or a full-on "Highway Code" for footpaths.
Dog grooming is also a hot topic. Somehow, there have been more calls for pooches to be allowed a haircut than for their owners.
In fact one (human) salon owner actually posted a "completely terrified" plea for their business to remain closed, saying "to risk the welfare of salon staff for this level of non-essential vanity seems wild to many of us".
A place to vent
As well as finding out what people's priorities are for returning to a semblance of normality, the website has provided a peek at the things folk have been finding most irritating about lockdown.
Passive-aggressive posts about pavement use are common. Pedestrians use the site to complain about joggers; joggers use it to complain about cyclists; cyclists use it to complain about motorists.
Some people are clearly itching to have the authorities crack down on their neighbours. One user, titled "Mummykins", asked for the police to set up "an online form for reporting clear breaches of the lockdown rules".
There is also clear frustration at the idea of carving up society into groups - particularly from the over-70s, many of whom rankle at being "lumped in with frail 95 year olds" and would like to go hill-walking.
But despite the obvious frustration, it is striking how many of the posts balance this with understanding. There are many, many posts advocating maintaining the lockdown until it is absolutely safe to lift it. This is a complex, nuanced thing - and seeing that people grasp that might be a vindication of Nicola Sturgeon's "treat people like adults" approach.
Genuine emotion
It can be easy to bring a cynical attitude to these exercises, and presume that the site is either a talking shop which will be roundly ignored by ministers or a sort of weird ideas generator. But this flinty outlook can be hard to maintain when you read through some of the genuine anguish being expressed by users.
Grandparents pleading to be allowed to hug their grandchildren again, or even just see them outside of a video screen.
Couples who live apart asking when they might be able to be reunited.
Pregnant women asking if their partner will be allowed to visit them in hospital after the birth.
All of the big moments from life are mentioned in there somewhere - moving house, getting married, attending funerals.
Even if none of the ideas put forward are embraced, getting the reality of these feelings across to those making the decisions could be a genuinely significant thing.
Trolling
As the site effectively amounts to a social network of sorts, inevitably some people have set about "trolling", posting political rants or deliberately absurd suggestions.
There have been some clearly tongue-in-cheek proposals about "welding people into their flats" and posting armed guards at supermarkets. It seems possible that the "staceyb" who posted a rant about "mandatory state re-education" for the "young whippersnappers gallivanting around" is not in fact a real 83-year-old.
People have also found space to have political rows about closing borders and which government should be calling the shots, which appear to be mandatory on Scottish social media.
It is however notable - possibly just compared to other social networks like Twitter and Facebook, but still - how seriously people are taking this. There is very active moderation to root out bad actors, but the ratio of serious posts to silly ones is still encouragingly grown-up.
Will it make a difference?
When she launched the forum, Nicola Sturgeon said the pandemic had prompted "remarkable examples of our society's ingenuity, compassion and kindness", saying "your views are key" to informing policy-making.
However it's fair to say nobody thought the website was going to come up with the slam-dunk idea that would change the course of the crisis. Nobody was expecting a "Eureka!" moment where a printout was slapped on to the first minister's desk as the nation fell in behind BigStevie99's brainwave.
But that isn't to say the website can't be useful. It's effectively created a sort of national diary, a snapshot about how Scots are coping with lockdown.
It's also turned what might have been a top-down government decision into something more akin to a debate. Perhaps not a truly democratic one - don't expect an overnight count of the votes cast on the website - but one that people feel engaged with nonetheless.
Psychologists say creating a "we're all in this together" atmosphere is by far the best way to maintain compliance with lockdown and bring people along with the government's strategy. And somehow, letting them argue about golf on the internet could ultimately play a little part in that.
|
This week sees the release of Steve McQueen's film Shame, which focuses on sex addiction, but what is it really like to be a sex addict? At the age of 27, comedian Jeff Leach has slept with more than 300 women and wants to confront his problem. | I am a ladies' man and to be honest a pretty successful one, sometimes sleeping with women at a rate of more than 10 a week, but now I am on a mission to change.
I want to see if I can handle a committed relationship. I need to find out where I have been going wrong.
Seeing every single woman as a potential sexual adventure makes me miserable, tires me out and leaves me feeling vacuous and shallow, and ultimately very lonely.
Now I am getting towards 30, my friends are settling down and I realise I cannot go on like this forever. It's said the average British man has had 13 sexual partners and women have had just seven. I am pretty much off the scale.
The realisation I have had is that my attitude to sex is just not normal. Having already conquered the majority of problematic aspects of my existence pertaining to my addictive nature - my drink and drug follies - this seems to be the final hurdle that needs to be faced.
I don't want to die on my own and I also want to be a dad. To find out more about myself, I spoke to ex-lovers to try to understand why I can't be a one-woman man.
Sleeping with more than 300 women meant a lot of phone calls, emails, Facebook and Twitter messages. Ex-girlfriends, ex-lovers, ex-"one night stands" came back with positive messages of support and a genuine desire to help me with my journey.
My ex-girlfriend Nicola did call me self-centred.
"You were very selfish, you made me very uncomfortable on many occasions. Jeff did what Jeff wanted to do," says Nicola.
Claire, who was my longest relationship, told me she was always afraid of running the risk of being hurt.
"I didn't think you'd be able to be a good boyfriend. I didn't want to be in a relationship with you. I don't think I'd be able to satisfy you as a girlfriend and keep your attention. And also, if you cheated on me, it would destroy me," says Claire.
That was upsetting. How many opportunities have I had like that in the past, where women have thought "rather than tell him that I like him to that extent, I'd rather push him away to protect myself?"
My ex-girlfriend - also called Clare - said that I failed to show a vulnerable side. I have a fear of being hurt like I was by my first love. But how do I allow myself to be vulnerable?
By limiting my time with individual lovers, by seeing a girl for one night and then making her feel like she's my world and then not seeing her for two or three weeks, I am allowed to distance myself.
When I went to see Paula Hall, a sexual and relationship psychotherapist, she explained the signs.
"Sex addiction is any sexual behaviour that feels out of control. If you are acting out in a sexual way and you don't really know what you are getting out of it any more, you don't really know why you're doing it, you're quite often regretting that you've done it again but you keep on doing it, then you are probably an addict.
"You have to learn to love yourself and live in your own company."
I remember being very happy with my family as a child, going on holiday and my dad putting me on his shoulders and my parents getting along. Then, from seven or eight years old, all I can remember is them arguing.
I wonder whether there is an element of me that thinks: "I have seen how miserable some committed relationship can be so I do not want to put myself through that."
Hall believes that a lot of my sexual behaviour might actually be "intimacy regulation".
"You use it to keep out of a relationship. By continually having multiple relationships you are not putting all your eggs in one basket," says Hall.
"I suspect that at the root of your addiction is that little boy who has still not had a chance to have his feelings and needs to be heard. You will continue to drown out your fears with alcohol, drugs or sex until you face them."
What I am learning is that the lifestyle I have been leading has a limited shelf-life. I want women to think "yes he is a sexual entity but his adventurous nature doesn't come in the way of him being a decent bloke who is capable of loving and being loved".
I have realised that, until I am happy with myself and I love myself, that's not going to be possible, so I am going to get on and do that.
It proved to be a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. Delving into childhood issues with a psychotherapist and letting a score of jilted exes point out where I'd gone wrong certainly made me very depressed.
But the process has given me a new lease of life with regard to my control over my sexual desires and established renewed friendships with women.
I am on a path of understanding as to why I am the way I am and why I feel the unusual desires that I often experience as an addict.
And so I may never be cured of my ailment - and, believe me, it is an ailment - but I can now look myself in the eye and know that I have the courage to try to change my situation for the better.
|
As we approach Bitcoin's 10th anniversary at the end of this month, we ask whether blockchain - the technology underpinning the cryptocurrency - is fulfilling its promise, or a tech still looking for a better reason to exist. | By Tom EspinerTechnology of Business reporter
There have been some very grandiose claims made about blockchain.
Some say it could help solve the Irish border issue currently bedevilling Brexit negotiations, or enable people to find love, or even end world poverty.
A daily barrage of press releases claim it will "revolutionise" business.
But what's the reality? Well, let's start with the basics.
What is blockchain?
At its heart, blockchain is a relatively straightforward concept. It is a ledger of blocks of information, such as transactions or agreements, that are stored across a network of computers.
This information is stored chronologically, can be viewed by a community of users, and is not usually managed by a central authority such as a bank or a government. Once published, the information in a certain block can't be changed.
If people try to tamper with that information, it becomes obvious.
This is a powerful concept. Ten years ago, blockchain was combined with other technologies to create cryptocurrencies, and the first blockchain-based cryptocurrency was Bitcoin.
So why all the hype?
David Gerard, author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain, blames the hype on the cryptocurrency gold rush that has seen billions flow into the hundreds of digital currencies now on the market.
"The reason people followed this stuff is because of the promise that you can get rich for free. That's a very powerful promise," he says.
"This is why we have Bitcoin mining wasting a whole country's electricity."
Tech vendors and consultants have fanned the flames, trying to cash in on the mania, Mr Gerard believes.
"It's magic beans," he says. "But it turns out magic doesn't happen.
"All the people selling magical flying unicorn ponies, and writing in detail about the measurements of the wing feathers, are ignoring that unicorns don't exist."
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (Nist) warned in a recent paper, that: "There is hype around the use of blockchain technology, yet the technology is not well understood.
"It is not magical; it will not solve all problems. As with all new technology, there is a tendency to want to apply it to every sector in every way imaginable."
How can blockchain be used?
Gartner analyst Rajesh Kandaswamy says that even though speculators mostly see blockchain as "a mechanism to make money, that doesn't invalidate the technology".
The ability for two parties to interact without a middleman is a "fascinating concept".
Smart contracts - self-executing agreements between buyers and sellers recorded on a blockchain - are "really powerful", he says, as is the idea of a decentralised digital identity.
It would mean that rather than storing personal details with one firm such as Facebook, users would be able to store their encrypted details over a network.
"There are so many possibilities. We haven't even scratched the surface yet," Mr Kandaswamy adds.
Who is using it then?
Few firms have fully embraced blockchain, according to consultancy Capgemini.
In a recent survey of firms looking to use the tech, 3% had large-scale use, 10% were piloting it, while 87% had only tested blockchain proofs of concept.
Perhaps the best-known start-up using it is Ripple, the payment settling system and currency exchange proving popular with financial institutions around the world, including Bank of America and Santander.
And there is a lot of interest among the very biggest companies.
More Technology of Business
For example, IBM is working with US retail giant Walmart to track food through its global supply chain, and with shipping company Maersk on developing a platform for the container shipping industry.
"We're still in the early days in terms of technology," admits Marie Wieck, general manager for IBM Blockchain.
While some firms are still what IBM would describe as "blockchain tourists", and are not completely sure how they can use the technology, others are further advanced in their plans, she says.
The firm is also looking at how blockchain can be used in trade finance and banking.
There is also huge interest in the tech in Asia, says Mr Kandaswamy.
Chinese retail giant Alibaba is using blockchain with its subsidiary payment platform Alipay, while fellow e-commerce titan JD.com is selling blockchain services to other firms.
And media conglomerate Tencent was part of a group that set up a blockchain security alliance, according to the China News Service.
Why the scepticism?
Blockchain is quite slow and energy hungry, critics say, making it difficult to scale up. And its distributed, uneditable, anonymous nature seems to create as many problems as it seeks to solve.
"Peer-to-peer transfer systems that cut out middlemen were born from libertarianism, and are almost anarchic in their nature," says Robert Zapfel, technical director of iov42, a platform aiming to "deliver on the promise of blockchain" by making all the competing technologies interoperable.
"You don't know what will happen to them tomorrow. And who serves the 98% in the middle?"
But mostly the scepticism is born from a "disconnect between the hype and the reality" of a tech still in its very early stages, says Mr Kandaswamy.
"The claim is that it is transforming industry. It is not. It's another way to sell new services that vendors are pushing a lot," he says.
But "blockchain has a lot of believers".
|
Today's figures showing a 20% annual increase in recorded rapes and a 17% rise in sexual offences reported to police in England and Wales may seem like evidence of a horrifying social trend. But perversely, the statistics are actually a cause for optimism. | Mark EastonHome editor@BBCMarkEastonon Twitter
Survey data and academic research has long indicated that the criminal justice system was identifying only a fraction of the sex crimes being committed. Most victims were suffering in silence.
"Sex offences" is probably the most damaging crime category of all. The effects are likely to be psychologically devastating for years, sometimes a lifetime. People usually recover quite quickly from a burglary, theft or even a mugging. But rape and sexual abuse offences have a long, grim tail.
Police and prosecutors have put great effort into encouraging victims to come forward - the belief being that a trusted state justice system is an effective tool in reducing the profound harm caused by sexual crime of all kinds.
That is why the revelation, buried within today's crime figures, that last year police recorded more than 1,000 incidents of rape against boys younger than 13, may be regarded as a welcome development. It is an increase of 54% on the previous year and more than double the number identified in any year before 2009.
There were more than 2,700 recorded rapes against girls under 13 - a rise of 25% on the previous 12 months and the highest ever recorded. This is evidence not of a more brutal society, but arguably a more sympathetic one.
Some of this increase is a consequence of what has been described as the "Jimmy Savile effect". Police launched their Operation Yewtree inquiry in October 2012, encouraging victims of Savile and others to come forward and report sexual offences.
The scandal also saw the Crown Prosecution Service change its guidance on the weight given to testimony from alleged victims. "The days of the model victim are over," the then Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer announced. "From now on these cases will be investigated and prosecuted differently, whatever the vulnerabilities of the victim."
Police and other agencies signed up to a joint protocol designed to make it less traumatic for the victims of sex crimes to tell their stories, whenever the alleged offence was committed.
But only half of the 17% increase in recorded sexual offences in England and Wales is related to historical allegations. The other half reflects crimes allegedly committed in the last year. Other evidence suggests non-historical cases may represent 70% of the rise. The trend is more than just the result of lifting old stones.
As well as being encouraged to take allegations more seriously, police officers also had their wrists slapped recently for the way they record sexual offences reported to them - specifically suggestions that victims have had their reports of rapes and sexual assaults inappropriately "no-crimed" or ignored. The Metropolitan Police are currently reviewing their processes.
There was also new Home Office guidance issued in April 2010 on how police forces in England and Wales should record sexual offences - changes which, it is believed, may have seen greater identification of such crime.
There will be some who worry that this new focus on the victims of sex crime will inspire a wave of bogus allegations, with reputations unfairly but terminally shredded, irrespective of the outcome in a courtroom.
The acquittals of soap stars Bill Roache and Michael Le Vell, and the Commons' former deputy speaker Nigel Evans following sex offence charges, have raised suggestions about over-zealousness on the part of police and prosecutors when it comes to such cases.
But we may still only be touching the edges of a social problem that profoundly damages millions of lives. Last February, the Crime Survey of England and Wales estimated that 2% of adult women and 0.5% of men had experienced some form of sexual assault or attempted assault in the previous year.
Just think of that finding for a moment - 2% of adult women amounts to approximately 460,000 people estimated to have suffered sexual assault or attempted assault in the previous 12 months. Among adult men the figure is more than 100,000.
The NSPCC calculates that a million children are being sexually abused at any one time. A survey of young people conducted in 2002 suggested 15% had experienced such abuse during childhood.
So the news that police recorded almost 61,000 sexual offences last year, up from 52,000, suggests we are inching our way forwards.
|
Daniel Craig says he is coming back as James Bond. | The actor was asked whether he will play the secret agent again during his appearance on US chat show The Late Show.
"Yes," Daniel Craig told host Stephen Colbert, before standing up to shake his hand.
The actor, who has played 007 in the past four Bond films, has until now refused to say whether he will do it again.
But on the show he revealed he's known for a "couple of months".
"We've been discussing it, we've just been trying to figure things out," he said. "I always wanted to, I needed a break."
The next Bond film, the 25th in the series, is due out in November 2019.
He said it will be his last outing as the spy.
""I think this is it. I just want to go out on a high note, and I can't wait."
The 49-year-old was still refusing to confirm speculation about it as late as Tuesday.
"No decision has been made," he told Boston radio station Magic 106.7.
"I know they're desperate to get going and I would in theory love to do it, but there is no decision just yet."
In 2015 he caused controversy for saying he'd "rather slash [his] wrists" than make a fifth Bond film, a statement for which he later apologised.
Daniel Craig is the seventh actor to play James Bond on film.
Scottish star Sean Connery first took on the role in 1962 and played him seven times, ending with Never Say Never Again in 1983.
Roger Moore matched that total, between 1973 and 1985.
David Niven and George Lazenby each played him once during the 1960s, while two films were released with Timothy Dalton in the lead role, The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989).
Daniel succeeded Pierce Brosnan as Bond and made his debut in Casino Royale in 2006.
He has since played the spy in Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012) and Spectre (2015).
Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat
|
From 26 April, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was expected all parts of Scotland currently in level 4 would move down to a "modified" level 3. | The island communities currently in level 3 will have the option to move at that stage to level 2 but this could have implications for travel and will be discussed further.
Use the form below to send us your questions and we could be in touch.
In some cases your question will be published, displaying your name, age and location as you provide it, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. Please ensure you have read the terms and conditions.
Your contact info
I am over 16 years old
I accept the Terms of Service
If you are reading this page on the BBC News app, you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question on this topic.
|
Several supercars were on a transporter when it smashed through a wall and crashed into trees. | Police said the lorry left Loughborough Road, in Burton on the Wolds, Leicestershire, on Saturday night.
Among the cars being carried were a Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche and an Aston Martin.
The driver was not seriously injured but the road was closed most of Sunday while emergency crews cleared up a diesel spill.
Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].
Related Internet Links
Leicestershire Police
|
Images of people scrambling over barbed wire fences in Calais or crossing the Mediterranean in fishing boats have dominated the media over the last few months. And a debate has even emerged about the very words used to describe people. | By Camila RuzBBC News Magazine
The word migrant is defined in Oxford English Dictionary as "one who moves, either temporarily or permanently, from one place, area, or country of residence to another".
It is used as a neutral term by many media organisations - including the BBC - but there has been criticism of that use.
News website al-Jazeera has decided it will not use migrant and "will instead, where appropriate, say refugee". An online editor for the network wrote: "It has evolved from its dictionary definitions into a tool that dehumanises and distances, a blunt pejorative." A Washington Post piece asked if it was time to ditch the word.
There are some who dislike the term because it implies something voluntary but that it is applied to people fleeing danger. A UN document suggests: "The term 'migrant'… should be understood as covering all cases where the decision to migrate is taken freely by the individual concerned, for reasons of 'personal convenience' and without intervention of an external compelling factor."
"Migrant used to have quite a neutral connotation," explains Alexander Betts, director of the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford University. "It says nothing about their entitlement to cross that border or whether they should be." But some people believe that the word has recently developed a sour note. It is being used to mean "not a refugee", argues Betts.
Online searches for migrant are at their highest since Google started collating this information in 2004. And in the past month (to 25 August using the Nexis database), the most commonly used term in UK national newspapers (excluding the Times, the Sun and the Financial Times) was migrant - with 2,541 instances. This was twice as popular as the next most frequently used word, refugee.
A refugee, according to the 1951 Refugee Convention, "is any person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his/her nationality and is unable, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself/herself of the protection of that country".
"Refugee implies that we have an obligation to people," says Betts. "It implies that we have to let them on to our territory and give them the chance to seek asylum."
But there would be many people who would be wary of labelling someone a refugee until that person has gone through the legal process of claiming asylum. In the UK, and other places, claims for "refugee status" are examined before being either granted or denied.
"The moment at which they can officially say whether they are refugees or economic migrants is the moment at which the EU state that is processing their claim makes its decision," says Tim Stanley, historian and columnist for the Daily Telegraph. "I am not questioning the validity of their narrative, I am not saying that anyone was lying about it. I am saying that it is down to the state in which they have arrived to define what they are."
Asylum seeker refers to someone who has applied for refugee status and is waiting to hear the result of their claim. But it is also often used about those trying to get to a particular country to make a claim. The word asylum is very old indeed having first been used in 1430 to refer to "a sanctuary or inviolable place of refuge and protection for criminals and debtors, from which they cannot be forcibly removed without sacrilege".
The most common descriptor for asylum seeker in UK newspaper articles between 2010 to 2012 was the word failed.
But while the term failed asylum seeker describes someone who has gone through a well-defined process, there are less specifically applied terms.
One of the more controversial ones is illegal immigrant, along with illegal migrant.
A study by the Migration Observatory at Oxford University analysed 58,000 UK newspaper articles and found that illegal was the most common descriptor for the word immigrants.
"The term is dangerous," argues Don Flynn, director of Migrants Rights Network. "It's better to say irregular or undocumented migrants." Calling someone an illegal immigrant associates them with criminal behaviour, he adds.
Other critics of the phrase say that it gives the impression that it's the person that is illegal rather than their actions. "Once you've entered the UK and claimed asylum, you are not illegal. Even if your asylum claim is refused, you still can't be an illegal migrant," says Zoe Grumbridge from Refugee Action.
The UN and the EU parliament have called for an end to the phrase. Some people have also criticised the use of clandestine. In 2013, the Associated Press news agency and the Los Angeles Times both changed their style guides and recommended against using the phrase "illegal immigrant" to describe someone without a valid visa.
But others disagree, saying that the phrase can be a useful description. "If you are coming into a country without permission and you do it outside the law, that is illegal," says Alp Mehmet, vice chairman of MigrationWatch UK. "If they haven't entered yet, they are not illegal immigrants, although potentially they are migrating using illegal means."
Clearly there are those who want to make a distinction between people using the accepted legal channel to enter a country and those who are entering by other methods.
"I understand why people are uncomfortable with that term but it is accurate when you are talking about someone who has broken the law to enter the country or who has been told to leave the country and is breaking the law by staying," says Stanley.
Another criticism of the term immigrant, with or without the word illegal added on to it, is that it is less likely to be used to describe people from Western countries. Some commentators have suggested that Europeans tend to be referred to as expats.
"Very often when we talk about British people who migrate," says Emma Briant, author of the book Bad News for Refugees, "we tend to talk of them as expats or expatriates. They are not immigrants." There has been some satirical commentary about the differences between the terms.
But the shift towards the neutral blanket term migrant has been pronounced. To again use UK national newspapers as a measurement, 15 years ago, in the month to 25 August, the terms refugee, asylum seeker and illegal immigrant were all used more often than migrants.
And many disagree that migrant is in any way offensive. "It's a proper description for anyone who has moved across a border," says Don Flynn from the Migrants Rights Network.
Judith Vonberg, a freelance journalist who has written for the Migrants' Rights Network about the issue, goes further. She says that ditching the word could "actually reinforce the dichotomy that we've got between the idea of the good refugee and the bad migrant".
Alp Mehmet, from Migration Watch, also believes that migrant should be used but because it is an easy word to understand. "Everyone… knows exactly what we mean by migrants."
Some people also believe that migrant is an appropriate phrase to use when a group of people could include both refugees and economic migrants. Tim Stanley argues that it does accurately reflect a significant number of people who are making the crossing into Europe. "It is why the UNHCR is absolutely right to describe that group of people as both migrants and refugees," he says.
The use of the term economic migrant has been much debated. Home Secretary Theresa May used it in May to describe migration into Europe. She said that there were large numbers of people coming from countries such as Nigeria and Somalia who were "economic migrants who've paid criminal gangs to take them across the Mediterranean".
The term economic migrant is "being used to imply choice rather than coercion", says Betts. "It's used to imply that it's voluntary reasons for movement rather than forced movement."
Some words have fallen almost completely out of favour. Alien was used regularly in the UK press before World War Two, says Panikos Panayi, professor of European history at De Montfort University. "The first major immigration act [in the UK] was called the Aliens Act 1905," he says.
But in the US, alien remains official terminology for any person who is not a citizen or national.
The Obama administration proposed Dreamers as a new positive way - with its reference to the American Dream - of describing undocumented young people who met the conditions of the Dream act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors).
There is another word with positive connotations that is not used much anymore. "Exile has gone out of credit," says Betts, since the end of the Cold War. "It had a slightly sort of dignified and noble connotation," he argues.
It was used to describe someone who had been forced out of their country but was still politically engaged with it and was planning on going back one day. "I think that today, many Syrians are in that position," says Betts.
The shifting language of migration might seem petty to some but to those involved in the debate there is no doubt of its importance. "Words matter in the migration debate," says Rob McNeil from the Migration Observatory.
Additional reporting by Jody-Lan Castle and Harry Low
More from the Magazine
Around 3,000 migrants are camped around Calais in northern France. Many of them think life will be better in the UK than France - or many other EU countries - but are they right?
Would Calais migrants really be better off in the UK? (July 2015)
Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.
|
US Vice-President Mike Pence's trip to Israel has been postponed, amid Palestinian protests against the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital. But why does the move remain popular with evangelical Christians in the US? | By Owen AmosBBC News, Washington DC
The Reverend Johnnie Moore, a 34-year-old evangelical Christian, is closer than most to President Trump.
During the election campaign, he was co-chair of Mr Trump's evangelical advisory board.
He has met the president and his team "several times" - most recently last month - and speaks to the White House regularly.
In July, he even posted this picture of the president at prayer.
So he seems a good person to ask. When Mr Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital, did American evangelicals support him for Biblical reasons, as has been reported?
Because of a belief in the Battle of Armageddon? The End Times? The second coming of Jesus Christ, and a thousand years of peace?
Mr Moore laughs at the suggestion.
"I've never heard it come up once," he says. "Not once."
Evangelical Christians in the US
Jerusalem is important to all Christians. But the city, and Israel, is especially significant to some.
This is where the End Times comes in.
"There's a segment of Christianity that believes the creation of the state of Israel (in 1948) was the fulfilment of prophecy," says Prof Christopher Rollston from George Washington University.
"Not just a good thing - but the fulfilment of prophecy."
The idea was popularised in a best-selling book called The Late, Great Planet Earth, released in 1970.
The slim paperback, by American author Hal Lindsey, said world events - including the creation of Israel - were proving the Bible correct.
To some Christians, the book validated their beliefs. It also meant the end of the world as we know it - which the Bible also predicts - was near.
The idea is older than Hal Lindsey, but he helped popularise it. The book sold millions of copies.
Not all Evangelicals share this apocalyptic view. But some do, including a group called premillennialists.
They believe in a Great Tribulation - that is, a period of war and destruction - before a thousand years of peace.
"They believe there will be, ultimately, an apocalyptic end of the age," says Prof Rollston. "Replete with the Battle of Armageddon, the Mark of the Beast, these sorts of things."
So what is the connection to End Times and Donald Trump recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital?
Again, says Prof Rollston, it stems from the belief that Israel's creation was foretold in the Bible.
"Anything that's supportive of the modern state of Israel, for them is a good thing," he says. "It's not data driven."
Prof Rollston goes to an Episcopal (Anglican) church, but grew up around evangelicalism. He finds premillennialism "entirely unconvincing and a misappropriation of scripture".
"They will cite this text or that text," he says. "But they're citing it entirely out of context."
The Reverend Johnnie Moore agrees that some evangelicals hold premillennial, or dispensationalist, beliefs. But he thinks it's a "very, very small group", whose influence is exaggerated.
"I've seen all the stories," he says. "'Evangelicals want Armageddon' or 'Evangelicals want the Rapture'.
"I think that is Exhibit A of people on the outside coming to conclusions about what evangelicals actually think."
Evangelicals did discuss Jerusalem in the White House. But the discussions, says Mr Moore, were political - not theological.
"The leaders know what they're talking about from experience," he says.
"They follow politics in the region, they know the public figures, they read the papers, they have informed foreign policy views.
"This was geo-political opinion, more than theology."
The message is echoed by David Brog, executive director of Christians United for Israel.
"There is a widespread myth that Christians support Israel to speed the End Times," he says. "That's simply not true.
"Anyone who understands the theology / eschatology of pro-Israel Christians knows they believe they are powerless to change the date of End Times.
"If they are powerless to speed this day, their support for Israel must be driven by other motives.
"In the case of Jerusalem, we support President Trump's decision because it is an act of historic justice - and an overdue recognition of modern reality."
Like David Brog, Johnnie Moore cites non-theological reasons for supporting Mr Trump's policy.
The first is that Congress passed a law in 1995 recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital, but successive presidents have waived it on national security grounds.
"This is a law that has been defied by presidents again and again and again," he says. "They have defied a congressional mandate."
He also thinks the US shouldn't dispute where a country says its capital is.
"We don't super-impose on any other nation in the world where their capital is going to be," he says. "This (Jerusalem) is the seat of government of the state of Israel."
Thirdly, he doesn't believe Mr Trump's policy will harm the peace process.
"The Palestinians have referred to East Jerusalem to be the capital of a Palestinian state," he says. "Which implies that at least West Jerusalem is going to be the capital of the Israeli state.
"If you read the whole of the president's comments when he made the announcement, he actually said it was up the parties to decide the future of Jerusalem."
Mr Moore visited Israel after Mr Trump's announcement and sat down with a mukhtar (a local Arab leader) in east Jerusalem.
"The mukhtar said 'What's changed? This has been the capital of Israel. Israel's government is here. The Knesset (Israeli parliament) is here. Israel's prime minister is here.'
"And he's a Muslim mukhtar in east Jerusalem."
(The mukhtar's view is at odds with other Palestinians - and the wider Arab world - who protested against President Trump's decision).
Mr Moore is frustrated that - in his opinion - the evangelical position has been mis-reported.
Some people don't understand their position, he says. But some do - and instead choose to "diminish the credibility of the evangelical community".
"We're normal people," he says. "We have modern views of things.
"We talk to other people, we're peacemakers, we're bridge builders. We're not apocalyptic."
|
A Muslim dairy farmer was stopped late one night in July 2018 as he led two cows down a track in rural Rajasthan, south of the Indian capital, Delhi. Within hours he was dead, but who killed him, asks the BBC's James Clayton - the "cow vigilantes" he met on the road, or the police? | It's 4am and Dr Hassan Khan, the duty doctor at Ramgarh hospital, is notified of something unusual.
The police have brought in a dead man, a man they claim not to know.
"What were the police like when they brought him in? Were they calm?" I ask him.
"Not calm," he says. "They were anxious."
"Are they usually anxious?" I ask.
"Not usually," he says, laughing nervously.
The dead man is later identified by his father as local farmer Rakbar Khan.
This was not a random murder. The story illustrates some of the social tensions bubbling away under the surface in India, and particularly in the north of the country.
And his case raises questions for the authorities - including the governing Hindu nationalist BJP party.
Cow-related violence - 2012-2019
Rakbar Khan was a family man. He had seven children.
He kept cows and he also happened to be a Muslim. That can be a dangerous mix in India.
"We have always reared cows, and we are dependent on their milk for our livelihood," says Rakbar's father, Suleiman.
"No-one used to say anything when you transported a cow."
That has changed. Several men have been killed in recent years while transporting cows in the mainly Muslim region of Mewat, not far from Delhi, where Rakbar lived.
"People are afraid. If we go to get a cow they will kill us. They surround our vehicle. So everyone is too scared to get these animals," says Suleiman.
Everyone I speak to in the village where the Khans live is afraid of gau rakshaks - cow protection gangs.
The gangs often consist of young, hardline Hindus, who believe passionately in defending India's holy animal.
They believe that laws to protect cows, such as a ban on slaughtering the animals, are not being fully enforced - and they hunt for "cow smugglers", who they believe are taking cows to be killed for meat.
Often armed, they have been responsible for dozens of attacks on farmers in India over the last five years, according to data analysis organisation IndiaSpend, which monitors reports of hate crimes in the media.
On 21 July 2018, Rakbar Khan met the local gau rakshak.
There are some things we know for certain about what happened that night.
Rakbar was walking down a small road with two cows. It was late and it was raining heavily.
Then, out of the dark, came the lights of motorbikes. We know this, because Rakbar was with a friend, who survived.
At this point the details become a little sketchier. There are three versions of the story.
The gang managed to catch Rakbar, but his friend, Aslam, slipped away. He lay on the ground, in the mud and prayed he wouldn't be found.
"There was so much fear inside me, my heart was hurting," he says.
"From there I heard the screams. They were beating him. There wasn't a single part of his body that wasn't broken. He was beaten very badly."
Find out more
Watch James Clayton's report for Newsnight, on BBC Two
The documentary India's Cow Vigilantes can be seen on Our World on BBC World News and on the BBC News Channel (click for transmission times)
Aslam says that Rakbar was killed then and there.
But there is evidence that suggests otherwise.
Much of what happened next focuses around the leader of the local cow vigilante group, Nawal Kishore Sharma.
Aslam claims he heard the gang address him by name that night, but when I speak to Sharma, he denies he was there at all.
"It was about 00:30 in the morning and I was sleeping in my house… Some of my group phoned me to say they'd caught some cow smugglers," he says.
According to Nawal Kishore Sharma, he then drove with the police to the spot. "He was alive and he was fine," he says.
But that's not what the police say.
In their "first incident report" they say that Rakbar was indeed alive when they found him.
"Nawal Kishore Sharma informed the police at about 00:41 that some men were smuggling two cows on foot," the report says.
"Then the police met Nawal Kishore outside the police station and they all went to the location.
"There was a man who was injured and covered in mud.
"He told the police his name, his father's name, his age (28) and the village he was from.
"And as he finished these sentences, he almost immediately passed out. Then he was put in the police vehicle and they left for Ramgarh.
"Then the police reached Ramgarh with Rakbar where the available doctor declared him dead."
But this version of events is highly dubious.
I go to the hospital in Ramgarh, where Rakbar was taken. Hospital staff are busily going through bound books of hospital records - looking for Rakbar's admission entry.
And then, there it is. "Unknown dead body" brought in at 04:00 on 21 July 2018.
It's not a long entry, but it contradicts the police's story, and raises some serious questions.
For a start, Rakbar was found about 12 minutes' drive away from the hospital. Why did it take more than three hours for them to take him there?
And if the police say Rakbar gave them his name, why did they tell the hospital they didn't know who he was?
Nawal Kishore Sharma claims to know why. He paints a very different picture of what happened to Rakbar.
He tells me that after picking up Rakbar, they changed his clothes.
He then claims to have taken two photos of Rakbar - who at this point was with the police.
Sharma says that he went to the police station with the police. He claims that's when the beating really began.
"The police injured him badly. They even beat him with their shoes," he says.
"They kicked him powerfully on the left side of his body four times. Then they beat him with sticks. They beat him here (pointing at his ribs) and even on his neck."
At about 03:00 Nawal Kishore Sharma says he went with some police officers to take the two cows to a local cow shelter. When he returned, he says, the police told him that Rakbar had died.
Rakbar's death certificate shows that his leg and hand had been broken. He'd been badly beaten and had broken his ribs, which had punctured his lungs.
According to his death certificate he died of "shock… as a result of injuries sustained over body".
I ask the duty doctor at the hospital whether he remembers what Rakbar's body was like when the police brought it in.
"It was cold," he says.
I ask him how long it would take for a body to become cold after death.
"A couple of hours," he replies.
"I don't want to talk about Rakbar's case," says Rejendra Singh, chief of police of Alwar district, which includes Ramgarh.
Since Rakbar's murder several police officers have been suspended. I want to know why.
He looks uneasily at me.
"There were lapses on the police side," he says.
I ask him what those lapses were.
"They had not followed the regular police procedure, which they were supposed to do," he says. "It was one big lapse."
Three men from Nawal Kishore Sharma's vigilante group have been charged with Rakbar's murder. Sharma himself remains under investigation.
The vigilante group and the police blame each other for Rakbar's death, but neither denies working together that night.
The way Sharma describes it, the police cannot be everywhere, so the vigilantes help them out. But it's the police that "take all the action" he says.
Much police activity in Rajasthan is focused on stopping cow slaughter.
Across the state there are dozens of formal cow checkpoints, where police stop vehicles looking for smugglers who are taking cows to be killed.
I visited one of the checkpoints. Sure enough police were patiently stopping vehicles and looking for cows.
The night before officers had had a gun battle with a group of men after a truck failed to stop.
These checkpoints have become common in some parts of India. Sometimes they are run by the police, sometimes by the vigilantes, and sometimes by both.
This gets to the heart of Rakbar's case.
Human rights groups argue that his murder - and others like his - show that in some areas the police have got too close to the gangs.
"Unfortunately what we're finding too often is that the police are complicit," says Meenakshi Ganguly of Human Rights Watch, which published a 104-page report on cow-related violence in India this week.
In some areas, police have been reluctant to arrest the perpetrators of violence - and much faster to prosecute people accused of either consuming or trading in beef, he says.
Human Rights Watch has looked into 12 cases where it claims police have been complicit in the death of a suspected cow smuggler or have covered it up. Rakbar's is one of them.
But this case doesn't just illustrate police failings. Some would argue that it also illustrates how parts of the governing BJP party have inflamed the problem.
Gyandev Ahuja is a larger-than-life character. As the local member of parliament in Ramgarh at the time when Rakbar was killed he's an important local figure.
He has also made a series of controversial statements about "cow smugglers".
After a man was badly beaten in December 2017 Ahuja told local media: "To be straightforward, I will say that if anyone is indulging in cow smuggling, then this is how you will die."
After Rakbar's death he said that cow smuggling was worse than terrorism.
Gyandev Ahuja is just one of several BJP politicians who have made statements that are supportive of the accused in so-called "cow lynchings".
One of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ministers was even photographed garlanding the accused murderers in a cow vigilante case. He has since apologised.
Meenakshi Ganguly of Human Rights Watch says it is "terrifying" that elected officials have defended attackers.
"It is really, at this point of time, something that is a great concern, because it is changing a belief into a political narrative, and a violent one," he says.
The worry is that supportive messages from some of the governing party's politicians have emboldened the vigilantes.
No official figures are kept on cow violence, but the data collected by IndiaSpend suggests that it started ramping up in 2015, the year after Narendra Modi was elected.
IndiaSpend says that since then there have been 250 injuries and 46 deaths related to cow violence. This is likely to be an underestimate because farmers who have been beaten may be afraid to go to the police - and when a body is found it may not be clear what spurred the attack. The vast majority of the victims are Muslims.
A BJP spokesman, Nalin Kohli, emphatically rejects any connection between his party and cow violence.
"To say the BJP is responsible is perverse, inaccurate and absolutely false," he tells me.
"Many people have an interest in building a statement that the BJP is behind it. We won't tolerate it."
I ask him about Gyandev Ahuja's inflammatory statements.
"Firstly that is not the party's point of view and we have very clearly and unequivocally always said an individual's point of view is theirs, the point of view of the party is articulated by the party.
"Has the BJP promoted him or protected him? No."
But a month after this interview, Ahuja was made vice-president of the party in Rajasthan.
Shortly afterwards, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Rajasthan - publicly slapping Ahuja on the back and waving together at crowds of BJP supporters.
In Mewat I speak to Rakbar's wife, Asmina.
"Show me how you raise seven children without a husband. How will I be able to raise them?" she says, wiping away tears.
"My youngest daughter says that my father went to God. If you ask her, 'How did he go to God?' she says, 'My father was bringing a cow and people killed him.'
"The life of an animal is so important but that of a human is not."
The trial of the three men accused of his murder has yet to take place, but perhaps we will never know what really happened to Rakbar.
In November 2015, photographer Allison Joyce spent a night following Nawal Kishore Sharma's vigilantes in the countryside near Ramgarh. One of her photographs shows a police officer embracing Sharma after a shootout between the vigilantes and a suspected cow smuggler.
Though the police now accuse the cow vigilantes of killing Rakbar Khan, and the vigilantes accuse the police, the photograph illustrates just how closely they worked together.
In the Indian media there have been claims that the police took the two cows that Rakbar had been transporting to a cow shelter, as Rakbar lay dead or dying in a police vehicle.
There are also claims that the police stopped and drank tea instead of taking Rakbar to hospital.
Whatever they did, they did not take Rakbar to hospital immediately.
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.
|
A British team is developing a car that will be capable of reaching 1,000mph (1,610km/h). Powered by a rocket bolted to a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine, the vehicle will mount an assault on the world land speed record. Bloodhound will be run on Hakskeen Pan in Northern Cape, South Africa, in 2015 and 2016.
Wing Commander Andy Green, the current world land-speed record holder, is writing a diary for BBC News about his experiences working on the Bloodhound project and the team's efforts to inspire national interest in science and engineering.
| By Andy GreenWorld Land Speed Record Holder
So much to do, so little time. As we race to get Bloodhound ready to run this year, we're still ordering the last of the parts that we need, and putting them together as fast as they arrive.
With the usual technical and financial delays (both of which are a standard part of any Land Speed Record attempt), we're still trying to work out exactly when the car will be ready for its first runs.
Despite the inevitable problems, the whole team is very clear about one thing - short of the end of the world, we will be running Bloodhound this year!
Have a look at our latest Cisco BHTV video, "Building Bloodhound in 90 seconds", to get a (very) quick snapshot of all the work going on right now.
Last week, with the expert advice of specialists from the FIA Institute, we finalised the installation of the seat harness and restraint systems in the cockpit.
We're using off-the-shelf equipment including a standard six-point race-harness, head-and-neck restraint "HANS" device, full-face race helmet, and so on.
However, we've got to make all this fit around a bespoke carbon-fibre cockpit seat in the unique Bloodhound cockpit.
Thanks to the FIA's advice, we've finally got there.
The URT seat, Willans harness, Simpson hybrid HANS device and Arai helmet are all fitting together like they were made for each other.
Then Camlock turned up with my "Adom" breathing air mask, usually used in the RAF's Eurofighter Typhoon jets.
Uniquely, this will fit under the full-face helmet, giving the best of impact and breathing protection. The mask also fitted perfectly, right down to the length of the air hose. I love it when a plan comes together.
The Royal Air Force technicians are hard at work on Bloodhound's titanium floor and the rear "delta". It's not strictly speaking a delta: the two rear lower suspension fairings, one on either side of the car, suggest a triangle shape (or delta) at the back of the vehicle. This delta shape is a critical part of the car's aerodynamics, which must keep the Bloodhound safely on the ground all the way up to 1,000+ mph.
To help us realise that shape, we've asked the experts from 71 (Inspection and Repair) Squadron to build it.
We're using a lot of titanium under the car, to protect it from the furious storm of desert dust and grit that will blast Bloodhound at supersonic speeds.
The problem is that titanium is hard (which is why we're using it!) and difficult to work - hence we are lucky to have the world-class expertise of the Royal Air Force on the case.
The titanium floor alone has 200 separate pieces (including ribs, stiffeners, stringers, edge members, straps, buttstraps, doublers, brackets and cover plates) held together by 50 bolts and nearly 5,000 rivets.
Each rivet hole involves pilot drilling, de-burring, pinning, drilling out to full diameter, de-burring again, pinning again, counter sinking and de-burring a final time.
You can see why we've asked for help with this mammoth task.
However, I was slightly concerned to see a picture the other day of one of our most recent "assistant technicians": Adrian Chiles, doing some drilling for BBC Radio 5Live.
I did ask if Adrian had any qualifications to do this.
The polite suggestion was not to ask questions I didn't want to know the answer to.
Last week, all of the aluminium fin components returned from being anodised.
Anodising is the process of protecting the aluminium from corrosion.
Aluminium naturally protects itself with a very thin layer of oxide, which forms with exposure to air, but chemicals like salt cause the aluminium to corrode despite this.
As our desert track in South Africa has a relatively high concentration of salt in the alkali playa surface, we need to protect the car from corrosion.
We may only be running the car for a limited period of time, but we can't afford it to start rotting away before we're done.
Each aluminium component is submerged in an electrolyte bath and a current is passed through it.
The aluminium is the positive electrode, or anode (hence the term "anodising"), which has the effect of making the protective aluminium oxide layer about 1,000 times thicker.
This anodised layer is still thinner than a human hair, but now protects the surface against corrosion.
When we get Bloodhound up to 1,000mph next year, I want to know that the car is still as good as new, and having everything corrosion-protected is part of making that happen.
I've just seen the last big parts of the suspension, the rear uprights, being anodised before delivery to the Bloodhound Technical Centre in Avonmouth, Bristol.
The uprights are the big aluminium bits that carry the wheel and wheel bearings, and bolt directly to the rear suspension arms (including the rear delta mentioned above).
It's going to be a big moment when we finally put Bloodhound on its wheels for the first time. I can't wait.
As well as the Land Speed Record vehicle, we're busy preparing all the support equipment for record breaking.
This includes a towing arm, refuelling equipment for jet and rocket motors, hydraulic and electrical power supplies, air starters for the jet engine - the list goes on. One of the more exciting bits of support equipment is our fleet of Rapid Response Vehicles.
Jaguar has just unveiled the F-Type R in Bloodhound colours, with its sister XJ vehicle to be shown for the first time (appropriately) at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
If you're going to Goodwood then come and see us, and visit the new Bloodhound Driving Experience on the Jaguar stand.
I've spent a fair bit of time with the software development team in the last few weeks and the Driving Experience is going to be exactly that - a real experience!
Bloodhound continues to excite a much wider audience than just our engineering team.
I've just come back from China, where I was invited to by the Institution of Engineering and Technology to give Bloodhound lectures in Shanghai and Beijing.
After much debate about national achievements past and present, we agreed that the Bloodhound and the Great Wall both qualified as "liao bu qi" ("amazing").
Wherever we go in the world, there is huge enthusiasm for the way that Bloodhound brings science and technology to life.
Right now we've got Bloodhound team members, plus a full-size Education "Show Car", spreading the word at a science event in Montreal, as part of the government's "GREAT Britain" campaign.
Apparently, they've just been visited by the Dutch Royal Family, which reinforces the impressive level of global interest.
As part of the Bloodhound Education Programme, we've just launched our new Model Rocket Car Challenge, with a great fun event at Santa Pod race track.
There are four categories to compete for in the rocket car challenge, depending on how many rockets you can afford (and how long your school playground is).
The top class is the "unlimited", with the current record set last year by Joseph Whitaker School in Mansfield, at an unbelievable 533mph.
I still think the first 'Bloodhound' car to go supersonic is likely to be in a school playground somewhere.
Maybe at your local school? If so, good luck!
As I write, a fair chunk of Bloodhound appears to have been stolen from the Technical Centre.
The cockpit and much of the front end of the car has simply disappeared from the workshop in the past few days.
The good news is that it's all coming back next week, painted in the distinctive Bloodhound blue-and-orange colours. Every week we get a little closer to being finished.
There are a number of challenges still to overcome and, since this is an "Engineering Adventure", this will include lots of minor problems that we don't even know about yet.
Whatever happens, we've got an exciting few months ahead of us.
|
Juilus Malema may never be able to shake off the "firebrand" label, but the 38-year-old leader of South Africa's second largest opposition party can no longer be seen as simply a hot-headed politician. | The "son of the soil", as he has been styled by his Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), has spent the last six years turning the party he founded into a disciplined force that has set the agenda in some policy areas.
Expelled from the governing African National Congress (ANC) in 2012, Mr Malema, or "Juju" as he is sometimes called, has positioned the EFF as the true inheritor of the ANC's radical agenda and has exposed the governing party's left flank.
The relentless focus by the EFF's commander-in-chief on the inequality in South Africa, and the failure of the ANC to redistribute land from the white minority to the black majority, has cost support for his former party, which led the fight against apartheid.
The EFF took just more than 6% of the vote in 2014 in its first run in a general election, but its influence seems to outweigh that figure.
The 25 MPs dressed in red boiler suits and hard hats in parliament along with their staged walkouts and Mr Malema's willingness to come out with quotable lines has meant he and his party have grabbed the attention.
Hate speech
Ever since the start of his public life he has not shied away from controversy, offending a wide range of people from women's rights groups, to white farmers, to his own political bosses.
He has twice been found guilty of using hate speech - in 2010 and 2011 - first for comments he made about the woman that accused former President Jacob Zuma of rape and then for singing the song "Shoot the Boer (Afrikaner)".
But age does not appear to have mellowed him and neither has studying for an honours degree in philosophy, which he completed in 2017.
'Cry babies'
When talking to supporters about the land issue in 2016 he warned: "The land will be taken by any means necessary.
"We are not calling for the slaughtering of white people. At least for now. What we are calling for is the peaceful occupation of land and we don't owe anyone an apology for that."
In a 2018 interview with Turkish broadcaster TRT World he defended the comments and described anyone who thought that this might sound genocidal as "cry babies".
You may also interested in:
But his supporters enjoy the combative rhetoric, and Mr Malema remains an inspirational orator whose aggressive focus on the rights of poor black South Africans has earned him their love.
As a result, the EFF's popularity has been growing. In the 2016 municipal elections the party won more than 8% of the national vote.
Born in 1981, Mr Malema was raised by his mother Flora, a domestic worker, in Seshego township in the northern Limpopo province.
He says he joined the ANC's young pioneer movement at the age of nine, where he was trained in armed resistance, and it took him just five years to become the regional head of the ANC Youth League.
Seven things about Julius Malema
He then gained a foothold in the student movement, before eventually becoming national leader of the Congress of South African Students in 2001.
But it was his election as ANC Youth League leader in 2008 that made him a key player in national politics.
His earliest actions as leader were to noisily campaign for Mr Zuma to take over - first as ANC leader and later as president - telling a crowd of supporters that he would "kill for Zuma".
The land issue
But Mr Malema's relationship with Mr Zuma soured soon after the latter became president in 2009. Mr Malema accused his former ally of ignoring the poor voters who had propelled him to power.
And the idea that the ANC has distanced itself from its support base and core values has remained his theme.
In an emotional tribute last year at the funeral for Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the anti-apartheid fighter and Nelson Mandela's ex-wife, he addressed her request that he return to the ANC.
Talking to the thousands of mourners in front of President Cyril Ramaphosa and the rest of the ANC leadership he said: "Mama you said to us we must come back to the ANC, we heard you. But which ANC do we go to? Of the same people who sold you out?"
When it comes to the key issue of land ownership the EFF has set the agenda.
Julius Malema's rivals:
In February last year, Mr Malema launched a debate in parliament on land reform saying: "The time for reconciliation is over; now is the time for justice".
The ANC then backed the EFF's motion that sought to change the constitution to allow for expropriation of land without compensation. President Ramaphosa has said the issue will be tackled and the ANC admits in its own manifesto that "the land question has not been fully addressed".
But Mr Malema has also been accused of being a hypocrite.
In 2013, South Africa's revenue authority said he owed more than $1m (£865,000) in unpaid taxes. There were question marks over where that money came from.
In order to pay the tax arrears, the radical politician had to sell an unfinished mansion in Johannesburg's upmarket Sandton suburb, which included a cinema room and a cigar lounge.
Mr Malema has also had to face fraud and corruption charges which, after three years, were thrown out of court in 2015 because of lengthy delays in bringing him to trial, a judge ruled.
The accusation related to a government contract but he always denied the charges and said they were politically motivated.
What ever has been thrown at the radical opposition leader over the last decade - and there has been a lot - it has not dented his appeal. Polls suggest that it could gain at least 10% of the vote, ensuring that Mr Malema's voice will continue to be heard for some time to come.
|
The BBC's Victoria Derbyshire asks if a law passed in 1967 allowing abortions in England, Scotland and Wales need updating? And she asks if Northern Ireland's laws reflect today's attitudes?
In the UK each year about 200,000 abortions are carried out. | Women in their teens, 20s, 30s and 40s choose to end unwanted pregnancies. They are a mixtures of single women, those living with partners, married and some are mothers already.
Opponents of abortion say the 1967 legislation that applies in England, Scotland and Wales was never intended to sanction so many procedures and the law is being abused.
In 98% of procedures carried out each year, mental health concerns are cited as the reason. The law states that a woman must face a greater risk to her mental or physical health by continuing with an unwanted pregnancy than if she had an abortion.
Two doctors need to sign a document to that effect.
'Immoral and illegal'
Yet critics point to a study from the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 2011 which reviewed the mental health risks of abortion.
It concluded that for women with unwanted pregnancies, rates of mental health problems were the same whether they had a termination or gave birth.
Dr Peter Saunders, chief executive of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said: "When a doctor knowingly and willingly puts his or her signature to a statutory document saying something for which there is not actually any medical evidence base, then I believe that is not only immoral, it is also illegal."
But Dr Clare Gerada, chairwoman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said the current interpretation is realistic as there is no way to predict the impact of continuing a pregnancy on a woman's mental health.
"What we have is what the woman tells us. It is not for me to judge her or be moralistic, it is for me to explore potential other options, but to take her at face value."
At the end of last year I met a woman we will call by the pseudonym of Maria. She is 39 and has had five abortions. Her first was at 15, her second at 16, and her third when she was still only 17.
"I was a child. I was a child in my head, in my thinking, so the idea of having a child was just ridiculous," she told me plaintively.
She knew it was easy for people to judge her, but asked that they did not, adding that unless they had walked in her shoes they could not comprehend her abusive and chaotic upbringing.
As an adolescent she ended up in relationships with older men, knowing nothing about contraception. Her most recent terminations were when she was married to her husband with whom she has children.
Indifferent attitude
Maria is from Croydon, one of the largest boroughs in London - and where some teenagers have had two abortions in a year.
It has one of the highest repeat abortion rates in the UK. Although the overall numbers there are coming down, among 13 to 19-year-olds, 50% of repeat abortions took place within 12 months. The question is why?
Croydon's demographics play a role - the area has a large population of young people and therefore the teenage pregnancy rate is correspondingly high. At a community centre in Croydon, I met a group of under 25s.
One girl suggested that because the abortion clinic was in the neighbouring borough any follow-up appointments to discuss contraception tended not to be kept because it was too far to travel and opening hours were not flexible.
Another teenager said some of her contemporaries felt they "had" to sleep with a new boyfriend to hang on to him and to suggest contraception might put him off. Croydon health bosses and community organisations say they are working to try to address those issues.
'Utterly undignified'
It is very different for women in another part of the UK.
In Northern Ireland, women cannot get an abortion, even in cases of rape. The legislation dates from 1861, and a woman only has access to abortion services if her life is at risk.
For women with an unwanted pregnancy, it means they either have to travel to England for a private procedure or break the law by taking abortion pills - knowing that if they are caught they could be charged with murder.
In Belfast I met a woman we will call Sarah, in her late 30s and happily married with children.
Sarah discovered she was pregnant despite being on the contraceptive pill. She and her husband decided they simply could not bring another child into their lives because they could not afford it and the time just was not right.
She bought abortion pills over the internet from a reputable website, knowing that she was risking a prison sentence: "I got to 37 without ever breaking the law and it makes you feel utterly undignified, to have to worry about every step of the way, to worry about whether the postman knew. It is not something I would ever want to go through again."
There is little political will at Stormont to extend the 1967 Abortion Act to Northern Ireland and a recent opening of a private abortion clinic in Belfast has stirred up emotions on both sides of the debate.
Nor is there political will at Westminster to revisit the way the 1967 legislation operates in England, Scotland and Wales.
What we are left with are two laws governing abortion in the UK. Is it time for a debate about consistency?
Panorama: The Great Abortion Divide, BBC One, Monday, 4 February at 20:30 GMT and then available in the UK on the BBC iPlayer.
|
The Kegworth air disaster in 1989 killed 47 people and left wreckage strewn across the M1. Despite the catastrophic damage it caused, a remarkable number of passengers survived the tragedy 25 years ago. This is their story. | By Ben TrusloveBBC News
Chris Thompson is a survivor, pulled unconscious from the mangled remains of British Midland flight 92.
Along with 117 other passengers, he'd sat helpless as the stricken Boeing 737 - having lost both engines - lurched sickeningly and plunged towards a busy motorway.
Months after the crash, when he'd learned to walk again, he somehow managed to summon the courage to get back on a plane.
But he couldn't fly without alcohol or tranquillisers. And at the check-in desk he was haunted by his knowledge of Flight 92's seating layout.
Chris refused to travel in certain parts of the cabin. He couldn't sit in what he called the "dead seats".
Today, sitting in his seafront home in Northern Ireland, he says he's managed to conquer most of those fears.
But a quarter of a century after the night which changed his life, the memories are still vivid and his hands shake violently as he recalls the moment he realised he was probably going to die.
"The lights were flickering as the engine spluttered and died and came on again," he says.
"Part of your brain's saying 'it can't be happening' and the other part of your brain is sitting through it and you've nowhere to run.
"There's nothing you can do. You are completely, completely helpless."
Then a 33-year-old father-of-one, Chris had been looking forward to getting home to Belfast after a day at the London Boat Show, where he'd been scouting for equipment to sell in his chain of sports shops.
He was a seasoned flyer - travelling up to 35 times a year - and about 15 minutes after boarding the 19:50 British Midland flight from Heathrow, he was relaxing in row one with a meal and a glass of wine.
The next moment, his nerves were shattered by an explosion.
"We've heard bombs in Belfast for years," says Chris. "It wasn't a bomb."
"It was just a huge, like an enormous backfire bang and the plane lurched."
Sitting further back was 62-year-old Alan Johnston, one of the oldest travellers on the flight, who'd been in London visiting his first grandchild - a girl, born the day before the Lockerbie bombing.
For years, Alan had worked in the oil industry, often flying on ancient, unreliable planes. He'd had a couple of close shaves in the Middle East and Africa.
To him, this was a safe, short flight on a modern aircraft in a part of the world with an excellent safety record.
So while the loud bang terrified other passengers, Alan hardly batted an eyelid. His daughter had bought him a particularly gripping book and he intended to enjoy it.
Even when the plane began to shake, Alan read on.
Many around him, however, were beginning to panic - especially those who had noticed smoke drifting into the cabin.
Speaking over the tannoy, Captain Kevin Hunt tried to reassure them.
The right-side engine was malfunctioning, he announced calmly. He was preparing to shut it down and divert the plane to East Midlands Airport - base of the British Midland fleet.
It seemed that Alan's resolve had been justified - the problem was in hand, and would be nothing more than an inconvenience.
As Captain Hunt reduced power the plane stabilised and peace gradually returned to the cabin. The smoke seemed to dissipate. Crew began to tidy away the half-eaten meals in preparation for landing at East Midlands - which was now only a few minutes away.
But at the back of the plane there was unease among a small group of passengers.
It wasn't that they objected to the captain's decision to turn off the engine. It was his choice of engine that was causing concern.
Looking out of the cabin windows, they'd seen sparks and flames, and were in little doubt the damage was serious. But this was on the left side of the plane, not the right.
Among the bewildered group was Mervyn Finlay, who was sitting by a window in row 21.
The bread delivery man from Dungannon had also been at the London Boat Show, and had managed to catch an earlier-than-planned flight back from Heathrow. He shouldn't have been on that plane.
Now, instead of unwinding while he flew home to his wife and young son, he was grappling with the knowledge that the pilot might have made a serious error.
Had Captain Hunt switched off the wrong engine, leaving them at the mercy of a broken one?
"We were thinking: 'Why is he doing that?' because we saw flames coming out of the left engine. But I was only a bread man. What did I know?"
And then there was another loud bang.
Today, sitting in his comfortable living room, Chris Thompson closes his eyes as he recounts what happened next, one hand clutching the other to calm the shaking.
"You are immediately aware that you are thousands of feet in the air," he says.
"At this time it's dark outside. I can see the lines of lights down below from roads and this thing suddenly lurches and there's a big bang. And then there's another big bang.
"At that point it started lurching around all over the sky. That was horrendous and my skin just absolutely crawled because… we weren't on the ground, we weren't anywhere near the ground.
"I absolutely guarantee," he adds with conviction. "If there had been a way off that plane, people would have killed each other to get off."
As the plane lurched, passengers became gripped with panic, screaming, pleading with the engine to work and clutching one another for comfort.
By now, even Alan Johnston had to admit he was worried about the condition of the aircraft.
"Vibration is an understatement," he says. "It was like a load of large-sized gravel being suddenly shovelled into a washing machine. It was that noise, plus violent vibration.
"[It was] something I had never experienced before and I tried to divert my mind as best I could."
But there were still a few pockets of calm.
Dominica McGowan tried to convince the woman next to her they were "just going to come down with a bump".
The then 37-year-old mother-of-three had been studying psychotherapy in London, and she drew on her training to reassure those around her.
Even today she remains cool, almost detached, as she recalls that night - though she admits she's "blocked out" some of the horrors.
"It makes sense [not to think about what is happening]. Who would ever think they'd be in a plane crash? So I suppose there was an element of that."
She calmly explained to her companion how they would simply "belly-flop" on to the runway.
But it wasn't to be.
As panic escalated among other passengers, all that could be heard in the cabin was the whistle of the wind, mixed with screams and whimpers.
The wrecked engine gave a few dying sputters and jolts.
And then it gave out completely.
As the plane plummeted, survivors remember feeling their stomachs "leap" as if they were on a rollercoaster going over the top.
Chris Thompson looked out of the window and saw they were still nowhere near the ground. Far below him the lights of a motorway weaved dizzyingly.
It was then he realised - at this height and with no engines - there was little chance they would survive.
He began struggling to breathe as panic, compounded by g-force, gripped his body.
For all the passengers, those terrifying few seconds hurtling to the ground stretched out into minutes.
Then the captain called "brace, brace" for crash landing.
Moments before impact, Alan and Chris watched in confusion as a church spire sailed past the windows. It was then they realised how quickly they'd descended.
"Your brain says: 'What? It can't be. It can't be.' Then you think: 'I'm about to die. No, I can't be because I'm an optimist. It can't be,'" says Chris.
"The next thing was an enormous crushing."
The people of Kegworth are accustomed to the rumble of landing aircraft. But the thunderous rattle that shook their homes that quiet Sunday evening, as many of them settled down to watch television, was something else entirely.
A few people outside at the time, driving home or walking their dogs, had caught sight of the plane as it plunged towards the village.
Their eyes were first drawn to orange streaks in the winter sky. Then they saw the stricken jet - one engine spurting flames as chunks of burning metal fell away.
At the airport, emergency crews were patiently waiting for Flight 92 to land. They were often called when an aircraft had mechanical problems. Even with one engine, they always landed safely.
Among them was Dave Astle. The part-time firefighter from Melbourne in Derbyshire had been at his four-year-old daughter's birthday party when the call came in.
For Dave, this was routine - nothing more than a precaution.
"It was coming in quite normal," he says. "We were watching it coming in and then it just disappeared in a cloud of smoke."
With horror, they realised the plane had actually crashed.
Using an airport access road, the fire engine got them as close to the scene as possible, before they scrabbled through trees and bushes to reach the edge of the motorway.
They found the remains of a Boeing 737, smoking and shattered into three pieces on the embankment.
As he recalls that night, Dave talks softly and drums his fingers on the table, often needing a prompt to describe what he saw.
Already, four people were out of the wreckage - he believes thrown from the plane - with one stuck in a tree, still in her seat.
"It was quiet. Very, very quiet. Horrible really. They [the four survivors] didn't say anything. Whether they realised what had happened I don't know," Dave says.
Stepping into the eerie darkness of the upturned tail section, he could see passengers hanging upside down from their seats, many with twisted limbs, shattered ankles and lacerated faces.
Others were buried completely under the luggage strewn across the cabin.
But it was the smell that really stuck in his memory.
"I cannot describe it and I can't relate it to anything," he says.
"There was food on board and drink - you've got that smell as well. Spirits you could smell. This smell was something I've never experienced before or since. They said it was the smell of death."
Another man who braved the carnage of the crash site was Graham Pearson - the only civilian rescuer to set foot inside the plane.
The Royal Marine and his wife Rosie were driving north up the M1 when the 737 roared overhead.
Only five minutes earlier, the pair had stopped for a break at a service station. Had they not, it would probably have been an uneventful journey home.
Graham clambered up the embankment to get to the wreckage, ignoring the risk of fire from the still-burning engine.
Inside he found Alice O'Hagan, who'd been travelling with her husband Eamon.
Like many of the passengers, they were trapped between broken seats that had been thrown forward on impact.
Alice tried to free herself, but couldn't. Looking down, she realised why.
Speaking to BBC documentary Collision Course in 2003, she said: "I don't know where I got the strength from but as I pushed the seat forward my feet came away. And as my feet came away I could see they were hanging off."
Graham came to Alice's aid, and began working to stem the blood pumping from her shattered legs.
Then he heard another woman cry out.
With tears in his eyes as he recalled the rescue, he told the programme: "At that moment in time it was quite quiet. People had just started to come out of unconsciousness or slowly started to realise what was going on.
"I heard this woman's voice and she was calling for help to get a baby out.
"Being a father with children myself I could relate to that... it was like a magnet really, that's what drew me to that part of the plane."
After much effort, he managed to free seven-month-old Ryan McCallion who was shielded by his mother but trapped under several bodies.
The boy made a full recovery, but his mother Ruth was not so lucky. She died in hospital three weeks later, shortly before she was due to return home.
Graham was hailed a hero for the three-and-a-half hours he spent helping passengers. But the experience haunted him for years.
Flashbacks and recurring nightmares cost him his job and almost destroyed his marriage. In 1998 he successfully sued British Midland for £57,000.
Few, if any, escaped without some kind of physical or mental trauma. But Dominica McGowan was one of the most resilient.
Moments after regaining consciousness she managed to free herself from her seat and - like many others - was immediately struck by the absolute silence.
"I heard no sound," she says. "Not a sound."
"And I remember darkness. And I remember thinking: 'I need to get out of here'."
Although she didn't know it, she had shattered her pelvis, broken all of her ribs, punctured a lung and broken her back.
Despite her severe injuries, she somehow managed to haul herself over unconscious passengers, and crawl through the cabin debris to an emergency exit.
Outside, the engine fire was still burning and aviation fuel was running down the bank like a river.
To prevent an explosion, firefighters were dousing everything with foam.
By now, police officers had also started arriving. Like the firefighters, many thought they were on a training exercise until confronted with the twisted remains of the plane.
"When we saw the aircraft, you could have heard a pin drop because then everyone realised, no-one staged this," says Ch Supt Jack Atwal - then a 24-year-old constable two days out of probation.
He was the youngest officer on site and remembers having a clear view inside the plane as he helped survivors.
"It was an unpleasant scene. A lot of injuries to the lower limbs, blood, visible leg injuries," he says.
He also recalls speaking to some of the survivors, including one badly hurt man who wondered if the young officer might go and look for his duty-free.
"I'm not sure if it was adrenaline or whether he was joking. I don't know if he realised the extent of his injuries," he adds.
Passengers, both alive and dead, continued to be pulled from the wreckage. Volunteers carried them to ambulances or to a temporary morgue established on the bank side.
Firefighters, doctors and nurses made their way through the plane, quickly assessing who could easily be removed and taken to hospital.
Among the dead, dying and seriously injured lay Alan Johnston, slipping into unconsciousness.
If not for a group of RNLI volunteers who had joined the rescue, he believes he would probably have been assumed deceased.
"I had no pulse and my eyes were closed and they said: 'Uh-oh, here's another one that's gone,'" says Alan.
"And then I twitched an eye. And their lifeboat training was such that it indicated there was still life."
He had severe internal bleeding and would later need "buckets of blood" to keep him alive.
Twenty-five-years later, Alan is talkative, cheerful and animated, and far less guarded than other survivors.
But sadness creeps into his voice when he remembers the aftermath of the crash, as rescuers tried desperately to reach those trapped deep inside the wreckage.
They were trying to get to passengers like Chris Thompson, buried at the front of the plane under a pile of luggage flung out of the overhead lockers.
He has no recollection of the rescue but was told it took more than two hours to cut him free.
"It's the le… It's the right one." The words of first officer David McClelland - captured by Flight 92's data recorder shortly after the first jolt shook the plane.
For air crash investigators, McClelland's hesitancy was deeply troubling.
It suggested the unthinkable - that two experienced pilots, responsible for the lives of 118 passengers, couldn't be certain which of their engines was noisily deteriorating.
But how was that possible? The 737-400's cockpit had an array of instruments for monitoring each engine. It should have been obvious.
The Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) team called to get to the bottom of the tragedy had seen more than its fair share of trauma in recent weeks.
Since late December they had been sifting through the grim remains of the deadliest terror attack in British history, at Lockerbie.
So far, it had been a gruelling exercise, and some of the team were taking an overdue Christmas break - including senior investigator Steve Moss, who was at home near Farnborough in Hampshire when he got the call.
Once he'd got over the "stunned disbelief that this had happened again", he quickly joined his colleagues in a police escort up the motorway to Kegworth.
They arrived in the middle of the night with the emergency services still battling to free trapped passengers.
"It was an awful sight," says Moss. "We see a lot of dead bodies in this line of work but it's a bit different to see badly injured survivors. That was pretty sobering."
One of the AAIB's first jobs was to salvage and repair damaged aircraft components and check for pre-existing flaws, such as mechanical or wiring errors.
While they methodically combed the wreckage, the investigation was already coming under political scrutiny.
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was at the crash site within hours.
She helped draft in more emergency crews and made sure the team had sufficient resources, but her constant demands for updates added to the investigators' workloads.
Officials from the airline industry were also looking over their shoulders, as were the governments of France and the US, where firms who built the aircraft's components were based.
There was no relief from the press either. Reporters wanted daily briefings as they speculated about the cause of the disaster, and it wasn't long before Captain Hunt was being praised for "averting another Lockerbie".
It was a comforting thought given the death toll on the ground in the Scottish town, where 11 residents died in the burning wreckage.
But investigators already suspected the truth might be less palatable.
From the beginning, it was clear the right engine - unlike the mangled left one - was undamaged. In fact, technicians working for the team were able to get it running again.
However, the plane had been unable to reach the runway - so the working engine must have been switched off before the crash. But why?
Steve Moss was in charge of examining the cockpit instruments.
"We had to check if somehow the right engine's wiring had crossed with the left," he says. "After a few minor repairs we could actually power up the controls again and we were able to rule that out."
The obvious conclusion was pilot error - a theory given more support when McClelland's comments were recovered from the data recorder.
Once this disturbing new theory was revealed, the newspapers were quick to seize on it. The Times minced no words with its headline: "Crew shut down good engine".
It remained only for Captain Hunt and his co-pilot to give their side of the story.
Investigators interviewed a seriously-ill Hunt at his bedside. What he told them painted a picture of confusion and panic.
When the plane first jolted, a vibration alert warned that the left engine was shaking violently.
But for some reason the men didn't use the dial. It's still not clear exactly why.
In Captain Hunt's opinion, this particular instrument was unreliable. He told investigators that, on other planes he'd flown, the vibration dials were generally ignored by pilots.
However, the 737-400 had much-improved, more accurate sensors.
There was also some suggestion the new dials were too small, and difficult to read while the plane was vibrating.
Either way, the crew had to resort to trial and error.
"The [left] engine was surging," says Steve. "It would have gone bang, like a car backfiring, and flames would shoot out the front and back of the engine. That's what was rattling Hunt and McClelland.
"If you can't see from the instruments which engine is having the problem you reduce power to each one in turn."
The pilots chose to throttle back to the right engine - partly, according to Hunt, because of the smoke in the cabin.
In his experience, a Boeing 737's air conditioning system was fed by an intake on the right-hand side of the plane - near the engine.
So logically the flames must also be on the right, with the intake drawing in the smoke.
Again, he was apparently unaware of changes in the new 400-series. They took in air from both sides.
Remarkably though, the plane seemed to settle down.
This, according to the AAIB, was nothing more than an unfortunate coincidence. However, it convinced the pilots they had solved the problem.
During the next few minutes, air traffic controllers said Hunt's workload was "very high", and at some point he decided the best course of action was to completely shut down the right engine.
It was the final, fatal error.
When the damaged left engine failed there was nothing keeping the plane in the air.
In the frantic final few seconds of the flight, as alarms warned they were close to crashing, the men desperately tried to start the engine up again. But it was too late.
In one survivor's words, the jet became like "a stone hurled across a field" - it had forward momentum but ultimately fell to earth.
In the 25 years since the crash, Chris Thompson has made a remarkable recovery.
After a couple of years, he managed to fly without self-medicating and he no longer goes through his routine of picturing Flight 92's seating plan before checking in.
He threw himself into the work of the Air Accident Safety Group, which he formed with Alan Johnston. Both campaigned for years.
Their work has led to the implementation of many of the AAIB's 31 recommendations including strengthening of aircraft seats, better testing of aircraft and training of pilots, and changes to the working practices of cabin crew. The brace position was also improved.
"I like to think that after being in the crash I've benefitted. I like to think I'm a better person, but don't we all," Chris says.
Today he is "rational" about air travel and wouldn't think twice about putting his family on a plane - indeed, days before he spoke to the BBC, he flew back from a holiday in Portugal.
Approaching the check-in desk, he wasn't medicated. He hadn't consumed alcohol to get him through the flight. His only concern was getting home on time.
The dead seats were far from his mind.
Chris Thompson
Dominica McGowan
Alan Johnston
Mervyn Finlay
Stephen McCoy
Plane seating plan
1. Chris Thompson
Seat 1E
Chris shattered both his legs, but benefitted from then-revolutionary procedures to pin the bones together – partly developed for bomb victims in Northern Ireland. After months in a cage-like contraption, he was moved into a wheelchair and finally –a year after the crash – he could stand up, but had to learn to walk again.
Because of his job, he had no choice but to eventually get back on a plane. He helped establish the Air Accident Safety Group and campaigned to improve standards on airlines. He says he still thinks about the crash, but no longer lets it rule his life
2. Dominica McGowan
Seat 15B, or possibly row 11, 12 or 18
Because Dominica managed free herself from the plane, her injuries were initially assumed to be minor. In fact, as well as a broken back, she had broken all her ribs and a leg, damaged her pelvis, punctured a lung and seriously injured her spleen.
She says her status as a survivor meant everyone wanted to talk to her, which helped her to cope emotionally. Other than back pain – at times severe – she says the crash hasn’t interfered with her life.
“I have always maintained I was so lucky - that really has stayed with me.”
3. Alan Johnston
Seat 17D
Alan insists that, despite his broken bones – including a smashed pelvis – his family suffered far more than he did.
After returning home to the coastal village of Strangford in Northern Ireland, he began to show symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and “became a different person" with delusional dreams about solving world peace. He received psychological help, and recovered quickly enough to fly again on the first anniversary of the crash.
Along with Chris Thompson, he threw himself into aircraft safety campaigning, and today regards the disaster as one of the most interesting episodes in his life.
4. Mervyn Finlay
Seat 21A
Mervyn was one of the most seriously injured and remembers nothing of the crash itself. He broke his neck and back – his spine was left “hanging by a thread”. He needed months of rehabilitation. To this day he suffers with balance problems, black-outs and permanent pins-and-needles in his feet.
When he first stood up again, after some gruelling physiotherapy, Mervyn says he “could have cried”. He had to give up the job he loved and has never been able to play sport with his son. A fear of flying means he has also missed out on family holidays abroad.
5. Stephen McCoy
Seat unknown
Stephen was just 16 at the time of the crash, returning from his first trip away from home without his parents. He was the most seriously-injured survivor and spent three years in hospital. He still suffers from the effects today.
His sister Yvonne has given up work to become his full-time carer. They live in a specially-built house where CCTV cameras allow the family to keep an eye on Stephen. He recently celebrated his 40th birthday, and the family still hopes for improvements. He is well known at the Roman Catholic shrine at Lourdes in France, where the family makes an annual pilgrimage to pray for a cure.
Audio slideshow produced by Paul Kerley. Infographics by Andreia Paralta Carqueija. Additional reporting by Jim Davis, Namrata Varia and Nick Tarver.
|
A man accused of setting a 50-year-old on fire inside a shop has been charged with attempted murder. | The victim suffered burns to his legs at bodybuilding shop PB Sports on Wigton Road, Carlisle.
Frank Robertson, 60, of Stainton, near Penrith, is also charged with possession of an offensive weapon.
He was remanded in custody having appeared at Carlisle Magistrates' Court. The case will next be heard at the city's crown court on 5 March.
The attack happened shortly before 11:00 GMT on Tuesday.
The victim used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames on his body, a witness told the BBC.
|
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has described the draft EU reform deal as "fair for the UK and fair for the other 27 member states", while British Prime Minister David Cameron says the UK could get "best of both worlds" if the right package is agreed. | But what do the other EU countries think?
The German government says the draft is an "ambitious package" of proposals, and it is now "looking at the package in all its details". It says it will try to play a constructive role in the negotiations that follow.
However, France says there need to be some limits on the proposals.
According to government spokesman Stephane Le Foll, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told colleagues: "We must stay within the current treaties and there can be no interference from non-eurozone countries in the eurozone.
Poland's President Andrzej Dudahas previously indicated that he would not agree to any final deal unless the proposals to let the UK suspend social payments to migrants were acceptable to him.
However on Wednesday, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said parts of the draft deal seemed "beneficial" because they "would not affect people who have already migrated to Britain - they will not lose any social benefits".
The Czech Foreign Minister, Tomas Prouza, has told the BBC he thinks "the UK does have a case of many people coming in and needing to change its social system."
"But what is also important for us in this deal is that it's not changing the rules for those already working in the UK, where they have been contributing to the system."
Finland's Prime Minister Juha Sipila said that his country "can live" with the package proposed by Mr Juncker, while Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said the draft "paves the way for an agreement in the European Council".
'A charade': The response from MEPs
There have also been lively responses from the European Parliament, which debated the draft measures on Wednesday.
Belgian MEP and former Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said Britain would be "a dwarf" without Europe.
"We Belgians, we know that we are dwarfs, but maybe they're going to know it also."
However, he added that the EU needed the UK as well: "Europe without Great Britain doesn't count; is not a counterweight against China, against Russia, against the United States."
"Putin wins in this game if Britain leaves. He likes the idea of a divided Europe."
German MEP Rebecca Harms from the Greens/European Free Alliance group urged members to think about what the EU had achieved.
"We came from war, we achieved peace," she said.
Italian MEP Gianni Pittella, of the centre-left S&D group, argued: "The UK outside the EU is weaker. We need to be able to speak clearly about the advantages that UK citizens get, because of the continued membership in the European Union."
German MEP Gabriele Zimmer from the left-wing GUE/NGL criticised the draft proposals, describing any opt-out for the free movement of EU workers as "the idea of the social union being buried".
"There is added value for UK citizens if they stay. Not just interests of financial markets should be taken into account."
Meanwhile, Polish MEP Zdzislaw Krasnodebskim, from the right-wing ECR group, told the BBC that EU workers should be treated fairly.
"According to all statistics the Poles are very successful in Great Britain, so I do not see why they shouldn't be paid the same benefits as a British worker."
France's Marine Le Pen from the eurosceptic ENF group dismissed all the negotiations as "merely theatre".
"The Brits have had enough of the EU. Finally the EU will be seen for the charade it is and people will get sovereignty back," she said.
The press
European commentators have been expressing reluctant acceptance of the EU reform deal tentatively agreed with the UK.
The negotiations are being widely depicted as a largely sham process designed to help David Cameron to convince sceptical Britons that he wrung painful concessions from the EU.
"The show can begin," Arnaud Leparmentier writes in France's Le Monde of the negotiations, which he says are about "nothing of substance".
In Poland, which has been vocally opposed to restrictions on benefits for EU migrants, the Gazeta Wyborcza daily says keeping Britain in the EU should be seen as Poland's overriding concern, even at the expense of Poles working in the UK.
"No matter how brutal but effective this is, it is worth sacrificing part of their benefit rights in Britain in order to save the EU from Brexit."
EU press resigned to UK deal 'show'
|
An 11-year-old took two knives into school after hearing about an online hoax which threatened sexual violence against females, police have said. | The girl told officers in Southampton she armed herself in response to the supposed threats.
Police said they provided advice to the girl, who was not arrested, and recovered the knives on Thursday.
Parents have been told by the force to reassure their children any online messages about the issue were false.
In a statement, a Hampshire police sergeant said: "Had the knives not been recovered this could have had dire consequences had this child lashed out in fear for any reason.
"Not only is this hoax disgusting, making light of one of the most serious, most traumatic offences a human can commit against another, it is also causing many children to be very afraid."
Related Internet Links
Hampshire Constabulary
|
This week a Darth Vader costume dating from the era of Star Wars sequel The Empire Strikes Back (1980) is to be sold at auction at Christie's in London. We talk to actor Dave Prowse about his time as the man behind the mask. | By Tim MastersEntertainment correspondent, BBC News
"We were filming during the hot summer of 1976," says Dave Prowse, the man who was Darth Vader.
"The suit was made from quilted leather. I wore a t-shirt and a pair of swimming trunks underneath - and the heat would rise into the mask and mist up the eye-piece, so you couldn't see where you were going!"
Darth Vader - for those who don't know - lived a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. For many he is the movie villain par excellence.
Prowse played the bodily form of Darth Vader in the first three Star Wars films.
But the character was voiced by American stage and screen actor James Earl Jones. (Prowse confirms the two men have never actually met, although they have spoken by phone.) "I'm a great adorer of what he did - he enhanced the part greatly with his beautiful tonal voice."
Green Cross Man
The Darth Vader costume in the Christie's auction is expected to fetch up to £230,000 ($368,000).
Prowse has seen the costume, but has not verified it as the one he wore on screen. The original Star Wars costume is in the Lucasfilm archive in the US. The last time he wore it was in the 1990s.
"They sent it over to me - with a guard - to do a Star Wars video game called Rebel Assault II. My name tag is still in the suit."
A former weightlifter and bodybuilder, Prowse played a variety of monsters on film and TV in the 60s and early 70s. When he was cast as Darth Vader he was already well known as road safety superhero the Green Cross Code Man.
As Prowse recalls, when he tried on the helmet at Elstree Studios for the first time he found he was able to move his head freely around inside it.
"I said, 'It's miles too big! We'll have to get another one done.' But they said it looked perfect - and padded it out with foam rubber. It had a Velcro fitting at the base, so when the wind machines were on the thing was still wobbling around."
What was it like being on the Star Wars set? Did Prowse have any inkling of how successful the film would become?
"I thought I was doing a load of rubbish, I really did," he laughs. "You were wandering round looking at all these funny creatures and fantastic sets, but you had no idea what it would look like at the finish."
On The Empire Strikes Back, such was the level of secrecy that Prowse wasn't shown a complete script. His lines for the next day were sent by courier each evening.
For the big showdown between Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Darth Vader, Prowse wasn't even given the real lines. He had no idea of the big revelation until he saw the film at its premiere.
He recalls: "Suddenly there's me saying to Luke 'I am your father' - and I thought 'this is new!' I was sat behind Mark - who knew the real dialogue - and he thought I was going to jump over three rows of seats and smash him for not telling me."
For many years Prowse has travelled all over the world attending Star Wars conventions. His relationship with Lucasfilm, however, is not a happy one.
"We were about to start on Jedi and I got accused of giving information on what was going on in the movie. I didn't have a copy of the script, but somehow I got called a blabbermouth."
He denies any wrongdoing, but the rift has gone on for years. "I'm still part of the Lucasfilm family, although I appear to be a very distant relative."
Darth auction
The Darth Vader costume up for auction is being sold by American private collector who acquired it in 2003.
The auction notes say: "The costume is being sold on behalf of a gentleman recorded as having one of the most extreme cases of the debilitating condition Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) ever diagnosed.
"The costume came into the gentleman's possession after much tenacity in his quest to possess an original Darth Vader suit from The Empire Strikes Back, as an aid to battle the condition."
The owner bought two suits from a UK company that had been authorised to create "second generation Vader suits for promotional purposes".
After examining differences in the second suit, the collector came to the conclusion "that he was now the owner of production-made helmet, mask, shoulder armour, and shin-guard components".
Christie's notes: "To say it is screen-used is difficult as there would be several production-made helmets, masks and shoulder guards, just to cope with the sheer intensity and requirements of filming."
Three masks and helmets have already been sold via Christie's in the 1990s. The seller is donating a percentage of the proceeds of the sale to Cancer Research UK in memory of his mother.
Jedi knight
Dave Prowse, meanwhile, is still acting in low-budget independent films.
This year he appeared in The Kindness of Strangers - a film by first-time director Deborah Hadfield - which screened at Cannes. He will be working with her again next year in romantic thriller Sweetest Love.
As the interview ends, Prowse offers up an anecdote that not only sheds light on his first meeting with Sir Alec Guinness (Obi-Wan Kenobi), but also his thespian credentials.
"When Alec died, a biography came out and I got a copy and wondered if I got a mention. So I looked up myself in the index and there was a diary entry that said: 'Had lunch today with Dave Prowse - who is going to play Darth Vader'.
"And then there was a dash and the words - 'I fear he is not an actor'."
The Darth Vader costume will be auctioned as part of a Popular Culture: Film and Entertainment sale on 25 November, at Christie's, South Kensington.
|
Some shops are still confused about how the single-use carrier bag charge will work when it is introduced on 1 October. BBC News Online reporter Gemma Ryall took a stroll down one Cardiff high street to see if stores there were ready for the changes.
| The convenience store
Bobby Singh, manager of Lifestyle Express, Llandaff North
I've just heard about it from customers. They're telling me about it but I'm not sure when it's starting.
Not really, I don't think so. I've heard I have to charge 5p for a bag, but someone also told me 10p. I know what they [the Welsh Government] are trying to do and that makes sense. But I want to know how does it work? I have heard there may be secret shoppers. And I'm also wondering if I can bring in a promotion rather than getting my customers to pay - like spend a certain amount of money and I'll give a free bag.
No, I'm not ready. I don't know who I'm supposed to give the money to.
I have noticed more people bringing in bags. I understand why this needs to be done. I already try to encourage people not to use a bag unless they need to. Some kids came in for chocolate and then asked for a bag so I tried to point out that they didn't need one. I just want to know more about how this will all work.
Sam Cain, manager of Roosters, Llandaff North
Yes, I found out in Asda. I haven't received a leaflet though.
Everybody has to charge for carrier bags. I'm going to try but I know my customers are going to mind. They're having a meal and then you charge them 5p. If I don't give a bag they will ask how they are supposed to carry it? It's very difficult and confusing for us.
No way am I! It's the credit crunch and now I have to do this. I think we need more help and support.
No. Not a single person. Who's going to come to a takeaway with their own carrier bag? It's madness.
Gurpreet Randhawa, owner of Bargain Booze, Llandaff North
Yes, we had a leaflet sent from the Welsh Government four to five months ago.
Yes. Before we were told we needed to keep a record but now we don't need to because we employ less than 10 people. We have been told that by the Bargain Booze chain.
Yes. We have been charging 5p for a bag for a year now. For the first two to three weeks there was a bit of banter from customers about it. But since then they have brought their own bags. About 70-80% now bring their own bags here, otherwise they just don't ask for a bag. Only 2-3% ask for a bag now, I'd say. So we know it can work. I think it's a good thing.
Paula Watkins, manager at Absolutely Fabulous, Llandaff North
I do know about it - but mainly from shopping in Asda and seeing all the signs up. I've also heard a bit in the media. But I don't think we've received any information from the government. The owner of the shop is away at the moment, so perhaps she's received something - but as far as I'm aware we haven't.
No I don't. What will happen to the charges? How will they regulate it?
As we haven't had the information, no. But we will be. I'm going to go on the website now to find out about it.
We don't really deal with many bags, to be honest. People only really need them for things like tiaras and shoes, which some shoppers just put in another bag. People are more conscious about the environment and we don't want to give bags out all the time.
The card and party store
Leon Deane, worker at Party Central, Llandaff North.
Yes.
Not really. This is my mother's shop and we received a little leaflet, but that's about it I think. All I know is we're supposed to charge for a bag and donate the money to charity.
Yes, I think we're ready. I think we're going to charge the bare minimum as it's bad having to charge people for a bag. Our shop isn't like a supermarket. People take bags to supermarkets because they know they're going there to shop. But our shop has more impulse buyers - people see something in the window and just pop in.
I have noticed more people, definitely. People have all those 'bags for life'.
|
Professor Elaine Power, of Queen's University in Ontario, provoked a storm of protest after writing a deliberately controversial article suggesting food banks should be shut down.
She said they were a sticking plaster solution for poverty in Canada. Here she explains why. | Food banks emerged in Canada in the early 1980s as a stopgap, temporary measure to alleviate hunger during an economic downturn.
The good-hearted founders of food banks, who could not fathom that anyone would go hungry in a country as wealthy as Canada, expected that food banks would close their doors once the economy recovered.
Instead, 30 years on, they have become an institutionalised component of our social safety net.
In 2011, approximately 850,000 Canadians (2.5% of the population), received food from about 450 food banks.
Food drives
Thirty-eight percent of food bank recipients were children.
Many Canadians participate regularly in activities to support food banks.
Food bank collection bins are ubiquitous in grocery stores and places of worship, such as churches and synagogues.
Special events, from music concerts to football games, feature donations to the food bank as an entrance fee.
Communities around the country hold food drives, with boy scouts, service clubs, and countless volunteers knocking on citizens' doors asking for donations to stock the food bank shelves.
Politicians exhort voters to donate to their local food banks and social workers regularly refer clients to supplement their social assistance benefits.
I doubt that well-intentioned food bank founders had any idea of what would result from their concern to feed hungry Canadians.
Yet, despite all this activity, approximately 8% of Canadian households were classified as having been hungry in 2007-08.
Only about 1 in 4 hungry Canadians ever even gets to the food bank.
There are likely to be a variety of reasons for this, including lack of a food bank close by, inability to choose the food one receives, and the humiliation of having to go to a food bank.
Some hungry Canadians decide to leave the food for others who they believe need it more than they do.
And even those who do go to the food bank are still hungry.
That is because food banks run on donations and can only provide to their clients the food they have on hand, perhaps supplemented with purchased food (such as eggs and milk).
Food bank hampers usually consist primarily of non-perishable foods; research has found that food banks are seldom able to provide food that meet nutritional recommendations.
Rising demand
Most food banks have restrictions on how often households can use the food bank (usually once a month) and how much food they provide (usually enough for 2-5 days).
Food Banks Canada, the national association representing and supporting food banks across the country, reports that in 2010, 35% of food banks ran out of food and 50% cut back on quantities because of rising demand and inadequate supply.
Food banks have become our primary response to hunger in Canada and Canadians seem to assume that food banks are looking after the problem.
But the problem is too big for food banks — community-based, volunteer-run, donation-driven organisations — to fix.
The existence of food banks, and all the activity we undertake to support them, seems to have squeezed out any space in the public imagination to consider other solutions or the bigger underlying problem of poverty, which causes hunger in the first place.
Food banks are a sticking plaster on the gaping wound of poverty.
And inadvertently, they let our government off the hook from their obligation to ensure that all Canadians have a standard of living that is sufficient for health and well-being.
Elaine Power is associate professor at the School of Kinesiology & Health Studies at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.
BBC Scotland Investigates: Breadline Scotland transmits on Sunday 29 April at 16:32 on BBC Radio Scotland
|
A man and a woman from Chester have been led to safety by mountain rescue team members after they became crag-fast on Tryfan in Snowdonia.
| Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue team said they were inadequately equipped and had no map or compass.
They had scrambled up part of the north ridge and were unable to find the footpath when they turned back.
A rescue team spokesman said they were discovered sitting 10 feet (3m) from the path.
Tryfan, one of the best known mountains in the Ogwen Valley, appears on the map at 3,002 ft, or 915m.
Last year it was re-measured and came in at 3,010 ft (917.51m) - 8 ft (2.43m) taller than its official measurement.
The project's result was verified by a member of the Ordnance Survey (OS).
|
This is an unprecedented time for the study of the oceans. | Jonathan AmosScience correspondent@BBCAmoson Twitter
Space agencies are now flying six satellite altimeters, returning large volumes of data on the height and shape of the sea surface - and in rapid time.
The information is fed into all manner of applications, from forecasting the weather to understanding the migratory habits of marine creatures.
The main image at the top of this page gives a snapshot of the six missions in action as they monitor the North Atlantic.
Each is seen to fly over the Gulf Stream - the current of warm water that rides up the East Coast of the US and then crosses to Europe.
The background map is a model - based on some of the sextet's data - of what the ocean was doing on the day the satellites tracked through the scene.
It should be evident immediately that the spacecraft all see the same features.
The constellation comprises the satellites known as Jason 1 and 2, which are a joint effort between the US and Europe; Sentinel-3a and Cryosat, which are solely European ventures; Saral/Altika - a French-Indian project; and HY-2A from China.
Their equipment may differ slightly, but their principle of operation is the same: they emit radar pulses towards the sea-surface and catch the "echo".
The nature of the returning energy gives information on the state of that surface, providing indications of wind speed and wave height. Meteorological agencies feed this into the numerical models that produce our weather forecasts.
But the time to the arrival of the echo is also a measure of the elevation of the surface - and is useful in a couple of ways, says Remko Scharroo, an altimetry expert with Eumetsat, the organisation charged with gathering the satellite information for Europe's forecasters.
"First of all, you can look at the slope of the sea surface and that tells you something about the currents. And secondly - the total height also depends on the total energy in the ocean.
"You can imagine that if you heat up the ocean, it slightly expands. And that's very important for example in hurricane forecasting because this type of information will tell you how much energy a hurricane can absorb from the ocean. If the sea surface is warm but the underlying water is not, the hurricane will not be intensified as much."
And it all goes wider than just the met offices, of course.
Shipping companies take the current information to work out the most efficient routes, saving time and diesel.
Drill rigs and cable-laying vessels will monitor strong currents and surface eddies to plan sensitive operations.
Marine biologists are interested in the surface conditions and currents because these hint at how water is being moved and mixed.
This influences the distribution of nutrients in the ocean and the production of plankton. All higher life - from the smallest fish to the biggest whales - depends on such processes.
Even geologists have reason to thank the work of the satellite altimeters.
This is because the mean topography of the sea surface reflects the shape of what lies below.
Because water follows gravity, it is pulled into highs above the mass of tall seamounts, and slumps into depressions over deep trenches.
Most of our knowledge of what the ocean floor looks like relies on these altimetric interpretations.
The two newest missions, Jason-3 and Sentinel-3a, are currently going through a period of commissioning before being accepted into full operation.
They were launched in January and February, respectively.
In the Gulf Stream map, Jason-3 is seen to track very close to its predecessor Jason-2 so that their instruments can be cross-calibrated.
Eumetsat has a key role in the management of the data coming from both the Jason and Sentinel missions.
[email protected] and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos
|
A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the body of a man was discovered at a property in Kent. | The discovery was made as police were called to reports of a burglary in Delce Road, Rochester, at 10:00 GMT.
A man was arrested on suspicion of murder and possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply.
A second man was arrested on suspicion of drug-related offences. Both men remain in custody.
Detectives from Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate are expected to remain at the address "for a number of days" while the scene is examined, Kent Police said.
|
Can "free ports" spark a post-Brexit manufacturing boom? Jonty Bloom reports from Teesside, which plans to become the UK's newest free port, offering customs-free imports and hoping to bring back manufacturing jobs. | Teesside in the north east of England is an industrial landscape, all chemical and petrochemical works, power stations and docks. Old oil rigs are towed here to die.
At night in particular it looks like something out of a science-fiction movie, which is no coincidence because Teesside was the inspiration for the dystopian industrial landscape for Blade Runner.
But at the very centre of Teesside is a vast empty area dotted with enormous rusting buildings - the former steelworks of Redcar, which finally closed in 2015.
But now there is a plan to transform and revitalise this area by turning it into a free port.
A free port, sometimes called a free trade zone or special economic zone, is normally an area of a country where its taxes and tariffs do not apply. So you can import goods, store them and re-export them without bothering the tax collectors.
And these days they go further, allowing firms to import raw materials, make finished goods and then export them, with none of the border taxes that the rest of the country has to pay.
Within the EU's customs union large industrial free zones have limited use, after all you still have to pay customs taxes when bringing the goods into the EU from the free zone.
But after Brexit it could be a huge boost for areas like Teeside. For the mayor of the Tees Valley Ben Houchen, the man behind the idea, turning Teeside into a free port is just common sense.
"They have them in the Middle East, they have them in North America and in the Far East," he says. "It is a tool in our arsenal that we are not using."
Back to the future?
To see how well free ports can work, you have to travel to the other side of the British Isles and back to the 1960s.
Shannon Airport, on the Republic of Ireland's west coast, started as a flying boat base where planes could refuel just before attempting the long Atlantic crossing - a journey so perilous and tough that the local hotel barkeeper invented Irish coffee to revive passengers.
But by the 1960s planes could easily make it across the pond in one go. Shannon was facing a bleak future.
But then Shannon Airport's boss came up with the idea of making the airport an industrial free port, not just one with warehousing and depots for storing goods tax-free before they were exported again, but one with factories making pianos, textiles and electronic components.
It was a triumph. The whole area is now one massive industrial estate, full of high-tech companies, state-of-the-art office blocks, and locally grown companies employing tens of thousands.
But that does raise a problem for Teesside - free ports work best by rapidly turning an agrarian, closed economy into an open and industrialised one, just as happened in Ireland and to a far larger extent in China.
The UK, on the other hand, has been an open and industrialised economy at least since Victorian times.
Free ports or freeloaders?
Free ports can also just encourage firms and investment to move into the free port where they pay no tax, away from other parts of the country where they do pay tax.
Dr Meredith Crowley is a professor of economics at Cambridge University and an expert on international trade policy.
"If I make canned food in one part of a country and I suddenly discover I use a lot of steel and there is a 10% discount in the free port… I would want to move there," she says.
"But that does not necessarily result in higher output or more workers."
However, the supporters of a Teesside free port believe they can prove that it will make more money than it costs.
Jerry Hopkinson is the chief operations officer at PD Ports, owner of Teesport, the main port on Teesside, and he took me on a tour of the river on his harbour launch to sing the praises of the scheme.
"By 2040 there will be a £600m benefit. By 2040, 40,000 new jobs will be created," he says. "What we need to do is demonstrate that the upside benefits is proportionally greater than the loss of revenues in term of taxes. We are doing the calculations that will demonstrate that to HM Treasury."
Even if that is true, a Teesside free port is not necessarily a good idea. It would be far more effective to cut tariffs for the whole country rather than abolish them for one small corner.
After all, this is what has happened in Shannon - free port status was not really necessary after Ireland joined the EU and slashed business taxes, and the breaks were whittled away until they finally disappeared in 2016.
Shannon, however, continues to attract investment, firms and jobs, as does Ireland as a whole.
There seems little reason why the UK as a whole cannot do the same, without needing to introduce free ports in Teesside or anywhere else.
You can hear the full story on free ports on In Business on BBC Radio 4 at 20:30 GMT on Thursday, 29 November and on BBC Sounds.
|
Voice of protest for some, populist demagogue for others, comedian Beppe Grillo has become a serious political player after taking a quarter of the vote in Italy's election, with his anti-establishment Five Star Movement. | Once effectively banished from TV after sending up politicians, he has created a brand of politics all of his own, one that has propelled Five Star to third place in both houses of parliament.
Dissatisfaction with the traditional political class, both right and left, drives a party which has made the internet its medium of choice, and has sought out relative unknowns for its candidates.
At 64, the bushy-haired comic leading this new third force can still work a crowd in a piazza and inspires a wide following on social media, tickling the Italian funny bone with his jokes. He called former Prime Minister Mario Monti, for example, "Rigor Montis" for his deadly serious manner.
However, his ability to engage ultimately in the business of government in one of the eurozone's biggest economies is less clear.
For one thing, Italian TV anchors have been famously unable to grill Mr Grillo on his programme, as he shuns the television studios beloved of politicians like centre-right leader Silvio Berlusconi.
Time 'hero'
Born 21 July 1948 in the coastal city of Genoa, he trained as an accountant before taking up comedy. The divorcee and his current wife care for six children from their current and previous marriages between them.
By the late 1970s, he was a regular on public TV, appearing in variety shows.
Despite a road accident in 1980, when he was convicted of manslaughter over the deaths of three people, he was soon fronting his own shows.
He became known for daring jokes about politicians such as Bettino Craxi, the Socialist prime minister eventually convicted of corruption.
His raw humour appears to have earned him enemies. According to a biography on his blog, he "fled" TV for the theatre in 1990.
As a touring act, he turned his attention to big issues like consumerism and the environment and in 2005 started his blog, one of the most popular in Italy.
Time magazine chose him as a "European Hero" that year, saying he used "over-the-top humour to probe the serious social issues that leaders don't want to touch".
In 2007 he organised "V-Day" - the V stands for a well-known Italian obscenity - when a petition demanding clean politics in Italy gathered 300,000 signatures in the space of a few hours.
'Lifestyle choice'
Two years later, the wealthy performer set up Five Star, which was soon polling well in local elections.
The party's logo promotes Mr Grillo's blog, making clear that it is very much the vehicle of the ageing comedian, who cannot stand for parliament himself because of his manslaughter conviction.
Mr Grillo, the BBC's Alan Johnston reported in December 2012, does not seem to have a great deal of patience for dissenting voices within the movement.
The Five Star leader is often accused of being a populist, constantly criticising the status quo but having little in the way of detailed, viable proposals for a better way forward, our Rome correspondent noted.
This lack of clarity about the party's policies has alarmed leaders in the wider eurozone, wrote the BBC's Europe editor, Gavin Hewitt.
If anything, Five Star's leader sounded even more radical at news of his party's spectacular gains.
"We've started a war of generations," he said in an audio statement on his website, which taunted the leaders of the mainstream parties.
"They are all losers, they've been there for 25 to 30 years and they've led this country to catastrophe."
Mr Grillo's followers are known as grillini or "little crickets" - his name means "cricket" in Italian - and their collective chirp can no longer be safely ignored by Italy's established parties.
"Grillo will play a decisive role," Roberto D'Alimonte, a politics professor at Rome's LUISS university, told AFP news agency.
"He has to decide whether to strike a limited agreement with the left or whether to go for fresh elections. All the cards are in his hands."
Electoral reform - he would like to halve the number of MPs and strip parties of public funding - is likely to top the list of his demands, but much is still vague.
Speaking before the election, the comedian described his party as a "lifestyle choice". "You have to participate actively in politics, change your habits: eat, travel, shop in a certain way," he was quoted as saying by AFP.
Many must now be wondering what that "certain way" represents.
|
US officials are investigating the safety of caffeine in snacks and energy drinks, worried about the "cumulative impact" of the stimulant - which is added to a growing number of products. Is our tea and coffee-fuelled society too dependent on the world's favourite drug? | By Jon KellyBBC News Magazine, Washington DC
The bubbling kettle, the aroma from the mug, the first bitter mouthful of the morning.
It's a ritual without which the working day would be, for millions of people, frankly horrifying.
Caffeine is, according to New Scientist, the planet's most popular "psychoactive drug". In the United States alone, more than 90% of adults are estimated to use it every day.
But now even the US - home of Coca-Cola, Starbucks and the 5-Hour Energy shot - is questioning the wisdom of adding it to everyday foodstuffs like waffles, sunflower seeds, trail mix and jelly beans.
In a statement, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) highlighted the "unfortunate example" of Wrigley chewing gum producing packs of eight sticks which each contained as much caffeine as half a cup of coffee. Subsequently, Wrigley said it would "pause" production of the product.
The agency is also looking at highly-caffeinated energy drinks, and said it was concerned about the "cumulative impact" of adding stimulants to products.
According to the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the number of people seeking emergency treatment after ingesting energy drinks doubled to more than 20,000 in 2011.
However, the energy drink industry says its products are safe and insists there is no proof of a link with any harmful reactions.
There have been documented cases of fatal overdoses caused by "caffeine toxicity", though these are very rare. Scientists at Johns Hopkins University, studying its addictive properties, found that withdrawal symptoms included tiredness, headaches, difficulty concentrating, muscle pain and nausea.
But there is far from any kind of scientific consensus that caffeine use is harmful. A recent study by the Harvard School of Public Health suggested that "coffee drinking doesn't have any serious detrimental health effects" and that drinking up to six cups a day was "not associated with increased risk of death from any cause".
In moderation, caffeine may have some positive effects. Research suggests it could be associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer and breast cancer. A recent study linked drinking coffee and tea with a lower risk of type two diabetes.
As a result, the FDA has pledged to "determine what is a safe level" of caffeine use.
The agency's move has been welcomed by those who fear caffeine is already encroaching too much into our daily lives - often in products where it may not be expected.
"Many people just aren't aware of how much caffeine they are taking," says Lynn Goldman, dean of the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services.
As a result, she says, they could unwittingly create problems for themselves with insomnia, indigestion, or their blood pressure.
It's especially worrying for parents, who can find it hard to regulate their children's intake.
But challenging the hegemony of caffeine may be a difficult task on a planet that consumes 120,000 tonnes of the substance per annum.
In Finland, the world's most caffeinated country, the average adult consumes 400mg of the drug every day - equivalent to four or five cups of coffee a day, and equal to the maximum daily limit recommended by the UK Food Standards Agency.
"We think that, when used in moderation, caffeine doesn't pose a risk," says Sanna Kiuru, a senior officer at Evira, the Finnish food safety authority. "It's mainly adults who drink coffee, not children. For us the levels are quite moderate."
Even buzz-loving Finns have been troubled by the rise of stealth stimulants, however.
"We have been concerned about the rise in caffeine in different foods," says Kiuru. Highly-caffeinated energy drinks in Finland are obliged to carry warning labels - a practice that will be extended across the EU from 2014.
For most caffeine consumers, its chief benefit is that, by stimulating alertness, it helps you get more done.
This is a trait that makes it unusual among recreational substances, says Stephen Braun, author of Buzz: The Science and Lore of Alcohol and Caffeine.
"Its appeal is that it helps us earn more money," he adds.
"What makes it different from other drugs is that it's used as a productivity tool - not for pleasure, like cannabis, or as a relaxant, like alcohol."
Perhaps the closest analogy is with coca leaves, chewed by labourers to give them extra energy in countries like Peru and Bolivia.
It's no coincidence, Braun believes, that caffeine's popularity boomed in Europe at the dawn of the industrial revolution, when the race for ever-increased productivity accelerated.
Many of history's creative minds have also been associated with some truly epic feats of caffeine consumption.
According to one biographer, the French novelist and playwright Balzac drank as many as 50 cups of coffee a day. "Were it not for coffee one could not write, which is to say one could not live," he once insisted.
For seven years, the film-maker David Lynch ate at the same Los Angeles diner every day, drinking up to seven sweetened cups of coffee "with lots of sugar" in one sitting, which he said would guarantee that "lots of ideas" arrived.
Ludwig van Beethoven was said to have painstakingly counted out exactly 60 coffee beans per cup when he brewed coffee.
Perhaps the most well-publicised recent tales of caffeine excess featured the somewhat less critically revered singer Robbie Williams, who reportedly consumed 36 double espressos and 20 cans of Red Bull a day.
It is the routine task itself, as much as the stimulant properties of caffeine, that makes the process so significant, Mason Currey, author of Daily Rituals: How Artists Work.
"A lot of artists use the process of making the coffee as a gateway to the creative process," he adds.
"You need to get into the right mindset to do that sort of work, and the preparation ritual provides a focus."
But attempts to clamp down on the spread of the substance have historically proved futile.
In 1911, the US government sued the Coca-Cola Company, on the basis that the caffeine in its drink was "injurious to health", but Coca-Cola prevailed in the courts.
One problem with attempting to regulate the substance, says Braun, is that it affects everyone in differently - people's varying physiologies and metabolisms making it impossible to prescribe a "safe" limit that works for everyone.
"Ultimately, you have to become your own scientist - there isn't an alternative to careful self-experimentation," he says.
Most people are likely to have ascertained by adulthood how much, or little, tea or coffee they can tolerate at a time.
But critics say this doesn't apply to energy drinks and caffeinated foodstuffs, whose effects are arguably more difficult to judge.
However profitable these products may prove for their manufacturers though, Currey suspects they well never acquire the mystique of coffee and tea.
"There's something that's not quite as special and evocative about them," he says.
"Buying an 5-Hour Energy drink from the 7-Eleven [convenience store] doesn't have the ambience of brewing a cup of coffee. I can't imagine future biographers of great artists and writers describing this stuff in the same way."
Additional reporting by Mark Bosworth in Helsinki
You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook
|
Around 1,500 troops have converged on the Vale of Glamorgan in what is believed to be one of the largest military exercises held in Wales. | Helicopters involved in Nato's Joint Warrior exercise have landed at RAF St Athan.
Parachute regiment 2 Para Battle Group will practice assaults at training areas in Caerwent, Monmouthshire and Pembrey, Carmarthenshire.
In total, around 13,000 NATO personnel from 14 countries are taking part.
|
Friday 8 May marks 70 years since the end of World War II in Europe. How will you celebrate Victory in Europe Day? | VE Day will be commemorated with events across the UK including a service of remembrance at The Cenotaph, a star-studded concert in central London and street parties around the country.
In the evening a chain of over 100 beacons will be lit across the UK.
Do you have stories or photographs of the celebrations in Britain in 1945?
Thank you for your comments, stories and pictures.
Read a selection of your memories.
|
At the moment (although we know Theresa May is very capable of changing her mind) there won't be head to head TV clashes between the PM and Jeremy Corbyn - or the PM and Nicola Sturgeon, or the PM with anyone else for that matter. | Laura KuenssbergPolitical editor@bbclaurakon Twitter
One, the Tory leader is no fan of the glitz of the TV studio. That's one reason why Number 10 is adamant that she will not take part in TV debates. But two - it's not just down to her very different style, but also, as David Cameron learnt very quickly, front runners in any campaign have everything to lose in those debates, and the underdogs have everything to gain.
Downing Street knows they will take a certain amount of flak for the decision not to play ball, and the opposition parties are of course relishing every opportunity to say that the PM is too frightened to defend her record.
But right now Mrs May's allies are willing to wear it, rather than broker the risk of taking part, even if the broadcasters go ahead with the programmes without her.
What will you hear a lot of from the Tory leader? Well if her very first campaign visit is anything to go by, David Cameron and George Osborne's "long-term economic plan" mantra will be replaced by the phrase "strong and stable".
On the stump you'd be forgiven for losing count of the number of times she used the phrase. One totting-up puts it at 13 mentions.
Brexit has undoubtedly set the backdrop for this election, and provided the catalyst for its timing. But the Conservatives plan to win to deliver their version of Brexit by again and again comparing what they claim is the "strong and stable" leadership provided by the sitting prime minister, and the alternative put forward by Jeremy Corbyn.
Tomorrow he'll make his first big election speech, his first big chance to recast that argument.
|
Fifteen countries in West Africa have agreed to adopt a single currency next year called the eco. Experts are divided on the impact it would have on the region's economy, especially in the eight member states which use CFA franc - which is backed by France. | By Louise DewastBBC Africa, Dakar
Negotiations for the joint currency have been in the works for 30 years.
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), the region's political and economic union, said the rollout will be gradual with countries meeting the laid-out criteria joining first.
Why does West Africa want a single currency?
Eight countries already use the CFA franc, which is pegged to the euro, and is guaranteed by France. The other seven have their own currencies, none of them freely convertible.
Proponents of the eco say the single currency will facilitate trade, lower transaction costs and facilitate payments amongst Ecowas' 385 million people.
However, critics worry that Nigeria, the region's biggest economy, will dominate monetary policy and stall the projected benefits.
For economists Ferdinand Backoup and Daniel Ndoye, a single currency would prove a valuable instrument in the international monetary system:
"West African countries - like most other developing countries - are not immune to monetary shocks caused by policies implemented in the rest of the world," the pair wrote in a briefing note for the African Development Bank.
A single currency can offer a chance, they say, to put up a "collective and effective front" against these disruptions.
About the ECO
Will it really happen next year?
It looks extremely unlikely that all 15 countries will meet this target.
The single currency was first planned to be introduced in 2003 but the launch has been postponed several times; in 2005, 2010 and 2014.
It is possible, although ambitious, that some countries will meet the current criteria for the 2020 deadline - the primary four being:
These criteria, along with two other secondary ones, are due to be assessed by Ecowas by the end of 2019.
One of the problems is inconsistency: countries could, for example, meet the criteria next year, and then fall behind the following year.
In 2016, only one country, Liberia, met all the six conditions, and no single criterion was met by all the countries.
Economist Martial Belinga, author of Liberate Africa From Monetary Slavery, says 2020 is a symbolic goal.
"It's more about the process," he said. "Having a deadline pushes states to reach the criteria."
Mr Belinga says Ecowas might want to consider revising the entrance criteria, as long as they remain credible.
Ecowas has said adoption would be gradual though, so the countries that do meet the criteria can join, and the others can follow later.
Will it work?
If the goal is to boost trade, some analysts are sceptical that a single currency is key.
"We struggle in Nigeria alone to get produce from the north to Lagos, and to other southern parts where it can be consumed," said Sanyade Okoli, head of Alpha African Advisory.
"If goods can't move freely, how can we even talk about a single currency? she asked. "We need to address poor infrastructure, bureaucracy - the lower-hanging fruits first".
For Mr Belinga, the real impediment to trade in the region is not the lack of a single currency but that countries don't have much to trade.
"West African countries must transform their economies, with diversification and added value industries," he says.
"That's the real solution to face external shocks and volatility."
Currently, most countries rely on commodities whose prices are regulated on international markets.
For the economist, the single currency isn't "an end in itself".
What about sovereignty?
Although talk of a political federation has not dominated the latest discussions, critics point at pitfalls of running a joint currency without a political union.
Economists Ferdinand Bakoup and Daniel Ndoye say the commitment of regional leaders should allay such fears.
"The creation of a presidential task force to monitor the single currency creation process, headed by the heads of state of Ghana, Nigeria and Ivory Coast and the Committee of Central Bank governors, is a glaring illustration," they said.
"What now remains is to transform this commitment by accelerating the implementation of reforms to help achieve this objective".
You may also be interested in:
But despite their will to move forward, many also fear losing part of their sovereignty.
"As Africa's largest economy and most populous country, we cannot afford to rush into such agreements without full and proper consultation with all stakeholders," said Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari.
The next Ecowas meeting in December is likely to whip up some of these concerns.
Won't it just be dominated by Nigeria?
Nigeria, whose oil-dependent economy accounts for two-thirds of the region's GDP, would dominate a future monetary union. Some economists have compared Nigeria to Germany's weight in the eurozone although Nigeria would be far more dominant in the eco.
For Ms Okoli, that could be problematic.
"We should have an honest conversation about how we feel about that," she says. "Germany had a measure of restraint coming out of World War II, but we don't have that in Nigeria," she said.
It is, however, less of problem and more of an opportunity, Mr Belinga argues.
"There's always a leader in a union and I think we should hope Nigeria will play that role positively. When you look at what they've done for their economy, I see that as a positive signal of good leadership".
"At the same time," he says, "Nigeria must see that this is an opportunity for them to access a massive market".
What about countries that use CFA franc?
Although some describe the CFA franc as a colonial relic, some analysts say that what's been driving growth in francophone countries like Ivory Coast has been high investment because of low interest rates which come from a stable currency guaranteed by France.
The Francophone countries might be hesitant to joining a union with countries that have much higher levels of inflation and interest rates.
But the appeal to cut colonial links and embrace the eco as an African project is strong.
"Even if it creates instability, that's normal," says Mr Belinga, "countries must disconnect from the franc", he adds.
|
The British Isles have seen countless battles, campaigns and wars. But which one affected us the most?
This year is rich with the anniversaries of significant battles - Waterloo, Gallipoli and Agincourt.
| By Greig WatsonBBC News
But during the past 2,000 years, the British Isles has been riven by conflict, being remembered with the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, the recent reburial of Richard III and the upcoming 950th anniversary of Hastings.
So which is the most important battle ever fought here? A clash of arms that produced not only a winner and a loser but perhaps changed everything that came after?
The vote is now closed and results are at the bottom of the page.
Boudica's revolt - Empire on the edge
Just 18 years after the invasion, Roman progress in Britain was dealt a huge blow when Queen Boudica rallied native tribes to a devastating rebellion.
Adrian Murdoch, Roman military historian and journalist, said: "Her revolt almost stopped the Roman Empire in its tracks.
"Boudica had reasons to be angry - double-crossed over land and her capital sacked, then beaten and her two daughters raped."
After the destruction of the best part of a legion and three major towns, the Roman army made its stand.
Boudiccan revolt
61 AD, Midlands, England
Between Roman Empire vs British Celtic tribes
Forces 10,000 Roman soldiers vs possibly 200,000 tribespeople
Cause Imperial Roman influence on Britain
Result 350 years of Roman occupation
Mr Murdoch said: "The fate of the province was in the balance - with the emperor Nero considering abandoning the island. But thanks to superior military discipline, the Romans won. Classical authors claim 80,000 Britons died to 400 Roman losses.
"Had Boudica's revolt worked, the English Channel would have been as much of a barrier between barbarism and civilisation as the Rhine.
"Britain would have lost the enduring influence of 350 years of Roman rule, its culture, building and commerce.
"And while she lost, Boudica became a personification of Britannia, complete with a statue outside the Houses of Parliament."
Boudica: National heroine or murderous villain?
Brunanburh - Birth of England?
As Roman power faded, warring tribes and invaders competed for supremacy. After the successes of Anglo-Saxon King Alfred the Great against the Vikings in Wessex, his grandson Æthelstan extended his influence north and east, gradually cementing the concept of one "Angle-land".
But this development sparked fear and rivalry in neighbouring kingdoms and an alliance was formed to crush it.
Professor Michael Livingston, editor of Brunanburh: A Casebook, said: "Brunanburh may well be the most important battle in English history that you've never heard of.
"King Æthelstan faced an allied force that included at least five foreign kings, including those of Dublin, Alba, and Strathclyde — an alliance whose united purpose was to destroy the Anglo-Saxon kingdom that would become England.
Brunanburh
937 AD, Wirral?, England
Between Æthelstan’s early English kingdom vs Norse/Celtic Scottish and Irish kingdoms
Forces Uncertain but likely to be at least hundreds of warriors on each side
Cause Existence of independent English kingdom
Result England established as political and military entity
"In addition to its obvious geo-political importance, Brunanburh was probably one of the largest battles of its age: a generation later chroniclers like Athelweard referred to the event as simply 'the Great War'."
Hours of vicious fighting devastated both sides, with traditional poems saying five kings and seven earls among the invaders were killed.
Æthelstan was the victor and his rivals fled, only the damage meant he could not press home his advantage. But Alfred's legacy had been saved and a unified, independent Anglo-Saxon kingdom would have time to take root.
With the passing of centuries the location of Brunanburh has become uncertain. Prof Livingston said: "Where it happened, however, is of secondary importance to the nation that grew from its bloodied soil."
Hastings - The last invasion
Murky politics and ruthless ambition led Duke William of Normandy to face Anglo-Saxon King Harold on a hillside in Sussex.
Harold's men were exhausted from a forced march of about 500 miles (800km) to York and back, William had the smallest toehold on English soil.
Each was a hardened warrior, each claimed the throne of England, each knew no mercy would be shown.
Julian Humphrys, development officer of the Battlefields Trust, said: "The English fought doggedly on foot, their shields held closely together to form a solid wall but the relentless attacks of William's archers, foot soldiers and mounted knights eventually wore them down.
Hastings
14 October 1066, East Sussex, England
Between Harold II’s Saxons vs Duke William II’s Normans
Forces 7,000 (approx) Saxon infantry vs (approx) 10,000 Norman infantry and cavalry
At stake Rule of England
Result End of Saxon England
"King Harold and much of the Anglo-Saxon leadership fell that day and with them died England's best chance of repelling the Normans.
"1066 is probably the best-known date in British history. And rightly so, as William's invasion not only decided who would rule England but also led to fundamental changes in English society.
"Land ownership was transformed with the replacement of the old Saxon aristocracy by a new Norman elite, our language was irrevocably altered with the addition of so many French words, and most of our castles and cathedrals can trace their origins back to the Norman conquest.
"The battle also changed England's place in Europe. Before Hastings it was closely linked to Scandinavia - after Hastings it was firmly part of Western Europe."
How did William the Bastard become William the Conqueror?
Bannockburn - The limit of power
The English kingdom and Scottish kingdoms had wrestled with each other for centuries but with the aggressive Edward I - "Hammer of the Scots" - it looked as if the southern realm would triumph.
But Robert the Bruce led a fierce resistance and forced the less imposing Edward II to march a huge army to a marshy field near Stirling.
Professor Michael Brown, from the University of St Andrews's School of History, said: "Bannockburn was the real battle for Britain.
"The two kings on the island, Robert Bruce and Edward II, led their armies in a fight which had a large influence on the nature of Britain. Would it be a single realm, whose character was overwhelmingly English, or would different traditions and loyalties continue to flourish?"
Bannockburn
23–24 June 1314, Stirling, Scotland
Between Edward II vs Robert the Bruce
Forces 20,000 (approx) English knights and infantry vs 7,500 (approx) Scottish infantry
Cause Scottish independence
Result Setback for Edward II and touchstone for Scottish identity
Edward's badly-led army found itself out-manoeuvred and unable to break the Scottish spear formations. Over two days of bitter clashes, the English army was worn down and eventually broke.
Prof Brown said: "Robert's victory meant not just the continuation of the Scottish kingdom but that Scotland would develop separately from the rest of the island for the next 400 years, maintaining and pursuing its own course in terms of government, law, religion and relations with the peoples of Europe.
"The Scottish state and society which grew between 1314 and 1707 could not be subsumed within a united kingdom in the way that high medieval Scotland might have been.
"Unlike most medieval battles, Bannockburn is not treated as a remote event. For 700 years Bannockburn has also been used as a potent symbol of Scotland's place amongst the peoples of Europe.
"Like other countries more used to defeat against their larger neighbours, Bannockburn has retained a central significance as proof of Scotland's right to exist. In this way, the battle south of Stirling in 1314 did not simply help shape the past relationships between states, it will continue to exert an influence on the future of these islands."
Royals, rebels and religion: Scotland and the road to Union
Bosworth - Twilight of the Middle Ages
After decades of on-off civil war, Edward IV had brought some stability to England. On his death, his brother Richard III took the crown but could not preserve peace.
Henry Tudor, whose thin claim to the throne nonetheless focused opposition to Richard, brought a rag-tag army to the Midlands to face royal forces.
In the early clashes, Richard's larger army failed to sweep his opponents from the field. Two significant formations, under the Earl of Northumberland and Lord Stanley, did not commit to the fight.
Richard gambled on a spectacular cavalry charge to kill Henry but Stanley ambushed his knights. Richard was hacked down in the thick of the fighting.
Bosworth
22 August 1485, Leicestershire, England
Between Richard III vs Henry Tudor
Forces 10,000 (approx) knights and infantry 5,000 (approx) knights and infantry
Cause Rule of England and Wales
Result End of wars of Roses, establishment of Tudor dynasty
Chris Skidmore, author of Bosworth: Birth of the Tudors, said: "The fact that Bosworth was the last battle in which an English king died on a battlefield at home, together with it marking the end of the Plantagenet dynasty and the birth of the Tudors, does, I believe, mark it out as a seismic event in English history.
"A watershed between the medieval and early modern worlds, in which the death of a king represents more than the end of Richard III, but also the dying values of chivalry."
Mr Skidmore added: "The dawn of the Tudor era brought an end to decades of instability that had scarred the 15th Century. From now on, the English monarchy would only grow in strength as the state established itself above the factionalism and infighting of the nobility.
"Within 50 years, England's kings controlled not only their subjects' bodies, but also their souls after Henry VIII enacted the break with Rome and the dissolution of the monasteries. The fabric of medieval life would be irrevocably torn forever."
How the Tudor dynasty shaped modern Britain
Spanish Armada - Politics of God
Europe's superpower, Catholic Spain, viewed Elizabethan England as a practical and ideological threat. Its armies fought against them on the Continent, its ships raided trade from the New World and it fostered the heretical Protestant faith.
The plan was for a fleet, the Armada, to take Spain's European army and land it in England to impose King Philip's power.
Robert Hutchinson, historian and author of The Spanish Armada, said: "This campaign of 1588 changed the course of European history. If it had worked the future of Elizabeth I and fledgling Protestant England would have looked very black indeed.
"If his battle-hardened troops had managed to storm ashore near Margate in Kent, they could have been in the streets of ill-defended London within a week.
"England would have reverted to the Catholic faith and there may not have been a British Empire to come. We might be still speaking Spanish today."
Armada
July – August 1588, English Channel
Between Elizabeth I of England vs Philip II of Spain
Forces (approx) 200 ships of various sizes vs 130 warships
Cause Potential invasion
Result Preservation of English religious and political independence
But the Armada failed. Spectacularly. It sailed through the English Channel with no real way to pick up the army, and then round the Scottish and Irish coasts, becoming more diseased and battered.
This was less because of the queen's valiant sailors and more due to "appalling weather, poor planning and flawed strategy and tactics", as Mr Hutchinson puts it.
He added: "Moreover, those dangerous days of July and August 1588 united a divided England. Nearly half of Elizabeth I's two million subjects were Catholic but confronting a powerful invader created a new sense of nationhood.
"The defeat of the Spanish Armada gave England confidence to seek new trading opportunities in far flung corners of the world, such as the founding of the East India Company in 1600 which later laid the foundations of the British Empire in India and the Far East."
Elizabeth I: Troubled child to beloved Queen
Naseby - Destruction of Divine Right
In 1645, after three bloody years of fighting, both sides in the English Civil War still seemed evenly matched. That would change at Naseby.
Martin Marix Evans, author and Naseby expert, said: "At its heart the Civil War was a clash of fundamentally opposed ideologies - belief in absolute monarchy against an embryonic sense of democracy.
"But while the king's court and generals had squabbled, the Parliamentarians, including Oliver Cromwell, had been building the New Model Army.
"This was centred on loyalty to the nation rather than region and based promotion on ability rather than birth."
Naseby
14 June 1645, Northants, England
Between Charles I and Parliamentarians
Forces 12,000 (approx) vs 15,000 (approx)
Cause Divine right of kings to rule
Result Primacy of parliament
Despite initial successes, the king's forces were worn down and eventually cracked in the face of better co-ordination and discipline.
Mr Marix Evans said: "Hundreds were killed and thousands captured. The loss of so many veterans and their equipment meant Charles's defeat became a matter of time.
"The battle ended centuries of autocratic monarchy and set Britain on a course of democratic evolution which continues to this day.
"Other battles decided which king ruled the people, this one decided how the people were ruled."
Was Oliver Cromwell the father of British democracy?
Boyne - Three wars, one battle
James II had been deposed for trying to restore absolute monarchy in the British Isles. His attempt to regain the throne was used as a strategic move in French attempts to dominate Europe, drawing on the religious divide in Ireland to provide support.
James's Catholic forces met those of the new Protestant king, William III, just north of Dublin and in a tightly contested battle the Jacobite army was pushed back and their king fled the field and the country.
Dr Harman Murtagh, president of the Military History Society of Ireland, said: "The victory consolidated the position of William and his wife Mary on the English thrones, which in practice also represented a further advance of parliamentary control over the executive."
Without James, the Catholic army was finally destroyed in 1691.
Boyne
1 July 1690, County Meath, Ireland
Between Deposed James II and William III of England
Forces 25,000 Irish and French vs 36,000 English and allies
Cause Rule of British Isles and role in Europe
Result Confirmation of Protestant, democratic government
Dr Murtagh said: "The three-year Irish campaign distracted William and his resources from the Continent, which was of considerable assistance to King Louis XIV in his war with the Grand Alliance of his enemies.
"In Ireland William's success consolidated the dominance of the newer Protestant population over the defeated Catholic majority.
"Catholics were subsequently subjected to penal laws that long denied them political rights and impeded their economic recovery, injustices that have not been forgotten.
"In Northern Ireland thousands of Protestants still march each July to commemorate William's victory at the Boyne water."
Battle of Britain - The Few
Most of Europe had been cowed, the Soviets were at bay, the US undecided. Britain was defiant but wounded. The Nazi war machine was at the Channel and seemed unstoppable.
But the RAF had prepared itself for just such an attack, linking fighter airfields with control centres and radar stations. Armed with the nimble Spitfire and tough Hurricane, the defence would be more potent than any the Luftwaffe had faced before.
Ross Mahoney, aviation historian at the Royal Air Force Museum, said: "Without control of the air Germany would not be able to launch an invasion. Hitler himself ordered the RAF must be 'morally and physically' unable to contest a German crossing.
"Herein lies the Battle of Britain's significance. By denying the Luftwaffe control of the skies over Britain, the RAF ensured during the vital months of July to October invasion was held off and the country was able to build up its strength militarily, diplomatically and politically."
Battle of Britain
July – October 1940, British airspace
Between RAF vs Luftwaffe
Forces 1,950 fighters and bombers vs 2,550 fighters and bombers
Cause Air supremacy prior to invasion
Result Nazi expansion halted
Over a long summer, the RAF and its multinational pilots did enough damage, and preserved enough of its strength, to remain unbowed.
Mr Mahoney said: "While some historians have recently questioned the traditional 'narrow margin' narrative, this ignores the simple fact Britain was the British Empire's centre of gravity and had the Luftwaffe achieved control of the air then Hitler certainly would have attempted an invasion.
"Had Hitler succeeded it is unlikely that America would ever have joined the war against Germany.
"Simply put, the RAF stopped invasion from ever being a prospect and ensured Britain was the unsinkable aircraft carrier which projected the Allied military power to defeat Germany."
What was the secret to winning the Battle of Britain?
To vote for the battle that changed us the most, follow this link http://bbc.in/1K5frLT
|
A man has appeared in court charged with the rape, sexual assault and murder of a 15-year-old Flintshire schoolgirl 40 years ago. | Stephen Anthony Hough, 57, spoke only to confirm his name at a brief hearing at Llandudno Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
Janet Commins's body was found on a school playing field in Flint in 11 January 1976.
She disappeared after visiting a local leisure centre.
Mr Hough has also been charged with separate offences of rape and sexual touching, which are alleged to have happened in February this year.
He was remanded in custody and due to appear at Mold Crown Court on Thursday.
|
As Ivan Safronov was led into court, hands cuffed and head pushed down by two masked guards, he managed just one sentence. "I'm not guilty," he told a crowd of supporters packed into the corridor. | By Sarah RainsfordBBC News, Moscow
The arrest of the former military correspondent has shocked fellow Russian journalists, who describe the claim by the FSB security service that he handed state secrets to Czech Intelligence as "absurd".
The Kremlin has praised the '"high quality" work of Russian counter-intelligence but none of the evidence of Ivan Safronov's "betrayal" has been made public.
So some fear his arrest is a show of force by the FSB amid a surge in detentions for treason and espionage so great it's prompted talk of "spy mania".
'Putin doesn't care what anyone thinks'
"My first thought was that I'd gone back two decades in a time machine," says Grigory Pasko, recalling his own prosecution in 1997 - the last time a Russian journalist was charged with treason.
Mr Pasko was also a military correspondent and he'd written extensively about environmental violations by the Russian navy. Initially cleared of passing classified information to Japan, he was sentenced to four years at a 2001 retrial.
The affair sparked a public outcry both at home and abroad and he was eventually released on parole.
"I think they were afraid to touch journalists after that," Mr Pasko told the BBC this week.
"Back then, Russia had an international reputation. It was included in international structures and cared about the world's opinion," he argues.
"Now Vladimir Putin's been in power for 20 years and he doesn't care what anyone thinks," he says, pointing out that Russia's president just amended the constitution to give himself two more terms in the Kremlin.
"There are no brakes now; no restraints. They can do what they want, how they want and to whomever they want," he believes.
Despite official insistence that Mr Safronov's case is not linked to his journalism, Grigory Pasko suspects he's been arrested - like him - for touching on one too many sensitive topics.
"It's like a warning to journalists not to poke their noses in."
What next for Putin after 20 years?
How Russia has stepped up its hunt for enemies
Prosecutions for spying and treason have increased significantly since 2014, when relations with the West became openly hostile following Russia's annexation of Crimea.
From four people tried for treason in 2013, the number leapt to 15 the following year, according to statistics from the Supreme Court. There have been at least 36 additional prosecutions since then and 14 foreigners convicted of espionage.
Each year, President Vladimir Putin publicly congratulates intelligence officers with unmasking hundreds of spies and foreign agents, though it's unclear what happens to them all.
"The statistics show that the activity of foreign intelligence agencies in our country is not diminishing," the former FSB boss stressed in February, instructing officers to protect "information on the latest weapons systems…military technology and innovations".
Was anyone really a spy?
"Since 2014, we've been in a permanent state of war, with 'enemies' all around and society has become very militaristic," argues Ivan Pavlov, defence lawyer for Ivan Safronov.
In years working on such cases, including defending Grigory Pasko, he told the BBC he hadn't met "a single real spy".
"Catching enemies is the work of the FSB and if they can't find any real ones, they need to invent them so they go for the low-hanging fruit," the lawyer believes.
Mr Pavlov argues that the easiest targets are those with access to information and contact with foreigners.
"Scientists were already at risk; now journalists have fallen into that group, too."
What's secret?
The risk increased in 2012 when the law on treason - Article 275 - was amended.
Now, giving "financial, material, consulting or other assistance" to a foreign state or organisation can be prosecuted if it's judged damaging to Russia's security.
"It meant they could go after everyone," says journalist and human rights activist Zoya Svetova. "It's only the second time in 20 years they've tried a journalist for treason but the spy mania never stopped," she says, and lists a housewife, air traffic controller and multiple scientists among those who've faced charges in recent years.
"Lefortovo [FSB prison] is full of 'spies' and 'traitors'."
The Kremlin denies Russia is in the grip of any "mania".
"Foreign intelligence services are not dozing in Russia: they work day and night against Russian civil servants and intelligence agents," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the BBC on Friday.
"Our counter-intelligence agents are not dozing either, to counteract their activity."
He's called protests against the arrest of Ivan Safronov "emotional".
But the veil of secrecy thrown over such cases makes them notoriously hard to evaluate.
Those involved are barred from disclosing details and trials are held behind closed doors, formally because of the classified data involved.
Even the journalist's defence team don't know yet what the charge is based upon.
"When you catch a real spy, you show evidence to the whole world: usually money, maybe a flash drive. It's good FSB propaganda, to show their use to society and their power," believes Gennady Gudkov, a former Soviet counter-intelligence officer turned opposition politician.
"In Safronov's case we see nothing of that kind. It's very strange and suspicious."
Sending a message?
Ivan Pavlov says a lot has changed since the days when public pressure helped Grigory Pasko - even against the powerful FSB.
"It will be harder for us now," he says, with a court system that acquits in fewer than 1% of cases.
When journalists protested in support of Ivan Safronov outside the FSB headquarters, more than two dozen were detained.
State media, which once came out in support of Mr Pasko, have since reported extensively and enthusiastically on Russia's "enemies".
"Those arguments are to convince Putin's electorate that they were right to choose him for life," Grigory Pasko himself believes, referring to this month's constitutional reform.
"The message is: only Putin can save us from eternal enemies and spies - including journalists."
|
A woman was injured after being thrown from a fairground ride in Blackpool. | Police said she suffered head and neck injuries after falling from a waltzer on the seaside town's south pier on Tuesday evening.
The woman, aged in her 20s, was taken to hospital where her injuries were "not thought to be life-threatening", Lancashire Police said.
The incident is being investigated by the Health and Safety Executive, the force added.
|
Calvin Harris, Scouting For Girls and Noisettes are set to play a new festival taking place at the Butlins Holiday resort in Skegness. | Playaway, organised by the people behind the Reading and Leeds and Latitude festivals, takes place between 16-18 April next year.
Chase N Status, Sub Focus and I Blame Coco are also scheduled to appear at the three day event where music fans stay in onsite accommodation.
Tickets are priced £140 and go on sale at 9am Friday 11 December.
|
Chancellor Rishi Sunak's Budget will be one of the most-closely watched in years, as the government grapples with the enormous economic costs of the Covid-19 pandemic, and as he charts a financial roadmap for the country. | By Daniele Palumbo & Tim BowlerBBC News
In his 3 March statement, the chancellor will outline the state of the UK economy and its outlook for the future - and give details of the government's plans for raising or lowering taxes.
So how is the UK economy faring under the twin impacts of coronavirus and Brexit? In the following charts, we take a snapshot of the nation's economic health - highlighting some of the economic challenges facing the chancellor.
The UK's national debt has reached its highest level since 1963 - reflecting the huge cost of pandemic support measures such as the furlough scheme. National debt here means the total amount the government owes to its lenders - it is the accumulation of borrowing over many years.
So far this year, the annual total for government borrowing - the amount the government borrows to make up for the gap between what it spends and what it raises in taxes - has reached £270.6bn, which is £222bn more than a year ago, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates that this figure could reach £393.5bn by the end of the financial year in March. This would be the highest amount in any year since the Second World War.
But it is also worth pointing out that this figure has been above 100% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or annual national income in 131 of the last 320 years.
The 21st Century so far has been one of rising levels of public sector net borrowing (how much both central and local government have borrowed to carry out their spending programmes). Last month's figure was £8.8bn, the highest January borrowing amount since monthly records began in 1993.
As a result of the pandemic, public sector net debt has risen by £316.4bn over the 10 months since last April to an all-time high of £2.1 trillion.
Unemployment is currently 5.1%, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This is the highest figure for five years, and shows the effects of lockdowns on the economy due to the pandemic, with many workplaces forced to close their doors.
So far, this hasn't resulted in a rapid rise in unemployment, as the furlough support scheme has helped to protect jobs, but this could change if the scheme ends as planned in April. Most economists expect the unemployment rate to continue rising in 2021.
However, the roll-out of Covid vaccines is happening quickly and this may help to keep unemployment down if it allows a staged re-start of the UK economy.
Young people have been hit particularly hard by the labour market fallout from coronavirus, with workers aged under 24 accounting for nearly half of the total fall in employment during the economic slump, according to research by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES).
At the same time, more people are chasing fewer jobs, so young people are struggling to enter the employment market.
Significantly, young people account for 46% of the overall fall in employment during the pandemic - even though they only account for just one in nine of the workforce.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has hinted that furlough support for workers will continue beyond April, as he pledged not to "pull the rug out" from under the UK economy when he unveiled plans to ease the national lockdown in four steps.
If the government does not extend the job support schemes, then the latest forecast from the Bank of England suggests that UK unemployment will reach 7.75% during the summer.
Full-time work has risen during the pandemic, despite the impact of Covid on the labour market. However, the numbers of those in part-time jobs or self-employed have dropped, as freelancers and those in precarious work bear the brunt of the crisis.
Campaign groups are calling on the chancellor to plug gaps in schemes such as the self-employed income support scheme (SEISS) to support millions of self-employed people and other workers excluded from furlough. The Resolution Foundation think tank says that 2.3 million workers are missing out on help because they are not covered by SEISS.
UK house prices climbed 8.5% last year - that's the highest annual growth rate since October 2014 - with the average UK house price reaching a record high of £252,000 in December 2020.
The North West had the highest growth of 11.2%, while London rose just 3.5%.
One of the factors behind the rise has been the stamp duty holiday in England that was introduced last July. However, if the tax break ends on 31 March as planned, sales and house price rises are likely to slow afterwards.
|
The London Bridge attacker Usman Khan had been released from prison after serving half of a 16-year sentence. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said this was "because of changes to the law that were brought in by the Labour Party that I voted against". So did he? | Khan served a sentence for a plot to set up a terrorist training camp. He was then released automatically after eight years with no review by the Parole Board.
Mr Johnson tweeted that this was because of Labour's Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008.
In another tweet he said: "Although four senior judges considered that Khan was dangerous, he was to be automatically released halfway through because of Labour's 2008 law."
Khan was originally given an indeterminate sentence in 2012, meaning one with no fixed end date. But during an appeal the next year, this was downgraded by judges to an "extended sentence" of 16 years in prison with automatic release on licence after eight. He was released in December 2018 after the time he'd spent on remand was taken into account.
The prime minister told the BBC's Andrew Marr show: "His release was necessary under the law because of the automatic early release scheme under which he was sentenced and that was brought in by Labour with the support of Jeremy Corbyn and the rest of the Labour Party. I opposed it both in 2003 and in 2008."
Mr Johnson did vote against the Criminal Justice Act 2003. That law meant most offenders would be automatically released halfway through their sentences, but "dangerous" offenders on extended sentences were only to be released with the Parole Board's consent.
It was the 2008 law that changed these extended sentences so there would be automatic early release with no Parole Board review.
A Conservative Party spokesperson said Mr Johnson had "voted against this Bill on two key votes on the Bill's passage through Parliament along with almost all Conservative MPs and the Conservative front bench raised specific concerns about automatic release during debates on it".
What's the evidence?
We looked through Hansard - the record of what goes on in Parliament - to find out what happened.
The law was first proposed in 2007 - when Labour was in government and the Conservatives in opposition. Mr Johnson did vote against both the "programme motion"- which sets the timetable for passing the bill - and the motion to carry the bill over into the next Parliamentary session. But at that stage it did not contain the measure that affected Khan's later case.
The key clause relating to automatic release on licence for prisoners on extended sentences was added during the report stage - a chance for MPs to review and change the law - in January 2008.
MPs voted on this measure as part of a group of amendments on 9 January 2008. The Conservatives voted against but Hansard has no record of Boris Johnson being present for that vote.
The bill then had its third reading the same day and was passed without a division - a formal vote. The Conservative opposition could have forced a division but did not.
The then Labour Justice Secretary Jack Straw said he did not recall Mr Johnson expressing any opposition at the time. Edward Garnier, the shadow prisons minister at the time, could not recall whether Mr Johnson opposed the bill, while Nick Herbert, then shadow justice secretary, declined to comment.
Several then Conservative MPs including Mr Herbert, as well as then Labour backbenchers Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, criticised the lack of time to debate the bill.
The Times, on the day after the bill was passed, carried just a couple of paragraphs - the focus was almost entirely on a part of bill that stopped prison officers from striking.
What claims do you want BBC Reality Check to investigate? Get in touch
Read more from Reality Check
Follow us on Twitter
|
Women have told the BBC they are being refused breast reductions on the NHS despite living with chronic, agonising symptoms for years. The NHS does not record how many patients are turned away but surgeons say more needs to be done. | By Mary McCoolBBC Scotland news
Nicole Poole pleaded with health service doctors to reduce the size of her breasts for nine years before she finally gave up.
At the age of 18 she began experiencing soreness in her back, which over time led to severe shooting pains down her side. She also suffered migraines which gave her blurred vision, flashes and sickness.
Nicole was convinced it was caused by her chest size - a 32GG despite her clothes being a size 12.
The condition earned her the nickname "sick note" at work because she had so many absences.
"I was getting migraines twice a week," she said. "I was off work constantly with it. It was a really terrible time. I was depressed, I hated my body and everything about myself. I didn't go out anywhere."
By 21, Nicole's cup size had reached an H and she decided to speak to her GP but was told she was too young for a reduction. She was also advised to consider whether she wanted children before seeking the procedure.
A few years later her GP finally referred her to hospital but she received a letter saying surgery "wasn't necessary".
Nicole, from Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, said she then attempted to manage her condition with painkillers and developed a serious codeine addiction.
A second referral in her late 20s again led to rejection because her BMI (Body Mass Index) was above the criteria threshold.
Women being 'dismissed'
Dr Judy Evans, honorary secretary at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh, said far too often women seeking reductions were dismissed because it was seen as a "women's issue" in medicine and that patient's reasons were "cosmetic" rather than practical.
She said: "Breast reduction is an operation which can free people from neck pain, from back pain. It can enable them to do more in terms of good, healthy activities like sport and swimming.
"It can enable them to look after their children better, it takes them off anti-depressants. It's the most wonderful operation in terms of what it does for the person, but also I believe in the long term it saves a lot of money for the NHS."
However Dr Alex Munnoch, an NHS consultant plastic surgeon, said that Scotland had a "very clear" policy on managing breast reductions and that more women were refused surgery because of the "increase in referrals for cosmetic procedures".
He added: "Another concern is that reduction surgery doesn't relieve symptoms. There was a study from a unit in Manchester which showed that for most patients, being fitted with the correct bra could negate a lot of symptoms."
'My breasts were bleeding'
Now 31, Nicole was shocked to hear how other women not only shared her condition but had also been unable to get help via the NHS.
Grace Watt, from Inchinnan, Renfrewshire, was 16 and a size 8 when she started experiencing back pain and migraines - her bra size was a 30GG.
She also experienced painful rashes and said that stretch-marks on her breasts were so irritated, they would often bleed.
After being told she was "too young" for surgery at 16, Grace tried again after her 18th birthday but despite fitting all the NHS criteria, she was rejected and told she "wasn't a special case".
"I was sobbing," she said. "I was in so much pain and couldn't get anything to fit me. At that point I had a breakdown, my mental health was a mess, I quit my job and on top of the pain I was self conscious.
"I wouldn't show any skin on holiday, I wore T-shirts in the swimming pool and I would hardly go out at home."
'I'll do it myself'
In the past two years, both Grace and Nicole decided to seek reductions through private surgeons - a process that can cost patients about £6,500.
Nicole took out a loan while Grace was helped by her parents but both fear there are more women suffering in silence because they cannot afford to pay for the surgery themselves.
Since her surgery, Nicole has been promoted and works as an opticians manager.
"I was back at work within 10 days and I was fine on paracetamol," she said. "Now I've no back pain and I've had two migraines since getting the operation done.
"I still have anxiety but my depression has lifted. I lost myself for so long I didn't know what I was like."
Grace, an administrator for a charity, said: "When I see pictures of myself I sometimes think 'how did I feel like that?' I was so uncomfortable with myself and I didn't look happy.
"I haven't had migraine since or if I have it's to do with my teeth. I feel more like myself."
Why are women being turned away?
Many women, including Nicole, have been refused a breast reduction because their BMI was too high. The NHS says it must be 20-27 - the Scottish average in 2018 was 27.7.
NHS Scotland calls this set of criteria their 'exceptional referral protocol' which was updated in April this year.
But there has been debate in recent years over whether BMI is the most reliable way to indicate overall health, particularly when bodies are notably disproportionate.
Nicole also pointed out that when she first sought the surgery, her BMI was "healthy", yet she was still rejected.
She also went to great lengths to lose weight on her second attempt but injured her back while exercising.
Dr Evans said: "It's really difficult to have set criteria because this sort of thing should be decided individually, so it shouldn't be based on size or BMI.
"It should be based on the symptoms. And if someone has severe symptoms for any other diagnosis they will get the operations so why should this be any different?"
Are there any other reasons?
Figures obtained by the BBC show that between 2014 and 2018 the total number of annual reductions was on average 362.
Over a third are women who require the procedure because of cancers, while others receive it to treat conditions like abnormal growths or inflammatory disorders.
The number of surgeries completed for hypertrophy - large cell tissue - was on average 42, and the number decreases each year.
It is impossible to measure the number of rejections because the NHS does not record this figure - only successful surgeries.
The surgeries themselves are costly, particularly for cash-strapped health boards - a reduction in NHS Tayside costs £1,800, for example.
And NHS surgeons say surgical resources are already pushed to their limit and they must prioritise patients who have life-threatening conditions, such as cancer.
NHS plastic surgeon Dr Andy Malyon, who also owns a private practice, said target times "which are set politically" were "enormous".
He said: "What we need to have is some way of defining something that's deliverable.
"The NHS does what it can, I think its [latest] set of criteria is fair and there are a lot of things that should help make clearer that we expect a level playing field across country."
So what can be done?
According to Dr Evans, there should be no debate about the potential benefits breast reductions can give to patients.
She said: "This is something that should not be rationed if it's clinically indicated it can improve the life of the patient, and through them, through all their families."
Having seen BBC Scotland's findings, Labour MSP Monica Lennon, who convenes the cross party group on women's health, said she would ask the Scottish government to address access to breast reduction surgery in its forthcoming women's health plan.
She said: "Private surgery is not an affordable option for the majority of women in this situation.
"Women who experience chronic pain and discomfort related to the size of their breasts need to be taken seriously."
|
It is widely known that veterans can return from war with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Far less appreciated is moral injury - a trauma wrapped up in guilt that we are now learning more about thanks to US-based research, writes James Jeffrey. | Moral injury most often occurs when a person commits, fails to prevent or witnesses an act that is anathema to their moral beliefs.
The Department of Veterans Affairs website likens it to psychological trauma involving "extreme and unprecedented life experience", that can lead to "haunting states of inner conflict and turmoil".
US-based research into moral injury is now illuminating how such injuries can impact people in all walks of life, but especially first responders and healthcare workers facing the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak.
Amid reports of New York City's emergency services getting overwhelmed and states struggling to provide enough ventilators, first responders and healthcare workers potentially face having to decide who gets a ventilator and who gets saved - something one nurse has described as "her biggest fear".
Already thousands are dying in their care - and medical workers say they are facing scenarios they had never anticipated.
One doctor told the BBC the stress was intense. "Seeing people die is not the issue. We're trained to deal with death… The issue is giving up on people we wouldn't normally give up on."
Arthur Markman, a professor in the department of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, says: "Few people in healthcare have had real-life experience with triage in which a significant number of life-and-death decisions had to be made because of equipment shortages. That increases the chances that they may experience moral injury as a result of their jobs."
The risk is compounded, he says, by workers at the front-lines of the epidemic - in places like New York, Italy and Spain - working long shifts with little break and sleep before they get back on the job. This leaves little if any time to process an incident that, if left unattended, may prove a moral injury in the making.
"A person doesn't just take the gloves off afterwards without that loss affecting their moral fibre, their soul," says Nöel Lipana, who was left with a moral injury from his 2008 Afghanistan tour. He now works as a social worker while promoting better understanding of moral injuries both in the military and beyond, which includes staging art performances and a forthcoming documentary film, Quiet Summons.
"They came into this profession to help people, so what do you do when there is that sense of helplessness: you are a great physician, a great surgeon, you have some of the best medical equipment in the world, but you still can't save someone."
Mr Lipana notes how veterans are often the focal point of a trauma discussion that needs be much wider. Veterans Affairs treats about 500,000 veterans a year with PTSD symptoms while the National Institute of Mental Health estimates about 7.9 million civilians suffer from some form of PTSD.
"The range of human experiences that are potentially damaging, socially, psychologically, biologically and spiritually because they cause a crisis of conscience are in no way limited to the military serving in warzones," says Brett Litz from the Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiological Research and Information Center, who is also a professor of psychological and brain sciences at Boston University.
A recent paper co-authored by moral injury experts Rita Brock and HC Palmer states that "the fight against the coronavirus is strikingly similar to battlefield medicine: desperate and unrelenting encounters with patients, an environment of high personal risk, an unseen lethal enemy, extreme physical and mental fatigue, inadequate resources and unending accumulations of the dead."
Mr Lipana deployed to Afghanistan as an Air Force major acting as his unit's counter improvised explosive device (IED) officer. He oversaw and trained US troops in how to detect and disable IEDs planted by insurgents. Two army soldiers he worked alongside died in separate explosions during his deployment.
"They were killed by the thing I was meant to protect them from," says Mr Lipana, who was also involved in an operation during which four Afghan children were killed in a blast. "You play over what you could have done, should have done differently."
Guilt has been identified as the crucial factor that distinguishes a moral injury, even as other symptoms - anxiety and despair, flashbacks, social isolation and suicidal thoughts - overlap with PTSD.
"Traditional trauma treatment is about what's going on between your ears - it says you are just thinking about the incident wrong," Mr Lipana says. "That has zero to do with the connection I have with my battle buddies, those kids, with our fundamental spiritual soul connection in this universe."
The breach of a person's personal ethical code at the heart of a moral injury can inflict lasting behavioural, emotional and psychological damage, distorting a person's self-identity and provoking reflexive distrust of others.
"In the military, we have it better in a way, as we get this break between deployments," Mr Lipana says. "Firefighters and cops have to reset themselves every 12 hours and go back out on their next shift."
Research in America has identified how for many veterans the pride in once wearing their uniform collides with a feeling of futility about what their service achieved and a belief that military leaders failed or deceived them and their fallen comrades. The resulting sense of violation from this can further fuel a lingering crisis of the conscience and spirit - deepening the moral injury.
While healthcare workers know they are doing the right thing by helping people with Covid-19, they may still be affected by responses of leaders, from the hospital hierarchy up to the national level.
"One of the most toxic forms of moral injury is betrayal," says Ms Brock, who is also co-author of Soul Repair: Recovering from Moral Injury After War, and the director of the Shay Moral Injury Center. "Our healthcare workers are working to save people, but they have been betrayed by the government's inadequate response."
Healthcare workers' self-knowledge that they are involved in an entirely virtuous endeavour - as opposed to how veterans view the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - can "actually make it even worse," Ms Brock says.
"You know you are on a life-saving mission, and so you can't understand how the president doesn't seem to get it in the same way."
An estimated 11-20% of the 2.7 million men and women who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have received a diagnosis of PTSD linked to their service. The percentage of former service members coping with moral injury appears comparable, though experts warn that the prevailing emphasis on PTSD means moral injury can often go unrecognised and ignored.
Between 2005 and 2017, 78,875 veterans took their own lives, according to the most recent data from Veterans Affairs. Currently, about 17 veterans are estimated to kill themselves each day.
The period following the acute phase of the coronavirus epidemic will likely be hardest for medical professionals in terms of psychological impact.
"Once the rest of society has said thank you and moved on to getting back to normal and thinking about the economy, that's when these people will sit down and think, 'What the hell happened back there?'" Ms Brock says.
Her paper with HC Palmer states that some medical personnel may take their lives because of moral injury, having been "crushed by decisions they had to make, swamped by unrelenting grief, consumed by fury and humiliation at the authorities who failed them".
Ms Brock explains that, as in the military, often these emotions and reflections don't sink in for months due to the initial response's all-consuming pace.
Prof Markman stresses that "moral injuries are not inevitable" - and that medical professions will need time to reflect, and support from their managers.
"Leaders of hospitals need to communicate with the people working for them that they are using their training to make the best possible decisions under horrible circumstances. Everyone in the profession needs to recognise that they are trying to do the least harm possible in a situation in which it is impossible to provide the highest-quality care to every patient in need."
Meanwhile, experts say that individuals in society have an important role to play too.
"The rest of us can offer compassion to those who must, because of safety, keep us separated from those we love who are dying," Brock and Palmer write.
"Essential, too, is support for the families of medical professionals who are our friends or neighbours. And every time we interact with a medical professional, we should thank them."
|
A 54-year-old woman has gone on trial at Newry Crown Court accused of stealing a packet of prawns from Sainsbury's in Armagh. | Arija Kehere of Main Street in Keady, County Armagh, has denied the charge.
A store detective told the jury that he saw the accused place the £6.99 prawns in a navy bag, pay for other items and then leave the shop.
He said he arrested her outside. The court heard the detective had been head-hunted because of his efficiency.
He had made 107 arrests in one year and was described as Sainsbury's guardian angel.
|
The victim of a house fire had hoarded so many items inside her County Durham home that rescuers had difficulty getting inside, an inquest heard. | Anne Bradshaw, 66, died in hospital after the fire in Honister Place, Newton Aycliffe, in May 2012.
Items piled against the front door delayed access by fire crews, who rescued her son through a window.
County Durham and Darlington coroner Andrew Tweddle ruled that Ms Bradshaw's death was accidental.
He told the inquest that the amount of stuff in the house was "staggering".
|
You may have heard of the hashtag #blessed, it's often seen on Instagram next to beautiful pictures of family, travel and shopping; used to show how lucky people think their lives are. But the phrase has recently taken on a very different meaning in South Africa. | By BBC TrendingWhat's popular and why
After some women posted photos of gifts from partners claiming they were "blessed" people started asking who was "blessing" them. Soon "blesser" became a term for someone who gives money and gifts as part of a relationship - the sort of person traditionally referred to as a sugar daddy.
Blesser has been so widely used on social media over the last month that a new joke has taken off "when a girl sneezes these days you can't even say 'bless you' in case she gets the wrong idea."
However, as the phrase has taken off, it has also kick-started a brand new debate about this age old practice. The hashtag #antiblessers trended this week on South African twitter as thousands of people began to criticise blessers and blessees. Some users posted comments like "real men don't buy girls" while a graduate called Nkamogeleng posted a photo of her degree ceremony saying "When young women are busy searching for blessers we out here (graduating)".
While a blesser can technically be male or female and of any age, many of those using #antiblessers were most concerned about older men lavishing gifts on young girls. One South African vlogger posted a YouTube video titled "Blessers are ruining our world" in which she expressed concerns about hearing 13-year-old girls discussing blessers on their way home from school.
This issue is so serious that when the South African health minister Aaron Motsoaledi announced a major new anti-HIV campaign last week, he specifically included some economic measures aimed at helping girls between 15 and 24, which he hopes will help tackle the effects of blessers. Mr Motsoaledi told BBC Trending that as young women in that age-group have far higher rates of HIV infection than their young male counterparts it indicates intergenerational sex must form one part of the problem.
Mr Motsoaledi also suggested that young women from poorer backgrounds were more at risk of being targeted and exploited by blessers, particularly those who had lost parents as a result of HIV and AIDS. "Apart from the issue of who takes care of you… it's just the issue of who mentors you, who speaks to you every day?" he said.
While many are trying to halt the practise of blessing, under the right circumstances it does have supporters. Blesserfinder is a group that helps to arrange meetings between those happy to offer money with those looking to be blessed. Their spokesperson Ditshego says he's seen some of those using #antiblessers also using his site to find a partner. He thinks money will always be a factor in relationships, and until the government try and tackle the levels of poverty and inequality in the country there will always be a demand for his service.
Blog by Kate Lamble
Next story: Is this picture disgusting or beautiful?
This picture of father holding his sick son has fiercely divided opinion on social media. READ MORE
You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, and find us on Facebook. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.
|
Whatever the precise range and capability of North Korea's latest ballistic missile test, there is no doubt that it is making steady progress towards its goal of having a nuclear-capable missile, able to threaten the continental US. | Jonathan MarcusDiplomatic correspondent@Diplo1on Twitter
That term "nuclear capable" is important. Pyongyang must both miniaturise a nuclear warhead to fit on the head of a missile and be able to protect it against all the buffeting and forces as it re-enters the earth's atmosphere.
We do not know precisely where the North Koreans stand in this aspect of their programme. But it is possible that North Korea will achieve its goal during the Trump presidency.
This then throws a spotlight on the US ability to defend against such an attack. Huge quantities of money have been invested in ballistic missile defence. There is a global network of satellite sensors and relays able to spot and track a missile launch. Interceptor missiles are already in place.
But critics believe that the US system is far from reliable. The Trump administration is reviewing the whole programme. New generations of interceptor missiles are coming on stream. But in the foreseeable future, only a handful will be available to deal with the potential North Korean threat.
We are a long way from the "Star Wars" dream of President Ronald Reagan, who hoped for the construction of a missile-proof shield over the US and its allies. In those days ballistic missile defences were seen by many as destabilising.
That is why there was a Cold War treaty largely banning them. They would threaten the certainty of a retaliatory nuclear attack getting through, thus increasing the likelihood of a no-warning onslaught, in turn decreasing the effectiveness of nuclear deterrence.
Missile defence viewed as part of the strategic equation between two nuclear-armed superpowers is one thing. Some argued that even a less-than-effective defensive system would alter an opponent's calculations.
But very quickly the idea of a missile-proof screen - like a comic book Captain America's shield protecting the continental US - was seen as science fiction if not fantasy. It would be too expensive and the technology simply did not exist.
Scroll forward a few decades and the threat that missile defence is now ranged against is very different. It is not - despite Russian protests - aimed at weakening Russia's nuclear forces. It is designed to protect against a very specific threat - from Iran or North Korea's developing missile arsenals.
Against this kind of threat, the requirement is not simply to alter an adversary's strategic calculations, but to stop each and every missile getting through.
Technology has advanced dramatically with some of the most significant strides being made by Israel. Its interceptor systems and their associated radars - funded in large part by the US - have shown themselves spectacularly successful, even though against a full-scale onslaught even Israel's system would be sorely tested.
In contrast the US's own defensive system, according to many critics, is not yet up to the job. Testing has provided mixed results. And there are frequent criticisms that even the most elaborate tests are not conducted in ways which fully resemble real-world conditions.
Even US commanders accept that their defences are not fully missile-proof and that they might quickly be overwhelmed if a country possessed a sizeable arsenal of missiles.
Whatever President Trump decides to do about North Korea and the growing reach of its missiles, time is running out.
One option he may pursue is to step up the US's own defences, just as he has deployed interceptor missiles in South Korea to try to enhance its defences against missile attack.
|
A barrister is likely to be put forward by Cumbria's Liberal Democrats as their candidate for the role of Cumbria's Police and Crime Commissioner.
| South Lakeland Councillor Pru Jupe, 55, will be confirmed as the candidate if no other names are put forward.
The first Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) will be elected in November in the 41 force areas in England and Wales.
The commissioners will respond to the needs of the communities they cover.
Nominations will open from 8 October and close on 19 October. Elections will take place on 15 November with the new PCCs expected to start in their roles on 22 November 2012.
The commissioners will have the power to choose chief constables and will be expected to hold officers to account.
Labour members have chosen Patrick Leonard, a director of a housing association in Carlisle as their candidate for the role. The Conservatives have not yet named a candidate.
|
A man has suffered serious stab injuries after being attacked near the Bullring shopping centre in Birmingham. | Officers were called to Edgbaston Street in the city centre at about 23:00 BST on Saturday and the victim, in his 20s, was taken to hospital.
Two men and a 17-year-old boy were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and remain in police custody.
CCTV footage is being reviewed, West Midlands Police said.
Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone
|
"To those who gave so much, we thank you."
| At 15:00 on Friday, the UK was urged to toast all those who gave their all during World War Two, to mark the exact moment in 1945 when Winston Churchill broadcast his speech confirming the war in Europe was over.
The whole day has been dedicated to remembering 8 May 1945 when people took to the streets to celebrate the end of six long years of war.
The lockdown prevented the planned celebrations from going ahead but the anniversary has not been forgotten.
Here is how Scotland commemorated VE Day.
At 21:00 the Queen will deliver a pre-recorded address, broadcast on BBC One at the exact moment her father, King George VI, gave a radio address 75 years ago.
|
A number of religious leaders in Nepal have strongly criticised the government for scaling down festivals and centuries-old rituals because of coronavirus fears. The leaders warned that "divine anger" could lead the country into catastrophe. | By Phanindra DahalBBC Nepali, Kathmandu
Temples are closed and mass gatherings are prohibited following a lockdown since March.
Officials say it is unlikely restrictions will be lifted ahead of the major festivals of Dashain and Tihar, which fall during the months of October and November respectively.
Nepal, with its unique juxtaposition of Hindu and Buddhist culture and lifestyle, has seen few festivities during the pandemic.
In the capital Kathmandu, rituals including chariot processions involving large crowds to honour different deities, were either cancelled or reduced to small ceremonies.
Last month, clashes broke out in southern Kathmandu after angry protesters defied the government's lockdown orders to attend Rato Macchindranath Jatra, a chariot procession in honour of the god of farming. The ritual was conducted later - on a much smaller scale and with a police presence.
Kapil Bajracharya, the main priest leading the Rato Machhindranath Jatra (a chariot procession in honour of the god of farming), says it is very irresponsible of the government to curb religious activities.
"My family has been conducting the ritual for centuries. I feel very sad that in my tenure I was not allowed to carry out the chariot procession. As far as I know, it has never been cancelled before."
The 72-year-old added: "I believe that Nepal is a sacred home for gods. If the gods are angry, we will land into more severe problems than coronavirus. I have a serious objection against the Nepali government's control of religions, which bounds on the sinful as far as I am concerned."
Baburaja Jyapu, a 38-year-old businessman in Patan, also believes that the Nepali government's decision is hurting people's religious sentiments: "I have a strong belief in religion and I think not getting engaged in religious activities can invite a bad omen.
"In my view elderly people are more eager to visit religious places. If the government continues restrictions, people will have mental health issues."
Many community and religious leaders, however, say that this year should be considered an exception and any religious and festive activities should take place only after safety has been assured.
Follow the science
Gautam Shakya, a caretaker for Kathmandu's living goddess Kumari, who lives in a special temple near the traditional Palace Square - says they are abiding by safety protocols and it is unlikely that there will be a large-scale event this year.
"We are yet to discuss with the government regarding the goddess's presence at Taleju temple during the eighth day of the Dashain festival. I think there will be no crowds this time like in the past. But we cannot take risks by taking her there."
"Some people fear that bad things may happen if we don't worship properly," he adds. "But in my view, we should be realistic. We can organise festivals and rituals and preserve our culture for the future generation only if we survive."
Kumari, believed to be the reincarnation of the Hindu goddess Durga, is worshipped both by Hindus and Buddhists.
"Since the lockdown, we have not let anyone visit her. We are doing regular prayers and conducting the worship inside her residence by ourselves," Gautam said.
He said the living goddess was also using masks and sanitisers inside her residence, popularly known as Kumari Ghar.
Nepali cultural icon Satya Mohan Joshi says people should follow science rather than just talk about festivals or rituals.
The 101-year-old cultural expert said: "In the past, pandemics were viewed as a curse from the gods.
"People in Kathmandu would gather in alleys to offer food and conduct prayers to seek forgiveness. That's an outdated idea now.
"In the name of conducting festivals and organising feasts, we cannot take risks that may cause the spread of coronavirus in Kathmandu.
"That would shatter our economy and health service. We should keep ourselves safe by following the guidance issued globally by the medical community."
Home ministry spokesman Chakra Bahadur Budha defended the government's decision to restrict group worshipping, fairs and festivals.
"We have asked people to maintain social distance and self-discipline," added the Nepali official.
Hari Shankar Prajapati, a shopkeeper in Kathmandu, agrees. "Any crowd could trigger a massive infection," he says. "For me health comes first. We cannot conduct our festivals or religious events if our health is not good."
But Padma Shrestha is furious. "The government has created terror and people are angry," he says. "Prohibiting centuries-old worshipping or rituals could make people lose their faith both towards religion and the government," he warns.
Occupying the middle ground, Bikash Karmacharya, a schoolteacher on the outskirts of Kathmandu, wants festivals to be held "by following safety and social distancing measures".
"Our failure to offer due respect to gods and goddesses may backfire. We should agree that god is our source of strength."
As of 30 September, there have been nearly 78,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 500 deaths due to coronavirus in Nepal.
Infections are on the rise in Kathmandu and there are fears that the disease could spread further as people travel home during the festivals.
|
Up to 250 jobs are set to go at Herefordshire Council.
| The council announced the news as it set a new budget designed to save £10.3m in the coming financial year and £5.8m the following year.
A spokesman said council tax would be frozen and management jobs cut but most frontline services would be safeguarded.
Council leader Roger Phillips said the council had to absorb an "unprecedented level" of cuts.
The 250 jobs will go over the next two years. More than 30 of these are management posts.
Free travel
Areas affected by the cuts include concessionary bus fares although free travel for bus pass holders will remain, except for during weekday morning commuter periods.
Rural bus services may be affected with consultations being held over the spring and summer.
The county's mobile library service is also under review.
Councillor Phillips said the Conservative-run council's strategy was to cut the cost of services, rather than the services.
"We have an unprecedented level of government cuts that we have to absorb but we are doing everything we can to minimise the impact on those front line services that are valued across the county," he said.
|
Police in the eastern Indian state of Orissa (also called Odisha) have arrested a man wanted in a notorious 1999 gang rape. The accused hid in plain sight for more than two decades - until a few days ago when his luck ran out. | By Geeta PandeyBBC News, Delhi
When police approached Bibekananda Biswal's home last week in Pune district in the western state of Maharashtra, they say he tried to run away.
"He saw the team coming and tried to escape. When he was caught, he told them, 'Take me away from here, I'll tell you everything'," senior Orissa police official Sudhanshu Sarangi told the BBC.
Bibekananda Biswal was among three men accused in the brutal gang rape of a 29-year-old woman on the night of 9 January 1999. He denies the allegations against him.
The other two men - Pradeep Kumar Sahu and Dhirendra Mohanty - were arrested, tried, convicted of rape and sentenced to life in jail. Sahu died in prison last year.
The attack and the uproar
The woman was travelling from the state capital, Bhubaneswar, to its twin city Cuttack, with a journalist friend and her driver when their car was intercepted by three men travelling on a scooter.
The attackers forced them to drive at gunpoint to a secluded area where, according to court documents, she was assaulted multiple times over four hours. She and her friend were threatened and beaten up and their money and valuables were snatched.
The crime made headlines and shook the state not only for the brutality of the attack but also because of the serious allegations the survivor made against some important people, including the then Orissa chief minister JB Patnaik.
She accused him of trying to shield an official against whom she had lodged a complaint of attempted rape 18 months earlier. She alleged that the two had "a role" in her gang rape to "scare me into withdrawing my charges against the official".
Mr Patnaik said her accusations were part of "a political conspiracy". A month later when the chief minister resigned, newspapers said the mishandling of the case was a major reason for his exit. A year later, the official was convicted of attempted rape and jailed for three years.
India's federal police - the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) - were called in to inquire into the gang rape case.
But Bibekananda Biswal - described in the court order as "the main accused, the mastermind" who had "raped and ravished the victim mercilessly" - had disappeared without a trace.
The case went cold, and the files lay gathering dust in a police station in Cuttack.
'Operation Silent Viper'
In November, Mr Sarangi was visiting Choudwar jail in connection with another case where he had a "chance meeting" with Mohanty, one of the rapists.
"While talking to him, I discovered that one of his co-accused had never been caught. The next day, when I got back to my office, I recalled the case files," Mr Sarangi told me.
"When I read the details of the case, I felt he must be caught. It was a most heinous crime."
Mr Sarangi, who's the police commissioner for the state capital, Bhubaneswar, and its twin city Cuttack, reopened the case and gave it a code name - "Operation Silent Viper".
"A viper can blend in with its surroundings, not make any noises to avoid detection. So, I thought it was the perfect name for this operation since he hadn't been caught for 22 years," he says.
A four-member police team was formed - they were the only people who knew about the case "to avoid any information leak".
How did they find the suspect?
"On 19 February, at 5:30pm, I was sure we had the right man. Just after 7pm, three of my officers were on a flight to Pune," Mr Sarangi says.
"A joint team of Orissa and Maharashtra police carried out the raid the next day and he was arrested."
It had taken police three months of information gathering and meticulous planning to find the man they were after.
"Once we started investigating, we heard that he'd been in touch with his family, his wife and two sons. He was caught when the family tried to sell a piece of land that was in his name," Mr Sarangi told the BBC.
Read more from the BBC's Geeta Pandey
The small plot is near their home in the village of Naranpur in Cuttack district - an area becoming rapidly urbanised - and Mr Sarangi says the family was expecting to make some decent money from the sale.
A breakthrough came when police took a closer look at the family's finances.
They discovered that even though their suspect's wife or sons didn't have a job or a steady source of income, there was a regular flow of money into their account - from someone called Jalandhar Swain in Pune.
Since Bibekananda Biswal's arrest, his wife Gitanjali had denied that the family had any contact with him in the past 22 years.
"He had absconded after the gang rape and he did not contact us over the phone or secretly visit our home," she told The Times of India.
She also denied receiving any money from him, but refused to answer questions about who Jalandhar Swain was or why he had been sending money to her family, police say.
Where was he hiding?
"India is a big country," says Mr Sarangi, and "Biswal had managed to find a job, he had a bank account, a PAN Card [a must for all tax-paying citizens] and an Aadhaar card [India's national identity card]."
Since 2007, he had been living in the workers' barracks at the Aamby Valley - a posh township in Pune district that's home to some of India's super rich - more than 1,740km (about 1,080 miles) from his home village.
"He was working there as a plumber and had taken on a whole new identity," says Mr Sarangi. "He was among the 14,000 employees of Aamby Valley, merging with the setting, hiding in plain sight, raising no suspicions - just like a viper."
In his Aadhaar card, the suspect was named Jalandhar Swain and his father Purnananda Biswal had become P Swain - but his village was named correctly. A police investigation found no village resident by the name of Jalandhar Swain.
Mr Sarangi says Bibekananda Biswal has denied the allegations of rape, but not his true identity.
"He has also been identified by several sources, including his family members. We have now handed him over to the CBI for further investigation."
On Monday, crews from local TV channels scrambled to get a glimpse as the suspect was brought to court in Bhubaneswar.
Dressed in a blue t-shirt and grey trousers, he came barefoot, his face covered with a checked scarf as he was whisked away by policemen.
The only description of Bibekananda Biswal's appearance comes from Mr Sarangi: "He's nearly 50, medium-built, bald, not very strong physically, he's pretty ordinary actually."
What happens next?
Mr Sarangi says there are a lot of questions that need answers - How did he escape? Where was he before 2007? How did he remain undetected for so long? How did he find a job? Did someone help him?
The questions are significant, he says, especially because of the serious allegations the survivor of the attack had made against some influential people.
Then, there are also a lot of challenges. To begin with, the survivor has to identify him, but it's been a long time since the crime was committed. Then a trial will begin, which may or may not lead to conviction.
"We want to make sure that the case ends in conviction," Mr Sarangi says. "I want him to spend the rest of his life in jail, his body should leave the prison only after his death."
The survivor thanked "Mr Sarangi and his team for delivering justice to me", saying she wants the death penalty for her attacker.
She told a local TV channel she had not expected him to be arrested and was "relieved and happy" now that he was finally caught.
You may also be interested in:
|
A £35m project to increase the size of Swindon's Designer Outlet centre is under way, a year after the expansion was given planning approval. | The work will add 50,000 sq ft (4,645 sq m) to make room for up to 30 new shops, creating an estimated 350 jobs.
It will be carried out on the Long Shop building which was built in 1874 as part of the Grade II-listed Great Western Railway Works.
According to site owner McArthurGlen, the work will be completed next autumn.
|
An inquest is being held in Ireland into the death last year of Savita Halappanavar, a pregnant Indian woman, after she was refused an abortion. The case has outraged India, but as the BBC's Sanjoy Majumder reports, an alarmingly large number of women die in India because of unsafe abortions. | Inside a small clinic in the town of Jalgaon in Maharashtra, a doctor and his medical staff comfort a young woman who has just come in.
She is clearly in distress and traumatised.
We are told the 22-year-old woman was raped in her village. Now she is five months pregnant and desperate to abort her unborn child, something that is completely legal under Indian law.
But all the doctors she approached refused to help her and she has had to travel to this clinic 90km (56 miles) from her home
"I am too frightened to speak about my situation openly in my village," she says.
"My family will be shamed and no one will want to marry me."
Dr Udaysingh Patil is the gynaecologist at the clinic.
He tells me that he has treated many young women like her who cannot find someone qualified or even willing to perform an abortion because they think it will land them in trouble.
Some of the women are forced to go to backstreet practitioners and by the time they come to him, they are often critically ill.
"They're often bleeding heavily, in shock and sometimes develop infections, including septicemia. It can lead to their death."
Social stigma
Every two hours a woman dies in India because of an abortion that goes horribly wrong. The problem is particularly acute in rural areas where there is little access to quality healthcare.
There is also a social stigma attached to abortion.
"As a culture and society, we refuse to talk openly about abortion," says Vinoj Manning of Ipas, a global organisation that is working to prevent deaths due to unsafe abortions.
"So a woman who wants to terminate her pregnancy often has no one to turn to."
There is also a lack of knowledge about the law.
"Many of our doctors do not even realise that abortion is legal in India," says Subhangi Bhosle, a trainer with Ipas.
The problem is compounded by the fact that pre-natal sex determination tests are banned in India, to curb the practice of female foeticide.
So doctors in small towns or rural areas often believe, mistakenly, that they will face action if they perform abortions.
Inside an operating theatre at a government hospital in Nashik, Dr Vasant Jamdhade talks through a particularly complicated procedure with his young trainees.
The woman he is treating underwent an unsafe abortion elsewhere and has now developed medical complications.
Nurses try and comfort her as the doctor repairs the damage, with the trainees watching intently.
Once they are qualified, his trainees will be sent to primary health care centres in villages, where they can carry out simple but safe abortions.
But there are some who believe the biggest barrier to improving safe abortion practices is prejudice.
"We need to change mindsets," says Dr Bhosle.
"It's such a social taboo that even in our families we don't tell them that we are working to help women have safe abortions."
Back at Dr Patil's clinic in Jalgaon, the 22-year-old woman gets her pregnancy terminated successfully and is recuperating after her ordeal.
She got here in time and survived - she will even be able to have children again.
But many others will not be as lucky.
|
Felix Tshisekedi Tshilombo has been sworn in as president of the Democratic Republic of Congo after winning the disputed 30 December poll. Louise Dewast says until now he was better known for who he was related to. | A 55-year-old father of five, Mr Tshisekedi, was for a long time known for being the son of the late veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi, but he insisted that he was not trying to rival his father.
Felix Tshisekedi's father founded the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (known by its French initials UDPS) in 1982, and was a feared rival of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, who died months after being ousted in 1997, and later of Presidents Laurent and Joseph Kabila.
Under his leadership, the UDPS became the country's largest opposition party, but he never succeeded in winning office.
His legal challenge to the official results of the 2011 presidential election, which showed he won 32% of the vote to Joseph Kabila's 49%, failed.
The veteran opposition leader died in 2017 leaving a big question over who would succeed him.
'No free pass'
His former chief of staff Albert Moleka told the BBC that his son was not necessarily the obvious choice: "Etienne Tshisekedi was very vocal about his scepticism towards his son's abilities. He was very demanding of his son.
"He was someone who fought for the people and so he wasn't going to give his son a free pass."
Mr Moleka said it was the presidential hopeful's mother, Marthe Kasalu, who pushed for the son to become the leader.
In March last year, he was voted in as the party's new head and became its de facto candidate for the presidential elections.
But Mr Tshisekedi did not simply cash in on his name. He has been immersed in politics from a very young age, and had to work his way through the party.
He also had to suffer the consequences of his father's political activism.
When the UDPS was created, the Tshisekedi family was forced into internal exile to their home town in the central Kasai province.
They stayed there until 1985, when President Mobutu allowed the mother and children to leave.
His own man
Felix Tshisekedi then went to the Belgian capital, Brussels. After completing his studies there he took up politics, working his way through his father's party to become national secretary for external affairs for the UDPS, based in Brussels.
"He made powerful friends and allies among the diaspora there, but he was sometimes overlooked - and so it wasn't easy for him," said Mr Moleka.
"Felix has always shown a lot of willingness. He's courageous but his problem is that he needs to figure out what his ultimate goal is."
'Perpetuating father's dream'
The swearing in of Mr Tshisekedi saw the first peaceful transition of power in DR Congo since independence in 1960.
He told the crowds at his inauguration that he wanted to "build a strong Congo, turned toward development in peace and security - a Congo for all in which everyone has a place".
By becoming president, Mr Tshisekedi went one step further than his father, but speaking before the election he said he was not in competition with him.
"I don't have any ambition to rival my father. He is my master, and you don't rival the master.
"But I'm going to try my best to perpetuate his dream, his dream of a country of rule of law, of a better Congo, where our sons and daughters can flourish, that's what I am pursuing."
Mr Tshisekedi has said he will make the fight against poverty a "great national cause".
He aims, for example, to increase the average per person income to $11.75 (£9.30) a day, compared to $1.25 today.
"It's really the minimum we can do I think, and the minimum people expect from us," the candidate earlier told the BBC in an interview in the capital, Kinshasa.
He says his programme can be accomplished over two presidential terms - a period of 10 years - and will cost an estimated $86bn.
'Revenge'
Mr Moleka also detected another force motivating the UDPS leader.
"The Tshisekedis had a difficult life and so for Felix Tshisekedi, these elections are a bit of a revenge, for his family," he said.
When presenting his programme during a press conference, the candidate was pressed about his lack of experience.
Why DR Congo matters:
"It's true I don't have experience in bad governance or in the pillaging of my country," he responded, "but I do have experience in the respect of human rights and civil liberties."
In the months prior to the vote, opposition parties in the DR Congo - including the UDPS - had said that they would pick a joint candidate for the election to increase their chances of defeating the governing party.
But after the opposition parties made the decision to pick Martin Fayulu as the unity candidate, Mr Tshisekedi backed out and decided to run.
He was supported by Union for the Congolese Nation leader Vital Kamerhe - his running mate.
Although Mr Tshisekedi argued he was simply following the wishes of the party base, many in the country criticised his decision not to support Mr Fayulu.
Disputed result
The electoral commission said Mr Tshisekedi had received 38.5% of the vote on 30 December, compared to 34.7% for Martin Fayulu, another opposition figure. Ruling coalition candidate Emmanuel Shadary took 23.8%.
But doubts were raised about the results include by the country's influential Catholic Church, international experts based in the US, and the French and German governments.
Mr Fayulu accused Mr Tshisekedi of coming to a power-sharing arrangement with the outgoing president. He denied the accusation.
The African Union also expressed doubts about the result, but later accepted Mr Tshisekedi's victory.
|
A new Irish language library has opened in east Belfast. | By Robbie MeredithBBC News NI Education Correspondent
The facility in the Skainos Centre on the Newtownards Road contains about 2,000 books.
It has been opened due to the increasing number of people learning Irish at the centre.
The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Sinn Féin's John Finucane, along with UUP and Progressive Unionist Party politicians, attended the opening of the library on Monday.
The Skainos Centre began running Irish language classes seven years ago.
Linda Ervine, from Turas, which runs the classes, said the number of language learners had grown substantially since then.
"We started the classes seven years ago and there were about twenty-odd people," she said.
"Last year was our biggest year yet, with over 270 people signing up.
"We run our own GCSE class and a number of people got A* and A, and we also send people out to do A-Level and the diploma at Ulster University.
"And now five people, who just happen to be all from the unionist community, will be starting degrees at Ulster University and Queen's University this September."
Mr Finucane was making his first visit to the Irish classes at the centre for the opening of the library.
He said he was impressed by the number of people learning Irish in east Belfast.
"They have a real passion and commitment to the language and the language, as we know, is for everybody," he said.
"I think the numbers are the envy of across Belfast.
"I don't think Irish classes in north, south or west [Belfast] are getting over 270, so they need to be congratulated."
Ulster Unionist MLA Andy Allen and PUP councillor Dr John Kyle were also among those at the event to mark the library's official opening.
Meanwhile, an Irish language centre in Londonderry celebrated its 10th birthday at the weekend.
Derry Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin is housed in a striking building in Great James Street, which has won several architectural awards.
It is named after the grandfather of its education officer Dáire Ni Chanáin.
"I come in and chat to people and tell them that's my granda in that picture, and I'm hearing all these great stories about him and all the great works that he did," she said.
"It's really inspirational and it inspires me to go and work really work hard to promote the language as well."
According to the arts director Eibhlín Ní Dhochartaigh, Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin has big plans for the future.
"We've come from being this iconic building that opened 10 years ago to moving forward to developing a cultural quarter, a Gaeltacht quarter, here - a series of four buildings," she said.
|
Reputedly used as a hideout by Robin Hood and his merry men, Sherwood Forest's Major Oak has been picked as England's "Tree of the Year". In 2015 it will take on 13 trees from across Europe in what has been dubbed "Eurovision for trees". | By Eric SimpsonBBC News
The Major Oak had to see off fierce competition to be chosen as England's "best". Both the tree which dropped an apple on Sir Isaac Newton's head, reputedly inspiring his Theory of Gravity, and the Runnymede yew, where King John signed the Magna Carta, were left in the shade.
Perhaps more than 1,000 years old and weighing an estimated 23 tonnes, the Major Oak has been described as "a stately home" in the forest.
"It is so impressive to look at and it is doing remarkably well," says Sherwood Forest site manager Izi Banton. "It still has a full canopy, which is amazing for its age."
Ancient tree specialist Jill Butler, of the Woodland Trust, said it was "as stunning as many of our palaces or man-made wonders like Westminster Abbey."
Named after historian Major Hayman Rooke, who wrote about it in the 18th Century, its history can be traced back as far as William the Conqueror.
Its supporters are hoping it will emulate an elm from the Bulgarian town of Sliven which received more than 77,000 votes in an online poll to win the title of European Tree of the Year 2014.
The competition, sponsored by the Environmental Partnership Association (EPA), a group backed by the European Commission, will announce the winner of the 2015 online vote in March.
One of the Major Oak's competitors was nearly destroyed in last winter's storms. Standing on a hill above Llanfyllin, Powys, the Scots pine known as the Lonely Tree had dominated the skyline for more than 200 years.
People would visit it to carve their initials, propose marriage or scatter ashes. However, in February, the tree was blown down in gales but the community came together to tip 30 tonnes of soil over the roots and there are hopes it will continue to live and grow from a reclining position.
"When it fell I was shocked at how strongly the community felt about that tree - they rallied around it, it obviously means a lot to them," says tree campaigner Rob McBride, who is promoting for the Welsh entry.
Mr McBride is hoping to visit all the entrants before voting starts in February. "It's like a Eurovision for trees - but without the bad music," he says.
Organisers in the Czech Republic say the winner will not necessarily be the oldest, rarest, biggest or even the most beautiful specimen.
Contest co-ordinator Andrea Krůpová said: "We are searching for the most lovable tree, a tree with a story that can bring the community together.
"Trees are in the very heart of the European cultural landscape although they do not always have an easy life there. They deserve our attention and care."
Scotland's entry, above, is another iconic Scots pine in a nature reserve in Perthshire.
For the past 24 years an osprey affectionately known as "Lady" has been returning to a nest in its branches.
Over this time, the osprey has laid 71 eggs and fledged 50 chicks, while a webcam attracts more than one million viewers a year from more than 160 different countries.
This black pollarded poplar in Spain is one of more than 4,700 in Aguilar del Alfambra, which houses possibly the largest concentration of the species in Europe.
In 2009, the first Black Pollard Poplar Festival was celebrated in the nearby village of Ejulve and this specimen was selected as a representative.
Spain, England, Belgium and Estonia are new entrants to the 2015 competition, which has been running for five years.
The Irish entry - a Cedar of Lebanon tree (left) was planted by farmer Matt Fogarty, of Ballinderry, County Tipperary, on his 50-acre woodland in memory of his wife Mary.
"She was great support over our 45 years together and she is a great loss in my life," he says.
On the right is a 200-year-old white mulberry in Senica, Slovakia.
It is one of the area's "most beautiful and oldest trees looking patiently at a world, which is constantly changing", according to Ekopolis, an arm of the Slovakian Environment Agency, which organised the country's vote.
An imposing chestnut tree known as the "bread tree" (left) has stood guard over its surroundings in Pianello, Corsica, for 1,000 years.
The French magazine Terre Sauvage described the 15m circumference tree as "a fantastic being, half plant, half human, protector and guardian of the place".
In Opatavice, Czech Republic, a pine tree (right) believed to resemble a five-headed dragon, has been popular with generations of children who climb its branches.
St George, who is patron of the local church, is said to have fought the dragon, now cursed to forever remain a tree.
The Slav Oak in Debina, Lower Silesia, left, is a symbol of Polish identity.
Klub Gaja, a Polish environmental organisation, said the 450-year-old tree dated back to the Silesian Piast Dynasty and was a symbol of resistance during the Silesian Wars of the 18th Century.
The Estonian entry is an oak situated in the middle of a football pitch. For players in Orissaare, it acts as an obstacle but sometimes an aid as they deflect passes off its trunk.
"Before 1951 there was a small sporting area beside the oak tree and when it was expanded the tree ended up in the middle of the stadium," Mr McBride says.
A plane tree, which stands in the grounds of a school in Archar (left) is the Bulgarian entry.
In Hungary, on the banks of the Old Lake of Tata, a sycamore tree (right) has been here for more than 230 years.
Along with several others, the tree was brought from the Palace of Versailles by a member of the Esterházy family.
Photographs of Italy's entry, an olive tree from Sabina, and the Belgian Nail Tree have not been released yet.
|
An Essex hospital which dealt with a severe outbreak of the winter vomiting bug earlier this year has asked for the public's help.
| Patients and staff at Southend University Hospital were still being affected by the norovirus up until May.
Managers have urged people to stay away from the hospital if they have an upset stomach.
Doctors said this was the peak season for the norovirus and they were trying to prevent an outbreak in the wards.
|
Two bodies have been found at a house in Sunderland.
| The man and woman were found by police at an address on Satley Gardens just before 10:00 GMT, having responded to reports of concern for a woman.
No details of their identities have been released, but their next of kin have been informed.
Northumbria Police said inquiries were ongoing but there is not believed to be third party involvement and no threat to the public.
|
Nearly 2,000 hate crimes were recorded in Wales in one year. | The 1,810 hate crimes reported in 2012-13 were just the "tip of the iceberg", said the Welsh government, as it launched a new helpline and website for victims.
Wales needs "cultural changes" in order to tackle hate crimes, said Communities Minister Jeff Cuthbert.
Andrew Davies from Swansea moved house after receiving anonymous homophobic threats for a year and a half.
Mr Davies, chief executive officer for Unity Group Wales, said people would push notes under his door, saying they were worried about the safety of their children "because I was gay".
He added: "It got to the point then when they actually killed my cat and sent me a sympathy card for the cat".
'Not judged'
He said the popularity of social media has made hate crime more difficult to control.
He added: "Social media is a fantastic thing when it's used properly... but it's also quite a nasty weapon of hate that is being used a lot more these days".
Mr Cuthbert will launch the new framework tackling hate crime at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on Monday. It will include a 24-hour helpline and website for victims.
It will cover all hate crimes, including race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender and age. Victim Support will receive £488,000 of Welsh government funding to run the scheme.
"Cultural changes are needed so that future generations can live in a Wales which is equal, fair and welcoming to people from different backgrounds and cultures," said the minister.
"We want our young people and children to grow up in a Wales where people are accepted for who they are and not judged because of the colour of their skin, their religion, their sexual orientation, their gender identity, their disability or their age."
'More windows'
Mr Cuthbert added: "My message to all victims of hate crime is that action will be taken. Hate in any form will not be tolerated. A culture where victims feel that they have to suffer in silence will no longer be tolerated."
The framework will be updated annually and an independent advisory group will be established later this year.
Dr Ahmed Darwish, honorary chair of the Muslim Council of Wales, said: "Anything that would encourage the community to help each other is welcome and people need to be able to do that without being intimidated, or fearing retribution.
"The point of the initiative is that people have a means of communication without fear of people looking at them.
"I think the more windows we have, the better it is."
|
The City of London is promising that high-rise buildings will be monitored to ensure they don't make conditions unbearably windy in surrounding streets. But why do skyscrapers have this effect and what can be done to alleviate it? | By Justin ParkinsonBBC News Magazine
Anyone who has ever walked near a very tall building in the middle of a city on a windy day will have noticed a strange effect.
The wind is often much more intense around the base of the tower.
And the growth in high-rise structures is generating more concerns. The City of London Corporation has promised a more "rigorous" assessment of developers' predictions of ground winds, following complaints about strong gusts outside the 20 Fenchurch Street Building, better known as the Walkie Talkie.
"I almost got blown over the other day walking up past the building," a sales assistant working nearby said earlier this year. "When I got around the corner it was fine. I was scared to go back."
Toronto in Canada has suggested bringing in by-laws to ensure planning for skyscrapers takes into account the risk of street winds.
In Leeds, 35-year-old Edward Slaney was crushed after strong winds toppled a lorry near the 32-storey Bridgewater Place, the city's tallest building, in 2011. This was one of several incidents, some resulting in injuries, reported to the council.
Accelerated winds near skyscrapers are caused by the "downdraught effect", says Nada Piradeepan, an expert on wind properties at engineering consultancy firm Wintech. This happens where the air hits a building and, with nowhere else to go, is pushed up, down and around the sides. The air forced downwards increases wind speed at street level.
There is also an acceleration of wind around the side of the buildings if it has completely square corners.
And, if several towers stand near each other, there is an effect known as "channelling", a wind acceleration created by air having to be squeezed through a narrow space. This is a form of the Venturi effect, named after the 18th-19th Century Italian scientist Giovanni Battista Venturi.
"These different effects can combine to create faster-moving wind. It's complex," says Piradeepan. "The downdraught effect is most strong where buildings stand face-on to the prevailing wind, which in London is from the south west." More rounded buildings, such as London's Gherkin, don't have quite the same downdraught effect and don't encourage an increase in wind speed around them, as the air doesn't accelerate around corners, he adds.
The City of London has fewer skyscrapers than New York but much of its layout is based on medieval street patterns. Its narrower roads mean it concentrates the wind through channelling more than happens in New York's generally wider streets and avenues, says architect Steve Johnson.
Architects test skyscraper designs in wind tunnels to ensure there would be no damage to structures. But the potential effect on people living and working down below is becoming more of a focus for study, says Johnson.
Dubai's Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building at 828m (2,716.5ft), underwent "micro-climate analysis of the effects at terraces and around the tower base" before opening in 2010.
In Toronto, the broadcaster Global News measured gusts of between 30kmph (18.6mph) and 45kmph (28mph) at one corner of the 55-storey Four Seasons Hotel. It detected wind speeds of just 5kmph (3.1mph) slightly north of the building.
As the air at higher altitudes is colder, it can create chillier micro-climates when downdraught from skyscrapers reaches street level. This can be welcome during hot spells, but less so in winter. And, as buildings go higher, the speed of air hitting them rises, increasing ground winds below.
Skyscraper-affected airflow is a relatively new phenomenon in cities like London and Leeds, which were mainly low-rise until recently.
This is not so in New York, where, more than a century ago, residents were complaining of the winds caused by the face of the Flatiron building, then considered tall at 93m (305ft). It was said to lift women's skirts above their ankles, attracting young men not used to such public exposure. In 1905, a salacious (for the time) film of this phenomenon was made.
As long ago as 1983 in New York, engineering consultant Lev Zetlin called for laws to counteract the effects of buildings on street wind.
The City of London Corporation is not going this far, but it is changing the way it works with developers. The level of wind predicted by developers and that which actually occurs can differ "somewhat", says the corporation's head of design, Gwyn Richards. So there's going to be independent verification of studies carried out by developers to ensure they're as "rigorous and resilient" as possible, he adds.
The problem is that, where buildings causing downdraught problems have already been built at great expense, they can't simply be demolished.
Among the solutions on offer are screens to shield people from the wind at street level or even the use of more trees and hedges to break up air flow.
In Leeds, the city council last year granted permission for angled shelters near the base of Bridgewater Place, known as "baffles". But Lindsay Smales, senior lecturer in building, planning and geography at Leeds Beckett University, has said he doubts much can be done "once you've built a tall building like that to mitigate the problems of micro climate and the effect of the wind".
Concerns were raised over the proposed 15-storey Lumina tower block in Birmingham and a 27-storey building in Manchester, both of which gained planning permission last year.
As downdraught happens most where buildings are square-on to wind, would changing their angles be a good idea?
Johnson is inspired by the example of a far more low-rise place, the seaside resort of Whitstable in Kent, famed for its oyster trade and now home to offshore wind farms. Some of its street layout was designed to be at 45 degrees to the prevailing wind so that there's not such a wide section facing it, he says.
"None of these problems are new," Johnson says. "The ancient Greeks and Romans knew something about the effects of wind on buildings. It's just that, unlike today, they didn't try to build enormous skyscrapers."
Giovanni Battista Venturi (1746-1822)
Italian scientist who was a professor at the University of Modena in Italy
Researched sound and colour, but is most famous for his work on hydraulics
He first noted the effects of constricted channels on fluid movement
Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.
|
A 101-year-old Royal Navy sailor was recently laid to rest at sea. Bryan Clowes, a former Petty Officer and veteran of the Arctic Convoy , took his final voyage aboard East Sussex 1, an ex-naval Kiwi class vessel last week. But how unusual is a burial at sea? | By Bethan BellBBC News
A dozen or so people every year are buried at sea off the British Isles, according to figures by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) service.
Here are a few things you might not know about it.
Anyone can be buried at sea
Although many people who are buried at sea are former sailors or navy personnel, there is no need to have a connection with maritime life.
Anyone can be buried at sea, so long as the person arranging it has a licence - available for £175 from the MMO - and complies with some environmental rules.
Applicants must provide a certificate from a doctor that the body is clear of fever and infection, and the coroner may also need to be informed.
The person being buried must not be embalmed and should be clad in light, biodegradable clothing.
Some funeral directors will arrange the event, and the Britannia Shipping Company specialises in it. Charity organisation the Maritime Volunteer Service also helps carry out burials at sea.
The navy conducts its own burials at sea, for those veterans who wish it. For more detailed information you should contact the chaplain at the base from which the dead person served.
But you can't simply be buried anywhere
There are only three designated burial sites in English coastal waters. They are at Newhaven in East Sussex, The Needles Spoil Ground near the Isle of Wight and Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear.
If you wish to bury someone in a location other than one of the three above, you can propose a new site when making your application.
You will need to supply exact co-ordinates and evidence to demonstrate that the site is suitable for burials at sea.
It must be somewhere there is a minimal risk of the body being returned to shore by strong currents or being disturbed by commercial fishing nets. In some rare cases, bodies do drift. Because of this, the person buried must have an identification tag attached to them.
It can also take about five hours to reach the burial site and be quite choppy, according to David Hughes from the Marine Volunteer Service, which handled Mr Clowes' burial.
For this reason, many families choose to have a ceremony on land, before saying goodbye from the quayside.
Mr Hughes says he utters a short prayer as the coffin is committed to the sea.
It could have become commonplace - or could it?
During the Winter of Discontent, burial at sea was a method hypothetically suggested by the then medical officer of health for Liverpool, Duncan Dolton, in the case of an extended strike by the union representing gravediggers, the GMWU.
However, in an interview Dr Dolton did for a Channel 4 documentary in 1998, [Secret History: Winter of Discontent] he said a reporter had "badgered" him about what would happen if the strike wasn't resolved.
"The reporter said 'Come on. Come on. If this goes on for months what will happen?' I answer, 'If necessary, we'll have to bury them at sea.'
"Now to me, that didn't sound strange. I had been a naval officer... and I thought that this was a dignified and honourable way of disposing of the dead.
"So I was completely astonished the next morning with the headlines: 'Burial at Sea says Medical Officer.' And I have to confess, I was horrified."
A special coffin is required
The MMO specifies the coffin must be made from solid softwood and must not contain any plastic, lead, copper or zinc. This is to make sure it biodegrades and to protect the area from contamination.
To make sure the coffin sinks quickly to the seabed and does not float around, two-inch (50mm) holes must be drilled throughout, and about 200kg (440lb) should be clamped to the base.
You can find other coffin requirements here.
Francis Drake wore a suit of armour to be buried
The Elizabethan sailor and navigator died at sea in 1596 and his body, clad in a full suit of armour and in a lead coffin, is thought to be off the coast of Panama.
In October 2011, the owner of a US pirate museum clamed to be close to finding Drake's remains as he'd located two ships - the Elizabeth and the Delight - that were scuttled shortly after the explorer's death.
However, the coffin has not yet been found. Divers still search for it.
Scattering ashes is easier
Anyone can scatter ashes at sea, and you don't need a special licence or the involvement of an undertaker. Defra recommends the scattering of cremation ashes at sea, rather than burial, which alleviates the risk of bodies being washed up.
There have been discussions about making the taking of DNA samples from bodies to be buried at sea a legal requirement.
Famous people whose ashes were strewn upon the waves include Alfred Hitchcock and Janis Joplin (Pacific Ocean), Edmund Hillary (New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf), Robin Williams (San Francisco Bay) and Dad's Army actor John Laurie (English Channel).
This quote is often cited at sea burials
"The sea is the largest cemetery, and its slumbers sleep without a monument.
"All other graveyards show symbols of distinction between great and small, rich and poor: but in the ocean cemetery, the king, the clown, the prince and the peasant are alike, undistinguishable."
George Bruce, 1884, St Andrews
|
People living and working in Jersey are to be asked for their views on plans for Millennium Town Park. | The development forms part of the States' North of Town master plan.
The Transport and Technical Services department is sending feedback questionnaires about the park to 3,000 residents and businesses on Wednesday.
As part of the public consultation, the department will also be staging three drop-in events for people to share their ideas about the park's design.
|
Structural surveys are being carried out at Aberdeen's historic art deco design Bon Accord Baths amid fears the building has a serious problem known as concrete cancer. | The swimming pool on Justice Mill Lane closed in 2008 because of local authority budget cuts.
The council and Bon Accord Heritage - which is working on proposals to reopen the pool - have contracted engineers.
Concrete cancer is where reinforcing steel within concrete begins to rust.
This causes the concrete around it to disintegrate.
It has been estimated millions of pounds would be needed to refurbish the building.
|
Jeremy Corbyn said he would unite the party. Two days in he has two big problems - a lack of women in the top jobs, having promised a new equality, but a bigger one perhaps, his choice as shadow chancellor. The appointment of John McDonnell is a risk, a big risk. | Laura KuenssbergPolitical editor@bbclaurakon Twitter
I understand that Jeremy Corbyn was warned by members of his own camp not to give the crucial role of shadow chancellor to his close friend and campaign manager, John McDonnell.
There were concerns over how his appointment would appear and the impact it would have on the rest of the shadow team.
He was also warned by at least one senior figure outside his campaign circle not to give him the job, the perception being that giving McDonnell the position would be a "declaration of war" on the rest of the Parliamentary Labour Party. And McDonnell's position was a factor in other MPs' decisions on whether to take a job.
Corbyn's team are going to have to defend some of Mr McDonnell's more controversial positions - and they'll do that perhaps without widespread support from MPs. Some MPs are aghast - one told the BBC "it is a disgrace - there's only one thing worse than being ignored in politics and that's being laughed at".
So Corbyn begins with a problem on his pick for the economy, that crucial area where Labour has struggled to build credibility.
Another senior MP said, "the idea of having three men at the top of the party is ridiculous - we are the Labour Party, this isn't what we are about".
Two days in Jeremy Corbyn has a significant problem he was warned to avoid, one of his own making. The size of his victory is an insurance policy - but my goodness, he's going to need it.
|
The judge in the Constable Stephen Carroll murder trial has rejected a defence application to throw out the prosecution case. | Neither defendant, Brendan McConville or John Paul Wootton, will be giving evidence.
Constable Carroll was shot dead in Craigavon in March 2009 after responding to a 999 call.
Dismissing the application, Lord Justice Girvan said he was satisfied the defendants had a case to answer.
Mr McConville, 40, of Glenholme Avenue, Craigavon, and Mr Wootton, 20, of Collindale, Lurgan, deny the murder.
|
Back in normal times, on match days, the pavement outside the Tollington Arms would be as crowded as a Tube station. The pub is right next to the Emirates stadium, Arsenal's home ground, and is a popular sports pub. | By Lucy HookerBusiness reporter, BBC News
But although the Gunners are on the pitch this Saturday, the doors will remain firmly shut.
The government has given pubs in England the go ahead to reopen from 4 July if they follow a strict set of social distancing rules, but last week the Tollington's manager, Martin Whelan, posted a message on social media announcing it would stay closed.
"We cannot in good conscience open the pub when contracting a deadly virus is still possible under these guidelines," he tweeted.
The decision was met with a flood of support on Twitter with customers praising it as a "wise" and "courageous" decision. Only a handful were scornful, urging them to be less cautious and open up.
None of the other eight bars Mr Whelan runs around London will be opening either.
"Some of my staff have had this virus and when you've seen them at death's door you take a different point of view," Mr Whelan says. "It's a very sobering position to be in."
Once the virus is circulating at lower levels in the population and there's a "proper track and trace scheme" up and running then he would consider reopening, he says. In the meantime he couldn't look his staff in the eye and ask them to come back with confidence.
"Nobody likes losing money but you have to have a conscience too."
Britain's pubs were among the hardest hit businesses when lockdown came. Many had to pour away beer that grew stale, throw away food that couldn't be served, board up premises and furlough staff.
Now social distancing rules have been reduced from two metres to "one plus" and the government has set out conditions, including taking the names and contact details of customers, to mitigate some of the risks.
The big pub chains including JD Wetherspoon and Stonegate Ei are opening almost all of their sites with modifications including plastic screens, one way systems, reduced seating, and apps for ordering food and drink.
'Unique venue'
Nevertheless only around half of the UK's pubs will be open this weekend, according to a survey by the industry body UK Hospitality.
Pubs in Scotland and Wales haven't yet been allowed to reopen, accounting for a lot of those remaining shut, but still a large number of pubs in England won't be welcoming back customers either.
For some it simply isn't economically viable to do so. Chris and Liz Smith run The Chambers which used to host live music and serve food in a packed basement in Folkestone.
"We're quite a unique venue. We offer a bit of everything, but music is the key for us functioning," says Ms Smith.
Without music they don't think the atmosphere would work, but there are also the insurmountable problems of a single narrow staircase down to the basement and a narrow corridor to the toilet.
"We don't want to open if we can't do it properly," says Mr Smith, but he recognises there is a possibility they may never be able to reopen at all.
Other pubs can accommodate guests more easily, like the Prospect in Exeter, which, even with reduced seating can manage space for 78 outdoors in the fresh air.
But landlord Suzanne Abrey-Cameron is apprehensive about what the prime minister has dubbed "Super Saturday" after all these weeks of people being cooped up indoors.
"There's a lot of expectation," she says. "It'll be worse than Black Friday."
So the Prospect won't open until 9 July when she hopes things will have calmed down.
"We've missed out on four months, one weekend is not going to make a difference."
Moreover, the opening hours will be "weather permitting" since they are only serving customers al fresco.
One of the large chains, Greene King, is also only opening its pubs after the weekend, not because of concerns over unruly behaviour, but to ensure staff and facilities are ready.
"It wasn't a case of avoiding the hysteria, more making sure the teams were ready," says Karl Gibson, who manages Greene King's Trip to Jerusalem pub in Nottingham.
He's taken down the boards protecting the pub during lockdown, which they'd decorated with messages of support for the NHS, and is preparing for a gradual return, spread out over ten days from Monday.
But for some city centre pubs, especially in Nottingham, which is in striking distance of Leicester where pubs remain closed due to the local lockdown, there is a shadow of concern over this weekend's openings. The police have warned that pub-goers shouldn't treat it as an excuse for excess.
Tony Cockcroft of the British Security Industry Association says security firms have seen a wave of enquiries ahead of the weekend. "We're looking at levels akin to a bank holiday weekend," he says.
Extra security staff are likely to be needed if queues form outside pubs and possibly to administer and explain the new regulations to customers as they enter.
But Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UK Hospitality, points out that this is all very familiar territory for a lot of city centre landlords, accustomed to managing anti-social behaviour at busy weekends. Moreover for the time being volumes are likely to remain much lower than usual.
"In recent weeks we've seen what happens when you don't have facilities open, there is that pent-up demand," she says. "You have illegal raves in Manchester, you have crowding at beauty hotspots.
"Reopening the pubs, bars and restaurants could be part of the solution not part of the problem. We can provide for people who want to get out of the house and make sure there's social distancing policed on premises."
|
A cyclist was found unconscious at the side of a road after being struck by a car in a hit-and-run in Stirlingshire. | Police said the male cyclist was hit head-on by a black Range Rover which had been overtaking another vehicle on a blind bend on the A81 near Balfron Station.
The crash happened at about 21:00 on Friday.
Officers believe the occupants of the Range Rover would have known they had hit someone but failed to stop.
A couple passing by discovered the bike lying on the road and the cyclist on the verge.
He is not thought to have suffered serious injuries.
Police have appealed for information as well as dash-cam footage showing the Range Rover or a small white car which it had been overtaking.
They also want to trace the couple who initially helped the cyclist.
Related Internet Links
Contact Us - Police Scotland
|
The streets of Colombo are glistening for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm). But controversy still rages over war crimes allegations, press freedom, judicial independence and the safety of minorities. The BBC's Charles Haviland reports on the rights issues that refuse to go away. | New fountains are flowing, there are new pavements and new street lamps have been constructed. A motorway has just opened linking the airport to Colombo for the first time.
Colombo's violence-scarred past is becoming a mere memory. Many Sri Lankans are proud to be welcoming the Commonwealth leaders and see the summit as a tribute to a president many revere for his victory after 26 years of conflict with separatist Tamil Tigers.
But for all the burnished infrastructure, there is disquiet under the surface.
The summit's attendance list has narrowed, with Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper boycotting the event over rights abuses. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also said he will not attend.
Army demolition spree
Visiting the Northern Province during its recent election, the BBC met 37-year-old Sujitharan in a refugee camp outside Jaffna.
The children played in the dirt. The place felt temporary, prefabricated. Yet Sujitharan has been here since 1990 when his family fled their home because of fighting between the government and the Tamil Tigers (LTTE).
The military keeps hold of their land, like other large tracts deemed high security zones.
"We're living as second-class citizens with no facilities, no bathrooms. It's a very sad life. Our children need to live on their own land," he says.
Sujitharan had decided to vote for President Rajapaksa in the hope of getting his land back.
But in recent days - after the Tamil opposition's election victory in the North - the Sri Lankan Army has gone on a demolition spree, flattening the houses of people displaced long ago to consolidate these zones - which it says it needs "for security reasons".
When journalists try to film or photograph it, their memory cards are seized and deleted and they are chased away. The demolitions continue.
Then there are the unanswered question about possible war crimes and allegations of the indiscriminate bombardment of Tamil civilians as the war ended; of the summary killing of the captive LTTE members who surrendered.
Grave war crimes accusations are also levelled at the LTTE, but as most of them did not survive, and as the Sri Lankan government has continued to justify its conduct, the spotlight is focused on the current leaders.
Minorities targeted
Journalists and human rights workers continue to report intimidation. A BBC correspondent based in northern Sri Lanka was recently questioned for hours by the anti-terrorism police.
A senior Colombo-based journalist fled the island after two raids on her home: During one, she and her family were threatened at knifepoint.
Disappearances remain unsolved and allegations of torture in state custody - often backed by forensic evidence - continue to emerge.
And members of religious minorities are being attacked in a trend boosted by the war victory.
The spate of assaults on Muslims and demonstrations against them by Sinhalese Buddhist hardliners have been well reported.
But now Christians are coming forward to report attacks which have long been happening, but local media barely mention then.
In Colombo I meet a pastor from a small church. He does not want his name used and is here because he is afraid to receive me in his village.
"Two Buddhist monks rushed into the church," he says in Sinhala, recounting a recent incident during a service.
"Twenty-five or 30 villagers followed. They yelled insults at us, calling us traitors for preaching the word of God. They shouted 'this is a Buddhist nation, a Buddhist village'.
"They threatened to kill us, they said they would burn my house down when they came back."
He says the monks started physically assaulting him. He knelt down facing the wall and prayed.
The clergyman is from Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority - Christians straddle the ethnic divide.
The pastor says he has since seen the monk who led the attack on television with President Rajapaksa. He was able to identify the attackers but says the police told him that if any of the attackers were arrested that would create religious controversy and an ugly scenario.
Yamini Ravindran of the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL) has documented 65 attacks on Christians so far this year.
"Pastors have been threatened, subjected to duress and forced closure of churches, various forms of discriminations... And even some Christian believers have been forced to recant their faith."
Minorities feel uneasy because the government rarely condemns such assaults or apprehends the culprits. Hindus, who are Tamil, are in a similar situation.
The government recently demolished a small Hindu temple in the town of Dambulla, in an area the authorities have declared sacred to Buddhists.
A Tamil politician, N Kumaraguruparan, says the Hindus appealed to President Rajapaksa against the demolition, then asked for time to perform final religious rites. Both appeals went unheeded.
In a recent visit to Sri Lanka, the UN's human rights chief, Navi Pillay, criticised what she called the "surge in incitement of hatred and violence against religious minorities... and the lack of swift action against the perpetrators".
The government denies committing war crimes or trampling on human rights.
Peaceful co-existence
Udaya Gammanpila, a provincial minister from a Buddhist nationalist party in the government coalition, says Canada's leaders should come to Chogm, like their counterparts.
"The reality is that Sri Lankans, as one family, we are trying to live together after a long civil war... If they just come to Colombo and go around they will find the co-existence of Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims."
The Sri Lankan state often stresses the co-operation between the island's four major religions. In the cities, churches, mosques and Buddhist and Hindu temples sit side by side, with many devotees never facing problems.
And it is certainly true that in Colombo you do find communities mixing quite happily - but critics say this should not mask deeper divisions and concerns.
So what about the pastor's account of the church attack?
"Frankly we are not aware of such incident," said Mr Gammanpila, adding that the victim could have complained to the Supreme Court if he felt the forces of the law were not doing their job.
Mr Gammanpila also seemed unaware of the 65 attacks documented by the NCEASL, saying the accounts might be "made up" by the Christians.
I asked him about Navi Pillay's assertion that Sri Lanka was drifting towards authoritarianism with the sacking of the former Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake and allegations of widespread impunity.
Mr Gammanpila said this was "expected" as Ms Pillay was "from a Tamil ethnic origin. She was biased towards her community in the first place."
While in Sri Lanka Navi Pillay, who is South African, deemed such remarks incorrect and offensive. Nor is the sacked chief justice from the Tamil community. But Mr Gammanpila insisted the UN rapporteur had no right to look at the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict.
The Sri Lankan government does get solid support from many other Commonwealth states, especially in Asia and Africa, who do not want the organisation to intervene in human rights.
But as the summit gets under way - minus several key leaders - it seems to be less about the actual Chogm agenda than about the host country and whether it lives up to the Commonwealth Charter.
|
The US police officer accused of George Floyd's murder told him to stop talking as he repeatedly gasped under the man's knee, according to court documents. | The unarmed black man cried out for his late mother and children as he said the Minneapolis policeman would kill him, transcripts from body-cam footage show.
They were disclosed in court by lawyers for one of the four officers involved.
The documents offer the clearest picture yet of Mr Floyd's last moments. His death in May sparked global uproar.
It led to a wave of anti-racism protests led by the Black Lives Matter movement, and stirred debate and reflection in the US over the country's history of slavery and segregation.
All four officers involved in taking Mr Floyd into custody were fired and arrested. Derek Chauvin, who knelt on his neck, faces several charges including second-degree murder, while the other three - Thomas Lane, J Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao - are charged with aiding and abetting murder.
The transcripts were made public on Thursday as Mr Lane's lawyers asked for the case against him to be dismissed.
Warning: Some readers may find the content below distressing.
What do the transcripts show?
Until now, eyewitness footage shared on social media revealed most of what was known about Mr Floyd's arrest and his final moments.
The new transcripts give a more detailed account, shedding light on significant parts of the encounter, from the time Mr Lane and Mr Kueng arrived at the scene, to the point where Mr Floyd was given CPR in an ambulance.
Transcripts of footage recorded by body cameras fitted to Mr Lane and Mr Kueng show Mr Floyd said more than 20 times he could not breathe as he was restrained by the officers in a Minneapolis street.
They confronted him outside a convenience store where he was suspected of having used a forged $20 note to buy cigarettes.
At one point, a handcuffed Mr Floyd, while pinned down on the road next to the police car, gasps that he cannot breathe, adding: "You're going to kill me, man."
Mr Chauvin, who is shown in bystander footage appearing to kneel on Mr Floyd's neck for nearly eight minutes, replies: "Then stop talking, stop yelling.
"It takes heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
The transcripts show Mr Floyd appears co-operative at the beginning of the arrest, repeatedly apologising to the officers after they approach his parked car.
Mr Lane asks Mr Floyd to show his hands at least 10 times before ordering him to get out of the vehicle.
In response to one of the demands to see his hands, Mr Floyd says: "Man, I got, I got shot the same way, Mr Officer, before." It is not clear what he is referring to.
At one point Mr Lane says: "Why's he getting all squirrelly and not showing us his hands and just being all weird like that?"
The officers then handcuff Mr Floyd and try to put him into the back of their police car. As they do, Mr Floyd becomes agitated, repeatedly pleading that he is claustrophobic.
Mr Lane asks if he is "on something". Mr Floyd replies: "I'm scared, man."
According to another document, Mr Lane told investigators that once in the car, Mr Floyd began "thrashing back and forth".
When asked "So he pushed himself out of the car?" Mr Lane replied: "Yeah".
The investigator then asks: "Versus you guys pulling him out of the car?" and Mr Lane says: "Yeah, because the goal is to keep him in the car, we didn't want him coming out again."
Pinned on the ground, according to the transcript, Mr Floyd cries out a dozen times: "Mama."
He says: "Can't believe this, man. Mom, love you. Love you.
"Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
At one point, when Mr Floyd continues to plead he can't breathe, Mr Lane asks Mr Chauvin: "Should we roll him on his side?"
Mr Chauvin responds: "No, he's staying put where we got him."
Mr Lane then says: "Okay. Just worry about the excited delirium or whatever."
Mr Chauvin replies: "Well that's why we got the ambulance coming," and Mr Lane says "Okay, I suppose".
Mr Chauvin's lawyers have not commented on the documents since they were made public.
Why are the transcripts coming out now?
The transcripts were released in support of a legal bid to dismiss the criminal charges against Mr Lane, a new recruit only days into the job when Mr Floyd's death happened.
Mr Lane's lawyer Earl Gray, who filed the documents, argued that it was "not fair or reasonable" for his client to stand trial on the charges.
The new court documents include a transcript of Mr Lane's interview with investigators from Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
In the interview, Mr Lane talked through the first crucial moments of his encounter with Mr Floyd.
Mr Lane said he had pulled his gun out and ordered Mr Floyd to show his hands after approaching his car and seeing him "sitting with his hands down below the seat".
Pictures from inside the car Mr Floyd was sitting in before his arrest show two crumpled $20 bills that, according to Mr Gray, were counterfeit.
At the end of the interview, one of the investigators asked Mr Lane if he felt either he or Mr Chauvin had contributed to Mr Floyd's death.
"I object to that. You're not going to answer that," Mr Gray said.
What has happened since Mr Floyd's death?
The incident and the bystander videos that exposed it highlighted deep wounds over racial inequality in the US. For many, the outrage over Mr Floyd's death also reflected years of frustration over socio-economic inequality and discrimination.
Protests erupted and have continued since, across many US cities and also internationally.
Police forces, governments and businesses pledged reforms in recognition of the racial inequality that fuelled the protests.
Monuments to historical figures with links to slavery in the US and other countries were re-assessed. Some were toppled or vandalised, others were taken down by authorities and institutions.
Mr Floyd's death followed the high-profile cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; Eric Garner in New York; and others that have driven the Black Lives Matter movement in recent years.
More on the US protests
US protests timeline
George Floyd dies after police arrest
25 May 2020
George Floyd dies after being arrested by police outside a shop in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Footage shows a white officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeling on Mr Floyd’s neck for several minutes while he is pinned to the floor. Mr Floyd is heard repeatedly saying "I can’t breathe". He is pronounced dead later in hospital.
Protests begin
26 May
Four officers involved in the arrest of George Floyd are fired. Protests begin as the video of the arrest is shared widely on social media. Hundreds of demonstrators take to the streets of Minneapolis and vandalise police cars and the police station with graffiti.
Protests spread
27 May
Protests spread to other cities including Memphis and Los Angeles. In some places, like Portland, Oregon, protesters lie in the road, chanting "I can’t breathe". Demonstrators again gather around the police station in Minneapolis where the officers involved in George Floyd’s arrest were based and set fire to it. The building is evacuated and police retreat.
Trump tweets
28 May
President Trump blames the violence on a lack of leadership in Minneapolis and threatens to send in the National Guard in a tweet. He follows it up in a second tweet with a warning "when the looting starts, the shooting starts". The second tweet is hidden by Twitter for "glorifying violence".
CNN reporter arrested
29 May
A CNN reporter, Omar Jimenez, is arrested while covering the Minneapolis protest. Mr Jimenez was reporting live when police officers handcuffed him. A few minutes later several of his colleagues are also arrested. They are all later released once they are confirmed to be members of the media.
Derek Chauvin charged with murder
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, 44, is charged with murder and manslaughter. The charges carry a combined maximum 35-year sentence.
Sixth night of protests
31 May
Violence spreads across the US on the sixth night of protests. A total of at least five people are reported killed in protests from Indianapolis to Chicago. More than 75 cities have seen protests. At least 4,400 people have been arrested. Curfews are imposed across the US to try to stem the unrest.
Trump threatens military response
1 June
President Trump threatens to send in the military to quell growing civil unrest. He says if cities and states fail to control the protests and "defend their residents" he will deploy the army and "quickly solve the problem for them". Mr Trump poses in front of a damaged church shortly after police used tear gas to disperse peaceful protesters nearby.
Eighth night of protests
2 June
Tens of thousands of protesters again take to the streets. One of the biggest protests is in George Floyd’s hometown of Houston, Texas. Many defy curfews in several cities, but the demonstrations are largely peaceful.
Memorial service for George Floyd
4 June
A memorial service for George Floyd is held in Minneapolis. Those gathered in tribute stand in silence for eight minutes, 46 seconds, the amount of time Mr Floyd is alleged to have been on the ground under arrest. Hundreds attended the service, which heard a eulogy from civil rights activist Rev Al Sharpton.
International protests
7 June
As the US saw another weekend of protests, with tens of thousands marching in Washington DC, anti-racism demonstrations were held around the world.
In Australia, there were major protests in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane that focused on the treatment of indigenous Australians. There were also demonstrations in France, Germany, Spain and the UK. In Bristol, protesters tore down the statue of a 17th century slave trader and threw it into the harbour.
Funeral service for George Floyd
9 June
A funeral service for George Floyd is held in Houston, Mr Floyd’s home town. Just over two weeks after his death in Minneapolis and worldwide anti-racism protests, about 500 guests invited by the Floyd family are in attendance at the Fountain of Praise Church. Many more gather outside to show their support.
|
Three men have been charged with murder after a man was found dead at a house in Wakefield. | The body of Jonathan Dews, 42, was found at the property on Brighton Street after emergency services were called to a fire on Friday.
Police have not released the cause of Mr Dews' death.
Scott Crutchley, 24, Jordan Metcalfe, 24, and Nathan Redmond, 21, all from Wakefield, will appear at Leeds Magistrates' Court later.
Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].
|
Two women and a man have been rescued from a house fire "caused by malicious ignition", police have said. | Firefighters were called to Cromwell Street in Nottingham at about 05:30 BST on Sunday.
Two women and a man were pulled out at the house and one of them was taken to hospital for treatment for smoke inhalation.
Det Sgt Adam Taylor said "at the moment we do believe the blaze was started deliberately".
Firefighters and police are carrying out an investigation and the blaze is being treated as "an isolated incident with no threat to the wider public".
Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].
|
It is the stuff of gripping fiction - or high farce - where an alleged people-trafficking kingpin from Iraq poses as a refugee and runs his illicit business within a few kilometres of Australia's intelligence agencies' headquarters. | By Phil MercerBBC News, Sydney
The Australian Broadcasting Corp made the allegations against Captain Emad.
The news network accused him of captaining a boatload of unauthorised arrivals from Indonesia and impersonating an asylum seeker when the vessel was intercepted by the authorities in 2010.
Criticism was heaped onto the country's police and spy services: how could an alleged criminal mastermind pass security checks and be allowed to run a people-smuggling operation from his home in Canberra?
Immigration Minister Chris Bowen ordered an immediate investigation, declaring he had "no tolerance at all for people gaining refugee status based on false information".
Captain flees
But a day after the ABC exposé, called Smugglers' Paradise - Australia, was aired, Captain Emad, also known as Abu Khalid, had fled the country and his whereabouts were unknown.
Senior police officers said they had Captain Emad and members of his alleged syndicate under surveillance, but did not have enough evidence to charge him.
"When leaving Australia, the man triggered a long-standing alert at Melbourne Airport and at the time, there was an operational decision made by investigators that he could not be detained, as the officers had no lawful basis to prevent him from departing Australia," said federal police commissioner Tony Negus.
In Canberra, the conservative opposition tore into the Labor government, claiming that budget cuts have hamstrung the police and that a prized catch was allowed to disappear overseas.
However, lawyers concede that it is difficult for investigators to make charges stick against accused high-ranking traffickers.
Most cases are based on eye-witness testimony of asylum seekers who pay thousands of dollars to travel to Australia by boat, mostly from Indonesia.
It is a view shared by Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare, who said: "Unfortunately, there is a difference between compiling information for a television programme and compiling information for court."
'Head of the snake'
This embarrassing affair has caused a stir between Australia and its giant neighbour to the north, Indonesia.
Both countries have vowed to stem a steady flow of asylum boats in recent years, but Tantowi Yahya, a member of Indonesia's parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, said the Captain Emad revelations undermined Canberra's claim to be fighting the smuggling trade.
"We agree with the request from Australian government to be co-operative with them, but then we get the news that the Australian government is giving refugee status to the smugglers," said Mr Yahya.
The ABC's Four Corners TV show team had documented "how the biggest people-smuggling networks in Indonesia have moved their operations to Australia".
An Iraqi refugee, Hussain Nasir, claimed that "many, many smugglers or agents, they enter Australia, and now they live in Australia". His credibility has, however, been questioned by The Australian newspaper, which said he was "unreliable". The ABC responded by insisting that the attack on a "brave whistleblower" was "disgraceful".
Emad was described as the "head of the smugglers, the head of the snake", by an informant who linked him to a powerful Indonesian ring behind two ill-fated boats that sank en route to Australia, killing almost 150 people.
Even though one alleged kingpin has fled, Commissioner Negus says his officers will continue to pursue others.
"The AFP [Australian Federal Police] currently has over a dozen active investigations into people-smuggling ventures being organised from Australia," he said.
"We have over 100 investigators working with our partners in this area, both here in Australia and offshore."
'Hounded out'
Questions remain about whether Emad's refugee protection visa will be revoked by the Australian government.
Human rights campaigners believe that he has been unfairly hounded out of Australia by "unsubstantiated allegations".
"I was extremely disappointed with the ABC story," explained Ian Rintoul from the refugee rights group Refugee Action Coalition.
"It is very common for people who organise boats in Indonesia to be refugees. The majority of people who have been convicted of smuggling have been found to be genuine refugees," he said.
When confronted by the ABC at a supermarket car park in Canberra, Emad had denied any wrongdoing.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he insisted.
The following day, he had left the country.
|
What's the future for Uber? As the controversial car-sharing service becomes increasingly popular with consumers, regulators seem to be busy putting up roadblocks. So will that put the brakes on the company's expansion? | By Lucy HookerBusiness reporter, BBC News
In the past few years, Uber has turned the process of booking a taxi on its head in many cities around the world.
A mobile phone app, it allows you to check for cars in your area, book one with a click, and have it charged - usually at a cheaper price than a traditional taxi - to your credit card.
But while Uber's user numbers have soared, it's far from universally welcome.
In Paris, Uber has already had to withdraw the cheapest service it provides, after violent attacks on some of its drivers earlier this year.
And last week two of the company's senior executives were hauled before a French court, accused of deceptive commercial practices and complicity in illegal activities.
In Amsterdam, Uber's European headquarters was raided as part of a criminal investigation into whether the company is offering illegal taxi services.
And in the last few days London's transport authority has proposed regulations that, if implemented, could seriously undermine the way Uber operates in the UK capital.
The list of travails goes on and on. Uber has seen its services banned around the world in cities from Seoul, and New Delhi, to next year's Olympic hosts Rio de Janeiro.
On top of all that, the European Commission is examining whether Uber is violating competition rules, and the European Court of Justice is deciding whether it's a transport company or a digital service, which could prompt changes to how it operates.
Meanwhile, a court on Monday in London is due to decide whether the app used to track the driver's route is a taximeter or not, a definition, which again, will determine the path ahead.
Plenty of fight
It makes you wonder that Uber isn't thinking of innovating a cut-price legal service for its own purposes, as it doggedly argues its corner on point after point.
A company with less self-belief and shallower pockets might be deterred by all this.
What is Uber?
But Uber is famous for its shoot first, argue later approach, and accustomed to brazening out criticism.
The company started out with a small investment by its original founders, Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick, who is now the company's chief executive, and has since raised billions of dollars in venture capital from the likes of Baidu, Google and Goldman Sachs.
Now, with a market valuation of $50bn (£33bn), the firm has good reason to feel invincible.
Stuart Miles, founder of the tech media website, Pocket Lint, says it would take a lot to derail Uber's ambitious plans.
"They have enough fight in them, enough resources to keep pushing and pushing, because they have so much money," he says.
"Their ultimate goal is [that consumers think] - why would you need a car in a city when there's always an Uber a few feet away? They want to stop people buying cars altogether."
London rules
But that vision is some way off. In the meantime the terrain ahead is rough.
Following a sharp rise in the numbers of cabs crowding London roads, Mayor Boris Johnson has been calling for a cap on the numbers. Yet Uber can only work if there are plenty of its cars available at all times.
All the candidates to replace him as mayor, from Sian Berry of the Greens, to Labour's Sadiq Khan, and Mr Johnson's fellow conservative Zac Goldsmith, agree there's a need to curtail the city's taxi free-for-all.
And Transport for London's new proposals, including rules that would mean all cab bookings must be confirmed five minutes before pick up, and would ban the visualisation on the app of available cabs for current hire, are a direct challenge to the company's business model.
TfL says all it wants to do is raise standards across the industry, ensuring drivers are properly insured and their rights protected. And make sure the system is resilient to illegal touting, and unregistered drivers masquerading as licensed cabbies.
Gareth Mead, Uber Europe's spokesperson, says the proposals reflect resistance to change, and vested interests from the black cab industry, and aren't in consumers' interests. But he is undaunted.
"If these regulations were imposed, clearly we'd have to find a way to adapt, and we're very confident in our ability to do so," he says.
"On a European level there's movement to help define this market, put parameters in that would give us, and the public, clear certainty of how to operate. There is a momentum and it's something that is taking time, but the future is a positive one."
A Luddite solution?
Uber users are not impressed either. Since the TfL proposals were published customers have taken to Twitter to demand their service be left alone. More than 120,000 disgruntled users have signed a petition.
And the Institute of Directors boss, Simon Walker, called the measures "a Luddite solution to a problem that doesn't exist", warning they would "damage London's reputation for innovation".
Uber's critics say the company has set up a model which circumvents rules protecting both employees and customers.
There's concern that Uber's service amounts to predatory pricing, designed to drive out the competition, and that the company is sidestepping corporation tax by routing business through the Netherlands.
One of the main sticking points across Europe is that some Uber services, rather than providing cars with licensed professional drivers, send you an ordinary car owner - often students or part-time workers with no specific qualifications - who add a bit of cab-driving in to their normal day.
Time for change
Few people would argue that Uber should be blocked altogether however.
"We'd all be driving horse-drawn hansom cabs if we didn't move on," says Professor Tony Travers of the London School of Economics. Even if legal challenges delay Uber's rollout he believes the change is inevitable.
"The truth is, one way or another, these changes will happen because younger, more affluent service buyers are not going to accept not changing their lives, just as tech has changed their lives in other ways."
In the meantime, the delays provided by drawn-out legal challenges do at least allow traditional taxi services to look hard at their own services and see if they can adapt in turn to the lessons Uber is forcing on them.
|
As the death toll continues to rise in the deadliest outbreak of storms the US has seen in 40 years, two community leaders who have experienced devastating twisters told the BBC what it is like to live in "tornado alley", and offer some advice to those hit by the recent storms. | In May 2007, Greensburg, in Kansas, was struck by a massive tornado. The town was almost entirely demolished and 12 people lost their lives.
One year later, Parkersburg, in Iowa, met a similar fate. Seven residents were killed and more than half the town was destroyed when extremely high speed winds tore a path right through the town.
Mayor Bob Dixson, Greensburg, Kansas
Warning sirens sounded on the evening of 4 May, just 20 minutes before the small town of Greensburg, Kansas, was hit by a devastating storm.
The twister's estimated 205mph (330km/h) winds demolished 95% of the city, levelling nearly every structure in its path.
Mr Dixson's home was among the wreckage but instead of cutting his losses, he says he knew right away he would stay and start over.
"This is my home. This is my lot. This is where I will rebuild. You can't live in fear or you'd never live anywhere," he says.
After the storm, Mr Dixon - who was elected mayor the following year - says he and his wife came up from their basement to find the roof, the walls and the doors had been pulled right off the house.
"My first thought," he says, "was: are we the only ones left?"
In the hours that followed, as they assessed the extent of the damage, he says it became clear that the whole town had been devastated, and that its residents had lost everything.
"But we still had each other and those relationships of faith, family and friends are what sustained us."
Having lived through it, he says he knows people in Alabama, and elsewhere in the US, just want to get back to normality. But, he says: "The old normal is gone. You'll never get it back. You have to find what we call here, the 'new-normal'."
Four years later, Greensburg, Kansas, is rebuilding as a "green city". The city council passed a law saying that all city buildings would have to be up to standards developed by the US Green Building Council, the first city in the US to do so.
So his advice to those people who will be making big decisions as they put their lives back together, is "take your time".
He says: "Don't make life decisions quickly. Think of the long-term ramifications as an individual or a community.
"What is the legacy you want to leave? Make sure as you rebuild you are building a better, stronger community."
Chris Luhring, former police chief, Parkersburg, Iowa
Parkersburg's city hall, high school, only grocery store, and gas station were flattened on 25 May 2008 when the small town in north-east Iowa was hit by the most powerful storm the state had seen in 32 years.
Chris Luhring, currently a city administrator in Parkersburg, was the police chief when the tornado struck.
Even as someone with the job of protecting the community and responding to disaster, he says, "nobody can anticipate this type of storm".
"We were aware of Greensburg," he says, "but we still couldn't imagine what would happen."
He has been watching events unfold across the south of the country this week, and he says even in the face of such awful devastation, it is important to hold on to one's strength.
"Our tornado had the ability to slow us down and to make us depressed. It's like being attacked by a bull, you can be killed by that bull or grab it by the horns and fight it off."
The advice he'd give to the communities and individuals affected by recent storms, is that "recovery is possible, never allow the doubt to sink into your mind that it's not possible".
"I've talked to communities who have been hit who say 'I don't know if we'll ever recover'," he says. "Well, if you think that you have already been beat."
As the city coped with the storm, Mr Luhring says, its "incident command system" was key.
The structure it organised to guide the response made sure "everybody is working towards the same goal, on the same page, from the firemen to the police to residents to the first responders".
Three years later, Parkersburg has largely been able to rebuild and recover from the catastrophe.
Mr Luhring, who lost his aunt in the storm, says the emotion does not go away.
"You always think what else could I have done? But you have to remember, everybody has limitations. You are not God. Neither am I."
Beyond the physical loss, what the storm took from the residents of Parkersburg, Mr Luhring says, is peace of mind.
"That feeling of safety is what has been taken away from people going through this right now," he says. "But they can do things to feel safe again."
After the storm, Mr Luhring adds: "We saw it as an opportunity to do things better and to show the world that recovery is possible.
"What I would say to community leaders today is that recovery is an option and you have to grasp it."
|
An off-duty police officer has died after the motorbike he was riding was in collision with a lorry. | Essex Police said he was riding along the A414 at Writtle, near Chelmsford, at 13:55 GMT on Thursday when the crash took place.
No arrests have been made and anyone with information is asked to contact police.
"Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this incredibly difficult time," a spokesman said.
|
London is hosting an international summit to discuss putting a stop to female genital mutilation. In the UK as many as 170,000 women and girls have been cut but why does the practice persist and what does it mean for the victims? | By Lauren Turner & Sean ClareBBC News
"They love their children a lot," Jay Kamara-Frederick says of the parents who have their daughters cut.
"They just want their child to be part of an out-dated, ancient tradition."
As a young teenager Jay, now in her thirties, was taken by her family from the UK back to Sierra Leone.
She was told she was going to join a woman's society and that it would "empower me as a woman".
But it was not until she was an adult that she realised what had been done to her 10 years earlier. And where that memory should have been, she says, there was instead a void.
"They say when people are traumatised that happens to them," Jay says. "That part of me was totally gone."
There are various types of female genital mutilation, or cutting. Among them is the partial or total removal of the clitoris.
Now a marketing consultant and some-time campaigner against the practice, Jay says what happened to her is not a subject easily discussed in her "very traditional" family.
"I really respect my mum's view, to be quiet on the issue," she says, smiling. "But what I love about my mum is that she respects my view to keep talking."
'Loving and caring'
Jay's story is far from unique - the Home Affairs Select Committee has estimated there could be 170,000 victims in the UK alone.
It is is a form of child abuse that is "out of the ordinary", says John Cameron, head of child protection at the NSPCC.
"Speaking out is a real problem," he adds, warning victims within families can "go under the radar".
An NSPCC helpline introduced a year ago has already had almost 300 calls, prompting nearly 130 referrals to the police and children's services.
The following cases were among those calls (identifying details have been removed):
Female genital mutilation
Source: World Health Organization
Mr Cameron says, for some, FGM is still shrouded in mystery.
"I don't think people understand in terms of the anatomical details of what is happening to girls - and the trauma behind that," he says. "It is still underplayed."
He likens the reluctance to talk about FGM to the way smacking was silently accepted for years.
"It's not a case of being able to put in a solution straight away and getting a shift overnight," he says. "It's a very complex issue."
Types of FGM
•Clitoridectomy - partial or total removal of the clitoris
•Excision - removal of the clitoris and inner labia (lips), with or without the outer labia
•Infibulation - cutting, removing and sewing up the genitalia
•Any other type of intentional damage to the female genitalia (burning, scraping et cetera)
Comfort Momoh runs the African Well Women's Clinic at Guy's Hospital in London which treats FGM victims.
"The problem is big in the UK," she admits. The clinic sees between 300 and 350 women every year.
The UK problem includes girls being cut here but also being taken overseas - sometimes in school holidays - to be cut before returning home.
Dr Momoh believes numbers are increasing because of migration and because more people are speaking out and seeking help.
She wants to see FGM become part of the core training curriculum for all health professionals to tackle what she says is a complicated problem.
Sexually obedient
Different reasons are given in different cultures for carrying out FGM - including preserving a girl's virginity and keeping her "clean".
It is a kind of child abuse that has been both "normalised" and mythologised in some cultures, says the NSPCC's John Cameron.
Some of the cultural beliefs around it, that women are better cooks if they have been cut - for example - may seem unbelievable but still persist today.
Kanwal Ahluwalia, gender adviser at children's charity Plan UK, is clear what the practice really means.
"It is about gender discrimination," she says. "It is about controlling women and their roles in society."
Victim Jay says reasons vary from initiating girls "into womanhood" to "keeping women obedient sexually".
Many of the women who take their daughters to be cut "don't see anything wrong with it," Kawal Ahluwalia says. "They're doing what they think is right for their children."
And sometimes laws do not hold much weight in rural communities overseas where FGM is committed, she adds, so legal changes alone will not end the practice.
"There is no silver bullet. There has to be a multi-pronged attack. But we have to make sure it is handled delicately to make sure there is no backlash from the community."
Some women choose to be cut, Jay says, seeing as part of staying true to their cultural background.
But she is clear where she stands: "I would never want anybody to go through what I've been through."
FGM and child marriage
130m
have undergone FGM
29 countries in Africa and the Middle East practise FGM
33% less chance a girl will be cut today than 30 years ago
But rising birth rate means more girls in total are affected
250m women worldwide were married before age of 15
|
Since London's Migration Museum opened its focus has mainly been migrants to Britain and what happened after they arrived. But its latest exhibition looks at something less familiar - how and why over the years huge numbers of Britons have emigrated permanently. | By Vincent DowdArts correspondent, BBC News
The exhibition Departures, which runs until June next year, has had to close for now due to the latest coronavirus restrictions in England. However, there will hopefully still be ample opportunity for the public to explore what Britons were keen to discover in the rest of the world, or perhaps so desperate to escape at home.
When the museum opened in 2017 it was tucked away in former London Fire Brigade engineering workshops. Shortly before the first lockdown it moved to what used to be an H&M fashion store inside the shopping centre in Lewisham, south London.
Those behind the museum hope the new location will make it more part of a community, one whose bustle and mixed ethnicity reflect the story the Migration Museum wants to tell of people arriving in the UK.
Departures explores human traffic in the opposite direction. By some estimates there are around 75 million people in the world directly descended from people who left Britain to start their lives anew elsewhere. Some went willingly, others did not.
The exhibition layout mimics an airport departure lounge, leading to various Gates. Each Gate deals with one of the main reasons for people leaving Britain over the centuries.
But the curator Aditi Anand says motivations for going have often been complex.
"Historically our starting point, almost inevitably, is the story of the Mayflower which in 1620 took people fleeing religious intolerance from England to the new colonies in north America.
"We've labelled the first Gate you come to Escape/Dream. Sometimes people don't realise that many of the passengers 400 years ago in fact had already left Britain to go to Holland where their Puritan form of religion was accepted.
"But soon they worried that their children would grow up too Dutch and aspired to find a better and more English life across the Atlantic. It's an example of how people who left sometimes weren't only thinking of escape. They also imagined a better life far away.
"We chose the airport as a device to get a modern audience into the shoes of people who set off on an extraordinary range of journeys. If you think of the intense debate that has existed over immigration to the UK it may be odd that emigration is seldom discussed in the media or elsewhere. Yet the two are linked.
"I think most people will conclude that often the motivations are similar in whichever direction people are travelling."
Anand says an obvious reason for leaving Britain has always been to look for better economic opportunities. She mentions the so-called "Ten Pound Poms", who were given financial support to move permanently to Australia or New Zealand, beginning in the late 1940s. (Most passengers paid only a subsidised fare of £10 to sail from Britain.)
"But we also use a much later example of a young man leaving Northern Ireland in the 1980s to go to work in America. He wanted to escape the violence of the Troubles but also he saw no chance of economic advancement where he was. There are obvious parallels with people today who come to Europe to escape political and economic instability at home."
The new exhibition uses a mixture of artwork, audio recordings and visual displays to invite visitors to think about why people quit homes in Britain.
One Gate is called Forced to Leave. It recounts Britain's long and inglorious history of getting rid of unwanted citizens by forcibly transporting them thousands of miles across the world.
Dr Michaela Benson of Goldsmiths, University of London, has curated a modern section called Greetings from Europe. Her idea was simple: to ask Brits who've gone to live in Europe to send her a postcard explaining what their original motivation was.
Dr Benson says it's designed to give exhibition visitors more of an insight into individual lives.
Reasons given for moving elsewhere range from falling for a future spouse on a school exchange trip decades ago to finding a partner while studying recently in Finland. Some people just wanted a better job or more sunshine.
"It shows the random way big decisions can sometimes come in life. The exhibition has big themes like the growth of the British Empire but the postcards give human detail which I think can be touching."
Anand says a growing trend is re-pats, usually young people born in Britain who choose to "return home" to nations where their parents or grandparents were born. The re-pats may barely know their adopted country but feel they will be at home there and that they may have something to offer in return.
"It's something which only recently would have been uncommon. But I think it reflects a new era of movement that we're living in.
"People go back to, say, Ghana and may not even know if they plan to stay long-term. But they want to find new opportunities… and perhaps to find themselves. It's a modern thing to connect with another culture but they have feet in both worlds. It's a new imagining of migration."
Departures will be at the Migration Museum, ,south London until June 2021.
|
Snow has been forecast to hit parts of Wales overnight on Sunday which may cause travel disruption on Monday morning.
| The Met Office has issued a yellow "be aware" warning for snow, particularly on high ground, for Wrexham, Powys and Monmouthshire.
It says a mixture of rain, hail and sleet will turn into snow during the night.
Untreated roads and pavements could also be icy.
Related Internet Links
Warnings - Met Office
|
For years, there were whispers in Toronto's gay community about a serial killer stalking the community. Now that one of their own has pleaded guilty to the murders of eight missing men, they wonder why the police didn't act sooner. | By Robin Levinson-KingBBC News, Toronto
In a small park in the heart of Toronto's Gay Village, about 200 people assembled in the snow to mourn the victims of an alleged serial killer.
Many wore armbands painted with the words "love", "heal", "rise", "grieve". The words were later used in a call-and-response between organisers and the large crowd.
"Today we grieve," they said, and the word echoed back from the crowd.
"Today we resist. Today we heal. Today we rise. Today, of all days, we love."
A year later, those names were read aloud in a different kind of call-and-response, as Bruce McArthur, 67, pled guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder.
Who is the accused?
McArthur had grown up in rural Ontario and married a woman in the 1980s.
He knew he was gay from a young age, but tried to ignore it, court documents for an assault charge would later reveal.
The grandfather and father of two came out in his 40s after abruptly leaving his family in Oshawa and moving to Toronto, where he became a regular in the Gay Village.
At Zipperz, one of the bars frequented by many of his alleged victims, he could often be found sitting at the bar, having a drink or chatting up a fellow patron.
"I used to refer to him as 'Santa'," Zipperz owner Harry Singh told the BBC. With a white beard, a hefty belly and a twinkle in his eyes, McArthur even worked as a mall Santa one Christmas.
Few people knew of his dark side. In 2003 he was given a two-year conditional sentence for assaulting a male prostitute with a metal pipe.
As part of his sentence, he was required to stay away from male prostitutes, the Gay Village and refrain from using amyl nitrite, also known as poppers.
He was close with several of his landscaping clients. Karen Fraser even let him store tools in her shed on her property on Mallory Crescent.
Police later discovered the remains of several bodies in plant pots on the property and in a nearby ravine.
Fraser said he gave no hint as to what kind of man he really was. He was energetic and joyful, loved plants and doted on his grandchildren.
"As I see it, the man I knew didn't exist," she says.
The shock of discovering that her cherished home had been turned into a serial killer's graveyard has worn off. Now, preparing for his sentencing, Fraser says she has nothing to say to him.
"I'm not big on forgiveness, I'm not big on closure. Terrible things were done," she says matter-of-factly.
Who are the victims?
McArthur's arrest last January had confirmed the worst fears of many in the Village, who for years had whispered that a serial killer might be targeting their community.
"Too many people for too long in our community have been lost," said Troy Jackson, who hosted the community vigil.
Located at the intersection of Church Street and Wellesley Street, Toronto's Gay Village has been the city's enclave for the LGBT community since the 1960s.
But it's been more than a neighbourhood - a home away from home for many who may feel marginalised because of their sexuality.
Many of McArthur's victims were immigrants from South Asia or the Middle East who were not out to their families.
The Village was supposed to be their safe place. Instead, it became a hunting ground.
According to his guilty plea, McArthur killed:
Unanswered questions
Police have not said how Bruce McArthur became a suspect in the killings.
He was known to have been in a sexual relationship with Kinsman, and there was video surveillance footage of Kinsman getting in his car on the day he went missing.
Rumours about someone targeting the community began when Skandaraj Navaratnam disappeared from Zipperz on Labour Day weekend in 2010.
Known as Skanda to his friends, the 40-year-old had moved to Canada from Sri Lanka in the 1990s and quickly settled into a comfortable routine in the Village, where he easily made friends.
"His laugh was just ridiculous," Jodi Becker, a bartender at Zipperz and close friend of Navaratnam's, told the Toronto Star after he went missing. "If Skanda started laughing, everybody started laughing, even if nothing was funny."
More victims went missing, and in 2012 police launched a task force to investigate, only to shut it down 18 months later.
Then in June 2017, Kinsman's disappearance sparked a community-wide search and rekindled rumours of a serial killer in the gay village.
Soon after, police launched a second task force, to look into both Kinsman and Esen's disappearances.
But as late as December that year, Toronto police were publicly saying there was "no evidence" of a serial killer.
The denial has damaged an already fragile relationship between the Toronto LGBT community and the police.
Unanswered questions still haunt Haran Vijayanathan, executive director of the Alliance for South Asian Aids Prevention, who has been speaking on behalf of many of the victims.
He successfully called for an independent inquiry - which is still ongoing - into how police handle missing person investigations.
If police had paid more attention, Vijayanathan told the BBC last February, "you can't help but wonder if the lives of the other men who passed or are missing could have been potentially saved".
"Those are the 'what ifs', and 'ands' we have to contend with."
With additional reporting from Jessica Murphy
|
"I like to solve problems," says Uddhab Bharali. | By Carolyn RiceInnovators, BBC World Service
"I like to make [people] a little more comfortable with themselves, or a little independent."
This is what drives Uddhab Bharali to keep inventing. He started making things to sell more than 30 years ago in order to help pay off a large family debt. Today it is his life's passion.
He has created more than 140 inventions, many of which are sold commercially with some winning international awards.
He says his main motivation has always been to help people. Across India he is already well-known for his agricultural inventions but his new ideas are helping those with disabilities.
He explains that because there is limited government support in India for people with physical disabilities it is up to people like him to come up with solutions.
Raj Rehman is 15-years-old and was born with congenital amputations and cerebral palsy. The simple device that Mr Bharali has made for him attaches to his forearm and is made from everyday items like Velcro fasteners and a spoon. It helps him to eat and to write.
Mr Bharali has also adapted some footwear which means Raj is able to move around much more comfortably.
"I used to worry about myself before but now I feel stress free. I don't have to worry how I will cross the railway line to reach school as now I can walk without difficulty," he says.
"I am happy that I can take care of myself."
Human ingenuity
Initially, Mr Bharali recalls that people thought he was "worthless" and it took him 18 years to establish himself as "an innovator with class".
Most of his innovations are low cost and use locally available raw materials. This type of frugal innovation is known as "jugaad". It is a Hindi term which can also translate as "ingenious improvisation".
Jaideep Prabhu is from Cambridge University's Judge Business School and has written a book about jugaad. He thinks it has a huge role to play in inspiring people to innovate:
"This is mainly because it doesn't require much more than your innate human ingenuity.
"The whole approach is designed for you to find problems that surround you in your community - problems that affect you and people like you, and then to take resources that you have access to and solve those problems," he says.
The BBC's Innovators series reveals innovative solutions to major challenges across South Asia.
Ever heard of the concept of "jugaad"? It's a Hindi term meaning cheap innovation.
If you have created a life hack or innovation that you are proud of, or spotted one while out and about on your travels, then share your picture with us by emailing [email protected], use the hashtags #Jugaad and #BBCInnovators and share your picture with @BBCWorldService, or upload your submission here.
Learn more about BBC Innovators.
Mr Bharali makes an income from selling his inventions as well as designing technical solutions for businesses and government. But he is keen to help others make money and improve their own financial situation. He has set up a couple of centres to give people access to his machines.
At one of these centres women from the local villages are able to come and use a rice-grinding machine that he has designed. The rice flour is then made into cakes and other edible items that can be sold.
No shortcut
According to the World Bank only 27% of women in India over the age of 15 are economically active.
"We have no facilities or employment to earn our livelihood in the villages," says Porbitta Dhutta, one of the women who comes to the centre.
"Here we can use innovations to change our lives to become self-sufficient and make respectable money for ourselves and our families."
Men in rural areas have also benefitted from Mr Bharali's ingenuity. He has developed and sold over 200 cement-brick making machines. Each one requires five people to operate it and he estimates that over one thousand men are now employed because of it.
Although Mr Bharali says there is no shortcut to success, his hard work means his life is now comfortable and he is able to support 25 other families with the proceeds from his business.
His engineering background has certainly helped Mr Bharali but he thinks that the fundamentals of innovation cannot be taught:
"Any person with a restless mind, who is uncomfortable with things in the world, is an innovator.
"Innovation comes from inside you. No-one can make you an innovator, you have to feel it."
Originally he would design his machines and then hope that they were commercially successful but such is his reputation now that people are commissioning him to make bespoke solutions and he has no intention of slowing down. For him the excitement of innovating continues:
"I just enjoy the challenge. Always something fresh. And the joy of being the first person to do something new."
Additional research and reporting by Priti Gupta.
|
They control millions of pounds in public funds, influence our day-to-day lives and had a brief moment in the spotlight, thanks to Jackie Weaver and a viral Zoom meeting. But what do parish councils actually do? | By Rob England and Jacob TomlinsonBBC News
On 6 May, people across England will vote in local authority elections. But some live in areas where seats on parish and town councils - the most local of local authorities - will also be up for grabs.
Ms Weaver, who shot to fame earlier this year when a video of the chaotic parish council meeting she was in went viral, describes these authorities as having "enormous potential". But despite their influence and sometimes fairly sizeable budgets, many people don't know much about how they work or what they're responsible for.
BBC News has found the answers to these questions. Now, in the immortal words shouted at Jackie during that infamous meeting, "read them and understand them".
What are they?
Parish and town councils are the smallest local authorities in the UK, but operate in a similar way to larger councils.
They have elected councillors and raise money through council tax and other means to run public services.
There are about 10,000 of these councils in England, covering about 40% of the population.
Places with large urban centres such as London or Greater Manchester tend not to have parish or town councils, and cities are usually administered by a single larger council with greater responsibilities.
What do they do?
Ms Weaver says what they do varies across the country, but these are the councils where you "can make a difference" for your local community.
Some parish and town councils are small operations that manage things such as local allotments, while others have million-pound budgets and manage everyday services.
In 2019, a BBC investigation found some were also taking on extra services that larger local authorities have been unable to fund due to budget cuts.
Parish councils are also consulted when someone makes a planning applications in their area, which is where Ms Weaver says most people will probably come across them first.
"What they can do is so varied," she said, adding that as well as the more traditional public services some areas choose to do "innovative things like buying their local pubs" or providing free milk to schoolchildren.
"If you're going to come back to me to say 'what's the point in getting involved in our council, it's very sleepy, it doesn't do anything' that's the very council you want to get involved with because they have enormous potential," she says.
How much money do they have?
The National Association of Local Councils (NALC) estimates about £2bn is invested in communities covered by parish and town councils - in council tax, external fund raising and through the time spent by councillors on their duties.
Some have budgets that run into seven figures, while others don't take any money from council tax.
For example, Weymouth Town Council in Dorset collected the most from council tax in 2020-21, at £3.4m, and had an overall budget for the year of just under £5m.
Meanwhile, Wharton Parish Council in Cumbria collected just £10 and about 1,300 councils did not take any money from council tax at all in the last financial year.
An estimated £618m of council tax funding is thought to be used by parish and town councils in 2021-22, a sum which has increased year on year.
Are they holding elections?
Yes. About 2,000 parish and town councils are thought to be holding elections this year, according to research by the NALC.
These ballots will be alongside those for the local authority, PCC and mayoral elections.
However in recent years it has not been unusual for these elections to be uncontested, resulting in unelected members being 'co-opted' into roles where necessary.
This means an unelected person is chosen by the council to fill a position and can be given an allowance for doing so.
Are councillors paid?
Parish and town councillors can be given allowances in the same way other local councillors are, to cover the cost of the time they put into their duties and other expenses.
In some areas this is based on a percentage of the allowance given to councillors in larger authorities.
For example, in Surrey Heath, it was recently recommended parish councillors receive £1,586 per year, about 30% of the amount given to borough councillors.
In other places no allowances are given.
Do they represent political parties?
The NALC says parish councils tend to be run by independent candidates, with no party affiliation.
However in larger councils, such as those covering an entire town, it is more common for people to run as a candidate for a political party.
Search below to find to see which council, PCC and mayoral elections you can vote in.
A modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. More information about these elections
Who can I vote for in my area?
Enter your postcode, or the name of your English council or Scottish or Welsh constituency to find out. Eg 'W1A 1AA' or 'Westminster'
Related Internet Links
National Association of Local Councils
|
Until recently, a small, politically neutral Syrian radio station was broadcasting in exile from Istanbul, but then, last year, the US administration withdrew funding for Syrian stabilisation projects. Radio Alwan is now off air, and - as Emma Jane Kirby discovered - its journalists no longer feel welcome in Turkey. | It's when Rahaf, Radio Alwan's former social media reporter tells me that she's abandoned her dream of motherhood that I begin to understand. We're sitting in my minimalist-chic Istanbul hotel room - with dusk falling and the desk light spilling a wan, sickly light on our faces, the room feels sparse and sterile.
Thirty-five-year old Rahaf and her husband have always imagined having a son together. They even talked about names, she says, smiling shyly. But when you don't belong anywhere, when you might be kicked out of one country at a moment's notice and sent back to another that's completely broken and wild, and where you cannot guarantee a child's safety... well, you have to ask yourself, is it really fair to insist on realising your dream?
She swallows and smiles at me bravely. "So," she says, "I have decided I must not become a mother."
It's been seven years since most of the Radio Alwan team left Syria. Seven years since they last closed the door of that house or that flat which they had always unthinkingly called "home". Now that word has floated free of its meaning - has blurred, been scrambled into some unfathomable code. Just as Radio Alwan has vanished from the airwaves, so the word "home" has disappeared from its former employees' lexicon.
"When you ask me do I miss home," asks Sami, Radio Alwan's former manager gently, pulling on his black beard. "What do you mean by 'home'?"
Sami and Rahaf were at university together in Damascus. When they speak of those days, their language becomes romantic, poetic, as they talk faster and faster about the architecture, the smells, the sounds, the vibrant soul of their homeland. But when they recently revisited their former town, they no longer recognised it. It was blackened by hatred, says Sami, by militias, by murder.
"You see, home," he explains tentatively, as if tasting the strange word, "a place you call home has to feel safe. And I don't feel safe in Syria."
Sami no longer feels at home in Turkey either.
Earlier reports on Radio Alwan:
The hard-hitting soap for a country at war (April 2016)
The radio station giving hope to listeners in Syria (December 2016)
The radio station that wishes it could bring back laughter (September 2018)
If the recent Turkish invasion of Kurdish-held territory in northern Syria has complicated an already chaotic war, it's also made things much more difficult for Syrian asylum seekers, like the Radio Alwan journalists.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rhetoric has recently become more abrasive. Sami argues this is legitimising what he believes is an ugly racism in parts of Turkish society.
On his way to meet me this evening, Sami was stopped by transport police on the metro who checked his papers. When they saw he was Syrian, the officer told him ominously, "Syria? Syria's dead."
Sami makes a point of no longer speaking Arabic in public places and only sends texts in English. Like all the Alwan team, he has a Turkish tourist visa which has to be renewed annually and which could be revoked at any time. Sometimes he dreams of getting asylum in Canada.
"Or settlement status anywhere in the world that's safe," he muses. "Somewhere I am not seen as a disease but as a human being. Maybe then I'll have a new understanding of the word 'home'."
Mariam listens curled up in her chair like a child but her face is contorted with suppressed emotions.
She's learned not to give way to her feelings, she explains, because it's wiser these days, as a Syrian refugee in Erdogan's Turkey, to keep one's "tracks light" - to put up a neutral facade. Likewise, she reminds me, when she was Radio Alwan's youth programmes presenter she always used a pseudonym to broadcast - because you never knew who was listening back in Syria either.
She curls up smaller in her chair, as if to minimise her presence, as if to make her imprint on life imperceptible. Then suddenly she springs up like a cat.
"Yeah, I'm frightened here," she agrees. "But if things get really tight, I'll just pick up my stuff and go - I won't wait for them to kick me out."
I recognise her feisty spirit as pure Radio Alwan.
How Radio Alwan began
And that's when Sami shows us the photograph on his phone - it's of the station's former engineer, who is defiantly building a tiny radio station in his own sitting room, in the hope of resurrecting Radio Alwan - albeit a much reduced service - from the ashes of silence.
"I'm in!" shouts Rahaf.
"Me too!" yells Mariam.
They both look at Sami expectantly. "If it happens, of course I'm in," he grins.
"I so miss the listeners," Mariam tells me wistfully, studying the picture on Sami's phone. "I got so attached to them. You know every day they'd hear my voice - every day we talked."
Sami is nodding. "They weren't just listeners," he says. "They were, well, family."
And then it clicks why Radio Alwan matters quite so much to its former staff. The station wasn't just about providing listeners in war-torn Syria with innovative dramas, debate and distraction - it was about offering them refuge, comfort, familiarity. Equally, when listeners selected the Radio Alwan frequency, they were opening their door to the Alwan exiles, inviting them in, saying, "You're welcome here."
And in these fractured, brutal times of war, perhaps that counts at least as some sort of home.
Listen to Emma Jane Kirby's report from Istanbul on From Our Own Correspondent, on Radio 4, on 28 December
|
When Brett Archibald fell overboard in the middle of a stormy night in the Indian Ocean he thought he was going to die. For more than 28 hours he was alone at sea, encountering a shark and being attacked by gulls for his eyeballs. Here is his story. | "I just watched the lights of the boat disappear. I screamed, I screamed with everything I had in my lungs, but I realised very quickly that they were never going to hear me."
Brett Archibald relives the moment he thought his life was over. At 02:30 local time on 17 April 2013, in the middle of a storm in the Indian Ocean, he had fallen overboard after passing out on the top deck of a hired boat off the coast of Indonesia. It was dark and pouring with rain.
He was on a surfing holiday with nine friends, but had fallen ill from food poisoning during a 10-hour journey along a stretch of water known as the Mentawai Strait in Indonesia's West Sumatra province.
He had gone to the side of the boat - the Naga Laut - to be ill overboard, when he became dizzy and blacked out. When he woke, he was in the water - the boat already 10 or 15 metres ahead of him.
"I swam with everything I could, but there was no way I was going to catch a boat," he tells the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme.
Brett - then aged 50 - from Cape Town, South Africa, remembers being in complete shock. He had never imagined he would be susceptible to falling overboard.
As the boat continued into the distance he remembers staring at the sky, his ears pricking up at the sound of an animalistic cry - that was coming from within.
"I thought there was a hyena in the water - it was a manic, crazy laugh. I looked around me and it was me. It was this crazy noise coming out of my throat, like hysterical laughter."
For the next 28 hours Brett was alone in the water, but determined not to succumb to the elements.
As a surfer, and strong swimmer, he knew that he needed to take a deep breath and swim through any oncoming waves. He went through his book and CD collections, title by title, in his head to try to forget the unbearable cramp in his limbs - before singing to himself.
He became exhausted, and started to hallucinate, but a series of events gave him the adrenalin, and the fight, to stay alive.
Brett - who has written a book about the ordeal - says he invented his own form of breaststroke to keep his head above water. But as his energy dwindled, he fell asleep - only to be woken by gulls.
"This thing smacked me on the back of the head," he says. "I lifted my head up to see what on earth it was and out of the blue this bird just exploded into my face.
"I felt the bridge of my nose, blood started flowing. I didn't know what had happened - I felt like someone had hit me with a baseball bat.
Find out more
The Victoria Derbyshire programme is broadcast on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel.
"These two gulls were just dive-bombing me, they were coming from nowhere, squawking and screaming."
Brett believes the gulls were intent on plucking out his eyeballs, but in his crazed state of mind, his main thought was to turn the tables.
"Suddenly I thought, 'I can catch one of them and I can eat him'.
"I thought I could actually pluck one of them out of the air, bite its head off and eat him. I would have eaten that thing feathers and all at that stage."
It was, of course, a plan that went unfulfilled, but it was not Brett's only encounter with life out in the ocean.
'It's a shark'
Around 15 hours after first falling overboard - by Brett's best estimate - he felt a bump to the back of his left kidney.
"I thought it was a barracuda initially, this big fish. Then the thing nudged me again and actually turned me in the water and I thought 'oh it's a shark, I know it's a shark'."
As he was flipped around, he caught a glimpse of what at the time seemed like "the size of a red bus in London".
"It's weird the human mind. My first thought was 'oh he's going to eat me'. I remember lifting my throat and saying 'buddy, just rip my throat out'."
Then he noticed the black edgings of its vertical fin - it was a blacktip reef shark. As a keen surfer in South Africa, where the shark also resides, he knew it did not pose a threat to humans.
His mind quickly turned to a new survival hope.
"I thought 'I could catch this guy and he could tow me to a reef'.
"I started in my mind plotting. I even used the words 'Bear Grylls, take off your mask, here comes Archie. I'm going to catch you [shark] and I'm going to tow you to land'."
But then, something very simple happened. It should have brought Brett utter relief, but instead left him distraught and bereft of hope. The shark swam away.
"I've never been so devastated in my life. It was the closest I came to crying, because it was the first time I'd found something that I thought could save my life."
Looking back, he can only describe the mentality as "absolutely crazy".
It was a further 13 hours before he was discovered, around 20 kilometres from where he had fallen overboard the previous day.
After his friends saw he had not arrived for breakfast they had contacted the Indonesian coastguard, who co-ordinated a search and rescue effort.
Other nearby vessels joined in, and at around 6.30am local time, a Sydney couple aboard a boat known as the Barrenjoey spotted him in the water, miraculously still alive.
Shaking and in pain - his eyes swollen and his feet, lips and hands nearly bloodless - he was rescued and taken for a medical assessment nearby. He had lost nearly 13lb (6kg) in weight in the water.
Thoughts of his family - his wife and children aged six and nine at the time - had pulled him through, he says. He remembers at one point saying out loud: "I'm fighting, I'm hanging in there for you" from the water.
Three years on, he says he still shudders each time he goes to the water's edge, but - quite remarkably - still calls the sea his "happy place".
The very next day after his ordeal Brett was back on his surfboard to ride the waves, which he still enjoys to this day.
"I knew I just had to get back in the ocean. If I hadn't, I never would have gone back in again."
|
Docklands Light Railway's (DLR) Pudding Mill Lane stop has shut to make way for a much larger station after Easter. | The station is being moved about 100m (330ft) to make way for Crossrail.
Transport for London said the new facility, opening on 28 April, would be the largest on the DLR and increase capacity by 1,100 people per hour.
There will be no services between Stratford and Bow Church until 25 April and Stratford and Poplar for the following three days.
Replacement buses will be in operation while Pudding Mill Lane station is closed.
The first Crossrail services through central London will start in late 2018.
|
A man has been charged with murder after a fatal stabbing on a road in West Yorkshire. | Richard Astin, 42, was found "unresponsive" on New Hey Road in Huddersfield in the early hours of Tuesday.
Police said he was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Shaun Anthony Waterhouse, 39, of Buckden Court, Huddersfield, will appear before Leeds Magistrates Court on Saturday.
Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, on Twitter, and Instagram send your story ideas to [email protected].
|
A 23-year-old woman has been charged with murder after the death of a man who was found fatally stabbed. | Emergency services were called to an address in Sylvan Street early on Sunday morning following reports that a man had been seriously injured.
The 26-year-old man, identified as James Knight, was taken to hospital where he later died.
Emma Magson, of Sylvan Street, has been charged with murder and will appear later at Leicester Magistrates' Court.
|
"Painting is for lazy people," Ajarb Bernard Ategwa's father would tell him as a child. Daydreaming and doodling in his school books would often get him scolded as a boy. But the Cameroonian artist, now 30, tells the BBC he got the last laugh. | Ategwa says his vivid paintings of life in Cameroon's biggest city, Douala, sell for up to £20,000 ($26,000).
He jokes that family members educated to a higher level than him "now respect me a lot... because I am the most successful".
"It's the only thing I know how to do. So painting is my life," Ategwa told the BBC. "At times when I'm angry, painting calms me down."
He never formally trained as an artist, and says he has used the same bold approach to colour since the age of seven.
Although his works feel like immediate portraits of bustling city life, Ategwa told BBC Focus on Africa that they're filtered to an extent by memory and imagination.
"All of them are inside my head, because they're things that I see every day going to my workshop."
"I do a sketch first before I start painting," Ategwa says of his technique. Many are imposing in size - one of his recent works is more than 2 metres tall and 4 metres wide.
Walking around Douala, "you see many things like markets, shops, hairdressing salons," Ategwa says.
There are lots of sounds too, including "influences from Congolese music and Ivory Coast. You hear that everywhere."
An exhibition of Ajarb Bernard Ategwa's work at London's Jack Bell Gallery has just ended, while new works will be presented at New York's Armory Show in March.
"I've not been to school, but I am a successful man today. My paintings are shown all over the world," Ategwa says.
"Not everything is just about education, education, education. If you have a child and they love drawing, please allow them to do their drawing.
"Allow [young people] to follow their passion."
All images courtesy of Jack Bell Gallery
|
The story of the men who changed our lives forever by cooling us down.
| This is an immersive story told through text, images and video, best viewed on an up-to-date browser.
BBC News App users click here.
Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.
|
A maintenance project on the world's largest working water wheel in the Isle of Man has been completed, Manx National Heritage (MNH) has said. | The works on the 72ft (22m) diameter Laxey wheel, also called the Lady Isabella, included painting, masonry and timber repairs and cleaning.
Director Edmund Southworth said it will "ensure the integrity of the national landmark for future generations."
Designed by Victorian engineer Robert Casement, it was completed in 1854.
It was used to run pumping machinery to bail water from the local mine and used water from Glen Mooar to power the wheel.
It was last painted in 2004 for its 150th anniversary.
The site, owned by the Isle of Man government and maintained by MNH, will reopen to the public on 28 March.
|
As the Fed Reserve ends quantitative easing, those who prophesied that these trillions of dollars of debt purchases would spark uncontrollable inflation have been proved wrong. But QE could still prove toxic. | Robert PestonEconomics editor
The most striking thing about quantitative easing (QE), the unprecedented massive purchases of debt by the central banks of the big rich developed countries, and especially by the US Federal Reserve, is how anti-climactic it has all been.
When QE started at the end of 2008, many were the voices warning that the economy of the world was heading into dangerous uncharted territory.
Confidence in the credibility of the dollar and sterling would surely be shattered. Inflation would take off - and, whisper it softly, we could even find ourselves facing 1920s-style hyperinflation.
Well, on the day the US Federal Reserve brings to a close this intriguing chapter in the long and not always distinguished history of central banking, by ceasing its exceptional purchases of bonds, it may be fair to say that QE has all been a bit dull - or 50 shades of grey, without any sex.
The proponents of QE will say that without QE, the US and UK economies would have been even weaker than they would otherwise have been - and we might have experienced pernicious deflation, or intractable falling prices that would have provided businesses and households with a powerful incentive to defer purchases, and thus would have turned recession into vicious depression.
Boosted assets
And in encouraging investors to take the cash they received from central banks in the rich stagnating West and pump it into higher-return bonds and assets in emerging economies, maybe global growth received a bit of a fillip.
But proving any counterfactual in the complex system that is the global economy is well nigh impossible. We simply don't know the precise impact of the Fed having bought, since the end of 2008, about $3.5 trillion of US government debt and bonds created out of home loans or mortgages.
That said. we have probably learned two things.
First, that if there has been inflation, it has been in asset prices, rather than in items of everyday consumer expenditure.
The market price of the purchased bonds has been increased. And investors who received all those hundreds of billions of dollars from the Fed, pumped that money into shares and property and even the bonds of other countries, from India to Canada.
Now some of that effect was wanted and desired by the Fed. By increasing demand for bonds created out of mortgages, for example, the Fed encouraged the supply of homeloans and cut their prices - thus sparking a revival in the US housing market, a market so desperately important to consumer confidence and the strength of the American economy.
And by boosting share prices, the cost of capital was cut for businesses, and should have stimulated investment by them - although what has been profoundly depressing, some would say, is the extent to which businesses have continued to buy and cancel their own shares, even when capital is so cheap, rather than investing in expanded productive capacity.
So some of this rise in asset prices was probably not benign.
A part of it may be a bubble, waiting to be pricked - as and when, hypothetically speaking, investors started to fear that governments or households would struggle to ever repay debts, if economic growth in the long term turned out to be very anaemic.
Because what has been really striking about QE is that it was popularly dubbed as money creation, but it hasn't really been that.
If it had been proper money creation, with cash going into the pockets of people or the coffers of businesses, it might have sparked serious and substantial increases in economic activity, which would have led to much bigger investment in real productive capital.
And in those circumstances, the underlying growth rate of the UK and US economies might have increased meaningfully.
But in today's economy, especially in the UK and Europe, money creation is much more about how much commercial banks lend than how many bonds are bought from investors by central banks.
The connection between QE and either the supply of bank credit or the demand for bank credit is tenuous.
That is not to say there is no connection. But the evidence of the UK, for example, is that £375bn of quantitative easing did nothing to stop banks shrinking their balance sheets: banks had a too-powerful incentive to shrink and strengthen themselves after the great crash of 2008; businesses and consumers were too fed up to borrow, even with the stimulus of cheap credit.
The rebuilding of the credit-creation machinery may have been helped in the US by QE - which provided a more benign markets backdrop for the painful process of consumers writing off excessive debts and banks taking the associated huge losses.
That is one important reason why the US economy has grown more strongly since the debacle of 2008 than the UK's - where there has been no comparable reduction in the absolute size of household debts.
But the fundamental problem with QE is that the money created by central banks leaked out all over the place, and ended up having all sorts of unexpected and unwanted effects.
When launched it was billed as a big, bold and imaginative way of restarting the global economy after the 2008 crash.
It probably helped prevent the Great Recession being deeper and longer.
But by inflating the price of assets beyond what could be justified by the underlying strength of the economy, it may sown the seeds of the next great markets disaster.
|
A man has been accused of murdering a woman who was stabbed to death at a home in north-west London. | Elize Linda Stevens, 50, was found at the home off the Great North Way, Hendon at about 10:20 GMT on Saturday and died at the scene.
Ian Levy, 54 of Lime Court, Great North Way, has been charged with her murder.
He will appear at Willesden Magistrates' Court later. Detectives said they were not looking for anyone else in connection with the death.
|
Kalai, like many other villages in Bangladesh, appears a rural idyll at first sight. But several villagers here have resorted to selling organs to pay back microcredit loans that were meant to lift them out of poverty. Journalist Sophie Cousins reports on an alarming consequence of the microfinance revolution. | Green rice paddies surround the dusty, narrow road to the heart of Kalai, a village six hours north of Dhaka, in Bangladesh's Jotpurhat district. Children play naked, hanging off stringy bits of bamboo that hold up the makeshift hut they live in.
They, like millions of other rural Bangladeshis, grow up facing a life of hardship. In an attempt to alleviate poverty, countless numbers take on debt with microcredit lenders, only to find themselves in a difficult situation when they are unable to repay the loan.
Some have even turned to selling their organs as a last resort to repay the loans and escape the vicious cycle of poverty.
The idea of selling organs is not new and those in poverty throughout South Asia have resorted to it for years. But what is less known, is that more people are turning to the trade because of feeling under pressure to pay back microcredit lenders.
These lenders were originally set up to help lift people out of poverty by offering small loans to people who do not qualify for traditional banking credit, to encourage entrepreneurship and empower women.
Selling a kidney
Mohammad Akhtar Alam, 33, bears a 15-inch scar on his stomach where he had a kidney removed. The organ removal - which is illegal in Bangladesh unless the organ is being given to a spouse or family member - combined with the inadequate post-operative care he received, has left him partially paralysed, with only one eye working and unable to do any heavy lifting.
To earn money, he runs a small shop in the village that sells rice, flour and the occasional sweet treat.
A couple of years ago Mr Alam's income from driving a van was not enough to make the weekly loan repayments he was required to make from up to eight different non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which lend microcredit.
"One day [a man] rode in my van and asked me why I was doing this," he recalls.
"I told him that I was very poor and that I had loans from seven or eight NGOs. I owed about 100,000 taka [$1,442; £900] and I could not return the money to the NGOs. I used to try and sell furniture and things for cooking to try to repay the money."
Mr Alam had got caught in a web of loans in which he first borrowed money from one NGO and, when he was unable to pay it off, he borrowed from other NGOs.
His passenger worked as a middleman between organ seller and recipient and persuaded him to sell a kidney, promising 400,000 taka ($6,360; £4,000).
Seventeen days later, Mr Alam says he returned home from a private hospital in Dhaka, barely alive and carrying only a fraction of the money he was promised.
"I agreed to sell my kidney because I couldn't return the money to the NGOs. As we are poor and helpless, that is why we are bound to do this. I regret it," he says.
Mohammad Moqarram Hossen, also from Kalai, is another victim.
"I took the decision to return the money I borrowed from NGOs," he says as he reveals the scar he has been left following an operation in India to remove his kidney.
"The doctor told me there was no risk but now I can't do any heavy work. I can't work."
How many loans?
Microcredit, hailed as a saviour for millions, aims to break the cycle of poverty by stimulating income-generating activities through providing collateral-free loans.
But its repayment structure and the apparent inability of microfinance institutions to determine whether borrowers have multiple loans with other institutions rarely come under scrutiny.
Consequently, it can create a vicious cycle in which borrowers borrow money from other NGOs to repay existing loans, leaving many unable to repay and some to take extreme measures such as selling organs to make repayments.
Professor Monir Moniruzzaman from the Department of Anthropology at Michigan State University has been researching the organ trade in Bangladesh for 12 years and says some people feel they are left with no choice but to sell a body part.
"A lot of people's debt from NGOs has spiralled out of control. Because they cannot repay the loans, there is only one way for people to get out and that is to sell their kidney," he says.
His research into Bangladesh's organ trade reveals that of the 33 kidney sellers he interviewed, some had sold their organs due to feeling under pressure to repay loans.
He alleges that NGO officials, from organisations such as Grameen Bank and BRAC, among others, pressure people into repaying loans by sitting all day long at the defaulter's house, verbal harassment and threatening to file a police case.
"One of the sellers mentioned that he left his village for about a year for not being able to face the NGO officials," Professor Moniruzzaman says.
"The social and economic pressures from NGOs was unbearable so he decided to sell his kidney to pay off his loan."
Grameen Bank denies harassment or applying any such pressure. It points out that it has never lodged a case against a borrower for failing to pay a loan.
"Our approach does not require that," Mohammed Shahjahan, the bank's acting managing director, told the BBC. He says that because Grameen does not impose any penalty for failure to repay debts and because borrowers are free to reschedule their loans at any point there is no pressure.
"Most borrowers have savings in their accounts more than or equivalent to at least 75% of their loan amount. As a result they are not in a 'distress' situation at any point for payment of their instalments," he says.
And Mohammad Ariful Hoq, an analyst at BRAC, one of the largest development organisations in the world, says repayments for their clients are "not a very big issue" - their interest rate is 27%; Grameen's maximum interest rate is 20%.
BRAC denies pressuring borrowers or that there could be any link between microcredit and organ trafficking.
"In our work that doesn't happen because we don't create any extra pressure on our borrowers," Mr Hoq says.
Throughout the microfinance sector, interest is calculated on the declining balance - which means that rather than charging interest on the original loan amount it is charged only on the amount of money that remains in the borrower's hands as the loan is repaid.
Mr Hoq does admit that one-third of their 4.3 million borrowers have multiple loans: "You'll find people who are taking three loans from different organisations. There is a 30% overlap for micro-finance institutes in Bangladesh."
However he says there is no systematic way to check if borrowers have loans with other institutions so lenders are unable to determine a borrower's risk or their level of debt. BRAC says that one method they use is to knock on a neighbour's door and ask them about their friend's economic situation. Grameen Bank says that it also has checks to see if borrowers have multiple loans.
But analysts maintain that in practice such checks are very difficult to carry out and it is far from certain that banks are always able to get an accurate assessment of a borrower's credit history.
Liver removed
And recent research says the industry's loan repayment structure combined with the infrequent incomes of rural Bangladeshis can cause problems.
The Institute of Developing Economies in Japan showed that some households were taking risky measures such as selling assets and borrowing from loan sharks in order to maintain a clean record of repayment to be assured future access to microcredit.
Research from one body which loans money to microcredit agencies in Bangladesh found in studies between 2006-2007 that only 7% of micro-borrowers were able to rise about the poverty line.
Nevertheless, a study earlier this year by the World Bank found that the benefits of borrowing outweighed the accumulated debt. And the Microcredit Summit Campaign believes microcredit lifted 10 million Bangladeshis out of poverty between 1990 and 2008.
But as the demand for human organs continues to facilitate an illegal black market in Bangladesh, members of poor rural communities will continue to be lured by false promises of a better life.
Mohammad Mehedi Hasan, 24, from Molamgari village, not far from Kalai, didn't know what a liver was when he was manipulated into believing that removing part of it for 700,000 taka ($9,690; £6,000) would be a "noble act" that would save the life of a Singaporean man.
"I have been left without knowing how much of my liver was taken out," he says as he explains how he was transported to Dhaka for an underground operation at a private clinic.
"After the operation I raced home and after two days I got the news that the patient had died.
"I thought that I would be OK after I had part of my liver removed but sometimes I have pain in my chest and I have to urinate more than 50 or 60 times a day."
Mr Hasan received 150,000 taka ($2,046; £1,280) and says he was forced to sell his family home.
Prof Moniruzzaman says the implications of organ trafficking are devastating.
"There is no safeguard as to where the organs are coming from and how safe they are, and on the other hand, the seller's health deteriorates after the operation. That has a huge impact on their earning capacity because they cannot go back to their old physically demanding jobs."
There is no doubt that microcredit has empowered millions around the world.
But as the polarisation between rich and poor increases, experts say those most impoverished will take on more debt - sometimes resorting to measures as desperate as selling their organs.
The men of Kalai wish they had known better.
|
Plans to deploy medics on the Tube network have been announced. | Conservative London mayor Boris Johnson, who is standing for re-election in May, said he hoped this would mean reduced delays if passengers were taken ill.
It is part of a £20m scheme Mr Johnson says will make the Tube 30% more reliable if he is re-elected.
A spokesman for Labour mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone said it was " too little, too late".
A trial will see dedicated medical officers and extra first aid training for British Transport Police on the network.
Mr Johnson is proposing a £20m investment fund to improve the network's reliability.
It would cover the cost of advanced signal monitoring technology to predict when maintenance on the lines is needed.
Mr Johnson said: "Millions of Londoners use the Underground every day and we need to harness every single method we can to run the slickest possible operation on the Tube.
"I believe that by doing so we could cut Tube delays by 30% by 2015.
"Without the long-term investment we are making, there would be a real danger that the Tube would have taken one step forward then five steps backwards."
A spokesman for Ken Livingstone said: "Londoners long ago gave up on the mayor's ability to get a grip of the Tube.
"Boris Johnson has redefined the definition of what constitutes delays on the Tube in order to fiddle the figures on tube performance."
Jenny Jones, the Green Party mayoral candidate, said: "There are some good ideas here, but they shouldn't be implemented at the cost of basic passenger welfare.
"People using public transport in London want security and help on a daily basis, not just for extreme emergencies."
Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick is yet to comment.
|
This is a full transcript of I hope they'll make masks with cut-outs for lips as first broadcast on 23 April 2020 and presented by Simon Minty and Beth Rose.
| SIMON -Hello, and welcome to Cabin Fever. If ever there was a time we felt like we were living through a film now is it. And I bet you're watching even more TV than ever before. This week we've got quite a treat for you in the form of an award winning screen writer who's already shaping the likes of 'EastEnders' and Beth's favourite, 'Casualty'. I'm Simon Minty. I have hearing loss but I'm not proper deaf, and also I'm short; I have a form of dwarfism.
BETH -Hi, I'm Beth Rose. I'm non disabled, I'm the token on this podcast, and I'm recording this in my living room in West London. Also, happy birthday, Mr Minty.
SIMON - Thank you very much. I am here in the same place I was on my birthday four days ago, in a little office area in front of the computer screen. I did more quizzes on my birthday. Our guest today is Charlie Swinbourne. We're a bit low on staff and budget, could you introduce yourself? That would be really helpful.
CHARLIE -Hi, I'm Charlie Swinbourne and I'm a screenwriter, director and a journalist. I'm the editor of 'Limping Chicken' and I'm all the way up in Yorkshire in a village with lots of countryside around. And it's very nice to speak to you.
BETH -That sounds really nice, but before we get any further why is the blog called the 'Limping Chicken'?
CHARLIE -It's a really long story, and I get asked that question so often that I really wish eight years ago I'd chosen a different name for it. It was to do with a BBC Three documentary about a deaf girl who was going to her first day at university and her notetaker left halfway through her first lecture because her chicken had a bad leg. Deaf people all over social media, they put loads of memes out, and at the same time I was about to start this website and I wanted to give it a name that wasn't too dry, I wanted to give it a memorable name. But of course now I've got to live with the consequences of my decision.
BETH -You know what, it's a bit like BBC Ouch, it's a bit Marmite. People are always like, why is it called that?
CHARLIE -Yeah, it's memorable, and I think people do sort of like the name.
SIMON -I think that bit of not having deafness in the title, I can see that, because you might get the casual reader. A bit more detail. So fans of access detail, we're using a video link to speak with Charlie today because Charlie uses sign language which I can't do but he will do lip reading as well. What has self-isolation been like for you?
CHARLIE -One thing I've noticed is that if I'm walking around the village with my dog then it's a bit harder to hear the people that do talk to you because occasionally people will say hello and just that two meters distance I'm really struggling to pick up sort of anything. You know, this is the deaf life, you sort of guess what people have said, but I do think overall from a deaf perspective there's something interesting about the fact that we are often socially distanced. And things like right now people can't go to the cinema, they can't go to the theatre, so in a strange way hearing people that I know, I've sometimes got the sense that they're understanding a bit of maybe what the deaf or disabled experience is like.
BETH -How is the two meter rule and facemasks impacting? Because if you lip read, I mean that must just really cut everything out.
CHARLIE -Absolutely. I do use the hearing that I've got. Because I'm partially deaf I wear hearing aids, but I certainly depend on lip reading, and that's a worry that I have if I had to go into intensive care, or even to go to the hospital for any reason and people were wearing masks. And there has been talk of clear masks. People have been developing masks that you could still see the lips through, which I really hope they're still to come about, but it's a really big issue.
SIMON -When I first saw those clear masks I didn't look properly and I thought someone had just cut out that bit. And then I thought well what's the point of that? I hadn't realised there was clear plastic around the lips. I love this. Are there new sign language terms for different bits of Covid? Have some been developed?
CHARLIE -Absolutely, yeah. The sign for Coronavirus, it kind of looks a bit spiky. Your fingers are spread out and they go round your other hand. Often many signs are quite descriptive, and it's amazing how you find this new sign that you've never seen before and suddenly you're seeing that sign all the time.
BETH -With something like a global pandemic does the sign become international? So rather than having British Sign Language, American Sign Language, does it just develop on Facebook or something so everyone is using the same sign?
CHARLIE - I think it's quite likely that other countries are using the same sign, because often that does happen.
SIMON -On a more general level, Charlie, how is the deaf community getting on? What are rumblings and how is lockdown affecting them?
CHARLIE -I think it's a bit like the wider world really where some people are enjoying aspects of lockdown, while also coping with the negative side of it. I know people who feel like they're busier socially than they've ever been, and because deaf people are obviously spread out throughout the country and all of a sudden everybody's congregating on Zoom - I've been to a surprise birthday party on Zoom - and you see all these familiar faces that you've known for years but you've never really had 20 people on a Zoom conversation.
And the funny bit is when you're signing with people on it and it's in gallery view, so you've just got all the boxes on the screen and people try and talk to you but you're not sure if they are trying to talk to you because they're kind of waving at you and multiple boxes are having one conversation but then suddenly it'll widen out into a group thing where maybe one person's mainly talking and everyone's listening to them. I guess on a normal Zoom chat there'd be one person speaking at any one time but there is that possibility when you're signing of having these multiple conversations.
SIMON - And also a lot of the video chats, whoever is speaking is highlighted to show but if there's no noise then no one's specifically highlighted.
CHARLIE -Yes, so what's quite funny is because there's no one speaking suddenly the box gets highlighted when the dog barks or the kettle's boiling. So the positive side is there's a lot of interaction where people do feel like they're maybe interacting even more than usual in some cases and so some of the isolation might even be less than normal in that sense.
But I think on the negative side, when you think about deaf people around the country who maybe at work they're with hearing people, they're going to a deaf club or meeting up with deaf friends in person, that does have a big effect on deaf people as well, because signing on a screen in 2D is not really the same thing. When you're really with deaf people you're really aware of their facial expressions, their physicality. So that's all kind of gone and I certainly know deaf people who are very, very social who are finding it very difficult.
SIMON -And whether you're hearing or deaf, you're right, there's all those subtle things that are important to the communication. It's taken me about three or four weeks to realise it, and why I'm so exhausted from doing video calls. You allude to it, we know there's discontent within the deaf community that the daily government briefings that we've all seen at five pm, they're carried live on TV for the whole nation, but they don't use sign language interpreters. So what is that about?
CHARLIE -Yes, so this is a really big concern for deaf people about the lack of interpreters being beside government minsters in England during those daily briefings. And I say in England, because in Scotland there has been an interpreter next to Nicola Sturgeon, for example, or other Scottish politicians or officials. And in many other countries you see sign language interpreters next to their leading figures. And so deaf people who are at home, you don't have that English level because sign language is their first language. They have access to the full information, which is really critical information that we're getting.
So in the beginning with the government briefings there was no interpreter at all, then a campaign began and a deaf woman called Lynn Stewart-Taylor, she was campaigning on this with a hashtag called #WhereAreTheInterpreters, and she really got everybody galvanised, people were sending out tweets asking their MP, asking why were they being excluded from this communication. So by the end of the week there has been an interpreter who's been on the BBC News Channel, but that interpreter's been added by the BBC, so when these broadcasts are then repeated, or even when they're shown on BBC One for example there isn't an interpreter there. So it depends on people having to find it, and none of that's idea.
SIMON -Could you not go and get a newspaper? Or there's plenty of other ways. Is that not okay?
CHARLIE -This is something that comes back a lot when you make these kind of arguments which I've spent a lot of my career dealing with, which is that deaf people who use sign language as their first language who often have faced many educational barriers, their English level in many cases is lower than the typical person. But ultimately they wouldn't pick up a newspaper and get the same amount of information. They could try and read it but there are deaf people who don't have that level of English.
So sign language is their first language, it's the language that they use in all their communications. So when they go to the doctor for example or they need sign language interpretation, when they engage with any situation where they need really precise information, full understanding of it, they will need a sign language interpreter. And it's for those people that the interpreter is needed.
And so this is the discussion that you have so often with people who just say, "Well, can't they watch the subtitles?" But if your comprehension of English is lower then you're not going to get all the information. And additionally, when you look at live subtitles on these broadcasts they're verbatim which means it's not really being done to be read, and additionally those live subtitles have many mistakes.
SIMON -I now want to do a bit of the what about-ery. So what about people who need something in a different format because it's hard to understand? What about the others?
CHARLIE -Well, I think there is a point that you would ideally have everybody in our society having access to this really, really important information. I think the difference with deaf people is they are deaf so they do not have access to spoken language. You know, you might have people from other countries where some people would make the argument, well those people could read the information in their own language. I mean I would say that everybody's important, I don't want to marginalise anybody. From a deaf perspective you've got deaf people who through no choice of their own do not have access to that information, and I think that is where there is a little bit of a distinction to be made.
SIMON -Is it partly that sign language, the structure, is completely different from written language? I read somewhere about you're only getting emergency information in French and you only speak English. Is there a correlation?
CHARLIE -With sign language being a distinct language of its own it doesn't follow the rules of English. I suppose a way of describing it might be that it's visually led, so if you were to try and write down words in sign language in English and follow that order it often wouldn't really make much sense. But in the visual language, BSL, as we see it, it makes perfect sense and it's described very richly. But initially those certain words in English just aren't in the sign language, they're just not needed.
I suppose that is a good way of understanding it, is if somebody was very, very skilled in French, that was their first language, and they knew a small amount of English would they then be able to access all this information fully? Well no they wouldn't, because they would need it in French then to fully understand your obligations as a member of our society at this time you do really need that information in the language that you understand.
SIMON -Beth, you're spoken to the legal team about this case, so what are the details?
BETH -I have. Well, what started as a hashtag,
#WhereAreTheInterpreters, has actually morphed into a legal campaign. So it's quite involved so I shall go through it. From that hashtag that has morphed into a crowdfunding project to raise money for legal action. The firm Fry Law, which specialises in disability cases, has taken it on and they are taking a two-prong approach to this, because they believe it's so important.
So, Fry Law is arguing that the lack of interpreters breaches The Equality Act, and that's there to protect people from discrimination, harassment and victimisation. Specifically, they're arguing the government has failed to carry out any sort of equality assessment when they were planning these daily briefings and therefore they're discriminating against anyone who is deaf.
As is said, there are two approaches. Approach 1: The team has applied for a judicial review. That's where a judge considers the lawfulness of a decision or action made by a public body, rather than the rights and wrongs of what that decision was.
So, so far that legal team has asked the government to provide them with two documents: the Equality Assessment showing they considered all access needs when they were planning the briefings, and a formal agreement between No. 10 and the BBC. And as Charlie said, the BBC News Channel is providing interpreters for the press conferences. Fry Law want that document because they want to know the government sought an agreement and that it will remain in place for the duration of these briefings.
However, the judicial review relies on the £15,000 crowdfunding being secured within the next few days as they need the money in the bank in case they lose the case and then have to pay the government's legal fees.
If the money isn't secured, Fry Law is then going to move on to their second approach, and that's to file for individual damages, which basically seeks compensation for a lack of service on a case-by-case basis. And one of those cases is that of someone who's become known as AK. Now he is 85, lives alone and has no internet access, so he only found out about the lockdown when his daughter was able to sign that information to him.
So that's the legal side. The government obviously has its own thoughts on this, and I actually phoned No.10 yesterday, the first time in my entire career, and this is the response I got:
"It is vital that public health information reaches everyone across the country. We have established British Sign Language interpretation at the daily No. 10 press conference via the BBC News Channel and iPlayer, available on all TV packages as part of Freeview, and we are working to ensure greater replication of this signed interpretation across a wider range of media channels."
So it's all very technical. But on a broader level, Charlie, if a signer is on the BBC News Channel is that not good enough…?
CHARLIE -I don't think it is good enough because you then have this footage being repeated on various news clips through the day, where those key phrases are being sent out and there isn't an interpreter next to this minister who's speaking at that time. In other countries what you see, and I think this is best practice, is actually having an interpreter within the shot. And you can still do that with the social distancing.
And in that case every time that footage is repeated you see the interpreter and deaf people will get that information. What you're doing is you're depending on people, not only watching the BBC, but watching the BBC News Channel at that point to get that information, whereas I think the way you should do it is make it accessible whenever that footage is seen across all these different networks and programmes.
BETH -I think one of the other arguments is it should be the government perhaps that provides this service and not a third party, i.e. the broadcaster and BBC. So I think that's one of the crucial elements of where they feel The Equality Act has been breached.
CHARLIE -Yeah, I think that's a really big part of this. I mean, these briefings began with no interpretation at all. It was only after the campaign began that then by the end of the week BBC News started putting the interpreter on themselves. So the government hadn't given this any thought, and what you're in is, you know, a completely critical situation where people are being told to restrict their lives in a way they've never been restricted before. And when people are left out in this situation they're at greater risk because they're potentially being unaware of what their obligation to respect social distancing is.
SIMON -I read a piece a little while ago where they were saying, "Give us the right information then us, as deaf and disabled people, we can be part of the solution." Without that you are not only isolated but you can't get involved in the national effort as well.
CHARLIE -Absolutely. I think what we really want is for deaf people to be part of society, to be part of the community. Amazingly we've got these deaf individuals like Lynn Stewart-Taylor and they've taken action to help the community at this time. So it's not only this hashtag, Lynn's set up several Facebook groups offering the right kind of advice for people so that people aren't relying on just general videos on Facebook, which sometimes have misinformation in them.
SIMON -Let's move on from politics and Limping Chickens. Charlie, you've been developing a career in writing for film and for television.
CHARLIE -Yes, so alongside my journalism, for the last ten years, 12 years or so I've been writing scripts and trying to tell stories, often with deaf people in them. That's been something I've been really, really passionate about. It began with a short film I made called 'Coming Out' which is on YouTube about a deaf boy trying to persuade his mother that he's deaf because his mother's in denial.
And it sort of took off really and since then I've developed into writing kind of half hour dramas. I've made a sketch show called 'Deaf Funny' which I won an RTS Yorkshire Writer Award for, which was something I never expected. And probably just in the last year or so I've been able to move into the mainstream a bit more and start telling some of my stories for some of the BBC's programmes, which has been an incredible experience.
BETH -Because you were in the first ever Writers Access Group weren't you which is part of the Writers Room which the BBC has which supports screenwriters. So tell us a bit more about them.
CHARLIE -A group of deaf and disabled writers who, we all had to interview to get our place on the Writers Access group, and then from probably the autumn of 2018 all of us were meeting once a month and we'd meet different people from the BBC who'd give us a talk about what they did. So BBC Radio, Children's BBC, Continuing Dramas, and it was amazing, because I think, certainly for me on a personal level I was making a lot of stuff for deaf people and probably working in a section of the community which is a little bit cut off from the wider film making or TV making. So when I met all these people it started to feel a bit like oh, they're real, normal people who you could talk to and you could email, and it made it all feel a lot more accessible.
But also at these groups every month, so for me I would have a palantypist who was typing everything up so I could follow it. But there were other people with different access needs, so all our access needs were completely looked after. And then as time went on I made contact and gradually sending out these scripts then opportunities started to come up. And I was also very lucky to be mentored by 'EastEnders' Executive Producer, Jon Sen, who was very supportive and I was then able to go to a story conference for that and end up pitching my own story which they took. So that was like an incredible thing.
SIMON -What's that story?
CHARLIE -So the story is obviously of the moment and it's a story about Ben Mitchell becoming more deaf, because Ben Mitchell was born deaf so he's deaf in one ear but he then loses more of his hearing. And the aim of my story was to bring in a deaf character to the square. So I pitched my story to about 30 writers in the room, a very nervous sort of experience. I look back and I still think, god, how did I do that? But I told them the story and I was then asked lots of very interesting questions, you know, "Well what about this?" and, "How would that work?" and then they decided they would do the story. So for the last sort of six months or so I've been in touch with them, I've read storylines, given feedback and scripts in some cases. So I've been involved in that way.
SIMON -I watch it from time to time and I have seen it, it's really visible, and also they play with the sound, they artificially make it muffled and different. Was that part of the deal for people to really understand what was happening?
CHARLIE -Absolutely. So from the beginning I wanted to give the audience a sense of how deafness can affect people, but then also coming into it we have a deaf character who has always been deaf. So the character of Frankie will be played by a deaf actress called Rose Ayling-Ellis and I think Frankie will introduce Ben to a different side of deafness, a different perspective on deafness. So I think we're hoping to tell different sides of the deaf story.
SIMON -But that's very smart, because typically if someone becomes disabled the narrative was the tragedy, the woe, the difficulty, the fury and we always said, yeah, but once you've had it for a while you adjust. So you're bringing in the character who's already living with it and can show that there is life after becoming disabled or becoming deaf.
CHARLIE -That's right. I think that's really important because deaf people experience deafness in very different ways, and I certainly grew up in a deaf family and my parents were always proud of their deaf identity. They were very positive and happy to be deaf, as I am. And so I do think it's really important to give that side of it.
I think the team have been incredibly supportive. And I should also say that what I pitched was two or three pages of story which then it changes a bit, there's a lot added onto it, it becomes a story told over weeks and months.
BETH -And as we said at the beginning you're also writing for 'Casualty' which is my particular favourite. So what stories have you got going on there?
CHARLIE -Myself and another writer on the BBC Writers Scheme, Sophie Wooley, we met somebody who at the time worked at 'Doctors' who then moved to 'Casualty' and she said to us, "Would you like to come and talk about a deaf character we've got? The nurse, Jade." So we went for the day down in Cardiff and talked about all these deaf stories and all of Jade's sort of history as a character and we developed a story which then we were commissioned to write together.
So we wrote this episode, and actually what's really special about it is it's very much from Jade's perspective. So we really do get into Jade's mind and we hear the world at times as she hears it, and it has some sign language in it, it has some really emotional moments, and I think you'll be pleased to know it also has quite a big stunt. And I should also add that as well as having two deaf writers there is a deaf director called John Maidens who directed the episodes. And it also stars another deaf actor called Sophie Stone. So you've got an episode with five key deaf people involved in making it, which is a deaf episode, and I think that's hopefully a really strong message for the industry.
BETH -How does it work? As we were saying earlier, sign language as a language is very different to English. The structure, the grammar. So for you what's it like when your career is based on dialogue, and writing dialogue, in English?
CHARLIE -That's a really good question because I've spent many years writing dramas, comedies for deaf characters, and often when I'm writing their dialogue I'm writing it in a very clear way in English because it will then be translated into sign language. So when I wrote my 'Casualty' episode along with Sophie one of the things that I really enjoyed but also had to learn about was writing more spoken dialogue for the first time. But I also had to slightly adjust to it, because deaf communication's often quite direct so I found that some of my early writing, maybe I was writing it a little bit too obviously so I was then able to write these spoken dialogue scenes and I really, really enjoyed it.
SIMON -I would bet that you will have your own series or drama or something soon and everyone will go, well Charlie, he's an overnight success. But you have worked so hard for so long. But in terms of today and lockdown are you really disciplined?
CHARLIE -Thank you so much for your kind words, Simon. Yes, it's a big change at the moment. I guess early in my career I knew people who maybe had certain conditions actually that almost gave them like a ticking clock and they had to get on and do stuff while they were still well enough. I guess I really admired those kind of people, but I did kind of take something from that a bit which I just think you do have to try and make things happen.
As I've worked I've always thought well, what's the next thing I can try and make, and hit my deadlines? I think that's a huge thing. But probably the first couple of weeks of lockdown were two of the hardest weeks of writing I've even done because my kids were at home and I was feeling so wrapped up in the news I found it so hard to think about my story because my story also just felt really irrelevant that I feel like as a family my family adjusted a bit, my kids got into the routine. The main thing that I've done at the moment to make it work is I've just been waking up super early, half five, six o'clock, and I've done two or three hours of writing before the kids have really got out of bed. And the rest of the day doesn't feel as stressful.
BETH -Lockdown is maybe prime time for people who have maybe wondered about giving writing a go. They're kind of at home, they haven't got a commute maybe, they can sort of start thinking, there's plenty of things going on to spark a story, so what are your top tips to any aspiring writers?
CHARLIE -My main tip is always if you can do some writing, however much it is, it could be half an hour, it could be an hour, just get something on the page, because when you've got something you can then think about the bits you weren't sure about or the bits you don't yet have or you can just improve the thing that you've written. In a way the process of writing, of writing more and then editing it and then adding to it and changing it, you find a lot of the answers of how to tell your story through that process.
Sometimes you just throw away what you've done and it's heart-breaking but it's only by actually getting on with it that you can then start to progress. And don't be afraid to look for the opportunities that are out there for disabled writers, because Graeae have been running a monologue scheme. DANC, the Disabled Artists Network and Community, they've been running webinars.
SIMON -Beth, why do I think…? We've spoken offline and you have… You're writing something aren't you?
BETH -I am. I mean this is the first public outing of it, only a few people knew. It's not a screenplay. I'm trying to write a classic novel. And I don't mean classic in terms of classic literature, I mean just like writing a novel. And yeah, I think Charlie's right, it's just literally doing the writing, even if it's a few minutes. And sometimes what I've found is if I just give myself five minutes and once you've started the five minutes you kind of get into the flow and you're back into the story. But another way that really gets me motivated is you know you get all these inspirational quotes on Instagram? My favourite ever is 'you think you have time but you don't'.
SIMON -Yeah. Well you're giving me a shiver with that because it does kind of put it in perspective.
CHARLIE - Writing's hard work, it's like anything else. It's all a journey and if you were trying to become skilled at anything you would have to just work up towards it. and I think even the most experienced writers that I've met, they never seem to feel like they know everything. I think you have to give it a try and going for it and enjoying it for what it is.
SIMON -I think we have to wrap up this podcast so we can all go and get writing the great British screenplay. Thank you to Charlie Swinbourne and to Beth for coming on board this episode of Cabin Fever. Don't forget to check out 'The Isolation Diary', it's another Ouch original podcast which follows my regular co-host, Kate Monaghan, on her self-isolation journey with her young family. And I still can't believe Ouch split us up. If that's not enough for you, BBC Sounds has a huge back catalogue of content for you to check out. Keep in touch, tell us what we should be covering, how we're doing. You can get hold of us. It's BBC Ouch on Facebook. @bbcouch on Twitter and [email protected]. Until next time, bye.
BETH -Bye.
CHARLIE -Bye.
|
Milk is something that most of us drink or consume in some form. Yet dairy farmers have long complained that they have not always got a fair deal when it comes to price. So what is the reality of life as a Scottish dairy farmer at the moment? This is one farmer's view. | By Gillian SharpeBBC Scotland
Light filters through wooden-slatted walls into a shed housing bull calves which are now nearing six months old.
Some are munching busily on straw, others are drinking with great gusto.
This is Nether Affleck Farm, near Lanark. It has 320 cows split between two units. Although it is a dairy farm these calves will be sold for beef. It is a useful sideline.
Outdoor living
"This is the farm I was brought up on and we've another farm nearby," says Jim Baird, the farmer here.
"I enjoy the outdoor life, enjoy working with animals and that was always where I wanted to be."
This has been a family farm. The capital costs involved in setting up a dairy farm mean that it is a difficult business to be able to afford to buy into.
The need for economies of scale have also led to changes, with most farms now specialising in a particular area instead of having a bit of beef or cereal as well.
Mr Baird thinks back to a time last year when dairy farmers staged a series of protests and blockades against declining payments.
"We had a situation where we had two really big price cuts in quick succession," he recalls.
"At a time when farmers were feeling the pinch with the weather and they were feeling the pinch with a lot of costs coming on to their businesses and I think that whole frustration just boiled over."
"Most dairy farmers did take part," he continues, "and there were protests at Lanark near here and there was a huge turnout at these demonstrations."
'Early days'
The end result was an agreement between dairy farmers and processing firms on a voluntary code of practice for future contracts for milk supplies.
Mr Baird says it is "early days" but if the code brings a "bit more transparency and trust to the supply chain that's got to be good".
A muddy walk across the farm yard, tailed by a very dirty but enthusiastic farm dog, brings us to the cubicle shed. At this time of day, mid-morning, it is full of cows eating their fill.
There are about 190 cubicles in all. Each animal has their own cubicle, their own place where they can lie on a foam mattress. The infrastructure in this shed has represented a major investment over the past five years.
The more time the cows can spend lying down, chewing the cud, the more productive they are likely to be.
"It's like every other business," says Mr Baird, "some people are able to drive their businesses forwards and other people are struggling."
"I think because of the impact of the weather, because feed costs have gone up by something like 25-30%, at the moment I think, probably across the board, most businesses are feeling the pressure on margins more than they've ever done.
"I hear that there are more businesses really feeling the pinch and now's not a good time to be going to your bank manager to be looking for an extension to your overdraft because they're not as easy to deal with as they once were."
Business first
His daughter has expressed an interest in the farm and has already started working in the business. In general he feels the sector needs to attract more young people.
He may enjoy the life but it has to make business sense.
"My alarm goes at 4 o'clock every morning so you have to be turning a quid at the end of the day.
"The whole supply chain's got to work better.
"At the moment everyone's taking too short term a perspective, the processors, the retailers and the farmers and we need to realise that this industry's got to be there for the long term and everyone's got to be able to get a reasonable share and a reasonable profit out of it and be able to reinvest in their businesses and that's where a lot of farmers are struggling at the moment."
You can hear more about the wider milk industry in Business Scotland on Saturday 9 March at 06:00 and repeated on Sunday 10 March at 10:00. It is also available on BBC iplayer.
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.