A Point of View: What does vanilla yogurt have to do with the secret of happiness?

Summary: Men and women have long searched for the fountain of youth, the meaning of life, and the secret of happiness. Well, youth still passes, life still puzzles but the secret of happiness has, it seems, at last been found. It is vanilla yogurt, writes Adam Gopnik.

This is not a facetious conclusion, or at least was not intended to be when it was offered not long ago by a team of Austrian, Finnish and Dutch scientists who have been filling their dark winter days studying the emotional responses of subjects when they eat different kinds of yogurt. You may think that people don't actually have emotional responses when they eat yogurt - that eating yogurt is a way of avoiding any emotional response. It is arguably the least feeling of all the breakfast foods - very far from the emotional excitements and hedonic highs of toast, bacon, or marmalade. I once went to a wedding where the bride and groom actually exchanged marmalades during the ceremony (yes, it was in California, but they did). No-one does that with yogurt. As it happens, I like Greek yogurt for breakfast - but it is a way of seeming to be engaged in something while my spouse talks about her dreams, her symptoms, and her plans. Then the little dog gets to lick what's left in the plastic cup. It is a ritual, but it is hardly romantic. Nonetheless, the tri-national team persisted. They found that while fruit flavourings in yogurt made no difference to anyone's happiness, there was, and I quote, a highly marked hedonic response to vanilla. Eating vanilla yogurt made people happy. I should add that they used an odd technique to measure the happiness of their subjects. Asking people how they feel when they eat something is, apparently, too easy. It is a principle of psychology that people try to please psychologists by saying what they think the psychologists want to hear. So, instead, the psychologists showed their subjects seemingly unrelated photographs of seemingly unrelated people and asked how happy the subjects thought those people were. Apparently, it is also a principle in psychology that we project onto others - or photographs of others, anyway - what we feel ourselves. Find out more A Point of View is broadcast on Fridays on Radio 4 at 20:50 BST and repeated Sundays, 08:50 BST Previously by Adam Gopnik: Phoneless in Paris Why are opponents of gay marriage so sure they're right? A Point of View: How much longer can sprawling TV box sets get? Showing a combination of Austrian tenacity, Finnish purposefulness and Dutch flair, the researchers pursued the question more deeply. Why did vanilla yogurt make people happy? And here is where the subject blossoms and blooms and swells and begins to touch on issues larger even, if you can credit it, than happiness and its keys. For one simple explanation is that vanilla is just inherently pleasing. It has long been known that vanilla scents in hospital waiting rooms make patients calmer and happier. Well, it says that in the study - myself, I've never noticed a vanilla scent in a hospital waiting room. Hospital waiting rooms have hospital waiting room scents. Still, apparently this is so, and it is not an accident that vanilla is, so to speak, the base scent of our lives. It is because it has been long been intuited to be the most quietly pleasing of flavours. The other theory though, vibrant and equally persuasive, is that what was making Hans and Johan and Jarri - I am assuming that the subjects were divided along the same national lines as the scientists - happy was not simply the scent and flavour of vanilla. It was that they were not told in advance what they were going to eat. They looked at the white stuff in the breakfast bowl, and assumed that what they were about to eat was plain yogurt. Tasting, they discovered that it was instead vanilla - and their pleasure rose with the surprise that it did not taste like yogurt but like vanilla yogurt. It was the element of unexpected pleasure that was the secret of happiness. The secret of happiness was not eating vanilla yogurt. It was not expecting to eat vanilla yogurt, and then eating it. I'm sure you've sensed, as I did, that no experiment in eating, or in anything else, has ever so neatly laid out the dilemmas and secrets of all aesthetics, erotics, and the philosophy of pleasure. All arguments about what gives us pleasure in art, in bed and in life are vanilla yogurt questions. Are the intrinsic qualities of something more powerful than the context in which we perceive it, or are what we call the intrinsic properties really only the effect of expectations and surprise? Do we admire famous paintings, for instance, because they are intrinsically beautiful, or because we have been coaxed by our expectations into finding them so? Take, say, the Mona Lisa. You may recall that the aesthetes' view, popular in the 19th Century with critics like Walter Pater, is that she is intrinsically beautiful and mysterious - those settled hands, those blue mountains, that smile. The other view, argued in our time by the art historian EH Gombrich and his disciples, is that countless, unsmiling sober Italian ladies had to precede her for Mona to have the effect she does. Against those expectations of sobriety, a minimal smile creates maximal mystery. A small smile delights when none precedes it. Our minds prepare for nothing, and then get vanilla, and we are happy. Music theorists say similar things - that the overwhelming emotional effect of music doesn't rise from the sounds themselves, but from the expectations of our ears. We hear the C Minor chords in Beethoven's Fifth Symphony as extreme only because our minds are accustomed to hear C major as normal. The chord itself is nothing, the expectations all. Sex of course, is the greatest arena of these effects. The truth is that we keep our marriages alive by a skilful coaxing of yogurt flavours. It may seem odd to insist that we have to try to pretend that what we are about to eat is not vanilla in order to enjoy the fact that it is vanilla - but, in truth, we do that all the time. We try to create a circumstance where we do not know what the flavour is of something whose flavour we know all too well, or well enough. The second honeymoon, the weekend getaway, are instances of this power of self-created context. Money is spent on plane tickets, at Agent Provocateur or La Perla, or at the chemist's counter, or for that matter at the men's cologne shop - all to create a context of the unknown, of uncertainty. What flavour, so to speak, will this yogurt be? Well, it's still vanilla, but, having coaxed ourselves into the fantasy of not knowing, the vanilla is enough to make us happy again. So vanilla yogurt alone is not the key to happiness - it is not knowing what we are going to get, or pretending not to know - and then getting vanilla. What we ought to spray in hospital waiting rooms is the scent of surprise - or at least, we should leave the room unscented day after day, only to delight the patients one morning with vanilla. Ever since I read this study I have been eating vanilla yogurt for breakfast, hoping to be happy. And I am now prepared to announce that the truth of the matter is utterly different from what the psychologists suggest. For the hidden truth, shamefully concealed by the Austrians and the Finns and the Dutch and their photograph-staring subjects, is that vanilla yogurt never only contains vanilla. Vanilla yogurt is, above all… sweet. It always contains sugar, and it is the incidental sugar as much as the vanilla scent that surprises us so at eight am, and then makes us happy. Vanilla is merely the free rider. Once, when I was very small, I was so intoxicated by the scent of vanilla extract when my mother used it in baking, that I slipped into the kitchen closet secretly, found the bottle, opened it and took what I expected would be a delirious sip. It was revolting - bitter and alcoholic. I can taste it still - it taught me the truth that pleasure is deceptive, and compound. For the scent of vanilla is nothing without the sugar in the cake. We dream of sweetness all our lives, and so are surprised by joy when it arrives without warning. Poets have known that truth for centuries. Our bodies and our souls do not crave novelty alone. They crave nectar, coming at us unawares. Life does have a secret, and happiness a key. But they are not in a scent or even in a scented surprise. The key to happiness is always the same and it is not vanilla, nor surprise alone. The secret of life is unexpected sweetness. A Point of View is broadcast on Fridays on Radio 4 at 20:50 BST and repeated Sundays 08:50 BST Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

पुरुषों और महिलाओं ने लंबे समय से युवाओं के फव्वारे, जीवन के अर्थ और खुशी के रहस्य की खोज की है। खैर, युवावस्था अभी भी गुजरती है, जीवन अभी भी पहेली है लेकिन खुशी का रहस्य आखिरकार मिल गया है, ऐसा लगता है। यह वेनिला दही है, एडम गोपनिक लिखते हैं।


Covid-19: Demand for Norfolk school key worker places 'outstrips supply'

Summary: Children of key workers are entitled to attend school during the lockdown, according to government regulations. But many head teachers say they simply do not have enough places. In Norfolk, some have seen more than twice as many requests from parents compared to the first lockdown. Why has there been so much demand this time and how will schools meet it?

By Laurence Cawley and Laura DevlinBBC News, East 'We have a moral duty to protect the NHS' Just 60 pupils needed places at Queen's Hill Primary in Costessey, near Norwich, during the first national lockdown. Head teacher Penny Sheppard now has a list of 181 parents wanting places. She says they may have to ration places according to parental need. "That's what I am trying to work out at the moment," she says. The task, she says, comes alongside having to ensure "high quality remote learning" for the pupils not in school. At the top of the list for those wanting places will be pupils with two parents (or a single parent in a lone parent family) who are critical workers, such as doctors, nurses or paramedics. She will then work her way down the various levels of need and if she has enough staff to care for the pupils wanting a place, she will offer them. If not, she will have to refuse some key worker parents a place. Sited near Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, the school has an unusually high number of critical workers. Mrs Sheppard says about 55% of her parents qualify as key workers. "So if we go back to the government's guidance, children with at least one parent or carer who is a critical worker 'can' go to school, and it's 'can' not 'should', if required - and it's that, 'if required'. "We've all got a moral duty to support each other and protect the NHS." 'Work needs my full attention' Key worker Claire Yaxley teaches children who are excluded from education. She is currently working remotely from her home near Norwich. Her daughters Pearl, eight, and four-year-old Tallulah have carried on at their village primary school five days a week, during this lockdown and the first. "It felt a lot more straightforward this time," says Ms Yaxley. "The school already knew I was a key worker, but they did have to check. I completed a survey and found out by Tuesday that we had been accepted." She says it would simply not be possible to meet the needs of her students while educating her children. "As a teacher I am well qualified to deal with the home learning, and we've got lots of old tech lying around that they could use. "But if I am at work it needs my full attention and the children I work with have very specific needs. "My children are really young and if I am home learning with them they need me beside them the entire time - it just wouldn't work." 'Maybe the child should stay at home' At the City of Norwich School, 80 children are attending classes in person - which is about twice that of the first lockdown. And the number of requests is continuing to rise. Head teacher Joanne Philpott says she has not yet had to turn down any requests but warned there was a "tipping point" at which she would have to refuse places, if it put the school's remote teaching at risk. "We are monitoring it very closely because we are really pleased with the remote learning we have sorted," she says. "You're having to look at the needs of so many different elements." As a result of the rising requests, Norfolk County Council has drawn up guidelines for prioritising pupils with two critical care worker parents (or one lone critical care worker parent) over other key workers. It said the "demand for key worker places outstripping capacity in many Norfolk schools". "Although the national criteria states that only one parent needs to be a key worker to be eligible for a place," says John Fisher, Norfolk County Council's cabinet member for children's services, "in many schools that would mean nearly every child could still attend. "Schools simply cannot manage that at this time." You might be also be interested in: The picture of place provision varies across the county. While some schools have nearly all of their teachers in work, others, according to the county's director of learning Chris Snudden, have two thirds either off sick or having to remain at home. "It is immensely tricky at the moment, because some of our schools don't have enough capacity, they don't have enough staff in to offer all of the children who they might have offered a place to in the first lockdown," she says. How schools handle demand will be decided by head teachers. "Schools have made decisions as best they can, we are trying to be supportive in saying, 'we know this is going to be difficult, we know there are some people that are going to be disappointed, but it is right that we prioritise health workers, it is right that we prioritise care workers, social care workers, emergency service workers', and so on," says Ms Snudden. "I guess the controversial one is that we are saying, if there is a parent in a family who is not a critical worker, then maybe the child should stay at home." Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk Related Internet Links Queen's Hill Primary School City of Norwich School - Home Norfolk County Council

सरकारी नियमों के अनुसार, प्रमुख श्रमिकों के बच्चे लॉकडाउन के दौरान स्कूल जाने के हकदार हैं। लेकिन कई प्रधान शिक्षकों का कहना है कि उनके पास पर्याप्त जगह नहीं है। नॉरफ़ॉक में, कुछ ने पहले लॉकडाउन की तुलना में माता-पिता से दोगुने से अधिक अनुरोध देखे हैं। इस बार इतनी मांग क्यों हुई है और स्कूल इसे कैसे पूरा करेंगे?


Newspaper headlines: Tory 'triumph' and Zoe Ball's 'torment'

Summary: No one doubts the right of Prime Minister Theresa May to claim an emphatic win in the local elections. The Daily Telegraph calls the outcome a "massive victory" and the Sun says she "turned Britain blue". The i talks of a Tory "blue tide".

By BBC NewsStaff However, the Guardian looks at the maths and argues that Britain was, in fact, evenly-divided. The Conservatives and UKIP, it says, took 43% of the votes - while Labour and the Liberal Democrats received 45%. This leads the paper to conclude that "the country has not fallen in love with Mrs May". The Daily Express believes that "the public has warmed" to the PM. But it, and others, explain that Mrs May's triumph has resulted from the "collapse" of the UKIP vote. "UKIP died as a political force", says the i, while the Daily Mail apes the tone of an old-style announcement: "Today," it says, "the Mail is sad to report the death, at just 26, of one of the most effective forces ever to shake up British politics." "UKIP disappeared", says the Telegraph, "and its vote went to the Conservatives." The Times calls UKIP "a gateway drug", saying it first drew votes away from Labour, then passed them on to the Tories. Labour, says the Sun, had been in a panic about the rise of UKIP - now it looks set to panic about the consequences of the party's collapse. Diesel drivers 'clobbered' Few things, away from politics, receive much close attention - but the prospect of a crackdown on polluting diesel cars and vans has stirred up feeling. The Daily Mirror worries that the government is about to "clobber" diesel vehicle owners with financial penalties. It points out that people bought them in good faith, many believing they were less damaging to the environment. The Mail believes those owners were "monstrously misled and betrayed" by the Labour government. It warns its readers: "Never trust gimmick-prone politicians who tell you science is on their side." An expert quoted in the i points out that modern diesel cars can be as clean as petrol engines anyway. As the Sun comments, it is not a problem that can be "sorted overnight". Half of Saturday's papers use their front pages to report the death of the boyfriend of BBC Radio 2 presenter Zoe Ball. The Express says the body of Billy Yates was found at his flat in south-west London. Several papers suggest he took his own life. The Star says Ms Ball has been left "heartbroken". Say it out loud Talking to yourself, reports the Telegraph, "may actually be a sign of intelligence." The paper says that researchers at Bangor University have found people who, for example, read instructions out loud actually perform the task they are engaged in better than those who stay silent. "Speaking out loud", echoes the Mirror, "helps the brain to absorb material". The Mail adds the researchers think their study has shown that, far from being "the first sign of madness", talking to yourself is a way of using all the means at your disposal to increase your brain power. Get news from the BBC in your inbox, each weekday morning

किसी को भी प्रधानमंत्री थेरेसा मे के स्थानीय चुनावों में जोरदार जीत का दावा करने के अधिकार पर संदेह नहीं है। द डेली टेलीग्राफ ने परिणाम को एक "भारी जीत" कहा और द सन ने कहा कि उन्होंने "ब्रिटेन को नीला कर दिया।" द आई एक टोरी "ब्लू टाइड" की बात करता है।


Viewpoint: Carey Mulligan's campaign to change how we view dementia

Summary: Oscar-nominated actress Carey Mulligan has witnessed the effects of dementia on a close family member. While there is no cure for the illness, here she explains how a better understanding will help remove the stigma that still surrounds it.

The Christmas period is undoubtedly a time many of us look forward to spending with family and friends and that's no different for me. My beloved grandmother "Nans" turned 91 a couple of days before Christmas and my family and many of Nans' friends - laden with copious amounts of cake - went down to Wales to see her and celebrate. Nans and I have always been extremely close and she is the single most influential person in my life aside from my parents. But a lot has changed in our relationship in the last 12 years. Nans was diagnosed with dementia in 2004 and from that moment our lives changed significantly. But on days like Friday, when we all come together and celebrate her life with those who love her the most, there are still moments of the purest magic. Dementia is an urgent health crisis that we can no longer ignore. Some 850,000 people in the UK have the condition and more than 47 million people globally live with it. Its growing prevalence has improved how we, as a society, view dementia. But there is still a long way to go and the stigma of dementia remains rife. Too many common myths and misconceptions about dementia still exist. Time and again I hear reference to it as just being a natural part of ageing. And, unfortunately, it is often the butt of distasteful jokes. But dementia is a disease of the brain and it requires understanding, care and support. The first step in changing people's understanding of dementia and improving the lives of those who have the condition involves educating people not just on our doorstep, but across the world. Schemes that set out to change perceptions are doing fantastic work already. The Alzheimer's Society's Dementia Friends is a good example. It has 1.7 million people signed up to take action and change the way people think, act and talk about dementia. Through information sessions participants are asked to think about what living with dementia might be like, practically and emotionally, and are encouraged to make changes within their community to make life a bit easier for people living with dementia. As a global ambassador for the schemes, my aim is to raise awareness and help change global attitudes towards dementia. I recently delivered a Dementia Friends information session to an audience of 50 young people in Los Angeles. In spite of a few misconceptions about dementia they were really interested to try to understand the disease in a real way. Many of them used words like "crazy", "loony" etc when I first asked them what words came to mind when we thought about dementia. But by the end of the session there was a room of young people inspired to do more for those in their communities living with dementia. A young person growing up with an understanding of the illness is one of the most crucial elements of changing how it is viewed and building a dementia-friendly generation. Like the hundreds of thousands of people living with dementia and their loved ones, I have seen first-hand the challenges the illness brings. I understand what a vital role society - individuals and entire communities - has in supporting people with dementia so they can feel included and stay connected. Small, easy changes we can make within our community can make such a huge difference. When the police, staff in supermarkets and doctors surgeries and train stations all have an awareness of how dementia can affect an individual they are much better equipped to be helpful when help is needed. Because life doesn't have to end with a dementia diagnosis. What is dementia? Dementia is a common condition. Your risk of developing dementia increases as you get older, and the condition usually occurs in people over the age of 65. Dementia is a syndrome (a group of related symptoms) associated with an ongoing decline of the brain and its abilities. This includes problems with: memory loss, thinking speed, mental agility, language, understanding and judgement Find out more: NHS However, getting the diagnosis itself is not straightforward. A new survey of GPs has suggested that almost half of them don't believe that it is always in the best interests of patients with dementia to receive a diagnosis because services available to them are so poor. I can't advocate enough how important a timely diagnosis of dementia can be. It enables someone living with the illness to understand their condition and to explore the ways in which they can be supported and receive the best possible care. My family is very lucky that, together with Nans, we were able to find a brilliant care home. My grandmother has lived there since 2006 and it is truly her home. The staff all go above and beyond to treat each person as the individuals they are. The home requests a biography of each person, so that even if they can no longer communicate verbally they get a real sense of who each individual is. In addition to the fantastic staff at her care home, Nans has a wonderful support network around her of loving family and friends who visit her regularly. Every visit has moments of real joy. She may not remember them but there is no doubt in my mind that she feels every ounce of the overwhelming love and respect we all have for her. That her oldest friends still take the time to visit her, even if just to sit with her in quiet reflection, means so much to her and all of us. Find out more Carey Mulligan will be guest editing Radio 4's Today Programme on Tuesday 27 December. You can listen to her interview with Michael Parkinson and Michael Palin on that day, or catch up afterwards on the BBC iPlayer. These were sentiments echoed by Michael Palin when I spoke to him for the Today programme. He spoke about his close friendship with fellow Python Terry Jones, who has the condition, while Michael Parkinson spoke about his own experience of dementia with his mother, Freda. Our discussion brought home to me even more how dementia is individual to each person and how it affects everyone who lives with it so differently. Michael Palin talked about how Terry has lost much of his ability to speak, but takes great joy in watching old musicals on the television. He also shared tales of their frequent trips to the pub together, where Terry will sit in contented silence for most of the meal but when it becomes time to choose the wine will launch into fluent Portuguese to order a bottle. Sir Michael Parkinson remembered how even 30 years after his father's death his mother would imagine her husband was down the pub and call up the landlord to send him home. He said how even though she couldn't remember who her son was, she knew every single lyric of Frank Sinatra's songs. Both Michaels also discussed how crucial it is for family and friends to keep visiting and spending time with their loved ones living with dementia after diagnosis. They felt this is essential to help them feel connected and included, even though it might be challenging at times for the person visiting. It's so important that everyone living with the condition is treated with the respect and dignity that they deserve. At the moment, there's not nearly enough awareness about what dementia is and as a society we all have a duty to change that. Carey Mulligan is Alzheimer's Society's Global Dementia Friends Ambassador. Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. Related Internet Links Alzheimer's Society - Dementia Friends

ऑस्कर नामांकित अभिनेत्री कैरी मुलिगन ने परिवार के एक करीबी सदस्य पर मनोभ्रंश के प्रभावों को देखा है। हालाँकि बीमारी का कोई इलाज नहीं है, यहाँ वह बताती हैं कि कैसे एक बेहतर समझ उस कलंक को दूर करने में मदद करेगी जो अभी भी इसे घेरती है।


Belladrum near Beauly 'raised £6.6m for economy'

Summary: This summer's Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival near Beauly raised £6.6m for the Scottish economy, according to a new report.

Festival goers' spending on travel to get to the event in the Highlands and on food, drink and other items generated the economic boost. An economic and management consultancy calculated that more than £4m of the figure benefitted the local economy. About 17,000 people went to the two-day festival in August. The headline acts included Sir Tom Jones. Belladrum's organisers commissioned Mackay Consultants to examine Bella's economic impact. An extra night of entertainment has been added to next August's festival. It will be headlined by The Proclaimers who last played at the event in 2005.

एक नई रिपोर्ट के अनुसार, ब्यूली के पास इस गर्मी के बेलाड्रम टार्टन हार्ट फेस्टिवल ने स्कॉटिश अर्थव्यवस्था के लिए 6.6 करोड़ पाउंड जुटाए।


Check NHS cancer, A&E, ops and mental health targets in your area

Summary: The NHS is under severe pressure. Rising numbers of patients need hospital care - whether in an accident and emergency department, for cancer treatment or for planned operations and care, such as knee and hip replacements. Growing numbers of people are also reporting they are struggling with their mental health.

For each there are strict targets local services are expected to meet across the UK. But what are the chances of being seen in time where you live? Use our interactive tracker to find out. Did your local services hit or miss their targets? TARGET TARGET TARGET TARGET If you can't see the tracker, click or tap here. This guide is based on the latest data on performance against four NHS waiting-time measures: This data is currently published either monthly or quarterly depending on where you live in the UK, and there are differences between how the targets are measured in each part of the UK. See below for data sources. The A&E target The way the A&E target is measured is almost identical. In each case services across the UK are given four hours in which to treat and discharge or admit or transfer a patient. They are all expected to do that in 95% of cases, although ultimately Scotland wants it services to get to 98% once 95% is achieved. There are also slight differences in the way the start time is measured. The cancer target There are similarities in the way cancer care is measured. Each expects patients to be treated within 62 days of an urgent referral. In Scotland this can be following a GP or A&E referral or following a screening test. Elsewhere it is broken down individually by referral route. So for the rest of the UK the BBC has chosen GP referral as the area to focus on as this is the most common route. Again the thresholds services are expected to achieve vary. The planned operations and care target The one that varies the most is for planned hospital care, which is also known as non-emergency treatment. In England, Wales and Scotland the target measures the point at which you get a referral from your GP to the point when your treatment starts - in effect the whole patient journey. In Scotland and England services have 18 weeks, in Wales it is 26 weeks. Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland there are a range of targets for different parts of the patient journey. The BBC has chosen the last part, from when the decision is taken to admit the patient for treatment to when that treatment starts. It therefore does not include the tests and appointments that follow a GP referral, which can take weeks or even months. Services in Northern Ireland have 13 weeks to achieve this target. The thresholds vary too. None is expected to achieve these goals 100% of the time. In Northern Ireland services have to achieve the target in 55% of cases, whereas in Wales it is 95%, in England 92%, and in Scotland 90%. The mental health therapy target There is also quite a wide variation in how access to mental health therapy is measured. These therapies cover psychological treatments, such as counselling, for conditions such as depression, anxiety and stress. In England and Scotland access is measured in the time it takes from getting a referral to that treatment getting under way. Scotland publishes a combined figure for mental health for the three Islands boards - Shetland, Orkney and Western Isles - this is because the numbers being referred are relatively small. In Wales the data only covers part of that patient journey - from when it is definitely decided treatment is needed, which is normally one-stage after a referral from a GP. Northern Ireland does not measure access to mental health support outside of hospitals. How local is defined In England data is provided down to individual hospital trust level, some of these run more than one hospital. The BBC has excluded specialist trusts for cancer, children's care, women's services and orthopaedic treatment and instead focused on the 131 general hospital trusts - what most people would consider their local service. However, mental health therapy services fall outside the control of hospitals and are organised by local NHS organisations called clinical commissioning groups (CCGs). Elsewhere performance is broken down to health board level, known as health and care trusts in Northern Ireland. They are in charge of services for a region or large city and often run more than one hospital alongside community services. We have chosen these boards because while some data is provided down to individual hospital level it is not done across all four targets. How far back performance is tracked The BBC has tracked back performance to the point at which the latest target was set or to when the records allow. When a target has been missed for five years, we have just labelled it as that. When targets have been hit more recently, we have provided the month they were last hit. The targets where it has not been possible to go back five years: The full list of dates from which the performance of local services is available are: For England: A&E: June 2010 Cancer: January 2009 Planned operations: April 2012 Mental health therapy: April 2016 For Scotland: A&E: October 2014 Cancer: January 2012 Planned operations: January 2011 Mental health: December 2014 For Wales: A&E: October 2009 Cancer: October-December 2009 Planned operations: September 2011 Mental health: November 2015 For Northern Ireland: A&E: April 2008 Cancer: April 2009 Planned operations: April-June 2016 How the data is displayed The bar charts displayed for each measure represent the data for each trust or board which we are tracking in each nation. As most of the data is in a fairly narrow range, we have truncated the vertical y-axis so that the detail can be seen more clearly. In the example below, the axis starts at 70%, in other charts it varies in accordance with the data. Privacy and how the NHS Tracker works When using the calculator above your postcode is requested so that the BBC can provide information on NHS performance in your area. The BBC is the data controller of the data you enter here. For more information see the BBC Privacy & Cookies Policy. Data research and analysis by Ransome Mpini, Christine Jeavans, Nick Triggle, and John Walton. Design by Irene de la Torre-Arenas. Development by Becky Rush, Felix Stephenson, Alexander Ivanov and Chris Ashton. Data sources

एन. एच. एस. गंभीर दबाव में है। बढ़ती संख्या में रोगियों को अस्पताल की देखभाल की आवश्यकता होती है-चाहे वह दुर्घटना हो या आपातकालीन विभाग में, कैंसर के इलाज के लिए या नियोजित संचालन और देखभाल के लिए, जैसे कि घुटने और कूल्हों को बदलना। बढ़ती संख्या में लोग यह भी बता रहे हैं कि वे अपने मानसिक स्वास्थ्य के साथ संघर्ष कर रहे हैं।


Covid-19: Edwin Poots tests positive for virus

Summary: Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots has tested positive for Covid-19.

A DUP spokesperson said that Mr Poots had been tested twice while in hospital for an operation to remove his appendix. One test was negative, while the other showed a positive result for the virus. The DUP said Mr Poots has not displayed any symptoms but is self-isolating until Wednesday 16 December, in line with public health guidance. He is the first executive minister to have a positive test for Covid-19. Seven days ago, he posted a photograph on Twitter saying he was so grateful to all the staff who had taken care of him after requiring emergency surgery. In October, Justice Minister Naomi Long said she believed she had had the virus earlier in the year. Mrs Long said she had a high temperature, chest pain and difficulty breathing, but was not tested for Covid-19. Two other assembly members have tested positive for coronavirus since the start of the pandemic - Daniel McCrossan of the SDLP and Ulster Unionist John Stewart.

कृषि मंत्री एडविन पूट्स कोविड-19 से संक्रमित पाए गए हैं।


How to save the UK's crisis-hit High Streets

Summary: Our High Streets are in crisis. According to the Centre for Retail Research there are around 50,000 fewer shops on our High Streets than just over a decade ago, and some analysts predict it will only get worse.

By Adam ShawPanorama It's part of a trend that has seen big names struggling and going bust - including Thomas Cook, Mothercare, Bonmarche and Jamie's Italian amongst many others It's not just shops and shoppers who are affected. High Streets have traditionally been at the heart of communities, but as shops close, it can make whole areas unwelcoming. As fewer people come to the High Street, it can make the cycle of decline even worse. For some it can lose its appeal - especially after dark. So problems for the High Street are problems for us all. Many of us have got fed up with all the hassle of going into town, so we let our fingers do the walking. Online is doing better and better and you can see why; one-click shopping makes buying stuff so painless. But internet shopping still only accounts for around 20% of the total. That can't be the whole reason for the High Street's decline. Professor Cathy Parker is co-chair of the Institute of Place Management (IPM) and helps lead the High Streets Task Force, set up by the government last year to support the transformation of town centres. She is an expert in the development of retail - and in her view, it's been integral to town centres, but they are about much more than shopping. "Retail has only ever been a part of the functions of a town and city. In the 1980s and 90s, we got a little bit fixated on retail and we just thought that the whole town and the whole city was all about retail." As we became more fixated, so High Streets started to lose their individuality. Many once-distinctive town centres became home to the same old set of stores owned by a limited number of powerful chains. And as every street came to look the same - so they lost much of their appeal. On top of that we deserted them in favour of the more convenient visit to the out-of-town shopping centres. The number of people visiting the High Street has dropped by 20.5% over the past decade, according to figures from retail analyst company Springboard. To survive and thrive, High Streets need to adapt. But before they do, according to Prof Parker, "places need to understand their function and the things that draw people in to the town centres". To reinvigorate them, we need what you might call a Mars bar approach; building town centres which aren't just about buying stuff, but places you can "work, rest and play". In Westcliff-on-Sea, Southend, department store Havens has suffered the fate of many similar bricks and mortar shops. Once a destination store visited by generations of families, the business has always tried to keep up with changing shopping habits. But they saw the writing was on the wall for the shop itself when online sales started to overtake those in store. The Havens family who ran the shop for generations, took the brave step of taking their business purely online. That could have left the large listed building empty and neglected. But now an enterprising boss of a local charity has taken over two floors of the building, in the hope of reimagining the store and the local High Street. Age Concern Southend chief executive Lin Boulter's idea is giving the building a new lease of life, with a very different purpose. She showed us around the building as it was being transformed. "We've got our podiatrist here, public health are doing flu jabs and smoking cessation. We've got a kitchen that is going to be serving the cafe. And we've been working with a local day care provider for up to 15 people a day," she says. Lin Boulter has converted the store into a hub of local services for the elderly, and which now bounces to the sound of belly dancing classes and the quieter hum of various providers - including hairdressers and social services. Age Concern Southend leases the building from the shop's owners, and in turn charges rent from the services that are moving in. It's early days but Lin Boulter hopes to bring people back onto the High Street and provide footfall for other shops in the area. The Havens store now runs its online business on the top floor. The owner Nigel Havens is pragmatic - pleased the building could be saved for a new purpose: "The High Street's important but it needs to change. The thinking is still very much in the past. High Streets everywhere were built for an era 50, 60, 70, 80 years ago. Unfortunately the thinking is still in that era, and what we need to do is to get reasons for the public to come back into the High Street. It won't principally be driven by shopping." It's not just individuals who are making a difference, councils have also got increasingly involved. Stockton-on-Tees High Street faces challenges typical of those in many towns around the country. In the last five years, the town centre has lost more than a hundred stores, according to the Local Data Company. M&S shut up shop last year and Debenhams is due to close this week. The town has earned a reputation for being proactive in its approach, and is re-thinking its centre, how it should look and what it should offer, and is consulting the local community about this. It is also investing heavily in regenerating the area. Richard McGuckin is Stockton-on-Tees council's economic growth and development director. He has been one of the leaders of a move to change the whole profile of their High Street. "We've created what we describe as a large outdoor room so that we've got places for performers and our large sporting events that we have right throughout the year here." The council is renovating the Globe, an Art Deco theatre - with the aim of generating footfall and a financial boost for the local economy of £18m a year. An expansion of an original smaller scheme, and structural problems with the building work have pushed the budget up to £26.7m. The council's share of that has risen from an initial £1.15m to more than £22m - £18.65m of that being borrowed. The council has also bought up key sites - including a large old shopping centre and is considering how to redevelop the area in consultation with the local community. It's on the shortlist of 100 towns bidding for money from the government's Future High Streets Fund to help realise these plans. The council says although these acquisitions will make money, the main motivation is to regenerate the town centre. Stockton is not alone. Councils across the country have spent £775m on buying up shopping centres in the last three years - one in five of those that have changed hands - according to research by retail property organisation Revo and real estate consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton. Some worry about the risk to taxpayers of councils borrowing money to purchase property. But David Renard, chair of the Local Government Association's board of economy, environment, housing and transport, says in the right circumstances it's the right approach. "I think each location needs to make their own choices and decisions on that. Some authorities clearly have. They feel that's the right thing, to be able to have ownership," he says. "There's no doubt that if you own something, it is far easier to regenerate it and do what you want to. So, I think it's a case of horses for courses." It's certainly true that ownership does give the councils a much bigger say in what the future of our High Streets will look like. Whoever owns the sites - it is clear that our needs are changing. If the UK's High Streets are to survive, they need to change as well. We might moan about the decline of the High Street, but it's happening in part because we choose not to shop there. To tempt us back and rejuvenate the High Street and its shops, planners and retailers will have to work together to build a much more enticing offer to get us off our computer screens and bring us back from out of town shopping centres. Business reporter Adam Shaw presents Panorama: How to Save the High Street on BBC One at 8.30pm tonight

हमारी हाई स्ट्रीट्स संकट में हैं। सेंटर फॉर रिटेल रिसर्च के अनुसार हमारी हाई स्ट्रीट्स पर एक दशक पहले की तुलना में लगभग 50,000 कम दुकानें हैं, और कुछ विश्लेषकों का अनुमान है कि यह केवल बदतर होगी।


'A Boko Haram commander's wife persuaded me to escape with her'

Summary: Mohamed was forced to fight for Boko Haram until a commander's wife, Aisha, persuaded him to escape and a four-year-old boy tagged along. The BBC's Stephanie Hegarty met them in an army base in north-east Nigeria.

A young boy is sitting under the shade of a wide neem tree, playing with sticks in the sand. A man, not his father, is watching him closely. And a woman, not his mother, picks him up to go inside. This mismatched family of three has been brought together by the most tragic of circumstance. Until very recently they were total strangers. But they have one thing in common, they were living with Boko Haram in a camp deep in the Sambisa forest before they escaped, just over a month ago. We came to this army base in the north-east to meet the man, Mohamed (not his real name). He was a member of Boko Haram until he decided to run away from the group and surrender to the Nigerian army. From what he tells me, Mohamed must be in his 30s but the wrinkled frown fixed around his eyes makes him look older. He is small with a sturdy frame and wearing a new stripy blue polo shirt given to him by the army - who have facilitated our meeting. When he came out of the forest he said he had nothing. Mohamed joined Boko Haram three years ago, when they took his home town of Banki. He had a small business there buying, selling and repairing mobile phones. As the militants approached, he ran hundreds of miles away towards the border with Cameroon. Trapped by a friend But a friend convinced him to come back to take care of his business, assuring him it would be OK. When he came back, the friend forced him to join the group. "He made me carry his rifle," he said. "I knew he was Boko Haram. I didn't want to join him but I didn't have a choice. I knew he would kill me." For three weeks they rode around attacking villages in the area. He said he disagreed with what they were doing but he feared for his life. "We were just roaming around from village to village to round up women to marry." Soon afterwards, they were pushed out of Banki by the Nigerian army, to a base deep in the Sambisa forest - a vast area on the border between Nigeria and Cameroon. "Our camp was located deep inside the bush where there are big, big trees and we used aluminium roofing sheets to build big houses from mud where we all stayed," he said. "There were about 500 in each camp. Each camp was named for a town. I counted at least 12 camps." But the marauding continued. In his time with Boko Haram, Mohamed said he fought in six battles. "When we captured a town, the emir that led the conquest would be the leader of that town. People were in their houses and we would go house-to-house collecting the women. "Some of the men ran, but if they were members of the vigilante we would kill them. "When we went out to attack, we shot indiscriminately, I have no way of knowing how many people I killed." Phone shop in the forest For the first few years, the militants seemed to be well funded. They paid foot soldiers a wage but when the army bombed the place where they kept the money those salaries dried up. So Mohamed set up shop in the forest, buying and selling phones. "Everybody had a phone. If we go to war, they collected people's phones, they gave them to me and I would sell them." Soon, he was appointed as a bodyguard to a senior commander and had some insight into the workings of the upper echelons of Boko Haram, although he didn't know where the money came from. He told me that as an ordinary soldier he never met the group's leader, Abubaker Shekau. But Shekau would send one of many emissaries from his hiding place to give orders to commanders. As a bodyguard, Mohamed was tasked with guarding the commander's young wife, Aisha (not her real name). Aisha was captured with her young daughter three years ago in the town of Mubi. She was forced to marry three times, each time chosen by a senior commander. "The commander taught me how to shoot," Aisha told me. A few years into her detention, her two-year-old daughter got sick and died. She was desperate to escape. When we spoke, she shielded her lips with her headscarf. She was shy and soft-spoken but defiant. "My husband knew I wanted to run away," she said. "That's why he told his bodyguard to follow me everywhere". But Aisha saw something in this bodyguard that she didn't see in other Boko Haram members. "I knew he was a nice, kind-hearted man," she said. She decided to convince him to escape. The people affected by northern Nigeria's long conflict They started plotting but Mohamed was afraid. He thought the military would punish him if they surrendered. But Aisha had listened to BBC Hausa radio programmes in the bush and heard that the army was offering amnesty to Boko Haram members who defected and she told him it would be OK. They were caught meeting late at night, the commander thought they were having an affair and they were tied up. But Aisha managed to loosen the rope around her wrists, she freed Mohamed and they ran. "I knew the area very well so we just followed the bush," Mohamed explained. They reached a military roadblock and raised their hands in the air to surrender. Since the surrender they said the army has been treating them well. Though we spoke to them in the presence of an army spokesperson, they seemed relaxed. Aisha and Mohamed put their escape down to the fact that Boko Haram was in disarray. One of the group's senior commanders and a founding member, Mamman Nur, defected last year to form his own faction. He took with him many militants and a lot of the arms, ammunition and even tanks that the group had amassed in attacks on the Nigerian army. According to Mohamed, the defection was the result of a profound ideological difference. "Mamman Nur abhors Shekau's use of bombs in towns - the use of suicide bombers, especially women, to attack towns, churches, mosques and markets," he said. As I spoke to Aisha and Mohamed, the little boy who was with them roamed around under their watchful eyes - making the random exclamation of a happy four year old as he kicked about in the sand. When they ran out of the bush that night he had followed them, they explained. They didn't know his name but Aisha recognised his face - she had met him once with his mother in her life before Boko Haram. She doesn't know where his parents are now. We were told by the soldiers accompanying them that Aisha, Mohamed and the boy will be enrolled in a "deradicalisation programme", run by the Nigerian government. The government is hesitant to share any details of that programme. Now their future lies in the hands of the authorities and it is up to them whether this small family of strangers will be allowed to stay together or not. Boko Haram at a glance Who are Boko Haram? Jihadist groups around the world What is jihadism?

मोहम्मद को बोको हराम के लिए लड़ने के लिए मजबूर किया गया जब तक कि एक कमांडर की पत्नी, आयशा ने उसे भागने के लिए राजी नहीं किया और एक चार साल के लड़के को टैग किया। बीबीसी की स्टेफ़नी हेगार्टी ने उनसे उत्तर-पूर्वी नाइजीरिया में एक सैन्य अड्डे में मुलाकात की।


Stormont independent budget watchdog to begin work soon

Summary: An independent budget watchdog for Stormont is to begin work shortly.

By John CampbellBBC News NI Economics & Business Editor It will be chaired by Sir Robert Chote who spent 10 years as the chairman of the UK's Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). He will be joined by Prof Alan Barrett, the director of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) in Dublin. The other members are Northern Ireland-based economists Maureen O'Reilly and Esmond Birnie. The body, which to be known as the Independent Fiscal Council, will make an annual assessment of the Northern Ireland Executive's revenue streams and spending proposals. It will also prepare an annual report on the sustainability of the executive's public finances, including the implications of spending policy and the effectiveness of long-term efficiency measures. An independent body of that sort was first proposed in the Fresh Start political agreement in 2015. Budget oversight councils are common across the world, with an increasing number established in the aftermath of the last financial crisis. The OBR was set up in 2008 and Ireland's Fiscal Advisory Council was established in 2011. Writing in the Financial Times last year, Sir Robert said two principles guided the work of the OBR: "Making the public finances more transparent and highlighting the uncertainty that always surrounds the outlook." He said that included "forensic scrutiny of policy decisions" and "a careful lookout for presentational wheezes". Sir Robert will chair the council for an initial six to nine months during its set-up phase with the possibility of taking on the role for a longer period.

स्टॉर्मॉन्ट के लिए एक स्वतंत्र बजट प्रहरी जल्द ही काम शुरू करने वाला है।


'How I became friends with an octopus'

Summary: Imagine befriending an octopus, swimming alongside the much-feared great white shark, having your face stroked by a rarely seen clawless otter and cradling a wild rock fish in your hands.

By Mohammed AllieBBC News, Cape Town These fascinating, life changing experiences have been documented by South Africans Craig Foster and Ross Frylinck in a newly released book entitled Sea Change - Primal Joy and the Art of Underwater Tracking following eight years of diving without wetsuits and scuba gear in the icy waters of Cape Town. Mr Foster said he developed an amazing relationship with an octopus during the course of his daily dives into what he described as the "golden" underwater kelp forest outside Simon's Town, which lies on the Atlantic side of the Cape peninsula. "I had the privilege of visiting this incredible animal for almost a year. It totally trusted me, lost all fear, it would take me on hunting expeditions and let me into its secret world. "Octopuses have different personalities, some are quite bold, others very shy, she was in between," Mr Foster told the BBC, describing how she would come over and greet him when she became accustomed to his visits. "It is a great privilege to step into that world to learn - not like a mammal - but like a fellow spineless creature in her invertebrate world," he said. Her den was mainly a hole she had dug in the ocean floor, which the diver described as a "proper home". "She hunts over 50 species but you can only find that out when you're allowed into her den and can pick up the bones of the animals she has eaten," he said, referring to the lobster and crab shells he saw. "You realise, my goodness, her life is so detailed and crazily connected to everything around her." 'Human are not on a shark's menu' The diver has also had amazing encounters with great white sharks, possibly some of the ones that have been responsible for attacks on surfers and bathers on surfers and bathers in nearby False Bay over the years. Unlike the aggressive hunters of human flesh they are often portrayed to be, he paints a totally different picture of a magnificent serene animal. "When the great white sees a human it scans us, its search image is picking up something that's not prey. They are not sure what we are, they may be curious but it's not something that's good for them to eat and they know that. "They aren't animals that are after us, if they were, there would be attacks every day. If they see a seal, a fish or some of the other prey that's a different story but humans are not on their menu. "The one attack a year is an aberration. There's something in that person they attack that's triggering a response in that shark, it's incredibly rare. Maybe it's the muscle tension that's high, maybe the shark is in a bad mood. You may also want to read: "I have made eye contact with them. I once had five great whites circling me in open water and I could see no aggression towards me whatsoever," Mr Foster said. "I've had a couple of close meetings with Tiger Sharks but they're also very gentle if you're relaxed. These animals are not the killers they're made out to be." Mr Frylinck, despite a scary maiden encounter with a big shark, has also become more comfortable with the much-feared animal. "White sharks very rarely enter the kelp forest, they patrol the fringes. They swim around this bay which has one of the highest concentrations of white sharks in the world. "One day we were swimming around the edge of the forest and Craig's friend Danny, who was with us, told me a white shark had just swum three to four metres away from my shoulder and had watched me quite intently. He described it as an absolute monster - between four and five metres," Mr Frylinck said. Underwater tracks Mr Foster, an award-winning film-maker of natural history, managed to adapt to the underwater world the tracking techniques he learnt in the Kalahari desert from the San people, widely regarded as being the best trackers in the world. "It involves a number of things like looking at subtle changes in sand and sand texture to see what animals have been around, looking to see if, for example, there's been a kill, if a worm has been digging, slime trails, egg casings - there are a multitude of signs underwater. "Initially I thought it would be impossible to try and track underwater but I was desperate to try and break into this very cryptic world," he said. "This crazy idea was in my mind for a long time and then eventually I started seeing the first underwater tracks, that's when I first thought it could work but I had no idea that I could develop it into such a detailed way understanding of animals underwater." Diving 365 days a year It was this understanding that led to Mr Foster uncovering eight new species of shrimp, one of which - Heteromysis Fosteri - has been named after him. The three new species, mostly bright red to orange in colour with series of either spots or stripes, belong to the genus Heteromysis and differ from previously known species by colour pattern, eye shape and the patterns of spines on their legs and tails. Having managed to meet his commitment to do 365 dives a year, he said his interaction with sea life has made him realise the importance of changing the way he lives. "The whole way I've been taught by other humans to live on this planet is completely unsustainable and I've also realised that these animals, particularly the phytoplankton, provide the oxygen for every breath I take. They provide the basis for every meal I have. "They have taught me that all the financial, political and other issues we hear about in the news are inconsequential compared to that natural foundation that holds everything up and we're chipping away at it," Mr Foster said. "We need to nurture it rather than doing the opposite." All pictures from Sea Change Project.

एक ऑक्टोपस से दोस्ती करने की कल्पना करें, बहुत डर वाली महान सफेद शार्क के साथ तैरना, आपके चेहरे पर शायद ही कभी देखे जाने वाले पंजेदार ऊदबिलाव द्वारा छुआ जाना और अपने हाथों में एक जंगली चट्टान की मछली को पालने की कल्पना करें।


General election 2019: Sajid Javid EU trade deal claim fact-checked

Summary: Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid has said there was not "a single doubt" in his mind that the UK would "have agreed and finalised a very ambitious deep and comprehensive trade deal" with the European Union (EU) before the end of next year.

By Chris MorrisReality Check correspondent, BBC News That's when a post-Brexit transition period is due to come to an end. ""Because there's already an agreement, there's already an agreement in principle. It's there," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. But this is not the case. Tough negotiations What the UK has agreed is the political declaration - a non-binding document setting out the broad direction of travel for negotiations with the EU after Brexit. That document says both sides want "an ambitious, broad, deep and flexible partnership across trade and economic co-operation", based on "a balance of rights and obligations". But the precise details still have to be negotiated. And while "Get Brexit Done" may be a good campaign slogan, slogans don't make trade agreements. Trade agreements are made by tough decisions, technical negotiations and trade-offs. It's not the same thing. March 'start date' Mr Javid said that since Boris Johnson became prime minister the UK had not only negotiated a revised withdrawal agreement with the EU, but had also "negotiated… the outline of a trade agreement". In fact, the EU is not allowed by law to conduct any formal negotiations on a trade deal until after the UK has left. And if Brexit does happen on 31 January, the other 27 EU countries would then need to approve a joint negotiating mandate. That's a process which could take about six weeks, if things go well. So it is unlikely that formal trade negotiations would begin until about mid-March, leaving very little time to discuss the detail. Ratifying any agreement before the end of next year would take several months, so the negotiations themselves would need to be completed by the summer. Trade deals normally take several years to negotiate. The government argues that its deal with the EU is different from other deals because the two sides are already fully aligned when it comes to rules and regulations. That is true - and neither side has an interest in dragging things out. A lot of preparatory work has been done. But a basic rule of trade agreements is it's not about where you start, it's about where you want to end up. Level playing field The UK has made clear that it wants to diverge from EU rules, which will make it more difficult to get a trade agreement done quickly. Both sides have talked about a "zero tariff, zero quota" deal for goods, meaning no extra taxes on imports or limits to how much you can buy and sell from each other. But the EU will be seeking guarantees that the UK intends to respect what are known as "level-playing-field" measures on things like workers' rights and environmental regulations. That's the idea that countries keep their rules and standards closely aligned, to stop one country giving their businesses a competitive advantage - for example by having lower standards and so lower costs. Alongside a deal on goods, there's also the question of services - a huge part of the UK economy - which could take longer to resolve. So a key question for the UK is how it intends to maintain full market access to the EU - its largest trading partner - while also moving away from the current rules of the game. Any number of issues could hold things up. 'Ambitious' timetable It's also important to point out that post-Brexit arrangements are not just about trade - they're about security, immigration, fishing, educational programmes, data-sharing and so on. There are all sorts of things that the government is promising to sort out in record time. So it is an incredibly ambitious timetable, with no guarantee that it can all be done before the end of next year. And it's worth remembering that if trade talks are not completed by December 2020, when the transition period ends, there is the prospect of the UK having no formal trade agreement with the EU at all. The transition could in theory be extended by one or two years, but Boris Johnson has insisted that there will be no extension. Government ministers have been asked repeatedly during this election campaign whether they will rule out leaving with no deal at the end of 2020, but none has been prepared to make that commitment. Instead they are following the prime minister's lead and insisting that everything will be done on schedule. "If you say, can you absolutely guarantee we'll get a deal," Mr Johnson said at a campaign event today, "I think I can." What claims do you want BBC Reality Check to investigate? Get in touch Read more from Reality Check Follow us on Twitter

राजकोष के कुलाधिपति साजिद जाविद ने कहा है कि उनके दिमाग में "एक भी संदेह" नहीं था कि ब्रिटेन अगले साल के अंत से पहले यूरोपीय संघ (ई. यू.) के साथ "एक बहुत ही महत्वाकांक्षी गहरे और व्यापक व्यापार सौदे पर सहमत होता और उसे अंतिम रूप देता"।


St Helier lifeboat back in service after mass resignation

Summary: A lifeboat station is back in service, four days after 25 volunteers resigned in protest against the sacking of a senior crew member.

The RNLI says six crew members have been brought in from the UK to staff the St Helier station in Jersey. The charity said the decision to remove coxswain Andy Hibbs was made due to a "serious risk to its ability to run a safe and effective lifesaving service". Mr Hibbs denies the claim he broke the volunteers' code of conduct. More on St Helier lifeboat and other Channel Island stories here The St Helier station was unmanned for the weekend and members of the public attended a silent protest on Sunday. The charity says the new crew members have come from various parts of the UK, and will remain until the dispute is resolved.

एक वरिष्ठ चालक दल के सदस्य की बर्खास्तगी के विरोध में 25 स्वयंसेवकों के इस्तीफे के चार दिन बाद एक लाइफबोट स्टेशन सेवा में वापस आ गया है।


From Mars Bars to Thunderbirds: Eight things Slough gave the world

Summary: Slough has often been given a rough old time in popular culture - famously drawing the ire of poet John Betjeman and providing the drab, grey and soulless setting for Ricky Gervais's BBC sitcom The Office.

By Adam WhittyBBC News But it has done more for the nation - and indeed the world - than might first be apparent. To celebrate the 80th anniversary of this much maligned Berkshire town receiving its Royal Charter, BBC News has examined the debt of gratitude we all owe Slough. The Mars Bar Ah, I hear you say, but Mars is an American company. You would be right, but the bar that bears the name of its owner and a confectionery empire was actually born in Berkshire. Founder Frank Mars gave his son Forrest the money to set up his own chocolate business in the UK in 1932, and the younger Mars ended up in Slough, where he came up with the nougat and caramel-filled treat. That started the Mars company as we know it. The firm is still in Slough to this day, and developed the Twix, Maltesers, Topic and Starburst (formerly Opal Fruits) brands here. Snooker You might already know that the game of snooker was invented by a young officer in the British army posted to India more than 140 years ago. But did you realise the man behind the sport was a Slough native? Neville Chamberlain (not that one) was born in Upton Park in 1856, and created snooker by combining two forms of pocket billiards games. The name is thought to be derived from army slang for a new cadet - a "snooker" - perhaps in reference to the rawness of play by one of Chamberlain's fellow officers. The zebra crossing The Road Research Laboratory was set up in the Langley area of the town in 1946, and was tasked with creating a pedestrian crossing with road markings that were visible in all conditions. The "Slough Experiment" began, during which all kinds of ways of getting from one side of the road to the other were tested across the town, with laboratory boffins eventually settling on the zebra crossing. The sad news for any road-crossing spotters out there is that the original, created in 1951, is no longer in existence as the area has since been pedestrianised. Thunderbirds While the tropical island setting for Thunderbirds, boasting palm trees and blue seas, was clearly not inspired by the Berkshire town, the popular 1960s puppet programme was made on Slough Trading Estate. Co-creator of the show, the television and film producer Gerry Anderson, moved to Slough in 1959, and his AP films company went on to make a series of other puppet-based children's programmes, including Captain Scarlet, Stingray, Supercar and Joe 90. The wheelie bin According to Biffa, the UK's leading waste management company, the wheelie bin was invented in Slough by a moulding company in 1968 to move waste around its factory. The story goes that a health inspector from Slough Borough Council spotted the bins and recognised that one of the features of their design was the ability to prevent back injury. He supposedly passed the idea on, but it sat in a filing cabinet for 20 years until wheelie bins - ahem - started being rolled out across the country in the 1980s. The first female scientist to be paid The pioneering astronomer Caroline Herschel moved to Slough in 1786, having been born in Germany 36 years previously. In a distinguished career, Herschel discovered eight comets, rediscovered another and assembled a catalogue of 560 previously unrecorded stars. She was also the first woman to be paid for her contribution to science. Herschel was awarded an annual salary of £50 by King George III in 1796 for her role as assistant to her brother, who by then had become Sir William Herschel. The Ford GT40 Famous for winning the Le Mans 24-hour race four times in a row between 1966 and 1969, the Ford GT40 is one of the most iconic racing cars. The GT40 was developed and assembled in humble Slough, on the town's trading estate, on its way to motorsport immortality. Slough was also the base for the McLaren racing team from 1965, and Sir Stirling Moss started his racing career here, driving (completely illegally) around the town's housing estates. Pioneering politicians Slough has the honour of having had both the first black female mayor in the country, and the first turban-wearing Sikh MP. Lydia Simmons moved to Slough at the age of 17 from Montserrat in the Caribbean, and served as a councillor before becoming mayor in 1984. Tanmanjeet Singh "Tan" Dhesi broke similar political ground, having been elected at the 2017 general election as the Labour MP for Slough. You might also be interested in: Correction, 14 September 2018: This story originally stated, erroneously, that Torvill and Dean created their famous ice dance routine, the Bolero, at Slough Ice Arena.

स्लॉ को अक्सर लोकप्रिय संस्कृति में एक मोटा पुराना समय दिया गया है-प्रसिद्ध रूप से कवि जॉन बेटजेमैन के गुस्से को आकर्षित करते हुए और रिकी गेर्वेस के बीबीसी सिटकॉम द ऑफिस के लिए सुस्त, धूसर और आत्मा रहित सेटिंग प्रदान करते हुए।


Shrewsbury - the unofficial home of the British comics industry

Summary: As some of Britain's top cartoonists have been gathering for a festival celebrating their skills, the casual observer might be surprised to learn of its setting - Shrewsbury. So just how has an English market town near the Welsh border become the unofficial capital of the UK cartoon industry?

By Raj BilkhuBBC News It has hosted the festival for 13 years but its connection with comics and cartoons does not stop there - in fact Shrewsbury is home to some of the most celebrated cartoonists working in Britain today. Charlie Adlard, the artist behind the internationally successful series, The Walking Dead, is perhaps the most high profile. In 2010, The Walking Dead was translated into a hit TV series. The post-apocalyptic zombie drama has amassed record-breaking viewing figures in the US, according to Nielsen ratings. Adlard said the catalyst for his life-long drawing hobby was his dad buying him Marvel comics in 1972. "I don't know why Shrewsbury seems to be a hotspot for comic talent. But I was born and raised here so I can claim heritage," he said. In a 20-year career he has been involved in The X-Files, X-Men, Superman and Savage. "Thirteen years ago there was nothing like The Walking Dead. Horror comics are a niche within the niche of comics. "We were lucky. Nobody would think non-superheroes in black and white would be a winning combination," he said. When asked if Shropshire inspired him, he said: "It's ironic - I'm sat in my conservatory office overlooking a lush field on a glorious spring day here in leafy Shrewsbury suburbia, drawing dark stuff. "I briefly considered moving to America but with computers and the internet, there is no need. Living in Shrewsbury is a great get-out clause to avoid Hollywood." But the cartoon industry in the town by no means begins and ends with Adlard. Robbie Morrison, who worked on 2000 AD and co-created Nikolai Dante with Simon Fraser, is also based there. Originally from Glasgow, he arrived in Shropshire via London. His most recent projects include Doctor Who. Morrison's partner Deborah Tate, who met him when she worked for Marvel in London, is another of the town's cartoon mafia. "I found myself in a male-dominated world but it didn't stop me from making a difference," she said. "I read comics as a child but I soon grew out of them. When I joined Marvel, the managing director, Robert Sutherland, preferred non-comic fans who wouldn't drool over art and would get the job done." Tate, who became an editor at Marvel, worked on Sonic the Comic, where she was instrumental in shaping his female sidekick, Amy, from a damsel in distress to a significant character in her own right. "When Robert left Marvel to set up Redan, I did some freelance work in Shrewsbury for him. It seemed like a really nice town; everyone we knew here was having a great time, so we moved too," she said. Another member of the town's comic book glitterati is John Wagner. He is the creator of Judge Dredd, the comic character who has been the star of two sci-fi action films: the 1995 movie starring Sylvester Stallone and the 2012 Dredd with Karl Urban in the lead. Wagner was born in the USA and, like Tate and Morrison, called London home before heading to Shropshire. His weekly comic 2000 AD, which he co-developed with Pat Mills in 1977, gave birth to characters including Strontium Dog and Button Man, as well as Judge Dredd. During the making of the 2012 movie Dredd, one Shrewsbury landmark found itself immortalised on the silver screen, much to the delight of locals. The plot of Dredd revolves around a 200-storey building called Peach Trees Tower - named after Shrewsbury's Peach Tree Restaurant. Restaurant director Chris Burt said Wagner and his associates visited the restaurant a number of times while discussing the film. "They enjoyed it so much that they named the main building in the film after us. We've had lots of comic enthusiasts visiting in the last two or three years who get very excited when they see The Peach Tree," he said. Wagner is the guest of honour at Shrewsbury's International Comic Art Festival this summer, which will also be attended by James Hodgkins, from Dudley, West Midlands, who worked on Batman and Catwoman for DC Comics, and Marvel's Spider-Man: Get Kraven and Daredevil. Also based in Shrewsbury is Redan Publishing. Established by Robert Sutherland after he left Marvel Comics, it produces Disney's US magazine offering. "The company was set up in London but Robert, who was originally from Shrewsbury, decided to move back here 15 years ago and brought the work with him," explains marketing manager Emily Bell. "Apart from rents being cheaper here in Shropshire, it makes little difference where you work because of the internet." As more of the country's cartoon talent sets up in Shropshire, so others are encouraged to follow, for both professional and personal reasons. For instance, John Wagner's partner, Jenny O'Connor, moved from Marvel Comics to Redan Publishing. It all helps explain why the Shrewsbury Cartoon Festival, the brainchild of cartoonist Roger Penwill, is now an established event. "It started as an exhibition and is now in its 13th year. It has a cartoon trail around the town, three exhibitions and live cartooning in the Square," said Bill McCabe, one of the festival committee organisers. "The main focus of the festival is to gather professional cartoonists and showcase the highest level of art." Adlard, who has himself participated in the past, said: "Some people thought cartooning was not comic books, something I strongly disagree with. We are all cartoonists."

जैसा कि ब्रिटेन के कुछ शीर्ष कार्टूनिस्ट अपने कौशल का जश्न मनाने के लिए एक उत्सव के लिए इकट्ठा हो रहे हैं, आकस्मिक पर्यवेक्षक को इसकी सेटिंग-श्रूसबरी के बारे में जानकर आश्चर्य हो सकता है। तो कैसे वेल्श सीमा के पास एक अंग्रेजी बाजार शहर यूके कार्टून उद्योग की अनौपचारिक राजधानी बन गया है?


Coundon teenager Dillon Turner dies after quad bike crash

Summary: A teenager has died after the quad bike he was riding was involved in a crash.

Dillon Turner, 19 from Coundon, County Durham, suffered serious injuries following the incident in Ingleton shortly after 15:00 BST on Tuesday. He was airlifted to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough but later died of his injuries. Mr Turner's family said that they were devastated by his death and would like to be left alone to grieve. Durham Police are appealing for witnesses. Related Internet Links Durham Police

एक किशोर की मौत हो गई है क्योंकि वह जिस क्वाड बाइक पर सवार था, वह दुर्घटना में शामिल हो गई थी।


100 Women: 'Why I fought being banished to a hut during my period'

Summary: An ancient Hindu tradition in which menstruating women are banished to an outhouse is under the spotlight in Nepal after the death of a 15-year-old girl . The practice was banned in 2005 but still continues in western areas. BBC Nepali reporter Krishnamaya Upadhayaya, 24, describes how she has fought against the tradition, known as chhaupadi.

I started menstruating when I was 12. My mother, sisters and sisters-in-law used to stay outdoors in a mud hut when they were menstruating so I started staying there too. I was always afraid of what would happen. I was scared of insects and wild animals. I was told it was a sin to touch books during menstruation so I did not go to school during the three days of my period. I used to wonder why I was not allowed to touch books. I missed school and I wasn't the only one. Many girls in my village faced the same problem. Even today, menstruating women are not allowed to enter their courtyard for seven days and are not allowed to consume dairy products like milk, butter, yoghurt etc. I was very hurt when I was not allowed to enter my own courtyard. During your period, people don't hand you food, they fling it at you. The belief that you must not touch your elders during menstruation still persists. And I still had to deal with it when I moved from Kutari village to Khalanga, the capital of Jumla district, to go to college when I was 17. When I went looking for a room to rent, the landlord asked me if I had begun menstruating. When I truthfully replied that I had, I was turned away. I wanted to cry, I did not know what to do. If I went back home, I would miss my studies but it looked like I would not find a room to rent. Period taboos Finally, I found a room where the landlord said he would allow me to live on the ground floor, but not on the first floor of the house. I agreed to live on the ground floor (as far away from the others and as close to the door as possible). But there were problems. I was not allowed to touch the water tap during my period so someone would have to give me water. I had read that you should maintain hygiene during your period so I used the inside toilet, even though the landlord asked me not to and wanted me to go outside. After spending a month in Khalanga, I started working in radio. I learned more and more about menstruation. When my landlord complained that my menstruation was creating problems for him, I moved. Usually women are not allowed to rent the upper floor in Jumla because they menstruate. This belief persists even among educated people. It has been six years since I started working in radio. I stay in my room during my period. But I do not tell anyone, including my landlord, that I am menstruating, because I am afraid that I will be sent to a shed. One person cannot end a social ill that has been passed down for generations. Change cannot happen unless society accepts it. When I go home to my village, I stay in the house during my period. I stay in my own room. I do not enter the kitchen and prayer room. After protesting many times to my family, I have been able to stay inside the house rather than outside in a mud hut. I hope that one day the chhaupadi tradition, like the Sati tradition (of a widow immolating herself on her husband's pyre), will end. I am very sad to hear of women losing their lives due to the chhaupadi tradition in the mid and far western regions of Nepal. Even in my district, a lot of women live in sheds, so the same thing could happen here too. The government needs to do more to educate people. Chhaupadi is banned but mindsets have not changed. What is 100 women? BBC 100 Women names 100 influential and inspirational women around the world every year. We create documentaries, features and interviews about their lives, giving more space for stories that put women at the centre. Other stories you might like: The taboo of menstruating in India Nepal's 'confined women' want change Parents who regret having children Who is on the BBC's 100 Women 2016 list?

एक प्राचीन हिंदू परंपरा जिसमें मासिक धर्म आने वाली महिलाओं को एक 15 वर्षीय लड़की की मृत्यु के बाद घर से निकाल दिया जाता है, नेपाल में सुर्खियों में है। इस प्रथा पर 2005 में प्रतिबंध लगा दिया गया था लेकिन पश्चिमी क्षेत्रों में अभी भी जारी है। बीबीसी नेपाली रिपोर्टर कृष्णमाया उपाध्याय, 24, बताती हैं कि उन्होंने इस परंपरा के खिलाफ कैसे लड़ाई लड़ी है, जिसे चौपदी के नाम से जाना जाता है।


Mumbai 26/11 attacks: Six corpses, a mobile phone call and one survivor

Summary: The Mumbai terror attacks of 26 November 2008 left 166 people dead and soured ties between India and Pakistan. During the 60-hour siege, the gunmen also ambushed a group of policemen, including three of the city's top officers travelling in a vehicle and killed six of them. The only surviving policeman, Arun Jadhav, tells the grisly story of his escape.

Soutik BiswasIndia correspondent The thick air inside the Toyota SUV stank of gunpowder and blood. In the cramped rear of the squad vehicle, head constable Arun Jadhav helplessly slid down his seat, blood oozing out of gunshot wounds on his right hand and left shoulder. Three constables, two dead and one barely breathing, had collapsed on top of him after being hit by a hail of gunfire from two men firing AK-47s. In the middle seat, the top policeman in charge of the city's anti-terror unit had slammed against the window and died after being shot in the chest. And in the front, gunshots had sliced through an officer and an inspector. In the driver's seat, a senior inspector with a formidable reputation for taking on the city's gangsters, lay slumped over the steering wheel. Outside, a night of hell was descending swiftly on Mumbai. It was the evening of 26 November 2008. India's teeming financial and entertainment capital was in the throes of one of the most shocking terror attacks the world had ever seen. Ten heavily-armed militants, all Pakistani nationals, had arrived by sea in the evening, split into groups, hijacked vehicles and attacked targets, including the main railway station, two luxury hotels, a Jewish cultural centre and a hospital. The 60-hour siege of the city had left 166 dead and soured ties between India and Pakistan. Mr Jadhav and six other policemen had rushed out in the white SUV to take out two of the gunmen who had attacked a hospital for women and children in the heart of the battered city. But the staff had kept their cool and locked the wards of the 367-bed hospital to save the patients. Police had entered the hospital, and a senior officer had fired a round to meet the gunfire coming from an upper floor. The gunmen had left the building and were hiding in a palm-fringed lane behind the hospital when the SUV with dimmed headlights and a flashing red beacon drove up slowly. Within seconds, the hunters became the hunted. The gunmen promptly ambushed the vehicle and emptied two magazines into it. Only Mr Jadhav had been able to respond - firing three shots at the gunmen from the rear of the vehicle - and survive the barrage. The gunmen quickly dragged out the three dead officers from the front and middle seats and dumped them on the street. One of them joked that only one of the dead policemen was wearing a bulletproof vest. They came to the rear to take the three remaining men out, but were unable to open the door. Mohammad Ajmal Amir Qasab and Ismail Khan then drove off with what they thought were four corpses in the rear. In reality, one of them was alive; another was breathing shallowly. The two other men were dead. Suddenly, breaking the silence, a mobile phone began ringing in dying constable Yogesh Patil's pocket. He had forgotten to put it on silent mode before joining the operation. Qasab, who was in the passenger's seat, pivoted around and fired an additional burst of fire into the rear. The bullets ripped through the middle seat, finally killing Mr Patil. Mr Jadhav, unbeknownst to the gunmen, now remained the only policeman alive, bathed in blood and buried under a pile of corpses. "If Qasab had turned his gun a little more I would have been dead." Studies of near-death experiences often report people feeling a sensation of peacefulness and a detachment from the body, seeing a bright light at the end of a tunnel and encountering apparitions. Mr Jadhav, who had cut his teeth fighting crime in Mumbai's gritty neighbourhoods, says he felt nothing of the sort. Memories of his family began unspooling in his mind. He thought his time had finally run out. "I am going to die very soon," Mr Jadhav, now 51, remembers telling himself. "I was remembering my wife, my children, my parents. "This is the end." Mr Jadhav says he made an effort to pick up his loaded automatic rifle which had fallen on the floor, but there was no strength left in his wounded arm. He regretted giving away his 9mm pistol to a colleague before boarding the vehicle. "I could have easily killed the gunmen from the back with a lighter weapon." The vehicle was now being driven recklessly without any direction. At a crossing the gunmen fired at bystanders, sparking further panic. Police had fired at the vehicle and a bullet had hit a rear tyre. The wireless in the vehicle of death crackled with panicky messages of the unfolding attacks. "There's been some firing from a police van just now!" a message said. The gunmen drove around for 20-odd minutes until the punctured tyre wore out. They abandoned the vehicle, stopped a Skoda sedan, pulled out its three terrified riders, hijacked the vehicle and drove off towards the city's seaside boulevard. There, they ran into a police checkpoint. After a gunfight, in which Ismail and a policeman was killed, Qasab became the only gunman to be caught alive. "I had played dead, watching everything from the back," Mr Jadhav says. He had managed to pick up the wireless receiver and radio the control room. He told them about the ambush, the bodies of the policemen in the lane and in his vehicle and sought help. When the ambulance arrived, he walked into it without assistance, and was taken to hospital. Among those who were killed in the vehicle were three of the city's top cops: chief of the city's anti-terrorist squad Hemant Karkare, additional commissioner Ashok Kamte, and Inspector Vijay Salaskar. After joining the Mumbai police in 1988, Mr Jadhav had worked his way up the ranks, and joined Mr Salaskar's team to "eliminate" the city's gangsters. At his one-room home, Mr Jadhav's wife and three school-going children had followed the attacks on TV all night. They had prayed and howled when the news of the ambush broke. From the hospital, Mr Jadhav spoke to his wife briefly early the next morning, after which he was wheeled into surgery to have five bullets removed from his arm and shoulder. Doctors treating him were surprised that he had not gone into shock. He told them he had escaped with bullet injuries twice in the past while chasing gangsters. He was back at work in seven months. Mr Jadhav also became the prime witness in the conviction of Qasab, identifying him in prison, and relating to judges the chilling details of the carnage in the squad vehicle. In May 2010, Qasab was handed the death penalty, and two years later, hanged in a prison in Pune city. Mr Jadhav received gallantry awards for his bravery and was compensated for his injuries. His eldest daughter was provided with a government job, and his two other children - a son and daughter - are in college studying engineering and computer science. Ten years later, life hasn't changed much for Mr Jadav. At work, he continues to chase gangsters, extortionists and car thieves. Two rounds of surgery later, his partially-disabled arm - "It still hurts quite a bit" - means that he has to be extra careful. A few things have changed all right. He has to keep calling his wife whenever he goes out for an "operation", keeping the family informed about his whereabouts - after all, on that fateful November day, he had spent his entire day looking unsuccessfully for a mobster before being called in to help hunt down the militants. On 26 November, the 10th anniversary of the attack, a film containing an interview with Mr Jadhav will be shown near the Gateway of India overlooking the iconic Taj Hotel, which was one of the prime targets. Billboards carrying a picture of him, two other survivors and Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan have sprung up all over Mumbai for a memorial organised by The Indian Express newspaper. But Mr Jadhav, a tough, non-fussy policeman, will not be in the city. He, along with his family, will be visiting a guru's ashram in northern India to take his blessings and "find peace". "Peace of mind can be difficult to keep after such an incident," Mr Jadhav says. "During the nights, when I wake up, I am often unable to sleep again. Some of the memories of the night still return to my mind. "I often wonder how did I come out alive in the carnage? I have no idea. Was I plain lucky? Was it karma? Was it some higher thing? I guess I will never know."

26 नवंबर 2008 के मुंबई आतंकी हमलों में 166 लोग मारे गए और भारत और पाकिस्तान के बीच संबंधों में खटास आ गई। 60 घंटे की घेराबंदी के दौरान, बंदूकधारियों ने एक वाहन में यात्रा कर रहे शहर के तीन शीर्ष अधिकारियों सहित पुलिसकर्मियों के एक समूह पर घात लगाकर हमला किया और उनमें से छह को मार डाला। एकमात्र जीवित पुलिसकर्मी, अरुण जाधव, अपने भागने की भयानक कहानी बताता है।


Why for the NSA every call matters

Summary: The revelation that the National Security Agency (NSA), America's eavesdropping organisation, had asked mobile phone operator Verizon for phone information relating to millions of customers highlights the growing importance of "communications data" in intelligence and forensics work.

Mark UrbanDiplomatic and defence editor, BBC Newsnight Critical to an understanding of these techniques, which have been in use by the NSA on a large scale since 2005, and which the British security authorities would like to employ on the same scale, is that these methods do not in the main relate to what is being said, simply to the details of communications such as which phone number was called by a particular subscriber and for how long. It was in Iraq, acting in support of the secret Joint Special Operations Command, that the NSA started to record the details of every phone call made in the country. They did not have enough translators to listen to the vast majority of these calls or to assess their possible value, that was not the point. What they found was that within months their bulk database of call details would allow them to break open terrorist networks with dramatic speed. Landing by helicopter to raid a target, teams from Delta Force or the SAS would find telephones, sometimes prized from the hands of dead men dressed in suicide vests. The number might never have been registered before as one of interest, but within seconds NSA experts could discover every call made on it for months before, mapping the dead bomber's connections with other individuals. This was only possible because of the blanket recording of all call details. The use of what special operators in Iraq referred to simply as "the database" quickly grew so refined that software was developed to map networks (spotting that some numbers relevant to only one member, for example, might be family members) and that a portable, laptop-sized, terminal tapping into it started to be carried on raids. By 2006 teams of special operators using the terminal could hit one member of an al-Qaeda cell, and hunched over the computer in a half destroyed Iraqi house, find other members through the database, fix the location of these phones and perform a "bounce on", jumping back into their helicopters to raid the next target. Seeing the extraordinary effects of these techniques in the field, the NSA sought to apply them to domestic communications from 2006 onwards. Since the recording of this data does not include the content of the conversations, it can be extended to US citizens more easily and does not require a warrant. It soon became apparent to people at the eavesdropping organisation that collecting information on this scale, relating to tens of millions of calls each day, and then keeping it for months or even years would require a vast new data centre to store the information. So it began work on its $2bn Utah facility, where a ribbon cutting ceremony was held this week. British intelligence people working in Iraq with the UK special operators (the task forces codenamed Black, Knight, and Spartan) saw these techniques and were duly impressed. They too wanted to apply them in the domestic counter-terrorist or criminal arenas. It had in fact been the practise for many years (since the 1984 Telecommunications Act, for example) for British operators to keep customers' "billing information" for access by the government and for this to be possible without the same level of legal proof or suspicion as eavesdropping on the calls themselves. The moves to put broad categories of "communications data" into the so called "snoopers' charter" represents an evolution of this.

यह रहस्योद्घाटन कि अमेरिका के जासूसी संगठन, राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा एजेंसी (एनएसए) ने मोबाइल फोन ऑपरेटर वेरिज़ोन से लाखों ग्राहकों से संबंधित फोन जानकारी मांगी थी, खुफिया और फोरेंसिक कार्य में "संचार डेटा" के बढ़ते महत्व को उजागर करता है।