The growing threat to our recovery

Summary: I've returned from my short break to a world that looks pretty messy - and (very sorry) I am suffering from a degree of trepidation at the start of the new school term (and that's not just because of my beloved Arsenal's traditionally erratic start to the new season).

Robert PestonEconomics editor Let's start with a bit of cheery news: Japan is showing signs of breaking free from two decades of stagnation in pay; wages in July rose at their fastest pace for more than 17 years, and they have been increasing for five months. Just maybe Japan's pernicious deflationary pressures are easing. But that may be a new version of Japanese exceptionalism, because the same cannot be said of a far more important market for British firms - the eurozone, where deflationary pressures remain a concern. The German and Italian economies are shrinking, and France is flat-lining (in case of interest, I am making a documentary about whether France can ever again afford "le good life"). Unemployment remains hideously, intractably high - 11.5% for the eurozone as a whole. And the nature of the eurozone's latest malaise makes it less amenable than hitherto to short-term fixes. Or, to put it another way, when the eurozone was on the brink of fracture and Armageddon three years ago, it could be salvaged by a European Central Bank promising to flood broken banks with cheap money. Eurozone banks remain damaged. But the eurozone's problems have matured (ahem) and are now rather less due to the hobbled nature of the banking system - as the European Central Bank's president Mario Draghi made clear in his gloomy tour d'horizon at the annual Jackson Hole shindig of central bankers a few days ago. If businesses and consumers aren't investing and spending enough across the Channel, part of that - in countries like Italy - is that the cost of bank finance remains a bit elevated. But the more fundamental and important problem is that animal spirits are depressed: households won't spend because they fear for their livelihoods and businesses won't invest because they don't have confidence that demand for their goods and services is on a sustainable rising path. What is required, as Draghi implied, are reforms of labour and product markets in Italy and France, to make their economies more flexible and competitive, and a government-induced stimulus in Germany. Neither look very likely right now: Mrs Merkel in Germany still does not wish to bail out other countries seen as profligate; governments in Italy and France hate the politics of shrinking the state and attacking entrenched working practices. What's more the European Union's stand off with President Putin over his military support for separatists in Eastern Ukraine raises the spectre of a winter of uncertain EU access to vital supplies of Russian gas and a complete hiatus in Russian buying from the EU. None of which is to say that the European Central Bank has been completely neutered. But it does mean that further details it will give of plans to cut the cost of money at its monthly press conference on Thursday are just more pain suppressors - they aren't any kind of fundamental cure for the euro area. This tension, between what's good for the global economy and domestic political imperatives, seems as pernicious as ever. This rubric may to some extent explain Putin's apparent desire to rebuild a Greater Russia: are his forays in Ukraine an attempt to shift attention away from a failure to channel the income from vast energy wealth into modernising the economy and improving its capacity to deliver rising living standards? In China, an economic slowdown caused by the imperative of tackling a dangerous debt bubble - what I've discussed in this column as the important third-phase of global rebalancing - has not made the government any more tolerant of a hunger in some parts, especially Hong Kong, for greater economic freedoms. And if the conflict between the authorities and Hong Kong protesters were to intensify, that would not be happy for any of us (I am making the assumption here, which not everyone accepts, that democracy is a firmer base for rising prosperity than autocracy). As for hideous conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Israel, Gaza and Libya, the whole of the Middle East looks perilously close to the worst conflagration in living memory. And if that doesn't lead to higher energy prices and a general sense of unease that undermines economic activity, then history is no reliable guide at all. None of which means that the great British and American economic revivals are dead yet. But it does suggest that the momentum of growth will have to continue to be largely provided by consumption and domestic demand, rather than accelerating exports and investment. And in the case of the UK in particular, that would yield a rather shorter date to the end of this rapid phase of recovery - because (and you really don't need me to tell you this) neither indebted UK consumers and a high-borrowing British government have the wherewithal to spend as if there's no tomorrow (we tried that; it wasn't an especially happy experience).

मैं अपने छोटे से ब्रेक से एक ऐसी दुनिया में लौट आया हूं जो बहुत गंदी दिखती है-और (बहुत खेद है) मैं नए स्कूल कार्यकाल की शुरुआत में कुछ हद तक घबराहट से पीड़ित हूं (और यह सिर्फ मेरे प्रिय आर्सेनल की पारंपरिक रूप से अनियमित शुरुआत के कारण नहीं है।


Italy election: What does the result mean?

Summary: The leaders of two anti-establishment parties - The Five Star Movement and the anti-illegal migrant League party - are setting their sights on power after Italians backed populist politicians in the general election. The BBC's James Reynolds, in Milan, looks at what the result means for the country.

Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini were once outsiders in Italian politics. They have now become the mainstream. Italian voters, when they're fed up, have a habit of trying out new voices. In 1994, following corruption scandals, the country re-aligned itself. Now, to a certain extent, Italy is repeating its old experiments. Five Star began in 2009 as a radical, even anti-political party. For years, it was dominated by its co-founder, the comedian Beppe Grillo. Earlier this year, he decided to stand back from the party. In retrospect, this looks like a smart move. It allowed the movement to prove that it represents more than the loud visions of a single, occasionally conspiratorial-sounding man. The movement made a big point of running alone in this election (by contrast, other major parties teamed up into electoral alliances). But the feature that gives the party its strength - its independence - may now become its weakness. In order to form a government, Five Star must find coalition partners. Its inexperience in working with others may be a disadvantage in the practical business of coalition building. So, which way will Five Star turn? It's possible that the party will reach out to defeated centre-left Democratic Party, and to other smaller groupings. Alternatively, Five Star may hope to convince the League party to join a coalition as a junior partner. The two parties share a scepticism of Italy's relationship with the European Union. They also share several domestic views, including a hostility towards mandatory vaccinations for children. But the League party is in no mood to take the small chair at the table. In Milan, party leader Matteo Salvini insisted that his organisation has itself earned the right to lead the country. The League has risen dramatically in recent years. It was founded in 1991 as a secessionist party, which scorned what it viewed as the scrounging southern part of the country. But the League now seeks the lead the country it once wanted to break apart. The party has increased its support partly by swapping its enemies. Instead of criticising southerners, the party now campaigns against illegal migrants. Matteo Salvini has promised the mass deportation of those who've come to Italy illegally - a position that's clearly won him support. Crucially, the League has overtaken Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia as the biggest grouping within the centre-right alliance. Mr Berlusconi, 81, will now have to find a new way of retaking centre stage. He may be commiserated by his fellow former prime minister, the Democratic Party's Matteo Renzi - who was also heavily defeated in this vote. In 1994, Mr Berlusconi was Italy's fresh voice. Twenty years later, Mr Renzi took his turn as the energetic new face in Italy's politics. But the country's voters have repeatedly proven that new faces don't always last. That's a sobering warning for Luigi Di Maio and Matteo Salvini.

दो सत्ता-विरोधी दलों के नेता-द फाइव स्टार मूवमेंट और एंटी-लीगल माइग्रेंट लीग पार्टी-आम चुनाव में इटालियंस द्वारा लोकलुभावन राजनेताओं का समर्थन करने के बाद सत्ता पर अपनी नज़रें जमा रहे हैं। मिलान में बीबीसी के जेम्स रेनॉल्ड्स देखते हैं कि देश के लिए परिणाम का क्या मतलब है।


Viewpoint: Mueller called it (largely) right on Trump

Summary: Jubilation, anger and simple relief it's finally here - Americans responded to the partial release of the special counsel's report in a number of ways. But what about the legal issues raised? Jonathan Turley, professor of constitutional law at George Washington University, gives his view.

For millions of Americans, Robert Mueller's headline findings have hit hard. Even after two years of preparation, many Americans were not prepared to hear that President Donald Trump would not only complete his term in office but might not even be charged with a single crime in the Russian investigation. Mr Mueller himself seemed to sense the shock that would come with his findings. After finding categorically that no crime of collusion occurred, he hedged on the question of obstruction by saying that while he did not conclude the president committed a crime, he also did "not exonerate him." Mr Mueller seemed to be following an old joke about a man who calls his brother who has been house sitting during a long trip. The brother immediately says "Fluffy is dead." The man yells at his brother that this is not how you tell someone their cat is dead - rather you build it up by first saying the cat is "stuck on the roof and then call back to say she fell". After the brother apologised, the man asked how their mom is doing, and the brother paused and replied: "Mom's stuck on the roof..." The slight roundabout way of clearing President Trump had about the same effect - it was little comfort. People had invested Mr Mueller with their hopes for a premature termination of the Trump administration. After Attorney General William Barr concluded that Mr Trump had not committed criminal obstruction, the inescapable fact was that he is likely to finish his term of office. There, I said it. In reality, we never really needed the "roof" build-up. 1. Collusion Let's start with collusion. For two years, I have written that the theories of collusion crimes were factually and legally flawed. Nevertheless, people tuned into channels like CNN and MSNBC where they heard legal experts assure them that collusion was clear and criminal charges imminent. This echo-chamber viewing actually convinced millions that Trump would be frog-walked to a federal penitentiary with his Russian handlers. It was all part of the collusion delusion. The grand collusion conspiracy was never particularly convincing. It would have Trump or his family or aides helping to hack computer systems and then arrange for the leaking of the information through WikiLeaks. There was never any explanation on why Russian intelligence would take such a risk and place itself at the mercy of a serial social media user. Then there is the implausible meeting of this secret cell in Trump Tower with half of the world's media downstairs. The Russians in the meeting did not even know who would attend. It lasted roughly 15 minutes and focused virtually entirely on the ban on Russian adoptions (an issue that the Russian lawyer had long lobbied against). While evidence of criminal wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton was promised, nothing was disclosed. Then there was the interest in Trump and people like Roger Stone in obtaining the WikiLeaks emails. The question is why such efforts were necessary for co-conspirators. Virtually every reporter and political operative in Washington was trying to get access to the same material. Yet legal experts still proclaimed that crimes from collusion to conspiracy to treason were already established. None of that changed as Mueller filed numerous indictments and memorandums with courts that conspicuously omitted any evidence supporting collusion. Collusion was the crime of hope over experience and a wide array of pundits and politicians kept hope alive until Mueller dispatched the theory in his report in roughly two dozen words: "[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities." 2. Obstruction Obstruction was always a closer question. Some of us opposed the appointment of a special counsel before Mr Trump fired FBI Director James Comey. When he took that self-defeating step, the situation changed - many of us called for a special counsel because now there was a possible crime of obstruction. It did not make it a strong claim and I questioned its viability, but it deserved to be investigated. The problem was that Mr Trump never fired Mr Mueller. He was never accused of destroying evidence. He never forced the investigation to a premature end. To be sure, he acted in a highly inappropriate and objectionable way. Indeed, he almost counterpunched his way into an obstruction case. Yet, despite his best efforts, he failed. Obstruction is based on a state of mind. When Mr Mueller found that there was no evidence of collusion, it undermined such an obstruction case. It could still occur but Mr Trump needed to intend to obstruct the investigation. The problem is that Mr Trump's irresponsible and self-defeating tweets on the investigation were consistent with such statements in a myriad of other areas from immigration to North Korea. He maintained that the investigation was not only based on a false allegation but the result of a Deep State conspiracy. Indeed, a federal appellate court in February just reaffirmed what many of us (including Barr himself) have been trying to point out - obstruction crimes are narrowly construed by the courts to establish a close "nexus" between the alleged misconduct and an official proceeding. The Fourth Circuit was the latest court to throw out a conviction on that basis in United States v Young last month. Notably, the court cited the case of Arthur Anderson v United States, which two of Mr Mueller's top aides lost before the Supreme Court by overextending such language. The fact that Mr Trump refused to be interviewed on obstruction was not likely determinative. Most targets do not give testimony before a grand jury and prosecutors base their decision on the rest of the record. If Mr Trump's testimony was determinative, Mr Mueller could have sought to force it or he could have stated that the absence of the testimony was the reason why he could not reach a final decision. However, all the president had to do is continue to repeat that he fired Mr Comey because of his poor record and attacked the investigation because it was launched in the absence of a crime (which Mr Mueller himself confirmed could not be established). Ultimately, Mr Mueller punted on the ultimate question. Mr Barr explained that Mr Mueller did "not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him." However, both the attorney general and his deputy took just two days to say the obvious - there was no obstruction case to be made. In other words, the obstruction indictment was stuck on the roof. In the end, everyone but the public came out ahead. The president was not charged and used the investigation to rally his base. The Democrats used the investigation to help retake the House of Representatives. The media enjoyed massive ratings in pushing the collusion allegations. Everyone had windfall benefits except the public, which was left feeling like chumps or victims or both. Yes, Mr Trump will finish his term. But the distemper - and the investigations - will continue up to the 2020 elections. Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and served as the last lead defence counsel in an impeachment in the US Senate

खुशी, गुस्सा और सरल राहत आखिरकार यहाँ है-अमेरिकियों ने विशेष वकील की रिपोर्ट के आंशिक विमोचन पर कई तरीकों से प्रतिक्रिया दी। लेकिन उठाए गए कानूनी मुद्दों के बारे में क्या? जॉर्ज वाशिंगटन विश्वविद्यालय में संवैधानिक कानून के प्रोफेसर जोनाथन टर्ली अपना विचार देते हैं।


Emmys 2017: Your guide to the best US TV drama

Summary: We are, as we are regularly told, in a golden age of TV - and the cream of the current crop will be rewarded when this year's Primetime Emmy Awards are handed out in Los Angeles on Sunday.

By Ian YoungsEntertainment & arts reporter Five of the seven nominees in the most keenly contested category - outstanding drama series - are new shows. Game of Thrones, which has won for the past two years, is not eligible this time. With so many new shows having made a splash over the past year, you'd be forgiven for not having caught up with them all. Here's a rundown of the best American TV drama series, as per the Emmy best drama category. Westworld Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton In a nutshell: A Wild West theme park is populated with life-like robots programmed to indulge the every whim of wealthy tourists. As the visitors live out their fantasies and the "hosts" behave in unexpected ways, the show explores the nature of consciousness and humanity itself. Total 2017 Emmy nominations: 22 Made by: HBO Stranger Things Stars: Winona Ryder, Millie Bobby Brown, David Harbour In a nutshell: A feast of '80s nostalgia and supernatural thrills, the show follows a group of bike-riding boys who stumble upon some terrifying paranormal goings-on in their small town. Contains shadowy government agents, monsters and portals to another dimension. Emmy nominations: 18 Made by: Netflix The Crown Stars: Claire Foy, Matt Smith, John Lithgow In a nutshell: The royal family has always been one big soap opera. But in The Crown it actually is one big soap opera - albeit a classy, big-budget one. It follows the ups and downs of Queen Elizabeth II (Foy), Prince Philip (Smith) and their clan from the 1950s on. Emmy nominations: 13 Made by: Netflix The Handmaid's Tale Stars: Elisabeth Moss, Joseph Fiennes, Ann Dowd In a nutshell: In a dystopian alternate reality, there's been a fertility crisis and a chilling fundamentalist religious revolution in the US. All fertile women are handmaids - slaves whose sole purpose is to bear children for their powerful host families. Adapted from Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel. Emmy nominations: 13 Made by: Hulu This Is Us Stars: Sterling K Brown, Milo Ventimiglia, Chrissy Metz In a nutshell: More domestic than the other nominees but no less dramatic, the show switches between 1980 and 2016 and centres on several people who are 36 on the same day. We follow a dad who's 36 when his wife goes into labour in 1980, and their twins and adopted son 36 years later. Emmy nominations: 10 Made by: NBC Better Call Saul Stars: Bob Odenkirk, Jonathan Banks, Rhea Seehorn In a nutshell: While all of the above are new shows, this Breaking Bad spin-off/prequel is three seasons in. It follows the scrapes and schemes of dodgy lawyer Jimmy McGill as he teeters along the straight and narrow and edges closer to becoming Breaking Bad's Saul Goodman. Emmy nominations: 9 Made by: AMC House of Cards Stars: Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly In a nutshell: The veteran of the pack, House of Cards has been nominated for best drama series five years in a row. Season five saw Spacey's Shakespearean president and his wife and political ally/rival Claire (Wright) grapple with the fallout of a disputed election. Emmy nominations: 7 Made by: Netflix The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards begin on Sunday at 17:00 Los Angeles time (Monday 01:00 BST). Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

हम, जैसा कि हमें नियमित रूप से बताया जाता है, टीवी के स्वर्ण युग में हैं-और वर्तमान फसल की क्रीम को पुरस्कृत किया जाएगा जब इस साल के प्राइमटाइम एमी पुरस्कार रविवार को लॉस एंजिल्स में दिए जाएंगे।


Charles Bronson to stand trial over Wakefield 'jail attack'

Summary: Inmate Charles Bronson is to stand trial over an alleged attack on a man at HMP Wakefield.

The 65-year-old is charged with assault by beating over the alleged attack at the high security jail on 25 January. The case was listed under his birth name, Michael Gordon Peterson, as well as his current alias Charles Salvador, the Yorkshire Evening Post reported. Bronson, who is serving a life term for robbery and kidnap, will go on trial at Leeds Magistrates' Court on 18 July.

कैदी चार्ल्स ब्रोंसन पर एच. एम. पी. वेकफील्ड में एक व्यक्ति पर कथित हमले के लिए मुकदमा चलाया जाना है।


Pokemon Go: Trailblazer that could redefine mobile games

Summary: It seems stranger than fiction, but Pokemon Go - an app that has triggered a global phenomenon where millions of people obsessively capture small creatures in public spaces - was first introduced as an April Fool's Day joke.

By Rob CrossleyVideo games writer In 2014, YouTube published a mock sales pitch called Google Maps: Pokemon Challenge, which showed the corporation's maps app overtaken by colourful monsters. The video asked recruits to track down these critters using their phone's GPS location data, and then capture them using their camera. If you are still unsure about how to play Pokemon Go, or what it is, Google's prank provides a pretty good guide. It's perhaps no coincidence that the studio that developed today's blockbuster app, Niantic Labs, is itself a spin-out from Google. Up until now, the central concept of mobile games has been something that can be enjoyed anywhere. They are pit-stops in daily routines. But few games encourage playing while on the move like Pokemon Go does. In order to succeed, players have to travel to destinations and visit landmarks previously unknown to them. In doing so, the Pokemon Company - and Nintendo, which has a large stake in it - may have just harnessed the true potential of mobilised gaming. This a watershed moment for augmented reality in particular. The concept has been around for more than a decade but has never before achieved this level of mainstream awareness. Augmented reality games use a device's sensors to mix together the virtual and real worlds, allowing players to, for instance, fight a dragon circling Big Ben or take down a spaceship zipping through your lounge. Read more: Pokemon Go unleashed in UK Five random Pokemon stories Nintendo shares up more than 50% Pokemon fixes Google error Pokemon Go is a monster hit Innovations, as self-evidently important as they are, don't tend to write the history of the games industry. Usually, it is the trendsetters that shape its future. Doom wasn't the first shooter that depicted the world through the eyes of its hero, Street Fighter 2 wasn't the first one-on-one brawler, and Candy Crush was hardly the first game of rearranging items in lines, but all three were the trailblazers that set their respective genres alight. Pokemon Go is not even the first augmented reality title to win critical acclaim. In 2012, London developer Six to Start released Zombies, Run!, an audio-only exercise game that tasks joggers with fleeing from the undead, with the sounds of groans in their ears. A year later, developer Niantic Labs released Ingress, which tasks players with finding virtual items dotted around the real world using a smartphone's GPS. Although it has since been downloaded more than 14 million times, it is now perhaps best known for being the precursor to the same studio's Pokemon-themed follow-up. The likelihood that other developers are now frantically working on games with similar conceits - collecting and interacting with virtual items in the real world - is very high. Walking billboards What Pokemon Go has demonstrated so effectively is that augmented reality games can be extraordinarily viral if developed in a certain way. On social media, thousands of players are posting images of Pokemon creatures dwelling in random locations and historical landmarks. This in itself has become a game of one-upmanship, to the extent that one Twitter user even snapped a picture of a monster while he was being pulled over by the police. It is Pokemon Go's presence in the real world that sets it apart. Its millions of players have effectively become walking advertisements by shuffling through busy streets with their smartphones held aloft, in the hope of catching their next creature. Popular sightseeing locations, such as New York's Central Park, as well as more obscure ones, including an Australian suburb, have been bustling with crowds of players looking for rarer and elusive Pokemon. For now, the game is a little barebones and free to play. Its developer currently makes money from the optional power-ups and virtual items that can be bought within the title. But Niantic is already in talks with various companies who want to buy sponsored locations within the game. This is a new kind of revenue stream for a games developer and, at a time where traditional income routes are somewhat challenged, is something that will certainly turn heads if successful. The iPhone and Android have revolutionised the games industry by ushering in a new era of lightweight and compulsive games enjoyed in small chunks; on commutes into work and while queuing at the Post Office. Pokemon Go takes that idea one step further. Here, the great outdoors isn't just a place to play games, but now an interactive playground to explore. Rob Crossley was GameSpot's first UK editor, and previously worked for video games sites including Develop, Edge and CVG.

यह कल्पना की तुलना में अजनबी लगता है, लेकिन पोकेमॉन गो-एक ऐप जिसने एक वैश्विक घटना को जन्म दिया है जहां लाखों लोग सार्वजनिक स्थानों पर छोटे जीवों को जुनूनी रूप से पकड़ते हैं-पहली बार अप्रैल फूल डे मजाक के रूप में पेश किया गया था।


Lewis Bagshaw death: Man in court charged with murder

Summary: A 20-year-old man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a man who died after being found with stab wounds to his chest.

Lewis Bagshaw, 21, died in hospital after being found on Piper Crescent in Southey, Sheffield, on 21 July. Jervaise Bennett, of Bishopholme Close, Shirecliffe, was remanded in custody at Sheffield Magistrates' Court on Thursday. He is due to appear at Sheffield Crown Court on Friday. A 16-year-old boy, also charged with murder, was remanded in custody at Sheffield Crown Court on Wednesday. More stories from Yorkshire Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk.

एक 20 वर्षीय व्यक्ति अदालत में पेश हुआ है, जिस पर एक व्यक्ति की हत्या का आरोप है, जिसकी छाती पर चाकू के घावों के साथ मौत हो गई थी।


Encephalitis: 'I couldn't remember my boyfriend'

Summary: Georgia Lee still can't remember going to university.

For a while, the 23-year-old also couldn't remember anything about her boyfriend. Georgia lost five years from her memory when she got encephalitis at 22. It's a potentially life-threatening swelling of the brain that can be caused when certain viruses spread through the body. "I had a constant headache for about two weeks in one spot of my forehead," Gemma tells Radio 1 Newsbeat. "No tablets were working. Then one day, I messaged my boyfriend making absolutely no sense whatsoever." When Georgia's dad checked in on her later, he realised something was wrong and she was rushed to hospital. At first, medics thought she had meningitis but after suffering a seizure, she was diagnosed with encephalitis. The Encephalitis Society estimates, that every year it affects around 500,000 people worldwide - with about 6,000 of those cases coming from the UK. When she was in hospital and asked how old she was, Georgia said she was 17 - because she couldn't remember anything past that age. Georgia says she still feels younger than 23 and her memory has never fully returned - with sixth form and her uni degree a total blank. Her recovery has including re-learning everyday tasks most people would take for granted, like getting public transport or visiting friends. "Normal things like getting on a bus on my own, going into the shops or going over to somebody's house are big steps for me now," she says. She also had to do her driving test again as she has no memory of doing it when she was 18. And it's affected her relationships too. To start with, Georgia had to get reacquainted with her boyfriend. "I had to get to know him all over again, same as all my university friends," she says. "He was a bit nervous to begin with. Then he took it bit by bit. He'd tell me about our past and show me pictures of everything. 'The food I eat now is everything I used to hate' Georgia's encephalitis was caused by the herpes virus, but instead of forming a cold sore on her lip, it went into her throat before moving to her brain. Side affects can vary but along with the memory loss, Georgia lost her sense of taste and smell - neither of which have recovered. "I have no sense of smell at all. I can taste really spicy and sweet food but that's about it. I recently ordered a pizza with anchovies, pineapple and gherkin in a restaurant. "Basically, everything I can taste is food that I used to hate." When she can't taste something, Georgia covers everything in either hot sauce or tomato ketchup to strengthen the flavour. 'My friends have already got their dream jobs' Encephalitis has taken some of Georgia's past, but she's now worried about the effect it might have on her future. "I try and have a positive outlook but I tend to find it a lot easier to look at the negatives," she says, adding that job hunting with no memory of her university studies is a real challenge. "If I don't really have anything to say to them about my sixth form or my degree, then what can I offer them for the job?" It's also been a struggle reconnecting with her friends, who are now in different places in their lives to where she is. "A lot of my friends have already got their dream jobs, already got houses with their partners, all of that," she says. "I just feel like it's going to be a very long time until I can do that and move on and gain the confidence in myself." But Georgia is optimistic about her future and remains positive as her recovery continues. "I do wish I remembered my university. But I always think I am lucky that it's only five years and not my whole life that's gone." Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays - or listen back here.

जॉर्जिया ली को अभी भी विश्वविद्यालय जाना याद नहीं है।


Letter confirms Star Wars Forest of Dean filming

Summary: A thank you note apparently written by the new Star Wars film's producers and sent to the cast and crew confirms that part of the movie was shot in Gloucestershire.

The letter was written to mark the final day of shooting on Episode VII. It thanks the "extraordinary" cast and crew for working "from the deserts of Abu Dhabi, to the Forest of Dean, to the stages of Pinewood". Star Wars Episode VII is scheduled for release on 18 December 2015. The BBC went to Puzzlewood in the Forest of Dean in July where film crews were assembling, although nobody would confirm that it was for Star Wars. Film and TV productions shot on location in Puzzlewood include Doctor Who, Merlin, Jack the Giant Slayer and Atlantis.

स्पष्ट रूप से नई स्टार वार्स फिल्म के निर्माताओं द्वारा लिखा गया और कलाकारों और चालक दल को भेजा गया एक धन्यवाद नोट इस बात की पुष्टि करता है कि फिल्म का हिस्सा ग्लूस्टरशायर में शूट किया गया था।


Mr Salmond, just one more thing......

Summary: One of the enduring joys of this rough trade of journalism is the opportunity to chat and gossip with politicians, from the aspiring to the senior. Only surpassed by the chance to be cheeky, on air or in print.

Brian TaylorPolitical editor, Scotland@tannadiceladon Twitter In that regard, I may be said to resemble Columbo, the TV detective. There is always one last question to ask - and I am always touchingly grateful for the opportunity. (Who said my dress sense is similar too? Take that person's name.) Most such conversations vanish into the ether. Hugely important at the time, impossible to recall a week or two later. But several little chats have stuck with me. For some reason, I recall one particular exchange with a senior Opposition politician at Holyrood who said: "If I have to endure another 'historic day', I will scream." This was around the time when the details for the referendum were slowly and steadily being disclosed. The question, the franchise, the date. I could, to some extent, understand my interlocutor's exasperation. The process had been nobly milked by the governing party, led by Alex Salmond. However, I demurred. (Not something I am wont to do. Usually, I listen attentively, muttering encouragement as information is disclosed. See comparison above.) On this occasion, I pointed out that the details of the referendum were historic - and, indeed, were seen as such by the bulk of the Scottish population. Historic days Further, I noted that directing the political agenda was a function of government. The SNP had won two successive elections - the latter with an overall majority. They were perfectly entitled to advance their plans for a referendum, "historic days" and all. An inconsequential tale, I know. But it came back to me because we are presently in the midst of another series of historic days. No doubt my confidant is fuming, gently. Today, for example, Alex Salmond resigns as First Minister, having already demitted office as SNP leader. Tomorrow, Nicola Sturgeon, his successor, will be elected as Holyrood's nominee for the top governmental job. (The actual appointment is made by Her Majesty the Queen.) In addition, Ms Sturgeon will be the first woman to hold the post of First Minister. History all around us. TV documentary - Alex Salmond: A Rebel's Journey Naturally, these events will be covered compendiously by BBC Scotland: on the telly, on the wireless, online. However, it struck us that that such historic developments merited additional consideration. Consequently, we have prepared an hour-long documentary to be broadcast on Wednesday evening: the day of the governmental handover. But what to feature? Should we simply rerun the battles of the referendum, the core issues which arguably determined the outcome? On balance, no. Those topics will still be germane in the wider political debate ahead. They will not be neglected. Do we, then, assemble supporters and detractors to exchange insults over Alex Salmond. "He's a political giant!" "He's an egotist!" Again, on balance, no. Such has been the stuff of daily discourse for years. Such, no doubt, will continue, fading slowly. Tales from the inside Instead, we opted to construct the narrative as contemporary history. What was it like to witness the Salmond years from the inside: as colleagues, as political opponents? What is the true measure of the man? So close colleagues of the departed First Minister - and Alex Salmond himself - tell tales from the inside. His early years in politics. His election as leader - and first resignation. His unexpected return. His ascent to Holyrood power. His conduct of the referendum. His ultimate defeat in that. His resignation, take two. Opponents and analysts who observed these events at close quarters give their alternative take. Our only requirement was that the contributors must have played a real part in the narrative. They had to be there. Enjoy the programme, if you get a chance. And, to my former interlocutor, apologies. There's bound to be something on the other side. Inferior, but something.

पत्रकारिता के इस कठिन व्यापार की स्थायी खुशियों में से एक है राजनेताओं के साथ बातचीत करने और गपशप करने का अवसर, आकांक्षी से लेकर वरिष्ठ तक। केवल चुटीले, ऑन एयर या प्रिंट होने के अवसर से आगे निकल जाता है।


Brexit: Dublin dismisses backstop pressure talk as 'codswallop'

Summary: There is a weary sense of "here we go again" among Irish government officials dealing with Brexit about briefings coming from London that Dublin is under pressure from other EU members about the backstop to avoid a no-deal Brexit.

By Shane HarrisonBBC NI Dublin correspondent The backstop is the insurance policy in the withdrawal agreement between the United Kingdom and European Union, designed to ensure that there is no hard border on the island of Ireland. Both sides say they hope it never has to come into effect and that it will become redundant because of a wider trade deal. While Irish sources describe Tuesday's phone call between Leo Varadkar and Boris Johnson as "warm and friendly" on "both a personal and a political level", that description is bound to raise an eyebrow given the widening gap between the two capitals. Especially after what the prime minister has been saying about the need to bin the backstop as a precondition to get into Brexit negotiations and to avoid a no-deal exit. Irish sources insist Dublin has not come under any EU pressure to relent on the backstop, with one source describing as "codswallop" suggestions otherwise. Another says this isn't the first time there have been inaccurate reports in the British media that pressure is mounting on Dublin. The sources agree that what Mr Johnson is doing, in calling for the binning of the backstop as a first step to allow negotiations, is taking any pressure off Dublin that may have been forthcoming down the line. That's because after the lengthy negotiations that went into the withdrawal agreement to accommodate the British red lines, the EU-27 are not going to suddenly offer Boris Johnson a substantially better deal than the one they gave Theresa May. Another official says the British government's attitude "is consistent with several of their fundamental misconceptions; such as the EU needs us more than we need them; the damage of a no-deal Brexit is symmetric and affects the EU and the UK both equally: that German car manufacturers will put pressure on Angela Merkel and Ireland is so small it won't be able to withstand pressure". Compromise? The Irish authorities have published a number of reports which highlight how drastic a no-deal Brexit would be be for the Republic. The governments summer economic statement suggested there could be 55,000 fewer jobs and a 3% drop in growth. If and when serious talks start in a few weeks time, Fergus Finlay, a newspaper columnist with the Irish Examiner who has experience as an Irish official of negotiations with the British on Northern Ireland, says "until a compromise is visible, there must be no compromise". He says the Irish government has "not been guilty of any triumphalism", but is seeking to defend its interests and those of Northern Ireland. There have also been mutterings in the British media that Leo Varadkar is coming under domestic political pressure to alter his government's position on the backstop. That is simply not the case. The taoiseach leads a minority government that is dependent on the support of the main opposition party in a confidence and supply arrangement. Indeed, there is a widespread consensus in the Dáil (lower house of parliament) that the government must hold the line on the backstop to prevent a hard border and to protect the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that helped to bring about peace on the island. But there is also a view among a minority of commentators that Dublin is not cognisant enough of UK sensitivities and political needs. They argue that the backstop designed to avoid a hard border might result in that very eventuality if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. Ministers and officials in Dublin suspect that the prime minister may be more interested in an early general election, than in making the necessary compromises to reach a deal to allow the UK leave the EU on 31 October. They, like everybody else, are keeping an eye on the evolving parliamentary arithmetic at Westminster. And although Boris Johnson has only been a short time in his new job, the next few weeks and months promise to be very interesting and uncertain as bluffs have to be eventually called by all sides.

लंदन से आने वाली ब्रीफिंग के बारे में ब्रेक्सिट से निपटने वाले आयरिश सरकारी अधिकारियों के बीच "यहाँ हम फिर से जाते हैं" की एक थकाऊ भावना है कि डबलिन बिना किसी सौदे के ब्रेक्सिट से बचने के लिए बैकस्टॉप के बारे में अन्य यूरोपीय संघ के सदस्यों के दबाव में है।


Ahmadinejad: Iran's populist and pariah leaves the stage

Summary: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be replaced as Iran's president in the country's presidential elections late this month. An official visit to Ghana offered a glimpse of what drives one of the world's most divisive leaders, and what he has achieved in his eight years in office.

By James ReynoldsBBC Iran correspondent On the tarmac of Accra's international airport, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad looked unhappy. In the first few minutes of his visit to Ghana, he had dutifully inspected a guard of honour and listened to the Iranian and Ghanaian national anthems. Ghana's President John Mahama began to escort him to the terminal building. But Mr Ahmadinejad made a circular gesture with his hands - he wanted to shake hands with the crowd. And off he went. Dozens of students in new white t-shirts rushed to say 'hello' to Iran's president. Mr Ahmadinejad started to smile. He is always at his happiest in a crowd - ideally a scrum. 'We love him' In Accra, Iran's president enjoyed the stage he had spent the last eight years building. "We love him, we love him, we love him, why don't you like him?" one Ghanaian man shouted. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad never much looked like a traditional Iranian president. He wore a cheap jacket and a scruffy beard. This made Iran's middle class cringe - and that was the point. Mr Ahmadinejad wanted the support of the little guy - the farmers and taxi drivers of Iran's working class. "All the presidents before Ahmadinejad were dependent upon Iran's ruling clergy," says Farhad Jafari, an author and prominent supporter of Mr Ahmadinejad. "But Ahmadinejad was a man of the people. Unlike his predecessors, he understood ordinary Iranians. And he was more committed to the people than he was to the political ruling class." In his first term, Mr Ahmadinejad decided that he could not defy the clerics who had helped to put him in office. But he could pick a fight with the West. Days after he took office, Iran restarted its nuclear programme. "He had no fear. No fear!" remembers Hosein Mousavian, a former member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team. "He said we would start and they [the West] would be able to do nothing. I was really shocked. He was so brave, or inexperienced, about international equations, politics, relations. He clearly didn't give a damn to the UN Security Council to decide on the Iranian nuclear issue. They cannot do anything." More power But they did. Over the next few years, the United Nations and the West imposed several rounds of sanctions against Iran. This did not appear to deter Mr Ahmadinejad. The more he spoke, the more he provoked, the greater his stage became. "I really do believe that we have taken Ahmadinejad far more seriously than he deserves," says former US ambassador Ryan Crocker, who has engaged with Iran more than any other senior US official in the last three decades. "He loves it. He loves being outrageous. He loves drawing fire from all corners of the civilised world. But I don't think it really counts for very much in the Iranian policy sphere." That is because Iran is not ruled by the president. In the Islamic Republic, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say. In the absence of ultimate power, Mr Ahmadinejad needed to find ways of building up his profile. His most reliable technique was to provoke the United States or better still, to engage with it. In 2006, he decided to send an 18-page letter to President George W Bush. "My recollection is that it was a rambling letter and when the question came up - 'Well, shall we reply to the letter?' - one of the problems was it's hard to know what to reply to," says Steve Hadley, former national security advisor to President Bush. "Do you really want to respond to a leader who writes you this stream of consciousness letter who is pursuing policies very antithetical to the interests of stability and peace in the region, when everybody knows also that the real decision maker is the Supreme Leader?" So the letter went unanswered. At home, Mr Ahmadinejad faced even greater problems. In 2009, after his disputed election, he decided to defy his own supreme leader and seek more power for himself and his allies. "In the eyes of the loyalists to the supreme leader of Iran, Ahmadinejad has no resemblance to the man who became the mayor of Tehran and arose and became a president of Iran," says Taghi Karroubi, son of former reformist candidate Mehdi Karroubi. "They blame him for everything. "As far as I know, Ahmadinejad always tried to separate himself from the policy of crackdown and violence against the Iranian people during the last four years," Mr Karroubi says. "We've been told Ahmadinejad wrote a letter to the supreme leader - asking to free the political prisoners, and remove the house arrest of the opposition leader. We don't know - is it right or wrong?" Satellite into space For some, it was simple - if Mr Ahmadinejad was not with the clerics, he must be with the reformers. But others view that as a mistake. "I do not for a moment buy this notion that Mr Ahmadinejad is a secret reformist standing steadfast against the wild-eyed clerics," says Ryan Crocker. "It's hard to exceed Ahmadinejad in the wild-eyed department, as his statements make so abundantly clear." Mr Ahmadinejad enjoyed the attention he worked so hard to create. But what, in the end, was there to show for it? "You fought with the West, with your own supreme leader," the BBC asked the Iranian president in Ghana. "What did you achieve?" "Despite the all the unfair pressures exerted on the people of Iran, we are making headway very fast," replied Mr Ahmadinejad. "Since the day they imposed sanctions on us, we have gone nuclear. And now we are making use of peaceful nuclear energy. "When they imposed sanctions on us, we became a country that has launched satellite into space. The pressures have caused problems for us, but they haven't been able to bring our progress to a halt." During his eight years in office, Mr Ahmadinejad has been both populist and pariah. He has provoked both the West and Iran's clerics - but he won neither fight. Earlier this year, he suggested that he would be willing to become the first Iranian in space. But down here on earth, he is about to lose what he loves above all else - his stage.

महमूद अहमदीनेजाद को इस महीने के अंत में देश के राष्ट्रपति चुनावों में ईरान के राष्ट्रपति के रूप में प्रतिस्थापित किया जाएगा। घाना की एक आधिकारिक यात्रा ने एक झलक पेश की कि दुनिया के सबसे विभाजनकारी नेताओं में से एक को क्या प्रेरित करता है, और उन्होंने अपने आठ वर्षों के कार्यकाल में क्या हासिल किया है।


About 1,000 Oxfordshire County Council jobs 'to go'

Summary: More than 1,000 jobs could be lost at Oxfordshire County Council.

Conservative leader Keith Mitchell says the council is looking to cut £200m over four years. That is nearly double the figure the authority had expected to cut earlier in the year. The final savings and job cut figures depend on the outcome of the central government spending review this autumn, Mr Mitchell added. He said: "This is going to be hard. My best guess is about 1,000 jobs. "If that doesn't sound very scientific, it is because it isn't yet. "We don't know where we are until November when the government has done the Comprehensive Spending Review." The council is the county's largest employer, with about 22,000 staff. Labour MP for Oxford East, Andrew Smith, said: "I'm on the side of the people resisting savage cuts. "The public at large would expect a measure of priority to be given to protection for services for vulnerable people."

ऑक्सफोर्डशायर काउंटी काउंसिल में 1,000 से अधिक नौकरियां जा सकती हैं।


Emma Brown: My daughter's anorexia was a 'descent into hell'

Summary: Emma Brown battled anorexia for more than half her life, spending years in and out of hospital until she died from complications of the disorder at 27. Her father, Simon, describes the pain of watching his eldest child's struggle - and why he is working with those who handled her care.

By Phil ShepkaBBC News At one point, Emma was stealing thousands of pounds from her father, spending the money in her favourite restaurants - Zizzi's, Eat and Yo! Sushi. It was not about living a luxury lifestyle: driving her behaviour was a debilitating eating disorder that eventually cost Emma her life. "I probably single-handedly funded the development of restaurants in Cambridge," said Simon Brown, half-jokingly. "She'd spend maybe £200 a day going from one to the other." No longer able to bear the financial burden of Emma's persistent spending, they eventually made a decision few parents could imagine having to make: going to the police about their child. "You've got a daughter who's a criminal and you've been the one that's reported her - there's a sense of betrayal in that," said 56-year-old Simon. Emma was struggling. She had a type of anorexia known as binge-purge and was starving her body of much-needed nutrients. She battled the condition for 14 years and had "countless" admissions to hospital which, towards the end, developed into a weekly pattern. "She would be admitted by ambulance to Addenbrooke's Hospital on a Friday night and go on to a ward where they'd pump her full of potassium," said Simon. "She'd start to feel a little bit better by the Sunday, she'd self-discharge on the Monday and then the same thing - repeat, repeat, repeat." Emma had what her dad calls a "special" upbringing. Born in the Zimbabwean capital Harare in 1991, she could name all of the animals in the African bush aged 18 months. Simon said she was always a "force of nature" - very articulate from an early age - and has a vivid image of Emma as a one-year-old singing happy birthday to him in her chair. She excelled at school when the family moved to the UK, to the point she was sometimes becoming bored because it was too easy for her. A keen skier, snowboarder and BMX biker, she was something of a "tomboy", who by the time she went to high school was being teased for her "puppy fat". "That's when things really started to fall apart for her," said Simon."For somebody who was not fussy and actually quite interested in food, and had lived and travelled and experienced a range of food, to suddenly see her be very restrictive with what she ate sounded alarm bells. "By the August she was diagnosed as anorexic." What is anorexia? Anorexia is an eating disorder and serious mental health condition. People with anorexia try to keep their weight as low as possible, which can make them very ill because they start to starve. Signs and symptoms of anorexia in females include periods stopping or, in younger women and girls, not starting. Physical problems can occur, such as feeling lightheaded or dizzy, hair loss or dry skin. Factors increasing the likelihood of anorexia include a family history of the illness or being criticised for your eating habits, body shape or weight. There are two main sub-types - restricting and binge-purge - and there can be crossover between the two. In one seven-year study, more than half the women involved moved from restricting to binge-purge. Source: NHS/Beat Simon believes Emma's diagnosis at 13 could have been the start of her recovery. Instead, it was a "descent into hell". "During this period the restriction on food got to the point where she wouldn't take any food at all and we were having to give her water through a Calpol pipette. She was too weak to walk upstairs so she would be lying on the sofa or we would carry her up to bed. This active, sporty, beautiful child descended to the point where she was an utter mess." Emma was placed in a queue for a bed in a unit for treatment while Simon and her mother, Jay, cared for her at their home in Great Grandsen, Cambridgeshire. Simon said they pleaded for help, but were told there were always patients in a more desperate state than Emma. In recent years the government has increased funding for community eating disorder services, so children and young people do not have to be in hospital to receive care. But back in 2004, Emma's family never received a home visit from a specialist. Instead, Simon said that they were given general advice - "none of which works because you're up against something far more complicated". "It's almost indescribable how difficult that was. You've got two other kids that you're trying to look after, you've got jobs that you're trying to hold down and you've got a child who's every day getting closer to dying in front of your eyes." It was not until she was "almost at the point of death" that in the December - four months after diagnosis - she was admitted to the Phoenix Centre in Fulbourn. The signs seemed positive at first - Emma restored her weight to safe levels, was discharged from hospital and returned to school. But without community care, old habits returned and with them, the "recurring nightmare" - a cycle of illness, hospital admission, discharge, then decline. Because she was constantly in and out of school, the gifted artist and runner, who might have had Olympic potential, could not live up to her A-star predictions. Emma was never well enough to sit an exam and left school without any qualifications, then struggled to hold down a job, mostly working in hotels or restaurants. Emma's anorexia was further complicated by a diagnosis of a personality disorder at 18, which led to an admission to a mental health unit. Simon said it went some way to explaining his daughter's tendency to take risks, steal, "show off" and even the more violent acts, like throwing knives at her family. By then an adult, Emma went through a period of sleeping rough before moving to a flat in Cambourne. In between were numerous hospital admissions - some short, the longest nearly two years in a unit in Surrey. When she was at home in the final years of her life she relied heavily on the two three-hour home visits a week from support workers. Though her illness could be hugely debilitating, even at the low points her personality still made a lasting impression on others. "One woman commented quite recently on Facebook about what an incredible person Emma had been to her [in a unit], how she taught her, how she'd helped her," said Simon. "She would get very involved in the other patients because that's what she was like. They loved her." In early 2018, her emergency admissions to hospital increased, culminating one day in June, when doctors told Simon his daughter would not make it through the night. "I spent the whole night with Emma, holding her hand and talking to her. At one point she said to me, 'Daddy, I don't want to die'. I said to her 'but you are dying and the only way to stop dying is to take on the nutrition the doctors have been telling you to for some time and even then it might not happen'." "That was on the Friday night into the Saturday morning - and she recovered. We're there on the Monday morning when the doctors are coming back, all expecting her to have passed away over the weekend, absolutely flabbergasted she's sat up drinking one of [her nutrition shakes] saying ,'hey, how was your weekend?'. "But even after that she couldn't actually do it and sustain that recovery." Two months later she was found dead on her bathroom floor by her mum, aged 27. She had suffered pulmonary failure and a cardiac arrest, associated with the anorexia. The impact on the family has been wide-ranging, but none of them has used it as an excuse to "fail in life", said Simon - quite the opposite. Simon and Jay, who split up in 2013, have excelled in their careers. Emma's sister Eden got a first-class degree in psychology "inspired by trying to understand her sister", while her brother, Jordan, who gave police evidence against Emma and took refuge at a neighbour's house when she was at her worst, is now a talented surfer, sailor and rock climber in his final year of university. "We could have just given up on careers or hopes in life at any point because we had the excuse of Emma and what we went through," said Simon. "But we didn't and I think actually by using it as a drive to be better, we've each learned from this and got stronger from it." You might also be interested in: Anorexia stems from body as well as mind – study ‘I used to scream- For God’s sake, just eat!’ Little Mix's Jade Thirlwall: 'How I recovered from an eating disorder' After 14 years of turmoil, one might expect Simon to feel anger to those involved in her care. But he has none. On the contrary, he is grateful for every person involved in Emma's care and even invited doctors to her funeral. "I don't know where they [the professionals] find the drive, the skill, to keep going back," he said. "You're not that well supported, you're under-staffed, under-budgeted, the patients hate you, the parents blame you, there's not enough money and actually we don't yet really know how to treat these people anyway. "Why would anybody do that? Who am I to find blame in the people that have devoted their professional lives to trying to help people like Emma?" Regardless, Emma's death is set to be examined by a coroner next year along with four other cases, including that of 19-year-old Averil Hart. Simon is already working with the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT) and wants to see professional training for families - "people like myself who have the time, motive and opportunity to do something with these sufferers where the waiting list for doctors is too long" - to help support their loves ones through the illness and recovery. He also wants to see engagement with schools to prevent triggers of the illness, such as bullying, and feels funding needs to be increased or shifted away from just those in hospital beds. A report commissioned by NHS England in 2015 found the availability of community eating-disorder services improved patient outcomes and cost-effectiveness. In Cambridgeshire, the trust provides community eating disorder services and specialist in-patient services for children and adults. Simon suspects millions were spent on his daughter's treatment "most of it when she was in crisis and almost nothing when she was in recovery". "That's what we've got to change." Addenbrooke's, which is run by the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said it would be "inappropriate to comment at this time". A spokesman for CPFT added: "We are committed to the development of eating-disorder services and would like to thank Simon for the helpful and constructive feedback he has given to help us, and other trusts, about improving services for people with anorexia." If you are affected by any of the issues in this story, you can talk in confidence to eating disorders charity Beat by calling its adult helpline on 0808 801 0677 or youth helpline on 0808 801 0711.

एम्मा ब्राउन ने अपने आधे से अधिक जीवन के लिए एनोरेक्सिया से लड़ाई लड़ी, 27 साल की उम्र में विकार की जटिलताओं से उनकी मृत्यु होने तक अस्पताल में और बाहर कई साल बिताए। उनके पिता, साइमन, अपने सबसे बड़े बच्चे के संघर्ष को देखने के दर्द का वर्णन करते हैं-और वे उन लोगों के साथ क्यों काम कर रहे हैं जिन्होंने उनकी देखभाल की।


Why Lemn Sissay holds Christmas dinner for 500 strangers

Summary: Christmas is often seen as a time to spend with family - but what if you don't have one? Poet Lemn Sissay, who grew up in care, is striving to make sure those in the system don't spend Christmas Day alone.

By Kaleigh WattersonBBC News The writer, from Greater Manchester, whose large outdoor works adorn the walls and pavements of the city, hopes his annual Christmas Dinner event helps create positive memories of the festive period for his guests. He says it can be a difficult time for those who have spent time in the care system. "I remember getting a clock radio when I was in the children's homes at Christmas and it wasn't working and it just broke me," he says. "Not because it wasn't working, but because somebody didn't care enough. It just signified everything that was wrong with what had happened to me." Sissay, who was in care as a baby and between the ages of 12 and 18, has seen his idea snowball from a single event in 2013 to 12 taking place across the country this year. He said he had been inspired by a Christmas dinner he had seen in London run by the Tope Project, a volunteer-run scheme to combat loneliness for those who have been in care. "I wanted this to be in Manchester," he explains. "We began with nothing, except our imaginations and our belief in ourselves - and it happened." This year, there will be dinners in Birmingham, Canterbury, East Sussex, Hackney, Islington, Leeds, Manchester, Oxford, Richmond, Sheffield, Stockport and the Wirral, serving roughly 500 people. Each is organised by local volunteers who are given a guidebook produced by the poet to help them plan the day. "Christmas Day can be a very difficult day for young care-leavers," Sissay says. "For some of us, going home for Christmas is a pain and there's arguments and dysfunction. "But there are young people who have nowhere to go and who feel on their own on that day and who feel a greater sense of loss. "It's about giving them a smile and making them know that they matter on that day." This year, the Lemn Sissay Foundation has been set up as a registered charity, which secures the future of the event. The award-winning author describes it as his "own personal legacy" and says each dinner tries to make every individual feel special. "It's all about the detail - the cards written to that person, the presents chosen for that person so they have that joy and surprise and the thing they'd always wanted, like a pair of football boots," he says. "It's about spreading that joy." Mike Morris, who was in care from the age of 13, attended the Manchester Christmas Dinner in 2016 after being introduced to it by the Greater Manchester Youth Network. The 18-year-old said he had thought about being alone and "really depressed" at Christmas and although he had his doubts about attending the event, he enjoyed the day. One of the most important things about the event is not feeling like a "charity case", he says. "It doesn't feel like you're being given things, it feels like you belong there. "If you go to a council or institutional thing, it'll be the cheapest things and the same chairs and tables. [But] you go in here and it's Christmas trees, decorations everywhere, everyone's having a good time. "It made you feel like people actually care and you're not as on your own as you originally thought. "If you can be with people you can relate to on Christmas Day, isn't that the whole thing about Christmas?" Emma Lewis-Kalubowila and Louise Wallwein are members of the steering group which organises the Manchester event. Emma, who works for the University of Manchester - where Sissay is chancellor - says one of her stand-out memories was of two sisters in separate care situations meeting unexpectedly at one of the events. "They'd both been nominated by people who knew they'd been spending the day on their own but hadn't realised their sibling would be attending," she says. "The year that they had Christmas Dinner with us was the first year in nine years that they'd had Christmas Day together." Louise, a poet and playwright, has been involved in the event since the start and now works mainly on the fundraising side. She says she uses her own experiences of being in care to help shape the events and there is a "rigorous examination" to ensure the day is the opposite of institutional. "The first few years out of care were very difficult and Christmas is the most difficult time. "It reminds you what you're not part of," she adds. One key aspect of this is arranging for all guests to arrive in taxis, which Manchester City Council has agreed to fund this year for the event in the city. "It isn't about feeling sorry for the people that are coming, it's about trying to give them a real pamper and a real treat," Emma says. And what will this year's Manchester guests be feasting on? "It's turkey on the menu, we're fairly traditional," she adds.

क्रिसमस को अक्सर परिवार के साथ बिताने के समय के रूप में देखा जाता है-लेकिन क्या होगा यदि आपके पास एक नहीं है? कवि लेमन सिसे, जो देखभाल में पले-बढ़े हैं, यह सुनिश्चित करने का प्रयास कर रहे हैं कि सिस्टम में रहने वाले लोग क्रिसमस का दिन अकेले न बिताएं।


Should the hurricane season begin earlier?

Summary: The Atlantic hurricane season officially begins on 1 June. But over the past six years, significant storms have been forming earlier than this. So does the hurricane season need to start earlier - and is climate change to blame?

By Simon KingBBC Weather At a regional meeting of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) this week, meteorologists and officials will be discussing a possible change to how the hurricane season is defined. "The 2020 hurricane season was one of the most challenging in the 40-year history of [the] WMO's Tropical Cyclone Programme," says WMO Secretary-General Prof Petteri Taalas. "The record number of hurricanes combined with Covid-19 to create, literally, the perfect storm." The hurricane season has officially started on the 1 June since the mid-1960s, when hurricane reconnaissance planes would start routine trips into the Atlantic to spot storm development. Over the past 10 to 15 years, though, named storms have formed prior to the official start about 50% of the time. And the way they are defined and observed has changed significantly over time. "Many of these storms are short-lived systems that are now being identified because of better monitoring and policy changes that now name sub-tropical storms," Dennis Feltgen, meteorologist at the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) told BBC Weather. The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season was the most active on record with a total of 30 named storms. Two of those storms - Arthur and Bertha - formed in May. As all the pre-determined names were used up, officials at the NHC had to move on to using the Greek alphabet for only the second time. During the 2020 season, the NHC had to issue thirty-six "special" forecasts called Tropical Weather Outlooks prior to 1 June. These highlight areas in the Atlantic where meteorologists monitor activity. Mr Feltgen said that "in order to provide more consistent information for late May and early June systems, NHC will begin to issue these outlooks routinely from 15 May this year". Is this a step closer to officially recognising the season starting earlier? "Discussions will need to be made on the need for, and potential ramifications of moving the beginning of the hurricane season to 15th May." When referring to the average or normal Atlantic hurricane season, meteorologists have used a 30-year climate average from 1981-2010. But we now have a new climate period of 1991-2020 to consider and this dramatically increases what we should now consider "normal". Data will be discussed and finalised by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) in May, ahead of the new season. But data provided by Brian McNoldy, senior researcher at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School, shows a 12-19% increase in named storms, hurricanes and major hurricanes. Is climate change playing a role? The number of named storms has increased over the decades, but there is no real evidence this is the result of a warming world. Dr McNoldy notes "the big shift in counts is simply that there were several inactive seasons from 1981-1990 and several active seasons from 2011-2020". "Once that inactive period drops out of the average, and is replaced by the active, it will increase the numbers" The overall increase from 1961 is also likely to be due to better technology, along with observations over the Atlantic Ocean. Since satellites came along in the 1980s, we can spot and monitor the development of tropical cyclones and name them when they meet the threshold. We are simply able to record more. However, it is thought climate change is having an impact on the intensity of tropical storms and hurricanes and therefore their potential impacts. Experts have noted that, in recent years, tropical storms that make land are persisting far longer and doing more damage than in the past. In a warming world, the atmosphere can hold more water and therefore has the ability to bring more extreme rainfall. With sea-levels rising, storms will also bring more flooding to low-lying areas. Hurricane Harvey brought record rainfall in Houston, Texas, in 2017 when it dumped 127 billion tonnes of water and Dorian flooded large parts of Grand Bahama in 2019.

अटलांटिक तूफान का मौसम आधिकारिक तौर पर 1 जून से शुरू होता है। लेकिन पिछले छह वर्षों में, महत्वपूर्ण तूफान इससे पहले बन रहे हैं। तो क्या तूफान का मौसम पहले शुरू होने की आवश्यकता है-और क्या जलवायु परिवर्तन दोषी है?


The evangelical women who reject Trump

Summary: Evangelical women helped Trump get elected. Now some of them are turning against him and his candidates - and could sway the outcome in key elections in November.

By Tara McKelveyBBC News, Lynchburg, Virginia Rebecca Olsen, 21, a Southern Baptist who dresses conservatively in classic-red lipstick and black, ballet-style flats, was "gung-ho" for Trump in 2016. She had concerns about the way he treated women, she says, but she brushed them aside. "At the time I let a lot of things slip," she says. "And upon the past two years of reflection, I regret being so much in favour of him." Since then the treatment of women has become a core issue for her and for others across the US. The MeToo movement brought the subject of sexual harassment onto centre stage last year, with a similar phenomenon, the ChurchToo movement, unfolding within the Southern Baptist community. The hearing of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh opened up wrenching discussions about sexual assault. A life-long Republican who was raised in Atlanta, Olsen says she has turned against the president and his endorsement of candidates are a mark against them. "I think we should be doing our best to empower women," she says, explaining why she's disillusioned with Trump. "I think the president should be doing that as well." She describes the demeaning way that he talks about women and says: "I question myself: 'Rebecca, how could you be so in favour of this man?'" Her disappointment with the president and her rejection of his candidates is even more striking because of the backdrop. Does your faith influence your vote? She's standing outside a restaurant that's filled with her classmates from Liberty University, the nation's biggest evangelical college, in Lynchburg, a town known as the "buckle in the bible belt". As a Trump critic, Olsen's in the minority. Students here voted overwhelmingly for Trump and are campaigning for his candidates, a roster that includes Corey Stewart, a Republican who's campaigning for the US senate in Virginia and is, as the New York Times reports, supported by white nationalists. Liberty University is run by Jerry Falwell Jr, the son of the nation's most famous evangelical. Falwell brags about his friendship with the president and lauds his accomplishments in office, telling me: "He's done more for evangelicals than any previous Republican administration." But despite the massive support for Trump in Lynchburg, Olsen's not alone in her views. Another student, Rebecca Pickard, shows me around the university on a Saturday afternoon, pointing to a Noah's Ark in a children's play area, and says that even in this conservative Christian world, it's OK to reject the president. "It's not something I feel self-conscious about," she says. Olsen and Pickard belong to a tiny sliver of this Christian world - white evangelical women who do not like Trump. But their numbers are growing incrementally. Support for the president among women in their demographic group dropped from 73% to 67% from 2017 to 2018, according to Pew Research Center (in data they have yet to publish). Support for the president among white evangelical men dropped too, from 84-79%. The decline in the president's approval ratings among evangelical women is not huge, yet many of these women are determined to express their views at the ballot box. They don't want to vote for Trump candidates in states like Virginia, Georgia and Texas, they say. Although small in numbers, these women could change the outcome in congressional districts where candidates are running neck and neck. Evangelical women have already thrown out one of their leaders, Paige Patterson, the former head of the Southern Baptist Convention, because of the demeaning way he spoke about women. Olsen says that she won't support a Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate, Brian Kemp, in Georgia. In Texas, some white evangelical women are supporting Beto O'Rourke, a Democrat, according to the New York Times, rather than Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican with a strong evangelical following. These evangelicals - and their dismay over the way that the president treats women - reflect a broader trend. "A majority of Americans feel that Trump doesn't respect women," says GBA Strategies' Margie Omero, a Democratic pollster. Some pollsters like FiveThirtyEight have identified a huge gender gap between women largely voting for Democratic candidates and men supporting Republicans. So evangelicals are reflecting a wider trend but it's surprising because as a group they so strongly backed Trump in the past. "I'm amazed and heartened to see evangelical women tackle this," says Jennifer Butler, who grew up in an evangelical family in Georgia and now heads up an organisation called Faith in Public Life. More on the US mid-terms Republicans say they're unconcerned, pointing out that the vast majority of white evangelical women still support the president and will choose his candidates in November. Olsen's twin sister, Rachel, is one of them - she doesn't like Kemp, she tells me, but she'll "begrudgingly" vote for him, explaining: "I don't want the state to turn blue." One of the biggest mysteries of the 2016 election was that evangelical women helped to usher Trump into office despite the fact that he seldom goes to church and used to live a life some might say was contrary to Christian values. Before the election, they knew that he'd said vulgar things about women in an Access Hollywood tape and that he'd been married three times. More recently they heard him refer to a woman as "horseface". Heather Quintero, a math teacher who grew up in Lynchburg, acknowledges that it must be hard for some people to understand why female evangelicals would support Trump, given the way that he treats women. She draws on her own experience as an evangelical Christian to help unravel the mystery. As a child, she says, she was taught church lessons such as: "My body does not belong to me." It "belonged first of all to my father", she says. "When I was married, it would be given to my husband." Looking back, she sees a connection between these teachings and the support that female evangelicals have shown for Trump. Evangelical women support Trump "because it's what we've been socialised to do", says Quintero - this means "placing your own well-being below the idea of stopping abortion". Many don't like the way the president talks about women but support his conservative policies, she says. Paula White, the president's spiritual adviser, spoke to me recently near the White House about women's issues and conservative politics. She sympathises with the women who were disturbed by the Supreme Court hearing since she herself was "sexually and physically abused". She says: "I understand that pain." Yet she applauds the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh, a Catholic who's seen as "pro-life". She and other Christians applaud Trump and the vice-president, Mike Pence, both of whom are rock stars on the evangelical circuit. One of their fans is Laurel Bryant, a college student from Amherst, a town near Lynchburg. I saw recently her in a Washington hotel during a "Values Voter" summit after she'd met Pence. "I'm shaking like a Chihuahua," she says, describing her excitement. Bryant says she hopes that Christian women will stay away from "feminist ideology" and recognise the importance of "compromise" - that means voting for candidates who may be flawed but who are fighting against abortion. For Bryant and many evangelicals, that's the key issue and seen through this light, the way the president treats women becomes less important. But just as some evangelical women have expressed their unhappiness with the president, so have some men. Writing in USA Today, a Minneapolis pastor, Doug Pagitt, describes evangelicals: "Their insistence on walking in lockstep with the Republican Party often is primarily motivated by a single issue: abortion." Karen Swallow Prior, a Southern Baptist and an English professor at Liberty University, brought me into the world of evangelical women one autumn afternoon in a Main Street coffeehouse. Prior is the author of a book entitled On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books, and she introduces me to her friends, "Lynchburg Liberals" as she calls them. These women range in age from 20 to post-retirement, and most are affiliated with the university. They'd be seen as conservatives in US cities because of their hardline stance on abortion but are viewed as progressives in Christian country because of the way they talk about gender issues and because they oppose the president. They sat around a wooden table with lovers' initials and a universal Christian symbol, the cross, carved into its surface. Outside the café, a student plays on a piano a "worship song" that he wrote himself. Pickard's grandfather gave her a Winchester rifle when she was in middle school, she tells me, and she grew up listening to Sean Hannity on her dad's car radio. Despite her conservative upbringing, she's planning to vote for a Democrat, Tim Kaine, a Virginia senatorial candidate, instead of Stewart. "I'd like to vote for someone who won't embarrass us," Pickard says. Quintero says she's also voting for Kaine. Others baulk at voting for Democrats - but refuse to support the president's candidates. Prior now tells me that she'll vote for a libertarian. Another woman says she'll write in Mickey Mouse, only half-joking. Democrats have an edge in November's elections, according to polls, but a key factor will be turnout. "This is going to be so close," White says. Ultimately the fate of the president, the US congress and state-level leaders could turn on a small number of votes cast by evangelical women. On that day at the restaurant, Olsen says she doesn't see herself as a radical. Still she concedes that her decision to write in a name on a ballot rather than vote for Trump's candidate is "a protest in some way". .

इवेंजेलिकल महिलाओं ने ट्रम्प को निर्वाचित होने में मदद की। अब उनमें से कुछ उनके और उनके उम्मीदवारों के खिलाफ हो रहे हैं-और नवंबर में होने वाले प्रमुख चुनावों में परिणाम को प्रभावित कर सकते हैं।


Coronavirus: What Boris Johnson's Greek hero teaches us about epidemics

Summary: As Boris Johnson recovers from Covid-19, he will undoubtedly be thinking of an earlier epidemic, says Oxford classicist Armand D'Angour - the plague that hit Athens in 430 BC, and killed the prime minister's hero, Pericles. It's an episode, D'Angour argues, that holds many lessons for today.

Britain's Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, is well versed in the history and culture of ancient Greece. He knows that Western literature begins with a plague, the epidemic described in the opening book of Homer's Iliad - of which Boris can happily declaim scores of verses from memory. And his political hero has long been the ancient Athenian leader, Pericles, whose bust sits in his office in 10 Downing Street. The prime minister has often quoted admiringly the stirring oration given by Pericles to honour the dead after the first year of a destructive war against Sparta. And he will be well aware that Pericles gave a second famous speech a year later, after a devastating plague, probably a form of typhus, had killed around one third of Athens' citizens. Both orations were reported by the contemporary historian Thucydides, whose searing description of the Great Plague is worth reading for its literary virtuosity alone. Commentators today have drawn parallels between the responses of Athenians - ranging from the heroic to the contemptible - and those of valiant NHS staff and scared panic-buyers today. But surprisingly, none has drawn attention to the lesson Thucydides himself intended. What doesn't change, wrote the historian, is human nature; you can expect people to react in similar ways when they encounter events like those that have occurred in the past. He embarked on his work, he says, because a clear grasp of the events he was living through could guide responses to similar events in future. He modelled his method on that of the most innovative medical practitioner of the day, the physician Hippocrates. Rather than prescribing prayers and religious rituals, spells and incantations, or exotic herbs and quack remedies, Hippocrates and his contemporaries were visiting sick patients, meticulously noting their symptoms, and keeping track of how they responded to prescribed treatments such as sleep, exercise, and the regulation of diet. Boris Johnson was a patient at St Thomas' hospital, and is likely to have been participating in a medical trial that compares treatments for Covid-19 - so it may be that Hippocrates will come to his mind, as well as Pericles and Thucydides. "One of the worst aspects of the plague was the despair into which people fell on finding they had the disease. Those who were convinced they had no hope were much quicker to give up and die," observed Thucydides. "Another was the rate of infection among those who flocked to care for and doctor to others: they died in droves, and had the highest incidence of mortality… In addition, the plague led to greater crime, since criminals calculated on escaping detection and penalties." What might we learn from these observations? First, that people should avoid becoming infected by close contact, and that medical staff and carers should be protected. Secondly, that the law must continue to function robustly. And thirdly, that it is important for people to preserve a positive state of mind. Measures to achieve these aims have been, if in some cases belatedly, widely pursued in the UK and elsewhere. The Athenians survived the plague of 430 BC with astonishing resilience. Just 15 years later they were able to muster a huge military and naval force to mount an offensive expedition overseas. But when the plague struck, Athens had only recently gone to war, and a large contingent of troops had been sent north to pursue hostilities. Sadly, they took the disease with them, and over 1,000 men died from it. One of the soldiers serving on the campaign was the philosopher, Socrates. Not only did he survive infection, allegedly thanks to his physical toughness and discipline, but on return to his plague-ridden city he was said to have tended unscathed to the sick and dying. Socrates had evidently acquired immunity from his earlier exposure to the disease, just as Thucydides himself, who had survived infection, recognised that this made him immune from reinfection. It was to be thousands of years before medical immunity was properly understood, but the historian implies that historical hindsight can itself be a kind of vaccine. History need not simply recall the horrors of the past. It can guide us towards adopting precautions, remind us that accurate observation is vital to ensure a better response in future, and reassure us that normal life will one day return. Meanwhile, we should also remember that history never repeats itself exactly, even if it can offer valuable lessons for posterity. Pericles had been the leading citizen in Athens for over three decades before his death from the plague at the age of 66. Until that day his luck had held to a remarkable degree. He had been admired and bitterly reviled, had fought military campaigns and faced legal trials, and had survived accusations of corruption and sexual misconduct. In his 50s he entered into a passionate and enduring relationship with the brilliant young Aspasia of Miletus, who bore him a child and helped him compose his magnificent funeral oration to the war dead. Britain's prime minister is 55. He has faced stern challenges, has experienced failure as well and success, and has benefited greatly from luck, no less than political skill. When, as is hoped, he makes a full recovery from Covid-19, perhaps busts of the historian Thucydides, the physician Hippocrates, and the philosopher Socrates, should join that of Pericles on his mantelpiece in No.10 Downing Street. Prof Armand D'Angour, the author of Socrates in Love: The making of a philosopher, wrote the Greek ode that Boris Johnson recited at the opening gala of the London Olympics in 2012 You may also be interested in: In these dark days of Covid-19 some practices have remained timeless - the use of soap, scrubbing and fresh air. Other advice on infectious diseases given my grandfather Dr John Davy Rolleston in 1940 sounds, well, from a bygone era. Does my grandfather's 1940 infectious disease advice still hold true?

जैसे-जैसे बोरिस जॉनसन कोविड-19 से ठीक हो रहे हैं, वे निस्संदेह पहले की महामारी के बारे में सोच रहे होंगे, ऑक्सफोर्ड क्लासिकिस्ट आर्मंड डी 'एंगोर कहते हैं-वह प्लेग जिसने 430 ईसा पूर्व में एथेंस को मारा था, और प्रधान मंत्री के नायक, पेरिकल्स को मार डाला था। डी' एंगोर का तर्क है कि यह एक ऐसी घटना है जो आज के लिए कई सबक रखती है।


M Karunanidhi: India's 91-year-old politician who is still fighting

Summary: Ninety-one-year-old Muthuvel Karunanidhi is leading his DMK party in Monday's assembly election in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. During the 2014 parliamentary elections, critics wrote him off - saying he may not even last until the 2016 polls due to his failing health. But he has proved them wrong - he is still here, and not yet ready to hang up his boots, writes the BBC's Geeta Pandey in Chennai.

Nearly 2,000 people have been waiting patiently for a couple of hours, crammed in a square in the city's Mint area on a hot and humid summer evening. The street is cordoned off for traffic, colourful lights are strung high above and massive glittering cut-outs of Mr Karunanidhi are watching from vantage points. As his wheelchair rolls on to the makeshift stage, the DMK patriarch comes in vision: dressed in white with a sunshine yellow scarf over his shoulders, oversized dark glasses in place to hide an old botched eye surgery. He is accompanied by third wife, Rajathi Ammal, and grandnephew, Dayanidhi Maran, whom he often describes as his grandson. His arrival is greeted with loud music, the crowd begins chanting his name, there's clapping and waving of hands. A cheer rises through the gathering and black-and-red party flags are waved. Many stand on chairs to get a better look at their leader. Who is Muthuvel Karunanidhi? 'Will vote for him until my death' Party leaders and members bow before him, touch his feet and seek his blessings. As a mike is placed before him, he clears his throat and begins his address, reading from a sheaf of paper, assisted by Mr Maran. "No one could prevent our party and alliance from coming to power this time. People have put their faith in us and the crowd here bears testimony to that," he says. Bus driver G Thangaraj, who is listening to him with rapt attention, says he got his job in 2008 when Mr Karunanidhi was in power. "He built a lot of bridges and roads during his term. He takes care of our needs," he says. Tila Thilagavathi, 51, says she has been a supporter since she was a child because her parents supported the DMK. "He gave 20,000 rupees (£200;$299) for my daughter's wedding. I will vote for Mr Karunanidhi until my death," she says. "His popularity is rooted in his longevity. He's been a witness to everything that's happened in the state in the past six-seven decades," says newspaper columnist Bhaskaran Krishnamurthy. "He transformed Tamil literature, he's written stories, plays and poems, he's a reformist, he's the only leader of his stature." Mr Karunanidhi was first elected to the Tamil Nadu state assembly in 1957 and has contested - and won - 12 assembly elections and been the state's chief minister five times in the past. This is his 13th bid for the assembly and if the DMK manages to defeat the main rival AIADMK party, led by the charismatic former film actress and current Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalitha, he's said he would return as the chief minister. To put things in perspective, when he won his first election in 1957, it was just 10 years after India became a free country and Jawaharlal Nehru was the prime minister. Today, the fourth generation of the Nehru-Gandhi family is in politics, but the DMK patriarch is in no hurry to hand over reins to his son and successor, MK Stalin. "If I win, I would be the chief minister for the sixth time," he told NDTV earlier this week. "Stalin can become chief minister only if nature does something to me," he added. 'His mind is still sharp' Former MP and party spokesman TKS Elangovan rubbishes talk of Mr Karunanidhi being "too old" to lead. "He's very active in the field, he's not lost any of his faculties. His mind is still sharp." A school dropout, Mr Karunanidhi made his name as a successful scriptwriter in Tamil films. An atheist and a self-declared rationalist, he rose to political prominence in the 1940s by being a part of the Dravidian movement, which challenged the caste-supremacy of Brahmins, and participating in anti-Hindi agitations. A prolific writer and a fiery speaker, known for his wit and oratory, he enjoys god-like status among his supports. But in recent years, he's been accused of nepotism with critics saying he needs to look beyond the family members. There have been allegations of corruption against several of his family and party members, and some say it was one of the main reasons behind his party's decimation in the 2011 assembly polls. In the past few years, he's also had to grapple with a bitter power struggle between his sons, MK Alagiri and Mr Stalin, and although that row is now settled with Mr Alagiri's expulsion from the party in 2014 and recognition of Mr Stalin as the heir apparent, some say Mr Karunanidhi's troubles are far from over. Although considered a youth leader in the DMK, Mr Stalin is hardly youthful - he's 63 and is, by all accounts, getting restless. Mr Elangovan insists there are "no problems" between the father and the son, and that Mr Stalin has said he wants his father to be the chief minister if the party wins, but he admits that "some young party supporters may want to see Mr Stalin as the chief minister". Mr Karunanidhi is not the only nonagenarian Indian politician trying to hang on to power - in the neighbouring Kerala state, which also goes to polls on Monday, 92-year-old VS Achuthanandan is leading the Communist party's campaign. 'Elderly patriarchs' So in a country where more than 65% of the population is below 35 years of age, what could possibly explain the enduring charms of these elderly patriarchs? Lawyer Suhrith Parthsarathy, 30, says there's a reason why Mr Karunanidhi remains in the driving seat. "He's the glue that holds the party and the family together. But the larger population may regard him as an experienced administrator who has delivered in the past. "Fielding a youthful leader may not capture the youth's imagination. People want electricity, jobs, peace and an equal society. It doesn't matter whether a leader is 60 or 90 years old. What matters is who can deliver." But can he really deliver? At Sunday's rally, Mr Karunanidhi appears to be a shadow of his former self. As he reads his speech, his voice shakes in places and at times he slurs, there's also a momentary confusion when he gets the names of party candidates he's introducing mixed. Some media reports have speculated whether considering his age, this could be Mr Karunanidhi's last election, but Mr Krishnamurthy differs. "I don't think it's his last election. If he's still there five years later, he will contest another election. "As long as he's alive, you can't imagine an election without him. It doesn't matter whether he's 99 or 109." Pictures by Nathan G

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