The women behind one of Gucci's most-liked Insta posts

Summary: The BBC's weekly The Boss series profiles different business leaders from around the world. This week we speak to Laura Johnson and Zoe Proctor, founders of Zebedee Management, a talent agency that represents models and actors with physical and learning disabilities.

By Nell MackenzieBusiness reporter, BBC News Zoe Proctor and Laura Johnson were walking along a beach when they came up with their business idea. Laura, who is the partner of Zoe's brother, recalls how she was visiting her sister-in-law in 2017 during her maternity leave from her job as a social worker. "We were having a chat and putting the world to rights, talking about the lack of representation of disabled people in the media," she says. Zoe, a model-turned-performing arts teacher for disabled adults, was saying that while her students "were so talented and keen", they faced limited opportunity. The women wondered how, without a talent agency, Zoe's students and other disabled people, would ever get acting or modelling work. So they decided to set one up themselves. "It sounds cheesy, but it was like a light bulb moment," says Laura. Work began the moment they returned from the Lincolnshire shoreline. They named their company after Zebedee, the character who bounces on a spring in the much-loved children's TV programme The Magic Roundabout. "In a way, he has his own sort of mobility needs, and is also such a really happy, bouncy fun character," says Laura. They emailed UK disability groups and set up social media accounts to connect with potential talent. Just three years later, Zebedee now has more than 500 people on its books around the world. After Laura and Zoe had secured their first clients in 2017, their next challenge was to earn a reputation as a trusted talent agency, as casting directors are more likely to work with agents they know they can rely on. Relationships are everything. "We hammered on doors and begged people to see our people," says Zoe. "Everyone thought, 'who are these women?'" With casting directors listing job adverts on industry websites every day, describing the look, age or gender required, Zoe and Laura also decided to put their clients forward for work whether or not disability was listed in the advertisement. "If we waited for a call saying 'disability', we'd have no jobs," says Laura. Their first breakthrough came when a client was picked to model a set of colourful hospital gowns. Some 200 roles were secured that first year, compared with 600 so far in 2020, despite the coronavirus pandemic. Zebedee Management collects a small percentage of the fee from each casting, in line with industry standards of between 10-15%. When they began the agency, Laura and Zoe say they were often asked what would be their dream advertising campaign for one of their clients to front. Laura, a new mum at the time, longed to see a baby with a disability on a nappy or baby wipe advert. Zoe hoped to see one of their clients as the face representing a high-end fashion brand. This summer, both of their dreams came true. In June, Ellie Goldstein, an 18-year-old from Essex, who has Down's syndrome, featured as the face of a Gucci Beauty advertising partnership with Vogue Italia. The picture Gucci put on Instagram, in which Ellie wore its Mascara L'Obscur product, has been one of the brand's most popular posts to date, liked by more than 863,000 people. "The Gucci shoot was really good," says Ellie. "I tried on lots of hair accessories, lots of makeup and costumes. I loved it. I was, like, so shocked that this happened." Around the same time, another client, a baby called Lenny, who also has Down's syndrome, was featured in TV and print ads for Pura baby wipes. Despites these success stories, Zoe says some of their clients still face an auditioning process that is not always inclusive. "Our people have been left out of castings because they cannot physically enter the building," she says. "Children in a wheelchair couldn't get in, because a ramp had not been provided." More The Boss features: In another case, a wheelchair-using adult had to get someone they didn't know to carry them up some stairs. "Not making adjustments because somebody can't access the building is absolutely outrageous, in my opinion," says Louise. Covid-19 has mitigated this problem, however. In the continuing absence of physical auditions, casting directors have switched to "self tapes", and prospective talent now generally submits a video or picture they have made from home. Kate Evans, chair of the Casting Directors Association, says that Zebedee is continuing to make a real difference. "Zebedee Management is at the forefront of ensuring diverse talent are represented and considered for all roles across the industry," she says. In setting up Zebedee, Laura and Zoe created what is believed to be only the second dedicated talent agency for disabled people in the UK. The first, called VisABLE, was set up in 1993 by agent Louise Dyson, but the sisters-in-law say they were unaware of that business when they first decided to set up their company. Laura says what is most pleasing is that all their clients "say the impact has just been overwhelming, in terms of their self esteem, their feelings of self worth and the impact on the wider family. And, they are earning their own money." Zoe adds that while Zebedee has had some media coverage, she hopes "this is more than just news". "I hope it is a start - the start of a real change in how marketing campaigns are put together."

बी. बी. सी. की साप्ताहिक द बॉस श्रृंखला दुनिया भर के विभिन्न व्यापारिक नेताओं के बारे में बताती है। इस सप्ताह हम ज़ेबेदी मैनेजमेंट के संस्थापकों लौरा जॉनसन और ज़ो प्रॉक्टर से बात करते हैं, जो एक प्रतिभा एजेंसी है जो शारीरिक और सीखने की अक्षमता वाले मॉडलों और अभिनेताओं का प्रतिनिधित्व करती है।


Kent County Council finds an extra £2.5m for potholes

Summary: An extra £2.5m has been found by Kent County Council to deal with the damage caused to the county's roads by recent storms and flooding.

The money is on top of the normal road maintenance budget and the £4.6m spent on the council's "find and fix" scheme. Leader Paul Carter said the council looks after 5,000 miles of road. He said the extra cash for repairs was from council reserves, adding: "The roads are in a damaged state... we can't hang around." "We have seized the opportunity while the weather remains relatively mild to get on the ground and make good damage where we can. "The average time to repair a pothole is 14 days - that's despite the increase in numbers that we've seen."

हाल के तूफानों और बाढ़ से काउंटी की सड़कों को हुए नुकसान से निपटने के लिए केंट काउंटी काउंसिल द्वारा अतिरिक्त 25 लाख पाउंड पाए गए हैं।


Ampthill: The town with one cash machine for 8,000 people

Summary: The Georgian town of Ampthill has centuries of history, an active market and most of its shops are independent. What it no longer has, however, is a bank branch. Is it still cash-dependent or ready to become a contactless town?

By Laurence Cawley and Phil ShepkaBBC News Not long ago there were two banks with branches in Ampthill. Then there was one. Now there is none. Currently just one cash machine is left to serve a population of more than 8,000. Today, the town was named as one of eight locations across the UK to take part in the Community Access to Cash Pilot, which will test new subsidised cash machines and local cash deposit centres for retailers. For the residents and businesses of the Bedfordshire town, the shortage of cash machines is a significant issue. Ezequiel Gomez-Gibson, manager at Cambridge Wine Merchants, said "a lot of people had talked about" the issue of withdrawing cash in the town. "There is a lot of frustration about it," he said. "Especially amongst the independent shops. We used to have a cash machine right next door to us and that disappeared. A lot of the time the ATM at the Waitrose runs out of cash. "I understand people are using more contactless payments now but people still use cash - probably about 20% of our customers still use cash. "A lot of our wines are between £7 and £8 and a lot of people will pay cash for those kind of wines. It is getting harder for them." So much harder, says 74-year-old Mary Kershaw, that she referred to herself and fellow residents of Ampthill as cashflow "inmates". "I do use a card for big purchases but you cannot avoid using cash," she said. "I do like using cash because you can see it, you can see what you're doing and you can see how it is disappearing from your purse and there are times when that's the only way you can do things. "There's time for cash and there's a time for a card." But it is not just older people who often prefer cash to cards. Brandon Wilson, 20, is currently on furlough from a civil engineering apprenticeship at Luton Airport. He said using cash helps him stick more rigidly to his spending plans to ensure he does not spend beyond his means. "In general I try and budget my daily routine and having the physical money there means it is harder to spend than just placing a piece of card on to a machine. "I play a lot of pool down the pub and you can't pay for a game of pool by card. When I go for a night out, I will take out a certain amount of money and it will have to last me so that I don't overspend." He puts all of his loose change into a tub and every three months he takes it to a bank to deposit the money in his account. You might also be interested in: While the government guidance for shops does not explicitly recommend taking card-only payments, it does mention the benefit of contactless transactions in reducing the risk of coronavirus transmission. Claire Woodend, owns Ampthill Deli and Kitchen, said before lockdown about half of her takings were in cash. In the first week of reopening, only 5% of payments were cash, she said. She expects that figure to rise in the future but said she would be surprised if cash takings ever again accounted for half of the business's income. "I think people are still worried about handling money and they like just to tap the card or use their phones and then we can wipe our machine," she said. "But hopefully, as people start feeling safer, people will start using more cash." The town's bid for the cash pilot was put forward by its mayor, Ian Titman, who described the Waitrose cash machine as "ground zero" for Ampthill's cash supply. "But that does run out of money [and] 71% of the businesses here are independents. We've also got a mature population and, of course, not all of them want to use online banking or contactless payments," he said. Not only do customers want to pay cash for items - especially on Thursdays when the town's 800-year-old market is in full swing - but businesses receiving cash need to be able to give change in return. And at the end of the day, when the takings have been counted, where do those business owners take their money? They have to head out of town to the nearest bank, which is two miles (3km) away in neighbouring Flitwick. The mayor hopes the Access to Cash Pilot will deliver some form of banking hub for Ampthill. But where could such a hub be built? Mr Titman has an idea. "It would need to be set up in a building and we still have the NatWest building which closed three years ago. And it is currently empty."

जॉर्जियाई शहर एम्पथिल का सदियों पुराना इतिहास है, एक सक्रिय बाजार है और इसकी अधिकांश दुकानें स्वतंत्र हैं। हालाँकि, अब इसके पास बैंक शाखा नहीं है। क्या यह अभी भी नकदी पर निर्भर है या संपर्क रहित शहर बनने के लिए तैयार है?


Forget-me-not artwork springs up at Gloucester Cathedral

Summary: An artwork made up of 1,000 metal forget-me-not flowers has sprung up in Gloucester Cathedral's cloisters.

Longfield Hospice's Forget-Me-Not appeal allows people to purchase one or more of the flowers in memory of a loved one. Purchases have so far raised £23,000 for the hospice that provides free services for people with life-limiting illnesses in Gloucestershire. The installation opened on Thursday and will be in place until 25 March. Longfield's Gabrielle Cochrane said: "A company provides the flowers and they allow hospices to use them as a fundraising tool so we can all raise awareness of the work that we do." The charity relies on public donations to fund 85 percent of its work.

ग्लूसेस्टर कैथेड्रल के क्लोइस्टर्स में 1,000 धातु के फॉरगेट-मी-नॉट फूलों से बनी एक कलाकृति उभरी है।


Brexit: NI sheep farmers express tariff fears

Summary: Half of Northern Ireland's sheep are exported to the Republic of Ireland for slaughter every year - the process can be time-consuming but is relatively seamless. But how will Brexit affect that trade? BBC News NI followed lambs from County Antrim to a processing plant in County Meath to find out how the multi-million pound trade works.

By Rebekah LoganBBC News NI One-by-one, the farmers turn off a country road and into a haulier's yard in Ballycastle in County Antrim. There's a clear view of Rathlin Island to focus attention as they wait for their turn to offload. It's a process they're all familiar with - some have been doing it up to three times a week for over a decade. The farmers' cooperative facilitates the direct export of sheep to processing plants in the Republic of Ireland. Seamus Black's yard in the coastal town is just one of 63 permanent EU-approved export assembly centres in Northern Ireland. That status means livestock can be put through the required checks on-site and exported directly. Although not a farmer himself, Seamus plays a pivotal role in the process. 'Electronic border' Once offloaded, he electronically scans a tag on the animal's ear - the data is then added to an online system, informing authorities in Belfast, Dublin and Brussels that it will soon cross the border. The group is coordinated by Victor Chestnutt, the deputy president of the Ulster Farmers' Union. He describes the system as an "electronic border in action". "It frustrates me when people say it's a free border," he says. "Livestock either coming from the south to the north, or the north to the south - this is the process that has to take place. "The thing that will stop the trade is the tariffs - there's just no room in the sheep industry. "Sheep farmers aren't making a huge amount, especially beef and sheep farmers. "If there are tariffs to be paid at WTO rates, sheep will become unprofitable and if farmers continue to keep them they will go broke, so sheep will disappear from our countryside." Ronnie Duncan, who helps to organise the exports, believes tariffs would make sheep farming "unfeasible". He estimates that farmers would have to pay about £43 to £44 on a lamb worth £95. Lamb exports There are a number of reasons why farmers choose to export lambs to the Republic of Ireland, including the price they get for the animal. But according to the group's organisers there is also insufficient capacity to process all of Northern Ireland's lamb in local plants. John McLaughlin farms near Bushmills in County Antrim - for the past few years he has exported all of his lambs for processing in the Republic of Ireland. He echoes Victor's concerns that if that trade was to stop it would have significant impacts on farmers as there is simply not enough demand for lamb meat in Northern Ireland. "Any extra cost, on top of production cost, is going to hit farming and business in all directions," he says. "It's tight enough margins as it is without tariffs being brought in so an open border in that respect is the only answer for me." The sheep are ferried into separate pens after scanning, ready for a final inspection by vet Jimmy McBride before the journey south begins. As well as checking that they are in good physical health, he'll fill out and review the final paperwork. He believes the current process gives "100% traceability". Almost five hours after the first farmer arrived, the truck finally pulls out of the yard and into the darkness with 496 sheep on-board. It is the tail-end of the season so numbers are down - at peak times the group could send upwards of 1,000 sheep across the Irish border each week. 'Huge consequences' Haulier Drew Hetherington makes the lengthy journey from his home in Raphoe, County Donegal, to pick up the lambs in Ballycastle, before dropping them off at the processing plant in Navan and returning home. It is a trip he is familiar with - crossing the border at least four times - and one that is uninhibited by checks. He is unsure of what the future holds after Brexit but says the existing system is "very straightforward" and one that works for everyone. Northern Ireland exports about 400,000 lambs to the Republic of Ireland each year for processing or further production. According to Cormac Healy from Meat Industry Ireland, the loss of that trade could have "huge consequences" for factories in the Republic. "That runs close to the throughput of an average sheep processing plant so if that is lost you have to expect that with business losses, customer losses and business opportunities lost, there will be implications for the industry here as well," he says. Like the UFU's Victor Chestnutt, he believes that the implementation of tariffs would also be a "major impediment". "It would represent a massive part of the overall value of the animal and I think would run to the extent of blocking that trade, or seriously undermining the commercial viability of that business". It is almost midnight when Drew arrives at the Irish Country Meats plant in Navan. He hands over the health certificates and helps offload the sheep before beginning the journey home to Donegal, ready to do it all again next week.

उत्तरी आयरलैंड की आधी भेड़ें हर साल वध के लिए आयरलैंड गणराज्य को निर्यात की जाती हैं-इस प्रक्रिया में समय लग सकता है लेकिन यह अपेक्षाकृत निर्बाध है। लेकिन ब्रेक्सिट उस व्यापार को कैसे प्रभावित करेगा? बीबीसी न्यूज एनआई ने काउंटी एंट्रिम से काउंटी मीथ में एक प्रसंस्करण संयंत्र में भेड़ के बच्चों का पीछा किया ताकि यह पता लगाया जा सके कि लाखों पाउंड का व्यापार कैसे काम करता है।


Thieves target Abergele and Colwyn Bay solar farms

Summary: Two solar farms have been targeted by thieves who stole solar panels and equipment.

The items were taken from a site near St George, Abergele, overnight on Wednesday and at Llanelian, Colwyn Bay, on Wednesday or Thursday evening. North Wales Police said the 168 stolen panels may be offered for sale on the black market. PC Will Jones said those responsible "knew what they were doing" and may use the panels on houses or offices.

सौर पैनलों और उपकरणों को चुराने वाले चोरों ने दो सौर खेतों को निशाना बनाया है।


Brexit: Forcing the timetable for a 'Plan B'

Summary: The big debate is back on. As I wrote yesterday, in terms of Brexit itself, not much has changed - although Theresa May is that little bit more dug into Downing Street, weakened, but protected after that confidence vote last month.

Laura KuenssbergPolitical editor@bbclaurakon Twitter But the other factor that's different this time is, well, time itself. This whole process is on a deadline. Those who like to think of themselves as moderate are now feeling very radical about forcing the timetable, should the expected happen and the prime minister's plan be rejected by MPs next Tuesday. As things stand, if the government hasn't been able to get its deal agreed in Parliament, they have a couple of weeks to come back and reveal their plan B - the one that Mrs May has been unwilling to share (not surprising when Cabinet leaks like a sieve) and the one that some of her colleagues fear she doesn't actually have. Pace to quicken? There are moves afoot in the form of an amendment today that would force the government to come back with their alternative plan much more quickly - within three days of the likely defeat next week. After Prime Minister's Questions, MPs may well be able to ram that through to accelerate the process. If you are fed up of the government's handling and delays over Brexit, so are plenty of MPs. There is, inevitably, an issue before this idea can be voted on. Traditionally, this isn't the kind of motion that can be amended by backbenchers at this stage - in other words, only the government should normally be able to mess about with their plan before other people start weighing in. And if the Speaker allows a vote on this idea to take place, it is a big deal and would set a big precedent. 'So be it' But if a vote on this is not allowed or fails today, one former minister told me they were willing to go further, maybe even calling for a motion of contempt in the prime minister herself if she continues, as they see it, to try to keep Parliament as far out of the process as possible and to run the clock down as late as she possibly can. They told me: "If I need to try to collapse the government, so be it." These could be momentous days, but with Brexit, it may well not work out that way. PS: Of course, this latest wheeze reminds us how it wouldn't be a Brexit day if the big question wasn't proceeded by a row over parliamentary procedure. Those copies of Erskine May, the bible of the Parliamentary rules, must be getting pretty tatty from over use by now.

बड़ी बहस फिर से शुरू हो गई है। जैसा कि मैंने कल लिखा था, ब्रेक्सिट के संदर्भ में, बहुत कुछ नहीं बदला है-हालाँकि थेरेसा मे डाउनिंग स्ट्रीट में थोड़ी अधिक खुदाई कर रही हैं, कमजोर हो गई हैं, लेकिन पिछले महीने उस विश्वास मत के बाद सुरक्षित हैं।


Guernsey's two States-owned tankers give 'good return'

Summary: Guernsey's two States-owned fuel tankers are "giving a good return" to the island, according to a director of the company that manages them.

The tankers were bought for 16.9m euros (£15.2m) in December 2008 to ensure the long-term future of the islands' fuel supplies. Jeff Vidamour, a director of JamesCo, said the exact amount they were generating was confidential. However, he said they achieved their purpose and "a reasonable return". Mr Vidamour said as well as serving the Channel Islands, the Sarnia Cherie and the Sarnia Liberty were also carrying cargoes to the Scottish islands, the Isle of Man and France. He said both ships had contracts for work for at least the next five years.

ग्वेर्नसे के दो राज्य के स्वामित्व वाले ईंधन टैंकर द्वीप पर "अच्छा लाभ दे रहे हैं", उनका प्रबंधन करने वाली कंपनी के एक निदेशक के अनुसार।


How do you fight a locust invasion amid coronavirus?

Summary: A second invasion by desert locusts has hit East Africa in just a few months, as younger and more aggressive swarms hatch and spread across a region already battling hunger and coronavirus, which has made it more difficult to get supplies to kill the crop-devouring pests.

By Catherine ByaruhangaBBC News, Kampala Currently, Africa's second most-populous state, Ethiopia - along with regional economic powerhouse Kenya and politically unstable Somalia - have been worst hit. The UN estimates the swarms could be up to 20 times bigger than during the first invasion -and they could become 400 times bigger by June. "We found locusts on bushes, on pasture, irrigation plantations, even in forests," said Meseret Hailu, an Ethiopian government official who assessed the devastation caused by the latest invasion in the country's northern Amhara region. The staple grain teff - along with vegetables such as onions - have been devoured by the pests, she added. Usuallylead shy, solitary lives Whenthey get crowded together they become gregarious mini-beasts Colourchanges from brown to pink (immature) and yellow (mature) Swarmcan be the size of Paris or New York 40 million eat the same amount of food daily as three million people Cropsare destroyed and livelihoods threatened Towards the end of 2019, a major upsurge of swarms was seen in Ethiopia, as well as its neighbours Eritrea and Djibouti, and continued to spread, taking hold in Somalia, Kenya and even reaching Uganda, South Sudan and Tanzania though in smaller numbers. Governments, which have not been confronted with such large invasions for at least a quarter of a century, have had to scramble for pesticides, protective clothes, fumigators and aircraft to fly above the locust swarms, and spray them dead. "The scale-up of the operation has been the biggest difficulty," said Cyrill Ferrand from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). "That first generation reproduced then laid eggs on the ground, and then we have this second generation that is now maturing." The younger creatures are much more aggressive in devouring vegetation. These swarms are now reported to be spreading along the borders of Kenya and Somalia and into Ethiopia. By the start of April, they began to fly into Uganda once again - a local official estimated that just one swarm was spreading across five sq km (1.9 sq miles). Mass breeding in Kenya The short rainy season from February to May is the perfect time for farmers to plant their seeds in the ground in the hope of a bumper harvest in June. Following the droughts of recent years, there have been good rains this time. But the moist, humid conditions are also perfect for locust eggs to hatch. Northern and central Kenya are not a traditional habitat for the pests. The country has not experienced a major upsurge for more than 70 years but farmers are witnessing the mass breeding of locusts. Jude Musili Mkulima, who lives in the town of Mwingi in central Kenya, is worried things will only get worse. "The mother locusts came and left eggs. After two weeks now, they have already hatched. They are millions more than their mothers. These small ones are eating everything, even pastures for our cows," said Mr Mkulima, echoing the words of Ms Meseret in Ethiopia. Pilots need quarantine To bring the invasion under control, pesticides and the more environmentally friendly bio-pesticides are needed. They are sourced from countries such as Japan, the Netherlands and Morocco. But with the coronavirus pandemic grounding most flights, cargo supply chains have become less reliable and more expensive. Find out more about locusts: "It has slowed down importations. And when you are late with spraying, you know the consequences - the insects will increase. That situation has particularly hit Kenya," said Dr Stephen Njoka, the executive director at the Desert Locust Control Organisation for East Africa. Helicopters needed to track the locusts movements have also faced delays getting into the region - a shipment from Canada has not arrived yet - and pilots have to undergo quarantine when they arrive. Protective clothes for fumigators - including overalls, boots, goggles and masks similar to those worn by teams disinfecting streets and other public places to curb the spread of the virus - come mainly from China. UN FAO regional spokeswoman Judith Mulinge said they currently had enough stocks, but were concerned about running out if delays in deliveries persist. The UN predicts if the outbreak is not brought under control soon, the size of swarms could grow 400 times by June, affecting mid-year harvests. "When the plants are emerging, desert locusts are going to eat into these very young plants, which means that all the effort to grow crops will be vanished. We could have people with zero harvests, up to 100% losses," said Mr Ferrand. In one of the worst-hit countries, Ethiopia, the insects devoured about 200,000 hectares of cropland and more than a million hectares of pasture. The FAO estimates that about one million people in the country have already been pushed into hunger by the locust infestation. This worries regional experts, who point out that hunger caused by the infestation - along with lockdowns in place because of coronavirus - could have a devastating effect on poverty levels. Jasper Mwesigwa, a food security analyst with the regional inter-governmental body Igad, said that 25 million people in the eight states that make up the group were currently struggling to feed themselves and a further five million could be threatened by hunger if the locust invasion was not contained. "That would be the highest number of food insecure people this region has had," he added.

रेगिस्तानी टिड्डियों का दूसरा आक्रमण कुछ ही महीनों में पूर्वी अफ्रीका में हुआ है, क्योंकि छोटे और अधिक आक्रामक झुंड पहले से ही भूख और कोरोनावायरस से जूझ रहे क्षेत्र में फैल गए हैं, जिससे फसल को खाने वाले कीटों को मारने के लिए आपूर्ति प्राप्त करना अधिक कठिन हो गया है।


Tove Jansson: Love, war and the Moomins

Summary: This year Finland is celebrating the centenary of the birth of Tove Jansson, creator of the Moomins, and one of the most successful children's writers ever. Her life included war and lesbian relationships - both reflected by the Moomins in surprising ways.

By Mark BosworthHelsinki There is Moomintroll, Moominmamma and Moominpappa - little white trolls who live in Moominvalley, with other fantastical creatures such as the Hattifatteners, Mymbles and Whompers. Tove Jansson's Moomin books have sold in their millions, and been translated into 44 languages. Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials, has described her as a genius. Other devotees include Michael Morpurgo, writer of War Horse and dozens of other children's books, and Frank Cottrell Boyce, who scripted the 2012 Olympic opening ceremony. "I was completely blown away and enchanted," says Boyce, who read Finn Family Moomintroll as a 10-year-old, after discovering the book in a Liverpool library. "I didn't realise it was set in a real place. I thought she'd made Finland up. Finland was like Narnia, with these incredible characters that were so strange but instantly recognisable because you had met lots of them - noisy Hemulens or neurotic, skinny Fillijonks." Tove Jansson grew up in an artistic household in Helsinki. Her father, a Swedish-speaking Finn, was a sculptor, her Swedish mother an illustrator. While her mother worked, Tove would sit by her side drawing her own pictures. She soon added words to the images. Her first book- Sara and Pelle and the Octopuses of the Water Sprite - was published when she was just 13. She later said that she had drawn the first Moomin after arguing with one of her brothers about the philosopher Immanuel Kant. She sketched "the ugliest creature imaginable" on the toilet wall and wrote under it "Kant". It was this ugly animal, or a plumper and friendlier version of it, that later brought her worldwide fame. Jansson studied art in Stockholm and Helsinki, then in Paris and Rome, returning to Helsinki just before the start of World War Two. "The war had a great effect on Tove and her family. One of her brothers, Per Olov, was in the war. They didn't know where he was, if he was safe, and if he was coming back," says Boel Westin, a friend of Jansson's for 20 years and a Professor of Literature at Stockholm University. Jansson's first Moomin book - The Moomins and the Great Flood - was published in 1945, at the end of this difficult and nerve-wracking period, with Comet in Moominland following soon afterwards. "Tove's anxiety and grief are embedded in the first two books. She was depressed during the war and this is mirrored in those books because they are about catastrophes," says Westin. "Writing a children's book about a great flood is not so common. In the Comet book, Moomintroll and Sniff go on this journey to find out when the comet is coming and if it's coming to Moominvalley. "There are descriptions of creatures leaving their homes. Just like here in Helsinki, people were leaving their homes for fear of the bombs. She captured that and put it in her books." The two books went largely unnoticed. Jansson's breakthrough came in 1951, when her next book - Finn Family Moomintroll - was translated into English. Two new characters - Thingumy and Bob - appear in the book. The pair represent Tove Jansson and a married woman, Vivicka Bandler, with whom she had a brief and passionate affair. Homosexuality was illegal in Finland at the time, so everything had to be kept secret. "Thingumy and Bob are always together, walking hand in hand and they have a suitcase but they won't tell anyone what is in it. It is just referred to as 'the content'," says Westin. Inside the suitcase is a very big and beautiful ruby, a symbol of Tove and Vivicka's love. The Groke - a large grey, ghost-like creature who freezes everything she touches - is a threat and chases the pair because she is also after love and wants the content. "You could read this as being the lesbian love between Tove and Vivicka. They have their secret love in this suitcase, and when they open the suitcase and show it to the whole of Moominvalley it is also a picture of how they show their love to the world. It's a really beautiful story," says Westin. Finn Family Moomintroll's success caught the attention of Charles Sutton, a London agent who offered Jansson a lucrative deal to produce a Moomin comic strip for London's Evening News newspaper. Jansson agreed to produce six strips a week for seven years, starting in 1954. It was an instant hit and within two years 120 newspapers around the world were running it, reaching 12 million readers. Moomin-mania was now in full swing. Requests for Moomin-related projects came flooding in. Walt Disney asked for exclusive rights to the word "Moomin", but Jansson refused. Before long, though, the comic strip started to get her down. She constantly needed new ideas to sustain it, leaving her with little time for painting and writing. "Those damn Moomins," she wrote in her notes. "I don't want to hear about them any more. I could vomit on the Moomintrolls." Tove Jansson's creation was taking over her world and, she felt, obscuring her true talents as an artist. To reflect her frustration, she began to draw the Moomintroll bigger and bigger until it dwarfed everything else around it. In 1956, by the record player at a party, Jansson met a fellow artist, Tuulikki Pietila - or Tooti, as she was known. Jansson asked her to dance. Pietila refused, unwilling to break with social convention. But not long afterwards, Jansson went to Tuulikki's apartment on a winter's evening and the pair drank wine and listened to music. They became lifelong partners. Tuulikki Pietila's influence on Jansson's next book, Moominland Midwinter, is not hard to detect. "Tove introduces a new character into the Moominworld called Too-Ticky and that is Tuulikki Pietila," says Westin. "Too-Ticky is the one who gives Moomintroll guidance through the winter and the hard times, so she was really important to Tove. It's Tooti's book. It's a book for her and it's a book about her." The Moomins spend a lot of their time close to water, on boats, or on islands. This was true of the Jansson family too, who used to spend summers on Klovharu, a tiny uninhabited island in the Gulf of Finland. "They go on excursions to the islands - the Jansson family did exactly that," says Sophia Jansson, Tove's niece. "They went sailing and they went camping on the islands, and if you read the Moomin books there are many things that are, to me, completely normal and to other people are completely fantastical. But in Finland that's what you do when you are on the islands. That's what they did and it's what we've always done." In 1964, Jansson and Tuulikki Pietila built a simple house on Klovharu, without running water or electricity, which they could escape to in the summer months, and work without interruption. It was there in 1970 that Jansson began writing her final Moomin book, Moominvalley in November, a melancholy story reflecting the author's grief after the death of her mother. It features a new character, Toft, which Jansson based on herself. When Toft arrives at the usually busy Moominhouse, there's no-one there. The loss of her mother deeply affected Jansson, and the following year she and Pietila embarked on a round-the-world trip. It was at this time that Tove Jansson began writing The Summer Book, her first move into adult fiction. The book, which centres on the relationship between a six-year-old girl, and her elderly grandmother on an island in the Gulf of Finland, is a barely disguised recreation of the real-world relationship between Jansson's mother and her grand-daughter, Sophia - also the name of the girl in the book. "It didn't feel so odd to read it because fiction and reality get a little bit muddled up when you're in the Jansson family," says Sophia Jansson. "You're not quite sure what is true and what isn't true, and does it really matter? Now when I read the Summer Book I feel that it is, by far, the book that is closest to me because it is set on an island I know so well, and so many things in it are so familiar. It really feels like a part of me today." Eventually, after spending 28 summers on Klovharu, Tove Jansson and Tuulikki Pietila - both in their 70s - were no longer fit enough to continue going there. "Tove realised she had to leave the island when she became scared of the sea. And that was a turning point. She realised she was getting old and frail," says Sophia. "Once they left, they didn't want to speak about it and they didn't want to go back. They just wanted to keep that period in their minds." Tove Jansson died in the summer of 2001, aged 87. Tuulikki Pietila died eight years later. Since the Moomins and the Great Flood in 1945, more than 15 million Moomin books have been sold, around the world. Today, Moomin Characters, the company set up by Tove Jansson and her younger brother to deal with image rights, is one of the most profitable companies in Finland - its Helsinki office overlooking the Gulf of Finland populated by cuddly Moomintrolls from the 1950s to the present day. Most Finnish homes contain some sort of Moomin memorabilia, such as a towel, a children's plate or an adult's coffee cup. Their position in national life is such that, over the years, the Finnish post office has issued numerous Moomin stamps. Two stamps bearing Tove Jansson's portrait were issued in January. But events to mark Jansson's centenary are being held far beyond Finland - in the US, Japan and across Europe. The Moomins resonate with children and grown-ups in many countries. "I lived on this great big housing estate in suburban Liverpool, from a working class background, and somehow this bohemian, upper middle-class, Finnish lesbian eccentric felt like she was speaking directly to me," says Frank Cottrell Boyce. "They are just fantastically enriching books. One of the things I really took from them was the importance of small pleasures, that life is really worth living if we're just nice to each other and make really good coffee, and the pancakes are just right - then nothing else really matters in any substantial way. "That's a fantastic message to take home, isn't it?" Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook Comic strips from Moomin: The Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip, Books 1- 5, published by Drawn and Quarterly, Montreal, Canada. Provided by Solo Syndication

इस वर्ष फिनलैंड मूमिन्स के निर्माता और अब तक के सबसे सफल बाल लेखकों में से एक, टोव जेनसन के जन्म की शताब्दी मना रहा है। उनके जीवन में युद्ध और समलैंगिक संबंध शामिल थे-दोनों ही मूमिन्स द्वारा आश्चर्यजनक तरीकों से प्रतिबिंबित हुए।


American Kurds take up Syria fight as Erdogan visits Trump

Summary: The visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the White House this week reignited the controversy over his country's actions against Syria's Kurds. And it spurred Kurdish-American activists to take up their cause with renewed vigour, writes journalist Deborah Bloom.

A country-music loving, beer-drinking, gun enthusiast with a southern drawl, Nejeer Zebari is like any red-blooded southern American male. But ever since US President Donald Trump abruptly pulled US troops from the Syria-Turkey border, the 44-year-old Tennessean's focus has been 10,000km (6,200 miles) away in Kurdistan. "We never expected this to happen after one phone call," says Zebari, referring to Trump's controversial October phone call with Mr Erdogan that paved the way for a Turkish military offensive against US-backed Kurdish forces. "It was a complete betrayal." Zebari was driving from Nashville to a demonstration in Washington to protest against Mr Erdogan's visit to the White House earlier this week. It was a cold day and he was irritable. "I'm sick of these protests," he says. Three weeks ago, right after the White House announced it would withdraw troops in the region ahead of Turkey's "long-planned operation" into northern Syria, he'd left his wife and three children in Nashville to drive north to protest outside the White House. "But then Turkey is going to attack us, and Trump is gonna roll out the red carpet for him?" he said angrily, driving into the night. After the announcement of Erdogan's visit to the White House - following weeks of air strikes on Kurdish villages - Zebari was moved to act. He's one of several Kurdish-American activists across the US that has stepped into leadership roles meant to give a stateside voice to the Kurdish plight. Individually, they support the Kurds in their own ways - through clothing drives, social media campaigns, phone banks, meetings with Congress, and beyond. Collectively, they hope to meet the increasingly obvious need for Kurdish support and influence in the United States. What is the Turkey-Syria story about? Though Zebari emigrated to the US when he was a young child, he'd heard about the misery of cold winters in refugee camps from friends who'd experienced them firsthand - stories of people fighting over food and clothing, their hopes dwindling of ever being resettled. His own family fled the Second Iraqi-Kurdish War to a refugee camp in Iran, where he was born. After US troops left the Turkey-Syria border, "we knew Turkey was going to attack. We all knew there would be refugees running away with nothing," Zebari said. "I just felt like I had to do something." He started a clothing drive, and enlisted the help of a handful of local Kurdish Americans to help organise it. With Nashville housing the largest population of Kurds in the United States, Zebari soon found himself flooded with contributions coming in locally. Then boxes started flooding in from all over the country. So far they have collected more than 650 boxes of humanitarian supplies, including baby formula, winter clothes, toothbrushes, medical supplies, and blankets to ship to a refugee camp near the Iraqi border, where Syrian Kurds have been fleeing Turkish bombardment. The shipment will weigh over 18 tonnes. Of those boxes, 247 came from Dallas, Texas, which also houses a sizable number of Kurdish Americans. That's where Saman Gardy, 37, co-founded the Kurdish Community of Dallas-Fort Worth in the immediate aftermath of the troop pullout. He and four other Kurdish-American community members created a Facebook page for the group, which quickly ballooned to 1,000 likes within the first week. From there, they shared a flier about Zebari's clothing drive and began immediately accumulating donations of winter clothes and baby formula. "We've got family and friends that are currently in those camps," Gardy said. "We're keeping in touch with them constantly." Gardy says he and his fellow advocates are in the midst of starting a non-profit to fundraise for non-governmental organisations on the ground in Kurdistan Region. "When I saw these children getting killed, I saw myself and my son and I thought, 'what if that was my son in that situation?' Especially knowing that I've been down that road." Gardy's family fled Saddam Hussein's brutality following the Kurdish uprising of 1991, crossing into Turkey and living in a displacement camp there for three years. At 13 years old, Gardy came to the US and joined a growing community of Kurdish refugees immigrating to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. "Many of us are first-generation [Americans]. We barely understand the system, the way things work," he said. "But this was a wake-up call," he added, referring to Trump's abrupt shift in foreign policy. "We realised we needed to be networking with other Kurds, and connecting with different Kurdish communities." American Kurds are a relatively new phenomenon, immigrating in waves starting in the 1970s after the First Iraqi-Kurdish War. Today, some estimates place the number of Kurds living in the United States at 40,000. The Kurdish National Congress of North America, the nation's oldest and largest umbrella organisation representing American Kurds, held its 30th annual conference less than a month after Turkey started its invasion of northeast Syria. The event was hosted in a small city outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and was sparsely attended. On the other hand, Gardy and his crew of Kurdish-American activists saw hundreds of Kurdish-Americans turn out to demonstrate against Trump's foreign policy moves on the same day the president was scheduled to hold a campaign rally across the road. "For the first time ever, I saw Kurds unite and become one voice," Gardy recalled. In southern California, where tens of thousands of American Kurds reside, Yara Ismael and her best friend started planning protests immediately after the White House announcement. They created fliers and circulated them on social media, and days later throngs of protesters took to the streets to demonstrate in Los Angeles and San Diego. "Stand with Kurds! Stand with Kurds!" Ismael shouted into a bull-horn, draped in a Kurdish flag, outside the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles. Already interested in a career in public service, Ismael seized on the opportunity to represent the Kurdish voice, and so she booked a flight to Washington to meet lawmakers. Over a few days, she met several foreign policy aids for members of the House Foreign Services Affairs Committee, urging them to fight against Trump's betrayal of the Kurds. As a Kurdish American, "I want to know how you are going to help stop the innocent killing of civilians in Kurdistan," she said. Today, she says she has several ongoing conversations with congressional staffers. "I feel like I was heard" she said, responding to a question about whether her efforts had been productive. "This is a complex situation and the staffers wanted to learn more about it, so I definitely felt like I was filling in where there was a need." That's where 28-year-old Diliman Abdulkader comes in. The Washington-based consultant came to the US after his family fled the first Gulf War and spent seven years at a refugee camp in Syria. After troops started leaving Syria, Abdulkader immediately began executing a plan he'd had long in the making - to form the American Friends of Kurdistan, an organization that "strengths, protects, and promotes American-Kurdish relations and supports policies that advance the national security and prosperity of Americans, Kurds, and our other allies," according to its mission statement. "This is a critical moment for Kurds to not allow another genocide," Abdulkader said. "The cycle of Kurdish refugees must end." Abdulkader joined hundreds of protesters at the White House to demonstrate about Erdogan's visit. Wearing a black pea coat, he looked straight into the camera to record the first ever dispatch for the new group's Twitter page. "We urge President Trump to reconsider his decision," he said on video. "The Kurds have been our most reliable and trustworthy ally on the ground," Elsewhere in the crowd, Nejeer Zebari held a large Kurdish flag over his left shoulder. After hearing of Erdogan's imminent visit, Zebari had wanted to bus all of Nashville's Kurdish community to protest at the White House, but logistics quickly became too complicated. Zebari ultimately abandoned that idea in favour of starting a clothing drive, one that would bring in far more supplies than he could have ever imagined. Still, he felt compelled to make the trip, opting to instead rent a 15-passenger van and drive to DC with a several other Kurdish-American activists. "I couldn't just not come," he said.

पत्रकार डेबोरा ब्लूम लिखते हैं कि इस सप्ताह तुर्की के राष्ट्रपति रेसेप तैयप एर्दोगन की व्हाइट हाउस की यात्रा ने सीरिया के कुर्दों के खिलाफ उनके देश की कार्रवाइयों पर विवाद को फिर से जन्म दिया। और इसने कुर्दिश-अमेरिकी कार्यकर्ताओं को नए जोश के साथ उनके मुद्दे को उठाने के लिए प्रेरित किया।


Second fire at historic Dunston Staithes

Summary: A historic pier on Tyneside which was almost destroyed in a suspected arson attack seven years ago has been further damaged by fire.

Fire crews were called to Dunston Staithes on the River Tyne, which was reported to be well alight. About ten appliances and the fire service's boat were used to extinguish the fire. The Grade II listed structure was used for more than 150 years for transferring coal on to ships. In November 2003 it suffered extensive damage and partially collapsed during a massive fire. No information has yet been released as to how much damage it has now suffered.

टाइनसाइड पर एक ऐतिहासिक घाट जो सात साल पहले एक संदिग्ध आगजनी हमले में लगभग नष्ट हो गया था, आग से और क्षतिग्रस्त हो गया है।


Belfast city centre: New 20 mph speed limit comes into force

Summary: A new 20 mph speed limit is operating in Belfast city centre.

The zone takes in May Street at the back of city hall, goes on as far as the Cathedral Quarter before going past the back of CastleCourt centre. Roy Gordon, Transport Northern Ireland, said the new limit was part of a strategy to reduce the number and severity of collisions. But he said commuters would not notice a significant increase in journey times. "The longest length of this zone is 700 metres and the difference between driving that at 30 mph and 20 mph is just over 20 seconds," he told BBC Northern Ireland's Good Morning Ulster on Monday. "The zone is where we have the largest number of pedestrians and largest number of cyclists. "We have kept it relatively compact. It covers the main pedestrian zone and and front and back of city hall." Mr Gordon said this was a pilot scheme - one of four across Northern Ireland. "We will see how successful it is and take it from there," he said. Drivers should keep a look out for new signage which has been put in place to mark out the new limits.

बेलफास्ट शहर के केंद्र में एक नई 20 मील प्रति घंटे की गति सीमा संचालित हो रही है।


Brexit: Why is the Internal Market Bill controversial?

Summary: The government has said it is willing to drop parts of a controversial piece of legislation - the Internal Market Bill - which had the potential to further complicate the already tense trade talks between the UK and the EU.

By Chris MorrisReality Check correspondent, BBC News It contains measures relating to the way trade will be done between Northern Ireland and Great Britain in the future. They would only come into force if the UK and the EU failed to reach a trade deal. But they would overrule parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement the UK signed with the EU last year. The House of Lords voted to remove the offending clauses from the bill in November but the House of Commons then voted to reinstate them. The government now says it is willing to withdraw them because of an "agreement in principle" on a range of issues affecting Northern Ireland. So, what is the controversy about? Breaking the law The withdrawal agreement (also known as the Brexit "divorce deal") includes a section - or protocol - on Northern Ireland, and it is now an international treaty. Article 4 of the agreement says the provisions of the treaty take legal precedence over anything in the UK's domestic law. So if any of the proposals in the Internal Market Bill that contradict the withdrawal agreement actually became law, it would breach the government's international obligations. That is what the Northern Ireland Secretary, Brandon Lewis referred to in September when he spoke about breaking international law in a "very specific and limited way". Breaking the law, though, is still breaking the law. What was agreed on Northern Ireland? The overall aim of the Northern Ireland protocol was to avoid the return of a "hard" land border between Northern Ireland, in the UK, and the Republic of Ireland, in the EU. All sides agreed they did not want the return of border checks - or other physical infrastructure - that could become a target. One of the solutions in the treaty was to keep Northern Ireland in the EU single market for goods, unlike the rest of the United Kingdom. It promised to maintain unfettered access for Northern Ireland goods to the rest of the UK but also introduced new bureaucracy for trade across the Irish Sea. So what's the problem? The way these measures will be implemented on the ground have been negotiated by UK and EU officials, who have been meeting in a joint committee for the past few months. If there was no agreement by the end of the transition period, on 31 December 2020, and there was no free-trade deal, that is when parts of this new proposed legislation would have come into play. For example, the protocol states that companies moving goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) would have to fill out export declaration forms. But the government's Internal Market Bill would give ministers the right to overrule or ignore this part of EU customs law. Another part of the protocol says the UK has to follow EU rules on state aid - the financial support governments give to businesses - for goods related to Northern Ireland. But the Internal Market Bill would give ministers power to interpret what that means and says this should not be done in accordance with the case law of the European Court of Justice. The EU said this was trying to change parts of a recently-agreed international treaty unilaterally. And when the legislation was first published, US President-elect Joe Biden warned that the Good Friday peace agreement in Northern Ireland "cannot become a casualty of Brexit". But on 8 December, the UK and EU announced an "an agreement in principle" on issues including border control posts, the supply of food and medicines and clarification around state aid in Northern Ireland. As a result, the government said it would drop the controversial clauses in the bill. Taxation Bill The Internal Market Bill only deals with trade from Northern Ireland to Great Britain, but the debate about goods moving in the opposite direction is equally sensitive. The protocol says the joint committee is supposed to determine which goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland are "at risk" of being exported over the Irish border to the EU and should therefore have tariffs - taxes on imports - imposed on them. If there was no agreement between the two sides, then the default position would be tariffs paid on all goods. The UK had plans, due to be introduced in a Taxation Bill, to allow UK ministers to make unilateral decisions on which goods could be deemed as "at risk" - after 1 January. But, as a result of the "agreement in principle" - the government says these measures won't now be introduced. What claims do you want BBC Reality Check to investigate? Get in touch Read more from Reality Check Follow us on Twitter

सरकार ने कहा है कि वह एक विवादास्पद कानून-आंतरिक बाजार विधेयक-के कुछ हिस्सों को छोड़ने के लिए तैयार है, जिसमें ब्रिटेन और यूरोपीय संघ के बीच पहले से ही तनावपूर्ण व्यापार वार्ता को और जटिल बनाने की क्षमता थी।


'Why my daughter wants a hysterectomy at 15'

Summary: Elizabeth* struggled with suicidal thoughts from the day she got her period. She finally got relief after a hysterectomy at 42. She and her daughter Grace*, 15, have the same severe form of premenstrual syndrome. Here, they explain why they are desperate for a treatment to save Grace from a lifetime of hormonal hell.

By Natasha Lipman and Kirstie BrewerBBC Stories At 15, Grace has resolved never to have children and is resentful that her mum didn't do the same. Both of them have a severe form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) which fuels outbursts of anxiety, rage, psychosis and debilitating physical pain. "My mum has given me something that I now have to deal with for the next 40 years," says the teenager. She wants to be the third generation in her family to have a hysterectomy. Not in her 30s or 40s like her mother and grandmother, but now. Grace's anxiety has got worse since her periods began and she often feels "sad, angry and exhausted". School is a struggle. She is trying to plough on for now, but she can't wait to finish. "At school I can't concentrate in the build-up to my period, and when I'm in a rage I feel like nobody understands me. Nobody else seems to be going through it. I feel so isolated," she says. She becomes desperate for her period to start - even though it's something she dreads. "It's a bit like putting a pin in a balloon - I need to burst," she says. "But when I actually get it, I can barely function." Grace's periods can last most of the month and have been so heavy that she can't get through a whole lesson without needing to change her sanitary pad. "I would be drenched through eight layers of clothing, and 20 minutes later it was all back through again," she adds. But worse than the bleeding is the profound feeling of shame and humiliation that snakes in after she has lost control and had a violent outburst. "I feel like I have let myself down, I get tearful and so embarrassed, almost traumatised," she says. Her GP's solution was to encourage Grace to go on the contraceptive pill when she was 13. But when she was put on a pill with a high dose of synthetic progesterone, she became violent overnight. "It made life really awful for everyone," says Grace. When her brother - then five - witnessed her screaming and shouting and saw her hit their mum, he shut himself away in the larder. "I hope he doesn't remember that time, when things went very badly wrong with Grace," says Elizabeth. "She was scary, very scary." She recalls what happened when the family were all having lunch together and Grace was asked to move up a seat. "That sent her off into orbit, over absolutely nothing," says Elizabeth. Things quickly escalated and Grace smashed up the bathroom. This was not the daughter she knew - she describes Grace as very sweet and eccentric, like a girl from the pages of an Enid Blyton novel. The pill was pumping her full of progesterone - Elizabeth says they are both hyper-sensitive to this, but it never occurred to the GP to look at the adverse effects of certain hormones in any depth. Grace was referred to a psychiatrist who put her on anti-psychotic medication. The intention was to subdue her rage and "get the family through Christmas" according to Elizabeth. Things got so bad that the day after Boxing Day, Elizabeth met the psychiatrist to talk about putting her daughter into residential care. "Not because she wasn't loved and cared for, but to keep everyone safe," she explains. But she always felt that her daughter's problems were linked to her menstrual cycle and when she heard about premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), by chance on the radio, she realised that Grace's symptoms ticked all the boxes, as did her own. She found a doctor who specialises in hormonal treatments for PMDD. Grace is now on bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which is considered a more natural hormone therapy because - as the name suggests - it uses hormones that are chemically identical to those of the human body. This approach appears to be helping and Grace believes that if her mum hadn't found out about it, she would have had to leave home. "When you close the front door, it should be your safe haven. But when that safe haven becomes booby-trapped by PMDD it's awful," says Elizabeth. What is PMDD? Source: Nick Panay and Anna Fenton Elizabeth is all too aware of what a life with PMDD could mean for her daughter, because she has been through it herself. "I have been held hostage by my hormones since I was 14," Elizabeth says. She was also put on the pill as a young teenager, which dealt with the bleeding but not the psychological symptoms. Ever since Elizabeth got her first period, she has had suicidal thoughts. "Realising in my 20s and 30s that I was only halfway through my life really terrified me," she says. "And now I am seeing my daughter following the same patterns that I know so well." Elizabeth's hormonal struggle was only remedied by a hysterectomy when she was 42, following severe pelvic pain in the run-up to menopause. She had her ovaries removed too, and is on HRT. "There is an assumption you'll feel less of a woman because you don't have a womb - but I couldn't be happier to be rid of it," she says. Elizabeth's own mother struggled with her hormones too and had a hysterectomy at 35. Although the bioidentical HRT patches have gone some way to subduing Grace's symptoms, they still aren't the perfect solution. "I think Grace will continue to ask for a hysterectomy until she gets a hysterectomy, whether that's in her 20s, 30s or 40s," says her mum. Guidelines from The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists suggest when treating women with severe PMS, hysterectomy has been shown to be beneficial, but Grace has found it difficult to get anyone to take her request for the operation seriously. Her mum says doctors assume she will change her mind when she gets older. But Grace doesn't see it that way: "I don't want to have kids because I don't want them to deal with what I'm going through," she says. Elizabeth doesn't blame her daughter for feeling angry towards her. "Would I have knowingly given somebody a life sentence of awful hormones that make you feel depressed and make you want to turn the switch off? No, I wouldn't." But for her to agree she never should have had her? That would be like wishing Grace had never been born, she says, and she'd never wish that. The hysterectomy Elizabeth became so desperate to have wasn't easy to get signed off, and now her daughter faces the same battle. Other members of the family are stridently against the idea and say Grace is far too young to have the operation - but Elizabeth knows how it feels not to be believed and she knows how different life can be on the other side of effective treatment. All that, she says, gives her the steel to fight her daughter's corner in a way nobody ever fought for hers. "I don't dismiss her," she says. "To dismiss her feelings about her hormones and the effect that they have on her life is also to dismiss how bad it is for her." Elizabeth is aware that how well her daughter does in her GCSEs will really depend on where she is in her cycle. Elizabeth believes her own life would have turned out differently if her hormones had been taken into consideration sooner. "I look back on the rages I used to have and I wince," she says. "I ended up quitting a lot of things over the years because I felt immobilised by depression caused by my hormones." When your hormones dictate so much it has a domino-effect on your life and how much you can achieve, she explains. She recalls having to plaster on a smile to hide the pain she was feeling, and wondered how other people were able to push on when she couldn't. "I used to look at my peers and think I was being particularly feeble and lazy and unambitious - and that all played into my low self-esteem," she says. She loves being a stay-at-home mum, but had long harboured ambitions to be a writer and thinks perhaps if she'd had her hysterectomy sooner, she might have made that happen. "I do feel sad that it took so long for my hormones to be taken into consideration, but things have worked out in the end," she says. Help and support Her monthly battles also had an impact on relationships, but she has been married to her second husband for 10 years now. She describes the rugby player as "lovely and extremely supportive - he's learned to keep a low profile when the hormones in the household are on the rampage". On a Friday night he will tentatively say: "Oh, is it time to change your [HRT] patch, dear?" "Of course, I shout at him before I do it and then I feel much calmer after I change the patch," Elizabeth says. Now her focus is on finding a path out of it all for Grace. At the moment, Grace is having slightly more good days than bad - it used to be the other way around. "That's probably the best I can hope for until I can get a hysterectomy - I wish someone would just give me a hysterectomy," she says. "I just want to experience 'normal'." Illustrations by Emma Russell *Names have been changed Follow Natasha Lipman and Kirstie J Brewer on Twitter You may also like: For a couple of weeks every month, Lucie seemed to become a different person - one suffering from countless mental and physical problems - and she couldn't understand why. She spent years looking for a doctor who could provide an answer. My periods made me suicidal so I had a hysterectomy at 28 Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.

एलिजाबेथ * जिस दिन से उसे मासिक धर्म आया था, उस दिन से आत्महत्या के विचारों से जूझ रही थी। आखिरकार 42 साल की उम्र में उसे हिस्टेरेक्टॉमी के बाद राहत मिली। उसे और उसकी 15 साल की बेटी ग्रेस * को प्रीमेंस्ट्रुअल सिंड्रोम का एक ही गंभीर रूप है। यहाँ, वे बताते हैं कि वे ग्रेस को हार्मोनल नरक के जीवनकाल से बचाने के लिए इलाज के लिए क्यों बेताब हैं।


Stockton murder probe: Three more arrests made

Summary: Three more people have been arrested on suspicion of murdering a 42-year-old man on Teesside.

He was found injured on Smith Street, Stockton, on Friday and died at the town's University Hospital of North Tees on Sunday. Two men, aged 22 and 23, and a 30-year-old woman have been arrested by Cleveland Police. It follows the arrest of three men, aged 20, 26 and 28, earlier in the week. All five men have been released while investigations continue. The woman remains in custody, police said. Officers have not revealed what injuries the man suffered.

टीसाइड पर एक 42 वर्षीय व्यक्ति की हत्या के संदेह में तीन और लोगों को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Why do so many mums stop breastfeeding?

Summary: Well over half of new mums have stopped breastfeeding by the time their babies are six weeks old, despite all the advice that 'breast is best' for their baby. So why do so few continue breastfeeding?

By Caroline ParkinsonHealth reporter, BBC News Figures out in June this year seemed to show that more women were taking the breastfeeding message on board. The NHS Information Centre data showed that more than eight out of 10 mothers in the UK started breastfeeding their babies, up from six out of 10 in 1990. But this week, data was published showing how many mothers in England were still breastfeeding when their babies were six to eight weeks old. It showed that the figure was just 45%, the same rate as last year. In fact, the rate has been stuck at around this level. The highest rate seen was 50% - in 1995 and 2009. Complications Experts disagree about why more women don't continue breastfeeding. A lot of emphasis has been placed on getting women to start breastfeeding their newborns. New mums have to demonstrate they can do so before they can be discharged from hospital. But why do so many stop over the next few weeks? Cracked nipples, infections such as mastitis, problems getting a baby to latch on properly or the demands of establishing breastfeeding while looking after older children can all hinder breastfeeding. 'Unpleasant' But Rosie Dodds, a senior policy adviser for the NCT (formerly the National Childbirth Trust) says: "Women tell us they aren't getting the right information. Ninety per cent of women who stop don't want to. "They didn't get the help and support they needed." "All the emphasis on the benefits of breastfeeding means they feel guilty. But they should feel angry instead because they didn't get that support." The Royal College of Midwives' Janet Fyle said: "Society's attitudes haven't changed. But women need support from their immediate family, their partner. "And there needs to be more support across the whole of society for breastfeeding, so it isn't seen as abnormal if a woman starts feeding her baby in a cafe. "But still a lot of women feel they can't breastfeed when they're out and about." She warned the government needed to take a lead and promote breastfeeding nationally, rather than leaving awareness-raising up to local authorities. "The figures aren't good now - but we risk going backwards," she warned. But Dr Ellie Lee of the University of Kent, who focuses on parenting culture and has carried out research into attitudes towards breast and bottle-feeding, says it isn't the case that more advice and breastfeeding promotion would help women. "A lot of women are saying they had the advice and information they needed, but breastfeeding just wasn't working. "There are women for whom it worked with the first baby but not the next. And there are lots of women who simply find it unpleasant." "There needs to be a reality check", she added. "The message needs to be much more pragmatic. "Just do the best you can and stop when you feel you want to stop." And she warned: "I can't see how the figures are going to get much better."

उन सभी सलाहों के बावजूद कि 'स्तन उनके बच्चे के लिए सबसे अच्छा है', आधे से अधिक नई माताओं ने अपने शिशुओं के छह सप्ताह के होने तक स्तनपान बंद कर दिया है। तो फिर इतने कम लोग स्तनपान क्यों जारी रखते हैं?


Oil industry: lower for longer

Summary: You can see the oil industry's woes for yourself, at anchor in the Firth of Forth. Very Large Crude Carriers are parked off the coast of East Lothian until the price rises, full of North Sea oil recently loaded through the Hound Point terminal.

Douglas FraserBusiness/economy editor, Scotland Onshore storage facilities are full. You can see other tankers at rest and laden with the crude stuff off the coasts of Suffolk and Cornwall. The gamble made by oil traders is that the cost of storing oil in these tankers - two million barrels in each of the larger ones - is less than the gain to be made out of waiting to sell it. But industry hopes of a rise in the oil price have been dashed time and time again over the past two years. Other consequences can be seen over the horizon, on Shell platforms, where Wood Group maintenance workers are back on strike this coming week, in protest at the sharp cut to their pay. Others have protested at the change to rotas, shifting from two-week turnarounds to three-weeks. Cost-cutting The consequences were also clear from another grim week for the oil and gas industry, as the majors unloaded their half year results. The message was consistent, and no reassurance to those offshore workers facing diminished pay and conditions - the cost-cutting goes on. As the results were published, the oil price fell yet again. Brent crude fell below $43, down 20% from a peak it reached in early June. With global supply still buoyant, the short-term expectation is for a continued fall, even if those tankers at anchor in the Forth are a sign of expectations that the price will pick up again before too long. Dollar bills In Britain, it is no compensation for the oil industry that the dollar value appear more attractive in pounds, following the weakening of sterling. The industry thinks, invests, accounts and reports in US dollars. The exchange rate becomes an issue when it reaches the customer. That rise in the sterling price for a given dollar rate represents the increased cost, for those who earn and invest and buy their fuel in pounds - businesses and households alike. In other words, a drop of more than 10% in the average price of oil over the past two months, allied to a 10% drop in sterling against the dollar, means fuel is cheaper, but not as much cheaper for British consumers as it is for foreigners. For the industry, the main concern about the impact of Brexit is not about access to markets or regulation of the industry but about the prospect of economic slowdown hitting demand. It may yet do so in Britain, but the concern of it doing so worldwide as a result of the Brexit vote is significantly lower than it was a month ago. Profits of doom Back to those corporate first half results, coming two years after the slide began from $115 per barrel. The majors had already taken a huge hit, but now they're reporting on the consequences of the price of oil staying lower for longer. In the past few days, we've seen BP's profits down by 44% on the second quarter of 2015. That reflects an average oil price of $39 in the second quarter this year, against $55 last year. After six years, BP announced it is "drawing a line" under the Deepwater Horizon explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico, or so it hopes. The bill (so far): $61 billion, or £47 billion. The April to June profit at Royal Dutch Shell was down more than 70%. Including one-off items, it was down 93%. On its upstream activities - producing oil and gas rather than refining and selling it - the loss was $1.33bn, more than double the level last year. A month ago, its chief executive said it would "have to take a good look at the more mature assets in the North Sea". The British-Dutch giant is now the biggest producer in UK waters, since taking over BG. Centrica reported on progress in reducing upstream production sharply. It helps to achieve its target of retreat from offshore exposure by doing no exploration whatsoever. In the US, the week ended with Chevron reporting a $1.5 billion loss for the second quarter of the year. Exxon Mobil cut its exploration and capital expenditure by 38% - more than $5 billion - but with both upstream production and refinery earnings taking a hit, half-year profits were down 64%. Rig market That reduction in capital and exploration expenditure has been sharp and huge. Wood Mackenzie, the Edinburgh-based energy consultancy, said last week that $230 billion has been stripped out of capital spending in the past two years by 56 of the biggest oil producers. Rival consultancy Douglas-Westwood has been calculating the impact on spending on global oilfield services - dropping 38% last year, and 15% this year. It forecasts a recovery at a healthy-sounding 8% increase year-on-year. But by 2020, that is still 71% of the level in 2014. Oilfield equipment - primarily the building of rigs for onshore and offshore - is down to 32% of its level in 2014, and with few projects being given the green light recently, Douglas-Westwood foresees "a void in construction in the long term". Dividend plunge The impact on profits has been profound. The WoodMac study found that dividend distribution has fallen by $59 billion in two years. That staggering figure is an important one for retail investors and pension savers, for whom oil and gas shares play a large role. That WoodMac survey also noted the success of companies in cutting costs and exiting higher cost fields. Two years ago, the majority of the big 56 were producing oil at a break-even price of around $90. That is now down to an average $50. With Brent crude around $43 and the US benchmark price dipping close to $40, that's still too high, and a "growing list" are reaching the $40 figure. A word about how this can be seen from Scotland, where public debate displays some misunderstandings of the industry and its impact on the country. There is good news for the industry. Oil production volumes from the North Sea and West of Shetland are rising, after declining each year since the turn of the century. The oil price has gone up considerably from a low below $30 in January. New oil and gas fields are still being developed, with some very large fields due to come on-stream soon. Commitment to those was given when the oil price was more than double recent levels, and it looked stable. More reserves are being found in UK waters, though in small quantities - far too small to replace depleting reserves. So not all is gloomy. The oil market will recover, sometime...probably. But there are two big problems that afflict the UK offshore industry and Scotland's finances in particular. One is that an ageing oil basin gets more costly as fields get to the end of their lives, and new fields are developed in expensive, hard-to-reach sub-sea reservoirs. That means it is less profitable than it was. Oil companies have to justify staying involved, when capital expenditure is finite, and there are bigger, potentially more profitable fields to develop elsewhere. Taps on Depending on factors determined far away, the oil price is expected to rise, though not to previous sustained levels above $100. With these cuts in exploration expenditure with which to replace depleting reserves, a shortage of future supply may even see the price spike next decade. So will the oil bonanza taps turn on again? Will there be big profits, from which big tax revenues can be derived? Well, even the rosiest of scenarios for the industry look like returning significantly less tax revenue to either the Treasury in London - or to Holyrood, were it to win control over North Sea taxation. Tax rates have been cut sharply by the Treasury in response to the downturn, with the encouragement of the SNP government to cut further. That doesn't make much difference while profits are low. Due to investment allowances, tax revenue has recently turned negative. But when profits rise again, the government gets none of that directly, and with lower tax rates, it will be noticeable that tax revenue won't rise as fast. In the right market conditions, the industry could go on for decades. But that is not to say that the tax revenues will also do so.

आप अपने लिए तेल उद्योग की परेशानियों को देख सकते हैं, फर्थ ऑफ फोर्थ में लंगर डालते हुए। बहुत बड़े कच्चे वाहक पूर्वी लोथियन के तट पर तब तक खड़े रहते हैं जब तक कि कीमत नहीं बढ़ जाती, जो हाल ही में हाउंड पॉइंट टर्मिनल के माध्यम से लोड किए गए उत्तरी सागर के तेल से भरे होते हैं।


College of West Anglia starts £35m building work

Summary: Building work has started on a £35m revamp of the College of West Anglia's campuses in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.

Two new technology blocks are being built on the Tennyson Avenue site in King's Lynn and Isle College campus in Wisbech. The tower block on the King's Lynn site is also being overhauled. The work is set to be completed by 2016. For the next year, students will continue being taught in other buildings in the local areas. Sports students will be relocated to the Lynnsport Leisure Centre, while health and social care and childhood studies classes will be moved to the Alderman Jackson School in King's Lynn. College principal David Pomfret said the temporary building arrangements would not hinder the students' progress.

नॉरफ़ॉक और कैम्ब्रिजशायर में कॉलेज ऑफ़ वेस्ट एंग्लिया के परिसरों के 35 मिलियन पाउंड के सुधार पर निर्माण कार्य शुरू हो गया है।


They think they've got away: How to catch a historical sex offender

Summary: Sex offenders think they'll get away with it. And often they do. Sometimes it can take years to bring them to justice, while others escape retribution altogether. So how do you go about making sure perpetrators of horrendous crimes committed in the distant past are caught and convicted?

Alex SmithBBC News As the years pass, abusers increasingly have the upper hand. Undetected, they can build up seemingly respectable lives. Even if convicted, elderly prisoners spend less time in jail simply because they don't have as long to live. They also have the advantage of the vagaries of memory. Victims may have blocked out the abuse they suffered. Evidence - often one person's word against another's - can be hazy and conflicting, easy to cast doubt upon. The people speaking out were in many cases children at the time of their suffering - and children can readily be portrayed by defence barristers as suggestible and easily confused. The accused has no criminal record and appears to be a clean-living and valued member of society. Doubt sneaks in. And in a court of law, once doubt sneaks in, the prosecution's case can founder. The verdict? Not guilty. So exactly what is the process of tackling these inbuilt disadvantages an accuser faces? The abuse Obviously, the first step of the process is the occurrence of abuse. Widespread at some care homes, schools, and youth detention centres, it often went unchecked until the victims could leave, the home was closed or the abuser moved on. In the past, vulnerable children were more likely to be seen as trouble-makers and less likely to be believed. Even when concerns were raised, they were often dismissed. For example, at St Gilbert's - an approved boys' home for "young delinquents" in Worcestershire - pupils were beaten and raped by a religious order of Christian Brothers - despite the authorities knowing about one teacher having sex offence convictions, parents complaining and pupils telling the police. An official investigation only opened in 2014. Most of the brothers are dead. They got away with it. There are a number of ongoing investigations and inquiries - criminal and otherwise - into historical abuse allegations at institutions across the UK. A guide to the key inquiries and their scope Coming forward If anything good could possibly come of Jimmy Savile's decades-long reign of abuse, it could be what has been dubbed "the Savile effect". In the wake of the scandal the number of historical sex offences recorded by police rose by 9%. The National Association of People Abused in Childhood said victims now felt more confident about speaking out. The actress Samantha Morton, who spent most of her childhood in foster homes or residential care in Nottingham, is one of many people who have come forward later in life with allegations of abuse during childhood. "Nottingham in the 80s was rife with that [abuse from people in social services]," the Bafta and Golden Globe-winning actress said in 2014. While the local force has said it has no record of the 39-year-old's complaint, two ongoing, separate operations by Nottinghamshire Police have provided an insight into the intricate nature of a historical sex abuse investigation. Abuse at a number of former care homes, schools and a youth detention centre in Nottinghamshire between the 1940s and the 1990s is being investigated under Operations Daybreak and Xeres, which resulted in Andris Logins and Ivor Bethell being given significant jail terms. To help explain how an investigation into men like Logins and Bethell reaches a conclusion, Nottinghamshire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have guided the BBC through the process, from the moment an allegation of historical sexual abuse is made - to the emotional aftermath of a conviction. The evidence Supt Helen Chamberlain, from Nottinghamshire Police, says offences that happened a long time ago are especially difficult to deal with. "If somebody were to complain they've been sexually assaulted in the street or abused in the home, what we have is very quick evidence from an alleged victim, forensic evidence which we can call on, and evidence from an offender if we catch them at the same time," she said. "We've got scenes we can examine, CCTV, mobile phone and tablet data...but if somebody says they were sexually abused 40 years ago, you've got none of that available. "You start going through files of schools, local authorities, some of which will have gone through the natural destruction process. "It is not to say we don't believe the victims, but it is about trying to get sufficient evidence to corroborate their account." The 'belief factor' According to one former Nottinghamshire Police officer, Jonathan Nicholas - who worked at the force for 30 years - belief was a "major factor" in alleged sex offences that previously attracted little or no formal action. "There are several reasons: idle cops, untrained cops, the sheer cost and targets pressure. These are all in the mix at differing levels and in different cases," Mr Nicholas says. "The cynical attitude of untrained and unsympathetic cops in the first instance which caused the victims not to be believed was a major factor." While it is accepted societal attitudes have changed, giving more victims the confidence to come forward, there is a viewpoint that "the scales of justice" remain heavily balanced in favour of the perpetrator. Jon Brown, head of development and impact at the NSPCC, said: "Cases like Savile have prompted victims to now come forward, but their recollections can be hazy, conflicting, sometimes sketchy, and combined with the lack of evidence, the perpetrator often will maintain their innocence on the basis of that. "In criminal law, a case needs to be found beyond reasonable doubt. That makes it incredibly difficult to secure a conviction for historical sex abuse offences. "It would be right to say the scales of justice are weighed pretty heavily in favour of the perpetrator - and the police and the perpetrators recognise that." Building a case So how do detectives and prosecutors build a case? Janine Smith, chief crown prosecutor for the CPS in the East Midlands, said: "If you've got other victims, and if these victims are not necessarily known to each other or not had any sort of relationship with each other, that goes to show the credibility. "Are all these people making up the same thing that happened to them by the same individual in similar circumstances?" CPS East Midlands is part of a national pilot that sees a CPS lawyer based in a local police station to offer advice and guidance in the early, pre-charge stages of an investigation. That means, according to Supt Chamberlain, it is now "rare" that officers spend time building a case against a historical sex offender, only for it to be dropped by the CPS. Strength in numbers, in terms of victims, can also be achieved through media communications made by the police, the NSPCC's Mr Brown said. "Lawyers will object to it, saying it's a fishing expedition, but if it recognises abuse is rarely perpetrated against one victim, how difficult it can be for victims to come forward and the like, then sometimes it can be very important for these communications to be made by the police," he said. In court The judicial process in the UK is adversarial. Lawyers for each party argue it out, each trying to convince the jury. Aspersions are cast, doubts sown, characters ripped to pieces. Mrs Smith said that while lawyers tend not to use the courtroom as a stage, there can be an element of bravado as both the prosecution and defence counsel strive to present a clear, engaging case to the jury. "It's something that can be used to great effect, once you're satisfied that the case passes the code test," she said. "There's a lot of thought that can go into cases about presentational issues. "We have to present it in a way that the jury understand and their attention is captured, and the defence will do exactly the same. "It's not doing anything underhand and it's what we would expect from prosecuting counsel." Behind the pomp and ceremony, there are witnesses and victims, many of whom may be strangers to a courtroom and terrified of giving evidence, in part due to the prospect of being grilled by a seasoned advocate. One victim went to the police more than two decades ago, but no charges were brought due to a lack of evidence. Before her abuser Roger Caffrey was eventually jailed for 17 years for her rape, among other offences against other victims, she told Nottingham Crown Court: "I took this to the police 22 years ago and I thought justice would be done. It was one word against another." Caffrey, a teacher, began touching another victim over and under her clothing in his classroom store cupboard or while she read aloud in class. She later told the BBC: "He was a teacher, he was in a position of authority," the victim said. "Physically, he was a big, imposing character. He had big hands, I was just a little child. The police came to me. My name had been given as a possible victim or witness. "I was relieved more than anything. I thought it was about time the truth came out - he'd got away with it for too long." The improvements Supt Chamberlain said Nottinghamshire Police has just finished some training with the CPS around credibility, meaning the credibility of events - rather than the credibility of the alleged victim - is questioned in court. "What you don't see in court are rape victims, for example, being asked what they were wearing or what they were doing on their own," she said. "What we're trying to do is make the evidence more 'victim-centric' and give more focus to the victim. "For example, the defence, prosecution and the CPS will sit down and decide what questions will be asked during cross-examination." The aftermath Figures obtained by the BBC revealed Operation Daybreak has now received 391 separate allegations, while another 223 complaints have been made to Operation Xeres. Nottinghamshire Police said 236 people have been named as perpetrators across the two inquiries - although 24 of those alleged abusers died before they could be investigated. Despite reports of sex offences continuing to rise, Supt Chamberlain said some victims may never feel confident enough to come forward. "It's not stopped increasing so it's hard to say when the tap's going to turn off because I don't think it will," she said. "It's very sad to know there are people out there who have suffered abuse in the past and haven't come forward. "It's unfortunate, but the criminal justice process has improved tremendously to give people the chance to tell their account, be supported and get the case to court." In the words of one of Caffrey's victims: "I wasn't even particularly bothered that he would get a huge, long sentence. I just wanted somebody to say, 'you're guilty, you did this' and that we were believed. "I didn't feel sorry for him at all but a bit sad. That's his life and that's the sort of person he chose to be. A good teacher is someone you remember for the rest of your life and he could have been that teacher, but he wasn't, he was the worst kind of teacher. "That's his legacy now… and now he's going to end his days in shame."

यौन अपराधी सोचते हैं कि वे इससे बच जाएंगे। और अक्सर वे ऐसा करते हैं। कभी-कभी उन्हें न्याय के दायरे में लाने में वर्षों लग सकते हैं, जबकि अन्य पूरी तरह से प्रतिशोध से बच जाते हैं। तो आप यह कैसे सुनिश्चित करते हैं कि अतीत में किए गए भयानक अपराधों के अपराधी पकड़े जाएं और उन्हें दोषी ठहराया जाए?


Harry and Meghan's big move - and how it has split newspapers around the world

Summary: "Come to Canada, where you belong." It's a bold invitation from the Toronto Star as the world's media digests the news that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will step back from royal duties and consider basing themselves abroad.

Not everyone is as supportive of Prince Harry and Meghan's decision, and there is some outright criticism to be found in editorials and leader columns of British newspapers. A scathing review of the move in the Daily Mirror says there "can be no sympathy" with the way the announcement was made. "They were unable to find even a few moments to do our Queen the courtesy of discussing their plans," its leader reads. It says the move may cause "an irreparable rift" with the rest of the Royal Family. The Times leader calls the move "premature... petulant and ill-judged". "The announcement carries all the hallmarks of the petulance and hot-headedness for which Prince Harry is sadly becoming well-known," it reads, adding that little thought has been given to the practicalities of their new roles. It argues that Harry and Meghan's wish to be financially independent but still be members of the royal family implies that they "want to have it both ways". The Daily Express's leader is slightly more forgiving. It calls the couple a "tremendous breath of fresh air" but says they would have "gained more empathy" had they "shown respect". "It is a massive error judgment not to have informed the Queen of such a bold decision," it reads. "As a country we do expect a certain decorum from members of The Firm. And Harry's latest decision of not playing by those rules falls way short." 'Rewriting the rule book' The Daily Mail's Richard Kay analyses "where it all went wrong" for Harry and Meghan. He says the couple were "bent on re-writing the rule book of what being a member of the Royal Family actually means" from the moment they married, which led to a "disconnect". "The rot set in even before the glow of that May wedding day had passed," Kay writes, citing, among other things, the privacy of their honeymoon and their "secrecy" over their son's birth. The Daily Telegraph's Camilla Tominey says their "break for freedom" was "long planned" and can be traced back to November 2018, when they announced a "split" from the royal household they shared with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. She quotes a source telling the paper at the time that Harry had "always complained about being sidelined by William" and they wanted to "spread their wings". Across the Atlantic, "Megxit" dominates the front page of the New York Post, which says Harry and Meghan are choosing "commoner" lifestyles. The New York Times says the duchess faced "lacerating criticism" from Britons who "like their royals to be dutiful and traditional". She was criticised for being "too bold, too outspoken, too difficult, too American, too multicultural", it writes, adding that the couple's desire to "renounce the usual menu of royal obligations speaks directly to the challenges facing the monarchy". Back at the Toronto Star, columnist Vinay Menon writes that the move will mean the couple are "finally free" and adds: "Stepping back from your royal duties amounts to stepping into your future." He adds that the rest of the Royal Family "don't deserve" them. The Australian says the move has "breathed new life into the age-old debate over Australia's ties to the British monarchy". It interviews the chairman of the Australian Republic Movement, who says that it "highlights the Royal Family's waning power". 'Royal circus' In France, Le Figaro interviews French royal expert Stephane Bern, who says that royals who are "not at the core" need to show they can "earn a living" in today's world. "Gone are the days when the English paid for everyone without wondering why," he tells the paper. Le Monde says it is "a revolution in Buckingham Palace". Die Zeit, in Germany, says the Queen now has a "shortage of skilled workers", and Frankfurter Allgemeine agrees that Harry and Meghan's decision is a "serious loss" for the Royal Family. Spain's El Mundo says on its front page that the couple have "[slammed] the door in the British Royal Family's face", while El País says they became the victims of a "curse" that sees royals without a "determined destiny" heavily criticised. The Italian paper La Repubblica says it is not clear whether it is "the definitive strike that will weaken the foundations of The Firm" or "a publicity stunt" to get more Instagram followers. Sweden's Dagens Nyheter compares what it calls "chaos and civil war in the British royal house" with Brexit, while the Belgian Flemish-language newspaper Het Nieuwsblad says Harry "has had enough of the royal circus".

"कनाडा आओ, जहाँ से तुम संबंधित हो।" यह टोरंटो स्टार की ओर से एक साहसिक निमंत्रण है क्योंकि दुनिया का मीडिया इस खबर को पचाता है कि ड्यूक और डचेस ऑफ ससेक्स शाही कर्तव्यों से पीछे हटेंगे और विदेश में खुद को स्थापित करने पर विचार करेंगे।


Bosses to wait longer for bumper payday

Summary: For as long as I have been taking an (eccentric?) interest in these things (oh gawd, almost 30 years), there has been a neurotic, agonised and impossible-to-resolve debate about how best to align the interests of a public company's owners and its senior executives.

Robert PestonEconomics editor Let's ignore (as always) the ginormous elephant in this well-appointed room, to wit that those acting on behalf of the owners aren't really the owners but their agents (fund managers appointed by trustees representing savers), and simply point to an interesting trend highlighted in the Financial Times - namely that for so-called long-term incentive schemes, there is (probably irresistible) pressure for bosses to wait far longer to get their mitts on shares they've supposedly earned. The FT says one of the world's biggest and most influential investors, Fidelity Worldwide, has written to 400 big companies in which it has stakes, warning that it wants them to increase from three to five years the length of time that must pass before shares from an incentive scheme vest. To translate. When Sir Richard Rich, of Rich Pickings Plc, is awarded an incentive scheme stipulating he will be given many millions of pounds of shares so long as Rich Pickings hits certain fashionable targets - normally some measure of how the company performs for the owners relative to its peer group - hitherto he would not be able to pocket any of those shares for three years after the date of award. What Fidelity is saying is that Sir Richard, and the bosses of all other substantial listed businesses, should henceforth have to wait five years for the big pay day. If these incentive schemes aren't elongated, Fidelity will be minded to vote against any company's pay policies at the annual meeting. So can we expect fireworks and strife in the current round of negotiations on bosses' pay on this issue? Apparently not. I've spoken to the chairmen of a few of our biggest companies this morning, and they say that five years will in the coming months be the new norm for the length of these schemes. Or to put this in simpler terms, the balance between shorter term incentives (what we typically call bonuses) and longer term ones is being shifted towards the longer term. In other words, Fidelity is pushing at an open door. So good thing or bad? Well, as is my wont, I will state the spectacularly obvious: we all had a pretty harsh lesson in recent years about what can happen if chief executives have big incentives to push up profits in a reckless and unsustainable manner to earn cash bonuses (a big hello to all our banks). So if managers believe that the big money is to be earned by running a business in a prudent way over the longer term, owners and the economy should feel the benefit. Hip hip. Or at least that is the theory. But whether we do ultimately reap a societal benefit from forcing executives to wait for their wealth will all come down to the execution. And the issue here is the nature and complexity of the targets to be hit, for the shares to be handed over. Right now, these incentive schemes run to many pages of formulae and clauses, such that they are almost impossible to understand - which gives little confidence that they can be monitored effectively by shareholders. A cynic would say this is to make it easier for executives to manipulate corporate performance for personal gain - and that there is an all-too-effective industry of remuneration consultants whose raison d'etre is to help executives game the remuneration principles set by owners. Maybe that ain't so. But would it be so terrible to have remuneration agreements that someone who isn't a grandmaster in 3D chess might be able to grasp? Is it really impossible, with a public company, to establish, as and when Sir Richard Rich retires to his arboretum in Wiltshire and chalet in St Moritz, whether he has left Rich Pickings in better or worse shape than when he arrived.

जब तक मैं इन चीजों में (सनकी?) रुचि ले रहा हूं (ओह गॉड, लगभग 30 साल), एक सार्वजनिक कंपनी के मालिकों और उसके वरिष्ठ अधिकारियों के हितों को सबसे अच्छा कैसे संरेखित किया जाए, इस बारे में एक तंत्रिका संबंधी, दर्दनाक और असंभव-से-हल बहस हुई है।