Coronavirus: Bringing poets together to share a 'storm of emotions'

Summary: It might appear to be a pursuit perfectly suited to the lockdown age, but a south of Scotland poet has been using the time of social isolation to bring fellow writers - from across the country and beyond - together to perform their work online.

By Giancarlo RinaldiSouth Scotland reporter, BBC Scotland news website More than a month ago, Dumfries-based Hugh McMillan started writing on his blog about poems and poets he liked. It quickly expanded as he tried to "rustle up some favours" from others to perform their "poems from the backroom". "I was very surprised how keen folk were to record themselves in lockdown," he said. "And though there have been many technical challenges, I'm very pleased with the way the project is working." 'I'm a lot less restless' One of those taking part - from hundreds of miles away - is Donald Murray. Originally from the Isle of Lewis, he now lives in Shetland. "Despite my reluctance to engage with technology, I was very happy to get involved with Hugh's idea," he said. Mr Murray said the lockdown had also allowed him - or perhaps forced him - to concentrate on his work. "I must confess I'm a lot less restless as a result of the coronavirus," he said. "I'm an extrovert - in a lot of ways. "I have no choice, however, but to get down and write at the moment. It removes the temptation to do other things. "This is especially true in Shetland which - in percentage terms - has been the worst affected area in Scotland." Another poet involved is Glasgow-based Magi Gibson, originally from Kilsyth. She co-edits the magazine The Poets' Republic with Mr McMillan, and said she was happy to be involved with any of his "madcap ideas". Ms Gibson, who lives with her husband, comedy novelist Ian Macpherson, said that coronavirus had not had a huge effect on some parts of their lives. "We write daytime at home in separate rooms, so lockdown hasn't been much change," she explained. However, it has had an impact on promotional events and she has been missing her family and getting out to poetry readings. As a result, she has welcomed the online gathering created by Mr McMillan. "I've only just in the past few days turned to coronavirus/lockdown as a theme as I've been working on my collection," she said. "I always write about what's going on around me, and I'm often political, so it's inevitable these themes - and political anger, I imagine - will seep into my writing over the coming year." Brian Johnstone from Edinburgh, who has lived near St Andrews for many years, has been using the time in lockdown to work on a memoir as well as sharing his poetry. "I've been amazed by the burgeoning of poems posted on social media and have been taking part in various other online initiatives to spread poetry - and art work in general - around," he said. "I think people find the concision and precise observation of poetry something they can hold on to at these often stressful times." Mr McMillan said that as well as allowing the poets to express themselves, the work has also been of interest outside the writing community. "I know of very many people who look forward not just to this blog - which I think is unique in its form and scope - but others like it," he said. "Poetry is singular in cutting to the chase: saying the things that make people think, feel and empathise." 'It calms us' That is a view echoed by Ms Gibson, who has regularly spoken about how people tend to say: "Poetry's not for me." "Then, when a crisis hits, they do turn to poetry, for comfort, for words that soothe, that untangle and perhaps express the storm of emotions they're overwhelmed by," she added. "A poem might be a temporary escape hatch, a return ticket to a time or place of happiness." Mr Murray said that hearing poets recite their work was something people were hopefully pre-programmed to enjoy, particularly at a time like this. "We all like to be told stories when we're anxious. It calms us," he said. "It's why children like their parents to read to them - an instinct that stays with us to the end."

यह लॉकडाउन युग के लिए पूरी तरह से उपयुक्त प्रतीत हो सकता है, लेकिन स्कॉटलैंड के एक दक्षिण कवि सामाजिक अलगाव के समय का उपयोग देश भर और उससे बाहर के साथी लेखकों को अपने काम को ऑनलाइन करने के लिए एक साथ लाने के लिए कर रहे हैं।


A day in the life of a Northern Ireland paramedic

Summary: Jacqueline O'Neill works as a paramedic in Belfast. It's a job she's been doing for 12 years. Her husband works in the control room; their two and a half-year-old son loves ambulances. It's a family thing.

By Marie-Louise ConnollyBBC News NI Health Correspondent We've been out on the road for just three hours. It's midday and already she's been to a road traffic accident, a fall and a suspected case of septicaemia. As we respond to another 999 call, she tells me why she likes the job. "I like the not-knowing what is going to happen next. You literally go from one call that is life-threatening or where someone has died to something that is totally ridiculous like the time a man called me after he'd stubbed his toe." 'Cajoling and checking' Meeting targets is part of the job. Unlike their counterparts in England, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service is performance managed on a target of reaching 72.5% of category A calls within eight minutes. As I discover, not all 999 calls are worthy of emergency status. It puts unnecessary pressure on a service that's already overstretched. And it's for that reason that the ambulance service wants to review and change how it responds to emergency calls. Next stop is Millfield in Belfast, where Jacqueline has been called to a crash. The woman who was driving isn't injured but her husband, a passenger, has left the scene. He vomited getting out of the car and appears disorientated. Within minutes the police arrive and the woman's husband is found slightly shaken. Vitals are taken, a wound is dressed, statements are given and all the while Jacqueline is comforting, cajoling and checking. 'David Attenborough' It's non-stop but Jacqueline appears to take it all in her stride. Jacqueline says the biggest part of the job is talking to people. For those who know Jacqueline, that comes easily. During my second day of filming, out with the ambulance service's rapid response vehicle, the atmosphere is quiet and more serious. There has been a serious road crash. A police helicopter is dispatched and within minutes we find ourselves at the Royal Victoria Hospital's emergency department. Several people are injured with what we are told are life-threatening conditions. One woman is in resuscitation. The paramedic officer is John McClintock. His small stature masks his energy and passion for the job. Ashen-faced and with eyes welling up, he describes the scene. "This morning I faced people fighting for their lives and some people not fighting for their lives. "I had to start prioritising patients, deciding who goes first - everyone has a loved one there and everyone would want their loved one to go first. But unfortunately we have to make that decision. "Then you hear the screaming, agony and pain. You know people are fighting for their lives. "Someone today will get a knock on the door - this is the reality of our job. "We are a strange breed. It's a wonder David Attenborough hasn't done a programme on us. "I suppose we have a black humour that protects us to a certain degree. The problem is when you get back home the emotion starts to hit you. "Nights you don't sleep, you question if you did enough - you question life. But the stability you get is from your family at home." Language issues An hour later, I'm back with Jacqueline in the rapid response vehicle and heading across to east Belfast. A woman has dialled 999 as her daughter is vomiting. At last Jacqueline faces a challenge. As she comes out to collect more equipment, Jacqueline tells me that no-one in the house speaks English. "The lady is a foreign national and she doesn't speak any English. "We have the language line available if necessary but this time I have been able to cope." My 24 hours with the ambulance service has been an education. It's busy - sometimes dangerous. While those I spoke to said the role was tiring even frustrating - no-one said they'd walk away from what is an obviously extremely tough profession.

जैकलीन ओ 'नील बेलफास्ट में पैरामेडिक के रूप में काम करती है। यह एक नौकरी है जो वह 12 साल से कर रही है। उसका पति नियंत्रण कक्ष में काम करता है; उनके ढाई साल के बेटे को एम्बुलेंस पसंद है। यह एक पारिवारिक बात है।


The inside track on East Coast mainline

Summary: What has been happening with the East Coast mainline?

The company that runs it, a joint venture between Stagecoach, which holds 90% of the franchise, and Virgin Trains, which has the other 10%, is giving back its right to run the line early. That move has sparked two inquiries, one by the public spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, and one by a specialist committee of MPs. How was it meant to work? Virgin Trains and its bigger partner Stagecoach paid £3.3bn in 2015 for the right to run the line until 2023. The route runs from London's Kings Cross station, up through Peterborough and passes through Leeds, York and Newcastle on its way to Edinburgh. But, just three years into its eight-year franchise, they are giving up. Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson has said the deal cost Virgin and Stagecoach more than £100m. The government view is that they were simply over-confident. They based their bid on an increase in passenger numbers that didn't materialise. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has conceded that there is a tendency for franchise bidders to "overbid" to make sure they are successful. Others say Network Rail let them down by lagging behind on a programme of rail improvements which would have allowed them to increase the number of services. Who loses out? On the face of it, the government will lose the remaining £2.3bn of the £3.3bn promised by the franchise. However, the amount it will lose or gain ultimately will depend on what sort of money the replacement service can generate. Although the two companies at the centre of the franchise say they have lost money on it, they are still interested in - and will get the chance to run - other parts of the network. Virgin Trains runs trains on the West Coast line from Euston through Birmingham to Glasgow. Meanwhile Stagecoach is on the shortlist for the East Midlands franchise from London St Pancras to Sheffield. What happens now? There shouldn't be any disruption in the short term. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling says it is important that passengers don't lose out and he's determined that services will not be affected. His department is currently putting arrangements in place to take over the running of the East Coast mainline service until more wide-ranging reforms are rolled out in 2020. Mr Grayling says it will either be run on a not-for-profit basis or it will get taken into government hands. Why do I have a sense of deja vu? This is the third franchise on this route to run into trouble. In 2005, GNER signed a £1.35bn, 10-year deal in what was then the biggest contract in European railway history. One year later it was stripped of the route. In August 2007, National Express agreed a £1.4bn deal, but then handed it back to the government in 2009 against the particularly challenging background of the financial crisis. It was then government-run until Stagecoach and Virgin's £3.3bn bid in 2015. Will rail franchising be affected? The National Audit Office and the Transport Committee both think there are lessons to learn and that they will get to the bottom of it with their inquiries. The affair has led to renewed debate over public ownership of rail franchises, with Labour's Lord Andrew Adonis, who was responsible for re-nationalising the route in 2009, accusing the government of "bailing out" private firms. Lilian Greenwood, chairwoman of the Transport Committee, said the failure of the East Coast franchise had wider implications for rail franchising and the competitiveness of the current system. She added that there were "serious questions to be asked of the train operator, Network Rail and ministers", and said the Transport Committee intended to ask them.

ईस्ट कोस्ट मेनलाइन के साथ क्या हो रहा है?


Obamacare: The big election issue that's not Trump

Summary: Healthcare tops most lists of voters' concerns in the US mid-term elections, but it gets precious little coverage in the national media. At a clinic in West Virginia, patients and staff explain why they think the system is broken.

By Ritu PrasadBBC News, Charleston, West Virginia Nearly all the streets in Charleston are quiet on this weekday afternoon, despite it being the state capital. The road to the clinic is lined with old gas stations and older houses in varying states of disrepair. In a nondescript brick building, 61-year-old Chevone Daly sits on an exam table in a white-walled room. She first came here in 2010, after an emergency appendectomy became infected. Without her own doctor to see, she was told: Go to the emergency room or go to the free clinic. Ms Daly tells me "nobody" she knows can afford healthcare anymore. Most patients at this clinic are like Ms Daly - America's working poor, who find themselves with nowhere to go and no money to spend when they fall ill. At West Virginia Health Right, providers and patients echo the same admonition - the system is broken. And changes introduced by President Barack Obama that were meant to serve as a safety net have left many still slipping through the cracks. As patients enter the clinic, a glass window plastered with flyers - reminders about wellness classes and prescriptions - greets them. And in the centre, a note reads: No matter what happens with the Affordable Care Act, we will remain open for business. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare, was a Democratic answer to America's ever-increasing healthcare spending - still the highest in the world. Using state-run marketplaces, President Barack Obama's signature policy expanded insurance coverage to those unable to access programmes for the poor (Medicaid) and elderly (Medicare). Its most popular provision by far is the rule that insurers cannot deny coverage over pre-existing conditions like cancer, diabetes and pregnancy. Its least popular consequence has been steadily rising insurance costs. The latest ACA government report says 2019 premiums are stabilising, more insurers are participating and average premiums have decreased by 1.5% for the first time since 2014. But, premiums for the second-lowest cost plan still increased 37% between 2017 and 2018. The Trump administration has taken credit for the drop, but some experts say it was due to higher insurance company profits from increasing premiums this year, and that Republican efforts to destabilise the ACA have ultimately made it costlier. Currently, 11.8m Americans have insurance through the ACA, but around 15.5% are still uninsured - up 2.8% from 2016. According to a new Pew Research Center study, more than half of Republicans and three-quarters of Democrats say the affordability of healthcare is a "very big" problem. Founded in 1982, West Virginia Health Right (WVHR) is the state's largest free clinic, offering no-cost, holistic healthcare for the under-insured and uninsured. With a budget of around $3m (£2.2m) from grants and donations, the clinic provides over $15m of care annually. As one of the unhealthiest states in the nation, with the highest rate of drug overdoses, obesity and smoking, West Virginia has acutely felt the impacts of national healthcare policies. WVHR saw 21,000 patients before the ACA. After the law, that number dipped to 15,500, suggesting that fewer patients were in dire need - but that welcome news only lasted so long. "Now we have 26,211 patients," says Mrs Angie Settle, 47, nurse practitioner and CEO of WVHR. "We've far exceeded where we were." And they expect to keep growing as ACA costs rise. Mrs Settle says the ACA has been "a horrible failure". At WVHR, 83% of patients have a job. Many purchased insurance through the marketplace at first, but were forced to drop it. The nurse practitioner says many of the insurance plans required patients to cover the first $5,000 to $10,000 of their costs. "It might as well have been $5 million because these people are living paycheck to paycheck. It was totally beyond their reach," Mrs Settle says. "You have people making $1500 a month, with rent, childcare and whatever else they have to do. And it's nothing to have one patient on six to eight medications." Mrs Settle also notes that co-pays - the fixed amount insured patients pay - in these plans could be around $50 per service or medication. She shakes her head. "When you multiply that, it's ridiculous." The ACA's high cost has been at the heart of the Republican attack on Democrats for years. Repealing the act was a cornerstone of Donald Trump's 2016 campaign. With a Republican-controlled Washington, the last two years have seen a slow but steady dismantling of the ACA: the individual mandate was repealed, enrolment periods shortened, ad budgets slashed, reimbursement payments ended. The ACA has been hobbling along, but with high premium, prescription and deductible costs, fixing it is a key midterm issue. But the difference now is that Democrats are embracing it as their number one issue. According to a recent report by the Wesleyan Media Project, 50% of all Democratic ads in federal-level campaigns tackled healthcare - a stark contrast to Republicans' 21%. Last week, President Trump published an opinion piece warning voters that government-run healthcare would bring the country "dangerously closer to socialism", and in June, his administration backed a lawsuit against the pre-existing conditions clause. But many Republicans up for re-election have scrubbed harsher critiques of the ACA from their campaign pages. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a congresswoman of Washington state, swapped her nearly 300-word statement on repealing the "radical health care bill" for two paragraphs on local policies. Rhonda Francis, 49, WVHR's clinical and pharmacy coordinator, joined 19 years ago when she says turning patients away at retail pharmacies when they couldn't afford their co-pays took its toll. She described how some newly-insured clinic patients ended up self-regulating medications like insulin to avoid out-of-pocket payments - and ended up in the ER as a result. "If the patient is going to go without and can't afford it, what's the point? They're just going to jack up hospital costs. Somebody's going to have to pay for it, eventually." "Healthcare should be universal across the line," she adds. "How are you to know who's going to be able to pay what?" In West Virginia, a precarious job climate has seen some residents making six-figures one day and being unemployed and uninsured the next. "We have patients who've worked all their life and they're really sad when they come in here," Ms Francis says. "They're like, 'I would never have thought I'd be in this situation.'" Other voices on healthcare As tensions rise, health policy analyst Paul Keckley believes America is near a tipping point. "Going into 2020, presidential candidates will have to address specifically their plans to transform the system," he says. "It'll basically boil down to one of two theories - healthcare is a fundamental right, or, healthcare is a marketplace." Mr Keckley, who served as a mitigator between industry and lawmakers at the White House during the early stages of the ACA, adds that without a fix, the country will "absolutely" see debilitating cost increases for patients. Capping spending, like European systems do, will be key, he says. So will linking social services and healthcare - most comparable nations spend far more on preventive and primary services than the US. "We call a lot of those 'welfare programmes', so they have a stigma, and yet we're finding out if people live in areas of food insecurity or have unclean air and water or high crime rates, guess what? Their care is going to be more costly and they're not going to be as healthy." But fleshed out solutions from politicians are still few and far-between. When I ask WVHR patient Ms Daly what could fix healthcare for people like her, she looks down and quietly offers: "Maybe more like what Canada's is?" Progressive Democrats have been pushing a system like Canada's and Britain's- so-called Medicare for All, as proposed by former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Funded by higher-taxes, the universal plan would expand America's pension programme to everyone, taking the burden of paying premiums, co-pays and deductibles out of the equation. It would cause US spending on healthcare to increase by more than $3tn according to one analysis - but if nothing changes with the present system, the US could spend over $5tn by 2026. A March Kaiser Health poll found 59% of Americans do favour a Medicare for All plan, including about a third of Republicans polled. One in 10 voters said a candidate's views on a national health plan will be the most important factor they consider. But keeping protections for those with pre-existing conditions could become the most important issue for any candidate. Last month, Kaiser polls showed 75% of the public were in favour of the policy. In West Virginia, Democrat Joe Manchin, up for re-election next month, has emphasised this in his campaign against Republican challenger Patrick Morrisey. His state will certainly feel the loss of the pre-existing conditions clause if Republicans end it. Indeed, there is a sense of "panic" among patients and staff at the clinic about losing that provision from the ACA. Many told me about the staggering rates of obesity, diabetes, substance abuse and mental health issues in West Virginia. As she sits in a dentist's chair on the second-floor of the clinic, 21-year-old Ricci Shannon, says West Virginians rarely think about their own health in terms of risk. "It's such a financial issue for people and they live not-healthy lifestyles," she says. "No one my age even thinks about it." "I'm a person who fell through the cracks," says Margaret Grassie, 57, by way of introduction. "And this clinic saved my life." "I woke up and my prescriptions were $1200 a month," she says. "With the medications I take and the pre-existing conditions I have, there was no way. I couldn't afford it." Despite working full-time, Ms Grassie could only afford catastrophic coverage from the ACA marketplace. That meant her policy applied just in drastic cases - "I literally had to get hit by a bus," she explains. "Donald Trump doesn't give a crap about me. Hillary Clinton didn't give a crap about me," Ms Grassie adds. "We get written off." She tells me West Virginians are scared of healthcare. She tells me of a friend, employed for 33 years, who cannot afford to see a doctor for even preventative care. "[If] she quits her job, drops her income and ends up here, she gets the help she needs," Ms Grassie says, gesturing at the free clinic behind her. "[People] are doing their jobs, showing up everyday for 33 years - and walk out with no insurance." As the midterms approach, poll numbers show addressing the cracks and crevices of this health system remains the number one issue for voters, regardless of party. "It's gonna take a miracle," Ms Grassie says with a laugh. "But I think the ACA is a good place to start - fixing it." Photographs by Hannah Long-Higgins .

अमेरिकी मध्यावधि चुनावों में मतदाताओं की चिंताओं की अधिकांश सूचियों में स्वास्थ्य सेवा शीर्ष पर है, लेकिन इसे राष्ट्रीय मीडिया में बहुत कम कवरेज मिलती है। वेस्ट वर्जीनिया के एक क्लिनिक में, रोगी और कर्मचारी बताते हैं कि उन्हें क्यों लगता है कि व्यवस्था टूटी हुई है।


Woman, 58, pleads guilty to Anglesey conspiracy to kidnap charge

Summary: A 58-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap at Mold Crown Court.

The charge relates to an alleged conspiracy to kidnap a child in Gaerwen, Anglesey, between 1 July and 5 November last year. Two other people pleaded guilty to the same charge last December at Mold Crown Court. Four more people have denied the charge and will go on trial later this year. Another man charged, Robert Frith, 65, died whilst on remand at HMP Berwyn in Wrexham.

एक 58 वर्षीय महिला ने मोल्ड क्राउन कोर्ट में अपहरण की साजिश रचने का अपराध स्वीकार किया है।


Covid-19: 'I'll be hosting my Christmas over Zoom'

Summary: When a leading medical expert urged people to prepare for a "digital Christmas" last week, the response was mixed. But amid the frustration and "mistletoe and Zoom" jokes, some people were already rearranging their plans.

"I imagine the iPad and FaceTime will be on pretty much the whole day on Christmas Day," says Gail Buckie, from Edinburgh. Gail's family live about 150 miles away on the Isle of Mull and she says "there's no way we'll be able to see them over Christmas" - especially with her mother considered vulnerable. But she says she's already putting "a lot more effort" into this year's festivities - and has even booked Santa to visit her children at her doorstep because they won't be able to go to a grotto like usual. "We've already started to stock up on extra Christmas lights," she tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "I think I've probably, in the past, been a bit more 'less is more' type thing, but with the children spending so much time inside, we're going to decorate their bedroom. "It will be just a wee small thing for us," she says. "But we'll make it extra special trying to keep connected." It's still too early to say what Christmas will be like for everyone. But current restrictions in Scotland ban people from visiting other households indoors, while in England, millions of people are living under tier two or three restrictions, which also ban visiting others at home. In Wales, there is currently a national lockdown requiring people to stay indoors, while in Northern Ireland indoor visits to other people's homes are also not allowed. That means Gail isn't alone in planning a digital Christmas Day. Mhairi Hamilton, from Larkhall, in South Lanarkshire, says she is "ahead of the curve" and has already cancelled her big family Christmas to avoid months of uncertainty. "So I called it about six weeks ago and put a message round the family saying that I was not going to host in the house but I would host a Zoom Christmas," she tells BBC Radio Scotland. "I would preserve what we could of the family traditions and we would take it from there. And the response I got from the extended family was nothing but positive. You know, things like, 'you mean we can do this in our jammies? You mean we don't have to drive?'. I'm going, yes, yes, yes." Mhairi is currently in the process of making gift bags for her relatives, which will be filled with drinks and nibbles, and the whole family will open their Secret Santa presents on a video call. "I'm ahead of the game and I'm loving it," she says. "I'm having a great time preparing. There are undoubtedly many, many positives to be taken from it." Becky Goddard-Hill, a parenting blogger from Nottingham, is equally positive. "I think we can still have that family gathering but just in a different way," she says. 'It will probably be chaos' She's planning a carol concert with members of her family over video call, and a cook-a-long with her mother-in-law to bake a Christmas cake. "I'll get my kids to open their advent calendar with their grandparents online each morning just so they're still very, very much a part of our Christmas and there's still a lot of fun and togetherness at the heart of it," she says. "It will probably be absolute chaos but I think that's part of the fun, isn't it? It's that being together, throwing your enthusiasm behind it." She also suggests watching a film together at the same time as relatives living elsewhere, or sending handmade cards and long handwritten letters. But for some, the prospect of a virtual Christmas is nothing but unappealing - especially if they will be on their own. "This Christmas my husband, a serving soldier, will be at work on Christmas Day, and my brother, who I would normally spend Christmas Day with, died in August," says Helen Kemp, 56, who lives in the Yorkshire Dales. "I don't have children and other than my cousin, who has invited me for Christmas Day to her house, I don't have any close relatives nearby anymore." Helen says she will spend Christmas morning at work - at a charity that gives discounted holidays to vulnerable people, including the homeless. "But after that, I really didn't want to have to spend the rest of the day, until my husband comes home at half six at night, on my own." Her area is currently in tier one - medium alert - where household mixing is still allowed in groups of up to six. But "who knows what we will be by Christmas", she adds. "It has been a tough year for all of us and we need to have some normality back into our lives. "Spending Christmas Day with family, rather than alone, is a way of normalising our lives again. "I don't think anyone wants to be alone on Christmas Day, let alone after the year we have all had." So what has the government said? Earlier this week, No 10 said it was Prime Minister Boris Johnson's "ambition" for people to celebrate Christmas with their families. But many scientists and politicians have taken a different view. Scotland's national clinical director Jason Leitch said it was "honestly too early to say" what would happen at Christmas - but it was "not going to be normal". "People should get their digital Christmas ready," he said. Prof John Edmunds, who sits on Sage, said the idea that people could "carry on as we are" and then have a normal Christmas with friends and family was "wishful thinking in the extreme". And another Sage scientist said last week that Christmas was unlikely to be the "usual celebration" of "families coming together".

जब एक प्रमुख चिकित्सा विशेषज्ञ ने पिछले सप्ताह लोगों से "डिजिटल क्रिसमस" की तैयारी करने का आग्रह किया, तो प्रतिक्रिया मिली-जुली थी। लेकिन निराशा और "मिस्टलेटो और ज़ूम" चुटकुलों के बीच, कुछ लोग पहले से ही अपनी योजनाओं को फिर से व्यवस्थित कर रहे थे।


Former Gloucester City councillor denies upskirting offence

Summary: A former Conservative councillor will face trial next year accused of an upskirting offence in a TK Maxx store.

Lee Hawthorne, 40, is alleged to have committed the offence at the Northgate Street branch in Gloucester on 27 June 2019. Mr Hawthorne, who resigned from Gloucester City Council in April, pleaded not guilty to the charge of voyeurism during a hearing at Bristol Crown Court. His trial date is set for 14 April.

एक पूर्व कंजर्वेटिव पार्षद को अगले साल टीके मैक्स स्टोर में एक अपस्कर्टिंग अपराध के आरोप में मुकदमे का सामना करना पड़ेगा।


Isle of Man regeneration projects are 'slow' to start

Summary: Regeneration projects for Manx towns and villages have been "slow" to start, according to the Treasury Minister.

Talking in the House of Keys on Tuesday, Anne Craine confirmed that "a healthy balance" of £500,000 is still available for regeneration during 2011. The Minister confirmed that local groups have taken 'some time' to come forward with proposals. Anne Craine said: "The purpose of this money is to put some civic pride back into our town and village centres." She added: "The government intends to use local firms where ever possible and it has certainly been local business which has benefited in the design process."

ट्रेजरी मंत्री के अनुसार, मैनक्स कस्बों और गांवों के लिए पुनर्जनन परियोजनाएं शुरू करने में "धीमी" रही हैं।


Europe braces for first EU-wide vote since 2008 crash

Summary: Europe's elections are just over a month away. Campaigns have started, but with a whimper. There are few signs, so far, that the European electorate is engaged. For the moment it is a ghost campaign - apart from the struggle for the top jobs in Brussels.

Gavin HewittEurope editor@BBCGavinHewitton Twitter Mainstream parties will argue over tax and spending and appeal to their traditional supporters, but in many countries this will be a referendum on the European project. Many voters will have the chance to support parties disenchanted with Brussels and all its powers. The last few years have seen the rise of anti-establishment parties both from the left and right, some nationalist, some extreme and most of them drawing their support from being Eurosceptic and anti-immigration. So the battle will be fought less over the minutiae of policy but in broad strokes about Europe itself. In the past year successive polls have registered a widespread disillusionment with the European project. This will be the first Europe-wide election since the eurozone crisis. The bond markets have moved on - cheerfully buying Greek debt. European officials declare the single currency repaired. But the hangover remains: over 26 million out of work, wages and pensions, in many places, slashed and debts still increasing. Last year Italy's debt rose to 132.6% of GDP. And after all the pain the unanswered question remains - is the future a low-growth Europe? Backlash time? The historian Niall Ferguson points out that a "political backlash usually follows an economic crisis" but, he argues, the real story is that "despite the severity of the shocks inflicted on European economies since 2008, most voters will back mainstream parties". That is true to a point, but this election is a battle for legitimacy. A low turnout will undermine the standing of the European Parliament and a strong showing by anti-establishment parties - anywhere above 25% - will raise doubts about the manifest destiny of "ever closer union". For the disillusioned this is not just a chance to cast an angry cross or tick against austerity. For many it goes much deeper. It is about insecurity and identity. Europe's leaders have often misread globalisation's winners and losers. With high unemployment in many parts of the continent, ordinary workers are not just wary of further immigration but suspicious of an elite that does not address their fears. It is that vacuum that the anti-establishment parties are filling. Almost certainly there will be a large protest vote - perhaps most strikingly in France with Marine Le Pen's Front National (FN) which is vying for first place with the centre-right UMP. She may well benefit from high unemployment and an economy struggling to find growth. But there are reasons for questioning whether these anti-establishment parties will be as successful as some predict Democracy itself Even if the protest parties do very well - say they get 30% of the seats - they will struggle to unite in the European Parliament. Already Nigel Farage and Marine Le Pen are squabbling over whether anti-Semitism still exists in her party. Mr Farage has cast his support in the French race for Debout La Republique (Stand up for the Republic). And the mainstream parties will make common cause, forming alliances to pursue their goal of closer European integration and increasing the influence of the parliament itself. The European Parliament, although often derided, is a much more important institution than it used to be. Only last week it was taking important steps towards banking union, voting on greater transparency for lobbyists and setting up a new European Fisheries Fund. It is most unlikely that the anti-establishment parties in the new parliament will be able to block or undermine the work of the committees and the chamber. They disagree too much among themselves. They will be dismissed as wreckers, extremists and populists. All easy put-downs. But the elections matter and not just because of the growing power of the parliament. The vote touches on deeper questions about the health of democracy, such as whether the governing elites are perceived as on the side of the people or their own political ideas. Is there a decline in political trust between the governed and those in power? In another blog I will examine the contest for Europe's top jobs, including the president of the European Commission.

यूरोप के चुनाव बस एक महीने से अधिक दूर हैं। अभियान शुरू हो गए हैं, लेकिन एक झटके के साथ। अब तक कुछ संकेत हैं कि यूरोपीय मतदाता लगे हुए हैं। अभी के लिए यह एक भूत अभियान है-ब्रसेल्स में शीर्ष नौकरियों के लिए संघर्ष के अलावा।


Fire crews tackle Beccles recycling centre blaze

Summary: Staff at a recycling centre are using diggers to help firefighters clear burnt and burning waste after a large blaze broke out there, the fire service said.

Flames at VC Cooke on Ellough Road, Beccles, started just before 22:30 BST on Tuesday. Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service said crews will remain on the 18-acre (7-hectare) site for most of the day. Watch Commander Adrian Mason said the cause of the fire was not yet known. Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk Related Internet Links Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service VC Cooke

अग्निशमन सेवा ने कहा कि एक पुनर्चक्रण केंद्र में कर्मचारी आग लगने के बाद जले हुए और जलते हुए कचरे को साफ करने में अग्निशामकों की मदद के लिए खुदाई का उपयोग कर रहे हैं।


Toronto Film Festival: Why the festival matters

Summary: Sundance has snow, Cannes has sand while Venice has canals. But what makes the Toronto Film Festival special, and why is it now one of the most important events on the industry calendar? BBC News journalist Neil Smith went to the festival in 2013 for the first time and asked some regular attendees what sets the event apart, what it is like to go there and why it has gone from strength to strength.

Two hundred and eighty-eight features. More than 140 world premieres. Fifteen separate programmes featuring films from 70 different countries. Whichever way you slice it, the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival - TIFF for short - is a gargantuan event. Since it was first held in 1976 the festival has grown exponentially, aided in part by its apposite positioning at what is widely considered the onset of the annual film awards season. From American Beauty and Crash to Slumdog Millionaire and The King's Speech, the annual Canadian showcase has consistently served as a crucial launch-pad for movies that have gone on to receive glory and plaudits. A positive response in Toronto in September can get the ball rolling on an awards campaign that could result in that most coveted of accolades - an Academy Award - at the end of the following February. 'Extraordinary platform' Small wonder the event bursts at the seams with promising new titles, all hoping to generate the all-important buzz that, if handled correctly, can translate into prizes, honours and the lucrative international box office that go with them. "Toronto has become this extraordinary platform for many of the most serious films by some of the greatest film-makers in the world," says British actor Tom Hiddleston. "The summer is over, it's a new season of film viewing and Toronto is there to herald that." The British star of Thor, The Avengers and War Horse can speak from experience, having seen at first hand the importance of having a title in the festival programme. When his period drama The Deep Blue Sea premiered there in 2011, it had yet to secure a North American distributor. By the end of the festival, its rights had been sold to Music Box films, whose canny marketing helped its star Rachel Weisz land a Golden Globe nomination for best actress. "It's a very good place to launch to North American distributors in particular, and it's quite often where you'll make your US domestic sale," says Sue Bruce-Smith, head of commercial and brand strategy at Film4. "It's positioned itself very well, both in terms of the calendar and also the support it's shown film-makers over the years. "It's always been supportive of British films and there have been many careers, particularly directors' careers, that have been launched off the back of it. "The programming is very good and it is always significant if you are chosen - it's seen as a mark of quality." Media spotlight Unlike Cannes, Venice and many other leading festivals, Toronto does not appoint an international jury to sift through an official selection of films and garland those it finds most worthy. Instead it asks its audience - a passionate, enthusiastic clientele who number in the thousands - to do the sifting for them, inviting them to name a "People's Choice" in a public ballot. "It's an intelligent, literate crowd," says Hiddleston, who will be going again this year to support Jim Jarmusch's vampire romance Only Lovers Left Alive. "It's very discerning, very engaged and full of people who love cinema of every stripe, shape and genre." "Some will say 'oh, that's just Toronto, they're so kind and positive'," says Sue Bruce-Smith. "But I think that's just being cynical. "The audiences are generally passionate about good film and that's what they're getting when they go and see this selection." "Toronto really seems to me to be all about film," adds Hiddleston. "There's no kind of subsidiary interest in glamour or in fashion." Not that the event will be without those elements. Indeed, the festival boasts a plethora of glitzy red-carpet premieres that, for a few days in September, will place the city in the full glare of the international media spotlight. For some that glare is best appreciated in small doses. British director Ben Wheatley, for example, has no plans to linger once his latest film A Field in England has screened as part of the experimental Wavelengths strand. "I usually go in, do a Q&A and get out," says the film-maker, who has two previous visits to Toronto under his belt. "I don't hang about." "The key dates of the festival are the Thursday through to Tuesday," explains Bruce-Smith. "I think the organisers are sometimes frustrated by the fact that everyone wants to go there for the opening weekend." With hundreds of distributors, exhibitors and backers in attendance, it makes sound business sense for a film to have a presence during that window. According to Britain's Roger Michell, though, being at the festival does not automatically guarantee a positive outcome. 'Perfect storm' "When you go to a festival like Toronto, you're impressed by what a huge world your film is entering into," says the Notting Hill director, who will be in town to promote his Paris-set drama Le Week-end. "You're an atom, a speck, an ignorable figment, and it's very hard to make your presence felt." "It's kind of a behemoth," agrees Wendy Mitchell, editor of industry paper Screen International. "It's a perfect storm of a film festival. "If there's a drawback to Toronto, it's that the programme's too big. Nobody can get a handle on it all: no publication, no critic." "The complaint now, is that there's so many films to see in Toronto," says Sue Bruce-Smith. "It creates a problem in terms of how you get films to pop out and be distinctive. "That's the challenge Toronto faces - making sure it allows visibility for all its films. The more films they take, the more difficult that challenge becomes." Statements like that might well strike fear in the heart of a reporter who is preparing to attend the event for the very first time. What advice would a seasoned attendee offer to an inexperienced newcomer like myself? "It's colder than you think, so bring a jumper," says Hiddleston. "Leave your evenings free for parties and receptions," counsels Mitchell. Veteran film critic Nick Roddick, meanwhile, says it is best to "get to screenings 45 minutes early, or you won't get in." "Your experience will be so different from mine," sighs Michell. "I'm going for one night, I'm going to two screenings of my film and I won't be able to see any others because I'll be locked away doing interviews. "You, on the other hand, will see lots of fabulous and interesting films, meet some fascinating people and get to enjoy being in Toronto as well. "You're the lucky one!"

सनडांस में बर्फ है, कान्स में रेत है जबकि वेनिस में नहरें हैं। लेकिन टोरंटो फिल्म फेस्टिवल को क्या खास बनाता है, और अब यह उद्योग कैलेंडर पर सबसे महत्वपूर्ण कार्यक्रमों में से एक क्यों है? बीबीसी समाचार पत्रकार नील स्मिथ 2013 में पहली बार इस महोत्सव में गए और कुछ नियमित उपस्थित लोगों से पूछा कि इस कार्यक्रम को क्या अलग करता है, वहां जाना कैसा लगता है और यह मजबूत से मजबूत क्यों हो गया है।


Indian elections: Hope and anger in transgender community

Summary: For the first time, India's transgender people will be able to choose their gender as "other" on ballot forms following on from an Election Commission order of November 2009. BBC Monitoring's Vikas Pandey meets the community in Allahabad city to ask them about their hopes from the ongoing general election and the next government.

The stars shine brightly as I navigate a narrow, dimly-lit lane to meet Rani. She welcomes me into her modest home in an isolated part of the dusty city of Allahabad in the plains of northern India. A group of her friends join us, keen to have their say on the summer's most-discussed topic - general elections. Rani and her friends are members of the transgender community who are voting in the election for the first time as the third gender - so far, they had to register as either male or female with the Election Commission. "What does this change mean for the transgender community in India?" I ask Rani and her friends. "It's a good initiative because we don't want to be identified as male or female, but I am not confident that this will change our image in the collective conscience of this country," she says. Adds Babli: "The Election Commission has given us the most important aspect of our life - freedom." 'Vote with pride' In India, a common term used to describe transgender people, transsexuals, cross-dressers, eunuchs and transvestites is hijra. They are feared and reviled in many parts of the country and often live on the fringes of society. Babli says that she will vote with pride in this election with her new voter ID card and urges other hijras to do the same. She says her hope is that people will stop reacting negatively to the word hijra and start treating them as the "third sex". Recently, India's Supreme Court recognised transgender people as a third gender in a landmark ruling and ordered the government to provide them with quotas in jobs and education in line with other minorities, as well as key amenities. According to one estimate, there are nearly two million transgender people in the country and most of them are hoping that the next government will take the Election Commission and the Supreme Court's initiatives forward. I tell Rani and her friends that the transgender people are celebrating the new initiatives in cities like Delhi and Mumbai. Reena, one of the friends, says life in the big cities is relatively better. "Our problems in smaller towns and villages are very different from those of the transgender people living in big cities." Reena adds that she is not against the idea of voting but does not feel confident that political parties will ever think about their problems. "How are your problems different from those living in big cities?" I ask. "People in Delhi and Mumbai are aware of the problems transgender people go through and are somewhat sensitive also," says Rani. 'We want recognition' She adds that people in villages and small towns just know hijras as a community that dances during wedding ceremonies to earn money and often gets involved in prostitution. "We too are human beings and a part of this society and we just want recognition and a normal life. I hope politicians will look at us as potential voters and make specific policies for us. "Now even the Supreme Court has granted us recognition," she says. Adds Tina, another transgender, that her hope is that her community will start getting basic human rights from the society. "We are not even allowed to cremate our people in the day time. We always have to wait for the night to bid a final farewell to our friends," she says. Reena remembers an incident when she went to a police station to complain about repeated harassments by a group of boys. "I was thrown out of the police station. The cops behaved as if we don't have feelings and others have rights to harass us," she says. I ask them if they will all vote? The group of eight collectively responds that they will vote in the hope that politicians may look into their problems. I walk over to the nearby lane, that is barely getting some light from a distant street lamp, to meet another group of transgender people - Hasina, Kali, Bobby and Priyanka. Bobby says she is not keen on voting. "That (voting) is just a nice thing to say in big cities. Do you have any idea how tough it is for us to make a living in villages?" she asks. Priyanka, however, thinks that transgender people need to vote because issues like price rise and inflation hit them too. She says a small thing like going to school was not possible for her because people told her that "transgender people are only meant to dance and not get educated". She wants the next government to plan special school for transgender children. Hasina hopes the new government will make some policies for her community. "Just like other old people, many of us are not able to work after the age of 60. I want the government to make provision for a special pension for elderly transgender people," she says. The group members say they have never been visited by any politician. "Just look at the condition in which we live. Please tell ministers about us when you meet them," says Bobby.

नवंबर 2009 के चुनाव आयोग के आदेश के बाद पहली बार, भारत के ट्रांसजेंडर लोग मतपत्र पर अपने लिंग को "अन्य" के रूप में चुन सकेंगे। बीबीसी मॉनिटरिंग के विकास पांडे इलाहाबाद शहर में समुदाय से मिलते हैं और उनसे चल रहे आम चुनाव और अगली सरकार से उनकी उम्मीदों के बारे में पूछते हैं।


'Did you enjoy being pregnant?' - Bananarama revisit old Smash Hits questions

Summary: What's your favourite time of day? Have you ever worn odd socks? Why are you dressed as the devil?

By Mark SavageBBC Music reporter Pop magazines took a very different approach to interviews in the 1980s and, as the decade's biggest girl band, Bananarama found themselves fielding all of the above questions and more. Smash Hits, Look-In and Number 1 devoted dozens of pages to the trio, many of which dwelt on the fact they lived together on the 11th floor of a block of flats in Holborn. "It always looked better in the photos than it did in real life," laughs Keren Woodward, now 56 and living in more comfortable circumstances in Cornwall. "It was a dive," recalls her bandmate and childhood friend Sara Dallin. "You're not house-proud when you're young. But now I'd be like, 'Take your shoes off!'" Still, those irreverent, Python-esque profiles were often more revealing than the now-standard "tell me about your co-writers" pop interview. So, to celebrate the reunion of Bananarama's original line-up - and their first ever tour - we scoured the back issues and put a bunch [get it? - puns ed] of old questions to Sara, Keren and Siobhan to see how their answers have changed. "Are these Neil Tennant's questions?" asks Sara before we start. "He always reminds us he interviewed us once, but I don't remember it." When you were 12, what did you want to be? (Smash Hits, 1983) Keren: A lot of my family were teachers, so that's what I always thought I'd end up being. I think I'd have been quite strict - strict but fair - and, I like to think, hugely engaging. Siobhan: I think I wanted to be [60s pop star] Melanie. Back in 1983, Siobhan said she would like to be an "air hostess", while Keren and Sara both talked about becoming "David Essex's wife". Sara: Oh God, I'm sure I never would have said that. Aged 12? Not at 12. Keren [to Siobhan]: Oh yes, you went for a job as an air hostess. We took your picture, standing on a pouffe. Sara: In your mother's skirt, trying to look elegant. If you were an animal, what animal would you be? Sara: Did I say, 'Dolphin'? No? For God's sake. Dog? Lion? Pheasant? Siobhan: I was going to say elephant because I love them so, but they get butchered, don't they? Keren: I would have said dog. The original answers were actually dog (Siobhan), tiger (Sara) and horse (Keren). Sara: But you hate horses. Keren: I didn't know that at the time! I hadn't been thrown off one yet. Did you enjoy being pregnant? (Number 1, 1987) Keren: I absolutely loathed it. Siobhan: I loved it. Whatever hormones kicked in, I got really happy. Keren: I just felt very young and unprepared. I didn't know anyone who'd been pregnant, and I didn't know anyone who'd had a baby. Because everyone around me didn't really get it, I just kept on as though nothing was happening, even though I was slightly scared and throwing up everywhere. Sara would say, 'For God's sake, you're only pregnant, come out.' Speaking in 1987, Keren said the only benefit of pregnancy was being sober, which had meant "I was handy for a lift now and then". She recently revealed that having children had stopped Bananarama's original line-up going on tour. Keren: We were so desperate to get on stage. And, in a way, maybe it was good we didn't, because we didn't have the right people around us. We were just doing it ourselves. Sara: If you look at the early performances, we look incredibly shy. We'd come straight from school, and then we were on Top of the Pops. We had absolutely no clue at all. Siobhan: I think that was all part of the charm. Sara: Even when we went on tour in [19]89 [with Siobhan's replacement, Jacquie O'Sullivan], I couldn't say we were hugely confident about what we were doing. Keren: I mean, the only experience we had of being on stage was getting up, putting on a cassette and singing over the top. Sara: But it's like any job. If you work in a bank or an office, you'd be shy when you arrived, and then you'd learn and then you'd be fine. It's just taken us 30 years. Sara, did you enjoy covering naked men with your bat wings? (Smash Hits, 1986) Sara: That's about the Venus video. The costume was so uncomfortable. It was a really tight corset with two poles running down the side of my arms, and a black wig. It was not an erotic experience, I'm afraid. Siobhan: That was the first time we really went for an extravaganza in the costume department; obviously triggered by the lyrics of the song. And I think that's where we discovered our enjoyment of camp. The video accompanied Venus, the first song the band produced with Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman's "hit factory", which also churned out hits for Kylie, Jason and Sinitta. Keren: When it got really pop and quite camp, that was when Siobhan started to get disillusioned. But for me, personally, it just felt like I'd come alive. I enjoyed that period so much because it was just out-and-out pop. I'd just given up trying to explain we weren't dimwits and that we were serious artists. So it was just like letting go, and I embraced the whole pop thing and I absolutely loved it. Siobhan: Making [the album] Wow! with Waterman, Stock and Aitken, they had a very much production-line approach. I felt there wasn't much room for musical experimentation with them, because they had their sound, and that was frustrating for me. Sara: We always wrote with them. They would have preferred to write everything, but we wouldn't let them. Siobhan: But I have to say, in hindsight, Wow! is the album that hangs together the best. When did you first realise you were famous? (Smash Hits, 1983) Keren: In Los Angeles, when Mike Tyson sang Cruel Summer. Sara: We were walking back from breakfast to our hotel, where he was also staying. He was sitting in a limo, and he saw us and started singing Cruel Summer. We were just gobsmacked. Keren: And he was world champ at the time. He was just the last person on Earth you'd expect to sing a Bananarama song. And you think, well, your reach must have got quite far with that sort of thing. Siobhan's original answer was that she didn't feel famous, "apart from when you're recognised on buses". Siobhan: I remember our first trip to Santa Monica, this girl got really excited when she saw us, and she came running up to me and shouted, 'Oh my God, aren't you the girl from Dexy's Midnight Runners?' And I was like, 'No, that's my sister.' [Maire Fahey starred in the video for Dexy's hit single Come On Eileen]. Don't you get on each other's nerves a lot? (Number 1, 1986) Keren: Now? No. Siobhan: It's been hilarious. We haven't stopped laughing. Keren: It's back to the good old days before they turned… stale. Sara: Stale - that's a much better word than sour. In 1986, Siobhan said: "It's very hard working together and being mates sometimes, but no matter how hard it gets, you sort of understand each other." She quit the band two years later, and the friends didn't speak for almost a decade. Will Bananarama ever make a feature film? (Number 1, 1984) Sara: Obviously not. Siobhan: I'm writing a script at the moment, in between Bananarama things. It's a historical epic, set in Elizabethan times. But I don't want to give too much away. Keren fielded this question in 1984, saying: "If we did, it would have to be one of those cheap musicals." Keren: We always had plans, on and off. We were approached to do the story of Bananarama as a film. Sara: The trouble with us was we never had management that consolidated our ideas, so it never got put together. I mean, the Spice Girls made a film, which was kind of what ours was going to be like, but we never got it together. Siobhan: It would be a TV series now. Things have swung that way. Keren: We could play the mums. Is there life on other planets? (Smash Hits, 1986) Siobhan: Well, for sure. There's got to be. Sara: We haven't discovered any, though. You'd think we would have discovered something by now. All we hear about is water here and gas there. Maybe this is because, as Siobhan said in 1986, we'd be unable to see alien life forms "because they're bound to have a totally different chemical make-up". Siobhan: Oh yeah, they're right here in this room but on a different frequency. Keren: And they are really excited about the Bananarama reunion. They are desperate for it. What's your favourite single you've released so far? Sara: Cruel Summer, just because that was such an odd little pop song. It was our first hit in the States, which was unbelievably exciting. Siobhan: I think we all have that as a favourite, because it just sounds like nothing before or afterwards, really. Sara's answer remains the same, but in 1986 Keren plumped for the band's debut single, Aie-A-Mwana, while Siobhan preferred Really Saying Something for its "shrieky vocals". Sara: We're going to set aside some time this year to get together and do some [new music] for the tour. Keren: It would be a shame to not have something new. Will it live up to the past? Well if it doesn't, we won't release it. Keren, how often do you wash your hair? (Number 1, 1984) Sara: Every day. Every day, she washes her hair. Keren: I've got greasy hair, what can I say? I never skip more than one day. In 1984, Keren claimed the figure was "twice a week", prompting general disbelief from her friends. While walking along a deserted beach, you spy a couple making love. Do you stay and watch? (Smash Hits, 1986) Siobhan: Ew. Sara: I'd call the police. Keren: I'd call all my friends over. I wouldn't watch on my own. Take some photos. Keren originally replied she'd "put some mirrored shades on" and watch while pretending to look the other way. Sara: That's a bit raunchy. Siobhan: They were odd questions in those days. What's next for Bananarama? (Look-In, October 1987) Keren: I'm looking forward to doing the vocal arrangements for the tour. That's my favourite bit. I'm hoping we can sing three-part harmonies on some of the songs, because we always used to sing in unison. It would be nice to do it in a more grown-up way. Siobhan: The staging is all in the pipeline, but it'll reflect our personality and "unique style" [everyone laughs]. Keren: I don't want to be standing there with lasers going off. Our show will be about the camaraderie and the fun. Speaking on the phone in 1987, Siobhan's response to this question was simply: "I'm going to get out of this bath. The water's gone horribly cold." The classic Bananarama line-up tours the UK for the first time this November. Tickets are on sale now. Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

दिन का आपका पसंदीदा समय क्या है? क्या आपने कभी अजीब मोजे पहने हैं? आप शैतान की तरह कपड़े क्यों पहनते हैं?


US vs China – Trump tools up

Summary: When I asked the Chinese finance minister, Shi Yaobin, for his reaction to the allegation made by Donald Trump during the presidential campaign that China was "raping" America with its cheap exports I wasn't, if I'm honest, expecting a response.

Kamal AhmedEconomics editor@bbckamalon Twitter Mr Shi was in Britain last month to talk about trade with Britain, not to respond to the election of a new US president who has said that China is guilty of currency manipulation - deliberately devaluing the renminbi to undercut global export prices. Chinese officials had made it clear that Mr Shi would only be speaking about Anglo-Sino relations. So, when he did answer, preceded by a very visible wince, it sent a clear message that China not only took the matter seriously but was willing to speak about it publicly. China doesn't say anything without a good deal of calculation. "I want to say that the US is the world's largest economy and China is the second largest economy, there are immense economic exchanges and co-operation between the two countries," he told me. "And these kinds of economic cooperation and exchanges have yielded tangible benefits to the countries and people of both China and the United States. "I think that these benefits should be recognised by the president-elect and the peoples of the two countries." President-elect Trump, Mr Shi went on, might change his tune now he was about to enter the White House. No such luck, I'm afraid. Last night, Mr Trump announced that the economist and China hawk, Peter Navarro, would lead his new National Trade Council. Here's Mr Navarro on trade with China: "The defining moment in American economic history is when Bill Clinton lobbied to get China into the World Trade Organisation. It was the worst political and economic mistake in American history in the last 100 years," he told PBS Newshour in August. "From 1947 to 2001, the American economy grew annually at a rate of 3.5%. "After China got into the World Trade Organisation, got access to our markets and flooded our markets with its illegally subsidised exports, we grew at a rate of 1.8% from 2002 to 2015. "That's almost cut in half." Some might point out the small issue of the financial crisis and the general collapse in Western economies in 2008, but Mr Navarro is making a broader point which speaks to a theme dominating present economic and political thinking. 'Play by the rules' Globalisation and free trade have increased general wealth - and lifted millions of people out of poverty across emerging markets - but it has led to a perception that, in developed economies, groups of people whose jobs were particularly associated with traditional manufacturing have lost out. Mr Navarro insists he is not against free trade and the advantages it brings - denying the "mercantilist" tag that America is simply seeking to set up protectionist barriers. He claims agreement with the ultimate advocate of free trade economics, the 19th Century economist David Ricardo, who analysed the advantages of cutting tariffs and said doing so was an economic good. Protectionism, he argued, led to lower growth. Mr Navarro says the Ricardian model depends on freely floating exchange rates and participants in free trade deals "playing by the rules". China still limits the flexibility of the renminbi on international markets. And is accused of "short-cutting" WTO rules. "Protectionism is what happened leading into the Great Depression with things like the Smoot-Hawley Tariffs - the design was just to put these big walls up on your markets and then try to basically take unfair advantage," Mr Navarro said in the same PBS interview. He backs what are called "countervailing tariffs" - barriers imposed to stop unfair trading practices that Mr Navarro accuses China of following. Free trade, he insists, is still the end goal. And here he lines up with Mr Trump's other trade adviser, Dan DiMicco, who told me before the Presidential election that Britain would be at the "front of the queue" when it came to a free trade deal. Trade war Now, Mr Navarro has his fair share of critics. Firstly, the critics say, if China is the problem why has Mr Trump also said he wants to pull out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free trade deal between America, Canada, Japan, Vietnam and Singapore (among others) which very deliberately does not include China? And secondly, cheap imports from China may not have been good for some traditional steel producers for example but they have been very good for hard pressed US consumers who have enjoyed lower prices in the shops. They have also, maybe counter-intuitively, been good for US businesses which have had to respond to competition from overseas by diversifying into new technologies and services, leading to higher levels of wealth creation. For a particularly sharp take down of Mr Navarro's position, it's worth reading Tim Worstall in Forbes. Mr Worstall says that international trade is by definition - as an agreement entered into voluntarily - beneficial to both parties and that the argument that America has lost its manufacturing base is "simply wrong". Jobs have changed, not disappeared. What is becoming clear is that the new man headed for the White House is serious about taking on China. A significant trade war between the world's two economic super powers could well be approaching. Which could affect global growth for all of us.

जब मैंने चीनी वित्त मंत्री, शी याओबिन से राष्ट्रपति अभियान के दौरान डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प द्वारा लगाए गए आरोप पर उनकी प्रतिक्रिया के बारे में पूछा कि चीन अपने सस्ते निर्यात से अमेरिका का "बलात्कार" कर रहा था, तो अगर मैं ईमानदार हूं, तो मैं प्रतिक्रिया की उम्मीद नहीं कर रहा था।


Why Italy is still searching for a leader two months after elections

Summary: Since Italy became a Republic in 1946 there's been a steady predictability to its politics. Citizens vote, no single party gets a majority, everyone negotiates, then a coalition government is formed.

By James ReynoldsBBC News, Rome The system relies on give and take, and compromise. For decades, this has kept things moving, and prevented the country from ever having to call a second election in the same year. Since 1946 Italy has had 19 general elections, the same number as the UK. But, in 2018, Italy's system has got stuck. Two rival populist groups, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the right-wing League party, came out ahead in the 4 March general election. Neither of the two party leaders has any experience in national government. Who is who? Luigi di Maio - Five Star Movement Five Star was co-founded by comedian Beppe Grillo in 2009, as an anti-establishment movement dedicated to fighting against corruption and professional politics. The movement is now led by 31-year-old Luigi di Maio, a former law student and volunteer steward at Napoli football club. Mr Di Maio is keen to show that he lives like a normal citizen. During weeks of coalition talks, he drove himself to the president's palace in a small, silver car, instead of getting chauffeured in a black limousine like traditional politicians. Matteo Salvini - The League The Northern League was founded in 1991 as a breakaway movement for Italy's more wealthy northern regions. In 2013, Matteo Salvini took over as leader, and turned the regional movement into a national party, aiming to lead the country it had previously wished to leave. Matteo Salvini, 45, also claims to be a non-traditional politician. He makes a deliberate point of being ill-at-ease in a suit, barely ever doing up the top button of his shirt while wearing a tie. What is different this time? The emergence of Five Star and The League is a reflection of Italians' unhappiness with a system that has left the country with weak economic growth of 0.3%, chronic youth unemployment of around 32%, and worries about social cohesion. During three rounds of talks after the general election, Italy's President, Sergio Mattarella, tried to work out various configurations of a potential coalition government. But no-one was ready to back down. But when the president's final option - calling an unprecedented second general election in the same year - seemed almost inevitable, alliances shifted and Five Star and The League got together and worked towards forming a government. There has been no indication as to who might emerge as the leader. But a close aide to Mr Di Maio has suggested that an independent figure could become the next prime minister. What would a populist government mean? In many ways, a Five Star-League coalition is a natural choice. Each party campaigned as a populist, anti-system movement, wary of Italy's current relationship with the rest of the European Union. Their potential alliance as government partners will concern many in Brussels. The loss of Italy as an automatic pro-EU voice would be a significant shock. Italy is one of six countries which began the European project after World War Two. The founding document of post-war union, the 1957 Treaty of Rome, was signed in Italy's capital. Now, for the first time, one of these founding members appears on the brink of forming a government wary of the union that it helped to create. Five Star and The League have each called for a renegotiation of the EU's strict fiscal rules in order to fund their campaign promises - Five Star's universal income for the poor and The League's flat tax. We don't yet know if the two parties, in coalition, will want to go further. Brussels may be reassured to realise that Five Star has stepped back from an earlier promise to hold a referendum on the country's membership of the single currency. The League, which once promised to withdraw from the EU entirely, currently says it wants to reform the union from within. What will happen next? President Sergio Mattarella expects the parties to report back to him on Sunday or Monday. Then he will decide whether or not to go ahead with the formal nomination of an administration. Mr Mattarella has warned that the next Italian government must not confront the European Union or destroy the euro.

1946 में इटली के गणराज्य बनने के बाद से इसकी राजनीति में एक स्थिर भविष्यवाणी की गई है। नागरिक मतदान करते हैं, किसी भी एक दल को बहुमत नहीं मिलता है, हर कोई बातचीत करता है, फिर एक गठबंधन सरकार का गठन होता है।


Christmas: A social anxiety minefield

Summary: As Christmas approaches, many people will be experiencing a mixture of excitement and trepidation. But for many sufferers of social anxiety, this can be the most traumatic time of the year, writes Olly Ricketts.

It is estimated that social anxiety disorder affects up to 10% of the UK's population. The first clinical guideline on the subject, published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in May, defines the disorder as the "persistent fear of or anxiety about one or more social or performance situations that is out of proportion to the actual threat posed by the situation". The festive period provides a unique combination of such situations. While a degree of worry about finances, potential drunken mistakes and the awkwardness of spending time with extended family is entirely rational, sufferers of social anxiety can obsess about such issues until they prove debilitating. Physical symptoms include blushing, excessive sweating and shortness of breath, but the most incapacitating effects are caused by sufferers' fixation on their perceived social inadequacies. Potentially stressful events consume thoughts for months beforehand, and the often imagined disaster is analysed at great length afterwards. A perceived threat can be triggered by anything from meeting new people to being watched while eating. Christmas poses particular issues. Most obvious are the myriad social engagements and their often alcohol-fuelled nature, though there are other more surprising worries to face. Heather, 38, begins to worry about Christmas as early as September. "I'd finished most of my own [Christmas] shopping in October because I started early to avoid crowds," she explains. Heather's anxiety increases as Christmas approaches. A particular worry is the office party. "Most years, I buy a ticket for the work do. I actually buy the ticket, knowing full well I won't go. I buy [it] to make sure people don't think I'm tight-fisted, or that I hate Christmas, or that I don't like their company." Heather's constant fear that she will not live up to expectations even extends to buying presents for colleagues. "For Secret Santa, I've spent three times the agreed budget on a gift to make sure it'll be accepted by the person. I feel sick at the thought of them publicly rejecting what I buy and everyone knowing I was the one who bought the inferior gift." The triggers which cause social anxiety are so varied that it is difficult to describe a "typical" sufferer, either in terms of symptoms or personality. Although social anxiety can often develop early in life (NICE claims the "median age of onset" is 13), and many recover before adulthood, it can emerge at any age. According to Dr Gillian Butler, consultant clinical psychologist and author of Overcoming Social Anxiety and Shyness, it is also "one of the only anxiety disorders to affect both men and women equally". Even people that appear confident and extroverted can have the disorder. Social anxiety recently made headlines when actress Jennifer Lawrence spoke candidly about her battle with it. The unpredictable and varied ways anxiety manifests itself means that while some, like Heather, will actively avoid events such as the office Christmas party, others' anxiety is fixated on the fear that they would be talked about if they did not go, and so they attend in spite of how uncomfortable they feel in such situations. There are even people like 20-year-old university student Alex, who has experienced "paranoia, low self-esteem and lack of confidence" for 10 years, yet genuinely looks forward to the festive season, speaking excitedly about the "special atmosphere and general increase in the happiness of others" at this time of year. Alex's social anxiety decreases when he is around his family. However, according to Butler, for some being around loved ones at Christmas can itself provide a trigger for anxiety. "People can suffer with social anxiety in the family unit. You may as an older person feel a real fool talking to the children. It can bring back memories of adolescence and embarrassing times in the past," she explains. Butler advocates cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to treat social anxiety disorder. CBT is based on the premise that symptoms are tackled, rather than the underlying causes of anxiety, and that if a person's negative thoughts regarding their perceived social inadequacy can be changed, in time their behaviour will change and their anxiety will reduce. Although there are other treatments available, such as drugs, CBT is the most commonly prescribed method used to combat the disorder. It is not without its critics, however. The therapy is typically prescribed in 11-week blocks, which some feel is too brief to make a lasting impact. Chartered clinical psychologist Dr Oliver James believes that any benefits related to CBT are temporary, and effective treatment should deal with the causes as well as the symptoms of anxiety. "It [CBT] encourages people to tell themselves a story about their anxiety and makes no attempt at all to understand the causes," he claims. As many sufferers find speaking to an authority figure such as a doctor impossible, online treatments have become increasingly popular. As well as online CBT courses, internet forums can provide solace. Alex and Heather are both members of SAUK, an internet forum for the socially anxious, which has amassed over 15,000 members (and regularly sees an influx of members over the festive period) since it launched in 2000. Louisa Hatton, an administrator on the site, believes that SAUK provides a much needed sense of community. "Because part of social anxiety is trying to avoid others seeing your fears, it can be refreshing to interact with other people who understand those worries and can empathise. It [SAUK] also empowers people to take a lead in their own recovery by giving them access to information and the experiences of others." Louisa is proof that social anxiety can be conquered, having transformed herself from being "essentially housebound to almost social anxiety-free". Her advice to those that are feeling distressed in the run-up to Christmas is simple. "Firstly, remember that although social anxiety is often isolating, you're absolutely not alone. "Secondly, be proactive. Even simply looking into what social anxiety is can be a great first step towards taking control of your worries and fears." Follow @BBCNewsMagazine on Twitter and on Facebook

जैसे-जैसे क्रिसमस नजदीक आएगा, कई लोग उत्साह और घबराहट के मिश्रण का अनुभव करेंगे। लेकिन सामाजिक चिंता से पीड़ित कई लोगों के लिए, यह साल का सबसे दर्दनाक समय हो सकता है, ओली रिकेट्स लिखते हैं।


Coronavirus: What’s behind the great toilet roll grab?

Summary: "I didn't want to overbuy as I didn't want to be a part of the problem. So I placed an online order on Amazon for 30 rolls for £18 - I thought that would definitely cover her for three months."

By Lora JonesBusiness reporter, BBC News Josh, a 25-year-old carer from Nottingham, is one of the many UK shoppers who have been trying to get their hands on a highly sought-after commodity: toilet paper. He looks after his mum, a disabled cancer patient, and has been trying to make sure that she has enough supplies to last for 12 weeks - the amount of time people most at risk of coronavirus have been told to stay at home. But Josh's delivery never came. He says it was listed as out for delivery by Hermes on several different days, but eventually it just disappeared from the portal. Josh believes it was stolen. He says that he was offered a full refund for the purchase, but found the whole situation frustrating: "Panic buying just instigates panic buying, and we need to make sure that there's enough to go round for people like my mum." Hermes told the BBC that it doesn't receive any information on what is inside the parcels it delivers, and that nearly all of its deliveries are successful. Lulu, a university graduate, lives with her mum who is a nurse. She had a similar experience with a delivery from ethical toilet roll company Who Gives A Crap. She's had a subscription with the firm for about six months. She believes that the £36 package of 48 rolls, which was clearly labelled as toilet paper, was stolen. The Australian firm, which uses half of its profits to help build toilets in developing countries, told the BBC: "We've seen a small increase in concerns that deliveries may have been stolen, but nothing drastic. In most cases we are finding that the delivery just hasn't been completed yet." Avant Garde Brands, which sells household products on Ebay and Wowcher, told one UK customer that it was starting to receive reports of toilet roll deliveries going missing too. It said that the coronavirus pandemic had led to an "unprecedented" spike in demand for retailers. 'Crazy' loo roll sales Shoppers are turning to online shops and more niche toilet paper companies so that they aren't caught short. Bumboo offers subscriptions for its toilet rolls made from bamboo. For every box purchased online, it plants a tree. Although the firm has only been trading for seven full months, managing director Fay Pottinger said that sales had gone "crazy" since the beginning of March, when "the full impact of panic buying set in". She told the BBC that so far this month, sales have jumped by about 325% against the last. She adds this could have been much higher, had the company not run out of stock. US firm No. 2, which also sells bamboo toilet paper, said that in the month-to-date, it had seen more than a 5,000% increase in its sales on Amazon's website before it sold out too. Meanwhile, Who Gives A Crap's chief executive Simon Griffiths said that at the beginning of March, sales were up to five times higher than on an average February day. He added that although consumers might be worried, "it's important to show compassion to each other right now, including to delivery drivers who are out there every day ensuring people can get basic necessities delivered to home". 'Snowball effect' of panic buying Being stuck on the toilet with only one square left is seemingly one scenario most panic buyers are trying to avoid. Dr Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, a consumer psychologist at Anglia Ruskin University, says when people are anxious, "they need to do something practical to make it feel like they are in control". The focus on toilet roll "likely started on the basis of some people trying to be practical in that they wanted to stock up on basics in case they could not go out. There's then been a snowball effect as consumers observed each other stockpiling - they also had to do it." She adds that seeing photos of empty shelves online "further fuels a vicious circle". While stockpiling might ease some consumers' anxieties around the virus, people need to remember to stay "community-minded", said Tony Richards of Essity, one of the UK's largest toilet paper producers. He reassured consumers: "Don't panic...we can get toilet roll on the shelves. We just need time."

"मैं ज़्यादा नहीं खरीदना चाहता था क्योंकि मैं समस्या का हिस्सा नहीं बनना चाहता था। इसलिए मैंने अमेज़न पर £18 में 30 रोल के लिए एक ऑनलाइन ऑर्डर दिया-मैंने सोचा कि यह निश्चित रूप से उसे तीन महीने के लिए कवर करेगा।"


Hartlepool by-election: Purple powder and angry dogs in 2004 vote

Summary: By-elections can be riotous affairs and Hartlepool's last one in 2004 was no different. The candidates included an ordained doctor who stayed in a tent, a multilingual karate brown-belt barrister who was attacked at the count and a two-time Eurovision Song Contest entrant.

By Francesca WilliamsBBC News Hartlepool has been Labour for years. Apart from a month in 2019 when MP Mike Hill was briefly suspended from the party, it has been red since 1964. But, in 2004, former cabinet minister and key architect of New Labour Peter Mandelson put his comfortable majority up for grabs when he quit as the town's representative to become European Commissioner. No fewer than 14 candidates signed up for the resulting by-election. One of them was Dick Rodgers, a doctor and ordained priest and the Common Good Party's only candidate. He does not stand in elections to win, he says, but to share ideas. Which is just as well. He's lost in European, parliamentary and local elections in Peterborough, Newark, Henley, Dunfermline and West Fife and the West Midlands, where he lives. Distance from home is clearly not an issue though "Hartlepool is rather a long way away," he says. He rode up on his Honda C90 Cub - he likes motorbikes; "little ones, that are economical" - and pitched his tent on a campsite in Crimdon for the duration of the campaign. "It makes me feel like the SAS, inserting myself into the centre of things, quietly," he says. He was happy living in a tent - it was warm and cheap - but he found Hartlepool could be challenging. "I think it was difficult to get a rapport, quite honestly," he says. "I found it quite difficult to get through, to really have a heart to heart with people on the doorsteps." He also found he couldn't get around all that many houses by himself, and resorted to standing in the town centre with a placard. But he remembers when door-knocking nearly got the better of the Liberal Democrat candidate, Jody Dunn. She was noted up to this point for her "charisma" and ability to charm even staunch Conservative voters, but the family law barrister was to say something she would come to regret. In her campaign blog - something so innovative back then it was still referred to as a weblog - she described a night of pouring rain and difficult door-knocking. "We'd picked what appeared at first to be a fairly standard row of houses," she wrote. "As time went on, however, we began to realise that everyone we met was either drunk, flanked by an angry dog or undressed; and in some cases two or more of the above." It was a gift for her Labour opponents which, in her words, they "milked". Immediately her tongue-in-cheek description of one street was taken as her opinion of the town's population in general. Labour hired a double-decker bus and followed her around town with it. "As I walked with volunteers they would follow me in the bus with loud speakers repeating the words that I'd said as though I had deliberately insulted people," she says. She'd meant no disrespect with her "clumsy words", she says, but accepts it was naive not to anticipate the consequences, and that arguing context makes little difference in politics. "I absolutely regret giving them that sort of material but it was never said with any ill intent whatsoever," she says. 'Just cried' She came so close to winning - reducing Labour's majority from 14,571 to 2,033 - that she clearly has considered the possibility her blog lost her the election. "I don't know whether the result would have been different," she says. But it feels like she does. The campaign was as dirty as any and her closet was thoroughly searched for skeletons. Some newspapers accused her of being soft on drugs and asked if she had been "involved in some kind of orgy in the back of a van" at a party conference. "You felt like you were looking over your shoulder the whole time," she says. "It did feel hard. There were times when I came home after a day of doing my best and just cried." And then, on the night of the count, just as she started thanking her volunteers and the voters who had given her a "really warm welcome", Fathers 4 Justice candidate Paul Watson stepped forward and tipped purple powder over her head and shoulders. "I wasn't sure what had been thrown at me but I knew something had," she says. "I represented something about the country that he hated. "That made me really sad, that it had to finish on that note and I wasn't really able to say thank you in the way that I'd hoped." Analysis By Jonathan Swingler, BBC Look North This was the first election I covered after finishing my journalism course and my tutors had never covered the scenario of one candidate attacking another. It was surreal to hear shouting and see Paul Watson, who represented Fathers 4 Justice, pour purple powder over the Liberal Democrat candidate Jody Dunn. Having seemingly been targeted because of her profession, she carried out her media interviews that night with a smudged purple forehead and told me: "I've had better days." Watson was taken away by police and later pleaded guilty to assault. I was living in Hartlepool at the time and the town had been turned into a colourful mix of placards as 14 candidates vied for votes. A turnout of just under 46% reflected a general antipathy to their efforts. Labour held on to what had previously been a safe seat but saw their 14,571 majority plummet to just over 2,000. At the end of the night I asked one of their supporters what he thought. "It was crap," he muttered as he looked at a mic stand covered in purple glitter. The campaign was more fun for Monster Raving Loony Party leader Alan "Howling Laud" Hope. "I thoroughly enjoyed it," he says. He particularly remembers fellow candidate Ronnie Carroll - the only singer to have represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest two years running. "We ended up on stage and, when it came to our turn to say something, we both sang Danny Boy," Mr Hope says. Impromptu music should not have surprised anyone, given the party's campaign pledge to set up an inquiry to find out "if the Hokey Cokey is really what it's all about". That "went down really well", Mr Hope says. Well enough to persuade 80 people in the town to vote for him. He lost his deposit - as usual - but he didn't come last. Mr Hope met one fan in a town pub who was so supportive he offered transport. "I tell you what, he said, I can get hold of a fire engine - do you want to use it as a campaign bus?". As a man who once campaigned to incorporate the rules of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? in driving tests, he was clearly never going to turn down an offer like that. For the next few weeks they drove it around town transmitting party slogans via a loud hailer. In the end, Labour came very close to losing. Jody Dunn polled more votes than any Liberal Democrat before or since - except herself in the following year's general election - knocking the Conservatives into fourth place behind UKIP. She had slashed Labour's majority and another 10 days "might have just tipped it", she says. She believes her party gave up on Hartlepool and moved on, missing the opportunity to capitalise on her gains eight months later. "They'd come in for the by-election and there was a huge presence everywhere," she says. "We only had a handful of volunteers for the general election. "It just felt to me as though the Liberal Democrats thought 'well, we had our shot, it was a by-election, we had publicity for that, we're not going to get the same, we're just one of many constituencies in the general election, so let's concentrate on our marginals'. I don't think they quite realised that we had made that seat a marginal. It was probably a one-off in history but it was a marginal then." There are a lot of eyes on Hartlepool again now. Dr Rodgers believes the country needs to pay more attention to the North. "The North matters and rather cut-off parts of the North, like Hartlepool, do matter," he says. Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.

उपचुनाव दंगापूर्ण हो सकते हैं और 2004 में हार्टलपूल का आखिरी चुनाव भी इससे अलग नहीं था। उम्मीदवारों में एक नियुक्त डॉक्टर शामिल था जो एक तंबू में रहता था, एक बहुभाषी कराटे ब्राउन-बेल्ट बैरिस्टर जिस पर गिनती में हमला किया गया था और दो बार यूरोविज़न गीत प्रतियोगिता में प्रवेश करने वाला था।


Archbishop John Sentamu receives an honorary degree

Summary: The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has received an honorary degree from the University of York.

He was presented the honour by the Provost of Vanbrugh College Rev Dr David Efird, of the Department of Philosophy. Dr Sentamu was one of 11 receiving honorary degrees at the university's graduation ceremonies this week. He has been Archbishop of York since 2005 and is a patron of more than 100 charities. Other recipients of honorary degrees include author Anthony Horowitz, film and television director Ken Loach and Justice Albie Sachs. They will receive theirs on Friday.

यॉर्क के आर्कबिशप डॉ. जॉन सेंटामू को यॉर्क विश्वविद्यालय से मानद उपाधि मिली है।


London fire: 'We can accept death but not being burnt alive'

Summary: As grieving families come to terms with losing their loved ones in the fire that engulfed Grenfell Tower, one woman says her disabled mother never had a chance of escaping to safety from her home on the 18th floor.

Nazanin Aghlani still has no confirmation of her mother Sakineh Afrasehabi's fate but is convinced she could not have survived. Describing her family's anguish, she said: "We're not all right. We can accept death but being burnt alive?" Mrs Aghlani said her mother had been registered as disabled and the family had been worried about her ability to escape her home in an emergency. She claims repeated attempts to have her re-housed in more appropriate accommodation had failed. "This property was not suitable for a disabled person," she said. "She was put in a death trap. They should have thought of how she'd escape in a fire." Mrs Afrasehabi, who was partially sighted and could not walk very far, also had diabetes and high blood pressure. She moved to Grenfell Tower last year after trying for a long time to move from her previous home, in Ladbroke Grove, because she had been struggling to manage the 40 steps needed to access her flat. "She'd waited 17 years to get a transfer, and then they put her that high up," Mrs Aghlani said. A spokesman for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council said: "We do not make direct offers of properties above 4th floor level in lifted blocks in the cases of people with disability access needs. "However, through the council's choice-based letting system, Home Connections, housing applicants are able to choose to bid on lifted properties located on higher floors." 'Goodbye' phone call Mrs Aghlani said she was offered flats on only the higher floors of tower blocks and claims the council told her: "we have too many disabled people." She said she had sought legal advice on behalf of her mother who had been told she had not been near the top of the waiting list. "My mum was forced to take anything that came along," she said. "I had bid for so many one-bed flats for my mum, but we were refused anything and everything. "She was getting so ill that she had no choice but to bid for Grenfell. I didn't want her to go, but she said she had no choice. " On the afternoon before the fire, Mrs Aghlani visited her mother for a family get-together and left at about 19:30. After the fire broke out, a friend came to help Mrs Afrasehabi and her sister, Fatima Afrasiabi, who was still with her, to get to their flat on the 23rd floor to get away from the smoke. Mrs Aghlani said the friend was one of a family of seven who had lived together in the property. At some point, firefighters told them to stay inside the flat, but a couple of the family managed to push past and get out. "My mum couldn't have done that. She could hardly walk," she said. "My brother was on the phone with them. She said her goodbyes to him over the phone. "My aunt Fatima who was staying overnight at my mum's was crying for help and for someone to rescue them." Mrs Aghlani has had to describe what dress fabric and rings her mother was wearing to the police in the hope she may be identified at some point. "What's happened was so avoidable," she said. "Those who have escaped the fire have lost everything - they don't have their homes, but they haven't lost their lives like my mum." Interview by Sherie Ryder, BBC UGC and Social Media team

जैसे ही शोक संतप्त परिवार ग्रेनफेल टावर में लगी आग में अपने प्रियजनों को खोने से सहमत हो जाते हैं, एक महिला का कहना है कि उसकी विकलांग माँ को कभी भी 18वीं मंजिल पर अपने घर से सुरक्षित भागने का मौका नहीं मिला।


Man admits attacking Devon parking warden, 72

Summary: A man who knocked out a 72-year-old National Trust volunteer in a "mindless" attack has been ordered to do 120 hours of community service.

Scott Wade, 26, of Woodthorpe Road, Sheffield kicked and punched the parking warden in a row over a space at East Portlemouth, Devon, a court heard. The unnamed man was working at the car park near Mill Bay beach last August. Wade admitted assault and was ordered to pay £500 compensation and £250 costs by Plymouth magistrates. A spokeswoman for the National Trust said: "This was a senseless and mindless act on a much loved member of staff who was just doing his job helping people to enjoy their visit to the coast in South Devon, we are pleased that the legal process has recognised this." Related Internet Links HM Courts Service

एक व्यक्ति जिसने 72 वर्षीय नेशनल ट्रस्ट के स्वयंसेवक को "मूर्खतापूर्ण" हमले में बाहर कर दिया, उसे 120 घंटे की सामुदायिक सेवा करने का आदेश दिया गया है।


Jersey minister under pressure on cuts

Summary: The Department of Education, Sport and Culture in Jersey is trying to find further savings ahead of a debate on spending cuts on the island.

The department has identified savings of nearly £1m in 2011, but needs to find £2.28m under targets set in a Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR). Details of savings by all departments will be debated on Tuesday. The States of Jersey is aiming to cut spending by £50m over the next three years. Education Sport and Culture Minister James Reed warned that he needed time for consultation. He said: "I am confident that my department will achieve the expectations placed on it through the CSR process. "However, if sufficient time is not set aside for consultation then my department's efforts to make considered and intelligent savings could be hampered."

जर्सी में शिक्षा, खेल और संस्कृति विभाग द्वीप पर खर्च में कटौती पर बहस से पहले और बचत खोजने की कोशिश कर रहा है।