Dozens of arts freelancers lose out on Covid support over tax 'error'

Summary: During more than a decade as an actress, Kya Garwood has had parts in films like Paddington 2 and Mamma Mia Here We Go Again, as well as being a stand-in and double for leading ladies like Meryl Streep, Michelle Pfeiffer and Lily James.

By Ian YoungsEntertainment & arts reporter When the pandemic hit, she should have been eligible for the government's self-employment grants. But there was a problem. She was self-employed, but many of the production companies she had worked for had not classed her as such when paying her. So when she came to apply for coronavirus support for the self-employed, she was turned down. She estimates she has lost out on more than £20,000. Despite appeals to government tax authorities, her MP and even Chancellor Rishi Sunak directly, she hasn't been able to overturn the decision. "I'm very angry," she says. "I've paid my taxes. If it wasn't for the savings I had from the previous productions that I'd built up, I dread to think where I'd be." 'A very worrying time' Garwood is one of 50 actors and backstage arts workers who have found themselves without coronavirus self-employment support because their pay status was "misallocated", according to the Equity union, which is now lobbying "very hard" for their cases to be re-examined. Garwood says she raised the problem with Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) even before the pandemic when film companies told her they were following official guidance by effectively paying her as an employee rather than as a self-employed worker. "It's not the productions' fault," she says. "They've been following the HMRC guidelines, which were out of date." Garwood is getting some furlough money from a part-time travel job that she slotted in between her acting. "And obviously you go through all your credit cards, because the furlough I was getting doesn't cover your mortgage. And then you've got the rest of your bills to pay." Sarah Cash, meanwhile, was working as a freelance deputy stage manager in the West End on the Only Fools and Horses stage show when lockdown hit. Because she was given a P60, the annual tax form for Pay As You Earn (PAYE) employees, she listed her wages as PAYE earnings on her 2018/19 tax return instead of self-employment earnings. "I knew I'm self-employed, but because I got this P60 I assumed I should put it in the PAYE bit," she says. "I didn't realise I'd made a mistake, and it was only when I applied for the [self-employed Covid support] grant they said, 'You're not eligible.'" That was after the cut-off date to correct her tax return, however. She says she "literally went from earning a really good wage to zero overnight". She believes she should have qualified for grants worth £7,500, which she hasn't been able to claim. "I felt very anxious about it. I'd wake up in the night thinking, oh my gosh, you've gone from having a secure job to nothing." She has since found a care job and her husband has continued working, but it has been "a very worrying time", she says. She adds: "I felt really cross with myself for making that error and having put myself in that position, and then I felt really cross with the system that there was no flexibility at all. "It just needed somebody sensible to look at it and say, 'OK, she's made an error, it wasn't with any malice. So let's use our common sense and pay her the grant that she actually is entitled to.' It just seems really harsh and unfair." Dancer Faith Prendergast discovered she too had listed her earnings incorrectly on her tax return, meaning she missed out on £8,000-£10,000 in grants. "In the grand scheme of things it's not that much money, but it would actually help me a lot to just stay above the water," she says. She has also not been able to persuade HMRC to reconsider, though. "It just feels impersonal and like I've fallen through the cracks," she continues. "I'm lucky, I have a little bit of savings. But it's not like I have a lot of savings for someone my age. I'm 28. It's that time in life where you are planning for the future. And when you have to live off your savings, it kind of really messes that up." Equity is calling on HMRC to use its "discretionary powers" to re-examine cases like these. "I'm aware of about 50 cases," says the union's tax and welfare rights officer Alan Lean. "I would guess there are probably more out there. A lot of these are younger members who are trying to keep going. 'Struggling to keep going' "For purely technical reasons, they have put their income down in the year 2018-19 on the wrong part of the [tax] return. "Part of the reason has been because the production companies have been wrongly reporting that income to HMRC when they don't need to. And also part of the problem has stemmed from HMRC's out-of-date payroll guidance for the entertainment sector. "This has caused some members to lose out in excess of £20,000 at a time when they are struggling to keep going and we are concerned that many of them are going to leave the profession." The government's coronavirus Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) has paid three rounds of grants worth a total of £18.5bn so far. An HMRC spokesperson said it could not let anyone amend their 2018/19 tax returns to change their pay status after the scheme was announced on 26 March. That is because the organisation "would not be able to distinguish genuine amendments from fake amendments by fraudulent operators seeking to exploit the SEISS". The spokesperson added: "If the government were to rely on amendments to 2018/19 returns made after 26 March for the SEISS, there would be significant risks for the public purse."

एक अभिनेत्री के रूप में एक दशक से अधिक समय के दौरान, क्या गारवुड ने पैडिंगटन 2 और मम्मा मिया हियर वी गो अगेन जैसी फिल्मों में काम किया है, साथ ही साथ मेरिल स्ट्रीप, मिशेल फाइफर और लिली जेम्स जैसी प्रमुख महिलाओं के लिए स्टैंड-इन और डबल हैं।


A Very British Coup 35 years on

Summary: In 1982, Chris Mullin published a political thriller about what might happen if a radical Socialist took the leadership of the Labour party and became Britain's prime minister. Channel 4 made a hit TV version. Chris Mullin has been at work on a sequel - but is the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader likely to supply some new plotlines?

By Vincent DowdArts reporter, BBC News It is 35 years since Chris Mullin, not yet a Labour MP, decided he'd better knuckle down to a political thriller he planned to write. With Margaret Thatcher in Downing Street, Jim Callaghan was about to stand down as Labour party leader. There was speculation about what would happen were his successor a left-winger. "I was on a train with colleagues coming back from the autumn party conference and we discussed how the establishment would react if Tony Benn became Labour leader. "My friend Stuart Holland, who was already an MP, said that by a Greek swimming pool that summer he'd tapped out the opening chapters of just such a novel. Then Peter Hain piped up and said he and a colleague had also just submitted a similar idea to publishers. So I thought I'd better get on and write it." A Very British Coup emerged in 1982. It's the story of the brief premiership of Harry Perkins, a former Sheffield steelworker who unexpectedly reaches Downing Street. His radical policies include ridding the UK of American nuclear weapons. But Perkins falls victim to a vicious conspiracy of Whitehall mandarins, MI5, newspaper proprietors and the CIA. The hands of the BBC are also far from clean. Initially the book was a modest success. "By and large the right-wing press said it was preposterous and the more liberal papers said it was an amusing fantasy. Sales really took off when Channel 4 made a series of it in 1988. It won several Bafta awards and in America it took the Emmy for Best Drama," Mullin explains. Perkins was played by Irish actor Ray McAnally. Alan Plater's script made several changes to the storyline but the big change was the ending. "The TV people thought I had allowed Perkins to cave in and resign too easily when he's blackmailed. The adaptation shows him fighting back more and the ending is a bit more ambiguous." In 2012, as Secret State, the novel was filmed once again for TV starring Gabriel Byrne, though this time to less acclaim. Mullin says Harry Perkins was never meant to represent any real-life figure in 1980s politics. 'Bugged and burgled' "I didn't become an MP until 1987 but I was already known as a Benn supporter. I went out of my way to ensure Perkins, with his working-class background, wasn't like Tony at all. But I did show him a draft and he didn't like that I described Perkins as a big tea-drinker, which Tony was famous for. So that came out. Tony was a bit suspicious of the book but when the TV series was on he was fascinated and phoned me after every episode to discuss it. "There were some establishment dirty tricks in my novel which later turned out nearer the truth than I imagined. When the agent Peter Wright published Spycatcher (in 1987) he famously claimed that the Security Service had 'bugged and burgled its way across London' - my conspirators were far less ambitious." One of the book's concerns is how the media react to a radical left-winger in Downing Street. "Of course Jeremy Corbyn is only party leader, he's not Prime Minister. But in the past few days you've already had the papers digging up things from his past in exactly the way they do in my novel. "For now we're a long way from Jeremy forming a government and to see that happening would take a large intellectual leap. But if he ever threatened to do so, I imagine the establishment would start behaving very badly," Mullin speculates. "I don't suggest that everybody would behave as they might have done 30 or 40 years ago. For example I think the intelligence services have largely been cleaned up. I can remember one Tory Home Secretary whispering to me that they'd 'got rid of a lot of the dead wood'." One of the most entertaining aspects of Mullin's book was the treatment of the Americans, where he allowed himself a degree of parody. "In the 1980s, the row about US cruise missiles stationed in Britain helped make my novel feel topical. Today the focus is on the future of Trident which probably Washington is less interested in." Mullin left parliament in 2010 after 23 years as an MP and three ministerial jobs. His three volumes of political diaries have been well received. Now he's plotting a return to the world of the conspiracy thriller. "Every so often, people in the film world call up enquiring about a sequel. I've written a few thousand words and the working title is The Friends of Harry Perkins. It starts with Harry's funeral. But Jeremy becoming party leader is making people interested in possible parallels and maybe I'll need to go back to the drawing board. "But the truth is that none of us know what will happen in the next couple of years. That's what makes it so interesting."

1982 में, क्रिस मुलिन ने एक राजनीतिक थ्रिलर प्रकाशित किया कि अगर एक कट्टरपंथी समाजवादी लेबर पार्टी का नेतृत्व करता है और ब्रिटेन का प्रधान मंत्री बन जाता है तो क्या हो सकता है। चैनल 4 ने एक हिट टीवी संस्करण बनाया। क्रिस मुलिन एक सीक्वल पर काम कर रहे हैं-लेकिन क्या लेबर नेता के रूप में जेरेमी कॉर्बिन के चुनाव से कुछ नई कथानकों की आपूर्ति होने की संभावना है?


Coronavirus lockdown: Ditching conventional living for a van

Summary: A 100-day DIY project, one musician's live-in transport and a couple's "staycation-mobile" - four people share their "advantures" and show us inside the fruits of their lockdown labour.

By Mike McBrideBBC News NI 'Furloughed, but still in work mode' When Jennifer McKechnie, a personal trainer from Belfast, was furloughed on 21 March, she decided to use her time in lockdown to fulfil a lifelong goal. Jennifer, an avid skier, had dreamed of one day converting a van or minibus and travelling to the French Alps with her two huskies, Zack and Jake. The 31-year-old, a self-proclaimed novice, said she had "no clue" where to start when she began converting her 2005 Iveco Daily. She set herself the goal of converting her van into a liveable space within 100 days. Jennifer began work on the Daily on 22 March and finished on 30 June. "After I got the news I was furloughed, I went straight to get supplies and began the project," Jennifer told BBC News NI. Using YouTube tutorials, Jennifer began slowly stripping away the interior and renovating her four-wheeled home. Jennifer said it was great to concentrate on something productive during such a stressful and uncertain time. "It was great to have that focus, I set myself a work routine and stuck to it," Jennifer explained. "I was furloughed from work, but I was still in work mode," she added. As the ongoing pandemic means a trek to the Alps is currently off the cards, Jennifer and her two huskies have temporarily parked plans to head for the slopes, opting instead for a travel holiday around Northern Ireland. From cruises to a camper van Like many musicians, Caolán McLaughlin was hit hard by the pandemic. The singer from Londonderry, who relies heavily on the gig economy, decided to take his show on the road when work started to dry up. "I always knew my first house would be a camper, so that's me on the property ladder now, I guess," Caolán said. He scoured social media for shows, festivals and even garden parties, looking for "basically anywhere that will let me play". Using his beloved Renault Master camper, Rosie, as a base, the 34-year-old set his sights overseas and was offered a gig at a music festival in Denmark. However, when BBC News NI caught up with him he had just broken down beside a road near the Danish border on his way to the festival. "I set off from Derry to Belfast, Belfast to Liverpool, then to Harwich, then Holland to Denmark and now I have fallen at the last hurdle," he explained. Despite the setback, Caolán was in good spirits as he waited for roadside assistance. "Just my luck to break down at the last hour, but sure it'll make for a good story," he said. Caolán had to spend the night in a hostel in Flensburg, Germany, while the van spent the night in a garage, but he hopes to continue gigging "once Rosie is alive and kicking". Surfers' paradise? Postman Jonny Moore, 26, and optical technician Megan Douglas, 23, are both avid surfers. The Newtownabbey couple converted their 2003 Toyota Hiace together so that they could travel around Ireland's beaches catching waves while saving money on accommodation. Before lockdown, neither knew how to convert a van, but thought the experience would be fun. "We finished off the build just as lockdown restrictions started to ease," explained Jonny. When restrictions were eased in July, the couple decided now "was a good a time as any to hit the road". The pair travelled along the Wild Atlantic Way catching waves and staying in their isolated "little home on wheels". They said it was a "strange experience", as they found towns and villages still mostly deserted due to the pandemic. However, both said they enjoyed having such places "all to themselves" - for a while.

एक 100-दिवसीय डी. आई. वाई. परियोजना, एक संगीतकार का लिव-इन ट्रांसपोर्ट और एक जोड़े का "स्टेकेशन-मोबाइल"-चार लोग अपने "लाभ" साझा करते हैं और हमें अपने लॉकडाउन श्रम के फल के अंदर दिखाते हैं।


Brazil local elections push women to the fore

Summary: Brazilian voters head to the polls on Sunday to elect councillors and mayors in more than 5,500 towns and cities. This year a law was passed requiring parties to ensure 30% of their overall candidates are women but the political battle for female politicians is far from over.

By Mariana Della BarbaBBC Brasil, Sao Paulo When Regina Ramos da Silva decided to run for mayor in the town of Joaquim Pires, she was surprised to find her opponent was another woman. "After I announced my candidacy, the opposition party also chose a woman," says Ms Ramos, 43, who belongs to Brazil's Workers' Party (PT). "I guess it is because having a female mayor is something unprecedented. And everyone likes something new." Joaquim Pires, with a population of some 13,000, is typical of many small towns in Brazil's north-east, with cobbled streets, and small shops and a church on its main square. The problems that the new mayor will have to face include high unemployment among young people, which has prompted many to leave the area. Others in the community rely on state welfare programmes such as the Bolsa Familia or Family Grant to supplement low incomes. New choices The problems and challenges of Joaquim Pires are found in other parts of Brazil. And its all-female election line-up is echoed elsewhere too. In at least 45 towns, only women are running for mayor, up from 32 in the last election in 2008. It illustrates a new scenario in Brazilian politics: female participation in municipal elections has risen 85% since the 2008 election. With Brazil marking 80 years since women were given the vote, two reasons seem to be behind the increase in female participation. The first is a new gender quota law for party candidates, and the second, the 2010 election of Dilma Rousseff as Brazil's first female president. The new legislation, which came into effect this year, forces political parties to ensure that 30% of candidates are women. "In an ideal world we would have gender equality," says Jose Eustaquio Diniz Alves, a social research professor at the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. "But faced with the small number of female candidates, the change in the law represents progress, which is important, even it is limited." The election of President Rousseff has also changed perceptions, some candidates say. "Women were emboldened by her victory and society started to see us in another way," says Jalmira Silva Ghanem, 52, from a centre-left coalition, who is running for mayor in Montividiu. With a population of 10,000, this town in the central state of Goias is surrounded by soy and sugarcane crops. It depends heavily on agriculture for its economy. Yet in an area where men have traditionally dominated political campaigns, the other two candidates for mayor are also women. Political scientist Milton Lahuerta, head of the department of Politics and Government at Unesp University, says the process of change began much earlier than the election of President Rousseff. "The growing confidence of women in Brazil, that began with the cultural revolution in the 1970s, is already happening in other areas like the job market and is now arriving in the political world," he says. Electoral machines The election races in Montividiu and Joaquim Pires are good examples of the involvement of women in politics, as research shows women are more likely to win in small towns rather than in big urban areas. "In big cities the competition is always tougher and men are usually in the top posts in the political parties," says Prof Eustaquio. "In smaller towns, the competition is not as tough, so the personality of the candidates is much more important. Also, women are more likely to be elected there as they do not depend so much on the electoral machine to win. Family tradition means a lot in north-eastern Brazil, he adds. "A family that has been in power for a long time might choose a woman to run." But if prejudice does not affect the choice of a candidate, it is still present during women's political careers. "No one says anything, but I see the way they look at me, as if we were less efficient or less relevant," says Regina Ramos da Silva in Joaquim Pires. For Debora Pedroso, 47, who is running for mayor in Montividiu as the Labour Party (PTB) candidate, the prejudice comes from the political class rather than the public in general. "When I began working as a city councillor, almost eight years ago, I felt that my colleagues were against me," says Ms Pedroso, who was previously deputy mayor in the town. "But I kept winning them over, and by doing that I reached a point of acceptance that they even choose me to be president of the council." Times are changing but Brazil's women politicians know they can point to a powerful example at the head of the country to say that no job should be ruled out.

ब्राजील के मतदाता रविवार को 5,500 से अधिक कस्बों और शहरों में पार्षदों और महापौरों का चुनाव करने के लिए मतदान करने जा रहे हैं। इस साल एक कानून पारित किया गया था जिसमें दलों को यह सुनिश्चित करने की आवश्यकता थी कि उनके कुल उम्मीदवारों में से 30 प्रतिशत महिलाएं हों, लेकिन महिला राजनेताओं के लिए राजनीतिक लड़ाई अभी खत्म नहीं हुई है।


Coronavirus doctor's diary: A super-spreading funeral that led to three deaths

Summary: In March, before the lockdown began, the Hussain family held a big funeral in Bradford's Grand Mosque. Tragically, many mourners fell ill with Covid-19, including the dead man's son, Mohammed. But while three family members died, Mohammed eventually pulled through, writes Dr John Wright of the Bradford Royal Infirmary.

Being intubated and ventilated in intensive care turns out to be a long, rocky road. In Bradford, of the 49 Covid patients who have been admitted to our ICU so far, most have been placed on intubated ventilators. So far seven of these patients have come off ventilation. Mohammed Hussain, a criminal lawyer from Bradford, was one of the first. He is one of our success stories. The 51-year-old was unconscious for five weeks and was very disconcerted when he woke up in what looked like a science fiction film with everybody wearing visors and masks and gowns - he couldn't remember how he got there. He had entirely missed the month of April. "I remember them asking me to go on the Recovery trial to try certain drugs and I said 'Yes.' But that's my last memory until I was waking up weeks later," Mohammed told me. While under sedation, he dreamed that his family had experienced a terrorist attack. And when he came round he remained uneasy. "There was some paranoia to begin with. I thought, 'These people are trying to trick me. What's going on, what's all this about?'" This kind of delirium is quite normal for patients who wake up from critical care, says ICU consultant Dr Debbie Horner, clinical director for the anaesthetics and intensive care department. "It's common for patients to feel very suspicious and anxious about what's going on around them. You can understand it, people are telling you that it's more than a month later and everyone's wearing really strange clothes." Usually it's possible to give people advance warning before they get intubated, but Mohammed deteriorated quickly. He fell ill in March, following the funeral of his father, Noor, who was in his 90s. Noor Hussain had come over from Pakistan in the 1960s to work in the mills in Bradford. He raised his family here, but it was always his wish to be buried in Mirpur. "He was an old soldier who fought in the Second World War, in Burma, and he was a very determined man. He wanted to be buried next to his brother in Pakistan and I honoured that wish for him," Mohammed told me. Noor Hussain died on 10 March. The funeral gathering started that afternoon. It is a very large and respected family, so people travelled from across the UK - about 600 came to pay tribute at Bradford's Grand Mosque on the first day. The following day Mohammed flew to Pakistan with his father's body - his mum and his wife went with him. But back in Bradford, the funeral continued for another two days. On Thursday 12 March, 500 mourners came and shared a meal. About a week later, people began to fall ill with Covid-19. The first was Mohammed's cousin's 24-year-old son - one of the first Covid patients in Bradford to be admitted to ICU. Three further members of that household also developed symptoms, one of them also going to hospital. And other relatives were hospitalised too, both in Bradford and Oldham. It seems clear that someone at the funeral - possibly one of the mourners from Bradford, possibly one of the visitors from further afield - was infected with the coronavirus and that many people contracted it there. "If you start looking at the number of cases that have come from that funeral, it's easy to see how quickly it spread," says Mohammed's son, Haroon, a radiologist. "At the funeral you shake each other's hand and talk to people, you're very close. "The country went into lockdown shortly after, and the reports are coming out now that coronavirus was in the population for a significant period of time before we realised. So if you've got a gathering of people, it increases the chances that maybe one of them has it." Haroon can list eight family members who were hospitalised and three who died. We have seen other patients who became ill after funerals and family gatherings in this same period, just before the lockdown. It's the close physical contact - hugging and shaking hands - that seems to create such a high rate of transmission. For the same reason, weddings and parties are also super-spreading events. By the time Mohammed returned home from Pakistan on 18 March, Haroon and his brother, who live with their parents, had symptoms too. "We tried to distance ourselves," says Haroon. "But when you're living in one household that's nigh-on impossible - there's only a certain number of bathrooms, there's only one fridge, one kitchen." Mohammed was concerned about catching the virus because he is asthmatic, but that Saturday he developed symptoms. He stayed home for nine days, getting progressively worse, until his sons called 999. "We walked him into the ambulance," says Haroon. "That was a very emotional moment as we couldn't go with him and we didn't know when we would see him again." When Mohammed arrived at Bradford Royal Infirmary, he saw his uncle in the waiting room, also wearing an oxygen mask. Sadly, he has since died. Front line diary Prof John Wright, a doctor and epidemiologist, is head of the Bradford Institute for Health Research, and a veteran of cholera, HIV and Ebola epidemics in sub-Saharan Africa. He is writing this diary for BBC News and recording from the hospital wards for BBC Radio. Mohammed was intubated and put on a ventilator. "During that time, people are deeply sedated and their muscles are paralysed with medicines to allow the oxygen to get into the body," says Debbie Horner. Twice a day, Mohammed was proned, turned from front to back, to try and get as much oxygen into his body as possible by stimulating different bits of the lungs. This was done by a team of radiologists who volunteer to do this - they call themselves the Ratters - the Radiology Turning Team. At the start of this crisis, Covid-19 was thought to be primarily a lung disease where the life-saving treatment would be intubated ventilation, with patients sedated in intensive care. As the weeks have passed, clinicians have increasingly turned to less invasive ventilators called CPAP machines, which blow oxygen into the lungs, keeping them inflated - at Bradford we were using them from an early stage of the epidemic and putting patients on them at an earlier stage of their illness than some other hospitals. Predictions in March were that 30% of patients would be on ventilators in intensive care units. As it's turned out, it's less than 20% nationally and less than 10% in Bradford, suggesting that this early and less invasive treatment is effective. "I genuinely believe we've managed to pitch it right here," says Dr Tom Lawton, a consultant in critical care. "By using simple machines that are designed to make it all as easy as possible, and having brilliant staff that are prepared to jump in and do everything - even care that they're not used to delivering in that kind of environment - we haven't brought as many people to intensive care as we thought we would. And yet, our patients don't seem to have suffered as a result." Preliminary data shows the death rate of Bradford Royal Infirmary is 23%, that's lower than national figures. However in ICU the death rate is 50%, in line with other ICU rates. Once out of intensive care, Mohammed Hussain began a slow process of rehabilitation on a stroke ward. His shoulder was damaged during proning and he needed additional physio - he couldn't move his right arm much and so it was difficult for him to feed himself. He is full of gratitude. "Believe me, the people who work in ICU, in this crisis, putting themselves at risk, they are the most amazing people," he says. "It's not just the medical treatment, but it's the human touch. It's the depth of the conversations, the genuine interest and how you develop relationships. It contributes massively towards you getting better. "I remember when I was first taken upstairs on the ward, this poor doctor was running various tests and he went to get me a drink - he brought me pineapple juice. It was like a drink from heaven. "Sometimes the enormity of what we've been through affects me and makes me emotional." During the five weeks that his dad was unconscious, Haroon kept everyone updated via Whatsapp. "There were so many people worried about him," he says. "My dad is incredibly well-known in the community and the messages were going to hundreds of people throughout the world. Everywhere you go, you meet people who my dad has helped." Looking through the replies from his hospital bed, Mohammed spotted a theme: "Oh, he's too stubborn, he's too tough, he'll be all right…" "I didn't know that's how I was viewed by people," he says. But Haroon isn't having it. "You did know that, that's a lie!" Mohammed finally left hospital on Tuesday, to a standing ovation from ward staff. I think one of one of the things that we didn't really do right at the start was celebrate those successes of patients leaving the ward - you tend to focus on the more tragic cases. So we have got better at that, and every patient that is discharged now, is a source of great joy. A couple of days ago Haroon updated us on what happened next. "When I went to collect him from the hospital I didn't tell the rest of the family. I called them all down saying I needed to speak to them, and there was Dad sitting in his armchair. It was an amazing moment, just phenomenal, to have him home. "He's just been out in the garden for the first time today and he was elated. He gets very tired very quickly so it's a slow process, but he's surrounded by love." And Haroon's mum has now returned from Pakistan, so the family is together again. They're overjoyed. Follow @docjohnwright and radio producer @SueM1tchell on Twitter Correction 19th May 2020: An earlier version of this article wrongly included a picture of the Central Mosque Bradford in Westgate. This has been removed and the article amended to make clear that the funeral of Noor Hussain took place at the Bradford Grand Mosque. You may also be interested in: Government advisers have been considering since March whether to include loss of smell among the criteria for deciding whether someone has Covid-19. Evidence that it is one of the symptoms is already strong and some scientists argue this is now an urgent step, as the lockdown is eased. Why hasn't the UK listed loss of smell as a symptom of Covid-19?

मार्च में, लॉकडाउन शुरू होने से पहले, हुसैन परिवार ने ब्रैडफोर्ड की ग्रैंड मस्जिद में एक बड़ा अंतिम संस्कार किया। दुखद रूप से, कई शोकाकुल लोग कोविड-19 से बीमार हो गए, जिसमें मृत व्यक्ति का बेटा मोहम्मद भी शामिल था। लेकिन ब्रैडफोर्ड रॉयल इन्फर्मरी के डॉ. जॉन राइट लिखते हैं कि जब परिवार के तीन सदस्यों की मृत्यु हो गई, तो मोहम्मद अंततः बीमार पड़ गए।


Bin row: Why did refuse workers strike in Birmingham?

Summary: Bin workers have suspended strike action in Birmingham, which had taken place due to a dispute with the city council over job losses. But why have workers been striking - and what did the council have to say? The BBC looks at key questions around the row. Why did bin workers go on strike?

Workers were on strike due to a dispute over job losses. The Unite union claims restructuring plans threaten the jobs of more than 120 staff, while the council says plans will modernise the service and save £5m a year. What has the strike action involved? A range of different stoppages. From 11 August, three-hour stoppages were spaced across the shift, taking place at 07.00, 10.30 and 13.30. Previously, workers had taken a two-hour stoppage from 06:00-08:00 and a one-hour stoppage between 12:30-13:30. There was also an overtime ban in place and workers returned to depots for all lunch and tea breaks. Why does the council want to make changes? Essentially, it's all about saving money. The council says it faces "significant financial challenges" and needs a "high-quality, value-for-money and reliable refuse service". Due to government funding cuts, the authority says spending on waste management has reduced from £71m in 2011 to £65m in 2017, and it says if it does nothing the overspend will be £5.2m in future years. It also says that compared to other councils, Birmingham is not meeting national productivity levels and it needs to improve. Failing to improve productivity and efficiency is "not an option", the authority says. What jobs are going? The council had said the 113 posts being "deleted" were "leading hand roles", or supervisory roles for those workers out with bin crews. It said despite the posts going, all workers with an appropriate skills match would be offered new council jobs at the same pay grade. The authority is also proposing changes to the current working pattern for waste collection crews - changing from a four-day week of just over nine hours a day, to a five-day week of just over seven hours a day. On 16 August strike action was suspended with the city council provisionally agreeing certain posts would not be made redundant and collections resumed. Union officials said in return they would recommend staff considered accepting rota changes. However, on 31 August the council said it was issuing redundancy notices to certain grade three workers "in order to protect its legal and financial position". This prompted strike action to resume on 1 September. On 20 September strike action was suspended after the High Court granted an interim injunction against the council's bid to make workers redundant. A trial to determine if the council acted unlawfully in issuing redundancy notices will now take place in November. Why is it taking so long to resolve? Before the strike was suspended on 16 August, both sides had struggled come to an agreement - and talks broke down. At that time the council maintained there were no job losses as a result of the changes and said no redundancy notices had been issued. Before the Acas agreement was reached, Unite said the authority was "more interested in 'conflict' than finding a negotiated settlement to an ongoing dispute". It said its attempts to negotiate a settlement had been thwarted by council bosses who had withdrawn from planned talks and started issuing redundancy notices to workers. The union said it was left with "little option" but to step up its industrial action, which led to a series of further action. However, following the council's decision to issue redundancy notices, Unite warned that action could continue until the end of 2017. What have residents been told to do about it? The council had told people who had missed collections to leave their bins at the edge of their properties and they will be collected "as soon as possible". People were also asked reduce the amount of waste they put in their bins and told to use the council's recycling centres if they wanted to get rid of their rubbish sooner. Why did the leader of the council quit over the dispute? Former council leader John Clancy resigned following criticism of his handling of the action, which came after Labour councillors proposed a no-confidence motion in their leader. After workers had been on strike for seven weeks, Mr Clancy struck a deal with them saying no jobs would be lost and the action was suspended. But two weeks later a council report said the deal was "unaffordable", and redundancy notices were issued - sending workers back to the picket lines. Mr Clancy said a deal had never been fully agreed with the union, but days later resigned from his position saying he accepted he had made mistakes "for which he is sorry" and took "full responsibility". What happens next? Unite took the council to the High Court, claiming the move to make workers redundant was unlawful. A judge granted an interim injunction against the council's actions and Unite suspended the strike immediately. A trial will now take place in November to determine if the council has acted against the law - but Mr Justice Fraser urged all parties to come to an agreement before the prospect of an expensive court case.

बिन श्रमिकों ने बर्मिंघम में हड़ताल की कार्रवाई को निलंबित कर दिया है, जो नौकरी खोने को लेकर नगर परिषद के साथ विवाद के कारण हुई थी। लेकिन कर्मचारी हड़ताल क्यों कर रहे हैं-और परिषद को क्या कहना है? बीबीसी विवाद के आसपास के प्रमुख प्रश्नों को देखता है। बिन श्रमिकों ने हड़ताल क्यों की?


Shinty head gear sponsorship secured

Summary: A sponsorship deal has been reached to support the introduction of safety helmets for all youth shinty players.

From the start of next season, all players aged 17 and under will be required to wear a helmet and faceguard in youth and senior competitions. The rules have applied to players aged 14 and under for a number of years. The Camanachd Association's latest roll out of safety gear will be sponsored by Inverness-based Orion Group with the funding matched by Sportscotland.

सभी युवा शिंटी खिलाड़ियों के लिए सुरक्षा हेलमेट की शुरुआत का समर्थन करने के लिए एक प्रायोजन समझौता किया गया है।


Travel insurance questions answered by an expert

Summary: Buying travel insurance is more problematic than it seems.

Money Talk by James DaleyEditor, Which? Money The number of policies on offer has risen sharply in the past few years and so has the variation in the cover they offer. Recent research has shown there are more than 370 single-trip policies available at the moment. But 12% provide no cover for travel abandonment, 2% provide no cover for cancellation or curtailment of a holiday, and 11% do not cover missed departures. Meanwhile only 8% cover more than £500 of lost or stolen money and 6% do not cover lost or stolen baggage at all. Would you buy a policy if you realised it had any of these limitations? We asked you to submit your questions about holiday and travel insurance and James Daley, editor of Which? Money, has answered them. Going on a trek in the Himalayas is not likely to be covered by a standard insurance policy. However, your existing insurer may well cover you for your trip if you call them and explain what your plans are. You may have to pay more, but the additional premium should not be prohibitive. If it is, consider approaching a Which? Best Buy travel insurance provider for worldwide cover. Travelling in the UK is not a problem, as any medical requirements will be covered by the NHS, and home insurance will cater for any losses. However, travel insurance provides an extra safety net, as it will cover you for delays and cancellation - although check that your policy covers UK travel, as not all do. As you are then travelling outside Europe, you will need a worldwide single or annual insurance policy. Opt for one with £5 million medical cover. This may sound a lot but the cost of ongoing medical treatment and repatriation can quickly rack up. EU legislation does allow UK companies to cover UK nationals living elsewhere in the EU but many choose not to. MRL Insurance has an insure-all policy that will cover anyone who lives inside the EU. The cheapest way to get adequate cover would be to opt for a single trip European travel insurance. This can start from as little as £6. Ensure that whatever policy you buy offers £2 million medical cover, just in case you suffer a serious accident or illness and need prolonged treatment and repatriation. The biggest mistake that people make is taking out too little cover. It can be well worth spending an extra pound or two to get higher cover levels. The amount of compensation you qualify for depends on the length of the delay and the distance you are flying. If you were delayed more than three hours, you will qualify for compensation - starting at an entitlement of 300 euros for a short haul flight and 400 euros for a medium or long haul flight. For long haul delays of over four hours, you are entitled to 600 euros. They should also pay for meals and phone calls. If the airline does not pay up, you can get in touch with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) which has taken over dealing with consumer complaints from the now defunct Air Transport Users Council. There are a number of companies that specialise in insuring elderly travellers - but sadly there is no avoiding the fact that premiums get very expensive once you pass 80. Using an insurance broker is one way to find a cheaper deal. And if an insurer refuses to cover you because of your age, then many will refer you to one that will. Once you are over 65, finding a reasonably priced travel insurance policy gets trickier. However, if you are in good health, there are still cheap options available - in fact, people between the ages of 65 and 69 can get single trip policies for seven days in Europe for just £12. If you have got a pre-existing medical condition, however, you may need to contact a specialist broker. Go to the British Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA) website to find a broker in your area. If you both live in the UK, then the nationality of your girlfriend should not be relevant. You simply need to buy a couple's worldwide travel insurance policy for the length of your trip. You may find that buying an annual policy works out cheaper. Sarah and Keith - If you have a pre-existing medical condition and are having difficulty getting cover, try the insurance surgery. They should be able to find a company that can offer you cover for your trip. If not, then try an insurance broker. Philip, you may want to check that the type of trip you are looking to go on will be covered, particularly if some of the journeys are on smaller airlines. For example, if you are delayed getting to an international flight because of a late connecting flight you may not be covered and so may need a more specialist policy. You should also check the excess on your bank policy. In the event that you have to make a claim, it might work out cheaper to buy a separate, specialist insurance policy. Danny, this is quite complex but a number of firms will offer to provide travel insurance for this. The main area to look at is the length of time you are likely to be away as some will only cover for, say, 60 days as a maximum. The policies will also often allow certain types of work to be covered and bar work is generally one of these. You should be able to buy a policy that will cover Europe and depending on how long you are going for you may need to consider a longer-term policy. You need to check the policy itself to check that every country you are visiting is covered. There are lots of things that are not covered by your EHIC card. We recommend that you take out an insurance policy that offers at least £2m of medical cover in Europe. This will cover costs such as repatriation - if you are badly injured and need to be transported back to the UK - as well as additional possible costs such as airlift from the scene. There are companies that will be able to offer you both travel insurance and breakdown cover - such as the AA or RAC. But there may not be any advantage to buying both of these from the same provider. If you want to get the best value, you may be better off considering these as two separate purchases. If you have already got breakdown cover in the UK, you will find it is likely to be cheaper to extend your existing policy, rather than take out separate cover with another firm for use in Europe. As for travel insurance, use a comparison site to compare deals. Most will cover you for delay to any ferries or trains you take to get over to the continent - as well as cancellation, or loss of property abroad. When Which? is compiling its Best Buy tables for travel insurance, we do not include policies that offer less than £1,500 cover for baggage and personal belongings. You are right that many policies offer much less than this, but there are policies out there that offer higher levels of cover. Take a look at our best buys or use a comparison site that allows you to filter by cover levels. The cover provided by so-called packaged bank accounts - for which you pay a monthly fee - can be quite good. Indeed, maximum age limits are often higher than standard policies, which can make these kinds of accounts attractive for older customers who are struggling to get a competitive deal elsewhere. However, it is important to drill down and look at the individual policies in detail, to make sure you are aware of any exclusions, and that cover levels are high enough for your needs. We recommend that you do not buy a policy that offers any less than £2m of medical cover in Europe and £5m elsewhere. We believe that you should be looking for at least £2m worth of medical cover, £1,500 of cover for baggage and personal belongings, and £3,000 for cancellation or curtailment. Although £2m might sound like a lot of money, medical bills can quickly add up. If you are involved in an accident where you need to be airlifted from the scene - and perhaps transported from a French to a UK hospital eventually - costs can quickly soar. There is quite a lot that is not covered by simply carrying an EHIC. Most travel insurance policies are not underwritten - which means insurers do not drill down into your individual circumstances. Instead, they come up with a price based on probabilities and averages. It is likely that there are statistics that show that someone in remission from cancer is more likely to make a large claim on their travel insurance than someone who has not had cancer - so insurers price the policies accordingly. Many people lose because of this kind of pricing. For example, premiums for travel insurance soar once people get into their sixties, seventies and beyond - even if they are in perfect health. The opinions expressed are those of the author and are not held by the BBC unless specifically stated. The material is for general information only and does not constitute investment, tax, legal or other form of advice. You should not rely on this information to make (or refrain from making) any decisions. Links to external sites are for information only and do not constitute endorsement. Always obtain independent, professional advice for your own particular situation.

यात्रा बीमा खरीदना जितना लगता है उससे कहीं अधिक समस्याग्रस्त है।


Lyme Regis beach shelter launch will 'boost whole area'

Summary: The completion of a £1.32m project developing a key area of a Dorset seafront will benefit the whole town, say the council.

The new Marine Beach Shelters in Lyme Regis is a mix of shelters, shops, performance and community space. Vickie Stickler, from Lyme Regis Town Council, said: "It's transformed an underused space into an asset and we hope it will encourage visitors into the town. Many only come to the beach." The shelters open on Saturday. Ms Stickler has helped organise the opening day's events, which include contributions from local arts groups, a rededication of the town's restored clock and musical performances. She said: "People are very excited here about the opening. "It's putting something at the heart of the seafront and is one of the biggest building projects the town has seen in years."

परिषद का कहना है कि डोरसेट सीफ्रंट के एक प्रमुख क्षेत्र को विकसित करने वाली £ 1.32m परियोजना के पूरा होने से पूरे शहर को लाभ होगा।


Janet Muller death: Man charged with burning car murder

Summary: A man has been charged with the murder of a student whose body was discovered in the boot of a burning car.

University of Brighton student Janet Muller, 21, from Eastbourne, was found by fire crews in a Volkswagen Jetta in Ifield, West Sussex, on Friday. Christopher Jeffrey-Shaw, 26. from Lakeside, Beckenham in south London, is due to appear at Guildford Magistrates' Court on Thursday. The cause of Miss Muller's death was smoke inhalation. The student, who was based at the university's Eastbourne campus, had been reported missing from Mill View Hospital in Hove on Thursday.

एक व्यक्ति पर एक छात्र की हत्या का आरोप लगाया गया है जिसका शव जलती हुई कार के बूट में मिला था।


Man arrested after teen dies in Cullompton car crash

Summary: A man has arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving after a teenager died in a car crash on a country road.

The boy was a passenger in the car which crashed on the B3181 at Five Bridges, near Cullompton, in Devon at 01:45 BST on Sunday, police said. No other vehicles were involved, Devon and Cornwall Police said. The road has been closed in both directions between Cullompton and Willand.

ग्रामीण सड़क पर एक कार दुर्घटना में एक किशोर की मौत के बाद खतरनाक ड्राइविंग से मौत के संदेह में एक व्यक्ति को गिरफ्तार किया गया है।


Islamic State: An invincible force?

Summary: In June 2014, so-called Islamic State (IS) took over the Iraqi city of Mosul. Within weeks, the organisation had swept through large swathes in Iraq and Syria, seizing a territory the size of the United Kingdom.

By Hassan Hassan & Michael Weiss Authors of ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror The territory IS controls has shrunk in the two years since a US-led multinational coalition launched an air campaign on its positions, first in Iraq and then Syria. The coalition has managed to push IS out of the Iraqi cities of Tikrit and Ramadi, as well as an ever-increasing stretch of Syrian-Turkish borderland. Enemies of the "caliphate", backed by (mostly) US fighter jets, are now bivouacked 50km (30 miles) from the IS "capital" of Raqqa, in northern Syria. Yet IS' hold on its most valuable strategic terrain, the areas seized either in or before 2014, is still uncontested. It is entrenched in Mosul and Raqqa and the Sunni Arab tribal heartland of the Euphrates river valley, which stretches from eastern Syria to western Iraq. While it has lost much of the northern Syrian borderland, IS has also expanded into areas hitherto resistant to it, such as the Damascus suburbs and parts of the Aleppo countryside. War spoils IS' military arsenal consists of Russian and American weaponry mostly seized from government and rebel forces in both Iraq and Syria. Its stockpiles include a fleet of Humvees seized after it defeated the US-equipped Iraqi army in Mosul and elsewhere. The group's ability to acquire war spoils in the form of Russian and American tanks, recoilless rifles, rocket-launchers, light arms and ammunition was seriously diminished after it became harder to swiftly seize new territory. When the campaign started in 2014, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) said IS could muster between 20,000 and 31,500 fighters, up from an initial estimate of 10,000. Despite over a year of air strikes, in February this year the White House said IS still had up to an estimated 25,000 fighters, mainly foreigners, from more than 90 countries. Turning minds Despite its fearsome reputation and initial shock grab of territory, IS is not invincible on the battlefield. The bulk of its rank-and-file infantry, particularly foreign, do not fight well and are often dispatched by their native commanders as cannon fodder. IS' most capable soldiers, its "special forces", have typically been Iraqi and Syrian militants with long experience of fighting in those countries, and graduates of other insurgencies, notably the Libyan-heavy al-Battar Brigade or the various units of militants from Chechnya or elsewhere in the Caucasus. See where IS have made territorial gains and losses, Jan-Dec 2015 December 2015 January 2015 Where IS has excelled is in the realm of intelligence tradecraft. This includes the maintenance of a highly elaborate and multilingual propaganda machine that caters to all constituencies, from American Muslims to Iraqi tribesmen. Using bribery, blackmail and its own totalitarian form of cultural outreach, it has been able to win friends and influence people across thousands of square kilometres, often conquering a town, city or village long before its advancing columns lay siege to it. IS dispatches cash-strapped sleeper agents into the ranks of its opposition, such as the Iraqi Security Forces or the Free Syrian Army, to slowly, covertly, buy or build a constituency. Baathist core IS is in many respects a project of Saddam Hussein's now-outlawed Baath Party, but with a different ideology. Former agents or officers of the former Iraqi president's regime dominate its leadership. For instance, Samir Abd Mohammed al-Khlifawi, better known as Hajji Bakr, was a colonel in Saddam's elite intelligence service of Saddam's Air Defence Force. He was responsible for building IS' infrastructure in northern Syria in 2012 before being killed by anti-Assad rebels. Another key IS figure was Abu Abdul Rahman al-Bilawi, a former captain in the Iraqi army. He was killed two days before the group's seizure of Mosul in June 2014, an operation whose final blitzkrieg he himself planned and so was accordingly dubbed "Bilawi Revenge". Bilawi hailed from Iraq's Dulaim tribe, the country's largest. He was also quite close to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of a precursor to IS. A third ex-Baathist was Abu Ali al-Anbari, also once an intelligence officer in Saddam's army. Anbari is the mastermind of the group's espionage and clandestine services, heading the IS Security and Intelligence Council and so tasked with running a vast honeycomb network of spies, operatives and sleeper cells, including those now active in countries beyond Iraq and Syria. The ex-Baathists shape the group's jihadist ideology, handle its security (weeding out infiltrators or possible putschists) and military operations, and ensure its resilience. They represent a battle-hardened and state-educated core that would likely endure (as they have done through US occupation and a decade of war) even if the organisation's middle and lower cadres are decimated. Ex-Baathists have established an underground network, whose operatives are often disguised, even from other members. This network of sleeper cells and security-minded members represent the organisation's core and, even if IS is defeated or contained militarily, will make it difficult to vanquish all together. Hassan Hassan is an Associate Fellow at Chatham House, London, and a Resident Fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, Washington; Michael Weiss is a senior editor at the Daily Beast.

जून 2014 में, तथाकथित इस्लामिक स्टेट (आईएस) ने इराकी शहर मोसुल पर कब्जा कर लिया। हफ्तों के भीतर, संगठन ने इराक और सीरिया के बड़े हिस्से पर कब्जा कर लिया था, और यूनाइटेड किंगडम के आकार के क्षेत्र पर कब्जा कर लिया था।


Man, 21, charged with Tyler Denton's murder in Rhyl

Summary: A 21-year-old man has been charged with the murder of a woman and the attempted murder of three others following a disturbance in Rhyl.

He was arrested by police following the death of Tyler Denton, 25, in Llys Aderyn Du, on Saturday. Two other women and a man, all thought to be related, were also hurt in the incident. The man is due to appear before Llandudno Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, said North Wales Police. It is thought Ms Denton's father and her two sisters were the other three people injured. A tribute from Ms Denton's family said: "She was a gorgeous daughter, loving sister, much adored auntie and special friend to all. "Always referred to as our 'little mate,' she was loved by everyone and will be missed immensely. Love you to the moon and back, now and always our little princess."

राइल में अशांति के बाद एक 21 वर्षीय व्यक्ति पर एक महिला की हत्या और तीन अन्य की हत्या के प्रयास का आरोप लगाया गया है।


Lockington Crescent: 'We camped in our cars to buy a house'

Summary: Buying a house in 2019 more often than not requires a deposit running into tens of thousands of pounds. But in Stowmarket in 1972, some prospective homeowners were able to put down just £50 - and went to great lengths to do so.

By Kate ScotterBBC News "It was worth it in the long run," says Sue Petty, who has never moved from the house she snapped up in Lockington Crescent some 47 years ago. "Everybody was friendly because we were all out there for the same aim. We were all youngsters - we had a laugh and a glass of wine." The 67-year-old was one of dozens of people who queued for days to secure a property on the new estate in the market town in Suffolk. The houses, bungalows and 64 plots in the crescent and the yet-to-be-built Danescourt Avenue went on sale at 09:30 BST on 8 April 1972. But at the end of March, a line of cars started to appear outside the office of developer Laurence Homes. And for up to 17 days the prospective buyers stayed, camping out in their vehicles overnight so they didn't lose their place. Peter Cole, then the Stowmarket reporter for the East Anglian Daily Times, remembers "the extremely long" lines of hopeful homeowners. He recalls how a van drove along the queue to provide food and drink, while police officers were on hand to keep things under control. "I was there every day for a fortnight, interviewing [people in] the queues. It was quite unusual. In those days, the A45, which is now the A14, came right through the middle of Stowmarket. "There was an awful lot of traffic through the main street and then you had this side road with all these cars parked [in the queue]." Estate agents at the time said there was a shortage of houses nationally due to the post-war baby boom, while locally there was a lack of affordable properties for those willing to commute from Suffolk to London. Properties on the Lockington Crescent estate were on the market for between £4,500 and £7,000 - considerably cheaper than in London, where homes were up to 30% more expensive, according to economic historian Prof Christian Hilber. It made queuing during the housing "rat race" a necessity, according to a report in the Stowmarket Chronicle. "I think it's ridiculous but it's the only thing we really can do," one woman told BBC Radio 4's Today programme at the time. "It's well within our price range and looking anywhere near London or even on the outskirts is just way above our pocket." Mrs Petty, originally from Enfield, travelled up with her then-fiancee Malcolm to secure a property. She says it was cold sleeping in their car and "there was not a lot of places to use the toilet" but they had "great fun and mucked in" with others in the queue. Their patience was rewarded and they eventually bought their home for £4,750. "That was a lot of money in those days," says the mother of two, whose husband passed away 17 years ago. "We took a chance and this is the one we bought and I'm still here. I wouldn't move anywhere else." As people bedded down in their cars, life adapted around them. A milkman delivered pint bottles to their doors and neighbours tapped on their windows with cups of tea at 07:00. A letter was delivered to "David and Barbara, c/o the Queue of Cars in Lockington Crescent", while one couple - Keith Mixer and Heather Bilner - even got engaged while they waited, although they had to wait to get a ring because they couldn't leave the queue. Many were rewarded for their determination and to make their success taste all the sweeter, the developers gave away 25 bottles of champagne - one to all those who had queued for more than 24 hours. Brian and Janet Horrex were lucky - they had already bought their £4,000 property on the estate as it had been built ahead of others and had watched as people waited patiently in their cars. "It was rather extraordinary seeing people queue up, they were desperate to get here," says Mr Horrex, now 78. He added he and his wife Janet have had "no inclination to go anywhere else". Rosie Bridges, who had grown up on nearby Lockington Road, remembers being shocked when the developers moved on to the farmland where she and her friends used to play. "When they said they were going to knock through and build an estate, it horrified us. They brought coach-loads from London to see the houses and the showroom." You might also be interested in: The 66-year-old moved away from the area when she married her husband Colin, but the couple returned some years later and bought the final house on the estate to be built. "It was going to be just the houses either side but they decided they could slip another house in there," she says. "They didn't even have enough bricks to finish it - this house [was never supposed to] have been built." Fellow long-time resident Ernest Eames remembers more houses being built to meet demand. "Gazumping was very rife at the time," says the 75-year-old. "Thirty extra properties were included because everything was selling so well, they managed to squeeze in 30 extra buildings." It is hard to imagine that anyone would go to such lengths for a property now. "I can't see people doing it like that these days, it's all on the internet, people just bid online these days," says Mrs Petty. And yet, it has happened as recently as May. People desperate to buy in the Gleeson Homes development in Rochdale parked for days while relatives brought them food, sleeping bags and hot water bottles. In June 2018, queues formed outside an estate agents in Belfast as prospective buyers waited to snap up a "luxury" property on the city's development off Ballygowan Road, while more than 400 people queued at the doors of Galliard Homes to get their hands on a west London apartment in September 2017. But Prof Hilber, from the London School of Economics, says the housing climate now is very different to the "sellers' market" of the 1970s, which was characterised by rapid economic growth fuelled by a "deregulation of the mortgage market and large tax cuts". Now, he says, it is driven by a "dysfunctional planning system". "As cities have grown the constraints have become very binding. Cities in England can't grow horizontally (green belts), vertically (height restrictions and view corridors) and can't easily renew... due to preservation policies. "There is not enough new supply to catch up with demand growth. If a suitable dwelling comes on the market that is semi-affordable for younger households, we will still observe queues, even during downturn periods." To hear more about camping out for a property, listen to the BBC Multi Story podcast Dwelling. Get in touch We'd love to hear your stories from around England and you can use the tool below to contact us. Or if there's anything you'd like us to investigate or a question you'd like us to answer, submit your details and we could be in touch. Your contact info Please don't publish my name I am over 16 years old I accept the Terms of Service If you are reading this page on the BBC News app, you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question on this topic.

2019 में एक घर खरीदने के लिए अक्सर दसियों हज़ार पाउंड की जमा राशि की आवश्यकता नहीं होती है। लेकिन 1972 में स्टोमार्केट में, कुछ संभावित घर के मालिक केवल £50 कम करने में सक्षम थे-और ऐसा करने के लिए बहुत मेहनत की।


Royal-watchers and well-wishers await birth

Summary: Royal-watchers and well-wishers are awaiting the birth of the third in line to the throne. Hundreds of people have gathered outside the private Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, west London, where the Duchess of Cambridge was admitted in the early hours of Monday morning.

There is also a media presence at Buckingham Palace, where news of the birth will be formally announced. And in York, where Prince Charles travelled by train to undertake official duties, the talk among spectators was of another royal arrival. Lindo Wing, St Mary's Hospital, Paddington More than 250 reporters and camera crews from all corners of the world are assembled outside the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital. Photographers' step-ladders are everywhere, and there is barely room to pass along the pavement. Some of the journalists have been here for two weeks - and on Monday morning their ranks began to swell as Kensington Palace announced the Duchess of Cambridge had been admitted to the hospital and was in the early stages of labour. Tourists from countries including Australia, France and Germany staying at nearby hotels have also been stopping by on their way to some of London's better-known sights. And then there are the dedicated royal watchers. Sharing a tent and surviving on a diet of fast food in blistering summer temperatures has not dampened the spirits of Maria Scott and her daughter Amy Thompson, 13. The pair, who also camped out for 2011's royal wedding, travelled from Newcastle on Saturday. "It is a part of history. There's a monarch being born. I wanted to be here," said Ms Scott. Resplendent in his Union Jack suit and matching trainers, 78-year-old Terry Hutt is a regular at royal events. He has been sleeping on a bench since 10 July in order to keep his prime spot right opposite the steps of the hospital, where the Duke and Duchess are due to pose for photographs when they leave with their first child. Wearily eating an ice cream as well-wishers stop to say hello or ask for a photo, he says "I'm hoping it will be done this evening and put us all out of our misery". Alex Kleiderman and Charlotte Ryan Buckingham Palace It is boiling outside Buckingham Palace but the atmosphere is pretty cool - for now. It's a sense of business as usual but that will change. Once the new royal baby is born, attention will temporarily switch from the private Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital to the Palace, where the formal announcement of the birth will be made. The bulletin will be displayed on an easel for all to see on the palace forecourt. It is the way the Duke and Duchess want it, avoiding the news coming via Twitter, Facebook or even email if possible. It is the traditional method of making a royal birth announcement. Most of the crowd here at the moment are tourists passing by, or lingering after watching Changing of the Guard earlier. What they might see perhaps later today or on Tuesday is a piece of royal theatre. If they peer hard through the palace gates they'll get a first view of the announcement and discover the sex and time of the birth of the third in line to the throne. Daniela Relph York If Prince Charles is at all anxious about becoming a grandfather he certainly isn't showing it. As he stepped off the Royal Train - hauled into the Railway Museum by a steam engine - he looked totally relaxed . This royal arrival was greeted with enthusiasm by a small crowd of schoolchildren and museum staff although it's another royal arrival they were all talking about. But they were all too polite to ask . A journalist who stepped forward to enquire about it was told firmly not to. A short while later a member of the public did get to ask him, but his reply was simply that he hadn't heard anything . Reminders of what royal watchers are excited about were everywhere though. It wasn't long before the Prince of Wales was inspecting a locomotive called Prince William which used to haul the royal train. It was then on to York Minster to see restoration projects before continuing to other Yorkshire venues on his official duties. Regardless of what's going in a London hospital, for Prince Charles it's business as usual today. Danny Savage Bucklebury Village Bucklebury is a quiet place - gentle and reserved, thatched cottages and oak trees, horses and bicycles. An old-fashioned English village, without much emotion on show. But, if you scratch hard enough, you do find a buzz of excitement about the place - albeit a very polite and reserved buzz. As villagers water their hanging-baskets and sip gin and tonic in their gardens, they have a sparkle in their eyes. "Any news?" they enquire, as the many international news teams wander around looking for... anything! Kate Middleton is well-known and well-liked here. Villagers are proud of the fact that she grew up locally - and that her parents still live nearby. Bucklebury has seen many kings and queens in its 1,000 years of history - but when the bells peel here to celebrate the arrival of this future monarch, it will be a very special moment indeed. Jon Kay

शाही-दर्शक और शुभचिंतक सिंहासन की कतार में तीसरे के जन्म का इंतजार कर रहे हैं। सैकड़ों लोग पश्चिम लंदन के पैडिंगटन में सेंट मैरी अस्पताल के निजी लिंडो विंग के बाहर जमा हो गए हैं, जहां डचेस ऑफ कैम्ब्रिज को सोमवार सुबह के शुरुआती घंटों में भर्ती कराया गया था।


Was your T-shirt made in North Korea?

Summary: North Korea's textile industry is the latest to come under UN sanctions.

Karishma VaswaniAsia business correspondent@KarishmaBBCon Twitter It might surprise you to know that some products sold as "made in China" were actually made across the border in North Korea. But that might be about to change. Video produced by Simon Atkinson

उत्तर कोरिया का कपड़ा उद्योग संयुक्त राष्ट्र के प्रतिबंधों के तहत आने वाला नवीनतम है।


Peter Craven: Third arrest after Grimsby house death

Summary: A third man has been arrested after a man died from serious head injuries at a house in Grimsby.

Peter Craven, 46, died after being found in Oxford Street just before midnight on Wednesday. Humberside Police opened a murder investigation and made a third arrest on Tuesday afternoon. A 47-year-old man arrested on Thursday has been released with no further action. A 35-year-old man has been released on conditional bail. The force has not yet made clear what the three men were arrested on suspicion of. Read more Yorkshire stories Officers continue to appeal for anyone with information to come forward.

ग्रिम्सबी में एक घर में सिर पर गंभीर चोट लगने से एक व्यक्ति की मौत के बाद तीसरे व्यक्ति को गिरफ्तार कर लिया गया है।


Blackpool Victoria Hospital poisoning probe: Two bailed

Summary: Two health workers arrested on suspicion of administering poison or a noxious substance to patients at a hospital have been bailed.

The man and a woman were held after concerns were raised about some patients at Blackpool Victoria's stroke unit in November, police said. Both are due to answer bail on 8 January, Lancashire Police said. Another healthcare professional was arrested last month and bailed. All three have been suspended from duty. Lancashire Police have said a number of post-mortem examinations have been carried out as part of the investigation. Related Internet Links Lancashire Police

एक अस्पताल में रोगियों को जहर या कोई हानिकारक पदार्थ देने के संदेह में गिरफ्तार किए गए दो स्वास्थ्य कार्यकर्ताओं को जमानत दे दी गई है।


Drax plunges on Budget blow as FTSE 100 rises

Summary: (Close): Shares in UK power producer Drax plunged 28% in Wednesday trading after Chancellor George Osborne said the Climate Change Levy exemption for renewable electricity would be removed.

Drax said it was renewing the impact of the move, announced in the Budget, adding that it was "displeased". Overall, the FTSE 100 rose 0.91% to 6,490.70, with shares in Barclays among the top gainers. The bank's shares rose 2% after it fired chief executive Antony Jenkins. Another Budget announcement sent shares in housebuilders down sharply, with Barratt, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon falling 5.7%, 5% and 4.7% respectively. The falls came in reaction to the news that mortgage interest relief for buy-to-let homebuyers is to be restricted to the basic rate of income tax. On the currency markets, the pound fell 1.3% against the euro to €1.3865 and was 0.66% lower against the dollar at $1.5360.

(बंद): ब्रिटेन के बिजली उत्पादक ड्रेक्स के शेयरों में बुधवार के कारोबार में 28 प्रतिशत की गिरावट आई, जब चांसलर जॉर्ज ओसबोर्न ने कहा कि अक्षय बिजली के लिए जलवायु परिवर्तन लेवी छूट को हटा दिया जाएगा।


King's Lynn incinerator: Inspector meeting seeks views

Summary: The planning inspector running the inquiry into the building of heat-from-waste incinerator in Norfolk is holding a meeting to outline the procedures.

The public inquiry into the scheme at Saddlebow near King's Lynn will start at Lynnsport in February. John Bolden, from Cory Wheelabrator, the consortium behind the project, said the meeting started off the process. West Norfolk Borough Council opposes the development but is urging people to go to the meeting to register opinions. The planning inspector is hoping to get an idea of the number of witnesses that will want to take part and the arguments that will be made for an against the development. Campaigner Michael de Whalley said he was going to the meeting to ensure the voice of those opposing the scheme would be heard.

नॉरफ़ॉक में गर्मी से निकलने वाले कचरे के भस्मक के निर्माण की जांच कर रहे योजना निरीक्षक प्रक्रियाओं की रूपरेखा तैयार करने के लिए एक बैठक कर रहे हैं।


Why do Welsh place names appear around the world?

Summary: Why does Swansea pop up on the map several times in the USA and Australia? How did magnificent Milford Sound in New Zealand come to bear the name of Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire? And what is the story behind Llandudno in Cape Town, South Africa ?

By Caleb SpencerBBC News The answer, according to Swansea University's Gethin Matthews, is fairly complicated but relates to how Welsh skills in heavy industries were highly sought after. "It's all about economics - Irish emigration was much more about desperation, while Welsh emigration was driven by aspiration," he said. The story involves a Welshman who played a major role in extending the American Civil War and a Swansea businessman who built a copper smelting plant in the Arizonan desert. Dr Matthews said the biggest wave of Welsh emigration came in the late 19th Century. Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Pittsburgh, all in Pennsylvania, had the biggest Welsh populations before 1900, Dr Matthews said. Many of these places were likely given their names during the first wave of religious migrants between 1682 and 1700. But the figures are sketchy. For example, estimates of the number of Welsh people who emigrated to the United States between 1820 and 1950 range from 90,000 to 300,000. Most of these lived in Pennsylvania and Ohio, with relatively smaller numbers spread across New York, Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa. From the 1850s onwards, emigrants were able to cross the Atlantic on steam ships within two weeks, although the trip to Australia would have been far more unpleasant. In Australia, Dr Matthews said many of the "obvious" examples of Welsh place names were in New South Wales or Tasmania, which have towns called Neath and Swansea. But bearing the name of a Welsh town or city was not necessarily a good indicator of the level of Welsh immigration, he added. Were they successful? Swansea-born George Mitchell emigrated to the USA in 1888 and established a massive copper smelting plant in Arizona. The new town would be named after his birthplace. "Unfortunately he didn't think through that you need more coal than copper ore," Dr Matthews explained. "He had lots of copper ore but it cost more to build a rail road to get coal there and he blew a fortune." Welsh expertise was highly sought after in two particular fields: coal and iron. Prof Anne Knowles, who teaches at the University of Maine, has written about Welsh agricultural and industrial migration to the USA. She taught at Aberystwyth University in the 1990s and has descendents from Llanbrynmair, in the county now known as Powys. "Welsh iron workers could demand a premium in wages," Prof Knowles explained. Rhys Davies, from Tredegar, was "very skilled" and "knew how to build a first-class iron works". He left south Wales in 1833 to help build an ironworks in Richmond, Virginia. The works he designed and helped build - named the Tredegar Ironworks - extended the American Civil War by giving the Confederate South a huge arsenal. 'Organised labour' Prof Knowles said Welsh workers also introduced the idea of organised labour and class identity. But this brought them into conflict with owners and managers, who liked their expertise but not their assertiveness. "People who owned the iron works - Americans - quite clearly didn't want to put up with 'uppity' workers. Welsh workers were more independent and went on strike." The Welsh workers also refused to work with slaves. "Slaves were much more reliable, and it was clear to the workers that if they trained the slaves, they would be training their replacement. "There was no feeling of anti-slavery. I certainly found no evidence of that - they were as racist as the rest." Many of the agricultural emigrants came from an area called Mynydd Bach in what is now central Ceredigion. Land was scarce for farmers in mid Wales and the lure of the abundance of America was strong. One farmer who gave into temptation was a man from Pontrhydfendigaid called Richard Jones, who kept sheep on a farm called Bronberllan. "That is what he named his farm in Wisconsin," said Prof Knowles. His farm in Wisconsin was 200 acres (81 hectares) compared with 20 acres in Wales, according to Prof Knowles. "He was known as King Jones because he was wealthy and had the biggest house around," she added. Emotional attachment While Prof Knowles was living in Madison, Wisconsin, she was taught Welsh by a woman called Eluned Evans, from Llanerfyl in Powys, who would later develop Alzheimer's disease. "When I went to see her recently she seemed pretty out of touch," she explained. "I started talking to her about Llenerfyl and Llanbrynmair, and she turned to me and said 'I know a girl from Llanbrynmair' and started reminiscing about her and how she taught her Welsh. "It showed me in a very personal way the emotion attached to place names and why people named these new places they were coming to after their home in Wales."

संयुक्त राज्य अमेरिका और ऑस्ट्रेलिया में स्वानसी कई बार मानचित्र पर क्यों दिखाई देता है? न्यूजीलैंड में शानदार मिलफोर्ड साउंड का नाम पेम्ब्रोकेशायर में मिलफोर्ड हेवन कैसे पड़ा? और दक्षिण अफ्रीका के केप टाउन में लैंडुडनो के पीछे की कहानी क्या है?


Can 'super coral' save the Great Barrier Reef?

Summary: As fears mount over the Great Barrier Reef's worst coral bleaching event in recorded history, biotechnologists in Australia are looking at ways to grow "super coral" that is more tolerant of global warming, writes Ian Lloyd Neubauer.

Heat-resistant coral is not an artificial construct. The mutation occurs naturally in the remote Kimberley region of north-west Australia, where the world's longest tropical tides create super-heated tide pools where corals have found ways to adapt and survive. "The coral of the Kimberley is very unique because it's exposed to extreme temperature swings on a daily basis and to direct sunlight," says Dr Verena Schoepf, a University of Western Australia researcher and lead author on the first peer-reviewed study on heat-resistant coral. "They can tolerate conditions most corals can't, which makes them very interesting to study because they're already coping with climate change," she says. Coral bleaching occurs when changes in temperature, light or nutrients make coral eject tiny photosynthetic algae called zooxanthellae that live on their exoskeletons. The absence of zooxanthellae - coral's primary food source - kicks off a downhill spiral that turns coral white and brittle, and makes it vulnerable to disease and colonisation by seaweed. Bleaching is not necessarily fatal for coral. When record-high sea temperatures saw more than half the Great Barrier Reef affected by mass bleaching events in 1998 and 2002, 95% of all affected coral recovered once sea temperatures normalised. But with high sea temperatures along Australia's coast prolonged by greenhouse gas emissions and the El Niño weather pattern, experts fear the Great Barrier Reef won't have time to recover before it's hit by another bleaching event. "We've never seen anything like this scale of bleaching before," says Prof Terry Hughes, convenor of a National Coral Bleaching Taskforce that made global headlines last month when it released survey results showing 93% of the reef had been affected by bleaching. "Towards the southern end, most of the reefs have minor to moderate bleaching and should soon recover. [However] north of Port Douglas, we're already measuring an average of close to 50% mortality of bleached corals. At some reefs, the final death toll is likely to exceed 90%." Making super coral Dr Schoepf's team is yet to pinpoint the exact gene Kimberley coral uses to defend itself against bleaching. Once the box is ticked, it's hoped the heat-resistant gene can be sequenced with the genes of other corals to give them a better chance of survival. For now, Dr Schoepf is looking at a simpler solution - transplanting super coral on to bleached reefs. "We're running a long-term experiment where we keep [Kimberley] coral in the lab and expose it to much cooler waters like those further south in Australia," she says. "Then we test to see if they maintain their superior capacity to resist heat." Dr Schoepf is also "training" regular coral to better recover from bleaching by exposing it to non-fatal bleaching events. The trained coral is then transplanted back in the sea in the hope it will genetically transfer its learned resistance to its offspring. "We stimulated a small bleaching event in a tank and then put them back. What we found is that those corals were better able to deal with heat stress, but not immune to bleaching," Dr Schoepf says. Ethical dilemmas Crossing the species boundaries of different corals could open a Pandora's box of unintended consequences, according to bioethicists. "No-one fully understands the ecology of reefs, so by putting a genetically modified organism on it you can't possibly know the unintended ecological implications," says Prof Rob Sparrow, an expert in applied ethics at Monash University. "It's foolish and unwise." Prof Sparrow also argues that the genetic engineering of coral distracts from a solution governments already have to prevent coral extinction. "When people read a story about a high-tech solution, it makes us feel good in that it distracts us from what we should really be doing - moving towards a zero emissions economy," he says. Prof Paul Komesaroff, director of Australia's Centre for Ethics in Medicine and Society, raises a different concern. "The closest analogy to this would be GM [genetically modified] crops, where strains of rice are constructed to better resist pests," he says. "And one of the outcomes of that has been that companies own the intellectual property to produce those crops." "I'm sure the scientists behind this are doing it for the right reasons, but they won't be able to turn their discovery into a commercially viable option without capital investment," Paul Komesaroff says. "This is how biotech works in the real world; it's driven by profit. So we would potentially be looking at a scenario where the Great Barrier Reef is owned by a company like Monsanto. And that would be a game-changer." A new hope Above and beyond the ethical dilemmas lies the seemingly impossible task of applying transgenics to an organism as large as the Great Barrier Reef. "The limitations of this approach are how to scale up from a test-tube or aquarium to the real world," says Prof Hughes of the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce. "No-one has ever restored a reef with all of its diversity on any meaningful scale." Then there's the fact that coral bleaching has recently been observed in the Kimberley region, too. "I spoke to the traditional [Aboriginal] landowners, and they told me they cannot remember a time this has ever happened before," Dr Schoepf says. But there may be hope yet, with an even stronger species of super coral now identified 1,000km (620 miles) south of the Kimberley in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. "We've been studying the reef for the past few years and we've found virtually no evidence of coral bleaching - even during the current strong El Niño event," says Damian Thomson, an experimental scientist with the Pilbara Marine Conservation Partnership. He adds: "We're not looking into transgenics at the moment. But the world is going to need a multi-pronged approach to manage coral systems and that is likely going to involve a wide range of experimental and genetical techniques. "We need to do whatever we can to help coral survive."

जैसे-जैसे ग्रेट बैरियर रीफ की दर्ज इतिहास की सबसे खराब प्रवाल विरंजन घटना पर आशंका बढ़ रही है, ऑस्ट्रेलिया में जैव प्रौद्योगिकीविद् "सुपर प्रवाल" विकसित करने के तरीकों पर विचार कर रहे हैं जो ग्लोबल वार्मिंग के प्रति अधिक सहिष्णु है, इयान लॉयड न्यूबाउर लिखते हैं।


Deputy Robert Sillars elected to education department

Summary: Deputy Robert Sillars has been elected to Guernsey's Education Department after the resignation of one of its members.

Deputy Matt Fallaize resigned from the department earlier this month after his offer of resignation was rejected by the States. Deputy Sillars was chosen ahead of Alderney Representative Paul Arditti. The States voted in his favour by 26-18 with one blank paper and one spoilt paper. Deputy Sillars committed to "trying to meet and exceed all the deputies expectations on education".

डिप्टी रॉबर्ट सिलार्स को ग्वेर्नसे के शिक्षा विभाग के एक सदस्य के इस्तीफे के बाद चुना गया है।


Brexit leaves a bitter taste and a mountain of clothes

Summary: It is more than a month since the UK's new trading relationship with the European Union (EU) came into being but the transition has been far from easy for some businesses. From being told to set up operations in Europe, having goods stuck in port and facing increased costs to clear the border, three North East firms reveal the reality of adapting to the new rules.

By Chris RobinsonBBC News, Newcastle Dave Stone knows his beer and his Newcastle-based Wylam Brewery has proved a hit with drinkers far beyond the North East. With Covid forcing venues to close, half of his business has vanished, but trade has continued online. However, Brexit has brought new rules, and due to shipping issues he has been unable to sell to customers in the EU, which accounts for a quarter of his business. His beers have been languishing in ports or sent back, effectively barring the products from Europe. "Before January 1st, we could sell to Paris as easily as Peterlee or Copenhagen as easy as Carlisle and now that has just completely stopped," he said. Mr Stone has been advised by the government to move some work to the EU to help overcome difficulties, despite being forced to cut jobs in Newcastle due to the pandemic. "That's the hardest thing I've ever done in my business career, look someone in the eye and tell them they no longer have a job during a global pandemic," he said. "The only answer we have had from the Department of Trade and Industry is to set up a European office, which is a little bit strange given what the idea of what leaving the EU was. "If we have to set up in Europe in order to be able to serve half of our trade then we would be losing UK jobs." The brewery isn't alone with the issues it has faced. Although the deal struck between the UK and the EU meant businesses would not have to pay tariffs or quotas, many have said they have hit obstacles from bureaucracy to inflated cargo handling fees. Stuck in Latvia In North Shields, a mountain of second-hand clothes is piling up at ECS Textiles, which has been operating since 2004. It carries out door-to-door collections and manages clothing banks for charities. Donations are sorted, repaired and packed into containers to be sold into Europe and elsewhere. But now, because the products were not originally made in the UK, the business has been told it will have to pay a 5.3% import duty charge for its containers entering the EU. "We experienced in December how it was frictionless, there were no issues, no problems, and then in January we are expected to pay, which isn't what we agreed because we had a 0% deal," said business associate James Officer. The business has been affected by what is known as "rules of origin" and the EU's interpretation of where the product was made. The government said if the goods meet the rules of origin the person importing them has to claim a zero tariff when completing a customs declaration. If it doesn't, the standard "most favoured nation" tariff applies, and the goods will attract customs duties. "The clothing that we send, a lot of it would be made in China for example, they are opening the container, they see the labels 'Made in China', it doesn't say 'Made in the UK', so they want us to pay the Chinese import tax", Mr Officer said. ECS Textiles has been sending five containers a week to Europe, each one weighing around 20 tonnes (20,000 kg). The containers have been stuck at a port in Latvia, which is incurring a charge for keeping them there. This additional cost has to be met by the business, which in turn affects the amount of money the charities receive, Mr Officer said. "We are still working out a deal [with the port] and that is why our containers are unable to move. "I think it is a teething issue that will be resolved, I would hope." Another business, Berger Group Europe based in Peterlee, County Durham, which makes metal fasteners for chemical drums, has faced increased haulage costs since the deal was sealed. It ships to countries including Germany but after the price of one container rocketed by £650, it decided to suspend several of its exports to Europe. "We prepared as much as we could," said Richard Swart, global sales director. "We saw and we experienced obstacles which have been too difficult to overcome at present in terms of freight costs more than doubling and therefore we have taken the decision of suspending several of our exports to Europe ." 'Massive opportunities' The North East Chamber of Commerce, the region's biggest business group, said post-Brexit costs and disruption around exporting goods into Europe are affecting about half of its 2,500 members. It has been helping companies struggling with the new rules around customs declarations and other paperwork. "It's taking up a lot of our staff's time certainly," said chief executive James Ramsbotham. "We are working really hard to try to help businesses who are having to grapple with this for the first time, help them get the documents completed, help them understand what's required, help them find agents in other countries to do the other side of the documents, as well as dealing with all sorts of other issues." Teesside Conservative MP Simon Clarke, who represents Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, is confident there would be improvement and advised people to seek support. "I think there will be solutions that are available to North East exporters and firms that want to establish operating arms on the continent," he said. "I appreciate all of that is a challenge for companies to undertake there are also, I think, massive opportunities for us in this new trading relationship with Europe." The government said businesses needed to follow new rules and processes and there was information on its website. It added there was "no ban on excise exports" from Great Britain to the EU. "We have encouraged companies new to dealing with customs declarations to appoint a specialist to deal with import and export declarations on their behalf - and we made more than £80m available to expand the capacity of the customs agents market," a spokesperson said. "We stand ready to help businesses adjust to our new relationship with the EU and keep their goods flowing smoothly." Follow BBC North East & Cumbria on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk. Related Internet Links Food and Drink North East North East England Chamber of Commerce Rules of origin for goods

यूरोपीय संघ (ई. यू.) के साथ यू. के. के नए व्यापारिक संबंधों को अस्तित्व में आए एक महीने से भी अधिक समय हो गया है, लेकिन कुछ व्यवसायों के लिए संक्रमण आसान नहीं रहा है। यूरोप में परिचालन स्थापित करने के लिए कहे जाने से लेकर, बंदरगाह में माल फंसने और सीमा को साफ करने के लिए बढ़ती लागतों का सामना करने से, तीन पूर्वोत्तर कंपनियां नए नियमों के अनुकूल होने की वास्तविकता को प्रकट करती हैं।


Ted 2017: Scary robots that want to be useful

Summary: Boston Dynamics founder Prof Marc Raibert came to the Ted (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference with a new message about his military-funded robots - they could find ways in to homes and on to the streets.

By Jane WakefieldTechnology reporter, Vancouver He revealed a video of one of the company's dog-like robots, SpotMini, delivering parcels to employees' homes. Its Atlas robot was also shown lifting and carrying packages. And SpotMini later put on a show of cuteness to win over the Ted audience. It demonstrated its ability to negotiate obstacles, walk forwards, backwards and sideways and hop on two legs, and, at the end of its demonstration, rolled over as if to have its stomach tickled. Boston Dynamics has become synonymous with developing dexterous but terrifying robots, the skills of which are shown off via a series of YouTube videos. Some have suggested the company's image is at odds with that of parent company Alphabet - which owns Google - and there have been persistent rumours about it wanting to distance itself from its robotic wing. Noel Sharkey, a robotics expert from Sheffield University, believes it needs a change of direction. "They were mainly funded by the military in the past, but Google does not want that," he said. "Also, their Big Dog robot was too noisy for the military because of its petrol engine, and so they made an electric version that was not very good and the military cancelled their contract." But he remains a fan of the technology. "Their Atlas robot is now quite incredible - it can open doors, which is impressive, believe it or not, and maintain a fixed goal even when interrupted," he said. "But their new robot, Handle, is just not like anything before it - stunning." At a previous conference, Prof Raibert described Handle as "nightmare-inducing". And it was later dubbed "Terminator on a hoverboard". This time, Prof Raibert appeared to want to show a more empathetic side to his robots. Showing a video of Handle jumping on to a table, he told the Ted audience: "It likes to put on a show." And during SpotMini's demonstration, he said: "It is a little bit of a show-off". Later, as SpotMini wandered among the Ted crowd, Prof Raibert was clearly pleased it was going down well. "People like to pet it," he said. The YouTube videos received many "likes" as well as criticisms, Prof Raibert said, and Boston Dynamics was determined to find new ways to appeal to the public - showing robots slipping on banana peel, for instance. He said the company's experiments with robots delivering parcels were "70% there", but added it was harder for the robots to negotiate the small spaces in homes than the rough outside terrain they were more associated with. Boston Dynamics has a long history of viral videos showing off its robots. Some of its best known include:

बोस्टन डायनेमिक्स के संस्थापक प्रोफेसर मार्क रायबर्ट टेड (प्रौद्योगिकी, मनोरंजन और डिजाइन) सम्मेलन में अपने सैन्य-वित्त पोषित रोबोटों के बारे में एक नए संदेश के साथ आए-वे घरों और सड़कों पर जाने के रास्ते खोज सकते थे।


Boy seriously injured in west Belfast collision

Summary: A young boy has been treated in hospital after a one-vehicle collision in west Belfast on Saturday evening.

Police said it happened at the junction of Clonard Street and Falls Road at about 21:20 BST. Sgt Marks from the Police Service of Northern Ireland said the boy's condition is described as being serious. Officers have appealed for witnesses or drivers with dash-cam footage of the incident to contact them.

शनिवार शाम पश्चिम बेलफास्ट में एक वाहन की टक्कर के बाद एक युवा लड़के का अस्पताल में इलाज किया गया है।


Weight limit for Bath's Cleveland Bridge challenged

Summary: A proposed ban on heavy lorries using the Grade II-listed Cleveland Bridge in Bath is being opposed by two councils and the Highways Agency (HA).

Bath and North East Somerset Council wants the A36 de-trunked - taken out of the national road network - so it can impose an 18-tonne weight limit. Councillors in Wiltshire and Somerset believe the displaced traffic would transfer on to less suitable routes. They and the HA have written to the government to object to the plans. In the joint letter to Transport Secretary Justine Greening, they also say the move would result in extra costs for the haulage industry. At present, lorries use the city as a short cut from junction 18 of the M4 - down the A46 then along London Road and Cleveland Bridge - en route to the south coast. Councillors in Bath hope the proposed weight limit will reduce congestion and improve air quality in the city.

बाथ में ग्रेड II-सूचीबद्ध क्लीवलैंड ब्रिज का उपयोग करने वाली भारी गाड़ियों पर प्रस्तावित प्रतिबंध का दो परिषदों और राजमार्ग एजेंसी (एच. ए.) द्वारा विरोध किया जा रहा है।