Election 2021: West Yorkshire mayor candidates discuss housing

Summary: Voters in West Yorkshire will elect their first mayor on 6 May. The successful candidate will have powers over transport, adult education and policing, and they will also take control of housing. The BBC asked voters about their experiences, and put their concerns to the candidates.

Matthew Jeffrey, from Lower Wortley in Leeds, spent seven years trying to find suitable and affordable housing after he was evicted by a private landlord with no notice. "I had a job and everything and one day the landlord just turned up and said he wanted me out the next day," he said. "He changed the locks and I lost all my stuff." Mr Jeffrey later took the landlord to court and received compensation, then three years ago, he faced a similar situation. "It was terrible. I went into mental health problems, depression, anxiety. It was a struggle," he said. "I had to go the council every day at half eight and sit there for two hours to pester them until I got a bit more priority and a council flat. "I never ended up sleeping rough, but I quite easily could have done." Mr Jeffrey, 38, wants those standing for mayor to explain how they would tackle a lack of affordable homes and homelessness. "There's money there, we are meant to be the fourth richest country in the world, and if we can't support our homeless and vulnerable, what does that say about our society?" All seven candidates (in alphabetical order) were asked for a short, one-policy answer to Mr Jeffrey's concerns: Waj Ali, Reform UK "One of my election pledges is to donate 50% of my mayoral salary from the first two years to combating overnight homelessness. "Our homeless people are sleeping on the streets. Let's get our people off the streets; the ex-servicemen, the mental health crisis people. "We've got to free up these council buildings and I am willing to put my money where my mouth is." Tracy Brabin, Labour "As someone who grew up in a council flat, I absolutely understand the value of social housing. "I am committed to 5,000 homes being built that are social housing and affordable, because the waiting lists are far too long for too many properties. "It's got to be in the right place at the right price to make sure people like Matthew can feel secure." Bob Buxton, Yorkshire Party "We need to build greener homes, including social housing, on regenerated ex-industrial sites and we need the new infrastructure to go with the new housing. "Too often, we get the housing without the infrastructure to go with it." Andrew Cooper, Green Party "Yes, we've got to build more social housing, that's really important, but public housing is a public good and so we need to end the right-to-buy council housing. "Because a lot of that council housing ends up as private sector housing and ends up as exactly the sort of places that our questioner was evicted from. "That has got to end. We have got to have more social housing. We've got to make sure there is an alternative. Not poverty housing, but an alternative to owner-occupation, which millions of people simply cannot aspire too." Stewart Golton, Liberal Democrat "We need to challenge government to actually give us the powers to make a difference. "At the moment, the housing minister has held back the spatial planning powers that the West Yorkshire mayor was meant to have. "They will be given to us in time after the government has made it easy for their housing developer friends to develop the kind of housing they want. "Unfortunately we are having too much executive-style housing built locally and not enough affordable housing that people can actually get their first rung on the ladder, whether through rent or buying." Thérèse Hirst, English Democrats "We have to build more social housing, not on greenfield land - it has to be on brownfield sites. Rents have to be controlled and low, so people can afford to pay their rents. "I am quite passionate about inner city poverty and one of the things we can do is use our compulsory purchase orders to actually target really deprived areas within our inner cities, obviously with the consent of the residents who live there, and bulldoze some of these buildings that need to be bulldozed and put in new homes." Matt Robinson, Conservative "We actually need to make sure we protect our greenbelt and we put new homes in sustainable locations and we look at brownfield regeneration sites. "Regeneration of communities is good for jobs, it's good for the local area and creates business opportunities too and that's what I want to do. "I want to make sure that West Yorkshire authorities are coming together, working with the mayor to have a homelessness strategy that marries up across borders and links to mental health support as well." A modern browser with JavaScript and a stable internet connection is required to view this interactive. More information about these elections Who can I vote for in my area? Enter your postcode, or the name of your English council or Scottish or Welsh constituency to find out. Eg 'W1A 1AA' or 'Westminster' A special programme with all the candidates- A Mayor for West Yorkshire - will be broadcast at 14:20 BST on Sunday on BBC One in Yorkshire.

वेस्ट यॉर्कशायर में मतदाता 6 मई को अपने पहले महापौर का चुनाव करेंगे। सफल उम्मीदवार के पास परिवहन, वयस्क शिक्षा और पुलिसिंग पर अधिकार होंगे, और वे आवास पर भी नियंत्रण रखेंगे। बीबीसी ने मतदाताओं से उनके अनुभवों के बारे में पूछा, और उम्मीदवारों के सामने अपनी चिंताओं को रखा।


Climate's magic rabbit: Pulling CO2 out of thin air

Summary: UN climate negotiators are meeting in Bonn amid a welter of reports indicating that concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have broken records, while international attempts to curb greenhouse gases are not doing enough to avoid dangerous levels of warming. Our environment correspondent Matt McGrath has travelled to Switzerland to see if technology to remove CO2 from the air could be the answer to this ongoing carbon conundrum.

By Matt McGrathEnvironment correspondent While CO2 concentrations are now higher than they have been in at least 800,000 years, the gas still only accounts for a tiny 0.04% of our atmosphere. However, extracting carbon dioxide from well mixed air is not just technically difficult, it's expensive as well. A half-hour outside Zurich stands one of the frontline attempts to develop a commercial approach to sucking down CO2. On the roof of a large recycling centre at Hinwil stand 18 metal fans, stacked on top of each, each about the size of a large domestic washing machine. These fans suck in the surrounding air and chemically coated filters inside absorb the CO2. They become saturated in a few hours so, using the waste heat from the recycling facility, the filters are heated up to 100C and very pure carbon dioxide gas is then collected. This installation, called a direct-air capture system, has been developed by a Swiss company called Climeworks. It can capture about 900 tonnes of CO2 every year. It is then pumped to a large greenhouse a few hundred metres away, where it helps grow bigger vegetables. This is not supposed to be a demonstration of a clever technology - for the developers, making money from CO2 is critical. "This is the first time we are commercially selling CO2; this is the first of its kind," co-founder Jan Wurzbacher told BBC News. "It has to be for business; CO2 capture can't work for free." Right now Climeworks is selling the gas to the vegetable growers next door for less than $600 per tonne, which is very expensive. But the company says that this is because it has built its extraction devices from scratch - everything is bespoke. The firm believes that like solar and wind energy, costs will rapidly fall once production is scaled up. "The magic number we always say is $100 per tonne," said Jan Wurzbacher. "We have drawn a road down to the region of $100 and that is something we think is feasible. We can do it by scaling up the mass production of our components. I'd say half of the way to go there - we know what to do. We just have to do it over the next two or three years." One of the things about CO2 that makes it attractive for developers is that it has many uses in the world. From fish food to concrete; from car seats to toothpaste - entrepreneurs are trying to use carbon dioxide as a raw material. There's also a roaring trade in CO2 in the US, where it's being used, without irony, to boost the extraction of oil from wells. One of the most ambitious plans is to extract CO2 and turn it into fuel. A couple of years ago, car manufacturer Audi announced it had developed what it called "e-diesel", a liquid fuel made from water and CO2. Climeworks supplied some of the CO2 for the trials. Driving down the price of capturing CO2 is key to making this idea work. "If you have to pay $100 per tonne of CO2 that makes roughly 25 cents per litre of gasoline," said Jan Wurzbacher. "It is a reasonable amount per litre or per kilogramme of natural gas." Making fuel or other products out of CO2 might help but it won't achieve the type of large scale take-down from the atmosphere that many scientists now fear will be necessary over the next 20-30 years if the goals of the Paris climate agreement are to be met. 'Natural' solution The terms of the pact state that there needs to be a "balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases" in the second half of this century. To reach that balance, many experts believe we will have to resort to technological means of taking carbon out of the air. "There are some things we can do in the real near-term but to get to zero emissions we will probably need some technologies to remove carbon from the atmosphere," Dr Glen Peters from the Centre for International Climate and Environmental Research told BBC News. "So we need to focus on getting things deployed that we know already work and at the same time we also need to focus on developing new technologies that will help us go the last part of the journey." Back in 2013, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change suggested that BECCS (bioenergy with carbon capture and storage) might be one way to do this. BECCS involves growing plants that suck down carbon, then burning them to make energy while capturing and burying the carbon that is released. Critics point out that to make a real impact with BECCS would take up way too much land that could be used for planting food. However, a recent study showed that a simpler approach, including planting more trees and better management of soils and grasslands, could actually make a significant difference. The report said that this could account for 37% of all actions needed by 2030 - the equivalent to China's current emissions from fossil fuel use. So would the world be better off planting trees than waiting for Climeworks and others to perfect their technology? "We're not against trees," said Anka Timofte, an engineer with the company. "It is all about the efficiency of the surface area that you are using. Our machine has a higher capacity of removing CO2 from the air and this CO2 can be re-used, and our machines are location-independent, so we could place them in the desert or anywhere there is an energy source." Climeworks has big ambitions. Recently it opened a plant in Iceland. CO2 is captured and buried underground where it will eventually turn to stone. The Swiss company wants to capture 1% of global emissions of CO2 by 2025. But to make a small dent in the global picture would require the use of 750,000 units similar to the one installed in Hinwil right now. It would also require huge amounts of energy to run these devices. 'Magical techno-fixes' The Swiss company is not alone. There are similar efforts underway in Canada with a company called Carbon Engineering, and a Finnish-German consortium is also in the direct air-capture business. So plentiful are they becoming that environmental groups have started to map the progress of these and other geo-engineering projects that aim to curb climate change through technology. Many greens are deeply suspicious of these efforts. They argue that we need a fundamental rethink of the way that we produce and consume to put sustainability at the heart of everything we do. "We need to step back and actually question what are all the possible pathways to a climate safe future," said Lili Fuhr from the Heinrich Böll Foundation. "Have we seriously explored them and are they not more realistic than relying on these magical technologies that in my view hold immense risks and uncertainties and are certainly harmful for many people around the planet?" Other critics are worried that if the technology works, then it will encourage politicians not to make the cuts in carbon and rapidly move to renewable energy. Question of time Climeworks' Jan Wurzbacher rejects this idea. He says it is all a matter of timing. "If you had asked me 20 years ago I would have said that, yes, you should just focus on reducing emissions. "But as of today we may have passed the point of being able to achieve it just by that. People say we will need to remove 10 gigatonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere every year by 2050. It's not enough to develop it then; you need to deploy it and scale it, and that will take 30 years!" Lili Fuhr doesn't agree. She says that approaches to capturing carbon are all part of a self-preservation strategy by the fossil fuel industry. "For many decades the fossil fuel industry has funded climate sceptics and in that way tried to prevent climate action. But they've seen that is not working, so instead of denying, they are beginning to come up with these magical techno-fixes that would help prolong the lifespan of their industry. "What we are seeing is a shift in the broader denial-ism and prevention strategy of the fossil fuel industry." Follow Matt on Twitter and on Facebook

संयुक्त राष्ट्र जलवायु वार्ताकार बॉन में उन रिपोर्टों के बीच बैठक कर रहे हैं जो संकेत देते हैं कि वायुमंडल में कार्बन डाइऑक्साइड की सांद्रता ने रिकॉर्ड तोड़ दिया है, जबकि ग्रीनहाउस गैसों पर अंकुश लगाने के अंतर्राष्ट्रीय प्रयास वार्मिंग के खतरनाक स्तर से बचने के लिए पर्याप्त नहीं कर रहे हैं। हमारे पर्यावरण संवाददाता मैट मैकग्राथ ने यह देखने के लिए स्विट्जरलैंड की यात्रा की है कि क्या हवा से CO2 को हटाने की तकनीक इस चल रही कार्बन पहेली का जवाब हो सकती है।


'Everybody thinks it's only boys who join gangs'

Summary: Nequela Whittaker was once a feared gang leader in south London. Now she's a youth worker on those same streets, writes Jo Morris, and she wants her story to be heard by young people who might be tempted by gang life - especially girls.

"'Mouthy,' that was my street name." It's what they used to call Nequela Whittaker. She earned the name as a teenager for her cocky manner and habit of getting into fights. "I would really know how to humiliate or wind people up," she says. "My reputation for fighting was well-known. I loved conflict for a long time." By the time she was 14, Whittaker had been arrested for actual bodily harm (ABH) and grievous bodily harm (GBH). "I was savage," she says. "I've seen friends murdered, people injured. Mass brawls. Stabbings. Shoot-outs happening in front of me. "You have people who follow you - you have a crew. You go to any lengths - robbery, kicking in people's front doors." As the years went by she found it increasingly troubling, she says, but that world is difficult to escape. "Once you're in it, you're in it. You've got to think how your peers will take you saying, 'I feel regret. It's not me.'" Off the rails As a young girl growing up in Clapham with her mum and older siblings, Whittaker was a normal law-abiding child. Her mum wanted her to take advantage of every opportunity, so she played the violin, did drama and athletics - but Whittaker says that made her stick out. "I was different, and back then different wasn't cool." A long bus journey to her school in Croydon made her a target for a group of girls from another school, who picked on and humiliated her. "They called me 'nerd', 'hairy legs'. They made fun of my violin, they dissed my shoes, cussing my attire - it was no fault of my own, it was what my mum could afford." Talking about this still upsets her. For more than a year Whittaker ignored the girls, until finally she reached a tipping point. "I decided there were two types of people in this world - people who take all the stuff that's thrown at them and people who don't. I didn't want to be that person who always got picked on every day." She started using the money her mum gave her for violin lessons to buy cannabis to sell at school. And she formed a gang of girls. "The switch just came, and I became the aggressor: 'Let's go and get these girls now.'" Her gang beat up two of the girls from the other school. "I went for one friend in one week and the other friend the next week. We battered her. It was for the humiliation I had been feeling so long." What did that feel like? "Power," she says. "It was like: 'OK, I am somebody now. My voice has been heard. The streets are awake. They're listening.' "I went from being the black sheep to the head of the throne. It gave me a sense of belonging that I had been looking for." Whittaker thinks the need to belong is one factor that drives young people to join gangs - and it certainly was in her case. Her father had left the family when she was only two years old. "My dad's a crack addict. Lovely guy, but everyone has something that they love in life and unfortunately his addiction is drugs," she says. And as a young gay woman she never felt completely accepted by her mother. "My mum is a wonderful woman, but she's old-school and she was bringing quite a lot of her traditional Caribbean ways, and I didn't feel like I belonged in that setting for many years because of my sexuality. "For many years I didn't feel listened to." When Whittaker was out of sight, her mum had no idea what she was doing. "Back home I was sweet and innocent, but on the streets I was this horrible little girl," she says. "My mum would think I was going to school playing the violin. I wore a very good disguise." Whittaker was arrested for beating up the two girls and received a youth offending referral. After that, there was no turning back. "I figured: 'I have a criminal record, might as well make it as long as possible.'" She quickly became what is known on the streets as a "10-star general". "Beating people up, weapons, guns, humiliation - making a boy or girl walk down the street naked. It got worse before I calmed down," she says. She started selling crack and cocaine outside London, running what's called the "country lines". Gangs often use girls because police stop them less often. "I was selling heavily in Scotland. Glasgow, Birmingham, all over Britain," she says. Eventually she was arrested in Scotland and charged with misuse of drugs with intent to supply Class A and B. She was 17 when she was sentenced to four years in a Scottish prison - a long way from south London and way out of her comfort zone. How did she feel on her first night? "Petrified. I was petrified. Not being near anyone I knew and so far from home. When I arrived, my room was like a dark cave, and a girl was sitting on the bottom bunk, rocking. My tears hit the ground and I said: 'I can't do this.'" The prison officer allowed her to make a phone call. "I phoned my mum and said: 'I can't do this.' I was crying, and she said: 'Yes you can. You put yourself in this situation. Only you can get yourself out of it. Chin up. You've got this.'" And her mum turned out to be right. Whittaker says her time inside was the best period of her life. She discovered that she had a knack for listening, and that other inmates trusted her with their problems. "I found a role - I gave advice. I supported girls," she says. She went from selling drugs to unofficially counselling girls with addiction problems. "I reconnected with the girl I was before I made the wrong decisions." Her transformation earned her a new nickname. "Mouthy" became "Wisey". She says being in jail gave her "time to see where I wanted to place myself in the real world". But this wouldn't have happened, she says, if she had been jailed in London. "I would have been in the same environment, fighting for my reputation. That ego overrides everything." In 2009, at the age of 20, she left prison. Nine years later she has a social science degree, lives with her mum and works at a youth club in south London. There, she is always on the lookout for girls like her former self, at risk of getting into gangs. "Everybody thinks it's only boys involved in gangs but it is not," she says. "The community needs to help guide females as much as males." She acknowledges that women are often sexually exploited by male gangs, but in some cases, she says, girls can hold as much power as boys. I meet her at the youth club - where this evening she is running a girl's night. Before the session starts she talks to a 15-year-old girl, who has been in trouble for fighting. Whittaker is reminded of herself at that age - so much energy, but channelled the wrong way. "Trouble finds me," says the teenager, who has been seeing Whittaker for a year to help with anger management. "She understands me," she says. "Other people think they understand me." Where does she think she'd be if she hadn't met Whittaker? "I'd probably be sitting down at the police station: 'Why did you have a fight? Why did you attempt to stab someone?'" It makes a difference knowing Whittaker has lived the life. "They see me as 'Niks from the street' - I'm not badgering, I'm not the police, I'm not social services. They have more trust in someone who has gone through it," Whittaker says. "I have a real knowledge of the world that they're from. Many parents don't understand what it's like for their young people. They don't see what's happening on the streets, when they leave their front door. "For me, it's about showing them: 'I'm interested in your world.'" Whittaker wishes she'd met someone like herself when she was a teenager to challenge the decisions she was making. I leave her preparing a meal for 20 young people who will be relying on the evening's youth club for their dinner. "It's a big thing, to go from being part of the problem to now being part of the solution," she says. You may also like: Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter

जो मॉरिस लिखते हैं कि नेक्वेला व्हिटेकर कभी दक्षिण लंदन में एक खूंखार गिरोह की नेता थी। अब वह उन्हीं सड़कों पर एक युवा कार्यकर्ता है, और वह चाहती है कि उसकी कहानी युवाओं द्वारा सुनी जाए जो गिरोह जीवन से लुभाए जा सकते हैं-विशेष रूप से लड़कियां।


Man charged with Cumbria murder of Meryl Parry

Summary: A pensioner has been charged with murder after an 80-year-old woman was found dead at a house in Cumbria.

The body of Meryl Parry was discovered by police, who were called to The Dale, Ainstable, near Carlisle, in the early hours of Tuesday. John Michael Parry, 81, was found to be in need of medical attention when officers arrived at the property. Mr Parry was remanded in custody by North Cumbria magistrates in Carlisle pending a Crown Court hearing. Police have so far not revealed how Mrs Parry died.

कुम्ब्रिया में एक घर में 80 वर्षीय महिला के मृत पाए जाने के बाद एक पेंशनभोगी पर हत्या का आरोप लगाया गया है।


Essex lorry deaths: Man admits offence linked to people-smuggling

Summary: A man has admitted an immigration offence linked to an alleged people-smuggling operation which resulted in the deaths of 39 Vietnamese nationals.

Their bodies were found in a refrigerated lorry trailer in Grays, Essex, in October. Alexandru-Ovidiu Hanga, 28, a Romanian national, of Hobart Road in Essex, appeared at the Old Bailey earlier. He admitted one count of conspiring to assist unlawful immigration between May 2018 and October 2019. He will be sentenced at a later date, following the trial of other defendants accused over the deaths. The bodies were found shortly after the lorry arrived on a ferry from Zeebrugge in Belgium in the early hours of 23 October.

एक व्यक्ति ने एक कथित लोगों की तस्करी के अभियान से जुड़े आप्रवासन अपराध को स्वीकार किया है, जिसके परिणामस्वरूप 39 वियतनामी नागरिकों की मौत हो गई।


Ballakermeen High School: £3.2m extension opened

Summary: A multi-million pound extension to help accommodate a growing sixth form at the Isle of Man's largest secondary school has been opened.

The £3.2m three-storey addition at Ballakermeen High School has been built to help accommodate more than 300 sixth form students. The school was awarded the money from the government's capital fund after Tynwald voted in favour in 2013. It includes four new classrooms, a larger dining room and tutorial space.

आइल ऑफ मैन के सबसे बड़े माध्यमिक विद्यालय में बढ़ते हुए छठे रूप को समायोजित करने में मदद करने के लिए एक बहु-मिलियन पाउंड का विस्तार खोला गया है।


Bitter to better: Squatters transforming a derelict pub

Summary: Activists and squatters have moved in to a derelict Romford pub, The Bitter End, with the aim of transforming it into an independent environmental and cultural space. In April, photographer Ed Gold spent three weeks living alongside them, documenting their lives as they worked to regenerate the building into the newly named The Better End.

"The history of the building goes back as far as 1426, when a timber framed pub stood here, which burnt down in Victorian times," says Gold. "It was rebuilt. And the 40-room building became a brewery, sauna, gym, snooker hall and then a pub again. "When the squatters moved in, it was in collaboration with ReSpace Projects, a not-for-profit organisation who have regenerated other empty urban buildings. "After consulting with the owner, more than 20 'caretakers on rotation' from the UK, Germany, Eastern Europe, South Africa, Jordan and Australia have been renovating the premises for community use, such as an art gallery, market, workshop space, independent cinema and a community fair that encourages local productivity. "The caretakers here aren't told what to do but take it upon themselves to renovate areas daily in the fields they are good at, like electrics, carpentry and plumbing." Ned, 53 "I've been here a month in this particular project. "But I have 30 years' experience in community projects. "The basement is flooded so I'm clearing the floor to gain access to the sump pump, which has stopped working, to drain the basement. "The water is a combination of a small number of leaks in the building. "We have health and safety requirements to meet. "They want to make sure we are safe." "We are setting up schools in these types of buildings to teach people how to be self-empowered. "We're teaching everything that people can bring home and use in their own lives. "The younger members can then take these skills to other communities they might find themselves a part of and also have the confidence to teach. "The ethos of the building being to invite craftsmen in to share their skills and empower others." Kasia, 35 "I'm from Poland. I came over almost 14 years ago for friendship reasons rather than economic reasons. I didn't squat in Poland. "I was living in London for so long on my own, working, studying. "I used to be a carer. And it was fulfilling to do something useful even if on a small scale. I became disillusioned when I realised that I was unable to sustain myself financially. "The less I have, the better I feel. I am very comfortable without having to stress about gathering things. "I have no problems with detaching myself. It's more important to have good relationships with people and yourself. "When we first got here, there was only four of us and we lived outside under shelter on the ground floor. "When we got here we found excrement and a lot syringes. The building was in a derelict state. Random people had come here and were destroying it." Tyrone, 28 "I've been homeless before, but I never squatted. "My other half and me decided it was actually cheaper me moving out than me living there with her and my daughter. "With what I was earning, it was cheaper to move out. So, we decided I'd come here but we'd stay together and live separately. "I'm a handyman here, anything with a drill. I'm redoing the toilets, a lot of concreting, floorboards, painting and decorating. Probably everything in the house, I've done it, hung doors, stuff like that. "I like the idea of something that is not being used and breathing life into it, as too many places are being wasted." Emily, 25 "I'd moved to London in 2010 to study geography at LSE. In the first two years, I was in student accommodation and it was eating up all my money. I looked into other options and researched squatting in London. "I want to be nomadic because there is so much of the world to see and I'd like to settle for months at a time in different places, to get involved in community projects." "I've been here about a year and a half on and off. It's been hard. The conditions the first time we got here were very challenging. I've enjoyed fire safety, which has been a major concern. And I've got into plastering, taking out rubbish and recycling, gardening, making the outside space look nice, and decorating. "I like the beautiful historic building itself, which is in need of a lot of love and attention, the creativity with it, and knowing the people very well who I have lived with for many years in various places, as well as meeting new people locally and from other projects." Ceilidh, 20 "I came to squatting since moving out of the woods, where I went straight from home. "I left home when I was 19. I was living in a two-bedroom flat with my two little sisters. So, I shared a room and never had my own space - five people in a two-bedroom flat: my mum, her partner, my two half-sisters and me. "There is a 10-year and seven-year age gap. So, it was hell living with them, especially when I was turning 13 and coming into puberty." "I absolutely adore it here, this way of living. The one thing I didn't have at my mum's was much conversation as she was always at work and my sisters were at school. "Squatting means if you want something you have to go and do it, like if you want to go and get water you have to go get it, and the community aspect, helping each other out, building up your skills and learning from each other. "I want to be the person that people come and ask me how to do stuff rather than me ask what to do next." Big Charlie, 28 "I couldn't get housing benefit as I was in the wrong age bracket. They told me to go share. And that was already what I was doing. I wasn't getting enough hours in my job to pay rent. So, I packed a backpack and just left. I went from a pub upbringing to losing a job in a pub. So, now is like getting a second shot. "There was a fire after the pub closed because of trouble and drugs. And the company didn't want to pay for security for the building so agreed to let us stay here. They liked the idea that we come in and clean the place up. "I want it to be about the local people that have lost their local venue and a place to go. "I want a place for people to come and do yoga, to converse, to do mechanics, for all the people that don't have a creative place to feel that they can come to this place and use here." Liam, 30 "I have kind of known people and social groups that have been involved in squatting for ages, but I have never squatted myself until now. "I don't think that anybody anywhere in the world should be homeless, especially as there are so many empty homes. "I know it's not as easy as just putting people in homes. It's more about the way the government treat people with mental health issues." "I'd been trying to manifest a life where I could utilise my carpentry skills and incorporate music into that as well and have a good balance of the two. "The less stressed in life you are, the more creative you are going to feel." Photography and interviews by Ed Gold

कार्यकर्ता और अतिक्रमणकारी एक परित्यक्त रोमफोर्ड पब, द बिटर एंड में चले गए हैं, जिसका उद्देश्य इसे एक स्वतंत्र पर्यावरण और सांस्कृतिक स्थान में बदलना है। अप्रैल में, फोटोग्राफर एड गोल्ड ने उनके साथ रहने में तीन सप्ताह बिताए, उनके जीवन का दस्तावेजीकरण करते हुए जब उन्होंने इमारत को नए नाम द बेटर एंड में पुनर्जीवित करने के लिए काम किया।


How the End Sars protests have changed Nigeria forever

Summary: The anti-police brutality protests in Nigeria created a powerful movement that appeared to shake those in power, but after a turbulent fortnight, BBC Hausa editor Aliyu Tanko considers where it goes from here.

A potent mix of street protests and social media has given young Nigerians a voice that has shattered the country's culture of deference. As the #EndSARS hashtag went viral, so did a defiance of the elite in Nigeria. The trashing of the palace of the highly respected oba, or traditional ruler, of Lagos was symbolic of this mood. The youths dragged his throne around, looted his possessions and swam in his pool. What began as a protest against the hated police Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars) has become a conduit for the youth to vent their anger with the people who have been in charge of Nigeria for decades, and demand change. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo warned in 2017 that "we are all sitting on a keg of gunpowder" when it comes to the young. His comments were about the continent in general but they apply to Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation with 200 million people, more than 60% of whom are under the age of 24. The majority of those of working age do not have formal employment and there are few opportunities to get a good education. Earlier this year, government statistics showed that 40% of Nigerians lived in poverty. 'Not usual mischief-making' But those currently in power at first misunderstood what was going on this time, activist and writer Gimba Kakanda told the BBC. "The #EndSARS protests were initially perceived as another of the youths' episodic mischief-making that would fizzle out if left unaddressed," he said. "This mind-set of the political class, almost overly condescending, was the reason for its slow response to this unprecedented movement and left them all on the edge." The question is where does that movement go now? The success of the protest in forcing concessions from the government - such as a promise to disband Sars, and wider police reform - has given Nigerian youths confidence and they believe that they can make a difference. A few days into the protests, activists were able to establish a helpline that could respond to emergencies. They also provided legal services to those in need and even set up a radio station. These were financed through crowdfunding and were cited as examples of how Nigeria could be better if it were not for the politicians who often seem more interested in what they can personally gain, rather than how they can improve the country. But there has also been an ugly side. While those who backed and came out in support of the #EndSARS movement were peaceful, another segment of the youth saw the protests as an opportunity. They vandalised shops, raided warehouses and targeted the businesses of prominent politicians. Although the approach of these two groups is different, they do share one thing in common: a disdain for those in charge. It is unlikely though that they can find common cause. Any move in that direction may affect the spread of the movement across the country because some will find it hard to sit at the same table as people with "questionable character". 'Buhari missed the point' There is nevertheless an awareness on the part of the authorities that poverty and hardship are national security threats, activist Mr Kakanda said. "The government has realised that it can no longer take such outrage for granted as it has done before," he added. But it continued to make missteps in trying to quell the mood. President Muhammadu Buhari's address to the nation on Thursday evening "missed the point by a wide margin", according to blogger and columnist Japheth Omojuwa. Mr Buhari called for an end to the protests and the beginning of a dialogue, but "he will be remembered for threatening Nigerians just because they asked their government to commit to justice". Nevertheless, Mr Omojuwa believes that the #EndSARS movement can achieve something. It should not focus on long-term ambitions of gaining political power, he argues, but rather should make sure that the authorities stick to their promise of reform and bringing errant policemen to justice. It is these small steps that may eventually bring wider change. More about Nigeria's #EndSars protests This tumultuous fortnight and particularly the shooting of protesters in Lagos on 20 October will be remembered in Nigeria for a long time. Those in power are clearly worried that the country's huge young population can no longer be ignored, or, failing that, cajoled. It is getting organised as evidenced by the huge donations received by a relatively unknown group - the Feminist Coalition - that rallied support for the protests and shook the foundations of Nigeria. The fact that these young women said they would regroup makes the elite jittery and clearly indicates that the system needs to work for all and not for the privileged few. From this episode, Nigerian politics has changed forever because the youths have realised how powerful they are and what they can achieve when they unite for a common goal.

नाइजीरिया में पुलिस विरोधी क्रूरता विरोध प्रदर्शनों ने एक शक्तिशाली आंदोलन खड़ा कर दिया जो सत्ता में बैठे लोगों को हिलाता दिखाई दिया, लेकिन एक अशांत पखवाड़े के बाद, बीबीसी हौसा के संपादक अलीयू टैंको मानते हैं कि यह यहाँ से कहाँ जाता है।


Zimbabwe family leave Bangkok airport after three months

Summary: If you've ever complained about being forced to sleep in an airport after a delay, spare a thought for one Zimbabwean family who have finally left Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport where they've lived for the past three months.

The family - four children under the age of 11 and four adults - first arrived in Bangkok in May. When they tried to leave in October for Spain, they didn't have the right visas. They couldn't legally re-enter Thailand as they'd overstayed their tourist visas and had to pay a fine. But they said they could not return to Zimbabwe because they faced persecution. The family's situation came to light when an employee at Suvarnabhumi airport posted a photo of himself with one of the children in December saying they were living there "because of the unsettled situation" at home. Officials at that time explained that they'd tried to help the family make arrangements with Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) to fly via Kiev to Dubai instead - and then on to a third country - bypassing European immigration. But according to a UIA spokesperson, the family cancelled their tickets for the final leg of their journey, leading them to be sent back from Dubai to Bangkok. The family asked for assistance from the UN, saying they feared persecution in Zimbabwe after the November unrest which saw the removal of long-term leader Robert Mugabe. The UN said at the time that it was "exploring options". Thailand does not provide legal status to refugees and asylum seekers. Meanwhile, the family stayed inside the departure area, being looked after by airport staff. According to a Thai immigration bureau spokesman, they finally left Bangkok on Monday afternoon. Pol Col Cherngron Rimphadee told the BBC's Thai Service that the family had departed for the Philippines. A UNHCR refugee camp is located there, but it was not clear whether it was their final destination. A UNHCR spokeswoman told the Coconuts website that the agency would not comment on individual cases.

यदि आपने कभी देरी के बाद हवाई अड्डे पर सोने के लिए मजबूर होने की शिकायत की है, तो जिम्बाब्वे के एक परिवार के बारे में सोचें, जो आखिरकार बैंकॉक के सुवर्णभूमि हवाई अड्डे से निकल गए हैं, जहाँ वे पिछले तीन महीनों से रह रहे हैं।


Murder probe as man found dead at Shirebrook allotment

Summary: A murder investigation has started after a man was found dead at an allotment in a Derbyshire town.

The man was found by police on land near Prospect Drive, in Shirebrook, at about 10:00 GMT on Sunday. The force said his injuries suggested he had been assaulted but formal identification had not yet taken place and efforts to trace his family were ongoing. Officers are keen to speak to witnesses or local residents with CCTV. Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.

डर्बीशायर शहर में एक आवंटन में एक व्यक्ति के मृत पाए जाने के बाद हत्या की जांच शुरू हो गई है।


Saffron Walden house fire: Man's death 'unexplained'

Summary: A man has died in a house fire, police have said.

A neighbour called emergency services to the address on Blacklands Close, Saffron Walden at about 02:30 GMT. The man, who was in his 50s, was found inside the property, but died at the scene, Essex County Fire Service said. Essex Police said his death was being treated as "unexplained", while a spokesman for the fire service said the cause of the blaze was yet to be established. He added that it had been recorded as "both possibilities" of "accidental or deliberate". Related Internet Links Essex County Fire & Rescue Service Essex Police

पुलिस ने बताया कि एक घर में आग लगने से एक व्यक्ति की मौत हो गई है।


The football dads kicking off on the sidelines

Summary: Anyone who regularly watches their children play competitive football will have seen the phenomenon of the Aggressive Football Dad. There's a fine line between parental enthusiasm and the dark side, writes comedian Ian Stone.

Most Sunday mornings, while you're lazing around in your pyjamas eating croissants and drinking tea, I'm dragging myself out of bed and driving to some windswept playing field to watch football. Why? Well, because I've played football since I was a kid and by a process of osmosis, my 10-year-old son has picked up the same love for the beautiful game. It's not just me, of course. There are something in the region of 200,000 volunteers - mostly fathers and mothers - involved in children's football. And this is relatively new, emerging over the past couple of decades. You shouldn't feel sorry for us. It may not look like it but we love being there. My dad came to all of my games and now I see why. Having said all that, I try to keep a lid on the maelstrom of emotions that I go through watching my offspring play football. I do this because it's the right thing to do but also because my father, on occasion, struggled with the concept of self-control. He once ran on the pitch at an amateur game in front of 500 people and offered the referee his glasses. That was 38 years ago and I'm still not sure I'm over it. There's a bit of me that sympathises with my father's behaviour. Only by watching your child play football can one truly understand how involved you get. Shouting encouragement from the sidelines is good - "Come on boys!" and that sort of thing. But when behaviour goes beyond that, there's a problem. There's inappropriate shouting like "get in hard" or "break his legs", which is bad enough when shouted at adults, but when it's directed at eight-year-olds it rather stops me in my tracks. Some parents go in for excessive tactical instruction, call it coaching if you like, from the touchline. It's confusing for the kids, who don't know whether to listen to their coach or their parent. Bad language is not uncommon - I see parents swearing at children, not always their own, or shouting abuse at the referee. And there are occasions when things go too far and become physically violent. On the sidelines, I've heard horror stories like the dad who offered to fight any of the parents of the opposing under-10s on the touchline when the decision went against his son. Or the mother who marched onto the pitch, swore at all the opposition, and then dragged her boy off. On Mother's Day. One friend told me how his kid was basically assaulted by a very aggressive opponent. When my friend ran on to the pitch to see if he was OK, the dad of the offending child swore and told him to get back. The child then assaulted three or four other kids, with his dad shouting at any parent who tried to intervene. But mostly we're proud parents who do it just for the joy of seeing our children outside, exercising, and in a team. The miniscule possibility that our child might just be the one who makes it all the way to the top of the game - and enables us to retire and live in elegant splendour - can send some parents over the edge. Because of that small minority, some coaches - my son's included - adopted the FA's Respect campaign, a grass-roots initiative to encourage parents to behave in a respectful manner towards officials, the children and each other. You may remember an advert featuring Ray Winstone watching his child play football and rapidly losing his mind. This wasn't uncommon behaviour. Now, in the new world of Respect, we stand behind plastic barriers and bite our tongues. In children's football, at any rate, it's said to have made a difference. It's clear there's something deeper going on. Take league tables. Every fan loves a league table. But for kids under 11, it's felt the constant analysis of their team's status engenders a pressurised environment that's detrimental to their development. If you don't believe league tables feature large in the world of little children's football, have a look around the FA's Full Time website. The number of hits on the page for the Under-7 North section of the North Wiltshire Youth and Minor League? It's at 8.5 million. Now for under-11s downwards, league tables are being phased out over the next few years. This represents a huge cultural change. The FA has changed goal, team and pitch sizes to reflect the age of the participants. Anyone who's seen an eight-year old standing in a full sized goal knows why. As an internal FA email I've seen notes: "People are starting to get to grips with the fact a 10-year-old isn't half a 20-year-old." At the very least, it's hoped these changes help kids retain the joy in playing that attracted them to the game in the first place, and that teenagers continue to play football through their lives. In the meantime, it's on with the thermals, jumper, gloves, scarf, hat and heavy coat. I'm off to watch some football. Enjoy your lie-in. You can follow the Magazine on Twitter and on Facebook

कॉमेडियन इयान स्टोन लिखते हैं कि जो कोई भी नियमित रूप से अपने बच्चों को प्रतिस्पर्धी फुटबॉल खेलते हुए देखता है, उसने आक्रामक फुटबॉल डैडी की घटना को देखा होगा। माता-पिता के उत्साह और काले पक्ष के बीच एक महीन रेखा है।


Northampton fountain turned off during hosepipe ban

Summary: A fountain in Northampton is to be turned off during the hosepipe ban, even though the water used is recycled.

A spokesman for Northampton Borough Council said the feature on Market Square would remain dry to avoid "causing concern". The decision was taken by the town's marketing management team, which thought people might believe the feature was wasting water. The fountain was built in 2010 and cost £98,000. A spokesman for the council said: "It's hard to spread that message to everyone who will come into town over the summer, so rather than cause concern, Northampton Borough Council has decided to switch the fountain off until the ban is over."

होसपाइप प्रतिबंध के दौरान नॉर्थम्प्टन में एक फव्वारे को बंद किया जाना है, भले ही उपयोग किए गए पानी को पुनर्नवीनीकरण किया जाता है।


E.On seeks nuclear damages from German government

Summary: Energy group E.On is to seek damages of about 8bn euros ($10bn; £6.4bn) from the enforced shutdown of German nuclear power stations, it has said.

It follows a report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that the country's power generators will seek a total of 15bn euros in damages. A spokesman for E.On told the Reuters news agency that it was confident that the court action would succeed. The shutdown was ordered by Berlin after Japan's Fukushima disaster. As well as deciding to phase out nuclear power, the German government also imposed new taxes on the industry. E.On and RWE had already filed complaints with Germany's constitutional court, arguing that the nuclear exit decision had harmed them as they had to shut down reactors early. E.On said its complaint was not specifically about Germany's withdrawal from the nuclear sector, but about the lack of compensation for the companies affected by what was effectively a policy U-turn.

ऊर्जा समूह ई. ऑन जर्मन परमाणु ऊर्जा स्टेशनों के जबरन बंद होने से लगभग 8 बिलियन यूरो ($10bn; £ 6.4bn) के हर्जाने की मांग करेगा, यह कहा गया है।


Emmy Awards 2019: The red carpet looks in pictures

Summary: The brightest stars in television gathered in Los Angeles on Sunday night for the 71st annual Primetime Emmy Awards.

But before the ceremony had even kicked off, there had already been enough glitz, glamour and glitter on the red carpet to power an episode of Strictly Come Dancing. Here's a round-up of some of the most eye-catching suits and dresses. (Disclaimer: The red carpet wasn't actually red this year, it was purple.) The Emmy Awards took place Sunday night at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles.

टेलीविजन के सबसे चमकीले सितारे 71वें वार्षिक प्राइमटाइम एमी अवार्ड्स के लिए रविवार रात लॉस एंजिल्स में एकत्र हुए।


Nottingham fatal crash murder suspect dies in prison

Summary: A man who had been charged with the murder of a pedestrian has died in prison, it has been confirmed.

Simon Mellors, 56, of Berkeley Court, Nottingham, had been charged over the death of Janet Scott who was hit by a car on 29 January in Nottingham. Mr Mellors had also been accused of the attempted murder of another man in the same collision. A prison service spokesman said he died in HMP Manchester on Sunday and an investigation had been launched.

एक पैदल यात्री की हत्या के आरोप में एक व्यक्ति की जेल में मृत्यु हो गई है, इसकी पुष्टि हो गई है।


Ebola crisis: The economic impact

Summary: With more than 1,300 reported deaths from Ebola in West Africa, the virus continues to be an urgent health crisis, but it is also having a devastating impact on the economies of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

By Richard HamiltonBBC News "The economy has been deflated by 30% because of Ebola," Sierra Leone's Agriculture Minister Joseph Sam Sesay told the BBC. He said President Ernest Bai Koroma revealed this staggering and depressing news to ministers at a special cabinet meeting. "The agricultural sector is the most impacted in terms of Ebola because the majority of the people of Sierra Leone - about 66% - are farmers," he said. Twelve out of 13 districts in Sierra Leone are now affected by Ebola, although the epicentres are in the Eastern Province near the borders with Liberia and Guinea. Road blocks manned by police and military are preventing the movement of farmers and labourers as well as the supply of goods. "We are definitely expecting a devastating effect not only on labour availability and capacity but we are also talking about farms being abandoned by people running away from the epicentres and going to areas that don't have the disease," Mr Sesay added. Food shortages However, the chief co-ordinator for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), David McLachlan-Karr, thinks that the road blocks are absolutely crucial to containing the outbreak. "A robust response to quarantining epicentres of the disease is absolutely necessary," he told the BBC. But he admits agriculture in Sierra Leone has been brought to its knees. "We are now coming into the planting season which means a lot of agriculture is not happening, so down the line that will create food shortages and pressures on food prices. We are starting to see a rise in inflation and pressure on the national currency as well as a shortage of foreign exchange," he said. The UNDP has appealed for $18m (£11m) to bolster Sierra Leone's health system while the World Food Programme says the total cost of its emergency operations in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia is $70m. In Guinea and Liberia the economic predictions may be less catastrophic but they are still worrying. The World Bank said it was expecting GDP growth in Guinea to fall from 4.5% to 3.5%. The Liberian economy had been expected to grow by 5.9% this year but the country's Finance Minister, Amara Konneh, said this was no longer realistic due to a slowdown in the transport and services sectors and the departure of foreign workers because of Ebola. Mining impact The world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal has seen work disrupted on its iron ore mine expansion project in Yekepa in Liberia, after contractors declared "force majeure" and moved people out of the country. Simandou, in the forests of eastern Guinea, is Africa's largest iron ore mine and infrastructure project. Vale, the world's biggest iron ore producer, was involved in Simandou until April. It evacuated six international members of staff and put the rest of the workforce in the area on leave. Rio Tinto, the world's third largest mining company, which owns a share in Simandou, has donated $100,000 to the World Health Organization's work in the area and is also making sanitation equipment available to local people there. A smaller British company, London Mining, has moved out some its non-essential expatriate staff from Sierra Leone, where mining has accounted for much of the country's recent growth. According to the International Monetary Fund, Sierra Leone's output grew by 20% last year; excluding iron ore mining, it grew by 5.5%. But like Rio Tinto, London Mining has also donated money towards tackling the spread of Ebola, and educating local communities about the virus. Borders closed In Sierra Leone, commercial banks have reduced their hours of business by two hours to reduce contact with clients and the country's tourism industry has taken a severe knock - some hotels are empty and are laying off staff. The closure of borders in West Africa and the suspension of flights are also having a detrimental effect on trade, severely limiting the ability of countries to export and import goods. Recent examples are the closure of Cameroon's lengthy border with Nigeria and the announcement by Kenya Airways that it is suspending flights to and from Sierra Leone and Liberia. All three West African nations are already poor countries, but the Ebola outbreak could make them even poorer. Sierra Leone and Liberia have both emerged from horrific civil wars and managed to rebuild their economies. Liberia has been trying to revive its mining sector which before the civil war accounted for more than half its export earnings. But now there are fears that all the good work that has been achieved since those conflicts could be destroyed. There are also concerns that widespread poverty could force people to resort to criminality. 'Fundamentals' Meanwhile some international investors are nervously watching the Ebola outbreak unfold. Dianna Games, chief executive of Johannesburg-based consultants Africa@Work, says fears about the virus could damage Africa's economic revival of recent years. "Ebola has made a dent in the Africa Rising narrative," she told the BBC. "The stereotypes of Africa as a place of poverty and disease have started to re-emerge again." She thinks Nigeria is the only affected country that has the health system and infrastructure to deal with Ebola. At the moment there have only been 12 confirmed cases, all of which were linked to the death of one man from Liberia in July. In the long run, Ms Games believes history will view the 2014 Ebola outbreak as a temporary blip rather than a permanent U-turn in the continent's fortunes. "The fundamentals pushing this Africa Renaissance are still there," she said.

पश्चिम अफ्रीका में इबोला से 1,300 से अधिक मौतों के साथ, वायरस एक तत्काल स्वास्थ्य संकट बना हुआ है, लेकिन इसका गिनी, लाइबेरिया और सिएरा लियोन की अर्थव्यवस्थाओं पर भी विनाशकारी प्रभाव पड़ रहा है।


What did Last of the Summer Wine teach us?

Summary: After 37 years of capers from Compo and his pals, Last of the Summer Wine says goodbye this week. One thing it has taught us, says Yasmeen Khan, is that elderly people can still have fun.

Narrow cobbled streets in picturesque villages would ordinarily seem an unnatural place to be cluttered with a film crew, several cameras and mounds of cables. But growing up in West Yorkshire's Holme Valley, seeing the cast and crew of Last of the Summer Wine filming against the backdrop of the Pennines became a regular fixture of my youth. Even as a child, however, I realised that one thing differentiated this cast from what I was otherwise used to seeing on the TV - there were no women trussed up in huge dresses for a costume drama, neither was there a young cast dressed in tight jeans and shoulder pads screeching fast cars around the streets. This cast was older and clad in woolly hats, wellies and tweed. This was picture-postcard England featuring picture-postcard oldies. Having amassed 31 series over 37 years and put the village of Holmfirth firmly on the tourist trail, Last of the Summer Wine has become the world's longest running sitcom. The comedy has endured over decades in which tastes in television, programme styles and audience numbers have changed. Focusing on the misadventures of three elderly men in a Yorkshire village, the classic line up of Compo, Clegg and Foggy - played by Bill Owen, Peter Sallis and Brian Wilde respectively - saw the show through its most successful years. The show also made an icon of Kathy Staff who played Nora Batty, the wrinkled, stocking-clad object of Compo's affections. Andrew Vine, journalist and author of a new book about the series, called Last of the Summer Wine, feels that its success is largely down to how youthfully the characters were portrayed by writer Roy Clarke. "Roy was in his 40s when he was commissioned to write the first episode and he was lukewarm about its premise. But for him the breakthrough came when he stopped thinking about them as old men and started thinking of them as kids; they were all single and free of responsibilities. "Suddenly it presented a positive image about older people; the characters refuse to accept that their age should be a limitation and that's why the storylines can focus, for example, on the men attempting to use some ridiculous new invention with inevitable comedic consequences. "Bill Owen maintained that the programme had helped to change attitudes towards older people, while director Alan JW Bell said they had many letters from older people saying how much the show had inspired them to get out and enjoy themselves." 'Natural end' At its peak in the late 1970s, the programme was hitting between 18 and 20 million viewers, around a third of the available audience at the time. In a multi-channel environment where television now competes against entertainment activities including social networking and gaming, it is perhaps surprising that a whimsical show about the elderly has remained on screen for nearly four decades. Jane Lush, ex-BBC controller of entertainment, feels the show came to a natural end. "When I was at the BBC, Last of the Summer Wine was barely discussed when it came to recommissioning; it seemed like a staple, a programme that would always be there, like The Sky at Night. But it's inevitable that a show that has run for so long and had so much success, would end at some point." Last of the Summer Wine's humour is often caper comedy - mention the show and inevitably there will be someone who says it's about bumbling old men accidentally rolling down hills in tin baths. Taking a sample of other older characters from British comedy of the last four decades, from Steptoe (Steptoe & Son), Captain Mainwaring (Dad's Army), Victor Meldrew (One Foot in the Grave) and Grandad in Only Fools and Horses, they are often depicted as grumpy, eccentric or ineffectual. But Ms Lush believes that old age is not unfairly stereotyped. "I don't think older people are characterised any differently to other age groups in comedy, after all comedy is about exaggeration. There are many older characters on television that are successful, particularly in comedy. "Nana from the Royle Family was well-loved, One Foot in the Grave's Victor Meldrew and Catherine Tate's Nan are both fantastic older anti-heroes. In Candy Cabs we have some wonderful older characters, including a woman who uses a mobility scooter. "Older age is a rich vein for humour; the demise of Last of the Summer Wine does not mean we've seen the last of older people on television." Despite Andrew Vine's assertion that viewers enjoyed Last of the Summer Wine because of its somewhat whimsical portrayal of older life, television reviewer and star of series Grumpy Old Women, Kathryn Flett, thinks the makers of programmes, including Last of the Summer Wine, still have some way to go in accurately portraying older people. "Television is still obsessed with youth. There is not enough representation of older people and when they are on screen, they're often presented in a slightly bonkers universe that is heavily tinged with nostalgia, as programme makers seem to assume older audiences are obsessed with the past. "It's either that or we have them dying in Casualty or as a matriarchal dame in a costume drama. Older people are in a ghetto of ageism on TV and programme makers are missing a trick." The show is often dismissed as irrelevant, especially among younger people, yet the final series has pulled in an average of more than four million viewers. For some of them, its appeal has more to do with the richness of the characters than the age of them. Yet as television bosses are accused of pandering to the tastes of young, affluent urbanites, it may be some time before the sight of elderly men rolling down the Yorkshire hills in a tin bath appears on our screens again.

कम्पो और उनके दोस्तों के 37 वर्षों के बाद, लास्ट ऑफ द समर वाइन इस सप्ताह अलविदा कह रहा है। यास्मीन खान कहती हैं, एक बात जो इसने हमें सिखाई है, वह यह है कि बुजुर्ग लोग अभी भी मज़े कर सकते हैं।


The woman who gave birth to rabbits (and other hoaxes)

Summary: If you're determined to pull off an elaborate hoax, top tips would seem to include: Be bold, be dedicated - and don't wait for 1 April.

By Bethan BellBBC News But while pulling the wool over the eyes of the general public is one thing - such as the Panorama spaghetti crop hoax of 1957 - tricking the experts takes another level of cunning. The following people, who among them fooled doctors, scientists, the Royal Navy and historians, deserve a special mention. Breeding like... rabbits Unlikely as it sounds, in the 18th Century a woman called Mary Toft convinced doctors she had given birth to rabbits. Yes, doctors. And yes, rabbits. Mrs Toft, a servant from Godalming in Surrey, surprised her family by going into labour. Even more surprisingly, she produced something resembling a kitten. Her explanation was rooted in the long-discredited theory of "maternal impression" - caused by being startled by a rabbit in a field in 1726 . From that moment, she said, she dreamed about, and had a "constant and strong desire" to eat, rabbits. An obstetrician named John Howard, who seems to have been less than rigorous with his examinations, was convinced by her story. He wrote to some of England's greatest doctors and King George I, informing them of the miraculous births - including the momentous occasion when his patient produced nine dead bunnies. The King sent his doctor to investigate. The medic, who arrived when Mrs Toft was in labour with her 15th rabbit, was certain she was genuine - and took some of her offspring back to London to show the monarch and Prince of Wales. A surgeon was then sent by the royal household to have a look. The surgeon, apparently more sensible than the others, examined the rabbits and found that dung inside one of them contained corn - proving it could not have developed inside Mrs Toft's womb. Meanwhile, Mrs Toft was busy giving birth to other unusual things, including a cat's legs and a hog's bladder. Medical opinion was divided - until a man was caught sneaking a rabbit into Mrs Toft's room. She was eventually forced to admit she had manually inserted the dead rabbits and then allowed them to be removed as if she were giving birth. The hoaxer was later charged with fraud and imprisoned. She spent a few months in prison then returned to relative obscurity. As for the King's doctor - he met an unhappy end after being convinced by the scam. He published a pamphlet called A Short Narrative of an Extraordinary Delivery of Rabbets but after the ruse was exposed, he lost favour with the court and died a pauper. A true gift horse They say the bookie always wins - but in 1898 a mystery syndicate managed to gammon the establishment and make themselves a tidy sum with an audacious scam. The Sportsman, a leading racing paper, was contacted by the Trodmore Hunt Club to tell them of the August Bank Holiday meeting at Trodmore Racecourse in Cornwall. All the information generally provided by racecourses - rules, purses, the names of patrons, stewards, sponsors and officials - were provided. The racecard was a good one, and a man calling himself Mr Martin, from the Trodmore Hunt Club, said he would telegraph the results to the office. The Sportsman printed it. Bookmakers took bets as usual, and when the results came through punters collected their winnings. The following day, rival newspaper The Sporting Life printed the results after seeing them in The Sportsman. However, there was a discrepancy in the odds given on one of the winning horses, called Reaper. The Sportsman had it down as 5-1, while Sporting Life had it at 5-2. The newspapers needed to check which was correct, so tried to contact the racecourse. At the same time, bookmakers were suffering after having to pay out on Reaper - a horse nobody had heard of. Some of them started to investigate its pedigree. It emerged that there was no such place as Trodmore, let alone a racecourse. The people behind the hoax had made themselves hundreds of thousands of pounds by betting on non-existent horses, in non-existent races on a non-existent track in a non-existent village. They were never caught. You might also be interested in: The BBC ghost spoof that duped a nation Buried diggers and knighted meat Odd laws you may unknowingly break A Woolf in sheik's clothing When not pioneering the use of stream of consciousness as a narrative device, Edwardian novelist Virginia Woolf and her Bloomsbury chums were not averse to a practical joke. In 1910, a telegram was sent to HMS Dreadnought which was then moored in Portland Harbour, Dorset. The message, purportedly signed by the Foreign Office, said the ship must be prepared for an imminent visit by a group of Abyssinian princes. Six of the jesters turned up and despite their crude costumes of turbans and beards glued to their chins, the "princes" were welcomed with an honour guard and given a 45-minute tour of the vessel. Soon after they left, some of the sailors began to have doubts about the "Abyssinians". One of the officers reported that he thought the "interpreter had a false beard". The following day, the ringleader of the trick, Horace de Vere Cole, pranced into the Foreign Office and told them of the hoax. He also contacted the press. The Daily Express reported with barely-disguised glee on how "the 'princes' were shown everything - the wireless, the guns and the torpedoes, and at every fresh sight they murmured in chorus 'bunga bunga'". For a few days the navy was something of a laughing stock. Sailors were greeted with cries of "bunga, bunga" wherever they went. The Admiralty was embarrassed and annoyed, and wanted the posh pranksters to be prosecuted - but as they had broken no laws, the issue faded. The story of the hoax continued to resonate, nowhere more so than in the navy itself. The mocking phrase even ended up in a Portland music hall song: "When I went on board a Dreadnought ship, "Though I looked just like a costermonger, "They said I was an Abyssinian prince, "Because I shouted Bunga Bunga.". Of the group, only Cole, who sounds exhausting, continued to revel in such japes. Ruffled feathers The Hastings Rarities affair was a long-running ornithological fraud eventually exposed by a statistician. A taxidermist called George Bristow was a dab hand at stuffing birds. His glass-eyed aviary was used as a register of the birds that had been found in Hastings and its surroundings, leading to their inclusion on the official list of the British Ornithologists' Union. An extraordinary array of rare species of birds was reported from a very small area in a very short time. Between 1892 and 1930 Mr Bristow had stuffed more rare birds than all other British taxidermists combined. It was later believed he had succeeded in his deception by importing frozen birds from other countries and claiming they were found in his neighbourhood. It wasn't until the August 1962 issue of British Birds magazine that the fraud was exposed. John Nelder published his article A Statistical Examination of the Hastings Rarities which led to many of the birds being removed from the official list. However, Mr Bristow may have known what he was on about - as eventually almost all of the expunged birds were readmitted to the list after they were genuinely proven to be in the country. Although not all in Hastings, all at the same time. Missed the boat The very first newspaper to have existed was a German publication issued in 1594 - but in 1776 an English historian, Dr. Thomas Birch stirred things up when he donated a bundle of documents to the British Museum with no explanation of their origin or context. Included in the bequest was a manuscript and two printed copies of The English Mercurie, dated 23 July, 1588. It contained an account of the English battle with the Spanish Armada. The typeset and archaic spelling led people to accept the document as real. Its existence remained unquestioned for 60-odd years. Then in 1839, the keeper of printed books at the British Museum, Thomas Watts, came upon the original manuscript in the archives. He compared it to other examples of Dr Birch's correspondence and recognised the handwriting as that of Birch's friend Philip Yorke, second Earl of Hardwick. The two had apparently created The English Mercurie as a literary game. However, although the hoax was debunked nearly 200 years ago, copies of the Mercurie are still mistakenly referred to as factual accounts - and both the National Library of Australia and the Library of Congress have it catalogued among historical documents from the Tudor and Stuart periods. Made in Taiwan? George Psalmanazar, a blond-haired man with blue eyes, convinced English intellectuals of the 18th Century that he was the first native of Formosa - modern day Taiwan - to visit Europe. His accounts of life on Formosa were popular with London society and he was persuaded to write a book about his "homeland". He spoke in Latin and claimed men in Formosa wore nothing but a metallic disc to preserve their modesty, that husbands were allowed to eat their wives if they were unfaithful, and the hearts of young boys were sacrificed to the gods every year. A healthy Formosan breakfast involved chopping the head off a viper and sucking its blood out. He was invited to speak at public events and was also questioned by Edmund Halley - he of comet fame - at the Royal Society. The eminent astronomer disbelieved Psalmanazar's tale, and asked questions designed to expose him. Undaunted, Psalamanazar replied to them all with a flamboyant insouciance, seemingly having an explanation for everything. When asked why his skin was so pale, he said he was a member of the Formosan aristocracy which lived underground. Psalmanazar never revealed his real name or where he was from - although in his memoirs, which were published posthumously, he admitted his persona and background were entirely made up. His books - An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa, and Memoirs of ****. Commonly known by the name of George Psalmanazar; a reputed native of Formosa - are both still available in several languages.

यदि आप एक विस्तृत धोखाधड़ी को दूर करने के लिए दृढ़ हैं, तो शीर्ष युक्तियों में शामिल हैंः साहसी बनें, समर्पित रहें-और 1 अप्रैल की प्रतीक्षा न करें।


Man denies Basildon debt collector Tina Cantello murder

Summary: A man has denied murdering a woman found stabbed to death after she failed to return home from work.

The body of Basildon debt collector Tina Cantello, 49, was found in a house in the town on 9 June, a day after she was reported missing. Post-mortem tests found she died from multiple stab wounds to the chest. Geoffrey Hutton, 38, of Langdon Hills in Basildon appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court earlier where he entered a not guilty plea. Mr Hutton was remanded in custody to appear at the same court for trial on 5 November.

एक आदमी ने काम से घर लौटने में विफल रहने के बाद चाकू मारकर हत्या की गई महिला की हत्या से इनकार किया है।


Les Beaucamps school plans agreed

Summary: The States of Guernsey has given the go ahead for Les Beaucamps High School building to be demolished.

In June, the Education Department proposed that £35m should be spent on rebuilding the site. The new school building and community sports centre have now been agreed by planners, although the original building has to be knocked down first. Les Beaucamps was built in the late 1950s and currently has more than 500 pupils.

ग्वेर्नसे के राज्यों ने लेस ब्यूकैम्प्स हाई स्कूल की इमारत को ध्वस्त करने की मंजूरी दे दी है।


The music icons captured by Scots amateur photographers

Summary: There's a moment in the pseudo-documentary Rude Boy where leather-clad fans of The Clash are filmed queuing at the Glasgow Apollo - scruffy, grinning and making some questionable two-fingered gestures to the camera.

By Mary McCoolBBC Scotland news For Chris Brickley, this is the sort of material that transports him back to some of the most memorable gigs of his life in Scotland from the late 1970s and 80s. Not professionally-shot images of artists enthralling fans on stage, but the messier snapshots of crowds, fashions and venues - many of which are no longer in operation. It's this side of Scottish music history the 52-year-old is attempting to preserve. He intends to self-publish a book of some 2,000 amateur shots of concerts across Scotland from 1974 to 1990, from high profile artists to memorabilia, ticket stubs and backroom gigs. "I wanted to do something that's a lot of work, but that people would like," he said. "It's not just an exercise in navel-gazing, it's important to our culture. "Music used to be so democratic - people could just pitch up and go to gigs. Things cost so much more these days. "The other angle is that I love street fashion, what people actually looked like. "The ones I like the most are the crowd shots where you're right in front - you not only see the band, you see the backdrop. People's hair, split ends and leather jackets." Over the past year Chris has painstakingly sourced images through social media, all from amateur photographers who posted their old shots for nostalgia's sake. The collection includes shots of some of the biggest names of the era - David Bowie at the legendary Glasgow Apollo in 1978, The Clash in 1985 at Edinburgh's Coasters and the Pixies at The Venue in Aberdeen in 1989. But Chris also went to great lengths to feature towns and villages which he says are "rarely mentioned in Scottish music history". He said: "I am a huge fan of The Cramps and The Fall - there is an infamous tour they did co-headlining in 1980 and they played the Stagecoach Hotel in a wee village outside Dumfries on a Monday night. "I looked into it as a venue - it was just off the M74 and it was a great stop-off point and a lot of great bands played there, like Simple Minds and The Pretenders. "There's a great story there. That's what it's all about. Everyone knows the Apollo (in Glasgow) but when you dig down, that's the nature of gig-going." The 500-page photobook has secured £14,000 in sponsorship as well as £4,000 which was raised through crowdfunding. Details of when it will be published have yet to be finalised, but Chris says he is working against the clock. He added: "Some of the hardest pictures to source were places such as the Mars Bar and Zhivago's - that's where Simple Minds started playing their gigs. They achieved great success by playing every single toilet you'd go in. "Most of these places are gone and we're losing people as we go. That's why this has to be done now." All images are copyrighted.

छद्म-वृत्तचित्र रूड बॉय में एक क्षण है जहाँ द क्लैश के चमड़े से ढके प्रशंसकों को ग्लासगो अपोलो में कतार में फिल्माया गया है-कर्कश, मुस्कुराते हुए और कैमरे की ओर कुछ संदिग्ध दो-उंगलियों वाले इशारे करते हुए।


Speeding driver 'put lives at risk' during 113 mph overtake

Summary: A Porsche driver "put lives at risk" by passing novice motorcyclists and pedestrians at speeds of up to 113 mph, a road safety group has said.

David Richard Judd, 30, from Doncaster, was caught on camera on the A631, near Market Rasen, last May. At a hearing at Lincoln Magistrates' Court he was banned for six months and ordered to pay fines and costs of £815. Mr Judd, who had been driving home from Skegness, was found guilty of careless driving and speeding. But John Siddle, from the Lincolnshire Road Safety Partnership, said he was "very lucky". "Given that there were pedestrians and novice motorcyclists using the road anything could have happened," he said. He added that only 10 out of 45,000 people caught speeding in Lincolnshire last year were travelling at more than 100 mph. Related Internet Links HM Courts Service

एक सड़क सुरक्षा समूह ने कहा है कि एक पोर्श चालक नौसिखिया मोटरसाइकिल चालकों और पैदल चलने वालों को 113 मील प्रति घंटे की गति से पार करके "जीवन को खतरे में डालता है"।


Farmers to be hit in fall in European subsidy payment

Summary: Farmers face a significant fall in the value of their European subsidy payment this year due to a fall in the value of the euro against the pound.

By John CampbellBBC News NI Economics & Business Editor Single farm payments are set in euro and converted to sterling each year using the exchange rate on 30 September. In 2013, the rate was one euro to 84p. This year it is one euro to 78p, a cut of 7%. In cash terms, this will take about £25m out of the rural economy. The DUP MEP Diane Dodds said it was the lowest exchange rate in seven years and was "bad news for our farmers and NI plc". Even in good years, subsidies account for the majority of farm incomes in Northern Ireland. In 2013, the single farm payment totalled £259m, about 87% of farmers' total income.

पाउंड के मुकाबले यूरो के मूल्य में गिरावट के कारण किसानों को इस साल अपने यूरोपीय सब्सिडी भुगतान के मूल्य में महत्वपूर्ण गिरावट का सामना करना पड़ रहा है।


Covid-19: Why Hong Kong's 'third wave' is a warning

Summary: Until recently, Hong Kong was considered a poster child in its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

By Helier CheungBBC News Despite sharing a border with mainland China, where the first cases were reported, Hong Kong kept its infection numbers down and was able to avoid the extreme lockdown measures introduced in parts of China, Europe and the US. But now, it's been hit by not even a second, but a third, wave of infections. The government has warned its hospital system could face collapse, and it's just had a record high number of new infections in a day. What went wrong, and what lessons are there for countries juggling both the pandemic, and the economic pain caused by lockdown? Quarantine exemptions and 'loopholes' Hong Kong had its first Covid-19 cases in late January, leading to widespread concern and panic buying, but infection numbers remained relatively low and the spread was controlled quite quickly. It experienced what became known as its "second wave" in March, after overseas students and residents started returning to the territory, leading to a spike in imported infections. As a result, Hong Kong introduced strict border controls, banning all non-residents from entering its borders from overseas, and everyone who returned was required to undergo a Covid-19 test and 14-day quarantine. It even used electronic bracelets to track new arrivals and make sure they stayed at home. That, combined with the widespread use of masks and social distancing measures, worked - Hong Kong went for weeks without a locally transmitted case, and life seemed to be heading back to normal. So how did the "third wave" - that has led to more than 100 new cases for nine days in a row - arrive? "It's quite disappointing and frustrating because Hong Kong had really got things very much under control," says Malik Peiris, Chair of Virology at the University of Hong Kong. He believes there were two flaws in the system. First, many returnees opted to quarantine for 14 days at home - an arrangement that's common in many countries including the UK - rather than in quarantine camps. "There is a weakness there because other people in the home are not under any form of restriction, and will still be coming and going," says Prof Peiris. However, he believes the more serious problem came from the government's decision to exempt several groups of people from testing and quarantine when they entered Hong Kong. Hong Kong had exempted about 200,000 people, including seafarers, aircrew and executives of companies listed on the stock exchange, from quarantine. It said the exceptions were needed to ensure normal daily operations continued in Hong Kong, or because their travel was necessary to the city's economic development. As an international city and trading port, Hong Kong has a high number of air links, and many ships change crews there. The territory also depends on imports from mainland China and elsewhere for food and essential goods. Joseph Tsang, an infectious diseases specialist and doctor, describes the exemptions as a significant "loophole" that increased the risk of infection, particularly from seafarers and air crew who also visited tourist spots and used public transport. The government initially said that the quarantine exemptions were not to blame, but later admitted there was evidence that the exemptions were behind the latest outbreak. They have now tightened rules for air and sea crews - but it can be difficult to enforce. There was alarm earlier this week when a foreign pilot was reportedly spotted sightseeing while awaiting Covid-19 test results. And balancing public health, practical concerns and the economy can be hard - a union representing pilots at FedEx has asked the company to stop flights to Hong Kong because it says the stricter Covid-19 measures, including mandatory hospital stays for pilots who test positive, create "unacceptable conditions for pilots". Benjamin Cowling, a professor of epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong, says Hong Kong's experience with quarantine problems could also happen in other countries. "In the UK, you also have a 14-day quarantine at home, so you would have the same potential issue with leakage." Meanwhile, New Zealand and Australia have a mandatory hotel quarantine policy, which is "a good concept… although there's the issue of who pays for it", he adds. Like Hong Kong, the UK also exempts certain travellers from border rules, including drivers of goods vehicles, seafarers and aircrew. Social distancing measures were lifted Hong Kong's quarantine exemptions have been around for months, but the third wave didn't hit until July. Prof Peiris believes this is because of a second crucial factor - social distancing measures were significantly rolled back in June. "As long as social distancing measures were in place the system could cope - but once measures were relaxed" the imported infections spread rapidly, he says. "It's a lesson for everybody." Dr Tsang recalls that by late June the government had allowed public gatherings of up to 50 people, while there were celebrations for Fathers' Day and Hong Kong's handover anniversary. "Many citizens were fatigued after months of social distancing, so when the government said things seemed fine and relaxed restrictions, they started meeting with friends and family. "I think it's very unfortunate - many factors combined at the same time." However, Prof Peiris stresses that Hong Kongers had been "extremely compliant" with social distancing and hygiene measures during in the first and second waves - "in fact, they were even a step ahead of government instructions, wearing face masks before they were compulsory." He believes the reintroduction of social distancing measures now are already having an effect, and hopes that Hong Kong will be back to close to zero local infections within four to six weeks. At that point, he adds, the challenge will be to stop imported infections - particularly once social distancing measures are lifted. It's a challenge other countries will also face once they are successful in containing the virus within their borders, because "when you get to low levels of transmission within your population, having unregulated introductions from outside can lead to disaster." Did the pro-democracy protests spread the virus? Many of Hong Kong's pandemic struggles will apply to other cities, but the territory has also experienced another crisis - a political one - over the past year. On 1 July, thousands of people took part in a pro-democracy rally, despite the march being banned by authorities who said it broke social distancing guidelines. Hundreds of thousands also voted in opposition primaries in mid-July, despite the government warning that the primaries could breach a new security law. Since then, Chinese state media have blamed both events for triggering the third wave of infections, while one politician called it "absolutely irresponsible behaviour". However, health experts say there is no evidence of them causing the spike in infections. Prof Cowling says scientists "are able to link together cases to identify chains of transmission, and there are no clusters attributed to those events," while Prof Peiris argues that the events "may have aggravated things slightly, but I don't think it was a major determinant one way or the other". Meanwhile, Dr Tsang says research has shown that "the strain of coronavirus in the third wave is different from those in previous waves" - in particular, it has type of mutation seen in aircrew and seafarers from the Philippines and Kazakhstan, so he believes the strain was imported. There have been similar discussions around the world - particularly in light of anti-racism protests sparked by the death of George Floyd - over whether demonstrations can lead to a spike in infections, with some experts suggesting that outdoor events where participants wear masks and take precautions could be lower risk than initially expected. Could the outbreak affect Hong Kong's elections? There is widespread speculation that Hong Kong's government could postpone September's elections to Hong Kong's parliament - the Legislative Council - citing the spike in infections. Several local media reports, quoting anonymous sources, say the government is set to postpone elections by a year. Opposition politicians have accused the government of using the pandemic as an excuse to delay elections, especially as the opposition had performed strongly in local elections late last year. However the move has been welcomed by some, including former Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang, who told local media: "The government won't be able to absolve itself of blame if polling stations turn into hotbeds for spreading the virus. "It's also nearly impossible for candidates to canvass votes given the social distancing rules." Prof Cowling says that social distancing measures reintroduced by the government have already stopped case numbers from accelerating over the past week. "I'm not sure it's necessary to delay the elections - certainly not for a year. You could consider delaying them for two weeks or a month, because by then we'd almost certainly have [local infection] numbers back down to zero." He adds that there are many ways to make elections safer, including increasing the number of polling stations and staff to reduce wait times, ensuring polling stations are well-ventilated, and testing all polling station staff two days before the election. Governments have taken very different approaches to this - at least 68 countries or territories postponed elections due to Covid-19, while 49 places held elections as planned, says the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. Singapore held its general elections earlier this month - and had its highest turnout in recent years, says Eugene Tan, a law professor and political commentator at Singapore Management University. "There is never a good time for an election during a pandemic," he says, but the vote went ahead with several safety measures in place and "demonstrates that it is possible to protect public health even as people go about exercising their democratic right to vote." However, he believes that making a decision on whether to proceed with elections is a tough judgement call for governments, particularly if public trust is low. "If you delay elections you could be accused of waiting for a more favourable time [for the government] - but if you go ahead you could be accused of playing fast and loose with people's lives. The worst thing would be to have an election, and then have a spike in the number of cases."

हाल तक, हांगकांग को कोविड-19 महामारी से निपटने में एक पोस्टर चाइल्ड माना जाता था।


Coronavirus: When India's capital became a ghost city

Summary: In late March, India's cities went still as the country locked down to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Workplaces shut, public transport stopped and people stayed home. But photographer Parul Sharma ventured out to document the deserted capital, Delhi.

By Aparna AlluriBBC News, Delhi "The lockdown was too much for a restless person like me," Sharma told the BBC in a phone interview. "I usually don't like to be in the confines of home. So I decided to go out." Her family needed some convincing, but they finally came around. So on 3 April, about a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the lockdown on TV, Sharma stepped out in the late afternoon to chase the best light. For the next few months, she drove around the city, armed with a camera and the necessary passes, which allowed journalists, officials and essential workers such as doctors and nurses to move around. "I could see the clouds and birds, but no trace of humans," she said. "It was magical, like getting into la la land. Still and motionless but also beautiful." The result: about 10,000 striking photographs of an unusual moment in Delhi's history. A collection of these stark photographs are now part of her new book Dialects Of Silence, published by Roli Books. Her first stop, she recalled, was one of her favourite spots in Delhi, and not too far from home. Connaught place, a Georgian-style circular colonnade, lies at the heart of Delhi. The colonial-era construction was a business district for decades before it became a popular hub for shops, restaurants and bars. But some businesses have stayed on, like the iconic Regal theatre, one of Delhi's oldest and best-known cinema halls. "I didn't go to landmarks, I went to places that brought back memories of my childhood," Sharma said. Connaught Place is usually teeming with people - street vendors, shoppers, office goers grabbing a quick lunch or after-work drinks. But on that day, Sharma said, all she encountered was "emptiness and solitude". "That has its own beauty. And it spoke volumes, as did this aura of absence that was prevalent everywhere," she said. But the places Sharma sought through her memories were veritable landmarks, including Khan Market, a partition-era business complex that is now a posh, often buzzing, shopping enclave in central Delhi. Its facade is occupied by the famous Bahrisons bookstore, which closed its doors indefinitely for the first time. The writer William Dalrymple said Sharma had produced a "startling portfolio of a locked-down, masked, visored, sanitised, padlocked and disinfected Delhi, almost empty of its people and taken over by bored jawans and preening monkeys". Never had the Indian capital, he said, looked "so unfamiliar, or so surreal". But no part of locked down Delhi stood in starker contrast to its usual state than Old Delhi, the nearly 400-year-old neighbourhood that was once the seat of the Mughal empire. "It was like a ghost town. It was most astonishing to see," Sharma said. The narrow lanes, flanked by crumbling buildings that hint at past splendour, are always packed with people and vehicles of all sorts, from cycles to carts to cars. Even the Jama Masjid, Delhi's most famous mosque, had gone quiet. Driving through Old Delhi in the night, Sharma said, felt both "eerie and beautiful". "My quest was to seek beauty," she said. But then things changed as the lockdown progressed, Covid-19 case numbers gradually climbed and she continued to shoot. For the people of Delhi, the novelty of the lockdown - and the desolate charm it brought to Indian cities - was soon punctured by uncertainty and challenges. Sharma often drove past AIIMS, one of India's biggest public hospitals, on her way to and from shoots. One day, she decided to stop and talk to the people who were camped outside because the hospital had shut down its outpatient wing to focus on Covid-19 care. It was there she decided to turn her lens on those suffering amid the pandemic. Sharma visited the AIIMS' Covid-19 wing, where she photographed doctors as they put on the now-familiar PPE suit. She also visited a Covid-19 care centre, where she photographed residents, including a young girl. "She was having a good time. She asked the PPE doctors to braid her hair," Sharma recalled, laughing. Her shoots took a different turn as she began to document the human toll of the pandemic - the prostitutes in Delhi who were running out of money, the hungry homeless and poor, who were suddenly jobless. It was then that she began to encounter some resistance. "I was dissuaded as a woman. I faced a lot of questions," she said. But she continued, going wherever her curiosity took her. "I don't like to be a distant spectator," she said. Her work took her to Muslim cemeteries, Hindu crematoriums and to a Christian coffin-maker, who said he had never had to make so many coffins in such a short period of time. "Death was the most frightening and most tragic," Sharma said. "There were no flowers, no goodbyes, no relatives. It was lonely for the dead." By June, the lockdown began to ease and the "new normal" emerged. Sharma chronicled that too, including sparsely staffed, indoor shoots as advertising and films gingerly resumed activity. Sharma's book, which was released at the end of August, won praise for its haunting and intimate portrayal of one of the world's busiest cities rendered still. It was a "first-hand document of what Delhi went through", she said. All images are copyrighted.

मार्च के अंत में, भारत के शहर शांत हो गए क्योंकि कोरोनावायरस के प्रसार को रोकने के लिए देश में तालाबंदी कर दी गई थी। कार्यस्थल बंद हो गए, सार्वजनिक परिवहन बंद हो गया और लोग घर पर ही रहे। लेकिन फोटोग्राफर पारुल शर्मा ने सुनसान राजधानी दिल्ली का दस्तावेजीकरण करने का प्रयास किया।