Fabric closure: What next for the UK's club scene?

Summary: Fabric, one of Britain's best-known nightclubs, has been shut after the deaths of two clubbers. But fans, DJs and venue owners have decried the decision, saying it will not solve the drug problem but will have a chilling effect on the clubbing scene.

By Mark Savage & Daniel RosneyBBC Music & BBC Newsbeat "Our culture has been torn apart," tweeted dance act Chase & Status, noting that almost all of London's iconic dance venues have now closed their doors. Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh said the decision marked "the beginning of the end of our cities as cultural centres". And a host of other artists and DJs, from Fatboy Slim and the Chemical Brothers to Radio 1's Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw, also expressed their dismay. Singer Roisin Murphy told the BBC: "For London it is a sign of things going downhill, in terms of being a fun place. I think people have seen the same thing happen in New York." 'Inadequate' drug policy Islington Council revoked Fabric's licence after the drug-related deaths of two 18-year-olds in June and August. At a late-night meeting on Tuesday, the council's licensing board heard that both men had consumed MDMA in the nightclub and purchased drugs in the venue. During an undercover police operation, carried out between the two deaths, officers witnessed open drug use and drugs being offered for sale. "Staff intervention and security was grossly inadequate," the council said in their decision. "It was abundantly obvious that patrons in the club were on drugs and manifesting symptoms showing that they were. "This included sweating, glazed red eyes and staring into space, and people asking for help." The decision has been criticised by drug charities and music industry bodies, however, who say Fabric had an excellent reputation for tackling drug-taking on its premises. "If we find a suspected drug dealer we take them to a well-lit, CCTV monitored room, we sit them down and we have them arrested," the club's co-founder, Cameron Leslie, told Tuesday's hearing. "Then our team, at our expense, goes to court to seek a conviction. "The notion that we provide a safe haven for drugs is frankly insulting to the considerable efforts we have put in over the years." Chase & Status took a stronger line. "It's the early 90s garbage again - the law demonising clubs and raves with an archaic view on drugs and the youth." So what does the closure mean for the future of clubbing? "This is a watershed moment for London and Britain," says Alan Miller, chairman of the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA). "On the basis of what they've done in Fabric, they can close every single bar, club and licensed premises in the UK." Alex Proud, owner of the Camden Proud nightclub, warns: "They'll come for me next. "Once the police have the ability to close a club that is well-run on those sorts of grounds, every club in London has to think it could be closed tomorrow. "It's a profoundly disturbing precedent to set." 'All-out war' Before Fabric closed, things were already reaching a crisis point. Nearly half of the UK's nightclubs have shuttered in the last 10 years, according to the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) - dropping from 3,144 in 2005 to just 1,733 last year. Duncan Dick, editor of dance bible Mixmag, says the scene could easily be driven underground. "You'll never stop people from dancing, so if they start declaring all-out war on clubs across London, you're going to see a big increase in people going to much less safe, much less well-regulated places." And that's a problem, says Katy MacLeod, director of Chill Welfare, a social enterprise dedicated to keeping clubbers and festival-goers safe. "We're likely to see a shift back to things like warehouse parties and house parties, where there's no drug prevention or enforcement policy," she explains. "If people are going to have drug-related incidents, it's probably safer to have them in nightclubs, where they have much more likelihood of prompt medical treatment. "The idea that we're pushing it out to much more unsafe settings means we're much more likely to see fatalities." The solution, she says, could take the form of on-site drug testing. Already popular at European music festivals, it has been trialled in the UK at Manchester's Warehouse Project and the Secret Garden Party Festival. The service, operated in agreement with police, allows users to hand over drugs for tests to establish their content before they take them. "If they find there's something harmful in their drugs, they're much more likely to surrender them," says MacLeod. "At the Secret Garden Festival about a quarter of people put them in an amnesty bin as a result." MacLeod says initiatives like this often stumble because, in order to implement them, a club has to acknowledge people are taking drugs on its premises - which would immediately put them in breach of their licensing conditions. "That really needs to change," she says. "It isn't any one club that has a drug problem. It's everywhere in the community. There will be a percentage of people that are using drugs in any nightlife setting." Indeed, the two deaths at Fabric did not occur in isolation. According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of deaths from ecstasy rose from eight in 2010 to 50 in 2014. It coincides with a new, more powerful strain of the drug - and many users are unaware of the effects. One of the teenagers who died at Fabric entered the club with three MDMA pills and later bought another because he "felt his were not working", according to police. With that in mind, Mixmag has started its own education programme - Don't Be Daft, Start With A Half - promoting safer ecstasy use. "It encourages people who are going to take ecstasy to take a small amount first and see the effects before they take a full dose," says Dick. "'Don't Be Daft, Start With A Half' might sound a bit superficial, but we're operating in such a vacuum that if we can just get one memorable phrase into people's heads, then hopefully we can save lives." 'Breeding ground for music' Meanwhile, the future of Fabric hangs in the balance. "I think the whole industry's going to rally round to do something about it," says the NTIA's Alan Miller. "It's not going to finish like this. There's all sorts of mechanisms that can be used to challenge this, whether it's the High Court or Parliament." He has the support of London's Mayor, Sadiq Khan, and Islington South MP Emily Thornberry, who wrote to Islington's licensing committee asking them to keep the club open. "Whilst it may not be to everyone's tastes, Fabric has huge cultural significance to an entire generation - a generation too often ignored and overlooked by politicians and policy makers," she wrote on Facebook. "As a parent, my heart goes out to the family and friends of anyone who has lost loved ones at such a young age, with lives ended before they have even begun. But we must guard against the assumption that dangerous drug use would cease simply if we were to close a nightclub like Fabric." Duncan Dick, who saw his favourite nightclub (Glasgow's Arches) close down in similar circumstances, is less optimistic. "The Arches was a huge cultural hub for the city and the police shut it down," he says. "And what do you know? The next thing, a luxury hotel gets built a couple of minutes down the road. "I don't want to impugn the motives of Islington Council but if Fabric closes down, it would be interesting to see what replaces it - and whether it's another multi-million pound property development." Fabric was "an institution" in UK dance culture and a launchpad for new talent, according to Joe Lenzie, one half of chart-topping dance duo Sigma. "It was definitely a breeding ground for young producers, like ourselves, and loads of careers have come from long nights in that club," he tells BBC Newsbeat. "The council seem to be trading our roots and culture for expensive and high-end flats." Follow us on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, on Instagram at bbcnewsents, or if you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

फैब्रिक, ब्रिटेन के सबसे प्रसिद्ध नाइट क्लबों में से एक, दो क्लबर्स की मौत के बाद बंद कर दिया गया है। लेकिन प्रशंसकों, डीजे और आयोजन स्थल के मालिकों ने इस फैसले की निंदा करते हुए कहा है कि इससे नशीली दवाओं की समस्या का समाधान नहीं होगा, लेकिन क्लब के दृश्य पर एक ठंडा प्रभाव पड़ेगा।


Retail Rocks Aberdeen project hailed a business success

Summary: A pilot project designed to regenerate an Aberdeen community has been hailed an economic and cultural success, a year after it was launched.

The seven winners of Retail Rocks were given empty shop units rent free for a year in the Torry area, plus ongoing business support, after a Dragons' Den-style challenge. The scheme, backed by the public and private sector, was the first of its kind in Scotland. Other councils are now considering it. The local community and businesses taking part have welcomed the project as something offering hope to young people in the area. Retail Rocks is funded by the Scottish government, the city council and local businesses.

एबरडीन समुदाय को पुनर्जीवित करने के लिए डिज़ाइन की गई एक पायलट परियोजना को शुरू होने के एक साल बाद एक आर्थिक और सांस्कृतिक सफलता मिली है।


In Pics: How do political leaders' offices compare?

Summary: Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is moving out of his spacious office into a smaller one, because it feels like a "gilded prison". So how does his office compare with those of other leaders in the UK and further afield?

By Izin AkhabauBBC News Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron The prime minister's digs at 10 Downing Street aren't too shabby at all. He seems very comfortable in them. There's even a handy space for a ceremonial sword. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn No wonder Labour leader Corbyn feels uneasy in his gilded prison. People randomly appear in mirrors behind him. UKIP leader Nigel Farage UKIP leader Nigel Farage has MEP's offices in Brussels and Strasbourg and at UKIP's London HQ, although he can sometimes be found holding court at a Westminster local. Scottish SNP First Minister Nicola Sturgeon The colourful carpet doesn't prevent Sturgeon looking a little serious during this meeting with an equally earnest David Cameron. Welsh Labour First Minister Carwyn Jones You can never have too many flags in an office. Carwyn Jones seems to be enjoying catching up on some paperwork in his office. How do they compare with other countries' leaders digs? US President Barack Obama When it comes to offices, for the greatest and the grandest, we possibly have to look across the pond. And if the Oval office - as featured on numerous TV dramas and films - is grand enough for Prince Harry then who are we to argue? French President Francois Hollande In terms of style though, it might just be impossible to beat the opulence of French President Francois Hollande's office at the Elysee Palace. German Chancellor Angela Merkel By contrast, Germany's Angela Merkel has decidedly more informal and functional feel. Fruit anyone? Russian President Vladimir Putin Russia's Vladimir Putin appears to be as big a fan of office flags as Carwyn Jones Chinese President Xi Jinping China's Xi Jinping has plenty of flora inside - and outside - to help the mood of big meetings.

लेबर नेता जेरेमी कॉर्बिन अपने विशाल कार्यालय से एक छोटे कार्यालय में जा रहे हैं, क्योंकि यह एक "सुनहरे रंग की जेल" की तरह महसूस होता है। तो उनका कार्यालय ब्रिटेन और उससे आगे के अन्य नेताओं के साथ कैसे तुलना करता है?


Premier Inn Bristol fire: Demolition work starts

Summary: Work has started to demolish part of a hotel on the outskirts of Bristol which was destroyed in a fire.

The blaze at the Premier Inn, at Cribbs Causeway, began on Wednesday and took almost 48 hours to put out. The A4018 dual carriageway was shut after part of the building fell on to the road. Avon Fire and Rescue said although demolition had started it was "highly unlikely" the A4018 would reopen before Monday. A spokesman said the road would be "continually assessed" over the weekend. Fire officials confirmed on Thursday that all the guests staying at the hotel when the blaze broke out had been accounted for.

ब्रिस्टल के बाहरी इलाके में एक होटल के हिस्से को ध्वस्त करने का काम शुरू हो गया है जो आग में नष्ट हो गया था।


Dewsbury town centre Victorian buildings set for renovation

Summary: A £4m renovation of some of the Victorian buildings in the centre of Dewsbury is to go ahead after a £2m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Money would be spent on the Victorian core of the West Yorkshire town, said Kirklees Metropolitan Council. The area between Dewsbury Station, Pioneer House and the town's arcades is to have derelict historic buildings renovated. Councillor Cathy Scott said "prominent landmarks" would be back in use. It is hoped the refurbished buildings in a conservation area would become offices, businesses and residential flats. Dewsbury was once a thriving market and mill town in the Heavy Woollen District between Leeds and Huddersfield. It underwent a period of growth in the 19th century thanks to a thriving textile industry.

हेरिटेज लॉटरी फंड से 2 मिलियन पाउंड के अनुदान के बाद ड्यूसबरी के केंद्र में कुछ विक्टोरियन इमारतों का 4 मिलियन पाउंड का नवीनीकरण किया जाना है।


Nasa 're-masters' classic 'Pale Blue Dot' image of Earth

Summary: It is unquestionably one of the greatest space images ever.

By Jonathan AmosScience correspondent The "Pale Blue Dot" picture of Planet Earth was acquired by the Voyager 1 probe exactly 30 years ago on Friday - from a distance of about 6 billion km (4 billion miles) miles. To mark the anniversary, the US space agency has now reprocessed this iconic view using modern techniques and software. Nasa says the re-working has been respectful of the original. It still shows Earth as that single, bright blue pixel in the vastness of space. And that pixel is still caught within a ray of sunlight. But the image now looks "cleaner"; the Earth is easier to pick out. The Pale Blue Dot was part of a final sequence of frames taken by Voyager before its camera system was shut down to conserve power. It had completed its tour of the planets and had no further use for the equipment as it headed towards interstellar space. But Carl Sagan and Carolyn Porco, two imaging scientists on the mission, had argued for a "family portrait of the Solar System" to be taken before the power-down command was sent. The 60 frames that Voyager returned incorporated the Sun and six of the major planets - Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Mercury and Mars (and Pluto) missed out for variety of reasons. The Red Planet, for example, couldn't be distinguished in the streams of sunlight bouncing around inside the camera optics. One of the reasons the photo has become so famous is because of the popularity of Sagan's writings. In his his 1994 book, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, he said: "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us." And he went on to describe Earth as "a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam". It summed up perfectly the profound "perspective" gained from the exploration of space. Carolyn Porco, recalling the picture for the BBC in 2013, said that it gave a "crystalline, uncorrupted view of our cosmic place that erodes all delusion and confronts us with a powerful recognition of ourselves - a recognition that never fails to move us". Garry Hunt, the only Briton on the Voyager imaging team, says the picture is more relevant today than it's ever been. He started his career in the Earth sciences, including climate studies, and continues to display the image in lectures. "Every time I give a climate talk and I talk about what you're doing now to make a change - I show this picture because it shows the Earth is an isolated speck. This tiny blue dot is the only place we can possible live, and we're making a jolly good mess of it," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme this week. Carolyn Porco reimagined the Pale Blue Dot with the Cassini probe in 2013, turning that spacecraft's camera system back towards Earth and capturing the blue pixel under the rings of Saturn. Getting a view of home is now seen as something of a must-do for all far-flung missions. The New Horizons spacecraft which made a close flyby of Pluto in 2015 and is now a little over 7 billion km from Earth is expected at some point to try to repeat Voyager's photographic feat. Looking back at the centre of the Solar System - and directly at the Sun - poses some risk to the sensitive detectors in the probe's long-range camera, however. So, no imaging effort will occur until New Horizon's main mission objectives are achieved. Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter @BBCAmos

यह निर्विवाद रूप से अब तक की सबसे बड़ी अंतरिक्ष छवियों में से एक है।


The people policing the internet's most horrific content

Summary: In this digital self-publishing era people can record and produce their own content, a lot of horrific stuff that clearly breaches websites' taste and decency guidelines. A growing army of moderators has the unenviable task of sifting through it all, sometimes at considerable cost to their mental health.

By Ivana DavidovicTechnology of Business reporter WARNING: article contains upsetting content. Shawn Speagle worked as an online content moderator for six months in 2018. He's still scarred by the experience. "One of my first videos that I remember looking at was two teenagers grabbing an iguana by the tail and they smashed it onto the pavement while a third person was recording it. "And the iguana was screaming and the kids just would not stop until the iguana was just pasted on the ground." Shawn was employed by a company called Cognizant in Florida which had a contract with Facebook. He speaks in a slow, considered way, still trying to process what he had to go through. "I've seen people put fireworks in a dog's mouth and duct tape it shut. I've seen cannibalism videos, I've seen terrorism propaganda videos," he continues. Hearing Shawn speak, it becomes clear why moderation has often been described as the worst job in tech. Most of us internet users probably never give these moderators a second thought, yet there are hundreds of thousands of them around the world helping companies weed out disturbing content - ranging from suicide and murder videos to conspiracy theories and hate speech. And now some are coming out of the shadows to tell their stories. Shawn decided to speak out, despite having signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) - a standard practice in the industry. These NDAs are also meant to prevent contractors from sharing Facebook users' personal information with the outside world, at a time of intense scrutiny over data privacy. But Shawn believes Facebook moderation policies should be talked about openly, because staff end up watching upsetting content that is often left untouched on the platform. As an animal lover, he was distraught that animal content "was, for the most part, never accelerated in any way shape or form", meaning that it was never referred for removal. For humans the rules were a little bit different, but also more convoluted. More Technology of Business The most common outcome was marking it as "disturbing" and leaving it on the platform. Shawn tells the BBC that, according to Facebook policy, seeing bodily innards, not in a medical setting, would result in the video being deleted. He struggles to recollect any other examples that would result in content removal. The stress of the job led to overeating and weight gain, Shawn says. "I felt like I was a zombie in my seat. It really gets to you because I don't have that bystander syndrome where I'm OK just watching this suffering and not contributing any way to deter it." He also could not get adequate psychological support. The only time he tried to speak with the duty psychologist, Shawn says: "He flat out told me I don't know how to help you guys." Despite all of this Shawn says he persisted for six months, not complaining, because he thought that although he worked through a subcontractor, "Facebook would get their act together". Facebook vice-president Arun Chandra was brought in especially to focus on the working conditions of the social media platform's 30,000 moderators, who are largely employed by subcontractors in the US, India and the Philippines. Mr Chandra says that he had already visited over 15 sites around the world and that he always spoke with moderators directly. He denies that there was a "broad scale problem" and stresses that their subcontractors, like Cognizant and Accenture for example, were "reputable global companies". Facebook will be introducing formal audits later this year, he says. He also confirms that Cognizant's contract remains in place following an investigation. But Shawn Speagle believes lots more could be done to improve working conditions. "The place was absolutely disgusting," he alleges. "There was only one restroom in the entire building and there were 800 employees. "People were smoking in the building; people were drinking in the parking lot and having sex in their cars." Workers were often young, inexperienced and poorly paid, he says. The BBC approached Cognizant for comment but it has not yet responded. Facebook's Mr Chandra says that a psychologist is now available across all of the subcontractors' sites during all shifts and that the pay has been been increased - but only for US-based moderators. Sarah Roberts, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has spent years investigating the world of internet moderation for her newly published book, Behind the Screen. She believes websites and social media giants have assumed that automation, AI, and machine learning would make the need for human content moderation redundant. "I think that Silicon Valley is putting a primacy on computation over all other things," she says. "So, if a workforce can be maintained cheaply and be treated as expendable, until such time that computation can fully be brought in, then so much the better." Prof Roberts thinks the difficulty for social media companies is that they have "built up a global user base predicated on the notion that we should all be able to do and say and share and show whatever our heart desires pretty much at all times". Changing that culture from within would be a "tall order", she believes, which is why tougher legislation might be needed. But this is more likely to come from European Union countries rather than the US. While this debate rages on, real people, like Shawn Speagle, live with the consequences of sifting through the internet's filth. Diagnosed with night terrors, he is on several medications, is scared of driving after watching so many car crash videos and is startled by loud noises. "Looking at this stuff eight hours a day five days a week. It is something even veterans and ex-military can't handle," he concludes.

इस डिजिटल स्व-प्रकाशन युग में लोग अपनी खुद की सामग्री रिकॉर्ड कर सकते हैं और उत्पादन कर सकते हैं, बहुत सारी भयानक चीजें जो स्पष्ट रूप से वेबसाइटों के स्वाद और शालीनता दिशानिर्देशों का उल्लंघन करती हैं। मध्यस्थों की बढ़ती सेना के पास इन सभी की जांच करने का असहनीय कार्य है, कभी-कभी उनके मानसिक स्वास्थ्य के लिए काफी कीमत चुकानी पड़ती है।


Switchboard: Homophobia, HIV and hoax calls

Summary: Switchboard, the LGBT helpline, took its first call from a tiny office in the basement of a bookshop in King's Cross on 4 March 1974. To mark the 45th anniversary, people have been sharing memories of a charity that's helped millions across the world.

By Alice EvansBBC News Lisa Power used to think of herself as a supporter or ally of the gay community, rather than a member. But in 1976 at a march in Lancashire protesting against an employee at a BHS department store losing his job after coming out as gay, Lisa "accidentally" revealed herself as a loud and proud lesbian. "Somebody handed me their placard while they went to the loo… I didn't even see the photographer from the local paper," she says. "The next thing I know there's a big photo in the local paper with me carrying a placard saying 'BHS unfair to gays'… oops!" After that Lisa thought she "might as well" go along with her new identity. She's been a sharp-tongued LGBT activist ever since. Lisa joined Switchboard in 1979, as the gay liberation movement made waves across the world. Although homosexuality was partly decriminalised in England and Wales in 1967, British culture had not adapted fully to the change. People continued to face discrimination at home, at work and in public. After a meeting in a pub between several gay groups across London, Switchboard was set up to cater for the needs of people who needed information or an understanding ear. Lisa, who now lives in Cardiff, describes the helpline as being "gay finishing school where you learned about everything". Each shift, volunteers answered calls varying wildly in subject matter and tone. The caller might want to know when certain gay club nights were happening. Or maybe the call had come from a giggling group of teenagers, squished into a phone box, having persuaded each other a hoax call would be a laugh. Or sometimes, the caller would be on the brink of suicide. The responsibility Lisa had as a listener really hit home while on holiday in Greece with her girlfriend. A woman who'd been sitting near her on the beach came up to her to thank her for being the first person she had ever spoken to about being gay. "She'd recognised my voice, she remembered my name, and she wanted to tell me what a difference that year had made," Lisa says. "That's why we did it." Lisa, who went on to found the charity Stonewall, adds: "Switchboard gave me the motivation [to be an activist] because you would come off shift sometimes just feeling utterly bloody angry at the lives people were being forced to live. "The unnecessary stultification of people's lives, people who were just too scared to tell people they were gay." One of the callers to Switchboard at around this time was a confused 12 or 13-year-old boy called Mark. Mark Gatiss wasn't to know he would grow up to be a household name as an actor and writer. Back then, all he was worried about was that he could not say out loud what he knew in his heart. "I knew I was gay," he says. "I just wanted to talk to someone about the actual experience. "I lived in terror of [coming out]... what I was afraid of was judgement. I couldn't conceive of a moment in which I would actually say it. "I was from a very solidly working-class north-eastern background in which such things didn't happen." He decided to call Switchboard after seeing a poster with the number on it in the ITV sitcom, Agony. After hanging up on the volunteers several times, he eventually said down the line: "Hello, I'm gay." "There's a sort of affirmation there," the Doctor Who and Sherlock star says. "There was no-one else to say it to, except, you know, in the bathroom, in the dark. "They often say you can probably unburden yourself more to a total stranger than to an old friend because there's no comeback, there's no judgement," he says. In the early days, Switchboard was a small organisation, and volunteers had to adopt underhand tactics to get the number out to as many people as possible. Groups of gay activists would sneak into libraries across London and stick the Switchboard number "into any book they thought a young gay man or lesbian might go to to read," Lisa says - such as on to pages of the Bible expressing anti-gay sentiments. But at the start of the 1980s, everything changed. Scientists began to notice a sinister rise in deaths in previously healthy, young gay men. The HIV epidemic had reared its ugly head. Government-issued information leaflets sent to every household in the UK had Switchboard's number printed on them - and demand for the helpline soared. Switchboard became a vital source of information to help people avoid HIV transmission. But this did not stop the virus from ripping through the gay community, with tragic consequences. Looking at a photo taken at a gay pub in Islington in 1984, Lisa says: "It's very poignant as a shot of the brightest and best of the London lesbian and gay movement, as HIV was only just beginning to hit us. "All that sunshine, all those hopes. And a total lottery of who got through." Diana James describes this era as being "a heartbreaking but also fantastic time to be LGBT". The 60-year-old, who lives in Cornwall, became Switchboard's first transgender volunteer when she joined in 1988. It was the same year Margaret Thatcher's government introduced the hugely controversial policy, nicknamed Section 28, to stop the "promotion" of homosexuality. Standing inside a tiny office above Housmans bookshop in King's Cross, from where she used to sit and answer phones, Diana remembers the homophobic prejudice she and her colleagues would face. "We used to have a little hole cut in the door so you could see outside to see if there was anyone waiting for you when you left," she says. "It was a tough time. There was all sorts of right-wing groups that thought kicking a queer was a good way to spend an evening after a few beers." For Diana, the prejudice didn't always come from straight people. At that time the helpline was called London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard (having rebranded from Gay Switchboard in 1986), and some volunteers felt hostile to the idea of bisexual or trans people answering the phones - even though many callers identified as bisexual or trans themselves. Lisa Power had argued vigorously for Diana's recruitment, and she was only accepted on to the team because she was a lesbian, not because she was trans. "There was a lot of protest and a lot of upset. People left [because of me joining]," Diana says. "This was at a time when trans issues were not understood. Sex and sexuality were still very much mixed, in not only the average straight person's mind, but those of the gay community as well. "But as a dyke, I wanted to help people. And it was also the kudos of being a Switchboard volunteer - I really wanted to do it," she says. Homophobic legislation, right-wing thugs and fear of Aids might feel like ancient history to young LGBT people today. But many of the issues of the 1970s and 80s are still prevalent. Ki Hng, a microscope technician at UCL, believes she helps other volunteers to understand that many LGBT people still struggle to come out to their families. "Because I'm bisexual and I grew up in Malaysia, which is a very conservative, heteronormative country, I assumed I was straight," Ki explains. "Even though I had crushes on girls, I didn't have the vocabulary and I didn't identify it. I didn't know that was even possible." After Ki broke up with her long-term boyfriend and moved to London in 2011, her mother accused her of "liking girls". "She started trying to exorcise me," Ki says. "She's a fundamentalist evangelical Christian American type, and started saying things like 'In Jesus's name I cast this demon out from you' and that sort of thing, which was both terrifying and upsetting... but also a little bit comical because it was over MSN messenger." Ki hopes that she can draw from her "horrendous" coming out story to help people she speaks to on the phone as a Switchboard volunteer. "My experience does help me to be more empathic, to be more understanding," she says. "I believe I bring something to Switchboard that is still currently a bit underrepresented, so people who are more ethnic or have more exposure to religion, and the difference of reactions from parents." Tash Walker, Switchboard's current co-chair, has been studying archived notes about calls to the helpline. She's noticed people feeling isolated and unable to come out to their loved ones has been a common conversation throughout Switchboard's history. It's therefore perhaps unsurprising that one in three LGBT teens in England has a mental illness, while homophobic and transgender hate crime have both risen in the past few years. "Mental health in the LGBT+ communities is very much lacking in support," Tash says. "Switchboard is still needed today. The fact that we're still here 45 years later, we're getting around 15,000 calls a year... it speaks for itself."

स्विचबोर्ड, एल. जी. बी. टी. हेल्पलाईन ने 4 मार्च 1974 को किंग्स क्रॉस में एक किताब की दुकान के तहखाने में एक छोटे से कार्यालय से अपना पहला कॉल लिया। 45वीं वर्षगांठ को चिह्नित करने के लिए, लोग एक दान की यादें साझा कर रहे हैं जिसने दुनिया भर में लाखों लोगों की मदद की है।


Apple's Watch - what's it for?

Summary: Finally, four years after the iPad, and after endless rumours about the reinvention of television and other industries, Apple has launched a brand new product in the Watch. It is a long way from being the first in its field, but as with the iPad, the iPhone and the iPod, could it redefine the category and send huge new waves of cash to Cupertino?

Rory Cellan-JonesTechnology correspondent@BBCRoryCJon Twitter I'm sceptical - not about Apple dominating the smartwatch market but whether it's ever going to be that valuable a business. Yes, by next spring the Watch will almost certainly be the market leader. By announcing it in September and not delivering until 2015, Apple has ensured that consumers will look at rival products over the next few months and think it is worth waiting for something better. And it is a very good-looking gadget. Jony Ive and his design team have been working on this for at least three years, obsessing over every detail, learning from the mistakes of rivals before unveiling their work. And it will get better over the coming months, now that outside companies can be brought in to work on apps. But the big troubling question is quite simple - what is it for? What added utility will it bring to our lives? During the launch we heard some examples - a tie-up with American Airlines, which would mean you could carry your boarding pass on your wrist, a hotel app, which would allow you to access your room with a swipe of your watch. You can also get notifications of emails and messages, check your pulse, count your steps, control the music on your phone or speakers or use it as a remote for your Apple TV box. But all of the above actions have one thing in common - you can also do them with a smartphone - in many cases a lot more easily. Apart from some of the fitness monitoring capabilities, it is is difficult to think of many things that are done better on a watch face than on a smartphone screen. Still, the fashion journalists invited to the launch seemed enthusiastic, praising the way the watch could be modified according to your personal tastes. At $349 (£216) it looks expensive, but then people pay a lot more than for fashionable watches - although they don't have to plug them in every night to recharge. One key test for any new product must be whether you would feel the need to turn around if you had left it at home. For many of us that is definitely the case with a smartphone, but having tried a couple of smart watches I would have no problem living without one for a day. Perhaps Apple can really find some killer app for its watch - I was gratified to see that my speculation about its use as a payments device turned out to be accurate. But I would not mind betting that in a few years time the market analysts will still be focusing on the iPhone's profit margins, while seeing the Watch as a nice little earner but one that can be safely ignored.

आखिरकार, आईपैड के चार साल बाद, और टेलीविजन और अन्य उद्योगों के पुनर्निर्माण के बारे में अंतहीन अफवाहों के बाद, ऐप्पल ने वॉच में एक नया उत्पाद लॉन्च किया है। यह अपने क्षेत्र में पहला होने से बहुत दूर है, लेकिन आईपैड, आईफोन और आईपॉड के साथ, क्या यह श्रेणी को फिर से परिभाषित कर सकता है और क्यूपर्टिनो को नकदी की बड़ी नई लहरें भेज सकता है?


India Lok Sabha election: 11 things you need to know

Summary: Tens of millions of people will vote on Thursday in the first phase of India's giant general election.

Soutik BiswasIndia correspondent Polls to elect a new Lok Sabha, or lower house of parliament, will be held from 11 April to 19 May. Votes will be counted on 23 May. With 900 million eligible voters, India's election will be the largest the world has seen. PM Narendra Modi's ruling BJP will be battling the main opposition Congress and a host of regional parties. Leaders of two powerful regional rivals have formed a coalition against the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, and a key bellwether state. The lower house has 543 elected seats and any party or coalition needs a minimum of 272 MPs to form a government. So what makes these elections distinctive? 1. It's mind-bogglingly big Everything about Indian general elections is colossal - the Economist magazine once compared it to a "lumbering elephant embarking on an epic trek". This time, about 900 million people above the age of 18 will be eligible to cast their ballots at a million polling stations. The number of voters is bigger than the population of Europe and Australia combined. Indians are enthusiastic voters - the turnout in the last general election in 2014 was more than 66%, up from 45% in 1951 when the first election was held. More than 8,250 candidates representing 464 parties contested the 2014 elections, nearly a seven-fold increase from the first election. 2. It takes a long, long time The dates on which voting will be held are 11 April, 18 April, 23 April, 29 April, 6 May, 12 May and 19 May. Some states will hold polls in several phases. India's historic first election in 1951-52 took three months to complete. Between 1962 and 1989, elections were completed in four to 10 days. The four-day elections in 1980 were the country's shortest ever. Read more from Soutik Biswas Elections in India are long-drawn-out affairs because of the need to secure polling stations. Local police are seen to be partisan, so federal forces have to deployed. The forces have to be freed from their duties and moved all around the country. 3. It costs a lot of money India's Centre for Media Studies estimated parties and candidates spent some $5bn (£3.8bn) for the 2014 elections. "It is not inconceivable that overall expenditure will double this year," says Milan Vaishnav, a senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program at the US-based think-tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Compare it to the $6.5bn that the US spent on the famously free-spending presidential and congressional elections in 2016, and you realise how costly India's elections are. Financing of political parties in India continues to be opaque despite the fact that they are forced to declare their incomes. Last year, Mr Modi's government launched electoral bonds, which allow businesses and individuals to donate to parties without their identities being disclosed. Donors have given away nearly $150m in these bonds - and the bulk of it, according to reports, has gone to the BJP. 4. Will women hold the key? Indian women are voting in large numbers. So much so, that more women are likely to vote than men this time around, the first time ever in a general election. The vote gender gap has already shrunk - in 2014, the turnout of women was 65.3% against 67.1% for men. In more than two dozen local elections between 2012 and 2018, the turnout of women was higher than men in two-thirds of the states. Political parties have begun treating women as a constituency and offering them more sops: education loans, free cooking gas cylinders, cycles for girls. 5. It's all about Narendra Modi In 2014, Mr Modi led his BJP and its allies to a historic victory. The BJP alone won 282 of the 428 seats it contested. It was the first time since 1984 a party had won an absolute majority in a general election. The BJP also picked up a third of the popular vote. The staggering win was largely attributed to Mr Modi's ability to promote himself as a decisive, hardworking leader who promised to usher in corruption-free "better times". Despite a patchy performance on several of his promises, Mr Modi remains his party's main vote-getter. He's also supported by a formidable and disciplined party machinery, run by his trusted and powerful aide Amit Shah. Analysts believe the summer elections will largely be a referendum on Mr Modi. The opposition campaign will be entirely targeted at the prime minister, a polarising leader who is loved and loathed in equal measure. So expect a presidential-style faceoff in a parliamentary election. Whether Mr Modi remains a durable brand will be known when the votes are counted. 6. India's Grand Old Party will be hoping for a comeback Can the 133-year-old Congress party step back from the abyss? In 2014, the party suffered its worst defeat ever in a general election. It won a mere 44 seats - down from 206 seats - and picked up less than 20% of the popular vote. Things remained bleak as the party lost a string of state elections over the next four years. By the middle of 2018, the Congress and its allies ran only three state governments, while BJP and its partners ran as many as 20. The party appeared to be in terminal decline. Its leader Rahul Gandhi, fourth generation scion of the famous Nehru-Gandhi family, became the butt of social media jokes. But in December, the party seemed to seemed to have staged a revival of sorts. Led by a more assured and energetic Mr Gandhi, the Congress wrested three key northern states from the BJP. Many attributed the recovery to anti-incumbency - two of the three states had been ruled by the BJP for years. But it would be churlish to deny Mr Gandhi and his party workers credit. Clearly, Congress has got some of its old mojo back. Mr Gandhi has positioned himself as a more open and receptive leader in contrast to the forceful and take-no-prisoners leadership style of Mr Modi. And in a surprise move, his charismatic sister Priyanka has been formally inducted into politics to infuse some fresh energy into the party's campaign.Congress's revival has helped rejuvenate a fractured opposition, and promises to make the 2019 election more of a contest than what was believed it would be. 7. It's the economy, stupid Under Mr Modi, Asia's third-largest economy appears to have lost some of its momentum. Farm incomes have stagnated because of a crop glut and declining commodity prices, leaving farmers saddled with debt and angry. The controversial 2016 currency ban - locally called 'demonetisation' - and a complex and badly executed new uniform goods and services tax hurt small and medium businesses and threw many out of their jobs in India's huge informal economy. Exports have dropped. Joblessness has risen, and Mr Modi's government has been accused of hiding uncomfortable jobs data. To make matters worse, some of India's state-owned banks are drowning in bad loans. Yet, inflation is in check. Increased government spending in infrastructure and public works has kept the economy moving. Growth is expected to be 6.8% this fiscal year. But the fact is that India's GDP needs to grow at a rate faster than 7% for the country to continue to pull millions out of poverty. Mr Modi has said reforming the economy is a work in progress. The elections will prove whether people are willing to give him more time. 8. Parties are banking on populism Economist Rathin Roy says India is moving from a "development state to a compensatory state" where governments are putting cash in the pockets of the poor to cover up for the deficiencies of the state. The result is competitive populism. Mr Modi's government has announced direct cash transfers to farmers and waivers of farm loans. It has also promised job quotas for the less well-to-do among the upper castes and other religions. Rahul Gandhi has promised to guarantee a minimum income for the poor if his party wins the elections. Others will be showering the voters with freebies ranging from TV sets to laptops. There is no clear evidence to show that sops win votes. 9. But nationalism could tilt the balance Mr Modi's muscular nationalism and his party's majoritarian politics have left India a deeply divided and anxious nation, say critics. But his supporters say it has energised and consolidated his base. They believe there's no need to be apologetic about political Hinduism because India, well, is an overwhelmingly Hindu nation. Unfortunately the nationalist rhetoric has emboldened radical rightwing groups to lynch Muslims suspected of smuggling cows. Hindus consider the cow sacred. Thanks to aggressive enforcement of anti-slaughter laws, the cow has become a polarising animal. People critical of radical Hinduism have been labelled anti-nationals. Dissent is frowned upon. India's 170 million Muslims, many say, have become the "invisible" minority. The BJP has no Muslim MPs in the lower house - it fielded seven candidates in 2014 and all of them lost. 10. And India's attack on Pakistan could bolster Modi's strongman image The tit-for-tat aerial bombings by India and Pakistan at the end of February following a deadly suicide attack in Indian-administered Kashmir triggered more nationalistic chest thumping. Mr Modi has made it clear he would not hesitate to retaliate if there was another attack on Indian soil provoked or sponsored by Pakistan-based militant groups. What is clear now is that Mr Modi will make national security a key plank of his campaign. Whether this will work is not clear. The opposition has to still come up with a persuasive counter-narrative. Will the pull of nationalism override other issues and fetch swing votes for Mr Modi? 11. A battleground bellwether could decide the polls The northern state of Uttar Pradesh has an outsize influence on Indian politics. One in six Indians lives here and it sends 80 MPs to parliament. It is also one of India's most socially divided states. The BJP won 71 of the state's 80 seats in 2014. Last time, Mr Modi's charisma and his party's ability to stitch together a rainbow coalition of castes contributed to the rout of powerful regional parties, Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Ms Mayawati, who heads the BSP, is an icon to millions of low-caste Dalits, a fifth of the state. She has now joined hands with her arch rival Akhilesh Yadav of SP, a nominally socialist party. Together they hope to win more than 50 seats and halt the BJP's march to Delhi. It is an opportunistic alliance - bitter foes turned strange bedfellows - but could end up hurting the BJP's prospects in the state. It will be pinning its hopes on Mr Modi to neutralise the alliance. Follow Soutik at @soutikBBC

भारत के विशाल आम चुनाव के पहले चरण में गुरुवार को लाखों लोग मतदान करेंगे।


New shadow arrives amid Wales Office memories

Summary: "Full and interesting advice surgery this morning in Haverfordwest," reports the local MP, Stephen Crabb. "A variety of issues raised - arts funding, farming, social care, and many others. Nobody mentioned Europe, Brexit or Article 50."

David CornockParliamentary correspondent, Wales The priorities of the good people of Pembrokeshire may serve as a reality check to those of us who have reported little other than Europe, Brexit or Article 50 this past fortnight (although constituency surgeries may usually feature more personal concerns). The European Union (Notice of Withdrawal) Bill - all 137 words of it - has now cleared the House of Commons and enters the House of Lords unamended. What did we learn during its Commons stages? 'Centre stage' Tribal loyalties sometimes mean Labour MPs don't support Plaid Cymru amendments even when they agree with them but 267 MPs backed a Plaid amendment to require the UK government to update the Welsh Assembly on the impact of Brexit. That may be a record for any Plaid amendment (you'll thank me if it comes up in a pub quiz) but the government won the vote, and every other division, comfortably. The Commons stages were also notable for the return to centre stage of David Jones, now arguably the most powerful Welsh MP two and a half years after his sacking as secretary of state for Wales. Mr Jones's time at the Wales Office is recalled by his successor in a fascinating interview with the Institute for Government. Within an hour of taking over, he sacked a special adviser and senior official so he could build his own team. Stephen Crabb tells the think tank: "I think it is fair to say, and not through any fault of his, but under my predecessor at the Wales Office relations between the UK government and the Welsh Government had hit a low and it was playing quite badly in the Welsh media." 'Not rushed' Mr Crabb also recalled his early days at the Wales Office as a part-time junior minister. "What I didn't expect was to be asked then to do this curious double-hatted arrangement where I stayed on as a whip and tried to do the parliamentary under secretary job as well. "There is a curious history to why that happened, basically, it was a compromise fudge between Andrew Mitchell who came in as chief whip and wanted to hang on to me in the whips office and the PM who wanted me to go the Wales Office. So that was my first step into ministerial life and the truth is that being parliamentary under secretary of state in the Wales Office, one of the smallest departments in Whitehall, you're not rushed off your feet." That may come as news to his successor-but-one, Guto Bebb, but Mr Crabb said his promotion to work and pensions secretary signalled a huge change in the volume of work from the Wales Office. "At the Wales Office I had a box every weekend and in truth, I could whistle through it in an hour and a half," he said. "At DWP, you're getting a box every night and it's full." 'Shadow' Back at Westminster, his successor Alun Cairns at last has a Labour shadow, two weeks after the resignation of Jo Stevens over Brexit. Neath MP Christina Rees steps up to become the fourth shadow Welsh secretary under Jeremy Corbyn - and the fifth since the 2015 general election. Ms Rees has been a shadow justice minister. She resigned from the frontbench last summer and supported Owen Smith's leadership challenge but was one of 33 MPs to return to the frontbench after Jeremy Corbyn's re-election. Once married to former Welsh Secretary Ron Davies, she is also a former Welsh squash champion and "strategic coach" - which may come in useful in the bumpy times ahead. Ms Rees now has a week to learn her new role before MPs return to Westminster from their half-term recess. I'll see you after the break.

"आज सुबह हैवरफोर्डवेस्ट में पूर्ण और दिलचस्प सलाह सर्जरी", स्थानीय सांसद, स्टीफन क्रेब रिपोर्ट करते हैं। "विभिन्न प्रकार के मुद्दे उठाए गए-कला वित्त पोषण, खेती, सामाजिक देखभाल, और कई अन्य। किसी ने भी यूरोप, ब्रेक्सिट या अनुच्छेद 50 का उल्लेख नहीं किया।"


How I talk to the victims of conspiracy theories

Summary: Sebastian's mum is one of the leaders of Britain's conspiracy community. He spoke exclusively to the BBC's specialist disinformation reporter Marianna Spring about the impact that his mother is having on public health - and their relationship.

By Marianna SpringSpecialist disinformation reporter, BBC News It was a sunny autumn morning when I opened up my inbox to see a message from someone called Sebastian. I recognised his distinctive surname immediately. The day before, I had been covering anti-lockdown protests in central London. Sebastian's mum, Kate Shemirani, was one of the headline speakers. A week later, the weather had turned. Drenched from a torrential downpour, I found myself sitting in a dimly-lit London basement opposite Sebastian. He's a 21-year-old university student studying philosophy and politics. He seemed nervous - but determined. He told me he felt a duty to speak out, for the sake of public health, and for others whose loved ones may be going down a similar path. Over the course of three hours he detailed how his mum had gained a huge online following by spreading falsehoods about the pandemic. She's denied that coronavirus exists, alleges that the government is planning a mass genocide, and has compared the National Health Service to Nazi Germany. Her views - broadcast to tens of thousands of online followers and often repeated by even larger accounts - threaten to undermine critical public health messages. But for Sebastian, it was also an intensely personal story. Conspiracy theories were his childhood lullabies. Starting from when he was about 10 or 11, he says, he was shown YouTube videos about secret plots and given books about "lizard people". Sebastian got good grades and ended up going to a private boarding school. The time away from his family resulted in him challenging his mum's baseless claims. He described to me in heartbreaking detail the breakdown of their relationship. He left home when he was 17, and these days the little interaction he has with his mother comes via text message. "There's no way for me to talk to her at all because she's completely obsessed," he said. "When this is over … and everything she said is forgotten and the 'global genocide' hasn't happened, people will forget about it," he told me. "But the disaster that goes on within my family… that stuff stays forever." BBC Trending Human cost I've spent a lot of time this year covering the human impact of conspiracy theories - from the pro-Trump movement QAnon to the explosion in coronavirus misinformation. In the summer, I interviewed Brian, a man in Florida who believed false claims that Covid-19 was a "hoax". His precise views shifted around. Sometimes he thought the virus wasn't real - other times he believed that it was totally harmless, or at least no more deadly than the flu. Throughout the pandemic, he more or less carried on as normal, until both he and his wife caught the disease and ended up in hospital. He survived; she died. Sebastian's was one of thousands of messages I've received since, from people who fear they are losing loved ones down the rabbit hole of online conspiracy. Legitimate debate I always stress that there are legitimate concerns about the effects of lockdown measures on mental health, education and the economy. Reporting on conspiracy theories is not about clamping down on healthy political discussion. And of course there are valid debates about the still-developing science. There's a lot about this virus that we just don't know. But the kinds of stories I hear about are something else entirely. They are tales of sinister plots - supposed plans to implant microchips in the world's population and kill and enslave billions. Or completely unscientific ideas - that the virus somehow "doesn't exist" and that the health authorities are completely wrong. How do you talk about conspiracy theories? Unfortunately, some people are so entranced by these fictions that that they lose their grip on reality. Some take it to extremes. I've been sent abuse, even death threats. But what about those who are only starting down that path? I've been trying to answer a key question that keeps popping up in my inbox: how do you talk to people who are at risk of buying into dark fantasies? The experts I've spoken to suggest some answers. First of all, try not to cut the person off. Address the issue as soon as possible - but do it with empathy. Many of us are feeling very anxious about the pandemic, and conspiracy theories give simple, satisfying answers to a problem that seems overwhelmingly complex. Psychologists like Jovan Byford from the Open University tell me that a good strategy is to try to get to the bottom of the person's legitimate concerns and to find out how they are feeling. Depending on how wedded they are to conspiracies, this can be a long process. "Sit them down and just discuss it for hours until they realise what they're saying is not true," Sebastian suggests. "If you don't nip it in the bud, it will grow and grow." Another tip is to try to figure out where the person is getting their information. Are they quoting a fringe YouTube video (which may have been fact-checked and debunked), or people in the echo chamber of a conspiracy-minded Facebook group? Present facts and evidence neutrally, the experts say. Rational questions can provoke reflection, and critical thinking. And always listen to people's deeper concerns. In the week since we first aired my interview with Sebastian (you can watch it above or listen here), Kate Shemirani's Twitter account has been suspended for violating the site's rules on sharing harmful coronavirus misinformation. When we put her son's claims to Ms Shemirani, she did not directly respond, but did tell us: "From what I can see it would appear a 'conspiracy theorist' is actually now anyone who believes something other than what your controllers want them to believe... I find this deeply disturbing". Sebastian's story captured the attention of people across the world. He hopes that other families might be spared the pain that his has suffered. Marianna Spring is the BBC's specialist disinformation reporter. Her focus is on investigations and features about the human toll of misinformation, online abuse and the social media sphere. Follow her on Twitter @mariannaspring Subscribe to the BBC Trending podcast or follow us on Twitter @BBCtrending or Facebook.

सेबेस्टियन की माँ ब्रिटेन के षड्यंत्रकारी समुदाय के नेताओं में से एक हैं। उन्होंने बीबीसी की विशेषज्ञ दुष्प्रचार रिपोर्टर मारियाना स्प्रिंग से विशेष रूप से बात की कि उनकी माँ का सार्वजनिक स्वास्थ्य पर क्या प्रभाव पड़ रहा है-और उनके संबंध।


From Queen to Springsteen: Why are there so many music films now?

Summary: This year will be remembered for the UK leaving the EU (maybe), England winning a Cricket World Cup (finally), and the latest utterly pointless social craze - the bottle cap challenge (nope, me neither).

By Paul GlynnEntertainment & Arts reporter For cinema-goers though, 2019 has been the year of the music film. It's not yet September and we've already had movies powered by the sonic might of Sir Elton John, The Beatles, Motley Crue and Bruce Springsteen, as well rockumentaries on Liam Gallagher, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. With Judy Garland, Michael Hutchence, Suzi Quatro and George Michael-flavoured features still to come, by Christmas we'll have seen enough singers at the pictures to fill up an entire 2020 wall calendar. Not to mention the big name remakes of classic musical animations like The Lion King, Aladdin, and the curious trailer for the cinematic adaptation of the stage musical Cats. So what exactly is driving this resurgence in on-screen sing-alongs? Music is being used 'as a character' Blinded by the Light hit the cinemas last week and tells the story of Javed - a British-Pakistani teen growing up in Luton in the late 1980s. It's a typical coming-of-age tale of growing pains, culture clashes, and breaking free, however, Javed's journey is carried stylishly via the vehicle of his newfound fave, Bruce Springsteen's music. "This film doesn't have any stars," explains scriptwriter Sarfraz Manzoor. "But the biggest star it has is Springsteen and that's a familiar thing that might bring people in." He adds: "We basically made it so that the music was a character in the film which would help the story along and explain why Springsteen mattered to this kid." The trick of tapping into our "unique relationship with music" is not exactly new, as fans of Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino will tell you. But it is being employed in more and more creative manners, in films like Guardians of the Galaxy (Peter Quill's Awesome Mixtape) and shows like Stranger Things (retro 80s-style synths) and Killing Eve. (Music is so integral to Peaky Blinders they're hosting their own festival). When adapting his book for the big screen, Manzoor made Springsteen tracks like Dancing in the Dark and other songs from that era central to the script from day one to "navigate you through the story and fit particular emotional moments in the film". "I was listening to all the hits from 1987 just as a way of getting myself into that space," the writer says. "The first thing that really unlocked it was the Pet Shop Boys' It's a Sin. If you listen to the lyrics it's basically about someone who is not able to do what they want and that's exactly what Javed is like! I thought, we've got to try and start the film with it because it would first get everyone into 1987 and also tell them what the theme of the film is." Other "cheesy" tracks like Marrs' Pump Up the Volume, Mary's Prayer by Danny Wilson and Tiffany's I Think We're Alone Now were also used to "provide a counterpoint" to The Boss. "When I was growing up I was loving all that pop music but ultimately it's quite vacuous, and a bit pointless. So when I found Springsteen's music it spoke to me in a much more profound way." The protagonist, based loosely on the writer's younger self (minus the love interest, he confesses) ultimately heads off to Manchester to study and Manzoor says it would be fun to follow him with a 1989-based sequel. If he does, expect less Bruce and more baggy/rave bangers driving the plot. 'Music is the number one trigger for nostalgia' Aah nostalgia eh? It's not what it was... According to the boffins at Spotify we make the most enduring emotional connections to the songs we enjoyed in our mid-late teenage years. Therefore, the feel-good-factor created by hearing old songs we love, in movies like Rocketman, Yesterday and Bohemian Rhapsody, help us to momentarily turn back time. Nowadays these tracks, along with those from A Star is Born and Mamma Mia!, are all easily available online, meaning there's now "a ready-made audience for music-driven movies." "The trend towards music-driven movies can be considered part of a wider trend of nostalgia and we know from our own research that music is the number one trigger for nostalgia," says Spotify's head of music for UK and Ireland, Sulinna Ong. "Being able to tap into that via the big screen has huge appeal for creators, filmmakers, artists and fans alike." She notes you don't have to have been one of the lucky ones at Live Aid in 1985 to enjoy the sense of nostalgia you get from listening to the soundtrack for Bohemian Rhapsody. "If you grew up listening to the band, it brought it all back." The streaming giants employ "throwback" features to try to extract this emotional gold too and while it allows easy nostalgic listening for older listeners, their figures suggest younger listeners are incredibly interested in discovering iconic artists too. Since the mega success of the Oscar-decorated Bo-Rap, streams of Queen songs surged by 33% and 70% of those listeners were under 35. "Queen are more popular than ever, not just among baby boomers and Gen' Xers, but with millennials," adds Ong. "The key to explaining why we see a lot of younger listeners showing an interest in artists such as Queen, The Beatles and The Boss is their continued cultural relevance." Other popular musicians including Celine Dion and the Creation Records mob are set to get the biopic treatment next year, so don't be surprised when a host of re-issued albums and tour announcements soon follow. People crave 'escapism' during uncertain times "Forget your troubles, come on get happy!" sang Judy Garland in Summer Stock back in 1950, but she could just as easily be singing it today. According to the BFI, the musical film enjoyed two early "golden eras": First in the 1930s, with US productions like 42nd Street, as The Great Depression took hold, and then again with the MGM films - like Singin' in the Rain - during and directly after the Second World War. Robin Baker, who's curated their upcoming celebration of BFI Musicals: The Greatest Show on Screen, believes it's no coincidence that similar trends are emerging in cinemas once again. "Both times you're dealing with society under stress, wanting to escape their woes and troubles," says Baker, who pinpoints the success of La La Land and The Greatest Showman as heralding in the new wave. "To me right now, in an age dominated by international anxiety, whether it's climate change, Trump, or political instability here and a nation divided - people want an escape from that." Musicals and music films, he concludes, also allow us to come together and confront harsh truths, through a fantastical prism. "You can look at some of the biggest ones that deal with very serious issues but what they do is allow you to kind of flip into another world that is exaggerated and larger-than-life." A world in which The Beatles don't exist, but there's a big singing cat with Beyonce's voice and where Renée Zellweger is a faded Broadway star named Judy, perhaps?

इस वर्ष को ब्रिटेन के यूरोपीय संघ छोड़ने (शायद), इंग्लैंड के क्रिकेट विश्व कप जीतने (आखिरकार) और नवीनतम पूरी तरह से व्यर्थ सामाजिक सनक-बॉटल कैप चैलेंज (नहीं, मैं भी नहीं) के लिए याद किया जाएगा।


Why don't black and white Americans live together?

Summary: Legal segregation in the US may have ended more than 50 years ago. But in many parts of the country, Americans of different races aren't neighbours - they don't go to the same schools, they don't shop at the same stores, and they don't always have access to the same services.

By Rajini VaidyanathanBBC News In 2016 the issue of race will remain high on the agenda in the United States. The police killings of unarmed black men and women over the past few years reignited a debate over race relations in America, and the reverberations will be felt in the upcoming presidential election and beyond. Ferguson, Baltimore and Chicago are three cities synonymous with racial tensions - but all three have another common denominator. They, like many other American cities, are still very segregated. In my reporting across the United States I've seen this first hand - from Louisiana to Kansas, Alabama to Wisconsin, Georgia to Nebraska. In so many of these places people of other races simply don't mix, not through choice but circumstance. And if there's no interaction between races, it's harder for conversations on how to solve race problems to even begin. Newly released census data, analysed by the Brookings Institution, shows black-white segregation is modestly declining in large cities, but it remains high. If zero is a measure for perfect integration and 100 is complete segregation, analysis from Brookings showed most of the country's largest metropolitan areas have segregation levels of between 50 to 70. According to the Brookings report, "more than half of blacks would need to move to achieve complete integration". Some have pointed out that the wording of this part of the report itself highlights the challenges in these issues - why can't this be measured in the number of whites who would have to move? America in Black and White, a four-part radio documentary, will air next on BBC World Service on 14 January 2016. Listen to the first episode. Racial and socioeconomic segregation are closely linked - if you're a black person in America, you're more likely than a white person to live in an area of concentrated poverty. This isn't simply a matter of choice, or chance. Some of it is by design - and down to decades-old housing policies which actively prevented African Americans from living in certain areas. Kansas City, Missouri, is one of the country's most segregated cities. Drive around the west of Troost Avenue and there are large houses, their vast porches overlooking equally vast driveways. Properties are anything from $356,000 (£243,000) to $1.2m. But you only have to go east to see a very different picture. Abandoned houses and unkempt lawns greet you at most corners. One building I pass is completely boarded up, with piles of rubbish outside, and the words "Stay Out" in spray paint. The housing on either side of Troost is very much split down race lines. The US government had a hand in creating this segregation due to practices it instituted back in the 1930s, which prevented many blacks from getting on the property ladder in certain areas. When the federal government began underwriting home loans for Americans to help boost the economy as part of the New Deal, strict guidelines were drawn up regarding where mortgages could be issued. Areas where minorities lived were seen as risky investments and black families were routinely denied mortgages, locking them out of the housing market. The practice was known as redlining because red ink marked out the minority areas. As Kansas City-based historian Bill Worley explained to me, these policies continued right into the 1960s, and excluded African Americans from one of the greatest motors of wealth in the 20th Century - home ownership. Redlining is now theoretically outlawed in the United States, and has been since the 1970s, but it's still happening to this day. "Banks continue to build and structure their lending operations in a way that avoids or fails to meaningfully serve communities of colour, based on assumptions about the financial risk," Vanita Gupta, the justice department's top civil rights lawyer, said last September, as she pledged more action to stop discriminatory lending. Another factor which made access to housing prohibitive were the restrictive racial covenants written into housing contracts. Until 1948, it was perfectly legal for a black person to be prevented from buying or living in a house. Bill Worley showed me an example of a restrictive racial covenant drawn up in Kansas City by the city's best known property developer during that time, JC Nichols. "None of the said lots shall be conveyed to, used, owned nor occupied by Negroes as owner or tenants," it read. Other groups, including Jews, were also written into these kind of contracts. The covenants created affluent white suburbs for middle- and upper-income families. By World War One, Nichols met developers in other cities who were also doing this. Huge new all-white suburbs sprang up across the country and the migration of white families to the suburbs became known as white flight. Between redlining, racial covenants, and another practice known as blockbusting - where estate agents specialised in transitioning areas from white to black - segregation continued in the United States Residential segregation in America peaked in 1970. More black families are moving into the suburbs and back to Southern cities they left after slavery ended, explains economic historian Leah Boustan. "It may seem odd because we have stereotypes of the South, but residential segregation levels are lowest in Southern cities such as Atlanta, Houston and Dallas," she says. But even though Atlanta is one of the least segregated cities in the United States, challenges persist. On a visit to the city I met Nicole and Lewis Anderson, two African Americans who work in corporate jobs. They told me they'd been profiled by estate agents, who've only shown them homes in certain "black" areas. "When we started out we had a few whites in our area, but within a few years they all moved out," said Lewis Anderson. "For us African Americans when we see a group of white people move to the neighbourhood we think that's good, we're cool with that. But for many white families that's not the case - they start to get discouraged, they start to worry about the property value and leave." There is plenty of evidence to suggest that Lewis and Nicole aren't alone in being encouraged to live in so-called "black" areas. Research from the US government shows that minorities looking for housing are shown fewer properties than their white counterparts. The Fair Housing Act was passed more than 40 years ago to end discrimination in housing, but it's not been properly enforced. Last year President Obama pledged to toughen up this law, with new rules. Now government money can only be given for new housing projects if they're shown to further integration in neighbourhoods, and there'll be penalties for those who don't adhere to this. But it only applies to public housing. Private developers can continue to build without such conditions. "The Fair Housing Act commanded that communities that received government money do what they can to affirmatively further fair housing," Housing Secretary Julian Castro told me in an interview. "The problem was that for many years that requirement was never adequately defined or enforced." Mr Castro, who sits in the president's cabinet, said one way his department will ensure areas of poverty aren't ignored is by giving towns and cities access to demographic data, so they can plan housing better. The key challenge remains - decades on from the civil rights movement, many black and white Americans simply don't mix. And as the US contends with race problems, getting to know each other better is one step in understanding and fixing some of those problems. Follow Rajini on Twitter - @BBCRajiniv Radio production and photography by Giles Edwards

अमेरिका में कानूनी अलगाव 50 साल पहले समाप्त हो गया होगा। लेकिन देश के कई हिस्सों में, अलग-अलग नस्लों के अमेरिकी पड़ोसी नहीं हैं-वे एक ही स्कूल में नहीं जाते हैं, वे एक ही दुकान से खरीदारी नहीं करते हैं, और उनके पास हमेशा एक ही सेवा तक पहुंच नहीं होती है।


Pakistan: How one girl overcame the armed men who blocked her school

Summary: For years, armed men surrounded a girls' school in a village in Pakistan's Balochistan province, to prevent the girls going inside. But one eventually made it to university and is now training to become a journalist. She told the story of her struggle to the BBC's Shumaila Jaffrey.

"I spent my childhood in fear," says Naeema Zehri, a student at Sardar Bahadur Khan Women's University in Quetta. "It still sends shivers down my spine when I think about it." Naeema grew up in a tribal village in the Khuzdar district of Pakistan's restive Balochistan province. Her childhood coincided with a time when lawlessness was at its peak, she says. The news was full of tales of Baloch men being abducted and killed in targeted attacks. Fear, prejudice, and weapons were everywhere. Balochistan is Pakistan's poorest province. It has endured long-running hostilities between separatist insurgents and the Pakistani army. In its remote mountainous villages, life is generally miserable, but women suffer particularly, Naeema says. "My childhood was marred with poverty. We are seven siblings. My mother was not educated, so we had to depend on family charity to meet our basic needs. Education was a luxury that we could not afford." For Naeema, getting an education was a struggle. She went to the free state-run girls' primary school in her village until the age of 10, but the school was shut down. She says that from 2009 to 2013, the school was taken over by criminals supported by the local tribal chief and the men put up a barrier at the school entrance to keep the girls from the building. The BBC cannot independently confirm this, but such situations were not uncommon in Balochistan. "The picket was barricaded; it was manned by six to eight armed individuals all the time. I remember walking past it in my childhood. We used to be terrified by the armed men standing out there. I would always fear that they might shoot me," Naeema says. "Dressed up in shalwar kameez [loose baggy shirts and trousers worn by men in Pakistan], they used to have guns in their hands, their faces were always covered in scarves, only their eyes were visible." 'Don't send your girls to school' The armed men never approached or threatened the children, Naeema says, but the picket served two purposes: it was to keep the girls away from education, and so the tribal chief's armed men could use the campus as a hideout. "It was a clear message to the people," she says. "Don't send your girls to school." The effect on the village was devastating. Government teachers did not dare to work in such an environment. Naeema and a few other girls were admitted to another school in a nearby village, but it was just a formality. Parents sent their girls there to get free cooking oil - which was provided by an international donor organisation to increase girls' enrolment in the area - but not to learn. Girls had their attendance marked in registers and then went home. Naeema says the teachers were scared, but partially corrupt too. "There were many schools that only existed on paper in our area. Teachers were deputed in such schools and they were drawing salaries too - but the schools were completely dysfunctional," she says. Meanwhile, the violence in Balochistan was taking its toll. Naeema had to face the abduction and death of her two maternal uncles within one year. She says they simply disappeared, and their bullet-riddled bodies were found months later. "I was completely shattered. They were so young, so full of life; I couldn't overcome their deaths for a long time." But the tragedy motivated Naeema to continue her education, she says. After finishing middle school she had to stop going to school but she didn't let it disrupt her studies. "My family couldn't afford education, and they were also under pressure by the villagers." That was because local women were not encouraged to pursue school education, she says - but to go to madrassas (religious seminaries) or to do chores. "There is hypocrisy around that too. Women are not allowed to go out to get education, but when it comes to helping men in the field, there are no barriers. Those who stay home, they earn a living through embroidery - but it's the men who get and spend their wages." Naeema continued her studies at home and took exams as a private candidate. When she finished high school, her education was interrupted for some time because her brothers opposed it. But the murder of her uncles gave her new purpose. She noted that there was a complete silence in the media, and it left a mark on her psyche. "Are Balochs not humans? Why do their lives not matter? I found it extremely hurtful," she says. "When will people start showing sensitivity toward Balochs?" The experience made her want to take up journalism. 'Telling the stories of my people' International media outlets are not allowed to report from Balochistan unless they have special permission from the authorities - which they rarely get. Pakistan's mainstream media is also under a blanket ban when it comes to reporting on the insurgency in the province. Naeema says that when she heard about Balochistan's only women's university, she persuaded her family to let her keep studying. Her brothers opposed the idea but one uncle supported her and paid her fees for a year. After that, she was out of funds - but she applied for a USAID sponsored scholarship, funded by the US government, and now her education is completely covered. "I want to become a journalist so I can tell stories of my people, the people of Balochistan," she says. "And let me tell you that I won't be scared... I will always stand with the truth."

लड़कियों को अंदर जाने से रोकने के लिए हथियारबंद लोगों ने वर्षों तक पाकिस्तान के बलूचिस्तान प्रांत के एक गाँव में लड़कियों के स्कूल को घेर लिया। लेकिन एक ने अंततः विश्वविद्यालय में प्रवेश किया और अब वह एक पत्रकार बनने के लिए प्रशिक्षण ले रही है। उसने बीबीसी की सुमैला जाफरी को अपने संघर्ष की कहानी सुनाई।


Lingdale bungalow fire: Woman in her 80s dies

Summary: A woman has died following a fire at her bungalow.

Firefighters battled the blaze at the property in Rosedale Gardens, Lingdale, east Cleveland, which broke out at about 20:30 BST on Wednesday. The woman, who was aged in her 80s, was pronounced dead at the scene. Neighbours have left floral tributes. A cordon is in place while an investigation into the fire which destroyed the living room takes place. It is not being treated as suspicious. A coroner's report is being prepared. Related Internet Links Cleveland Fire Brigade Cleveland Police

अपने बंगले में आग लगने से एक महिला की मौत हो गई है।


Jordan Hill death: Trio bailed after fatal flat stabbing

Summary: Three people arrested on suspicion of murder following the death of a man in Sheffield have been bailed.

Twenty-one year old Jordan Hill was found with stab wounds at a flat in Southey Avenue in Longley, on Thursday 23 March. South Yorkshire Police said Mr Hill was taken to hospital but died as a result of his injuries. Two men, aged 31 and 29, and a 24-year-old woman were all bailed pending further enquiries, said the force. Live updates and more stories from Yorkshire Detectives are still appealing for anyone with information to come forward.

शेफ़ील्ड में एक व्यक्ति की मौत के बाद हत्या के संदेह में गिरफ्तार किए गए तीन लोगों को जमानत दे दी गई है।


McDonald's drive-thru shooting: Man charged

Summary: A man has been charged with attempted murder after another man was shot in a car at a McDonald's drive-thru.

The 21-year-old victim was shot in the leg in the attack in Bromborough at about 17:30 BST on Thursday, Merseyside Police said. He was taken to hospital and is in a stable condition. David Pugh, 32, of Woolfall Crescent, Huyton has been charged with attempted murder and possession of a firearm. He is due to appear in court on Monday. Three other men have also been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder. Related Internet Links HM Courts & Tribunals Service

मैकडॉनल्ड्स ड्राइव-थ्रू में एक कार में एक अन्य व्यक्ति को गोली मारने के बाद एक व्यक्ति पर हत्या के प्रयास का आरोप लगाया गया है।


Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani receiving same Covid drugs as president

Summary: President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has revealed in a call to his own radio show that he is being treated for coronavirus with the same drug cocktail his boss received when he was ill with Covid-19.

He was admitted to hospital on Sunday after becoming the latest official close to Mr Trump to test positive. Mr Giuliani, 76, told the show he expects to leave hospital on Wednesday. He has been treated with Remdesivir and Dexamethasone, he explained. Mr Trump tweeted on Sunday that his ally, who has been leading the Trump campaign's legal challenges to the November election outcome, had been diagnosed with the virus. "I am doing fine. Pretty much all the symptoms are gone. The minute I took the cocktail I felt 100% better. It works very quickly, wow," he told his colleagues on his weekly show with 77 WABC radio from the Medstar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington DC. Mr Trump has strongly praised the experimental combination of drugs he received when he spent three nights in hospital with Covid-19 in October. Dozens of people in Mr Trump's orbit are said to have tested positive for Covid-19 since October. Mr Giuliani said the president's doctor had urged him to go to hospital where he could "get it [Covid-19] over with in three days". Mr Giuliani's son Andrew tweeted that his dad had "improved significantly" adding "I can't seem to get him off the phone for the last day". Referring to his prior diagnosis of prostate cancer, Rudy Giuliani suggested "You don't screw around your whole life because of an illness. I'd rather face risks than live in a basement my whole life." During the election campaign earlier this year, Mr Trump's campaign attacked his rival Joe Biden for "hiding in his basement" during the pandemic. Trump's Covid treatment: Mr Giuliani, a former mayor of New York City, had been on a cross-country tour in an effort to convince state governments to overturn the results of the November election vote when he contracted the disease. He had criticised face masks and was frequently pictured at indoor events without a face covering. Last Wednesday, President Trump's lawyer appeared at a hearing on alleged election fraud in Michigan where he asked a witness beside him if she would be comfortable removing her face mask. "I don't want you to do this if you feel uncomfortable, but would you be comfortable taking your mask off, so we can hear you more clearly?" said Mr Giuliani, who was not wearing a face mask. The witness chose to keep her mask on after asking the panel if she could be heard. The US has recorded more than 15 million cases so far and 285,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University research, which are both global highs. Many parts of the country are seeing peak infections, with record numbers of people in hospital. Correction: an earlier version of this story wrongly stated that Regeneron made Remdesevir, a drug developed by Gilead.

राष्ट्रपति डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प के निजी वकील, रूडी गिउलिआनी ने अपने स्वयं के रेडियो शो को एक कॉल में खुलासा किया है कि उनका उसी दवा कॉकटेल से कोरोनावायरस का इलाज किया जा रहा है जो उनके बॉस को कोविड-19 से बीमार होने पर मिली थी।


What does Gibraltar think about Brexit?

Summary: The UK will vote in June on whether it wants to leave the EU or remain. The residents of Gibraltar - the British overseas territory on the tip of Spain - will also have the right to cast a vote.

By Leana HoseaBBC World Service, Gibraltar High up on the slope of the Rock of Gibraltar on the terrace of their home, lawyer and native Gibraltarian Damon Bossino can see how close Spain is - only five miles across the bay. His Spanish wife Rosa is from La Linea, just across the Spanish border and they met 20 years ago when she came to work in the same law firm in Gibraltar. "Rosa would most likely not have been here in Gibraltar if it weren't for the EU," says Damon. "No, that's true, we would never have met," says Rosa. "I feel Gibraltarian now and my kids are Gibraltarian too." Being part of the European Union is not something that has ever been an issue for Gibraltarians, says Damon. "We are geographically connected with Europe. We are a melting pot of European cultures. So we don't have those hang-ups." The ringtone on Rosa's mobile phone reminds Damon of one of their many worries. "You wonder if things like data roaming charges will go - would that come back in if Gibraltar weren't a member of the EU?" But the couple have more serious fears than an expensive phone bill. It's all to do with the antagonism of Spain. "The frontier," explains Damon, "could be shut if Spain became nasty, as it's capable of doing towards Gibraltar because of its sovereignty claim." If that happens, Rosa says she would be devastated. "I don't want Britain to vote yes, because there is a possibility that the Spanish will decide to close the frontier. For me that would be, well the worst decision in my life because I cannot see my parents." Gibraltarians are often said to be more British than the British. Walking down Main Street they have all the shops you would normally see on the British High Street - like Marks and Spencer and BHS. The iconic red telephone boxes are still in use, unlike most of the UK. There's a military re-enactment group who march through town every Saturday with imitation rifles held at the shoulder, celebrating British victory over the Spanish. One might assume that this patriotic territory would share the concern of many Britons that the European Union was eroding UK sovereignty and want out. But the memory of a past when tensions between Spain and Gibraltar led to the border's closure from 1969 to 1985, forcing people to journey to and from the territory by sea, still casts its shadow. It's not so much that all Gibraltarians love the European Union project, but rather that many see the EU as the only force standing in the way of a tricky relationship with Spain. "Remember that Spain closed the frontier in 1969," says Chief Minister Fabian Picardo at 6 Convent Place, the government's headquarters. "It was only in the negotiations for the Spanish to access the then European Economic Community, that Spain finally opened the frontier. We see the EU as a guarantor of the freedom of movement of people." Picardo says some 10,000 people cross the border from Spain to work in Gibraltar daily and it's that freedom of movement of people and services that is vital to the economy. He believes the fears that the Spanish could shut the border again are justified because he says "they still get funny about it" and restrict or slow the flow of traffic across the border. Recently Spain's acting Foreign Minister, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, told Spanish National Radio that if Britain were to leave the EU "we would be talking about Gibraltar the very next day". At the end of a working day there's a long line of cars queuing at the frontier to go back into Spain and the commuters I spoke to didn't think Brexit would be good for Gibraltar either. "We are so integrated and you've got great opportunity across the border as there's a lot of industry," says Paul, a Gibraltarian. "Having the UK separated by the Channel does lead to a sense of us and them between the UK and Europe." It's very difficult to find anyone who will say they are in favour of Britain leaving the EU, but finally I do find one man. He doesn't want to be named as he says the territory is too small and he would rather his neighbours didn't know his opinions. "I'm all in favour of Brexit because I put Britain first. It will have an effect on Gibraltar, but it'll be an effect that people will come to live with." It's not an opinion shared by the president of the Chamber of Commerce in Gibraltar, Christian Hernandez, who believes Gibraltar's year-on-year GDP growth of 8% could be negatively affected. The pillars of the economy are financial services, online gaming, the port and insurance. According to Hernandez, Gibraltar's lower tax rate means a huge number of cars in the UK are insured by a Gibraltarian company. "In our financial services one of the things Gibraltar does offer is that businesses here can 'passport' their services into Europe - particularly banking and insurance. If we take the EU out of that formula it could be bad for Gibraltar." If the UK voted to leave it would mean that Gibraltar would be out of the EU. The British government would negotiate an exit and it's not known what those terms would be, but Gibraltar would be likely to push for the fullest access to the single market. "It's not impossible to see that if the UK were to vote to leave the EU it would be negotiating a new status for access to the single market in which Gibraltar would want to piggyback that process," says Picardo. "There may even be arrangements which allow Gibraltar further integration into the single market than the UK might consider is appropriate for the mainland UK." In these unchartered waters success is not guaranteed, making Brexit a gamble the minister would bet against. "If you believe some of the polls [in the UK]," says Picardo, "the vote might be on a knife edge and the 22,000 people of Gibraltar might just turn that". The Rock of Gibraltar is one of the territory's main attractions, where Barbary Macaque monkeys wander about grooming one another and think nothing of jumping on your car. From the viewpoint overlooking the 2.6-square mile British territory three flags fly in the breeze - the Union Jack, the Castle and Key flag of Gibraltar and that of the European Union. But that complex mix of identity and allegiance may soon be hotly debated. More from the Magazine The UK has always insisted Gibraltar is rightfully British. The Spanish government maintains the territory should pass back. But what are the details of each side's legal, historical and geographical claims for sovereignty? What are the competing claims over Gibraltar? (August 2013) Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

ब्रिटेन जून में मतदान करेगा कि वह यूरोपीय संघ छोड़ना चाहता है या रहना चाहता है। जिब्राल्टर के निवासियों-स्पेन के सिरे पर ब्रिटिश विदेशी क्षेत्र-को भी मतदान करने का अधिकार होगा।