All The News

on 2024.10.02 at 13:25:41 in London

News
Bowen: Iran wanted to do real damage, and Israel's response may not be as restrained as last time
UN chief banned from Israel in row over Iran
First came the alert message, then the boom of interceptions
What we know about Iran's missile attack on Israel
Who won the Vance-Walz vice-presidential debate?
More than 100 to sue Sean 'Diddy' Combs
Defector tries returning to North Korea on stolen bus
'It was respectable': Midwest voters praise tone of head-to-head
Immigration, Project 2025, taxes - VP debate claims fact-checked
Vance refuses to answer whether Trump lost 2020 election
Tributes to Roots and Good Times actor John Amos
Russians claim key city of Vuhledar in Ukraine's east
India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold
Screams and chaos: Eyewitnesses describe Shanghai mall stabbing
Outrage over farmer accused of feeding women to pigs
Muted mics, abortion rights and civility: top takeaways from the VP debate
Walz says he 'misspoke' in personal story about Tiananmen Square
US election polls: Who is ahead - Harris or Trump?
Migrants with criminal records - what new US data shows
Sudan army vows to fight on despite peace efforts
India's iconic tramcars set to ride into Kolkata sunset
Why was Hurricane Helene so damaging?
The 'mastermind' behind India's biggest jailbreak
Behind the scenes of Heartstopper series three
Blunt and bold - Kenya's 'truth speaker' faces the sack
Trudeau survives second parliamentary confidence vote
Tekken director has no idea how the game got so big in Pakistan
Three dead and 15 hurt in Shanghai Walmart stabbing
Chinese woman held in Germany for spying on arms firm
TV and Broadway star Gavin Creel dies aged 48
Georgia court strikes down state abortion ban
UK forces involved in response to Iran attacks on Israel

US Election
Biden was right to stand aside in critical election, Clinton says
Trump dominates in rural America - will folksy Walz help Harris?
Trump or Harris? In a crisis-hit world, diplomats resigned to either
'It's just a mess' - Left in limbo by US student loan logjam
China is part of the US election - but only from one candidate
Why Georgia could again be centre of an election storm
Crypto world hoping for Trump election win
Seven swing states set to decide the 2024 US election
What are Harris and Trump's policies?
How social media assassination conspiracies are uniting pro- and anti-Trump voters
Springfield grapples with false pet-eating rumours - and real problems
How Harris campaign is engaging with Swifties
Trump loses Electric Avenue song legal fight
Laura Loomer: Who is conspiracy theorist travelling with Trump?
How many migrants have crossed the US border illegally?
How much security does Donald Trump get?
Undecided Americans impressed by Harris - but did debate shift their votes?
‘I want to see her challenged’ - swing voters unconvinced by Harris interview
'She did a really smart thing': Democratic voters like Harris's pick
Vance 'can only go up': Republican voters applaud VP pick
'I feel terrible for him and America': Voters worry about Biden
US voters: We want to hear from you

Business
'I'm not playing games' on port strikes, union boss says
Ex-Harrods director won't take top job at Fenwick
Microsoft: 'ever present' AI assistants are coming
'I had to crawl to plane toilet' - BBC's Frank Gardner
Xi Jinping is worried about the economy - what do Chinese people think?
Irish budget repeats 'boom-to-bust' mistakes, watchdog warns
Microsoft is turning to AI to make its workplace more inclusive
Worker shortage hampers datacentre boom
California governor blocks landmark AI safety bill
Irish government announces tax cuts in pre-election budget
The world’s diamond polishing capital feels Ukraine war impact
Aston Martin shares shaken after profit warning
McDonald’s and supermarkets failed to spot slavery
Sub-postmasters won't get payouts by March, says minister
More staff and new equipment for firm awarded £6m
Workers must keep all customer tips under new law
People told to read meter as energy bills rise
ScotRail's full timetable to return next Monday
Sperm donor cash rises by £10 as UK faces shortage
Post Office minister 'horrified' at more IT faults
Mike Ashley's Frasers Group makes offer for Mulberry
House price growth at near two-year high

Innovation
US man jailed for cloning giant sheep for trophy hunting
Digital overload: Why women are doing a hidden form of work
Samsung accused of obstructing Fortnite downloads
SpaceX docks at ISS to collect stranded astronauts
UK reveals father and son at heart of Evil Corp hackers
'Human race needs to expand beyond Earth,' says Prof Brian Cox
Why you might want to change your bedclothes more often
'A warmer, sicker world': Mosquitoes carrying deadly diseases are on an unstoppable march across the US
What does spending more than a year in space do to the human body?
'Postcards are the email of their day': How cat memes went viral 100 years ago
The new shark species emerging from the deep
When robots can't riddle: What puzzles reveal about the depths of our own minds
The mosquito-bourne virus that's spreading without a cure
The UK coal-fired power station that became a giant battery
Views on AI to shape new telecom services - firm
Graphic novel shows unconventional routes into science
Art show lifts lid on the use of AI in photography
Uber terms mean couple can't sue after 'life-changing' crash
Brightening comet set to shine in autumn sky

Culture
How Saturday Night Live became a TV phenomenon – but then lost its way
Vivid colours and bold flavours: The Nigerian food boom
Operation Mincemeat musical transfers to Broadway
Brotherhood of Man singer Martin Lee dies aged 77
BBC apologises to Abbington but her claims only partly upheld
Has Strictly Come Dancing been tainted by scandal?
Wag the Dog to All the President's Men: 10 of the best films about US presidential elections
Joker: Folie à Deux to Woman of the Hour: 12 of the best films to watch in October 2024
Rivals to The Diplomat: 11 of the best TV shows to watch this October
11 of the best TV shows to watch this September
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to Wolfs: 11 of the best films to watch in September
'It is a kind of marriage': When Denmark held the first ever same-sex civil unions
'An unmistakable stab at the USSR': Could Amadeus be the most misunderstood Oscar winner ever?
'I couldn't sleep or eat - but I could sew': Meet the founder of the slogan-jumper brand celebrities love
'Extremely problematic': How cult 'art house erotica' film Emmanuelle became a global hit - and dated badly
Wuthering Heights: Hollywood's worst casting decisions
'It tanked at the box office': Frank Darabont and Morgan Freeman on The Shawshank Redemption's path from flop to classic
'Rubbish and dull. Pointless': How Lord of the Flies was rescued from the reject pile
'To me Clint closely resembled a cat': Sergio Leone on the role that made Eastwood a movie star
'I heard the sirens go and I was all wobbly at the knees': The life-changing day World War Two began
'There is an awful lot of teasing in the family about my image': Julie Andrews on the mixed legacy of being Mary Poppins
'The one thing we're all afraid of is going insane' – Stockholm Syndrome and the art of hostage negotiation
'This will make them scream': Alfred Hitchcock on his film-making secrets
Lauryn Hill sued for fraud by Fugees bandmate
Music studio used by stars soaked by leaky roof
'His loss wrecked me' - NI rappers use music to grieve
Exhibition shows 'powerful' British Indian journey
Inside 140-year-old museum during mammoth renovations
City museums to undergo £58m makeover
Hundreds celebrate life of respected jazz musician
Lightshow to dazzle Rochester Cathedral
Gruffalo illustrator's postcard for handwriting club

Arts
Dame Maggie Smith obituary: A formidable star on stage and screen
The great artist recluse and his 78 missing paintings
The journey that helped save Nigeria's art for the nation
Salvador Dalí talks about his iconic, 'very aggressive' moustache
The earliest pictures capturing the art and beauty of Indian monuments
From Picasso and Hokusai's Prussian Blue to Vermeer's shade of red: A history of art in 7 colours
The rare blue the Maya invented
The colour that means both life and death
The shady past of the colour pink
The toxic colour that comes from volcanoes
The mysterious painting that changed how we see colour
The insect that painted Europe red
Paul McCartney's missing bass and other mysterious musical instrument disappearances
How opera is aiming for net zero amid worsening climate change
Antonio Pappano: How opera can be 'open to everyone'
Bryn Terfel: The nation that is the 'land of song'
Gen Z and young millennials' surprising obsession
'Significant leak' at venue cancels Tim Peake talk
Anglican cathedral exhibition visits city
Exhibition highlights role of art in mental health
Banksy's bullet-proof vest to be auctioned
'Woof': Museum celebrates dogs through the ages

Travel
How Japan’s tsunami-ravaged coastline is being transformed by hope
The only place where whales come to watch you
How has the digital nomad trend evolved over the years?
Businesses warn tourism scheme could cost jobs
Cruise ship stuck in Belfast still anchored in lough
Panemunė: The scenic road that saved Europe's banned language
Norway's simple answer to greener, cleaner living
A Tolkien trail: Where to find the real-life Middle-earth
Five of the world's most beautiful climbing locations
World Nomad Games: The spectacular 'Olympics' of Central Asia
The unlikely country that may have invented surfing
Eight of the world's most extraordinary tiny hotel rooms
Football legend Philipp Lahm's insider guide to Munich
Here's where Asia's best female chef goes for pad Thai in Bangkok
Where a Michelin star chef goes for paella in Valencia
Where Mario Lopez goes for the best Mexican food in Los Angeles
Dinner with a view: Five of Sydney's best waterfront restaurants
Here's where a punk rock private chef eats out in the Hamptons
Survivorman Les Stroud takes you on his top five Canadian outdoor adventures
How Pierre Gasly would spend a weekend in Milan
Spain's spectacular wine region navigated by boat
El Hierro: How the youngest Canary Island escaped mass tourism
The incredible reinvention of Ireland's 'awful' tourist town
A remote jungle lodge that only takes 20 guests
Giresun, Turkey: The hazelnut capital of the world
The English wine that's rivalling Champagne
A revolutionary gin from Sir Isaac Newton's iconic apple tree
The underground pasta school in an abandoned Italian ghost town
What makes a tourist attraction?
The summer that tourism fell apart
The new Swedish hiking trail linking Stockholm to car-free island paradises
'It seems like a simple thing, but it means a lot': How autism-certified destinations are changing travel
Germany's sophisticated alternative to Oktoberfest
Athens, Georgia: The US South's coolest college town
How Northern Ireland is reclaiming its story
The US state where 'America drinks its way to health'
Kayaking the waters that shaped New York City

Earth
A Himalayan river may be making Everest taller
Hundreds missing as Helene death toll rises to 135
Tropical moths travel 4,500 miles in woman's bag
AI-generated nature walk highlights climate change
Project reveals undiscovered ancient woodlands
First beaver kits born on estate
What if polluters footed the climate bill?
The logger who learned the value of living trees
Moo Deng: The shrinking habitat of the world's most celebrated hippo
How climate change is rewriting the rules of extreme storms
Pearl Street, Niagara Falls and the war of the currents: The eccentric beginnings of New York's bright lights
From wastelands to wetlands: The fight to save Sri Lanka's natural flood buffers
'Our plan worked': How Vienna prepared itself for a 5,000-year flood
How restoring rivers' natural curves can prevent flooding
'It smells like a food bin that's overflowing': The weird biology of the giant smelly 'corpse plant'
Climate a more fundamental threat than terror - Lammy


Bowen: Iran wanted to do real damage, and Israel's response may not be as restrained as last time

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g5wdezxe7o, today

When Iran attacked Israel in April, it seemed like it was making a point – but Iran effectively gave notice of the attack in terms of how it carried it out, and everything was pretty much shot out of the air by Israeli and American defences. This time around it’s different. The Iranians looked like they wanted to do some serious damage and were making a much more aggressive point. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps put out an announcement saying that they were retaliating to the killings of senior leaders in Hamas and Hezbollah, and warned that if Israel retaliated, in turn they would strike back. Last time around, Joe Biden said to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu – “Take the win”, don’t carry out a big response - and they didn’t. This time around in Israel the mood is very different. FOLLOW LIVE: Israel sends more troops to Lebanon Look at the tweet from former prime minister Naftali Bennet last night, using very strong language, saying: “This is the greatest opportunity in 50 years to change the face of the Middle East.” He was arguing that Israel should go after Iran’s nuclear facilities, in order to “fatally cripple this terrorist regime”. Now he’s not prime minister (although he is widely tipped to be a future one, so he was making a point to show he is tough) but it does reflect a certain mood in the country. I would not rule out attacks by Israel on anything at the moment – nuclear sites, petrochemical facilities, anything that could cause damage to the Iranian economy. The scenario always was that Iran had a forward defence in the shape of Hezbollah in Lebanon, with a massive arsenal of sophisticated weapons, to be used, in theory, if Iran and its nuclear facilities were attacked. But in the last couple of weeks, Israel has decapitated the Hezbollah organisation, destroyed half of its weapons, according to American and Israeli authorities; and invaded Lebanon. Explained: What is Hezbollah and why is Israel attacking Lebanon?BC Verify: Analysing footage of Israeli strikes on BeirutThe deterrent Iran had, you could argue, is not just gone – it’s smashed into a thousand pieces. So I think the Israelis are feeling more free to act. And Joe Biden is moving another carrier battle group to the Mediterranean, signalling to the Iranians that if you hit Israel, you hit the US too. This is why people were talking about the fear of the war spreading: the instability, the turbulence that comes from everything that’s been happening – now we are seeing it play out and it leaves very little room for diplomacy at this moment.


UN chief banned from Israel in row over Iran

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy43j9944lno, today

The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has been banned from entering Israel over his response to Iran's ballistic missile bombardment. In a statement, Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz called Guterres an "anti-Israel secretary-general who lends support to terrorists". Writing on social media site X, formerly Twitter, after Iran fired about 180 missiles into Israel, Guterres said he condemned "the broadening of the Middle East conflict with escalation after escalation" and said these "must stop". He said the region "absolutely" needed a ceasefire, but did not specifically mention the Iran attack.

In a statement on Wednesday, Katz declared the UN secretary general persona non grata, saying that anyone who "cannot unequivocally condemn Iran's heinous attack on Israel does not deserve to step foot on Israeli soil". He specifically criticised Guterres for "his anti-Israel policy since the beginning of the war". Tuesday's attack by Iran is the latest in a series of escalations, starting almost a year ago with attacks on Israel by Hamas, and recently involving increased fighting between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel. Live: Latest news on Israel and HezbollahExplained: What to know about the Israel-Hezbollah conflictAnalysis: What might Hezbollah, Israel and Iran do next?Watch: Explosions seen on Israel-Lebanon borderBowen: Israel claims its biggest victory yet against HezbollahIsrael launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October by Hamas gunmen, during which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. Since the attack, a military campaign in Gaza has now killed a total of 41,689 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Over the course of the conflict, there have been a number of clashes between Israel and the United Nations about the situation in Gaza and the West Bank. There has also been friction between Israel and the UN over the role of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. In January, Israel alleged that a number of the agency's staff members had been involved in the 7 October attacks. In response to this, the agency launched an investigation - with a number of its international funders withdrawing support for it, before later reinstating it. In August, nine staff members were dismissed over potential involvement in the attacks. During the conflict, UNRWA has criticised Israel for air strikes in Gaza which have killed its staff members.


First came the alert message, then the boom of interceptions

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq5ejqj3dy9o, today

Everybody’s phone buzzed at once with an alert at around 19:30 local time. It read: “You must enter a protected area immediately and remain there until further notice.” The message was sent by the Israel Defense Force’s Home Front Command and ended with the phrase "life-saving instructions”. People began to head for shelter in safe rooms as missiles were launched towards Israel from Iran. The sirens sounding across the country were heard by millions. As the wail of the alarm rang outside, we moved to the shelter in the BBC’s Jerusalem Bureau - a secure part of the building with no windows.

We could hear frequent booms as missiles flew overhead and were intercepted by Israel’s defence system. Videos captured here and elsewhere shared on social media showed streams of light as the missiles flew over Israel - and clouds of smoke as they were intercepted or detonated on impact. “There’s loads of them,” a contact exclaimed in a video filmed in southern Israel that shows circles of light in the night sky. At about 20:00, the IDF said its aerial defence array was identifying and intercepting the launches, and called on people to “remain in a protected space until further notice”. It continued: “The explosions you are hearing are from interceptions and fallen projectiles.” Concern had been mounting across Israel as reports emerged early in the evening that Iran was preparing a strike. It came after Israeli troops invaded Lebanon, in what its military calls a "limited, localised and targeted" ground operation against Hezbollah.

Iran launches barrage of missiles at Israel - follow live updatesWhat we know about Iran's missile attack on IsraelVideo shows missiles fired towards Tel Aviv

As missiles flew overhead, messages streamed in from people in different parts of the country, waiting in their safe rooms. “There’s a lot of alarms all the time so we’re in the safe room… But we’re OK for now,” a mother of two in the south of Israel told me by voice note. “Very, very scary. I still cannot believe this is our life… it was VERY close,” a message from a journalist in Tel Aviv said. “Usually we stay on our floor and don’t go down to the shelter but this time…we realised we had to go down.” “It was very loud,” lawyer Efrat Eldan Schechter says by WhatsApp message from Ra’anana in central Israel, adding that she believes “it is not the end for tonight”. “We need to see how it will evolve. It is very scary indeed… but we are strong and confident that our IDF will protect us. Iran just made a huge mistake.” About an hour after the first message, phones again vibrated with a new alert from the Home Front Command, telling people they could leave shelters and protected areas. Following the strikes, the IDF spokesperson said there were some hits in central and southern Israel. There have been reports of some minor injuries. “At this stage we don’t identify more launches from Iran. Stay responsible and listen to instructions,” Daniel Hagari said in a televised address. Israel says at least 180 missiles were fired, most of them intercepted.


What we know about Iran's missile attack on Israel

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70w1j0l488o, today

Iran has launched hundreds of missiles towards Israel, with at least some striking Israeli territory. It is the second attack by Iran this year, after it fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel in April. Israeli army officials said the attacks appear to be over and that there is no more threat from Iran "for now". But it is not yet clear how much damage has been caused. Here's what we know so far.

What was the scale of Iran's attack?

Iran launched around 180 missiles towards Israel, the Israeli military said. That would make it a slightly larger attack than April's barrage, which saw about 110 ballistic missiles and 30 cruise missiles fired towards Israel. Footage carried by Israeli TV appeared to show some missiles flying over the Tel Aviv area shortly before 19:45 local time (17:45 BST). Military officials have confirmed that some hits were recorded during the attack. A military spokesperson said Israel recorded "a few hits in the centre and other areas in the south of the country". Meanwhile, Iran claimed that 80% of projectiles hit their targets. IRGC sources told state media in Tehran that it had targeted three Israeli military bases in the attack. Iran launches barrage of missiles at IsraelBut the Israeli military emphasised that "a large number" of the missiles fired by Iran were intercepted. Flashes in the sky above Tel Aviv appeared to show air defences intercepting some incoming fire. In Jerusalem, BBC reporters on the ground said they heard at least two interceptions. Israeli medics said they had yet to receive reports of any serious injuries, though two people were slightly wounded by shrapnel. The military issued a similar message.

Why has Iran attacked Israel?

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a statement that the attacks were in response to Israel's killing of a top IRGC commander and leaders of Iran-backed militias in the region. It mentioned the killings of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC commander Abbas Nilforoshan in Beirut last weekend. It also referenced the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July. While Israel has not admitted to being behind Haniyeh's death, it is widely believed to be responsible. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that the country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had personally given the order to attack. The attacks are merely the latest escalation in a long-running shadow war between the two powers. Iran does not recognise Israel's right to exist and seeks its eradication. It has spent years backing paramilitary organisations opposed to Israel as part of its Axis of Resistance. Israel believes that Iran poses an existential threat and has spent years running covert operations against Tehran.

Were the missiles stopped by Iron Dome?

Israel has a sophisticated system of air defences, the most well known of which is the Iron Dome. It is designed to intercept short-range rockets of the sort fired by Hamas and Hezbollah. While it was used to defend against some elements of Iran's last attack in April, other elements of the country's "layered" defence systems likely did the bulk of the work on Tuesday. David’s Sling - a joint US-Israeli manufactured system - is used to intercept medium to long-range rockets, as well as ballistic and cruise missiles. And when it comes to long-range ballistic missiles, which fly outside the earth’s atmosphere, Israel has the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 interceptors.

How have Israel's allies reacted?

The White House said President Joe Biden had ordered US forces in the region to "aid Israel's defence" and shoot down Iranian missiles. One Pentagon official told the BBC's US partner, CBS News, that American assets in the region had intercepted some of the incoming missiles and were continuing to defend Israel. The Reuters news agency reported witnessing some missiles being intercepted as they flew over neighbouring Jordan. The country also show down a number of missiles during Iran's last attack in April.

What happens next?

The Israeli military is already warning of severe repercussions following the attack. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Daniel Haggari said the attack had been "serious" and that the country remained on high alert. "This attack will have consequences," Rear Adm Haggari said. "We have plans, and we will operate at the place and time we decide.” Earlier, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said there would be "severe consequences" for Iran if it carried out an attack on Israel following a conversation with the country's defence minister, Yoav Gallant. In its statement, the IRGC said that Tehran's response would be "more crushing and ruinous" if Israel retaliated.


Who won the Vance-Walz vice-presidential debate?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y0863ry88o, today

Tuesday night’s vice-presidential debate between Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz was a civil, relatively restrained conversation about issues facing American voters during the 2024 campaign. In that, it was unlike the two presidential debates earlier this year. There were moments when Vance bristled at what he though was unfair fact-checking from the two CBS moderators, and at one point microphones of both candidates were temporarily muted. But for the most part, the exchanges between the two candidates – and the candidates and the moderators – were civil. There were even times when they agreed – and said so. “There’s a lot of commonality here,” Walz said toward the end of the evening. When the topic turned to affordable housing, co-moderator Nora O’Donnell noted that both candidates seemed to care strongly. And when Walz spoke of his 17-year-old witnessing a shooting at a community center, Vance seemed genuinely concerned. “I'm sorry about that and I hope he's doing OK,” Vance said. “Christ have mercy, it is awful." But the two arrived with different images and skills, which was evident from the start of the debate. Vance typically has a smoother delivery and appears more experienced on television, while Walz has a more down-to-earth, everyman feel. Early on, Vance's answers Tuesday night flowed clearly and he seemed more confident, while Walz stumbled, seeming uncomfortable, stilted and unfamiliar with certain topics. A tempered debate, with few political body blows, also probably served Vance best in the end, as it gave him space to defend running mate Donald Trump, and smooth over some of the former president’s rougher edges. If Vance was picked because he puts ideological meat on the bones of Trump’s conservative populism, on Tuesday night Vance put a polite, humble face on them, as well. “Something these guys do is they make a lot of claims about if Donald Trump becomes president, all of these terrible consequences are going to ensue,” he said. “But in reality, Donald Trump was president. Inflation was low. Take home pay was higher."

Cordial - with a few clashes

The most vigorous disagreements came toward the end of the debate, on the topic of Trump’s repeated claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Vance, when asked if Trump lost the last presidential election, dodged the question and criticised what he said was Kamala Harris’s censorship. Walz quickly noted that it was a “damning non-answer”. “To deny what happened on January 6, the first time an American president or anyone tried to overturn an election, this has got to stop. “It’s tearing our country apart.” Walz went on to say that the only reason Mike Pence, Trump’s previous vice-president, was not on stage was because he certified President Joe Biden’s victory. Vance had no answer to that, highlighting that beyond his friendly demeanour and agreeability, he would not break from Trump’s unsubstantiated claims.

Two different styles

Vance and Walz entered this debate with different skill sets. Vance has sparred with journalists on television in heated exchanges. Walz is at home on the campaign stump, using his folksy style in contrast to more polished politicians. In the early part of this debate, with both candidates standing behind podiums in a New York City television studio, Vance seemed much more comfortable. His answers were smooth, and relentlessly on-message, constantly reminding the audience that for all of Vice-President Kamala Harris’s promises, Democrats have held the White House for the past three and a half years. “If Kamala Harris has such great plans for how to address middle class problems, then she ought to do them now,” he said. Walz, for his part, seemed halting and unsure on the opening topic, dealing with Tuesday’s Iranian missile attack on Israel. The Minnesota governor rarely talks about foreign policy, and his discomfort on the subject was apparent. The Democrat settled in as the debate moved along, and during his exchanges with Vance on the topic of immigration – an area of strength for the Republicans – both delivered well-honed messages. Vance deflected accusations that he amplified false claims about Haitian immigrants stealing and eating pets in Ohio. “The people I'm most worried about in Springfield, Ohio are the American citizens who have had their lives ruined by Kamala Harris's border policies,” he said. Vance said undocumented migration burdens city resources, drives up prices and pushes down wages. Walz pointed to Trump’s opposition to proposed bipartisan immigration legislation earlier this year. “I believe Senator Vance wants to solve this, but by standing with Donald Trump and not working together to find a solution, it becomes a talking point, and when it becomes a talking point like this, we dehumanize and villainize other human beings.”

When the topic turned to abortion – an area of strength for Democrats, according to polls – it was Vance who played defence, acknowledging that Republicans have to work to earn the trust of American voters. "I want us as a Republican Party to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word,” he said. “I want us to make it easier for moms to afford to have babies. There’s so much we can do on the public policy front just to give women more options.” Walz countered by saying that the Democratic view on abortion is simple: “We are pro-women. We are pro-freedom to make your own choice.” If Walz was more pointed on abortion, he declined to push his attacks when the subject turned to gun control. After Vance said that it was important to increase security in schools, making doors and windows “stronger”, Walz talked up background checks rather than endorsing Democratic calls for bans on assault weapons and other limitations firearms. As a congressman, Walz regularly voted in favour of gun rights and against many gun control measures, winning the praise of the pro-gun National Rifle Association. During the debate he said his views on gun control changed after the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, but some Democrats may be disappointed he did not press Vance more Tuesday night.

What's the impact of a VP debate?

American political history suggests that vice-presidential debates don’t really matter. In 1988, Democrat Lloyd Bentsen dismantled Republican Dan Quayle. A few months later, Quayle was sworn in as vice-president after his ticket won in a landslide. It may turn out that this debate is similarly irrelevant to November’s results. Unless there is a last minute debate announced, however, it will be the last word both parties have on a debate stage before Election Day. Walz did no harm to the Democratic ticket and showed some of the midwestern charm that made him Harris’s choice. But Vance’s strong performance is likely to buoy Republicans in the days ahead. And the debate’s lasting impact may be to convince members of his party that the Ohio senator – who is only 40 - has a future in national conservative politics, given his ability to clearly advance their ideological priorities on the brightest of stages.

More on US election

LIVE COVERAGE: Vance-Walz debate SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote EXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide election FACT CHECK: Was US economy stronger under Biden or Trump? POLICIES: What Harris or Trump would do in power POLLS: Who is winning the race for the White House?

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his twice weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.


More than 100 to sue Sean 'Diddy' Combs

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg56em38g2vo, today

More than 100 people are to sue rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs for sexual assault, rape and sexual exploitation, a US lawyer has said. "This is an important matter that we intend to aggressively pursue," Texas-based Tony Buzbee said. "We will leave no stone unturned to find all potentially liable parties, to include any individual or entity who participated in or benefitted from this egregious behaviour." The hip-hop mogul continues to deny all allegations of criminal wrongdoing.

The legal action is the latest against Mr Combs mogul who last week was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in another lawsuit filed in New York. Mr Combs was arrested last week and is currently in federal custody, facing criminal charges of racketeering and sex trafficking.


Defector tries returning to North Korea on stolen bus

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqjre1zpz5ko, today

South Korean police have detained a North Korean defector for attempting to cross the heavily-guarded border back to the North on a stolen bus. The man was caught Tuesday on the Unification Bridge that separates the two Koreas, where he ignored soldiers who asked him to stop and crashed the bus into a barricade. Though some 34,000 North Koreans have defected to the South since the Korean peninsula was divided more than 70 years ago, defectors seeking to return to the North are rare. The man, who is in his 30s, told police he had wanted to return home after experiencing difficulties in the South, according to South Korean media. He reportedly left North Korea about a decade ago.

He reportedly stole the bus at 01:00 local time on Tuesday (16:00 GMT Monday) from a garage in the northern city of Paju and was caught half an hour later. Surveillance footage from the garage showed the man wearing a hat, trying to open several vehicles until he managed to get into the bus. He was not found to have been under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the incident, reports say. The man, who has worked as a day labourer in Paju and other cities, told police that he had accumulated several unpaid fines, according to South Korean newspaper The Dong-A Ilbo. South Korea's law prohibits citizens, including defectors, from crossing the border to the North without government authorisation. North Korean defectors in the South are automatically granted citizenship. Offenders may be jailed up to ten years if convicted. South Korea receives over 1,000 defectors from the North each year. In contrast, the number of defectors returning to North Korea totalled just 31 from 2012 to 2022, according to the South's Unification Ministry. Some make the return, or attempt to do so, because the lives of defectors in the South sometimes fall short of expectations. The defectors earn around 2.3 million won ($1,740; £1,300) per month on average, according to a survey from Korea Hana Foundation published on Tuesday. Others want to go back to see their family members. However these returns are risky. Some returnees have been imprisoned while others have undergone rigorous re-education back in the North. In January 2022, a defector in his 30s returned to North Korea after a year in the South. He had struggled to resettle in the South as he was "barely scrapping a living", reports said, citing South Korean officials.


'It was respectable': Midwest voters praise tone of head-to-head

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2m0k4z3jyo, today

For Americans, Tuesday night's debate between vice-presidential contenders Ohio Senator JD Vance and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was a fresh opportunity to compare the two tickets. But it was an especially important night for voters from the Midwest. Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump both chose running mates from the region, hoping to court votes in key states. The BBC spoke to five Midwestern residents from across the political spectrum who saw Tuesday night's 90-minute debate as a welcome dose of civility, even if it didn't change their vote. Who won the Vance-Walz vice-presidential debate?Muted mics and politeness - six takeaways from VP debate

Jim, a life-long Republican, voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, but he says Vance could be a strong candidate in the future. Without hesitation, I 100% think that JD Vance won this debate. He did what he needed to do. He got the style points, but he also got the substantive points. Tim Walz on the other hand seemed flustered, he seemed taken aback at times. Vice-presidential debates don't usually add up to be that much of a big deal, but this one may be an exception. This was the most substantive, policy-driven, most normal debate that we've seen in a long time in this country.

Shana's perspective on the election did not change after the debate, but she is more hopeful about the future of American politics after seeing the vice-presidential debate. I did like the comradery that they seemed to show, they at least played nice. It looked like bipartisan politics is supposed to look. Yes, there were times where it felt like they got a little heated and they may have talked over each other a little bit, but at the same time it didn't really dissolve into bickering. There were times where they were able to admit they agreed with each other on issues. It actually meant something at the end to see them shaking hands and chatting. It was striking to me.

Christina is leading towards supporting the Harris-Walz ticket, but has voted from Trump in the past. I enjoyed hearing from them both and the fact that they actually had a discussion and didn't just fight or call each other names. I was happy they agreed when it came to gun violence and they both agreed to have a conversation about the issue. When I was listening to these two, I was thinking we might actually be able to make progress.

This long-time Republican was impressed by Vance and the senator's performance reinforces his support for the Trump-Vance ticket. I thought the two of them were civil in how they treated each other, which was a good thing to see. JD Vance was accurate, factual and was very respectful and really unflappable. This is a brilliant guy who has come from an extraordinarily modest upbringing. Meanwhile, Walz was caught in multiple lies by the moderators. The style of the two men was completely different and I thought Vance's far more favourable.

Kristin generally supports Democrats and plans to vote for Harris-Walz because she trusts them on abortion, a top issue for her. Walz won to me for actually answering most of the questions. Vance kept saying the names of the female moderators - Margaret, Norah - and it’s something I find men do in a condescending way. I found him smug, a bit condescending, and evasive. Walz did fine enough, it doesn’t really affect my support of him and Kamala Harris. It was respectable that they agreed on some issues as problems and didn’t lean heavily into personal attacks. They did talk more about policy than I expected.

SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the voteEXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide electionFACT CHECK: Was US economy stronger under Biden or Trump?

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.


Immigration, Project 2025, taxes - VP debate claims fact-checked

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cevyzkdx73yo, today

Vice-presidential candidates Tim Walz and JD Vance sparred on stage during their one and only debate of the 2024 US election campaign. Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, and Vance, a Republican senator representing Ohio, traded claims on key election issues including immigration, foreign policy and reproductive rights. Here are some claims from each candidate which the BBC Verify team fact-checked.

Are there up to 25 million illegal aliens in the US?

CLAIM: Vance: “We’ve got 20-25 million illegal aliens who are here in the country.” VERDICT: These numbers are much higher than estimates for the number of illegal immigrants in the US. Vance made this claim while criticising the border policies of President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. It is impossible to know how many illegal immigrants have come to the US, as many will have evaded law enforcement agencies, but several estimates put the number at around half the number Vance claims. A report published by the Office of Homeland Security earlier this year estimated the number of illegal immigrants living in the US, as of January 2022, at 11 million. Pew Research Center also came up with an estimate of 11 million in the same year. The non-partisan Migration Policy Institute estimated there were about 11.3 million undocumented immigrants in the US in 2021. And conservative think tank the Center for Immigration Studies estimated there were approximately 12 million in May 2023.

Is Trump planning to register pregnancies?

CLAIM: Walz: “Their Project 2025 is going to have a registry of pregnancies.” VERDICT: Project 2025 does not mention a registry of pregnancies and there is no evidence Trump is planning to introduce one. Here, Walz was trying to link Vance and Trump to Project 2025 - a wish list of ultra-conservative policy proposals by the Heritage Foundation think tank. Walz might be referring to a section in the document which states that a future Trump administration “should use every available tool, including the cutting of funds, to ensure that every state reports exactly how many abortions take place within its borders”. Project 2025 suggests that US health authorities and states should collect such data, but it does not refer to any new federal agency to register pregnancies. Trump has repeatedly distanced himself from Project 2025 - though dozens of former Trump administration officials have contributed to the think tank's proposals.

WHO WON? Anthony Zurcher analyses the showdownWATCH: Video highlights of the key momentsVOTER PANEL: Midwest voters praise tone of VP debate TAKEAWAYS: Six things to remember from Vance v Walz

Did the Biden-Harris administration give Iran $100bn in unfrozen assets?

CLAIM: Vance: “Iran has received over $100bn in unfrozen assets by the Harris administration." VERDICT: This is false. There is no evidence that the Biden-Harris administration has unfrozen over $100bn (£75bn). Speaking just hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack against Israel, Vance criticised the government over Iran. Iran has had billions of dollars frozen in foreign banks as a result of international sanctions. Around $50bn of "useable assets" were unfrozen as part of the Iran nuclear deal negotiated under President Barack Obama in July 2015. But Kamala Harris was not part of his administration. There have been two agreements between the US and Iran under the Biden administration which released around $16bn in Iranian assets. One was an extension of a deal introduced by Trump in 2018 which allowed Iran to access $10bn of frozen assets. The other was a deal between the US and Iran made in September 2023, in which prisoners were exchanged and $6bn of Iranian assets released. The deal stated that the unfrozen funds could only be used by Iran for humanitarian purposes. We have asked the Trump-Vance campaign what the basis for their $100bn claim is.

Has Trump paid any federal tax in the last 15 years?

CLAIM: Walz said “Donald Trump hasn’t paid any federal tax in the last 15 years". He then added “in the last year as president". VERDICT: The first claim is false, the second true. Trump has paid tax over the last 15 years but according to a report, he did not pay any in the last year of his presidency. A 2022 report, by the House Ways and Means Committee, released Trump's federal income tax returns for the years 2015 to 2020. They show he paid: In 2015, $641,931In 2016, $750In 2017, $750In 2018, $999,466In 2019, $133,445However, in 2020, his last year as president, Trump did not pay any federal income tax - so Walz was right on this year, after correcting himself during the debate. Before becoming president in 2016, Trump declined to disclose his tax returns.

Reporting by Merlyn Thomas, Lucy Gilder & Jake Horton

More on the US election:

SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the votePOLLS: Who is winning the race for the White House?EXPLAINER: What Harris or Trump would do in powerTIM WALZ: He's the new VP pick. To his students, he's Mr WalzJD VANCE: How he went from 'never Trump' to become his running mate

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.


Vance refuses to answer whether Trump lost 2020 election

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpw5148zkzyo, today

JD Vance has refused to say whether he thinks Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, and whether he would contest the 2024 vote if Democrats win next month. The Republican vice-presidential candidate - who has previously said he would have challenged the 2020 result if given the chance - avoided giving answers on both issues during Tuesday night's debate. In a head-to-head that was largely civilised in tone, he was accused by his Democratic opponent Tim Walz of "a damning non-answer" after sidestepping a question about that result and the Capitol riot on 6 January 2021. Trump was seeking a second term then and has spent years making false claims about voter fraud during that poll.

WHO WON? Anthony Zurcher analyses the showdownWATCH: Video highlights of the key momentsLISTEN: The Americast team digest the debateVOTER PANEL: Midwest voters praise tone of VP debateTAKEAWAYS: Six things to remember from Vance v Walz

The exchange unfolded after the CBS News moderators asked Vance if he would try to challenge the results of November's election, even if every US state governor certified them - as was the case in 2020. Vance did not directly answer, instead saying he was "focused on the future". He sought to defend Trump over the riot during which President Trump's supporters attacked the US Capitol building in an effort to stop Joe Biden becoming president. Vance said Trump had simply spoken of "problems" in 2020, and insisted that Trump had only said that "protesters ought to protest peacefully". Turning to the outcome of the 2024 vote, he said: "If Tim Walz is the next vice-president, he'll have my prayers, he'll have my best wishes, and he'll have my help whenever he wants it." But Walz persisted with the events of 2020 - challenging Vance to answer whether Trump had lost the poll. When Vance again sought to change the topic, Walz said: "That is a damning non-answer." Walz added that they were "miles apart" on the issue, despite agreeing on other things during their 90-minute debate. Other than one or two other tussles - including an exchange on immigration that led to the two men's microphones being muted - the debate was polite in tone. Walz found himself under pressure from the moderators over past comments of his own - marking the latest occasion in which he has fallen foul of fact-checkers. He admitted that he "misspoke" when he claimed he was in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing. News reports from the time show that he was actually in the US when the events took place in China. Tuesday's event in New York marked the first and only scheduled head-to-head between the pair. Polling by CBS News immediately afterwards suggested that 42% of viewers felt Vance won the debate, compared to 41% who thought Walz came out on top. Some 17% called the debate a tie.

More on US election

SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the voteEXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide electionFACT CHECK: Was US economy stronger under Biden or Trump?POLICIES: What Harris or Trump would do in powerPOLLS: Who is winning the race for the White House?

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his twice weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.


Tributes to Roots and Good Times actor John Amos

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgmgzrx08kgo, today

Tributes have been paid to actor John Amos, who made his mark on US TV in the hugely popular landmark series Roots, and Good Times. Amos, who was 84, played stern but loving patriarch James Evans in Good Times, one of the first sitcoms about a black family, from 1974. But he was fired after three seasons following heated and long-running arguments about how the show's white writers depicted its characters. He went on to play the older Kunta Kinte in Roots, a milestone drama about an African man who is shipped to America as a slave. Amos also had roles in films like Die Hard 2, Coming To America and Uncut Gems.

His other TV credits included The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The West Wing, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, 30 Rock and Two and a Half Men. His final role will be seen in the forthcoming series Suits LA.

'His legacy will live on'

Paying tribute, fellow actor Martin Lawrence wrote on social media: "This one hits different. My condolences go out to the family of a true legend, John Amos." His Good Times co-star Jimmie Walker told People: "John was a great actor and my condolences go out to his entire family, friends and his many, many fans." Announcing Amos's death, his son Kelly Christopher said: "He was a man with the kindest heart and a heart of gold... and he was loved the world over. "Many fans consider him their TV father. He lived a good life. His legacy will live on in his outstanding works in television and film as an actor." Veteran weather presenter Al Roker posted that Amos always "brought dignity, grace and honesty to his roles". He wrote: "I remember him as Gordy The Weatherman at WJM [in The Mary Tyler Moore Show] when we was just starting as a TV weather guy in 1974 and seeing him as a role model. "And when he quit Good Times, people respected him for his stand. He will be missed."

Amos started out as an American football player before breaking into acting in comedies The Leslie Uggams Show and Maude. His character in Maude - along with his on-screen wife, played by Esther Rolle - then got a spin-off in the shape of Good Times, set in a high-rise housing project in Chicago. "That show was the closest depiction in reality to life as an African American family living in those circumstances as it could be," Amos told Time magazine in 2021. But it was often not close enough for the actor, who clashed with creator Norman Lear and asked to make changes to the writing team's scripts. "They'd go on about their credits," he told SiriusXM radio. He said he would respond: "Well, how long have you been black? That just doesn't happen in the community. We don't think that way. We don't act that way. We don't let our children do that."

'Not the most diplomatic guy'

He particularly objected to the increasing prominence of the character of his son JJ, played by Walker, who had the catchphrase "dyn-o-mite". "I felt too much emphasis was being put on JJ in his chicken hat, saying 'dy-no-mite!' every third page," Amos recalled. "I felt just as much emphasis and mileage could have been gotten out of my other two children, one of whom aspired to become a Supreme Court justice, played by Ralph Carter, and the other, [played by] BernNadette Stanis, who aspired to become a surgeon. "But I wasn't the most diplomatic guy in those days, and [the producers] got tired of having their lives threatened over jokes. "So they said, 'Tell you what, why don’t we kill him off? We can get on with our lives!' "That taught me a lesson - I wasn’t as important as I thought I was to the show or to Norman Lear's plans." Good Times was adapted in the UK in 1976 as The Fosters, the first British sitcom with an all-black cast. Norman Beaton played the father, with Lenny Henry in one of his early roles as one of his sons. And earlier this year, Good Times was rebooted as an animated series by Netflix, which described it as a "spiritual sequel" to the original sitcom.

Amos moved on to Roots, which began in 1977, and which the US Library of Congress said was watched at least in part by 85% of all US households. Based on Alex Haley's novel, the mini-series "elevated the American consciousness" about the history of slavery and its modern-day impact, Amos told New York channel NY1 in 2022. "I knew that it was a life-changing role for me, as an actor and just from a humanistic standpoint," he told Time. "It was the culmination of all of the misconceptions and stereotypical roles that I had lived and seen being offered to me. It was like a reward for having suffered those indignities."


Russians claim key city of Vuhledar in Ukraine's east

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2knzxn9x7o, today

Russian troops are now in almost complete control of the eastern city of Vuhledar, which Ukrainian forces have been defending since the beginning of Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Analysts from DeepState, a prominent group that monitors frontline developments in Ukraine, report that Russians forces have captured the city, although that has not been confirmed officially. For more than two years Russia has been trying to take this city in order to advance further north and reach regional transportation hubs such as Kurakhove and Pokrovsk. Pro-Kremlin military bloggers have now posted several videos showing Russian soldiers with flags on rooftops of different buildings in Vuhledar.

Donetsk regional authorities confirmed on Tuesday that Russian troops had almost reached the city centre, and some reports said Ukrainian forces are still hanging on in some districts.

The BBC has spoken to two soldiers from the 72nd brigade who managed to leave the city before the final assault and take up new positions in the same area. They claim that their troops have withdrawn from the city. Over the past few days Ukrainian soldiers had to find their own way out of Vuhledar by foot as it was impossible to evacuate them otherwise, a machine-gunner who wished to remain anonymous said. Many were wounded and killed by Russian drones and artillery as they tried to leave, another soldier, Roman, says. Many more are still missing.

Moscow has launched numerous attacks to seize the city since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, but they all failed up until now. One of the biggest tank battles took place there last year. Instead of launching frontal assaults, the Russian army recently switched to its favourite tactic – advancing along the flanks to surround the target. Last month they seized the village of Prechystivka to the west and Vodyane to the east to complete a pincer movement. Moscow’s enormous advantage in weapons and troops - some soldiers have estimated the ratio of forces as seven to one - enabled them to break through Ukrainian defence lines along the flanks and approach Vuhledar.

It became clear that the city was doomed when the Russians effectively cut off the only remaining lifeline route – the road from Vuhledar to Bohoyavlenka. Russian troops advanced so close that their artillery and kamikaze drones targeted anyone and anything moving on that road. “We tried to send supplies, organise evacuation of our wounded and dead soldiers but without any success,” Roman said. “We lost a number of vehicles and then had to stop [such operations].” By Tuesday, about 100 civilians remained in Vuhledar, out of a pre-war population of 14,000, according to Donetsk regional head Vadym Filashkin. "Thank God, we evacuated all children. Regarding the 107 people who are still there, it's difficult to reach them and bring them humanitarian aid, drinking water, medicine because an active stage of war is under way."

The situation became critical when Russian troops entered the city, and Ukrainian units started retreating without waiting for the order to pull out. “If a withdrawal is not organised, it ends up being chaotic,” the machine-gunner explained. Ukrainian defenders were like Titans trying to stop the Russians, he said. But some groups, he added, had become completely disoriented because of a communication blackout. Their radios were down, and when they came under heavy fire, they had to make quick decisions on their own and often it was to retreat. Ukrainian defence lines were devastated by Russia’s aviation bombs and thermobaric weapon systems such as its Solntsepek heavy flame-thrower, in addition to drones and multiple rocket launchers. Facing such an onslaught, withdrawing from certain positions became unavoidable, Roman argued. “You either die or retreat.” But getting out from a city that had been nearly surrounded was extremely dangerous. During the daytime it became close to a suicide mission. Ukraine’s troops mostly tried to escape at night, having to cross mine fields via designated paths to avoid the road because it was closely monitored by the Russians. Until recently, evacuation vehicles had been able to drive in under cover of darkness with their headlights off, Roman explained. But once Russian troops had reached the centre of the city, the only way to escape was on foot. Those who managed to get out are exhausted and depressed. They are also angry at their commanders for not ordering the retreat earlier, because they argue it was obvious for some time that Ukrainian forces wouldn’t be able to hold the city for long. “I don’t know why [they didn’t give the order],” the machine-gunner said. “Maybe it’s fear of the military leadership or maybe it was an order from the top [to hold positions] with our blood until the very end.” Military officials from the 72nd brigade and Ukraine’s operational command in the area refused the BBC’s request to comment. In their most recent daily briefings, the military’s General Staff kept silent about Vuhledar. Wednesday morning’s briefing said merely that the “the enemy launched unsuccessful attacks on our positions in Bohoyavlenka’s direction”, without mentioning the situation in Vuhledar at all.


India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgnyxe0xzdo, today

The release of a blockbuster Pakistani film has been put on hold in India after officials in Delhi refused to give permission for its screening, the BBC has learnt. A remake of a 1979 Punjabi film, The Legend of Maula Jatt, is the highest ever grossing film in Pakistan. The movie was set to release in the northern Indian state of Punjab on Wednesday, which would have made it the first Pakistani film to hit Indian screens in more than a decade. The South Asian neighbours share a frosty relationship and tensions often affect cultural exchanges between them.

On Wednesday, a source close to Zee Studios - the film's distributor in India - confirmed to the BBC that its release had been stalled indefinitely, after the information and broadcasting ministry denied them permission. It's not immediately clear why the film was put on hold. The BBC has contacted the ministry for comment. Starring Pakistan's biggest stars Fawad Khan and Mahira Khan, the 2022 film tells the story of a local folk hero who takes on the leader of a rival clan. The film was initially supposed to release in India in 2022, but its screening was postponed indefinitely - until last month when its maker Bilal Lashari announced it would hit Indian theatres soon. “Two years in, and still house full on weekends in Pakistan! Now, I can’t wait for our Punjabi audience in India to experience the magic of this labour of love!” he wrote on Instagram. However, the news sparked protests in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, where the regional Maharashtra Navnirman Sena political party said it would not allow the film's release "under any circumstances". Mumbai, which is located in the state, is home to Bollywood, India's largest film industry. Following tensions, Zee Studios decided to limit the film’s release to Punjab state, which shares a border and language with Pakistan's Punjab province. Despite tense relations, Indian and Pakistan have always shared an affinity for each other's art and culture. Movies and web series made in India and Pakistan travel widely across the border. India’s Bollywood and Punjabi movies are particularly popular in Pakistan, while Pakistani series enjoy a large viewership in India. Performers in both the countries also have a history of cross-border collaborations, working together on film and music projects. But such collaborations came to a halt when Bollywood dropped Pakistani actors in 2016 and Pakistan banned Indian movies in 2019, over military tensions between the countries. A few Punjabi movies from India have been screened in Pakistan in recent months. In 2023, India's Supreme Court dismissed a petition that sought a complete ban on performers from Pakistan, asking the petitioners to not to be “so narrow minded”. Encouraged by this mild thaw in relations and Maula Jatt’s global success, its makers had hoped the folk drama would attract audiences in India. The leading actors of Maula Jatt are well-known in India for starring in popular Pakistani dramas. They have also previously appeared in big-budget Bollywood films.


Screams and chaos: Eyewitnesses describe Shanghai mall stabbing

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0e1zjqdlp2o, today

On Monday night, just 20 minutes before closing time, chaos erupted at the Ludu International Shopping Plaza in southwestern Shanghai’s Songjiang district. Police say that a 37-year old man surnamed Lin, went on a stabbing spree lunging at strangers as he traversed the maze-like shopping centre, past food outlets and upstairs to a Wallmart. He managed to strike 18 people and killed three of them. A 28-year-old construction worker identified only as Zheng had just finished eating barbeque with a friend when he saw people “running, hiding and screaming”. He tells us that he and his friend saw the man with his knives and tried to stop him - running at him and throwing chairs to try to slow him down or knock the weapons out of his hands. But Zheng says the man was moving too quickly, and they lost him as he moved to up to the second floor. “As everything became chaotic, we could only work out where he had gone to by hearing people’s screams,” Zheng says, adding, “As the attacker was stabbing people, he was shouting expletives in Chinese." Zheng says he thought the killer’s route “was defintely pre-planned”. “I believe he deliberately chose the exits; he must have scouted the area beforehand.” Two young stallholders on the outside the building – who saw police bring Lin to the ground – say he strode out of the shopping centre carrying a knife in each hand. Rather than running away from the scene of the carnage he had caused, he appeared calm, as if he knew exactly what he was doing. They tell the BBC that he carried himself as if he was in control of the situation, even as police officers caught him. Footage shared on social media captured the moment he was then taken away, his jacket splashed with what appeared to be the blood of his victims. Police say he had come to Shanghai with the aim of "venting his anger… due to a personal economic dispute" and that their investigations are continuing.

But barely a day later, when the BBC visited the Ludu International Shopping Plaza, it was as if this carnage never happened. There was no extended crime scene lockdown. Just over 12 hours after the deadly attack, the blood had been mopped up, and the plaza was open for business as usual. Yet the shock remains. A young shopkeeper, who had been rostered off at the time of the attack, says she is now scared to come to work. “It’s like a movie. You can’t believe there’d be something so terrifying right next to you”. She points to the extra security and police now stationed near her clothes shop. “Look at them,” she says, while admitting that she does feel safer having these officers around. We ask about her colleagues who were at work and had to run with others who were screaming through the corridors, in order to stay alive. “Of course they were terrified. None of them came to work today. They say they don’t dare to return,” she says. One young woman who operates a stall selling phone accessories and other small electrical goods says that if she had delayed shutting shop by just ten minutes, she would have been in the attackers path. “When I heard about it later, I was so scared I couldn’t sleep. Today I arrived at work obviously still scared.” She says she feels very lucky but terrified by how close she came to such extreme danger. This incident is the latest in a spate of knife attacks to hit China this year. There has been discussion about economic pressures causing rifts in society, not to excuse horrendous acts like this but in an attempt to explain the seemingly inexplicable. Then there is the question of mental illness here and how it is treated. For many years, knife attacks on strangers have come in waves in this country and they seem to be horrific copycat attempts at gaining attention. Either way, there is something very troubling in China leading to these bloody assaults. This week is supposed to be a time to celebrate what China has become, 75 years after the Communist Party came to power, but a killing spree ushered in the 7-day break. Shocking footage of those who were injured, struggling in pain on the floor, spread on social media. A woman nursing a stabbed toddler in her lap could be seen sobbing as she tried to telephone for help. Her other hand shook uncontrollably. At the time of writing, a family member who declined to be identified, told the BBC that the two and a half year old girl was still in intensive care. The sharing of these images and discussion of the attack is now being censored on China’s tightly controlled social media platforms although some are finding ways to talk about the subject using certain expressions to avoid being blocked. Yet in online discussion forums, there are still those who’ve welcomed the fact that in this country – as opposed to say the United States – it is very difficult for ordinary people to get hold of guns, as access to automatic weapons would mean many more deaths in cases like this. Yet the official move to try to erase this incident, and others like it, from the public discourse reveals the extent to which this is troubling for the government. Managers from Walmart and the entire Ludu Plaza stopped many staff from speaking to us, sometimes even interrupting us mid interview. Zheng for his part, says that on returning to the shopping centre the next day, he could not believe everything was simply “cleaned up” - no flowers. Nothing to mark the attack. “I can only feel sorrow for the victims,” he said.


Outrage over farmer accused of feeding women to pigs

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0jwq58z7vgo, today

The case of two black women who were allegedly shot and fed to pigs by a white farmer and two of his workers has caused outrage in South Africa. Maria Makgato, 45, and Lucia Ndlovu, 34, were allegedly looking for food on the farm near Polokwane in South Africa’s northern Limpopo province in August when they were shot. Their bodies were then alleged to have been given to pigs in an apparent attempt to dispose of the evidence. A court is now to decide whether to grant bail to farm owner Zachariah Johannes Olivier, 60, and his employees Adrian de Wet, 19, and William Musora, 50, ahead of their murder trial.

The three men have not yet been asked to enter a plea in court, which will happen when the trial begins at a later date. At previous hearings, protesters have demonstrated outside court demanding that the suspects be denied bail. Ms Makgato’s brother Walter Mathole has told the BBC the incident has further exacerbated racial tension between black and white people in South Africa. This is especially rife in rural areas of the country, despite the end of the racist system of apartheid 30 years ago. South Africa's deadly love affair with gunsThe volunteer crime fighters using whistles, whips and gunsThe three men in court in Polokwane also face charges of attempted murder for shooting at Ms Ndlovu's husband , who was with the women at the farm - as well as possession of an unlicensed firearm. Mabutho Ncube survived the ordeal on the evening of Saturday 17 August - and crawled away and managed to call a doctor for help. He says he reported the incident to police and officers found the decomposing bodies of his wife and Ms Makgato in the pigsty several days later. Mr Mathole said he was with officers and saw a horrific sight inside the pig enclosure: his sister’s body which had been partly eaten by the animals. The group had reportedly gone to the farm in search of edible food from consignments of recently expired or soon-to-be-expired produce. These were sometimes left at the farm and given to the pigs. The family of Ms Makgato say they are devastated by her killing - especially her four sons, aged between 22 and five years old. “My mum died a painful death, she was a loving mother who did everything for us. We lacked nothing because of her,” Ranti Makgato, the oldest of her sons, tearfully told the BBC. “I think I’ll sleep better at night if the alleged killers are denied bail,” he added. The opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party has said the farm should be shut down. “The EFF cannot stand by while products from this farm continue to be sold as they pose a danger to consumers,” it said after the bodies were found. The South African Human Rights Commission has condemned the killings and called for anti-racism dialogues between affected communities. Groups representing farmers, who are often white, say farming communities feel under attack in a country with a high rate of crime - though there is no evidence farmers are at any greater risk than anyone else. There have been two other incidents that have ratcheted up racial tension recently. In the eastern province of Mpumalanga, a farmer and his security guard were arrested in August for the alleged murder of two men at a farm in Laersdrift near the small town of Middleburg. It is alleged the two men, whose bodies were burnt beyond recognition, were accused of stealing sheep. The accused remain in custody while the ashes undergo DNA analysis. The most recent case involves a 70-year old white farmer who is alleged to have driven over a six-year-old boy, breaking both of his legs, for stealing an orange on his farm. The bail hearing for Christoffel Stoman, from Lutzville in Western Cape province, is ongoing. The court has heard that mother and son were walking past the farm as they made their way to town to buy groceries. It is alleged the six-year-old stopped to pick up an orange that was on the ground - and the mother watched on in horror as the farmer allegedly mowed him down. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the farmer was facing two counts of attempted murder and reckless driving. NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila told the BBC that the state was opposing the accused's application for bail. Two political parties - the African Transformation Movement and the Pan Africanist Congress - are calling for the expropriation of Mr Stoman’s farm following the incident.

South Africans' anger over land set to explodeAre protesters right on South Africa farm murder rate?The groups playing on the fears of a 'white genocide’

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica


Muted mics, abortion rights and civility: top takeaways from the VP debate

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crr5j1q8wlno, today

During the first and only vice-presidential debate, JD Vance and Tim Walz launched attacks on their presidential opponents and sparred over international conflict, the US economy, immigration and abortion rights. It was perhaps the most civil debate of the campaign season - with a largely cordial tone and even moments of agreement - but it still featured several heated moments and at least one muted microphone. Here are some of the most memorable moments of the debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris's running mates.

Election polls - is Harris or Trump ahead? Where Kamala Harris stands on 10 issues Where Donald Trump stands on 10 issues

Immigration clash leads to muted microphone

Immigration was a key topic throughout the 90-minute debate. Vance, a Republican senator from Ohio, frequently brought seemingly unrelated questions back to the issue of the US southern border, which is viewed by voters as a weakness for Democrats. Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, regularly countered that Trump had helped torpedo bipartisan legislation backed by the Biden administration that would have enacted some of the most severe immigration policy in US history. The discussion ultimately turned tense when Vance was asked about false claims he has made about illegal immigrants, including Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio. Vance and Trump have previously shared conspiracy theories that migrants came to the US illegally and have eaten household pets in the small city. When a CBS moderator tried to correct Vance over the claims, noting that the Haitian migrants in Springfield are there legally, the Ohio senator spoke over the hosts repeatedly, leading them to mute his microphone.

International conflict sets backdrop of the debate

The first question put to the candidates was on many Americans' minds on Tuesday: The conflict in the Middle East. Both Walz and Vance took the stage just hours after Iran launched a missile attack on Israel, whose prime minister - Benjamin Netanyahu - pledged that Iran would pay for the strike. Appearing nervous, Walz stumbled a bit during his first response as he repeated Harris's promise of iron-clad support of Israel. Vance, meanwhile, reiterated one of Trump's main talking points: That no new world conflicts broke out during the former president's time in office. Neither man, however, would say if they would approve of a preemptive strike by Israel on Iran.

Walz digs in on abortion and Vance shifts position

A top issue for voters in the 2024 election sparked one of the longest and most heated debates of the night: abortion rights. It's an issue Democrats have used to galvanize voters to the polls. They have regularly framed Trump as a threat to women's autonomy because of his role in appointing a conservative majority to the Supreme Court, which overturned Roe v Wade - the court ruling that previously protected abortion rights in the US. Walz took a similar approach on Tuesday, citing the stories of Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, two Georgia women whose deaths were connected to abortion restrictions in their home state. Until a state judge struck down the Georgia law, abortion was banned in the state after six weeks. Vance, meanwhile, said his position on the issue had changed. He said he previously supported some type of national restrictions on abortion, but argued that his position shifted when he saw the majority of Ohio voters supported access to abortion.

Walz on Tiananmen Square claim: 'I'm a knucklehead'

Just before the debate, Walz's previous claim that he was in Hong Kong when the Tiananmen Square massacre occurred in June 1989 collapsed under fresh scrutiny. "I'm a knucklehead at times," Walz said when asked about it during the debate. The Minnesota governor clarified that he had misspoken, but said that he was influenced by the events because he had arrived in China that summer. Vance also was asked to answer for some past comments, including his prior attacks on his running mate, Trump, who he had called "America's Hitler". The Ohio senator said in response that he, like many people, has made mistakes in the past. "I was wrong about Donald Trump," Vance told the moderators.

Politeness takes centre stage

The vice-presidential debate stood in stark contrast to Kamala Harris and Donald Trump’s first encounter last month, when insults flew and interruptions were frequent. Starting off the night with a handshake, both Vance and Walz proceeded to address each other politely and with great civility. At times, the two even smiled at each other and said he agreed with what the other was saying. There were only a few heated moments throughout the entire debate. The discussion grew somewhat tense when moderators asked about abortion and immigration, but the two men largely kept to the issues and away from personal attacks. They did direct some fire at the top of the ticket, however.

Vance defends Trump over 6 January

Another tense moment of the night occurred when Vance was asked to speak to Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was "rigged". The moderators also raised the fact that Vance previously said that he would not have certified the 2020 election results as vice-president. The Ohio senator maintained his support for Trump, saying that the former president had asked demonstrators on 6 January - the day of the Capitol riot - to protest peacefully. He added that Walz will "have my prayers, he'll have my best wishes and he'll have my help" if the Democrats win the election, but maintained that there were legitimate questions to raise about voting fraud and security. His answer was met with some scepticism from Walz, who said that he and his opponent were "miles apart" on the issue of 6 January and election integrity.

More on US election

He's the new VP pick. To his students, he's Mr WalzWho is Harris's VP pick Tim Walz?How JD Vance went from 'never Trump' to become his running mate

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his twice weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.


Walz says he 'misspoke' in personal story about Tiananmen Square

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm248g49nveo, today

US Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz has admitted during a live television debate that he "misspoke" when he claimed he was in Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Kamala Harris' running mate was asked by a debate moderator why he had repeatedly said over the years he was in Hong Kong as China’s communist rulers crushed pro-democracy protests, when he was in fact back in his home state of Nebraska. Walz, who is governor of Minnesota, said: “I’ve not been perfect and I’m a knucklehead at times.” It was not the first time Walz has fallen afoul of fact-checkers this campaign cycle.

His opponent on the debate stage, Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance, has also courted controversy with unfounded claims in this campaign, most notably about Haitian immigrants eating pets. In Tuesday night's CBS debate in New York City, the moderator asked Walz to explain why he had claimed he was in Hong Kong when Chinese forces killed hundreds, possibly thousands, of anti-government protesters in Tiananmen Square, Beijing, on 4 June 1989, shocking the world. Tiananmen Square: What happened in the protests of 1989?Walz touted his work as a teacher, congressman and governor, before saying he sometimes gets "caught up in the rhetoric". When pressed by the moderator about the timing discrepancy, Walz replied: "All I said on this was, I got there that summer and misspoke on this, so I will just - that's what I've said." He has previously said he was in Hong Kong a month before Tiananmen Square, then forged ahead with a yearlong teaching stint in the country in mainland China after the massacre. But news reports from the time show Walz was in Nebraska until that August, when he left for China. Republicans have branded him "Tiananmen Tim". Walz has also recently revised the amount of times he has been to China. In a 2016 interview he said he had visited the country "about 30 times". But the Harris-Walz campaign told US media this week the number of trips Walz took to China is "likely closer to 15". Walz history with China is more hawkish than critics claimThis is not the first time that the Harris-Walz campaign has acknowledged the running mate "misspoke". Aides for the Democratic ticket issued a clarification in August as it emerged Walz had talked in 2018 about "weapons of war that I carried in war" as a member of the National Guard. But Walz never served in combat. This summer he said he and his wife started their family thorough IVF - a fertility treatment that became politically charged this election cycle. His wife later clarified they used a different treatment, intrauterine insemination.

More on US election

SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the vote EXPLAINER: What Harris or Trump would do in power ANALYSIS: Only one candidate is talking about China DISINFO: Pro- and anti-Trump voters united by one belief POLLS: Who is winning the race for the White House?

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his twice weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.


US election polls: Who is ahead - Harris or Trump?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4x71znwxdo, today

Voters in the US go to the polls on 5 November to elect their next president. The election was initially a rematch of 2020 but it was upended in July when President Joe Biden ended his campaign and endorsed Vice-President Kamala Harris. The big question now is - will America get its first woman president or a second Donald Trump term? As election day approaches, we'll be keeping track of the polls and seeing what effect the campaign has on the race for the White House.

Who is leading national polls?

Harris has been ahead of Trump in the national polling averages since she entered the race at the end of July, as shown in the chart below with the latest figures rounded to the nearest whole number.

The two candidates went head to head in a televised debate in Pennsylvania on 10 September that just over 67 million people tuned in to watch. A majority of national polls carried out in the week after suggested Harris's performance had helped her make some small gains, with her lead increasing from 2.5 percentage points on the day of the debate to 3.3 points just over a week later. That marginal boost was mostly down to Trump’s numbers though. His average had been rising ahead of the debate, but it fell by half a percentage point in the week afterwards. You can see those small changes in the poll tracker chart below, with the trend lines showing how the averages have changed and the dots showing the individual poll results for each candidate.

While these national polls are a useful guide as to how popular a candidate is across the country as a whole, they're not necessarily an accurate way to predict the result of the election. That's because the US uses an electoral college system, in which each state is given a number of votes roughly in line with the size of its population. A total of 538 electoral college votes are up for grabs, so a candidate needs to hit 270 to win. There are 50 states in the US but because most of them nearly always vote for the same party, in reality there are just a handful where both candidates stand a chance of winning. These are the places where the election will be won and lost and are known as battleground states or swing states. What is the electoral college?

Who is winning in swing state polls?

Right now, the polls are very tight in the seven states considered battlegrounds in this election with just one or two percentage points separating the candidates. That includes Pennsylvania, which is key as it has the highest number of electoral votes of the seven states and therefore winning it makes it easier to reach the 270 votes needed. In a sign of how the race has changed since Harris became the Democratic nominee, on the day Biden quit the race he was trailing Trump by nearly five percentage points on average in these seven states.

One thing to note is that there are fewer state polls than national polls being carried out at the moment so we have less data to go on and every poll has a margin of error that means the numbers could be higher or lower. But looking at the trends since Harris joined the race does help highlight the states in which she seems to be in a stronger position, according to the polling averages. In the chart below you can see that Harris has been leading in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin since the start of August. All three had all been Democratic strongholds before Trump turned them red on his path to winning the presidency in 2016. Biden retook them in 2020 and if Harris can do the same this year then she will be on course to win the election.

How are these averages created?

The figures we have used in the graphics above are averages created by polling analysis website 538, which is part of American news network ABC News. To create them, 538 collects the data from individual polls carried out both nationally and in battleground states by lots of polling companies. As part of its quality control, 538 only includes polls from companies that meet certain criteria, like being transparent about how many people they polled, when the poll was carried out and how the poll was conducted (telephone calls, text message, online, etc). You can read more about the 538 methodology here.

Can we trust the polls?

At the moment, the polls suggest that Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are within a couple of percentage points of each other in swing states - and when the race is that close, it’s very hard to predict winners. Polls underestimated support for Trump in both 2016 and 2020. Polling companies will be trying to fix that problem in a number of ways, including how to make their results reflect the make-up of the voting population. Those adjustments are difficult to get right and pollsters still have to make educated guesses about other factors like who will actually turn up to vote on 5 November.

Written and produced by Mike Hills and Libby Rogers. Design by Joy Roxas.

More on the US election

SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the voteANALYSIS: Harris goads Trump into flustered performanceEXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide electionIMMIGRATION: Could Trump really deport a million migrants?FACT CHECK: Was US economy stronger or weaker under Trump?Read more about: Kamala Harris | Donald Trump | US election


Migrants with criminal records - what new US data shows

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz04y0371lvo, today

Newly-released figures about migrants with criminal convictions are being used to attack Democrats for the border policies under President Biden and Kamala Harris. Donald Trump has used the figures to claim that "13,000 convicted murderers entered our country during her three and a half year period as Border Czar" and said they were allowed to "openly roam our country". But both claims are misleading. The new figures released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) do show some 13,000 non-citizens convicted of homicide were on its records and not in its custody. However, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, said the figures cover a period of many years, and include migrants who entered the US under the Trump presidency and previous administrations. It also said that those on the list may not be in ICE custody but could be detained or in prison under the supervision of other agencies.

What do the figures show?

The figures were released in a letter from ICE to Republican congressman Tony Gonzales, who had requested them. They show that, as of July 2024, there were 425,431 non-citizens with criminal convictions on ICE’s "non-detained docket" - a database of people facing deportation proceedings but who are not held in ICE custody. Of these: 13,099 were convicted of homicide15,811 were convicted of sexual assault62,231 were convicted of assaultHowever, a DHS statement said the data had been “misinterpreted". “It also includes many who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partners,” the DHS said. So, just because they are not being held by ICE, it does not mean they are all "roaming freely", as Trump claims. “For example, Zacarias Moussaoui, who’s in a maximum security prison in Colorado for his role in the 9/11 attacks, is not currently detained by ICE so will likely be on that list,” says Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, an immigration enforcement expert at the American Immigration Council. BBC Verify has asked the DHS how many are being held in detention by other agencies.

How many of them came under Biden and Harris?

Trump said that the 13,000 convicted of killing someone entered the US under the Biden-Harris administration, but the ICE figures do not state when these people came to America. The DHS said: "The data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before this [Biden-Harris] administration." The non-detained docket is not routinely released and it is only published under certain circumstances on request - so we do not have exact numbers under each administration. The numbers were previously published in June 2021, five months into the Biden presidency, which showed there were 405,431 convicted criminals on the list at that time. Before that, an official report published in August 2016, towards the end of Barack Obama's presidency, showed 368,574. So, the list grew by almost 37,000 over five years, which includes Trump’s term in office. “This data shows a significant number would have gotten on the list during the prior administrations, and the docket has grown under multiple administrations, including the Trump one,” said Michelle Mittelstadt of the Migration Policy Institute. The overall number of non-citizens on the list has increased in recent years due to high levels of immigration under President Biden. “Although, the number of people on the non-detained docket has increased substantially under the Biden administration, the number of people who are convicted criminals on the list hasn’t,” says Mr Reichlin-Melnick. In the letter, ICE does not specify how many of the non-citizens with criminal convictions on its list are illegal immigrants and how many entered the US with, for example, a green card. BBC Verify has asked for a breakdown.

Why is it difficult to remove some criminals from the US?

Part of the reason why overall numbers are high, experts say, is because of problems with deporting certain non-citizens who have committed crimes. “The US government cannot put a person on a commercial or government flight to return them to their country of nationality without agreement by that country,” says Michelle Mittelstadt. “Because the US has very limited diplomatic relations with Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, for example, deportation flights and returns to those countries are rare.” There are federal laws in place which mean people can only be held in detention for six months before the US government has to show they are a danger to the community. The UN Convention Against Torture means some immigrants, even those convicted of serious crimes, can have their deportation deferred if judges determine they would likely be tortured or persecuted in their home countries. DHS says it has removed over 180,000 non-citizens with criminal convictions since January 2021.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?


Sudan army vows to fight on despite peace efforts

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g022m0kmro, today

A top Sudanese general has said the army will press on with its offensive despite international efforts to broker a ceasefire in the 17-month civil war. “Peace talks can go on, but the army will not stop for that,” Assistant Commander-in-Chief Lt Gen Ibrahim Gabir told the BBC. He was speaking just days after the army launched an operation to regain control of the capital, Khartoum, from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The two sides have been fighting since April last year, when their leaders fell out over the country's future. This has created a humanitarian catastrophe with more than half the country facing hunger and millions forced from their homes.

The general also hinted in the wide-ranging interview that the Sudanese authorities had had weapons dealings with Iran, and denied there was famine in the country. “When the parties agree [to a ceasefire], the army can stop,” he said, repeating army demands that the RSF withdraw from areas that it has occupied. “Let the international community exert pressure on the militia to stop the fighting and leave the houses that it’s taken,” he said, adding he was “more confident” now that the army had the momentum. 'Rape me, not my daughter', women tell BBC of civil war experienceA simple guide to the Sudan war'Our future is over': Forced to flee by a year of warFresh diplomatic attempts to negotiate a cessation of hostilities have failed to make progress, the US Sudan Envoy Tom Perriello acknowledged this week. "The situation is extremely dire and those who are in the best position to stop it seem eager instead to accelerate it,” he told journalists in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. He did cite some improvement on humanitarian access, noting that a couple of hundred trucks carrying aid had been able to get through to areas that were previously blocked. “But we obviously need to be at a significantly different scale from that,” he said. For many months the army had prevented the shipment of aid via a crucial border post controlled by the RSF between Chad and Darfur. In August it agreed to allow them to resume, and the RSF promised to facilitate deliveries in the areas it holds. Gen Gabir denied allegations that the army was still dragging its feet in approving the necessary paperwork for humanitarian groups, reeling off the number of visas and permits issued. He emphasised that the RSF had looted humanitarian goods, and was still preventing aid from entering the besieged city of el-Fasher in North Darfur. And he repeated army denials that there was famine in the country, again blaming the RSF for the hunger crisis. In August, a group of UN-backed experts concluded there were famine conditions in the Zamzam camp for displaced people outside el-Fasher. It was able to make the determination because it had the data to do so, but said other parts of Sudan were also at risk. But the Sudanese government has not made an official declaration of famine, which could trigger a UN Security Council resolution empowering agencies to deliver relief across borders. The army is focused on Darfur’s border with Chad because it says this is a conduit for mercenaries, and weapons supplied in particular by the United Arab Emirates. The UAE’s alleged support for the RSF “makes a very big difference in the fighting of the war”, Gen Gabril said. “Because the RSF is a militia, and they are being supported with advanced hi-tech arms. But at the end of the day they won’t win the war, this is a militia.” The UAE denies such support for the RSF, but the UN says there is credible evidence. A recent investigation published in the New York Times presented extensive detail. And a report by the New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch has documented visual evidence of weapons from the UAE, as well as from China, Iran, Russia and Serbia, with manufacturing dates from last year. Gen Gabir suggested that the army had discussed weapons purchases with Iran. “You can find weapons if you have money and facilitation of payment,” he said. “Iran will not give you any weapons unless you pay in cash. And we don’t have cash… The most important thing is that we are a government, and we have a right to deal with everybody.”

The general denied accusations of war crimes made in a recent UN report, which cited evidence of indiscriminate bombing, attacks on schools and hospitals, and arbitrary detention and torture. “The Sudanese army are not angels,” he said. “They can commit crimes, but it’s individuals I'm talking about.” He would not venture to predict how long the war might go on – another Sudanese defence official cited for comparison America’s 20-year-long battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan when asked. All previous Sudanese civil wars have lasted many years, says the Sudan War Monitor, a group of researchers tracking the conflict. “The main factor making this a protracted war is that Sudan is a huge country and both warring parties are large, making it impossible for any single battle to determine the outcome of the war,” it told the BBC in an email. For Gen Gabir, the end game was clear: “Sudan will conquer, and Sudan will be rebuilt.”

More about the Sudan war from the BBC:

Famine hits Sudan as peace talks fall short yet againA photographer's 11-day trek to flee war-torn SudanFear and prayers in Sudan city under siegeWhat is Sudan like?

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica


India's iconic tramcars set to ride into Kolkata sunset

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgn4mzn224o, today

Last week, authorities in the Indian city of Kolkata announced plans to eliminate trams entirely, retaining only a small heritage loop. In response, a group of activists is fighting to ensure that trams remain a vital mode of transport rather than mere nostalgic joyrides. Sandip Roy reports. In February 2023, Kolkata celebrated 150 years of its tramways with music, cake, a beauty parade of vintage trams, including a century-old wooden car, and a cheerful tram conductor, Roberto D’Andrea, who travelled all the way from Melbourne, Australia. Melbourne and Kolkata boast two of the oldest operational tramways in the world. Melbourne’s trams date back to 1885. Kolkata’s first tram, a horse-drawn one, started in 1873. That’s where the similarities end. Melbourne's tram system is going strong despite the government once attempting to get rid of them. The system has been upgraded and some trams are solar-powered. In pictures: India's fading tramsKolkata’s trams have been steadily declining over the years. From 52 routes in the 1970s, down to 25 in 2015 and now to just three. The tram cars rattle and wheeze, having not been updated in years. Even the signs inside have not changed. “Beware of pickpockets”, “No change available for 100 rupees ($1.19; $0.89) or 50” and “To stop the car please ring the bell only once”. Now, the state government has announced that it wants to do away with trams entirely, save for one small loop as a heritage route. But a dogged group of tram activists is fighting back. “It's a huge backward step as cities worldwide are 'decarbonising transport' because of global warming and climate change,” says Mr D’Andrea, who has helped foster a Kolkata-Melbourne tram friendship over the years. “More than 400 cities run tram systems. Cities that dismantled their tramways are rebuilding them at great expense in places like Sydney and Helsinki and all over France. Hong Kong runs trams at high frequency on narrow streets,” he says.

But West Bengal transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty told the media: “The population and vehicular count of Kolkata have multiplied several times but the city’s roads have not widened. Road space continues to hover around 6% which is way less than Mumbai’s 18% and Delhi’s 10%.” Both those cities once had trams. Mumbai had double-decker ones. Both have done away with them, leaving Kolkata as the only Indian city to hold onto the trundling streetcars. In a way they have become emblematic of the city itself. The city has other landmarks - the steel Howrah bridge, the white-domed Victoria Memorial monument, the colonial buildings in the city’s centre. But just as London has its iconic red double-decker buses, Kolkata has its trams. The ding-ding sound of the first tram of the day rattling down streets was the alarm clock many in Kolkata woke up to. They are a familiar sight in films made in the state. “I have used trams in two of my films and the tram depot as well,” says filmmaker Anjan Dutt. Mahanagar (1963), by celebrated filmmaker Satyajit Ray, opens with a stunning two-minute-long tram sequence, sparks flying from the overhead cables before the camera moves inside to settle on the protagonist's tired face as he returns home from work. Here, the tram stands in for the city itself, both its dreams and the daily grind. In fact, Kolkata’s Belgachia tram depot, once bustling with workmen repairing, maintaining, even building trams, nowadays often doubles as a film set. “Even on a working day I saw films being shot in the workshop,” says Subir Bose, a tram company worker who retired in 2022 after 39 years of service. “A Kolkata film means they have to show a tram.”

Trams are very much part of the history of the city and its sense of itself. In 1902, Calcutta as it was known then, became the first Asian city with electric trams. Even after independence, the Calcutta Tramways Company was run from London and was listed on the London Stock Exchange till 1968. The cars were built by companies with names like Burn Standard and Jessop. And it wasn't just a transportation system. The tram lines knit the city together. When bloody Hindu-Muslim riots gripped Calcutta during partition in 1947, tram workers patrolled the city in empty trams to help restore normalcy. “My own father helped save some people from a mob,” says tram driver Gopal Ram. "Tram workers were like a family. It didn’t matter if you were Hindu or Muslim.” Mr Ram’s great grandfather Antu Ram was a tram employee from the steam-powered days. His grandfather Mahavir and father Jagannath worked for the trams as well. Mr Ram retired recently, the fourth and last generation of his family in Kolkata trams. In some ways, the mystery is that Kolkata’s trams have survived this long. “In the 1950s and 60s, during the personal automobile boom, people were getting rid of trams everywhere, not just in India,” says transport consultant Suvendu Seth. “Now they are making a comeback. The light rail in many cities in the United States is just a newer version of trams. It’s sad that we had it all the time and are neglecting it instead of improving it.” Mr Seth says that instead of complaining about lack of road space, an innovative solution could be to make some roads open only to pedestrians and trams.

Debashis Bhattacharyya, a retired academic and president of the Calcutta Tram Users Association, thinks trams survived in Kolkata all these years because they connected the city’s schools, hospitals and cinemas. In the 1990s, as the count of cars and buses increased, the then Communist government in the state called trams “obsolete” and wanted to get rid of them. “I protested,” says Mr Bhattacharyya. “If trams went, I felt my whole existence was threatened. I did exhibitions, slide shows, brought in foreign experts. The government should be applying for UNESCO heritage status for trams instead of trying to kill it off. ” Recently, activists have been trying to use culture to save trams. Since 1996, filmmaker Mahadeb Shi has been organising the Tramjatra festival, often in collaboration with Mr D’Andrea. Art students paint the trams and local bands perform in the streetcars. Each Tramjatra has a theme, like Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali or the city’s Durga Puja festival. “Tramjatra helped expose younger people to trams too,” says Shi. One north Kolkata tram route was reopened recently. The West Bengal Transport Corporation also tried to make trams cool again with special projects like a tram library, an Independence Day special tram and a short-lived Tram World museum.

When Kolkata received a C40 Cities “Green Mobility” award in Copenhagen in 2019, mayor Firhad Hakim said trams were a key part of his vision to make the city’s transportation all-electric by 2030. But now he seems to have forgotten that pledge. The government admits trams are a “green” mode of transport but says they are investing in other forms instead - electric buses and cars and expanding the underground metro system. Mr Bhattacharyya says tram routes have been gobbled up by tuk-tuks which generate more employment and votes for the government. The tram depots also sit on valuable real estate the government can sell. But Shi insists the final bell hasn’t rung yet, as the issue is now with the Calcutta High Court, which formed an advisory committee last year to explore how Kolkata’s tram services can be restored and maintained, with the state awaiting the committee's report before taking further action. Mr Bose, the retired tram worker, says the government could have shut down the trams long ago, but that something held it back every time. Perhaps because it too senses what trams mean for the city, he says. "Three things made Kolkata Kolkata - the Howrah Bridge, the Victoria Memorial and the trams. It’s heart-breaking to think we could be losing one of them.”


Why was Hurricane Helene so damaging?

https://www.bbc.com/weather/articles/c1jdzwgepgzo, today

September's Storm Helene destroyed whole communities across six states in the south-eastern US and claimed more than 100 lives. Helene first hit the US as a hurricane, the most powerful on record to hit Florida's Big Bend, before moving toward Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee. The majority of deaths have been confirmed in North and South Carolina, after Helene weakened to a tropical storm. Hurricanes typically decrease in strength as they travel over land, so why was Helene so destructive so far from the coasts? And was climate change partly to blame?

Why was Helene so bad?

In the days before Helene made landfall, it drew a lot of energy from the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, strengthening quickly from a Category 1 to a powerful Category 4 hurricane. High sea surface temperatures meant there was a lot of moisture in the atmosphere capable of producing a vast amount of rain and this moisture was carried deep inland by the storm. Most very powerful hurricanes do strengthen rapidly but what was unusual about Helene was the sheer scale of the storm's rainclouds and wind field coverage. Despite the storm making landfall on Florida's Big Bend, even cities such as Miami, many hundreds of miles away, experienced wind gusts of more than 70mph (110km/h), due to Helene's vast size. It also meant the extreme rainfall took a long time to pass over any location in Helene's path.

[Moisture rises from drenched forests under a cloudy sky]

Why was North Carolina so badly hit?

More than six months’ worth of rain landed in parts of North Carolina as Helene passed through. The mountainous western part of the state suffered huge impacts from the storm due to its topography, with homes and bridges washed away, villages flattened and the tourist city of Asheville cut off. Mountainous terrain typically receives heavier rain than lowland areas. Tropical systems also tend to bring especially heavy rain so it is not surprising that river levels rose so rapidly and flash flooding was so extreme, cutting off vulnerable communities in the state.

How bad was the flooding?

Helene brought historic flooding and a storm surge of more than 15 feet (4.5m) as it barrelled across the south east of the US. Record flood crests were measured in at least seven locations in North Carolina and Tennessee. In parts of western North Carolina, records that had stood since the "Great Flood" of July 1916 were smashed. The states in the storm's path had already had a lot of rain in the days ahead of Helene's arrival, so the ground was already saturated. This meant flooding was more likely because the ground could not absorb any more water. The destruction across the south-eastern states was also down to a phenomenon known as the “brown ocean effect”. This is when a storm continues to draw some energy as it passes over wet ground, so it does not fizzle out as fast as a storm that crosses dry terrain.

Could climate change have made Helene worse?

[Man helps clear boulders from flooded road as cars negotiate floodwaters]

Initial analysis of the storm already suggests that human induced climate change played a significant role in the amount of rainfall dumped by Helene. One rapid attribution study, external claims that climate change caused over 50% more rainfall during Hurricane Helene in some parts of Georgia and the Carolinas. Another study, external found that cyclones similar to Hurricane Helene are up to 20% wetter over the south-east of the US and up to 7% windier in Florida's Gulf today compared to the past. It is well understood that a warming climate means a wetter world. That is because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which produces more intense rainfall.

Can we expect more storms like Helene this season?

The Atlantic hurricane season continues until the end of November and it is not unusual for storms to form even later. So far this year, we have seen ominous signs of strong storms developing much earlier in the season due to the very warm waters of the Caribbean. Back in July, Beryl became the earliest category five Atlantic hurricane in records going back around 100 years. There was a lull in Atlantic hurricanes forming mid-season due to an unusual pattern in the West African monsoon, which prevented storms brewing in the area where they usually thrive. The waters of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean are currently above average temperature, meaning there is more potential for powerful storms to develop through the rest of the autumn.


The 'mastermind' behind India's biggest jailbreak

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1dd9rj3vmyo, today

On a quiet Sunday evening in November 2005, a journalist in India's Bihar state received a panicked phone call at home. “The Maoists have attacked the prison. People are being killed! I’m hiding in the toilet,” an inmate gasped into the mobile phone, his voice trembling. The sound of gunshots echoed in the background. He was calling from a jail in Jehanabad, a poverty-stricken district and, at the time, a stronghold of left-wing extremism. The crumbling, red-brick, colonial-era prison overflowed with inmates. Spread across an acre, its 13 barracks and cells were described in official reports as "dark, damp, and filthy". Originally designed for around 230, it held up to 800 prisoners. The Maoist insurgency, which began in Naxalbari, a hamlet in West Bengal state in the late 1960s, had spread to large parts of India, including Bihar. For nearly 60 years, the guerrillas - also called Naxalites - have fought the Indian state to establish a communist society, the movement claiming at least 40,000 lives. The Jehanabad prison was a powder keg, housing Maoists alongside their class enemies - vigilantes from upper caste Hindu private armies. All awaited trial for mutual atrocities. Like many Indian prisons, some inmates had access to mobile phones, secured through bribing the guards. “The place is swarming with rebels. Many are simply walking out," the inmate - one of the 659 prisoners at the time - whispered to Mr Singh. On the night of 13 November 2005, 389 prisoners, including many rebels, escaped from Jehanabad prison in what became India's - and possibly Asia's - largest jailbreak. At least two people were killed in the prison shootout, and police rifles were looted amid the chaos. The United States Department of State's 2005 report on terrorism said the rebels had even "abducted 30 inmates" who were members of an anti-Maoist group.

In a tantalising twist, police said the “mastermind” of the jail break was Ajay Kanu, a fiery rebel leader who was among the prisoners. Security was so lax in the decrepit prison that Kanu stayed in contact with his outlawed group on the phone and through messages, helping them come in, police alleged. Kanu says this is not true. Hundreds of rebels wearing police uniforms had crossed a drying stream behind the prison, climbed up and down the tall walls using bamboo ladders and crawled in, opening fire from their rifles. The cells were open as food was being cooked late in the kitchen. The rebels walked to the main gates and opened them. Guards on duty looked on helplessly. Prisoners - only 30 of the escapees were convicts, while the rest were awaiting trial - escaped by simply walking out of the gates, and disappeared into the darkness. It was all over in less than an hour, eyewitnesses said. The mass jail break exposed the crumbling law and order in Bihar and the intensifying Maoist insurgency in one of India’s most impoverished regions. The rebels had timed their plan perfectly: security was stretched thin due to the ongoing state elections.

___ Rajkumar Singh, the local journalist, remembers the night vividly. After getting the phone call, he rode his motorbike through a deserted town, trying to reach his office. He remembers the air was thick with gunshots ringing in the distance. The invading rebels were also trying to attack a neighbouring police station. As he turned onto the main road, dim streetlights revealed a chilling sight - dozens of armed men and women in police uniforms blocking the way, shouting through a megaphone. “We are Maoists,” they declared. “We’re not against the people, only the government. The jailbreak is part of our protest.” The rebels had planted bombs along the road. Some were already detonating, collapsing nearby shops and spreading fear through the town. Mr Singh says he pressed on, reaching his fourth-floor office, where he received a second call from the same prisoner. “Everyone’s running. What should I do?,” the inmate said. “If everyone’s escaping, you should too,” Mr Singh said. Then he rode to the prison through the eerily empty streets. When he reached, he found the gates open. Rice pudding was strewn all over the kitchen, the cell doors were ajar. There was no jailor or policeman in sight. In a room, two wounded policemen lay on the floor. Mr Singh says he also saw the bloodied body of Bade Sharma, the leader of the feared upper caste vigilante army of landlords called Ranvir Sena and a prisoner himself, lying on the floor. The police later said the rebels had shot him while leaving. Lying on the floor and stuck to the walls were blood-stained handwritten pamphlets left behind by the rebels. “Through this symbolic action, we want to warn the state and central governments that if they arrest the revolutionaries and the struggling people and keep them in jail, then we also know how to free them from jail in a Marxist revolutionary way,” one pamphlet said.

___ A few months ago, I met Kanu, the 57-year-old rebel leader the police accuse of masterminding the jailbreak, in Patna, Bihar’s chaotic capital. At the time of the incident, media reports painted him as "Bihar’s most wanted", a figure commanding both fear and respect from the police. Officers recounted how the rebel “commander” instantly took control during the prison break once he was handed an AK-47 by his comrades. In a dramatic turn, the reports said, he “expertly” handled the weapon, swiftly changing magazines before allegedly targeting and shooting Sharma. Fifteen months later, in February 2007, Kanu was arrested from a railway platform while he was travelling from Dhanbad in Bihar to the city of Kolkata. Almost two decades later, Kanu has been acquitted in all but six of the original 45 criminal cases against him. Most of the cases stem from the jailbreak, including that of the murder of Sharma. He has served seven years in prison for one of the cases. Despite his fearsome reputation, Kanu is unexpectedly talkative. He speaks in sharp, measured bursts, downplaying his role in the mass escape that made headlines. Now, this once-feared rebel is subtly shifting his gaze toward a different battle - a career in politics, “fighting for poor, backward castes”. As a child, Kanu spent his days and nights listening to stories from his lower-caste farmer father about Communist uprisings in Russia, China and Indonesia. By eighth grade, his father’s comrades were urging him to embrace revolutionary politics. He says his defiance took root early - after scoring a goal against the local landlord’s son in a football match, armed upper-caste men stormed their home. “I locked myself inside,” he recalls. “They came for me and my sister, ransacking the house, destroying everything. That’s how the upper castes kept us in check - through fear."

In college, while studying political science, Kanu ironically led the student wing of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has waged a war against Maoism. After graduation, he co-founded a school, only to be forced out by the owner of the building. Upon returning to his village, tensions with the local landlord escalated. When a local strongman was murdered, Kanu, just 23, was named in the police complaint - and he went into hiding. “Since then I have been on the run, most of my life. I left home early to mobilise workers and farmers, joined and went underground as a Maoist rebel,” he said. He joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), a radical communist group. “My profession was liberation - the liberation of the poor. It was about standing up against the atrocities of the upper castes. I fought for those enduring injustice and oppression.” ___ In August 2002, with a feared reputation as a rebel leader and a 3m-rupee ($36,000; £27,000) bounty on his head - an incentive for people to report his whereabouts if they spotted him - Kanu was on his way to meet underground leaders and plan new strategies. He was about to reach his destination in Patna when a car overtook him at a busy intersection. “Within moments, men in plainclothes jumped out, guns drawn, ordering me to surrender. I didn’t resist - I gave up," he said.

Over the next three years, Kanu was shuffled between jails as police feared his escape. “He had a remarkable reputation, the sharpest of them all,” a senior officer told me. In each jail, Kanu says he formed prisoner unions to protest against corruption - stolen rations, poor healthcare, bribery. In one prison, he led a three-day hunger strike. “There were clashes,” he says, “but I kept demanding better conditions". Kanu paints a stark picture of the overcrowding in Indian prisons, describing Jehanabad, which held more than double its intended capacity. “There was no place to sleep. In my first barrack, 180 prisoners were crammed into a space meant for just 40. We devised a system to survive. Fifty of us would sleep for four hours while the others sat, waiting and chatting in the dark. When the four hours were up, another group would take their turn. That’s how we endured life inside those walls." In 2005, Kanu escaped during the infamous jailbreak. “We were waiting for dinner when gunfire erupted. Bombs, bullets - it was chaos," he recalls. “The Maoists stormed in, yelling for us to flee. Everyone ran into the darkness. Should I have stayed behind and been killed?” Many doubt the simplicity of Kanu's claims. "It wasn’t as simple as he makes it sound," said a police officer. "Why was dinner being prepared late in the evening when it was usually cooked and served at dusk, with the cells locked up early? That alone raised suspicions of inside collusion." Interestingly many of the prisoners who escaped were back in jail by mid-December - some voluntarily, others not. None of the rebels returned. When I asked Kanu whether he masterminded the escape, he smiled. “The Maoists freed us - it’s their job to liberate,” he said. But when pressed again, Kanu fell silent. The irony deepened as he finally shared a story from prison. A police officer had once asked him if he was planning another escape. “Sir, does a thief ever tell you what he’s going to steal?” Kanu replied wryly. His words hung in the air, coming from a man who insists he had no part in planning the jailbreak.


Behind the scenes of Heartstopper series three

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czxd0121q1do, today

On a freezing cold November day in 2023, we’re driving up to a school on the outskirts of London. It appears disused and unremarkable - but then a sign reading ‘Truham High’ gives the game away. This abandoned-looking building is actually the set of Netflix sensation Heartstopper, and on the day we visit, shooting for series three is well under way. The new episodes will be released on 3 October. Inside, the hustle and bustle you might expect in a school corridor has been replaced with the organised chaos of a film set. The plain school interior is covered with colourful murals painted in the style of Alice Oseman's graphic novels, which inspired the show. Mr Ajayai’s art classroom is instantly recognisable. In the first two series it’s been a safe space for Joe Locke’s character, Charlie, to go to when he’s having a hard time. During our visit he’s joined by Kit Connor, who plays Nick - and the conversation they’re filming looks difficult. They’re sitting in a corner and speaking in hushed tones.

While the producers are tight-lipped about the detail of what they’re shooting, they do tell us “it’s quite an intense scene”. They’re protective over how many people are in the room with the actors during more emotional scenes. Dozens of silent crew members are crammed into a room next door, watching intently on monitors while the actors do several takes. The third series of the show deals with more serious topics than the first two; Charlie’s eating disorder will be a key storyline, and some characters will be having sex for the first time. “We’ve always said the show grows up with the characters, which is definitely the case this year," Locke says, speaking to us in a quick break before his next scene. "The show deals with some more heavy topics like mental health, and growing up, so there’s a lot of ‘teenageness’.”

The show has been praised for showcasing “queer joy” - shining a light on the positive elements of growing up as part of the LGBTQ+ community - but Locke says it feels important to make sure it is still realistic. “It’s all about authenticity, and trying to make your portrayal of a topic that is quite intense and quite close to people’s hearts as true as possible,” he says. During our visit it’s clear the cast members’ chemistry goes beyond their time on-screen. Throughout our interviews they have in-jokes and gently make fun of each other, which Connor says helps with the more difficult days on set. “After filming we all just sort of pile into someone’s flat and spend time together, we have a great way of doing it where we don’t talk about work or anything like that,” he says. “We all just go home, make dinner and criticise each other's cooking skills. “[Joe Locke] actually cooked a good chilli this time… last time it was a very, very bad chilli. This time Will, who plays Tao, had seconds… but he will eat anything.”

While the friendships might be real, some of the most iconic locations in the show are actually flat-packed and assembled inside the school, as and when required. During our visit, Nick’s bedroom is assembled in what would have been the school’s sports hall. There are no lights as no scenes are planned here today, so we explore using our phone torches instead. Even in the semi-darkness, the attention to detail is clear. From books about bisexuality, to Polaroid pictures of Nick and Charlie together, they’ve gone to painstaking lengths to make the bedroom a true reflection of the character's journey throughout the series. “The fans really notice everything, and have theories about even the tiniest of details… you should see some of the TikToks they make,” a member of the crew tells us.

Just down the corridor from Nick’s flat-pack bedroom is the costume department, where designer Adam Dee says he likes giving mega-fans things to spot. “If they’ve got a scene with an open wardrobe, [we’ll] sneak in some iconic pieces from previous series so the audience can spot them," he says. “With Elle, she has a sewing station in her room, so we managed to add in some bits and pieces to her wardrobe that are made from two other items we’ve sewed together, or vintage scarves we’ve turned into tops.” Heartstopper was somewhat of a surprise hit for Netflix, and series one launched with very little promotion. It became one of the top 10 most-watched English-language series within two days of its release and received an almost-unheard-of 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes - something many critics have put down to the diverse on-screen representation. Season three involves some of the show’s older characters turning 16 and starting to have sex.

Yasmin Finney’s character, Elle, who is transgender, will be shown starting a sexual relationship with her on-screen boyfriend Tao (William Gao). The sex lives of transgender characters are often left out of TV storylines. Finney tells us: “It’s nice to have that representation of a trans person being able to have those sorts of relationships. “It’s very sweet and I’m very blessed to be able to deliver that performance with Will.” In the second series, Tobie Donovan’s character Isaac tells the rest of the characters he is asexual, meaning he experiences little or no sexual attraction. It’s another topic few TV shows have featured.

Donovan tells us he felt he wanted to do “lots of research” to make sure “he was doing justice to this community”. He added: “There’s been sort of nothing like this on TV before, so I really wanted to make sure I got it right. “I feel like, from our season two response, people were quite happy that even just to have anyone on screen that’s like a little bit of their story. It’s great for all of us.”

Just before we leave, we catch the show's executive producer, Patrick Walters, on the set of Mr Ajayai's classroom. Walters came up with the idea of turning Alice Oseman’s graphic novels into a TV series after “falling in love” with the books. The show’s diversity is something he's particularly proud of. He says: “It’s amazing to think it is an important show for LGBT youth. “I like to think young people really see themselves in the characters, and that’s why it connects.”


Blunt and bold - Kenya's 'truth speaker' faces the sack

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz9pjy9znlvo, today

Kenya's embattled Deputy President, Rigathi Gachagua, calls himself the “truthful man”, attributing his remarkable rise to the fact that he speaks truth to power. But as he faces impeachment proceedings, he says these troubles are also a result of his outspoken nature. Before he was elected MP in 2017, little was known about the man who would, in five short years, rise to become Kenya’s second-in-command. Not many people outside Gachagua's central Kenya constituency had heard of him or his style of politics. Gachagua captured the limelight in the run-up to the 2022 elections, when he vehemently opposed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s choice of preferred successor. Kenyatta was campaigning heavily for former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. But Gachagua allied himself with William Ruto, Kenyatta’s then deputy, who was angling for the presidency that his boss did not want to bequeath to him. How Kenya's president has fallen out with his deputyAt political rallies and in media circles, Gachagua railed against Kenyatta, often in words that other politicians would find cringeworthy. “Don’t kill me the way your father killed JM Kariuki,” he said at a rally in July 2022, referring to an MP who was killed in 1975 during the administration of Jomo Kenyatta, the nation's first president and the father of Uhuru Kenyatta. To this day, no one has been found guilty of Kariuki's death. Before he became Kenya's deputy president, police raided Gachagua's home and arrested him in relation to a corruption and money-laundering case. The charges were dropped after he and Ruto took power following the 2022 election. He had helped Ruto win by marshalling support in Mount Kenya - the biggest voting bloc in the country. Both Gachagua and Kenyatta come from there. Kenyatta had tried to rally Mount Kenya's voters to throw their weight behind Odinga, but he failed.

Long before Kenyatta became president in 2013, Gachagua had worked closely with him, including as his personal assistant for five years. But after teaming up with Ruto, Gachagua went from being Kenyatta's “confidant” to one of his harshest critics. However, since falling out with his current boss, Gachagua has apologised to Kenyatta, saying it was “foolish” of him to have “fought my own brother". This humility is in sharp contrast to his rhetoric as Ruto's running-mate - analyst Javas Bigamo had even described Gachagua as a “feared political bulldog that Ruto needed to be able to counter President Kenyatta in the central region”. Gachagua was praised as an excellent mobiliser, who had the ear of ordinary people on the ground. Yet he was probably not the person many expected to take the deputy position, given that Gachagua had only being a politician for five years and was up against more seasoned candidates. Ruto explained he had chosen Gachagua because "he is one of those leaders who are passionate about ordinary people". Politics expert Bobby Mkangi previously told the BBC that Gachagua’s ability to negotiate his way to the top “considering other names that were fronted and were known nationally" was "quite something”. But just two years after ascending to power, that ability seems to have fizzled out – leaving Gachagua butting heads with the president and in a position where many legislators are pushing for his removal. He stands accused of corruption, money-laundering, gross misconduct, insubordination and bullying public officers and six other acts of wrongdoing. As the motion was being tabled in parliament on Tuesday, the MP introducing the motion, Mwengi Mutuse, said that 291 out of 349 MPs had signed the document pushing for Gachagua's removal. The signatures of two-thirds - or 233 - of all MPs are required to impeach him. Mkangi now says the deputy president has been “unable to consolidate the support of his base and the politicians around him”.

Gachagua has always been accused of being brash and aggressive – it was one of the reasons some argued against his selection to the running mate position prior to the 2022 election. But in recent months, this criticism has increased. He denies this assessment of his character, along with assertions that he alienates his fellow politicians. He says all he does is “speak the truth”, which he insists has made him unpopular within certain political factions. “I will not compromise my principles,” he said over the weekend as calls for his impeachment came to a crescendo. Gachagua has often identified himself as a child of the Mau Mau freedom fighters, who battled British colonial rule. He was born in 1965 to parents who he has said were well known for their involvement in the struggle for freedom. His father built and serviced guns and his mother was a courier of ammunition and food for the fighters, Gachagua said. His lineage has painted him as a champion of people in central Kenya, many of whom are descendants of independence struggle icons, but still continue to fight for economic freedom. A popular catchphrase associated with the deputy president is “don’t touch the mountain”, a reference to his support base in the Mount Kenya region. However, he has also been accused of promoting tribalism rather than being a unifying figure. But Gachagua has defended himself, insisting that speaking for the central Kenya region is not the same as antagonising other communities. Batons, tear gas, live fire - Kenyans face police brutalityKenyan president's humbling shows power of African youthBefore joining politics, Gachagua had had a long career. After completing university, he began working as a public administrator in government, and as a district officer in different locations across the country. The district administrators of that time, during Daniel arap Moi’s presidency, were known for their high-handedness. It is an accusation that has stuck with him, including in present circumstances. He worked as Kenyatta's personal assistant between 2001 and 2006 – at a time when Kenyatta was a minister, presidential candidate and later the leader of the opposition. Gachagua is a wealthy politician, having built a fortune in business over the years. He is married to a pastor, Dorcas, and they have two adult sons. In 2017, he vied for the Mathira constituency seat, winning the position that had earlier been held by his elder brother, Nderitu Gachagua. It is at this time that Gachagua's fiery character and political abilities started attracting attention. Yet his public utterances, before and since he became deputy president, have at times been seen as blunders or straight-up disgraceful comments. He said last year that government was like a shareholding company, with those that voted for the current administration being more deserving of government appointments and contracts. Senator Danson Mungatana last week said Gachagua’s words have “marginalised sections of Kenyans, created and continue to heighten ethnic tensions”. Gachagua has often defended himself, but recently he acknowledged that in the end, it may be the very same thing that catapulted him to the top that will lead to his downfall: his way with words.

How Kenya's president has fallen out with his deputyBatons, tear gas, live fire - Kenyans face police brutalityKenyan president's humbling shows power of African youth

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Trudeau survives second parliamentary confidence vote

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp8mzgr300ko, today

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has survived a second non-confidence motion in parliament in as many weeks. The motion, brought by the opposition Conservatives, was aimed at bringing down his minority Liberal government and triggering a federal election. The motion failed after Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre again fell short in his effort to gain the backing of other political parties in parliament. Poilievre tabled this second non-confidence motion the day after his last one failed.

This motion accused the government of failing Canadians on affordable housing, the cost of living, and crime - key issues that the Conservatives have been using to hammer the Liberals for months. The vote needed the majority of the 338 members of parliament (MPs) in order for it to pass. After all the votes were counted, 121 voted for the motion while 207 voted against it. In a statement following the vote, Poilievre blamed the NDP and the Bloc Québécois for its failure, saying the former had "sold out working Canadians" while the latter is "letting down Quebecers". The Bloc Québécois, which represents the interests of Quebec, Canada’s French-speaking province, had issued an ultimatum to the Liberals for its continued support. The sovereigntist party gave the government a 29 October deadline to pass two bills, one increasing pensions for seniors and one to bolster protections on Canada's supply management system, which controls production quotas and imports on dairy and poultry products. On Tuesday, it tabled its own motion calling on the Trudeau government to support their seniors' bill. Meanwhile, the NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said indicated last week that his party would not support the Conservative motion. Several other non-confidence motions are expected to be tabled in the coming weeks, including a third that has been put forward by the Conservatives. Trudeau has been Canada’s prime minister for nine years and has been facing growing pressure to resign over concerns he is a drag on his party's fortunes. The Conservatives have been leading the Liberals by a wide margin in opinion surveys for months. His Liberal party lost two consequential by-elections this summer in Toronto and Montreal, both in strongholds previously held by the party for years. A deal between the Liberal party and the NDP had helped Trudeau stay in power since Canada’s last federal election in 2021. The deal collapsed last month after Singh pulled out from the deal, saying that the Liberals are “too weak” to govern.


Tekken director has no idea how the game got so big in Pakistan

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78d4153veeo, today

Players from Pakistan have been dominating the professional Tekken scene - but the game's director says he has no idea how it got so big in the country. First launched 30 years ago, the Japan-developed fighting game released its eighth numbered instalment at the start of this year. The competitive Tekken scene used to be ruled by players from the Far East, but the current top ten contains four players from Pakistan. Speaking at a recent tournament, Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada told BBC Asian Network the dominance of pros from the country "came out of nowhere".

Tekken is a 3D beat 'em up where players fight each other in one-on-one bouts in best-of-three matches. Arslan "Arslan Ash" Siddique became an overnight superstar on the competitive circuit when he claimed victory in the 2019 EVO fighting game tournament. He went on to win the coveted title four more times, earning him all-timer status in the eyes of many fans. Arslan, 29, is currently ranked 10th in the world after an early exit from the Red Bull Golden Letters Tournament in London, but fellow Pakistani pro Atif Butt holds the second spot in the world list. It's clear that the country's become a force on the global stage, but the game's director still isn't sure how it got there.

"We never knew they were playing Tekken," Harada-san says. "Even now we've never been to Pakistan, so I'm still quite interested to hear why they became so obsessed with Tekken and so good at the game." The game's producer Michael Murray tells Asian Network that he "loved it when Arslan came on the scene". "No-one knew him," he says. "Then out of nowhere someone no-one's talking about comes along and you find this other community and then Arslan says it's not just him. "He says they're all strong in Pakistan, and everyone's like 'what?' "It was just such an amazing story and I still remember how exciting it was to hear that."

At the recent contest in London, Lim "Ulsan" Soo-hoon from South Korea won first place, beating Jae-hyun "CherryBerryMango" Kim in the grand final. They were joined by players from the USA, Japan and Europe, demonstrating the global popularity of Tekken. Harada-san has been working on the series for 30 years, and says the competitive scene really kicked off around the release of Tekken 7. He tells Asian Network his mother cried when he first told her he wanted to pursue a career in video games, but now his family is "quite proud" when they see him in magazines. "They're like, 'wow, you're actually doing something with it, that's good," he says. Harada-san says he's glad Tekken "has continued for a long time and we've been able to come this far". But he does confess to being "a bit sad" that it's the "only remaining major 3D fighting game franchise". "It would be more interesting if there were other rivals, right?" he says.


Three dead and 15 hurt in Shanghai Walmart stabbing

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9dyxpe2dy1o, today

Three people died and 15 others were injured after a man went on a stabbing rampage inside a Walmart supermarket in Shanghai on Monday night. Chinese police said they arrested a 37-year-old man surnamed Lin at the scene, adding that he had come to Shanghai to "vent his anger due to a personal economic dispute". Further investigations are continuing. The incident took place at a shopping mall in Songjiang, a densely populated district in the city's south-west, which is also home to several universities. Police said the three people who died succumbed to their injuries at hospital. The others "did not sustain life-threatening wounds" and are not believed to be in danger.

"There was blood everywhere," an eyewitnes surnamed Shi told BBC News. Mr Shi, who runs a jewellery store at the ground floor of the Ludu International Commercial Plaza, said dozens of firefighters and special weapons and tactics (SWAT) officers entered the mall, and asked people to evacuate. "I didn’t know what was happening, but suddenly, I saw people running in a panic," he said. "No one had ever experienced something like this, and we weren’t mentally prepared for it... This kind of random incident is terrifying and unsettling," he said, adding that he had "narrowly escaped" death. Discussions about the incident now appear to have been censored on Chinese social media. The supermarket was open for business on Tuesday but with additional security. Firearms are banned in China but the country has seen a spate of knife attacks in recent months. Last month, a 10-year-old Japanese student died a day after he was stabbed near his school in southern China. In June this year, four US college instructors were stabbed in a public park in the northeast city of Jilin. In May, a man stabbed dead two people and wounded 21 others at a hospital in the southern province of Yunnan.


Chinese woman held in Germany for spying on arms firm

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz048934ygro, today

A Chinese woman has been arrested in Leipzig on suspicion of passing information about Leipzig/Halle airport, which is used as a key transport hub for the German defence industry, to Chinese intelligence. German prosecutors said that Yaqi X, 38, had been working for a company providing logistics services at the airport. Prosecutors said she had repeatedly sent details on flights, passengers and military cargo transport to another figure who worked for China's secret services. The airport is considered an important centre for defence exports, particularly to Ukraine. A second suspect, Jian G, was detained earlier this year.

He had worked as an aide for a member of the European Parliament from Germany's far-right AfD party. Yaqi X was remanded in custody and her home and workplace searched. Between August 2023 and February 2024, prosecutors allege she had given Jian G information on the transport of military equipment and people linked to an unnamed German arms company. German sources told public broadcaster ARD that the defence company involved was Rheinmetall, Germany's biggest defence firm which has been heavily involved in supplying Ukraine with weapons, armoured vehicles and military equipment. Yaqi X's case appears to be linked to a spying case that unfolded last April involving parliamentary aide Jian G. The MEP he had worked for, Maximilian Krah, dismissed Jian G as his assistant. Krah's office in Brussels was searched by police, although there was no indication that he was involved. Jian G was alleged to have spied on Chinese dissidents in Germany as well as passing information on the European Parliament to Chinese intelligence. He had previously worked for dissident groups and had taken up German citizenship after coming to Germany in 2002.


TV and Broadway star Gavin Creel dies aged 48

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4glk8y1711o, today

TV and Broadway star Gavin Creel has died from a “rare and aggressive” cancer at the age of 48, his publicist Matt Polk has announced. Creel was best known as a stage star in shows such as Hello Dolly! opposite Bette Midler, which earned him a Tony award in 2017. He played Cornelius Hackl opposite Midler in the titular role. Midler paid tribute on Instagram, describing Creel as a “radiant actor… he was fantastic. I can’t believe he’s gone. What a loss.”

Creel also starred in the West End, picking up a prestigious Olivier award for best actor in a musical in 2014 for his turn as Elder Price in The Book Of Mormon, a role he went on to play on Broadway. British star Hannah Waddingham said she was "shaken to my core" following his death. "I've just had to sit down. I keep re-reading his name thinking everyone's got it wrong. Not this man, not this beautiful, smiley, talented man," she posted on X. "The absolute real deal, talent pouring out of every pore. I'm heartbroken you've gone Gavin. I hope to see you again my friend."

'Mind-blowing charisma'

Actor, producer and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda also paid tribute to Creel, who was cast as his first King George III when hit musical Hamilton was at the early workshop stage. "Gavin Creel was our first King when all we had was 11 songs and he wrapped the audience around his finger with nothing but a Burger King crown and his mind-blowing charisma and talent," he wrote on Instagram. "He is so loved and it is unimaginable that he's no longer with us. "My heart goes out to all the friends and family and collaborators lucky enough to be in his orbit." Frozen star's Idina Menzel and Josh Gad also posted tribute on social media.

Creel’s first major Broadway role was as Jimmy Smith, opposite fellow newcomer Sutton Foster, in a revival of Thoroughly Modern Millie in 2002, which landed him his first Tony nomination for best leading actor in a musical. "My sweet friend. I will love you forever," Foster said in a post on Instagram. Creel also played Claude Hooper Bukowski in the 2009 revival of Hair on Broadway. He made his West End debut in 2006 as Bert in Mary Poppins and reprised his role in the West End transfer of Hair in 2010. Other roles included Dr Pomatter in Sara Bareilles' musical Waitress on Broadway in 2019, a role he took to the West End a year later. Creel’s TV career included a two-episode stint in Ryan Murphy's miniseries American Horror Stories, opposite Matt Bomer in 2021. He also appeared opposite Dame Julie Andrews in TV movies Eloise At The Plaza and Eloise At Christmastime in the early 2000s. The star also co-founded Broadway Impact, a grassroots organisation aimed at mobilising the theatre community to support marriage equality. He was born in Findlay, Ohio and was a graduate of the University of Michigan School of Music. Creel's publicist said there will be a small private gathering for the family and a celebration of his life will be held for the theatre community at a date yet to be announced.


Georgia court strikes down state abortion ban

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czrmpmy7p4yo, today

A judge in Georgia has struck down the state's abortion law that has prohibited abortions after six weeks of pregnancy since it took effect in 2022. Georgia's Life Act was fully nullified by Judge Robert McBurney's decision, meaning that the state must now allow abortions up to 22 weeks of pregnancy. The judge wrote in his order that “liberty in Georgia" includes "the power of a woman to control her own body, to decide what happens to it and in it, and to reject state interference with her healthcare choices". Georgia passed the Life Act in 2019 but it only came into force in 2022, after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade and opened the door for state bans.

SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective filed the original lawsuit with other plaintiffs in 2019, shortly after Georgia's Republican governor, Brian Kemp, signed the act into law. When Judge McBurney reviewed the case in 2022, he struck down the law, ruling that it violated the US Constitution. The Georgia Supreme Court later took up the case, however, and allowed the six-week limit to stand. The case has since returned to Judge McBurney, who found this time that it violated the state constitution after a review "of our higher courts' interpretations of 'liberty'". "[D]oes a Georgian’s right to liberty of privacy encompass the right to make personal healthcare decisions? Plainly it does," the judge wrote in his decision. Gov Kemp's office criticised the judge's ruling on Monday. “Once again, the will of Georgians and their representatives have been overruled by the personal beliefs of one judge," Garrison Douglas, Kemp's spokesperson, said in a statement. "Protecting the lives of the most vulnerable among us is one of our most sacred responsibilities, and Georgia will continue to be a place where we fight for the lives of the unborn." This ruling could affect more than just Georgians, however. It could open up abortion access in the US South, where several Republican-controlled state legislatures have passed laws that have severely limited access to abortion procedures. These laws have meant people in the region sometimes travel hundreds of miles to states like North Carolina, Kansas and Illinois for legal abortions. Judge McBurney noted the danger a six-week limit could have on women in his order, writing that "for many women, their pregnancy was unintended, unexpected, and often unknown until well after the embryonic heartbeat began". Monica Simpson, executive director of SisterSong Women, called the ruling "a significant step in the right direction". "We are encouraged that a Georgia court has ruled for bodily autonomy. At the same time, we can’t forget that every day the ban has been in place has been a day too long - and we have felt the dire consequences with the devastating and preventable deaths of Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller." Thurman and Miller were named in a pair of ProPublica reports that found their deaths were connected to Georgia's abortion ban. Their cases have been highlighted by Vice-President Kamala Harris, who has made reproductive rights a centerpiece of her campaign for the White House.


UK forces involved in response to Iran attacks on Israel

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2krlgekpxo, today

UK forces were involved in supporting Israel in the conflict in the Middle East after Iran launched a missile attack on the country. Defence Secretary John Healey said British forces had "this evening played their part in attempts to prevent further escalation”, without giving more details. The BBC understands UK fighter jets were involved, as they were in April when Iran last attacked Israel with missiles. Responding on Tuesday to Iran's attack, which the Israeli military said involved 180 missiles being fired with most intercepted, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the UK "stands with Israel" and recognises its right to self-defence.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had launched the missiles in retaliation for recent attacks that killed the leaders of the Hezbollah and Hamas militant groups, as well as a senior Iranian commander. Healey said: "British forces have this evening played their part in attempts to prevent further escalation in the Middle East. "I want to thank all British personnel involved in the operation for their courage and professionalism. "The UK stands fully behind Israel's right to defend its country and its people against threats." In April British jets shot down a number of drones fired at Israel from Iran. The drones were intercepted by the RAF in Syrian and Iraqi airspace, where it was already operating as part of the Operation Shader mission against the Islamic State group. The decision to use jets in April was taken by the previous Conservative government and supported at the time and since by Sir Keir.

Sir Keir used the address from Downing Street to condemn Iran's attack on Israel, saying he was "deeply concerned that the region is on the brink". "We stand with Israel and we recognise her right to self-defence in the face of this aggression," he said.

Calling on Iran to stop its attacks, he added: "Together with its proxies like Hezbollah, Iran has menaced the Middle East for far too long, chaos and destruction brought not just to Israel, but to the people they live amongst in Lebanon and beyond. "Make no mistake, Britain stands full square against such violence. We support Israel's reasonable demand for the security of its people." Sir Keir was on the phone to his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu when the Iranian attacks began. The two men had been speaking for around 15 minutes – about the prospect of missiles being fired by Tehran – when Netanyahu had to abandon the call because he had been told the attacks were under way. During their call, Sir Keir also underlined the importance of a ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza. Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak said: "We stand unequivocally by Israel's right to defend itself including against Hezbollah in Lebanon."

In his statement, the prime minister repeated his advice to British nationals to leave Lebanon, warning the situation was becoming "increasingly grave". He added: "If you have the means to leave, the time is now. Do not wait." Britons in Lebanon have been advised to register their presence with officials on the government's website and a UK-chartered plane is leaving Beirut on Wednesday. But some told the BBC they had received no confirmation or details about their booking on the government-chartered flight, despite paying for a seat. As of last week, there were thought to be between 4,000 and 6,000 UK nationals, including dependants, in Lebanon.

The missile attack came hours after Israel launched a ground invasion in southern Lebanon, in what it has described as "limited, localised and targeted" raids against Hezbollah. Lebanese officials say more than 1,000 people have been killed following Israeli air strikes over the past two weeks. Hezbollah has responded by firing hundreds of rockets into northern Israel. The previously sporadic cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalated on 8 October 2023 - the day after the unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip - when Hezbollah fired at Israeli positions, in solidarity with the Palestinians.


Biden was right to stand aside in critical election, Clinton says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y9lg50gndo, today

Hillary Clinton has told the BBC that Joe Biden was right to stand aside in the US presidential election after his stumbling debate performance against Donald Trump earlier this year. "Once that debate happened, he could not recover and he did the right thing," she told Radio 4's Today programme. She also said Democrats had not been effective in telling Trump supporters what they were doing to address their economic concerns. In 2016, the former US secretary of state was unexpectedly defeated by Trump, who now faces Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in November's election, which polls suggest is extremely tight.

She said she saw Joe Biden a week before the debate and saw no reason then why he should step down but that all changed. Clinton also said the future of democracy is at stake in this election and called on Harris to "defeat Donald Trump to break the fever that he has caused in our political system". "The two candidates have presented extremely different agendas for where they want to take our country," Clinton said in the BBC interview, which came as she promotes her new memoir. Trump has rejected the notion that he is a threat and said the real threat comes from the Democratic Party. The election, Clinton said, would have repercussions far beyond the US including "whether or not we continue supporting Ukraine, whether we can get some kind of workable resolution in the Middle East and so much else".

Trump: Time to settle Russia's warTrump or Harris: diplomats resigned to eitherCould Trump really deport one million immigrants?

Trump has previously indicated that he would cut US aid for Ukraine. After meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in New York on Friday, the former US president said he had "a very good relationship" with both Zelensky and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. “We both want to see a fair deal made," Trump said. The war, he added, "should stop and the president (Zelensky) wants it to stop, and I’m sure President Putin wants it to stop and that’s a good combination.”

Clinton, who served as secretary of state in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2013, also criticised Trump's promise to begin a mass deportation of illegal immigrants if elected. "Let's start with one million,” his vice-presidential pick JD Vance said of the plan in August. “That's where Kamala Harris has failed. And then we can go from there.” "He is going to have a military presence [in US cities] to achieve his goals," Clinton said on Monday. "If you look a certain way, if you talk a certain way, you will be subject to these Draconian measures."

More on the US election

SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the voteEXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide the electionFACT CHECK: Was US economy stronger under Biden or Trump?POLICIES: Could Trump really deport a million migrants?

When asked what drives Trump's support, she told the BBC that "people support him for different reasons" including feeling "overlooked" and "unseen" or that the "economy doesn't work for them". "I think our problem is frankly we are not the most effective messengers," she said of the Democratic Party. "About what we see and what we’re trying to do to address these real and legitimate concerns that people have. I recognise and accept my share of the responsibility." The expectation upon politicians to be entertaining or outrageous in a social media age makes it harder to "do the hard, boring work of actually getting things done," she added. Polling suggests Trump is more trusted on the election's biggest issue, the economy. The election will be held on 5 November and the new president will take office in January. Polls are currently very tight in the seven states considered as crucial in the contest, with just one or two percentage points separating the two candidates. Clinton, 76, was the first woman nominee for president from a major political party when she ran against Trump in 2016. Her husband, Bill Clinton, whom she married in 1975, was president from 1993 until 2001.


Trump dominates in rural America - will folksy Walz help Harris?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce812qvld9do, today

In this closely fought US election, vice-presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz were picked to sway Midwestern and rural voters who might be hesitating over Donald Trump or Kamala Harris. In Nebraska, owing to an electoral quirk, such voters could prove pivotal.

As an expert breeder, Wade Bennett can tell you the precise parentage of every one of the 140 head of Charolais cattle he keeps on a small holding on the edge of Nebraska’s rolling Sandhills. Despite being a staunch Republican, he’s less certain, however, of the pedigree of the man once again vying for his vote. Donald Trump, he says, would probably be “kicked out” of his voting shortlist if there were other conservative options available. One of the least-populated states, Nebraska is, like much of rural America, not only deeply Republican but deeply Christian, too. And some here, like Wade, are uncomfortable with what they see as Donald Trump’s personal, moral failings. But with Kamala Harris and a smattering of small-party candidates the only other options this November, Wade is putting his scruples to one side. “Even as a Christian,” he tells me. “It is what it is.” He’s focusing not on Trump’s character, but on his policies – and he likes the promises he hears to crack down on illegal immigration, cut the cost of living and put more tariffs on trade. Even his slight hesitation, however, is enough to give Democrats hope.

The rightward drift of the American countryside over the past 25 years has been remarkable. In 2000, Republicans had a six-point advantage over Democrats among registered rural voters, according to the Pew Research Center. But by 2024, they had established a mammoth 25-point lead. Even though only a fifth of Americans live outside the big towns and cities, the strength of their shift towards Donald Trump was key to his victory against Hillary Clinton in 2016. But for Democrats, the rural vote is still worth fighting for, particularly where even small gains in already tight states just might make the difference. So it’s no coincidence that both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump now have running mates whose white rural roots are being used to make the argument for who is best placed to speak on behalf of this country’s great Midwest. Vice-presidential candidates don't usually have much impact on how people vote, but when Tim Walz and JD Vance meet in a primetime televised debate on Tuesday night, they will be hoping their different backstories and visions resonate with voters still unsure about Harris, a California Democrat, and Trump, a New York real estate developer. Walz, the current governor of Minnesota, was born in small-town Nebraska, and has made much of his background “working cattle, building fence”. His time as a schoolteacher and football coach before politics, and his subsequent record in Minnesota, providing tax credits to families and free school meals, are precisely the kinds of things the Democrats hope will resonate with struggling rural voters. Ohio Senator Vance, on the other hand, is a man who’s also made much of his rural roots, but with a far less optimistic framing. Vance rose to national prominence with his best-selling book, Hillbilly Elegy, the story of his family’s origins in eastern Kentucky, their struggle with poverty, his mother’s fight with addiction and the joblessness and blight of Middletown, Ohio, where he grew up. Where Tim Walz has emphasised individual freedom and what binds Americans, Vance has focused on a "ruling class" that he says has failed working families in small communities all over the country. In writings and in interviews, he has stressed the need for individual responsibility, rather than welfare - although he does not support cutting programmes like Social Security. And he echoes Trump’s vision of protecting American jobs and workers with tariffs and border walls.

I meet 42-year-old Shana Callahan casting for catfish under a setting sun in the Two Rivers Recreation Area, just outside the city of Omaha. The cost of living, once again, is never far from mind. “Everything costs more, everything sucks,” she says. “I drive an F-150 and when Trump was in office, I was paying about 55 bucks for a tank of gas. Right now, it's anywhere between 85 to 109, and, you know, the cost of groceries and everything has just gone through the roof.” There were structural reasons for the depressed oil market during some of Trump’s presidential term, not least the Covid crisis, and prices had begun to climb steeply before he left office. Some economists also say President Joe Biden's 2021 stimulus spending contributed to broader inflation. But economics is a feeling in US elections, not a graph on a page, and Shana has made up her mind. There’s nothing, she tells me, that would convince her to vote for Kamala Harris, especially not Tim Walz’s local backstory and his claims to represent people like her. “For one thing, the man's a goofball,” she says. “I can't respect him. He comes out on the freaking stage like, ‘Oh, go, coach’.” The story of JD Vance being raised by a grandmother because of the opioid crisis - which she knows from the film version of his book - resonates deeply, however. “The beginning of the movie is like, you know, family is always going to back you up. I mean, that's kind of the way it is out here.” “I'm only 42 and I've had like, three friends die of fentanyl.”

Shana lives in the one small part of this vast, rural state that may find itself with an outsized impact on November’s election result. Under the US system, each state is allocated a specific number of votes in what’s known as the electoral college. Presidential candidates need to reach 270 votes to win the White House. Unlike most of the rest of America, where all the electoral college votes in each state go to the winner of the popular vote, Nebraska does things differently. Three of its five votes are decided by whoever wins three individual districts. Nebraska is a reliably Republican state but its second district - worth one vote - went to Trump in 2016, to Biden in 2020, and this time round there’s a scenario in which whoever wins it could win the whole election. If Harris wins the Rust Belt swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin and Trump takes the Sun Belt states of Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada then the second district would provide the single tie-breaking vote. District two is a microcosm of America, with the heavily Democrat-leaning city of Omaha balanced by the Republican-leaning outskirts and the countryside beyond. In their backyard in the centre of Omaha, Jason Brown and Ruth Huebner-Brown are spraying giant blue dots on plain white lawn signs. “We’re like a little swing state within a state,” Jason tells me. “It could absolutely, I guess you would say, be a history-changing moment. This could really be the ultimate one vote that matters.” In an effort to keep the “blue dot” blue, the Harris-Walz campaign has been massively outspending Trump-Vance here, pouring millions into TV advertising. Ruth tells me she believes it’s having an effect on the doorsteps. “When they talk about Walz he's very relatable. He's, you know, one of us. And, you know, they just trust him.” “And I think a lot of people are very tired of the divisiveness and the bitterness and he's, he's anything but that.”

There’s plenty of divisiveness in Nebraska. Even here, deep in the American countryside, you can hear the unsubstantiated assertions that large numbers of immigrants are unlawfully claiming Social Security or engaging in ballot fraud. One Republican voter admits his belief in such claims is based not on fact, but on what he’s heard, with echoes of JD Vance’s similar justification for his promotion, without evidence, of the allegation that Haitian migrants are eating pets in Ohio. A soybean farmer tells me that Kamala Harris is a "DEI hire"; another says it is white people who are being discriminated against in today’s America. Yet, on the Democratic side, there are signs of groupthink too - the bafflement over the choices of their opponents and a readiness to see all Republican voters as motivated by the narrow politics of prejudice. But there’s something else unique about Nebraska’s electoral system. Its state legislature is nonpartisan, meaning it does not recognise the party affiliations of its elected members nor organise them around formal party voting blocs. In the city of Hastings, Michelle Smith is out canvassing for a seat in that local legislature. She’s a Democrat fighting for votes in a very red district, but, she says, the system encourages compromise. “My own father is one of those people who’s going to vote for Donald Trump, and I understand it,” she tells me. “I'm a business owner. I paid less taxes when Donald Trump was president. Our prices were lower at the grocery store.” How does she campaign? "I bring it down to the local issues. I'm not a national candidate. I'm a local candidate, and I'm running to make things better here in Nebraska.”

For now, Nebraska is very much in the national spotlight. There’s been a last-minute attempt by the Republican Party not to leave anything to chance, with several lawmakers pushing for a move to make the state a winner-takes-all system. Barring the completely unexpected, that would mean all the state’s electoral college votes go to Donald Trump. It foundered, though, on the opposition of a few local Republican senators, who refused to bow to the pressure this close to an election, placing what they saw as the interests of the state - given the rare bit of political leverage the system provides - over that of national partisan politics. Even Lindsey Graham, the powerful Republican senator, flew in to meet with the holdouts, but to no avail. “It was interesting,” he’s reported to have said back in Washington. “They have a different system. Everybody’s like a mini-governor.” Whether or not Nebraska plays an outsized role in November’s deeply divided contest, it may offer something of an alternative to it.

More on the US election

SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the voteEXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide electionFACT CHECK: What latest FBI data shows about violent crimePOLICIES: What Harris or Trump would do in powerPOLLS: Who is winning the race for the White House?

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.


Trump or Harris? In a crisis-hit world, diplomats resigned to either

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd6q2zwy9j0o, today

The annual United Nations General Assembly week is always frenetic. It may be called the Super Bowl of diplomacy, but this year perhaps a more appropriate analogy is a marathon. Not since World War Two have there been so many global conflicts piling up, with Lebanon on the brink just as leaders arrived in New York City. Given the current state of uncertainty, the forthcoming US election was in the back of everyone’s minds here. One senior Western diplomat told me no-one expects things to move on the Israel-Gaza war until after a winner is declared in the White House race. “We understand that the current administration is under pressure not to take any decisions that might affect the election,” he said. “But we hope that after the election the current administration will use the interim period to maybe make some decisions that will lead to improving the situation in Gaza.” But in conversations with a dozen officials from different continents at the UN's headquarters in Manhattan, a picture emerged of a global community fatigued by crisis and resigned to working with whoever is the next occupant of the White House. All were granted anonymity to share their candid views. "I don’t see any difference between the two candidates, just look around the whole world from one end to the other, we are in total chaos," an ambassador from a South Asian nation told me.

It's a sentiment that reflects perhaps disillusionment with US leadership, but also the view by many in the global south that while the rhetoric changes, America’s broad foreign policies really don’t swing that drastically from one administration to the next. “It’s very easy to bash and make alarms about what could happen,” one senior Arab representative told me. He said while he thinks former President Donald Trump is unpredictable compared to Vice-President Kamala Harris, the idea that he would rip up multilateralism is exaggerated because it didn’t happen before. "What is really undermining multilateralism are actions and conflicts that are happening in many parts of the world, and you can’t put that on one country or on one administration," he said. Here at the UN complex, one longtime official of the organisation tells me there isn’t panic about the US election. "We have enough anxiety spread around what's going on today to worry about what's going on in November,” the official said. This source added that the UN survived the Trump administration in a way few would have predicted. "The volume may have been very loud, but they weren’t all that different from previous Republicans," the official said. If there is a second term, the official told me their sense is that Trump will be so focused on domestic issues and "settling scores internally" that foreign policy might not be the focus in the beginning. Speaking to the BBC, Kenyan President William Ruto sounded unfazed. "I am very confident that the bones of friendship between Kenya and the US transcend individuals in office," he said. "It will transcend me as president or whoever is elected in the US."

For many Europeans, however, there is anxiety about a second Trump administration and what some see as his transactional approach to foreign relations. A European diplomat told me that with the Security Council incapable of managing conflicts, there is a fear that an emboldened and potentially more radical Trump administration would add to the dysfunction and encourage more movement in Europe toward the ultra-right. “I think it would be a relief for at least the majority of Europeans if Harris comes into office,” he said. Nevertheless, another senior European diplomat said that while Harris winning would give them a sense of continuity, they also now have a relationship from working with Trump for four years and feel more prepared than in 2016. Coinciding with the UN high level debate was Climate Week in New York City. Caribbean leaders spoke not only from the green and gold General Assembly Hall, but also to rooms full of businessmen and politicians at side events to warn that the world is dangerously behind on its climate commitments, putting their islands at risk. One minister from the region told me that climate was the main area where the US candidates’ differences worried them. “In terms of having real commitment from the US government and for the US government to provide leadership,” the minister said it’s "definitely Democrats". Many still remember Trump pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord, while Joe Biden later rejoined. The Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis, said political change has been a challenge to progress over the last 26 years. He said he’s been calling for some kind of mechanism that protects a change in political leadership from impeding or reversing progress. Election day on 5 November may feel faraway to diplomats who have been confronted with more challenges than solutions here this past week. But the time is fast approaching when votes will be counted in the US, and with it a new face in the White House. Another European minister, running to an event, simply had this to say to me: "My hope is that it doesn’t get too weird." Additional reporting by Cai Pigliucci.


'It's just a mess' - Left in limbo by US student loan logjam

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c204ywxzl11o, today

After nearly two decades of student loan payments, Angela Carpio, 40, thought the finishing line was in sight. But now she's caught in the middle of a political tug of war over a $1.74tn (£1.31tn) mountain of student debt held by 45 million Americans, most of it owed to the federal government. For borrowers like Angela, a mother-of-two and software developer who lives near Minneapolis, Minnesota, the logjam has upended family budgets and made it difficult to plan. November's election, in which two candidates with starkly different visions for handling the debt are running neck-and-neck, is only adding to the sense of insecurity. Angela took out her first student loans in 2001, eventually borrowing about $25,000 as she attended the for-profit DeVry University in Florida before earning an associate degree at Valencia College. Despite making steady payments, her balance is still stuck at more than $20,000 as interest racks up. "I'm just in limbo," she says. "I don't know what's going to happen and it scares me.”

Since the 1990s, the US has offered some borrowers the option to repay student loans using a process similar to the UK, where bills are based on a proportion of a borrower's income and the debt is written off after 25 years. But participation in the US repayment plan remained low, partly because of limited awareness. President Joe Biden, initially a sceptic of loan forgiveness, made it a signature policy for his administration, aiming to shore up support among younger voters, who are most likely to hold debts and rate the issue as important. Vice-President Kamala Harris, now the Democratic presidential nominee, has pledged to continue his efforts. Under Biden, the government has wiped out more than $168bn in debt for over 4.7 million borrowers, over a million of them lower-income Americans. That's more loan forgiveness than any other president. But the US Supreme Court last year struck down the White House's most sweeping proposal - to cancel $400bn in student loans for 16 million borrowers - ruling it was an illegal use of executive power.

A second Biden plan called Save (Saving on a Valuable Education) - which offered lower monthly loan payments - is on hold pending federal court review. Republican officials have led the legal challenges, arguing the debt write-off is unfair to the vast majority of Americans who did not take out student loans. But supporters of the White House policy say they are merely trying to fix problems that they argue have unfairly deprived borrowers of relief. In the meantime, the court setbacks have caused head-spinning bureaucratic headaches for precisely those Biden was trying to help. Angela had enrolled in Biden’s Save payment plan, which promised to cut the $400 or so she owed each month roughly in half and cancel her debt after 20 years. While the legal challenge has halted her payments - for now - she said the temporary reprieve has only stoked her worries about what comes next. "It's just a mess," she said. "It's very confusing and very hard to plan when the most concrete things are no longer there."

The US put student loan payments on hold during the pandemic. As of January, a few months after payments resumed, only half of debtors were up to date on their bills. Veronica Williams, a 32-year-old from Sacramento, California, has $127,000 in student debt after earning a college and a master's degree. But the court battles have also left her loan up in the air, and she says she cannot even get answers about what she owes for her monthly payment. Veronica, who works for the Department of Veterans Affairs, backed Biden in 2020, but said she was still waiting to decide if she would support Democrats again. "There's no clear understanding on what we're supposed to do," she said of her loan situation. "It's disheartening because it feels like it leaves me and my friends and colleagues confused on what the future... is going to be for us." On the campaign trail, Harris, while promising support for forgiveness, has not spotlighted the issue. Donald Trump, meanwhile, has argued that Democrats have "taunted" borrowers with hope while failing to deliver. At the same time, the Republican presidential nominee has condemned student debt forgiveness as "vile". For Republicans, who have seen college-educated and younger voters shift decisively to Democrats in recent years, the risks of opposing cancellation are minimal, said Anthony Fowler, a professor at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy. For Democrats, it remains to be seen whether student loan forgiveness will help or hurt.

A June UChicago Harris/AP-NORC poll found just 30% of Americans approved of Biden's handling of the issue, though Republicans and the Supreme Court fared even worse. Prof Fowler said he thought embracing debt forgiveness could backfire for Democrats, noting that less than 40% of US adults over age 25 hold college degrees and research has found sweeping forgiveness would benefit households with higher-than-average incomes. "The politics of asking your plumber to pay for your kids' fancy liberal arts degree - this doesn't make a lot of sense," he said.

But Mallory SoRelle, professor at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy, noted that an estimated one-third of Americans with student debt did not graduate and that polls indicate significant support among Democrats and independents for at least some relief. "If [Biden's plans] actually had gone through in a timely manner, I think we would see a much bigger boost for Democrats, but this is an issue that voters still say they care about," she said. Robert Henley, a 68-year-old public sector retiree from Tallahassee, Florida, voted for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020. He said he opposed debt forgiveness as too costly to the government and unfair to taxpayers like him and his wife who had sacrificed to save for their children's education. But he said he expected to vote for Harris in November anyway, citing other concerns - such as his mistrust of Trump. "As a country, we cannot afford to be giving away money - but really more importantly from my point of view, it's unfair," he said. "Obviously as a voter you can't have every single issue fall out the way you want it."


China is part of the US election - but only from one candidate

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgvr9kgkqyo, today

The US and China are the two largest economies in the world. They have the two most powerful militaries in the world. The US-China rivalry, in the view of many international analysts, will be the defining global theme of the 21st Century. But at the moment, only one of the two major party presidential candidates is regularly talking about US-China policy - as he has done consistently for years. According to a review by BBC Verify, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has mentioned China 40 times in his five rallies since the presidential debate earlier this month. In just one hour at a town hall forum last week in Michigan, he brought up the country 27 times. And when he talks about China, Trump focuses on matters of tension between the two global powers, painting the country and the world’s second-largest economy, as a kind of economic predator. Who is ahead - Harris or Trump?He has talked about the new tariffs he plans to impose on imports from Chinese companies – and those from other nations - should he return to the White House. He has said he wants to prevent Chinese-made cars from being sold because he believes they will destroy the American auto industry. He has warned China not to attempt to replace the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency. And he has blamed the Chinese government for the Covid pandemic. Many economists question the effectiveness of Trump’s tariff plans and warn that they would ultimately be harmful to US consumers. The Biden-Harris administration, however, has maintained, and even at times increased, the more narrowly focused tariffs that Trump imposed on China during his first term in office. Trump’s protectionist message is tailored to blue-collar voters in the key industrial Midwest battleground states who have felt the impact of increased competition from Chinese manufacturers. Meanwhile, BBC Verify finds, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris did not mention China at all in her six rallies since the 10 September debate. Although, in a speech on the economy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday afternoon, she made a handful of references to the country. “I will never hesitate to take swift and strong measures when China undermines the rules of the road at the expense of our workers, communities, and companies,” she said at that event. Asked for comment, an aide to the vice-president told the BBC that even if Harris does not talk about China regularly, she has a record of working to counter what they described as China’s efforts to undermine global stability and prosperity. But when it comes to discussing China, the contrast between Trump and Harris on the campaign trail is unmistakable. On Monday afternoon, at a barn in Smithton, a small town in rural western Pennsylvania, Trump sat down with a group of local farmers and ranchers for a roundtable discussion specifically about China. The town may be just an hour outside of Pittsburgh, a Democratic Party urban stronghold, but this was decidedly Republican territory. Cows grazed peacefully on grasslands lined with dozens of “Trump for President signs”, while Trump supporters decorated two donkeys in “Make America Great Again” gear. The topic of the event, hosted by the Protecting America Initiative, a conservative think-tank, was “the Chinese Communist Party's growing threat to the US food supply”. The forum ended up being a more open-ended conversation about the threat of China, full stop. The farmers, ranchers and business executives on the panel complained about having to compete with heavily subsidised Chinese imports and about the low quality of Chinese goods. While the former president didn’t spend much time discussing the perceived dangers of Chinese ownership of US farmland – he instead promised that he would convince Chinese President Xi Jinping to buy more US agriculture exports – he again emphasised that he would use tariffs to shield the American economy from China. At one point, he spoke of the need to protect the US steel industry - in order to prepare for a hypothetical war with China. “If we’re in a war, and we need army tanks and we need ships and we need other things that happen to be made of steel, what are we going to do, go to China and get the steel?” he asked. “We’re fighting China, but would you mind selling us some steel?” Some of the heavier lifting on China during the forum was left to Richard Grenell, a roundtable panelist and senior advisor for the Protecting America Initiative. He warned the country has “quietly but strategically” worked against the US – particularly when Americans were distracted by other global issues. “They go after our local and state politicians; they go after our manufacturing,” he said. “There is no question they are looking to, at some point, leverage that investment and activity.” Grenell, who served as US ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence while Trump was in office, is considered a possible secretary of state - America’s top diplomat - if Trump wins another term in November. If Harris wins, on the other hand, there may not be a significant change from the current Biden administration, even if the current president has frequently deployed sharper rhetoric to describe the US-China rivalry.

More on the US election

SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the voteEXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide electionFACT CHECK: Was US economy stronger under Biden or Trump?POLICIES: What Harris or Trump would do in powerPOLLS: Who is winning the race for the White House?

Since the start of his presidency, Joe Biden has identified China as one of the autocracies competing with the world’s leading democracies in what he describes as a historic global inflection point. According to public opinion surveys, China ranks low on the list of issues American voters care about – dwarfed by the economy, immigration and healthcare. In a recent National Security Action survey of voters in key electoral battleground states, only 14% listed China as the top national security priority for the next president. Immigration led the list at 38%, followed by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, both at 28%. That could in part explain Harris’s seeming lack of interest in talking about China. In this abbreviated presidential campaign for her, she has a shorter timeframe to define herself in the eyes of voters, so focusing on America's main economic competitor may be less of a priority for the Democrat. After the Trump event in Smithton, Bill Bretz, chair of the local county Republican Party committee, said that while China may not be at the top of voter concerns in Pennsylvania, it was important for Trump to talk about it. As the largest up-for-grabs electoral prize, Pennsylvania is perhaps the pivotal state in the 2024 presidential election. Both Trump and Harris will be hard-pressed to win the White House without it in their column. Polls currently show the two candidates in a dead heat there. “The majority of people have already picked the camp that they're in, but there are those group of people that are undecided,” he said. “If China is a straw that sways the scale one way or another, I think it's a great thing to bring up.” Additional reporting by Jake Horton and BBC Verify

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.


Why Georgia could again be centre of an election storm

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwylnl02em1o, today

It was no ordinary meeting of Georgia’s once-staid election board. The state panel gathered on Monday for its second all-day meeting to discuss new election rules, hurling accusations at one another while its nonpartisan chairman banged his mallet, calling for order. The five members had gathered to discuss last week’s 3-2 vote to approve a rule that requires counties to hand count ballots on and after election night. In recent months, the panel’s new Republican members have approved changes that have sparked warnings this pivotal battleground state could once again find itself at the centre of confusion on and after Election Day. After narrowly losing Georgia in 2020, Donald Trump and his allies filed lawsuits and spread unfounded allegations of election fraud, with Trump at one point pressuring Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find 11,780 votes" - the margin he lost by in the Peach State. Trump is currently fighting state criminal charges of conspiring to overturn that defeat in Georgia. Since then, the drama has continued to play out at the state election board level, with Democratic member Sarah Tindall Ghazal accusing her Republican colleagues of being motivated by "far right-wing beliefs". On Monday, Republican member Janice Johnston hit back against the criticism, claiming her character was being "assassinat[ed]".

Sowing seeds of doubt

Last Friday’s vote on the hand counting of ballots in Georgia came after weeks of objection from local election officials. Poll supervisors in Georgia told the BBC the new rule could cause problems on and after Election Day, including delays in results reporting and human errors. The new measure requires poll workers to hand count ballots on election night - or in some cases, the day after - to confirm that the number of paper ballots matches the amount tabulated by the machine.

Janelle King, a Republican who voted in favour of the rule, told the BBC the measure aims to ensure the accuracy of election results. She noted that the rule does not require poll workers to count the actual results on the ballots, only the amount of papers. “Our voters - I think they care more about accuracy than speed,” she said. “It’s the best practice.” Other election officials disagreed. “It’s a recipe for disaster,” Anne Dover, a Republican elections director in Georgia’s Cherokee County, told the BBC. Dover says the new election rules are being pushed by those who fear the 2020 election was fraudulent. She says her own husband has questioned the results of the election four years ago in other parts of the state. “They’re just not in touch with how hard elections officials work to do a good job,” she said. Ethan Compton, an elections supervisor in Irwin County, Georgia, says the new rule will slow down results reporting and "leave room for chaos, and chaos can sow seeds of doubt". Compton worries that the aftermath of the election in Georgia in 2024 could mirror the events of four years ago, when Trump and his allies cited hours of absentee-ballot counting as evidence of voter fraud, undermining public confidence in the election process.

'Partisan football'

This isn’t the first change of voting rules to spark uproar in an election year. Democrats triggered lawsuits four years ago after they broadened use of ballot drop boxes in Wisconsin and expanded postal voting in Pennsylvania. But the difference in Georgia is that criticism is coming from both sides of the political aisle. Georgia’s State Election Board comprises three Republicans, one Democrat and a chairman appointed by the Republican governor. The role was historically procedural and nonpartisan, but in the aftermath of the 2020 election, the panels have emerged as a political lightning rod. “Now, the job has turned into something that's like partisan football,” said Gowri Ramachandran, director of elections and security at the Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal non-profit. The state board was previously chaired by Georgia’s secretary of state, but Raffensperger's fellow Republicans pushed him out after the 2020 election, a move critics say was revenge for his defence of the election results. Since then, several Trump-aligned Republicans have joined and won a majority on the board: Ms King, Ms Johnston and former Republican state senator Rick Jeffares. During meetings, the board’s three new Republican members have advocated for a number of changes to the state’s elections, including a rule passed earlier this year that allows local election boards to conduct “reasonable inquiries” into election results before certifying them. Ms King argues the rule will lead to “an increase in certifications” because board members can examine documents themselves. “We want to make sure they have as much confidence in that election as possible,” she said.

Trump has personally thanked Ms King and her two newly appointed Republican board members by name, saying at a rally in Atlanta in August that the trio were “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory”. Officials and election administration experts said that although the state board’s rule changes could bring disruption in November, they believed Georgia’s broader voting laws would ultimately pave the way for a secure presidential election. Some also said they remained concerned about the damage that could be done to the public’s trust in the election system. Dover said the misinformation that circulated during the last election led to bomb threats and voicemails harassing election officials. Peter Simmons, a Georgia policy strategist with the non-profit Protect Democracy, which describes itself as nonpartisan, noted that even though Trump’s allegations of widespread fraud in 2020 have never been substantiated, a large portion of Americans still believe his claims. “That's essentially what has inspired this set of actions [in Georgia] today,” Mr Simmons said.

More on US election

A simple guide to the US electionWhat is the US electoral college?Six swing states that could decide election

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.


Crypto world hoping for Trump election win

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0lwgn9p8z4o, today

The cryptocurrency industry is “rife with fraud and hucksters and grifters”, one of the United States’ top financial regulators has told the BBC. The chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, says the “investing public around the globe has lost too much money” because of crypto companies not following the laws his agency tries to enforce. It comes as the industry is spending millions of dollars on political donations, trying to influence the outcome of November’s US elections in the hope of more favourable future laws. In addition to the presidential battle between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, all 435 districts in the House of Representatives are up for re-election, as well as 33 of the 100 seats in the Senate.

The future of cryptocurrency, one of the world’s most hotly-debated technologies, is an issue where there appears to be a clear dividing line between Donald Trump and the outgoing Biden administration. Trump has been courting the votes of crypto enthusiasts by promising to make America “the crypto capital of the planet”, and creating a “strategic national bitcoin stockpile” similar to the US government’s gold reserves. Last week he launched a new crypto business called World Liberty Financial, and although he provided few details, he said “I think crypto is one of those things we have to do”. It’s a huge turnaround from three years ago, when he dismissed Bitcoin as something that “seems like a scam” and a threat to the US dollar.

Trump's new-found enthusiasm is a stark contrast to the Biden administration, of which Harris is the vice president. The White House has led a sweeping crackdown on crypto firms in recent years. In March, Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and boss of FTX was jailed for 25 years for fraud, after he stole billions of dollars from customers around the world, many of whom are still trying to recover their money. Then in April, the founder of the world’s biggest crypto exchange, Binance’s Changpeng Zhao, got four months in prison, and the company paid a $4.3bn (£3.2bn) fine. He admitted to allowing criminals, child abusers and terrorists to launder money on his platform, in a case brought by the US Justice Department. The SEC also has a case against Binance going through the courts. It is one of a record-high 46 enforcement actions the financial regulator took last year against firms trying to profit from what is still an emerging technology.

“This is a field that has come along, and just because they're recording their crypto assets on a new accounting ledger, they [wrongly] say ‘we don't think we want to comply with the time-tested laws’,” says Mr Gensler. He explains that rules that force companies that want to raise money from the public to “share certain information” with them have been in place to protect investors since the SEC was created. This was back in 1934, in the aftermath of the infamous Wall Street crash of 1929 that heralded the Great Depression. “Crypto is just a small piece of the US and worldwide capital markets, but it can undermine trust that everyday investors have in the capital markets,” says Mr Gensler. While fans argue that crypto offers a fast, cheap and secure way to move funds, a survey by the US central bank, the Federal Reserve, found that the number of Americans using it has dropped from 12% in 2021 to 7% last year.

Harris has not said much about cryptocurrencies, but one of her advisers did say last month that she would “support policies that ensure that emerging technologies, and that sort of industry, can continue to grow”. Recent meetings between her team and industry executives have been trying to build trust, and given crypto bosses hope of a brighter future whoever wins in November. “I can't underscore enough how important this is, not just for the US, but for the world,” according to Paul Grewal, who is chief legal officer at crypto firm Coinbase. He has been at these meetings. “Not only is the US an important market for crypto, but so much of the important technology surrounding it has been developed here. And I think it's also critically important that we do not lose sight of the fact that the rest of the world is not simply waiting for the US to get its act together.” He adds that given how tight the race for the White House is, “every vote is going to count, and crypto votes are no exception”.

The clampdown on cryptocurrencies in the US this year has been mirrored in Europe. In April, the European Union agreed new laws to try to reduce the risk of crypto being used by criminals. However, other regulators are being slower to act. The G20 group of leading economies is working on minimum standards for cryptocurrencies, but they are not legally binding, and uptake has been slow. Back in the US, a bill to regulate cryptocurrencies has been passed by the House, but not the Senate. Its critics argue it will give less protection to consumers. Coinbase’s Mr Grewal backs the bill, and says: “This is not an industry that is shying away from regulation.” He adds that the sector just wants the same standards applied to crypto as are applied to other assets, “no tougher, but no weaker”.

With November’s US elections on the horizon, the crypto industry has sensed an opportunity to help elect lawmakers who take a sympathetic view of the businesses. By last month, the sector had already spent an unprecedented $119m on donations, according to research by the non-profit Public Citizen. The consumer advocacy organisation’s research director Rick Claypool says the money is being used “to help elect pro-crypto candidates and attack crypto critics, this is regardless of political affiliation”. They’ve spent more than any other industry when it comes to corporate donations, because they “are attempting to discipline the US congress to give in to their demands for less oversight, and to weaken protections for consumers,” he adds.


Seven swing states set to decide the 2024 US election

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c511pyn3xw3o, today

About 240 million people are eligible to vote in this year’s US election, but only a relatively small number of them are likely to decide who becomes the next president. Experts believe there are only a handful of so-called "swing" states that could plausibly be won by either Democrat Kamala Harris or Republican Donald Trump. Seven of them - Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - hold the keys to the White House. Both campaigns are therefore targeting undecided voters in these states.

Arizona

The Democrats gained the presidency in 2020 with the support of the Grand Canyon State, which narrowly voted to back the party's candidate for the first time since the 1990s. This state borders Mexico for hundreds of miles, and has become a focal point of the nation’s immigration debate. Border crossings have fallen in recent months from record highs, which have made the issue near the top of voters' concerns. Trump has repeatedly attacked Ms Harris’s record on immigration, because she was given a role by President Joe Biden to try and ease the border crisis. He has also vowed to carry out “the largest deportation operation” in US history if he regains the presidency. Arizona has also hosted a bitter row over abortion access, after state Republicans tried unsuccessfully to reinstate a 160-year-old near-total ban on terminating pregnancies. The issue has become even more polarising since 2022 when the US Supreme Court overturned a landmark ruling that gave women a constitutional right to abortion.

Georgia

Our list of swing states closely matches the list of places where Trump-backed Republican officials tried to thwart Mr Biden’s win in the 2020 election. In Georgia's Fulton County, alleged election interference has landed Mr Trump in one of his four criminal prosecutions (Trump has been convicted in one case, while the remaining are ongoing). He and 18 others are accused of conspiring to overturn his narrow defeat to Mr Biden in the state. Trump denies any wrongdoing, and the case looks increasingly unlikely to be heard in court before the election. A third of Georgia's population is African-American, one of the country’s largest proportions of black residents, and it is believed that this demographic was instrumental in Mr Biden flipping the state in 2020. Some disillusionment with Mr Biden had been reported among America’s black voters, but the Harris campaign hopes to animate this constituency.

Michigan

The Great Lakes state has picked the winning presidential candidate in the last two elections. Despite backing Mr Biden in 2020, it has become symbolic of a nationwide backlash over the president’s support for Israel during that country’s war in Gaza. During Michigan’s Democratic primary contest in February, more than 100,000 voters chose the “uncommitted” option on their ballots, part of a campaign mounted by activists who want the US government to halt its military aid to Israel. Notably, Michigan has the country’s largest proportion of Arab-Americans - a demographic whose support for Mr Biden was in jeopardy. But Ms Harris has taken a harder tone on Israel, and some Gaza protesters have told the BBC they hope she will be more sympathetic to their cause. Trump has highlighted the state’s significance in his potential path to victory. Commenting on events in the Middle East, he has called on Israel to finish its campaign over Hamas in Gaza, but "get it over with fast”.

Nevada

The Silver State has voted Democrat for the last several elections, but there are signs of a possible turnaround by the Republicans. Recent averages published by poll-tracking firm 538 indicate that polls once showed Trump enjoying a wide lead over Mr Biden, but that advantage has shrunk since Ms Harris became the top of the ticket. Democrats had hoped a candidate with greater appeal to younger and more diverse voters would close the gap. Both candidates are vying to win the state’s sizeable Latino population. Despite the fact that the US economy has shown strong growth and jobs creation since Mr Biden took the presidency, the post-Covid recovery has been slower in Nevada than elsewhere. At 5.1%, the state has the highest unemployment rate in the country, after California and the District of Columbia, according to the latest US government statistics. If Trump comes to power again, he has vowed a return to an agenda of lower taxes across the board, and fewer regulations.

North Carolina

Polls appear to have tightened in the Tar Heel State after Ms Harris assumed her place at the top of the Democratic ticket, and some analysts now call it a "toss-up". That has perhaps been reflected in Trump's choice to go there for his first outdoor rally since an attempt was made on his life in July. “This state is a very, very big state to win," he told the crowd. For their part, the Democrats decided to give a platform to the state's governor, Roy Cooper, on the final night of their party convention. North Carolina borders Georgia, and shares some of its top electoral concerns, as well as those in Arizona, another Sun Belt state. Trump carried North Carolina in 2020 but did so by just over 70,000 votes, which has further buoyed Democrats' hopes that this "purple" state (one that could vote red or blue) could be winnable in this election year.

Pennsylvania

Both sides have also been campaigning doggedly in the Keystone state, which is where Donald Trump survived the first assassination attempt. The state proved pivotal in the 2020 election, backing Mr Biden. He has often spoken of his connection to the working-class city of Scranton, where he grew up. The economy is a a top issue here, as well as many other places. Inflation spiked across the country under the Biden administration, before gradually reducing. Pennsylvanians are far from unique among Americans for feeling cost-of-living pressures as a result of inflation. But the price of groceries has risen faster in their state than in any other, according to market intelligence provider Datasembly. The BBC has previously reported on how people were struggling to cope in Erie - a bellwether county for the rest of Pennsylvania, where as many as one in eight people are considered “food insecure”. High inflation could hurt Ms Harris across the US as polling suggests it is giving voters an unfavourable view of the economy. Trump has sought to attack her by pinning her to the Biden economy.

Wisconsin

The Badger State also picked the winning presidential candidate in both 2016 and 2020, by a margin of little more than 20,000 votes each time. Pundits have suggested it is in marginal states like this one where an impact could be made by third-party candidates who are campaigning against the policies of the big two candidates. Polling had indicated that a sizeable show of support for independent candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr could have harmed the vote tallies for Ms Harris or Trump. Kennedy suspended his campaign in late August and endorsed Trump. Democrats have been fighting to have Green Party candidate Jill Stein removed from the ballot here, saying the party did not comply with state election laws, and has also filed an elections complaint against Cornel West, a left-leaning academic. Trump has described that state as “really important… if we win Wisconsin, we win the whole thing”. The summer Republican National Convention was held in Milwaukee. Ms Harris was rallying in that same city when her party's own convention formally nominated her as the Democratic presidential candidate, appearing via a live feed.

More on the US election

SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the voteFACT CHECK: Was US economy stronger under Biden or Trump?POLICY: What are Harris and Trump's policies?TRACKER: Who is winning US election polls, Trump or Harris?


What are Harris and Trump's policies?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy343z53l1o, today

American voters will face a clear choice for president on election day, between Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump. Here's a look at what they stand for and how their policies compare on different issues.

Economy

Harris has said her day-one priority would be trying to reduce food and housing costs for working families. She promises to ban price-gouging on groceries, help first-time home buyers and provide incentives to increase housing supply. Trump has promised to “end inflation and make America affordable again”. He has promised to deliver lower interest rates, something the president does not control, and he says deporting undocumented immigrants will ease pressure on housing. Who won the Harris-Trump presidential debate?US election polls - is Harris or Trump ahead?Comparing Biden's economy to Trump's

Abortion

Harris has made abortion rights central to her campaign, and she continues to advocate for legislation that would enshrine reproductive rights nationwide. Trump has struggled to find a consistent message in recent weeks. The three judges he appointed to the Supreme Court while president were pivotal in overturning the constitutional right to an abortion, a 1973 ruling known as Roe v Wade.

Immigration

Harris was tasked with tackling the root causes of the southern border crisis and helped raise billions of dollars of private money to make regional investments aimed at stemming the flow north. Record numbers of people crossed from Mexico at the end of 2023 but the numbers have fallen since. In this campaign, she has toughened her stance and emphasised her experience as a prosecutor in California taking on human traffickers. Trump has vowed to seal the border by completing the construction of a wall and increasing enforcement. But he urged Republicans to ditch a hardline, cross-party border bill, backed by Harris. He has also promised the biggest mass deportation of undocumented migrants in US history. Experts told the BBC this would face legal challenges. What Harris really did about the border crisisCould Trump really deport a million migrants?

Taxes

Harris wants to raise taxes on big businesses and Americans making $400,000 (£305,000) a year. But she has also unveiled a number of measures that would ease the tax burden on families, including an expansion of child tax credits. Trump proposes a number of tax cuts worth trillions, including an extension of his 2017 cuts which mostly helped the wealthy. He says he will pay for them through higher growth and tariffs on imports. Analysts say both tax plans will add to the ballooning deficit, but Trump’s by more. Where Kamala Harris stands on 10 issuesWhere Donald Trump stands on 10 issues

Foreign policy

Harris has vowed to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes”. She has pledged, if elected, to ensure the US and not China wins "the competition for the 21st Century". She has been a longtime advocate for a two-state solution between the Israelis and Palestinians, and has called for an end to the war in Gaza. Trump has an isolationist foreign policy and wants the US to disentangle itself from conflicts elsewhere in the world. He has said he would end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours through a negotiated settlement with Russia, a move that Democrats say would embolden Vladimir Putin. Trump has positioned himself as a staunch supporter of Israel but said little on how he would end the war in Gaza.

Trade

Harris has criticised Trump’s sweeping plan to put tariffs on imports, calling it a national tax on working families which will cost each household $4,000 a year. She is expected to have a more targeted approach to taxing imports. Trump has made tariffs a central pledge in this campaign. He has proposed new 10-20% tariffs on most foreign goods, and much higher ones on those from China.

Climate

Harris, as vice-president, helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act, which has funnelled hundreds of billions of dollars to renewable energy, and electric vehicle tax credit and rebate programmes. But she has dropped her opposition to fracking, a technique for recovering gas and oil opposed by environmentalists. Trump, while in the White House, rolled back hundreds of environmental protections, including limits on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and vehicles. In this campaign he has vowed to expand Arctic drilling and attacked electric cars.

Healthcare

Harris has been part of a White House administration which has reduced prescription drug costs and capped insulin prices at $35. Trump has said he will not renew his attempts while president to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, which extended insurance to millions more people. He has called for taxpayer-funded fertility treatment, but that could be opposed by Republicans in Congress.

Crime

Harris has tried to contrast her experience as a prosecutor with the fact Trump has been convicted of a crime. Trump has vowed to demolish drugs cartels, crush gang violence and rebuild Democratic-run cities that he says are overrun with crime. Trump's legal cases, explained

More on US election

SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the voteEXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide electionFACT CHECK: Was US economy stronger under Biden or Trump?IMMIGRATION: Could Trump really deport a million migrants?POLLS: Who is winning the race for the White House?


How social media assassination conspiracies are uniting pro- and anti-Trump voters

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvglm0rjy2go, today

Wild Mother - the online alias of a woman called Desirée - lives in the mountains of Colorado, where she posts videos to 80,000 followers about holistic wellness and bringing up her little girl. She wants Donald Trump to win the presidential election. About 70 miles north in the suburbs of Denver is Camille, a passionate supporter of racial and gender equality who lives with a gaggle of rescue dogs and has voted Democrat for the past 15 years. The two women are poles apart politically - but they both believe assassination attempts against Mr Trump were staged. Their views on the shooting in July and the apparent foiled plot earlier this month were shaped by different social media posts pushed to their feeds, they both say. I travelled to Colorado - which became a hotbed of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election being stolen - for the BBC Radio 4 podcast Why Do You Hate Me? USA. I wanted to understand why these evidence-free staged assassination theories seemed to have spread so far across the political spectrum and the consequences for people like Camille and Wild Mother. Dozens of evidence-free posts I found suggesting both incidents were staged have racked up more than 30 million views on X. Some of these posts came from anti-Trump accounts that did not seem to have a track record of sharing theories like this, while a smaller share were posted by some of the former president’s supporters. For Democrat Camille, Trump’s team orchestrated this to boost his chances of winning the election. Wild Mother - who already follows QAnon, the unfounded conspiracy theory which claims Donald Trump is involved in a secret war against an elite cabal of Satan-worshipping paedophiles - wants to believe Trump’s own team staged the attack in order to frame his supposed enemies in the "Deep State". The Deep State is claimed to be a shadowy coalition of security and intelligence services looking to thwart certain politicians. There is no evidence to support either of the women’s theories.

The idea that news events have been staged to manipulate the public is a classic trope in the conspiracy theory playbook. Wild Mother says she is no stranger to this alternative way of thinking. Camille, however, says this is the first time she has ever used the word "staged" about an event in the news like this. She always believed Covid-19 was real and she was extremely opposed to false claims the 2020 election had been rigged. But on 13 July this year, when she was sitting in front of her TV at home watching live as Donald Trump was shot at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, she says she immediately thought: "Oh, that's staged." The way Donald Trump was able to pose for a photo and raise his fist in the air was what ignited Camille’s suspicions. She had questions about how the US Secret Service allowed the shooting to happen in the first place. The director of the service has since resigned over failings that day.

The shooter was a 20-year-old called Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed by Secret Service snipers. His motives remain unknown – which left many questions wide open. And so Camille’s thoughts continued to spiral. Already sceptical that something did not add up, Camille turned to X for more answers. In the years before the shooting, she had already started spending more and more time on the social media site, formerly known as Twitter. She had taken an interest in pro-Democrat anti-Trump accounts and followed some of them. "I would admit to you that I spend too much time on social media now, and it, in my mind, is kind of a problem," she tells me.

Recent changes to how X’s "For You" feed works meant she started seeing more posts from accounts she does not follow, but that pushed ideas in line with her political views. Lots of these accounts had also purchased blue ticks on the site, which give their posts more prominence. So when the first assassination attempt happened, unfounded conspiracy theories suggesting it had been staged were not only recommended directly to her feed - but were all the more convincing as they came from other profiles with the same political views she holds about Donald Trump. Most of the social media companies say they have guidelines to protect users and reduce harmful content. X did not respond to the BBC's request for comment.

Why Do You Hate Me? USA - Episode one Marianna Spring travels from Colorado to Baltimore and New York to uncover how social media is shaping the Presidential race. It’s social media’s world and the election is just living in it. Listen on BBC Sounds.

'Like watching a magic show'

Wild Mother had also turned to social media to find her tribe - having been called "a weirdo, an alien, a diamond in the rough" offline - and has built a following of thousands. As we stand chatting in a waterfall in the small town she calls home, she explains how she began sharing her views on natural medicine and motherhood in 2021. Then she started posting unproven theories about what was happening behind the headlines - such as on the Princess of Wales' health or the Baltimore bridge collapse earlier this year - and saw her views and likes rack up. She says she has been immersed in what she calls this "alternative idea about reality" from a young age and believes we have been lied to about what really happened when John F Kennedy was assassinated in the 1960s, when 9/11 happened in 2001, and during the Covid-19 pandemic. She started to like Trump when she began spending more time online during the pandemic and became exposed to the QAnon movement, which she believes could be linking all these events. As a mum, she was especially concerned about allegations around child abuse and trafficking its supporters often talk about. "I would never in my life even imagine some of the stuff that I've had to hear is going on right now, under our noses. And it blows my mind. We have to be able to protect our most innocent," Wild Mother says.

QAnon supporters were among the crowd that stormed the US Capitol building on 6 January, 2021, in a violent protest against Joe Biden's election victory. Now Wild Mother wants to believe the idea she has seen on social media that they might have been involved somehow in staging Trump's shooting in July - in order to frame the Deep State. But Wild Mother says, according to the posts she has seen online, "good guys in the military", known as White Hats, had been doing covert operations to counter the Deep State. And one theory that popped up on her feed claimed the July assassination attempt was staged by them to show the public the threat Trump is under. Wild Mother doesn't claim to know for sure if the QAnon theory is true - but she does know what she wants to believe. "I think our country needs rescuing from our government right now. It's a horrible mess. A horrible mess," she says. Once Wild Mother started to question whether a news event could have been staged, it seemed as though any of them could be. "It's like going to a magic show as a kid and then that you find out for the first time that the magician is pulling one over on you. Now, every time you go to a magic show, you know what they're doing," she tells me.

As both Camille and Wild Mother came to rely more on social media, the beliefs they picked up contributed to a fracturing of their relationships in the real world. Camille finds it hard to have conversations with some of her close family who support Trump, while Wild Mother says it played a part in her separating from her now ex-husband, who she says strongly opposed conspiracy theories. "Does it make it difficult? Yes. Did it create a wedge? Was it possibly one of the things that ended my marriage? Maybe," Wild Mother says. Meanwhile, Camille also found herself embroiled in arguments on X which left her with her guard up in the real world, too. "It's a little scary because I feel like every time I leave the house, it's a potential for conflict," she says. This atmosphere of suspicion and conflict doesn’t just have consequences for these women’s personal lives - but for society too. Officials, election workers - and politicians around the USA have found themselves subject to hate and threats as a consequence of this wider belief that almost anything and everything - including elections - is being rigged and staged. For Wild Mother, people are "walking a really fine line" between seeking justice and harmful behaviour. "It's not writing your senators and calling them racist names. But if you were somebody who truly did your research and found that there was an issue, do I agree that you should use your voice? Absolutely," she says. "I think that we all have ways of doing that. For them, it just so happens to be harassing people." While Wild Mother and Camille say they have never threatened anyone themselves - and strike me as empathetic, kind people - the mistrust fostered in part by their social media feeds has eroded their faith in society and its institutions. Camille, who was so opposed conspiracy theories, now finds herself using the language of them. She appears to be one of many recruited into this way of thinking - by July’s assassination attempt and the social media algorithms drawing people deeper into an online world detached from reality.


Springfield grapples with false pet-eating rumours - and real problems

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1l4g6g5d97o, today

A week after Donald Trump's comments at a presidential debate thrust this city in south-west Ohio into the national spotlight, people here are still struggling at times to separate fact from fiction. The cameras have mostly been put away, the Proud Boys have gone home, and the town of Springfield, Ohio seems to have reached a shaky, temporary peace. The only sign of the chaos of this past week is state troopers guarding local schools, called in by Ohio Gov Mike DeWine after nearly 30 bomb threats against schools and government buildings. State authorities say the threats have mostly come from outside the US, but their exact origin – and who’s behind them – is still a mystery. If there is one thing that most people are certain about here, it's that the rumour that kicked everything off - that Haitians are regularly capturing and eating pet cats and dogs - is false. Who are the Proud Boys?Trump repeats baseless claim about Haitians

Everytown, USA

At first glance Springfield looks like a typical small midwestern city. Its virtues include stately homes from the city's heyday, a few busy downtown blocks, an art museum, a leafy campus and a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house. But not far away are areas full of decaying strip malls backed by blocks of boarded-up houses and threaded through with chewed-up, potholed streets. Springfield's population had been declining for decades before a few years ago, when Haitians were drawn here by the relatively low cost of living and the promise of work in local factories. City estimates of the number of Haitians here range from 12,000 to 20,000, in a city previously home to about 60,000, according to the 2020 census. Business owners and some residents have welcomed the newcomers, but some have complained about rent increases, strains on local schools and hospitals and dangerous drivers. Tensions were amplified last year when a car driven by a Haitian immigrant hit a school bus, killing an 11-year-old boy. And then in recent weeks came the cat rumours. They began with a YouTube clip containing a second-hand account and a Facebook post attributed to the friend of the daughter of a neighbour. The woman behind the post recently retracted her account, saying she looked further into the story and determined it wasn't true. But the idea that Haitian immigrants were eating pets - allegations that have long been lobbed at a variety of immigrant groups in many countries - had already gone viral. They spread to right-wing accounts with big followings, until they were repeated online by Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance, and by Trump during last Wednesday's debate. "In Springfield, they're eating the dogs," he said. "The people that came in, they're eating the cats." Following the debate, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue, a Republican, told BBC Newsnight people need to better understand "the weight of their words and how it can negatively affect communities". It's unclear why Trump mentioned dogs - the online rumours focused on cats and also on wild ducks and geese. Local police have not recorded any cases of pets being devoured. Independent, right-wing and pro-Trump news sources searched for evidence, in some cases offering rewards for proof of cat abduction. So far no evidence of pet eating has come to light. Despite the false claims, Trump's comments put Springfield in the national spotlight, increasing tensions between the Haitian community and local residents. Trump told a rally in New York on Wednesday that he would hold an event in the Ohio city soon. "I'm going to go there in the next two weeks," Trump said. "I'm going to Springfield, and I'm going to Aurora" in Colorado, another city that his campaign has made the focus of claims about immigration. Mayor Rue told a news conference Tuesday that a Trump rally "would be an extreme strain on our resources". "So it'd be fine with me if they decided not to make that visit," he said.

False rumours and real problems

Haitians here talk of a sense of fear created by misinformation. Laura Koveleski, 26, grew up in the city and along with her Haitian mother runs a business providing translation and other services to the immigrants. She recounted a number of incidents of harassment - beyond the bomb threats - which she says have created a climate of fear and paranoia. "Haitians, who have just been minding their business, going to work and coming home, are now terrified to walk on the streets or to gather together," she said. She also said the immigrant community has been unfairly portrayed as "illegal". The city says most of the recent immigrants are legal asylum seekers who have been granted Temporary Protected Status, which gives them permission to work and receive social benefits. At the same time, many long-term residents fear their concerns are being dismissed out of hand because of the cat-eating falsehoods. One resident who did not want to give his name told the BBC that the Haitians were being taken advantage of, being charged high rent and offered lower wages - with corresponding knock-on economic effects for the existing population. "They're being used," he said. "They're not getting treated good at all." But "everybody's cats are safe, dogs are safe", he added. He suggested that Haitians, who have been encouraged to move here by some local businesses to help with post-pandemic labour shortages, are being exploited by businesses and government officials. Rumours that white vans have been transporting more migrants here continued to worry some residents. In reality, the vans are factory transportation vehicles taking workers to jobs.

‘Complicated’ life

At Haitian restaurant Rose Goute in the south of Springfield, businessman Jacob Payen says life for Haitians like him has become "complicated" in the last week. "A lot of people are living in fear they don't even want to go out to the grocery stores, and that bothers me, because it wasn't like that before," he said. Mr Payen, 46, who runs a religious and spiritual goods store and helps out at Rose Goute, first emigrated to Florida where he lived for two decades before moving to Springfield three years ago. "The whole place was looking like a ghost town. It was abandoned," he recalls. When he first heard the rumours, he says, he thought "maybe somebody's joking, or maybe somebody is doing a prank on the community". "But then we hear it from the former president and his vice-president (nominee). Then it becomes serious," he said. Mr Vance, in an interview with CNN, said: "If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do." He then clarified that he based his statements about pet-eating on "first-hand accounts from my constituents". The Ohio senator, who grew up about 50 miles (80km) away from Springfield, has not given further details. His office did not respond to requests for comment.

'Go back, all of them'

Vance and Trump's comments have brought a flurry of attention on this city that has only just started to let up. Dozens of bomb threats, many against schools, have set many Springfield families on edge. "I think they need to leave the schools out of it," said one mother outside Spring Hill Elementary School on Tuesday. A local cultural fest, which was supposed to celebrate diversity, has also been cancelled. Several far-right groups appeared here, including a weekend rally by the Proud Boys, but those groups seem to have moved on. Donald Trump, on the other hand, said he may return for a campaign rally, and some residents say they're worried that if that happens, it will start things up again.

But while these outside forces have been felt in the town, it's local conflicts that are on everyone's mind. Driving through town, I witnessed a car crash involving a Haitian woman and an elderly local. The Haitian woman's car flipped over. She and her small baby were taken to hospital for evaluation, but nobody involved was seriously injured. It was unclear who exactly was at fault but one of the women in the local's car was adamant that the Haitian driver had run a red light. Shaken from the car crash, she said: "Haitians, they need to go back, all of them." Ms Koveleski, who runs the translation and advice service with her Haitian mother, said she understands the concerns of long-time locals - she is one herself. But she recounted a number of stories of harassment and assaults against of Haitian immigrants since last Wednesday's debate. "There's a woman who came into my office with her small son, who's probably around four years old, and she just wanted a one way ticket (away from Springfield) because she's terrified of someone killing her son," she said. "She says in the area that she lives in she gets people yelling at her. She knows it's hateful, but she doesn't understand what they're saying."

One possible positive outcome of the focus on Springfield, she said, is that it might prompt state and federal authorities to deliver funds to support projects, such as a youth center, that would benefit all residents. "Haitians are terrified and locals are angry, but now that we have national attention, we can seek federal help, and this can do big things for the town," she said. And Mr Payen said he feels heartened by the response from many non-Haitians. He's kept a careful eye on Rose Goute's clientele over the past week and says more than 90% have been non-Haitians. "They trying to see what the food tastes like," he says. "But they're also coming to support us as a community."

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More on US election

SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the voteEXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide electionFACT CHECK: Was US economy stronger under Biden or Trump?POLICIES: What Harris or Trump would do in powerPOLLS: Who is winning the race for the White House?


How Harris campaign is engaging with Swifties

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3d9dd8v75no, today

Taylor Swift has just endorsed Kamala Harris – but it’s not just her vote Harris is after, it’s her millions of fans. Weeks before Taylor Swift endorsed Kamala Harris on Instagram, the gears had already begun to turn Swift’s millions of fans into bona-fide Harris voters. Soon after Harris announced her intention to run for president, Irene Kim, 29, who spends as many as 14 hours a day talking to fellow Swifties online and has attended more than five of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour concerts, sprung into action. Along with other mega-fans who supported Harris, they created social media accounts, memes, montages, and newsletters, all in a bid to help their favourite candidate win the election. I’ve been going inside the world of the Swifties ahead of the Presidential vote for the second season of BBC Radio 4’s podcast Why Do You Hate Me USA. Subscribe to the podcast for episodes soon. I’ll be investigating how the online world of social media is shaping the US election. And when it comes to social media, Taylor Swift supporters are considered leaders of the pack. Now the executive director of the Swifties for Kamala campaign, Ms Kim decided to get involved because she wants the US to see its first female president and believes Kamala Harris will “protect our rights, the rights of our friends, our family members”. With more than 3,500 volunteers, the Swifties for Kamala would seem like an experienced political operation. The group has even raised over $165,000 (£126,000) for the campaign since they began tracking donations from 1 August. But Ms Kim, who says she has never participated in political campaigning like this before, thinks everyone came together in a really “natural” way. They’re using the skills she says they’ve developed - from strategising how to buy tickets for the sold-out Eras tour and auctioning off merchandise like signed Taylor Swift records - to try and swing an election.

The Swifties for Kamala group is volunteer-led and independent of the Harris campaign, but they have been in touch. The conversations are “surprisingly more casual than you would expect”, Ms Kim tells me. They aren’t entirely about the online world either - they’re about translating that into real-world action. “They’re [the campaign] helping facilitate things like volunteer sign-ups and helping us coordinate volunteer training,” Ms Kim says. Not just for in-person canvassing but also text and phone banking. “We can make requests. We really wanted a photo of Doug [Kamala’s husband] standing behind Kamala so we could do the like ‘he lets her bejewelled’ joke.” The BBC reached out to the Harris campaign for comment, but did not get a response. The online world is a key battleground for both campaigns, and memes and videos from supporters that feel more authentic than paid-for ads could be effective at reaching younger, disengaged voters. The army of Swifties could also be a way for the Harris campaign to go head-to-head with Donald Trump’s already very active base of supporters online. They operate a bit like a fandom too, and have proved effective at pushing out endless memes and pictures for the former president. Endorsements from - for example - tech boss Elon Musk have also sent Musk’s devoted army of followers on X Trump’s way too. All of that keeps Donald Trump at the top of some social media feeds. But that can backfire. In one meme, which the former president shared on social media, an AI generated image of Swift endorsed Trump. In her Instagram post endorsing Kamala Harris, Taylor Swift specifically cited misleading images of her supporting Trump as a reason to speak now. “It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth,” she said in her post, that was liked more than 10.7m times. Although Swift’s endorsement specifically told her fans “your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make”, Swifties for Kamala is hoping that call to vote will translate into votes for Harris. Ms Kim says the group didn’t know the endorsement was coming, but had planned for it anyway, hoping it would yield a wave of new volunteers. Since the post, it’s been “absolutely madness in the best way”, she says. According to Ms Kim they’ve seen a spike in voter registration activity and a “huge boost on social media” because of the endorsement. She also says it’s been a “huge morale” boost for the Swifties involved in the group.

Taylor Swift’s online supporters have a reputation too for being devoted to her whatever it takes - and that can include being ferocious to those they see as her enemies. Will they be trolling Trump supporters? Ms Kim says the group has actually come up with guidelines of their own about this to try to stop it from happening. “They are very specifically about conducting yourself in a way that is respectful and specifically not engaging with hate online. And that also includes not posting hate. Have a respectful conversation,” Irene tells me. There are Swifties too who are Trump, rather than Harris supporters. Some Swifties for Trump accounts have been set up - although currently with fewer followers than Swifties for Kamala. Several profiles belonging to Trump-supporting Taylor Swift fans have posted about her endorsement saying it hasn’t changed their mind about who they’ll vote for. Ms Kim says they want to reach as many voters as possible – and that they hope their shared love of Swift will help them find common ground on Harris. “We don’t want to make anyone feel like they’re isolated or alienated,” she explains. She thinks Swifties for Kamala could be especially useful in reaching “conservative women” who are “now realising the political beliefs they were raised with don’t always align with what they feel and believe”. So, will Swifties affect the presidential race? The group has had hundreds of thousands of views on TikTok, but that doesn’t mean those voters are even based in the US. And they might have been people already planning to vote for Kamala Harris. Nonetheless, in an election that could be decided by just a few hundred thousand votes in a handful of states, any boost in voter registration and voter turnout could tip the scales. Younger voters, who make up the majority of Swift’s fans, have historically had a lower voter turnout, which means that there is more room for gains. Ms Kim thinks Swifties and their social media know-how are a secret weapon. “I never would have imagined this in my wildest dreams. We've had a lot of moments where we've, like taken a step back to be like, I think we're actually making a difference and that's like really cool.” What will happen next? And how is what unfolds in the social media world shaping the US election? Subscribe to Why Do You Hate Me USA on BBC Sounds. Episodes coming soon.

More on the US election

SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the voteEXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide electionANALYSIS: Trump's message of American decline resonates with votersGLOBAL PERSPECTIVE: What the world really thought of the debatePOLLS: Who is winning the race for the White House?


Trump loses Electric Avenue song legal fight

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1488zz8jnzo, today

Former US President Donald Trump has been found liable to pay damages to London singer and songwriter Eddy Grant for using his song Electric Avenue without permission. It has taken Mr Grant, 76, more than four years to sue the Republican candidate in this year’s presidential election in the US courts, over his 2020 campaign video that used a 40-second clip of the song. The video was viewed 13.7 million times before Twitter, now known as X, took it down. A federal judge in Manhattan ruled Mr Trump breached Mr Grant's copyright for his 1983 hit, and is now liable for damages as well as paying for the singer's legal fees.

Cease and desist

Mr Grant's battle with the former President began in August 2020, when he was seeking re-election to the White House. The songwriter's counsel, Wallace E.J. Collins, issued a cease and desist letter to Donald Trump's campaign team. On Friday, Judge John G. Koeltl rejected arguments from Mr Trump’s lawyers that the Twitter video was shielded under copyright’s fair use doctrine, which allows for the use of protected works in certain situations. Brian D. Caplan, Mr Grant’s attorney, told Business Insider: “As a staunch believer of artist’s rights and the ability to control their creative output, Mr. Grant believes that the decision will help others in their fight against the unauthorized use of sound recordings and musical compositions. “Politicians are not above the law and the court reaffirmed that.”

Brixton riots

Earlier this month a US judge has ordered the Trump campaign to stop using the song Hold On, I’m Coming at his rallies, in response to a lawsuit from the family of the song's co-writer, Isaac Hayes. Dozens of other artists have objected to the use of their songs at Trump rallies in recent months including Abba, Foo Fighters, Celine Dion and Johnny Marr. Electric Avenue takes its name from the south London road in Brixton, the first market street in the capital to be lit by electricity. It still forms part of Brixton Market today. It inspired the title of Mr Grant’s song, written as a response to the 1981 Brixton riots, which reached number two in the charts in both the UK and the US. Mr Trump's team has been approached for comment about the Electric Avenue court case.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk


Laura Loomer: Who is conspiracy theorist travelling with Trump?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly8y27dwgpo, today

The presence of hard-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer alongside Donald Trump on the campaign trail in recent days has raised questions, including from some Republicans, about the influence the controversial former congressional candidate may have on him. Ms Loomer is well-known for her anti-Muslim rhetoric and for spreading conspiracy theories, including that the 9/11 attacks were an "inside job" carried out by the US government. She joined Trump at an event on Wednesday commemorating the attacks, raising eyebrows and prompting outrage in some US media outlets. And on Tuesday, the 31-year-old travelled to Philadelphia on board Trump's plane for the presidential debate in the city.

Perhaps the most memorable moment of that debate came when Trump repeated a baseless claim that illegal immigrants from Haiti have been eating domestic pets in a small Ohio city. "They are eating the pets of the people that live there," he said. City officials later told BBC Verify that there have been “no credible reports" this has actually happened. Trump said he was repeating claims he had heard on television, but the theory was aired by Ms Loomer just a day before the debate. On Monday, the fringe pundit and social media influencer repeated the claims to her 1.2m followers on X. While the level of access Ms Loomer has to Trump is unclear, and his running mate JD Vance has also spread the baseless theory, Ms Loomer's post and her presence in Philadelphia has led some Republicans to blame her for the former president making the unfounded claim on stage. An anonymous source close to the Trump campaign told US news outlet Semafor that they were "100%" concerned about Ms Loomer's proximity to Trump. “Regardless of any guardrails the Trump campaign has put on her, I don’t think it’s working,” the source was quoted as saying.

A number of senior Republican politicians have also publicly criticised Ms Loomer and cautioned against Trump bringing her into his inner circle. "Laura Loomer is a crazy conspiracy theorist who regularly utters disgusting garbage intended to divide Republicans," North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis wrote on X, formerly Twitter. "A DNC [Democratic National Committee] plant couldn't do a better job than she is doing to hurt President Trump's chances of winning re-election," Mr Tillis added. Speaking at a news conference in California on 13 September, Trump said only that Ms Loomer is "a supporter" and that he was unaware of recent comments she made about Harris, or her comments about 9/11. “I don’t control Laura. Laura has to say what she wants. She’s a free spirit," he added Ms Loomer did not respond to several requests for comment from the BBC. But on Twitter/X, she said that she operates "independently" to help Trump, who she referred to as "truly our nation's last hope". "To the many reporters who are calling me and obsessively asking me to talk to them today, the answer is no," she wrote. "I am very busy working on my stories and investigations and don’t have time to entertain your conspiracy theories." Born in Arizona in 1993, the self-styled investigative journalist has worked as an activist and commentator for organisations including Project Veritas and Alex Jones's Infowars. In 2020, she ran - with Trump's support - as a Republican candidate for the US House of Representatives in Florida, but lost to Democrat Lois Frankel. She tried again two years later, when she unsuccessfully ran to unseat Representative Daniel Webster in a Republican primary in a different Florida district.

Now, she is known for her vocal support of Trump and for promoting a long string of conspiracy theories including claims that Kamala Harris is not black, and that the son of billionaire George Soros was sending cryptic messages calling for Trump's assassination. These posts led her to be banned from a number of platforms including Facebook, Instagram and even, according to her, Uber and Lyft for making offensive comments about Muslim drivers. She once described herself as a “proud Islamophobe”. Eating pets, inflation, abortion - key debate claims fact-checkedOhio leaders dismiss claims of migrants eating petsUS voters weigh in on debate performanceMs Loomer frequently attends events in support of Trump and has been seen previously at his Florida residence Mar-a-Lago. Earlier this year, she travelled on his plane to Iowa where she was given a shout-out by him on stage at an event. “You want her on your side," Trump said. The former president has also shared several of her videos on Truth Social. And last year, the New York Times reported that Trump had expressed an interest in hiring her for his campaign, relenting only after top aides expressed concern that she could damage his electoral efforts. “Everyone who works for him thinks she’s a liability,” one Trump aide said of Ms Loomer in a report in NBC News in January. Another outspoken Trump supporter, Marjorie Taylor Greene, took issue with Ms Loomer this week over her comments questioning Harris's race and a post in which she said the White House "will smell like curry" if Harris - who is partly of Indian descent - is elected. Greene said Ms Loomer's comments were "appalling and extremely racist" and did "not represent who we are as Republicans or MAGA" - prompting a flurry of furious messages in her direction. This feud in Trump's orbit played out just a day after Ms Loomer appeared at events with Trump commemorating the anniversary of 9/11 in New York and Pennsylvania. Asked about her attendance there by the Associated Press, she said she did not work for the campaign and was "invited as a guest".


How many migrants have crossed the US border illegally?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0jp4xqx2z3o, today

Cracking down on illegal immigration has been Donald Trump’s signature issue - but now Democrats are trying to address an election weakness by also talking tough about securing the US border with Mexico. The Republican presidential nominee has repeatedly criticised the government's record on the border, saying "Kamala Harris has allowed 21 million illegals to pour in from all over the world.” Crossings did reach record levels under President Biden, but numbers have dropped significantly in recent months. Now Harris says she will make it even harder for migrants to seek asylum in the US. Six out of 10 Americans rate immigration as “very important” in determining how they will vote, according to the Pew Research Center. Other polling suggests voters trust Trump to handle the issue more effectively than Harris. So how have both administrations dealt with the influx of migrants and what do we know about the people crossing this border illegally?

How many migrants have crossed the US southern border?

US border officials record "encounters" with migrants - these include people who attempted to cross illegally and people who tried to enter legally but were deemed inadmissible. These encounters have risen to record highs under the Biden administration but not to the level Trump - who has not provided a source for his claim - maintains. Since January 2021, when Joe Biden came to office, there have been more than 10 million encounters - about 8 million came over the southwest land border with Mexico. Under the Trump administration, there were 2.4 million encounters on this border. Encounters fell at the start of 2020 as arrivals slowed because of the pandemic. The number of encounters is not a count of individuals who stay in the US as some migrants will be returned and the same person can be recorded trying to enter multiple times. These figures don't include people who may have crossed the border undetected. The US Department of Homeland Security has estimated there were 11 million illegal migrants living in the US as of January 2022. It says about a fifth of them arrived in 2010 or later but the majority arrived before this time, some as early as the 1980s.

How have government policies affected border crossings?

Both the Trump and Biden administrations used a Covid-19 public health measure to quickly return migrants at the border. Between its start in March 2020 and its end in May 2023, migrants were expelled nearly three million times under this policy. Despite this, encounters continued to increase, according to the Migration Policy Institute. The factors driving this included a post-lockdown surge in crossings and political and economic instability in countries such as Venezuela. Republicans say Biden’s “weak” policies on immigration also encouraged migrants to travel to the US - and some Democrats in border states criticised the administration for not acting quickly enough to address the crisis. An attempt to pass a cross-party bill to tighten border security failed in May 2024, with Harris saying that Trump "tanked it". Biden issued an executive order the following month to quickly deport migrants at the border. This means migrants can be sent back without having their asylum claims processed, if the average number of weekly encounters exceeded a certain threshold. A month after the order was introduced, encounters at the southern border fell by a fifth. Efforts by the Mexican government have also brought crossings down, including setting up new checkpoints and increasing patrols. In May, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that the number of migrants at the US southern border had halved from a peak of 12,000 a day to 6,000 a day.

Where are the migrants coming from?

The vast majority of people who cross the US southern border are citizens of nearby countries in the Americas. Recent figures show that in the current financial year (October 2023 - September 2024), the most common nationality encountered at the southern border were Mexicans (617,770). This was followed by nearly a quarter of a million Venezuelans and almost 200,000 Guatemalans. There have also been 36,920 encounters of Chinese citizens this financial year to date. That's 10,000 higher than for the whole of the previous financial year.

How many border migrants have criminal records?

Trump has repeatedly said about illegal migrants that "many of them that are coming in are from prisons and jails and mental institutions, insane asylums". There are no publicly available figures on how many migrants have spent time in prison or in mental institutions but there is data on how many have previous criminal convictions. Of the 1.5 million apprehensions of people crossing the border illegally so far this financial year - and where Border Patrol was able to check against law enforcement databases - about 15,608 were of people with previous criminal convictions. The most common conviction was for illegal entry into another country (9,545), followed by driving under the influence (2,577), and drug possession and trafficking offences (1,414). On 27 September, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released figures showing it had recorded 662,566 "noncitizens with criminal histories" - which includes those currently detained by the agency and those not detained. It says 435,719 of them are convicted criminals and 226,847 have pending criminal charges. The figures go up to July 2024 but ICE does not say when the cases date back to or when these people arrived in the US. Trump has also linked border crossings with fuelling violent crime in the US. At campaign events he has spoken about alleged killings of American women by undocumented migrants. But crime and migration trends have travelled in opposite directions in recent years. Department of Justice figures show a long-term decline in violent crime, with rates of victimisation in 2023 broadly similar to five years ago. Recent FBI data also indicates a downward trend in violence.

Is Venezuela emptying its prisons into the US?

Trump also claims that Venezuela has been sending its prisoners into the US. In July he said: “Next year we’ll meet in Venezuela because it will be safe. Their crime has gone down 72% because they’ve sent all of their drug dealers, their criminals and most of their prisoners into our country.” BBC Verify spoke to the independent Venezuelan Observatory of Violence. It said it had seen no evidence that the Venezuelan government has been systematically sending its prisoners to the US or to any other country. The Observatory's figures show crime has fallen in Venezuela in the past few years, but not to the extent Trump has claimed and for other reasons. "Crime is reduced in Venezuela by a reduction in crime opportunities: bank robberies disappear because there is no money to steal; kidnappings are reduced because there is no cash to pay ransoms; robberies on public transport cease because travellers have no money in their pockets and old, worthless cell phones," a spokesperson from the Observatory said.

What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?


How much security does Donald Trump get?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6255djzj68o, today

The Biden administration has asked Congress for special permission to increase spending on the Secret Service, warning that without it, the service would have "insufficient resources" to enhance its protective operations. The request follows what authorities have said was a second apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump, with further questions being asked about Secret Service protection of the former president and Republican presidential candidate.

What security is Trump entitled to?

We don’t know the exact number of agents who are assigned to the former president, but according to Ronald Kessler, an author who specialises in the Secret Service, about 80 would be assigned to Trump at any one time. About 300 agents are assigned to the sitting president and vice-president, compared to the 90 to 100 who protect a former president, Mr Kessler said. These totals include all staff, which means Trump would not have that many agents with him in every instance. “The shift detail is always the same - this is the close protection officers near the president - but then there’s counter-sniper teams, counter-assault teams, counter-surveillance teams,” said Michael Matranga, who worked at the Secret Service for 12 years under Barack Obama. On a day-to-day basis, former presidents wouldn’t have those additional teams, but Trump does, according to Mr Matranga. “More can still be done. It would be good to have dogs sweeping bushes or an emergency response team scanning the area,” he said. “But people need to understand that the Secret Service need to find a balance where the president can engage with constituents or enjoy a round of golf. They can’t just keep him in a bulletproof box,” Mr Matranga added. Former Secret Service agent Jason Russell told the BBC that the service was in charge of the area in the immediate vicinity of the former president. But he added that local law enforcement would be in charge of the outer perimeter of a public space, like the golf course.

How has Trump's security changed?

The Secret Service ramped up security before the first assassination attempt after receiving intelligence of an Iranian plot to kill Trump - and has further increased its staffing since then. During a hearing following the Pennsylvania attempt, the acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe told lawmakers they were expanding the use of drones to check areas, improving communication and increasing the number of security agents. BBC Verify has asked the Secret Service how many more agents were given to Trump’s security detail following the first assassination attempt but the agency has not yet responded. Mr Russell said that he had noticed “the number of agents and the number of assets that has been given to former president Trump has certainly increased”. “Once he became the nominee obviously that protection goes up to another level, where you start to get additional assets… but certainly not the level a sitting president or vice-president would have,” he added. The Washington Post has reported that senior officials at the Secret Service repeatedly rejected requests for additional protection from Trump’s security team in the two years leading up to the attempt on his life in July. Although the agency initially denied that such requests were made, it later acknowledged that some requests from Trump's security detail may have been rejected. On Monday, the acting head of the Secret Service, Ronald Rowe, said security around Mr Trump's home was now as intense as when he was president. He said he was being provided with the "highest level" of security.

What is the Secret Service budget and staffing?

The Secret Service had a total budget of $3.1bn in the 2024 financial year. This was 9% higher than the previous year’s budget. Just over $1bn of this was allocated to “Protection of Persons and Facilities”. The service has around 8,000 staff in total, including special agents, administrative and technical personnel. Nearly half (3,671) work full-time in Protective Operations. A decade ago, there were 4,027 people assigned to protect the president and other senior officials, according to NBC News. “The whole budget of the Secret Service is about the same as one stealth bomber,” Mr Kessler said. “The whole agency is suffering with a lack of money and staff,” he added. As well as the government's request to increase spending in the coming weeks, the Secret Service has separately told Congress that it needs more resources to carry out its duties.

What do we know about suspect Ryan Wesley Routh?Analysis: Political violence becomes America's new normWhat we know about the incident so farFull story: Suspect held and Trump rushed to safety

Questions about Trump’s schedule

“The biggest question I have is not about the Secret Service’s reaction, but how the suspect knew Trump was going to be on the golf course at that time,” Mr Matranga told us. It isn’t yet known how the suspect knew of Trump's whereabouts on Sunday. BBC Verify has been looking through Trump's recent posts on social media and he did not say that he would be playing golf at his West Palm Beach course at the time and date the assassination attempt took place. Following a rally in Las Vegas on Friday, Trump’s campaign schedule mentions no other events until a town hall speech in Michigan on 17 September. CNN has also quoted from sources who claim Trump’s visit to the golf course was a last-minute addition to his schedule. However, it would be reasonable to assume Trump could be in Mar-a-Lago at the weekend, given how frequently he travels there. He also posted on X (on 12 September) that he would be hosting a "State of Crypto Address" on the evening of 16 September from Mar-a-Lago. Trump has often been filmed and photographed with members of the public at his golf course, such as in this Instagram post from July 2024.

Additional reporting by Joshua Cheetham and Kumar Malhotra.


Undecided Americans impressed by Harris - but did debate shift their votes?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceq53wvpe5xo, today

With only weeks left until the US presidential election, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are in a battle to win the support of those who are yet to commit to either candidate. The BBC has spoken to eight undecided voters who saw Tuesday night's 90-minute debate as being crucial in working out who to pick in November's ballot.

Vanessa was leaning towards voting for Trump before the debate started and is still leaning that way, but was impressed with Harris's performance. I don't think the debate changed my opinion on voting for Trump, but I definitely am less fearful if [Harris] wins because I think she can handle herself and debate well. I'm overall unchanged, but I like her better now. I lost a lot of faith in the Democratic Party when they told us Joe Biden was fine, and then it turns out he's not, and so it's hard to trust that same administration going forward. I do not want to vote for Trump, but I do not like this current administration. I won't change my mind before November, I'd just be less worried if she were to win.

Jeremy doesn't like Trump and didn't vote Democrat in 2016 or 2020, but after tonight's debate says he will be voting for Harris. Tonight was the first night where genuinely, I would say I felt, like, scared at the prospect of a second Trump presidency. His answers where he would fearmonger about immigrants killing dogs, fearmonger about World War III multiple times. Every time he spoke, it was frightening to a level that I have not felt from him before. And while I don't love Harris, and I think she's very wishy-washy, she does not pose an existential threat to America like he does.

Tracy watched the debate but remains undecided over who she will vote for. I thought both candidates spoke fairly well, but I thought Kamala answered more of the questions than Trump did. I had never really seen anything about [Harris] so I was looking for basically an opinion on her. So I was rather pleased with some of what she had to say and actually what ex-President Trump had to say, but I get a very shifty vibe from him. I don't trust [Trump]. I don't think he wants to run the country, I think he wants to own the country.

Mat was considering skipping the election all together, but after the debate he says he has made up his mind. The debate was something. Kamala Harris definitely did very well. I think Trump kind of did not. He lost his focus and kept rambling on where it was kind of incoherent. After last night, I think I'll vote for Kamala Harris. I don't know if I'll be very enthusiastic about it but I will probably be voting for her. There's still a little bit of time until November, but she very likely has my vote.

Kimberly hasn't been attracted to either of the major party candidates, but after the debate she is leaning towards supporting Harris. If I could vote for no one, I probably would do that. I want to get the full facts before I do anything. [I was] not impressed with Trump, I won't be voting for him.

William thought the debate conveyed a clear picture of both candidates, but says he is leaning towards Harris after watching. Trump was all over the place. He was lured into a lot of questions that he should have answered perfectly like immigration and abortion, but he was caught off guard with statements about crowd size, which was really revealing. I felt like Kamala was far more prepared for this than Donald Trump. I personally want to see her in more one-on-one interviews after this, this is the first time I'm seeing her without Tim Walz and she did fine, in my opinion. If she went out there more, spoke to the nation one-on-one more, she'd receive my vote at that point.

Rohan remains undecided, but says after the debate he's 51% for Harris and 49% for Trump. Still, he says, there's still time for that to change. The debate did very little to change my perspective of Trump. This was more an audition for Kamala Harris to just kind of see who she is, where she stands on policies and her command of the stage. She came across pretty rehearsed to me, but she dropped a lot of, sort of, baited statements that I think Trump bit on really hard - rattled him a bit, made him pretty angry. All of this seemed pretty calculated to me, and that's not exactly what I was looking for out of her. I was looking for her to be a little more personable, a little more natural.

Chance wasn't very impressed with the debate performances and still remains undecided. I didn't feel like the topics were discussed in depth, it was mostly the candidates talking at each other. I was disappointed, really. I personally wished they would go in depth about their policy, instead of attacking the other person for something about their policy. I'm personally not a fan of either of them, but if I was going to choose one or the other, I would probably choose Harris. John Sudworth contributed to this report.

US election debate latest

ANALYSIS: Who won the Harris-Trump debate?WATCH: Key moments from presidential debateLIVE: Kamala Harris puts Donald Trump on defensiveVERIFY: Eating pets, inflation, abortion - claims fact-checkedTRACKER: Who is winning US election polls, Trump or Harris?US VOTERS: We want to hear from you


‘I want to see her challenged’ - swing voters unconvinced by Harris interview

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgky2v681z4o, today

Kamala Harris’s first interview since becoming the Democratic presidential candidate was an opportunity to introduce herself - and her campaign’s message - to Americans who say they do not yet know her or for what she stands. The vice-president defended her record in the White House and addressed questions about a series of policy shifts since she first ran for the top job in 2019 during the CNN interview on Thursday. Ms Harris and her running mate - Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, who joined her for the interview - have enjoyed a surge of enthusiasm from Democrats in recent weeks, but the campaign knows they must win over undecided voters to win November’s election. Young men are a significant proportion of those persuadable voters, and a group that Republican Donald Trump has been aggressively targeting with a slew of recent media appearances on podcasts that boast audiences that are largely young and male. Given the battle for their vote, what did three of them make of Ms Harris’s first sit-down interview?

This software engineer backed Democrats in the last two elections but remains undecided in 2024. Harris can speak coherently, which I think is just an upgrade from the prior two candidates, both Trump and Biden. I think she's relatively eloquent in the way that she talks. But in terms of policy, this was the first time I think I’ve actually heard some elements of substantive policy from her. The interview didn't do a whole lot to assuage my concerns - what she’d actually want to do and whether she'd be able to effectively implement it. You’ve been VP for a few years, why haven't you attempted these things before? The interview didn’t change my mind on how to vote. To be honest, I want to see her challenged in a press conference or obviously the debate that's coming up. I think I need to see her in that kind of a setting, without a teleprompter or rehearsed answers. I think the interview was a little too coddled. I want to see her put under some pressure. I don't think she's done too well in the past as the VP in those situations. Walz came across as very personable. I think he helps kind of instill a sense of this good old American, kind of down-to-earth feeling that I think was missing from her in particular. I do like his addition to the ticket.

A teacher who voted for the Green Party in 2020, Jeremy felt Harris’s message lacked conviction. I feel they've been very vague. I understand why, to a degree, from their perspective that it's more ‘Let's make this about Donald Trump,’ rather than about policy. But that only gets you so far. I was frustrated with her for saying the phrase ‘My values have not changed, but my policies have.’ If you were consistent on your values, if you want clean energy, then you would still be in favour of the ban on fracking. When they talked about the Israel and Gaza she said we're going to maintain the Biden administration policy. It's a policy that, at least to me, has failed both Jews and Palestinians. People on both sides seem to be no closer to a deal and people on both sides continue to suffer. So saying we're going to maintain a policy that has gotten nowhere in almost a year feels almost like she's rather just trying to not lose voters rather than say I'm going to work towards a solution. I didn’t hear enough to persuade me yet. Because it feels like, on one hand, she's saying, we'll be different to Biden, but on the other hand, it's also like it's just going to be the same with a new face.

A student who did not vote last time, he feels lost since his favourite candidate, Robert Kennedy Jr, endorsed Trump. I wasn't particularly impressed, to be honest. I don't think the interview revealed much. I also understand that’s sort of politics, and that's going to be true of any given campaign, that the more specific they get, the easier it is to campaign against them. I appreciated when Harris specifically was talking about her planned measures for economic reform and this opportunity economy she was talking about. But I don’t think it was particularly compelling or the questions were particularly challenging. I'm not sure if anything in it would convince me to vote for the Harris-Walz campaign. One of the big reasons people were excited for Harris taking over the ticket - after Biden was so bad in live, unscripted environments - was that she was young and she might infuse more energy into the Democratic campaign. But because of the lack of live interviews and answering questions so far I still have concerns about their competency.

More on the US election

SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the voteANALYSIS: Harris unscathed after walking careful line in first interviewFACT-CHECK: Fact-checking Kamala Harris’s first campaign interviewEXPLAINER: Seven swing states that could decide electionTHIRD-PARTY: Will RFK Jr backing Trump make a difference?VOTERS: What young Democrats want from Harris

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.


'She did a really smart thing': Democratic voters like Harris's pick

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c36nnrlg3nyo, today

It's been a busy couple of weeks in American politics since Kamala Harris replaced Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket. On Tuesday, she made her selection for vice-president: Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota and a former congressman, teacher and army veteran. Josh Shapiro and Andy Beshear, the governors of Pennsylvania and Kentucky, had been in the running, as had Arizona Senator Mark Kelly. The BBC spoke to Democratic voters on what they thought of the choice.

Latim Simon Peter, 33, Minnesota

Mr Peter was considering supporting a third-party candidate in November when Biden was still atop the ticket but now, he's fully backing Harris-Walz. First of all, it's great for Minnesota to have someone on the ticket and yesterday everybody was going crazy over here. He's great for the country because he does not bring too much baggage, maybe that is safer. I struggled quite a bit when Biden was on the ticket and I was even leaning towards voting for a third party, so having Harris on the ticket gives me the option to vote for the ticket that I want to vote for. On a typical day, in a normal situation, this should be a very straightforward easy choice for the American people given the history of the former president. But Trump's people vote and they show up, so this should not be taken for granted. I hope Harris and Walz keep the momentum.

Ms Vaughn, who grew up in a Republican household but votes Democrat, wants to see Mr Walz in a debate with Trump's running-mate JD Vance. He's a teacher of 20 years, he's a rural Democrat, I'm a teacher, I'm a rural Democrat. He's an IVF parent, I'm also an infertility parent. He's a great pick, I think this is going to add a lot of energy to the campaign, he offers so much. The Harris-Walz ticket is going to be incredibly competitive with the Trump-Vance ticket. I would love to see the two VP candidates debate. You have someone who is actually from rural America - who still works as a farmer - versus someone who left his rural roots as quickly as he could and then proceeded to profit off of them after his Ivy League education. Rural communities had [it] really rough under Trump. We lost our child tax credits, IVF has been under attack since Roe [the federal right to abortion] was dismantled. This gives hope that maybe we will have a strong advocate for those aspects of life that are so close to mothers and children and teachers.

Mr Mansfield believes the Harris-Walz ticket would fight to protect women's rights and the LGBTQ community. What I have learned about the VP pick is that he has fought for the rights of women to have agency over their own bodies (if we had policies limiting men’s abilities to make decisions about their bodies, there would be riots and revolts), he passed sensible gun policies, legalized recreational marijuana, passed paid family leave, and restored voting rights and invested $1 billion in affordable housing. I’m so much more hopeful than I was a few weeks ago when our candidate was a president who clearly no longer had the mental capacity to compete with the viciousness of [Trump and his supporters]. I believe that Harris/Walz will work hard to find a pathway to more humane laws, to protect working class people, and to honour the rights of women to make their own choices about their bodies, and to stand up for the LBGTQ+ community. I’m stoked and look forward to victory in November.

Ms Tye initially preferred Mark Kelly as the VP choice but her research on Mr Walz has turned her head. I'm excited. Walz brings something to the party that Shapiro doesn't and somehow Kelly doesn't seem to either. He's a fun, engaging guy who gives fun interviews and he has a background that I think a lot of Americans can appreciate. I think she [Ms Harris] did a really smart thing. Somebody who's a gun guy could bring in some of the people who are really hesitant to vote for an anti-gun Liberal, but Walz has a hunting background and at one point had a positive rating with the NRA. I really appreciate that he's worked really hard with kids. I love that he facilitated a gay-straight alliance when he was a teacher and he's really worked to make sure that people have a minimum wage that is adequate. Kamala and Walz will blow the Republicans out of the water.

Mr Chandler thinks Mr Walz is the perfect choice to shore up Democratic support. Looking at all Walz's policies, he's a very progressive pick. I really like that he stood up for unions, I really appreciate that he fought so hard for kids to be able to have free lunches in schools in his state. He has been very adamant about needing peace in Gaza. I'm really happy with the pick because he feels more inspiring, he reminds me of a really nice grandpa, even though he's basically the same age as Kamala Harris. I like that someone who has been a big proponent of helping people who are struggling is the pick. It's what we need right now in this country. The Harris-Walz ticket is more representative of the wider American public than the Trump-Vance ticket: it makes me feel a lot more inspired for this election.

Ms Mendenhall said she would have reluctantly voted for Mr Biden and Ms Harris. Now she's excited by the Harris-Walz ticket. I was pleasantly surprised, it seemed like it was going to go to Josh Shapiro but I think Tim Walz was the better choice. I don't know that much about him but I know he's been a really good governor in Minnesota and seems to support progressive values. I'm cautiously optimistic, I know it's going to be difficult, but Walz compared to Vance - there's really no comparison. I would love to see the two of them debate, I don't know if that will happen, but I do feel pretty good about it. It's amazing how within a matter of a few weeks the outlook for the election really turned around. With Biden and Harris there was essentially no hope of winning, but now there is at least a fighting chance to win.

SIMPLE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the voteANALYSIS: Three ways Trump will try to end Harris honeymoonSWING STATES: Where the election could be won and lostEXPLAINER: RFK Jr and others running for presidentVOTERS: US workers in debt to buy groceries


Vance 'can only go up': Republican voters applaud VP pick

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyx0knz4je4o, today

For weeks Americans had been wondering who former President Donald Trump would select as his running mate in the 2024 presidential election, and on Monday they got their answer: Ohio Senator JD Vance. The 39-year-old rising Republican star could be one heartbeat away from the presidency if Trump is re-elected in November - a possibility that has been on many people's minds since a gunman attempted to assassinate Trump on Saturday. We asked voters from across the political spectrum what they think of the future of the Republican Party with Mr Vance atop the ticket. And we start with a woman who likes that he was not always a supporter of Trump.

Kara likes that Mr Vance previously spoke out against Trump; she thinks it will work to the campaign's advantage. One thing I like about JD Vance is his history as a former "never Trumper". I think that kind of gives Trump an offset. So, when Trump's doing his campaign strategy and consulting with his running mate about winning over the millennial vote - JD is the first millennial major ticket candidate - the Rust Belt vote, and the other kind of interest groups that JD represents, I think he will be a really helpful kind of counterweight. He will help Trump see some of the blind spots that Vance himself called out and argued for in previous years. Of course, now he's super-committed to Trump. But I do think he probably has enough experience from right before to be able to help balance that. Trump's pick uses JD's background to diversify his platform. Somebody who's always been loyal and wanted Trump wouldn't have that advantage.

This voter has long been impressed with Mr Vance and thinks he has a good understanding of what representing the people truly means. JD Vance wouldn't have been my first choice - but I think if you take the long view of somebody who is qualified to become president, Vance is clearly near the top of the list, an excellent choice. He did come from a background of being in (military) service. He does understand the consequences of those decisions. And the other thing I like about Vance is that he's been very forward about the things that are important. When the train derailment happened in New Palestine, Ohio, who was one of the first people to show up? Vance. He understands his people. He understands the job of government, which is not to put its fingers into every aspect of your life, but to protect you. I have been impressed with JD Vance since the beginning, to the point where I actually contributed to his senatorial campaign.

For this voter, it doesn't matter who else is on the ticket with Trump - she won't be supporting the Republicans this November. I do not think I am the voter Trump is interested in impressing. Donald Trump could’ve picked the most competent and qualified vice-presidential candidate in the world and I still wouldn’t vote for him. And I find it hard to believe that anyone is truly undecided at this point and could be heavily influenced by this choice. From what I know about JD Vance, he was quite critical of Trump early in his career. I don’t understand how someone can go from calling a guy an idiot to fully supporting a felon and his agenda for the presidency. This pick does not change how I am approaching this election at all. I am voting against measures intended to chip away at our democracy, and for a decent, competent administration with the intention of truly representing the American people. I couldn't care less about JD Vance and I imagine there are many voters in similar shoes.

Rom praises Mr Vance's debating skills, and believes he's the future of his party. I'm really thrilled about the pick, because I think JD Vance is a very smart guy: a Yale graduate who wrote a best-selling book. Trump is a great speaker; he's great for rallying the crowds. I think JD Vance is very articulate, and he hits the intellectual aspect of any type of debate. So whoever he's going to go up against when it's time for any potential vice presidential debates - and we have to assume that's going to be Kamala Harris - I think he'll run circles around that person. I absolutely think JD Vance is the future of the Republican Party. He's just started on his political trajectory, and barring anything that derails him, I think he can only go up from here. Trump can only go one more term, so JD Vance would be his natural successor in four years.


'I feel terrible for him and America': Voters worry about Biden

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7285ld07npo, today

President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump squared off on Thursday night in the first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle. Voters across the country have expressed concerned about the candidates' ages - Mr Biden is 81 and Trump is 78 - and the debate supercharged that anxiety. Still, with weeks left until the conventions when each party will formalise their choice of candidate, supporters of both major parties feel they are left with few options. The BBC spoke to Democratic, Republican and independent voters who told us they are concerned about Mr Biden's fitness for the ticket. After Thursday's debate, we asked them if his widely criticised performance will sway how they vote. We start with a voter who feels that she has no choice but to support the president.

This long-time Democrat found the debate so hard to watch, she could barely keep the broadcast on. But regardless of the candidates' performances, she plans to vote blue in November. I didn’t watch the whole thing. I could not handle it, this is the best our country can do? If Hillary would have walked out in her pantsuit I would have been happy as hell. I absolutely despise Trump and everything he stands for - his lying, cheating and lack of morals. Biden is a much better human being, but I felt so bad for him (at the debate) and it was such a disappointment. I was thinking State of the Union "Jacked up Joe". No, what we got was everything that everyone saying was wrong with him just showed up on stage. I feel terrible for him and America, but we just have to ride it out. Honestly, the debate really kind of disengaged me. I feel like there’s nothing I can do but vote blue, whoever it is.

Dominic identifies as a Libertarian and voted third-party in 2016 and 2020, but this time around he's fully backing the former president. I'm a fan of Trump and I'm enthusiastically going to be voting for him. Going into this debate, I thought the Republicans were setting themselves up for failure. I actually am surprised Biden did as poorly as he did, I thought he’d do better. I was moderately happy with Trump. I thought he seemed much more presidential, especially compared to the debates last time around. He was really negative last time. I think he struck the perfect tone (at the debate). The Trump you saw on stage was much different than the one you saw in 2016. The 2016 Trump would have taken a lot more cheap shots at Biden’s age. Biden seemed very defeated in his body language. I think Trump seemed very presidential with how he dealt with Biden's age. I'm enthusiastically going to vote for Trump at this point and I didn’t vote for him in either 2016 and 2020. [Dominic texted a few minutes later] In 2016, you almost could've considered me a Never Trumper. My opinion on him has completely changed.

Connor is Democrat who voted for Biden in 2020. He plans to do the same in 2024, but is concerned about the president's age. I am nervous about a second Biden term. There’s no doubt in my mind that the people surrounding Biden are competent and have the ability to carry out the necessities of the executive branch. There’s also no doubt in my mind that Biden has the best interest of this country at heart. That being said, I am less confident in the ability of Biden to lead this country today than I ever have been. The Biden administration's efforts on infrastructure, rallying our allies, pardoning of those with marijuana offences, investing in clean energy and forward looking technologies, and reducing prescription drug prices are all monumental actions. I think this first term has been fairly successful, which is why it pains me to say Biden may not be the best figurehead for these policies or moment. I don’t think any of this could convince me to vote for Trump. I simply could not get behind a candidate who has reduced faith in our election system dramatically while all his own advisers told him he was wrong. Or a candidate who is clearly lacking in any moral character based on his extramarital affairs that have now been accepted as fact in a court of law and a myriad of other scandals. Or a candidate that enables the worst sort of hatred and politicisation in every facet of our society and government. Or a candidate who I have never heard speak intelligently or in depth about any topic ever.

Crystal is an ardent supporter of Trump who voted for the former president twice before and will again in November. Trump came across very level-headed and presidential and Biden came across very weak. I really did not think it was a good idea for Biden to even do this debate. He actually did not look mentally sound to me. He came across really weak and feeble. It was painful to watch 90 minutes of this debate between Biden and Trump. The fentanyl crisis, border security and of course the economy are my top three concerns, and I did not feel like Biden addressed those issues at all. I'm against abortion and against the abortion pill like Trump. I like that he is pro-life and I like that he sides with Christian conservative values. I think this country respects him and after this debate, I really think he’ll win. This debate solidified that he can win and will win.

Shana plans to back Biden in the upcoming election but is not happy with the country's current state of affairs. I was very frustrated watching the debate. I feel that the answers that they were giving weren’t really answers to any of the questions. It was exhausting to watch. I don’t think either of them performed better than the other. Mr Biden looked tired, he looked weak. Even if he did have a cold and he had good things to say, he wasn't getting it out and he wasn’t understandable. That reminds me of how Kennedy beat Nixon in the first televised debate by looking healthier. Trump was being aggressive, going off on tangents. Although he appeared stronger in physicality, I don’t think he did well in content. I believe I'm still going to vote for Mr Biden because I don’t want Mr Trump in office. I would love it if both parties would reconsider their candidates. I know that idea is being thrown around right now, it would do us better. Before Biden announced running for re-election, I was hoping he would step aside for someone else to come forward. But I would rather a Democrat be in office than Mr Trump.

Eric is an Independent voter who voted third-party in 2020, but hasn't yet decided what he'll do come November. Trump is old psychopathic liar who is running solely to keep himself out of jail and will say literally anything he can to protect himself. Biden is old, feeble and out of touch with his constituency. Personally, I think President Biden does a better job at listening to different viewpoints. It was telling to me when the moderators would ask questions, Trump would talk about what topics he wanted to. I'm undecided at this point, I'm going to wait and see what happens. A lot of things could change between now and November. Personally, I don't see a compelling reason to vote for either person up there, but I do see compelling reasons to vote against people up there. I would like to see a candidate that I can get behind a vote for, rather than vote against somebody. I want someone who is more interested in doing the job than getting re-elected again. Neither Trump nor Biden are young. I don't know whether one of them can hold up to four years of being president. The fact that both of them were up there arguing about their golf game tells me they're more interested in other things than running a country.


US voters: We want to hear from you

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce7802w0009o, today

The US is headed towards a competitive election in November. Are you an American voter who is willing to share your thoughts and experiences with the BBC? Throughout the election season, the BBC speaks to voters to get their opinions on the leading candidates, big issues and news events of the day. If you'd like to be considered for a future story, let us know by filling out the form below. What are the most important issues to you and why? Which party did you vote for in the 2020 US election? Will you be voting differently this time? We want to hear your stories. You can get in touch now by following this link.

'I wish younger candidates had a chance''This is a bad day for America' - Trump verdictVoters worry about Biden after debate


'I'm not playing games' on port strikes, union boss says

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c78d442v3e6o, today

Major US ports will stay shut until pay demands are met, the union boss representing striking dockworkers has said. Harold Daggett, head of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), made the vow on a picket line in New Jersey on Tuesday, as tens of thousands of dockworkers on the east and gulf coasts walked out in a bid to win a better labour deal. "We're going to fight for it and we're going to win or this port will never open up again," he said. "I'm not playing games here." Businesses are bracing for the possibility of a prolonged ports shut down, which threatens to cause havoc to global trade and the US economy.

President Joe Biden has so far rebuffed calls by some of country's biggest business groups to use federal power to reopen the ports for 80 days, to provide a cooling-off period for further negotiation. "It’s only fair that workers, who put themselves at risk during the pandemic to keep ports open, see a meaningful increase in their wages as well," Biden said. "Now is not the time for ocean carriers to refuse to negotiate a fair wage for these essential workers while raking in record profits." The strike, the first since 1977 for the ILA, has brought to a halt container traffic across 14 of the country's busiest ports, including in New York, Georgia and Texas. The ports are estimated by experts to handle more than a third of the US's imports and exports. Disruption could lead to delays on goods deliveries for businesses and consumers. The president said officials would be on the alert for signs of prices being unfairly hiked in the event of potential shortages.

Talks on a new deal were stalled for months ahead of the strike, but the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents shipping firms and port associations, said that the two sides had started to trade proposals again. Under the 2018 contract that expired on Monday, dockworkers earned a base hourly wage of $20-$39, as well as other benefits, including royalties tied to container traffic. It said its most recent offer would boost pay by nearly 50%, triple company contributions to retirement and improve healthcare, among other concessions. It also said it had asked the union to agree to extend the current deal to allow for negotiations. However, the ILA's Mr Daggett said that there had been "nothing" so far to bring the union and companies together to end the strike. He said he was prepared to keep the ports shut until companies agreed to boost hourly pay by $5 for each year of the contract. The union, which has about 47,000 active members according to federal filings, is also seeking protections against automation. "I'm going to fight for it because those greedy companies are making billions of dollars and they don't want to share," he said. "I want my members taken care of for the rest of their lives and that's why we're out here."

If prolonged, the stoppage is expected to lead to higher prices and shortages in the US, with shipping delays and other impacts rippling out across the world. "We are seeing now that ships are starting to anchor outside of the ports waiting to see what is going to happen," said Anne-Sophie Fribourg, a vice president at freight forwarding firm Zencargo, which organises shipments for exporters and importers. "The disruption is going to be massive if the strike lasts," she said. Already 100,000 containers are in limbo waiting to be unloaded in the New York area, and another 35 ships are expected to arrive this week, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said. Danny Reynolds, the owner of Stephenson's, a 93-year-old clothing store in Elkhart, Indiana, said he had paid extra to expedite shipments of sweaters and coats into the country ahead of the strike. But about 25% of his inventory has yet to arrive and he has his fingers crossed it has been unloaded. He said he was most worried about potential delivery days for special-order bridal gowns for November and December weddings.

"Where we get concerned is where we have special order merchandise for people's wedding days that could be locked up on a ship unable to get to us. That's a hard thing to explain to a potential bride," he said. About 75% of his merchandise is routed through east coast ports, he added. He explained while he expected his business to be able to function through the end of the year, he feared the wider impact. "I think the results to the economy could be devastating if this goes on," he suggested, adding that he wanted to see the president step in. "I think it's beyond time, quite honestly, for the Biden administration to sit down at the table with them and see what can't be done to open this things back up."


Ex-Harrods director won't take top job at Fenwick

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq5ejjnp812o, today

Nigel Blow, a long-serving former Harrods executive, has decided not to become the boss of department store Fenwick despite being due to start in the role this month, the BBC has learned. Mr Blow worked at Harrods for 14 years from 1992 to 2007, a period when the luxury London store was owned by Mohamed Al Fayed. It comes after the BBC broadcast a documentary last month based on the accounts of more than 20 women who said they had been sexually assaulted or raped by Al Fayed while working at Harrods. Following the allegations against Al Fayed, Mr Blow declined to answer multiple requests for comment. A day after contacting Fenwick, however, the BBC was told he would not be taking up the post.

The BBC first attempted to contact Mr Blow on 21 September - and received no response to multiple subsequent requests. On 30 September Fenwick was contacted to ask if it had any comment to make about the documentary and Mr Blow's long-standing links with Harrods. About 24 hours later, Fenwick told the BBC: "In July 2024, we announced that we would be appointing Nigel Blow as CEO of Fenwick. Nigel Blow has informed us that he will no longer be taking up this position." No reason for the decision has been given. Fenwick is best known for its 140-year-old store in Newcastle, and has eight stores around the UK. It closed its branch on Bond Street in London earlier this year. Mr Blow has been the chief executive of the privately-owned department store chain Morleys since 2019. The BBC was told "no comment" when it called Morleys on Tuesday to ask if Mr Blow would retain his position at the firm. He is still listed as chief executive of Morleys on the LinkedIn social networking site. He joined Harrods as a merchandise controller in 1992, rising to chief merchant of the store, with a seat on the board, in 2003. There were media reports of Al Fayed's alleged abuse of women during this period - a profile in Vanity Fair in 1995 alleged sexual misconduct against staff, then a documentary in 1997 and a book in 1998 alleged sexual assaults. Al Fayed died last year aged 94. Mr Blow left Harrods in 2007 to join the Irish retailer Brown Thomas. In 2013 he took up a post with another Fayed company - this time as managing director of Turnbull and Asser, the shirt-maker with a Royal Warrant from Prince Charles. It is owned by the Fayed family and chaired by Ali Fayed, Mohamed’s brother, where he stayed until 2017. The BBC has been contacting as many former directors of Harrods as possible to ask what they knew about Al Fayed's behaviour and ask for their reaction to the BBC's investigation. Another former Harrods executive, Andre Maeder, was recently announced as the new chief executive of the department store Selfridges. He told the BBC he was "horrified" to watch the documentary about Al Fayed, but added he "never saw or heard anything" about his "abhorrent" behaviour.


Microsoft: 'ever present' AI assistants are coming

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czj9vmnlv9zo, today

Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistants with “really good long-term memory” are about a year away, according to Microsoft's head of AI, Mustafa Suleyman. Products which can recall conversations, projects and problems will encourage users to invest more time and share more of their personal history with them, he said in an exclusive interview with the BBC. “I think we’re moving to a fundamentally new age where there will be ever present, persistent, very capable co-pilot companions in your everyday life,” he added. Critics have voiced strong concerns around this level of integration, including data security, privacy, the possibility of AI tools giving bad advice or wrong information, or displaying inbuilt bias towards the person they are supposed to be helping.

But AI supporters argue that in order to be truly useful, these tools have to be deeply embedded into our lives: that they can only be really helpful if they know the history and context behind what they are being tasked to do. For example, an AI diary manager can only organise your diary if it can access that diary, edit it, and retain information about your activities. What is AI?Mr Suleyman argued that many people’s privacy expectations have changed over time. He said that devices such as TVs, laptops, phones, in-car cameras and earbuds are already “recording continuously everywhere” in ordinary environments, and gave a further example of an iPhone feature called Live View in which video and audio is recorded at the same time as a photo is taken. “Most people love that feature,” he said. “Some people turn it off but that’s a very distinct shift in the default expectation of what a photo is.” He added that the benefits of this kind of tech, whether people felt they could control their use of it, and whether they trusted the provider of it, were important factors in deciding whether to embrace it.

Game changer - or bubble?

Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and has emerged as a market leader as the tech giants jostle in the race to develop and control the powerful and rapidly evolving technology. But some research suggests people are not consistently using it. A poll published by the Reuters Institute in August found that 29% of people in the UK that it spoke to had used ChatGPT, but only 2% used it every day. Mr Suleyman conceded that perhaps consumer AI tools would never be as globally popular as the smartphone. “Maye this is different to the smartphone,” he said. “Nearly 90% of the planet has a smartphone. Maybe that will be different. Maybe 50% will reject [AI tools}.” But he added that so far, AI had been the fastest growing and adopted technology in history, despite its potential risks. He strongly rejected the idea, posed by many industry watchers including Jim Covello, head of stock research at Goldman Sachs, that AI might turn out to be a bubble, like some tech trends before it. He told me about a woman he met who said she had set up her business using guidance and motivation from a chatbot he developed called Pi. “We are clearly producing personalised, interactive knowledge at your fingertips at zero marginal cost,” he said. “The idea that this could be a bubble is utterly beyond me.” Microsoft has today unveiled a range of new additions to the tech giant’s AI assistant range CoPilot, including a voice function, a daily news digest and a slower chatbot for more difficult or in-depth questions called Think Deeper. It also includes CoPilot Vision, a tool which will sit within its Edge web browser and, when activated, observe web pages and “assist” with online activity. The firm says Vision will not record or store data, has to be switched-on manually and will close at the end of each browser session. Microsoft says it has chosen to limit which sites it will work with and there is as yet no release date for it. In the summer the tech giant paused the release of an AI tool called Recall, which takes screenshots every few seconds in order to help users find things they were looking at or working on previously, following a backlash from privacy campaigners and enquiries from the UK’s data watchdog about it. It will be re-launched in November with additional security measures.


'I had to crawl to plane toilet' - BBC's Frank Gardner

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7490n4rnkpo, today

On a flight from Warsaw back to London on Monday I had to crawl on the floor of the plane in order to reach the toilet. I have been paralysed ever since I was shot by al-Qaeda gunmen in Saudi Arabia 20 years ago. My experience onboard the flight was both physically deeply uncomfortable and also, of course, quite degrading. I know that the discomfort that I and other disabled passengers encounter is dwarfed by the horrors being experienced by people in conflict zones around the world, stories that I cover - so my own experience is minor by comparison. In this instance it was humiliating to have to shuffle along the floor of an aircraft in front of other passengers in my suit. Polish Airlines LOT, which flies in and out of Heathrow, said it was not their policy to have onboard aisle chairs. This is unacceptable for disabled passengers, since these devices are smaller than a pram, and can easily fold up to fit into a cupboard or an overhead locker. British Airways, Easyjet, and every other airline I have flown with recently all have them on board as standard. This shouldn't be difficult to fix in my opinion. This ‘policy’ is surely wrong - it needs to be changed without delay. This is 2024, not 1970, and I find it extraordinary that an airline is allowed to fly in and out of British airports with a policy that effectively says ‘if you can’t walk, you can’t go to the toilet on our planes’.

In a statement to the BBC, Polish Airlines LOT said they were "deeply sorry for the distressing experience", and that they "sincerely apologise for the inconvenience and discomfort caused by the lack of an onboard wheelchair". They said that due to "limited space" its short-haul flights do not have onboard wheelchairs, but that the airline understands "the importance of accessibility" and is "actively testing solutions to equip our short-haul aircraft with onboard wheelchairs in the near future". I’m afraid I don’t accept this as I flew with them in May from Tallinn to London, and the same thing happened there. In fact, their ground staff were really quite uncompromising and dismissed the idea that the plane should have this facility. The Polish cabin staff on Monday’s flight, however, were fantastic. They were embarrassed, apologetic and as helpful as they could be. They encouraged me to complain about this as they could see how wrong it was. I experienced something similar 12 years ago on Kenya Airways. After raising it publicly they did a wonderful job of rectifying the problem, and I had some lovely letters from travel companies telling me how grateful they were that their disabled clients now felt comfortable flying with that airline. I am surprised at having to raise this again. The UK rightly makes a big deal about disability rights. Television presenter and campaigner Sophie Morgan is doing a fantastic job of raising awareness in this area, even meeting President Biden to discuss it. But it is shameful that disabled passengers flying out of British airports should still be so discriminated against in this way.


Xi Jinping is worried about the economy - what do Chinese people think?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3e95lny0x9o, today

China’s sputtering economy has its worried leaders pulling out all the stops. They have unveiled stimulus measures, offered rare cash handouts, held a surprise meeting to kickstart growth and tried to shake up an ailing property market with a raft of decisions - they did all of this in the last week. On Monday, Xi himself spoke of "potential dangers" and being "well-prepared" to overcome grave challenges, which many believe was a reference to the economy. What is less clear is how the slowdown has affected ordinary Chinese people, whose expectations and frustrations are often heavily censored. But two new pieces of research offer some insight. The first, a survey of Chinese attitudes towards the economy, found that people were growing pessimistic and disillusioned about their prospects. The second is a record of protests, both physical and online, that noted a rise in incidents driven by economic grievances. Although far from complete, the picture neverthless provides a rare glimpse into the current economic climate, and how Chinese people feel about their future. Beyond the crisis in real estate, steep public debt and rising unemployment have hit savings and spending. The world’s second-largest economy may miss its own growth target - 5% - this year. That is sobering for the Chinese Communist Party. Explosive growth turned China into a global power, and stable prosperity was the carrot offered by a repressive regime that would never loosen its grip on the stick.

Bullish to bleak

The slowdown hit as the pandemic ended, partly driven by three years of sudden and complete lockdowns, which strangled economic activity. And that contrast between the years before and after the pandemic is evident in the research by American professors Martin Whyte of Harvard University, Scott Rozelle of Stanford University's Center on China's Economy and Stanford masters student Michael Alisky. They conducted their surveys in 2004 and 2009, before Xi Jinping became China’s leader, and during his rule in 2014 and 2023. The sample sizes varied, ranging between 3,000 and 7,500.

In 2004, nearly 60% of the respondents said their families’ economic situation had improved over the past five years - and just as many of them felt optimistic about the next five years. The figures jumped in 2009 and 2014 - with 72.4% and 76.5% respectively saying things had improved, while 68.8% and 73% were hopeful about the future. However in 2023, only 38.8% felt life had got better for their families. And less than half - about 47% - believed things would improve over the next five years. Meanwhile, the proportion of those who felt pessimistic about the future rose, from just 2.3% in 2004 to 16% in 2023.

While the surveys were of a nationally representative sample aged 20 to 60, getting access to a broad range of opinions is a challenge in authoritarian China. Respondents were from 26 Chinese provinces and administrative regions. The 2023 surveys excluded Xinjiang and parts of Tibet - Mr Whyte said it was “a combination of extra costs due to remote locations and political sensitivity”. Home to ethnic minorities, these tightly controlled areas in the north-west have long bristled under Beijing's rule. Those who were not willing to speak their minds did not participate in the survey, the researchers said. Those who did shared their views when they were told it was for academic purposes, and would remain confidential. Their anxieties are reflected in the choices that are being made by many young Chinese people. With unemployment on the rise, millions of college graduates have been forced to accept low-wage jobs, while others have embraced a “lie flat” attitude, pushing back against relentless work. Still others have opted to be “full-time children”, returning home to their parents because they cannot find a job, or are burnt out.

Analysts believe China’s iron-fisted management of Covid-19 played a big role in undoing people’s optimism. “[It] was a turning point for many… It reminded everyone of how authoritarian the state was. People felt policed like never before,” said Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. Many people were depressed and the subsequent pay cuts "reinforced the confidence crisis,” he added. Moxi, 38, was one of them. He left his job as a psychiatrist and moved to Dali, a lakeside city in southwestern China now popular with young people who want a break from high-pressure jobs. "When I was still a psychiatrist, I didn't even have the time or energy to think about where my life was heading," he told the BBC. "There was no room for optimism or pessimism. It was just work."

Does hard work pay off? Chinese people now say ‘no’

Work, however, no longer seems to signal a promising future, according to the survey. In 2004, 2009 and 2014, more than six in 10 respondents agreed that "effort is always rewarded" in China. Those who disagreed hovered around 15%. Come 2023, the sentiment flipped. Only 28.3% believed that their hard work would pay off, while a third of them disagreed. The disagreement was strongest among lower-income families, who earned less than 50,000 yuan ($6,989; £5,442) a year.

Chinese people are often told that the years spent studying and chasing degrees will be rewarded with financial success. Part of this expectation has been shaped by a tumultuous history, where people gritted their teeth through the pain of wars and famine, and plodded on. Chinese leaders, too, have touted such a work ethic. Xi's Chinese Dream, for example, echoes the American Dream, where hard work and talent pay off. He has urged young people to "eat bitterness", a Chinese phrase for enduring hardship. But in 2023, a majority of the respondents in the Whyte and Rozelle study believed people were rich because of the privilege afforded by their families and connections. A decade earlier, respondents had attributed wealth to ability, talent, a good education and hard work. This is despite Xi’s signature “common prosperity” policy aimed at narrowing the wealth gap, although critics say it has only resulted in a crackdown on businesses. There are other indicators of discontent, such as an 18% rise in protests in the second quarter of 2024, compared with the same period last year, according to the China Dissent Monitor (CDM). The study defines protests as any instance when people voice grievances or advance their interests in ways that are in contention with authority - this could happen physically or online. Such episodes, however small, are still telling in China, where even lone protesters are swiftly tracked down and detained.

A least three in four cases are due to economic grievances, said Kevin Slaten, one of the CDM study's four editors. Starting in June 2022, the group has documented nearly 6,400 such events so far. They saw a rise in protests led by rural residents and blue-collar workers over land grabs and low wages, but also noted middle-class citizens organising because of the real estate crisis. Protests by homeowners and construction workers made up 44% of the cases across more than 370 cities. "This does not immediately mean China’s economy is imploding,” Mr Slaten was quick to stress. Although, he added, "it is difficult to predict" how such "dissent may accelerate if the economy keeps getting worse".

How worried is the Communist Party?

Chinese leaders are certainly concerned. Between August 2023 and Janaury 2024, Beijing stopped releasing youth unemployment figures after they hit a record high. At one point, officials coined the term "slow employment" to describe those who were taking time to find a job - a separate category, they said, from the jobless. Censors have been cracking down on any source of financial frustration - vocal online posts are promptly scrubbed, while influencers have been blocked on social media for flaunting luxurious tastes. State media has defended the bans as part of the effort to create a “civilised, healthy and harmonious” environment. More alarming perhaps are reports last week that a top economist, Zhu Hengpeng, has been detained for critcising Xi's handling of the economy. The Communist Party tries to control the narrative by “shaping what information people have access to, or what is perceived as negative”, Mr Slaten said.

CDM’s research shows that, despite the level of state control, discontent has fuelled protests - and that will worry Beijing. In November 2022, a deadly fire - which killed at least 10 people who were not allowed to leave the building during a Covid lockdown - brought thousands onto the streets in different parts of China to protest against crushing zero-Covid policies. Whyte, Rozelle and Alisky don't think their findings suggest “popular anger about… inequality is likely to explode in a social volcano of protest." But the economic slowdown has begun to "undermine" the legitimacy the Party has built up through "decades of sustained economic growth and improved living standards", they write. The pandemic still haunts many Chinese people, said Yun Zhou, a sociology professor at the University of Michigan. Beijing’s “stringent yet mercurial responses” during the pandemic have heightened people’s insecurity about the future. And this is particularly visceral among marginalised groups, she added, such as women caught in a “severely discriminatory” labour market and rural residents who have long been excluded from welfare coverage. Under China’s contentious “hukou” system of household registration, migrant workers in cities are not allowed to use public services, such as enrolling their children in government-run schools. But young people from cities - like Moxi - have flocked to remote towns, drawn by low rents, picturesque landscapes and greater freedom to chase their dreams. Moxi is relieved to have found a slower pace of life in Dali. “The number of patients who came to me for depression and anxiety disorders only increased as the economy boomed," he said, recalling his past work as a psychiatrist. "There’s a big difference between China doing well, and Chinese people doing well."

About the data

Whyte, Rozelle and Alisky’s research is based on four sets of academic surveys conducted between 2004 and 2023. In-person surveys were conducted together with colleagues at Peking University's Research Center on Contemporary China (RCCC) in 2004, 2009 and 2014. Participants ranged in age from 18-70 and came from 29 provinces. Tibet and Xingiang were excluded. In 2023, three rounds of online surveys, at the end of the second, third and fourth quarters, were conducted by the Survey and Research Centre for China Household Finance (CHFS) at Southwestern University of Finance and Economics in Chengdu, China. Participants ranged in age from 20-60. The same questions were used in all surveys. To make responses comparable across all four years, the researchers excluded participants aged 18-19 and 61-70 and reweighted all answers to be nationally representative. All surveys contain a margin of error. The study has been accepted for publication by The China Journal and is expected to be published in 2025. Researchers for the China Dissent Monitor (CDM) have collected data on “dissent events” across China since June 2022 from a variety of non-government sources including news reports, social media platforms operating in the country and civil society organisations. Dissent events are defined as instances where a person or persons use public and non-official means of expressing their dissatisfaction. Each event is highly visible and also subject to or at risk of government response, through physical repression or censorship. These can include viral social media posts, demonstrations, banner drops and strikes, among others. Many events are difficult to independently verify. Charts by Pilar Tomas of the BBC News Data Journalism Team


Irish budget repeats 'boom-to-bust' mistakes, watchdog warns

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g5wdlnwp9o, today

The Irish government is repeating past economic mistakes by pumping money into an already strong economy, a budget watchdog has warned. On Tuesday, Finance Minister Jack Chambers announced a budget package of spending increases and tax cuts. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council said this will add to inflationary pressures and widen an underlying budget deficit. It added that the country needs "a more serious vision that delivers on the economy's needs without repeating the boom-to-bust pattern of its past".

The council said the budget again breaches the government’s own rule that spending should not increase by more than 5% a year. It calculates that spending will increase by more than 9% this year and just under 6% next year. It said the cumulative breaches of the net spending rule since 2022 are "substantial" with total spending at least €12.5bn (£10.4bn) above what the rule would have allowed by 2025.

'Essential adjustments'

The criticism was anticipated by the government with the public spending minister using his budget day speech to justify the rule breaches. Paschal Donohoe said that given the challenges of inflation and the pandemic, "the 5% anchor was simply not appropriate to cover the growth and expansion of services our country needed". He added: "Our strategy was the right one. We made essential adjustments to it, depending on the particular set of challenges we were facing. "Not to do so would have meant not being able to protect and provide for our people during times of great need."


Microsoft is turning to AI to make its workplace more inclusive

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20240905-microsoft-ai-interview-bbc-executive-lounge, today

Microsoft's chief diversity officer says diversity and investment in the workforce can help fix AI's bias problems.

At the beginning of 2023, Microsoft found itself in a PR firestorm. The company was working to demonstrate its progress in artificial intelligence following a multi-billion dollar investment in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT. It added an AI powered chatbot into its Bing search engine, which placed it among the first legacy tech companies to fold AI into its flagship products, but almost as soon as people started using it, things went sideways.

A New York Times journalist sparked international intrigue over a conversation he had with Bing that left him "deeply unsettled". Soon, users began sharing screenshots that appeared to show the tool using racial slurs and announcing plans for world domination. Microsoft quickly announced a fix, limiting the AI's responses and capabilities. In the following months, the company replaced its Bing chatbot with Copilot, which is now available as part of its Microsoft 365 software and Windows operating system.

Microsoft is far from the only company to face AI controversy, and critics say the debacle is evidence of broader carelessness around the dangers of artificial intelligence within the tech industry. For example, Google's Bard tool famously answered a question about a telescope inaccurately during a live press demo, a mistake that wiped $100bn (£82bn) off the company's value. The AI model, now called Gemini, later came under fire for "woke" bias after the tool seemed unwilling to produce images of white people for certain prompts.

Still, Microsoft says AI can be a tool to promote equity and representation – with the right safeguards. One solution it's putting forward to help address the issue of bias in AI is increasing diversity and inclusion of the teams building the technology itself.   

"It's never been more important as we think about building inclusive AI and inclusive tech for the future," says Lindsay-Rae McIntyre, Microsoft's chief diversity officer, who joined the firm in 2018.

A former teacher for the deaf, McIntyre has spent over 20 years in human resources in the tech industry, including at IBM, and has lived and worked throughout the US as well as in Singapore and Dubai. Now, she says her team at Microsoft is increasingly focused on embedding inclusion practices into the firm's AI research and development to make sure there is better representation "at all levels of the company".

There's good reason for this focus. Embracing AI products has brought new life to the nearly 50-year-old brand. In July, the company reported revenue for the year was up 15% to $64.7 billion (£49.2 billion), due largely to growth from its Azure cloud business, which has greatly benefited from the AI boom as customers train their systems on the platform.

The efforts also push the company closer to its long-time goal to build technology "that understands us", as its CEO Satya Nadella recently put it. But in order for AI – or more specifically large-language models such as ChatGPT – to be empathic, relevant and accurate, McIntyre says, they needs to be trained by a more diverse group of developers, engineers and researchers.

This may not be a guaranteed fix. The large language models that underpin tools such as Copilot, ChatGPT and Gemini are built by scraping massive data sets from across the internet. If bias is present in the training data, it's exceedingly difficult to stop it from cropping up later, which is of particular concern as artificial intelligence is used out in the real world.

Companies are embracing tools to help with hiring, for example, but experts warn they can reinforce race and gender biases as they filter candidates. Recent research from MIT found that AI interpreted professions such as "flight attendant", "secretary", and "physician's assistant" as feminine jobs, while "fisherman", "lawyer", and "judge" were deemed masculine jobs. It also labelled emotions including "anxious", "depressed" and "devastated" as feminine. Meanwhile, some US police departments have begun using AI to write up crime reports.

Still, Microsoft believes that AI can support diversity and inclusion (D&I) if these ideals are built into AI models in the first place. The company maintains that inclusion has always been a large part of its culture, from the Xbox Adaptive Controller designed for users with special needs to the many accessibility features in its Microsoft 365 products. But the pressure to keep up with the pace and scale at which AI is growing is intensifying Microsoft's need to invest in its own diversity.

In its 2023 diversity report, Microsoft reported about 54.8% of its core workforce is made up of racial and ethnic minorities, which is in line in part to rivals such as Apple and Google. Meanwhile, Microsoft's workforce is 31.2% women, down a few percentage points compared to Apple and Google.

Below, McIntrye talks with the BBC about addressing biases in generative AI, how inclusive allyship looks across different cultures, and what Microsoft is doing to ensure its own talent can keep pace with AI's rapid evolution.

How is Microsoft addressing bias in generative AI that afflicts these types of tools?

We do a tremendous amount of investment [around this] but we also thread education on elements like bias and inclusion generally through all the work that we do.

Microsoft believes AI technologies should perform fairly. We are continuing to invest in research on identifying, measuring and mitigating different types of fairness-related harms, and we are innovating in new ways to proactively test our AI systems, as outlined in our Responsible AI Standard. To do this, Microsoft works with a wide array of experts, including anthropologists, linguists and social scientists – all of whom bring valuable perspectives to the table that advance and challenge the thinking of our engineers and developers.

To develop and deploy AI systems responsibly, we are putting D&I at the centre by ensuring a wide range of backgrounds, skills and experiences are represented across the Microsoft teams that are envisioning and building AI so that it's developed in a way that's inclusive of all users. We also ensure our leaders who are making the decisions about these teams and products have the tools to understand issues of privilege, power and bias.

Microsoft received backlash this summer following headlines around cutting its diversity and inclusion team. The company later clarified the team remained intact. Has there been a change to the company's commitment here?

We are really fortunate Microsoft's commitment to diversity and inclusion is unwavering and unchanged. We're expanding. In that news cycle, I was reminded of how many people are depending on Microsoft to have inclusive tech, to make sure that we are continuing to stay on the forefront of the diversity and inclusion experiences, to share our learnings and to listen to how other people are experiencing this same moment in the industry. Not because we know more than anybody else – because for sure we don't, we're learning all the time – but we do have resources that not all companies have.

More like this: • Why Zoom wants you to go back to the office • Lego CEO on the business case for play • EY exec: Neurodiverse talent benefits everyone

Are there any other focus areas when it comes to AI and inclusivity?

One that is pretty dynamic is [making AI accessible] in more languages. When you're operating in a language different from your primary language, your brain has to work harder and you're less productive and less able to be your true authentic self. There's a real ongoing opportunity in AI to be even more thoughtful and relevant on the totality of global language. It's an enormous task, but we’re learning so much every day and the AI is just getting smarter.

Beyond AI, we did a partnership with external organisations who support the LGBTQ+ communities and our own employee resource group about adding pronouns to user profiles in Microsoft 365. [This allows people] to feel seen, recognised and cared for in the technology, which is the experience we want them to have.

How do you help a workforce of 230,000 understand allyship when it looks different in various cultures?

We have a core strategy but also localise it. In India, for example, we just ran a D&I experience at the intersection of race, ethnicity and religion for managers and leaders. Through feedback, we were also able to have Copilot pop up with responses that are both qualitative and quantitative so that we can be more effective as we deploy it to the whole of the workforce.

We're also doing that in Australia and New Zealand for the indigenous communities. And in the Middle East and Africa, we wanted more support for employees and their families who are going through menopause – something that isn't always talked about in cultures around the world.  

We also have to think about something as simple as the devices and the languages people are using, along with the accessibility features. Everyone wants an empathetic AI that is knowledgeable and relevant. We want to feel like the AI understands us and what we're trying to achieve. So, being able to have cultural context in the AI experience will result in a more satisfied experience – and those expectations that we put on the technology ultimately come from having a diverse workforce working on and building and creating the AI from the beginning.

How do you make sure talent doesn't get left behind as AI is evolving?

We have an incredible AI learning hub that allows us to access the latest and greatest learnings… and the employee resource group is doing upskilling, leveraging some of the content to even teach themselves. Whether they are an engineer or a field seller or a program manager, we offer AI [courses]to help make us more productive – even those of us in HR. We have a huge HR team that's focused on how to leverage AI for the HR experience at Microsoft.

How is Microsoft leveraging AI in HR?

For example, Copilot is helping us get back to employees with questions faster. We are also deploying AI skilling courses, so all employees have a shared understanding of AI technology as we use it more and more in our work across business areas.

For any organisation considering how to bring AI into HR work, there are three strategies to consider. First, form a community of learning with experts to build acumen together. Get curious with the technology, such as engaging with Copilot to learn how it can help you build inclusion in your organisation. And finally, ensure a human-centred design that puts empathy and people experience at the centre.

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Worker shortage hampers datacentre boom

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c24pvm8ly18o, today

If someone had asked Billy Keeper five years ago what a datacentre was, he admits: “I would not have had a clue.” The 24-year-old joined specialist electrical firm Datalec Precision Installations as a labourer straight from school. He’s now an electrical supervisor for the UK-based firm, and oversees teams up to 40-strong carrying out electrical and cabling installations at datacentres. This means, “managing the job, from a health and safety perspective, making sure everything goes smoothly, and dealing with the clients". And those clients are central to today’s technology landscape. Datacentres are the massive warehouse-like buildings from which big tech firms like Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook deliver their cloud services. Other organisations, large and small, run their own dedicated facilities, or rely on “co-location” datacentres to host their computer equipment.

Demand for datacentre space has been turbocharged in recent years by the rise of artificial intelligence, which demands ever more high-end computers, and ever more electricity to power them. Total datacentre floorspace across Europe was just over six million sq ft (575,418 sq m) in 2015, according to real estate firm Savills, but will hit more than 10 million sq ft this year. In London alone, datacentre “take up” in 2025 will be almost triple that of 2019, predicts real estate services firm CBRE. But while demand is surging, says Dame Dawn Childs, chief executive of UK-based operator, Pure Data Centres Group, “delivering and satisfying that demand is challenging.” Just finding enough land or power for new datacentres is a problem. Labour’s election manifesto promised to overhaul planning to encourage the building of infrastructure, including datacentres and the power networks they rely on.

But the industry is also struggling to find the people to build them. “There's just not enough skilled construction workers to go around,” says Dame Dawn. For companies like Datalec, it’s not just a case of recruiting staff from more traditional construction sectors. Datacentre operators – whether co-location specialists or the big tech firms – have very specific needs. “It is very, very fast. It's very, very highly engineered,” says Datalec’s operations director (UK & Ireland), Matt Perrier-Flint. “I've done commercial premises, I've worked in universities,” he explains. But the datacentre market is particularly regimented, he says, with everything carried out “in a calculated and structured way.”

Commissioning a single piece of equipment, such as one of the chiller units that keep temperatures stable within a datacentre, will involve multiple tests and “witnessing”, Mr Perrier-Flint explains, before a final full building test, with failover scenarios. Operators will have strict timeframes to complete a datacentre build or upgrade. At the same time, they won’t want to disrupt key business periods – ecommerce operators will typically put a freeze on any work in the runup to Christmas for example. This can mean long days for Datalec’s teams, or even running shifts overnight. If the demands are high, the rewards are significant too. Experienced electrical installers can make six figure salaries. Nevertheless, companies like Datalec face a constant battle to ensure they have enough suitably qualified staff on hand.

The Construction Industry Training Board predicts the UK needs to recruit 50,300 extra workers annually for the next five years. Many are concerned that the construction workforce is greying. Dame Dawn says, “I think, along with all of the other technical industries, we're having difficulty feeding the pipe.” One reason for the shortfall is a focus on university education at the expense of traditional technical or apprenticeship routes in recent decades. Mr Perrier-Flint says that when he was younger, the consensus was “you can never go wrong with a trade, you can never go wrong with construction". But there are more choices to tempt young people now, he suggests, including software development or other technology careers. Or indeed being an influencer on the very platforms run out of the datacentres. Mark Yeeles, vice president, Secure Power Division, UK and Ireland, at power and automation firm Schneider Electric, began as an apprentice in the 1990s. Given that the industry is often looking for people with 15 years’ experience, he says, “The time to start investing in apprentices was 10 years ago.” However, Schneider Electric is changing its ratio of graduates to apprentices. “We’ve doubled our intake of apprentices,” says Mr Yeeles.

The entire industry must rethink how it recruits younger people, he adds. “My team needs to reflect the communities we’re working in,” he says, including in terms of gender, background, and experience. And it needs to consider the career pathways it offers and recognise young people’s need for a “mission” or “purpose”. Schneider Electric, for example, has launched a sustainability apprenticeship program. Dame Dawn agrees about the need to increase diversity and recognise recruits’ need for a mission. “In terms of a purpose, we're serving the whole population,” she says. “And if we could be part of the solution for net zero, then it's serving a significant purpose, because it's enabling humanity to drive forward.” But perhaps the first challenge is simply explaining to potential recruits why datacentres and the cloud are central to so many facets of modern life. As Billy Keeper says, “You try and explain to someone what the cloud is and what we offer. And they look up at the sky.”


California governor blocks landmark AI safety bill

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj9jwyr3kgeo, today

The governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has blocked a landmark artificial intelligence (AI) safety bill, which had faced strong opposition from major technology companies. The proposed legislation would have imposed some of the first regulations on AI in the US. Mr Newsom said the bill could stifle innovation and prompt AI developers to move out of the state. Senator Scott Wiener, who authored the bill, said the veto allows companies to continue developing an "extremely powerful technology" without any government oversight.

The bill would have required the most advanced AI models to undergo safety testing. It would have forced developers to ensure their technology included a so-called "kill switch". This would allow organisations to isolate and effectively switch off an AI system if it became a threat. It would also have made official oversight compulsory for the development of so-called "Frontier Models" - or the most powerful AI systems. The bill "does not take into account whether an Al system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision-making or the use of sensitive data," Mr Newsom said in a statement. "Instead, the bill applies stringent standards to even the most basic functions - so long as a large system deploys it," he added. At the same time, Mr Newsom announced plans to protect the public from the risks of AI and asked leading experts to help develop safeguards for the technology. Over the last few weeks, Mr Newsom has also signed 17 bills, including legislation aimed at cracking down on misinformation and so-called deep fakes, which include images, video, or audio content created using generative AI. California is home to many of the world's largest and most advanced AI companies, including the ChatGPT maker, OpenAI. The state's role as a hub for many of the world's largest tech firms means that any bill regulating the sector would have a major national and global impact on the industry. Mr Wiener said the decision to veto the bill leaves AI companies with "no binding restrictions from US policy makers, particularly given Congress’s continuing paralysis around regulating the tech industry in any meaningful way." Efforts by Congress to impose safeguards on AI have stalled. OpenAI, Google and Meta were among several major tech firms that voiced opposition to the the bill and warned it would hinder the development of a crucial technology. Wei Sun, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Research, said: "AI, as a general-purpose technology, is still in its early stages, so restricting the technology itself, as proposed, is premature. "Instead, it would be more beneficial to regulate specific application scenarios that may cause harm in the future," she added.


Irish government announces tax cuts in pre-election budget

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c77x6g8rxgjo, today

The Republic of Ireland’s finance minister has announced personal tax cuts and cost-of-living supports in a giveaway pre-election budget. There is growing speculation that the election will be held before Christmas. Official figures published last week suggest Ireland will run a €25bn budget surplus this year, partially due to a huge tax windfall from Apple. The minister, Jack Chambers, said that windfall will be set aside for investment in infrastructure. Further details of how it will be spent will be laid out early next year.

Chambers said the money has "the capacity to be transformational" and will be used to tackle "known challenges" in housing, energy, water and transport infrastructure. "Infrastructure is a fundamental component of Ireland’s competitiveness, and is vital to businesses, large and small, and to attracting new foreign investment into the State," he added. The budget included €8.3bn in tax cuts and spending increases alongside one-off cost of living supports worth a further €2.2bn. Chambers said his departmental forecasts suggest Ireland’s domestic economy will grow by 2.5% next year and 3% next year.

Sweetheart tax deal

Chambers laid out the broad shape of the budget in July, pledging €1.4bn in tax measures and new expenditure of €6.9bn. In September, Ireland’s coalition government was told it needs to collect €14bn (£11.8bn) in back taxes from Apple. The EU’s highest court ruled that the technology firm had benefited from an illegal sweetheart tax deal in the country. Speaking on Friday, Chambers said the coalition was working on a "wider strategic direction" for the Apple money and that the parameters will be set out in the budget.

The centre-right led government has already faced criticism from the country’s independent budget watchdog, which has warned that increased spending risks overheating the economy. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) said the budget plans will increase public spending by 7%, breaking the government’s own rule that spending should rise by no more than 5% annually. Inflation in Ireland has fallen to below 2% as international energy prices have moderated. However there are some signs of growing, locally generated inflation in sectors like hospitality. The Irish economy has performed robustly since the pandemic with the number of people in work at a record high and government finances bolstered by a continuing corporation tax windfall.

Investment in energy, water and housing

However the country’s infrastructure has not kept pace with that growth and significant investment is needed in energy, water and housing. The coalition’s record on housing has been the key point of attack for the main opposition party, Sinn Féin. Sinn Féin had been performing strongly in opinion polls but seen a significant dip in support in recent months.


The world’s diamond polishing capital feels Ukraine war impact

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1e866ypp1zo, today

Nikunj Tank, a worker in the world’s diamond polishing capital Surat in western India, had been desperate since losing his job in May. The unit he worked at for seven years was facing a financial squeeze and closed down, leaving him and over a dozen others unemployed. Tank was the family’s sole breadwinner - he was supporting his parents, wife and daughter and had no savings. ‘‘He couldn’t find a job and unable to bear the loss, he took the extreme step,” said his retired father Jayanti Tank. Tank died by suicide in August. The last few years have been tough for India’s recession-hit diamond industry. Surat, in Gujarat state, processes 90% of the world’s diamonds in over 5,000 units and employs more than 800,000 polishers. The city has 15 big polishing units with an annual turnover of more than $100m (£75m). India’s exports of cut and polished stones fell from $23bn in 2022 to $16bn in 2023 and are expected to drop further to $12bn in 2024. The revolution underway in India's diamond industryDebt-ridden India labourer digs up diamond worth $95,000The price of polished diamonds dipped by 5%,s to 27% in 2023, due to lower demand and oversupply, say analysts. Mahesh Virani of Star Gems explained that oversupply occurred because polishing units continued production despite limited demand to keep operations running, ultimately increasing their losses. The state’s Diamond Workers’ Union, a group representing polishers, told BBC Gujarati that more than 30,000 have lost their jobs in the past six months alone due to the downturn. The union says that as per their data collected from victims’ families, police records and news reports, 65 workers have died by suicide in the state over one-and-a-half years due to this slowdown. The BBC could not independently verify this figure. Experts say the Covid-19 lockdown, the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Gaza wars, and falling demand in key markets have adversely impacted India’s diamond industry. “The business of polished diamonds has gone down by more than 25-30% due to global recession,” said Vallabh Lakhani, chairman of Kiran Gems, a leading manufacturer. India imports 30% of its rough diamonds from Russian mines – now under Western sanctions due to the war – and cuts and polishes them, then sells them mostly in Western markets. In March, the European Union and G7 countries imposed a fresh ban on the import of Russian unpolished diamonds, including those processed in India and sold in the West via third countries.

After the fresh ban, India publicly raised concerns, with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar stating in April that such measures hurt those lower in the supply chain more than Russia, as producers usually find alternative routes. Traders in Surat echo that. "India is at the low end of the value chain of the diamond industry. The country is highly dependent on the global market, both for raw materials as well as for final sales," said exporter Kirti Shah. Ukraine war: Russian diamonds set for ban under new EU sanctionsAdditionally, an economic downturn in G7 countries and the UAE and Belgium - India’s key export destinations – has impacted business. The downturn is also attributed to a rise in demand for lab-grown diamonds, a cheaper alternative to natural diamonds, and to the war in Gaza, as the gems form a sizeable chunk of India's trade with Israel. “The diamond sector in Surat is passing through a bad phase,” said Kumar Kanani, a lawmaker from the state's governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He said the police were investigating the suicide cases attributed to job losses. "The government is ready to provide all possible help to polishers, traders and businessmen,” he said. But the families of at least nine workers, who recently took their lives, said they had received little help from the government. Will a Russian diamond ban be effective?The majority of layoffs have occurred in small and medium-sized units, which typically hire workers for quality checks of rough diamonds and for polishing and shaping them. But bigger players are impacted too. Last month, Kiran Gems asked its 50,000 employees to go on a 10-day vacation, citing the slowdown as a reason. In July, the Diamond Workers' Union started a helpline which received over 1,600 distress calls from polishers seeking jobs or financial help.

But there have been others who couldn’t get help in time. Vaishali Patel, 38, lost her husband Nitin two years back. The polishing unit he worked for had laid off a majority of its staff because of a lack of business. Brokers and traders too are facing the brunt. “We have been sitting idle for days. There is hardly any sale or purchase,” said Dilip Sojitra, one of the 5,000 brokers in Surat who sell diamonds to customers, traders and other brokers. India's jobs crisis is more serious than it seemsLab-grown diamonds, once in high demand, have also seen prices drop from $300 to $78 per carat due to overproduction, impacting the market. Surat Diamond Brokers Association president Nandlal Nakrani believes the situation will improve when rough diamond prices decrease and polished diamond prices rise. Despite the slowdown, some hope the industry will recover, as it did after the 2008 Great Recession, which shut hundreds of polishing units and left thousands jobless. Mr Sojitra says he believes the upcoming festival season, including Diwali, Christmas, and New Year, will help boost business momentum. "This too shall pass," he says.


Aston Martin shares shaken after profit warning

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9qvy913012o, today

Luxury carmaker Aston Martin's share price sank more than 20% after it said profits will be lower than expected this year. The company, famed for its links to fictional superspy James Bond, has been hit by supply chain issues and falling sales in China. The share price of Stellantis, the owner of brands such as Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat and Jeep, also plummeted on Monday after a profit warning. Carmakers across Europe have been suffering lately, with disappointing sales and increased competition from abroad taking a heavy toll on earnings.

Aston Martin is a prestige brand which makes upmarket cars in relatively small quantities. Last year, it sold 6,620 vehicles, with about a fifth of those going to the Asia-Pacific region. However, the company says it has been hit by a fall in demand in China, where a slowing economy has affected sales of luxury cars. It has also been affected by problems at a number of suppliers, which have affected its ability to build a number of new models. As a result, Aston says it will make about 1,000 fewer cars than originally planned this year. Sales, which had originally been forecast to rise, are now expected to be lower than in 2023, and earnings will fall short of current market expectations. Adrian Hallmark, who became Aston Martin’s chief executive a few weeks ago, said it had become clear that “decisive action” was needed to adjust output. But he added that he was “even more convinced than before” about the brand’s potential for growth.

Industry giants suffering

Meanwhile, Stellantis has become the latest large-scale carmaker to revise its financial forecasts, thanks to a deterioration in the industry outlook. The company has been struggling with weak demand in the US, a key market, where it has been forced to offer discounts in order to shift unsold stock. It has also been facing increased competition from Chinese brands, which have been expanding aggressively abroad. As a result, it said it expects its profit margins to be significantly lower than previously thought this year. The announcement sent its shares tumbling. By lunchtime on Monday, the price was down more than 14%. The problems at Stellantis and Aston Martin reflect a wider malaise in the European car industry. On Friday, Volkswagen issued its second profit warning in three months, while it has also suggested it might have to close plants in Germany for the first time in its history. Its German rivals Mercedes-Benz and BMW have also downgraded their profit forecasts in recent weeks. Among the common issues are falling sales in China – until recently a highly lucrative market for expensive and profitable high-end models – coupled with growing competition from Chinese brands in other markets. According to Matthias Schmidt of Schmidt Automotive Research, European firms have been caught out by a wave of "unsustainable" discounting by Chinese brands in their home market, which has affected sales of high-priced vehicles. “German brands, and VW in particular, have been caught off-guard by the pace of change in China” he explains.

EV sales falter

Sales of electric cars, which manufacturers have invested huge sums in developing, have been faltering badly in Europe. According to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, sales of battery-powered cars were down nearly 44% in August compared to the same period a year ago, while their share of the market dropped to 14.4%, compared to 21% in 2023. The decline has followed the removal or reduction of incentives for electric car buyers in a number of European markets, including France and Germany. On Friday, EU nations are due to vote on plans to impose steep tariffs on imports of electric vehicles from China. The measures are designed to protect local producers from unfair competition. The European Commission claims Chinese manufacturers benefit from illegal subsidies from the Chinese government – and believes tariffs will create a level playing field. But the plan is controversial, and has received a mixed reception from manufacturers.


McDonald’s and supermarkets failed to spot slavery

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2kdg84zj4wo, today

Signs that modern slavery victims were being forced to work at a McDonald’s branch and a factory supplying bread products to major supermarkets were missed for years, the BBC has found. A gang forced 16 victims to work at either the fast-food restaurant or the factory - which supplied Asda, Co-op, M&S, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose. Well-established signs of slavery, including paying the wages of four men into one bank account, were missed while the victims from the Czech Republic were exploited over more than four years. McDonald’s UK said it had improved systems for spotting “potential risks”, while the British Retail Consortium said its members would learn from the case.

Six members of a family-run human trafficking network from the Czech Republic have been convicted in two criminal trials, which were delayed by the Covid pandemic. Reporting restrictions have prevented coverage of much of the case, but BBC England can now reveal the full scale of the gang’s crimes - and the missed opportunities to stop them. Nine victims were forced to work at the McDonald’s branch in Caxton, Cambridgeshire. Nine worked at the pitta bread company, with factories in Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire and Tottenham in north London, which made supermarket own-brand products. There were 16 victims in total across both sites, as two worked at both McDonald’s and the factory.

The victims - who were all vulnerable, most having experienced homelessness or addiction - earned at least the legal minimum wage, but nearly all of their pay was stolen by the gang. While they lived on a few pounds a day in cramped accommodation - including a leaking shed and an unheated caravan - police discovered their work was funding luxury cars, gold jewellery and a property in the Czech Republic for the gang. On several occasions, victims escaped and fled home only to be tracked down and trafficked back to the UK. The exploitation ended in October 2019 after victims contacted police in the Czech Republic, who then tipped off their British counterparts. But warning signs had been missed for at least four years, the BBC has discovered by reviewing legal documents from the gang’s trial and interviewing three victims.

The undetected red flags include: Victims’ wages were paid into bank accounts in other people’s names. At the McDonald’s, at least four victims’ wages - totalling £215,000 - were being paid into one account, controlled by the gangVictims were unable to speak English, and job applications were completed by a gang member, who was even able to sit-in on job interviews as a translatorVictims worked extreme hours at the McDonald’s - up to 70 to 100 a week. One victim worked a 30-hour shift. The UN’s International Labour Organization says excessive overtime is an indicator of forced labourMultiple employees had the same registered address. Nine victims lived in the same terraced home in Enfield in north London while working at the bakery“It really concerns me that so many red flags were missed, and that maybe the companies didn’t do enough to protect vulnerable workers,” said Dame Sara Thornton, the former independent anti-slavery commissioner, who reviewed the BBC’s findings. Det Sgt Chris Acourt, who led the Cambridgeshire Police investigation, said there were “massive opportunities” that were missed to detect the slavery and alert authorities sooner. “Ultimately, we could have been in a situation to end that exploitation much earlier had we been made aware,” he said.

Slavery on the High Street For seven years, vulnerable victims of trafficking were forced to make food for major high street chains. How did their exploitation go undetected for so long? Watch now on BBC iPlayer (UK Only)

Like many of the victims, Pavel - who has waived his legal right to anonymity - was homeless in the Czech Republic when he was approached by the gang in 2016. He says he was lured in with the false promise of a well-paid job in the UK, where he could at the time work legally. But the reality of what he experienced has left lasting scars, he said. “You can’t undo the damage to my mental health, it will always live with me.” He was given just a few pounds a day in cash by his exploiters, despite working 70-hour weeks at the McDonald’s branch, he said. The gang - led by brothers Ernest and Zdenek Drevenak - confiscated the passports of all their victims and controlled them through fear and violence, police found. “We were afraid,” Pavel said. “If we were to escape and go home, [Ernest Drevenak] has a lot of friends in our town, half the town were his mates.”

The gang “treated their victims like livestock” feeding them just enough “to keep them going”, according to the Met’s Det Insp Melanie Lillywhite. She said victims were controlled by “invisible handcuffs” - monitored by CCTV, prevented from using phones or the internet and unable to speak English. “They really were cut off from the outside world,” she said. While the gang has been convicted in court, Pavel believes McDonald’s also shares some responsibility. “I do feel partially exploited by McDonald’s because they didn’t act,” he said. “I thought if I was working for McDonalds, that they would be a little bit more cautious, that they will notice it.” Two former colleagues told the BBC the extreme hours the men worked - and the impact it had on them - was plain to see.

Like most McDonald’s, the Caxton outlet - on the A428 - is a franchise, which means an independent business pays the fast-food giant to allow it to run the restaurant. While victims worked there between 2015 and 2019, it was run by two different franchise-holders. We contacted both, but they did not respond. McDonald’s UK declined our offer of an interview, but provided a statement on behalf of the corporation and its franchisees. It said the current franchisee - Ahmet Mustafa - had only been “exposed to the full depth of these horrific, complex and sophisticated crimes” in the course of his co-operating with police and the prosecution. The company said it cares “deeply” about all employees and promised that - working with franchisees - it would “play our part alongside government, NGOs [Non-governmental organisations] and wider society to help combat the evils of modern slavery”. It also said it commissioned an independent review in October 2023 and had taken action to improve its ability to “detect and deter potential risks, such as: shared bank accounts, excessive working hours, and reviewing the use of interpreters in interviews”.

The bakery company - Speciality Flatbread Ltd - ceased trading and went into administration in 2022. None of the supermarkets detected the slavery while victims worked at the factory between 2012 and 2019. Dame Sara said she would have expected the retailers to be doing “pretty thorough due diligence”, adding that they normally “take much greater care about their own brand products because that’s their reputation that’s on the line”. Sainsbury’s said it stopped using the company as an own-brand supplier in 2016. The others only stopped sometime after police rescued the victims in 2019. Asda told the BBC it was “disappointed that a historic case has been found in our supply chain”, adding that it would “review every case identified and act upon the learnings”. It said it had made three site visits, but focused solely on food safety, and had stopped using the factory in 2020. Tesco said inspections - supported by information from anti-slavery charity Unseen - “revealed concerning working practices” and the company “ceased all orders from the supplier” in 2020. Waitrose said it pulled out in 2021 after its audits led to “concerns about factory standards and working conditions”. The Co-op said it made “a number” of unannounced inspections, including worker interviews, but found no signs of modern slavery, adding that the company “actively work to tackle the shocking issue… both in the UK and abroad”. M&S said it suspended and delisted the company in 2020 after it “became aware of potential breaches of ethical labour standards via the modern slavery helpline”. The British Retail Consortium said workers’ welfare was “fundamental” to retailers, who it said acted quickly when concerns are raised. “Nonetheless, it is important that the retail industry learns from cases like this to continually strengthen due diligence,” it said.

Speciality Flatbreads’ director Andrew Charalambous did not respond to written requests for comment, but in a phone call from the BBC said he had supported the police and prosecution, adding that the company had been “thoroughly audited by top law firms” and “everything we were doing was legal”. He added: “From our perspective we didn’t break the law in any way, having said that, yes, maybe you’re right in that maybe there were certain telltale signs or things like that, but that would have been for the HR department who were dealing with it on the front line.” The Modern Slavery Act requires larger companies - including McDonald’s and the supermarkets, but not the factory - to publish annual statements outlining what they will do to tackle the issue. Former Prime Minister Baroness Theresa May, who introduced the act as home secretary in 2015, accepted the law failed to protect victims in this case, and believes it needs to be “beefed up”. The former PM - who now leads the Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking - said the case was “frankly shocking” and shows “large companies not properly looking into their supply chains”. She said the global commission was reviewing what new laws are needed “to ensure action is being taken by companies”. Responding to the case, the government said it would “set out next steps on the issue of modern slavery in due course”. It said it was “committed to tackling all forms of modern slavery” and would “pursue gangs and employers with every lever at our disposal while ensuring that victims are provided with the support they need”. Additional reporting by Mary O'Reilly and Maria Jevstafjeva Details of organisations offering support for victims of modern slavery are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline


Sub-postmasters won't get payouts by March, says minister

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3wvdlq7pwo, today

Sub-postmasters impacted by the Horizon IT scandal will not all receive compensation payments by March next year, the government's Post Office minister has said. Gareth Thomas said it would be "difficult" to achieve such a deadline, after calls from former sub-postmaster and campaigner Sir Alan Bates. Sir Alan urged the government to set a March 2025 deadline to pay financial redress for all the sub-postmasters involved in the initial legal action against the Post Office which uncovered the scandal. Thomas said he agreed with Sir Alan that faster progress on compensation payments to all victims was needed.

"I wish I could commit to Sir Alan’s time frame," he told BBC Breakfast, adding: "I think we will have made substantial progress by next summer." Sir Alan has been heavily critical of the length of time it is taking for victims of what has been described as the biggest miscarriage of justice in British legal history to receive financial redress. Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted after the faulty Horizon IT accounting system made it look like money was missing from branch accounts. Some sub-postmasters ended up going to prison, while many more were financially ruined and lost their livelihoods. Some died while waiting for justice. Sir Alan leads the Justice for Sub-postmasters Alliance, campaigning for financial redress for the 555 victims who took part in the landmark group legal action against the Post Office that culminated in 2019. Their compensation was, however, swallowed up by the huge legal costs involved in bringing their case. The government went on to set up a specific compensation fund involved in the Group Litigation Order (GLO) to give these sub-postmasters the redress like others affected, but progress has been slow. Last month, Sir Alan said the Department for Business appeared to be trying to get away with paying out as little as possible to victims while maximising the income for the legal firms involved. He questioned whether the government was dragging the "issue out to exhaust victims until their deaths" and if the scheme has become a "gravy train" for its lawyers. A total of £265m has been spent on lawyers relating to the Post Office scandal from 2014 to 2024. Sir Alan said said the March deadline was needed for the GLO redress as it was three years since that particular compensation scheme was announced.

'Keep holding feet to fire'

Post Office minister Thomas, who was appointed following Labour's general election victory, told the BBC: "I agree with him, [Sir Alan] we need to make faster progress. "We are trying to unblock the blockages and speed up the process of compensation," he added. "There are four compensation schemes in place, two of which the government runs, and two of which the post office runs. I have looked at whether we should just start afresh but that would lead to further delays in getting money out of the door." Deadlines for payments have previously been ruled out for fear that some sub-postmasters might be timed out of claiming compensation. There isn't a single compensation scheme for sub-postmasters to apply to and eligibility is dependant on the circumstances of an individual's case. The four main schemes are aimed at groups of victims who had different experiences of the scandal. According to the latest government figures, external, 201 of the eligible 492 sub-postmasters in the GLO scheme have received their payments in full. Of the hundreds of members of the GLO group, 63 had criminal convictions and therefore are not eligible for this scheme but they are eligible for other compensation - depending on how their convictions are being overturned. Sir Alan has said he would be prepared to go back to court if "excuses" were made around further delays to financial redress, adding he would be meeting with new law firms to discuss the matter. Thomas, the Post Office minister said: "My message...to him [Sir Alan] is keep holding our feet to the fire."


More staff and new equipment for firm awarded £6m

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn0exr4r4reo, today

An aluminium foundry awarded a £6m grant said it will fund more workers, new equipment and a better recycling network. Sarginsons, based in Coventry, will work with partners including Aston Martin as part of a research programme into developing lighter vehicle components. It aims to use 100% recycled aluminium when producing vehicles to make them more sustainable and cheaper while still operating properly. Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be used to produce designs of new chassis components for an existing Aston Martin model, aiming to reduce development costs, Sarginsons said.

A not-for-profit organisation named the Advanced Propulsion Centre and agency Innovate UK have funded the programme. Funds will also work to move away from aluminium that has been directly mined. Gavin Shipley, from Sarginsons, said the research could "lay the blueprint" for industries to increase their manufacturing efficiency in a sustainable way.

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Workers must keep all customer tips under new law

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czj9mxnyezdo, today

Workers should receive all tips from customers under a new law which bans firms from withholding the payments - whether in cash or by card. More than three million service workers in England, Scotland, and Wales should benefit from the law which comes into force on Tuesday. If companies break the law and retain tips, staff will be able to bring claims to an employment tribunal. It applies across industries, but is expected to benefit those working in restaurants, cafes, bars, pubs, hairdressers, or as taxi drivers the most.

Under the new law, all tips must be passed to employees by the end of the following month from when they were received. Workers will still need to pay tax on their tips, as was the law previously.

'It gives people a level of protection'

Tom William works in property development, but he used to work for a chain restaurant which took 3% of the value all the food and drink that serving staff sold off their salary - regardless of whether or not customers had tipped. "I'm delighted about the new law because it gives people on the lowest forms of income and shiftwork a level of protection," he says. "There's such high turnover in these professions. What happened in my experience was that they said: 'If you don't hand over your 3%, then we won't employ you anymore.'" Bryan Simpson, hospitality organiser for the union Unite, also welcomed the move. "These are the lowest paid workers in the British economy and they are going to benefit massively from this,” he told the BBC's Today programme. Nisha Katona, owner of Mowgli Street Foods, told the BBC the change was needed because "young people depend on the law to protect them" from employers who might avoid sharing tips with staff. However, while she supported the legislation, she believed it would hit some companies that were unprepared. "There are going to be some casualties because of this law," she said.

'The tips are for their service'

Tom Howes and Dory Czicza both work at Fish'o'licious, a fish and chip restaurant and takeaway in Great Yarmouth. She is a waitress and gets tips, but he does not. Dory, 28, said: "The tips that we get on card, we take it straight out of the till and put it in the pot as cash." Tom added: "I'm the fryer and I don't get the tips. I get paid a little extra. The tips are for their service - it's not for the business." Emma Webb from The Kitchen in Ilminster, Somerset, said the new rules would not change anything for her business. "We have jars with everybody's name on them and at the end of the day all the tips get shared out between all of the staff," she said. "If customers give a tip through the card machine I get my staff to print off the receipt so I take the tips out of the till and put them in the jar."

How will the law work in practice?

Tom Moyes, partner at Blacks Solicitors, says the aim of the law is "transparency and fairness" around how tips are handed out. Staff can now request a breakdown of how tips are being distributed every three months. However, Mr Moyes said the question of "fairness" is not clear cut. "Is there an argument that more senior people should be entitled to a greater level of tip or is the reverse true? There isn't any guidance on that," he said. Meanwhile, the law has not been introduced in Northern Ireland, which Unite said was "completely unacceptable". The Northern Ireland executive is currently drafting a workers' rights bill based on responses to a three-month consultation which closed on Monday. It told the BBC that "all responses to the consultation", including proposals to ensure tips are passed onto workers in full, will be taken into account as the bill progresses.

How much should you tip?

Opinions vary on how much customers should tip. According to VisitLondon, the official tourist guide for the city, a 10-15% tip is customary when eating out in the capital or anywhere else in the UK. It adds it is also typical to tip taxi drivers around 10% to 15% for black cabs and minicabs in London, but for taxis generally the expectation is that riders round up their payment to the nearest pound and allow the driver to keep that. Tipping in bars and pubs is not expected. However, Kate Nicholls, chief executive of trade body UK Hospitality, does not believe there are hard and fast rules on tipping in the UK. "Rather it is left in the hands of the customer to tip what they feel is acceptable," she says. "This is unlike other countries, like the US, where a tip is typically expected to be added by the customer, regardless of service standard."


People told to read meter as energy bills rise

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7v6l26v585o, today

Billpayers have been urged to give an accurate meter reading as gas and electricity price rises take effect. A household in England, Wales and Scotland using a typical amount of gas and electricity will now see their annual bill rise by about £149 to £1,717. Experts have encouraged people to submit a meter reading as the change comes in so they can avoid being charged on estimated usage at the higher rate. It comes as winter approaches without extra cost-of-living payments for those on low incomes, and as winter fuel payments are withdrawn for about 10 million pensioners.

Price cap changes

Energy prices for about 27 million homes in England, Wales and Scotland are governed by a price cap, calculated by the energy regulator Ofgem. It is set every three months and affects the price paid for each unit of gas and electricity. Under the cap, prices have fallen twice this year - in April and July - but now, at the start of October, they have increased by about £12 a month for a typical user. The final bill will depend on the amount of energy used, but to estimate the effect on annual costs, billpayers can add 10% to their current bill. By reading their meters and submitting those to their supplier, price comparison website Uswitch says billpayers can avoid being charged in the short-term for energy they have not used, or having a bill based on an estimated reading at a higher rate. Those with operational smart meters have the reading taken automatically. Standing charges have risen by one penny a day for gas and also for electricity, but the regulator is considering reforming the system. The Utility Regulator in Northern Ireland says there will not be any price changes in October to the suppliers that it regulates.

The price cap is illustrated by Ofgem in terms of an annual bill for a household using a typical amount of gas and electricity. It affects those on default, variable tariffs, not those who have fixed a price for a set period. That annual bill is lower than last winter, but charities say many people will struggle to cover the cost. Some households have built up debt to their suppliers. Ofgem said nearly £3.7bn is owed collectively. Steve Vaid, chief executive of the Money Advice Trust, the charity that runs National Debtline, said: "This only highlights what we have been saying for some time - without urgent support for households facing unaffordable arrears, energy debt will only rise further."

James McMahon, from Blackburn, is slightly behind on his gas bill, which he said he was "not proud about" but unavoidable. "[The price rise] is a big disappointment. You feel it inside," he said. "You can be big and proud and say I can manage, and make that bit of extra money. But when you take everything else we are being put through, it is just that bit too much." Some households will have less support because the final cost-of-living payment was made to eight million people on means-tested benefits in February. For pensioners, the previously universal winter fuel payment, worth up to £300, will now be paid only to those on low incomes who receive certain benefits.

The payment is a devolved matter in Scotland and Northern Ireland and the Scottish government confirmed it will also no longer provide winter fuel payments to all pensioners. While some previous recipients say they do not need it, charities and many MPs are concerned about pensioners still on a relatively small income who will miss out. Forecasters have given some comfort with a change to their prediction for energy bills when the next cap comes into force in January. Consultancy Cornwall Insight, which analyses the sector, has predicted a 1% fall in January to an annual bill of £1,697 for a household using a typical amount of energy. Energy companies have said a voluntary initiative they have run in the last four years has identified vulnerable customers. The sector's trade body, Energy UK, said extra support totalling £500m had been given to those in need.

In specific terms, the latest change in prices means: Gas prices are capped at 6.24p per kilowatt hour (kWh), and electricity at 24.5p per kWh - up from 5.48p and 22.36p respectively. A typical household uses 2,700 kWh of electricity a year, and 11,500 kWh of gasHouseholds on prepayment meters are paying slightly less than those on direct debit, with a typical bill of £1,669Those who pay their bills every three months by cash or cheque are paying more, with a typical bill of £1,829Standing charges - a fixed daily charge covering the costs of connecting to a supply - have gone up to 61p a day for electricity and 32p a day for gas, compared with 60p and 31p respectively, although they vary by region

How some pensioners can claim support

Hundreds of thousands of low-income pensioner households eligible for pension credit currently fail to claim it. The government says it is worth an average of £3,900 a year and claiming it can qualify people for other financial support such as winter fuel payments. You can check your eligibility for pension credit via the government's online calculator. Information is also available on how to make a claim. There is also a phone line available on weekdays - 0800 99 1234. Guide to benefits, when you qualify and what to do if something goes wrong, are provided by the independent MoneyHelper website, backed by government. Benefits calculators are also run by Policy in Practice, and charities Entitledto, and Turn2us.


ScotRail's full timetable to return next Monday

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4glk63n0rlo, today

ScotRail will be restoring its full timetable from Monday 7 October. Trains have been running on a reduced timetable since 10 July following a long-running pay dispute involving train drivers. But last week 75% of Aslef members voted for a new deal, which will provide staff with a 4.5% rise backdated to April. Peak time rail fares returned to train services in Scotland on 27 September.

Mark Ilderton, ScotRail's service delivery director, said: "We are delighted to confirm that our full timetable will return on Monday. "We have been working round the clock to deliver this in a very short space of time because we know how important a full service is to our customers. "It’s been a difficult few months for our customers and staff, and we thank everybody for their patience."

He added: "With a pay deal agreed and the full timetable back in place, everyone at ScotRail is focused on delivering a safe, reliable, and green service for our customers." The company said it was recruiting 160 new drivers every year to reduce its reliance on overtime working. Trade unions and environmental groups have launched a petition demanding the permanent abolition of peak fare pricing. The petition is led by the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) and includes a number of unions and environmental organisations. They argue that return of peak fares contradicts Scotland’s ambitions for sustainable travel and investment in public services.

'Unfair fare structure'

STUC deputy general secretary Dave Moxham said: "Reintroducing peak fares is a slap in the face for working people across Scotland who depend on affordable public transport to get to work. "This decision blatantly contradicts the government’s own commitments to reducing carbon emissions and creating a fairer society. "If we are serious about tackling the climate crisis and supporting workers, the Scottish government must end this outdated and unfair fare structure." He added that scrapping peak fares permanently was essential for a just and sustainable future. Imogen Dow, Friends of the Earth Scotland's head of campaigns said: "Transport is Scotland’s biggest source of climate pollution so if ministers are serious about getting our climate commitments back on track that means changing the ways we travel. “We urgently need to move as many journeys as possible from cars to sustainable transport. "Making sure our public transport is affordable, accessible and reliable is essential to addressing climate change as well as tackling toxic air pollution from traffic."

The emergency timetable at Scotrail highlighted the company’s ongoing dependence on overtime by drivers. A withdrawal of overtime amid a pay row led to a high number of last minute cancellations – even though there was no actual industrial action by unions. There was no official overtime ban. Drivers simply said they could not do overtime. They are contractually allowed to do this as overtime at the company is entirely voluntary. Scotrail argues a dependence on overtime is a long-term issue across the rail industry which it wants to put right. It says it has recruited 250 new drivers since it was brought back into public ownership in April 2022. It continues to recruit 160 a year. Their training takes about 18 months and, inevitably, some drivers replace others who have left. Substantially reducing the company’s dependence on overtime will not be a quick process. But if the company wants to ensure that informal overtime bans do not lead to widespread disruption again, it will need to ensure it has more drivers.


Sperm donor cash rises by £10 as UK faces shortage

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm24vd6ldypo, today

Sperm donor compensation has risen from £35 to a maximum of £45 per clinic visit. The £10 rise comes into effect in England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1 October, when egg donor compensation also rises from £750 to £985, which the fertility regulator clarified today. It is illegal to pay someone to donate sperm or eggs in the UK so the money is to cover expenses such as travel and accommodation. Sperm donation can involve visiting a clinic once a week for three to six months. The UK fertility regulator acknowledged a shortage of egg and sperm donors. But it warned donating was a "complex decision" and any child born had the right to contact their biological parents after reaching 18 years old.

One sperm donor, who the BBC is calling Joseph, said the £35 he received for each clinic trip did not compensate him "anywhere near enough" for his time and travel - but said his motivation was to help people. "I'm a married gay man and we adopted our son so we didn't have the normal route that most heterosexuals couples will have had into parenting," he said. "Going through the adoption process, you meet a lot of straight couples who have had fertility problems. So I wanted to help and give someone a chance to start a family, whether it's someone with fertility problems, a lesbian couple or a single person." It is the first time compensation for sperm and egg donors in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has risen since 2011. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which sets the amount of compensation, said the change was partly due to inflation being high in recent years, but it warned against donating sperm or eggs for the money. "Choosing to become a donor is a complex decision, with implications for the donor and their wider family, the recipient, and any child born as a result," a spokesperson for the fertility regulator said. "Donors will go through rigorous medical screening and must be comfortable with the fact that any children born from their donation can contact them when they turn 18," the HFEA spokesperson said. Joseph said he was happy with the new compensation rate of £45 per clinic visit. He added: "I think it's difficult to strike a balance between compensating somebody and then paying too much and then making it a financial incentive." But there are groups who are concerned about the rise in compensation. Helen Gibson, founder of Surrogacy Concern, a UK group which campaigns on issues relating to surrogacy and gamete donation said the organisation did not support "any payment for gametes". "Donations cannot be called altruistic while money is exchanged," she said. "Young people’s bodies are not resources to be mined for the benefit of older, wealthier couples and individuals. If there is a ‘shortage’ of donors coming forward, perhaps that reflects the fact that most people do not want their genetic children to be raised by others."

One way to tackle a sperm shortage is by importing it. The HFEA says the majority of imported sperm in the UK comes from sperm banks in the US and Denmark. Nicole Nel, operations and laboratory manager at the London Sperm Bank, believes the shortage is not due to a "lack of applicants" in the UK, but "the lack in the quality of the applicants". She also claimed the way people live their lives nowadays could be affecting the quality of sperm, adding that the London Sperm Bank can only accept a small percentage of people who apply to be donors. Ms Nel also believes the narrative is changing surrounding the typical sperm donor. Sperm donors in the UK generally need to be between the ages of 18 and 45. "Maybe 20 years ago it was students but I think now it's a very healthy combination of people because infertility has become a more widely discussed topic and awareness has been increased around it," she said. "I think the type of person that actually ends up becoming a donor is someone that is more aware of what they're doing, it's not your typical student just looking for an easy way to make money." The HFEA said UK sperm donors commonly visit a clinic "once a week for between three and six months". One of these visits will involve ejaculating into a sterilised cup and the sperm is then frozen and stored. It is not possible to donate anonymously and all donors are made aware that any child born can contact them once they turn 18.


Post Office minister 'horrified' at more IT faults

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx24pzpgy0eo, today

An accounting system used by Post Office sub-postmasters before the controversial Horizon software was introduced is likely to have also been faulty, an investigation has found. A report said "there was a reasonable likelihood" that the IT system, called Capture, could have created cash shortfalls in accounts. Capture was used in branches from 1992 to 1999, prior to the Horizon software, which has been at the centre of the Post Office scandal. Post Office minister Gareth Thomas said he was "horrified" to learn about the issues with the Capture system.

Thomas said he had met with some sub-postmasters who used the Capture system and thanked them for "coming forward to talk about the impact it had on their lives and livelihoods". Neil Hudgell, from Hudgell Solicitors, who represents 70 sub-postmasters who used Capture, said: "It should never have needed such a long, hard battle to reach this stage, and there now must not be a long, hard battle ahead for exoneration and compensation." The Post Office said it was "sincerely sorry" and remained "determined that wrongs must be put right as far as that can be possible".

'Acknowledgement of bugs'

Between 1999 and 2015, more than 900 sub-postmasters were wrongly prosecuted after faults with Horizon made it look like money was missing from branch accounts. The Horizon IT system has been at the heart of what's been called the UK's most widespread miscarriage of justice. But Monday's report from financial and risk advisory company Kroll has revealed fresh concerns over its predecessor Capture, which was developed in-house by the Post Office's information technology team. "We consider that, based on available evidence, there was a reasonable likelihood that Capture could have created shortfalls for sub-postmasters," the report said. Investigators said despite "various control functions being in place" at the Post Office, there was an "acknowledgement both in internal and external communications during the 1990s that Capture had bugs and errors that varied in severity". "The burden placed upon sub-postmasters to implement fixes, which varied in complexity, together with a reliance on communications from Post Office Limited to identify these bugs and fixes, meant there was a high capacity for errors to go unnoticed," the report said. Kroll did not comment on whether any convictions arising from sub-postmasters using Capture could be considered unsafe. The company conducted 21 interviews with former sub-postmasters and/or their families as part of its investigation. In a small number of cases, it was unclear if the sub-postmasters had used Capture software, Kroll said. Out of the 21 sub-postmasters, Kroll said 12 had been suspended by the Post Office, though two occurred after 1999 when Horizon had replaced Capture. "Of these 12, eight were prosecuted, two resigned, and two were terminated from their employment," Kroll said. "A further seven sub-postmasters were never suspended, but advised Kroll that they ended up selling their branch, in part or whole, due to losses they sustained during Capture use."

'Fast action needed'

Kroll did not provide an estimate as to how many sub-postmasters could have been impacted in total. But Mr Hudgell said the report's findings were "hugely significant" and mirrored the "devastation" caused by prosecutions linked to Horizon. "We know the Post Office was made aware of issues and software faults, yet when sub-postmasters experienced unexplained losses, they were blamed, made to balance the books, suspended and prosecuted. "There needs to be fast action on these failings, faster than we have seen before." Kroll said that the rollout of Capture did not appear to be a "strategic project" of the Post Office in the 1990s. It estimated that a maximum of only 13.5% of all branches may have been using it as there were at least two other systems used during the period. Investigators said Capture was "in essence a back-office processing software that automated certain calculations", and could be described as being similar to an Excel spreadsheet. The government said it would examine the report and "consider what action should be taken" before making an announcement in December. Kroll was asked in May to conduct an investigation into Capture to see if there was a reasonable likelihood the software could have incorrectly created shortfalls for sub-postmasters, following concerns that, like Horizon, there were known bugs and errors in the system.


Mike Ashley's Frasers Group makes offer for Mulberry

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9qvy25dq40o, today

Mike Ashley's Frasers Group has made a takeover approach for luxury handbag maker Mulberry, adding it was "exceptionally concerned" about the fashion brand's future. Mulberry's sales have fallen sharply following a downturn in the luxury sector, and last week it announced plans to raise nearly £11m to bolster its finances. Frasers Group, which owns several retailers including Sports Direct and Flannels, already holds a 37% stake in Mulberry and its proposed offer values the firm at £83m. Frasers added it wanted to avoid "another Debenhams situation" - referring to the department store chain that collapsed in 2019.

As it made its offer, Frasers said it had only been made aware of Mulberry's plan to raise additional funds “immediately prior to its announcement”. "Given this total lack of engagement, we believe the status quo to be an untenable position for Frasers and the other minority holders of Mulberry shares," it said. Frasers said it was "exceptionally concerned" at an opinion by Mulberry's auditor in its annual report, published on Friday, which noted there was "material uncertainty related to going concern". It said: "As a 37% shareholder, Frasers will not accept another Debenhams situation where a perfectly viable business is run into administration." Debenhams, in which Frasers held a stake, went into administration in 2019 after several years of falling sales, with the Covid pandemic being the final blow. Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: "Mike Ashley’s frustration with Mulberry is plain to see. "Keeping it quiet indicates that the [Mulberry] board didn’t want to give Frasers the early option of owning an even bigger chunk of the company. "However, investors may also be losing patience, given that Mulberry’s shares have fallen by 52% over the past year." Ms Streeter said Frasers Group had already taken steps to "move upmarket", such as increasing its stake in Hugo Boss. In its most recent full-year results, Mulberry revealed a £34.1m pre-tax loss for the 12 months to March compared with a £13.2m profit the year before. Group sales dropped by 4% over the year, and since March the company also revealed that revenues had sunk 18%. Chairman Chris Roberts said the luxury sector had faced "significant challenges" over the past year, with "markets across the globe facing a tightening of consumer spending".


House price growth at near two-year high

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g9dx5y4vro, today

UK house prices in September rose by 3.2% compared with a year ago - the fastest rate for nearly two years, according to Nationwide. The building society said that annual growth was the highest since November 2022, with terraced homes driving the increase. It said rising incomes and mortgage rate cuts were improving affordability for buyers. Separate data from the Bank of England also showed mortgage approvals at their highest level for two years. The average UK house price in September was £266,094, Nationwide said.

The building society’s data, which is based on its own mortgage lending, showed that UK prices rose by 0.7% in September compared with the previous month. August had recorded a slight fall on the monthly measure. “Income growth has continued to outstrip house price growth in recent months while borrowing costs have edged lower amid expectations that the Bank of England will continue to lower interest rates in the coming quarters,” said Nationwide’s chief economist, Robert Gardner. “These trends have helped to improve affordability for prospective buyers.” However, he said that while activity in the housing market and prices had picked up, they remained subdued compared with historical standards. Amy Reynolds, head of sales at estate agency Antony Roberts, said: “While sellers may be encouraged by these price rises, we find if a property is too highly priced, applicants don’t waste their time and view. “So if a property isn’t getting viewings, it is likely to be down to price, and the best advice we can give is to bring that price down to the market level."

Mortgage competition

The latest survey comes as competition has intensified between lenders in recent months. Brokers say that providers have been offering the best deals to new, house-purchasing customers, rather than those who are remortgaging. Nationwide, which is the UK's largest building society, recently announced new borrowers could request a mortgage up to six times their total income with a 5% deposit, but it would only be available for those taking out a five or 10-year fixed-rate deal. Other lenders have also been lowering the rates of interest they charge. However, the cost of a mortgage deposit, as well as the monthly repayments, remain major hurdles for potential first-time buyers. House prices have been relatively stagnant in the last year, as activity in the UK housing market has been limited. But many commentators suggest, with interest rates expected to fall, demand from buyers could now pick up.

In a further sign of increased activity, figures from the Bank of England show that lenders have approved the highest number of mortgages for house purchases since just before the mini-budget during the premiership of Liz Truss. They approved 64,900 mortgages for house purchases in August, up from 62,500 in July. This was the highest since August 2022 and more than analysts had expected. House prices have been relatively stagnant in the last year, as activity in the UK housing market has been limited. But many commentators suggest, with interest rates expected to fall, demand from buyers could now pick up.

Terraced homes in demand

Nationwide said that terraced homes had seen the biggest price increases in the past year, up 3.5% on average. Semi-detached houses and flats saw increases of 2.8% and 2.7% respectively, with detached houses up 1.7%. However, larger homes had shot up in price during the so-called race for space during the Covid pandemic. The Nationwide survey only takes into account buyers with mortgages and does not include those who purchase homes with cash or buy-to-let deals. Cash buyers account for around a third of housing sales. Rival lender, the Halifax, will publish its house price index for September in the coming days.


US man jailed for cloning giant sheep for trophy hunting

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdenrg7wy5ro, today

A breeder in Montana has been jailed for six months for cloning a giant sheep species and selling its offspring at high prices for trophy hunting. Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, 81, illegally imported body parts of Marco Polo argali sheep, the world's largest, from Kyrgyzstan, and sent the genetic material to a lab to create cloned embryos, court documents say. The cloning resulted in a single male which he named “Montana Mountain King” or MMK. MMK was then used to inseminate ewes to be sold to shooting preserves, also known as captive hunting operations.

"This was an audacious scheme to create massive hybrid sheep species to be sold and hunted as trophies," the justice department's Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) said in a statement. Marco Polo argali males can weigh more than 135kg (300 lbs) and have horns that span more than 1.5m (5ft). The sheep, native to the mountains of the Pamir region of Central Asia, are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites). They are prohibited in Montana to protect native sheep from disease - as well as to prevent the creation of hybrids. Schubarth owns Sun River Enterprises LLC, a ranch which breeds and sells "alternative livestock" to private hunting preserves, where people shoot the animals for a fee, prosecutors said. Court documents say he sold semen from MMK along with hybrid sheep to three people in Texas. A Minnesota resident also brought his sheep to Schubarth's ranch for them to be inseminated. An MMK offspring apparently fetched $10,000 (£7,500).

District Court Judge Brian Morris said he struggled to come up with a sentence, but had to deter anyone else from trying to "change the genetic makeup of the creatures" on the planet. In addition to the jail sentence, Schubarth was given a $20,000 fine. He said he was ashamed of what he had done. "I got my normal mindset clouded by my enthusiasm and looked for any grey area in the law to make the best sheep I could for this sheep industry," he said. "My family has never been broke, but we are now." MMK will be sent to a zoo.


Digital overload: Why women are doing a hidden form of work

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240930-how-technology-creates-hidden-work-for-women, today

When it comes to using technology at home, women tend to do more of the day-to-day online work for the family, creating an extra digital burden.

My phone pings and it's the school chat group reminding us that it's a dress-up day. I scramble to fashion an outfit together for our children to wear. I do this without thinking about it, before my partner has a chance to help.

This is a common occurrence in many households, because despite men taking a more active role in parenting than in recent history, women still tend to be seen as the household organisers.

It's now been well established that in heterosexual relationships, women also do more of the hidden labour – the anticipating, planning and organising of the tasks that helps family life function. It creates a substantial mental workload at the intersection of cognitive and emotional labour. Less obvious is the fact that technology is exacerbating this, putting women at risk of digital overload and even burnout.

Clearly technology can help us be more productive in many areas of our lives. But at home, it is evident that technology is adding to women's already busy mental workloads. A recent cross-national study analysed data from the European Social Survey of more than 6,600 parents from 29 countries who had at least one child and one living parent. It found that the mental load on women, especially mothers, is exacerbated by technology. There appears to be a gender division of labour when it comes to digital communication regarding work and family life. 

The research team looked at technology use among the respondents. Men tended to use technology most at work but women used technology both at work and home. "We find that women are more likely to be exposed to the double burden of digital communication in both work and family life," says lead author of the study Yang Hu from Lancaster University in the UK, who conducted the study alongside Yue Qian from the University of British Columbia in Canada. Women who worked from home also experienced more of this double burden.

It is an issue that has worsened as we conduct more of our lives online, and as working from home has become more common following the Covid-19 pandemic. Women are 1.6 times more likely than men to juggle dual-high digital communication both at work and at home, the researchers found.

Examples of what this means in practice aren't hard to find. My local mum's group is more active than the dad's group, and has many more participants (several hundred). This is where mums chat about events, rashes and parenting concerns. Even if a group is labelled as a parent's group, the most vocal participants, I find, are usually women.

One mum I know told me that she divides some of this digital communication with her partner, with her on the class chats and him on the emails – but unfortunately emails are a lot quieter than the instant chatter of texts. Household groceries, clothes and school supplies can all be bought digitally too, a digital extension of tasks women tend to do more of.

Many couples set out to be egalitarian but gendered patterns often creep in. That's why it's important to recognise the role technology plays when attempting to better share the load at home. We tend to use our digital devices for leisure as well as work, making it hard to delineate where personal use is recreational versus for the family, meaning it's an under-recognised form of labour. As the late feminist scholar Joan Acker highlighted, to challenge inequality we need to make the invisible visible. If you can't see it, we're not likely going to be aware of it. 

Another contributing factor that leads women to take on more digital work is linked to the fact that they tend to work more flexibly than men, taking on part-time roles for childcare needs. This exposes "the flexibility paradox", which is the idea that flexible working exploits women more than men, as it further emphasises their primary caregiver status. Working from home is often offered as a way for individuals, particularly women to juggle family and work responsibilities, says Hu, but that very flexibility can lead women to taking on more of the childcare organisation, which today is largely organised digitally.

The unfortunate consequence of this is that the more women take on at home, the less mental headspace they have for their professional lives, contributing to the gender pay gap, increased stress and higher relationship dissatisfaction. 

Heejung Chung a sociologist at King's College London in the UK who studies flexibility in the workplace, says flexible working exacerbates all aspects of housework and childcare. "Women who work flexibly or from home tend to do more housework and childcare compared to women who do not, because they have the flexibility to squeeze in as many paid and unpaid hours into their day as possible."

She found that women also feel pressure to do housework and childcare when working from home, whereas a father's boundary is much more respected, even if he's also at home. This is linked to the long history of the male breadwinner norm in heterosexual couples, where a man's work sphere has historically been more protected. It appears to still be the case even if the women are in high-earning managerial positions, says Chung – precisely because of the societal norm for women to be more involved in organising family life.

Despite the invisibility of this technology burden, there is some progress in the division of childcare, as men are taking on more of a share compared to 50 years ago, though still less than women.

There are some ways for couples to share the load more evenly too. If each in a couple completes a housework or childcare task end-to-end, rather than one organising and the other doing, that will also ensure the mental load is not only more shared but more visible. Many household tasks will have a digital element too, which means that aspect will also be shared.

Think of the scenario where one in a couple does the online grocery shopping and the other does the cooking, making this task feel shared. This means the shopper is the one who is most likely to consistently keep a mental tab of what groceries are needed. Cooking is only half the work. 

To fix the mental burden on women, sharing the visible aspects of care is not enough. Chung recommends dividing all aspects of digital communication for family life, whether it's taking on researching and booking extracurricular clubs or being active on community groups. She suggests having an open conversation about what each person does, including discussing all the planning and childcare worries.

One local mum I know says a shared calendar has helped her and her partner both be across their weekly schedule without each having to check in with the other. Another couple of two children organise the extracurricular schedules of one child each, which involves researching, booking and transporting them to it. For this type of organisation to work, they say regular communication is key.

The best advice Chung has is for fathers to take on more childcare on their own, supported by policies such as paid shared parental leave. The idea here being that the more active childcare will in time translate into digital organisation too. "Then you get more of an equal playing field. It's essentially about who is responsible for the child and household in society."

This shines a light on another great contradiction of modern society. We expect women to work and many families rely on dual incomes – but there is still a pervasive assumption that women are the primary carers of young children. As I wrote in my book The Motherhood Complex, women feel judged on how they parent more than fathers, making them feel as though they need to take on more of the organisation too. "Those kinds of assumptions need to be broken for us to have any kind of meaningful discussion or change around these issues," Chung says. This is possible, take Sweden where paid parental leave has also translated into more equitable distribution of care work.

One way we can start to bring this hidden technical load to the forefront is to acknowledge this extra work and explicitly share it from the outset. Simple solutions could be to include the dads in local chat groups, to encourage them to organise more playdates – including all the communication involved – and to ensure we share the technological burden of the numerous school emails, homework tasks and club admin. The more we share in all aspects of the domestic sphere, the more this burden of the technical load will be shared too.   

* Melissa Hogenboom is a BBC journalist and author of The Motherhood Complex and her upcoming book, Breadwinners (2025).

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Samsung accused of obstructing Fortnite downloads

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2dpj8wkp7po, today

Epic Games has accused Samsung of making it too difficult to download its massively popular video game Fortnite on certain mobile devices. In a legal complaint it said it would file on Monday, it says people have to go through 21 steps before they can play the game on a new Samsung product, including viewing security warning screens and changing settings. Epic claims this means 50% of people who try to install the game on these devices give up before they complete the process. Samsung said it would "vigorously contest" the "baseless claims". According to Epic, the process takes 12 steps, rather than 21, for other Android phones and tablets. The firm has blamed a Samsung feature called Auto Blocker for the issue, which is turned on by default on the manufacturer's latest products. The tool is intended to block "malicious activity" and prevent app installations from unauthorised sources. Epic claims Auto Blocker is affecting Fortnite downloads, and says that goes against competition laws. Samsung has denied the allegations and says users can disable Auto Blocker if they choose. "Contrary to Epic Game's assertions, Samsung actively fosters market competition, enhances consumer choice, and conducts its operations fairly," it said. "The features integrated into our devices are designed in accordance with Samsung’s core principles of security, privacy, and user control, and we remain fully committed to safeguarding users' personal data." Apps on Samsung or Google’s stores can be downloaded in just a couple of clicks, as the firms have already approved them. But Fortnite must be downloaded from Epic's own store – which triggers Samsung’s Auto Blocker feature to kick in with warnings about it. Epic claims both Google and Samsung know Fortnite is a legitimate app, and so there should not be any warnings flagged. That’s because it used to be available on Google Play – the official app store for Android-powered phones - and Samsung has even previously collaborated with it, running Fortnite competitions and creating digital skins for the game’s characters. “Epic’s latest lawsuit is a meritless and dangerous move," said Google engineering VP Dave Kleidermacher in a statement. He said Google did not ask Samsung to create their Auto Blocker feature, and Android device manufacturers could design their own additional safety tools. "While Android allows sideloading, Google and the security community have warned users for years about the real risks associated with downloading apps directly from the web," he said. He added that governments had also demanded additional safeguards for users, saying these and the "real risks" around downloading web apps were why Google offers safety tools that check for potentially harmful apps. "To make this about access to a game is deliberately misleading; this is about user safety," he said. "And Epic's lawsuit puts their corporate interests above user protections.”

'A truly level playing field'

Fortnite's developer has previously taken Google and Apple to court over disagreements about the way the tech firms operate their app stores. The game returned to EU-registered iPhones in August after Apple was ordered to open up its app marketplace, but it still can't be played on iOS in the UK. Epic boss Tim Sweeney said he was “very sad” to be initiating more legal action. "The fight against Samsung… is new, and it really sucks," he said. "I did not think we would end up in this place." He claimed Epic would have "made a lot more money" had it chosen not to pursue its previous legal action, but said he wanted to create a "truly level playing field" for developers. The game developer says it wants Samsung to introduce a process by which all legitimate third-party app developers can apply to be whitelisted from Auto Blocker but is has been unable to reach an agreement. Fortnite was removed from Apple and Google's app stores in 2020 after Epic introduced its own in-app payments system. And the developer won a lengthy court battle against Google over app store dominance in December 2023, with a jury deciding that Google had been operating a monopoly.


SpaceX docks at ISS to collect stranded astronauts

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clylvz1ppdmo, today

A SpaceX capsule sent to bring back two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) has docked. The Dragon capsule, which has two empty seats for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, docked at 17:30 eastern time (22:30 BST). The pair arrived at the station on Boeing's new Starliner capsule for an eight-day mission in June, but were forced to remain there because of a fault discovered during the flight. They are now expected to return to Earth in February.

The Dragon capsule lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Saturday carrying Nasa astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Gorbunov. Hague, who has done a previous stint on the ISS, and Gorbunov will join the space station's crew before taking Wilmore and Williams back to Earth. The launch had been scheduled for Thursday but was delayed because of Hurricane Helene, which has caused huge destruction across the south-eastern US, including Florida, in recent days. The docking occurred as the space station flew 265 miles (426km) above Botswana in southern Africa. Footage from inside the ISS showed Hague and Gorbunov smiling and posing for photos with the rest of the crew after their arrival.

The original Starliner flight, which launched on 5 June, was that capsule's first test flight with astronauts on board and Boeing's first attempt to take astronauts to the ISS. During the flight it experienced a number of problems, including leaks of helium - which is used in its propulsion system - and issues with several of its thrusters. Engineers at Boeing and Nasa spent months investigating, but in late August Nasa decided that it would not be safe to try to bring Wilmore and Williams home aboard the Starliner. The capsule had already been delayed for several years because of setbacks during its development, as well as issues discovered during uncrewed test flights in 2019 and 2022. Nasa retired its space shuttle fleet in 2011, leaving it reliant on Russia's Soyuz craft to get to and from the ISS. Having two American companies to perform the missions has been a key goal of the agency's for some time, and in 2014 Boeing and SpaceX were awarded contracts worth $4.2bn (£3.2bn) and $2.6bn (£2bn) respectively. In 2020, SpaceX - founded by billionaire Elon Musk - became the first private company to take astronauts to the ISS.


UK reveals father and son at heart of Evil Corp hackers

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy98824lk4o, today

The UK, US and Australia have announced sanctions against 16 people authorities accuse of being part of the most wanted cyber crime gang in the world. Russia-based Evil Corp is accused of stealing around $300m in nearly ten years of hacking. The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) says it can now reveal the gang’s notorious leader, Maksim Yakubets, has been supported by his father Viktor Yakubets - something he had denied when interviewed by the BBC in 2021. The information has been released as part of a large, multinational operation to disrupt Evil Corp and another notorious hacking group called LockBit. Known for their mafia-style of operation, Evil Corp has waged a campaign of destructive cyber-attacks worldwide for over a decade. In 2019, Maksim Yakubets was sanctioned and a $5m bounty was put up for his arrest, along with another man called Igor Turashev. Other Russian individuals, including Yakubets' brother Artem, were also named as part of the US sanctions and designations. In 2021 the BBC travelled to Russia to search for and interview members of the gang to get their side of the story. At a former home of Maksim Yakubets we found his father, who gave an impassioned defence of his son while claiming he was personally innocent. But now the NCA says that Yakubets senior was a major part of the cyber-crime group, accusing him of aiding the gang in laundering some of its stolen funds.

As well as the Yakubets family members, Maksim's father-in-law was also sanctioned for helping to protect and coordinate the group with his connections to the Russian security services. Western authorities have now officially linked Eduard Benderskiy, a former high-ranking FSB official, to Evil Corp. "Maksim Yakubets and his Evil Corp gang has for years lived the archetypal Russian hacker playboy lifestyle seemingly untouchable to law enforcement but today’s announcement shows that we are still watching, digging and determined to disrupt them and bring them to justice," said Will Lynne, Head of Cyber Intelligence at the NCA.

LockBit connections

Another of those sanctioned is Aleksandr Ryzhenkov, described by the NCA as the younger Yakubets’ right-hand man, and an affiliate of the notorious ransomware gang LockBit. It's the first time that a member of Evil Corp has been linked to another major gang and indicates that hackers are working across groups to carry out attacks. As well as the sanctions, four arrests were made, including two in the UK. In August, the NCA executed a number of search warrants in the south of England and arrested a 46 year old male who is suspected of being linked to a LockBit affiliate. A 50 year old female was also arrested on suspicion of money laundering offences. They too were interviewed and later released under investigation whilst the criminal investigation continues. Both individuals were identified through the analysis and enrichment of data acquired during the course of Operation Cronos - the international police operation that brought down LockBit's internal infrastructure. “The action announced today has taken place in conjunction with extensive and complex investigations by the NCA into two of the most harmful cybercrime groups of all time," said James Babbage, Director General for Threats at the NCA. The NCA said Evil Corp's links to the Russian links to the Russian state had been exposed. "Today's sanctions send a clear message to the Kremlin that we will not tolerate Russian cyber-attacks - whether from the state itself or from its cyber-criminal ecosystem," said foreign secretary David Lammy.


'Human race needs to expand beyond Earth,' says Prof Brian Cox

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg9qd22k7po, today

Prof Brian Cox says he is prepared to boldly go where no British TV presenter has gone before. “I’ve not yet raised the funds, or convinced someone to give me a ticket” to space, he explains. But if Elon Musk, the owner of US aerospace company SpaceX came calling, then “I’d say… brilliant, up we go!”, he adds. Travelling to space is something we could all be doing in the future, according to Prof Cox, the UK’s best-known particle physicist. Speaking ahead of his new BBC Two series about the Solar System, he says he wants the human race to go further. He says advances being made at some commercial space companies mean there is a possibility that we could become a multi-planetary and interstellar civilisation.

One person who has beaten Prof Cox into space is billionaire businessman Jared Isaacman and the crew of SpaceX's Polaris Dawn. Isaacman made history last month by becoming the first private sector astronaut to walk in space. The US space agency Nasa said the mission represented “a giant leap forward” for the commercial space industry. Prof Cox believes this combined approach - a collaboration between government agencies, like Nasa, and the private companies, like SpaceX - is a good thing. It is vital, he adds, to have cheap, reliable access to space. “I really am of the view that our civilisation needs to expand beyond our planet for so many reasons," he says.

The aerospace company, Blue Origin - brainchild of billionaire and Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos - is already envisioning a future where people live and work in space, with industries perceived as damaging to Earth moved into the cosmos. There are limited resources on the Earth and damage is being done to the planet through “civilisation’s thirst and requirement for more resources”, says Prof Cox, making it imperative we look towards becoming a multi-planetary civilisation. Tapping into the universe’s resources, like mining asteroids, may sound like science fiction but, he says, “it's extremely important that we do it, and as quickly as possible”. Whether there is the political skill to achieve it as a civilisation is another matter, he says - but he believes we have a duty to explore our galaxy, the Milky Way, which is filled with hundreds of billions of stars. There is plenty to explore in our Solar System alone. As well as the Sun there are eight planets, five officially named dwarf planets, hundreds of moons, thousands of comets, and more than a million asteroids.

If forced to hazard a guess, Prof Cox says it is probable that we are the only advanced civilisation in the Milky Way at the moment, and possibly the only one that has ever existed in the galaxy. “If that's true, though, then our expansion beyond this planet becomes an obligation. Because if we don't do that, nobody's doing it. So if we don't go out to the stars, nobody's ever going out to the stars in this galaxy. “So it becomes of overriding importance to begin to take those first steps.” Mars and the Moon are the only two places Prof Cox could imagine seeing anybody visit and begin to build a permanent presence in his lifetime. Despite asteroids the size of stadiums hurtling through the Solar System, he believes the biggest current danger to Earth is actually its human inhabitants. “If anything's going to destroy us, it's probably us,” he says – although having said that, he says the possibility of an asteroid hitting the Earth is now being taken more seriously than when he first started making TV programmes more than 15 years ago. “At some point, we're going to have to move one,” he says.

For his new series, Prof Cox explores events happening in space via the latest missions. In October, Nasa’s Europa Clipper, will be setting off on a five-and-a-half-year journey to Jupiter - to explore whether the planet’s icy moon, Europa, could harbour conditions suitable for life. Scientists believe Europa has liquid water in the form of a large saltwater ocean beneath its icy crust. But what might life on Europa look like if the conditions were right? “It will be simple life,” says Prof Cox. “It will be single-celled life at the very best, or something that looks a bit like single-celled life… We're not expecting multi-cellular life there - partly because it took so long to develop here on Earth.”

It has been more than 10 years since Sir David Attenborough named Prof Cox as his natural successor. So could he be ready to take on the mantle? “I’m absolutely delighted that he doesn’t need a successor at the moment,” says Prof Cox, “he’s making more programmes than I do.” When it comes to Sir David’s career, he says, it is not possible to succeed someone who has invented the form. “You can’t really have a successor because he was the first to do it. It’s almost like saying: ‘Who will be the successor to Neil Armstrong as the first human to set foot on the Moon?’” Solar System starts on Monday 7 October at 21:00 BST on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.


Why you might want to change your bedclothes more often

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240926-how-often-should-you-wash-your-sheets-and-pillows, today

Our sheets and pillows are where we spend a third of our daily lives, and all that contact creates the perfect environment for all sorts of unwanted guests.

After a long day, there's nothing quite like the feeling of sinking into a warm bed, resting your head on a soft pillow and cocooning yourself within a cosy duvet. It isn't just us humans though that find lying in a bed blissful, however.

Look beneath the surface and you may be horrified to learn that your bed linen is host to millions of bacteria, fungi, mites and viruses. Each of them thinks that your bed is heaven too; a warm place that they can grow in, full of sweat, saliva, dead skin cells and food particles to feast on.

Take dust mites. We shed 500 million skin cells a day, which if you are a tiny dust mite is like an all-you-can-eat buffet. Unfortunately, both the bugs and their droppings can trigger allergies, asthma and eczema.

Bed sheets are a haven for bacteria too. For example, in 2013, researchers at the Institut Pasteur de Lille in France analysed the bed linen of hospital patients and found that dirty sheets were brimming with Staphylococcus bacteria, a bacteria commonly found on human skin. Although most species of staphylococcus are benign, some, such as S. aureus, can cause skin infections, acne and even pneumonia in patients with weakened immune systems.

"People carry bacteria as part of their skin microbiome and can shed them in large numbers," says Manal Mohammed, a microbiologist at the University of Westminster in the UK, who was not involved in the study.

"Although these bacteria are typically harmless, they can cause serious illness if they enter the body through open wounds, which are more common in hospitals," Mohammed says.

Hospitals are a rich source for data because hygiene is taken seriously, and bedclothes and pillows are washed between patients. In 2018, scientists at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria found E. coli in unwashed hospital bed clothes, along with other pathogenic bacteria known to cause urinary tract infections, pneumonia, diarrhoea, meningitis and sepsis.

Unclean linen represents a real infection risk in such settings. In 2022, researchers collected samples from the rooms of patients hospitalised with monkeypox (now called mpox). They found that the act of changing bed linen released viral particles into the air. In 2018, a UK healthcare worker was thought to have developed the disease after being exposed to the virus while changing a patient's bedding.

At least in developed countries, hospitals have had to institute rigorous procedures to limit transmission.

"In hospitals, they wash linen at very high temperatures, which kills most of the bacteria," says David Denning, professor of infectious diseases and global health at the University of Manchester in the UK.

The exception is C. difficile, a bacterium which causes diarrhoea, especially in older people. According to Denning, washing sheets can destroy up to half of C. difficile bacteria, but the bacterium's spores are hard to kill. Even so, infection rates of C. difficile have gone down in the UK, suggesting that standard hospital laundry procedures, as long as they are followed, are enough to keep the risk of transmission very low.

Of course, you are more likely to find pathogenic bacteria in hospital linen where sick patients have been sleeping than in the bed clothes of healthy people. But what about your run-of-the-mill pillows and bed sheets at home? In 2013, American bed company Amerisleep claimed they took swabs from a pillowcase that hadn't been washed in a week. The pillowcase contained around three million bacteria per square inch – about 17,000 times more than the average toilet seat.

Meanwhile, in 2006, Denning and colleagues collected six pillows from friends and family. The pillows were in regular use and aged between 18 months and 20 years. All pillows contained fungi, especially the species Aspergillus fumigatus – a type commonly found in soil.

"In terms of the numbers, you're talking billions or trillions of fungal particles in every pillow," says Denning.

"We think the reason why you find so much [fungi] is because most of us sweat at night from our heads. We also all have house dust mites in our beds, and the dust mite poo provides food for the fungus to live on. And then of course the pillow is warmed up every evening because your head is lying on it. So you have moisture, you have food, and you have warmth."

As most of us rarely wash our pillows, the fungi exist in a fairly peaceful state and can survive for years. The only time they are disturbed is when we plump up our pillows, which can release fungal spores into our bedroom. Even if we do launder them, fungi can survive in temperatures up to 50C (122F), and in any case washing pillows may make them even more moist, allowing the fungus to grow further.

Given the time people spend sleeping, and the proximity of the pillow to the mouth, the finding has important implications for patients with respiratory disease, especially asthma and sinusitis. Up to half of people with severe asthma are allergic to Aspergillus fumigatus, and exposure to the fungus can cause chronic lung disease in people who have previously suffered from TB or smoking-related lung disease. According to Denning,while 99.9% of individuals with a healthy immune system can easily cope with inhaling A. fumigatus fungal spores, in immunocompromised people, the fungus can overrun the host's weakened defences and cause life-threatening infections.

"If you have leukaemia, or have had an organ transplant, or are unfortunate enough to have ended up intensive care with Covid or influenza, you get what's called invasive aspergillosis, which is when the fungus just goes into the lungs and just keep going and destroys lung tissue," says Denning.

So if washing pillows doesn't help, is there anything we can do? According to Denning, if you haven't got asthma, or a lung condition or sinus disease, then you should consider changing your pillow every two years. But people who do suffer from these conditions should buy a new pillow every three to six months.

Meanwhile, when it comes to how often you should wash bed covers, most experts recommend doing so on a weekly basis. As well as washing sheets, ironing also reduces the bacterial count of linen.

More like this:

• The surprising benefits of the microbes that live on our skin • The curious way your skin shapes your health • The reason why some people don't wash their hands

"If you have nothing else to do with your time you could iron all your sheets carefully, but we've all got bacteria in our bodies anyway, so [to a healthy person] it doesn't really matter," says Denning.

"But if you're somebody who's sick and vulnerable, then it may be more important, and if you have a child that wets the bed then you definitely need to be bit more fastidious about washing and using high temperatures to wash."

Having a pet sleep on the bed will also increase the number of bacteria and fungi, as will not showering before bed, going to bed with dirty socks or sleeping with make-up or lotions on your skin – and that's before we consider breakfast or a midnight snack in bed.

"I'm not saying that nobody should eat in bed but I think if you do then washing the sheets very regularly is important, and I think weekly might not be quite enough is the honest answer," says Denning.

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'A warmer, sicker world': Mosquitoes carrying deadly diseases are on an unstoppable march across the US

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240925-why-mosquitoes-are-thriving-in-a-warmer-world, today

West Nile virus, Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), malaria and dengue are gaining new ground in the US. The mosquitoes that carry these diseases are thriving in a warming world.

Since the turn of the century, New York City has experienced 490 cases of West Nile viral fever according to the city's health department, a disease spread by infected mosquitoes. One of the most high-profile recent cases was Anthony Fauci, chief medical advisor to the US president from 2021-22.

Once rarely seen outside of East Africa and parts of the Middle East, West Nile virus is establishing an increasing hold in New York and more broadly across the US. In 2023, the virus was detected in more than 1,100 mosquito pools, mostly in Queens. To date in 2024, cases of West Nile fever have been detected in 39 states. An estimated 70-80% of West Nile infections are very slight or entirely asymptomatic, but severe infections can lead to permanent neurological complications.

An even more concerning trend is the rise of Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), another mosquito-borne virus which is far more dangerous, with a reported 30% fatality rate. EEE was first identified as a public health threat back in 1938, but over the past 20 years, sporadic outbreaks in the north-east of the US have reoccurred with increasing frequency, with cases appearing steadily further north.

While EEE infections are thankfully still rare, the largest US outbreak in recent history took place in 2019, with a record 38 cases detected across the country. In 2024, a total of 10 EEE cases have been reported to date across six states, leading to mosquito spraying regimes in Massachusetts, where the most cases were, to prevent infection.

According to infectious disease experts, unusual patterns with mosquito-borne pathogens are becoming the norm. Earlier in September 2024, a man in New Hampshire was reported by his family to have been hospitalised with not one but three mosquito-borne illnesses at the same time: West Nile fever, EEE and St Louis encephalitis.

"What we're seeing more and more is people infected with multiple mosquito-borne diseases at the same time," says Chloé Lahondère, a biologist who studies blood-sucking insects at Virginia Tech.

Within the US, and around the globe, mosquito-borne diseases are popping up in increasingly atypical places. "Last year, we had locally acquired cases of malaria in the US for the first time in 20 years," says Desiree LaBeaud, a professor of paediatrics and infectious disease at Stanford University.

Locally acquired dengue fever has also been detected in California and Arizona. Meanwhile, record numbers of dengue cases have been reported across Europe while unprecedented deadly outbreaks have occurred in Peru.

The climate connection

Much of this is related to shifting climate patterns, which are allowing various mosquito populations that carry these viruses, such as various sub-species of the Aedes genus of mosquitoes and the species Culex coronator, to spread into new areas. As temperatures rise, mosquitoes can invade and thrive in habitats which once represented hostile environments. Since it was first detected in Louisiana in 2004, C. coronator has spread to almost of the south-eastern states, bringing diseases such as West Nile and St Louis encephalitis, while other mosquito species are finding that they can comfortably survive even further north.

"People have been surprised by Aedes-borne diseases like dengue popping up in California," says Sadie Ryan, a professor in medical geography at the University of Florida. "But once they examined all the mosquito surveillance data, they were finding these species in traps even quite [far] north in the state, which hadn't been seen before. They're not very well established there yet, but it's a warning."

With even mountainous regions becoming warmer and more mosquito-friendly, diseases like malaria and dengue are even beginning to reach some of the most remote places on the planet. For example, while malaria is endemic to Nepal, the disease incidence is increasing in the hills and mountains of the country, locations previously considered malaria-free. "Malaria is very much thought of as a lowland disease," says Paul Tambyah, president of the International Society for Infectious Diseases. "But now the definition of lowland is creeping upwards as the temperatures get warmer, so mosquitoes are able to survive at altitudes."

This is predicted to have drastic consequences for public health. Mosquito-borne diseases already afflict around 700 million people every year, resulting in one million deaths. Over the next century, climate projections suggest that around one billion people, mainly in Europe and subtropical regions, will be infected by a mosquito-borne virus for the first time, while disease transmission within parts of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa is expected to transition from being seasonal to year-round.

Some researchers have described this as a steady move to "a warmer, sicker world". But to understand why this is happening, we need to understand a little more about the biology of mosquitoes and their life cycles.

Unlike humans and other mammals, mosquitoes are cold-blooded creatures and so are incapable of self-regulating their body temperature. This means that every aspect of a mosquito's short life, from its bite rate to how quickly it matures and ages, is dependent on the temperature of its environment.

Different mosquitoes have different temperature preferences. Aedes triseriatus for example, is perfectly happy in temperatures as low as 22C (72F), making it particularly hardy for a mosquito, and enabling it to live in regions ranging from Florida to southern Canada. Aedes aegypti, on the other hand, does best in temperatures of around 29C (84F). As temperatures in Europe and the US have risen, the mosquito's range and transmission ability has expanded.

Ryan and colleagues have found that warmer temperatures have led to extended mosquito breeding periods, and a corresponding increase in disease outbreaks transmitted by the insects. 

"If temperature rises and stays within the range the mosquitoes can tolerate, it can allow some species to develop faster, expand their range and lead to larger mosquito populations which can then have an impact on public health," says Lahondère.

But while most research has focused on the impact of climate change on Aedes aegypti, it is another Aedes species, Aedes albopictus, which has perhaps been the main beneficiary so far from our warming world. These mosquitoes thrive at around 26C (79F), so milder winters and warmer periods during the early spring and autumn across North America and Europe are creating conditions far more to its liking for much of the year. This has enabled it to establish a vast range across Europe and in 36 states across the US.

Beyond warming

Because Aedes albopictus does well in relatively mild conditions, just as we do, the mosquito can easily move from place to place via human transport, which researchers have found to have facilitated its spread through Europe. "Because it has a slightly cooler climate tolerance than Aedes aegypti, it can tolerate winters and has established itself throughout the eastern seaboard of the United States," says Erin Mordecai, an infectious disease ecologist at Stanford University. "It's become a major invasive threat because it can transmit dengue, chikungunya, Zika and other viruses."

But it isn't only warmer temperatures encouraging mosquitoes. Climate change increases the frequency and intensity of both flooding and drought. A report from researchers at the Technical University of Mombasa and Stanford University has shown that floodwater pooling in small containers can create an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes. Research is also showing that the combination of increasing humidity, urbanisation and movement of people around the world is also facilitating the spread of mosquito populations, and as a result, outbreaks of dengue fever in particular are expected to increase, both in the US and around the world.

"Dengue outbreaks in the US are a concern given the reports of local transmission recently and the potential for this disease to cause large epidemics, as it has done in Latin America for the past couple of years," says Mallory Harris, an infectious disease researcher at the University of Maryland. "Vaccines against dengue are just starting to be rolled out, but there have been some issues. For example, Sanofi has stopped producing its dengue vaccine [for children] because of low demand. So we're not very well prepared right now to respond to a large dengue outbreak in the US."

Environmental pollution is also encouraging the spread of mosquitoes. Researchers have shown that certain mosquito species, dubbed "container breeders" such as Aedes aegypti and the malaria mosquito Anopheles stephensi, enjoy breeding in the ample plastic waste discarded by humans, especially if it contains some stagnant water from rainfall.

"An Aedes mosquito can lay 200 eggs in a coke bottle cap," says Ryan. "That's why you should worry about little bits of trash with a bit of water building up in them."

But it's not only empty plastic caps and bottles which attract mosquitoes. Lahondère says that they can find a home in pretty any man-made container from old tires to plant-pot saucers, with habitats ranging from people's backyards to landfills. "The key thing is that water needs to be stagnant for a while for the mosquitoes to develop," she says.

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Intriguingly, Lahondère has found that Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti have learnt to feed on various ornamental plants and wildflowers in back gardens as a way of adapting and flourishing within urban habitats. "The fact that they're attracted to plants that they didn't evolve with in their native range is interesting because it demonstrates their opportunistic feeding behaviour," she says. "By providing these sugar sources in our backyards, we're contributing in some ways to their wellbeing."

But before you throw out your potted plants and dig up your backyard, mosquito researchers feel that ultimately the onus is on politicians to do more to address climate change, and public health organisations to invest in vaccines and novel forms of mosquito control.

With scientists exploring strategies ranging from killing mosquitoes with toxic sugar baits or sterilising them through genetic engineering, there are various options for reducing the burden on human populations.

"All these ideas have various effects and impacts on mosquito populations and need to be species-specific, but they provide hope for the future," says Lahondère. "But most likely not an entirely mosquito-free future though."

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What does spending more than a year in space do to the human body?

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230927-what-a-long-term-mission-in-space-does-to-the-human-body, today

The record for a single trip into space currently stands at 437 days, but prolonged periods in orbit can alter an astronaut's body in some surprising ways, changing their muscles, brains and even their gut bacteria.

With a few handshakes, a brief photoshoot and a wave, Nasa astronaut Frank Rubio bid farewell to the American-football-field-sized collection of modules and solar panels that had been his home for 371 days. His departure from the International Space Station (ISS) and return to Earth in October 2023 marked the end of the longest single spaceflight by an American to date.

His time in orbit – which surpassed the previous US record of 355 consecutive days – was extended in March 2023 after the spacecraft he and his crewmates had been due to fly home in developed a coolant leak. The extra months in space allowed Rubio to clock up a total of 5,963 orbits around the Earth, travelling 157.4 million miles (253.3 million km).

Even so, he was still around two months short of the record for the longest ever spaceflight by a human – Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov spent 437 days onboard the Mir Space Station in the mid 1990s.

And in September 2024, two Russian cosmonauts – Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub – broke the record for the longest stay on the ISS after spending 374 days in orbit. The pair departed the ISS in the Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft along with US astronaut Tracy Dyson, who had spent six months onboard. With a huge grin on his face, Kononenko gave a double thumbs up as he was helped from the re-entry capsule after it bumped back to Earth in a cloud of dust near the remote town of Dzhezkazgan on the Kazakhstan Steppe. He now also holds the record for the longest cumulative time in space – a total of 1,111 days in orbit.

Kononenko and Chub travelled more than 158 million miles during their 5,984 orbits of the Earth in the latest mission to the ISS. But spending so much time in the low gravity environment of the space station took a toll on their bodies, so they had to be lifted out of the capsule by the recovery teams.

Rubio's own extended trip in space has been providing valuable insights into how humans can cope with long-duration spaceflight and how best to counteract the problems it can present. He is the first astronaut to participate in a study examining how exercising with limited gym equipment can affect the human body.

It is information that will prove vital as humans set their sights on sending crews on missions to explore deeper into the Solar System. A return journey to Mars, for example, is expected to take around 1,100 days (just over three years) under current plans. The spacecraft they will travel in will be far smaller than the ISS, meaning smaller lightweight exercise devices will be needed.

But problems keeping fit aside, just what does spaceflight do to the human body?

Muscles and bones

Without the constant tug of gravity on our limbs, muscle and bone mass quickly begins to diminish in space. The most affected are those muscles that help to maintain our posture in our back, neck, calves and quadriceps – in microgravity they no longer have to work nearly as hard and begin to atrophy. After just two weeks muscle mass can fall by as much as 20% and on longer missions of three-to-six months it can fall by 30%.

Similarly, because astronauts are not putting their skeletons through as much mechanical strain as they do when subject to Earth's gravity, their bones also start to demineralise and lose strength. Astronauts can lose 1-2% of their bone mass every month they spend in space and up to 10% over a six-month period (on Earth, older men and women lose bone mass at a rate of 0.5%-1% every year). This can increase their risk of suffering fractures and increase the amount of time it takes to heal. It can take up to four years for their bone mass to return to normal after returning to Earth.

To combat this, astronauts undertake 2.5 hours a day of exercise and intense training while in orbit on the ISS. This includes a series of squats, deadlifts, rows and bench presses using a resistive exercise device installed in the ISS's "gym", alongside regular bouts tethered to a treadmill and on an exercise bike. They also take diet supplements to help keep their bones as healthy as possible.

A recent study, however, highlighted that even this exercise regime was not enough to prevent losses in muscle function and size. It recommended testing whether higher loads in resistance exercises and high intensity interval training might help to counteract this muscle loss.

The lack of gravity pulling down on their bodies can also mean that astronauts find they grow a little taller during their stay on the ISS as their spines elongate slightly. This can lead to issues such as back pain while in space and slipped disks once back on Earth. During a briefing onboard the ISS ahead of his return to Earth, Rubio himself said his spine was growing and said it might help him to avoid a common neck injury that astronauts can suffer when their spacecraft hit the ground if they try to crane out of their seats to see what is happening.

"I think my spine has extended just enough that I'm kind of wedged into my seat liner, so I shouldn't move much at all," he said.

Weight loss

Although weight means very little while in orbit – the microgravity environment means anything not tethered down can float around the ISS habitat freely, including human bodies – maintaining a healthy weight is a challenge while in orbit. Although Nasa tries to ensure its astronauts have a diverse range of nutritious foods, including most recently a few salad leaves grown on board the space station, it can still affect an astronaut's body. Scott Kelly, a Nasa astronaut who took part in the most extensive study of the effects of long-term spaceflight after staying onboard the ISS for 340 days while his twin brother stayed back on Earth, lost 7% of his body mass while in orbit.

Eyesight

On Earth, gravity helps to force the blood in our bodies downward while the heart pumps it up again. In space, however, this process becomes messed up (although the body does adapt somewhat), and blood can accumulate in the head more than it normally would. Some of this fluid can pool at the back of the eye and around the optic nerve, leading to oedema. This can lead to changes in vision such as decreased sharpness and structural changes in the eye itself. These changes can start to occur after just two weeks in space but as that time goes on, the risk increases. Some of the vision changes reverse within about a year of astronauts returning to Earth, but others can be permanent.

Exposure to galactic cosmic rays and energetic solar particles can also lead to other eye problems. The Earth's atmosphere helps to protect us from these but once in orbit on the ISS, this protection disappears. While spacecraft can carry shielding to help keep out excess radiation, astronauts onboard the ISS have reported seeing flashes of light in their eyes as cosmic rays and solar particles hit their retina and optical nerves.

Neural shuffling

After his long stay on the ISS, however, Kelly's cognitive performance was found to have changed little and had remained relatively the same as his brother's on the ground. However, researchers did notice that the speed and accuracy of Kelly's cognitive performance did decrease for around six months after he landed, possibly as his brain readjusted to the Earth's gravity and his very different lifestyle back home.

A study on a Russian cosmonaut who spent 169 days on the ISS in 2014 also revealed some changes to the brain itself seem to occur while in orbit. It found there were changes in the levels of neural connectivity in parts of the brain relating to motor function – in other words, movement – and also in the vestibular cortex, which plays an important role in orientation, balance and perception of our own motion. This is perhaps unsurprising given the peculiar nature of weightlessness while in space; astronauts often have to learn how to move efficiently without gravity to anchor them to anything and adjust to a world where there is no up or down.

A more recent study has raised concerns about other changes in brain structure that can occur during long-term space missions. Cavities in the brain known as the right lateral and third ventricles (responsible for storing cerebrospinal fluid, providing nutrients to the brain and disposing of waste) can swell and take up to three years to shrink back to normal size.

Friendly bacteria

It is apparent from research in recent years that a significant key to good health is the make up and diversity of the microorgansims that live in and on our bodies. This microbiota can influence how we digest food, affect the levels of inflammation in our bodies and even alter the way our brains work.

Researchers examining Kelly after his trip to the ISS found that the bacteria and fungi living in his gut had altered profoundly compared to before he flew into space. This is perhaps not entirely surprising, given the very different food he was eating and the change in the people he spent his days with (we obtain a horrifying amount of gut and oral microorganisms from the people we live alongside). But exposure to radiation and the use of recycled water, along with changes to his physical activity could all also have played a role. (Find out more about how exercise affects your gut microbes.)

Skin

Although there have now been five Nasa astronauts who have spent more than 300 days in orbit, we have Kelly to thank again for insights into how his skin fared while in orbit. His skin was found to have heightened sensitivity and a rash for around six days after he returned from the space station. Researchers speculated that a lack of skin stimulation during the mission may have contributed to his skin complaint.

Genes

One of the most significant findings from Kelly's prolonged journey into space were the effects it had on his DNA. At the end of each strand of DNA are structures known as telomeres, which are thought to help protect our genes from damage. As we age, these get shorter, but research on Kelly and other astronauts has revealed that space travel seems to alter the length of these telomeres.

"Most striking, however, was the finding of significantly longer telomeres during spaceflight," says Susan Bailey, a professor of environmental and radiological health at Colorado State University who was part of the team studying Kelly and his brother. She has done separate studies with another 10 unrelated astronauts who have taken part in shorter missions of around six months. "Also unexpected was that telomere length shortened rapidly on return to Earth for all crewmembers. Of particular relevance to long-term health and ageing trajectories, astronauts in general had many more short telomeres after spaceflight than they did before."

Exactly why this happens is still being unravelled, she says. "We have some clues, but additional long-duration crewmembers – like Rubio, who spent one year in space – will be critical to really characterising and understanding this response and its potential health outcomes."

One possible cause could be exposure to the complex mix of radiation while in space. Astronauts who experience long-term exposure while in orbit show signs of DNA damage, she says.

There were also some changes in gene expression – the mechanism that reads the DNA to produce proteins in cells – seen in Kelly that may have been related to his journey into space. Some of these related to the body's response to DNA damage, bone formation and the immune system's response to stress. Most of these changes, however, had returned to normal within six months of his return to Earth.

In June 2024, a new study highlighted some potential differences between the way the immune systems of male and female astronauts respond to spaceflight. Using gene expression data from samples obtained from the crew of the SpaceX Inspiration 4 mission, who spent just under three days in orbit in the autumn of 2021, it identified changes in 18 proteins related to the immune system, ageing and muscle growth.

Comparing their gene activity to those of 64 other astronauts on previous missions, the study found in the expression of three proteins that play a role in inflammation compared to before the flight. The men tended to be more sensitive to spaceflight, with more disruption to their gene activity and they took longer to return to a normal state after returning to Earth.

In particular, the researchers found the gene activity of two proteins known as interleukin-6, which helps to control levels of inflammation in the body, and interleukin-8, which is produced to gulde immune cells to sites of infection, were more effected in the men compared to the women. Another protein, called firbrinogen, which is involved in blood clotting, was also affected more in male astronauts.

But the researchers say they still need to unravel why women appear to be less sensitive to these particular effects of spaceflight, but it could be related to their response to stress.

You can hear Nasa astronaut Peggy Whitson describe how her own time in space has changed her body in the video below. With an accumulated 675 days in space, she has spent more time in orbit than any other American, although the world record is currently held by Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko, who has clocked up 878 days in space.

Immune system

Kelly received a series of vaccines before, during and after his trip into space and his immune system was found to react normally. But Bailey's research has found that astronauts do suffer some decreases in white blood cell counts that fall in line with the doses of radiation they receive while in orbit.

There are still many questions to be answered, however, about what impact space travel can have on a bipedal, big-brained species that evolved to live on Earth. As researchers pour over Rubio's medical tests, blood samples and scans following his 371 days in space, they will doubtless be hoping they will learn more.

* This article was originally published on 27 September 2023. It was updated on 12 June 2024 to include details of the study from the SpaceX Inspiration 4 mission and on 25 September 2025 to include details of Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub's spaceflight on the ISS.

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'Postcards are the email of their day': How cat memes went viral 100 years ago

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240923-100-year-old-cat-memes-that-predate-the-internet, today

In the age of social media, we're living through a communications revolution. But this isn't the first one, nor is it the first time cats have been at the centre of social change.

It is a fundamental law of media history: as soon as a new communications technology emerges, people will use it to make pictures of cats. And those cat pictures show not only the special relationship between humans and their pets, but the changing ways that humans relate to one another.

Cat memes in their modern form date back to the 1990s, when email first allowed bored office workers and friends to message each other funny felines. The cats jumped from there to social media as the web developed, where viral videos like Keyboard Cat and memes such as Grumpy Cat bloomed across platforms. Demand for this content was so high that entire websites like ICanHasCheezburger sprung up to showcase the best e-cats, aggregating popular pet videos and cat memes.

But there was another trend long before any cat wanted to "has cheezburger", or any owner could even imagine taking a video of their pet with a handheld electronic rectangle: the Edwardian postcard. And, according to scholars of media history, understanding the cat postcards of the early 20th Century might help us to understand social media today.

"Some things persist across generations and media, and depictions of cats are one of those things. It's kind of reassuring," says Ben Weiss, a senior curator at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and co-curator of the museum's The Postcard Age exhibition.

In the 19th and early 20th Century, Weiss says, "postcards functioned like social media today". Cheaper, faster and more convenient than a letter, postcards were used to share random musings, plan logistics for where and when to meet, tell jokes and, as always, post cat pictures. Whether it's mail sent with a stamp in 1924 or posts made with the tap of a finger in 2024, cats of all forms have always been there for artists and audiences.

The first postcards were printed in Austria-Hungary in 1869 – fortuitous timing for an innovation in the mail field because in 1874, 21 countries established the Universal Postal Union, allowing mail to be sent and delivered internationally. More countries followed in the years to come, and postcards rode this wave.

Like memes, postcards carried not just a picture and a few lines of text but were tangible evidence of a vast network and powerful institutions that had transported them rapidly across a far distance. They marked a changing world and technology's startling advance, delivered daily into the hands and mailboxes of citizens.

"We've forgotten the density of that early 20th-Century communications network, which postcards were moving through," says Weiss. "You could send a postcard to someone at 10 saying you'll be there at 5:30, if you're going from Manhattan to Jersey City, and you can get the message to them fairly quickly."

Postcards in the early 20th-Century city arguably marked the first time in history that communication at that speed was affordable and widely accessible to the average person. Between 1900 and 1914, says Weiss, "there's this massive worldwide postcard craze to the point where people talk about it being a disease in the public bloodstream".

During this era of postcard mania, uncountable millions of postcards circulated, and it was a perfect moment for cats to take over the new medium. At the time cats were considered more than just pest control. Monarchs and socialites, including Queen Victoria, were famous cat enjoyers, and the animal's association with Halloween was well-established. Some postcards featured cats just being cats: sipping milk from saucers, playing with yarn, basking in the sunlight. Others dressed cats up as humans, working jobs and taking part in domestic scenes.

Not everybody was comfortable with the postcard's impact on society. Newspapers called it a "fresh terror" and a "Frankenstein's monster", alarmed by the product's popularity, says Monica Cure, author of Picturing the Postcard: A New Media Crisis at the Turn of the Century. The sacks of postal workers swelled with postcards, leading to stories about injuries from lifting overladen mail bags.

"Postcards were seen as so fast," Cure says. "There were lots of complaints about what postcards were going to do to people's reading and writing skills, because if you could just dash off a few lines, why did you need to actually learn grammar and become a good writer?"

People also feared the postcard would lead to more superficial relationships, because instead of writing pages to each other in letters, people were just sending pictures back and forth. The public, unsealed nature of postcards was also frightening to many people, Cure says. The first and earliest proposal for the postcard was actually shot down because "it was just too scary to have something where servants can read your mail".

Today, similar worries animate the conversations around social media. It's too fast, it's a national security threat, it's leading to shallower thinking. New forms of communication technology unsettle the ways people are used to seeing themselves and their communities, Cure says. New forms of social media also bring new forms of cat.

And like memes today, postcard culture intersected with politics. Some of the most famous postcard cats are associated with the Suffrage movement. Postcards were sold as fundraising for social causes, but postcard-making companies also pounced on any opportunity to make content around issues people cared about.

"Postcards are similar to memes, and much like today, early 20th-Century visual culture was all about animals, especially cats," says Heidi Herr, a librarian at Johns Hopkins University, and the curator of the Votes and Petticoats exhibition commemorating the visual culture of the Suffrage movement. Cats were typically associated with the household setting, and "meant to be passive, beautiful, decorative and demure", Herr says, but at the same time, cats are predators and anyone who owns one can tell you they like to make use of their claws.

"The Suffragettes were capitalist queens, they were building their brand," says Herr. The movement was savvy in the use of new media like postcards and film to get their message out and cats offered potent symbolism. 

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Ann Lewis, a collector of Suffrage movement memorabilia and former communications director for the Clinton White House, says she was "enormously impressed" by the Suffrage movement's political messaging. "Politics is about communications," says Lewis, "telling people why they should vote for you." In an era where mass media essentially meant just the newspaper and mail, Suffragettes successfully waged a decades-long campaign to persuade an all-male electorate, and new media was a crucial part of their success. "Postcards are the email of their day – inexpensive and personal," says Lewis.

The Suffrage cat postcards still resonate with a generation raised on cat memes. Herr says stickers the library made of the Suffrage cats are among the most in-demand items on the Johns Hopkins campus. "I'm already seeing students with these stickers on water bottles and laptops, we gave away reproductions and I see them on dorm room windows. People are all about the cat."

People are still all about the cat, but people are also all about each other – and whether it's a postcard or a meme, the record of media history shows there's little which interests humans more than sending cute, funny animal pictures.

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The new shark species emerging from the deep

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230711-why-we-keep-discovering-new-species-of-sharks, today

More and more new species of sharks are being discovered as humanity peers deeper into the oceans.

It was a mystery that began with an egg. In 1989, scientists in Australia found a curious kind of "mermaid's purse" – a leathery egg case, which some species of sharks lay instead of giving birth to live young. The empty egg cases had one almost unique feature – a row of prominent ridges along the top.

The eggs had been found off the Rowley Shoals, a group of atolls on the edge of a continental shelf in the East Timor Sea, a few hundred kilometres off the north-eastern coast of Australia. They offered up more questions than they did answers. What had laid them? Where did it live? And why did its egg cases have such a distinctive appearance?

It would be more than 30 years before scientists would finally find out the most basic of these questions – and in doing so discover a completely new shark species.

More than two decades into the 21st Century, humanity is still finding new species of the ocean's most impressive hunters. As recently as the mid-1980s, science had settled on around 360 species of shark, ranging from deep sea featherweights like the 20cm (8in)-long dwarf lanternshark to the enormous plankton-feeding whale shark, the largest species of fish in the oceans.

But in little more than 40 years this number has jumped by nearly 40%. There are more than 500 known species, and the numbers of new species show no signs of dropping off. In September 2024, a new species of ghost shark – a primitive cartilaginous fish closely related to sharks – was identified thanks to the discovery of a specimen fished from the deep ocean off the east coast of New Zealand.

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This new wave of discovery rivals that of the golden ages of exploration. It is as much a by-product of painstaking work in the archives of museum collections as it is peering into the deep waters of the world's oceans.

Take the shark that laid the mysterious ridged egg cases, for instance.

Will White, the senior curator of Australian National Fish Collection at CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) in Hobart, Australia, was part of the team that connected the dots. After being discovered during a survey at Rowley Shoals, the egg cases had been disseminated to museum archives without anyone looking much further into the cases' strange ridges.

In 2011, a researcher called Brett Human was volunteering at the Western Australian Museum in Perth, when he came across the ridged shark egg case. While it was similar to eggs laid by another species of shark, that animal had never been found in Australian waters. Human linked the egg case to other eggs which had been found off Australia, and narrowed down the species to possibly being a member of the catshark family. But he could not determine the exact species.

"He first described the case and did a very good effort of trying to narrow down… he did a lot better than what a lot of people would have, actually," says White. "Nothing happened on that until we started looking at a case with a colleague Helen O'Neill. Even then I was like, 'I think I'm barking up the wrong tree, looking at cases. No one's really done it, there's probably a reason why'."

It turned out that CSIRO had also been sent examples of the egg cases in the 1980s – and no-one had done further research. "It wasn't until I started looking at the collection data that I realised they're actually from the same surveys. It was collected from the same location on the same day."

White and his colleagues knew the eggs recovered in the 1980s had come from a certain depth – between 410m (1,345ft) and 504m (1,640ft) – and started looking for sharks which had been caught at the same depth. The CSIRO collection had what was thought to have been a South China catshark, which turned out to have been pregnant when it was caught. The scientists dissected it and found a developing embryo inside an egg case with the same tell-tale ridges as the ones discovered years before in Rowley Shoals. The detective work proved it was a completely new species, and the mystery that Australian shark scientists had been scratching their heads over for the last 30 years was finally solved.

"It took us, like, two days to work it out," says White. "The thing is, you've got to be looking specifically for it. The adults of that group, in particular, are very subtly different," he says.

The species now has a scientific name (a common name is due to follow), and was unveiled in the Journal of Fish Biology in April 2023. This new variety of demon catshark, otherwise known as Apristurus ovicorrugatus, is thought to dwell around 700m (2,297ft) beneath the surface, laying its egg cases over coral in water too deep for sunlight to penetrate. White says this family of sharks is particularly hard to research because they are so elusive and because the differences between species can be so subtle.

"With this group, in particular, we're actually down into looking at aspects of the digestive tract and liver shape and stuff like that. You're definitely getting desperate when you start getting into characters like that," White says.

 

He says the current experts on this group of sharks all "liaise with each other and talk with each other" because identifying new species can be such a challenge. "The other thing, unfortunately, is you do get some specimens in collections that all you got is the fixed [preserved] specimen, you don't actually have a fresh photo; that demon catshark we described was lucky because we had a fresh photo as well."

The demon catshark was not the only discovery White had a part in identifying recently. Another species, a type of horn shark, was caught in surprisingly deep waters off Western Australia in a survey last year. Horn sharks tend to like living in shallow waters, often sitting on the seafloor in kelp forests, but this new species was found at 150m (500ft).

But that's nothing compared to what may lie ahead, White says. The demon catshark is not the only new catshark species to have turned up. "We've actually found another new species of that same genus, also with ridged egg cases, but different ridged egg cases off Queensland. So we're working on that now," he says.

 

"I've got a feeling there's another one from Queensland, it's new, from the same genus. And I think there's another one in Western Australia, it's either new or it's a new record of a species poorly known from elsewhere in the world," says White.

The waters around Australia aren't the only ones offering up new shark species. On the other side of the Indian Ocean, German shark scientist Simon Weigmann of the Elasmobranch Research Laboratory in Hamburg helped to discover two new species of saw shark – bizarre-looking creatures armed with long snouts, or rostrums, studded with sharp teeth – off the south-eastern coast of Africa.

The saw sharks were found with the help of a colleague Ruth Leeney from the Anderson Cabot Centre for Ocean Life, who had been researching new species of the related sawfish off the coast of Madagascar (sawfish are a type of ray, distantly related to sharks.)

One of her colleagues called her because fisherman had preserved for her two rostra, of what they thought were sawfish," Weigmann says. "And when she saw the photos, she immediately recognised, these were not sawfish, but saw-sharks, which is also very interesting finding because saw-sharks are not caught all day long." The saw-sharks had some interesting details: instead of the five gill slits most sharks possess, they had six – an evolutionary echo from much older shark species that lived millions of years ago. They also had small fleshy tendrils known as barbels far closer to the tip of the rostrum than is found in other species of saw-sharks.

To confirm his hunch this might be a new species, Weigmann travelled to London's Natural History Museum, which has a saw shark caught more than 100 years ago which is in remarkably good condition. "It was quite clear that the barbels are close to the mouth, as had been described for that species," says Weigmann, referring to the Natural History Museum's example. Whatever Lenney's colleague had photographed in a fish market in Madagascar, it looked like it was a new species. Further research from specimens in other collections in South Africa also seemed to support this.

Then another shark researcher – Andrew Temple from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia – got in touch. "We had found a saw shark off Zanzibar in Tanzania, where they made a survey for the local fisherman's landings, even different from the ones that we had just found," says Weigmann. "So we said, 'Okay, maybe it's just an unusual specimen. Or maybe it's even a second new species,'" he says.

"It's very special because saw sharks are not common and you only have few species." Weigmann adds another relevant point: "They look very cool."

It was not scientists like Weigmann who had first noticed there was something different, however – it was the Madagascan fishermen who had caught them. "It was really important that we had the local fishermen providing this material. If they had not collected the rostra, or later landed the specimens that were picked up in Zanzibar, we would not have noticed. I would not have tried to examine all the other museum materials, I would just have not noticed that there is something different."

Many of the saw sharks that have been discovered so far live relatively far down in the ocean – as deep as 300m (1,000ft) – but the species off Zanzibar was caught less than 30m (100ft) from the surface. "We think that they might have come to shallower depth for the night, which is typical for many groups of marine organisms," says Weigmann.

"I think it's the biggest movement of animals in the word, this vertical movement that you have in the oceans at night. There are also many sharks known to exhibit vertical movements. So I think during day they might occur deeper, but we do not know because we only have them from this depth. And that makes them even more vulnerable to [commercial] fishery," says Weigmann.

There is much more to this discovery than an addition to the known species in a reference book, or a new display in a museum. Weigmann uses the example of the blue skate, a type of ray from the North Atlantic that was relatively common until commercial fishing decimated its numbers. "The populations collapsed," he says. "And then, about 10 years ago, some scientists even noticed that there were two species lumped under this name. So all the fisheries statistics that you had population status, you could not work with anymore because you could not know was it the one species or the other species. And that makes taxonomic research and describing new species so important," he says.

More sharks may yet be waiting to be discovered in the deep, and not all of them may be as small as the metre-long catsharks awaiting classification. In 2021, scientists discovered three new species of deep-sea sharks that glow in the dark, including one that can grow up to 1.8m (5.9ft).

It is also less than 50 years since researchers discovered a strange shark tangled in the sea anchor of a US Navy ship off Hawaii. The shark in question was nearly 15ft-long (4.5m) and a species that had never been seen before – a filter-feeder that swam with its jaws agape. A shark scientist called Leighton Taylor dubbed it the "megamouth" shark; the species is now considered to be one of the largest-growing species to be found today.

What else may be waiting for shark scientists, far below the ocean surface?

* This article was originally published on 12 July 2023. It was updated on 24 September 2024 to include details of a new species of ghost shark – or spookfish – discovered off the coast of New Zealand.

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When robots can't riddle: What puzzles reveal about the depths of our own minds

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240912-what-riddles-teach-us-about-the-human-mind, today

AI runs unfathomable operations on billions of lines of text, handling problems that humans can't dream of solving – but you can probably still trounce them at brain teasers.

In the halls of Amsterdam's Vrije Universiteit, assistant professor Filip Ilievski is playing with artificial intelligence. It's serious business, of course, but his work can look more like children's games than hard-nosed academic research. Using some of humanity's most advanced and surreal technology, Ilievski asks AI to solve riddles.

Understanding and improving AI's ability to solve puzzles and logic problems is key to improving the technology, Ilievski says.

"As human beings, it's very easy for us to have common sense, and apply it at the right time and adapt it to new problems," says Ilievski, who describes his branch of computer science as "common sense AI". But right now, AI has a "general lack of grounding in the world", which makes that kind of basic, flexible reasoning a struggle.

But the study of AI can be about more than computers. Some experts believe that comparing how AI and human beings handle complex tasks could help unlock the secrets of our own minds.

AI excels at pattern recognition, "but it tends to be worse than humans at questions that require more abstract thinking", says Xaq Pitkow, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University in the US, who studies the intersection of AI and neuroscience. In many cases, though, it depends on the problem.

Riddle me this

Let's start with a question that's so easy to solve it doesn't qualify as a riddle by human standards. A 2023 study asked an AI to tackle a series of reasoning and logic challenges. Here's one example:

Mable's heart rate at 9am was 75bpm and her blood pressure at 7pm was 120/80. She died at 11pm. Was she alive at noon?

It's not a trick question. The answer is yes. But GPT-4 – OpenAI's most advanced model at the time – didn't find it so easy. "Based on the information provided, it's impossible to definitively say whether Mable was alive at noon," the AI told the researcher. Sure, in theory, Mable could have died before lunch and come back to life in the afternoon, but that seems like a stretch. Score one for humanity. 

The Mable question calls for "temporal reasoning", logic that deals with the passage of time. An AI model might have no problem telling you that noon comes between 9am and 7pm, but understanding the implications of that fact is more complicated. "In general, reasoning is really hard," Pitkow says. "That's an area which goes beyond what AI currently does in many cases."

A bizarre truth about AI is we have no idea how it works. We know on a high level – humans built AI, after all. Large language models (LLMs) use statistical analysis to find patterns in enormous bodies of text. When you ask a question, the AI works through the relationships it's spotted between words, phrases and ideas, and uses that to predict the most likely answer to your prompt. But the specific connections and calculations that tools like ChatGPT use to answer any individual question are beyond our comprehension, at least for now.

The same is true about the brain: we know very little about how our minds function. The most advanced brain-scanning techniques can show us individual groups of neurons firing as a person thinks. Yet no one can say exactly what those neurons are doing, or how thinking works for that matter. 

By studying AI and the mind in concert, however, scientists could make progress, Pitkow says. After all, the current generation of AI uses "neural networks" which are modelled after the structure of the brain itself. There's no reason to assume AI uses the same process as your mind, but learning more about one reasoning system could help us understand the other. "AI is burgeoning, and at the same time we have this emerging neurotechnology that's giving us unprecedented opportunities to look inside the brain," Pitkow says.

Trusting your gut

The question of AI and riddles gets more interesting when you look at questions that are designed to throw off human beings. Here's a classic example:

A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost? 

Most people have the impulse to subtract 1.00 from 1.10, and say the ball costs $0.10, according to Shane Frederick, a professor of marketing at the Yale School of Management, who's studied riddles. And most people get it wrong. The ball costs $0.05.

"The problem is people casually endorse their intuition," Frederick says. "People think that their intuitions are generally right, and in a lot of cases they generally are. You couldn't go through life if you needed to question every single one of your thoughts." But when it comes to the bat and ball problem, and a lot of riddles like it, your intuition betrays you. According to Frederick, that may not be the case for AI.

Human beings are likely to trust their intuition, unless there's some indication that their first thought might be wrong. "I'd suspect that AI wouldn't have that issue though. It's pretty good at extracting the relevant elements from a problem and performing the appropriate operations," Frederick says.

The bat and ball question is a bad riddle to test AI, however. It's famous, which means that AI models trained on billions of lines of text have probably seen it before. Frederick says he's challenged AI to take on more obscure versions of the bat and ball problem, and found the machines still do far better than human participants – though this wasn't a formal study.

Novel problems

If you want AI to exhibit something that feels more like logical reasoning, however, you need a brand-new riddle that isn't in the training data. For a recent study (available in preprint), Ilievski and his colleagues developed a computer program that generates original rebus problems, puzzles that use combinations of pictures, symbols and letters to represent words or phrases. For example, the word "step" written in tiny text next to a drawing of four men could mean "one small step for man".

The researchers then pitted various AI models against these never-before-seen rebuses and challenged real people with the same puzzles. As expected, human beings did well, with an accuracy rate of 91.5% for rebuses that used images (as opposed to text). The best performing AI, OpenAI's GPT-4o got 84.9% right under optimal conditions. Not bad, but Homo sapiens still have the edge. 

According to Ilievski, there's no accepted taxonomy that breaks down what all of the various different kinds of logic and reasoning are, whether you're dealing with a human thinker or a machine. That makes it difficult to pick apart how AI fares on different kinds of problems.

One study divided reasoning into some useful categories. The researcher asked GPT-4 a series of questions, riddles, and word problems that represented 21 different kinds of reasoning. These included simple arithmetic, counting, dealing with graphs, paradoxes, spatial reasoning and more. Here's one example, based on a 1966 logic puzzle called the Wason selection task:

Seven cards are placed on the table, each of which has a number on one side and a single-coloured patch on the other side. The faces of the cards show 50, 16, red, yellow, 23, green, 30. Which cards would you have to turn to test the truth of the proposition that if a card is showing a multiple of four then the colour of the opposite side is yellow?

GPT-4 failed miserably. The AI said you'd need to turn over the 50, 16, yellow and 30 cards. Dead wrong. The proposition says that cards divisible by four have yellow on the other side – but it doesn't say that only cards divisible by four are yellow. Therefore, it doesn't matter what colour the 50 and 30 cards are, or what number is on the back of the yellow card. Plus, by the AI's logic, it should have checked the 23 card, too. The correct answer is you only need to flip 16, red, and green.  

It also struggled with some even easier questions:

Suppose I'm in the middle of South Dakota and I'm looking straight down towards the centre of Texas. Is Boston to my left or to my right?

This is a tough one if you don't know American geography, but apparently, GPT-4 was familiar with the states. The AI understood it was facing south, and it knew Boston is east of South Dakota, yet it still gave the wrong answer. GPT-4 didn't understand the difference between left and right.

The AI flunked most of the other questions, too. The researcher's conclusion: "GPT-4 can't reason."

For all its shortcomings, AI is getting better. In mid-September, OpenAI released a preview of GPT-o1, a new model built specifically for harder problems in science, coding and maths. I opened up GPT-o1 and asked it many of the same questions from the reasoning study. It nailed the Wason selection rask. The AI knew you needed to turn left to find Boston. And it had no problem saying, definitively, that our poor friend Mable who died at 11pm was still alive at noon. 

There are still a variety of questions where AI has us beat. One test asked a group of American students to estimate the number of murders last year in Michigan, and then asked a second group the same question about Detroit, specifically. "The second group gives a much larger number," Frederick says. (For non-Americans, Detroit is in Michigan, but the city has an outsized reputation for violence.) "It's a very hard cognitive task to look past the information that's not right in front of you, but in some sense that's how AI works," he says. AI pulls in information it learned elsewhere.

More like this: • Can a computer teach you to apologise effectively? • AI took their jobs. Now they get paid to make it sound human • The chatbots that say they can feel emotions

That's why the best systems may come from a combination of AI and human work; we can play to the machine's strengths, Ilievski says. But when we want to compare AI and the human mind, it's important to remember "there is no conclusive research providing evidence that humans and machines approach puzzles in a similar vein", he says. In other words, understanding AI may not give us any direct insight into the mind, or vice versa.

Even if learning how to improve AI doesn't reveal answers about the hidden workings of our minds, though, it could give us a hint. "We know the brain has different structures related to things like memory value, movement patterns and sensory perception, and people are trying to incorporate more and more structures into these AI systems," Pitkow says. "This is why neuroscience plus AI is special, because it runs in both directions. Greater insight into the brain can lead to better AI. Greater insight into AI could lead to better understanding of the brain."

Thomas Germain is a senior technology journalist for the BBC. He's covered AI, privacy and the furthest reaches of internet culture for the better part of a decade. You can find him on X and TikTok @thomasgermain.

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The mosquito-bourne virus that's spreading without a cure

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240919-the-virus-spreading-without-a-cure, today

West Nile virus is spreading across the US and Europe. This deadly disease has been around for decades, but there is still no vaccine and no cure in humans.

After a distinguished career as one of the world's leading HIV researchers, and then a role as the face of the US government's response to the Covid-19 pandemic, it was a very different virus which recently hospitalised Anthony Fauci.

Last month, the 83-year-old began showing symptoms of fever, chills and fatigue after contracting West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne pathogen which was first discovered in Uganda in the 1930s. But Fauci didn't contract the virus in East Africa, instead he was reportedly bitten by an infected mosquito in his back garden in Washington DC, incidents which are becoming progressively more common.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told the BBC that 2,000 Americans fall ill from West Nile virus every year, leading to 1,200 life-threatening neurological illnesses and over 120 deaths.  "Anybody can be at risk," says Kristy Murray, a professor of paediatrics at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, who has been studying West Nile virus for the best part of two decades. "A simple mosquito bite is all it takes to become infected. And while it's mostly older individuals who we see getting severe disease, young people get it too," she says.

It was late August 1999 when an infectious diseases physician in the New York City borough of Queens reported two cases of viral encephalitis, or brain inflammation, to the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. An urgent investigation commenced after similar cases were identified at neighbouring hospitals. Estimates showed that in total, this mysterious epidemic ultimately infected approximately 8,200 people across the city. It was the first known outbreak of West Nile virus in the western hemisphere.

No one knows exactly how the virus was introduced to the US from parts of Africa, the Middle East, southern Europe and Russia where it had circulated for decades, but research has since shown that birds are the main carriers of the virus. Mosquitoes contract the virus when feeding on infected birds, before passing it onto humans.

Since that initial outbreak in 1999, there have been more than 59,000 US cases and more 2,900 deaths from West Nile virus, although some estimates place the real number of infections as exceeding three million.

Now, there are growing concerns that West Nile outbreaks in the US and around the world will become more frequent due to climate change. Studies have shown that warmer temperatures can accelerate mosquito development, biting rates and viral incubation within a mosquito. In Spain, where the virus is endemic, an unprecedented outbreak in 2020 has been followed by a prolonged period of escalating circulation.

This has led to particular concern because while infections are predominantly asymptomatic, with only one in five people experiencing mild symptoms, severe cases can result in lifelong disability. In around 1 in 150 people, the virus can invade the brain and central nervous system, causing life-threatening inflammation, and in many cases, brain damage.

In particular, people who are immunocompromised in some way, over the age of 60, or have diabetes or hypertension, are particularly vulnerable. "With hypertension, we think that increased pressure in the brain allows the virus to cross the blood brain barrier more readily," says Murray.

Having followed patients suffering from severe cases of West Nile viral infection for many years, Murray says that the resulting inflammation can ultimately cause such severe brain atrophy or shrinkage that scans often show similar patterns of damage to people who have suffered traumatic brain injuries.

"For those with severe disease, about 10% will die from the acute infection and around 70-80% will experience long-term neurological consequences," says Murray. "For those who survive, it doesn't necessarily get better, it often gets worse. People report depression, personality change, things like that," she says.

Yet despite these inherent risks, there is currently no vaccine or even any dedicated treatment which can help people suffering from the infection. "It's really become a neglected disease," says Murray. "This year alone, I've gotten contacted so many times by patients who are newly diagnosed with West Nile, asking, 'What can we do?' And I'm like, 'There really isn't anything'. It's just supportive care and it breaks my heart to have to tell them that," she says.

When it comes to the lack of preventative measures against West Nile infections, perhaps one of the biggest ironies is that safe and highly effective vaccines have been available for horses for the past 20 years.

Between 2004 and 2016, there were nine clinical trials of different human vaccine candidates, two launched by the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi and the remainder funded by either biotech companies, academic institutions or various US governmental organisations. Yet despite all being generally well-tolerated and inducing an immune response, none of these trials made it to a Phase 3 clinical trial. This is the final and most crucial hurdle before a vaccine can be authorised, and involves testing if a treatment is effective. The last of these trials, sponsored by the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, did not progress any further than Phase 1 – the first step, which usually aims to discern if the intervention is safe.

Carolyn Gould, a medical officer with CDC's Division of Vector-Borne Diseases in Fort Collins, Colorado, says that the sporadic and unpredictable nature of West Nile outbreaks has been a big hurdle, as the virus needs to be circulating at that particular time to be able to prove that a vaccine is actually working.

"Some trials launched during a lull without many cases," says Murray. "But then there was an outbreak in 2012 where we had over 2,000 cases in Texas alone, and over 800 of them were severe cases. So if they'd waited a few years, they could have had all the participants they needed," she says.

In 2006, a major study of vaccine cost-effectiveness concluded that a universal West Nile virus vaccine programme would be unlikely to save the healthcare system money. Gould believes that the sheer cost of developing a vaccine, combined with uncertain benefits or financial returns from a pharmaceutical company's perspective, has been a major deterrent.

However, a number of possible alternatives have been offered in recent years. Some scientists have recommended a dedicated vaccine programme for over 60s who are at greater risk from the virus, while Gould proposes a programme aimed at specific regions in the US where virus-carrying mosquitos are most prevalent. In addition, Gould believes that the increasing evidence surrounding the longer-term consequences of West Nile virus-induced neurological damage could make funding vaccine development more appealing. More recent estimates have suggested that the economic burden of hospitalised West Nile virus patients is $56 million (£42 million), and the short and long-term costs can exceed $700,000 (£530,000) per patient.

"More recent studies show it could be cost-effective if deployed to high-risk groups in specific geographical locations," says Gould. "From a manufacturer's standpoint, it would be important to consider the high numbers of people at increased risk for West Nile virus disease with serious consequences, when conducting a sales forecast," she says.

Given the ongoing fatalities and neurological disabilities caused by the virus, Paul Tambyah, president of the International Society for Infectious Diseases, describes the current inability to find a solution as being down to "a lack of imagination".

"Everybody's thinking you've got to do this massive phase 3 trial in the US, which is difficult for a disease which only appears for two and a half months in the year, which is also unpredictable as some years you have a massive outbreak, and other years you don't," says Tambyah.

Instead Tambyah proposes a large international trial with hundreds of different trial sites, not just the US but in parts of Africa where the virus is endemic, as a more effective way of gathering the evidence required. While it would require several million dollars of funding to launch such an initiative, he says that it could be possible with the help of public-private partnerships, pooling together the resources of various governments of affected countries and small and medium sized pharma companies to help mitigate the financial risk involved, in case the trial failed to prove efficacy.

"There are a few possible mechanisms out there to make this happen," he says. "It just requires the willpower to do something about it."

Just as pressing is the need to find more effective treatments for people who do experience serious disease as a consequence of West Nile viral infection. Murray says that while a couple of drug candidates were developed based on artificially generated antibodies against the virus called monoclonal antibodies, they did not progress further than rodent studies, with developers facing the same tricky hurdles as vaccine manufacturers when it came to devising a suitable clinical trial.

Murray feels that the most urgent need is for a drug which not only clears the virus but can be used to dampen down the raging inflammation within the brain which causes many of the neurological complications. She suspects that in some cases the virus sets up camp within the brain's nerve cells where it is not easy to attack.

"It crosses the blood-brain barrier and sets up within the brain, and that's where you get the inflammation and damage,” she says. "The problem is that a lot of our existing antivirals can't reach the brain so it can't get to that space where they need to be effective."

But there may be alternative possibilities. Tambyah feels that we can take many lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic, where despite the global arms race to develop an antiviral against the Sars-CoV-2 virus, one of the most effective treatments turned out to be a cheap steroid called dexamethasone. Its efficacy was identified by the Recovery trial in the UK, which examined a variety of possible treatments.

Having treated numerous patients with brain inflammation as part of his role as a senior infectious diseases consultant at the National University Hospital in Singapore, Tambyah is convinced that finding the right steroid for reducing the inflammation can ultimately help many patients to eventually recover. "West Nile virus is a flavivirus and there's no licensed antiviral at the moment for any of the flaviviruses – dengue, Zika or Japanese encephalitis," he says. "I think steroids are probably going to be the future."

More like this: • Why some people are volunteering to be infected with diseases • Why the rapid evolution of mpox is a problem • Why aren't there more vaccines for parasites?

Ultimately though, more data is needed to identify the most appropriate drug for tackling West Nile virus, and Tambyah suggests that this could be done through a similar study to the Recovery trial.

"We could potentially recruit patients with encephalitis from West Nile virus and include various interventions, some steroids, monoclonal antibodies as well, and hopefully that would yield an answer," says Tambyah. "If there was the will to do something about it, sufficient funding from the governments of affected countries, it could happen," he says.

Ultimately Murray and Tambyah are hoping that the spotlight which has fallen on West Nile virus as a result of Fauci’s illness will help convince policymakers to devote more funding towards this much neglected disease.

"This virus is here to stay and we're going to keep having these outbreaks," says Murray. "If someone like Fauci, who's in a position where people listen and respect him, can speak about this, that might help give a push for additional funding to study the virus and allow scientists to focus on vaccines and therapeutics. Because it's 25 years now since West Nile emerged in the United States and we still don't have anything."

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The UK coal-fired power station that became a giant battery

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240927-how-coal-fired-power-stations-are-being-turned-into-batteries, today

With the closure of the last coal-fired power station in the UK, it raises questions about how old fossil fuel infrastructure can be repurposed. One option is to use them to store energy from renewables.

It's an unassuming place for a major era of British history to come to an end. Surrounded by farmland drenched by recent rains and trees with leaves starting to turn ahead of the autumn – all within earshot of the thundering traffic from the M1 motorway – the UK's last coal-fired power station is shutting down for good. As of 30 September 2024 the turbines at the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power plant in Nottinghamshire will fall silent while smoke and steam will cease to belch from the chimney and cooling towers that dominate this part of the landscape.

The power station, which has been operating since 1967, is to undergo a two-year decommissioning and demolition process.

It's a symbolic moment, a marker along the UK's journey to decarbonisation and net-zero. For centuries, coal was the main source of energy in the UK. It was the life-blood of the industrial revolution – providing the fuel for steam engines and then generating much of the country's electricity. By the 1960s, nearly 90% of the UK's electricity relied upon coal.

Now, for the first time, the UK will not use any coal to generate electricity.

It's not clear what the Ratcliffe-on-Soar site will become. There have been suggestions it could house a prototype fusion reactor or some other green industry. Regardless, as fossil fuel power plants are shuttered in many parts of the world, the question of what to do with them will keep coming up.

One promising option is to turn old fossil power plants into battery storage sites.

The intermittency problem

Renewable energy sources like wind and solar are the mainstay of the net-zero transition. They don't emit greenhouse gases, so the more they replace fossil fuels like coal and gas the closer we come to net-zero emissions.

The share of energy coming from renewables is rising steadily. According to a report by the International Energy Agency published in January 2024, renewables will generate 33.5% of global electricity this year and could account for 41.6% by 2028.

However, using renewables comes with challenges for power grids. Coal and gas plants can be turned on and off at will, so they can supply more energy when it is needed: they are "dispatchable", in the jargon of the field. By contrast, renewable sources are intermittent and less controllable: the Sun doesn't shine at night and the wind doesn't always blow (and sometimes can blow too much).

"With renewables, we have less dispatchable power," says Grazia Todeschini, an electrical engineer at King's College London in the UK.

To some extent, the intermittency problem can be managed by having a diverse selection of renewable sources: that way, if one doesn't generate enough, another can pick up the slack. Nuclear power, which is zero-carbon, also offers a steady supply.

Alongside this, though, countries are investing heavily in energy storage. When lots of electricity is generated but isn't needed, it can be stored – then when there is a shortage it can be released. "The main point is to be able to match generation and demand," says Todeschini.

For many decades, the most important form of energy storage was pumped hydropower. Excess electricity was used to pump water uphill, so that it could be released to drive turbines and generate electricity when needed. However, this won't be enough for the renewable era, and hydropower has its own emission problems too. "That capacity pretty much is saturated everywhere, in Europe at least," says Todeschini. "There is no space to build any more."

That's why many countries are turning instead to battery energy storage systems (BESS). A BESS site is simply an array of batteries: big ones, about the size of shipping containers. Excess electricity from renewable sources can be dumped into the batteries, ready to be discharged when demand is high.

"In the last 20 years, this technology has improved a lot," says Todeschini. "The control is more precise, and also the cost has decreased."

All of which explains why one of the UK's defunct coal plants is being turned into a BESS site.

Ferrybridge

Near Ferrybridge in West Yorkshire sit the remains of a trio of coal-fired power plants. Between them they operated for almost a century, the first one turning on in 1927 and the last being decommissioned in 2016. The third station, Ferrybridge C, passed into the ownership of energy company SSE in 2004, which ran it until the site's closure and demolition.

Now SSE is building a BESS on the site of Ferrybridge C. It will have a capacity of 150 megawatts, which SSE estimates will be enough to power 250,000 homes. Construction began in August 2023, and in June 2024 the first batteries arrived. The following month, the last of the 136 battery units were installed.

"We're now at the point all the kit's on site," says Heather Donald of SSE Renewables, where she is director of onshore wind, solar and battery for Great Britain and Ireland. "We're just about to go into the commissioning phase and we're hoping to switch on early next year."

Building an array of batteries on the site of an old coal-fired power station has multiple advantages, says Donald. "First and foremost, there's a grid connection there," she says. That means linking the BESS to the grid is as straightforward as it can be. "Access to grid connections and grid capacity's at such a premium now."

The site also proved to have a lot of useful materials and infrastructure. "We've been able to use some of the existing concrete foundations, we've been able to repurpose some of the concrete on site," says Donald. This meant the company did not need to import many materials, apart from the batteries themselves.

"It's a great reuse of a site like this," says Donald.

More of this sort of thing

If the UK is to achieve its decarbonisation targets, it will need a lot more BESS projects like Ferrybridge.

Some indication of quite how many more can be gleaned from the latest Future Energy Scenarios report, released in July 2024 by National Grid. The report finds the UK had 4.7 gigawatts (GWs) of battery storage capacity in 2023. That's a lot, but the UK government has set a legally binding target of net-zero emissions by 2050. Depending on quite how this is achieved, the country will need storage of between 29 gigawatts and 36 gigawatts by 2050. Even the lower figure is only possible if the UK stores a lot of its energy in the form of hydrogen. Currently, most hydrogen comes from fossil fuel sources, so a switch to greener alternatives is needed. If green hydrogen does not take off, the country will need more BESS to compensate.

In short, the UK's BESS capacity needs to increase by a factor of at least six, and possibly closer to eight, in the next quarter-century.

Many more BESS sites are in the pipeline for the UK. In June 2024, plans were approved for a BESS facility in a field near the hamlet of Wineham in West Sussex. Another near Sunderland was recommended by city planners in August. Weeks later, a similar facility was approved for agricultural land in Cumbria.

Given the massive increase in battery capacity needed, disused power stations like Ferrybridge C are a tempting option. "To be able to use former energy sites for new carbon-free energy is definitely something we're looking to do more of," says Donald.

Indeed, SSE is already building a second BESS on another coal-fired power station site. Fiddler's Ferry in Warrington, Cheshire, was shut down in 2020, and in December 2023 the company announced it would turn it into a 150-megawatt BESS. Construction began in the spring of 2024.

"I agree it makes sense to use a site where there is already some of this infrastructure," says Todeschini.

That said, not all ex-fossil-fuel power stations will be suitable for BESS. "It really depends a lot on the location," says Todeschini. For instance, a site that's a long way from residential neighbourhoods might not be suitable. Instead, such sites could be repurposed as wind farms or other forms of generation. Todeschini also suggests charging sites for fleets of electric vehicles.

"I'm an advocate for this kind of mixed approach, in general, for the energy transition," says Todeschini. "My approach is to really consider all options."

Nevertheless, many former fossil fuel power plants around the world are being repurposed for batteries.

More like this: • How flooded coal mines could heat homes • The old oil tankers being rehabilitated • A new use for abandoned oil rigs

In the Lusatia region of Germany, there is an intricate system of coal mines and thermal power plants operated by the energy company LEAG. In 2023, the company – which specialises in the dirtiest form of coal, lignite – announced a plan to transform the entire complex into a "green energy hub". This will include wind and solar, hydrogen and batteries, and is intended to be completed by 2040. An early step will be to convert the Boxberg coal plant into a BESS facility, to be operational by 2027. In June 2024, LEAG secured €58 million of European Union funding to support the project.

On the other side of the world, the former Liddell Power Station in New South Wales, Australia, is becoming the Liddell Battery. The site's owner AGL Energy announced the project in December 2023 and construction began in June 2024. The 500-megawatt batteries should come online in December 2025.

Finally, Nevada is home to a project that is already storing and supplying electricity. The coal-fired Reid Gardner Power Station, 50 miles (80km) north-east of Las Vegas, was demolished in 2020. A company called Energy Vault has since replaced it with the Reid Gardner Battery Energy Storage System, which has a capacity of 220 megawatts. The site came online in late April 2024.

The more projects like these come online, the better they will become, argues Donald. "It's obviously an emerging technology," she says. Donald expects BESS to become more efficient and to be able to discharge electricity for longer periods – helping ensure a secure electricity supply after all the fossil fuel plants have been turned off for good.

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Views on AI to shape new telecom services - firm

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80rv7xv08ro, today

Public views on the use of artificial intelligence will help shape telecommunication services offered in future on the Isle of Man, one of the largest Isle of Man providers has said. Manx Telecom has commissioned a survey to gauge the preparedness, usage and awareness of the technology by individuals and businesses on the island. The questionnaire covers the use of the artificial intelligence (AI) in both personal and professional contexts. Manx Telecom's head of marketing Kate Hegarty said it would provide insights to help meet the "evolving needs" of the island's community.

The government recently launched a programme to upskill the community in using the technology as part of a plan to use it to increase GDP by 10% BY 2030.

'Relevant technologies'

As AI continued to "reshape industries and daily life" it was "crucial that we understand how our community perceives and interacts with this technology", Ms Hegarty said. The survey also covers perceived opportunities and challenges associated with the development, as well as how prepared businesses and individuals are to integrate the technology into the workplace. Ms Hegarty said feedback from the questionnaire would be discussed at a senior level in the company as well as with the firm's partners to "make more relevant technologies available" in the near future. The responses would also influence a future "roadmap of products", she added. Conducted by Island Global Research, the survey is available online until 9 October.

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Graphic novel shows unconventional routes into science

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3e957v9pyeo, today

Stories of people's unconventional routes to becoming scientists are told in a new graphic novel intended to encourage others into the field. The book - Becoming a Scientist - is aimed at young adult readers and was written by the University of Cambridge's Prof Adrian Liston, and illustrated by Yulia Lapko - a business administrator for the pathology department. Both their routes could be deemed unconventional as Prof Liston was expected to join his truck-driving family's business in Australia, while Ms Lapko fled her native Ukraine in 2022 following invasion. Prof Liston said as a youngster he did not even know what a scientist was, and hoped the stories showed the "many different pathways".

The novel told the stories of 12 members of the Liston-Dooley lab, who researched the immune system and tissues during pathology. This was not Prof Liston's first book and he has written books for young children including All about Coronavirus, Battle Robots of the Blood and Maya’s Marvellous Medicine. His graphic novel, however, was aimed at older readers between 12 and 18 years of age.

"It was really luck more than anything else that allowed me to fall into the career I have today," Prof Liston said. "When I looked around the amazing people in my lab, I realised that everyone had a story about overcoming barriers to enter science."

Prof Lipton freely admits he was not brought up to be a scientist. In the book, he said: "I grew up in a truck-driving family in Australia. "My parents didn't get the chance to finish high school and the only jobs I heard about were driving trucks or working the factory line building cars." He added: "I never met a scientist. Actually, if I hadn't been inspired by the weekly nature documentary on TV I'd never have known being a scientist was possible."

Studying at university was "an epiphany for me", the professor said. "Sure, there was class snobbery, but I was also able to find my group who were weird like me." He told the BBC: "I want to see more kids with grit and creativity really look seriously at science as a potential career, and I realised that my team here at Cambridge really demonstrated just how diverse scientists are in practice. "Every one had their own story of adversity conquered, their own role-models and their own motivations, so I thought we could simply tell their stories. "While each one is unique, together they do show that science can be for anybody, and science becomes richer for having a diversity of talents."

Other stories included those of Magda Ali, who is completing her PhD at Cambridge University. Her parents came to the UK as refugees from Somalia and although she attended a school where few students even took A-levels, she continued her studies and her dream of becoming a scientist. Visiting student researcher Alvaro Hernandez said he failed his school entrance tests in Peru at the age of five and almost did not get an education at all, having been preoccupied instead with football. "I think my early teachers would be surprised to see me in Cambridge," he said in the book. Their diverse stories have been illustrated by Yulia Lapko, who came to the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

She had been working as an artist before the war, but on arriving in Cambridge, and added: "I took a break from that because, settling in the new country, it made sense to get a full-time job for a sense of security and stability. Now that I feel settled enough I can expand the possibilities of what I can do with my skills. "I really enjoy being here, I love the department and its people. "Drawing people is my main speciality in art, and all the people featured in the book I actually see every day, which made it easier to capture them in a way that feels alive and effortless. "But it’s one thing to see what people look like and the other is to really see them, to know the story behind each individual, so having all of them share their backgrounds, hopes and wishes really helped to get the whole picture of each character." Prof Liston added: "It is guts and heart rather than brains that lead to scientific breakthroughs, and every discovery worth making happens from a team."

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Art show lifts lid on the use of AI in photography

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpqz913z18qo, today

An art exhibition showcasing the past and future of the art of photography will also press viewers to be more "critical and informed" about the use of artificial intelligence (AI). Community Portraits uses a variety of photographic techniques to capture images of ordinary people in Bedford who would not usually get the chance of a professional gallery shot. Arnab Chakravarty, a digital artist whose AI work will be on show, said he wanted viewers to question what they were seeing, as well as "ask questions and be aware of the whole problematic nature of it." The exhibition runs at The Higgins Bedford, until 23 February.

Mr Chakravarty, who is working with Fergus Laidlaw, said: "There is a lot of hype around AI - everyone is taking about it. "It's like the Wild West, we don't have set standards. "People should question what they are seeing, ask questions and be aware of the whole problematic nature of it." In the exhibition a computers take one of the portraits, use the images description and then creates a new AI image, for visitors to see if its a successful interpretation or not. "The machine sees the stereotypes and replicated bias, but we can see more than the person in front of us. "This is the future we're heading towards, so let's be a bit more critical and informed about it."

The exhibition by Bedford Creative Arts (BCA), in collaborated with The Higgins, and supported by Bedford-based Fujifilm UK, features images that have been taken using cyanotype or glass-plate techniques - and the latest digital cameras. Ami Aubrey, programme producer for BCA, said they had to chose 150 images from more than 1,000. "We hope that visitors will be inspired to consider the role of the camera in capturing portraits – not just the mobile phone," she said. "It’s a reflection on photography’s value as an artform as we enter a future where anyone can take a photo, but it is also open to manipulation through technology."

The exhibition received funding from Arts Council England, The Steel Charitable Trust, The Wixamtree Trust and Fujifilm UK.

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Uber terms mean couple can't sue after 'life-changing' crash

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy9j8ldp0lo, today

A couple who were left with life-changing injuries after their Uber crashed have been told they cannot sue the company because of the terms they accepted when using the app. Georgia and John McGinty, from New Jersey, in the US, are bound by a clause saying they could not take the case to a jury in a court of law. State judges ruled they had clicked a "confirm" button on the app on more than one occasion when asked if they agreed with Uber's terms of use. The McGintys argue they had not understood they were forfeiting their right to sue the company. They told the BBC the most recent time the terms were agreed to was when their daughter, then 12, had accepted them prior to ordering a pizza on Uber Eats. "How would I ever remotely think that my ability to protect my constitutional rights to a trial would be waived by me ordering food?" said Mrs McGinty. Uber told BBC News: "Our Terms of Use are clear that these types of claims should be resolved in arbitration. It’s important to highlight that the court concluded the plaintiff herself, not her daughter, agreed to Uber's Terms of Use on multiple occasions."

Arbitration means the dispute is settled through a third party rather than in court - in this case a lawyer appointed by Uber. Legal experts say it tends to result in smaller financial settlements. The case has parallels with Disney's attempt to avoid being sued over a death at Disney World - in its case over the terms of a Disney+ membership - before the company changed its mind.

Pain every day

In March 2022, Georgia and John McGinty were riding in an Uber in New Jersey when it crashed, and they suffered extensive injuries. Mrs McGinty's injuries included spine fractures and traumatic injuries to her abdominal wall. "I was in the critical care unit for a week," she told the BBC. "I had a horrible post-operative infection and almost died during this time, I wasn't able to care for my child who was suffering from unrelated injury," she said. John fractured his sternum and sustained injuries to his hand. "I shattered my wrist, broke my hand, and I have a steel rod with about nine pins in it. I don't have full function of my left hand," he said. "I am in pain every day." He added that they "accumulated a tremendous amount of medical debt" and still need further medical treatment in the future, including a possible third operation for Georgia.

The couple attempted to sue Uber over the crash, citing the seventh amendment of the US Constitution, which grants people the right to a trial by jury. But the tech firm argued that the couple could not take the case in front of a jury because of a clause in Uber's US Terms of Use. The Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division agreed. "We hold that the arbitration provision contained in the agreement under review, which Georgia or her minor daughter, while using her cell phone agreed to, is valid and enforceable," its judgement says. The judgment found the child had clicked the button to say she was 18 despite not being. Referring to her daughter's use of Uber Eats, Mrs McGinty says she does not know how it can be right that she is considered to have "authorised my child to waive our rights to go to a trial if we're injured in a car accident." "I don't know how anybody makes that leap," she said.

How does arbitration work?

Arbitration clauses are "very common," especially when dealing with large corporations, said Ted Spaulding, a personal injury lawyer based in the state of Georgia. An arbitrator is "most often a lawyer who does this for a living," he said, who can "act like a judge and a jury". They decide on an outcome after weighing up arguments from both sides, and their fee is often split between both parties. In the US, the enforceability of arbitration clauses differs state by state. In its case, Disney used the arbitration clause in their terms to argue that a man whose wife died at Disney World could not sue them in a court of law. Jeffrey Piccolo filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Disney after his wife, Dr Kanokporn Tangsuan, died following an allergic reaction at a restaurant, run by a third party, at Disney World Florida in 2023. Disney said Mr Piccolo had waived his right to a jury trial when he signed up to a free trial of Disney+ in 2019. Disney later withdrew its claim to arbitration and opted to proceed with a jury trial after media coverage of the lawsuit. "We believe this situation warrants a sensitive approach to expedite a resolution for the family who have experienced such a painful loss," Disney executive Josh D'Amaro told the BBC in a statement in August. Mr Spaulding says: "The law understandably says, 'Look, you have the duty to know what you're signing'," referring to the terms and conditions people often accept when using a product or a service. However, he says "the scope should be within the transaction that you're agreeing to".

Georgia and John McGinty say the Uber case has been "absolutely devastating" to their family. Georgia says their daughter, now 14, "suffered a lot of trauma as a result". She had a separate physical health issue which she was going through at the time, which her parents found difficult to help with while going through their own injuries. "Years of her life with her parents... were taken away," she says. "Luckily, she's a fighter, like her parents are," says John. "We are inadvertently teaching her adversity and strength and family and prayer and resilience."

Uber told BBC News: "The court concluded that on multiple occasions the plaintiff herself agreed to Uber's Terms of Use, including the arbitration agreement." The company added: "We are dedicated to road safety."


Brightening comet set to shine in autumn sky

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd7xg870x88o, today

Astronomy fans, get your telescopes and cameras ready - it's possible an unusually bright comet is set to grace the night skies. It should be visible in the northern hemisphere from about now, though it will be very low on the horizon before dawn. But the best views are expected in mid-October, when it may even become visible to the naked eye. Soon after it was first spotted there was speculation it could be one of the brightest comets in years. That excitement is fading, but it should still be something worth seeing.

The comet was first noticed in January 2023, by the Tsuchinshan Observatory in China, and later independently detected by Nasa's Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). That helps explain its full name C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS). People are calling it Comet A3 for short. Since then, astronomers have been tracking its progress, watching as it brightens and edges closer to its peak visibility. Unlike asteroids, which are entirely made of rock, comets are composed of ice, rock, and gas. As they approach the Sun, the warmth causes their ice to change into gases and release dust particles trapped in the ice, which is what causes their beautiful tail. This latest comet has been visible in the Southern Hemisphere, and is now coming into view for the Northern Hemisphere too. But it is notoriously difficult to guess how bright each comet will become. Robert Massey, Deputy Executive Director of the Royal Astronomical Society, says: "Bright comets are quite rare, so if you do get a chance to see one, take a look, even if you have to use a pair of binoculars to pick out the tail and features. They're absolutely beautiful," Dr Massey remains sceptical about some of the expectations of this particular comet. "Is it going to be the brightest comet in 100 years? I really doubt that," he says.

Will you be able to see the comet and how?

Dr Massey recommends looking for the comet during two periods. For the next week or so it should be visible in the northern hemisphere low in the eastern sky before dawn, though you may need binoculars or a telescope. There will be a better chance from around 12 October, this time after sunset in the western sky. With some luck, you might even then spot the comet with a naked eye. "You could go outside and say, 'Wow, there’s a comet!' without even needing binoculars," Dr Massey says. "Comets are unpredictable, but we don’t know when the next one will appear, so don’t miss this chance," he adds. With clear skies and the right conditions, this comet could provide one of the most captivating astronomical events of the year. Although the comet may become as bright as Comet Neowise, which was a striking sight during the pandemic in 2020, scientists say it is unlikely to exceed that brightness.


How Saturday Night Live became a TV phenomenon – but then lost its way

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20241001-how-saturday-night-live-became-a-tv-phenomenon-but-then-lost-its-way, today

New film Saturday Night celebrates the legendary comedy show's origins – but last weekend's poor new season premiere confirmed it's on rockier ground than ever. What went wrong?

Saturday Night Live has achieved legendary status – not a good thing for what is still meant to be a living, breathing comedy show. That is clear from the back-to-back premieres last weekend of a movie about the series' beginnings, and the new season of the show itself. Jason Reitman's film, Saturday Night, a loving but flimsy fictional account of the 90 minutes leading up to the first episode in 1975, was released on Friday. The next night you could have zoomed ahead almost half a century to watch the tepid, half-hearted 50th season premiere of SNL. Both suggest how much the myth of the show has overtaken its reality.

SNL has earned its stature, of course. It transformed television comedy and has penetrated American culture. In 2004, Rachel Dratch started playing Debbie Downer, who saw the bleak side of everything. The term "Debbie Downer" is now simply shorthand for a wet blanket. And even a short list of the comic actors the show has produced is astonishing, from Bill Murray and Eddie Murphy through to Will Ferrell and Tina Fey, as well as the talk-show hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers.

Reitman's film goes back before all that, with the SNL writer Rosie Shuster (Rachel Sennott) trying to describe the show to a befuddled NBC network executive. "It's postmodern, it's Warhol," she says of sketches that include a deadpan Andy Kaufman (Nicholas Braun) lip-synching to a recording of the theme from the children's cartoon Mighty Mouse. The humour was postmodern bordering on performance art, at least part of the time, and a radical change from the creaky musical variety shows that flooded television then. But the avant-garde inevitably becomes the establishment, and over the decades SNL has turned into the kind of show people complain is bad but watch anyway, from habit as much as anything else.

The loss of its cutting edge

Perhaps because it is so ingrained in popular culture, it still has some currency – but in the age of social media, SNL seems to respond to the culture instead of being on the cutting, forward-facing edge. When Kamala Harris announced that Tim Walz would be her running mate, social media exploded with speculation about who might play him on SNL. People had wish lists of possibilities, living and dead (comedy director Paul Feig wished it could have been Chris Farley). Near-lookalike Jim Gaffigan was among the most plausible, so it wasn't a huge surprise when he turned up on Saturday in the opening sketch about contrasting Harris and Trump rallies.

That opening sketch was the highlight of the premiere before its long downward slide. Gaffigan's brief appearance did little more than echo the Walz dad-joke memes that have been online for months. Maya Rudolph was brilliant as a likeable Kamala Harris, a part she has played before. She captures the dancing, the laugh and the steeliness behind the buoyant energy of the "fun aunt", as the fictional Harris calls herself. But the comic gem was the surprise appearance of Andy Samberg as "second gentlemensch" Doug Emhoff. He entered doing a goofy dance that we haven't seen the real Emhoff do but we can totally imagine him doing. And Samberg nailed the delivery of every line, especially when enthusiastically talking about how he would embrace the traditional role of first spouse. "I for one can't wait to decorate the White House at Christmas," he says. "The theme will be Hanukkah." That was the kind of sharp, funny, unexpected moment viewers hope for and rarely get.

More like this: • 10 films about US presidential elections • The best films to watch in October • The greatest talk show host of all

What's lost in the fog of the past is that these moments were always rare. SNL is known for its political humour, but for every portrayal that seems so potent it echoes through political reality – Tina Fey's scathing Sarah Palin impression, chirping, "I can see Russia from my house," was brutally close to Palin's own floundering on foreign policy when running for vice-president – there are dozens of toothless caricatures like Alec Baldwin's purse-lipped Donald Trump, more an impersonation of a cartoon Trump than a satire.

Reitman's film swallows the SNL myth whole and makes you wonder: who is this movie even for? Reitman grew up loving the show, and if you're already rabidly interested and familiar with the original cast, Saturday Night might work as homage. For anyone else, it doesn't do much to fill in the outlines. The premise is that there is chaos backstage. Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle), the show's nervous creator, grapples with some drug-fuelled cast members and puts out fires that include an actual fire when lights fall onto a couch. But the film is never as galvanising as it means to be, despite all the hyperactivity behind the scenes, along with fast-paced editing, visual flourishes that include the camera racing through the corridors of the studio and the unexplained presence of a llama.

The cast simply plays into the baked-in images of the originals. John Belushi (Matt Wood) is a difficult genius who refuses to sign his contract. Chevy Chase (Cory Michael Smith) is an egotist. Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt) is sweet with a gentle wit. Jane Curtin (Kim Matula) feels underused, as women often were on the show. Dylan O'Brien captures the essence of Dan Aykroyd's comic performances and often smarmy characters. Writers pitch a sketch about Julia Child cutting herself while presenting her cooking show and comedically spurting blood. That sketch, with Aykroyd as Child, is a classic that turned up on a later episode. If you don't know details like that, good luck caring about the movie.   

The best aspect of Saturday Night, its generational conflict, is underdeveloped. In brief appearances, Willem Dafoe plays Dave Tebet as a hilariously slippery old-time network executive. JK Simmons is effectively icky as the leering comedian and entertainer Milton Berle who, unfathomable though it seems now, was once one of the biggest stars on television. On a neighbouring stage, his corny song and dance number with chorus girls in spangly costumes suggests just how revolutionary SNL was. But mostly Reitman asks us to assume, or has someone tell us, that its comedy was radical.

Lamorne Morris has one of the few moments that leaps off the screen. He plays Garrett Morris (no relation), the only black member of the original cast, who feels like an outsider. In a particularly memorable scene from the film, Morris grabs a microphone and sings a controversially bold song for a roomful of white television executives – a song featured in a sketch in a later episode of the show. It's still jaw-dropping and funny. And it's hard to imagine today's SNL being that risky.

A new nadir

SNL was always more uneven than the myth suggests. Watch the real first episode now and it is, shockingly, not all that funny. Even the famous Bee Hospital sketch, with Belushi and others dressed as dad bees in a hospital waiting for news of their little bees' births, seems like it's straining to be absurdist. But given that the show is entering its high-profile 50th season, last weekend's live premiere was unusually rocky. Even its guest host Jean Smart, the beloved star who just won an Emmy for her HBO comedy Hacks, couldn't save it. There was a tired game show parody, a fake commercial about a Halloween store and a parody about casting I Love Lucy with Smart as a dramatic actress in the Lucille Ball role. More than one review summed it all up as disappointing. 

That unevenness may not matter much, since fewer people watch whole network shows the way they did when SNL began. Today, breakout sketches – Ryan Gosling and Mikey Day as Beavis and Butt-Head or Bowen Yang as the iceberg from the Titanic and last weekend as the thirsty baby hippo Moo Deng bemoaning the cost of her fame and comparing it to Chappell Roan's – go viral, and clips are like gold. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the last season of SNL earned an astonishing 3.1 billion views on social media. That may be the main way the show has kept up with the moment.

Far from being timely, though, in recent years it has often made headlines for controversial hosts whose selection suggests nothing more than pandering for ratings and influence with powerful people. Trump hosted in 2015 while he was running for president, drawing protests from Hispanic and immigration-rights groups outside the studio. Elon Musk hosted in 2021, and while there are a lot of elements to Musk's reputation, funny guy is not one of them. 

NBC is celebrating the show's 50th season with a three-hour prime-time special in February. There's no need to wait for that to see that SNL has become more iconic than relevant. Maybe it needs more fun aunt. Or as one classic sketch put it, "More cowbell!" More something.

Saturday Night is out now in US cinemas

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Vivid colours and bold flavours: The Nigerian food boom

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2k713lvpno, today

Have you ever tried fufu or efo riro? Or moi moi? If you haven’t already, you might do soon, because they’re examples of Nigerian cooking that are rapidly moving into the mainstream of UK dining. Nigerian restaurants are appearing on the high street and the vibrant West African cuisine is hitting the supermarket shelves, with Sainsbury's offering ready-made meals of popular Nigerian dishes such as Gizdodo, Eforiro and Ayamase. “The big trend we have observed over the past eight years or so is the rise of west African and specifically Nigerian fine dining restaurants,” says Lumina Intelligence, market researchers specialising in the restaurant sector. The Nigerian foodservice market is estimated to be worth $10bn in 2024 and is expected to reach $17bn in 2029. A 2018 BBC report from food experts predicted West African food will be "the next big food trend” and a few years later it is excelling.

What makes Nigerian food stand out?

Known for its vivid colours, bold flavours and unique textures, it's food for sharing, bringing people together. It's often eaten using your hands. If you went into a Nigerian restaurant, you might be tempted to try dishes such as: Efo riro – a native vegetable stew commonly of the Yoruba people. The spinach-based stew is cooked in a thick oil. It has a red sauce with different types of meats or no meat, depending on preference.Fufu – pounded cassava and boiled water mixed together to form a thickness that accompanies traditional stews. Other popular variations of fufu are amala, eba or semolina.Moi moi - this is a boiled bean pudding made with a mixture of peeled black-eyed beans, onions, egg, red peppers, and often fish.Gizdodo – a combination of gizzard, bell peppers, onions and fried plantains mixed in a tomato-based stew.Ayamase – a very spicy stew with an assortment of tender meats, locust beans, boiled egg and blended peppers. This is eaten with rice and plantain.

The rise of Nigerian food reflects the UK’s growing Nigerian community. It’s been boosted by viral TikTok trends of people trying dishes. Interest has also been heightened by some high-profile fans. Hugh Jackman, the Australian movie star, was spotted at Nigerian chain restaurant Enish in London’s Oxford Street last year, after his children recommended it. Enish now has branches across the world, from Dubai to Lewisham. Beyonce’s charity, the Beygood Foundation, donated £8,000, which helped siblings Emeka and Iffy Frederick continue sharing Nigerian cuisine at their Chuku’s restaurant in north London. It helped a restaurant that had opened just before the Covid pandemic to survive through the “absolute nightmare” of lockdown. Chuku’s, which claims to be the world’s first Nigerian tapas restaurant, describes its ethos as sharing the best of Nigerian culture with feel-good vibes. Michelin star chef, Adejoké (Joké) Bakare, made gastronomic history earlier this year by becoming the UK’s first black female chef to win a Michelin star and only the second in the world. Joké opened Chishuru in Brixton in September 2020 as a three-month pop-up, after winning the Brixton Village competition in south London. Following a rave review from food critic, Jay Rayner, the pop-up became permanent. Joké then operated pop-ups at a series of central London venues, before moving Chishuru to its permanent new home in London’s West End in September 2023. She hopes this recognition means Michelin will "start looking at the continent".

Growing popularity

Among the new wave of Nigerian restaurants is Tasty African Food, which has recently opened its 28th branch in Sittingbourne, Kent. Business development manager, Simi Olaleye, said the growing interest in exploring Nigerian food is due to “people’s palate changing and the world becoming more international”. “A lot of customers want to try African food... they are already familiar with our music and culture with the likes of Wizkid and Burna Boy,” he said. “When you try West African food, Nigerian food in particular, especially our jollof rice, moi moi, our suya, it has an authentic taste to it.” Food is about sharing cultures, with cooking often a gateway to finding out about other communities in a way that’s as natural as the food on the plate. People might want to try out new flavours and then find they’re biting into a whole culture and history. Nigeria is the biggest population in Africa and over 270,000 Nigerians in England and Wales. Will jollof or efo riro follow in the footsteps of tikka masala or chow mein to become UK favourites?


Operation Mincemeat musical transfers to Broadway

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62rvn88jp8o, today

A British musical which started life in an 80-seat fringe theatre in London is to transfer to Broadway next year. Operation Mincemeat has gradually built a dedicated audience since its launch in 2019, reaching the West End last year. Word of mouth and critical acclaim have seen it extended at the Fortune Theatre several times and have now helped propel the musical to Broadway. David Cumming, one of the show's writers and composers, told BBC News: "There’s a real sense of vertigo when comparing where we started to where we are now.

"It’s hard to believe that our precious baby of a show has grown into what feels like a leviathan that’s now riding across the pond. It’s both exciting and daunting." The show will begin previews at the John Golden Theatre on Broadway on 15 February 2025. The British production previously won both an Olivier and a WhatsOnStage award for best new musical.

Operation Mincemeat first played in London at the 80-seater New Diorama Theatre, a charming but modest venue which provides a home for independent theatre. After further development runs at London Fringe theatres, the show transferred to the Fortune Theatre. Despite being one of the West End's smaller theatres, it attracted a dedicated cult following, including a group of fans who call themselves "Mincefluencers". The re-worked version attracted positive reviews from critics, with many awarding four or five stars. The Telegraph's Marianka Swain described it as a "glorious combination of ingenious, silly and surprisingly moving". "It honours these war heroes, but with that key British asset: a sense of humour," she added. "They’re laser-focussed on getting us to laugh," noted Time Out's Andrzej Lukowski. "There’s little of the saccharine baggage of the average musical, no romance, no learning life lessons, no big introspective moments." The Evening Standard's Nick Curtis said it was an "exuberant, energetic, incurably daft show", adding its "five-year journey through fringe and regional theatres has become part of the story".

Operation Mincemeat opened in the West End in March 2023. Originally scheduled for an eight-week residency, it has been repeatedly extended and is currently due to play at the theatre until March. Set in 1943 amid World War Two, Operation Mincemeat tells the story of how Britain was able to deceive the Germans via an elaborate ruse. Intelligence officers planted fake documents in the briefcase of a corpse, which they had wash up on a beach where they knew the body would be found. The false secrets contained in the documents were designed to fool the Germans about the true target for the Allied invasion of Sicily. The story was also made into a 2021 film starring Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen and Kelly Macdonald.

'Truly preposterous'

The musical's writers and composers are David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson and Zoë Roberts - four friends known collectively as SplitLip. "We knew we didn’t have the money or the facilities to make a big 'wow' comedy show," Hodgson recalled. "We didn’t have the contacts or the experience to cause a splash. "But we loved this story so much, and thought that if we pulled all our resources together, we’d have one shot at doing it justice." Hagan continued: "Then we slowly started to show it to people, and miraculously they seemed to agree that this truly preposterous tale of corpses, posh boys and newts was just the sort of thing to put on next to the Lion King." Roberts said there was something about "a ludicrous tale of a band of misfits joining together with a plan to achieve something massive that's always felt really special to a bunch of pals who've spent years making comedy together on the Fringe".


Brotherhood of Man singer Martin Lee dies aged 77

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cglk1zwdzeyo, today

Singer and songwriter Martin Lee, a member of pop group Brotherhood of Man, has died aged 77. A statement released by the PA News Agency and posted on the band's Facebook page said Lee died on Sunday from heart failure following a short illness. Brotherhood of Man were best known for winning the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with Save Your Kisses for Me. The song reached number one in more than 30 countries and became one of the best-selling Eurovision singles in the contest's history.

"He will be sadly missed by his fellow band members Nicky Stevens, Lee Sheriden and especially Sandra Stevens to whom he had been married for 45 happy years," the statement said. Lee joined Brotherhood of Man in 1972 and served as lead vocalist and guitarist. Save Your Kisses For Me won the Eurovision Song Contest four years later in the Netherlands. The song topped the table with 164 points, more than 70 points ahead of second-placed Switzerland. Tony Hiller, the group's manager, put the song's success down to their TV appearances across France, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland the year before the contest - and the single sold six million copies. The group's hits included United We Stand, Oh Boy, and Kiss Me Kiss Your Baby. Lee co-wrote many of the group's songs with Sheriden, including Angelo and Figaro, which both reached number one in the UK. After winning Eurovision, they continued to tour around the world, but they retired from performing in 2020. "We have so many happy memories but now we are in total shock and cannot imagine a world without Martin Lee," the group said. Prior to joining Brotherhood Of Man, Lee had already released a solo single called Cry Jose, and had also played in the Johnny Howard Band. Lee was born Martin Barnes, on November 26, 1946, in Purley, London, but had spent five years of his youth living in Australia.


BBC apologises to Abbington but her claims only partly upheld

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce81p7w6xggo, today

The BBC has apologised to Amanda Abbington and upheld some of her complaints against her 2023 Strictly dance partner Giovanni Pernice, but cleared him of the most serious allegations. BBC News has been told that while complaints of verbal bullying and harassment were upheld, claims of physical aggression were not. The Sherlock actress called the BBC's apology a "vindication" of her complaint and said she hoped others would now feel "more confident" that they would be believed. Pernice said he was relieved that allegations that he was threatening and abusive "were found not to be true".

In its statement on Monday, the BBC said that the production team did take steps to address the issues at the time but acknowledged that "ultimately, these were not enough". "This is why the measures we have taken to further strengthen our existing protocols are so important," it said. Abbington had previously accused Pernice of being "unnecessary, abusive, cruel and mean" during their rehearsals, which he had always strongly denied.

The BBC said it takes allegations of bullying and harassment "very seriously", adding the review into Abbington's complaints had taken time "due to its complex nature" and in order to ensure "a rigorous and robust process". "We have assessed the complaints and we have upheld some, but not all, of the complaints made," it said. "We want to apologise to Amanda Abbington and to thank her for coming forward and taking part. We know this would not have been an easy thing to do."

In recent media interviews, Abbington said she first raised concerns about Pernice's behaviour with Strictly producers on her third day, and had "many" more discussions with programme bosses. She eventually dropped out in week six, expressing her "deepest regret" at having to leave the show for "medical" and "personal reasons". She later lodged a formal complaint about Pernice. The actress has since claimed the BBC had known about his behaviour for years. She has also said she and her family had received death threats after she spoke out. Charlotte Moore, chief content officer for the BBC, told BBC News that it was "terrible" Abbington had been subjected to online abuse, and personally apologised to Abbington twice. BBC News has been told the review looked into 17 complaints and six were upheld but we have been unable to independently verify this. The statement itself did not go into detail about the nature of the complaints. But a source told BBC News that those upheld related to verbal bullying and harassment. The most serious allegations of physical aggression were not upheld. When asked by BBC News for more information about the complaints, Moore said: “I'm not able to go into further detail on that, and there are very good reasons for that. "It's probably worth me just laying out the confidentiality of a complaints process, which I think is absolutely integral to the complaints process, and confidentiality needs to be respected out of fairness to everybody involved.”

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Responding to the BBC's statement, Abbington said that coming forward "was not an easy thing to do". "In the days, weeks and months since I contacted the BBC, I’ve been accused of being a liar, a troublemaker and of being 'mad and unstable'. "I’ve also received rape and murder threats and a bomb threat was sent to my place of work. My family and children have also been subjected to threats and intimidation. "Despite this vile abuse, I’ve never regretted coming forward, and today’s apology from the BBC is a vindication of my complaint. "It’s not just a vindication for me, it’s a vindication for the other people who have contacted me since I made my complaint to express concerns about their own experiences on Strictly Come Dancing. I hope those who have felt unable to speak out now will be more confident that they will be listened to and believed." A timeline of how the Strictly saga has unfoldedAbbington added that the BBC had invited her to meet with senior management and that she would be considering this. "This apology means a great deal to me. So too does the fact that the BBC have acknowledged the steps that were put in place to support and protect me and past contestants were “not enough”. "What matters most now is that lessons have been learned and that the BBC makes the changes they’ve promised, to ensure others don’t experience the same ordeal that I and others like me did." In a statement, Pernice said: ‘I’m glad the review has finally come to an end. I'm relieved that the allegations that I was threatening and abusive were found not to be true. "The majority of the false allegations have been thrown out by the review. It has been an extremely difficult year, reading story after story and not being able to say anything in return as I respected the integrity of the review, which the BBC asked everyone to do." He added that he loved his time on Strictly and made "amazing memories". "I’m grateful to all those who have supported me at this time – I really don’t know how I would have got through this with out the love and belief of my family, friends, colleagues and fans." The BBC announced a string of new measures in July, include introducing chaperones in all rehearsal rooms, as well as including two new welfare producers on the show. Earlier this year, the BBC confirmed that Pernice would not return to the Strictly professional line-up for the new series. The new series of Strictly Come Dancing launched on BBC One earlier this month. Pernice has now joined his native Italy's talent dance show, Ballando con le Stelle.


Has Strictly Come Dancing been tainted by scandal?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg560ljgvv2o, today

Three days into the rehearsals of 2023's Strictly Come Dancing, actress Amanda Abbington complained about her dance partner, Giovanni Pernice. A year later, the BBC apologised to Abbington and upheld verbal bullying and harassment complaints but cleared him of the most serious allegations of physical aggression. Over the summer, other former celebrities made complaints - Zara McDermott reported her partner, Graziano Di Prima, kicked her in rehearsals and junior staff told BBC News that the culture behind-the-scenes was "toxic". So, have these allegations, investigations and exposés tainted the magic of the BBC's biggest show? Nearly a million fewer people tuned into the launch show this year than last, although that is against a backdrop of all TV viewing falling year by year. The BBC's chief content officer, Charlotte Moore, said those first week figures weren't accurate as "people watch in different ways". "A lot of people watch Strictly over the course of a week, so it's absolutely in line with the ratings of last year." She added that she was "really, really happy with the way it's going".

In July, former contestant Rev Richard Coles called Strictly "a wonderful show with a dark heart", but Moore doesn't see it that way. "Strictly has been an absolutely brilliant show, and for the majority of people it's been the most amazing experience," she said. "Our record of duty of care, for everybody going through it, has been fantastic."

'Important you get the right outcome'

The hit BBC show has faced a rocky few months with a number of former celebrity contestants speaking up about their experiences. Alongside Abbington and McDermott, TV presenter Laura Whitmore and paralympian Will Bayley have also spoken out about their experiences on the show. As a result of complaints made, the BBC announced a new set of duty of care measures for the show - production team members are present during training at all times, there are two new welfare support roles and additional training for the professional dancers, production team and crew. But questions have been raised over why the BBC took a year to conclude its investigation into Abbington's complaints. Moore said the production team "dealt with the issues raised with the knowledge that they had at the time", but when it became a formal complaint, an independent review was upheld. "It has taken time because new evidence came to light during that process, but it was thoroughly looked at and was rigorous. "It's really important that you get the right outcome."

'Never watch it again'

Despite the new measures, not everyone felt confident that the show could recover. As the allegations swirled earlier in the summer, some fans said they wouldn’t be watching the show anymore. "Time to call it a day," one told BBC News. "Totally disgraceful behaviour all round. I for one will never watch it again." "We’ve had enough of Strictly. As licence payers we should vote on its future," said another. One person said they were surprised the show was carrying on given the controversy. "Personally I feel that you should not have this year’s contest," they said.

Others previously defended the show, pointing out it has been running for 20 years and has been – for the large part – scandal free, although that was before Monday's report was published. Some suggested that the stories that were emerging earlier this year could just be part of the "rough and tumble of TV". "There is nothing warm and cosy [about working in TV]," wrote one. "It’s deadlines, reshoots, angst but it’s full of adrenaline, adventure and it’s an amazing place to be.” “Strictly runs on incredibly tight deadlines and needs to be run like a tight ship, and I congratulate all the staff who get this done,” said another. On Monday, TV critic Scott Bryan, host of the BBC’s Must Watch podcast, called the Strictly saga a "damaging story" and said viewers really "care whether everyone on television has as good as an experience as the show likes to suggest". He added that only time will tell whether this "will cast a shadow on the current series of the programme and into the future". Pernice is now one of the professional dancers on Italy's version of Strictly after the BBC has "given us a complete green light" to have him on, Ballando con le Stelle's host Milly Carlucci said. However, Moore told the BBC that "it is a matter for them to decide who they want to cast, and it's not a matter for the BBC".

This year’s contestants, for their part, have been keen to draw a line and move on. Speaking at a press event ahead of the launch of the new series, which marks the show's 20th anniversary, 1980s popstar Toyah Willcox said the Strictly team had "done absolutely everything" to make this series a good experience for them. Former Love Islander Tasha Ghouri agreed, saying it was "about moving forward". Meanwhile, DIY SOS presenter Nick Knowles has said it is "important" that complaints are listened to. “And they have been, so that seems to me all good.” As the show got under way earlier this month, there was no mention of any of the controversies by Strictly hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman. That’s perhaps unsurprising. Millions of people watch Strictly to escape – and it might not have felt like the right time to talk about some of the very serious claims that had been made. There was also a warning from the woman behind Strictly, urging critics of the show to “be careful”. "It would be a shame if it was picked apart to death and was allowed to die,” Karen Smith, Strictly's co-creator and first executive producer, told BBC News. "Because journalists, if you keep picking and you keep criticising, you could end up killing the show that you spend weeks and months of the year talking about.” So for now, the show goes on – and that, too, is unsurprising. Strictly is the jewel in the BBC’s crown, and whatever the fluctuations in viewing figures, it remains one of the biggest shows on TV. It’s hard to see what could replace it in that primetime Saturday night slot, especially in the run-up to Christmas, and the BBC will be hoping Monday's report draws a line under a challenging few months.


Wag the Dog to All the President's Men: 10 of the best films about US presidential elections

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240927-10-of-the-best-films-about-us-presidential-elections, today

The tension is building in the race for the White House – and that tension runs through Hollywood's most gripping political dramas, comedies and documentaries.

The current campaign may be the most tumultuous in US history, with a late-in-the-day candidate change and two dramatic debates, along with the possibility (again) of the first woman president. But the race for the White House has intrigued film-makers for decades, with some startling results. Even Frank Capra, the goody-two-shoes of US cinema, cast a sceptical eye on the process. Some films are thinly veiled fictions, others prescient fantasies, but all find themes that go the heart of US democracy and ideals. Here are some of the best presidential election movies, including an under-appreciated gem from Mike Nichols and Elaine May, another starring Ryan Gosling and George Clooney, and a West Wing warm-up from Aaron Sorkin. 

1. Primary Colors (1998) dir Mike Nichols

One of Mike Nichols' best and least-known films, with a glittering screenplay by Elaine May, this satire follows a not-at-all veiled fictional version of Bill Clinton through the primaries on his way to the White House. John Travolta is unlikely but brilliant as Jack Stanton, a Southern governor who can charm his way out of anything. Travolta captures the Clinton charisma as well as the empathetic "I feel your pain" glances without becoming a caricature. Emma Thompson plays his wife, Susan, a Hillary before she had a political career of her own, but whose instincts are as sharp as anyone's. Based on the 1996 novel by the journalist Joe Klein (originally published as Anonymous), the film goes behind the scenes as the campaign tries to dispel rumours – some true, some not – of Stanton's womanising. Adrian Lester, as an idealistic young campaign manager, embodies the theme of lost innocence that runs through so many movies about US elections. The film is also very funny even as it raises one of the fundamental questions of 20th and 21st-Century politics: does a little spin and subterfuge matter if it helps put someone who'll do the best for the US in the White House? Even Lincoln stretched the truth, Stanton argues.

2. All the President's Men (1976) dir Alan J Pakula

One of the great films of our time, All the President's Men is of course front-and-centre about journalism. But take another look as you'll see how much it is also about dirty campaign politics. When Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, as Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, ­track down the truth behind the Watergate break-in and the cover-up that led to Richard Nixon's resignation, much of their investigation leads them to CREEP, the all-too-accurate acronym for the Republicans' Committee to Re-elect the President. That committee's bungled attempt to steal information from the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate building was just the first clue to exposing all sorts of other campaign creepiness from illegal payments to character assassination. Still suspenseful every time you watch it, the film beautifully weaves together many threads about the US. The corruption behind Nixon's 1972 campaign is one of its themes with enduring, cautionary impact.

3. Wag the Dog (1997) dir Barry Levinson

This satire from the 1990s seems timelier than ever now, in the age of artificial intelligence and disputes about what constitutes a fact. Robert De Niro is at his droll best as Conrad Brean, a campaign consultant called in when a story about the president's affair with a young woman breaks two weeks before the election that will keep him in office. (One jaw-dropping aside: the film was released just a month before the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal broke. The Clinton presidency really was a gift to film-makers.) To save the campaign, Brean recruits a Hollywood producer – hilariously played as the ultimate narcissist by Dustin Hoffman – to film evidence of a war with Albania that doesn't really exist. They even find a war hero who wasn't a hero and make him a celebrity. The press buys it, the public buys it and who's to say what's real anymore? The film's portrayal of how politics and Hollywood merge is taken for granted now, but David Mamet's biting screenplay and Barry Levinson's sharp direction hold up perfectly.

4. The War Room (1993) dir DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus

DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus's groundbreaking documentary is based on amazing behind-the-scenes access to Bill Clinton's first run for president in 1992, and stands as the real-life version of Primary Colors. Clinton appears only briefly. The central characters are the strategist James Carville and the communications director, a baby-faced George Stephanopoulos, long before he became a news anchor. A sign on the wall of the campaign office gives us Carville's now famous line about what mattered most: "The Economy. Stupid." Stephanopoulos is seen putting out media fires, including a phone conversation in which he tells a reporter working on a rumour about Clinton that he will look foolish and have no future if he writes that lie, almost making that response sound like a fact not a threat. (That particular rumour has, in fact, long since been discredited.) The film is exhilarating as it captures all the youthful energy of a campaign running on hope and adrenaline.

5. The Best Man (1964) dir Franklin J Schaffner

Gore Vidal's screenplay is firmly in the JFK era, but its take on the machinations to choose a presidential nominee at a split convention still goes to the heart of many issues in campaign politics, including money, promises made in exchange for support and skeletons in the candidates' closets. Henry Fonda plays William Russell, the experienced secretary of state, fondly called an egghead by one of his supporters. "Do you think people mistrust intellectuals like you in politics?" one reporter asks him. Senator Joe Cantwell (Cliff Robertson, who the year before played Kennedy as a war hero in the hagiographic PT-109) is his slick, young, ends-justifies-the means rival. Each candidate has dirt on the other, but will they use it? Vidal takes a jab at the era's homophobia by making one of the secrets the rumour of a gay affair, and complicates the issue when it turns out that one of the rumours is false. The noble ending seems forced, but until then the film remains full of intrigue and soul-searching questions.

6. State of the Union (1948) dir Frank Capra

This strong but little-known Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn drama was directed by Frank Capra, and its sharp-eyed cynicism about the political process makes it one of his least corny films. Tracy plays Grant Matthews, a successful businessman married to Mary (Hepburn) but involved in an affair with a politically ambitious newspaper heiress, Kay Thorndyke, played by Angela Lansbury. Kay wants to use her money and influence to put Grant in the White House, but they'll need Mary to play along as the loyal spouse. Hepburn captures Mary's hurt and disappointment when she realises she's being used as a campaign prop (the spouse as prop is one of the most intractable aspects of running for office). Tracy makes Grant an essentially good man who for a time is co-opted by ambition and political handlers. Like any Capra film, this one an idealistic ending, but its true interest for us today is its clarity about the seductiveness of power and the compromises that go into electing a president.

7. The American President (1995) dir Rob Reiner

If you love The West Wing but wish it were more of a romcom, this is the film for you. Before creating his series, Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay for this Rob Reiner politics-tinged romance about Andrew Shepherd, charmingly played by Michael Douglas, a widowed president and single father running for re-election. When he falls for an environmental lobbyist, Sydney Ellen Wade, played with equal charm by Annette Bening, his advisors tell him to keep her out of the public eye and his rivals start attacking her. Martin Sheen, before he was President Bartlett on The West Wing, plays Shepherd's chief of staff and best friend, and there is a hint of the television series in the wrangling to get votes for Shepherd's crime bill to pass through Congress, along with the question of whether he will jeopardise his re-election by supporting an environmental bill. But the most characteristic Sorkin element is the rosy idealism about the possibility of politics to do some good, an idea that makes this a buoyant outlier among more typical, sceptical 1990s political movies.

8. The Ides of March (2011) dir George Clooney

This dynamic film starring Ryan Gosling and George Clooney, who also directed, didn't make much of an impact when it was released, possibly because its story, with a whiff of the Clinton sex scandals, might have seemed tired during the Obama years. Seen now, it smartly taps into the persistent theme of lost political innocence, with Gosling as Stephen Meyers, a young but savvy campaign strategist, who goes to work for Mike Morris (Clooney) a politically gifted governor running for president. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Stephen's jaded boss and Paul Giamatti is the manager of a rival campaign in a cast that includes Jeffrey Wright and Marisa Tomei. Evan Rachel Wood plays a young Morris intern, and the very mention of that role is enough to hint that you know where the plot is heading. But the gamesmanship among the candidates, and between the campaigns and the press, is so smart and well-played that the predictability hardly matters.

9. Game Change (2012) dir Jay Roach

You might laugh to keep from crying at this fact-based film about how John McCain's campaign chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his 2008 running mate, a cynical, haphazard move that backfired in every possible way. Jay Roach's comedy-of-errors stays close to reality, based on the reported book by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, and at times edits actual reporters and politicians into scenes with the actors. Woody Harrelson plays Steve Schmidt, the strategist who insists that McCain (Ed Harris) has to do something game-changing, like choosing a woman, to have a chance of beating Obama. With time running out, and little vetting, they choose the inexperienced but telegenic Palin. Julianne Moore brings Palin to life with remarkable verisimilitude as she captures her odd inflections of language, and with some sympathy for how far she is out of her depth. She is so clueless about foreign affairs, and for that matter foreign countries, that Nicolle Wallace (Sarah Paulson), the director of communications who is trying to guide her through, just gives up. Sobering yet still a romp, this film might be the only silver lining in the whole Palin debacle.

10. Head of State (2003) dir Chris Rock

The Obama presidency was just a gleam in America's eye when Chris Rock wrote, directed and starred in this comedy as Mays Gilliam, a lowly local politician in Washington, DC who is recruited by the Democrats to run for president when their candidate dies shortly before the election. It's all a ruse: the party politicians want to get credit for running a black candidate, who is sure to lose, while keeping the spot open for one of their own insiders next term. The joke is on them, of course. Mays is a straight-talking guy, in touch with working people and willing to tell them the no-nonsense truth about everything, pointing to inequities and getting crowds to chant, "That ain't right!"  Rock's stand-up comedy is often satiric, but this film is more broadly comic – Bernie Mac plays Mays' loud, brash brother – and more earnest. It echoes the question raised way back in 1948 by State of the Union: can a truth-teller win? Head of State doesn't entirely work. It's distracting when the rapper Nate Dog pops in and out of the film with musical narration. But it is breezy and fun, so ignore that 30 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

11. Bonus Short: Betty Boop for President (1932) dir Dave Fleischer

Back when the very idea of a woman president was preposterous, Betty Boop ran. The cartoon vamp campaigned with a song in this six-and-a-half-minute animated comedy, with promises of ice cream and shared wealth. "Some of you have money / While some are poor, you know," she sings. "If you send me to Washington / I'll just divide the dough." She imagines herself in front of a split Congress, the elephants on one side and the donkeys on the other disagreeing on everything. The short is a delightful little oddity, but honestly, there have been worse candidates.

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Joker: Folie à Deux to Woman of the Hour: 12 of the best films to watch in October 2024

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240926-12-of-the-best-films-to-watch-in-october-2024, today

From Lady Gaga and Joaquin Phoenix pairing up to Anna Kendrick making her directorial debut and a Donald Trump biopic, here are the unmissable movies to see this month.

Woman of the Hour

In 1978, Rodney Alcala was a contestant on a US television game show, The Dating Game, where he "won" a date with another guest, Cheryl Bradshaw. But Alcala was a serial killer who had murdered five women, and had already served two prison sentences for child molestation. This appalling true-crime story is the subject of Anna Kendrick's directorial debut, Woman Of The Hour. Kendrick herself plays Bradshaw, who puts up with all manner of sexist and predatory behaviour as an aspiring actress in Los Angeles before she encounters the "Dating Game Killer" (Daniel Zovatto). "A charming, kitschy 70s-set exploration of gender dynamics quickly gives way to an unnerving, suspenseful stranger-than-fiction tale," says Meagan Navarro at Bloody Disgusting. "Kendrick's incisive vision, blending horror and humour with nonlinear storytelling, makes for an authentic, poignant and unsettling debut." 

Released on 18 October on Netflix internationally

Smile 2

When somebody looks at you with a broad grin on their face, and then kills themselves, that means that a demonic "Smile Entity" has cursed you to do the same thing yourself within a week. That was the premise of Parker Finn's debut feature film, Smile, a supernatural horror movie that cost a mere $17 million (£12.7m), but made $217 million (£162m) at the box office in 2022. Suddenly it was studio executives who had broad grins on their faces, and a sequel was inevitable. Lukas Gage, who co-stars with Naomi Scott, claims that shooting Smile 2 was so frightening that it made him sick. "It was the first time I've ever been on a set where I was genuinely afraid," he said on The Jess Cagle Show. "It was so gory and so disgusting. I'm not even just lying. The crew was terrified filming because Parker Finn knows that genre so well."

Released from 18 October in cinemas internationally

The Last of the Sea Women

For hundreds of years, the all-female haenyeo divers of South Korea's Jeju Island have harvested seafood from the ocean floor by swimming to the depths without oxygen. Their magical yet dangerous lives would have provided enough material for a documentary on their own. But The Last of the Sea Women – which is directed by Sue Kim and produced by Malala Yousafzai – takes an urgent new turn when the Japanese government announces plans to dump radioactive wastewater into the sea, and the divers are forced to become globe-trotting eco-activists. The result is "a sturdy and impeccably warm documentary with a simple assignment: to show you the human cost of environmental disaster and to care about the marginalised communities most directly impacted by it", says Kayleigh Donaldson in Pajiba. "By the end of this film, you're ready to march on the streets with the haenyeo, and root for them to continue their great work for generations to come."

Released on 11 October on Apple TV+ internationally

Nickel Boys

One of the most acclaimed films of 2024, Nickel Boys is adapted from Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which was in turn inspired by real events. Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson star as Elwood and Turner, two inmates in a Florida reform school in 1962. The brutality of the institution extends to the torture and murder of the children there, and only Elwood and Turner's friendship keeps them going. What separates Nickel Boys from previous films set in reform schools is that the director, RaMell Ross, shows events almost entirely from the two friends' perspectives, so the viewer seems to see everything through their eyes. David Ehrlich says in IndieWire that Nickel Boys is "as major and memorable an achievement as any American film this decade... a rare testament to the transformative potential of cinematic adaptation (Ross co-wrote the script with Joslyn Barnes), and a staggeringly beautiful reminder that America's most enduring narratives are only subject to change when people are invited to look at them in a different light". 

Released on 25 October in the US

Venom: The Last Dance

The films in the so-called "Sony's Spider-Man Universe" haven't always done well. To be less tactful about it, Morbius and Madame Web were both disasters. But audiences have taken to one of Spidey's villains-turned-anti-heroes, Venom, largely thanks to Tom Hardy's dual performance as a shambling investigative journalist, Eddie Brock, and the gleefully destructive alien "symbiote" which bonds with him. In the third and final odd-couple blockbuster in the series, giant monsters from the symbiote's home planet land on Earth, so the stakes – and the budget – are higher than ever. "By the third one, we've been given so much creative support to push it," Hardy told Jeff Conway at Forbes. "I think you got to swing for the fences with these things. It's the last one and we want to go out with a bang, and lay the foundations for optionality and possibilities because it's been such a great ride."

Released from 25 October in cinemas internationally

The Outrun

A four-time Oscar nominee, Saoirse Ronan hasn't had a major dramatic role for a few years, but she could be in line for a fifth Oscar nod soon. In November, she is in Steve McQueen's Blitz, and before that she stars in this adaptation of Amy Liptrot's memoir, directed by Nora Fingscheidt. Ronan plays a young biologist who sank into alcoholism while she was studying in London. After a stint in rehab, she returns to her family home in Scotland's remote Orkney Islands. The rugged flora and fauna might aid her recovery, but her divorced parents (Stephen Dillane and Saskia Reeves) might complicate it. "This sometimes devastating, but ultimately hopeful drama... feels bracingly authentic," says Emma Simmonds in The List. "The Outrun might be stunningly shot and alive to the healing power of home, but it's also beautifully unsentimental on Rona's relationships with her family and the local area."

Released on 2 October in France, 4 October in the US, and 5 October in Germany

We Live in Time

If this year's Netflix adaptation of One Day left you hankering for some more British romantic tragicomedy, look no further than We Live in Time, directed by John Crowley (Brooklyn). Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh star as two thirtysomething Londoners – he a breakfast cereal marketer, she an ambitious chef – who have a passionate, rom-com-worthy relationship, until she is diagnosed with ovarian cancer. The twist is that Nick Payne's screenplay keeps cutting between three different periods, so the best of times bump up against the worst of times. Hankies at the ready! "There's an achingly palpable, playful chemistry between Pugh and Garfield that leaps off the screen," says Michael Rechtshaffen in The Hollywood Reporter. "But they also refuse to shy away from letting their characters' less attractive qualities bleed through... seldom has such an unflinchingly honest take on mortality felt so transcendently life-affirming."

Released on 11 October in the US

Anora

The latest screwball comedy-drama from Sean Baker (The Florida Project) won the Palme d'Or, the top prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and it's sure to pick up more trophies throughout awards season. In particular its star, Mikey Madison, deserves to be on every "best actress" shortlist there is. She plays Ani, a Russian-American strip-club dancer who catches the eye of Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn), an oligarch's ridiculously spoilt son. He offers to pay her to be his girlfriend for a week, but Anora is no Pretty Woman-style fairy tale. It's far tougher, earthier, more farcical and more hectic than that – and all the better for it. "Sean Baker's powerful, spirited and rollicking Anora... is nothing short of pure movie magic," says Tomris Laffly at RogerEbert.com. "His smartly interwoven urban machinations make you giggle and inexplicably tear up on repeat (sometimes within the same sequence), while somehow keeping you acutely aware of the sorrow that is bound to rise to the surface."

Released on 18 October in the US

Piece by Piece

Pharrell Williams's biggest single, Happy, was on the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack, so it's appropriate that this documentary about his life and music isn't shot on film or video: it's a cartoon, animated in the style of The Lego Movie. Directed by Morgan Neville (Won't You Be My Neighbor?), Piece By Piece is a... errr... blockumentary, featuring the voices of Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Gwen Stefani, Snoop Dogg and others. They all remember how Pharrell was discovered in Virginia and went on to produce countless pop hits. But they all appear as brightly coloured Lego figurines. "Pharrell's rags-to-riches story is a familiar tale re-energised not just with his unique sound but the basic decision to animate his life," says Radheyan Simonpillai in The Guardian, "so that it can thrive with his imagination and hit so many visual grace notes...  A hilarious, propulsive and disarmingly joyous ride".

Released on 11 October in the US and Canada

Rumours

How would the leaders of the free world fare in a zombie apocalypse? That's the question asked by this delirious political comedy set during a G7 summit. Co-directed by Guy Maddin and Evan and Galen Johnson, the film features Cate Blanchett as the German chancellor and Charles Dance as the US President. Along with their fellow prime ministers and presidents, they lounge around the grounds of a stately home in Germany, attempting to write a joint statement about their grand plans. But then a thick fog descends, and some 2,000-year-old mummified bog people stumble out of the gloom. A joint statement might not be enough to save the day. "The ineffectiveness of rhetorical politics and symbolic diplomacy is kookily but ruthlessly skewered in a wildly entertaining shaggy-dog satire," says Guy Lodge in Variety, "scoring consistent belly-laughs with a mixture of broad goofball gags, puckish surrealism and more pointedly topical critique".

Released on 18 Oct in the US

The Apprentice

The year's most provocative film, The Apprentice chronicles how a certain Mr Donald J Trump became a real-estate mogul in New York in the 1970s and 1980s. As played by Sebastian Stan, the young Donald is a bumbling naif who doesn't know how to realise his sky-high ambitions until he meets Roy Cohn, a proudly vicious attorney played by Jeremy Strong (Succession). Ali Abbasi has directed an "entertainingly salacious tragicomedy [that] charts that master-pupil dynamic in forensic detail," says Phil de Semlyen in Time Out. But your opinion of the film will depend on your opinion of Trump. The Apprentice, says de Semlyen, "is either an inspiring Secret of My Success tale of bromance, entrepreneurship and reinvention or a gruesome origin story for a capitalist goblin who sheds his few human qualities in pursuit of the mighty dollar, depending on who's watching".

Released on 11 October in the US and Canada, and 18 October in the UK

Joker: Folie à Deux

In 2019, Todd Phillips' Joker turned the superhero movie on its head. Not only was the film about a supervillain (played by Joaquin Phoenix, who won a best actor Oscar), but it was a gritty urban psychodrama which detailed the protagonist's anguished despair. The sequel ventures even further from typical Batman blockbuster territory. Joker: Folie à Deux is almost all set within the walls of an asylum and a courtroom, and when Arthur/ Joker starts singing and dancing with Harleen Quinzel/ Harley Quinn (Lady Gaga), the film turns into a full-blown musical. "Folie à Deux is just as edgy and disturbing as its forerunner," says Geoffrey Macnab in The Independent, "replicating the idea of modern American cities as terrifying powder kegs perpetually on the cusp of explosion. This ingenious and deeply unsettling film rejects comic-book conventions in favour of psychological depth. The genius of it is that we can't help but care for Arthur, even during the film's most apocalyptic and violent moments."

Released from 4 October in cinemas internationally

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Rivals to The Diplomat: 11 of the best TV shows to watch this October

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240923-11-of-the-best-tv-shows-to-watch-this-october, today

From an adaptation of Jilly Cooper's sex-and-scandal-filled novel to a superhero movie-making satire and the return of Netflix's gripping political drama.

1. Joan 

Sophie Turner, still best known as Sansa Stark on Game of Thrones, stars as the real-life 1980s jewel thief Joan Hannington in a series based on Hannington's memoir I Am What I Am. As a single mother just out of a bad marriage, Hannington turned to a life of crime, starting out with what became a signature move: swallowing diamonds. Ouch, but also lucrative. The show is full of 1980s colour and fashion as Joan uses various disguises to slip in and out of jewellery stores, and becomes a player in London's crime world. Some real-life names have been changed, but writer Anna Symon (Mrs Wilson and The Essex Serpent) had the cooperation of Hannington herself.

Joan premieres 29 September on ITV and ITVX in the UK and 2 October on The CW in the US 

2. The Franchise

Armando Iannucci, creator of the classic satires Veep and The Thick Of It, is known for humour. Sam Mendes, director of films including 1917 and Skyfall, is not. But together (along with writer Jon Brown) they concocted this comedy about the behind-the-scenes chaos of a film crew making a superhero movie, with Mendes directing the first episode. Daniel Brühl plays the director, an arty type slumming to make Tecto, about a guy whose superpower is creating earthquakes. The main character, though, is the put-upon assistant director played by Himesh Patel, who tries fruitlessly to keep things under control. Richard E Grant also appears as a theatre actor who looks down his nose at the film while wearing the cheesiest costume, a purple and gold tunic with a cape. "In the UK, you can't move without bumping into an actor who has spent the last 18 months trapped in a small green room pretending to wrestle with aliens and being paid very well while going quite mad," Iannucci told The Hollywood Reporter.

The Franchise premieres 6 October on HBO and Max in the US and 21 October on Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK

3. La Máquina

Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna were boyhood friends in Mexico even before starring in Y Tu Mamá También 23 years ago, and have often been producing partners since. They are together again on screen in this story of a one-time champion and now struggling boxer Esteban Osuna (García Bernal), known as La Máquina or The Machine. Luna, in heavy prosthetics, plays his best friend and manager, Andy Lujan, a man who has had so many cosmetic procedures he looks botoxed to within an inch of his life. Andy is determined to give Esteban one last fight, but the criminal underworld may get in the way. This is Hulu's first Spanish-language series, and anyone who saw García Bernal and Luna present in Spanish at the recent Emmy awards will know what the language means to them. "Spanish is our homeland," García Bernal told Vanity Fair.

La Máquina premieres 9 October on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK

4. Sweetpea

Ella Purnell has been stranded in the woods after a plane crash in Yellowjackets, and survived in a post-apocalyptic world in Fallout, but she takes fate into her own hands as the title character in this dark comedy. Purnell plays Rhiannon, a wallflower who was bullied at school, is now underestimated at the office, and generally fed up with being viewed as a little mouse. Exploding in a burst of Carrie-level rage, she becomes a serial killer. The show is based on a series of novels by CJ Skuse. The tagline on the cover of the first book sets the tone and says it all: "The last person who called me Sweetpea ended up dead."

Sweetpea premieres 10 October on Starz in the US and Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK

5. Disclaimer  

The great Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Roma) writes and directs all seven episodes of this high-profile drama starring Cate Blanchett as a woman whose secret past might be exposed. Blanchett plays Catherine Ravenscroft, a respected journalist, and Kevin Kline is her neighbour, Stephen Brigstocke. His wife, Nancy (Lesley Manville) recently passed away, leaving behind a supposedly fictional manuscript that portrays a scandalous, thinly-veiled Catherine. As the series flashes back and forth in time to replay events from the past, it raises the timely issues of truth and perception. Will Stephen publish the book and destroy Catherine's life? How much reality is there in the fiction? Sacha Baron Cohen plays Catherine's husband, and Kodi Smit-McPhee is their troubled son in the series, based on Renée Knight's 2015 bestseller. As always, Cuarón's visuals promise to be stunning, with cinematography by his frequent collaborator Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity) and Bruno Delbonnel (Amélie).

Disclaimer premieres 11 October on Apple TV+ internationally

6. Shrinking

He may be in a supporting role, but Harrison Ford continues to give us some of the funniest line deliveries and wry glances on television in this returning dramedy, one of 2023's best, which picks up where the last season left off. The scene-stealing Ford plays Paul, a therapist in practice with Jimmy (Jason Segel) whose unconventional approach had led one of his patients (Heidi Gardner) to push her husband off a cliff, which is why he has to visit her in prison. Closer to home, Paul deals with Parkinson's disease, his relationship with Julie (Wendie Malick), and trying to steer Jimmy away from his many bad choices. Jessica Williams returns as Jimmy's late wife's best friend whom he has been having an affair with, and Luke Tennie plays Sean, the patient with PTSD who lives with him. Brett Goldstein (Ted Lasso), who created the show along with Ted Lasso co-creator Bill Lawrence and Segel, pops up on screen this season too, as a character whounsettles Jimmy.

Shrinking premieres 16 October on Apple TV+ internationally

7. Rivals  

As recently as last year, Jilly Cooper was still turning out her popular, pulpy novels, releasing her latest, Tackle! at the age of 86. Rivals is based on her 1988 book, the second in the well-named Rutshire Chronicles series, and is full of her trademark mix of sex, money and chicanery, with hints of Dallas and Dynasty-era soapiness. David Tennant plays Lord Tony Baddingham, the director of Corinium television, and Alex Hassell (season one of The Boys) plays his neighbour and rival, the rakish Tory politician Rupert Campbell-Black. Aidan Turner plays Declan O'Hara, a TV presenter who regrets making a deal with Corinium, and Danny Dyer (EastEnders) is Freddie Jones, a self-made millionaire who doesn't fit in with the aristocrats. The trailer has champagne corks popping and Turner with a retro moustache. "We have so much sex on our show, we have to have two intimacy coaches," Turner has said. "Two!"

Rivals premieres 18 October on Hulu in the US and on Disney+ in the UK

8. The Office

Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant created what seems like a foolproof template in 2001 with the original British series The Office. A dozen subsequent versions from different countries have followed, including nine seasons of the US show, but never before a female boss. This Australian instalment takes care of that, with comedian Felicity Ward as Hannah Howard, the managing director of packaging company Flinley Craddick. Every familiar character has a counterpart. The obsequious Gareth (UK)/ Dwight (US) is a woman here, and Hannah pats herself on the back for supporting female employees, saying with perfect David Brent cringiness, "Oh, my back hurts from carrying all my sisters, all the time. Oww." There is an Australian Tim-and-Dawn (UK)/ Pam-and-Jim (US). And the mockumentary format remains, with one character saying to the camera, "This is a proper HR nightmare." It always is.

The Office premieres 18 October on Amazon Prime internationally, excluding the US

9. Hysteria!

This Halloween-timed satire is set in the late 1980s, a more innocent – or gullible – time, when parents worried that their Goth children were actually influenced by the devil. Julie Bowen (Modern Family) and Anna Camp (Pitch Perfect) head the game ensemble as residents of small-town Happy Hollow, where some high school students in a flailing garage band try to capitalise on the Satan trend. They brand themselves as a heavy metal group that sounds like a breakfast cereal, Deth Krunch, and are soon suspects in crimes around town, including murders. Bruce Campbell, of the Evil Dead franchise, is also in the cast, and his presence is enough to hint at some devilish activity. Is Satan's influence real, or is Bowen's character paranoid when she sees his face appear in the glass of her microwave, only to have the tomato sauce inside explode?

Hysteria! premieres 18 October on Peacock

10. Before

We know that Billy Crystal can play a therapist in a comedy. He was the doctor who helped Robert De Niro's mob character through his anxiety in Analyze This (1999) and Analyze That (2002). But this time he's serious in a psychological thriller that takes a supernatural turn. Crystal plays Eli Adler, a child psychologist whose wife (Judith Light, seen in flashbacks) has recently killed herseldf. One of his patients is Noah (Jacobi Jupe), a boy who turns out to have a mysterious connection to Eli's past. Rosie Perez is also in the cast. Apple TV+ isn't giving away much more than that, but maybe Crystal's name is enough to pique interest. The show was created by Sarah Thorp, who wrote the Gerard Butler-Jennifer Aniston film The Bounty Hunter. Oscar-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) is among the writers and executive producers.

Before premieres 25 October on Apple TV+ internationally

11. The Diplomat

Keri Russell returns as Kate Wyler, the US Ambassador to the UK, in a show that ended with an explosion and a cliff-hanger. Did the car bomb that went off kill her husband, Hal (Rufus Sewell), whom she was very close to divorcing? Netflix itself has given up this spoiler: Hal lives, and Sewell is back along with David Gyasi as the UK Foreign Secretary, whose simmering personal chemistry with Kate is unmistakable and tantalising. Allison Janney guest stars as the US Vice President, who arrives in London worried that Kate is after her job. Kate never did want to be the Ambassador. This always engrossing show continues to explore the back-channel manoeuvres on both sides of the US-UK special relationship, smartly combining politics and melodrama. Kate has learned that the UK Prime Minister himself was behind an attack on a British aircraft carrier, and grapples with that knowledge while navigating her rocky marriage.  

The Diplomat premieres 31 October on Netflix internationally

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11 of the best TV shows to watch this September

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240828-11-of-the-best-tv-shows-to-watch-this-september, today

From Marvel's witchy new series Agatha All Along to the return of Slow Horses and a new Nicole Kidman domestic thriller on Netflix.

1. English Teacher

It was only a matter of time before the hit Abbott Elementary made shows about teachers seem like the next big workplace comedies. Brian Jordan Alvarez makes the leap from web star to mainstream sitcom creator with this series, which he created and stars in as Evan Marquez, a high school English teacher in Austin, Texas. The twist is that English Teacher plunges headlong into themes of social awareness and cancel culture. At the start, Evan is being investigated for kissing Malcolm, his ex-boyfriend and a former teacher at the school, in front of students. Television veteran Enrico Colantoni (Veronica Mars and Just Shoot Me) plays the school principal, but this show belongs to Alvarez, who has created so many characters on TikTok and YouTube that Vulture has tried to define "The BJA Extended Universe". Indiewire ranked his Gay and Wondrous Life of Celeb Gallo the Best Web Series of 2016, ahead of runner-up Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

English Teacher premieres 2 September on FX and 3 September on Hulu in the US

2. Slow Horses

What took the Emmys so long? Last year's third season of this sly, endlessly enjoyable spy drama – full of action, heart and beguiling performances – has earned the show its first ever, richly-deserved nominations. They include best drama, as well as acting nods for Gary Oldman for his role as Jackson Lamb, the brilliant and self-destructive head of a team of MI5 reprobates derisively called the Slow Horses, Jack Lowden as the fearless agent River Cartwright, and Jonathan Pryce as River's grandfather. The new, fourth season takes off with a terror attack in London at rush hour, and never slows down in intensity. Based on Spook Street, the fourth in Mick Herron's series of Slough House novels, the series brings in Hugo Weaving as a criminal with a secret connection to the Slow Horses. Kristin Scott Thomas returns as the unflappable MI5 head Diana Taverner, and Pryce is better than ever at the centre of a heartbreaking plot that is sure to play out more in the fifth season, which is already being shot. 

Slow Horses premieres 4 September on Apple TV+ internationally

3. The Perfect Couple

Murder and marriage were a potent combination for Nicole Kidman and director Susanne Bier in the enticing 2020 HBO series The Undoing. They team up again in this similarly themed Netflix series based on Elin Hilderbrand's novel. Kidman plays a mystery novelist, Greer Garrison Winburg, and Liev Schreiber is her husband, Tag, who are hosting their son's wedding on their Nantucket estate. Eve Hewson (Bad Sisters) plays the bride-to-be, Amelia, who might be having doubts even before a dead body is discovered on the beach, and Meghann Fahy (The White Lotus) plays Amelia's best friend. The rest of the large cast of suspects includes Dakota Fanning, Sam Nivola, Jack Reynor and Billy Howle as the Winburg children and Isabelle Adjani as a family friend. Take it as a plot clue that the song played in the trailer, Can't Take My Eyes Off You, includes the conspicuous line "You're just too good to be true". The great Bier (the series The Night Manager and the film In a Better World) directs all six episodes.

The Perfect Couple premieres 5 September on Netflix internationally

4. Colin from Accounts

The Australian romcom, which landed on BBC Culture's list of the best TV shows of  2023, returns with new complications for Ashley and Gordon, the on-off couple who met when she flashed him while he was driving and he hit the title character, the border terrier they agreed to co-parent. They broke up then reconciled at the end of the last series, and now have to try to get Colin back from the new owners who took him in. Real-life couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall, who play Ashley and Gordon, also created and write the show. "It doesn't matter how close to the bone it is," Brammall told EW about using their own experience. "If it's awkward, and as long as it's funny, we have to use it." Awkward and funny is the very definition of the series' droll, off-kilter humour, and a source of its ongoing appeal. 

Colin from Accounts premieres 3 September on BBC Two in the UK and 26 September on Paramount+ in the US

5. Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos

This deep dive into The Sopranos, one of the best series ever made, is built around a long interview with its creator, David Chase, but it is much more than a time capsule. Director Alex Gibney (whose penetrating documentaries include subjects as different as Paul Simon and the Enron scandal) talks to Chase on a set that duplicates Dr Melfi's office from the show, with Gibney taking Melfi's place and Chase in Tony's chair. Chase recalls the genesis of the show and the surprises he encountered during the series' run, backed by personal photos. Tony's lethal mother, Livia, is famously based on Chase's own mother, but here we see what she looked like and hear his surprise that others in the crew had similarly awful parents. The two-parter includes memories from cast members Edie Falco, Michael Imperioli, Steve Van Zandt and Lorraine Bracco. Among one of the more touching revelations, Chase says that he had planned to have Tony kill Livia in the first season, but the late Nancy Marchand, who played her, was suffering from cancer and said to him, "David, just keep me working." So he did.

Wise Guy: David Chase and The Sopranos premieres 7 September on HBO and Max in the US

6. My Brilliant Friend

The characters in this adaptation of Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels have been called "the most magnetically sad Italians on television". They have now reached the show's last instalment, based on Ferrante's fourth and final book in the series, The Story of the Lost Child. The story, which started with friends Elena and Lila as adolescents in the 1950s in their small town, has followed them through adulthood and motherhood, as their fraught, lifetime relationship has weathered jealousies and betrayals. The plot here picks up in the late 1980s. Alba Rohrwacher, who has always been the narrative voice of Elena, takes over the role on screen. A successful writer, Elena returns to her native town, leaving behind her husband and children, to be with her first and enduring love, the faithless Nino (Fabrizio Gifuni). Irene Maiorino plays Lila, now a tech entrepreneur, but still entangled with the Solaris crime family.

My Brilliant Friend premieres 9 September on HBO in the US

7. How to Die Alone

Even if Natasha Rothwell's name doesn't seem familiar, her face probably does. She was touching as Belinda, the spa technician in the first season of The White Lotus, and funny as Issa's friend Kelli on Insecure. Now she has created and stars in her own show, a comedy that is pointedly about how not to die sad and lonely. She plays Mel, who drives a cart at JFK airport, and starts out as a sad sack who says of her own situation, "I'm broke, my love life is a joke, I work at an airport and I'm afraid to fly". A near-death experience points her in a new direction, but the path isn't straightforward – it's more like that of a self-driving floor cleaner. "A Roomba has to hit walls in order to clean up the area," Rothwell has said. "Mel is a human Roomba that has awakened." Conrad Ricamora of How to Get Away With Murder (another familiar face if not name) plays Mel's self-absorbed friend, Rory, and Jocko Sims is Alex, her boss and ex-boyfriend.

How to Die Alone premieres 13 September on Hulu in the US

8. Agatha All Along

Fans of the Disney+ series WandaVision and of Kathryn Hahn ­– two enthusiastic, overlapping groups – have been waiting for this spinoff. As WandaVision ended, Wanda Maximoff had stripped the witch Agatha Harkness (Hahn) of her powers, condemning her to live an ordinary life as Agnes, the annoying neighbour who had caused all the trouble in town. In her own show, with a tone of playful Halloween horror, Agatha is determined to win back her powers, with help from a new coven, which includes Patti LuPone as Lilia Calderu, a 450-year-old Sicilian witch, and Aubrey Plaza as the unfiltered Rio Vidal. Joe Locke (Netflix's Heartstopper) plays a Goth teen who encourages Agatha. Locke told Empire he considers the show "an adventure series", but few adventure stories also have musical numbers, with original songs by Frozen composers Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, who also wrote the WandaVision song that gives Agatha All Along its title. 

Agatha All Along premieres 18 September on Disney+ internationally

9. A Very Royal Scandal

In the recent film Scoop, with Gillian Anderson and Rufus Sewell, we've already seen one dramatised version of the story behind the famous 2019 BBC interview with Prince Andrew about his friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and alleged sexual encounters with the teenaged Virginia Giuffre. His answers were so disastrous they led to his retreating from public life and eventually losing his royal duties. This three-part Prime Video series has more room to go behind the scenes, this time with Michael Sheen as Andrew and Ruth Wilson as the journalist Emily Maitlis. The real Maitlis is an executive producer here, and we see her family life as well as her determination and jitters about the interview. Sheen may not look like the prince, but he creates a sharply-drawn, vivid character, a man so self-important and shielded by privilege that he is utterly clueless about how the public will react to him. The series veers into The Crown territory by imagining conversations behind closed royal doors, with a terrific cast that includes Joanna Scanlan as Andrew's Private Secretary, Amanda Thirsk, Alex Jennings as the Queen's Private Secretary, Claire Rushbrook as Sarah Ferguson and Honor Swinton Byrne as Princess Beatrice.

A Very Royal Scandal premieres 18 September on Amazon Prime Video internationally

10. The Penguin

We've had two years since the film The Batman to get used to the idea that Colin Farrell is buried under all those prosthetics and a heavy New York accent as The Penguin. But just in case, one trailer for his spin-off series has Farrell with his usual face introducing it. Matt Reeves, who directed the film, is an executive producer on the series, one of the season's most anticipated. The story picks up soon after Gotham was flooded at the end of The Batman, and charts how Oswald Cobblepot, The Penguin, came to rule the crime world. Farrell's character is darker and less cartoonish than any other Penguin, and the series' showrunner, Lauren LeFranc, has compared the show to classic crime stories. She has said that Reeves created the concept, "this Scarface story – a rise to power", and "I turned it into a psychological character study of this man."

The Penguin premieres 19 September on HBO in the US and 20 September on Sky Atlantic in the UK

11. Grotesquerie

This show's instant pop-culture lure might come from the acting debut, in a so-far secret role, of Travis Kelce, known for American football and even more for his appearances at girlfriend Taylor Swift's side. Maybe lower your expectations, though; he is just a blip in the trailer for this series from Ryan Murphy. Almost any of Murphy's shows, all those American Horror and American Crime stories, might qualify as grotesqueries. This one ­stars Niecy Nash-Betts as Detective Lois Tryon, who suspects she has a personal connection to a string of murders in her small town. The always-great Lesley Manville plays a character called Nurse Redd, which already sounds creepy. Courtney B Vance is Lois's husband. And she is helped in her investigation by Sister Megan (Micaela Diamond), a nun who is also a journalist. Nun-journalist is not usually a thing, but then Murphy's series revel in being over the top. They also revel in a theme that runs through this show: good v some especially weird, supernatural kind of evil. Good luck counting all the crosses in that trailer.

Grotesquerie premieres 25 September on FX in the US

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Beetlejuice Beetlejuice to Wolfs: 11 of the best films to watch in September

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240819-beetlejuice-beetlejuice-to-wolfs-11-of-the-best-films-to-watch-in-september, today

As Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder return to an 80s classic and Brad Pitt and George Clooney pair up again in a comedy thriller, here are the unmissable movies to see this month.

Apollo 13: Survival

In April 1970, an oxygen tank exploded on Nasa's Apollo 13 moon rocket. The incredible story of how the three astronauts made it back to Earth has already been told in the Ron Howard film starring Tom Hanks as Commander Jim Lovell. (Incidentally, the film's screenplay changed Lovell's understated comment from "Houston, we've had a problem," to "Houston, we have a problem.") Now a Netflix documentary tells the story in more detail, from the perspectives of the astronauts, their families and the mission controllers. According to Wendy Ide in Screen Daily, the documentary is a "white-knuckle viewing experience [that] benefits from access to a wealth of previously little-seen material, including the home videos of the Lovell family". The director, Peter Middleton, "uses a combination of archive audio, film footage and photography, blended with later interviews of key figures and some new footage to create a gripping, edge-of-the-cockpit reconstruction of the eventful mission".

Released on 5 September on Netflix internationally

Speak No Evil

As the summer holidays come to an end, this sadistic Blumhouse chiller suggests that that might be for the best. Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy play an American couple who are travelling around Europe when they are befriended by a British couple played by James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi. The Americans accept the Brits' invitation to stay with them in their remote country cottage, but the visit becomes very uncomfortable very quickly. The trouble is that the Americans may be too polite to complain about their hosts' intimidating behaviour until it's too late. Speak No Evil is a remake of a Danish film from 2022, which Tomris Laffly described in Harper's Bazaar as a "grueling (but in a good way), lean and mean genre outing [that] will drive you into madness". Could the new version be even nastier?

Released from 12 September in the UK and 13 September internationally

The Goldman Case

This is a golden age of French courtroom dramas, with Anatomy of A Fall and Saint Omer winning awards all around the world. The latest example is based on the true story of Pierre Goldman, a far-left militant who was convicted of a double murder in 1974. In 1975, Goldman (Arieh Worthalter) is back in court to appeal against his conviction, but this time he turns his trial into a campaign against the state's racism, antisemitism and corruption. Directed by Cédric Kahn, The Goldman Case was nominated for eight Cesars (France's equivalent of the Oscars), and Worthalter won the best actor prize. The film is defined by his "galvanizing, near-feral lead performance," says Guy Lodge in Variety. "Once Goldman's blood is up in the courtroom, the drama kicks into high gear, as the trial extends beyond the question of his innocence and toward a scathing inquiry into institutional corruption and injustice."

Released on 20 September in the UK and Ireland

The Wild Robot

There's a live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch due out next year, but the director of the original film, Chris Sanders, has been busy with another sci-fi cartoon about a space-age visitor to a verdant beauty spot. Adapted from the children's books by Peter Brown, The Wild Robot tells the tale of Roz (voiced by Lupita Nyong'o), a robot who is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island - or uninhabited by humans, anyway. The denizens of this unspoilt wilderness are animals voiced by Pedro Pascal, Catherine O'Hara, Mark Hamill and Bill Nighy, who teach Roz how to function with no technology around her. "It's much more complex than simply a machine that gains emotion," Sanders said in The Wrap. "It is much more interesting and complex and emotionally resonant. Roz understands a lot, but she doesn't really understand it dimensionally. She knows what the definition of things are. But she has no experience of those things. And the gaining of that experience makes her more dimensional."

Released on 27 September in the US, Canada and Finland, and on 18 October in the UK and Ireland

His Three Daughters

Azazel Jacobs' sharp and sensitive comedy drama currently has a rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes – i.e. every review is positive – partly because Jacobs has given such multi-layered roles to actresses who thoroughly deserve them: Carrie Coon from The Leftovers and Gone Girl; Elizabeth Olsen, who is best known as the Scarlet Witch in the Avengers films; and Natasha Lyonne, who currently stars in Poker Face. They play a trio of estranged sisters who are forced to spend time in the same New York apartment to care for their terminally ill father. His Three Daughters is "a ruthless, humane and darkly funny story... that grapples with the ugliness of grief and comes out with as happy an ending as a shattering death might bring," says Katy Puchko in Mashable. "It's chaotic, charismatic and ultimately cathartic. Don't miss it."

Released on 6 September in the US, and on 20 September on Netflix internationally

The Substance

A snazzy Hollywood satire spliced with a gleefully icky body-horror movie, The Substance gives Demi Moore her best role in decades. Boldly parodying her own public image, she plays Elisabeth Sparkle, an erstwhile Hollywood A-lister who now hosts a daytime aerobics TV show. When her sexist boss (Dennis Quaid) fires her so that he can bring in a younger presenter, Elisabeth pays a mysterious company to manufacture a clone (Margaret Qualley) of herself as she was in her twenties. But, like Doctor Jekyll, she soon learns that splitting yourself into two people can have gruesome consequences. Written, produced and directed by Coralie Fargeat, The Substance is a "genuinely disgusting, but wildly entertaining and even thoughtful... horror movie," says Phil de Semlyen in Time Out. "The final reel, in particular, is here for anyone who felt that The Fly's skin-crawlingly gory climax was a little restrained."

Released on 19 September in Australia and 20 September in the UK and US

Lee

Lee Miller was celebrated as a fashion model and photographer in New York, a muse and collaborator of Picasso and Man Ray in Paris and a war photographer during World War Two, so it's no wonder that when her son wrote Miller's biography, he used a plural in the title, The Lives of Lee Miller. Now that biography has been turned into a biopic, produced by its Miller-lookalike star, Kate Winslet. "In a lifetime of well-chosen roles, this may be her richest," says the BBC's Caryn James. "She gives us a restless, fierce, independent woman who found her voice as a witness to war, and paid the psychological price... Ellen Kuras [the director], who worked with her on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, shapes the film with supreme authority and intelligent choices at every turn." Winslet's co-stars include Marion Cotillard, Andrea Riseborough, Josh O'Connor and Andy Samberg.

Released on 13 September in the UK and Ireland, and on 27 September in the US, Norway and Sweden

Wolfs

A must-see for fans of middle-aged male handsomeness, Wolfs is a vehicle for George Clooney and Brad Pitt, who previously teamed up in Ocean's Eleven and its sequels. In their new comedy thriller, Clooney plays a super-cool mercenary who specialises in cleaning up grisly crime scenes before the authorities get wind of them. He likes to think that he's uniquely qualified to do this specific job – he's a lone wolf, if you will – but then Pitt's character is booked for the same assignment as he is, and the two of them are forced to work together. Wolfs is written and directed by Jon Watts, who made the Tom Holland Spider-Man films, and he is apparently preparing a sequel already. "It was a great shoot and Jon is an extraordinarily talented guy who's also really joyful," Clooney said in Deadline. "We had a blast doing it and we've seen it. It's an off-the-charts great film."

Released on 20 September in the US, the UK, Ireland, Canada and Spain, and on 27 September on AppleTV+

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

It's been 36 years since Michael Keaton starred in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a troublemaking "bio-exorcist" from beyond the grave. Since then, Betelgeuse (to give him his proper name) has popped up in video games, a musical and an animated TV series, but Keaton and Burton kept putting off making a sequel. "We thought, 'You got to get this right," Keaton told People Magazine. "'Otherwise, just don't do it. Let's just go on with our lives and do other things.' So I was hesitant and cautious, and [Burton] was probably equally as hesitant and cautious over all these years." Now at last Betelgeuse is back in another zany supernatural comedy, along with his human frenemies, Lydia and Delia Deetz, played by Winona Ryder and Catherine O'Hara. Jenna Ortega joins the cast as Lydia's teenage daughter, Astrid, who accidentally brings the tricky demon back to our world from the afterlife.

Released from 6 September internationally

Megalopolis

Francis Ford Coppola first started telling journalists about Megalopolis more than 40 years ago, but, as the decades went by, most of us assumed that his philosophical science-fiction saga would never actually get made. Kudos to the 85-year-old writer-director, then, for proving us wrong. By funding the production with a reported $120m of his own money, he has finally completed his long-planned fable of political intrigue and radical architecture in the city of New Rome, with a cast that includes Adam Driver, Shia LaBeouf, Aubrey Plaza and Dustin Hoffman. But was Megalopolis worth the long wait and the eye-watering expense? Personally, I thought it was a disaster, but some critics loved it. "It's a work of art that actively practises what it preaches," says David Jenkins in Little White Lies, "a celebration of unfettered creativity and farsightedness that offers a volcanic fusion of hand-crafted neo-classicism while running through a script of toe-tapping word-jazz that merrily dances between the raindrops of logic and coherence."

Released on 27 September in the US, the UK, Canada, Ireland, Spain and Sweden

Released on 27 September in the US, the UK, Canada, Ireland, Spain and Sweden

The Front Room

Robert Eggers is one of the most revered names in contemporary horror thanks to such distinctively disturbing period dramas as The Witch and The Lighthouse. He sometimes works with his brothers, Max and Sam – Max co-wrote The Lighthouse – and now those brothers have written and directed a horror film of their own. Adapted from a short story by Susan Hill (The Woman in Black), The Front Room stars Brandy Norwood as a pregnant woman who hopes that she and her husband (Andrew Burnap) will inherit some money from his aged and infirm stepmother (Kathryn Hunter). They invite the old woman to live with them, and they try to ignore the small fact that their new houseguest is a racist religious fanatic. But it's possible that the wicked stepmother is even more dangerous and sinister than that suggests...

Released on 6 September in the US and Canada, 20 September in Spain and 25 October in the UK

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'It is a kind of marriage': When Denmark held the first ever same-sex civil unions

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240926-when-denmark-held-the-first-ever-same-sex-civil-unions, today

Denmark became the world's first country to offer legal recognition of gay partnerships on 1 October 1989, and the BBC was there to film the ceremonies – recording a day when "something shifted in human affairs".

In 2024 it might seem unremarkable in many parts of the world, but in 1989 it was a plunge into the unknown. Denmark's parliament passed a law in May of that year that allowed gay people to enter registered partnerships. Five months later, 11 couples arrived suited and booted at Copenhagen's city hall to take part in a civil ceremony unlike any that had gone before. It wasn't quite the same step as marriage, but it was a giant leap for equality.

The very idea was so unusual at the time that the BBC's religion and ethics programme, Heart of the Matter, was on hand to film the proceedings. Joan Bakewell, the programme's presenter, summarised the debate: "What lies at the heart of the matter is if one country ceases to regard marriage as solely between one man and one woman, how does that affect the way the rest of us think of it? And if one country in Europe can pass such a law, wouldn't it eventually affect Britain?" It would take another 16 years for her second question to be answered. 

The ceremony itself was in many ways just like a regular wedding. The couples entered a small room and were asked by the mayor if they wanted to be in partnership with each other. The first couple to sign on the dotted line were Axel and Eigil Axgil, who had lived together for 41 years. The veteran gay rights campaigners had in the past endured discrimination and ill-treatment. In 1948, the men – using their original names Axel Lundahl-Madsen and Eigil Eskildsen – founded the Danish Gay and Lesbian Association. Legal recognition of their partnership had been a long time coming. Upon their civil union, they combined their names into a new surname, Axgil.

The second of 11 couples entering civil partnerships that day were Ivan Larsen, an ordained minister of the Lutheran church, and psychologist Ove Carlsen. Mr Larsen said he felt so happy that he could allow himself "to have the same feeling as everyone else who is going to be married". He told the BBC: "It's the first time in world history it has been made possible for gays and lesbians – not to be married, because we are not allowed to use the word 'marriage' – but we are allowed to have our partnership registered with the same rights, except for a few things that the heterosexuals have. It is a kind of marriage. It means that now we are recognised not only as singles, but also as couples. That is extraordinary."

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The civil partnerships differed in three significant ways from heterosexual marriage: at least one partner had to be a Danish citizen, couples were not allowed to adopt children and the union could not be registered in a church. As a priest, however, Mr Larsen saw their union as much the same as a traditional Christian marriage. "I think that when two people are in love with each other and they want to spend the rest of the life together, then it is a marriage blessed by God. Whether they are saying 'I do' in the church, at a town hall or in a private room, it's a Christian marriage, and God is blessing it."

The Aids crisis in the 1980s had made same-sex partnerships more of a pressing issue, according to Dorthe Jacobsen of the Danish Gay and Lesbian Association. She said that when her organisation came forward to offer help to the authorities in reaching out to gay men, "that really started the people in parliament talking to us". She added: "It meant they started to realise what kind of lives we had, and of course when you talk to people, they get to know you. They find out that you're not a pervert. They find out that you have a very similar life to them."

Leading the way 

For Theodor Jørgensen, a theology professor at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark had taken an important step in leading by example. "Some societies have to make the first step and to take the risk. All the homosexuals in all the countries over the world will come to their governments and say, 'Look what they have done in Denmark – we should try to do the same thing here, and what are your objections to it?'"

Northern European countries would lead the way in recognising same-sex unions. Norway, Sweden and Iceland all enacted similar legislation to Denmark in 1996, while Finland followed suit six years later. The Netherlands became the first country to offer full civil marriage rights to gay couples in 2001. The UK held its first civil partnership ceremonies in 2005. In 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was a legal right across the United States. To date, there are 36 countries where same-sex marriage is legal.

At the end of the 1989 documentary, Bakewell observed: "Something has shifted in human affairs. It began here in Denmark with a few couples on a sunny Sunday in October, where marriage and partnerships now live side-by-side. The rest of the world is watching." 

In 2012, Denmark went one step further and legalised gay marriage. To mark the occasion, Mr Larsen and Mr Carlsen held a blessing of their union in a church. Looking back in 2014 in an interview with the BBC's World Service, Mr Larsen said that Denmark's legalisation of same-sex partnerships had an enormous effect on normalising gay relationships. "In fact, I sometimes think it has been so normal that it isn't worth discussing," he laughed.

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'An unmistakable stab at the USSR': Could Amadeus be the most misunderstood Oscar winner ever?

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240926-could-amadeus-be-the-most-misunderstood-oscar-winner-ever, today

Released 40 years ago this month, Miloš Forman's best picture-winning Amadeus is often accused of historical inaccuracies – but the film's critics could be missing the point.

When it premiered 40 years ago, Amadeus drew an initial wave of praise. A historical drama revolving around the rivalry between two composers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, it went on to win eight Oscars, including for best picture. Miloš Forman took home the best director prize, Peter Shaffer won for best adapted screenplay and both of the lead actors were nominated: F Murray Abraham, who played Salieri, beat Tom Hulce, who played Mozart.

But in the years that followed, a backlash grew over what some people saw as Amadeus's litany of historical errors. An article in The Guardian declared that "the fart jokes can't conceal how laughably wrong this is", and the BBC commented that "the film plays shamelessly fast and loose with historical fact". Salieri, critics noted, was no pious bachelor (as attested by his wife, eight children and mistress), and it's after all an odd kind of hateful rivalry when the real Mozart entrusted the musical education of his own son to Salieri. As for Mozart's lewd humor, that cheeky insouciance was actually commonplace in middle-class Viennese society. Most egregiously of all, world-famous Mozart was not dumped in an unmarked pauper's grave. If this is a homage to history, the complaint goes, it's akin to Emperor Joseph II fumbling ineptly on the pianoforte and bungling every other note.

But this kind of cavilling may be missing the point. Forman's aim for Amadeus can be seen as radically different from a typical biopic, and that was to use a fictionalised version of an epic clash between musical composers to allegorise the defining global rivalry of the mid-to-late 20th Century: the Cold War. Put simply, the film may have played fast and loose with 1784 because its real preoccupation was 1984.

The film opens in Vienna in 1823. Grizzled court composer Salieri howls through a bolted chamber door that he has murdered Mozart, then slashes his own throat. Days later, as he convalesces in an asylum, a priest arrives to hear his confession. It doesn't disappoint. Salieri recounts that as boy he made a vow of chastity to God as an expression of gratitude for, as he sees it, ushering in the providential death of his father to clear the path for his musical development.

Jump ahead some years, and Salieri is now an eminent composer in the court of Joseph II (Jeffrey Jones), where he eagerly awaits an introduction to musical prodigy Mozart. That eagerness curdles when he sees the man in the flesh – he turns out to be a lascivious vulgarian with an ear-splitting cackle. Convinced that God means to mock his own mediocrity, Salieri hurls a crucifix in the fire and vows retaliation. When Mozart's father dies, Salieri seizes on the misfortune with a dastardly stratagem: dupe Mozart into believing that his father has risen from the grave to commission him to write a requiem, then murder him and pass off the masterpiece as his own. Mozart, feverish and besotted with drink, dies, leaving Salieri addled with bitterness and destined for obscurity.

The premise wasn't original to Forman. Drawing inspiration from Alexander Pushkin's taut 1830 play Mozart and Salieri, Peter Shaffer wrote a highly stylised play called Amadeus, which premiered in London in 1979. Forman, sitting in on a preview, was entranced by the dramatic rivalry and convinced Shaffer to collaborate with him, not merely to adapt the play for the screen but to "demolish the original, then totally reimagine it as a film". Across four irascible months cloistered in a Connecticut farmhouse with Shaffer, Forman fundamentally rebuilt the narrative with a fresh palette of political resonances.

The casting process for the coveted roles of Mozart and Salieri rivaled Gone with the Wind in scope and behind-the-scenes intrigue, all of which played out over a year and involved meetings with literally thousands of actors. Kenneth Branagh was nearly victorious in landing Mozart, then got dropped from consideration when Forman pivoted to a US cast. Mark Hamill endured grueling hours of auditions, only to be told by Forman: "No one is believing that the Luke Skywalker is the Mozart." Al Pacino lobbied hard for the part of Salieri, in competition with Mick Jagger, Burt Reynolds, Donald Sutherland and Sam Waterson. In the end, Forman eschewed splashy celebrities for Hulce and Abraham, only to have casting drama explode again when Meg Tilly, slated to play Mozart's wife, Constanze, broke her ankle playing football: she was replaced by Elizabeth Berridge a week before shooting was to commence. With the plot rebuilt and the cast in place, more than one rivalry was poised to come into focus.

The triumph of genius

The Czech-born Forman had been a galvanising force behind the Czechoslovakian New Wave film movement in the 1960s, reaching a climax with his 1967 film The Firemen's Ball, which satirised the absurd inefficiencies of Eastern European communism. The film was initially warmly received within the reformist milieu of the Prague Spring, but when Soviet tanks rolled into Prague the following year and organised Czechoslovakia into the Eastern bloc, Forman, tarred as a "traitor" to the state, was forced to flee to the West and found refuge in the US.

Nearly all of Forman's film work thereafter would show glimmers of opposition to Soviet-style censorship, confinement, and concentrated power. His first success in the US, for example, 1975's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, depicted a mental health ward meting out cruelty and coercion to patients under the guise of benevolent care. Audiences barely needed to squint to see the asylum as gulag and Nurse Ratched as the embodiment of the drunk-on-power Soviet bureaucrat. Likewise, Forman's 1996 film, The People vs Larry Flynt, depicted the founder of Hustler magazine squaring off against censorship at the cost of being jailed, locked up at a psychiatric facility and paralysed by an assassin's bullet.

The Soviet allegory can certainly be applied to Amadeus. Perhaps Forman was less concerned with hewing to biographical facts as he was with presenting Mozart as a beleaguered type of ecstatic genius who, hostage to patronage, is stifled and finally crushed by the repressive apparatus of the state. Joseph II, absolute ruler of the Habsburg monarchy, is advised at court by a clutch of prudish sycophants who undermine Mozart's achievements and smear his reputation. Whatever its loose correspondence to the late-18th and early-19th Centuries, this critique can be read as a stab at the USSR – a debilitatingly centralised bureaucracy hostile to insurgent ideas and innovation. But Forman showed that Mozart would get the last laugh. By the events of 1823, Salieri's insipid, state-sponsored melodies have all been forgotten, while a few bars of Mozart draw immediate joy to the priest's face. In the free market of popular tastes, Salieri's mandated drivel has been suffocated by the triumph of genius.

In Forman's hands, the Habsburg Empire bears the hallmarks of Soviet power. The masquerade balls, with their bewildering swirl of masked identities, conjure the confusion and paranoia that proliferated under the Soviet system. Salieri's reluctant servant-spy (Cynthia Nixon) carries out covert surveillance, a nod to the 20th Century's KGB, which had thousands of its moles burrow into the private lives of artists and dissidents. Meanwhile, Salieri's heretical burning of the crucifix and war on God call to mind the ideological struggle between a Christian worldview and secular Soviet hubris. (After Abraham's mother – a pious Italian woman – saw the cross-burning scene, she browbeat her son so relentlessly that he blurted out what he now tells the BBC was a lie: "I told her, 'mum, that was an extra – somebody else threw it in there!'")

And then there's the mass grave into which Mozart's corpse is dumped. This depiction does not fit the facts of what is known about his death, but it makes sense if read as an indictment of Soviet practices – the effacement of individual identity and literal mass murder. Grim excavations of these pits continue to this day. Forman, whose own parents perished in Nazi concentration camps, understood the power of this imagery.

Jeff Smith, author of Film Criticism, the Cold War, and the Blacklist, tells the BBC that Mozart's struggle against the status quo tapped into Forman's own frustrations with Soviet censorship. "The emperor's fatuous judgment about Mozart's opera – 'too many notes' – is just the kind of accusation that was used as a cudgel used against avant-garde artists and thinkers to imply their work isn't pleasant or edifying to Soviet ears. Mozart's enraged incredulity in that scene must have mirrored Forman's own longstanding contempt for Soviet stagnation and repression."

Amadeus behind the Iron Curtain

Shooting took place in 1983 over a six-month period in Prague, which had the virtue of offering basilicas, palaces and cobblestone squares virtually unchanged since the late 18th Century. Even with Soviet power waning, however, Czechoslovakia remained part of the Eastern bloc and Forman was still persona non grata, so a deal was struck: the director would refrain from meeting with political dissidents, and the regime would allow friends of Forman to visit with their repatriated prodigal son.

Forman's own recollections from the shoot centred on the travails of Soviet interference. His landlady warned his phone is bugged. Informers lurked in every room. Two unmarked cars tailed him everywhere, which seemed redundant since his own driver was also a secret agent. In his autobiography, Turnaround, Forman is just shy of explicit about the degree to which themes of Soviet repression leaked into Amadeus. "As it had to be in the socialist Prague," he wrote, "the spirit of Franz Kafka presided over our production".

 

Perhaps even more telling is a story he recounts of negotiating with the general director of Czechoslovak film, Jiří Purš, who, as Forman recounted, wanted absolute assurance that the Communist Party would have nothing to fear: "I assume that politically there is nothing in the script that they could hang their hats on?" Forman's reply is a model of plausible deniability and acid irony: "Look, it's about Mozart!"

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F Murray Abraham felt the strain of coercive scrutiny as he was traveling back and forth to the United States to shoot his role in Scarface (1983) while Amadeus was in production in Prague.

Abraham tells the BBC, "At the end of every shooting day I had to cross the border to get to the airport in Vienna to return to Hollywood. At the checkpoint, the Czechoslovak Police would make us sit idle at the gate, just as a way to throw their weight around, make you know who's in charge. That sense of bullying and intimidation was everywhere, and even when the Czech people responded with subversive humor, the strain was palpable. We never forgot for a minute that we were under communist surveillance."

That tension between the US crew and Soviet agents finally burst out into the open on 4 July. The production was shooting an opera scene, and the crew arranged so that when Forman yelled "action" a US flag unfurled and the national anthem played in lieu of Mozart's music. Some 500 Czech extras burst forth into emotional song, in effect revealing their sympathies with the West. But not all of them.

Forman recalled, "All stood up – except 30 men and women, panic on their face, looking at each other [asking] what they should do. They were the secret police, dispersed among the extras."

As Amadeus continues to be reassessed at its 40th anniversary, the significance of the Cold War looms ever larger. Paul Frazier, author of The Cold War on Film, tells the BBC that the film brilliantly tapped into a deep vein of Soviet envy: "Salieri is the Soviet Lada trying to be a Ford Mustang. He can't be as great as Mozart, so he resorts to undermining and manipulating him. This too was the approach of the old USSR towards the West: rather than being better than the West, the Soviets resorted to undermining and discrediting the West at every turn."

Historian Nicholas J Cull echoes that analysis. "Think of the Jonathan Swift line: 'When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.' Whether it's the 1780s or 1980s, what you have is true genius facing off against mediocre, conniving bureaucrats. You see this same dynamic at play in a Cold War film like last summer's Oppenheimer, which in some ways is Amadeus with A-bombs. It makes sense that refugee film-makers like Forman and his creative team would be drawn to tell an allegory of communist mismanagement."

Not everyone is sold on the idea that Amadeus wrestles with Soviet totalitarianism. Kevin Hagopian, a media studies professor at Penn State University, says there's a risk of allegorising everything as an unseen Soviet menace, which ends up making art a mere handmaid to politics.

"That ultimately becomes a depressingly narrow way to appreciate the dazzling beauty and emotional breadth of Mozart's music," Hagopian tells the BBC. Nevertheless, he adds, we can't ignore the political resonances. 

"The allegorical space that satirical Czech film-makers like Forman opened up meant that audiences began to look for, even perhaps invent, allegorical political meaning," he says. "All films could be read against the grain of a regime that lacked not only humanity but any sense of irony about itself. So if Amadeus wasn't really about Soviet-style tyranny, but audiences merely thought it was, well, I have a feeling that would be just fine with Miloš Forman."

For his part, Abraham is candid about what he believes are the more contemporary political stakes of the film, as he told the BBC in June. "Think about how many Americans now idolise Putin. These autocrats are suddenly celebrated again. It's disheartening, truly demoralising, but if Amadeus can help us see our current predicament through fresh eyes, that shows you how powerfully its message still resonates."

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'I couldn't sleep or eat - but I could sew': Meet the founder of the slogan-jumper brand celebrities love

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240926-meet-the-founder-of-the-slogan-jumper-brand-celebrities-love, today

Rachelle Hruska McPherson, founder of cult brand Lingua Franca, talks about sloganeering and "luxury activism".

You may have spotted the sweaters around. Snug and slightly fuzzy to the touch, the cashmere crewnecks come in leather-book-cover shades like navy and maroon. They are branded with square labels that say "Lingua Franca" in a loopy, girlish font. But the real branding comes from the embroidery across the chest, which looks delicate and sweet, and makes statements like "I read banned books", and "Educate girls, change the world".

Lingua Franca was founded by Rachelle Hruska McPherson, who also created the Gossip Girl-coded party website Guest of a Guest. A former "girl boss" who now declares that "girl bosses are dead", she initially began embroidering sweaters to cope with postnatal depression in 2017. "I couldn't sleep or eat. But I could sew," she says. A pile of prototype sweaters that read "Booyah" developed a cult following in the tiny but stylish beach town of Montauk, New York, where celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio scooped them up. But it wasn't until a sweater that read "I Miss Barack" – as in, Obama – went viral on Instagram in 2018 that Hruska McPherson pivoted a large chunk of her business to politically-minded cashmere, which blares bold messages, and costs about $400 (£300) per piece.

Call it "luxury activism", it's the practice of imbuing rarified and status-happy fashion items with a progressive political message. It happened in 2016, when Dior's "We should all be feminists" T-shirt championed gender equality and pay parity, and cost nearly $1,000 (£748) to wear. (Rihanna and A$AP Rocky both did.) In 2018, Burberry's $1,200 (£898) rainbow check trench coats benefited the LGBTQ+ rights organisation The Trevor Project. 2019 saw Gucci's $4,300 (£3,218) "My body my choice" blazer hit the catwalk, along with Balenciaga's $790 (£591) World Food Programme t-shirt.

Lingua Franca took the concept further, turning its status sweaters into a constant cashmere chant for progressive issues. Among its slogans: "We say gay," "Dr Fauci fan club," and "When there are nine," referring to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's 2015 testimony about women running the judicial system. The sweaters donate 10% of their sale price – about $38 (£28) – to foundations like gender parity NGO She Should Run and the Surfrider Foundation, which fights to reduce the amount of plastic in the ocean. (Both nonprofits have official partnerships with the brand.)

Understandably, when fashion combines status spending with messages of equality and inclusion, people get angry. Dior's costly feminist T-shirt, and its appearance on a runway overrun by super-young, super-thin models, had journalists like the Sydney Morning Herald's Annie Brown asking "where is the accountability" beyond wielding a slogan? Lingua Franca's buttery-soft sweaters drew similar scepticism, especially when Connie Britton wore one of the $380 (£284) cashmere tops to the Golden Globes in 2018. It read, "Poverty Is Sexist", and got some jaw-drops from pundits. Journalist Kim Kelly argued "for that price, City Harvest could've delivered 1,524 tons of food for our city's hungry". Jonah Goldberg, a columnist for the Los Angeles Times, condemned Lingua Franca's brand of fuzzy feminism, "stupidity". 

On X, Britton argued that nearly every woman at the Golden Globes was wearing a piece of luxury fashion costing far more than $380 – at least her top "added to the conversation" in a meaningful, immediate way. Could that way have also been a recycled T-shirt with the same hand-embroidered message? Sure. But it wouldn't have felt, or looked, as beautiful.

Hruska McPherson notes that by wearing a progressive slogan, women turn their wardrobes into talking points for family and friends, creating a type of grassroots activism that centres issues inside the very wealthy communities that have the political and economic capital to help change them. 

Celebrities like Reese Witherspoon, Oprah, Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez have all embraced Lingua Franca's ethos. And Hruska has looked harder at how issues of inclusion can be addressed through her business model. In 2021, she introduced embroidered sweatshirts and tees at lower price points. She also readily admits her racial and economic privilege is "very real". 

"Radical chic"

All this makes the designer a bullseye target for online trolls and sophisticated cultural critics alike. In a 2020 article on The Cut charting her success, author Marissa Meltzer branded Hruska McPherson a "resistance socialite", and drew parallels to Marie Antoinette play-acting at being a working girl in Le Petit Trianon. But Meltzer also called the business itself an exercise in "radical chic", an admission that an all-or-nothing approach to luxury style is both unreasonable and, in the case of fashion, pretty boring.

More like this: • Cindy Crawford on beauty and 'age maintenance' • Christian Siriano on chic, plus-sized dressing • 'Vintage has become its own luxury status symbol'

Hruska McPherson is also diversifying her revenue stream through a brisk customisation business. "People want their private jokes, their favourite song lyrics, the names of their children," she says. "And you know, when you make something custom, that means something to you. That doesn't go in a landfill. When something gives you joy, you hold on to it. And I think fashion has really ignored joy as a key tenet of sustainability. If something brings you happiness, you're going to hold on to it." Similarly joyful is the brand's nascent ready-to-wear line of tweedy blazers, metallic knit camisoles and acid-green striped dresses that seem to channel a psychedelic version of the Bloomsbury Group.

 

And she is still learning, she says. She used to make all of Lingua Franca's charity deposits herself, and film the whole process for Instagram. "Then my friends were like, 'Rachelle, we need to tell you something. It's really cringey for you to post that stuff online. It makes you seem really bougie. Just donate and go back to knitting stuff.'" Was Hruska McPherson offended? "No, I loved it!" she laughs. "And you can say whatever you want to me," she says. "As long as you say what you mean. If the sweaters can do it, then so can you."

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'Extremely problematic': How cult 'art house erotica' film Emmanuelle became a global hit - and dated badly

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240925-frances-cult-erotic-film-that-became-a-global-hit, today

To mark the 50th anniversary of the erotic French film that made soft porn mainstream cinema, it's had a 21st Century reboot – but will it match the success of the original?

A new version of Emmanuelle, this time in English and starring France's Noémie Merlant, has just been released in France. This Emmanuelle, directed by Audrey Diwan, a Venice Film Festival Golden Lion winner for her powerful abortion drama Happening, explores female sexuality, 2024-style.

If Emmanuelle's sexual adventures need re-telling, that might be because the 1974 original seems so dated now. Directed by Frenchman Just Jaeckin and starring Dutch actor Sylvia Kristel as Emmanuelle, the film (based on a 1967 novel of the same name) follows the 19-year-old wife of a French diplomat on a visit to Thailand. All the residents, whether Thai or expat, seem ready for sex at any time. Shot in soft, dream-like focus, Emmanuelle has encounters with men and women in a variety of locations, including joining the mile-high club, although not all these experiences are consensual. She is raped in an opium den but then swiftly goes on to have sex with a man who has "won" her during a fight. "I can't say it's a brilliant film, really," Sylvia Kristel would say of it, in an interview with The Telegraph in 2007.

Many critics at the time agreed with her, but the movie was a box-office sensation, selling nearly nine million tickets in France alone, although it was initially banned until a new government was elected in 1974. It was a hit, too, in the US, much of Europe, and in Japan. Several sequels and spin-offs followed in the 1970s, and Kristel starred in a few of them. "The film," she said, "became like a monument in Paris. The Japanese [tourists] were stuffed in the bus and then they were taken to the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and Emmanuelle." One cinema, the Triomphe on the Champs-Élysées, would show the film continuously until 1986.

Why a soft porn movie would become another French landmark is down to timing, according to Eve Jackson, culture editor and presenter of Arts 24 on the news channel France 24. "It was the first film of its kind in French, and one of the first French films to become a global phenomenon," she tells the BBC. "It also came at a time when the themes of the era were 'free love' and sexual liberation. The contraceptive pill was widely available, and a year later abortion was made legal in France. "Last Tango in Paris, which also has explicit sex scenes, had been a hit in France two years before, but then I believe double the amount of people went to see Emmanuelle during its first week. It broke taboos, showing masturbation, having multiple sexual partners, having sex with anonymous people, but at the same time was mainstream because the size of the audiences showed there was desire for this kind of film. It opened a conversation of how sexuality could be shown in cinema. It's far from being a masterpiece, but it became a cult hit and the film poster itself was iconic. It could be seen all over Paris in the 1970s."

In the US, Emmanuelle was marketed as a "classier" kind of porn film to watch – as art house erotica – with the tagline "X was never like this" separating it from other adult films with an X-rating. It was also perceived by some fans, particularly in Japan, as a feminist movie, according to Kristel: "They thought Emmanuelle was dominant, just because of this one scene where she climbs on top of her husband. That was the moment when all the Japanese women stood up and applauded."

Many would agree now, though, that the film has not stood the test of time, from its depiction of Thai people as anonymous servants, fighters and rapists, to the issue of sexual consent. Jackson describes the original movie as "extremely problematic".

"The character is a sexual object, most of her partners are dominant older men who are orchestrating her pleasure for themselves," she says. "There are moments, not just for Emmanuelle, where the consent isn't obvious. Near the end of the film, there's a horrific group rape scene."

Why remake Emmanuelle?

"Sexual consent is such a hot topic in France right now, not just because of the #MeToo movement," continues Jackson. "We have the Gisèle Pelicot rape trial going on, making worldwide headlines. So Emmanuelle seems wrong on so many levels. Back in 1974, she may have been seen as a trailblazer for an era of free love and sexual adventure, and given France a reputation for it, but the film wasn't feminist. It was written and directed by men."

Over time, the Emmanuelle phenomenon faded even in France, and few younger people saw the original: at the world premiere of the new film, Noémie Merlant confessed that she hadn't seen the 1974 version before she took on the role.

But there's still been intense interest that a French female director would turn her gaze on the subject matter, even if Audrey Diwan's version had a poor critical reaction at its world premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival last week. Merlant's Emmanuelle is in her 30s, and takes a trip to Hong Kong to inspect a luxury hotel, where Naomi Watts plays the manager. During the visit, Emmanuelle rediscovers her own desire and pleasure in life, through encounters with a Wuthering Heights-reading escort (Chacha Huang) as well as an engineer played by The White Lotus's Will Sharpe.

More like this: • Babygirl: Nicole Kidman gives 'bravest performance' in erotic drama • The warped horror that's 2024's most divisive film • Queer review: Craig is 'heartbreaking' in explicit drama

Contemporary audiences, who have matured with erotica so mainstream that it's not considered outrageous (even Fifty Shades of Grey is nearly 15 years old) and who can access porn on their mobile phones, present a different directorial challenge to those of 1974, and Diwan suggested in a recent interview with Variety that implying rather than showing sexual tension was important to her.

"Back in the 70s, the desire was to show more, which is what made the first film so successful," she said. "Except, I felt what stayed hidden was more interesting. I thought to push that tension by asking the viewer to engage actively with the film and to collaborate with the story."

According to some reviewers, it hasn't worked. Variety writes: "Saying something freshly substantive about female desire while honouring the film's defining spirit of vapid, diaphanous horniness is a tricky, potentially unworkable brief: Audrey Diwan's inert, frequently frigid new film opts to do neither."

In France, reviews have been mixed. "The staging is brilliant, polished, and deliberately cold," writes French daily Le Figaro. "It shines but remains cold… Obviously, the goal was to transform Emmanuelle into a feminist icon. Funny idea." But the French Huffington Post is more positive about the film's objectives, writing: "Emmanuelle is no longer the target of all desires, the hypersexualised woman-object. She is an active subject. The object of her own desire precisely."

There's also been disappointment that the new film isn't in French, when the last one succeeded globally in that language. But Eve Jackson still believes French viewers will be watching it "out of interest".

"It's got an internationally well-known cast, Audrey Diwan is a respected film-maker, and I think everyone is curious to know, 'can this female director supplant the male gaze on this iconic female character Emmanuelle?'" she says. "I'm not sure. I still think because it's an erotic film and it's got that iconic title, that in France, the name alone has 50 years of history as an erotic sex symbol – for men."

Emmanuelle (2024) is on release now in France. It will be released globally at a later date.

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Wuthering Heights: Hollywood's worst casting decisions

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240925-wuthering-heights-hollywoods-worst-casting-decisions, today

The news that Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi are starring in Emerald Fennell's take on Emily Brontë's romance has caused a storm – no surprise in an age of increased casting scrutiny.

Catherine is a teenager who lives on a farm in England in the late-1700s. Heathcliff is a dark-skinned foundling of around the same age. As the heroine and hero of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, their love story has been imagined by countless readers since the novel was published in 1847, but not many of those readers will have pictured them as the spitting images of Margot Robbie (Barbie) and Jacob Elordi (Elvis Presley in Priscilla). Still, Emerald Fennell is not like the rest of us. The Oscar-winning writer-director of Promising Young Woman and Saltburn is making a film of Wuthering Heights, and she announced earlier this week that her Catherine and Heathcliff would be played by two impossibly good-looking Australians, one aged 34, the other aged 27.

The online response hasn't been wholly positive. Brontë fans on social media called the casting "disappointing", "terrible" and "bizarre", and The Independent's film critic Clarisse Loughrey asked: "Did anyone actually read the book before deciding this?"

To be fair, we don't know what Fennell has planned. Maybe her adaptation will be a glitzy and irreverent update with a disco soundtrack and a naked dance routine on the windswept Yorkshire moors. But there is no doubt that at first glance the casting seems fundamentally, egregiously wrong: it has that mind-boggling, what-were-they-thinking quality which brings to mind a crass producer in a Hollywood satire, barking: "Wuthering Heights is kinda drab – let's get Barbie and Elvis to play Cathy and Heathcliff!"

The wrongness comes down to several factors – the factors that separate interesting and even divisive casting from casting that has irate citizens waving online pitchforks. One such factor is the disparity between the ages of the characters and the actors. When the 45-year-old Kevin Spacey starred in Beyond the Sea as Bobby Darin, a singer who died aged 37, Mick La Salle of the San Francisco called it "one of the most embarrassing spectacles of 2004". The fact that Spacey directed, co-wrote, and co-produced the film only made things more cringe-worthy.

Questions of judgement

In the case of Wuthering Heights, you could argue that Fennell was simply sticking to Hollywood tradition: Laurence Olivier was in his 30s when he played Heathcliff in the classic 1939 film of the novel. But we are a lot more judgemental about age-inappropriate casting than we used to be. With Wikipedia just a click away, it's all too easy to check whether a star is pinching a job from a younger or older actor, and it's all too hard to overlook it. Why, the world wondered, did Oliver Stone cast Angelina Jolie (born in 1975) and Colin Farrell (born in 1976) as mother and son in Alexander (2004)?

More like this: • The horror that's 2024's most divisive film • The trouble with extreme actor makeovers • Are genuine movie stars being born again?

We're more sensitive, too, to questions of authenticity and representation, especially where race is concerned. Speaking of Olivier, he wore skin-darkening make-up to play Othello in the 1965 film of Shakespeare's tragedy, but today that would be as unacceptable as Mickey Rooney's racist turn as Holly Golightly's Japanese neighbour in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), or John Wayne's as Genghis Khan in The Conqueror (1956). The whitewashing of several characters wasn't the worst thing about M Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender (2010), for instance, but it deepened the impression that the film got just about everything wrong.

The issue with Wuthering Heights is that the darkness of Heathcliff's skin is mentioned several times in the novel, so it seems perverse of a new film to ignore it. Considering that Andrea Arnold's 2011 adaptation of Wuthering Heights featured a black Heathcliff (James Howson), Fennell's choice can't help but feel like a leap in the wrong direction.

The rise of 'iPhone face'

A more glaring issue is that both Robbie and Elordi seem too glossy and glamorous for their roles. They belong on a red carpet, not in a muddy field. One aspect of this is that they have so-called "iPhone face" or "smartphone face", a term applied to actors who look too contemporary to be credible in a period drama. When someone has pearly white teeth, flawless skin, sleek hair and a gym-honed physique, then it's almost impossible to buy them as living in the days before stylists, nutritionists and personal trainers.

Think of Cameron Diaz in Gangs of New York, Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker's Dracula and Tom Cruise in Far and Away: all three actors are only really at home in snazzy surroundings in the late-20th and early-21st Centuries. They shouldn't play any character who hasn't driven a high-performance motorbike to a beach in California. As for Robbie herself, in Mary Queen of Scots (2018) she played an ageing, raddled Elizabeth I who was jealous of her cousin Mary Stuart's (Saoirse Ronan) youthful beauty. Quite a bit of suspension of disbelief was required.

Still, it's their very glamour that accounts for Robbie and Elordi's casting in Wuthering Heights. When two actors have the popularity and the sex appeal that they do, the prospect of seeing them both in the same film will, in theory, be too much for audiences to resist. Another small point is that Robbie didn't just star in Barbie, the highest grossing film of 2023, she produced it, too – and she also produced Saltburn. If she wants to star in Wuthering Heights, then who's going to stop her? Tom Cruise, again, is not known for his mountainous height, his bulging muscles or his blond hair, but he was the A-list producer of the two Jack Reacher films, so when he made the ridiculous decision to play Lee Child's giant vigilante, nobody was going to say no.

The good news is that whatever else Robbie and Elordi may be, they are also brilliant actors. If anyone can make such problematic casting work, then they can. Finally, we should bear in mind that things could always be worse. In 1996, there was a Wuthering Heights musical called Heathcliff, which starred and was co-written by Cliff Richard.

The show opened just after Richard's 56th birthday.

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'It tanked at the box office': Frank Darabont and Morgan Freeman on The Shawshank Redemption's path from flop to classic

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240919-the-shawshank-redemptions-path-from-flop-to-classic, today

The Stephen King prison drama bombed commercially on its initial release in 1994, failing to claw back its modest budget. Now, many regard it as a cinematic masterpiece. In 2004, its director Darabont told the BBC about its remarkable reversal of fortune.

When The Shawshank Redemption came out 30 years ago this week, it seemed to have all the ingredients of a box-office smash.

After all, it was based on a novella by one of the world's best-selling authors, Stephen King, so it looked as if a ready-made fanbase would be interested in seeing it. Indeed, another story, The Body, taken from the same 1982 collection, Different Seasons, had been turned into a hugely successful movie, Stand by Me, in 1986. Director and screenwriter Frank Darabont believed that the story was so filmic that in 1987 he bought the rights to adapt it himself. "I found the story, Stephen King's story, so compelling, really, and so touching that to me it was just natural as a movie," he told Stuart Maconie on BBC4 programme The DVD Collection in 2004.

The novella told the story of Andy Dufresne, a man convicted of murdering his wife and her lover, and how, through his friendship with fellow inmate Ellis "Red" Redding, he survives, and ultimately triumphs over, the brutally harsh conditions of Shawshank Penitentiary. And Darabont had found the perfect location to stand in for the merciless, gothic prison. Ohio State Reformatory had opened in 1896 and been active up until 1990 when it closed due to allegations of inhumane treatment of its prisoners. Filming there would add an authentically grim atmosphere to The Shawshank Redemption. "You can't really have a place like that without there being a real sense of foreboding and despair that sinks into that stone," said Darabont. "And everybody felt it, everybody in the cast and the crew felt it. So, it was a very oppressive place to shoot a movie. People would say you feel the sadness in the place or you feel the ghosts in the place."

The production had also pulled in two acclaimed actors for its starring roles. Tim Robbins, who was playing Dufresne, had received two Golden Globe nominations for different performances the year before, winning best actor for The Player. Morgan Freeman, cast as Red, had at the time already been Oscar-nominated twice. He was also hot off the back of appearing in Clint Eastwood's 1993 western, Unforgiven, a film which had, along with achieving box-office success, won four Oscars.

And when the prison-set drama was finished, the early buzz was extremely promising. The film's producer, Liz Glotzer, said that the audiences' reactions to its test screenings were incredible. "I mean, they were the best screenings ever," she told Vanity Fair in 2014. So, hopes were understandably high when The Shawshank Redemption was released in September 1994. Then, as Freeman told the BBC's Graham Norton Show in 2017, "it tanked at the box office". Darabont had told Maconie that the movie "had trouble finding our audience, getting people to show up". Ticket sales of its initial theatrical run were distinctly underwhelming, only managing to recoup $16 million of its $25-million budget in the US.

The timing of the film's release meant that it faced some stiff competition for viewers' attention. The Shawshank Redemption came out in the middle of the wildly successful cinema run of the Tom Hanks hit Forrest Gump. Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, which had won the Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival, came out just a couple of weeks later. These films were not just critical and commercial successes but became pop-cultural phenomena. Their quotable dialogue, striking cinematography and jukebox soundtracks generated reams of media coverage and they each offered talking points about the state of America at the time, overshadowing The Shawshank Redemption's more introspective storyline.

Of course, the bleak premise and lack of female characters may have also made it a less obviously appealing choice to cinema-goers than the high-profile blockbusters which had already come out that summer, such as The Lion King, True Lies, Speed and The Mask. While the Academy did recognise the film, nominating it for seven awards including best actor for Freeman and best picture, ultimately it came away with nothing. Forrest Gump proved to be the big winner on the night, picking up six Oscars, with Pulp Fiction winning one for best screenplay.

The power of hope

Freeman himself put the movie's initial box-office failure down to its name. "The only real marketing that movies get I think is word-of-mouth," he told The Graham Norton Show in 2017. "Although people went to see The Shawshank Redemption and they came back and [said], 'Oh man, I saw this really terrific movie, it's called the… er… Shanksham? Shimshawnk?' One lady saw me in the elevator one time and said, ‘Oh, I saw you in the Hudsucker Reduction'. So, if you can't get word across, then it just doesn't do well."

But The Shawshank Redemption was to have its own redemption arc, as it found a new life in the home-video market. With its release on VHS, the film's story of human resilience, friendship and the power of hope resonated with an audience that had missed it at the movie theatre. "We became the most rented video of 1995. Just boom, boom. And then that word-of-mouth from that audience began to grow and grow and grow," Darabont told the BBC in 2004.

From 1997, its frequent broadcasts on cable television helped it to reach an even broader audience. By the time Darabont appeared on the BBC in 2004, The Shawshank Redemption was repeatedly appearing on lists of the "greatest" movies, including being voted the best film "never to have won an Oscar" in a poll by the BBC's Radio Times. On the Internet Movie Database's (IMDb) list of top 250 films, voted by regular users, it currently sits at the top above The Godfather. "And what's really bizarre is that momentum never really seems to have died out. It has just kind of continued. Which is wonderful. It's a fantastic vindication, really, for the film, isn't it," said Darabont.

More like this: • The men who broke out of Alcatraz with a spoon • Shelley Duvall on her defining performance in The Shining • How The Godfather was a stark warning for the US

During those first 10 years after the film's release, the rapid uptake of the internet saw burgeoning communities of fans discuss and deconstruct the movie's themes and imagery online. One theory that was popular at the time was that The Shawshank Redemption was a religious allegory and that the enigmatic Dufresne character represented Jesus Christ. But the film can – and has – been interpreted through a variety of framings including that it is anti-religious or even that it represents Jean-Paul Sartre's form of existentialism.

The BBC's Maconie asked Darabont if he had the story of Christ in his "mind even remotely" when making the film. "Yes, a little, in some measure, the religious parable of it, the parallels did occur to me, but not quite to the degree that's been read into it," said Darabont. "You know, suddenly, I read something like, you know, Tim [Robbins] has a line in it where he says, 'Well, and I use this library to help a dozen guys get their high school diplomas,' and suddenly the symbolism of that becomes, well, those are twelve apostles! And I think, 'Boy, that never occurred to me, not in a million years did that occur to me,' but that's the pleasure for me of making a film that has some interpretation."

Perhaps the biggest latter-day endorsement of The Shawshank Redemption's enduring appeal, and the fans who championed it, came in 2015 when the Library of Congress added it to the US National Film Registry which represents "important cultural, artistic and historic achievements in film-making".

"I express my deepest thanks to all those who chose it for inclusion in the National Film Registry," said Darabont, "and most of all to the audiences who embraced our movie and have kept it alive all these years."

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'Rubbish and dull. Pointless': How Lord of the Flies was rescued from the reject pile

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240913-how-lord-of-the-flies-was-rescued-from-the-reject-pile, today

William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies was first published on 17 September 1954, and is now recognised as a classic. In History looks at how Golding's story of English schoolboys and their descent into barbarism narrowly escaped being thrown in the bin.

"Write what you know" is advice often given to aspiring authors, and Lord of the Flies is a spectacular example of how clichés can still contain essential truths. A teacher at a boys' school who had witnessed first-hand the inhumanity of World War Two, William Golding condensed this knowledge and experience into his debut novel, a deceptively simple tale of shipwrecked boys reverting to savagery on a desert island. Its subversion of a familiar plot went on to resonate with generations of readers, and serve as a grim warning that the evils of Nazi Germany could be repeated anywhere. 

Golding was about to turn 43 when Lord of the Flies was first published. His big idea was a sinister 20th-Century reimagining of The Coral Island, RM Ballantyne's 1857 tale of derring-do in which a group of shipwrecked British schoolboys civilise a desert island, making it a playground for fun and games. Much of his original manuscript was handwritten on exercise books during school time. He even worked on the novel during lessons, while his pupils were occupied with their textbooks. A few of them were tasked with counting the number of words he'd written per page.

In 1953, Golding sent his novel to nine publishers, all of whom rejected it. Undaunted, he offered the manuscript to Faber and Faber, one of the most prestigious London firms. It was picked up by Charles Monteith, a junior editor who had only worked at the publishing house for a few months. The signs were not promising.

Absurd and uninteresting

He told the BBC's Bookmark in 1984: "Already there was one particular sort of thing I could spot, and that was the tired, weather-beaten old manuscript that had been around a lot of publishers before it reached us, and this was very much that. It was a large yellowing manuscript with the pages beginning to curl, and one or two stains for teacups that were put on them, or wine glasses, and drops of coffee and tea spilled, and was bound in rather depressing, hairy brown cardboard, and there was a short, formal covering letter."

One of the publisher's professional readers had already delivered her written verdict on Golding's manuscript, dismissing it as an "absurd and uninteresting fantasy". Along with a circled R for "reject", she wrote: "Rubbish and dull. Pointless."

Fortunately for Golding, Monteith gave the book another go, and decided to save it from oblivion. He said: "I had a look, and I must say I wasn't at all attracted by the beginning of it, but eventually I went on and got absolutely caught up by it. And from then on, I said 'we must take this seriously'."

He persuaded Faber and Faber to publish the book, but Golding first had to make some significant changes to the text. Also, its original title, Strangers from Within, had to go. According to Golding biographer Professor John Carey, the original manuscript was a religious novel that was "drastically different from the Lord of the Flies most people have read".

Capacity for evil

Speaking on 2012 Arena documentary The Dreams of William Golding, Carey said that the author became deeply religious following World War Two, when he had served on a Royal Navy destroyer, but his editor Monteith's revisions excised these elements. "Golding concedes, concedes, concedes, until what came out is a novel that is secular; it's not assuming any supernatural intervention," he said.  

Golding's experience of war gave him a deep sense of man's capacity for evil and a disillusionment with the idealistic politics of his early life. Lord of the Flies was his warning that the Nazism that engulfed Germany in the 1930s could happen in any civilised country. Speaking on The South Bank Show in 1980, he explained how the war transformed his attitude to human nature.

"It simply changed because, bit by bit, we discovered what the Nazis had been doing. Here was this highly civilised race of people who were doing, one gradually found out, impossible things. I remember, in those days, saying to myself, 'Yes, well, I have a Nazi inside me; given the right circumstances, I could have been a Nazi.'

"Bit by bit, as I discovered more and more what had gone on, that really changed my view of what people were capable of, and therefore what human nature was. So that political nostrums, if you like, seemed to me just to fall flat on their face in front of this capacity man had for a sort of absolute evil."

Although Lord of the Flies had been a critical success, it wasn't until the publication of the US edition, and particularly the paperback in 1959, that Golding became an international bestselling author and started to earn large amounts in royalties. The success allowed him to quit his teaching job and become a full-time writer. "I didn't like the systematic side of teaching; I'm not a very systematic person," he admitted to Bookmark in 1984.

More like this: • The WW1 trauma that inspired The Lord of the Rings • The life-changing day World War Two began • The one thing George Orwell’s 1984 got wrong

On his status as a literary late bloomer, he said that his breakthrough came when he realised he had to stop imitating other writers. "It wasn't until I was 37, I suppose, that I grasped the great truth that you've got to write your own books and nobody else's, then everything followed from that," he told Monitor in 1959.

One young fan of Lord of the Flies was the novelist Stephen King, who borrowed the book from a mobile library after requesting something about "the way that kids really are". He told Arena in 2012: "I was completely riveted by the story from the very beginning because it was like a boys' story, the ones that I was accustomed to. The difference was the boys were real boys – they acted the way that I understood boys acted."

A storyteller through and through

King went on to set several stories in the fictional town of Castle Rock, which he named after Jack's mountain fort in Lord of the Flies. From cult 1990s backpackers story The Beach to teenage cannibalism drama Yellowjackets via the obligatory Simpsons parody, Lord of the Flies has become a pop culture touchstone. The book was twice adapted for film in 1963 and 1990, and a BBC television adaptation by screenwriter Jack Thorne is currently being filmed in Malaysia.

An original and deeply imaginative author, Golding would go on to write books about the final days of Neanderthal people, a sailor marooned on an Atlantic rock, and the building of a spire on a medieval cathedral. In 1983, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature "for his novels which, with the perspicuity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today".

For Golding, the secret of his success was itself almost a cliché. He told Bookmark in 1984: "I am at bottom and at top, too, a storyteller through and through. What matters to me is that there shall be a story with a beginning, a middle and an end."

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'To me Clint closely resembled a cat': Sergio Leone on the role that made Eastwood a movie star

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240906-the-role-that-made-clint-eastwood-a-star, today

Clint Eastwood was catapulted to film stardom when he played a brooding gunslinger in Sergio Leone's first Spaghetti Western, A Fistful of Dollars. In a 1977 interview with the BBC, the Italian director confessed that he "really wanted" another actor for the now iconic role.

A man clad in a dusty poncho and wide-brimmed hat swaggers through an empty street in a harsh desert town. "Get three coffins ready," he instructs a coffin-maker, before confronting the men who have been mocking him. "My mistake," he adds, after shooting the thugs. "Four coffins". This is one of the moments that defined the brooding gunslinger played by Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars (1964), changing cinema history in the process. 

In a 1977 interview with BBC reporter Iain Johnstone, Eastwood appears in a very different setting, with a more genial demeanour. Convivial and charming, the actor bears only a faint resemblance to the stern, hardened protagonist of Sergio Leone's Western.

At first, Eastwood recalled, he was "not particularly" interested in joining the low-budget European film. He was no stranger to Westerns, as at the time he was starring in the hit television series Rawhide, which took a much more traditional, American approach to the genre. "I liked [A Fistful of Dollars], though, and I felt that maybe a European approach would give the Western new flavour."

As perfect as many would consider Eastwood's casting, Leone initially had James Coburn (The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven) in mind for the part. "I really wanted James Coburn, but he was too expensive," the Italian director told the BBC. At the time, Eastwood was the more affordable option, costing around $15,000 ($152,000 or £116,000 in 2024) compared to Coburn at about $25,000 ($254,000 or £193,000 in 2024).

"I didn't see any character in Rawhide, only a physical figure," Leone said. "What struck me most about Clint was his indolent way of moving. It seemed to me Clint closely resembled a cat."

An international affair

Blockbuster epics that had reigned during the Golden Age of Hollywood began to wane in popularity in the 1960s. Leone, who by that time was well-known for directing low-budget Italian flicks, decided to take a spin on the US Western.

The result was A Fistful of Dollars (first released in Italy as Per un pugno di dollari), which was unlike its predecessors in the genre. Based on Akira Kurosawa's samurai tale Yojimbo, the film centred on Eastwood's morally grey "Joe", later stylised as the Man with No Name, who instigates a gang war in the Mexican town of San Miguel to make money. Fistful brought together a cast and crew from across the US and several European countries. As Eastwood put it, the film was: "an Italian-German-Spanish co-production of a remake of a Japanese film in the plains of Spain".

"I knew 'arrivederci' and 'buongiorno' and [Leone] knew 'goodbye' and 'hello' and that was it," Eastwood told the BBC. "Then he learned a little English and I learned a little Italian – and between, a little Spanish – and we kind of just fudged our way along."

The actors would say their lines in their native tongues, which would then be dubbed into Italian and English for the film's respective audiences. The script consisted of an "Italian concept of what a Western slang would be," Eastwood said. 

Italian critics panned the film when it premiered in Italy on 12 September 1964. Further negative reviews followed in other countries. "The calculated sadism of the film would be offensive were it not for the neutralising laughter aroused by the ludicrousness of the whole exercise," wrote UK critic Philip French in The Observer.

When A Fistful of Dollars reached screens in the US in 1967, reviews there were similarly disapproving. "Just about every Western cliche... is in this egregiously synthetic but engrossingly morbid, violent film," wrote Bosley Crowther in the New York Times. The film's US debut was delayed for a few years because American distributors were afraid of being sued by Kurosawa, who had filed a suit against Leone for copying Yojimbo.

Breathing new life into the Western 

The release of Leone's inaugural Western sparked the rise of Western all'Italiana, a subgenre of films produced in Italy, which colloquially became known as "Spaghetti Westerns". The word "spaghetti" smacked of critics' initial condescension towards this international production. Similar types of Westerns took on similar monikers, such as "Paella Westerns" in Spain and "Ramen Westerns" in Japan.

"It took a while for Leone to influence American filmmaking because at least initially critics disparaged his films and those of his colleague Sergio Corbucci," says Dr Mary Ann McDonald Carolan, professor and director of Italian Studies at Fairfield University. "The Spaghetti Western was considered a low-budget, ridiculously exaggerated version of the 'real' Western."

Unlike their traditional counterparts, Spaghetti Westerns focused on anti-heroes and thrived on moral ambiguity. Eastwood's Joe incites a conflict between two rival gangs of smugglers with the purpose of stealing their gold; it's only when innocent people are hurt that he steps in to neutralise the gangs. Spaghetti Westerns also featured much more gratuitous violence, sometimes toward women and children. According to Carolan, typical American Westerns glorified westward expansion and idealised the Wild West, whereas spaghetti westerns parodied and subverted that view. By highlighting the violence on which this expansion was predicated, these films were also broader critiques of a turbulent decade of global politics, especially in the midst of the controversial Vietnam War.

Due to the language barriers during production, dialogue became simpler and less frequent, leading to the emergence of Leone's distinct directorial style. Wide establishing shots, silent dramatic close-ups and striking musical scores by composer Ennio Morricone, featuring iconic whistles and rattles, became trademarks of Leone's Spaghetti Westerns. "My films are basically silent films," he told the BBC. "The dialogue just adds some weight." The style is echoed in the works of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez, both of whom are among the directors and film greats who have cited Leone as an influence.

A Fistful of Dollars transformed Eastwood from a television actor to a silver-screen giant. He went on to star in Fistful's sequels, For A Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, forming the Dollars trilogy, as well as a host of other Westerns.

"Just as Jimi Hendrix went to England to become famous, the three Westerns Eastwood did for Leone launched his illustrious career," says David Irving, film-maker and associate professor at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. "Leone took a tired genre, the Western, and breathed new life into it."

More like this: • Julie Andrews on being 'teased' for Mary Poppins • Hitchcock reveals the secret to his masterpieces • How a blacklisted Hollywood writer won two Oscars

Despite critics' initial icy response, A Fistful of Dollars gained grassroots traction and became a hit at both the European and US box offices, earning $14.5m (about £11m) internationally. It continued to grow in popularity in the decade after its release and developed a loyal following among cinephiles. The film has gone on to inspire works in multiple forms of media, from cartoons to video games, as well as other directors, and Leone was honoured posthumously at the 67th Cannes Film Festival in 2014, where A Fistful of Dollars was shown on the closing night, securing its transformation from derided "faux-Western" to genuine classic.

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'I heard the sirens go and I was all wobbly at the knees': The life-changing day World War Two began

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240829-the-life-changing-day-world-war-two-began, today

Britain went to war with Hitler's Germany on 3 September 1939. In History revisits people's recollections of that day and looks at the chilling announcements that transformed public life in an instant.

"We weren't afraid, not us youngsters, because it was a new experience for us. As far as the older people, they were very apprehensive about it."

Looking back at the day when Britain declared war on Nazi Germany, the words of one London shopkeeper summed up the generation gap between those who had lived through what would soon become known as World War One and those not old enough to remember the grim conflict. Only 21 years had passed since the Great War, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had tried desperately to prevent another catastrophic fight with Germany.

Just a year earlier, Chamberlain claimed "peace for our time" had been secured by the Munich Agreement, when Britain and France had let Adolf Hitler get away with stealing the Sudetenland from neighbouring Czechoslovakia, as long as he didn't try to claim any more land. In March 1939, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia, breaking the terms of the treaty. Then on Friday 1 September 1939, he launched a ferocious attack on Poland, Nazi Germany's weaker neighbour. Hitler had calculated that Poland's allies Britain and France would not react to this latest provocation. 

But Chamberlain's policy of appeasing Hitler's aggression could not stand any longer. Britain issued an ultimatum on Saturday that if Hitler failed to withdraw his forces, there would be war. This final warning expired at 11:00 on Sunday morning.

Fifteen minutes later, Chamberlain was sat down in front of a BBC microphone in the Cabinet Room at 10 Downing Street, his official residence. BBC newsreader Alvar Lidell was there with him. Looking back 30 years later, he described the scene: "Chamberlain was sitting alone and his demeanour was that of a worn-out, broken man. The red light came on steady. I leaned over his shoulder, put him on the air and then sat down behind him and was alone in the room with him throughout this momentous speech."

In his broadcast, Chamberlain said: "You can imagine what a bitter blow it is to me that all my long struggle to win peace has failed." He said Hitler's invasion of Poland "shows convincingly that there is no chance of expecting that this man will ever give up his practice of using force to gain his will - he can only be stopped by force". He added: "It is evil things that we shall be fighting against - brute force, bad faith, injustice, oppression and persecution - and against them I am certain that right will prevail."

Chamberlain urged people to pay close attention to the announcements that would follow his broadcast, adding: "The government have made plans under which it will be possible to carry on the work of the nation in the days of stress and strain that may be ahead."

As people tried to digest this news, the following announcements would transform everyday life to an extent not seen again until the first Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020. All entertainment venues such as cinemas and theatres would be closed immediately until further notice, and large public gatherings such as sports events were also banned. "They are being closed because if they were hit by a bomb, large numbers would be killed or injured," the government said in a statement read by Lidell.

More like this: • A death-defying D-Day mission in a wooden glider • Britain's WW2 'island of death' • The man who saved 669 children from the Nazis

Britain was braced for an all-out attack from the air within minutes of war being declared. People were told: "In the event of threatened air raids, warnings will be given in urban areas by means of sirens or hooters which will be sounded in some places by short intermittent blasts, and in other places by a warbling note changing every few seconds. The warning may also be given by short blasts on police whistles."

It was a lot of information to commit to memory and recall amid the panic of an actual attack. "If poison gas has been used, you will be warned by means of hand rattles. If you hear hand rattles, do not leave your shelter until the poison gas has been cleared away. Hand bells will be used to tell you when there is no longer any danger from poison gas." Rattles mean danger, bells mean safety? Got it.

The announcement carried unspoken implications about the need to make it easier for the authorities to identify the dead. "Carry your gas mask with you always. Make sure that you and every member of your household, especially children able to run about, have on them their names and address clearly written. Do this either on an envelope or something like a luggage label, not on an odd piece of paper which might get lost. Sew the label onto your children's clothes where they cannot pull it off."

While many dreaded the news of war, preparations had been under way for a while amid Hitler's continued aggression. Thousands of children were evacuated from towns and cities in the days before. Even a year earlier, the BBC had announced government plans for precautionary defence measures. As well as mobilisation of volunteer Territorial Army anti-aircraft and coastal defence units, leaflets were circulated on what to do during an air raid, trenches were dug in parks and gas masks were distributed. The government later had to urge curious and impatient people not to test their masks with gas ovens or car exhaust pipes. In April 1939, conscription of civilians was introduced. By the time war arrived, more than 1.5 million sturdy metal air-raid shelters had been provided for people to dig into their gardens. 

A 'world-shattering pronouncement'

Within minutes of Chamberlain's declaration of war, air-raid sirens went off across London. In 1969, 30 years later to the day, the BBC pulled together people's memories of that moment in a programme titled Where Were You on the Day War Broke Out? One woman said: "I heard the sirens go and I was all wobbly at the knees." Another remembered seeing dock workers running for their lives. Some were surprised by their own reaction to the announcement, like one woman who said: "It was the most wonderful thing to imagine to find that far from feeling sick with terror, I felt so exhilarated, so excited, so pleased with myself."

One man caught outside when the sirens sounded asked someone if he could take cover in their garden air-raid shelter, only to be told there was no room. He said the householder told him: "I was the only one down this turning that decided to have a shelter. As soon as the siren went, all my neighbours climbed over the back fences and went into my shelter. Look at them… like a lot of bloody rabbits." Another man admitted he was playing tennis when the sirens went, "and we belted home as quick as we could".

Newsreader Lidell recalled feeling surprised that even though war was expected, not everyone was gathered around the wireless. He said: "One saw people strolling about in the sunshine - it was a lovely morning - completely oblivious of what was going on in the Cabinet Room, this world-shattering pronouncement which was being made. One couldn't really grasp the reality. In the same way as when someone close to you has died, you don't really grasp it immediately. And almost precisely as those thoughts went through my mind, the air raid sirens sounded." Fortunately this time, it was a false alarm. London would not be so lucky in the years to come.

France declared war on Germany five hours after Britain. US President Franklin D Roosevelt was keen to maintain American neutrality, wary of entering what was seen as a European conflict. In one of his famous broadcast fireside chats that evening, he said: "This nation will remain a neutral nation. But I cannot ask that every American remain neutral in thought as well."

At 18:00, King George VI broadcast from Buckingham Palace to his subjects in Britain and the Commonwealth. Urging people to "stand calm, firm and united in this time of trial," he said: "The task will be hard, there may be dark days ahead and war can no longer be confined to the battlefield, but… with God's help, we shall prevail." The story of his own personal difficulties leading up to him making this radio broadcast was depicted in the 2010 film, The King's Speech.

In Berlin, one woman had to wait until the evening to listen to the news from England because "it was pain of death if you listened to foreign radio". Christabel Bielenberg, an English woman married to a German, said it had been "a perfectly glorious early autumn day" but the atmosphere was subdued. She said: "There was no enthusiasm in Berlin whatsoever for the war."

Despite the newspaper headlines warning of imminent war, she said: "I honestly didn't believe it, because we got so used to believing nothing in those days. I didn't believe it when I heard that this was going on."

"In the evening, we turned on the Nine O'Clock News, and a very great friend of my husband's was staying with us at the time, Adam von Trott, who was later hanged by Hitler. And I remember the three of us turning on the radio and I think it was the quietness of the way he announced that Germany and England were at war that made me realise it was true."

After the terror of air-raid sirens sounding in London, what followed in Britain over the next six months was a period sometimes referred to as the Phoney War, a time of high tension but no falling bombs. By late spring of 1940, only a few people were still carrying their gas masks and unused air-raid shelters were filling up with water. It wasn't until 7 September 1940 that the skies first darkened over southern England, and German bombers began its almost continuous aerial bombardment. More than 40,000 civilians would be killed by German bombs during the eight terrifying months of the Blitz.

Chamberlain resigned as prime minister in May 1940. He died of cancer that November. Three days after his death, his successor Winston Churchill paid tribute to him in the House of Commons.

"Whatever else history may or may not say about these terrible, tremendous years, we can be sure that Neville Chamberlain acted with perfect sincerity according to his lights and strove to the utmost of his capacity and authority, which were powerful, to save the world from the awful, devastating struggle in which we are now engaged. This alone will stand him in good stead as far as what is called the verdict of history is concerned."

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'There is an awful lot of teasing in the family about my image': Julie Andrews on the mixed legacy of being Mary Poppins

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240823-julie-andrews-on-the-mixed-legacy-of-being-mary-poppins, today

The Hollywood star seemed to be the embodiment of the magical nanny when she featured in the 1964 Disney film. In a 1976 interview with the BBC, she talked about being defined by Poppins' sugar-sweet, wholesome persona.

Actress Julie Andrews looks skyward as she ponders the best way to answer the question which BBC presenter Sue Lawley seems determined to press her on – if she feels typecast by the public image formed by her early success as Mary Poppins.

The 1964 Walt Disney musical, which was based on stories written by PL Travers, had brought Andrews overnight fame when it premiered in Los Angeles, 60 years ago this week. But Mary Poppins had also helped create the sweet, wholesome image that, even at the time of the BBC interview in 1976, still defined her for many people.

The film told the story of an extraordinary nanny, who descends from the London skies, umbrella in hand, into the lives of the troubled Banks family in 1910, taking charge of their boisterous, if rather neglected, children. Through a series of adventures, with a dose of magic and common sense, Mary Poppins helps repair the family's relationships, getting them to embrace the joy in their everyday lives.

Mary Poppins had long been something of a passion project for Walt Disney. In the early 1940s, he had promised his daughters, who were fans of the first book, that he would adapt it into a movie. But he had not counted upon its notoriously prickly author, Travers. He spent the next 20 years repeatedly trying to persuade her to sell him the screen rights. By the 1960s, despite Travers' serious misgivings about Disney's much more jolly, whimsical take on the darker elements of Mary Poppins, the author’s increasingly dire financial situation forced her to relent.

In 2013, Disney would depict their founder's fractious relationship with the intransigent Travers, and his efforts to bring the book to the screen, in the film Saving Mr Banks. In keeping with the author's fears about the adaptation of her own book, some critics claimed that the film portrayed a highly sanitised version of their antagonistic relationship, and the two complicated people involved.

Despite Travers describing Mary Poppins in the books as being very plain, Disney had a clear idea about who he wanted for the "'practically perfect in every way'" nanny – and that was Julie Andrews.

A fast-rising talent

By this time, Andrews had already established a successful stage career on both sides of the Atlantic. Born in 1935, in Surrey, in the UK, Andrews' mother and stepfather, on discovering their daughter's exceptional singing ability and four-octave vocal range, propelled her towards a career on stage. By the age of 12, she was astonishing West End audiences in London with her clear, melodic soprano voice. In 1954, she made her US debut on Broadway in the immensely popular The Boy Friend, but it was her role as Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle in the 1956 musical My Fair Lady that really brought her to people's attention. The production proved to be a perfect showcase for her talents – earning her a Tony Award nomination – and by 1958 was the highest-grossing Broadway show of all-time.

Disney felt the actress would be ideal for his take on Mary Poppins. In 1962, after seeing her perform as Queen Guinevere alongside Richard Burton as King Arthur in the musical Camelot – a role she went on to secure another Tony nomination for – he went backstage to offer her the title role in his upcoming film.

"I thought he was just being nice, and coming to visit," Andrews told BBC's The One Show in 2014, "but he asked if I would be interested in coming to Hollywood to see the designs and to hear the songs he was planning for this movie he intended to make.

"And I was horrified, and I said 'oh Mr Disney, I would love it, I would love it, but I have to tell you, I'm pregnant'."

But again, Disney was prepared to be patient to ensure he got what he wanted. "He said that's all right we'll wait," said Andrews.

So, shortly after giving birth to daughter Emma, Andrews and her then-husband Tony Walton – a designer who Disney also hired – arrived in Hollywood in 1963 to begin work on the film. More like this: • Alfred Hitchcock on his film-making secrets • The blacklisted writer who won two Oscars • Carrie Fisher on why Star Wars was 'low budget'

The role would prove to be a defining one for her. It allowed her to demonstrate the full range of her singing, dancing and comedy gifts. Her performance brought authority, warmth and a slightly enigmatic air to the prim nanny, while songs like A Spoonful of Sugar and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious showed off Andrew's easy charm and flawless voice.

In her second memoir, Home Work, published in 2019, she wrote: "In retrospect, I could not have asked for a better introduction to film, in that it taught me so much in such a short period of time. The special effects and animation challenges alone were a steep learning curve, the likes of which I would never experience again."

The movie was an innovative blend of live-action, animatronics and animation, where children could magically jump into pictures and chimney-sweeps danced with penguins. When it premiered in Los Angeles in 1964, the audience erupted into a spontaneous standing ovation that lasted five minutes. People were left equally exhilarated and bemused by co-star Dick Van Dyke's unusual take on a cockney accent, which has become an enduring part of the film's legacy.

Mary Poppins would go on to become the highest-grossing film in the US in 1964. The movie it beat into second place was My Fair Lady. Despite originating the Eliza Doolittle role on Broadway, Andrews had been passed over for the film adaptation in favour of Audrey Hepburn because, somewhat ironically in retrospect, the studio felt she wasn't a film star. Mary Poppins received 13 Academy Award nominations, winning five, including the best actress Oscar for Andrews and best song for Chim Chim Cher-ee. Andrews also won a Bafta for her performance.

The following year, her portrayal of the governess Maria in The Sound of Music earned her another Oscar nomination and the film's worldwide success cemented Andrews' status as a major Hollywood star.

A change of tack

But playing two iconic singing nanny roles in hugely successful movies, so close together, helped solidify a sweet, virtuous image of Andrews in the audience's minds.

In the years following, the actress purposely sought out darker dramatic projects like Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Torn Curtain (1966) and spy drama The Tamarind Seed (1974), while passing on roles in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) that could have reinforced this wholesome image. And she had attempted to subvert that image off screen as well, admitting to André Previn in a BBC interview in 1987 that she once had a bumper sticker on her car that proclaimed: Mary Poppins Is A Junkie.

In 1976, Sue Lawley questioned Andrews at length about whether she was frustrated with her sugary-sweet image and would go on to quiz her along similar lines decades later, when Andrew was invited on to BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in 1992.

But while the actress conceded that she had wished to "extend" herself "and do other things", she said that she couldn't knock the image because they were "wonderful films and gave people a lot of pleasure".

"Do you ever wish you hadn't done it?" asked Lawley.

"No, never," said Andrews. "I must be truthful although I do giggle and there is an awful lot of teasing in the family about my image and things like that. I don't regret it at all."

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'The one thing we're all afraid of is going insane' – Stockholm Syndrome and the art of hostage negotiation

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240815-stockholm-syndrome-and-the-art-of-hostage-negotiation, today

The six-day bank siege that inspired the controversial Stockholm Syndrome theory began on 23 August 1973. In 1980, a BBC documentary featured two pioneering New York police negotiators who had built their careers on the lessons they had learnt from hostage situations past, including this bizarre robbery attempt.

"But Sven, it's only in the leg."

Those were the words of Kristin Enmark, 23, who was one of four people being held hostage at gunpoint in a Swedish bank. It was day two of the siege, and robber Jan-Erik Olsson wanted to show the police he meant business by shooting her terrified bank colleague Sven Säfström.

Enmark told the BBC's Witness History in 2016: "Jan said to him, 'I'm not going to hurt any bones in your leg; I'm just going to shoot in the part that is not going to make so much injury'."  

Looking back, she struggled to comprehend her callous reaction. She said: "In that situation, I thought that he was somehow being a coward, not letting himself be shot in the leg. I think it's awful for me to think that and to say that, but I also think it shows what can happen to people when they are in a situation that is so absurd. It is a situation that makes this moral shift. I really feel ashamed about this."

Although Olsson did not carry out his plan, Säfström later admitted he had also felt grateful to his captors, and had to force himself to remember these were violent criminals and not his friends.

The term Stockholm Syndrome was coined in the aftermath of the siege by Swedish criminologist and psychiatrist Nils Bejerot to explain the apparently irrational affection that some captives felt for their hostage-takers. The theory reached a wider audience a year later when Californian newspaper heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped by revolutionary militants. The 19-year-old appeared to develop sympathy for her captors, and joined them in a robbery. She was eventually caught and received a prison sentence. According to her defence lawyer, she had been brainwashed and was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

The art of police hostage negotiation was pioneered in the 1970s by New York cops Frank Bolz and Harvey Schlossberg. The idea came out of the botched rescue at the 1972 Munich Olympics, when 11 Israeli athletes were killed after being taken captive by members of a Palestinian militant group. In 1980, Bolz and Schlossberg featured in the BBC documentary Inside Story: Hostage Cops and explained that the NYPD hostage negotiation team was set up because of fears something similar could happen in the city. Their aim was to safely de-escalate situations instead of going in Hollywood-style with all guns blazing. Delaying tactics gave hostage-takers more time to make errors, and created room to build rapport with their captives, making a violent end less likely.

By the end of the 1970s, about 1,500 police forces had sent officers to New York to learn from Bolz's practical experience of more than 200 hostage incidents. These lessons travelled even further when a BBC documentary crew sat in on a masterclass delivered by Bolz and Schlossberg, a former traffic cop with a doctorate in psychology. For Schlossberg, Stockholm Syndrome – or Survival Identification Syndrome – was not a complicated concept.  

"We simply mean when two or more people get together, they form a relationship –  that's all it is," he said. "Of course, the more stress in the situation, the quicker the relationship, and the more intense it's going to be. When people are in crisis, and they're not sure about what's going to happen, the one thing we're all afraid of is going insane. I mean, we're always worried about, are we losing our mind? Is this really happening to me? What am I doing in a thing like that? Am I experiencing this? And what we do is we want to test our feelings against another person, because if that person is sharing this experience and he's seeing the same thing, and he ain't going bananas and this is really happening, maybe it's OK."

Schlossberg said that while criminals would often put hostages on the telephone to speak to negotiators, there was no point trying to obtain secret information from them: "The hostage will tell the criminal everything you tell him. They make terrible witnesses and when they get released, the intelligence information they give you should be taken for what it's worth."

Bolz said that when hostage-takers made demands it was important not to dismiss them outright. He said: "You never tell him no, but you don't necessarily tell him yes. It's always, 'Let me see what I can do – let me try for you'."

Schlossberg said it was vital that police kept control of the situation, insisting that the hostage-taker "will talk to our negotiator or he talks to no one". "We don't want lawyers, mothers, priests – we don't want them talking," he said. "The fantasy is, you're going to talk to no one unless you get the person you want to talk to. The reality is, how long could you sit in this room and not make contact with the outside world?"

Under siege

At the time of the Stockholm siege, none of these lessons was available to Stockholm police, who made a series of rookie errors that would not happen today. When Olsson blasted his way into the Sveriges Kreditbanken, he demanded three million Swedish krona, a getaway car, and another criminal to be delivered to him from jail. While he didn't get the money or the car, psychiatrist Nils Bejerot advised police to acquiesce to his request that Clark Olofsson, one of Sweden's most infamous criminals, be brought to the bank in Stockholm's Norrmalmstorg Square. Olofsson was tasked to work as an inside man in exchange for a reduced sentence.  

Bejerot is the man who coined the term Norrmalmstorg Syndrome, later known as Stockholm Syndrome. For some, this theorising was an attempt to deflect attention away from the mistakes made by him and police colleagues during the siege, by instead putting the blame on victims.  

Over the course of the siege, the four hostages and two criminals began to develop an unlikely bond inside the bank vault, amid apparent acts of kindness by the captors. In contrast, the captives expressed more hostility towards the police, fearing that any attempt to end the stand-off might end in them being killed.

More like this: • The WW1 trauma that inspired Lord of the Rings • Hitchcock reveals the secret to his masterpieces • The provocative 80s rap that became an anthem

Hostage Kristin Enmark was persuaded by the charismatic Olofsson to have a telephone conversation with Olof Palme, the actual Swedish prime minister. She begged to be allowed to leave the bank in a getaway car with the kidnappers, telling him: "I think you are sitting there playing checkers with our lives. I fully trust Clark and the robber. I am not desperate. They haven't done a thing to us. On the contrary, they have been very nice. But you know, Olof, what I'm scared of is that the police will attack and cause us to die."

Looking back in 2016, Enmark told the BBC: "I wish that that phone call never had happened because it was a meaningless call. I was sitting there asking for my life. He was the prime minister. What could he say?"

For several days, the hostages were held inside a bank vault while surrounded by armed police. Officers eventually decided to break through the ceiling and use tear gas to disarm the kidnappers. Police shouted for the hostages to come out first, but they refused, believing that the captors would be shot. Instead, as the criminals walked out, they stopped in the doorway to embrace two of the female captives. Hostage Säfström, who had earlier narrowly escaped being shot, received a manly handshake.

It was behaviour that baffled many of the Swedish public who had for days been gripped by the dramatic events at the bank. While Bejerot diagnosed Stockholm Syndrome without even speaking to Enmark, the theory had the air of a plausible explanation, and it caught the imagination of the international media.

For New York hostage negotiators Frank Bolz and Harvey Schlossberg in 1980, the concept could be seen as a useful teaching aid to describe interpersonal dynamics in a traumatic situation. However, the label is a complete misrepresentation of Kristin's experience, according to Dr Allan Wade, a Canadian therapist who has spoken at length with her. He told BBC Reel in 2023: "The term Stockholm Syndrome has long roots in psychoanalytic thinking in Europe. But in that moment, it was used to silence and discredit an angry young woman who had been resisting violence, protecting herself and other people for six and a half days. It was used to protect the police response."

Kristin said in 2016 that she remained friends with Oloffson, the man taken from prison to meet the demands of robber Olsson. Dr Wade said that during the siege, the prisoner "was actually working in a way to try to make some of the people feel safer, and if you treat Clark Olofsson as though he was simply another one of the captors, you would have a very difficult time understanding why Kristin or others might have some sense of a positive recollection of him".

Speaking on the BBC's Sideways podcast in 2021, Kristen had a blunt assessment of Stockholm Syndrome.

"It's bullshit, if you can say that on the BBC. It's a way of blaming the victim. I did what I could to survive."

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'This will make them scream': Alfred Hitchcock on his film-making secrets

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240808-this-will-make-them-scream-alfred-hitchcock-on-his-film-making-secrets, today

Renowned as the "master of suspense", in 1964 Alfred Hitchcock told the BBC why it was his skill at playing with the audience's emotions and expectations that kept them glued to the screen.

"I believe in putting the horror in the mind of the audience, and not necessarily on the screen," film director Alfred Hitchcock told the BBC in 1964, when asked how he perfected his uncanny ability to keep cinema audiences on the edge of their seats.

The film-maker, who would have turned 125 this week, was explaining to the BBC's Huw Wheldon that his deftness at building and maintaining cinematic suspense was rooted in his intuitive understanding of human psychology.

Hitchcock had, by this time, already revolutionised the thriller genre with a string of classic films that played on their audience's psyche, such as Vertigo, Psycho and Strangers on a Train. A master at the art of slowly ratcheting up tension on screen, he believed the key to suspense was not merely shocking the viewers but subtly manipulating their perception and emotions.

In his movie scenes, he would slowly build a mounting escalation of threat, stretching out the audience's anxiety that something terrible could occur at any moment. Then when the pay-off finally happens, cinemagoers would be flooded with an intense feeling of relief.

In a creepy sequence in 1963's The Birds, where the creatures suddenly start making bizarre and unexplained violent attacks on people, Hitchcock had demonstrated this art. In the scene, Tippi Hedren's Melanie is seen smoking by a playground to the sound of school children singing. The camera keeps cutting between Melanie, and the gradually increasing number of crows landing on the playground equipment behind her. Each shot of Melanie is a closer framing of her face, heightening the audience's realisation of her obliviousness to the growing danger the flock of birds present to her.

Hitchcock likened himself to being the operator of a switchback railway - an early form of rollercoaster - knowing how far to push his audience to thrill them but not going so far as to make it unpleasant. "I am, in some respects, the man who says, in constructing it, says 'how steep can we make the first dip?', and 'this will make them scream'," he said.

"If you make the dip too deep, the screams will continue as the whole car goes over the edge and destroys everyone. Therefore, you mustn't go too far, because you do want them to get off the switchback railway giggling with pleasure, like the woman who comes out of the movie, a very sentimental movie, and says, 'oh, I had a good cry'."

The director called this sensation "the satisfaction of temporary pain". People will "endure the agonies of a suspense film" providing you give them some form of cathartic release from the tension.

He had learnt the cost of pushing it too far when he made his 1936 espionage thriller Sabotage. The film tells the story of a wife slowly uncovering her husband is planning a terrorist attack, and was met with a lukewarm response from audiences and critics when it was released.

Hitchcock laid the blame for this at a particular scene in the movie. In it, the tension is steadily ramped up as a boy travels across London to deliver a parcel, unaware he is actually carrying a bomb with a timer. The audience has already been shown the bomb, increasing their expectation of an impending disaster. The sequence then cuts between shots of the boy, the bomb package and various clocks he passes, which show that time is running out.

"The clock's going, the time for the bombing to go off at such and such a time, and I drew this thing out, attenuated the whole business," Hitchcock told the BBC. "Then someone should have said 'oh my goodness there is a bomb,' picked it up and threw it out the window. Bang! But everybody is relieved.

"But I made the mistake, I let the bomb go off and kill someone. Bad technique. Never repeated it."

Action without words

Hitchcock knew that for the suspense to work, it had to be rooted in the audience's anticipation of danger. So, viewers needed to be aware of things that were unknown to the film's characters. Then, they could work out ahead of time what might happen, and worry about the outcome.

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He would meticulously plan his shots to give these necessary facts to the viewer to allow suspenseful situations to be set up. In his 1959 classic, North by Northwest, in the famous scene where Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is terrorised by a crop-dusting pilot, the opening wide shots spend time establishing how flat and open the landscape is. So, when Grant is attacked by the swooping plane, and his would-be assassin starts firing, the audience already knows there is nowhere for him to take cover.

At times Hitchcock would zoom in to small, revealing details, forcing the viewer to see them.

In a pivotal scene in 1954's Rear Window, the camera zooms in to show Lisa Fremont's (Grace Kelly) hands signalling her discovery of the murdered Mrs Thorwald's ring to LB Jeffries (James Stewart), who is watching from the opposite apartment. The camera pans to a close-up to the face of murderous husband Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), noticing that Lisa is signalling. And then him lifting his head to see who she is signalling to and suddenly realising that Jeffries is watching. Without any dialogue, the audience now knows both Lisa and Jeffries are in danger.

Although Hitchcock was extremely adept at using sound or silence to intensify cinematic impact, such as Bernard Herrmann's iconic screeching violins in 1960's Psycho, he thought of himself as primarily a visual storyteller.

He had started his career directing silent movies in the 1920s, and had learnt to push boundaries of what the camera would usually do. He constantly experimented with daring camera moves and innovative editing to convey essential plot details, characters' motivations or their emotional state of mind.

Often, he would use point-of-view shots to make the audience intimately involved in the story, luring them into empathising with the main character's plight. You can see this in his 1958 thriller about obsession, Vertigo. In it he used the now famous dolly zoom - a disorienting technique where the camera zooms in while it is simultaneously being pulled back - to allow viewers to experience the feeling of fear, shock and confusion at the same time that its protagonist is hit by vertigo, helping to create that emotional connection.

In Rear Window, the audience watches much of the film from the point of view of wheelchair-bound Stewart as he spies on his neighbours. Viewers see events unfold through Stewart's eyes, uncovering clues about his neighbour's murder at the same time as him, heightening the uneasy voyeuristic tension of the film.

Playing mind games

Getting his audience to invest this emotional involvement was key for the Hitchcock, so he could manipulate how they felt. This, he thought, was much more important than what the film was actually about. It was Hitchcock who popularised the term "MacGuffin"  a plot device that drives characters' motivation and the story forward without intrinsic meaning.

"I don't care about content at all," he told the BBC's Wheldon. "The film can be about anything at all, as long as I'm making that audience react in a certain way to whatever I put on the screen. And if you begin to worry about the details of what are the papers about, that the spies are trying to steal, well that's a lot of nonsense. I can't be bothered about what the papers are that the spies are after."

And Hitchcock knew that it was not necessary to show the audience everything to elicit this kind of intense feeling from them, and that what audiences imagine is often more terrifying than what they actually see.

In Psycho, there is an infamous scene that shows his mastery of composition and editing to extract maximum emotional reaction from cinema goers. As BBC Talking Movies' Tom Brook said in 2020: "No verbal description of Psycho can convey its true visceral impact." 

In the sequence, the character Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is stabbed in the shower. The moment is shown in a rapid montage which cuts between images of the attacker with the knife in motion, juxtaposed with close-up shots of her terrified face, coupled with a dissonant, shrieking score. The fast pacing of the editing, impeccably in time with the jarring sounds, creates an acute sense of violence, vulnerability and panic in the viewer, without actually showing images of the knife going into the victim or explicit gore.

"Well, I deliberately made that pretty rough," said Hitchcock. "But as the film developed, I put less and less physical horror into it because I was leaving that in the mind of the audience, and, as the film went on, there was less and less violence but the tension, in the mind of the viewer, was increased considerably. I was transferring it from the film into their minds.

"So, towards the end, I had no violence at all. But the audience by this time was screaming in agony. Thank goodness!"

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Lauryn Hill sued for fraud by Fugees bandmate

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpdq9w2pjnyo, today

Lauryn Hill is being sued for breach of contract and fraud by her fellow Fugees bandmate, Pras Michél. The lawsuit, filed on Monday in New York, claimed that Hill mismanaged the budget of the band's 2023 comeback tour and it became "so bloated with unnecessary and, most likely fictitious, expenses, that it seemed designed to lose money." Michél said the tour was going to be "a huge commercial success, since most of shows for the entire arena size tour were sold out in advance", but he walked away empty-handed because of Hill's "narcissistic tendencies" and "arrogance". In a statement, Hill called the lawsuit "baseless" and "full of false claims and unwarranted attacks."

The lawsuit also claims that Hill turned down $5m to play at the Coachella festival, without telling Michél about the offer, because the Fugees would not be top of the bill. Michél also criticised Hill's "chronic tardiness" for performances. Hill's statement added that she's been "pushing through because I understood that Pras was under duress because of his legal battles and that this was perhaps affecting his judgment, state of mind, and character. "Last year’s tour was put together to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. It was being planned whether the Fugees were involved or not. "The tour was expanded to incorporate the Fugees because I found out that Pras was in trouble and would need money to aid his legal defense." Michél was found guilty in 2023 of illegal lobbying. US prosecutors said he had received more than $100m (£80m) from Malaysian billionaire Jho Low that was used in two efforts to influence US politics. Hill added that Michél's lawsuit "notably omits" that he was given an advanced overpayment of $3m for the last tour to pay off his legal fees. He is yet to "repay substantial loans" that she gave him as an "act of goodwill", she claimed. Hill and the Fugees are set to play three dates in the UK next week, including a night at the o2 in London. Michél's lawyer said he will not be participating in the shows. The Fugees were formed in New Jersey in 1990 by Lauryn Hill, Pras Michél and Wyclef Jean and their top hits include Ready or Not and Killing Me Softly.


Music studio used by stars soaked by leaky roof

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx253gpnjwpo, today

A music studio which once played host to The Clash, Bjork and Billy Bragg is facing a bill of thousands of pounds to repair a leaky roof. The group running The Bunker on Stockton Road, Sunderland, said it needed £30,000 in order to stay open. It was built in 1890 as a bicycle factory, but has been a community music studio for the past 42 years. Director Kenny Sanger said: "We are not really good at putting our hands out and asking for support, but we need help."

He added: "We'd hate to leave but we can't keep chasing leaks." The venue is open seven days a week and has 17 music studios and practice rooms. It also provides music tuition to young people.

A number of North East artists have used the studios, including The Lake Poets, Tom A Smith and The Futureheads. Lead singer Barry Hyde said the studio was a "cornerstone" of the city's music scene and he "owes an awful lot" to it. "Growing up in the 90s, I heard about the youth music project at The Bunker," he said. "I went along and I met two lads called Ross and Jack, then my younger brother came along. We went on to form the Futureheads." The indie group’s cover of Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love in 2008 was both a critical and chart success, reaching number eight in the UK Top 40. "We’ve been very lucky, we got to travel the world gigging and, you know, that wouldn't have happened without the Bunker," Hyde said.

A crowdfunding campaign has raised more than £4,000. Other Wearside artists have pledged their support, with Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics offering to auction a guitar to help pay for the repairs. New artist Tom A Smith, who recently played the BBC Introducing stage at Radio One’s Big Weekend, is to play a charity concert to raise funds this month. "I was part of the young musician project, it’s such an important venue to me and the city, I just want to help out," he said. Mr Sanger said he had been "overwhelmed" by the support. "It’s great to see people getting behind us," he said. "We want to make this place something the city can be proud of. "We want to stay here and, if we can get rid of the damp carpets and dehumidifiers, that would be brilliant."

Follow BBC Sunderland on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@bbc.co.uk.


'His loss wrecked me' - NI rappers use music to grieve

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2m39my32eo, today

They never thought that they would be writing songs of grief about losing their own. Yet that is what young rappers and musicians who meet in Belfast are now doing after the deaths of two of their community. Woodzy, real name Adam Woods, died in 2022, while Rich Smicks died in July 2024. Both were rappers from east Belfast and were 21.

Rich Smicks made a number of tracks with 23-year-old rapper Durt Burd from west Belfast. "He was like a brother to me," Durt Burd told BBC News NI. "All I can do now is try my best to carry on his legacy the way I feel he would have wanted it." As well as making music together they were friends and Durt Burd misses him every day. "I'd be answering the phone and I'd be thinking that he's ringing me." "We really managed to be an authentic voice for our communities even though a lot of people would have seen those communities as being juxtaposed. "For other people the east and west thing meant a lot but for me and him, we were just mates - just muckers," Durt Burd added. A new hard-hitting track and video, Tear the Walls Down, by Durt Burd, Jun Tzu and Manchester's Prose pays tribute to Rich Smicks.

'I deal with it by writing'

Rapper Wee Joe, 22, from Lurgan in County Armagh, feels the losses too. "Woodzy and Rich Smicks were two talented amazing rappers," he said. "The story that they portrayed in their music was amazing and the stuff they did for the community was outstanding. Rich Smicks was a good friend. "He's from east Belfast and he was one of the first Protestant guys I started talking to from around Belfast. "Him passing was just heart-breaking. "The only way I can deal with it is writing more," Wee Joe added.

The rappers are part of a musical community who meet, write and record at Hotbox Studios and the Yes U Can academy in the Argyle Business Centre in west Belfast, run by James Ayo. As well as music, Yes U Can teaches young people music production, DJ-ing and videography. Twenty-year-old artist FSJ is from Belfast and records his music in the studios, and he said that "everyone has had a reaction" to the two deaths. But he said that music was "like therapy" for him. "You'd have the beat on, relaxing, going away with writing your tracks, writing about how you feel at the moment, writing about something that you want to talk about," FSJ said.

East Belfast musician Evo, 26, also told BBC News NI that he wrote music about his own emotions. "Being an artist in Belfast and making music has also really helped my mental health," he said. "I started writing songs as I've lost people in the past and that's what I put my energy towards. "A lot of people tend to lock their emotions away, say in Pandora's box, and they don't look at the issues they're facing. "Just getting it out there helps you process it and helps you deal with it," Evo added.

'A mentor, an older brother figure'

The musician known as Sqxire is 19 and from Belfast, but has been making music since he was a young teenager. "I like to write about how I'm feeling in the moment, whatever that is," he said. "I love making R'n'B, I love making pop music, I want to be a writer for other artists as well." He said the loss of Rich Smicks "has wrecked me." "Whenever we met each other it was instant, straight away making music, having these deep conversations. "He was a mentor and an older brother figure. "It almost feels wrong, in a sense, doing this without him, but I know I have to," Sqxire said.

'A lot of guys don't like to talk sometimes'

Many of the musicians look up to James Ayo, who runs Hotbox Studios. He admitted losing Woodzy and Rich Smicks was "very hard." He said they "had so much passion for music". "They used music to talk about what they were going through." James Ayo has been trying to offer comfort to the rest of the young community who gather in the studios. "I'm only one person, I ain't got all the answers," he said. "Sometimes it is very hard, I don't know how to deal with it." He said he had encouraged the musicians to write about their feelings. "I always try and get them to talk from their heart and what's going on in their minds and what they're suffering with," he said. "For men, as you know, a lot of guys don't like to talk sometimes. "They've found this space and this is what they use to get whatever is on their chest out there," James added.

'We don't get a chance a lot'

Hotbox Entertainment has organised a two-day Hip-Hop conference and festival at Argyle Business Centre in west Belfast and Alibi nightclub in Belfast on 7 and 8 November. It can be a challenge to find venues to perform in. "Belfast doesn't offer much support for young artists - especially young rappers, it's urban music," Wee Joe said. "When it comes to venues, we don't get a chance a lot." Sqxire mentioned similar frustrations. "I've probably done about six or seven performances which is still good to have and I appreciate every one of them," he said. "But we need to get more." If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help and support is available at BBC Action Line. If you live in Northern Ireland, you can also call Lifeline, external, a 24 hour helpline on 0808 808 8000.


Exhibition shows 'powerful' British Indian journey

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceqnyej03rzo, today

A new art exhibition featuring sculptures and installations inspired by an artist's South Asian heritage has opened. Journey of the Blue Sun, the first solo show by Saroj Patel, uses artworks to take the visitor from a small village in India "to a new life in the UK". It features textiles, sound and video, and art co-created with women at the Sunrise Multicultural Project in Banbury. Ms Patel, who lives in Oxfordshire, said she was inspired by the "powerful" stories her parents told her, and wanted to share them with a wider audience.

She said: "I have always been fascinated by my parents’ stories about their initial move to the UK, the experiences they had and how different life was compared to India. "Like many Indians who migrated to the UK, they faced numerous challenges and difficulties. "However, being a second-generation immigrant has positively impacted my life in many ways. "It has given me far more choices and opportunities than I would have had if I had been born in the villages in Gujarat."

Speaking to the BBC's Rena Annobil, Ms Patel said: "I feel like everybody has a story and everybody’s story is important... if you can share yourself a little bit it gives an understanding to other people who might not understand your background, or some of your culture, and for people to learn." She said her sessions with the women at the Banbury group were "really great". "I got to be with a group of wonderful women and South Asian women, and we got to work together. "It was just about being creative and playful, getting to know each other, just being together making work, and I absolutely loved their creations and what they did."

Curator Mark Devereux said: "Journey of the Blue Sun shares an important personal story that is pertinent to so many people and communities living in the UK now. "The new work Saroj has produced for this exhibition signals an exciting future for this ambitious and talented artist." The exhibition, which was funded and supported by the Old Fire Station in Oxford alongside Arts Council England, Oxford City Council, and Little Greene, is on at the venue until 16 November. Local residents are invited to a special event on 19 October to share their stories and experiences of migration and living in Oxford, when Ms Patel will also be interviewed by Mr Devereux.

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Inside 140-year-old museum during mammoth renovations

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj6ey8n4033o, today

Exclusive images have given an insight into a mammoth project to renovate a 140-year-old museum that has been closed for two years. Ipswich Museum shut its doors in October 2022 for a £11.4m revamp. Work has been progressing with an expected opening of late 2025 or early 2026. The BBC has taken a look inside the High Street building to see how work is progressing ahead of the opening in just over a year's time.

The museum, which is owned by Ipswich Borough Council, was in need of the renovation. Dating back to 1881, every gallery in the museum will upgraded. Alison Hall, museum manager, said there was already a "world of difference" since the work began. "This would usually be full of all manner of taxidermy wildlife, exploring the local landscape as well as some creatures that come from different continents," she said while standing in the central Victorian natural history gallery. "At the moment it's very much a work in progress. There's a lot of work going on around us. "This is so exciting. This project has been a really long time coming."

Ms Hall explained a huge part of the process at the start had been to remove the artefacts. The museum's total collection is made up of about 200,000 items. While not everything is on display, the museum team still had several thousand items they needed to remove. "There's a few things that needed to stay in situ because they're a little bit too big to move," Ms Hall continued. "We've had tiny things that will go in a small box all the way through to incredibly heavy Egyptian sculptures that needed specialist removal companies. "So it's been a massive task. "Even before we started the task of the decant, we spent many months auditing the collection so we knew exactly what was on display, where it was and planned where everything was going to get stored."

Beloved items like a stuffed mammoth, known as Wool-I-Am, have remained in the building and covered to avoid damage. The replica mammoth was created in the 1980s to complement the displays of actual remains found in the Ipswich area. The species is believed to have lived in the area until 11,500 years ago. Many of the historic items needed bespoke packaging while teams needed to exercise extreme care. Once the building work is complete the team will then need to bring the items back which Ms Hall said would be a "huge amount of work". "It's an incredibly exciting project and it's hopefully going to make a museum that everyone will love for generations to come," she added.

The cost of the project has been a large talking point over the years. Initially it was expected the work would cost £8.7m with the National Lottery Heritage Fund providing about half of this. Earlier this year it was revealed the costs had run £2.7m over budget which the council said was due to inflation and supply chain disruptions. However further lottery funding as well as council money was used to cover the increased costs.

There remained some uncertainty over the reopening date. Labour councillor and portfolio holder for planning and museums, Carole Jones, said she was hopeful the museum would reopen at the end of 2025 or the start of 2026. "It might go over into the beginning of 2026 because obviously we want to do this properly, we don't want to cut corners to meet a deadline because this is a really precious important building," she explained. "This is a once in a generation event. "It is an enormous project for Ipswich, for this wonderful historic museum, and when it's ready people will love it."

Gipping Construction, based in Ipswich, was awarded the project work which contracts manager, Steve Offord, described as an "honour". "We have done museums before but this is a very unique building," he said. "It is an honour to work on this one. It's a big building and a big project for the council. "We're locally based, so it is an honour to work with the council yet again and do a prestigious building for them."

He explained the majority of the work had run smoothly, with the odd hiccup due to the building's age. "As always, as you take things apart there's always things you uncover that no-one expects and with the design team we work together to solve it," he added. The museum will see a vast number of upgrades, from its electricity to its heating, to make it "more comfortable and modern", according to Mr Offord. There will also be a new cafe, terrace and new toilets. "We're giving [the museum] a good makeover," he continued. "It was a bit tired and needed a good change... a good freshen up." The whole team were positive once completed, the work would help encourage young generations of the future to come and learn about the past in an historic venue.

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City museums to undergo £58m makeover

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c79nvqzdezlo, today

Two Liverpool museums are set to undergo a £58m makeover after planning permission for their redevelopment was approved. The International Slavery Museum and Maritime Museum on the Royal Albert Dock will close in early 2025 for three years during the upgrade. It will see the two Grade I-listed buildings link up to bring displays on the history of the slave trade together. Architect Kossy Nnachetta said the new-look site would become the first museum in the world dedicated to the transatlantic slave trade, adding that "Liverpool, the UK and the world is ready for this".

Ms Nnachetta, of Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, said: "This project – like both museums within it - embodies a determination that our collective and shared history is expressed. "It boldly addresses themes of restorative justice through space."

National Museums Liverpool, which runs seven venues, said the redevelopment forms part of the wider Waterfront Transformation Project which aims to partner up storytelling, heritage, community and hospitality. The project received £9.9m from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and £10m from the government in March. Works will see the entrance of the International Slavery Museum move into the Dr Martin Luther King Jr building, formerly the dock traffic office.

National Museums said a new entrance will create an "inspiring welcome and a stronger sense of identity". Internally, the building will become a space for learning and community, with an iron and glass bridge connecting the re-imagined International Slavery Museum galleries in the Hartley Pavilion to the Dr Martin Luther King Jr building. The Maritime Museum, which opened in 1986, will get its visitor welcome space improved.

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Hundreds celebrate life of respected jazz musician

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20pz1740v2o, today

A New Orleans-style funeral has been held for a respected jazz musician "taken much too soon". Hundreds of people joined a marching band and a colourful umbrella parade to celebrate the life of Jeremy Huggett, who died in September at the age of 57. Mr Huggett enjoyed a long association with Bristol's famous jazz pub, The Old Duke, collecting glasses from the age of nine and performing there every fortnight for many years. Friends, family and fellow musicians said his death was a "great loss for the jazz world".

Mr Huggett's wife, Maria, said: "It's not mournful, a jazz funeral, it's happy and a celebration. "It's a celebration of his life. Taken much too soon." Carol Coombes, who worked with the late musician in his role as president of the Bristol Jazz Society, said she had been a fan of his for a long time. "We went to see Band of Gold and it was Jeremy Huggett and it was in the 90s and we thought 'wow'," she said. Friend and band member Howard Williams said Mr Huggett was "very well known in the jazz scene". "He was an extremely good musician and very well respected," he added.

Mr Huggett made many special connections through music, and played at funeral director Ryan Squires' wedding. "It was a pleasure to have him there with us then and it's a pleasure, but a sad privilege, to be with him now," he said. "He was with us on the start of our journey and we're with him sadly at the end of his." Mr Huggett's family plan to set up a foundation in his name to support young musicians trying to break into the industry.

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Lightshow to dazzle Rochester Cathedral

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62m61j6z57o, today

A lightshow is set to premiere at the 1,400 year-old Rochester Cathedral on Tuesday. "Scriptorium: The Illuminated Histories" centres on the history of the religious site, with projections drawing on Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, art and architecture. Legends, dragons and knights will also feature in the sound and art piece, which aims to highlight the "mischaracterised" Dark Ages. Dean of Rochester, the Very Reverend Dr Philip Hesketh described the lightshow as a "feast for the senses".

Visitors can explore the illuminated cathedral, where they will be "enveloped" in soundscapes, ranging from "haunting chants to stirring melodies", he continued. "Scriptorium: The Illuminated Histories" was created by the award-winning Luxmuralis collaboration between artist Peter Walker and composer David Harper. Rochester Cathedral is the second oldest in England, founded in 604 AD. The current building dates back to 1080, according to the cathedral. The lightshow will run from 1 to 5 October.

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Gruffalo illustrator's postcard for handwriting club

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgdq1p6l7wo, today

The illustrator of the Gruffalo children's books has designed a postcard to mark World Postcard Day. Axel Scheffler produced the card for Dorset-based The Handwritten Letter Appreciation Society, which he joined two years ago. It depicts Postman Bear, another character he illustrated for books written by Gruffalo author Julia Donaldson. The postcard has been made available to download from the society's website.

The society, founded seven years ago in Swanage by Dinah Johnson, has 1,600 members and aims to keep the art of handwritten letters alive. Mr Scheffler said: "There is nothing quite like writing and sending a handwritten postcard to a friend. "I have lived in England for 40 years and keeping in touch with friends and family in Germany in this way has been very important to us. "A postcard or letter is personal and unique - it is like a gift in itself. "There is also nothing quite like receiving a card or letter through the post. It always brightens your day. "It is nice to think about the person sitting down and writing the card - and they can picture you receiving it. The whole process is a sign of true friendship."

Ms Johnson said Mr Scheffler wrote to ask to join the society. "He obviously really believes in the power of letter writing and postcard writing," she said. "We've sent postcards back and forth and he's sent beautiful envelopes that he's decorated. "I thought I could write to him and see if he would mind doing a little postcard for us and he said 'yes'. "It's getting a bit more difficult with the cost of postage but it's still a lovely way to connect with people and you get a lovely picture. "If you go around the shops in Dorset you can still find lots of postcards available."

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Dame Maggie Smith obituary: A formidable star on stage and screen

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crggzy42v30o, today

Dame Maggie Smith, who has died at the age of 89, brought an incredible range of expression to her roles, winning high praise from directors and fellow actors alike. It was said of her that she never took a role lightly and would often be pacing around at rehearsals going over her lines while the rest of the cast was on a break. In a profession notorious for its uncertainties her career was notable for its longevity. She made her acting debut in 1952 and was still working six decades later having moved from aspiring star to national treasure.

Acting legend Dame Maggie Smith dies at 89Follow live: Tributes to Dame Maggie SmithShakespeare to Harry Potter: Six of her greatest rolesHer life and career in picturesMargaret Natalie Smith was born in Ilford, Essex, on 28 December 1934, the daughter of a pathologist. With war looming the family moved to Oxford and the young Maggie attended the Oxford School for Girls. She started out in the theatre as a prompt girl and understudy at the Oxford Repertory. She once claimed that she never got onto the stage while she was there because no-one in the company ever fell ill. Her company moved to a small theatre in London in 1955 where she attracted the attention of an American producer, Leonard Stillman, who cast her in New Faces, a revue that opened on Broadway in June 1956.

She stood out among the cast of unknowns and, on her return to London, was offered a six-month stint in the revue Share My Lettuce opposite Kenneth Williams. Her first film role was an uncredited part in the 1956 production Child in the House. Two years later she was nominated for a Bafta as best newcomer in the 1958 melodrama Nowhere to Go, in which she played a girl who shelters an escaped convict. The Times, describing her role in the hit London production of Mary Mary in 1963, said that she was "the salvation of this fluffy Broadway comedy".

First Oscar

She nearly stole the show from Richard Burton in the film The VIPs when she appeared in a pivotal scene with the Welsh star. One critic noted that "when Maggie Smith is on the screen, the picture moves," and Burton afterwards teasingly described her upstaging of him as "grand larceny". Later in 1963, Laurence Olivier offered her the part of Desdemona opposite his Othello, at the National Theatre. The production, with the original cast, was made into a film two years later, with Smith being nominated for an Academy Award. The role which brought her international fame came in 1969 when she played the determinedly non-conformist teacher in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

The part won her a best actress Oscar. She also married her co-star Robert Stephens. The actress continued with the National Theatre for another two years including a performance as Mrs Sullen in the Restoration comedy The Beaux' Stratagem in Los Angeles. She received another Oscar nomination for best actress after playing Aunt Augusta in the George Cukor film, Travels With My Aunt, in 1972.

She and Stephens divorced in 1975, and a year later she was married to the playwright, Beverley Cross, and also moved to Canada and spent four years in a repertory company where she took on weightier roles in Macbeth and Richard III. One critic, writing of her performance as Lady Macbeth, decided she had "merged her own vivid personality with that of her charismatic subject". Despite her success she was modest about her achievements, stating simply that "One went to school, one wanted to act, one started to act, and one's still acting." She continued to work in the cinema playing opposite Peter Ustinov in the 1978 film, Death on the Nile and, in the same year, the part of Diana Barrie in Neil Simon's California Suite.

The 80s saw a number of memorable cinema performances, and more awards including Baftas for A Private Function and A Room With A View, the latter also garnering her a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. There were more Baftas, first for her interpretation of the ageing alcoholic in The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne and then in Bed Among The Lentils, one of Alan Bennett's Talking Heads series for the BBC. It was back to the stage in 1987 in Lettice and Lovage at the Globe Theatre in London before the production transferred to New York. But her run was interrupted after she suffered a bicycle accident and then learned she would need eye surgery. When she finally resumed work on Lettice and Lovage, after a 12 month break, her New York performance won her a Tony.

Harry Potter role

In 1990 she was created DBE and, a year later, appeared as the ageing Wendy in Hook, Stephen Spielberg's sequel to Peter Pan. Other films followed including Sister Act, alongside Whoopi Goldberg, and The Secret Garden for which she was nominated for a Bafta. The new century brought a Bafta and an Emmy nomination for role as Betsey Trotwood in the BBC production of David Copperfield. A year later, she appeared as Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, a role she would reprise in all of the subsequent Potter movies.

She was, reportedly, the only performer the author JK Rowling specifically asked for, bringing a small touch of Miss Jean Brodie to Hogwarts. In 2004 she appeared with her long time friend and fellow Dame Judi Dench, in the gentle drama Ladies in Lavender. The New York Times decided that Smith and Dench "sink into their roles as comfortably as house cats burrowing into a down quilt on a windswept, rainy night".

Downtown put-downs

Two years later she was the cash-strapped Countess of Trentham in Gosford Park, Robert Altman's take on the English country house murder. Her performance was a delight, with a veneer of snobbery from which would emerge the masterly put down, particularly in the case of Mr Novello's failed movie. It was a role that she arguably reprised in all but name when she was cast in ITV drama, Downton Abbey. The name of her character may have changed to the Dowager Countess of Grantham but the performance was similar in essence. "It's true I don't tolerate fools, but then they don't tolerate me, so I am spiky," she once said. "Maybe that's why I'm quite good at playing spiky elderly ladies." She remained with the Downton Abbey cast until 2015 when the series finally came to an end, reprising the role for two films in 2019 and 2022. In 2007, while filming Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was given the all-clear after two years of treatment. Despite being left feeling weak after her illness, she went on to star in the final Harry Potter film and received a Bafta nomination for her role in the 2012 film, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. In 2015 she gave a moving performance in the film, The Lady in the Van, based on the true tale of Mary Shepherd, an elderly woman who lived in a dilapidated van on the writer Alan Bennett's driveway in London for 15 years. She had previously appeared in the stage version of the story, for which she won an Olivier for Best Actress, and a 2009 BBC Radio 4 adaptation of Bennett's play. Dame Maggie gave few interviews but she was once asked to define the appeal of acting. "I like the ephemeral thing about theatre, every performance is like a ghost - it's there and then it's gone."


The great artist recluse and his 78 missing paintings

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gdnwzn3qyo, today

In his younger years, Henry Orlik once had work hung alongside masters such as Salvador Dalí. After more than 40 years away, he has recently come back into the spotlight as a mystery surrounds 78 missing artworks.

For decades the reclusive artist worked away in a housing association flat, stacking and rolling up canvases and drawings. But the body of work of 77-year-old Henry Orlik, who now lives in Swindon, is far smaller than it should be. A large chunk went missing while he was in hospital in 2022 following a stroke, and have never been found. Without his full portfolio of paintings, it is tricky for Orlik to know the full value of the ones he does have left. But his dream-like paintings have brought tears to the eyes of art dealers, with one describing him as "one of Britain's greats". "I've had a 38-year career in the art world and I feel these are just exceptional," said Grant Ford from his gallery in Marlborough, Wiltshire. Mr Ford, who has been showing Orlik's work for the first time since the 1980s, was a specialist at the world famous Sotheby’s auction house for 30 years.

Mr Ford was contacted by a solicitor trying to help Orlik, who can no longer pick up a brush after the stroke, find his 78 missing paintings. He also wanted Mr Ford to value those that were left. "This artist, who I really didn't know about a few months ago, should be considered one of our greats," Mr Ford said. "I just haven't seen anything like this before. I think they're just mind-bogglingly good." Orlik did have some work exhibited alongside the likes of Dali in the 1970s, but became reclusive in the 1980s after becoming disillusioned with the commercial art world. For expert Mr Ford though, he could not value Orlik’s work without selling a few first.

That is where Orlik's childhood family friend, Jan Pietruska, stepped in to help. Mr Pietruska explained that it was while Orlik was in hospital, that he was evicted from his housing association flat, which was in London. Its contents were cleared, but it is not known where they went. As a result, valuing what is left has been essential to understanding what has been lost. Originally of Polish descent, Orlik came to the UK with his parents in 1948, where they were in various resettlement camps until they moved to Swindon. Orlik now lives in his late mother's house in the town where he is cared for, but struggles to speak. Over the years, he had fortunately also stored many pieces there.

Mr Pietruska started to go through the mass of art, providing pieces for exhibitions in London and Wiltshire. "I started unravelling these, so I took them to the Polish community centre here, because they had a large dance floor," he explained. "I photographed them all and started recording, numbering them, naming them and then put them into tubes." When Mr Ford got some to London for the first exhibition this year, about 30 works made £400,000 - the majority selling before the doors fully opened to the public – and fetching between £5,000 and £40,000 each. The second exhibition at The Little Gallery in Marlborough had online punters bidding tens of thousands of pounds.

One of the buyers was James Clifford who runs a logistics company by day, but is an avid art fan in his spare time. When he read about Orlik via an art update email, he zoomed across London on his moped to the gallery and persuaded them to let him in before it opened to the public. Despite getting in early, he found the ground floor of the gallery was already a "sea of red dots" on the labels of the paintings. They had already been sold. "I just saw the first few - my jaw totally dropped. I just thought this was some of the most extraordinary work I'd seen," he said. He was determined to have one for himself, so made an impulse purchase - one he said he does not regret at all. "The skill level is amongst the best artistry I've seen," he said.

For the untrained eye, the first thing you might notice about Orlik's work is how precise it all is. Some of it feels quite science-fiction. Mr Ford explained that Orlik has always had a strong interest in physics, and it shows. He uses tiny squiggles on the paintings that make up the colours, which he calls "excitations”. Friend Mr Pietruska said to create the effect, Orlik would sometimes use just a couple of hairs on a paintbrush at a time on each one, which could take huge amounts of time. First training at the Swindon College of Art as a contemporary of Gilbert O'Sullivan and Virgin Atlantic logo designer Ken White, Orlik also went to Cheltenham School of Art. Mr Pietruska is glad his friend is finally getting recognition. "It's just a little old Swindon fella who's made really good,” he said. "I'm happy to be able to see that I've been able to discover these things." But for all the skill on display, dozens of his pieces of work vanished in a key period while he was in hospital. The hunt begins to attempt to track down what might have happened to them.

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The journey that helped save Nigeria's art for the nation

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4glv52d004o, today

The Nigerian National Museum in Lagos sits in the city like a respected but unloved relative - it somehow exudes importance but remains largely unvisited. This is perhaps because the concept of a museum is based on a colonial idea – stuffing cabinets full of exoticised objects removed from the context that gave them any meaning. Olugbile Holloway, who was appointed earlier this year to head the commission that runs the National Museum, is keen to change this - he wants to take the artefacts on the road and get them seen back where they once belonged. “How organically African [is this concept of a museum] or has this ideology kind of been superimposed on us?” he asked me. “Maybe the conventional model of a nice building with artefacts and lights and write-ups, maybe that isn’t what’s going to work in this part of the world?” Established in 1957 – three years before independence - the museum houses objects from across the country, including Ife bronze and terracotta heads, Benin brass plaques and ivories, and Ibibio masks and costumes. But there is also an irony – Mr Holloway's job would not exist if the antiquities department, set up by the colonial government, had not got people to go around the country to collect the pieces that ended up in the museum. Some may have otherwise been stolen by Western visitors with less scruples to be sold on the lucrative European and American artefacts market. While others could have been destroyed by zealous Nigerian Christians convinced that they were the devil’s work.

In 1967, an unlikely American duo of Charlie Cushman, a hitchhiker, and Herbert “Skip” Cole, a postgraduate student, were sent around the country by the antiquities department, to gather up some of the heritage. “It was an incredible opportunity to spend - what was it, two weeks? - to venture into small enclaves and villages in south-eastern Nigeria,” Mr Cushman, now 90, told me. At that time, significant cultural artefacts were kept in traditional shrines, palaces and sometimes caves. They were often central to the area's traditional religions. Household heads and shrine priests were responsible for maintaining and protecting these items. “What I found particularly interesting is that many people in the villages seemed very willing to part with masks and objects that had been in their families for a long time,” 89-year-old Mr Cole told me. “I was able to buy masks for two or three dollars. They would be worth hundreds in Europe at the time. “Its monetary value wasn’t important in Igbo villages. "They used the objects for ceremonies, for entertainment, for commemorating ancestors and nature spirits... which is probably why they were able to sell things inexpensively when they decided that they were no longer useful to them.”

Mr Cushman kept detailed journals of his experiences as they travelled together in a VW minibus and on foot to retrieve these artworks, including ceremonies they observed and people they met – and those handwritten notebooks have survived more than 50 years. I was especially fascinated by their efforts to persuade Christian converts not to destroy artefacts, which they considered pagan and evil. The diaries describe meeting a Mr Akazi, a school headmaster and “self-appointed crusader of God” who had burnt some ancestral figures. “They are evil and remain as crutches to the people. Only with their destruction can we rid the people of these monstrous influences,” Mr Akazi is quoted as saying. Mr Cole tried his best to explain. “We are here to try and preserve these art objects for future generations. Rather than destroy them, could we not have them sent to the Lagos Museum where they will accomplish both of our purposes? For you, they will no longer be here to serve as obstructions to Christianity, and for us, they will be preserved.” It seems that the headmaster was persuaded to hand them over, but did not see their cultural value. “You see for me there are too many emotional ties connected with these hideous manifestations of Satan. Perhaps for you, these things are art, but they can never be so for me,” Mr Akazi said. Reading those excerpts reminded me of the times I have accompanied compatriots, who were visiting me in London, to the British Museum to see some of the Nigerian artwork on display, mostly looted from our country. Some of my guests, who were committed Christians, refused to take photographs of themselves standing with any of the objects, concerned that they might be fraternising with demonic items. We laughed about it, but they were serious.

Mr Cushman and Mr Cole’s mission originated from an assignment by Kenneth C Murray, a British colonial art teacher, who was a key figure in Nigeria’s museum history. Murray was invited to Nigeria at the request of Aina Onabolu, a European-trained Yoruba fine artist who convinced the colonial government to bring qualified art teachers from the UK to Nigerian secondary schools and teacher training institutions. Murray believed that contemporary art education should be grounded in traditional art, but there were no collections in Nigeria available for study. He was also concerned about the unregulated export of Nigerian items. To address these issues, Murray and his colleagues pressured the colonial government to legislate against the exportation of artefacts and to establish museums. This resulted in the inauguration of the Nigerian Antiquities Service in 1943, with Murray as its first director. He established Nigeria’s first museums in Esie in 1945, Jos in 1952 and Ife in 1955. Mr Cole was studying African art at New York’s Columbia University and conducting fieldwork in Nigeria when Murray assigned him to collect artwork from south-eastern Nigeria for the newer museum in Lagos. Other scholars and Nigerian employees of the museums were tasked with doing this elsewhere in the country. “I collected more than 400 artworks for the museum,” Mr Cole said. “Murray came to my flat in Enugu and carted things off both to the museum in Lagos, and also to the museum in Oron.”

Mr Cushman studied at Yale and Stanford Universities. He turned down the opportunity to work with investment company Merrill Lynch in New York, eventually deciding to travel the world. He ended up in Nigeria where he met Mr Cole, an old school friend, and was persuaded to join him on his mission. The journals that Mr Cushman kept are all that survive from the trip. Unfortunately, “Skip” lost all his own records when he was forced to flee south-east Nigeria during the civil war, which started in July 1967 when the region's leaders seceded from Nigeria and formed the nation of Biafra. He was sad to learn later that some of the artwork he had collected for the museum in the southern town of Oron had been destroyed. “The Nigerian army took over the museum because it was the only building around with air-conditioning so they would use artefacts as firewood to cook their food,” he said. But much of what the two men, and others, collected survived and is now the responsibility of Mr Holloway as the head of the Nigerian Commission for Museums and Monuments. He hopes to develop a new concept of a museum that is more appealing to, and representative of, Nigerians and Africans. “We have about 50-something museums across the country and the vast majority are not viable, because people are not interested in going into a building that has no life. “To the white man or to the West, what they would call an artefact to us is a sacred object… I feel that the richness in those objects would be to display them as they would originally have been used.”

More BBC stories on Nigerian artefacts:

Nigeria dispute jeopardises return of artefactsBenin Bronzes: 'My great-grandfather sculpted the looted treasures'Ghana, Nigeria and the quest for UK looted treasure

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica


Salvador Dalí talks about his iconic, 'very aggressive' moustache

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240503-salvador-dal-talks-about-his-iconic-very-aggressive-moustache, today

"My moustache is… very pointed, very aggressive." Playful and provocative, Salvador Dalí's moustache was more than mere facial hair but a bold artistic statement. In an exclusive BBC interview the Surrealist artist shared the secret behind the most famous moustache in the world.

In 1955, Spanish artist Salvador Dalí – who was born this week 120 years ago – sat down with veteran broadcaster Malcolm Muggeridge on the BBC's Panorama, and spoke about the most potent symbol of his artistic identity – his moustache. 

Muggeridge conceded that he should really be asking the famed Surrealist about the bizarre dreamlike images that made his name, but the sight of Dalí's flamboyantly lustrous whiskers proved irresistible to him. 

What followed, for a BBC programme known for its investigative current affairs documentaries, was a fittingly surreal interview.

"The first question that I want to put to you – it really ought to be about modern art but I can't help it – there is some delicious frivolity in you that makes me ask it – how did you manage to produce those magnificent moustaches?" said Muggeridge.

"In the beginning of this moustache, I used one very natural product," replied Dalí. "Dates, you know the fruit? In the last moment of dinner, I not clean my finger and I put a little in my moustache and it remains for all afternoon very efficiently.

"But now I use one real product, very good, [found] in the Place Vendôme, Hungarian wax Pinaud [a French brand that has been going since 1810]. It's a very well-known wax already. Proust, Marcel Proust [the French novelist], uses the same."

"Yes, but his was a little pointed one, wasn't it," replied Muggeridge, warming to the subject. "It didn't have a splendid upturn like yours."

"He used this wax but he used it in another manner or another mode in one depressing… way. A little depressing and melancholic. My moustache contrarily is very gay, very pointed, very aggressive."

More like this:

Muggeridge ploughed on, pressing the artist for more details on his gravity-defying facial hair, discovering the artist cleaned it every evening – allowing it to become soft and droop down overnight – the time it took to get ready in the morning – a brisk three minutes – and how his moustache served as a practical tool for his "inspiration".

Muggeridge was not alone in being captivated by the artist's exuberantly bold whiskers. Synonymous with the artist himself, Dalí's cartoonishly waxed moustache had become a thing of legend. 

Dalí had sported a hirsute upper lip since the 1930s, and initially it was a relatively modest affair based on a look popularised at the time by US actor Adolphe Menjou. But as the years progressed, the artist's  moustache, "like the power of my imagination, continued to grow," as Dalí would later put it in a photo book dedicated to his facial hair in 1954.

By the 1940s, he was growing and styling his whiskers to increasingly dramatic heights, their upturned ends reminiscent of another earlier Spanish painter, Diego Velázquez. Dalí's distinctive facial hair served as a bold statement of intent, embodying rebellion, creativity, irreverence, individuality and absurdity.

"I can think of few other artists who pursued fame and fortune as aggressively as Salvador Dalí. He actively turned himself into a brand, shamelessly promoting himself through any means necessary," said art historian David Dibosa in the documentary Art on the BBC in 2022.

"And as with any brand, to be truly successful, you need a logo that's instantly recognisable." 

Whether curled into a figure eight, bedecked by flowers or tied in a bow, his moustache became as carefully crafted as his public image. Its exaggerated curves, like his paintings, confronted viewers with the absurd, challenging them to question convention and their own reality.

It served to solidify his image in the public's mind, a dramatic visual cue for the eccentric, theatrical and irreverent spirit that defined Dalí's artistic persona. 

He would, at times, use his moustache as a paintbrush, or feature it in paintings, including Self-Portrait with Fried Bacon, further blurring the boundary between art and life, serious and comedic, the real and surreal.

And as artistic brands go it has proved remarkably durable. Its surreal silhouette has adorned everything from jewellery to coffee mugs, and was even painted on a Delta Air Lines 757 plane in 2010. The same year, a poll for Movember, an annual event for growing facial hair, found it to be the most famous moustache of all time.

In a suitably surreal epilogue, which illustrates his playful motif's staying power, when Dalí's body was exhumed for a paternity test in 2017, almost three decades after his death in 1989, his whiskers were still entirely intact, looking like clock hands reading 10.10.

"I was eager to see him, and I was absolutely stunned," Narcis Bardalet, who had been in charge of embalming Dalí's body, told Spain's RAC1 radio station at the time.

"It was like a miracle... his moustache appeared at 10 past 10 exactly."

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The earliest pictures capturing the art and beauty of Indian monuments

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgrjqy02z0yo, today

A new show in the Indian capital Delhi showcases a rich collection of early photographs of monuments in the country. The photographs from the 1850s and 1860s capture a period of experimentation when new technology met uncharted territory. British India was the first country outside Europe to establish professional photographic studios, and many of these early photographers were celebrated internationally. (Photography was launched in 1839.) They blended and transformed pictorial conventions, introduced new artistic traditions, and shaped the visual tastes of diverse audiences, ranging from scholars to tourists. While the works of leading British photographers often reflect a colonial perspective, those by their Indian contemporaries reveal overlooked interactions with this narrative. What secrets do the Taj Mahal's locked rooms hold?A makeover for 200-year-old India heritage buildingThe pictures at the show called Histories in the Making have been gathered from the archives of DAG, a leading art firm. They highlight photography’s crucial role in shaping an understanding of India’s history. They also contributed to the development of field sciences, fostered networks of knowledge, and connected the histories of politics, fieldwork, and academic disciplines like archaeology. "These images capture a moment in history when the British Empire was consolidating its power in India, and the documentation of the subcontinent's monuments served both as a means of asserting control and as a way to showcase the empire's achievements to audiences back in Europe,” says Ashish Anand, CEO of DAG.

This is a a picture of Caves of Elephanta taken by William Johnson and William Henderson. The Caves, a UNESCO World Heritage site, are a group of temples primarily dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva in the state of Maharashtra. William Johnson began his photographic career in Bombay (now Mumbai) around 1852, initially working as a daguerreotypist - the daguerreotype was an early photographic process that produced a single image on a metal plate. In the mid-1850s, Johnson partnered with William Henderson, a commercial studio owner in Bombay, to establish the firm Johnson & Henderson. Together, they produced The Indian Amateur’s Photographic Album, a monthly series published from 1856 to 1858.

Linnaeus Tripe arrived in India in 1839 at the age of 17, joining the Madras regiment of the East India Company. He began practicing photography and in December 1854, captured images in the towns of Halebidu, Belur, and Shravanabelagola. Sixty-eight of these photographs, primarily of temples, were exhibited in 1855 at an exhibition in Madras (now a major city called Chennai), earning him a first-class medal for the "best series of photographic views on paper". In 1857, Tripe became the photographer for the Madras Presidency - a former province of British India - and photographed sites at Srirangam, Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Pudukkottai, and Thanjavur. Over 50 of these photographs were displayed at the Photographic Society of Madras exhibition the following year, where they were widely praised as the best exhibits.

John Murray, a surgeon in the Bengal Indian Medical Service, began photographing in India in the late 1840s. Appointed civil surgeon in the city of Agra in 1848, he spent the next 20 years producing a series of studies on Mughal architecture in Agra and the neighbouring cities of Sikandra, and Delhi. In 1864, he created a comprehensive set of pictures documenting the iconic Taj Mahal. Throughout his career, Murray used paper negatives and the calotype process - a technique of creating "positive" prints from one negative - to produce his images.

Thomas Biggs arrived in India in 1842 and joined the Bombay Artillery as a captain in the British East India Company. He soon took up photography and became a founding member of the Photographic Society of Bombay in 1854. After exhibiting his work at the Society's first exhibition in January 1855, he was appointed as the government photographer for the Bombay Presidency, tasked with documenting architectural and archaeological sites. He photographed Bijapur, Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal, Dharwad, and Mysore before being recalled to military service in December 1855. Biggs experimented with the calotype process, producing "positive" prints from one negative.

Felice Beato, one of the most renowned war and travel photographers of the 19th Century, arrived in India in 1858 to document the aftermath of the 1857 mutiny. Indian soldiers, known as sepoys, had set off a rebellion against the British rule, often referred to as the first war of independence. Although the mutiny was nearly over when Beato arrived, he photographed its aftermath with a focus on capturing the immediacy of events. He extensively documented cities deeply affected by the uprising, including Lucknow, Delhi, and Kanpur, with notable images of Sikandar Bagh, Kashmiri Gate, and the barracks of Kanpur. His chilling photograph of the hanging of sepoys, stands out for its stark depiction. As a commercial photographer, Beato aimed to sell his work widely, spending over two years in India photographing iconic sites. In 1860, Beato left India for China to photograph the Second Opium War.

Andrew Neill, a Scottish doctor in the Indian Medical Service in Madras, was also a photographer who documented ancient monuments for the Bombay Presidency. His calotypes were featured in the 1855 exhibition of the Photographic Society of Madras and in March 1857, and 20 of his architectural views of Mysore and Bellary were shown by the Photographic Society of Bengal. Neill also documented Lucknow after the 1857 revolt.

Edmund Lyon, who served in the British Army from 1845 to 1854 and briefly as governor of Dublin District Military Prison, arrived in India in 1865 and established a photographic studio in the southern city of Ooty. Working as a commercial photographer until 1869, Lyon gained significant recognition, particularly for his photographs of the Nilgiris mountain range, which were showcased at the 1867 Paris Exposition. Accompanied by his wife, Anne Grace, Lyon also captured southern India's archaeological sites and architectural antiquities. His work resulted in a remarkable collection of 300 photographs documenting sites in Trichinopoly, Madurai, Tanjore, Halebid, Bellary, and Vijayanagara

Samuel Bourne’s stunning images of India, especially from his Himalayan expeditions between 1863 and 1866, stand among the finest examples of 19th-Century travel photography. A former bank clerk, Bourne left his job in 1857 to pursue photography full-time. Arriving in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1863, he soon moved to Shimla, where he partnered with William Howard to establish the Howard & Bourne studio. Later that year, Charles Shepherd joined them, forming 'Howard, Bourne & Shepherd'. When Howard left, the studio became ‘Bourne & Shepherd,’ a name that would become iconic. Bourne embarked on three major Himalayan expeditions, covering vast regions including Kashmir and the challenging terrain of Spiti. His 1866 photographs of the Manirung Pass, at over 18,600ft (5,669m), gained international acclaim. In 1870, Bourne returned to England, selling his shares, though Bourne & Shepherd continued to operate in Calcutta and Simla. The studio, which later documented the spectacular Delhi Durbar – the ‘Court of India’ of 1911, an event that saw 20,000 soldiers marching or riding past the silk-robed Emperor and Empress - had a remarkable 176-year legacy before closing in 2016.


From Picasso and Hokusai's Prussian Blue to Vermeer's shade of red: A history of art in 7 colours

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230428-a-history-of-art-in-7-colours, today

Kelly Grovier traces the pigments that make up hidden layers in masterpieces – some of them toxic – from Picasso and Hokusai's Prussian Blue to Vermeer's shade of red.

Colours have minds of their own. They keep secrets and hide shady pasts. Every colour we encounter in a great work of art, from the ultramarine that Johannes Vermeer wove into the turban of his Girl with a Pearl Earring to the volatile vermillion that inflames the fiery sky of Edvard Munch's The Scream, brings with it an extraordinary backstory. These histories unlock surprising layers in masterpieces we thought we knew by heart. This fascinating and forgotten language that paintings and sculptures use to speak to us is the subject of my new book, The Art of Colour: The History of Art in 39 Pigments. Colour, we discover, is never what it seems.

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Consider, for instance, Prussian Blue, the captivating hue that unexpectedly connects Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa, 1831, with Pablo Picasso's The Blue Room, 1901. Had it not been for an accident in an alchemist's lab in Berlin in 1706, such works, and countless others besides by Edgar Degas and Claude Monet, would never have pulsed with such enduring mystery or power.

It all started when a German occultist by the name of Johann Konrad Dippel bungled a recipe for an illicit elixir that he believed could cure all human ailments. Born in Frankenstein's Castle three decades earlier, Dippel (who, some suspect, inspired Mary Shelley's Doctor Frankenstein) was about to discard his botched brew of soggy wood ash and bovine blood when the dye-maker with whom he shared his workshop suddenly stopped him.

Fresh out of scarlet dye, the colour-maker grabbed Dippel's rejected solution, chucked in a few fistfuls of crushed crimson beetles, threw the pot back on the fire, and started stirring. Soon, the two were staring with astonishment at what was bubbling back at them in the cauldron: nothing remotely red at all, but a deep shimmering blue that could rival the resplendence of ultra-expensive ultramarine, which for centuries had been prized as a precious pigment far dearer than gold.

It wasn't long before artists were reaching for Prussian Blue (so christened after the region of its serendipitous concoction) with both hands, lacing their works with fresh levels of mystery and intrigue. This is the thing about colour: it never forgets. Just as the etymology of a given word can augment our reading of the poems and novels in which that word appears, the origin of a colour shapes the meaning of the masterpieces in which it features.

Invented by Stone Age cave-dwellers and savvy scientists, seedy charlatans and greedy industrialists, the colours that define the works of everyone from Caravaggio to Cornelia Parker, Giotto to Georgia O'Keeffe, vibrate with riveting tales. Although Van Gogh might have sculpted a smidgen of so-called Indian Yellow into the shape of a moon in the corner of The Starry Night, 1889, the sharp pigment still retains an aura of its anguished origin – distilled as it was from the urine of cows fed nothing more than mango leaves. A colour's making is a colour's meaning.

What follows is a selection of great works whose deepest meanings are unlocked by exploring the origins and adventures of the colours inside them.

1. Black: Bone black in John Singer Sargent's Madame X (1883-4)

When John Singer Sargent unveiled his portrait of Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, the wife of a French banker, at the Paris salon in 1884, it sparked a scandal. It is said that the artist's decision to let the right strap of her slinky black satin dress slip seductively down her shoulder (a detail he later removed) was more than contemporary eyes could handle. But there is something more than a risqué wardrobe malfunction that unsettles the painting. Sargent has eerily inflected Gautreau's pale skin (which he whipped up from a curious combination of lead white, rose madder, vermillion and viridian) with a pinch of ancient bone black – historically derived from the pulverised remains of incinerated skeletons. The secret ingredient complicates Gautreau's gorgeously gangrenous complexion. Bone black transforms the portrait into a soulful meditation on the fleetingness of flesh, blurring the line between desire and decomposition.

2. Red: Rose madder in Vermeer's The Girl with a Wine Glass (1659-60)

There is an uncomfortable chemistry between the young woman at its centre of Vermeer's painting The Girl with a Wine Glass and her sleazy suitor, whom we see suspiciously sousing her with sips of alcohol while a chaperone nods off in the corner. To intensify the tension, Vermeer has ingeniously soaked his subject's dress in rose madder – a pigment derived from the fiery red roots of the herbaceous perennial plant Rubia tinctorum. Boiled, the roots release an organic compound called alizarin that can be squeezed into a radiant ruby liquor that intoxicates the eye. The lecherous suitor may be doling out the drinks, but the power of the painting pours from her.

3. Orange: Chrome orange in Sir Frederic Leighton's Flaming June (1895)

Sir Frederic Leighton's famous portrait of a slumbering nymph, Flaming June, might appear, at first glance, to epitomise the breeziness of a carefree summer's snooze. For some, the way she slips beneath the level of the horizon that gleams behind her, and the sight of a sprig of lethal oleander within easy reach of her nestled arm introduce themes of death and burial to the seemingly lazy scene. But Leighton has cleverly draped her pliant physique in acres of chrome orange – a relatively new pigment whose production in the 19th Century was made possible by the discovery of vast subterranean deposits near Paris and Baltimore, Maryland, of a deceptively dull and dingy mineral, chromite, that can be alchemised into transcendent radiance. Cloaked in chrome orange, Flaming June is not a mortal about to perish or be buried, but becomes a treasure forever about to be mined – an inextinguishable emblem of endlessly renewable beauty.

4. Yellow: Lead-tin yellow in Rembrandt's Belshazzar's Feast, c 1636-38

In 1940, a researcher at the Doerner Institute in Munich hit upon one of the greatest discoveries in art history. It was then that Richard Jacobi succeeded in reverse-engineering the secret recipe for yellow that old masters had once handed down, generation to generation, for centuries, but which had, since the middle of the 18th Century, mysteriously disappeared from paintings without a trace. Jacobi worked out that heating a mixture of lead monoxide and tin dioxide in precise proportions could produce the delicious range of yellows from murky mustard to zesty chiffon that Titian used to illuminate rumpled robes in Bacchus and Ariadne, and that Rembrandt relied upon for the words written by God on the wall of his Belshazzar's Feast.

5. Green: Emerald green in Berthe Morisot's Summer's Day (1879)

Some suspect that Scheele's Green, a toxic green pigment found in the wallpaper that adorned the exiled Napoleon Bonaparte's bedroom in Saint Helena, might have slowly poisoned him, resulting in his death in 1821. Half a century later, the French painter Berthe Morisot would reach for emerald green, a close cousin of the sinister Scheele's Green, to wallpaper the sky in her painting Summer's Day. Though the work appears to capture a pair of young women in a boat, leisurely adrift on dappled water, there is something disquieting about the air they breathe. Also laced with arsenic, Emerald Green lends an uneasy verdancy to the scene – one that tosses and turns.

6. Purple: Cobalt Violet in Claude Monet's Irises (1914-1926)

Art and luck go hand in hand. A fortunate coincidence in the 19th Century involving the invention of cobalt violet, the first purpose-built purple pigment, and the invention of portable paint tubes that artists could take with them outdoors would prove indispensable for Impressionists keen to capture how shadows fall in nature. "I have finally discovered the true colour of the atmosphere," Édouard Manet would be overheard exclaiming to a group of friends in 1881. "It's violet. Fresh air is violet. I found it! Three years from now everyone will do violet!" Among those who would prove Manet right was Claude Monet, whose paintings of irises and lilies owe their existence to timely invention. Monet's canvases do not merely depict violet. They breathe it.

7. White: Lead white in James McNeill Whistler's Symphony in White, No 1: The White Girl (1861-2)

White has a dark side. Just look at James McNeill Whistler's Symphony in White, No 1: The White Girl, whose very title tries almost too hard with its repetitions of "white" to hide the grubbiness of its making. While the painting may seem an emblem of impeccable purity, it relies on a filthy pigment: lead white. To produce the pigment, strips of lead are placed beside a pool of vinegar for a month in an earthenware chamber, surrounded by piles of fermenting animal excrement. The combination of an acetate, formed by the proximity of lead and vinegar, with the fumes of carbon dioxide emitted by festering faeces yielded a puffy white patina on the lead strips that was as alluring as it was lethal. As far back as the 2nd Century, the Greek physician and poet Nicander of Colophon described lead white as a "hateful brew" that could trigger profound neurotoxic effects in those harvesting it. Far from defiling Whistler's work, however, the origin of lead white casts unexpectedly uplifting light on the painting and suggests what we all hope: that art has the power to transform us, no matter our past, into something beautiful and new.

The Art of Colour: The History of Art in 39 Pigments by Kelly Grovier is out now.

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The rare blue the Maya invented

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180816-the-rare-blue-the-mayans-invented, today

The colour survives in the work of 17th Century Spanish colonial painters, a symbol of the wealth that ultimately doomed the Maya, writes Devon Van Houten Maldonado.

In 17th Century Europe, when Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio and Peter Paul Rubens painted their famous masterworks, ultramarine blue pigment made from the semi-precious lapis lazuli stone was mined far away in Afghanistan and cost more than its weight in gold. Only the most illustrious painters were allowed to use the costly material, while lesser artists were forced to use duller colours that faded under the sun. It wasn’t until the industrial revolution in the 19th Century that a synthetic alternative was invented, and true ultramarine blue finally became widely available.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, colonial Baroque works created by artists like José Juárez, Baltasar de Echave Ibia and Cristóbal de Villalpando in early 17th Century Mexico – New Spain – were full of this beautiful blue. How could this be? Lapis lazuli was even rarer in the New World. It wasn’t until the middle of the 20th Century that archaeologists discovered the Maya had invented a resilient and brilliant blue, centuries before their land was colonised and their resources exploited.  - What connects Adam and Eve to Tinder - The world’s most mysterious silver cups

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The ultramarine blue procured from lapis lazuli in Europe was not only incredibly expensive, but also extremely laborious to make. In Europe, blue was reserved for the most important subject matter. Rubens' Adoration of the Magi – the version that hangs in the Museo del Prado in Madrid and which he worked on for over 20 years – is an example. The colour was primarily used to paint the robes of the Virgin Mary, and later extended to include other royalty and holy figures. In Mexico, on the other hand, blue was used to paint altogether less holy and everyday subjects.

Archaeologists studying pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican ruins were surprised by the discovery of blue murals in the Maya Riviera, modern day Mexico and Guatemala, from as early as 300 AD, perhaps the most famous being the murals at the temple of Chichén Itzá (created around 450 AD). The colour had a special ceremonial significance for the Maya. They covered sacrificial victims and the altars on which they were offered in a brilliant blue paint, writes Diego de Landa Calderón, a bishop in colonial Mexico during the 16th Century, in his first-hand account.

Archaeologists were puzzled by the resilience of the blue in the murals. The añil plant, part of the indigo family, was widely available in the region but was mostly used for dyes rather than paint. Indigo was quick to fade in the sunlight and natural elements, so experts mused that the Maya couldn’t have used the same widely available dye to paint the murals. It wasn’t until the late 1960s that the source of Maya blue’s resilience through the centuries was discovered: a rare clay called attapulgite, which was mixed with the dye from the añil plant. During colonisation native materials like Maya blue and cochineal were exploited along with every other resource of the land and its people in the New World. These colours, which supposedly represented the wealth of the Maya empire, would stand as a symbol of all that would be plundered.

Rhapsody in blue

Master painters from the Americas are discussed in art history – if they’re mentioned at all – as a lesser school of Baroque compared to Caravaggio and Rubens. It's overly simplistic to assume that these Baroque masters were only impersonating their European predecessors. In fact, second and third generation painters born in Mexico City, such as Juárez and Echave Ibia, departed from European aesthetics, but arrived to something uniquely layered: enormous and sophisticated compositions that drew upon the full vibrancy of the New World. At Mexico’s National Art Museum (Munal) in Mexico City, works by Juárez seen chronologically show his development from a European impersonator to a New Spanish Baroque master. His early canvases departed from the dramatic spotlighting and warmth of European Baroque imagery and later moved into cold saturation throughout the picture plane (vibrant blues, yellows, greens and reds), multiple light sources, collaged compositions and grand scale – and in part because the use of local materials, such as Maya blue, expanded his palette.   

While Rubens also used vibrant colours, his compositions, on the whole, were more chaotic and warmer than those of Juárez. His pallet was even more vibrant than Rubens’, perhaps the most vibrant of the European Baroques, but his compositions were more akin to Caravaggio. Caravaggio's canvases were, without fail, full of rich reds and yellows, but nearly devoid of blue – if you think of a Caravaggio masterpiece, blue is usually absent. The closest to a blue-tinted Caravaggio you can find is Juárez’s work, but, despite his prolific reach and realised compositions, Juárez died in poverty.  If Juárez died without a peso to his name, how would he have had the resources to order large quantities of precious lapis lazuli from Europe?

On the other hand, Villalpando, often said to be the most prolific colonial painter in New Spain, imitated the chaotic compositions by Rubens. Villalpando fits more neatly into the European history of Baroque painting and didn't depart from Rubens' ‘fear of space’ – the Baroque notion that every space of the canvas must crammed with imagery and incident – thus he was accepted by the canon of art history as the mascot of Novohispanic Baroque painting. Still, as much as he wanted to imitate Rubens, Villalpando painted with Mesoamerican materials and labour. The consistent result – the same as his peers in Mexico – was that his paintings and murals were cooler and more saturated. His mural adorning the dome of Puebla's cathedral was the first and only of its kind in New Spain. Swirling blue and purple clouds back the images of the virgin, the saints and the angels painted by Villalpando. Even though he sought to make European Baroque in the Americas, his materials gave him away as a criollo, a non-mixed-race descendant of the original Spanish settlers, from Mexico City.

Baltasar de Echave Ibia painted such elaborate blues that he became known as ‘El Echave de los azules’ (the Echave of the blues). His father, Baltasar de Echave Orio, also used blue generously, but Echave Ibia was especially famous for his copious use and mastery of the colour. There is a reason why Ibia, working in Mexico City between the 17th and 18th Centuries, had access to seemingly limitless amounts of blue. All three had had sources of the brilliant colour closer to home.

The lack of written evidence of the use of añil or Maya blue in Novohispanic Baroque paintings is made up for with visual evidence. From these painters and others in the colonised Americas it's apparent that Baroque artists in the New World weren’t using the same blue pigment as their European peers. The lapis lazuli blue being used in Europe was a dark ultramarine blue. While the blue being used in New Spain reflected the vivid azure, originally extracted from añil by the Maya. Maya blue is one of the most durable of all Mesoamerican colours, as seen in the 1,600-year-old murals at Chichén Itzá. Perhaps the same resistance to time has kept Baroque canvases and murals in the Americas, from Mexico to Peru, bright through the centuries.

This cross-pollination of influences, from Maya to European Baroque, happening in Latin America on the canvases of criollo painters suggests globalism began much sooner than academic history has led us to believe.

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The colour that means both life and death

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180709-the-colour-that-means-both-life-and-death, today

Green has symbolised both decay and regeneration, offering a bridge between this world and the next, writes Kelly Grovier.

Beware of green. It can’t be trusted. Leonardo da Vinci knew, and cautioned his contemporaries against the pigment’s toxic instability. Its beauty, Leonardo warned, “vanishes into thin air”. Volatile and evanescent, green is more than just a colour. It is the energy that connects us to the unknown. Remove green from the palette of art history and a bridge between life and death would disappear. Equal parts morbid and vital, green curdles the cadaverous cheeks of Pablo Picasso’s macabre portrait of his young friend, Carlos Casagemas, who shot himself dead in lovelorn torment at the age of 20, while at the same time ignites with joyous chlorophyllic fire the life-affirming and ever-verdant canvases of Claude Monet.

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To dabble in green is not merely to tread a path between being and unbeing, but to make inroads into the mysteries of each. Simultaneously the colour of putrefaction and of verdurous regeneration, green participates with unbiased vividity in decay and rebirth. Perhaps it is green’s teasing ambiguity that compelled Leonardo himself, against his own better counsel, to clad his most famous and enigmatic subject, the Mona Lisa, in a darkening shade of that colour – one that has since bruised itself to a sublime and submarine blackness in the subconscious of cultural history.

Donning the deepest of shadowy green costumes, La Gioconda night-swims in the vitrine of our psyche and has long been recognised as a mystical commuter between the world of the living and that of the dead. “Like the vampire,” the 19th-Century English essayist Walter Pater once wrote of her, “she has been dead many times and learned the secrets of the grave”. Describing Leonardo’s inscrutable sitter as “older than the rocks among which she sits”, Pater proceeds to imagine that Mona Lisa has, throughout history, returned again and again as everything from “a diver in deep seas” to a savvy operator who has woven “strange webs with Eastern merchants”. Ceaselessly resurgent in her murky green gown, which symbolised her status as a merchant’s wife, Mona, according to Pater, was “the mother of Helen of Troy” and the “mother Mary”.

Long before Leonardo reached for green, the colour had been assigned a special esoteric place in cultural imagination. Ancient Egyptians reserved green for the bold beryl complexion of their god of life and death, Osiris – ruler of the underworld, who held dominion over the passage of souls between this world and the next. Typical depictions of Osiris, such as one found on the 13th-Century BC walls of the burial tomb of Horemheb, the last monarch of the 18th dynasty of Egypt, portray a skinny, grassy-skinned god, whose false pharaoh’s beard marks him out as a deity of incontestable pre-eminence.

Perennially young, Osiris was believed to be a serial resuscitator, both of himself and of the natural world. Holding sway over the flow of floods and flourishing of flora alike, leafy-cheeked Osiris, it was believed, would eventually show the souls of Egypt’s kings the path to resurrection.

Flora and fauna

For millennia, concocting green pigments was achieved by a variety of artistic alchemies that harnessed the hues of everything from pulverised malachite to the juice of buckthorn berries, from dessicated foxgloves and fraxinus leaves, to soaking yellow saffron in the purple dye of woad, also known as the ‘The Asp of Jerusalem’. Verdigris, among the more common iterations of the colour, and the one of which Leonardo was most wary, is forged in a curious ritual that involves the slow sousing in wine of a brass or copper blade.

An acetic crust of green that scabs to the metallic surface is then scraped clean and ground into pigment. It was a green ghost of similar chemical contrivance that confirmed to scientists digging recently for the remains of the 16th-Century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe that they had indeed found their target. Known to have worn a prosthetic nose to replace the one he’d lost in a sword fight in 1566, Brahe’s aesthetic skull bore traces of copper and zinc when, like a disciple of Osiris, it eventually came up for air in 2012.

Fertile with life, even in death, the invocation of green in countless masterpieces from antiquity to the present day impregnates our eye with expectancy. Everything about the physique, posture and gestures of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini’s green-enrobed wife, who seems to rest her tired hand tenderly on her tummy’s bump in Jan van Eyck’s famous painting, The Arnolfini Portrait (painted in 1434), leads our modern mind to suspect that she is pregnant, however convinced art historians may be that she isn’t. The great gush of cascading green that capsizes our eye, scholars contend, is more likely a symbol of hope for the eventual blessing of children. Green springs eternal.

An alternative reading of the riddling portrait only amplifies the eeriness of green’s potential to wed the living and the dead. According to one theory, the depiction of the woman in Van Eyck’s work is herself a composite double-portrait of two successive wives of Giovanni di Nicolao – his first having died in childbirth. Supporters of this view point to tropes of death that haunt the painting, such as the extinguished wick on the candle above her. Certainly the complex convex mirror, bolted to the back of the painting, which warps the couple’s reflection as if into a different continuum of reality, compounds the sense of strangely splitting selves that reverberate from the painting. If ever there was a colour capable of cloaking such a curious compression of life and death, it’s green.

So green goes, sowing into the story of art the mysteries of our own fleeting appearance in the world. The murky green water that laps against the ochre edge of the River Stour in John Constable’s famous Romantic landscape The Hay Wain, delineates a boundary between the world that the artist can see in the here-and-now and one that haunts his imagination from childhood. Look closer at the weave of summer greenness at which the little dog in the foreground appears to pant, and you can barely discern the ghost of a horseman and barrel that the artist had once intended to include in the painting – a spectre that, over time, is re-sculpting itself from the verdurous summer air that Constable has mystically conjured.

Though rightly celebrated for the accuracy of his carefully observed clouds, Constable is a master too of earthy hues and terrestrial textures. The tapestry of greens he weaves in The Hay Wain is a tour de force of that colour’s ability to convey the vibrancy of nostalgia for a place that ceaselessly shifts in one’s memory between wilting loss and luminous revelation.

Hiding in plain sight

In more recent eras of artistic expression, green has continued to be an enigmatic hue that hides as much as it reveals. Paul Gauguin’s seminal symbolist painting Green Christ (1889) is a teasing tangle of the colour’s contradictory connotations. Over a stone statue of the deceased Christ in the middle distance of the painting, a lucent layer of moss has stitched itself like a second skin. The face of a Breton woman, who stands in the shadow of that sculpture, is tinged a sepulchral green, as if she were slowly turning into the life-in-death and death-in-life statue – as if a kind of chromatic continuum exists between the physical world she inhabits and a mystical one that lies beyond.

Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte’s famous anti-self-portrait, The Son of Man (1964), defies the logic of likenesses by refusing to let the viewer see the key features of the artist’s face by interposing between them and us the greenest of green apples the mind is capable of picturing. “Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see,” Magritte observed to an interviewer. “There is an interest in that which is hidden and which the visible does not show us. This interest can take the form of quite an intense feeling, a sort of conflict one might say, between the visible that is hidden and the visible that is present.”

No contemporary artist has understood more profoundly the rhythms of the visible that is not there and the visible that is, than the Irish-American abstract painter Sean Scully. The bold vertical columns of Scully’s The Bather (1983), inspired by Henri Matisse’s Bathers by a River, painted 70 years earlier, are stripped-down stand-ins for the already over-stylised bodies Scully recalls from Matisse’s work. Intensified by the boxy protrusions that complicate the carpentry of Scully’s work, which physically intrudes into the gallery-goer’s space, the ficus greens of Scully’s torso-wide trunks have succeeded in achieving an effect to which centuries of artists have only aspired: converting green from perishable colour into purest feeling.

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The shady past of the colour pink

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180419-the-shady-past-of-the-colour-pink, today

A hue now associated with innocence once had a murkier meaning: Kelly Grovier looks at the ways in which pink has represented violence and seduction.

Pink is a double-edged sword. While red is raucous and racy, and white is prim and pure, pink cuts both ways. Long before the word “pink” attached itself to the pretty pastel shade of delicate carnations, as we define the term today, the London underworld enlisted it for something rather less frilly or fragrant – to denote the act of stabbing someone with a sharp blade. “He pink’d his Dubblet”, so reads an entry for the word in a 17th-Century dictionary of street slang used by “Beggars, Shoplifters, Highwaymen, Foot-Pads and all other Clans of Cheats and Villains”, describing a lethal lunge through a man’s padded jacket, “He run him through”.

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At what point the unlikely linguistic slide was made from mortal piercing to mellow pigment, no one can say for sure. But the enticing hue itself, by whatever name it was known before the assignment of “pink” to the colour chart in the 18th Century, has kept culture blushing since antiquity. Now seductive, now innocent, pink is coquettish and coy, sultry and sly.

Remove pink from the palette of art history and a teasing dimension to the story of image-making would be lost. Edgar Degas’s Pink Dancers would fall flat-footed and Pablo Picasso’s pivotal pink period wouldn’t rise to the occasion.

A flesh in the pan

A key moment in pink’s emergence as an essential element in the development of painting is the creation by the Early Renaissance Italian painter Fra Angelico in the middle of the 15th Century of his famous fresco in the Convent of San Marco in Florence, Italy, The Annunciation, which depicts the moment in the New Testament that the Virgin Mary is informed by the Archangel Gabriel that she will become the mother of Christ. Situated at the top of a staircase solemnly ascended daily by pious monks, Fra Angelico’s ground-breaking painting is one into which an observer’s spirit is summoned to levitate.

Crucial to sparking that mystical lift-off in the fresco is the portrayal of the ethereal Archangel – who has himself mystically crossed planes of being to swoop into Mary’s material sphere. Never mind the polychromatic wings, what’s most surprising about Gabriel’s depiction is Fra Angelico’s decision to clad him in plush pleats of sumptuous pink.

We know from a contemporary artist’s handbook on how to concoct pigments (Cennino Ceninni’s Il libro dell'arte, published a few decades before Fra Angelico painted his fresco) that pink had been traditionally reserved primarily for the rendering of flesh. “Made from the loveliest and lightest sinopia that is found and is mixed and mulled with St. John’s white”, Cennini explains, “this pigment does you great credit if you use it for painting faces, hands and nudes on walls”.

By draping Gabriel in the lushest of pinks, Fra Angelico fleshes the Archangel out as a being of body and blood, breaking down the distinction between holy spirit and ephemeral flesh. Pink is the pivot that humanises heaven. No one would ever see the colour the same way again. In the ensuing centuries, artists would invoke pink as shorthand for the blurring of boundaries.

Bloom of Christ

As the focus of Renaissance master Raphael’s Madonna of the Pinks, a sprig of blushing carnations handed to the Virgin Mary by the infant Christ, may seem unremarkable enough at first glance. In fact it amounts to a kind of miraculous wrinkle in the fabric of time. According to religious tradition, dianthus (the Greek name for the plant, meaning “flower of God”), did not appear in the world until Mary wept at her son’s crucifixion.

The flower’s anachronistic appearance in Raphael’s scene, therefore, tinged with the future blood of the baby who holds it, mysteriously establishes a pink kink in the linear unfolding of the universe.

Over time, pink would eventually blossom beyond the petals of its complex theologies to inflect a wider array of secular personality, all the while retaining its elusive allure and capacity to tease. By the 18th Century, pink was offering itself as the colour of choice for portraying high-profile mistresses, daring observers to deny its very legitimacy as a respectable hue.

Famous portraits by the French Rococo portraitist Maurice Quentin de la Tour of Madame de Pompadour and by the English artist George Romney of his muse Emma, Lady Hamilton (later mistress of Lord Nelson), posing as a mythological maenad, reveal how decidedly deconsecrated the colour had become.

La Tour’s full-length pastel-pencil portrait of the official chief mistress to Louis XV of France, begun around 1748, is a rumbunctious jungle gym of superfluous pinks that spider across every inch and threaten to suffocate its subject. Here, pink is an energy that vibrates from the sitter to the secular subjects with which Pompadour has surrounded herself – music, astronomy, and literature.

Porcelain pink

A patron of the porcelain trade, Pompadour had famously inspired the minting by the Sevres porcelain factory of a new hue of pink, delicately bruised by dabs of blue and black. To Pompadour, pink was no longer a mere accessory but a partner in crime – an aspirational second skin into which she grew intellectually and emotionally. She became her colour.

No painting embodies pink’s gradual pendulum movement from the spiritual to the secular more vividly than the French artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s exuberant The Swing, painted around 1767, between La Tour’s and Romney’s works. Here, a fabulous flounce of flowing rose is frozen in mid swivel as the swinging girl, pillowed in pinkness, flicks loose a silk shoe, attracting the titillated attention of any number of camouflaged male gazes hiding in the bushes around her. We’re a long way from the pink whisper of angels now.

In more recent times, pink continues to be seized upon by artists keen to confound our expectations of what notes or message the floral pigment can confidently carry. Having established a formidable reputation in the middle of the 20th Century as a first-generation Abstract Expressionist, eschewing figurative subjects entirely in the 1950s, Canadian-born American artist Philip Guston reached for pink in a dramatic turn back to representational art in the late 1960s.

By then, the colour itself had undergone something of a commercial transformation in American retail culture, having begun the century as a shade more often associated with boys and masculinity than fairy princesses and little girls’ dolls. But by the time Guston began introducing a menacing cast of Ku Klux Klan-inspired cartoon goons, whose implausibly pale pink stubby hoods continue to menace popular imagination to this day, the colour had been re-commodified as delicate and feminine. Grabbing pink by the scruff for his unsettling scenes of a seedy Americana, Guston slaps Barbie across the chops.

At the same moment that Guston’s provocative pink was poking the art world in the eye, scientific studies were underway by Alexander Schauss, Director of the American Institute for Biosocial Research, to determine whether manipulations of the colour could help control the behaviour of subjects surrounded by it. The result of Schauss’s investigation was the concoction of the psychologically subtle shade now known as “Baker-Miller Pink”, after the Naval correctional institute in Seattle, Washington where the pigment was successfully tested on the walls of inmates’ cells and credited with a significant calming of aggressive urges.

Yet despite its ability to inspire docility, pink is still picking fights, challenging our perceptions to an aesthetic duel. Upon learning that the British artist Anish Kapoor had signed a contract giving him exclusive rights to a recently engineered colour known as Vantablack (the darkest shade ever devised), and the legal right to prohibit other artists from doing so, Kapoor’s younger contemporary Stuart Semple saw red.

Emboldened by Kapoor’s black embargo, Semple began concocting a supremely-fluorescent pink paint he contends is the “pinkest pink” ever contemplated (“no one has ever seen a pinker pink”, he insists). As a poke in the eye of Kapoor, Semple has made his colour available at a small price to anyone in the world so long as they confirm that they are not Anish Kapoor nor friendly enough with Kapoor to share it with him. En garde, Kapoor. You’ve been pink’d.

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The toxic colour that comes from volcanoes

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180227-the-toxic-colour-that-comes-from-volcanoes, today

For centuries, the orange pigment was sourced from a toxic mineral. Kelly Grovier looks at a hue that alchemists believed was crucial to creating the Philosopher’s Stone – and which allows art to swivel between different states of being.

Expunge orange from the history of art and the whole thing collapses. The sky above Edvard Munch’s The Scream falls down and the fire that ignites Frederic Leighton’s famous Flaming June flames out. Take away orange, and everything from the warm eternal glow of Egyptian tomb painting to the troubled stubble of Vincent van Gogh’s smouldering self-portraits vanishes. A savvy arbiter between resolute red and unyielding yellow, orange is a pigment that pivots. It’s a hinge of a hue that enables a work of art to swivel between contrary states of being – this world and another, life and death.

Outside the frame of art history, orange has proved an unusually elastic symbol, blossoming into a spectrum of shapes and cultural meanings. Although the influential European royal House of Orange traces its name back further than the actual coining of the colour in the 1540s, its prominent son, William III (better known as William of Orange), quickly embraced the linguistic coincidence in the 1570s. His orange-white-and-blue rebel flag would become the forerunner of the modern tricolour of The Netherlands. From there orange took on the complexion of everything from Swiss fire engines to the suits worn by astronauts in the International Space Station. But it’s in the realms of art and aesthetics that the colour has fructified more soulfully.

From antiquity to the end of the 19th Century, a volcanic mineral found in sulphurous fumaroles (great gashes in the Earth’s crust) was a significant source for the harvesting of orange pigment. The highly toxic orpiment, rich in lethal arsenic, ripens from mellow yellow into outrageous orange when subjected to the heat of a fire.

Convinced that the luminous shimmer of orpiment (its name is a contraction of Latin aurum, meaning ‘gold’, and pigmentum meaning ‘colour’) must be a key ingredient in concocting the Philosopher’s Stone, alchemists for centuries risked exposure to the noxious substance. So did artists. To dabble in the occult of orange was to flirt with mortality and immortality in equal measure.

A spark to a flame

Intentionally or not, that ambiguous aura is irrepressible wherever orange is conjured in art. Take for example the French Rococo painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s portrait of a generic writer captured at a moment of intense vision: Inspiration, painted around 1769. The poet’s plush orange jacket – its vibrant rumples flickering like flares – threatens to engulf the allegorical subject of a poet whose imagination has just been ignited. The furrowed velour has become an outward reflection of the writer’s mind. This evaporative moment of reverie that illuminates the subject, as if from inside his soul, will either ensure his eternal fame as a celebrated bard or will set on fire his very being. Fashion him in any other colour than orange and the work’s flustering power would be utterly lost.

Nor is it possible to imagine Self-portrait with Halo and Snake, painted by the post-Impressionist Paul Gauguin more than a century after Fragonard’s canvas, soaked in any other colours than the two competing complexions of orange that dominate and divide its radiant surface into competing territories of piousness and malevolence. Created by Gauguin while living in the North-western French fishing village of Le Pouldu, the work portrays, in its upper half, a saintly indifference to worldly temptations, as symbolised by a dangling sprig of forbidden fruit. To make certain we don’t miss the unmissable point, the artist has crowned himself in this hemisphere of the work with an angelic halo. The lower half of the wood panel, however, reveals an uncontainable susceptibility to evil as the seductive snake from the Garden of Eden has the artist wrapped around his proverbial finger. Tying the work together tonally is a dramatic shift at its equator in shades of orange – not unlike orpiment itself, before and after its purifying baptism by fire.

And so it goes, work by work, century after century: wherever the colour orange dictates the temperature of a work of art, we know we’ve arrived at a precarious hinterland between a universe we can see and a mysterious unknown we tentatively feel. How else can you characterise the realm in which the liquified face of Munch’s hero howls under a strange and estranging burnt-cinnamon sky in The Scream? How else can you describe the eternal space in which Henri Matisse’s iconic The Dance whirls apocalyptically on the edge of oblivion?

Commissioned in 1909 by a wealthy Russian businessman to adorn the staircase of his mansion, at first glance The Dance might appear the apotheosis of rhythmic delight and synchronised levity. But the eerie apricot tinge of the five ecstatic nudes, who seem to have subsumed into their very being the armageddon orange of Munch’s work, is a tip-off that something more complex and perilous is at play. The two dancers who stretch the foreground of the work have lost their grip on each other’s hands, as the one closest to us begins slipping to the ground. Her left foot is already sliding out of view. Far from depicting untroubled joy, Matisse’s carefully choreographed masterpiece teeters on cosmic disaster. The very rotation of the world is left dangerously in doubt.

Amber alert

Munch and Matisse set the tone, as it were, for the portentous temperament of orange in modern and contemporary art. Throughout the 20th Century, the ominous refulgence of orange will find itself refracted variously in the works of everyone from Francis Bacon, where it sets the sinister scene for the disturbing Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (1944), as well as Rene Magritte’s Art of Living (1967), where the colour inflates itself to popping point as a surreal cranium. The syncopated pigments and shudders of Rhythm, joy of life, painted in 1931, is characteristic of how crucial orange is to the work and imagination of the Ukrainian-born French artist Sonia Delauney, who once protested: “You know I don’t like orange”. Like it or not, orange is frequently the heat that holds together – while threatening to break apart – the visual music of her sinuous mosaics.

As crucial as orange has been to the story of art through the end of the last century, it has already dyed itself indelibly into the unfolding fabric of contemporary artistic consciousness. Among the most celebrated major works of the new millennium, The Gates, by Bulgarian artist Christo Yavacheff and French artist Jeanne-Claude (known together as Christo and Jeanne-Claude), colonised New York City’s Central Park in February 2005 with over 7,500 passageways – each flowing with orange nylon fabric. The lyrical succession of thresholds, which fostered a poetic sense of the endless comings and goings of life – birth and rebirth, mortality and eternity – could, on reflection, have only been draped in stirring saffron. To some, the colour echoes the robes of Buddhist monks. But to my mind, Christo and Jeanne-Claude (who passed away four years later) were rekindling a sacred flame, inviting those who would come to bask their weary souls in the transformative power of that most mystical of ancient tints: orange.

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The mysterious painting that changed how we see colour

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180214-the-mysterious-painting-that-changed-how-we-see-colour, today

Marcel Duchamp’s last painting has influenced artists for a century. Kelly Grovier looks at how it inspired the modern colour chart – and at its 17th-Century predecessor.

This year marks the centenary of one of the more curious milestones in modern cultural history – a landmark in image-making with intriguing echoes of a long-forgotten tome from the 17th Century. In 1918, the French avant-garde artist Marcel Duchamp picked up his brush after a four-year hiatus from painting and created a mysterious work that changed forever the way artists use and understand colour. After completing his painting, Duchamp put his brush back down again and, for the next 50 years (until his death in 1968), never painted another picture.

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The work in question is awkwardly proportioned – over 3m (9.4ft) long, yet barely two-thirds of a metre tall – and was commissioned to hang above a bookcase in the library of the US collector and patron of the arts Katherine Dreier. At first glance, the canvas (which Duchamp eccentrically entitled T um’, a terse abbreviation of the tetchy French phrase tu m’ennuies, or ‘you bore me’) appears to do everything it can to be something other than a painting. Its surface is dominated by shadowy allusions to a series of controversial sculptures that Duchamp had recently been making – found objects such as a hat rack, a corkscrew, and a bicycle wheel – that he christened ‘readymades’.

In stark contrast to these large ghostly echoes of another artistic medium, a scatter of worldly debris is strewn across the painting: safety pins, a bolt, and a brush for cleaning bottles. According to Yale University, “Duchamp summarises different ways in which a work of art can suggest reality: as shadow, imitation, or actual object.” Stretching over this odd array of forms is a carefully-rendered cascade of colourful lozenge-shaped tiles that swoop vibrantly into the centre of the painting from the top left, like the tail of a mechanical polychromatic comet.

Anyone who has ever shopped in a DIY store for domestic paint will recognise immediately this splay of colour tiles. But in 1918, pigment samples from commercial colour charts were still relatively cutting-edge in their retail trendiness, having only hit shop floors towards the end of the previous century. As yet unassigned to an actual object, these ‘readymade’ swatches of colour are at once both physical and theoretical; they haver between the real world of things waiting to be painted and a realm of pure mind in which those things can still be any colour.

A pigment of our imagination

In a sense, this endless deck of dyes bursting into the middle of Duchamp’s painting is a Tarot of tincture, prescient of how things could eventually appear in an ideal world, not as they actually are. Though Duchamp’s tiles are merely a prophecy of hue, they seem somehow more real and urgent in his painting than the shadowy shapes of the hat stand, bicycle wheel, and corkscrew whose space they intersect cosmically, as if from another universe.

The years and decades that followed Duchamp’s final painting witnessed a succession of works by modern and contemporary artists that wrestle with and absorb the implications of his mischievous slicing of the mere idea of colour from the fact of physical form. Where proponents of colour theories of the 19th Century, such as those by the German Romantic Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and by the French chemist Michel Eugène Chevreul, are concerned with how colours are perceived by the human retina, the disciples of Duchamp became obsessed instead with colour as a commercialised concept – a pigment of their imagination.

At the same moment that descendants of post-Impressionism and the early pioneers of Expressionism were formulating quasi-scientific manifestos for how colour functions in the eyes of those who encounter their work, Duchamp was laying his new-fangled cards on the table: colour is an aspirational commodity – a property to be found, not an emotion to be felt.

Titians of industry

Suddenly, two philosophies of colour found themselves competing for artistic regard – one that understood it as a traditional tool of the craftsman to be soulfully mastered, the other that saw it as an artificial aspect of soullessly manufactured goods. That clash of sensibilities was perhaps most dramatically illustrated by the near-simultaneous appearance in 1963 of two very different kinds of publication. It was the year that the German-born American artist Josef Albers released his still-influential visual treatise, Interaction of Colour, which provides complex ruminations on the harmony of hues – a system that continues to be taught to this day. It is also the year that Pantone published its encyclopaedic compendium of subtle shades – a volume that appeared to prove the dominion of industry over the empire of conceivable colours.

The sway over artistic imagination in the 20th Century of the Pantone colour-matching system, and its precursors in the pigment charts distributed by companies such as DuPont, is impossible to overstate. Their influence can be traced in the works of generations of artists from Andy Warhol to Damien Hirst, Ellsworth Kelly to Gerhard Richter. But if Duchamp’s echelon of mechanical colour stretches prophetically forward in time to the obsessions of everyone from the Pop Artists to the YBAs, it also stretches back in history to the preoccupations of one of the most extraordinary, and extraordinarily neglected, books ever created.

Long forgotten until its rediscovery in recent years by Medieval and Renaissance scholars, Klaer lightende Spiegel der Verfkonst is an 800-page handwritten and hand-illustrated volume from 1692 that seeks not only to illustrate every conceivable shade of watercolour possible, but to explain how to create them. An obsessive-compulsive recipe book for concocting the subtlest variations of tint, the book is the brainchild, according to the title page, of ‘A. Boogert’ – a Dutch hustler of hues about whom nothing else is known.

Boogert’s book, which the inscrutable author says was intended to assist artists, came to the attention by accident of a Dutch Medievalist and blogger who was conducting research on the online databases of the Bibliothèque Méjanes in Aix-en-Provence, France, in 2014. Erik Kwakkel’s decision to feature the vibrant volume on his popular scholarly blog, and to provide links to a high-resolution scan of the entire book, helped propel the lexicon of luminosity into wider recognition than the single-surviving copy could ever have enjoyed in the author’s own lifetime.

To click through the digitised pages of the book and watch the hundreds of abutting tiles flick into a shuffled blur of calibrated colour is to find oneself enacting the geometric drama of Duchamp’s pivotal final painting. Speaking to each other across centuries, Boogert’s long-lost opus maximum and Duchamp’s underappreciated prophetic masterpiece reveal a perennial fascination with the mysterious disguises of life’s most elusive dimension: colour.

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The insect that painted Europe red

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180202-the-insect-that-painted-europe-red, today

Truly vibrant red was elusive for many years: until a mysterious dye was discovered in Mexico. Devon Van Houten Maldonado reveals how a crushed bug became a sign of wealth and status.

Although scarlet is the colour of sin in the Old Testament, the ancient world’s elite was thirsty for red, a symbol of wealth and status. They spent fantastic sums searching for ever more vibrant hues, until Hernán Cortés and the conquistadors discovered an intoxicatingly saturated pigment in the great markets of Tenochtitlan, modern-day Mexico City. Made from the crushed-up cochineal insect, the mysterious dye launched Spain toward its eventual role as an economic superpower and became one of the New World’s primary exports, as a red craze descended on Europe. An exhibition at Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes museum reveals the far-reaching impact of the pigment through art history, from the renaissance to modernism.

In medieval and classical Europe, artisans and traders tripped over each other in search of durable saturated colors and – in turn – wealth, amid swathes of weak and watery fabrics. Dyers guilds guarded their secrets closely and performed seemingly magical feats of alchemy to fix colours to wool, silk and cotton. They used roots and resins to create satisfactory yellows, greens and blues. The murex snail was crushed into a dye to create imperial purple cloth worth more than its weight in gold. But truly vibrant red remained elusive.

For many years, the most common red in Europe came from the Ottoman Empire, where the ‘Turkey red’ process used the root of the rubia plant. European dyers tried desperately to reproduce the results from the East, but succeeded only partially, as the Ottoman process took months and involved a pestilent mix of cow dung, rancid olive oil and bullocks’ blood, according to Amy Butler Greenfield in her book, A Perfect Red.

Dyers also used Brazilwood, lac and lichens, but the resulting colours were usually underwhelming, and the processes often resulted in brownish or orange reds that faded quickly. For royalty and elite, St John’s Blood and Armenian red (dating back as far as the 8th Century BCE, according to Butler Greenfield), created the most vibrant saturated reds available in Europe until the 16th Century. But, made from different varieties of Porphyrophora root parasites, their production was laborious and availability was scarce, even at the highest prices.

Mesoamerican peoples in southern Mexico had started using the cochineal bug as early as 2000 BCE, long before the arrival of the conquistadors, according to Mexican textile expert Quetzalina Sanchez. Indigenous people in Puebla, Tlaxcala and Oaxaca had systems for breeding and engineering the cochineal bugs for ideal traits and the pigment was used to create paints for codices and murals, to dye cloth and feathers, and even as medicine.

Cochineal in the New World

When the conquistadors arrived in Mexico City, the headquarters of the Aztec empire, the red colour was everywhere. Outlying villages paid dues to their Aztec rulers in kilos of cochineal and rolls of blood-red cloth. “Scarlet is the colour of blood and the grana from cochineal achieved that [...] the colour always had a meaning, sometimes magic other times religious,” Sanchez told the BBC.

Cortés immediately recognized the riches of Mexico, which he related in several letters to King Charles V. “I shall speak of some of the things I have seen, which although badly described, I know very well will cause such wonder that they will hardly be believed, because even we who see them here with our own eyes are unable to comprehend their reality,” wrote Cortés to the king. About the great marketplace of Tenochtitlan, which was “twice as large as that of Salamanca," he wrote, “They also sell skeins of different kinds of spun cotton in all colours, so that it seems quite like one of the silk markets of Granada, although it is on a greater scale; also as many different colours for painters as can be found in Spain and of as excellent hues.”

First-hand accounts indicate that Cortés wasn’t overly smitten with cochineal, more concerned instead with plundering gold and silver. Back in Spain, the king was pressed to make ends meet and hold together his enormous dominion in relative peace, so, although he was at first unconvinced by the promise of America, he became fascinated by the exotic tales and saw in cochineal an opportunity to prop up the crown’s coffers. By 1523, cochineal pigment made its way back to Spain and caught the attention of the king who wrote to Cortés about exporting the dyestuff back to Europe, writes Butler.

“Through absurd laws and decrees [the Spanish] monopolised the grana trade,” says Sanchez. “They obligated the indians to produce as much as possible.” The native Mesoamericans who specialised in the production of the pigment and weren’t killed by disease or slaughtered during the conquest were paid pennies on the dollar – while the Spaniards “profited enormously as intermediaries.”

Red in art history

Dye from the cochineal bug was ten times as potent as St John’s Blood and produced 30 times more dye per ounce than Armenian red, according to Butler. So when European dyers began to experiment with the pigment, they were delighted by its potential. Most importantly, it was the brightest and most saturated red they had ever seen. By the middle of the 16th Century it was being used across Europe, and by the 1570s it had become one of the most profitable trades in Europe – growing from a meagre “50,000 pounds of cochineal in 1557 to over 150,000 pounds in 1574,” writes Butler.

In the Mexican Red exhibition at the Palacio de Bellas Artes, the introduction of cochineal red to the European palette is illustrated in baroque paintings from the beginning of the 17th Century, after the pigment was already a booming industry across Europe and the world. Works by baroque painters like Cristóbal de Villalpando and Luis Juárez, father of José Juárez, who worked their entire lives in Mexico (New Spain), hang alongside the Spanish-born Sebastián López de Arteaga and the likes of Peter Paul Rubens.

López de Arteaga’s undated work The Incredulity of Saint Thomas pales in comparison to Caravaggio’s version of the same work, where St Thomas’s consternation and amazement is palpable in the skin of his furrowed forehead. But the red smock worn by Christ in López de Arteaga’s painting, denoting his holiness, absolutely pops off the canvas. Both artists employed cochineal, the introduction of which helped to establish the dramatic contrast that characterised the baroque style.

A few steps away, a portrait of Isabella Brandt (1610) by Rubens shows the versatility of paint made from cochineal. The wall behind the woman is depicted in a deep, glowing red, from which she emerges within a slight aura of light. The bible in her hand was also rendered in exquisite detail from cochineal red in Rubens’ unmistakable mastery of his brush, which makes his subjects feel as alive as if they were in front of you.

Moving forward toward modernism – it wasn’t until the middle of the 19th Century that cochineal was replaced by synthetic alternatives as the pre-eminent red dyestuff in the world – impressionist painters continued to make use of the heavenly red hues imported from Mexico. At the Palacio de Bellas Artes, works by Paul Gauguin, Auguste Renoir and Vincent van Gogh have all been analysed and tested positive for cochineal. Like Rubens, Renoir’s subjects seem to be alive on the canvas, but as an impressionist his portraits dissolved into energetic abstractions. Gauguin also used colour, especially red, to create playful accents, but neither compared to the saturation achieved by Van Gogh. His piece, The Bedroom (1888), on loan from the Art Institute of Chicago, puts a full stop on the exhibition with a single burning-hot spot of bright red.

After synthetic pigments became popular, outside of Mexico, the red dye was mass-produced as industrial food colouring – its main use today. Yet while the newly independent Mexico no longer controlled the valuable monopoly on cochineal, it also got something back – the sacred red that had been plundered and proliferated by the Spanish. “In Europe, as has happened in many cases, the history of the original people of Mexico has mattered very little,” Sanchez told the BBC, but in Mexico “the colour continues to be associated with ancestral magic [and] protects those who wear attire dyed with cochineal.”

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Paul McCartney's missing bass and other mysterious musical instrument disappearances

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20240219-paul-mccartney-bass-missing-famous-stolen-musical-instruments, today

From a 17th-Century Italian violin stolen from Japan to Drake's lost Blackberry in Mexico, here are musical lost and found mysteries that rival Sir Paul McCartney's.

In musical happy endings, last week, Sir Paul McCartney was reunited with his bass guitar that was stolen 51 years ago in London. The instrument, which McCartney purchased in 1961, was subsequently nabbed from a band van in 1972. Now, thanks to the Lost Bass search project, the Beatle has been reunited with the bass, which had been until recently stashed in a Sussex attic. Both McCartney and Höfner, the instrument manufacturer, authenticated the found item upon its rediscovery, and a spokesperson for McCartney told BBC News he was "incredibly grateful" for the return of his lost guitar. 

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But McCartney certainly isn't the only musician to lose a valuable piece of his kit – in fact, he's not even the only Beatle. And for non-Beatles-level musical acts, the loss of an instrument – or worse, an entire kit – can be devastating. The BBC previously reported on the theft of rock band Cemetery Sun's entire kit and van, as well as trio Noisy's stolen kit reappearing with individual instruments and pieces of gear up for auction online weeks later.

Bassist Grant Emerson of Americana band Delta Rae recalls having around $10,000 (£7,937) of musical instruments stolen: "We played at the Bitter End in New York City and parked our van down the street. When we came back to the van, the back door had been broken into, and all of our guitars were gone, plus a pedal board and a piece of the drummer's equipment. Probably four to five pieces of gear were stolen. It was a really terrible drive back to North Carolina." He notes that for most bands, the only recourse is fundraising: "You just rely on your fans. You ask for help and donations, which isn't easy." And he urges all musicians to "photograph the serial number of every instrument and piece of gear you own".

Lost or stolen instruments over the years have kept musicians and fans alike searching for guitars, violins, and even an entire brass band. Here are a few more musical mysteries – some of which remain unsolved to this day. 

BB King

The famous blues legend was known for riffs on his legendary guitar, a Gibson he named Lucille – in fact, King had multiple performance guitars named Lucille over the course of his career. The name was inspired by a lover’s quarrel King witnessed in 1949 (the woman arguing was named Lucille, and she left quite an impression on King). When this particular Lucille guitar was stolen, it was eventually found in a Las Vegas pawn shop by Eric Dahl, a fellow musician who mistakenly purchased the guitar and later returned it to King. Dahl offered it without compensation and went on to write a book about King and his many guitars. The Gibson also ended up being one of the last instruments King played before his death in 2015, and it was subsequently sold at his estate auction for $280,000 (£222,286) in 2019. 

Eric Clapton

Clapton's Gibson Les Paul guitar, named Beano, was stolen soon after his studio album Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton was released in 1966. Unlike King, Clapton hasn't been so lucky as to be reunited with his lost guitar – yet. But singer-songwriter Joe Bonamassa has claimed he knows where it is: In 2016, Bonamassa gave an interview in which he said the guitar was in a private US collection, which spurred a 2018 petition to encourage Bonamassa to reveal more details. On their YouTube channel, music aficionados Baxter and Jonathan of North Carolina-based Casino Guitars joked that they imagine a "guitar illuminati" trading in lost and rare instruments might not be pleased with what Bonamassa has already shared so far – and pondered whether he has a responsibility to help Clapton retrieve the stolen item if he does, in fact, know where it is. 

Takiko Omura

A violin made in 1675 by Nicolo Amati in Italy was stolen in 2005 from the home of Japanese violinist Takiko Omura, who had purchased the instrument in the United States many decades earlier. The violin, which was priced at nearly £300,000 ($377,895) in 2005 when it was taken, was reportedly found in 2020 in Parma, Italy, in the raid of a home of a suspected drug trafficker. Authorities in Italy and Japan worked together to return the instrument to its rightful owner. 

Stooges Brass Brand

It's difficult enough to find one lost guitar, let alone an entire brass band. In 2022, a famous local New Orleans "second line" brass band had all their equipment stolen from their van during the worst possible time for them – two weeks before New Orleans Jazz Fest. Nearly $12,000 (£9,526) in musical instruments, including cymbals, drum sets, keyboards and amps, were stolen when the band's van disappeared from outside the home of a band member. The theft threatened to derail the Stooges' festival appearance that year, but the band is back on its feet, with a scheduled appearance on 28 April at this year's Jazz Fest.

Min Kym

As the BBC has previously reported, the violin prodigy Min Kym's Stradivarius was stolen in 2010 from a Pret a Manger restaurant. This was no ordinary violinist and no ordinary violin: At just seven years old, Kym had earned a slot at the prestigious Purcell School of Music in the UK, and at age 11, she won first prize at the Premier Mozart International Competition. When presented with the opportunity to own a rare 1696 Stradivarius, "Kym remortgaged her flat and bought the violin for £450,000 ($580,000). If this seems like an astronomical amount of money, it was in fact a steal in Stradivarius terms: the violin's actual worth was closer to £1.2m ($1.5m) and these instruments are so precious that their value only ever goes up,” reads the 2017 article about the crime. Although the stolen violin was eventually recovered three years later, it was not returned to Kym, and her memoir, Gone: A Girl, A Violin, A Life Unstrung, tells the story of coping with a musical instrument being lost and found and then lost again.

George Harrison

Sir Paul wasn't even the only Beatle whose beloved instrument was absconded with: George Harrison's 1965 Rickenbacker guitar was allegedly stolen in 1966. Rickenbacker CEO John Hall told Reverb that the guitar's mystery has been so longstanding because "no one knows the exact serial number of the original guitar." The Rickenbacker team were, however, able to narrow the list down to five potential guitars based on shipment dates. 

Harrison also had his '57 Les Paul, Lucy – which was formerly owned by the Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian, Rick Derringer, and Eric Clapton – stolen. It was nabbed from Harrison's home during a burglary in 1973 and then sold to a Los Angeles music store who, in turn, sold it to Mexican musician Miguel Ochoa, who declined to sell it back to Harrison at full price. Instead, Ochoa negotiated a trade with Harrison: Harrison got Lucy back, and Ochoa would get a 1958 Les Paul Standard and a Fender Precision bass. 

Drake

In his 2009 song Say What's Real, produced by Kanye West, Drake revealed that he lost some of his best lyrics in Mexico: "Lost some of my hottest verses down in Cabo/So if you find a Blackberry with the side scroll," he raps, followed by an expletive-laden line that finishes the rhyme. For his genre of music, that Blackberry was his instrument, which he used to pen his songs. While it doesn't sound like it's ever been returned, Drake has probably upgraded his tech.

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How opera is aiming for net zero amid worsening climate change

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230731-how-opera-is-aiming-for-net-zero-amid-the-climate-crisis, today

Many opera companies are working towards full sustainability, and Glyndebourne is among those aiming to be a force for good, according to a new documentary.

A night at the opera is not typically equated with restraint, instead conjuring images of chandelier-filled theatres and arias performed in exquisite costumes against transportative stage sets. Yet, recent years have seen opera companies across the globe make a determined effort to operate more sustainably, implementing numerous strategies in a bid to reduce their carbon emissions and overall impact on the planet.

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-          The nation that is the 'land of song'

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This is, in part, the result of climate activists, who have increasingly targeted the arts and entertainment industries over the past few years with the aim of drawing greater attention to their cause. At the end of 2022, for instance, responding to mounting protests, the Royal Opera House cut ties with its long-time sponsor, the oil giant BP. Yet, it is also a response to the shifting expectations of audience members: according to a UK study conducted in 2022, 77% of audience members now expect theatres to address the climate emergency in their work – and opera houses are no exception.

The pandemic, while posing innumerable difficulties for the live entertainment industry, also offered an important pause for reflection. It was during this time that a number of UK theatre-makers joined forces with sustainability experts to conceive the Theatre Green Book, a publication setting a common standard for sustainable theatre production, and providing guidance on how best to achieve it. Divided into three volumes – sustainable productions, sustainable buildings and sustainable operations – spanning the many facets of what it means to run a theatre, the acclaimed guide has already been widely implemented.

A key collaborator in the creation of the Theatre Green Book was the historic East Sussex opera house Glyndebourne, renowned for its summer festival which draws thousands of opera lovers to the stately home's verdant grounds each year. Glyndebourne has been forging a path towards greater sustainability in opera for some time. "Art, opera, nature [has always been] a core trinity for Glyndebourne," explains its archivist Phil Boot in a new BBC documentary Take Me to The Opera: The Power of Glyndebourne.

 

In 2012, executive chairman Gus Christie oversaw the installation of a 67m (220ft)-tall wind turbine on a hill adjacent to the opera house, which between then and 2022 has generated the equivalent of 102% of the electricity used by the company in the same period. The turbine serves as an important statement of intent for Glyndebourne. Alison Tickell, the founder and chief executive of Julie's Bicycle, a non-profit organisation dedicated to mobilising the UK arts and culture sectors in a fight against climate change, says in the documentary: "I know that many opera companies… don't have the luxury of space. But [the turbine] still remains a beacon for us all [demonstrating] that climate action really matters."

Glyndebourne has innovated in sustainable practice in the years since. In 2021, it joined the global Race to Zero, pledging to halve its direct carbon emissions by 2030, and to reach net zero by 2050. "We are zero waste to landfill now, so any waste we have goes down to [an] incinerator, which provides power for local homes," Christie says of some of the measures he and his team have taken to achieve this. "We compost all our garden waste, we recycle as much of our stage-set material, costumes, props [as we can]. We have about 32 electric vehicle charging points [for visitors] which are all charged from the wind turbine." They are drawing from their resources in other ways, too: by the end of this year, they predict, all water served at Glyndebourne will come from the property's own natural spring, while plants grown in their gardens are being used to produce dyes for the company's costumes. "Rivers around the world are polluted by dyes a lot," says dye room supervisor Jenny Mercer in the documentary. "This way everything goes back into the ground."

Climate action

Glyndebourne isn't the only opera company taking steps towards sustainability. It is now usual among major opera houses, from the English National Opera to Opéra National de Paris, to boast a dedicated webpage outlining their sustainability mission statements, including pledges to adhere to the UN sustainable development goals, facts and figures relating to their reduced energy consumption and carbon emissions, and details of their own planet-friendly solutions.

The rooftop of the Opéra Bastille, for example, is host to an urban farm, cultivated using agroecology, which also contributes to the thermal insulation of the building. This produces around a hundred weekly baskets of fruit and vegetables that are then sold to staff and local residents.

The Sydney Opera House – a longstanding champion of environmental consciousness that achieved carbon neutrality in 2018 – has installed an artificial reef alongside the iconic building's sea wall, encouraging marine biodiversity and supporting Sydney Harbour's native species. Most recently, the opera house was awarded a six-star performance rating by the Green Building Council of Australia, the highest possible ranking. This is no mean feat given that perhaps the biggest challenge facing opera is achieving energy efficiency within its decades-, if not centuries-old, buildings. Indeed, in 2021, a survey by the UK's Theatres Trust found that it would cost more than £1bn ($1.2bn) to make the UK's theatre buildings sustainable.

In the meantime, many companies have been looking to achieve sustainability through new buildings, while doing what they can to reduce waste in their pre-existing spaces. The Royal Opera House's production workshop just outside London, built in 2015, is in the top 10% of sustainable non-domestic buildings in the UK. While Milan's storied opera house La Scala's new office is a zero-energy building, producing more energy than it consumes thanks to rooftop solar panels and an open-cycle geothermal system. La Scala has also cut its carbon emissions by more than  630 tonnes since 2010, according to a recent New York Times article, having upgraded to LED and smart lighting.

Elsewhere, the Opéra de Lyon, Göteborg Opera and Tunis Opera are currently partnered on a new project investigating how best to implement the circular economy of production materials, while Leeds' Opera North is soon to launch its first "green season", using shared set design across its three productions, recycled or second-hand costumes, and including a new "eco-entertainment" work titled Masque of Might.

As the Theatres Trust's study shows, there is still a long way to go, and a lot of money required, to make the changes necessary to safeguard the future of opera amid the ever-worsening climate crisis, but there appears to be no shortage of determination and imagination among opera houses in their quest to do so.

Take Me to the Opera: The Power of Glyndebourne is on BBC News Channel and on BBC Reel

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Antonio Pappano: How opera can be 'open to everyone'

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230728-antonio-pappano-how-opera-can-be-open-to-everyone, today

Is the world of opera becoming more inclusive? A new documentary, featuring conductor Antonio Pappano, explores the mission to open up the art form to everyone.

Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano is renowned for being a warm-hearted "people person". But there's one thing that makes his blood run cold: when he hears opera being accused of being an art form that's only for a wealthy elite. "I get very offended by people who say we're elitist," he says passionately in a new documentary. This is "a misconception that totally distorts the image of opera," he adds. "The fact of the matter is, it's harder to get into a football game in London than it is to get into the [Royal] Opera House."

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This allusion to the beautiful game is not a frivolous one. When Pappano  became music director at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (ROH) in 2002, he spoke of his love for popular music by stars such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Oscar Peterson, Joni Mitchell, and for musicals. "I like football too," he added. "Does that mean you can't like opera?"

Back then Pappano was 42, and the youngest conductor to lead ROH's orchestra. Some 700 operas later –  with many productions of the French and Italian repertoires; a good part of the Russian; Wagner, Strauss and contemporary works – and he is the subject of A Time of Change, presented by Zeinab Badawi, and part of the BBC documentary series Take Me to the Opera.

The documentary follows him from his modest roots, as the son of Italian immigrant parents who came from southern Italy to the UK, who worked hard to make ends meet.  They passed on their strong work ethic to him, and he learnt how to work with singers from his vocal coach father, flourishing as a musical talent in the "the family business". A Time of Change goes on to trace a career that includes assisting classical pianist Daniel Barenboim, through to a recent high, conducting the King's coronation service in May, featuring solos by Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel and South African soprano Pretty Yende.

The main focus of the film, though, is Pappano's mission to open up opera to everyone. "Opera shouldn't cater just to one audience, or be focused on just one corner of the repertoire," he says. "It must be open to the interests of many different people." While he asserts that the ROH, like every big opera house, wants to entice young audiences, he does concede: "I think you have to be honest and say, yes, but younger people can't afford very expensive tickets, can they?"  

It's true that the price of opera tickets can seem too high to be anything but a rare luxury for most, especially young people. Halley Bondy, writing on the arts website Paste Magazine, describes herself as someone who has been to the opera many times "for a millennial". And although she loves opera – "from the hyper-real grandness to the unbelievable talent, to the septuagenarian, fur-hatted audience" – she finds it "easy to see why places like The Met [Metropolitan Opera House in NYC] are ailing in sales; young people just don't go. It's too expensive, too arcane, too massive… The onus is on the opera houses to do a better job of catering to the young."

Bondy has only managed to attend so often by being treated by a "ridiculously generous friend" or chasing discounted tickets. "Like everything else in the world, the opera is a lot of fun if you have gobs of money," she observes, but she concedes anyone could get in with the $25 [£19.40] rush tickets, student tickets or commercial offers – which make it "affordable, if you just dig a little".    

In opera's defence, ticket prices are generally high because it is notoriously costly to produce. All the more reason, argued The Guardian's Charlotte Higgins in February, for adequate government funding. Discussing recent cuts to opera funding, she wrote: "If you starve something, run it down constantly, gradually reduce the provision of it so that few can afford it, it becomes 'elitist'… And if opera in the form that its creators imagine it becomes for toffs, that is nothing to do with opera itself… [it is] precisely the result of neglect and underfunding". 

Pappano is also invested in bringing new blood to opera, via schemes like the ROH's  schools matinees, which offer young people low-cost tickets to opera productions. Also, its Youth Opera talent development programme gives children aged seven to 13 the chance to try its "rigorous music and drama training".

"We make sure there's a real variety of socio-economic backgrounds and ethnicities, and an even gender split,” says Tom Floyd, ROH senior opera manger, talking about its open recruitment system. Most of the young people who join them "come from families who probably have had no real experience of opera," he says.       

Opera for all

Over at English National Opera (ENO), the company has stayed true to its egalitarian roots of the late 19th-Century, when theatrical producer Lilian Baylis and music director Charles Corri shared a vision of it as a place for "people's opera". ENO has "opera for all" in its mission statement. It does not assume knowledge of opera; its website has  key figures of the organisation  explaining what opera is and how it's made; and  the site hints at how it skillfully reimagines crowd pleasers, like La Traviata (to be performed this October), in thrilling new ways, alongside daring new work, such as 7 Deaths of Maria Callas, by performance artist Marina Abramovich (November).   

"We sing in English to be accessible to the widest possible audience," an ENO spokesperson tells BBC Culture. The company offers free tickets for under-21s; discounts for under 35s, and tickets from £10 for all. No surprise, then, that more than half its bookings last season were from opera first-timers.

Still, in order to survive the cuts to Arts Council England (ACE) funding, the ENO will next year move its main base from the London Coliseum to outside the capital and in so doing will  qualify for £24m funding over three years.

Opera must change, ACE chief executive Darren Henley wrote in an article for The Guardian: "A new generation is embracing opera and music presented in new ways: opera in car parks… in pubs, opera on your tablet". In truth, most opera companies are not digital-age dodgers; they have presences on the popular digital platforms, while the hashtag #operaisopen invites new audiences to click through.  

Streaming services –  like Royal Opera Stream and Glyndebourne Encore – have dished up productions and events, both popular and esoteric, to reach a wider audience. And there's also opera at the cinema. At ROH, 2022/23 has been its biggest cinema season ever, with more than 1,300 cinemas worldwide having shown or showing 13 productions (opera and ballet), including Madam Butterfly, La Boheme and Aida. The latter, staged in May and June 2023, was conducted by Pappano.

Nurturing promising young talent – like soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha – is a passion of Pappano’s, and he's also a role model for young opera conductors, like Avishka Ederisinghe, who says that watching him talking on YouTube was what inspired him to explore the art form. 

As he steps down from his music director roles – at the Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome after 18 years, and at ROH next summer, after 22 years – Pappano is looking forward to change. He will not be hanging up the baton yet: he will succeed Simon Rattle to become chief conductor at the London Symphony Orchestra, his "dream job".  

He describes how he grew up in a council flat that was just "a four-minute walk to Westminster Abbey"; and that rising from his humble background to conducting the coronation at that same abbey was "not a bad gig". Jokes aside, there is a message there that  he'd love to hand down to a younger generation: "If you have a vision for what you want to achieve in life, that spark and… the energy and resilience to keep pushing when you know things will get tough, you can make it in any walk of life."  

Take me to the Opera: A Time of Change is on BBC News Channel and on BBC Reel

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Bryn Terfel: The nation that is the 'land of song'

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230607-bryn-terfel-why-wales-became-the-land-of-song, today

Opera star Bryn Terfel emerged from an extraordinary cultural heritage and a nation renowned for its love of singing. "It's the air that we breathe," he explains in a new documentary.

Sir Bryn Terfel is pondering a question: what is it about Wales and the Welsh that produces a nation of singers? "I think it's the mountains, and the fresh sea air. And the language – that is very important," he says. "Then there's the hymns… You know, we just love to sing – it's the air that we breathe."

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The Welsh bass-baritone is the subject of Peak Performance, part of the BBC documentary series Take Me to the Opera. Presented by Zeinab Badawi, it follows Sir Bryn – as he has been known since his knighthood in 2017 – from his operatic debut with the Welsh National Opera in 1990, to singing at opera houses across the world, like London's Royal Opera House, where he is a regular star performer. En route, the documentary revisits his roots in rural Wales and looks at how he's nurturing the next generations of singing talent, as well as his invitation to sing at King Charles's coronation.

Sir Bryn is high on the list of great living Welsh opera singers, which also includes luminaries such as Dame Gwyneth Jones, Wynne Evans, Katherine Jenkins, and Aled Jones. (Added to which there are many popular non-opera Welsh singers, including Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Bonnie Tyler, Charlotte Church and Cerys Matthews.) But beyond these headline stars lies a whole nation renowned for its love of singing, especially choral. So where does this passion for song stem from?

In A History of Music and Singing in Wales, novelist and poet Wyn Griffith, who wrote extensively on Wales and Welsh culture, observed: "If you find a score of Welsh people, in Wales or out of it, you will find a choir. They sing for their own delight, and they always sing in harmony. They sing as naturally and easily as they talk."

"Wales is known as a nation of music – the 'land of song'," notes the Welsh National Opera (WNO). "Often connected with male voice choirs, it is… recognised for its choral traditions which are rooted in the culture."

Choral singing in Wales dates back to the 19th Century, and flourished with the Cymanafa Ganu (hymn singing) movement, at a chapel in Aberdare in 1859; it was rooted mainly in religious songs, though a steady body of secular songs were also produced. Soon after, a revival of traditional Welsh music began with the formation of the National Eisteddfod Society, a focus for the Welsh passion for singing and song. Any worthy list of classic Welsh songs might include Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (O Land of My Fathers); My Little Welsh Home by William Sidney Gwynn Williams; and the love song Ar Lan y Mor (recorded by both Terfel and Jenkins). Or the rousing We'll Keep a Welcome (In the Hillsides).

The male voice choir, along with the harp, are two of the most popular signifiers of Welsh music. Professor Gareth Williams traces the male voice choir's origins to the mid-19th Century industrial age: "We are reminded of what Aneurin Bevan once said: 'Culture comes off the end of a pick'," he writes, referring to Welsh coal miners. Choirs started in the 1920s, like Cwbach from the Cynon Valley, and Pendyrus, survive today. After a day's hard graft in a mine, says Williams, the joy and community found in singing with co-workers was "an assertion of working-class male bonding and identity expressed through that most democratic and inexpensive instrument, the human voice".

The Welsh Borough Chapel in Southwark, London, is host to Eschoir, a Welsh male choir of around 20 singers, aged 20 to 75. Singing together since 2009, they've performed at Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street, and the Six Nations rugby tournament. Eschoir founder and director Mike Williams, who grew up in south Wales, describes their appeal: "There's a humility to it, as Welsh choirs stem back to the coal mines and chapels. Many people enjoy singing in the pub as much as singing in a concert. There is no pomp… it unites us and keeps us connected to our Welsh roots." And the Welsh take choirs very seriously, he adds.

In tandem with a passion for choral singing in Wales, there has been a rise in popularity of the Eisteddfod. These Welsh singing and recital competitions date back to the 12th Century and today are a platform for public singing, especially for younger singers. It was at local Eisteddfods that the young Bryn Terfel first stood out, winning singing competitions that would lead him to study at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and to his first professional role in Cosi Fan Tutti at Welsh National Opera, soon after graduating in 1989.

A unique cultural inheritance

In the documentary, Terfel recalls competing in Eisteddfods in his rural north Wales, and how his "parents paid for a lot of petrol to drive me north, south, east and west to compete. They saw something in their son… the passion, how I loved singing. I think that drove them to encourage the singing within me." Eisteddfods are "a wonderful shop window", he says. One of his charitable initiatives is a scholarship to develop promising young performers coming up through Eisteddfods. Peak Performance visits one in Llanadog, near Swansea, as young singers of all genders, from the area and across Wales, prepare to get on stage and sing. "This is where it all starts for us Welsh singers," says one teenage boy in the documentary. "This is where we learn our craft." He believes when Welsh singers go to London to study, "you can see the difference… they’ve got some sort of… confidence."

Certainly, Terfel was swaddled in song and music from the cradle. Born in 1967 in rural north Wales, his father was a farmer, his mother a special needs teacher who used music therapy in her work. The whole family, including older relatives, sang together and in choirs. "My grandfather, my great-grandfather, had the love of singing," he says. "There was constant learning going on in the kitchen, words on the cabinets. A little bit of rivalry as well, which is quite healthy."

Eilir Owen Griffiths, a composer and Eisteddfod adjudicator, explains what he looks for in a great singer: "It's how the voice resonates, and the way it works with text." He describes Terfil's voice as "like a beautiful double bass" – but it's not just the incredible sound he generates: "It's also the control he has – he can sing the most delicate pianissimo as well. It's a unique voice, very special." That quality – and cultural diversity – was drawn on when Sir Bryn sang at the coronation of King Charles, who personally chose him to perform; he sang Coronation Kyrie, a first in the Welsh language at a coronation. "You have the rehearsals in the rooms… Then you have your fittings, and all of a sudden you're in your costume and make-up." And you're onstage, he says, "portraying a character. And that's when the fun really does begin!"

The documentary joins Terfel as he goes through his repertoire for a week in March: as well as the Barber of Seville at the Royal Opera House, he sings the title role in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool; then travels to a studio near Cardiff in Wales, to record an album of sea shanties – the likes of Drunken Sailor, and traditional folk songs like Fflat Huw Puw, "about a sailor and his wonderful ship".

It's a voice that continues to thrill audiences, whether in lead roles such as Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House; or Tosca by Puccini at Paris Opera Bastille; or Verdi's Falstaff, at Grange Park Opera, Surrey. As well as big opera houses, he performs for new audiences in concert halls too. Gillian Moore is artistic director of the South Bank Centre, where in recent months he sang extracts from two of Wagner's great roles: "The fact he's passing that on to young singers makes total sense… When he's on stage, you cannot take your eyes off him."

Returning to that question of why the Welsh love to sing, Wyn Griffith suggests it's about an irrepressible spirit – and it's simply in the blood: "Whether they meet in tens or in thousands, in a small country chapel or in a vast assembly… they sing freely… It is not necessary to organise singing in Wales: it happens on its own."

Take me to the Opera: Peak Performance is on BBC News Channel on 10 June at 13.30 and also on BBC Reel

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Gen Z and young millennials' surprising obsession

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20230113-gen-z-and-young-millennials-surprising-obsession, today

A radical new wave of artists are sweeping the previously elite world of classical music – with a little help from Squid Game, Dark Academia and fashion. Daisy Woodward explores how classical got cool.

If asked to guess what under 25-year-olds are listening to, it's unlikely that many of us would land upon orchestral music. And yet a survey published in December 2022 by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) found that 74% of UK residents aged under 25 were likely to be tuning into just that at Christmas-time, compared with a mere 46% of people aged 55 or more. These figures reflect not only the RPO's broader finding that under 35-year-olds are more likely to listen to orchestral music than their parents, but also the widespread surge in popularity of classical music in general, particularly among younger generations.

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There are plenty of reasons for this, from the playlist culture spawned by streaming platforms that make it easy for listeners to discover new artists and types of music to fit their mood, to the solace it provided during the pandemic, not to mention the profusion of classical music in pop culture hits like Squid Game. But perhaps highest on the list is the global wave of Gen Z and young millennial classical artists who are finding new ways to be seen and heard, and – just as vitally – new means of modernising what has long been branded music's most elite and stuffy genre.

Unsurprisingly, social media has played a huge part in this, as a quick search of the popular TikTok hashtag "classictok" (currently at 53.8 million views) attests. There, as well as on Instagram, young classical artists have been making use of the digital realm's democratic potential to lift the heavy velvet curtains on their art form, presenting classical music and its storied history in ways that are accessible, unintimidating and, most importantly, fun.

For French violinist Esther Abrami – who has more than 250,000 followers on Instagram, more than 380,000 on TikTok, and was the first classical musician to be nominated in the Social Media Superstar category at the Global Awards – the journey to social media fame stemmed from a desire to share her passion more widely. "I was studying at a top institution and most of the time I was practising for exams, so the whole joy of sharing was taken away. Then, at the very few concerts I did play, there was a very specific type of audience that wasn't very diverse," Abrami tells BBC Culture.

She noticed that a handful of classical musicians had taken to Instagram to broaden their own reach, and decided to do the same. "I started posting a few things, and was stunned by the reaction that I got. Suddenly you have people from around the world listening to you and telling you it brightens their day to watch you playing the violin," she enthuses. "It opened this door to a completely new world."

Nigerian-US baritone and lifelong hip-hop fan Babatunde Akinboboye enjoyed a similarly swift and surprising rise to social media fame when he posted a video of himself singing Rossini's renowned aria Largo al factotum over the top of Kendrick Lamar's track Humble. "I was in my car and I realised that the two pieces worked together musically, so I started singing on top of the beat," he tells BBC Culture. He documented the moment on his phone and posted the video on his personal Facebook account, guessing that his friends would enjoy it more than his opera peers. "But I went to sleep, woke up the next morning, and it had expanded to my opera network, and far beyond that," he laughs, explaining that within two days, his self-dubbed brand of "hip-hopera" had caught the attention of The Ellen Show, America's Got Talent and Time magazine.

Both Abrami and Akinboboye came to classical music in their teens, late by conventional standards, and cultivated their passion for the genre independently. This remains a driving factor in their desire to reach new audiences, which they've achieved on an impressive scale, largely just by being themselves. "I ended up becoming an opera influencer by sharing the parts of me I felt comfortable sharing, which is a lot," says Akinboboye, whose playful hip-hopera and opera videos and posts – taking viewers behind the scenes of a world still shrouded in mystery  – have garnered him some 688,000 TikTok followers. "It's a lot about how I relate to opera; my musical background was from hip-hop, but I still found a relationship with opera and that resonated with people," he explains. "Almost every day I get a different message saying, 'I went to my first opera today'. I think it's because they're seeing someone they feel comfortable or familiar with."

'Complex and profound'

Abrami, a similarly enthusiastic content creator, agrees: "I think putting the face of somebody not so far away from them to the genre is a big thing. That's what I'm trying to do, to reach different types of people and create bridges, to show them that this music can really move you. It's complex and profound and yes, it might take a bit of time to understand but once you do, it's amazing."

 

British concert pianist Harriet Stubbs is another avid proponent of classical music for modern audiences who has been finding her own ways of drawing in new listeners. During lockdown, the musician, who usually splits her time between London and New York, performed multiple 20-minute concerts from her ground-floor flat in West Kensington, opening the windows and using an amplifier to reach listeners outside. "I gave 250 concerts," Stubbs, who was awarded a British Empire Medal by the Queen for this mood-boosting act of service, tells BBC Culture. "I did a range of repertoire from my upcoming album, and also things like All By Myself, which I chose ironically for that audience. And the thing is, people who thought they didn't care for classical music came back every day because of the power of that music."

The fusion of classical music with other genres is a major facet of Stubbs's practice and, indeed, that of many others among the new generation of classical artists (see also the React to the K YouTube channel, where classical artists frequently reimagine K-pop songs with ingenious results, or Kris Bowers' brilliant orchestral arrangements of modern pop songs for the much-buzzed-about Bridgerton soundtrack). Stubbs's innovative first album, Heaven & Hell: The Doors of Perception (2018), was inspired by William Blake and features musical icon Marianne Faithfull. "I always wanted to tie rock'n'roll and classical music together and put them in the same space, supported by literature and philosophy and other disciplines," she explains, adding that her next album, which she's making with pianist and former Bowie collaborator Mike Garson, will be a "Bowie meets Rachmaninoff" affair.

Interestingly, the current swell of enthusiasm for classical music has branched out to become as much of an aesthetic movement as it is a musical one. Digital microtrends Dark Academia and Light Academia – dedicated as they are to the romanticisation of a passion for art and knowledge through imagery – both make rousing use of classical music in order to create the desired ambience. Ascendant Polish countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński, meanwhile, uses atmospheric visuals as a powerful means of contemporising the baroque experience. Depressed by the lack of funding for music video production in the classical realm, he drummed up private sponsorship to make a 21-minute movie to accompany his 2021 rendition of Vivaldi's Stabat Mater. The resulting film conjures a compelling and suitably brutal scenario for the haunting 18th-century hymn, which The New York Times describes as "resembling a Polish remake of The Sopranos".

"I'm really interested in storytelling. I always build an entire concept for my albums – the narrative, the photography, the videos," Orliński tells BBC Culture. "I think now there is this whole new generation of people who really want to add to what classical music can be, to go beyond the singing and be challenged. You just have to know that the end product will be good, and that what you're doing will serve the story," he adds. This is certainly something Orliński has achieved in his own career: an accomplished sportsman and breakdancer, he wowed critics with his 2022 Royal Opera House debut, which found him pole-dancing in a spangled dress as Didymus in Katie Mitchell's production of Handel's Theodora. Other recent projects have included recording baroque tracks for forthcoming video games which, he says, was "an incredible experience" and is something he's being asked to do more and more frequently, as the Metaverse beckons. "Sometimes you need classical music to touch the strings of somebody's soul – a pop song won't work."

Classical music's ongoing and often powerful intersection with pop culture is being foregrounded as part of the burgeoning interest in the genre, both inside and outside its famously guarded gates. The all-teen members of the UK's National Youth Orchestra have just completed a mini tour that included a performance of Richard Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra, replete with its opening symphonic sunrise eternalised by Stanley Kubrick in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Last August saw the BBC Proms launch its first gaming-themed programme whereby the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra took on some of the best-loved songs in video game history. While the recent autumn/winter collection from Acne Studios' younger sub-label Face offered up one of the most direct sartorial tributes to classical music to date, presenting crew-neck sweaters, T-shirts and tote bags embellished with the faces of Handel, Mozart and Bach in celebration of "the idea that a passion for classical music is the most left-field move imaginable for a modern-day teenager".

Orliński agrees that classical music has achieved an "almost hipstery" status of late. "It's cool to go to the opera, to know something, and that's because there are a lot of young artists delivering music on the highest level, while making it very entertaining," he enthuses. There is, he observes, a revived interest in classical music personalities such as Maria Callas and Pavarotti, as well as "people like Yuja Wang" who are selling out concert halls, all of which he feels bodes well for the art form. "We have a long way to go to grow as much as other genres of music, but we're moving forward." Akinboboye, too, is tentatively hopeful. "I think opera is definitely being a lot more bold, and I hope that it continues because I think we can catch up," he concludes. "[Classical music needs to] be brave, to do the scary thing. And it'll work out, because audiences are ready."

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'Significant leak' at venue cancels Tim Peake talk

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8694xeqp72o, today

A city centre venue was forced to postpone a show by former astronaut Tim Peake following a "significant leak". Cambridge Corn Exchange said it was caused by "adverse weather conditions", with the county experiencing heavy rain. A spokesperson apologised but said "ensuring our customers are safe is our top priority". The venue is working with contractors to complete repairs. Mr Peake's talk was due to take place on Tuesday night, but has been moved to 13 October. Ticket holders will be contacted and the original tickets remain valid.

"If you are due to attend other upcoming shows, please assume the performance will be going ahead as planned. In the event of change we will endeavour to contact customers directly," the venue said.

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Anglican cathedral exhibition visits city

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7v61rvq0j6o, today

An exhibition of photos showing all of England's Anglican cathedrals is coming to Worcester. Worcester Cathedral will display photographic portraits of 42 cathedrals taken by photographer Peter Marlow. Members of the public can walk through the cathedral in Worcester to view imagery chronicling the naves of Anglican cathedrals for free. The exhibit will be on display from 8 October until 17 November.

The exhibition, Peter Marlow: The English Cathedral, showcases the work of the late photographer, which was originally birthed out of a commission to photograph six English cathedrals for a collection of Royal Mail stamps. Mr Marlow was inspired to continue and photograph all 42 Church of England cathedrals. Reverend Stephen Edwards, Dean of Worcester, said: "I often walk through the cathedral early in the morning and marvel at its beauty in the natural light. "For Peter to have observed this and taken the time to travel around all of the English cathedrals and capture these serene and beautiful moments to share with us all is truly remarkable," he said.

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Exhibition highlights role of art in mental health

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czj9mx4nxj7o, today

An art exhibition has been launched to mark World Mental Health Day. Inner Reflections features work produced by staff and patients from the Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust inpatient units. Organisers are also inviting members of the public to submit their own works. The trust said it highlights the role of Art Therapy in improving mental health.

James Wear, lead art therapist at the trust, said that creativity has been used therapeutically in mental health care locally for more than 50 years. "We value the creative process and its benefits to support people to explore and express difficult thoughts and feelings when words are hard to find," he said. "Our growing evidence base recognises the value creative activity has in people’s recovery." The exhibition opens at the Humber Street Gallery in Hull on 10 October and runs for three days. Members of the public who have lived experience of managing their own mental health struggles are being invited to produce a piece of personal artwork and submit to the exhibition. Anyone interested can do so by visiting the Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust website for more information. Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.


Banksy's bullet-proof vest to be auctioned

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4glj1lk693o, today

A bullet-proof vest emblazoned with a Union flag by Banksy could sell for up to £300,000 at auction. Sotheby’s said it will be the first item to be auctioned from a collection of five artworks, which Bristol's elusive street artist displayed in a shop window in Croydon, London, in 2019. Five years ago, Stormzy wore a similar vest while headlining Glastonbury Festival. Head of contemporary evening sale at Sotheby’s Emma Baker said: “In a way only Banksy can, he manages to powerfully condense a complex social issue through one redolent object."

The stab-proof vest, which was made from a former police issue garment, features an image of the Union Jack flag and alludes to the high levels of knife crime and gang violence across UK cities.

Ms Baker continued: “Given an iconic stature by Stormzy during his legendary Glastonbury performance, this reinterpretation of a classic piece of modern day police-issue armour is Banksy at his best. “There is no doubt this artwork is more pertinent now than when the first vest debuted at Glastonbury – an event that saw it become the symbol of a defining cultural moment.” The artwork will be shown during Frieze Festival, a high-end contemporary art exhibition in London, before it is sold at auction. It will then be displayed at the company’s New Bond Street Galleries from 3 to 9 October.

On 5 October 2018, Sotheby’s auctioned off Banksy’s 'Girl With Balloon', one of the artist's best known works made in 2006. Moments after the piece was sold for £1.042m, the canvas of a girl reaching for a heart-shaped balloon shredded itself through the frame. Later re-named 'Love Is In The Bin', the work returned to auction in 2021 and was sold for a record £18.6m.

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'Woof': Museum celebrates dogs through the ages

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgryxj24dvvo, today

An exhibition devoted to dogs through an array of fine oil paintings and objects, including a coat made with dog hair, is about to open. "Woof: A Celebration of Dogs" at Lynn Museum, in Norfolk, will examine the different roles they have played in society both as our four-legged friends and as working animals. The items date back to Roman and medieval times and include works by artists Sir Edwin Landseer, Andy Warhol and David Hockney. The exhibition, part of Norfolk Museums collections has been a passion project of curator Dayna Woolbright, who has two miniature Schnauzer dogs, Greta and Heidi.

She said: "We thought people like dogs; it's a good family-friendly theme. Why not see how we could use it to create this exhibition?" The exhibition opens on 1 October and it is hoped that lots of local dog lovers will visit. Ms Woolbright said among the items on display was a Roman coin that depicted the legend of Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome, who were raised by a she-wolf. The coin examines the relationship between dogs and their wild cousins.

Other highlights include a gold Roman ring with a hero of Greek mythology, Meleager, and his dog. There are also textiles made from dog hair, which includes an overcoat. "It was made in the 1930s by a gentleman who collected the hair of his St Bernard as he did his daily grooming and then had it woven and made into cloth," Ms Woolbright explained. "This was then made into an overcoat for him by a Norwich tailor."

The Kennel Club has also donated an original painting that depicts the Toy Bulldog breed, which became extinct around the time of the First World War. Luisa Foster, art collection curator at The Kennel Club, said: "We are delighted to have contributed towards Woof: A Celebration of Dogs. "We look forward to seeing this diverse collection come to life, and celebrating the role our four-legged friends play in our lives.”

While it is anticipated that the exhibition will be popular with families, four-legged members are asked to stay at home. A museum spokesperson confirmed: "While we love our four-legged friends at Lynn Museum, regretfully the only ones we are able to accommodate on site are assistance dogs." Woof: A Celebration of Dogs runs until June 2025.

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How Japan’s tsunami-ravaged coastline is being transformed by hope

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240806-how-japans-tsunami-ravaged-coastline-is-being-transformed-by-hope, today

Iwate and Fukushima Prefectures were ravaged by the 2011 tsunami that precipitated a catastrophic nuclear disaster. Now, this tragic, beguiling region is welcoming travellers back.

Hope spiralled tender as a rice shoot along the resurrected Sanriku Railway Rias Line in north-eastern Honshu. Summer's blooms spilled from pots on station platforms; storybook houses peeped from the forests' folds; a man knelt beside the ice-blue river and cleansed a fistful of spring onions. Rice crops flashing by in the valleys were ripe for the harvest: their imperial yellow shimmer filled the windows as my friend and I rattled along this once-moribund coastline.

On 11 March 2011, communities along the north-eastern seaboard of Japan's biggest island, Honshu, were swept from their moorings when an earthquake measuring 9.1 on the Richter scale precipitated a tsunami of monumental proportion. Seawater barrelled into the saw-toothed shoreline, upturning infrastructure, buckling forests, flushing lives from every crevice. When the oily tide receded, little but splintered flotsam remained.  

Such devastation is familiar to this country located atop a fault-line; the archipelago nation has endured too many natural disasters to remember – most recently, in January 2024, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake in the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture. But remembrance is the ritual whereby the Japanese make sense of their fate. In Honshu, a purpose-drawn map demarcates the numerous "disaster memorial facilities" strung out along the 500km stretch of coastline affected by The Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011. Obscured from view below the railway line are cairns erected by earlier generations to warn of nature's ferocity.

"Don't build homes below this point," reads one inscription. "No matter how many years have passed, be alert for tsunami."

That volatile ocean was a sea of tranquillity as we rambled northwards from the city of Kamaishi to Namiitakaigan, a seaside hamlet four hours north of Sendai in Iwate Prefecture. Here, flowers trailed from the cottage gardens abutting Namiitakaigan Station; a cenotaph 266m uphill from the beach was looped with Japanese script: "This is where the tsunami reached."

We'd been drawn here by a story: in a beautiful garden on a nearby hill stands a phone box where people commune with the dead. Before the disaster, Namiitakaigan resident Itaru Sasaki created a metaphorical connection with his recently deceased cousin by placing a disconnected telephone inside a British-style phone box. Here, he explained in a 2016 episode of This American Life, he could speak to his cousin, his thoughts "carried on the wind". As stories of Sasaki's ritual spread, those affected by the tsunami – and other tragedies – arrived to seek their own solace on "The Phone of the Wind".

Though thousands of people have trod the path to Sasaki's garden, we were its sole visitors that day. Birds flitted between frothy crepe myrtles and maple leaves slowly changing colour; it was a poignant setting in which to meditate on loss: so electric with life, so hefted with sorrow. I closed the phone box door behind me, lifted the receiver and silently communed with the loved ones I'd lost. 

The mood lifted on the way back into town: we met a woman pushing a pastry cart from door to door, and bought two of her custard-filled doughnuts.

"Oishi! (Delicious!)" we said, skipping down the hill.

Second-hand memory assailed us once more on the road leading to Minshuku Takamasu, our lodging for the night: "Tsunami Inundation Section," a sign said. But proprietor Yasuko Nakamura's face was wreathed with a smile as she welcomed us in. Only the roof of her elevated ryokan was damaged by the tsunami, she communicated through gestures and a translation app and my friend's rusty Japanese. 

“I was at my home in Trono [an hour’s drive inland] when it came,” she said.

And though foreign guests are now rare, Nakamura was busy enough with her long-term lodgers: high school boarders, a fisherman-diver who made his living from the bay, a builder working on the reconstruction of the nearby town of Otsuchi, which we'd passed through on our way here. Half of its dwellings and most of its commercial properties were wiped out by the tsunami. The builder's efforts would help to make Otsuchi stronger, he said, as Nakamura served the fruits of that once-vengeful sea for dinner: wakame (seaweed) salad, grilled saba (mackerel), miso broth bobbing with a delectable but indeterminate ingredient. 

"What is it?" I typed into her app.

"It’s made by kneading fish," she explained, her Japanese script blooming as graceful as the kaiseki bowls she'd laid before us.

The fisherman-diver, we learned, owned an apple orchard in his home prefecture, Aomori. It snowed a lot there, he said, climbing out from an imaginary drift. Mercifully he wasn't diving off Namiitakaigan when the tsunami swelled forth. We shuddered collectively at the thought: there was no need to translate such imagined terror.

Next morning, we accepted a parting gift from Nakamura: delicately painted jars filled with sake.

"Famous sake, from Kamaishi," she said.

From Namiitakaigan, the train rumbled south along a coastline lapped by gentle waves. It was impossible to reconcile this scene with the images of 2011, when railway tunnels flooded, girders buckled and Koishihama Station was washed clean away. Now, scallop shell wreaths overflowed from an alcove on the station's reconstructed platform; a group of pre-schoolers alighted here with their teachers and affixed their own shell-adorned pennant to the shrine. 

"A prayer," said a woman on the train who had intuited the question in our eyes.

But elementary tributes soon transformed into elegant homages. At our next stop, Rikuzentakata, the Hiroshi Naito-designed Iwate Tsunami Memorial Museum plugged the shoreline like a brilliant white tombstone. The sky danced on the pool of reflection through an aperture in the portico ceiling; in the wings leading off it, we heard survivor testimonies, watched multimedia displays, pondered objects recovered from the deluge: a crumpled fire truck, a child's mud-spattered keyboard, a bus stop folded like origami. Remembrance gave way to deep reflection in the exhibits addressing bureaucratic shortcomings, outlining mitigation strategies for future disasters, expressing gratitude for the world's outpourings of assistance and sorrow.

"It is wisdom passed down to future generations," said guide Satoko Kinno.

We had a bus to catch, but Kinno urged us to climb the seawall overlooking the fledging forest fringing the bay – a replacement for the centuries-old pine plantation that once girded the city against the ocean's vagaries. The Miracle Lone Pine Tree was the plantation's sole survivor. But lethally poisoned by saltwater, it died in 2012; was it finished off by grief, I wondered? Now preserved with chemicals and supported by a steel rod, this monument loomed above the flattened landscape, a powerful symbol of resilience. Nearby, the tsunami-dashed ruins of Rikuzentakata Youth Hostel slumped over a pond as though mourning their own reflection.

From the seawall we looked back at the museum, which from this angle appeared to have been sliced from the bedrock. The masterpiece was enfolded in the tidy green skirts of Takata Matsubara Tsunami Reconstruction Memorial Park.

Beyond it, Rikuzentakata arose anew from the slurry.

The railway line south of the city - dismantled, too, by that wall of seawater - was still awaiting repairs. We caught the replacement Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to Kesennuma, and the train onwards to Sendai. Here we boarded an empty carriage on the JR Joban Line bound south for Fukushima Prefecture. Until a few hours earlier, we had no idea where we'd be staying that night. Hotels were sparse along this route, the coastline it traversed still burdened by fallout from the tsunami-triggered nuclear disaster.

Darkness had fallen by the time we arrived at Haranomachi Station. Not a soul roamed the streets. The lacquered facade of a ramen bar glowed red, but no one stirred inside. We bought sandwiches from a 7-Eleven and retreated to our room at Hotel Areaone Minamisoma, which seemed bereft of other guests.

More like this: • The Michinoku Coastal Trail: Japan's new 1,000km path • Japan's beloved slow-motion train • A new night train connecting some of the continent's great cities

As though summoned by us, a shuttle bus was waiting outside the station the next morning at Futaba, located close to the site of the nuclear accident. Radiation levels here are said to have returned to normal. Bright murals flowed across the huddle of buildings still standing in a part of town recast as "Futaba Art District". Acres of wasteland spooled by as the bus driver steered us towards The Great East Japan Earthquake and Nuclear Disaster Memorial Museum. There it stood amid a sea of empty lots: a pale edifice of Cubist proportions – a white elephant, perhaps?

But to our surprise it was brimming with visitors, mostly high school students on excursions. I observed them absorbing, wide-eyed, events they were too young to remember. Then I stared for a long time at a model inspired by the Fukushima Innovation Coast Framework, an initiave aimed at re-establishing an industrial base in this decimated region; it depicted Futaba rebuilt as a "city of the future": lush farmland, vibrant streets, a beach filled with holidaying families.

"It's growing step by step," said guide Kenichiro Hiramoto. "Only 70 or 80 [residents have returned] to Futaba Town, but they try to organise their community. Now the trend is newcomers, young people – and, of course, the municipality supports them."  

We will visit this city of the future 20 years hence, pledged my friend and I on the train to Iwaki, two-and-a-half hours south of Futaba. Though badly damaged by the tsunami, the city has rebounded. After dinner that night we descended into a basement bar, Burrows, just as it was closing. Owner Kazuya Hanazawa agreed to mix two last cocktails. Shaking, stirring, cutting wedges of lime, he lamented the hundreds of Iwaki residents lost to the tsunami. He spent six months afterwards helping mop up, and made his bartop from wood salvaged from the wreckage.   

"Japanese are very tough," he said, pressing his fist to his heart. "I wanted to create a place where people could feel good. It's a small [start], but people from all over – Okinawa, Hokkaido, all of Japan – are coming back to Iwaki."

Hanazawa placed our cocktails before us: vodka concoctions fizzing like daylight in the gloom.

"Kanpai (Cheers)," we three said.

--

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The only place where whales come to watch you

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240930-the-only-place-where-whales-come-to-watch-you, today

Once nearly hunted to extinction, Pacific gray whales in Mexico's Laguna San Ignacio now seem to be as curious about us as we are about them.

"Here she comes again!" our guide, José Sanchez, announces as a massive gray whale approaches us for the fifth time in 45 minutes. Each time our curious new friend returns to our idle fishing boat, it stays a bit longer on the surface, watching us as we watch her.

This is our final outing to see what locals call "the friendlies" – the gray whales in Mexico's Laguna San Ignacio. As our boat quietly sits with its engine off, this 40-ton whale playfully rubs up against the sides of the boat, raising the top half of its white-speckled body and cosying up right along the hull as if to check out all six of us onboard. When the whale's eye – which is about the size of a baseball – breaks the surface and meets mine for a moment, I shriek with delight.

We're told to give whales distance, but what happens when they come to watch us?

Located on the western coast of Baja California Sur's peninsula, the Laguna San Ignacio is considered the last undisturbed breeding and calving lagoon of the Pacific gray whale. The protected whale sanctuary is also home to one of the world's most unusual wildlife encounters: here, curious whales regularly, and voluntarily, seek out contact with humans.

Every year from January to mid-April, thousands of gray whales arrive in the lagoon during a 19,300km journey from the icy waters of the Arctic to the warm waters of Baja California Sur to mate and give birth. While these are now safe waters for nursing and breeding, gray whales were once hunted here. Yet, the animals now seem to have learned to trust humans. In fact, during my recent whale-watching trip with Sanchez's eco-tourism company Pure Baja Travels, we witnessed mothers bringing their calves over to boats to present them like proud parents.

These unique encounters have influenced the conservation and protection of these gentle giants and spurred a thrilling – and responsible – whale-watching experience like nowhere else.

Why do Baja's gray whales seek out human contact?

For more than 50 years, gray whales in Baja have shown they seem to be as curious about us as we are them. Marine biologists believe a combination of circumstances contribute to this unique behaviour.

"In the lagoon, today, there are no real threats," says Dr Steven Swartz, a cetacean researcher who has been studying gray whales at Laguna San Ignacio for 45 years. While gray whales have been known to occasionally approach humans elsewhere, according to Swartz, this is the only place where they regularly do so, and where the animals linger and often rise above the water's surface, allowing humans to touch them.

Whale-watching is only permitted in a specific "zone" of the protected whale sanctuary, and there are strict rules: only 16 pangas (small fishing boats) are allowed in this zone at a time. To not overwhelm the whales, all boats must turn off their motors when whales approach. And most importantly, boat operators don't chase or pursue the whales.

"[Guides] put you in the presence of the whales, and let the whales decide if they're going to come over, and say hello or not," says Swartz.

But why do the whales seem to come and say hello? "Mammals are curious; they are sentient enough to learn about their environment, and they learn by exploring," Swartz explains, adding that mothers pass on this curiosity towards boats and people to their calves. "[The whales] are capable of remembering."

Whales, in general, are very tactile; they like to rub and touch; that's how they communicate, Swartz says. Pacific gray whales aren't busy looking for food (they do that in the Arctic), so perhaps they're also bored, he suggests. While we cannot know exactly why the whales do what they do, Swartz and other marine biologists all agree the whales approach the boats voluntarily.

A model for community-driven conservation

Gray whales were nearly hunted to extinction during the 18th and 19th Centuries, and as a result, the animals tended to act aggressively towards humans – so much so that local fishermen even dubbed them "devil fish" and avoided them. But in 1972, a man named Francisco (Pachico) Mayoral was out fishing in Baja when a whale surfaced and lingered by his boat. Curiosity compelled him to put his hand in the water. The whale rubbed against Mayoral and stayed by his hand.

News of Mayoral's experience spread, and locals, much less afraid, waited patiently to experience similar friendly encounters. "Gray whales specifically are naturally curious and have never been afraid of approaching floating items in the water. Humans hurt them, and then the gray whales reacted to that interaction," Sanchez tells me. "After [Mayoral's] first peaceful contact, humans started to realise gray whales are not the scary and mad animals we thought they were."

Sanchez was the first Mexican naturalist to guide whale-watching tours in the lagoon back in the 1990s, and his own eco-tourism company now has a base camp on San Ignacio Lagoon. "As time has gone by, humans are becoming less afraid to let gray whales get closer to the point of close contact. I believe this is [also true for gray whales]."

In 1972, the Mexican government created the San Ignacio Lagoon nature reserve, and in 1988, the lagoon was also declared a whale sanctuary and biosphere reserve. Five years later, it was designated as a Unesco World Heritage Site. The gray whale population recovered and was removed from the endangered species protection in 1994.

That year, Mayoral tipped off environmentalists that Mitsubishi and the Mexican government were planning to build a massive salt factory within the nature reserve. The salt mine was thwarted in 2000 by a robust effort from the local and international community – drawing activists from Robert F Kennedy Jr to actor Christopher Reeves to Baja's shores to join the protest. The whales recovered and were removed from the endangered species protection in 1994, and today, the battle to save Baja's gray whales is considered one of the greatest wildlife conservation success stories of our time.

Mayoral passed away in 2013, but he's been referred to as the "saviour of gray whales" and the grandfather of whale-watching in Baja. Ever since his first peaceful encounter, visitors and locals alike have sought out a similar experience in Baja the lagoon. In fact, Mayoral's family is still running whale-watching trips.

More like this: • An ethical – and safe – place to swim with whales • The hidden wonders of Mexico's sacred underwater world • Thirteen photos that will make you care about the ocean

Today, the human-whale encounters in the San Ignacio Lagoon have not only fuelled conservation efforts but also inspired a regulated eco-tourism industry, which provides a meaningful source of income to local communities.

"Eco-tourism is the economic basis for the community. [The people here] watch over the lagoon and whales, and work together to coordinate sustainable whale-watching so that they don't destroy or overuse the resource that's providing income for them: the whales," says Swartz.

On Pure Baja Travel's five-day trips, travellers embark on six whale-watching outings (which give the animals more opportunities to come to you on their own terms) while also learning about the community's conservation efforts in the lagoon. The camp is only open in February through March and then it disappears when the animals migrate in April.

From our tented base camp right on the banks of the lagoon, I awoke nearly every morning to the rumbling sounds of whales in the distance and could see their heart-shaped vapour spouts as we ate dinner. To be sleeping right along their sanctuary was almost as exciting as seeing them an arm's distance away during the day.

A new generation steps up to save Baja's gray whales

While the San Ignacio Lagoon where the gray whales give birth is now protected, continuing to safeguard the animals and support the local communities who guard them is more vital than ever. Climate change is now impacting the lagoon and the gray whales on their migratory path.

Mexican climate activist Xiye Bastida hopes to inspire a new generation to step up and take action by co-producing and starring in a documentary that will be released in the coming months called The Whale Lagoon. At 22 years old, Bastida connects the grassroots conservation efforts that started a generation ago to the climate crisis facing this generation. She joined WildCoast, an international nonprofit organisation that has been a leading force in the gray whale conservation efforts for more than 40 years, to amplify the voices of the community.

WildCoast's co-founder and executive director, Serge Dedina, helped to successfully lobby the Mexican government for San Ignacio Lagoon to be included in the El Vizcaíno Biosphere Reserve, the largest wildlife refuge in Latin America, back in 1988. Now he says Laguna San Ignacio is a global model showing how to protect wildlife while creating sustainable development. The organisation helps to train ecotourism guides, enhance outreach and expand women-led mangrove restoration programmes that help fight climate change.

With the climate crisis affecting the migratory path of the whales, the restoration of mangroves (which sequester 10 times more carbon than tropical forests) is another battle Laguna San Ignacio area residents are fighting every day, along with needing to regulate development and tourism around the lagoons.

"There's something about the whales that makes you feel overwhelmed, with almost a responsibility to take care of them. When the whale pushes up her calf so you can touch it, that is an immense amount of trust," Bastida tells BBC.

"We call them the friendly whales, but I think they are the conscious whales, and they want us to be more conscious and more in touch," she adds. "I hope that if people see the film or if they are fortunate to see the whales, they can find a piece of themselves they didn't know they had – an instinct to protect [them]."

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How has the digital nomad trend evolved over the years?

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240925-the-evolution-of-the-digital-nomad, today

Whether seen as a positive or a negative, the digital nomad trend continues with new visas and organisations aimed at this population popping up around the world.

The term "digital nomad" may seem buzzy, but it actually comes from a book of the same name by Tsugio Makimoto and David Manners that, on its publication in 1997, predicted a future workforce of globe-trotting travellers logging in from abroad. The authors proposed that technological advances and humanity's will to explore would allow for a more mobile workforce. In the nearly three decades since, and with the advent of easily accessible wi-fi and online resources for travellers, the trend has exploded. So, too, has controversy, or at the very least, disagreement around it.

For many, digital nomadism is the ultimate dream lifestyle, allowing freedom of movement and the ability to explore the world while earning a living. Meanwhile, others say it contributes to gentrification and overtourism, that it drives up prices and makes cities nearly unliveable for locals. Now, a growing number of nations are upfront about a desire to attract these upwardly mobile visitors and have begun offering new visas for workers, while organisations spring up to attend to their needs.

Though the necessary technology existed, the digital nomad movement didn't really take off until the 2010s, largely among young people looking for an early-career escape from the decades of 9-5 office work they saw looming before them. "When we think about our parents, it was about getting into a job, getting that 401k and going up the corporate ladder," explained Evita Robinson, Emmy award-winning creator of the NOMADNESS Travel Tribe, a social community for travellers of colour. "We're really kind of blowing that ideology up in many ways because we aren't waiting to retire to travel and see the world."

But according to author, speaker and political scientist Lauren Razavi in her book Global Natives: The New Frontiers of Work, Travel, and Innovation, many of the original digital nomads were wealthy white men working either in the tech industry or as a kind of precursor to today's travel influencer, showcasing their glamorous lifestyle while making money selling guides to those interested in doing the same. However, as the possibility of remote work spread, so did the trend of working from anywhere.

The Covid-19 pandemic only added fuel to the fire, as worldwide lockdowns proved that more people than ever were able to do their jobs online. Though restrictions lifted and people were able to return to the office – many chose not to. According to commercial real estate solutions provider Moody's commercial real estate market analysis, more than 20% of corporate real estate remains empty, while a 2023 report by MBO Partners,  an enterprise solutions company that services companies with remote workers, estimates that more than thirty-five million people now consider themselves digital nomads.

With the increased interest in travel post pandemic and the flexible nature of remote work, it's perhaps no surprise that the trend has grown so quickly. "Now is the time in our history where we've had the most passports and we've had all of this access," says Marquita Harris, a journalist and frequent digital nomad. "To me, being a digital nomad has given me the opportunity to travel deeper, to understand way more than I ever could when I would just take a vacation for four days somewhere. And I feel like I learned just so much from those experiences."

However, not everyone sees the increase of this trend, which the MBO Partner's Digital Nomads Report estimates has grown a whopping 131% since the pandemic, as a good thing. The influx of visitors to places like Spain and Greece have also fuelled heated protests against overtourism. In places like the Dominican Republic, Bali and South Africa, many locals feel that digital nomads have caused a strain on already scarce resources and driven up the prices of goods and housing beyond what they can reasonably afford.

"I think, a lot of the same issues that arise when we're talking about tourism in general, when we're talking about digital nomads," explains Mechi Annas Estvez Cruz, a writer and native of the Dominican Republic. "Most of the time they're used to a certain level of comfort. So those Airbnb's that they're going to be looking for are going to be foreign [owned]. So, you come, and you say it's really cheap… cheap for who? With time, as you show up, and then you tell your friends to show up and this place becomes a safe haven for digital nomads, you're actually driving the cost of everything up."

It's not just happening in the Dominican Republic; across the globe, locals are finding themselves priced out of popular cities and towns. For example, let prices in the Balearic Islands have increased by about 18% in the last year according to a recent report by Idealista.  

Robinson also sees the dichotomy of this situation: "This is actually a question about gentrification," she told the BBC. "I see this over and over again in the work that I do. It's heartbreaking actually and it's conflicting, these circumstances in which [visitors are] running the community out."

So is there a way to be a digital nomad without contributing to inequality and overtourism? Juan Barbed, Co-Founder of ROORAL, stresses the importance of connecting with locals and being part of the community. ROORAL is an organisation that creates infrastructure for remote workers interested in spending time working in struggling rural towns in Spain. For Barbed, the key to ensuring that this model was a help rather than a hinderance to local communities was involving them in the process ahead of time. "We are not a private initiative that opens up in a place and then we [move in]," Barbed explained. "We talk with the leadership of those communities to see if this is something that they want to try. If the answer is no, it's like, OK, bye."

This more community-based approach is contrary to many earlier organisations and companies that offered long-term lets and hi-speed wi-fi, but often resulted in insular, and expensive, expat communities. However, as the trend grows, the people who make up the digital nomad community has changed, instead of the young male tech workers who started the trend, an increasing number of families are taking up the lifestyle, and organisations like NOMADNESS have greatly improved its diversity, both of which will ideally have a very different impact on the destinations that welcome these groups.

This change seems reflected in Harris' thoughts on her time as a digital nomad:  "[I think it's important to] make sure that you are contributing to the place's, not just economy, but like the culture of a place. You are essentially contributing to gentrification if you're not careful. Look at where you're spending your money and above all, if you're in a place for a month, and you don't at least make one friend there that's from there, I'm sorry, you're not doing it right." 

Cruz however, is still sceptical: "How [do you live in a place] in a way that actually respects the dignity of the people who have been receiving uninvited guests since 1492? And trying to do so with grace, may I add, while being exploited. I need anybody who has a powerful passport and engages in travel for leisure to sit with that tension entirely."

With new visas in countries like Japan and the UAE, aimed at luring mobile international workers on the rise, it's likely that the trend will continue to expand to even more demographics and locations. Though it's possible that the visas will help regulate the number of digital nomads, as well as ensure they're contributing something more to the local economy.

For Robinson, the expansion and continuation of this trend is a good thing. However, she cautions that travellers and countries alike need to be a bit more mindful in order to combat the potential negative effects of the digital nomad lifestyle.

"I think people need to approach travel overall, but definitely a digital nomad lifestyle, with a sense of consciousness and accountability," she said. "There are ways to do it right, but I think that people are just so… romanticised maybe by the lifestyle and what they can get from it, that they forget that they're coming into somebody else's community, and they also need to think about how they can give back."

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Businesses warn tourism scheme could cost jobs

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwye9vyegygo, today

Businesses relying on international tourism to the South East have warned the government its plan to "digitise the UK border" could lead to job losses. The UK's Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme will soon apply to visitors from Europe, requiring a fee and a biometric passport. But a language school and a coach company in Kent said they have been struggling since Brexit and fear the ETA scheme will put off even more visitors. The Home Office said the plans would "enhance security and improve the experience for travellers".

At Hilderstone College in Broadstairs, principal Lee Shutler said the requirement to have a passport rather than travel on an identity card seemed to have put EU students off. He said the roll-out of the ETA, which was introduced last November and will apply to Europeans from April 2025, was "definitely a Brexit-related decision and is an extra layer of bureaucracy from our perspective". German students at the school told the BBC "not many" of their friends had a passport because "you can travel just by your ID" in other European countries.

The Taylor Travel Ltd coach company in Margate said their business has been hit by so many factors in recent years, including fewer foreign students, that they "had to basically beg, steal or borrow in order to stay afloat". "And then when they reopened the borders of course only half the people came through because of the passports, so it's having a knock-on effect," said owner and director Annette Taylor. The company said the government needs to do a major rethink of the ETA scheme or more jobs will be lost.

Deirdre Wells, chief executive of Visit Kent, said inbound students and leisure visitors are "our biggest market". She warned the ETA scheme was "another barrier" and called for more support for businesses.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are introducing Electronic Travel Authorisations (ETAs) to digitise the UK border, enhance security and improve the experience for travellers. “The digitisation process enables a smooth experience for the millions of people who pass through the border every year while preventing the arrival of those who present a threat.”

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Cruise ship stuck in Belfast still anchored in lough

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz048d74n55o, today

An around-the-world cruise ship, which set sail on Monday after months of delays, is still in Belfast Lough. Villa Vie Residences' Odyssey was scheduled to depart in May but has been beset with delays and five months after arriving, the ship has yet to leave Northern Ireland waters. The ship anchored off the County Down coast overnight on Monday and had been expected to set sail again on Tuesday. The 31-year-old liner is now expected to depart on Wednesday afternoon, according to the latest update on the Belfast Harbour website. The ship's passengers remain upbeat and have been told the hold up is due to final pieces of paperwork needing to be completed.

'Happy to be home'

Passengers who have spent the last two nights on board described the mood as positive, despite not hitting the high seas just yet. Newly-engaged couple Gian Perroni and Angie Harsanyi said that the ship is "just waiting for last certification to come through". John Frim said he was a bit confused by the situation but was "happy to be home" and to have slept in his "own bed" on board the vessel for the first time.

On Tuesday, Steve Theriac told BBC News NI that he thought people are "at peace to be on the ship and sort of at sea, whether we're anchored or docked". When asked about possible future delays, he said that they should all get the word "resilience" tattooed on themselves. Angela Theriac said there was a big party on Monday night. "It was a big release, a lot of energy, very jubilant to say the least," she said. "We all have a built in patience here. We are definitely a resilient folk. We stood around for four months, what’s a few more days?" She told BBC News NI that the residents have been enjoying entertainment like dance classes, "great" food and getting settled in. "We are happy to be on board. Maybe in a week if we’re still here I might feel differently but for now we are okay."

Another passenger, Wade Rand, told BBC News NI that they "were welcomed with champagne, hors d'oeuvres, dinner and then we had a party and sailed away”. “We slept in our cabins for the first time. It was great to be home with all your stuff after four months of not having a lot of your stuff with you,” he said. Wade described the mood on board as “quite okay”. “People are still wishing we had sailed away but we’re very happy to be on board. "We’re just hoping this situation doesn’t last a long time so that we’re not just sitting on board waiting to leave again."

Why was the Villa Vie Residences' Odyssey stuck in Belfast?

Villa Vie Residences bought the 31-year-old ship from Fred Olsen Cruise Lines in 2023. The ship arrived at Queen’s Island in the Northern Ireland capital to be outfitted in April 2024. It was scheduled to leave on 30 May for the first leg of its cruise. But until 30 September, it was stuck in Belfast due to problems with its rudders and gearbox. The vessel had some final inspections to pass this week before it was signed off to sail. Passengers have been able to spend time on the ship during the day while waiting for a departure date, but had to disembark in the evenings to stay in hotels.

Some have sold their houses and plan to live on the ship. Melody and John Hennessee, from Palm Beach in Florida, hope to stay on board for the rest of their lives. They used their unexpected months in Belfast "to build the largest suite on the ship", Melody told BBC News NI. "It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms and the time here has allowed us to complete the project." Cruise ship chief executive Mikael Petterson told BBC News NI the unexpected layover in Belfast has cost the company millions of pounds.

The ship had faced 17 weeks of delay and was still in a Harland and Wolff repair yard long after the scheduled boarding time of 17:00 on Monday. There were shouts of "goodbye Belfast" and waving as they disappeared on to the Odyssey for their round-the-world cruise which, for many, will last for years. Had it kept to its original departure date in May, the ship would be in the Bahamas by now.

What is the Villa Vie Residences' Odyssey?

Villa Vie Residences' Odyssey is a residential, around-the-world cruise that was scheduled to depart from Belfast in May. The company's website states that the cost of buying a cabin can range from $99,999 to $899,000. Passengers on the cruise were given the option of buying their cabin outright rather than paying a daily rate for their room like a traditional hotel. It allows them to remain onboard beyond the Villa Vie Residences' Odyssey's initial three-year tour. Residents on the cruise are encouraged to treat the ship like their home, with some opting to bring pets aboard for the journey.

Another passenger on board the ship, Mary Ann Demsar, said she was still "very excited" to be on the cruise and to "see the world". "It's been tough getting here with all the delay but I've had the time of my life these last five months exploring Ireland and Europe and enjoying everything Belfast has to offer."

Mary Ann, who is Canadian, said the delays on Monday were "nerve-racking". She said passengers enjoyed "a lovely dinner", went to lounges and there was "some dancing" on board. "It was nice to see workers with the sparklers celebrating the beginning of the voyage," she added. "It was very nice to see the lights of Belfast in the distance."


Panemunė: The scenic road that saved Europe's banned language

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240917-panemune-the-scenic-road-that-saved-europes-banned-language, today

For nearly 40 years, daring smugglers transported nearly 40,000 Lithuanian-language books into the nation each year when it was forbidden under Russian rule.

Following the gentle bends of the Nemunas, Lithuania's largest river, the Panemunė road stretches for more than 100km and marks the former border between Lithuania and East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). Considered the most romantic road in Lithuania by locals, it travels past a series of 17th-Century castles, Renaissance-era mansions and postcard-worthy towns.

Yet, the route is perhaps best known as the site of a remarkable movement that took place in the late 19th Century and helped save Lithuanian, which is commonly considered the world's oldest surviving Indo-European language.

Panemunė was built in the early 13th Century along a chain of early medieval fortresses and castles designed to protect the Grand duchy of Lithuania from the invading Teutonic forces coming from Prussia. By the 1800s, it had developed into a major trade and travel route as the fortresses became mansions for the nobility, and smaller towns grew around them.

Among the road's many regal attractions are the Castle of Panemunė, a 17th-Century manor complete with intricate frescoes and a park with cascading ponds that's been transformed into a lavish hotel and artist residence. Ten kilometres east of the castle, Raudone ("The Red Castle") is a 16th-Century fortress that was partially destroyed during World War Two but has since been rebuilt and now offers horseback riding, archery lessons and a weekly food and arts fair.

A further 20km east, the ancient city of Veliuona and the castle hill of Seredzius come into view, where a 30-minute hike up the wooden steps to the top of the lush green hill reveals sweeping views of the Nemunas river below. As the road unfurls in one final sweeping bend before the city of Kaunas, the towers of the Raudondvaris Castle emerge. Built where the Nemunas and Nevezis rivers meet, this sprawling 17th-Century estate now features a concert hall, labyrinth park, museum and a restaurant.

"The Panemunė road is often called the 'paradise road' in Lithuania: it boasts exceptional scenery, rich history and countless cultural experiences ranging from the [Honey Valley]; boat trips along River Nemunas; [and] local dandelion wine tastings; to art and history museums, food fairs and cultural events in the Renaissance mansions along the road," said Eglė Speičienė, founder of the local travel agency TavoGidas. Because of the many castles, rolling hills and boutique wineries located along the Panemunė, Speičienė says some travellers liken the road to France's famed Loire Valley.

However, stunning scenery and dreamy castles aren't the only thing Panemunė is known for. The road is also where a unique Lithuanian movement took place in the late 19th Century that would help shape the nation's character: book smuggling.

From 1865 to 1904, the Lithuanian language (which is actually related to ancient Sanskrit and diverged thousands of years ago) was banned under the tsarist Russian rule, which controlled large swathes of the country at the time. The ban prohibited the printing, possessing and distributing of any publications in Lithuanian with the Latin alphabet – but instead of creating a complete Russification of the country, it had the opposite effect.

A large network of resistance publishers, book smugglers and distributors sprang up and more than three million books, scientific papers, textbooks and newspapers were printed in Lithuanian in East Prussia and the US, which each had large populations of Lithuanian émigrés. According to historian Vytautas Merkys, during this 39-year-period more than 40,000 Lithuanian-language publications were smuggled into the country each year, reaching villages, parishes and towns across the nation via the Panemunė road.

Panemunė's proximity to both East Prussia and Poland, (where the books entered) helped it serve as an entry point into the nation for book-smugglers. Tilžė (now Sovetsk, Kaliningrad) was one of the main points where smugglers crossed, and the road's final point, the city of Kaunas, served as Lithuania's capital from 1919 to 1940 and was a centre for cultural resistance against the Russians.

"Essentially, Panemunė was the main artery through which the Lithuanian printed press and books reached the country. River Nemunas was a crucial point for crossing into the country. Some book smugglers swam across, carrying bundled-up books on their bodies, while some transported books hidden in steamboats or paid merchants to help," explained Vaidas Banys, a historian and educator. "[These] banned books, newspapers and religious texts reached deep into the country."

According to Banys, these book smugglers were key to saving the Lithuanian language. They frequently carried up to 80lbs of printed Lithuanian books and other publications, smuggling them from East Prussia and other border locations across the Nemunas river, then transporting them along the backroads of Panemunė in horse-drawn carts hidden among stacks of hay, furniture or even empty coffins.

"All routes were intricately connected, and no book smuggler worked alone. It wasn't just the person who smuggled the books across the border or carried them on their bodies. There were people who would carry the printed materials for a leg of the way, further distribute the prohibited press, finance the printing or supply local communities, parishes and schools," Banys said. "There [wasn't] a 'typical' book smuggler profile, either: people involved in the printing and transporting of the books came from all backgrounds – from simple peasants and devout women to landowners, priests, merchants, bankers and doctors. The network spanned thousands of individuals and organisations. That, in the end, was why the Russians eventually gave up and lifted the ban – the network was so vast and well-connected that it was impossible to destroy."

According to Banys, crossing the border was the most dangerous part of the journey. If caught, book smugglers could be shot on sight by Russian officials, imprisoned, tortured and banished to Siberia.

More like this: • The chefs reclaiming Lithuania's cuisine • The European region where young people are happiest • Užupis: A tiny republic of free spirits

"A book smuggler had to know the smallest details – when the border guards would be changing, which ones could be bribed, which trails or river crossings were watched more closely. Even inside the country, they had to be careful who to trust, how to transport the books and press – using double floors in carts and boxes, paying Jewish merchants aboard the Nemunas steamboats, hiding the books under haystacks and merchandise," Banys added. "The severity of the punishment, when caught, also depended on the kind of books they carried: religious materials were considered less of an offense, and a book smuggler might get away with a fine or a few years of imprisonment. Newspapers and literature that promoted the ideas of freedom, democracy, Lithuanian national identity and the like usually carried a death sentence or deportation to Siberia."

According to Banys, these book smugglers didn't just save the language – they helped solidify Lithuanian identity, and, ultimately, its battle for independence.

"Although many of the fates of the book smugglers were tragic, their contribution and their memory remain vital. During the years of the language ban, one book smuggler from Kėdainiai was caught by the Russian officers and beaten so severely he went mad. Even when the ban was lifted, this man would still wander around with books on his back, and people would tell their kids: look what our language has cost us; study it and cherish it," Banys said.

When the Lithuanian language ban was lifted in 1904, Juozas Masiulis, one of the prominent book smugglers, opened his own book store in the town of Panevezys. The shop is now Lithuania's oldest bookstore. It's still operational today, and every year on 16 March, the nation commemorates the Day of the Book Smugglers.

The river ferry near Vilkija – the only remaining Nemunas ferry – is now a popular attraction along the Panemunė road, and travellers can experience what it must have been like to cross the river on smaller boats. In Kaunas, the final stop along the Panemunė road, visitors can also see the Wall of the Book Smugglers – a monument honouring those who perished on their perilous journeys.

Today, this scenic drive lives on as a living testament to Lithuania's rich culture, complex history and defiant spirit.

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Norway's simple answer to greener, cleaner living

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240917-norways-simple-answer-to-greener-cleaner-living, today

One family hopes to show people how a return to basic mid 19th-Century life can teach us much about how to care for our environment today.

The approach to my accommodation for the night was similar to the ascent into any valley in the Norwegian fjords. Precipitous rocky mountainsides thick with conifer forest increasingly pressed the narrow road to the shores of Haukalivatnet lake. Yet somehow, enfolded in the valley's upper reaches before the increasingly steep gradient precluded the possibility of settlement altogether, I arrived at some gentler, fertile land.

Reidunn Botnehagen's family have farmed this land for more than a century and, like many living amidst south-west Norway's entrancing scenery, also have a countryside cabin here that they rent out to holidaymakers. But Haukali 333, as they've named it, is not just another country escape. This cabin openly celebrates its jettisoning of conventional holiday mod cons in order to emulate the lifestyle of those that first settled in Norway's wilderness nearly two centuries ago.

And her guests, Botnehagen told me, will be all the better for it.

Haukali 333 is based on the design of a husmannshus or smallholder's cabin. Scattered all over rural Norway, these would have been homes for tenant farmers in the mid-19th Century, who worked on land owned by wealthy landowners and laboured long, gruelling hours to make ends meet. First glamourised by Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen in the late 1800s, in recent decades the husmannshus has became linked with nostalgia for a rural life lost as modern Norwegians increasingly moved to urban areas and a fixation with refurbishing and reinstating them began.

Cabin culture is on a high in Norway with almost 450,000 cabins and holiday homes existing in the country in 2023, according to Statistics Norway – an increase of more than 8% since 2013. These are used year-round by those who crave an escape in nature, with many kitted out to luxurious standards despite a rustic exterior. But Haukali 333 is unique in faithfully recreating the 19th-Century way of life in order to draw attention to a more sustainable way of living.

It did not necessarily sound like a premise for a relaxing holiday.

"No one is saying that life then was all good," Botnehagen smiled. "But nor was it all bad. We want to show it how it really was, as much as possible. We think the people who come will discover something as a result."

When I arrived, the wood-built cabin appeared delightfully rustic, with a turf roof, sky-blue door and window trimmings, sheep grazing its lawn and expansive views out over a mountain-backed lake with just one or two other houses within sight.

The mostly candlelit interior had a huge open stone oven, known in 19th-Century Norway as a grue, used as both a cooking and heating source. The wooden seating was pretty to look at, but hard, high-backed and challenging to relax upon. The outdoor shower sprayed water as cool as the spring that supplied it (or I had the option to fill an antique outdoortub with a bucket and wait for the Scandinavian sun to warm it, if I preferred).

The beds, accessed by a ladder, were built into the walls head-to-foot as they would have been in the mid-1800s for warmth and covered in fleeces from the Botnehagen family sheep. There was no TV, but 19th-Century evening entertainment in the form of a rokk or spinning wheel for spinning wool into clothes.

Botnehagen told me I could pick fruit and vegetables (strawberries in July, potatoes in August) from the garden or nearby field, or row a boat out onto the lake with a rod to catch my own dinner. There was also the option to don 19th-Century labourers' garments: only one set, because back then, that would likely have been all a farmer owned.

There were a couple of modern-day concessions to comply with health and safety requirements – a toilet and electricity for powering the old kerosene lamp – but visitors looking around from almost any point inside or outside the cabin would see a view akin to that of a mid-19th-Century farm worker.

Many of Botnehagen's guests appreciate the quirks of living a "slow life like 1850", as Haukali 333 describes itself.  

"I see it all the time: a fascination with this simple life," she said. "A couple from London last winter just sat outside open-mouthed looking at the brilliance of the stars: light pollution where they live meant they seldom saw them. The children of one family this summer were crying when they left because they knew the chickens by name. A Danish family comes because they spend time together in a way they find impossible back home: picking berries, chopping firewood, hiking without anyone else in sight.

Occasionally we have someone who needs to leave early because they cannot deal with the sound of silence or the basic facilities, but not often. There is five-star luxury and there is this different sort of luxury, where you are appreciating simpler things like the closeness of nature without all these ways we have invented of synthesising it."

Botnehagen hit upon the idea for Haukali 333 in 2014 after inheriting the farm from her grandparents. She and her husband were preparing land for pasture when they uncovered old stones from the former smallholding.

"I remember feeling sad," she confided. "The house and those who lived in it had become forgotten. It got me thinking about my great-grandparents who lived in cabins like this in this area in the 1800s and I wanted to bring the story back to life by authentically reconstructing such a homestead and having people to stay here."

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Innovation Norway, the government organisation for business development, approved Botnehagen's project and told her to research the era to implement the concept as authentically as she wished. She devoted the next year to doing so: paying multiple visits to sites such as Hjelemeland's Vigatunet Historic Farm, open-air Setesdal Farm Museum, historic farm stay Bolkesjø Gaard near Oslo and studying multiple books on 19th-Century rural customs. Haukali 333 opened to guests in 2018.

What Botnehagen discovered was that reconstructing a snapshot of 1850s living was about more than realising her own idea or creating novelty accommodation. The era had many lessons to impart on how we can live life in a better and more environmentally friendly way. When she began building Haukali 333, it was important to her to communicate this to prospective guests.

"Now, as then, the lake provides us with fish, the soil gives us fruit and vegetables, our sheep wool," she explained. "We have our own water supply. There is everything you need to survive. The difference is that today having these things is considered privileged. Back then it was a basic right."

Botnehagen took me to meet her mother, Målfrid Lea, who remembers life on Haukalivatnet in the 1940s. Speaking about that time from her apartment in the modern town of Jorpeland, her recollections highlighted how much rural Norwegian society has changed since then.

"There was never much money around but people didn't normally gauge wealth by money. If you had another commodity – like chickens or cows – that showed you were doing OK, as was the case for my parents and theirs before them. I remember regularly travelling by horse as a girl, loaded up with eggs to take to town and exchange for whatever our family required. In our case it was usually flour."

Today, food wastage is a huge issue, with the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation estimating that 14% of global food is wasted between harvest and retail. For Botnehagen, the advantages of commodity-based trade, widely practiced in the 1850s, were clear.

"There was greater efficiency in many ways," she said. "There were less intermediaries: if you wanted something done you did it yourself. Most of it could be done within sight of your house. A husmannshus would be sized similarly to this one – 38sq m – but might accommodate six, seven, eight residents. That is one lot of timber to fell for the cabin, one fire keeping everyone warm. Today the same number of people might have four houses and run eight vehicles, but just because we can do things differently now doesn't mean we should – not for the health of the planet anyway."   

Kari Sand, the former regional business developer who helped Botnehagen develop the Haukali 333 project, agrees. "Living in a farmhouse like Haukali 333 will give guests thoughts about the past and make the comparison: the differences in consumption, how much we use and throw away now, whether we need it all. By living like this, it makes us think about how much electricity we use, and how many clothes – many of us have a cupboard full! Is this how we want to live?"

It is not surprising to Botnehagen that her guests are invariably able to find harmony during their visit. If they embrace the concept of living as in the past, she told me, then in small ways they are working together to attain something tangible.

"If you fish for your dinner or chop wood for your fire," she said, "appreciation for nature increases. Appreciating your environment and feeling invested in it are vital factors in tackling climate change."

"If we don't take the wisdom from the past with us," she added, "in the future we will be poorer."

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A Tolkien trail: Where to find the real-life Middle-earth

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20240917-a-tolkien-trail-where-to-find-the-real-life-middle-earth, today

While Tolkien's stories take place in the fictional realm of Middle-earth, the awe-inspiring landscapes of the books, films and TV shows are closer than you might imagine.

The first book in J R R Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, was released 70 years ago, in the summer of 1954. However, that's not the only recent milestone for Tolkien's legendarium: the second season of the epic TV series, The Rings of Power, was  released on 29 August 2024.   

As befits the ultimate epic fantasy series, the settings are gorgeous, ranging from bucolic, rolling countryside to plunging valleys and desolate deserts. And while Tolkien's stories take place in the fictional realm of Middle-earth, the awe-inspiring landscapes of the books, films and TV shows are not as otherworldly as you might imagine. Many of them are based on real-world locations and visiting them brings to life both the landscapes themselves and the imaginary worlds they inspired Tolkien to create.

The Tolkien Trail: Lancashire, England

While writing The Lord of the Rings in the 1940s, Tolkien lived for a while at Stonyhurst College, a prestigious boarding school in Lancashire where his son was a teacher. The elder Tolkien was known to walk often through the woodlands and rolling hills of the surrounding Ribble Valley, and is thought to have taken inspiration from the place while creating the Shire, the rural homeland of the hobbits.

Today, fans can explore the area on the Tolkien Trail, which opened in 2002 and takes hikers through the very landscapes that inspired the author. The route starts in the village of Hurst Green at the atmospheric 17th-Century Shireburn Arms pub, where Tolkien was a regular. It then winds for around seven easy miles through undulating farmland, past the grand buildings of Stonyhurst College, and across historic landmarks like Cromwell's Bridge, an overgrown packhorse bridge once used by Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil War.

Although Tolkien didn't directly document the influence of places along the trail, there are several sources of likely inspiration. The route passes the stately home Hacking Hall where, during Tolkien's time, there was a wooden ferry barge, the Hacking Ferry, that carried people across the River Ribble. In The Fellowship of the Ring, the Bucklebury Ferry (also outside a stately home, Brandy Hall) carries the hobbits across the Brandywine River in similar fashion while they are fleeing a fearsome spectral horseman.

The local landowning family near Stonyhurst, meanwhile, were called the Shireburns – and the similarly named River Shirebourne appears in Tolkien's geography of Middle-earth. Tolkien's maps, meanwhile, depict the convergence of three rivers – the Shirebourne, Withywindle and Brandywine – in a way that exactly mirrors the meeting of the Hodder, Ribble and Calder rivers here in Lancashire. In addition, St Mary's Church in the nearby village of Newchurch-in-Pendle bears an unusual feature: an eye-shaped carving halfway up the tower, known as the Eye of God, which resembles the all-seeing Eye of Sauron from the Lord of the Rings books and movies.

Cheddar Gorge: Somerset, England

Most of the real-life places associated with Tolkien's imaginings of Middle-earth are based on educated guesswork, but there is one place that the writer himself confirmed as a real-life inspiration for The Lord of the Rings.

Tolkien and his wife Edith married in 1916, and honeymooned in the Somerset village of Clevedon. While they were there, they paid a visit to one of the most jaw-dropping landscapes in Britain: Cheddar Gorge, a sheer limestone valley, pockmarked with caves whose walls are bejewelled with intricate rock formations, stalagmites and stalactites.

The honeymooning author – always married, at least in part, to his work – was taking notes, and in 1971 he confirmed in a private letter (published in 1981 as part of The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien) that the caves of Cheddar Gorge inspired the Glittering Caves of Helm's Deep in The Lord of the Rings.

Visit Gough Cave, the most famous of the caves at Cheddar, and you'll likely recognise elements of Tolkien's description of the Glittering Caves: "columns of white and saffron and dawn-rose … fluted and twisted into dreamlike forms".

Denize Bluffs: Waitomo, New Zealand

LOTR mega-fans will instantly recognise Denize Bluffs, an area of soaring rock formations and wild bush on New Zealand's North Island. In the films, this landscape features in the prequel movie The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey as the Trollshaws, a hillside forest where Bilbo Baggins encounters some hostile trolls. In the TV show, meanwhile, Denize Bluffs serves as part of the highland home of the Harfoots, the series' hobbit protagonists.

In reality, Denize Bluffs sits on a privately owned sheep and cattle farm that has been in the same family for three generations. Current stewards Warrick and Suzie Denize are very proud of the Lord of the Rings association, and now run Hairy Feet Waitomo: tours of the property that take in the various locations seen in the films and TV shows and bring them to life with showbiz tales from the production. Tours must be booked in advance. The farm can be found around eight miles west of the town of Piopio.

Stow-on-the-World: Gloucestershire, England

Tolkien was a deeply religious man, and although he always refuted the theory that The Lord of the Rings was a Christian allegory, the work is infused with spirituality. Tolkien spent his professional life as a professor at the University of Oxford, and he was known to have often visited the nearby Cotswolds, a picturesque area of golden-stone villages, gently rolling hills and seriously photogenic churches.

One of those churches, St Edward's Church in the market town of Stow-on-the-Wold, has long been earmarked as a likely source of inspiration for Tolkien. Its north door is among the most photographed doors in the country: carved from heavy, studded wood, crowned with an arching architrave and hung with an oil lamp. Its most striking feature is the two yew trees that flank the doorway, planted three centuries ago and now huge, twisted and gnarled, having grown into the structure of the church itself.

Tolkien accompanied his writings with beautiful hand-drawn artworks, one of which depicts the Doors of Durin, a hidden entrance to the inside of a mountain that harbours the Dwarf city of Khazad-dûm. Tolkien’s drawing, although stylised, is almost identical to the north door of St Edward's Church, from the trees that bookmark the entrance to the lamp that hangs above it – giving rise to the longstanding rumour that this is where he found inspiration for his mythical mountain doors.

Teide National Park: Tenerife, Spain

The moon-like deserts of Tenerife feature prominently in the new series of The Rings of Power, as a barren wasteland through which the mysterious Stranger, a wizard who has lost his memory, is travelling with two hobbits. Tenerife's Indigenous Guanche people traditionally believed that Teide was the gateway to the underworld domain of malevolent deity Guayota – and it's not hard to see why, with its fierce winds, searing heat and dusty plains dotted with gnarled, skeletal trees. It's unsurprising that Teide was chosen as the real-life setting for the realm of Rhûn, which, in Tolkien's works, is a mysterious region of moral corruption and dark sorcery.

More like this: • The surprising ancient roots of The Lord of the Rings • In Alpine villages, Hobbits lurk • The Rings of Power review: A visually staggering, flawed epic

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