Conceived as an epic tale of Shakespearean proportions, the sprawling series charting the highs and lows of Nicky, Geordie, Tosker and Mary transfixed millions of viewers in the mid 1990s. Ambitiously marrying the personal and the political, the programme would follow the Tynesiders from their heady teenage days to a middle age scarred by shattered dreams. But delayed by BBC reshuffles, legal worries and even the emergence of EastEnders, the programme's journey to the small screen was as tangled as the friendships it followed. With the weighty subjects of town hall sleaze, police corruption and slum housing as its backdrop, the nine-part series made household names of Christopher Eccleston, Daniel Craig, Gina McKee and Mark Strong. "It chimed with my politics coming from a working class background," says Eccleston, who took on the role of idealistic Nicky - a student who drops out of university to lead the fight for change in his home city of Newcastle. Quickly seduced by the promises of smooth-talking politician Austin Donohue, he would devote his efforts to a battle against the establishment and spend decades dealing with the fallout of the rifts it caused. "I heard stories in my own family about my Uncle Bill being sacked in the 30s, crying in a doorway and being too ashamed to go home, so all that stuff about the Jarrow Marchers resonated with me," he says. "I knew it was epic, I knew we were doing something important. I felt it would have an impact because I knew my mam, dad and brothers would watch it and feel it very deeply. "And if it was going to affect my family, it would affect families all over Britain." Raised on the likes of the BBC's hard-hitting Play For Today, Eccleston, who was part-way through shooting the film Shallow Grave, was alerted to the project by the film's director, Danny Boyle. "Danny said he'd read some scripts called Our Friends in the North, which was a 'state of the nation' piece. I promptly went to a phone box - there were no mobiles - and rang my agent. "The key scene for me as I read the script was Peter Vaughan's character, Felix, being savaged by one of those pitbull dogs that everybody started buying in the 80s and 90s. "Felix comes to the door and tries politely to deal with some feral member of the underclass who then sets his dog on him. "It just shattered me because I knew what [writer] Peter Flannery was saying - this idealistic man who had pleaded the case for the working classes was being brutalised by the failure of the system." While Eccleston had appeared in ITV crime drama Cracker and the British-made film Let Him Have It, McKee, Strong and Craig were still awaiting their big break. All that would change when Our Friends in the North was broadcast from January to March 1996. "I had the highest profile, but how things have changed," Eccleston says with a laugh. "Mark and Daniel are major movie stars and Gina's one of the greatest stage actors of her generation so there's a nice lesson in humility for me there. "It doesn't surprise me. Daniel had a kind of rock star sexual charisma, which was perfect for Geordie, and Mark's an extraordinary character actor. Gina kept us all honest with the truthfulness and delicacy of her performance." While Mary and Tosker would soon rue a loveless marriage, Craig's Geordie Peacock would head for the bright lights of London to escape beatings from an alcoholic father. The addition of the future James Bond, though, came "very late", recalls Flannery, who is taking part in a question and answer session about the programme at the Whitley Bay Film Festival on Friday. "We had almost cast a Geordie actor then the tape of Danny with an awful North East accent arrived," he says. "He was undeniably magnetic. We thought we'd have loads of work to do on the voice, but the screen lit up when he appeared." Problems, however, were apparent from the outset of filming. Stuart Urban, one of the series' two directors, was asked to leave 10 weeks into shooting. "I was devastated by it because it was bad," Jarrow-born Flannery admits. "We were wrong to appoint him, we were rowing all the time on the set. "I was poisoning it." Scheduled to helm the final four episodes, Simon Cellan Jones was enlisted to play a bigger role and the opener was reshot by Pedr James - with Flannery taking the opportunity to heavily amend the script. It was a move not without problems. "There's an opening episode no-one has ever seen, although I've got a copy," Flannery says. "One of the producers came up with the idea of writing a different story as long as it met up with episode two. "The actors went mad. They said, 'How can you change our characters?' I think they were on episode five by that point." That things did not run smoothly when the cameras finally began to roll was perhaps not surprising as the adaptation had spent more than a decade in development hell. Flannery penned the story in 1981 while working as a writer-in-residence with the Royal Shakespeare Company. "I thought don't write a two-hander. Write a big play they can put on - a chronicle of our times." Initially running from 1964 to 1979, the characters' journey concluded with Margaret Thatcher's rise to power, rather than the TV series which followed the characters up until 1995. First performed in 1982, it came to the attention of the BBC. Flannery's hopes of a hit on the small screen would soon be dashed, though. "By the time I was delivering it in about 1984/85, it was now a BBC One project and the channel had a new controller, Michael Grade," he says. "He was looking for a soap set in London's East End and that's what he got." There would be a further false start towards the end of the 1980s when BBC lawyers stepped in over concerns some of the characters were based too heavily on living real-life figures, such as disgraced Tyneside politician T Dan Smith. Flannery would finally resurrect the project as a nine-parter, but almost scuppered its chances in a year-long row with the BBC over varying the length of each chapter. "It was a monumental struggle - long and painful - but I have no real regrets," he says from his Oxfordshire home. "I created the characters for the stage when I was 28 and didn't finish writing them until I was 44. I couldn't have imagined what would have happened to them in their 40s because I was not that old. "That was an extraordinary thing to happen." The series attracted weekly audiences of about six million - twice the number anticipated. Twenty years on, though, how does he view its legacy? "There are probably six or 10 shows in the history of British TV that stand out and I think Our Friends in the North is one of them along with Cathy Come Home and Boys From The Blackstuff. "It captured the zeitgeist." Andrew Collins, film editor at the Radio Times and writer of the Telly Addict blog, shares that view. "Boys From The Blackstuff, which I agree is magnificent, is definitely a precursor in terms of what British television was still prepared to do. But Our Friends in the North is more ambitious, less of a time-capsule. "By the time it became a TV drama, Thatcherism had run its course, albeit having reshaped Britain and not necessarily in a good way. Perhaps this was a better time to take stock and look back over 30 years to the optimism of the early 60s, which was now in some ways echoed in the early 90s Britpop movement. "To end it with [the Oasis song] Don't Look Back in Anger was perfect, I think. You can't really fake that kind of kismet: the song was northern, working-class and looked both to the future and the past. And it's a great track. "Such things matter with drama that wants to tell big stories and to resonate in the here and now. The personal becomes political, and vice versa, if you can pinpoint a dramatic way of bringing the two together." While its success "opened doors", Flannery believes budgetary concerns and an aversion to risk arguably make it more difficult now than ever for writers to translate their ideas to the screen in Britain. "The odds are always stacked against ambitious drama," he says. "One person leaves and you lose your champion. "And these things are expensive. For a long time, if you weren't going to get a sale in America it was pointless asking for anything to get made. "What I call 'panto dramas' like Doctor Who and Sherlock are massively entertaining and popular, but the broad church doesn't seem to be there anymore. There's no room for an Our Friends in the North. "I've always said it's just a posh soap opera - but it's a posh soap opera with something to say."

Question: Tracking the fortunes of four pals across the decades , Our Friends in the North was @placeholder a landmark drama . It is now 20 years since it first aired , but where does it rank among British TV 's greatest hits ?


The German was just 0.014 seconds quicker than Hamilton despite an error from the newly crowned 2015 champion. There was a hint of the tension between the two when Hamilton complained Rosberg was "backing me up" as they prepared for their fastest runs. And they do not appear to have their usual advantage over the rest of the field, with Red Bull and Ferrari close. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo was 0.118secs off the pace, 0.093secs ahead of Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. Media playback is not supported on this device The Mercedes drivers clearly had some more time in hand as both made small errors on their fastest laps, but the same could be said of many drivers on the low-grip surface of the remodelled Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The newly resurfaced tension between the two Mercedes drivers comes after Rosberg was angry at what he described as the "extremely aggressive" move with which Hamilton took the lead at the first corner at the title-deciding US Grand Prix a week ago. There was also an incident in the pre-podium room, where Hamilton tossed the second place cap to Rosberg, who promptly threw it back at him. Hamilton has made it clear that despite achieving his lifetime's ambition and clinching a third world title, his desire is unquenched and his immediate target is to win the remaining three races of the season. Complaints about the slippery surface abounded after Friday practice, and the drivers were mollified not at all on Saturday. The aerodynamic excellence of the Red Bulls was underlined in the thin air at 2,300m in Mexico City, with Daniil Kvyat in fifth place. The car was making up in the corners what it was losing down the long main straight. The altitude means that the cars have neither the grip nor cooling they do normally, and the engines are also under extra strain. Local hero Sergio Perez, cheered on by thousands of boisterous fans in the final part of the lap, where the track loops through a baseball stadium, was sixth. Williams's Valtteri Bottas was seventh fastest, ahead of Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz, Williams's Felipe Massa and the second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg. Final practice results Mexican GP coverage details

Question: Nico Rosberg narrowly edged out Lewis Hamilton in a closely @placeholder final practice session at the Mexican GP .


Presenters Clare Balding, Victoria Derbyshire and Emily Maitlis are among those who have signed an open letter to director general Tony Hall. They urge him to "correct" the disparity over gender pay, which they say has been known "for years". Lord Hall said "work is already well under way" to resolve the pay gap. On Wednesday, the BBC revealed the salaries of stars earning more than £150,000. The salaries, published in the corporation's annual report, revealed two-thirds of its stars earning more than £150,000 are male, with Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans the top-paid on between £2.2m and £2.25m. Claudia Winkleman - whose name was not on the original letter - was the highest-paid female celebrity, earning between £450,000 and £500,000 last year. Education Secretary Justine Greening said the BBC's gender pay gap was "hard to justify", while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said discrepancies were "astronomical". More than 40 signatories include BBC Sport's Sue Barker, BBC Radio 4 Today programme journalists Mishal Husain and Sarah Montague, BBC News and Antiques Roadshow presenter Fiona Bruce and The One Show's Alex Jones. The report shows "what many of us have suspected for many years... that women at the BBC are being paid less than men for the same work," the letter says. Pay disparities continue "beyond the list" of those earning more than £150,000, they add, including in areas of production, engineering, and regional and local media. The letter continues: "Compared to many women and men, we are very well compensated and fortunate. "However, this is an age of equality and the BBC is an organisation that prides itself on its values. "You have said that you will 'sort' the gender pay gap by 2020, but the BBC has known about the pay disparity for years. We all want to go on the record to call upon you to act now." The women say they are "prepared to meet" Lord Hall to ensure "future generations of women do not face this kind of discrimination". Woman's Hour presenter Jane Garvey - who organised the letter and is not on the list of top earners - told BBC Radio 4's BH programme the BBC should "set a standard" when it comes to fair pay. "We are not after pay parity," she said, "it is fairness that we are in pursuit of here, not enormous pay rises." "I love what the BBC is meant to stand for - let's show the rest of Britain what this incredible institution can do." Clare Balding said she became concerned about the gender pay gap in 2010, when after presenting Woman's Hour she realised her pay for the show was "40% lower" than similar programmes. "We are the high earners, that's why we are on the list, but don't tell me that isn't reflected all the way down [the BBC]," she told the programme. "It is right through and that's where I think we have got to stand up as the ones who are on the list and say 'hang on, enough, we can help you with this'." Education Secretary Ms Greening, who is also responsible for women and equalities, told Sky News' Sophy Ridge on Sunday it was "impossible not to be shocked" by the BBC gender pay gap. She said it was a "reputational issue" for the BBC, adding that it was "very hard to justify" some of the pay discrepancies. Labour leader Mr Corbyn told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show he would be happy to sign the letter, saying the BBC "needs to look at itself". But he said problem was broader than just the BBC and discrimination remained a "serious" issue in the UK. Marr, who is paid between £400,000 and £449,999 a year by the BBC, said if he was a woman he would have been removed from the TV "10 years ago". "There's a real lack of older women on the screen," the 57-year-old said. Responding to the letter, Lord Hall said there would be a "wider consultation" over the next two months to address the issue and that he would value the contributions of those who signed the letter. "When figures are published next year I am confident they will look very different. "When other organisations publish their gender pay data by next April, I want the BBC to be one of the best performers when comparisons are made. "But beyond that, over the next three years I want the BBC to be regarded as an exemplar on gender and diversity."

Question: Some of the BBC 's most high - profile female @placeholder have called on the corporation to " act now " to deal with the gender pay gap .


Heather Cho demanded the removal of a crew member from a flight last Friday for failing to serve nuts on a plate. Ms Cho, a vice-president of the firm, forced the Incheon-bound flight to taxi back to the terminal in New York. The airline said checking service standards was part of her job, and she had the pilot's backing. But officials said she was a passenger at the time. Local media reports said that a junior attendant had offered Ms Cho macadamia nuts in a bag, instead of serving the nuts on a plate. Ms Cho, daughter of company boss Cho Yang-ho, then questioned the chief flight attendant over in-flight service standards and ordered him off the plane. Korean Air said the plane arrived 11 minutes late, and that the decision to expel the senior flight attendant had been made in consultation with the pilot. The airline told Korea Times that checking of quality of service was one of Ms Cho's jobs, as she is in charge of in-flight service for the carrier. The transport authorities are investigating whether Ms Cho's actions infringed aviation law. "Even though she is senior vice president at the company, she was a passenger at that time, so she had to behave and be treated as a passenger," a South Korea transport ministry official told reporters.

Question: A Korean Air executive is under investigation over claims she @placeholder a plane over the way she was served nuts .


The PFA Scotland player of the year has experienced spells on the sidelines at previous clubs and was part of the Aston Villa squad relegated from England's top flight last season. "If I can give advice to young players it is to never give up," he said. "People will always pull you down and say you are never good enough." And Sinclair, who has scored 25 goals so far this term, added: "The main thing, on a personal level, is that I never gave up and I'm getting the rewards for it now. "When you've gone through so many tough times in your career, of not playing and getting relegated, I was the one who stayed behind at training and did things at home. Looking back, it was all worth it." Sinclair, now 28, joined Chelsea at 15 from Bristol Rovers and made a handful of appearances for the first team. In his five years contracted to the Stamford Bridge club he was loaned to Plymouth, Queens Park Rangers, Charlton, Crystal Palace, Birmingham and Wigan before signing for Swansea in August 2010. The English winger made more than 90 appearances for the Swans ahead of a switch to Manchester City, but was on the fringes there and was again loaned out, with spells at West Brom and Aston Villa. The pain of relegation with Villa, in his first season there after a transfer from City ahead of season 2015-16, has made the success of his debut season under Brendan Rodgers at Celtic all the more joyful. He said: "The main thing was to come up here and enjoy my football again and get that happiness back into my life of playing week in, week out and having a manager who believes in me. "I could have stayed down in England and enjoyed my life and had it all nice and cosy. But I didn't want that, I wanted much more. I've always wanted to be giving more." Sinclair, who described his player of the year award as "a great honour", came off the bench on Saturday as Celtic swept St Johnstone aside. In the second half he replaced the impressive 18-year-old Michael Johnston, who has since signed a three-year deal with the treble-chasers. "Mikey stepped up," said Sinclair of his young team-mate. "He was fantastic, you could see his confidence. I spoke to him before the game just to say, 'play your own game', because sometimes when you play under-21 level and you come in to the first team you just want to keep it simple. "But any young player coming into the first team wants to go out there and express himself, and that's what the gaffer brings to any young player who steps up."

Question: Celtic winger Scott Sinclair says the most important lesson he has learned in football is to always have belief in your @placeholder .


The move comes amid demands from one assembly member for a register of lobbyists in Wales. First Minister Carwyn Jones told AMs on Tuesday that ministers do not meet formally with lobbyists. But Plaid Cymru AM Neil McEvoy said that appeared to be a change in stance from the Welsh Government. The first minister told AMs that the standards commissioner is undertaking work "discussing with other UK Parliaments their arrangements and how they are working in practice". The commissioner is due to report to the assembly standards committee, which requested the work, later this month. AMs on the committee are holding their own inquiry into the issue after Scotland and Westminster introduced new rules for the industry. Currently Wales does not have a register of lobbyists. Mr Elias is due to be replaced by Sir Roderick Evans in December. Lobbyists are people hired by a business, an organisation or a cause to advocate their case to legislators. Mr McEvoy has previously said that a register for lobbyists would shed light on who was lobbying for who, and for what. But an earlier report in 2013 suggested there had been no complaints about the practice in Wales. Mr McEvoy told Mr Jones during First Minister's Questions in the Senedd that a minister "was pictured on Twitter attending an event with a commercial lobbyist" and that on Wednesday the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children Carl Sargeant "is a keynote speaker at a commercial lobbyist event". "Maybe you can explain to the public and this chamber the contradiction between what you say here, that they don't have access, and what actually is the reality, because we all know they do," he said. Mr Jones said: "Ministers do speak at events that are organised by organisations, but ministers do not have formal meetings with lobbyists. "If he is saying that no minister should ever meet, either formally or informally, with anybody who is remotely connected to a lobbying organisation, that's just impractical, given the size of Wales." "But what we do not do is meet formally with lobbying companies if they seek meetings with ministers. Those meetings never happen on a formal basis." Mr Jones had said in July that commercial lobbyists do not have access to ministers. Mr McEvoy tweeted after the meeting that there was a "seeming change of position from the government". "Now, it's formal meetings don't take place. Previously, no access."

Question: The assembly 's standards commissioner , Gerard Elias , is @placeholder how regulations on lobbying are working at other UK parliaments , it has emerged .


But today the government's delayed Psychoactive Substances Act comes into force, introducing powers over what consumers can consume that are as radical and far-reaching as any such legislation ever. The intention is to solve the UK's problems with "legal highs" - chemical products not covered by existing legislation that are causing some health and social problems. Legal highs have been implicated in 76 deaths in the last 10 years (31 where they have been the sole cause), the Office for National Statistics said last month. However, that compares to 7,748 deaths involving illegal drugs, which has led some to question whether the government is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Nevertheless, the Home Office's answer to the threat is to make it a crime to manufacture or supply such things. It is clearly impractical to introduce separate bans for every new mind-altering drug that comes along (there are thousands being developed all the time), so the new law pretty much bans everything that can be called a psychoactive substance. It is, basically, a ban on getting high. The story of prohibition over the last 100 years is not a particularly happy one. Banning alcohol in the US in 1920 pushed the trade underground, with criminals selling bootleg booze of dubious or dangerous quality. Some 10,000 people died from drinking poisonous liquor before prohibition was lifted. Many argue the so-called "War on Drugs" has done the same: Simply handing the trade to unscrupulous international criminal gangs. Drug deaths in Britain are currently at record numbers. But with no governmental appetite in Britain for decriminalisation or legalisation of drugs, prohibition remains the only response the Home Office is prepared to consider. Ministers' first problem with prohibiting the trade in legal highs has been how to draft their ban so that cunning chemists cannot get round the law by tweaking the make-up of a substance to fall outside the latest list of illicit substances. That's why they ended up with a law that, with a few notable exceptions, bans the manufacture and distribution of everything that is "capable of producing a psychoactive effect in a person who consumes it". The notable exceptions include alcohol, nicotine and tobacco - not because they aren't dangerous and psychoactive, but because they are already so intertwined with our cultural and social lives. Foods like chocolate and beverages such as coffee and tea are also exempted for similar reasons. But the law seeks to prohibit the manufacture and sale of products with a "psychoactive effect" that may be far milder than a cappuccino or a Snickers bar. Basically, the government is determined to stop people using any substance that causes an alteration in their state of consciousness - unless it is a large gin and tonic or a fat Cuban cigar, of course. But banning almost anything that is "capable of producing a psychoactive effect in a person who consumes it" presented ministers with their next problem. How to prove that something does that? My report from Ireland last year alerted many in the UK to a central problem with the law as it had been proposed. The Irish government introduced a very similar blanket ban in 2010. The head shops were closed down but online suppliers moved in and use of new psychoactive substances in Ireland is now the highest in Europe. Police told me they were almost powerless to intervene because prosecutors could not prove in court that a substance was psychoactive. British ministers were questioned about my report and set about trying to prevent similar problems with the courts here. Finding an answer was not easy and the Act was delayed by more than a month while they worked on a solution. Now the Home Office has come up with an answer: in-vitro testing. Since you can't ask real human beings to take every dodgy looking product police seize to see if it has a psychoactive effect, the government has paid a commercial company to do a series of tests on existing legal highs in the lab (in-vitro). The aim is to identify a range of chemical structures that can be shown to bind with cell-based receptors and to which the body then responds. Having isolated a number of what are called Certified Drug Reference Standards (CDRSs), prosecutors will only have to get an expert witness to say that a product contains a known CDRS to prove to the courts that it is psychoactive. Well, that's the theory. But lawyers are already warning that this process has some tricky legal hurdles to clear. The most obvious problem is convincing a judge that something achieved in a test-tube by a private testing company, paid for by the Home Office, will definitely happen in the human body. For example, we know that the blood-brain barrier (BBB) protects the brain and spinal cord from neurotoxins while allowing other molecules to pass through. It is far from clear whether in-vitro testing will be able to show whether the BBB will give a particular chemical passage into the central nervous system. The Home Office tests will not provide information on the potency of a specific compound, either. Indeed, the guidance says this is not possible or necessary, because the law does not differentiate between something that is 100% or 0.01% pure. This means that a product that has such low potency it causes no noticeable psychoactive effect can still be described in law as having a psychoactive effect and banned. Ministers are concerned that some legal highs don't act on the body by binding with receptors - but they want to ban those too. Substances like nitrous oxide and solvents cannot easily be subjected to in-vitro testing, so the guidance says prosecutions should be based on alternative sources of evidence including published literature and witness accounts of behaviour. Defence lawyers might well question whether a paper in a scientific journal and a witness saying the consumer looked a bit dopey is enough to get a conviction. Legal challenges are very likely in the early days of this act. But it may be that over time a body of case-law and accepted science will mean prosecutions act as an effective brake on dangerous new psychoactive products. The more troubling question, perhaps, is whether prohibition will once again hand the trade over to criminal gangs on the dark web, who are much more difficult to control than any High Street trader.

Question: Conservatives are usually opposed to the " nanny state " @placeholder draconian new rules on business or banning things that experts think might damage your health .


Remains of the soldiers, who were imprisoned in Durham Cathedral after the 1650 Battle of Dunbar, were discovered in a mass grave in 2013. A minute's silence and a lecture about the soldiers were also held on Friday. The battle took place during the Civil War when English Parliamentarian forces defeated the Scottish army. An estimated 5,000 Scottish soldiers were taken prisoner and marched miles from the south east of Scotland to Durham. Many died en route, some were executed and some escaped but about 3,000 were imprisoned in the cathedral. During the hard winter of 1650-51, it is thought up to 1,700 of those incarcerated there died of malnutrition, disease and cold. The remains of between 17 and 29 soldiers were discovered during work on Durham University's Palace Green Library near the cathedral. They will be reburied in Durham once research has been completed. Professor Stuart Corbridge, vice-chancellor of Durham University, said: "The plaque will serve as a permanent memorial to the soldiers' presence here on Palace Green." The plaque is mounted on stone quarried from the site of the Battle of Dunbar and has been placed in the library's cafe courtyard. Another plaque within Durham Cathedral, installed in 2011 in memory of the Scottish soldiers, has also been updated to remove the reference to the soldiers' place of burial being unknown.

Question: A new plaque has been unveiled to commemorate 17th Century Scottish soldiers who died in Durham after being @placeholder in battle .


Science Vale incorporates Harwell Campus, Culham Science Centre, and Milton Park in south Oxfordshire. The Science Vale Area Action Plan intends to regenerate "large brownfield sites, such as the former power station site at Didcot A to provide an opportunity to help improve Didcot". Plans include 20,000 new jobs and 20,000 homes by 2031. The site of the former Didcot A power station, which was demolished in 2014, has been identified as a "key site" for growth. Other "strategic" sites include Crab Hill, Grove Airfield, Monks Farm, Valley Park, Milton Heights, and east of Sutton Courtenay. The planning policy document was jointly prepared by South Oxfordshire District Council and Vale of White Horse District Council. The authorities outline a vision of "diverse, high quality, attractive housing developments" as part of the expansion. However, they aim to protect the "distinctive character and heritage of Science Vale's market towns, villages and countryside". Science Vale is home to major scientific projects such as the national synchrotron Diamond Light Source. The goal is to fill many of the jobs required in the research and development sectors, including space, life sciences, advanced engineering and cryogenics, via local recruitment. The first Oxfordshire University Technical College opens in Didcot in September. A series of public consultations are being held until 17 April.

Question: Proposals to @placeholder one of the UK 's major science hubs include redeveloping the land around Didcot Power Station .


After being mocked on social media for sounding like Phil Daniels from Blur's 1994 hit, Brand has now covered the song. In it he tackles income inequality, corporations not paying taxes and the "ineffective media". The Prime Minister David Cameron and leader of UKIP Nigel Farage also get a special mention too. It was Twitter user Dan Barker who began the Parklife meme after noticing the similarity between Phil Daniels and Russell Brand. After his tweet was retweeted thousands of times, people began making vine-mashups, posting 'Parklife' in Amazon book reviews and repeatedly replying PARKLIFE! to anything Brand tweeted. Dan told BBC Newsbeat: "I enjoyed the video and found it pretty funny, though I'm not totally surprised that a week of difficult brainstorming with his vast PR army, and a Hollywood-sized production budget resulted in a funny response to a mild 140-character observation. "I was surprised the video content is all about politics and class though. "The tweet that went viral had nothing to do with either - just an observation about his writing style (though I'm sure the state schools I went to in Whitley Bay would love to be compared to Eton, they were sadly lacking that kind of money). "If I'm honest I think he's done a great job of turning it round from a PR point of view, and hopefully boring people so much with the word 'PARKLIFE!' that it may limit the amount of times people shout it at him in future." Follow @BBCNewsbeat on Twitter and Radio1Newsbeat on YouTube

Question: Russell Brand has now @placeholder his own version of Parklife .


Media playback is not supported on this device In the contest of the championships so far, Muir led through the first lap before slipping back as the pace dropped. With 30m to go, the 24-year-old Scot had battled back into contention only to be overtaken by American Jenny Simpson and South Africa's Caster Semenya in the final strides. "I gave it everything I could," said Muir, who missed out on bronze by seven hundredths of a second. "I tied up in the last 15 yards. I knew it was close. It happened so late in the race. I couldn't react, but I wouldn't have been able to because I was so tired." Media playback is not supported on this device With Ethiopian defending champion Genzebe Dibaba nowhere and the Netherlands' Sifan Hassan, fastest woman in the world this year, tying up at the death, it was a frenzied end to a race as messy as it was thrilling. Muir's fellow Briton, Laura Weightman, crossed the line in sixth place. Minutes earlier, Olympic champion Omar McLeod had given Jamaica its first gold medal of these championships as he powered to 110m hurdles gold. But it was the 1500m that had the capacity crowd on its feet, and while Muir's effort was brave, there will be debate about whether her tactics were the right ones for the occasion. After a first lap of 65 seconds she slowed it down to 71secs on the next, with Hassan and Simpson coming past her as she ceded control. At that stage Olympic 800m champion Semenya was way back, but the South African used her speed in the home straight as USA's Simpson once again timed her own effort to perfection as Dibaba went backwards. McLeod, 23, a sub-10 second runner over 100m flat, had held off Sergey Shubenkov by a tenth of a second in 13.04secs, with Hungary's Balazs Baji in bronze. Shubenkov is competing here as a neutral athlete, one of 18 Russians cleared by the International Association of Athletics Federations' doping review board following the World Anti-Doping Agency report into their nation's state-sponsored doping programme. But there was no fairytale return to this stadium for American 2012 Olympic champion Aries Merritt, who had a kidney transplant operation two years ago. Media playback is not supported on this device Yulimar Rojas won Venezuela's first ever World Championship gold as she held off reigning champion Caterine Ibarguen in a see-saw triple jump final. Rojas' 14.91m in the penultimate round stole back a lead that Ibarguen had herself taken back with her third-round 14.89m, the Colombian going close again in the final round only to come up three centimetres short of gold. There were hopes within the British team that Sophie Hitchon might replicate or even improve upon the hammer bronze she won at the Olympics a year ago. But with Poland's double Olympic champion Anita Wlodarczyk, responsible for the 13 biggest throws of all time, taking the most predictable gold of the championships with her fifth-round 77.90m, Hitchon's final round throw of 72.32m was her biggest of the night but enough only for seventh. The 26-year-old from Blackburn struggled to hold back the tears afterwards, her personal disappointment also bad news for a team that have already seen medal hopes Katarina Johnson-Thompson, Holly Bleasdale and Andy Pozzi miss out. "I felt like I was in better shape and if I had the rhythm I had in qualification, you don't know what could have happened," said Hitchon. "Of course I am [going to beat myself up about the result], that's part of my personality." Media playback is not supported on this device World and Olympic 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk set up his bid for double gold as he won his 200m heat, Danny Talbot running a new personal best with an identical time of 20.16secs in second. "I think I'm in the best shape of my life, so I'm just trying to go with it," said Talbot. "I'm very grateful to be in the position I am." Van Niekerk goes for 400m gold on Tuesday night, but the South African's great rival Isaac Makwala, the fastest man in the world this year, now has only the one-lap event in his sights after being struck down by food poisoning before his own 200m heat. Britain's Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake went through as an automatic qualifier after winning the seventh heat in 20.08secs, his compatriot Zharnel Hughes joining him as fastest loser. British team captain Eilidh Doyle and Meghan Beesley both moved into the 400m hurdles semi-finals, but Jack Green is out after coming home fourth in his semi-final in 49.93 secs. Paula Radcliffe, marathon world record holder: "Regarding Muir's tactics, it's so hard when you're in that situation and racing - you're the only one who can make those decisions. It nearly paid off." Brendan Foster, Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist: "A race plan with a second lap of 71 seconds isn't a brilliant race plan in my view. It can play into the strength of the sprinters. Muir's running in the last 400m was strong, she went a bit fast on the final bend which took a bit out of her. She was unlucky." Darren Campbell, Olympic 200m silver medallist: "The reality is that Mo Farah has the only medal. He is retiring from the track. What are we pinning our hopes on? Some guys have made finals. That is good for next time. But we have got something wrong. If medals are not won, the funding is cut. All this stuff the young athletes have been given will go."

Question: Britain 's Laura Muir just missed out on a 1500 m medal as Kenya 's Faith Kipyegon won a showdown every bit as tight and dramatic as @placeholder .


After a poor opening day 75, McDowell has rediscovered some good form with back-to-back rounds of six under par. He fired five birdies in a row on Saturday to finish the day on eight under for the tournament, 10 shots behind leader Gary Woodland of America. Waterford's Seamus Power is in fourth place on 15 under after a round of 64. Defending champion McDowell just made the cut on two under on Friday after a much-improved second round in Playa del Carmen. Starting on the 10th tee on Saturday, he birdied two of his opening six holes but dropped his only shot of the day on the par-four 16th. A flurry of birdies on his back nine helped him move up the leaderboard to eight under and into a tie for 32nd place. McDowell has had five top-10 finishes in 2016 but some poor results this year has seen him fall to 81 in the world rankings.

Question: Graeme McDowell carded a 65 for the second day running in an @placeholder defence of his PGA Tour title in Mexico .


Kym and Mark Field's son Alfie was taken to intensive care immediately after delivery at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge last December. The inquest in Huntingdon heard opportunities to deliver him sooner were missed during a two-hour window. Alfie's parents said his loss was "heartbreaking". "Words cannot describe how devastated we are by Alfie's death. It's like a nightmare, but you never wake up," they said. Mr Field said knowing his son could have lived "was by far the hardest outcome". "It just put me into such a bad place on that day, to realise it wasn't genetics... knowing he was perfect in every way up until about two hours before he was born," he said. Of the staff at Addenbrooke's, Mrs Field said: "You trust them the minute you walk through the door, with your life and your baby's life, and that everything will be ok." The couple only realised mistakes had been made when they requested copies of Mrs Field's and Alfie's health records a few weeks after his birth. The hospital later admitted there was a breach of duty in so far as the CTG trace (fetal heart rate) was misinterpreted which led to a delay in Alfie's delivery. "He was perfect -  we got 36 hours with him and you have to be grateful for what you do have," Mrs Field said. A spokesman for the hospital said it expressed "deep regret" to Alfie's family and apologised for the treatment during labour. "We take this matter very seriously, and a thorough investigation has been carried out to ensure lessons are learned and changes of practice have been made," he said.

Question: A newborn baby with severe brain damage would not have died had doctors @placeholder his heart rate problems during labour , a coroner has ruled .


A report said restoring the Grade II-listed pier would have cost more than £15m. Conwy council had a £600,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant awarded to investigate the feasibility of restoring the pier. A group set up to help restore the pier said it will fight the demolition. The 113-year-old pier has been closed since 2008, and its condition has been deteriorating. The council signed a deal to purchase the pier in 2012, and was awarded a lottery grant in May to start restoration work. But it said that it would have to find more cash so that even planning of the restoration work could continue. On Thursday, councillors voted to begin the process of demolishing the pier which hosted performances from entertainers including Morecambe and Wise, Harry Secombe and musician Elvis Costello. In an emotive debate in the council chamber the pier was referred to as both an important part of Colwyn Bay's heritage and a "white elephant". Councillors were told that for the first phase of the project to go ahead, an extra £264,282 must be found, but the total cost of restoration was likely to be more than £15m. Ronnie Hughes, the council's deputy leader said: "Nobody is saying where the extra money is coming from. Sometimes its better to pull out and not to mislead people" But councillor Bob Squire said there was "a massive groundswell of public opinion to save the pier, which can't be ignored". "The pier is part of Colwyn Bay's heritage.  If we don't pursue the grant, we'll never know what might have been," he said. Councillors had six options to consider, including demolishing the pier, carrying on with the restoration, and restoring only the decking but not the pier pavilions. But they were told that all the options would cost money.  Officials said that even doing nothing would leave the council with an annual bill of £53,000 to keep the pier safe, and other emergency works needed carrying out. Opponents say they will fight the demolition, firstly by opposing the pier losing its listed status. Gavin Davies, director of Shore Thing which was set up to help restore the pier, said: "We should not give up on the pier.  It may be impossible, but we don't know that yet.  Local opinion supports restoration, and we need to do something. "There are no grants for heritage destruction, and it may take years to de-list the pier.  I urge you to have faith." The pier's former owner, Steve Hunt, was sitting in the public gallery during the debate. A legal battle between him and the council is continuing, with both sides claiming they own it. Afterwards, Mr Hunt said: "No-one can do anything until the legal case is settled, and that isn't due to be heard until June of next year. "This could take years to unravel."

Question: Colwyn Bay pier is to be demolished , councillors have decided bringing a five - year saga over its @placeholder to a close .


Nakhon Chompuchat, who is representing two Burmese men accused of the murder, said the victims' friends "should know many things" about what happened. The bodies of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller were found on a beach in Koh Tao on 15 September. Suspects Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, both 21, are awaiting trial for the killings amid criticism of the police case. The migrant workers from Myanmar - sometimes known as Burma - could face the death penalty if found guilty. BBC south-east Asia correspondent Jonathan Head said prosecutors were ready to put the men on trial, two months after their arrest. Under Thai law suspects can be held for a maximum of 91 days before facing formal charges. Our correspondent said: "Despite the claim by the Thai police that they have built a perfect case against the two Burmese defendants, the prosecutor has rejected the police dossier several times, saying it needed improving." Officers in the country have been accused of poor collection of evidence, reluctance to investigate influential families on Koh Tao and allegations they tortured the suspects to get confessions. Mr Chompuchat said he was appealing to any friends of Miss Witheridge, 23, from Hemsby or Mr Miller, 24, from Jersey, who may have information to come forward. "Their friends should know many things about this to prove the true situation," he said. But the lawyer claimed witnesses were scared to come forward, adding that he had also requested information from a British police team which travelled to Thailand to observe the investigation, and from the British pathologists who examined the bodies after they were repatriated. Post-mortem examinations found Mr Miller died from drowning and a blow to the head, while Miss Witheridge died from head wounds. The two men accused of the killing are also charged with conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to rape and robbery. Failure to seal off the crime scene after the killings and early claims by the police that no Thai person could have committed such a crime have attracted criticism. Mr Zaw's mother has said her son is being made a "scapegoat" by police and the case has been fixed.

Question: Friends of two British tourists killed in Thailand earlier this year are being @placeholder to come forward as witnesses .


They say they have had more than 100 offers from people with holiday accommodation in places including Cornwall, Scotland, Cyprus and Ibiza. Other donations include counselling sessions, beauty treatments and meals. Kay Gilbert and Angie Mays from Ilfracombe set up the Facebook campaign and said they had been "overwhelmed". Ms Gilbert said the pair "just wanted to do something to help". "We've had quad bike adventures, meal vouchers, photography shoots, hair cuts, beauty treatments, counselling, it's just amazing," she said. More on the holiday offers to Grenfell victims, and other Devon news "They've been so generous, we have had so many offers." Louise Downs, who owns a one-bed holiday flat in Ilfracombe, is backing the Grenfell Tower Holiday Appeal campaign, which was launched on Sunday. She had already filled her flat with free stays for emergency services staff in November but has extended the offer to December and January. "I just thought they needed a break and I've had a really good response," she said. Hetty Thompson, who is offering her Bridgerule holiday let, added: "The support from those in London has been amazing, but I think it's really important for people to realise how much all our hearts around the country and the world go out to them. "If anyone from further afield is able to offer something to help, however small, let's just do it." Derrick Wilson of the Tabernacle Christian Centre is also supporting the campaign. He said: "It's a brilliant idea and I'm sure it will be appreciated." The scheme was created for residents of the tower block fire but has been extended to emergency services workers. A Fire Brigades Union spokesperson said: "This is a wonderfully kind gesture for firefighters who have undertaken utterly courageous work in very difficult circumstances."

Question: Two friends are @placeholder free holidays for people made homeless by the Grenfell fire , as well as emergency service workers who helped the victims .


His investment in terror imbued the collective Spanish psyche with a determination never again to undergo such civil conflict or to suffer another dictatorship. That remains the case to this day, exactly 40 years after his death. However, unlike Hitler's Germany or Mussolini's Italy, where external defeat led to denazification processes, there was no equivalent in Spain - and the shadow of his regime still bedevils politics. Franco's vengeful triumphalism had been fostered in the military academies, where officer cadets were trained to regard democracy as signifying disorder and regional separatism. As the dictatorship was rapidly dismantled, some of its senior military defenders did not share the massive political consensus in favour of democratisation and so endeavoured to turn back the clock at several moments in the late 1970s and, most dramatically, in the attempted coup of Colonel Antonio Tejero on 23 February 1981. After the defeat of the coup in 1981, the attitudes of the armed forces were changed by Spain's entry into Nato in 1982, which shifted their focus outwards from their previous obsession with the internal enemy. Scarred by the horrors of the civil war and the post-war repression, during the transition to democracy Spaniards rejected both political violence and Franco's idea that, by right of conquest, one half of the country could rule over the other. However, what was impossible in a democracy was a counter-brainwashing. Moreover, especially in his later years, Franco did not rule by repression alone: he enjoyed a considerable popular support. There were those who, for reasons of wealth, religious belief or ideological commitment, actively sympathised with his military rebels during the civil war. Then, from the late 1950s onwards, there was the support of those who were simply grateful for rising living standards. Although in the many national, regional and municipal elections that have been held in Spain since 1977, openly Francoist parties have never gained more than 2% of the vote, a residual acceptance of the values of the Franco dictatorship can be found in the ruling conservative Popular Party and its electorate. Accordingly, no government has ever declared the Franco regime to be illegitimate. It was not until 2007 that the Law of Historical Memory made tentative efforts to recognise the sufferings of the victims of Francoism. Equally slow has been the process of removing the symbols of the dictatorship, the Falangist equivalent of the swastika - its emblem of the yoke and arrows - on church walls, street names commemorating Franco's generals and, above all, the huge basilica and towering cross of the Valley of the Fallen where the dictator is buried. Call for removal of Franco's remains from Valley of Fallen UN presses Spain over Franco-era crimes and mass graves Fate of Franco's Valley of Fallen reopens Spain wounds Today, along with the still open wounds of the civil war and the repression, two other shadows of the dictatorship hang over Spain - corruption and regional division. The Caudillo's rigid centralism and its brutal application to the Basque Country and Catalonia had left more powerful nationalist movements there than had ever existed before 1936. The democratic constitution of 1978 enshrined rights of regional autonomy for Catalonia and the Basque Country with which the right has never been comfortable. Mass pressure in Catalonia for increased autonomy met with an intransigence that has fuelled a campaign for independence. Drawing on a residual Francoist centralism, the Popular Party has fomented hostility to Catalonia in particular for electoral gain. The consequent divisiveness, at times bordering on mutual hatred, is one of the most damaging legacies of Francoism. The other is the corruption that permeates all levels of Spanish politics. Needless to say, there was corruption before Franco and corruption is not confined to Spain. Nevertheless, it is true that the Caudillo used corruption both to reward and control his collaborators. Recent research has uncovered proof of how he used his power to enrich himself and his family.  In general, the idea that public service exists for private benefit is one of the principal legacies of his regime. It will thus be many years before Spain is free of Franco's legacy. Paul Preston is Professor of Contemporary Spanish Studies at the London School of Economics and leading writer on Franco. Among his books are Franco: A Biography and The Spanish Holocaust

Question: Spain 's Gen Francisco Franco fought a brutal war against democracy with the aid of Hitler and Mussolini and thereafter presided over a regime of @placeholder terror and national brainwashing through the controlled media and the state education system .


Agriculture Minister Joyce was elected leader of the Nationals party unopposed in a ballot in Canberra on Thursday. Mr Joyce made headlines last year when he threatened to put down actor Johnny Depp's dogs after they were brought to Australia illegally. He described the promotion as an "awesome responsibility", and vowed to fight for regional Australia. "People in the weatherboard and iron, people in the brick and tile, those on the farm, those on the coast, who are saying these are the people that we have an expectation will represent us," he said. Mr Joyce was born in the country town of Tamworth and worked as an accountant before entering politics. Assistant Health Minister Nash will be elevated to deputy Nationals leader. A ministerial cabinet reshuffle is expected in coming days.

Question: Australia will @placeholder in a new deputy prime minister , Barnaby Joyce , following Warren Truss ' retirement .


US media say Mr Trump passed on classified information to Russian officials last week, but Mr Putin says this is not the case. He said he would release a record of the meeting to the US Congress if they requested it. The news comes amid reports Mr Trump tried to influence an investigation into his team's dealings with Russia. US media have quoted a memo by former FBI director James Comey that reportedly says Mr Trump asked him to drop an inquiry into links between his ex-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and Moscow. The fallout from both issues continues to consume Washington, with moves by Democrats to launch an independent commission starting to gather momentum. As for Mr Trump, he told US Coast Guard Academy graduates in Connecticut: "No politician in history has been treated worse or more unfairly." Mr Trump met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak at the White House last Wednesday. The meeting came amid an ongoing FBI inquiry and congressional hearings into possible Russian influence in the 2016 US election. It also came a day after Mr Trump dismissed Mr Comey from his post. On Monday, the Washington Post, followed by a number of other US outlets, said Mr Trump had given the Russian officials information relating to the Islamic State group (IS) that could have endangered the source of the information. The information was reportedly deemed so sensitive it had not been shared with key US partners, let alone Russia. Mr Trump later defended his right to share the information, and his national security adviser HR McMaster said the president's actions were "wholly appropriate". On Wednesday, Mr Putin joked that the meeting did not unfold as had been portrayed. "I spoke to him [Lavrov] today," he said. "I'll be forced to issue him with a reprimand because he did not share these secrets with us." While in charge at the FBI, Mr Comey was heading an investigation into possible Russian influence on the US election. The Russia story has already claimed one victim - Mr Trump's first national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was fired after misleading the government over his meetings with Mr Kislyak. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Mr Comey wrote a memo following a meeting with the president on 14 February, saying that Mr Trump had asked him to close an investigation into Mr Flynn's actions. He reportedly shared this memo with top FBI associates. "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go," the president told Mr Comey, according to accounts of the memo. "He is a good guy." Mr Comey did not respond to his request, according to this account, but replied: "I agree he is a good guy." The FBI chief was later fired by Mr Trump. The official reason was over his handling of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while at the state department. But Mr Trump said in an interview last week that "this Russian thing" was on his mind as he made the decision. The White House denied the allegation that Mr Trump had tried to influence Mr Comey. "The president has never asked Mr Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn," it said. A White House official also pointed out that acting FBI director Andrew McCabe had testified last week that there had been "no effort to impede our investigation to date". The Senate's Intelligence Committee said it had asked Mr Comey to appear before the panel to testify, and had asked the FBI for all relevant documents, including the memo. House Oversight Committee chair Jason Chaffetz, a senior Republican, said the memo and related documents "raise questions as to whether the president attempted to influence or impede the FBI's investigation". On Wednesday, the Republican Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, said it was crucial to let investigations run their course before rushing to judgment. But Democratic members of the House of Representatives said they would try and force a vote to create an independent commission into the Russia ties. Two Republicans backed the move, they said. Adam Schiff, the highest-ranked Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said this intervention by Mr Trump, if confirmed, amounted to "interference or obstruction of the investigation". The key legal statute is 18 US Code Section 1512, which contains a broad definition allowing charges to be brought against someone who "obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so". It has been pointed out that Mr Trump did have the legal authority to fire Mr Comey, but there is a legal precedent for otherwise lawful acts to be considered an obstruction of justice if done with corrupt intentions, the New York Times says. Legal experts have told the Washington Post that that is not clear in this case as intent is difficult to prove. However, former federal prosecutor Samuel Buell told the Times: "The evidence of improper purpose has gotten much stronger since the day of Comey's firing. "Trump has made admissions about that. And we now have evidence that he may have indicated an improper purpose previously in his communications with Comey about the Russia investigation." The "i" word - impeachment - has already been broached. If this were a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, articles of impeachment would likely be in the drafting process. Republicans still call the shots in Congress, however, and it's a significant leap to get them to abandon the Trump presidency and any hope of advancing their agenda for the foreseeable future. For the rank-and-file to turn on the president will require them to admit their complicity in a failed presidency. You can't help feeling that the Kremlin is loving this. As the US administration - and the US superpower - staggers from one crisis to the next, Russia is watching and revelling in a political rival tearing itself apart. President Putin's comments today on America were full of sarcasm and patronising put-downs. He said he was ready to provide the US Congress with a transcript of Foreign Minister Lavrov's conversation with President Trump. But that was surely just another dig at America. He will know that it will take more than a transcript on Kremlin-headed notepaper to make this crisis go away.

Question: Vladimir Putin has waded into the @placeholder row surrounding US President Donald Trump and his links to Russia .


The claim was made by the presidents of the Royal Society, the British Academy and the Academy of Medical Sciences. Sir Paul Nurse, Lord Stern and Sir John Tooke said scientific collaboration would be damaged by a "Yes" vote. The Scottish government said links would continue under independence, with plans for a common research area. In a joint letter to The Times newspaper, the three academics also claimed that maintaining existing levels of research in Scotland would cost Scottish taxpayers more should the country leave the UK. They wrote: "Scotland has long done particularly well through its access to UK research funding. "If it turns out that an independent Scotland has to form its own science and research budget, maintaining these levels of research spending would cost the Scottish taxpayer significantly more." They went on to state that the strong links and collaborations which exist across the UK "would be put at risk", with any new system aiming to restore these links "likely to be expensive and bureaucratic". The presidents wrote: "We believe that if separation were to occur, research not only in Scotland but also the rest of the UK would suffer. "However, research in Scotland would be more vulnerable and there could be significant reductions in range, capacity and critical mass." However Academics for Yes, a pro-independence group which comprises 60 academics from Scottish universities, said a "Yes" vote would protect the country's universities and allow research priorities to be determined. Its spokesman, Professor Bryan MacGregor from the University of Aberdeen, said: "On the one hand, we have the UK and England contexts of cuts in research and science funding, high student fees with unsustainable loan funding, an immigration policy that is preventing and deterring international student recruitment and the possibility of an exit from the EU and its research funding. "And, on the other, we have a Scottish government committed to funding research, to free access to universities for residents and to attracting international students. "People may be unaware of the existing scope of international collaboration in the funding of research, not least between the UK and Ireland which have a number of agreements  through the research councils, as does the UK and several other countries. And other countries do likewise. "The European Research Council allocates billions of Euros according to quality of the research, and there are international collaborations such as CERN. Scottish independence would not make any difference to such activities." Earlier this year a group of 14 clinical academics and scientists put their names to an open letter raising "grave concerns that the country does not sleepwalk into a situation that jeopardises its present success in the highly-competitive arena of biomedical research". But the Scottish government, which currently provides about a third of research funds, has argued there is no reason why the current UK-wide structure for funding could not continue post-independence. In a recent paper on the future of higher education research it argued that independence would give Scottish universities more opportunities for global collaboration and promotion. Responding to The Times letter, a Scottish government spokesman said: "The Scottish government has already shown our commitment to research through increased investment since 2007 and we will continue to support research in an independent Scotland providing levels of public investment in university research which enable our universities to remain internationally competitive. "With independence it will continue to be in the interest of both Scotland and the UK to collaborate as part of a single research area. "Scotland currently contributes substantially to UK Research Councils' funding through its share of UK tax receipts and, with independence, we will negotiate with the UK government a fair funding formula for Scotland's contribution. "We will also ensure there is no adverse funding impact from Scotland's transition to independence and, indeed, believe that independence will bring opportunities for increased research funding through wider collaborations with partners in Europe and beyond, facilitated by our greater presence and profile on the world stage."

Question: Medical and scientific research across the UK would suffer if Scotland votes for independence , according to the @placeholder of three academic institutions .


The entire frontage of the home in Cheltenham collapsed and garden walls were flattened. The attack on the home on Tewkesbury Road took place early on Wednesday evening. A lorry, thought to be the one used, was later found burnt out in a field off nearby Withybridge Lane, Gloucestershire Police said. According to the Land Registry, the house is owned by John Connors, who was jailed in 2012 with four other members of his family, after being found guilty of keeping a private workforce. In 2014 he was ordered to pay just over Â£300,000 as part of a proceeds of crime hearing. The house was put up for sale earlier this year, but the estate agent dealing with the sale was unable to tell the BBC whether it had yet been sold. Gloucestershire Police said enquiries were ongoing. BBC Radio Gloucestershire reporter David Smith said: "It's quite a sizeable house, a nice house, with gable windows built into the roof. "Now the entire ground floor has gone. There is nothing left of it. There is brickwork all over the floor."

Question: A lorry was used to deliberately @placeholder the front of a vacant detached house in Gloucestershire .


These children were tough. Even though they were play fighting they were still knocking lumps out of each other, tripping over stones and a broken pavement slab, not a word of complaint or tear shed. I wondered how my own children would have fared in amongst them. I was sitting in a park near my hotel opposite the bus station. Orange plastic netting kept people off the open spaces. I was told that a few weeks ago, before it was put up, hundreds of migrants and refugees had camped out here before it was cleared. Police patrolled up and down as I sat there. The family in the park were waiting for a free bus service to take them back out of the city to camps on the outskirts. I'd seen them earlier in the day at an aid post a couple of streets away. It was on the second floor of an old book store. Downstairs it was crammed with men, mostly young, crowding around a TV screen or waiting a turn on a computer. The centre is run by many charities and organisations working together. Here people can contact their families or research the latest on borders crossing routes. Upstairs was the family area. Hot, crowded and very noisy. The volunteers were constantly winding their way through the cramped rooms to help, playing with balloons with young children or helping mothers find a space to feed their babies discreetly. While I was there, one woman just broke down in tears. A volunteer told me the woman was simply overwhelmed by her plight. She was comforted and then she seemed to apologise for breaking down. As she wiped her tears away and hugged her child, another family wound their way up the stairs, new arrivals, wide-eyed and bemused. Just some of the 300 arriving in Serbia every day. In the past couple of months severe border restrictions have been enforced to the north of Serbia. That means the country is becoming a bottleneck and many agencies are predicting a second wave of migrants and refugees. At the moment they say they are struggling to cope. One aid worker told me that they just have to take it day by day and hope for the best, hope that more help will come soon.

Question: A Scottish charity is loading up another two trucks full of clothing and blankets to @placeholder to Serbia as aid agencies are predicting a second wave of migrants and refugees in the Balkans . Agencies operating there fear the local authorities will not have the resources to deal with it . BBC Scotland 's Cameron Buttle has been to Belgrade to see where and why the aid is needed .


Steven McKinnon, 44, died in hospital two days after he and his stepson were allegedly set upon at the Durham Ox pub in Leicester last June. Ross Lowndes, 27, Gurdev Sangha, 24, Phillip Merry, 28 and Eugene Bell, 29, are all accused of murdering Mr McKinnon. The four men, on trial at Nottingham Crown Court, deny the charges. The dead man's wife, Clare McKinnon, told the court: "I saw someone - I now know to be Eugene Bell - and said, 'why the hell are you hitting my son and my husband?, and they said, 'they were being loud'." The court heard that Mr McKinnon's stepson, Cortney Hughes-Smith, had been asked by Mr Lowndes to leave the pub for allegedly taking a drink off the bar. CCTV footage played to the court showed Mr Lowndes being "chased off" by pub revellers before the attack. William Harbage QC, prosecuting, said Mr Lowndes returned to the pub with Mr Bell, Mr Merry and Mr Sangha. Mr Merry punched Mr Hughes-Smith in the face before the others joined the attack on him and Mr McKinnon. Mr McKinnon, of Uppingham Road, Leicester, suffered a fractured skull and bleeding around the brain, from which he died. Mr Lowndes, of Windley Road, Leicester; Mr Sangha, of Overdale Avenue, Leicester; Mr Merry, of Pinewood Avenue, Leicester; and Mr Bell, of Helmsley Road, Leicester; deny murder and assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The trial continues.

Question: The wife of a man who died after being attacked outside a pub told a court he was @placeholder for " being loud " .


Stafford Hospital, which was renamed County Hospital, was at the centre of a Â£6m public inquiry into care failings. Overnight closures at the hospital began in 2011. The Liberal Democrats said Westminster should not tell local areas how to run hospitals. UKIP said the timing of the pledge would leave a "bad taste". Labour said the Conservatives were attempting to "pre-empt" their plans for the A&E at the hospital. The Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust, which ran the hospital, went into administration in April 2013. The hospital is now run by a new trust. Campaigners from Support Stafford Hospital Group camped on fields opposite the hospital from July until January as a protest over the removal of services. Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt made a "commitment to the people of Stafford" on a visit to the town. "I would only ever agree to something that is clinically safe - however, it is the ambition of a future Conservative government to bring back 24 hour A&E," he said. Responding to Mr Hunt's comments, Phil Bennion, former Liberal Democrat MEP in Staffordshire, said: "We want healthcare that's high quality, local, and available to everyone who needs it. "But we also don't believe that Westminster should tell local areas how to run their hospitals and wider healthcare provision - especially if the resources needed aren't made available." A UKIP spokesman said: "The Tories have had years to sort this out, and then to make a promise not two weeks from election will taste very bad for the people of Staffordshire." The Labour party accused Mr Hunt of making a "desperate dash to Stafford to pre-empt [the] release of Labour's fully costed, timetabled plan for restoration of services at Stafford Hospital".

Question: A&E services will be @placeholder through the night in Stafford as soon as it is " clinically safe " if the Conservatives are elected , the party has promised .


Twenty years. Gone, just like that. Telfer was in his 50s then and he's pushing 77 now. Time has flown but the man hasn't changed, not his passion for rugby at any rate, not the hours he spends watching it and thinking about it, no matter where it's happening or at what level. Three hours in the Scotsman's living room throws up all sorts of discussion. Vern Cotter? He's a big fan of the Scotland coach. Twickenham? Less so. "An intimidating concrete jungle." Eddie Jones, England, the Lions, the future of the game? He's got plenty to say, put it that way. The Six Nations is almost upon us. Scotland have not won a championship since Telfer was coach - and that was in a different millennium. In the 17 years since his side won the Five Nations, the Scots have finished bottom four times and second from bottom seven times. In the past decade they have won 20% of their matches in the Six Nations. Telfer sees some light in the tunnel. He's seen it before, it's true, and it's turned out to be an oncoming train. Will it be different this time? Those who have been around a while will tell you about the similarities between Telfer and Cotter as coaches - intense, driven, relentlessly striving to be better. Telfer is an admirer of the New Zealander. He says he's brought clarity where before things were clouded, he's inherited decent players and he's made them better, he's brought in new ones and has created a steelier culture. "I think he's done a remarkable job," says Telfer. "He's got a clear message. The players know exactly what they're supposed to be doing individually and collectively. "The New Zealanders talk about producing good rugby players but also about producing good men. That's what he's doing. "He's a journey back to the old type of coach, a hard man who understands the Scottish philosophy. Scotsmen will run through brick walls for you if you treat them properly and if they're the right type. He would find the Scottish players' attitude refreshing. When I heard he was leaving, I was disappointed." Telfer talks about Cotter's developing culture, the emergence of Jonny Gray, the improvement in Richie Gray - "Richie was just wandering about for five or six years" - and the development of Scotland's attack. The loss, through injury, of WP Nel could be a major blow, he says. Scotland have precious little depth in the front row now. He used to think Nel was "just another South African who failed to make the grade" but he has come to admire him as a player. "In the modern game you have to have a very good set-piece and you need a strong tight-head who can be the cornerstone of the pack and we haven't had that in Scotland for a few years, so that's a big blow," remarks Telfer. Zander Fagerson, it has to be said, has been excellent for Glasgow of late. He's concerned also that Scotland's leadership hasn't fully matured. He says: "There's still a bit to go. We play Ireland first. Finn Russell up against Jonny Sexton, a superb player, so in control. Finn has got all the bits and pieces to be a very good player but sometimes he doesn't control a game as I think he should. He needs three or four more years." As an analyst and lover of New Zealand rugby since the 1960s, Telfer can give you chapter and verse on Ireland's victory over the All Blacks in Chicago in November. "Ireland will be very close to being favourites to win the title," he says. "They're used to winning and pose a great threat. They don't make mistakes. They can control the ball and they've enough match-winners who can take the game by the scruff of the neck.  They've got great depth as well. Scrum-half Conor Murray is excellent, a great general. "If I was down to my last fiver I'd back my own country. Heart over head, possibly. Media playback is not supported on this device "France are getting better and they have a coach now who understands what rugby is about. If we're at our best in France we could win, but it depends how France come back after playing England. If they're battered and bruised and the crowd get at them, they'll have to play well in Paris to keep their season going. I hope the resurgence in France is just a little bit premature. If we win one of the opening two we'd be doing well." Scotland host Wales in the third round of games. They haven't beaten them in nine years. Like many games in the Six Nations there is a Lions sub-text. If there's going to be a semi-respectable contingent of Scots on the Lions tour then games like this have to be won. "The way things are looking, Ireland and England have players that will be automatic. In the past there was a core of Welsh players that were automatic, but it's not so obvious this time. "Some of their best players - Leigh Halfpenny, Jamie Roberts, Sam Warburton - are dropping down even in the Welsh pecking order. We have to win that game. And it's very winnable." If Scotland's record against Wales is lamentable, their history at Twickenham is a horror story. They haven't won there since 1983. As if that wasn't grim enough, they also lost that epic World Cup quarter-final against Australia there. To Scots, this is rugby's biggest graveyard, protected by all manner of ghosts. "Eddie Jones doesn't want to beat teams, he wants to demolish them, which I find a bit disappointing," says Telfer. "To me, he's building his whole team on set-piece and the building of the attack comes secondary. Having coached Australia and Japan you would have thought the opposite would be the case. The way he speaks, it's a bit like Donald Trump. He wants to be the big man, you know? "His goal is to win the World Cup in 2019 and so far it's gone well, but I think he could be a little more circumspect, show a bit more respect for the opposition. He doesn't seem to show much respect and it could come back to bite him. "Twickenham, I find intimidating, the whole atmosphere is intimidating, there's so many of them, three tiers of them. If you ever think about wanting separation from England just sit 10 minutes in Twickenham and listen to them. "They think they're superior and a lot of them will come from the south-east, bags of money and bags of this and bags of that. They don't really appreciate the other team. In France they just boo the other team, in Argentina they boo the other team, in England it's just disdain. 'Why are we playing these plebs?' I don't like Twickenham; a concrete jungle, nothing attractive about it at all." Can anybody beat England? He thinks France will give them a rattle and that Ireland could topple them in Dublin on the final weekend. "We've been talking about having three wins for years, but it's possible. I think this is the best Scottish squad since 1999. I've a feeling Vern is going to get some reward for the work they've done." Telfer tells me his Lions Test team. With a laugh, he adds they can win in New Zealand - "as long as they pick the team I've chosen". "If we can match the All Blacks up front, in contact and set-piece, we have the quality behind [the scrum] to win the series," he says. "I don't think New Zealand rugby is nearly as strong as the rest of world thinks. They're definitely going back. If we've ever had a chance of beating them, it's this time." There are caveats. Fitness of the players after a long season, a crazy match schedule, two Tests at Eden Park in Auckland, where New Zealand's record is incredible, and he's unconvinced about Gatland's coaching back-up. He says Gregor Townsend was right to turn them down in favour of touring with Scotland but would like to have seen Cotter deployed as forwards coach. How many Scots? "If we get five or six we'd be doing well. Jonny Gray will definitely go, WP Nel would have gone - and still might go - Tommy Seymour, Stuart Hogg. If Duncan Taylor plays well in the Six Nations he might make it. But we won't get players because we've beaten Italy in the last game. We need big wins." You know he'll be watching, Every minute, every hour, day or night. Same as it ever was.

Question: June marks the 20th anniversary of the most spine - tingling rugby @placeholder that 's ever been caught on camera - the soaring ' This is your Everest , boys ' address by Jim Telfer to his pack of forwards before the first Lions Test against South Africa in Cape Town in 1997 .


The bull seal, who is surrounded by females on the Norfolk coast, has a deep neck wound but vets do not want to approach him during breeding season. The RSPCA said he did not appear to be in "imminent" danger, but they hoped to remove what was believed to be the embedded netting in January. It said it did not want to disturb the mothers while they nursed their pups. The public beach at Horsey, about 12 miles (19km) from Great Yarmouth, has had breeding grey seal colonies since 2003, according to the Friends of Horsey Seals. Peter Ansell, chairman of the group, which patrols the beach to try to prevent people disturbing the animals, said: "The poor old boy does look pretty gruesome. "At this time of year, all the bulls want to do is dominate their competitors and mate, so he's among the ladies and full of testosterone. "You could never catch him and if you tranquilised him with a dart there's a risk he could bolt into the sea, lose consciousness and drown." Read more on this and other news from across Norfolk He said the breeding season would not finish until mid-January. An RSPCA spokeswoman said they wanted to remove any netting, but the bull still seemed "strong and mobile". "Although we are concerned for the seal's welfare, he does not appear to be in imminent danger," she said. "We have to be very cautious as we do not want to disturb the pups and nursing mothers. "As soon as it is safe to do so, once the pup season is over, we are planning to try to catch him so we can remove the netting from his neck."

Question: A seal thought to have been @placeholder by netting might have to wait for weeks before being treated , a charity said .


26 April 2016 Last updated at 16:22 BST The crowding turned into a crush and 96 people died, with hundreds more being injured. It was the biggest tragedy in British sporting history. Families of the people who died have campaigned for many years to find out what happened on the day of the disaster. Now the results of a special investigation, called an inquest, have been announced. It says that the police, ambulance service and other organisations made mistakes that led to the disaster. It also says that the fans were not to blame. Ayshah's been looking at what happened on that day.

Question: On 15 April 1989 , at an FA Cup semi-final , Liverpool supporters gathered on the terraces of Sheffield Wednesday 's @placeholder , Hillsborough Stadium .


She criticised Russia and China for vetoing three resolutions that would have increased pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But the US envoy said the post had been "the best job I've ever had". Ms Rice is leaving the ambassadorship to become President Barack Obama's national security adviser. Mr Obama has nominated Samantha Power, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and former White House adviser, to replace her. Ms Power must now be confirmed by the US Senate. 'Moral, strategic disgrace' The departing US ambassador described her time at the UN as "a remarkable period", but said she regretted more was not done to stem the bloodshed in Syria. "I particularly regret that the Security Council has failed to act decisively as more than 90,000 Syrians have been killed and millions more displaced," she said. "The council's inaction on Syria is a moral and strategic disgrace that history will judge harshly." On Wednesday the UK-based activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll was even higher than the UN figure used by Ms Rice, putting it at 100,191. More than 36,000 of those killed in the 27-month conflict were civilians, it said, including more than 3,000 women and more than 5,000 children under 16. It cautioned that the true number of combatants killed could be twice what it had documented due to both sides' secrecy in reporting casualties. Ms Rice said the council's failure to act could not be laid at the feet of the United States. "I don't know how in any circumstance one could ascribe that to a failure of US policy or US leadership," she said, "when the vast majority of the council was ready and willing to move ahead." Russia and China used their Security Council veto powers once in 2011 and twice in 2012 to prevent the body from adopting resolutions that condemned the violence in Syria, demanded an end to human rights violations by Syrian government forces, and threatened non-military sanctions. The Russians criticised the resolutions as tantamount to taking sides in a civil war. Despite Ms Rice's criticism of Russia on Syria, she said it was not inevitable that "complex and multifaceted" relations between the two countries should sour. "On issues as important as Iran and North Korea, and many others, we have been able to find common ground," she said.

Question: Susan Rice has called the UN Security Council 's inaction on the Syrian war " a stain " on the body , in final remarks as US ambassador to the @placeholder .


I have spent a lot of 2015 watching all these developments, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Russia. The images of would-be migrants landing exhausted from boats or trudging along dusty roads in the hope of finding refuge and prosperity have tended to dominate our memories of this year. Yet not every refugee is fleeing persecution.  In the Libyan capital, Tripoli, I visited a prison for captured migrants. They were men in their twenties and thirties, mostly from West Africa and Pakistan, who had been trying to get to Europe for work. Alongside them were several people-smugglers whom the Libyans had captured. One I interviewed had been in charge of a boat which sank with the loss of 700 lives earlier in the year. Now he faced a long prison sentence. "If you could see inside my heart," he said, "you'd see the pain and sadness there." Maybe he even meant it. Much of my year was taken up with events in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the systems left by the Americans and British have been under increasing threat. In May, the capture by IS of the Iraqi city of Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, was deeply shocking, and demonstrated the savage effectiveness of the IS policy of butchering their prisoners: the Iraqi soldiers just ran for it. Baghdad itself still seems completely secure, but nervous. The new Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, an impressive and active-minded man, was optimistic when I interviewed him immediately after the fall of Ramadi. "I assure you we'll get it back soon," he said. "What are we talking about - months?" "No, no, I'm talking about days now." "Days?" "Yes." Much of Ramadi has indeed been recaptured, with significant gains coming in recent days - but it is seven months since it fell. In Afghanistan I watched the advance of the Taliban in Helmand province and elsewhere. Yet I was struck again and again by the differences between the Taliban and IS, which is getting a foothold in Afghanistan. That has brought it into conflict with the Taliban, who have now sent some of their best fighters to combat them. A senior Taliban figure, Manam Niazi, told me in September he was confident that Taliban fighters who had gone over to IS would soon return. That hasn't yet happened either. In Libya the inability of the two rival governments, one in Tripoli and the other in Tobruk, to agree a coalition has also let IS in. There is as yet no sign that IS is taking the country over. But the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi in 2011 has opened the door to every form of instability. In July I watched the chaotic proceedings in Tripoli as nine of his followers were sentenced to death and others to long terms of imprisonment. Still, Tripoli itself remains quiet, though kidnappings for ransom are on the rise. Almost exactly a year ago I travelled to Moscow for President Putin's annual press conference.  It was a bravura affair lasting four hours, in which journalists could ask him anything, from his policies on Ukraine to how much he earns and who he is dating. I asked a question that I hoped might show which way Russia would be heading in 2015. It did. Would Mr Putin, I asked, take this opportunity to tell the West that he didn't want a new Cold War? Any Western leader would have used it as a chance to turn on the charm. Not so Vladimir Putin. "Russia," he said sternly, "has indeed contributed to the tension that we're seeing in the world, but only in the sense that it's protecting its national interests more and more robustlyâ€¦.  It's all about protecting our independence, our sovereignty, and our right to exist." Some of what has happened in 2015 was affected by Mr Putin's obsession with making Russia feel like a superpower again. It became clear that his takeover of Crimea in 2014 is now permanent.  I went back to Crimea in March, and found it was entirely quiet. Sergey Aksyonov, whose alleged gangland connections didn't prevent Russia from making him Crimea's prime minister, put it bluntly:  "Crimea will never be part of Ukraine. The decision has been made once and for all." People there do indeed seem to have accepted the switch from Ukrainian to Russian ownership. International sanctions over Crimea are making life increasingly hard for ordinary Russians. But in 2015 Russia came back into the mainstream of international politics. In October I saw Vladimir Putin brilliantly take control of a summit in Paris between France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine. It was supposed to be about Ukraine, but it became a platform for Mr Putin to line up with Western countries in attacking IS in Syria. It was a clever stroke - but will it help to destroy IS? In Iraq, in Syria, in Afghanistan, in Libya, IS has moved ahead this year. But in spite of the chaotic responses there, I suspect that a new and often mutually hostile coalition that includes the West, Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia will start to make inroads into IS's achievements in 2016.

Question: This has been , above all , the year of the migrant . But it has also been the year of so - called Islamic State ( IS ) . And it has marked a major turnaround in President Putin 's international @placeholder .


It said the failure meant such sites pose an unknown risk to the population. The Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (Comare) investigated radium contamination at Dalgety Bay in Fife. Members said the Scottish government should consider building an offshore barrier on the affected coastline. The source of the radiation at Dalgety Bay is thought to be luminous instrument dials from aircraft which were buried in the area after the Second World War. The instrument dials on the aircraft had been illuminated by paint containing radium-226. The planes were stationed at the nearby HMS Merlin airfield, which was commissioned in 1939 as a Royal Naval Aircraft Repair Yard and decommissioned in 1959 before being sold off in the 1960s. In its report, Comare said contamination at the beach in Fife posed a potential risk to public health and could get worse unless action was taken. In addition to the option of an offshore barrier, the report recommended that children should not dig on the beach, additional warnings should be posted at the site and further research should be carried out into the effect of the contamination. The report said a lack of records of the amount of radioactive material brought onto the site meant that it was not possible "to determine the radioactivity remaining or to estimate the longevity or magnitude of the associated hazard". The committee said it was "unlikely that there is a current significant risk posed by airborne contamination" but that more work was needed to determine the risk posed by skin contact, particularly for young children. Representatives of the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa), Public Health England and the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) have observer status at Comare meetings. An MoD spokesman said: "The advice from Public Health England, formerly the Health Protection Agency, has consistently been and following consideration of this report, continues to be, that the risk to the local community at Dalgety Bay from the presence of radium is very low. "The government is committed to ensuring that those living locally continue to receive the best possible advice which is why we have worked closely with COMARE to ensure the report's findings are based on the most comprehensive and up-to-date information available. "Over the last two decades the MoD has worked closely with Sepa, the Scottish government and the Dalgety Bay Forum to manage the site so that the local community can continue to safely use the bay. "A report setting out remediation options was published earlier this year and next month the MoD will publish a long term solution for the bay, setting out how all parties can best manage the site in the future." The Scottish government criticised the MoD for allegedly delaying publication of the report. Scotland's Public Health Minister, Michael Matheson, claimed the delay represented "a lack of transparency on behalf of the MoD and suggests a disregard for the concerns of the local community at Dalgety Bay". He added: "The report confirms that it is very unlikely that there is a link between elevated rates of particular cancers at Dalgety Bay and the radioactive contamination. "This is welcome, and I hope it offers some measure of reassurance to the community of Dalgety Bay. "Nonetheless, the report does conclude that the contamination poses a public health risk, particularly through possible skin contact and ingestion. "While the warning signs and access restrictions applied at the beach should minimise these risks, these measures cannot be permanent." He added: "The report makes a number of important recommendations about managing this in the long term, including that effective remediation of the affected area is undertaken as soon as possible. "Sepa have been working with the MoD on the development of remediation options, even while the report remained unpublished, and so I am expecting the MoD to start to implement a long term solution shortly."

Question: It is unacceptable that the UK does not have comprehensive records of @placeholder potentially contaminated with radiation , a report has said .


The 41-year-old, a five-time winner at the Crucible, was beaten 13-10 by Ding Junhui in a captivating quarter-final. O'Sullivan was "disappointed" to lose but insisted he enjoyed the tournament and playing in a "fantastic match". He said: "I love what I do so why would I not do it? The real love is getting your cue out of the case." But O'Sullivan's season and tournament have been characterised by controversy. Media playback is not supported on this device Following his first-round win over Gary Wilson, he claimed to have been bullied by snooker bosses, an accusation strongly denied by World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn. O'Sullivan's gripes with the sport's authorities date back to January when he publicly criticised a referee and swore at a photographer during the Masters. That Masters victory was the only tournament win for O'Sullivan this season, although he has made three ranking event finals. At the Crucible, only Steve Davis, a six-time world champion, and Stephen Hendry, a seven-time winner, have more titles. And one more ranking-event success would also see him move second on the all-time list with 29, seven behind Hendry. He said: "I have had the best year of my life and have not won many tournaments, and I think 'how does that relate?' Media playback is not supported on this device "But I have never been one for chasing records and I won't stop playing because I am not winning tournaments. I will keep playing because I love playing." The continued growth of the game in the Far East has also presented O'Sullivan with more opportunities. "I do a lot of exhibitions," he added. "I like to entertain and put on a good show and I like to enjoy myself. In a world where everything is so serious I like to make it fun. "China has great offers coming through. I hope to spend a lot of time playing in events. I see myself spending more time in China than I do here." Meanwhile, Hearn - who said O'Sullivan's claims of "bullying and intimidating" were words that were "alien" to him - announced an increase in tour prize money for next season, going up up £12m from the current £10m, with an aim to reach the £20m mark. The winner of the 2017 World Championship will receive £375,000. That will rise to £425,000 in 2018 and £500,000 the following year. Hearn also said entry fees for playing in ranking tournaments would be abolished for tour players.

Question: Ronnie O'Sullivan says he has no intention of @placeholder and does not care if he fails to win another World Championship .


Graham Jenkins, who lived in Cwmafan, Port Talbot, died in his sleep aged 88 after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease a number of years ago. He was the youngest of the 13 children born to Burton's mother, Edith Jenkins. She died soon after he was born. Mr Jenkins is survived by his wife Hilary, 86, and two sons Richard and Alun. His funeral will be held at Margam Crematorium on Thursday. Mr Jenkins's niece Sian Owen said: "We've had comments whether the crematorium will be big enough for the funeral. "He was brilliant, kind hearted, a real gent." Burton's daughter, Kate, is among those who will attend the funeral. After the death of his mother, Mr Jenkins was brought up by one of his brothers, while Richard, who was the 12th-born child, was raised by his sister. Mr Jenkins had worked as a market inspector in Port Talbot, manager of Afan Lido, and latterly as a sports organiser for the BBC in London. He had also lived in Guernsey before moving back to south Wales. On a local website, Mr Jenkins recalled competing against his famous brother in the Eisteddfod: "Rich won, even though I was told I had the sweeter voice, however Rich had the stage presence. "I cried over this and Rich kindly shared his winnings with me.  " He also wrote that he acted as a stage double for Burton, adding, "at one time I had to kiss Elizabeth Taylor". Burton, who was famously married twice to film star Taylor, died in 1984.

Question: The last surviving brother of the late Hollywood actor Richard Burton has died , his @placeholder has confirmed .


Stephen Harding, 54, was suspended three years ago after allegations of perjury and committing acts against public justice were made against him. He was acquitted of all charges in 2014 but later failed in a bid to stop disciplinary action taken against him. In November 2015, a court hearing was told Mr Harding had become "severely depressed". The doctor's report said it was due to prolonged stress over the past four years, the court heard. During his suspension Mr Harding, from Glen Vine, received his annual salary of about Â£160,000 a year. John Quinn has been acting attorney general for over two years. The position is a Crown appointment and not a government post. By virtue of the position the attorney general has a seat on the Isle of Man's Legislative Council but cannot vote. The attorney general is appointed by the Queen on the advice of the UK's Secretary of State for Justice.

Question: The Isle of Man 's attorney general has @placeholder on the grounds of ill health , Government House has announced .