Joan McVittie transformed two schools in deprived areas of London. Sally Coates has overseen huge improvements at Burlington Danes Academy in west London. Three fostering couples who have cared for more than 620 children between them are also recognised with MBEs. Dame Joan, now 60, said she was "absolutely thrilled" to be singled out for her work in education and only wished her parents had been around to see her receive the honour. She says the secret of her success in schools has been "to get a good team" and to ensure that the people around her "grow and develop". "It's about playing to people's strengths," she added. She was recognised for her work in improving Leytonstone School, and then going on to transform Woodside High, in Tottenham. She took the Tottenham school, which replaced White Hart Lane School - dubbed "the worst school in London" - from the verge of closure to an outstanding Ofsted rating in just five years. Last year it was rated one of the top 25 most improved schools in the country for its GCSE results. She is also rewarded for her time serving on a national body encouraging good school leadership, National College for School Leadership, and for her contribution to the Association of School and College Leaders, of which she is a past president. Dame Sally, who has worked in teaching since she was 22, is also credited with transforming a school - this time on the deprived White City Estate in west London. Now, 59, she took over Burlington Danes, which replaced a school in special measures, in 2008. She said the first day she went into the school it was "pretty chaotic". "There weren't any systems and structures, and nothing was really working," she added. Pupils' poor behaviour and poor results was disheartening, she said, but she managed to begin the process of change by having high expectations of her pupils, and plenty of optimism and resilience. "The thing to remember is that everyone wants things to work. The teachers want to work in a good school, the parents want the school to be good and the children want to be in a good school." She also recently oversaw a review of the standards expected of teachers for the government and served as a member of the committee which recently reviewed the national tests children take at the end of primary school. About 10% of the total honours go to people for their work in education. Some 31 head teachers were recognised in all. Patricia and Bryan Bottomley have been given MBEs for their work with children and families. The couple have fostered over 600 children of all ages and nationalities over 40 years in the area of Hull. They have had as many as three or four children placed with them at any one time, as well as raising six children of their own. They have also worked for many years supporting new foster parents, and the couple have provided respite care for other foster families. Also recognised with an MBE for their work as foster carers are Jackie and John Franklin. They have been foster carers for over 30 years and have fostered nearly 100 children under the age of six years in Bristol. The couple have also raised three daughters and a son whom they adopted when he was three. They were recognised by the City of Bristol in 2011 with a long service award and are recognised as having profoundly improved the lives of children looked after by the local authority. Anthony Hiles, and his wife Muriel, have also been awarded an MBE for their work as foster carers in the West Midlands since November 1994. The couple are currently linked with six children and have cared for over 20 disabled children to date, offering short breaks typically comprising a few nights a month, but occasionally more, perhaps to enable a family to take a holiday. They go beyond their duties by keeping in touch with families, listening to them and offering them advice and support.

Question: Two head teachers who have turned around @placeholder schools and contributed to education at a national level have been made dames in the Queen 's New Year 's Honours .


The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) will scrutinise how he remained in public life. Lead counsel to the inquiry, Brian Altman QC, said it will adopt the same method it used for claims about late Labour MP Lord Janner. Accusations about abuse by Smith in Westminster will be covered separately. The far-reaching inquiry will not require "specific findings" into allegations against the Liberal MP, who died aged 82 in 2010, its counsel said. He is suspected of sexually abusing children at Knowl View school and Cambridge House Boys' Hostel in Rochdale. The two institutions, where children were placed in the care of Rochdale Borough Council, are currently being examined by the IICSA. Mr Altman, QC for the inquiry, told a preliminary hearing its work would focus on the authorities' responses rather than any offending. He said this was partly informed by the "inability of Cyril Smith to respond to those allegations". He stated the inquiry is interested in the extent to "which a public figure like Cyril Smith may have been able to target young men" who lived at Cambridge House and "how he was able to remain at the centre of public life in Rochdale despite awareness of the part of some of the allegations against him". The inquiry will consider: The Rochdale arm of the inquiry is one of 13 areas of public life being scrutinised for child protection failings, ranging from the Army to the Roman Catholic church. Smith acted as a governor for several schools in the town, including Knowl View, which shut in 1992. The Crown Prosecution Service and Greater Manchester Police said in 2012 Smith would have faced prosecution if the allegations had been in the current era. Public evidence hearings for the investigation begin in October.

Question: The response of public @placeholder to child sex abuse allegations against former Rochdale MP Cyril Smith is to be examined by a child sex abuse inquiry .


Media playback is not supported on this device The warning, in a letter to clubs from the FA, follows allegations of historical child abuse in the sport. It is FA policy that all coaches of youth teams must have an FA accepted in-date criminal records check (CRC). The FA says while 99.7% of clubs have been compliant, there are more than 2,500 coaches without an in-date CRC. There are also nearly 5,000 youth teams without a named coach. FA chairman Greg Clarke has written to clubs demanding they update their information on the FA's Whole Game System (WGS) by midnight on 15 January. Failure to do so will mean "clubs will face suspension from all football activity without further notice", the FA says. Furthermore, a club's affiliation will be removed as of midnight on 28 February if they remain non-compliant with the requirement that their coaches having an in-date CRC. The letter warns clubs that if they "have a coach who is not compliant with this, you must not allow them to coach, train, supervise or assist at matches with any youth teams, until this requirement is met". It continues: "This is an essential aspect of any club's responsibilities when working with U18s and, as a club, you are responsible for ensuring that no-one coaches, or has unsupervised access to children, until they have an FA accepted check." The spotlight has fallen on abuse in football since a number of former footballers came forward publicly to tell their stories. Police said in December there are 429 potential victims linked to football, some as young as four at the time of the alleged offence, and 148 clubs are now involved, with 155 potential suspects identified.

Question: Junior football clubs in England face suspension from the Football Association if their coaches have not been @placeholder to work with children .


NHS Borders warned earlier this month that it was facing "exceptional" pressure on beds at the Borders General Hospital. An update issued on the situation said the facility near Melrose remained busy. It stressed that staff were continuing to work hard to ensure that patients were "kept safe and well cared for". NHS Borders reminded the public that community pharmacists were available to provide advice and treatment for a range of common illnesses and ailments, and to give advice about medicines. "If you have an illness or injury that won't go away and that isn't an emergency, contact your GP to make an appointment," a statement added. "When your GP surgery is closed and you're too ill to wait, you can access medical care by calling NHS 24 on the free phone number 111. "If the condition is immediately life-threatening, dial 999 for an emergency ambulance."

Question: A health board has thanked the public for its support to help a hospital cope with a " busy winter @placeholder " .


The annual Roald Dahl Funny Prize is to be relaunched in 2016 as part of the author's centenary celebrations. Set up by former children's laureate Michael Rosen in 2008, the prize is intended to reward authors and artists of humorous children's books. A spokesman for the Dahl Literary Estate said they looked forward to making the prize "even more impactful". The prize was created as a joint enterprise between book charity Booktrust, the Roald Dahl literary estate and Rosen. 'Robust future' "We are delighted with the success that the Roald Dahl Funny Prize has achieved in a fairly short amount of time," said Luke Kelly of Dahl & Dahl. "The Prize has paid tribute to many fantastically talented, inventive and mischievous storytellers." Booktrust boss Viv Bird said the prize had been a "phenomenal triumph" but she wanted to ensure "a robust future for this unique celebration of funny books". Last year's winners, Simon Rickerty (Monkey Nut) and Jim Smith (I Am Not A Loser), received ?¡ê2,500 each.

Question: A children 's book prize @placeholder by Matilda author Roald Dahl has been put on hold for two years .


Africa will go through six human actions this year - it will stand, kneel, squat, bow, fall and then rise again. Here's how. In the group of those who will be standing in Africa in 2017 is Donald Trump. Yes, I know it's an act of treason to associate him with Africa. But when he's sworn in as president, his foreign policy (or tweetplomacy) will have a bearing on our continent. His critics warn that his isolationist stand might mean less attention will be paid to Africa. But it could just force Africans to find solutions from within, by strengthening our institutions, improving infrastructure, governance and security and trading more amongst ourselves. Another man who also takes office in January is Nana Akufo-Addo, the president-elect of Ghana. He's tried to enter Flagstaff House (the presidential residency) through the ballot box as the New Patriotic Party candidate since 2008. Now that he has the keys, Ghanaians will wait to see how he delivers his pledge of one district, one factory, lest he becomes one man, one term. And then there's the state of emergency in Ethiopia, which still stands. It was put in place last October following violent protests. The government says the security situation has improved save for some clashes in the northern part of Amhara region. Some 9,000 people detained under the state of emergency have been released and the government says it could lift the emergency before its six-month period is over. There are two prominent men who will be kneeling before voters to ask for a job. Paul Kagame has been president for the last 16 years, but Rwandans appear to want more of him and have voted to remove the term-limit barrier. In August, Mr Kagame will therefore use his constitutional right to ask for a new employment contract. In the same month, his Kenyan neighbour Uhuru Kenyatta will also be reapplying for his job. Last September, while warning the main opposition leader Raila Odinga to mind his own party and leave the ruling Jubilee party alone, President Kenyatta famously said: "a€| as you continue to search for a seat and salivate, we are feasting on the meat". It will be clear in August whether Kenyans will give Jubilee more time to feast or turn the party itself into mince meat. Joseph Warungu: "The Nigerian economy... enters 2017 in the squat position" The African Union has been searching for a new Chief Executive Officer and will fill the position in January. Three men and two women from Botswana, Kenya, Chad, Senegal and Equatorial Guinea will fight it out to replace the outgoing South African Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, as Chair of the AU Commission. Now to some situations and people who can't decide whether to stand or sit. The Nigerian economy has caught its nastiest stomach bug in more than two decades. And so it enters 2017 in the squat position. A combination of factors including a crash in the global price of oil, which Nigeria relies a lot on, and a fall in the naira, the country's currency, contributed to the sizeable contraction of the economy in 2016. The anger and frustration among the people was aptly captured by this online comment from one Nigerian in November: "We are now going into depression and deep S***! Buhari has himself to blame for unfortunately being a gentleman!" Over in The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh is no gentleman - he's chosen to squat at State House. He lost the presidential election to Adama Barrow and publicly conceded defeat. A little later, the thought of leaving the seat he has called his own for the last 22 years overpowered him and he changed his mind. Africa and the world have asked him to go home, but he is defiant. As his last day in office approaches on 19 of January, the same force he used to gain power in 1994 could be used to relieve him of his office. There are three notable people who will be bowing out of office in 2017. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first elected female head of state in Africa, is coming to the end of her second and final term of office in Liberia. One of those waiting on the touchline to join the succession race is football star George Weah. The former AC Milan and Chelsea striker failed to score in the 2005 presidential tournament but hopes 2017 will be his year. Angolans will have a chance to replace the only man they've known as president for nearly 40 years. Although Jose Eduardo dos Santos has announced he'll step down, his blood will still flow through the veins of power and the economy in Angola. His daughter, Isabel, heads Sonangol, the state oil company and is considered by Forbes to be Africa's richest woman, while his son, Jose, is chairman of the country's sovereign wealth fund, Fundo Soberano de Angola. In neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, 2017 could mark the beginning of the end for another family dynasty, which started in 1997 when Laurent Desire Kabila became president after overthrowing Mobutu Sese Seko. Laurent Kabila's son Joseph picked up the reigns after his father's assassination in 2001, and was bent on staying in power until attempts to change the constitution to allow him a third term backfired. Violent street protests have piled pressure on President Kabila to exit from office this year and the issue is bound to continue into the new year. The theme of falling is alive in South Africa. The #FeesMustFall campaign by university students sought to fight the rising cost of higher education and saw violent clashes between police and protesters, disruptions in the university calendar and the arrest of a number of students. 2017 promises more of the same because not only have the fees not fallen, some top universities have announced an 8% increase. And then there's the question of the country's President Jacob Zuma. In December 2017, his tenure as leader of the governing ANC party runs out, but his term as the country's president only ends in 2019. Allowing Mr Zuma to continue as head of state but with the ANC under someone else's leadership could create two centres of power, which could be political suicide. So will the ANC #LetZumaFall as it did President Thabo Mbeki under similar circumstances? 2017 will have answers. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is another that could face the threat of falling in Africa if more African countries continue to withdraw from the Rome Statute. A number of countries have notified the UN Secretary-General of their intention to withdraw, saying the ICC unfairly targets African leaders in its application of international justice. And now to international trends where fashion, like history, has a habit of repeating itself. A quick glance at catwalk signs for 2017 shows that the hems of women's skirts will be falling - to just below the knee. Apparently midi-skirts elongate the figure and flatter the wearer, so this must be a good fall. The Africa Cup of Nations tournament kicks off in mid-January in Gabon and Uganda carries the hopes of East Africa. The region has a terrible record in continental football. Uganda's last appearance in the finals was in 1978 when it lost to Ghana in the final. Kenya and Tanzania have never progressed beyond the group stage, so if Uganda can rise, East Africa can stand tall. In politics, despite all manner of socio-economic challenges, the spirit of the Africans is on the rise - they've already just about removed one long-serving president from power (The Gambia, even if he is still resisting ) and in 2017 a couple more might follow (DR Congo, Angola) When Africa stumbles, it must rise because as they say in Nigeria, the sun shines on those who stand before it shines on those who are sitting. More from Joseph Warungu: Should the UK join the African Union? Kenyans beg for mercy Doctors take on traditional healers Why Kenya has banned on-air sex

Question: In our series of letters from African journalists , @placeholder and communications trainer Joseph Warungu gives a personal guide to some of the key people , places and events to watch out for in Africa in 2017 .


How important are trade unions to the Labour Party? The Labour Party grew out of the trade union movement at the beginning of the 20th Century when, following a special trade union conference, the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) was formed out of unions and other left wing organisations. The LRC sponsored the first two Labour MPs elected in 1900. Today many Labour MPs come from trade union backgrounds or have close links to unions. In fact, you must be a member of a trade union to be eligible to seek selection as a Labour candidate, unless for some reason you have been prevented from doing so. The old system of direct trade union sponsorship of MPs no longer exists, but many Labour MPs receive substantial donations to their constituency party. What's changed? In 2013, former leader Ed Miliband proposed historic reforms to the relationship between the party and the unions following a row over candidate selection in Falkirk. A special Labour Party conference passed party reforms in March 2014, bringing in one member one vote for Labour leadership elections and opt-in for trade union affiliate Labour members. The old electoral college, which gave unions, party members and MPs/MEPs a third of the vote each, was abolished. For the next leader, voting will take place on a one-member-one-vote basis in a single section comprising Labour Party members, affiliated trade union supporters and registered supporters. How much money does Labour get from the trade unions? The trade unions provide the majority of recorded donations to Labour and in the past it has been income Labour could rely upon. In 2014 unions donated around ¡ê11m to Labour, accounting for about 58% of total donations received that year. Its top donors were Unite, Unison and Usdaw. The Electoral Commission's donation figures include the affiliation fees that trade unions pay to the Labour Party in return for the privileges of affiliated membership for themselves and their members. For a union to affiliate nationally, it must pay ¡ê3 from its political fund for each member that it wishes to affiliate. But the way in which trade union members affiliate to Labour is undergoing changes at the moment. Previously trade union members had been automatically affiliated to the Labour Party unless they pro-actively chose to opt out. Now they must choose to opt-in. Trade unions will still collect a levy from their members but this will go into their own political funds rather than automatically to Labour, though they can still chose to donate this money to Labour if they wish to. Some argue that this puts Labour's finances at risk, whilst other see it as an opportunity to change the party's funding base. Labour highlights the income it receives in donations too small to be registered with the Electoral Commission. Figures released to the BBC show that small donations and membership accounted for 35% of Labour's income in 2014. How many affiliated trade union supporters does Labour have now? In the 2010 Labour leadership election, about 2.7 million ballot papers were distributed to trade unionists. No-where near that many trade unionists will be entitled to a say this time around. Currently the party has just 500 affiliate trade union supporters who have 'opted-in' under the new system, though Labour expects that figure to go up massively in the coming months as the trade unions begin a recruitment drive.

Question: Labour 's relationship with the trade unions is under the spotlight again as the party 's leadership contest gets under way and following criticism by outgoing Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy of the @placeholder of the Unite union .


The waves are the result of swells produced by Hurricane Marie in the Pacific, 800 miles (1,300km) west of Mexico's Baja California peninsula. Dangerous wave conditions are expected to continue through Thursday despite a weakened storm. One person has died while surfing on a beach in Malibu. But it is unclear if the death was caused by the surf or a medical condition. Despite the danger, thousands of spectators lined the Wedge, a popular surf spot in Newport Beach, to watch surfboarders take on the waves, town officials said. The swells are the largest seen in southern California since a pair of hurricanes hit the Pacific within weeks of each other in 1997, National Weather Service weather specialist Stuart Ceto said.

Question: Waves as high as 20ft ( 6 m ) in southern California have damaged waterfront homes , knocked out pier pilings and @placeholder scores of surfers .


The trunk road drops from 150m (492ft) to 20m (65ft) as it enters a valley at the braes in Caithness. There have been accusations from business leaders and politicians that the problem with this section of the A9 was being "ignored". Documents key to progressing the improvements have been published. The documents, called made orders, are part of the process towards eventually appointing a contractor and then starting work in 2018, Transport Minister Humza Yousaf has said. He added: "The Scottish government has been working to progress the much-needed improvements to the A9 at Berriedale Braes. "The hairpin bend and steep hill at Berriedale Braes has presented drivers, in particular HGVs and other long vehicles, with a very challenging road to negotiate. "Having got the go-ahead last December following the public local inquiry, we are now able to publish the made orders for the scheme as a clear signal of our commitment to deliver this scheme."

Question: Construction of @placeholder improvements to a challenging hairpin bend on the A9 at Berriedale Braes could begin next year , the Scottish government has said .


Trevor O'Neill was shot outside a supermarket in Majorca just after 21:00 local time on Wednesday, Irish national broadcaster RT?¡ë reports. His shooting is understood to be linked to a feud between Irish criminal gangs. Mr O'Neill's partner and three children, aged five, seven and 10, were with him when the attack happened. They had travelled to Majorca on Saturday for a holiday for his 40th birthday. Police believe the attack was connected to a dispute between the Hutch and Kinahan groups, but Mr O'Neill was not the intended victim. The feud between the gangs was sparked by the killing of Dubliner Gary Hutch in Spain last year and most of the resulting violence and murders have happened in Dublin. Attempts to revive Mr O'Neill at the scene failed and police are said to be searching for up to three suspects. It is understood that he was not linked to organised crime but may have been talking to a member of the Hutch family at the time.

Question: An Irishman who was shot dead on a Spanish @placeholder is believed to have been killed in a case of mistaken identity in a gang - related attack .


The number of people visiting shopping centres surged by 6.2% compared with last year, while footfall on the High Street slipped 0.1%, according to retail analyst Springboard. Retail parks were the most popular destination, with visitors up 8.5%. Overall, footfall was up on last year. Springboard Insights director Diane Wehrle credited strong consumer confidence for the rise. "Consumers are feeling much more confident about their job prospects and wage increases, so they are willing to go out and spend," she told the BBC. Separately, business lobby group the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said its monthly survey showed economic growth had continued to pick up pace in the three months to August. It also said there were "strong expectations" for the next three months. The CBI's monthly survey includes 754 private firms from a range of sectors. The lobby group's monthly private sector growth indicator showed an overall reading of 31% for the three months to August,  just below the 2015 high recorded in May. The percentage reading indicates the number of firms reporting that business performance was up, compared with those reporting it was down. "The weather may have been a washout this month, but the sun has certainly been shining on the British economy," said CBI director of economics Rain Newton-Smith.

Question: Wet weather over the bank holiday weekend drove shoppers indoors , with many opting for @placeholder shopping centres instead of the High Street , figures suggest .


The company, which reported the biggest annual loss in its history earlier this year, was the biggest loser on the FTSE 100 after going ex-dividend. Overall, the benchmark index was down 25 points or 0.34% at 7,306.98. On the currency markets, the pound was virtually unchanged against the dollar at $1.2481 and up 0.14% against the euro at 1.1723. Pearson's fall was exacerbated by a broker downgrade from Exane BNP Paribas. Three other stocks also suffered from going ex-dividend. Lloyds Banking Group shed 2.9%, while insurer Aviva dropped 2.8% and Paddy Power Betfair lost 2.3%. The biggest climber on the FTSE 100 was Easyjet which rose by 4.2% after reporting passenger numbers grew by 10.6% in March. It was followed by property groups British Land, which was up by 2.3%, Persimmon, up by 2.1%, Barratt Developments 1.9% higher  and Land Securities which rose 1.7%.

Question: ( Close ) : Embattled publisher Pearson @placeholder new woes on Thursday as its share price ended the day 6.7 % lower .


Special Report: The Technology of Business Helping feed the world with big data Bad guys v the data defenders Big Data: Are you ready for blast-off? Lotus F1 Team looks to tech to win Hey you, get on to my cloud This new era of medicine is being driven by an explosion in health-related data from a growing range of public and private sources, analysed by increasingly powerful number-crunching computers. And now that sequencing human genomes is getting faster and cheaper, the days of truly personalised healthcare are drawing closer. Combining public health records with all the new sources of health data generated by wearable devices, wi-fi enabled scales, smartphones and low-cost diagnostic kit, could provide a far more accurate picture of our health and the treatments we receive. And the more hard evidence we have, the better the decisions we can make. Take diabetes as an example. Nearly 350 million people worldwide have the disease, according to the World Health Organization, with about 50% of them likely to die from cardiovascular disease and stroke. An obesity epidemic also means far more children are now succumbing to type-2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease. Cheap blood glucose level testers, from companies such as Sanofi Aventis, can now be attached to smartphones and that data recorded and collated for analysis. This information can be combined with other data from exercise and diet apps to build up a more complete picture of patients' lifestyles. "We're working with app and insulin pump providers to bring their data together with existing clinical data to allow patients to become much more involved in the management of their own care," says David Sibbald, chief executive of informatics company Aridhia. "This has to happen if healthcare is to be affordable in future." Matt Smith, northern European chief technology officer for SoftwareAG, believes improvements in smartphone sensors and mobile diagnostic kit will help health providers make earlier interventions. "Say we've written an app that monitors your exercise and the phone's accelerometer detects a lot of movement - we could respond to that data in real-time and send a message suggesting you check your blood sugar level," he says. "This kind of early intervention could prevent a paramedic having to come out and even save your life." As more and more information is known about us, the more tailored our treatments will  become, believes Wayne Parslow, European manager for US healthcare analytics company, MedeAnalytics. "Soon we'll be carrying our own personalised health plans around with us," he says. Most medical experts agree that the digitalisation and sharing of anonymised medical records from GPs, hospitals and other sources could lead to significant improvements in how we run our health services and tackle disease. But bringing all these disparate data sets together and standardising them is a big challenge. Dr Cliff Morgan, chief clinical information officer for the Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust, told the BBC: "We're heading down the road to a completely digital health care record. But a lot of this data is in physically separated databases - there are about 400 in our hospitals alone - and so far we have brought 60% of these together into one clinical data warehouse." Business analytics company SAS is handling the aggregation and anonymisation of the data, which can then be interrogated in new ways, says Dr Morgan. "Analysing this mountain of data helps us discover correlations that weren't so obvious before, so we can begin refining the way we practise medicine and identify those who are statistically more likely to succumb to a particular disease," he says. Hospitals can then allocate resources more efficiently and target smaller and smaller groups with almost tailor-made treatments. "We'll be able to work out whether treatment A or B is better because we'll have live, fizzing statistics to back up the traditional wisdom and experience of doctors," he says. Data sharing is key to such advances, but privacy concerns continue to dog progress. NHS England recently postponed its care.data project for six months to give the public more time to understand it. As populations grow and people live longer, healthcare costs are growing to unsustainable levels. The NHS has been tasked with finding annual savings of ¡ê20bn by 2015. Big data analytics can help squeeze inefficiencies out of the system. For example, by looking a doctor's prescriptions for cholesterol-reducing statins across the country, Prescribing Analytics, a joint venture comprising NHS doctors, academics and tech start-ups, found that at least ¡ê200m a year could be saved if doctors switched from branded to cheaper - but equally effective - generic versions of the drugs. Other research has suggested these savings could be increased to ¡ê1.4bn a year if the same approach was applied to a range of other commonly prescribed drugs. Worldwide, individual hospitals are making better use of data to reduce emergency waiting times, track patient movements, moderate X-ray dosage levels, and generally manage resources more efficiently. Mr Parslow says access to huge amounts of data is enabling companies such as his to develop predictive algorithms that can forecast which demographics are likely to cost the most to treat in future, for conditions like diabetes and asthma. "This will help healthcare providers intervene earlier and redesign their services to cope with the expected massive increase in healthcare demand," he says. Another exciting development is the combination of big data analytics and genomics to tackle diseases such as cancer, which is still resistant to about 75% of current treatments. The human genome project - three billion base pairs of DNA first mapped in 2000 by Craig Venter and Dr Francis Collins - took 13 years at a cost of $3bn (¡ê1.8bn). Now the latest DNA sequencing machines from the likes of Illumina can map a human genome in a day, potentially bringing the per-genome sequencing cost to under $1,000 for the first time. Companies such as US-based MolecularHealth are getting close to predicting which cancer drugs are likely to be most effective for your genetic profile and your particular type of cancer. Dr Werner Eberhardt, chief health platform expert at software company SAP, says: "By bringing gene sequencing and historical cancer treatment data together we're moving towards truly personalised healthcare."

Question: We are moving from a world where we treat illnesses to one where we predict and prevent them , advised by mobile doctors in our @placeholder .


Minutes later Sonia and Derek were clinging to their mother in the North Atlantic, while their elder sister Barbara had disappeared down a rope that they prayed had led to a lifeboat. Four days earlier they had set sail from Liverpool destined for Canada where they were to begin a new life - far away from deadly German bombs. In the event they were the only entire family to survive a tragedy that would claim the lives of 87 children and 175 adults - and put an end to the short-lived policy of overseas evacuation. The steam passenger ship was holed by the torpedo and sank in the early hours of 18 September, 600 miles off Ireland after its Royal Naval escort had deployed elsewhere. It was one of the worst sea tragedies involving children of World War II. The German U-48 submarine's repeated torpedo shots caused wide-scale panic and terror among the 400 passengers as lifeboats were launched and children and grown-ups scrambled for life jackets. The evacuees, many of whom were travelling with their mothers, had ironically been selected for the voyage because of their vulnerability to bombing in their home towns and cities. The Children's Overseas Reception Board, which had been set up just three months earlier to co-ordinate the evacuation of 210,000 British children to Canada, New Zealand and Australia, was disbanded following the tragedy. "The idea was that by evacuating children out of the way it would somehow stiffen British resistance and we'd be much better equipped mentally and physically to face off a German invasion," explained Imperial War Museum historian Terry Chapman. The Merseyside Maritime Museum estimates that 170,000 children were evacuated to the British Dominions or the US during World War II. But the children on board the SS City of Benares never reached Canada. Sonia said: "Little did we know at 10 o'clock that night that a U-boat had spotted us and was out for us." "We rushed out onto the deck and the lifeboats had already been lowered into the sea which was very rough and we were on a sinking ship with no lifeboat and we wondered what was going to happen next." Barbara managed to climb a rope onto a lifeboat, while her mother, Sonia and Derek spent six hours in the Atlantic before being picked up by HMS Hurricane - but not before despair had set in. Derek said: "Our mother told us 'let's just undo our lifebelts and we'll go to sleep in the water'." It was Sonia who refused to let the family die and urged them to keep hoping until the Royal Navy lights appeared out of the dark. Safely on board and recovering from hypothermia, they waited for news of Barbara. Derek said: "My mother kept on calling 'has anyone seen Barbara?' A report came in that some people had died in their lifeboat and then another report came in that everybody had died in another boat. "It went on and on and my mother was virtually giving up hope until in the last minute a sailor came down to my mother and said 'here's your Barbara'." "The story of the sinking of the City of Benares is so important that everybody needs to be reminded of it from time to time," said Derek. "It is one of those stories that never fades in the retelling and is a stark reminder to all of us of those dark days of the Second World War when terrible things happened to men, women and children."

Question: Just before midnight on September 17 1940 , the Bech children were among 100 evacuees on board the SS City of Benares , who were @placeholder from their sleep by a German torpedo .


McColgan, 24, broke her ankle in January and has suffered a setback in her return from injury. "Initially, we believed this injury would be a small blip in the road meaning six weeks off from running," McColgan wrote in a training blog. "Sadly, the fracture has fully extended." The Scot competed at London 2012 in the 3000m steeplechase, failing to make the final, and came sixth in the same event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. She said: "There is nothing I can do except rest and attempt to let the bone heal as impacting the joint will continue to open the fracture. "The healing becomes less likely as time goes on, so shortly I will find out whether I need to undergo surgery in order to force the bone to heal. "Hopefully from September I can slowly build up my training again. A completely injury-free, illness-free, winter is going to be central to my preparation for 2016 and many athletes struggle to achieve that. "Rio 2016 will come round before any of us realise and at the end of the day the Olympic Games is the pinnacle. All the hard work, dedication, and sacrifices are purely for the Olympics. Every athlete wants to be a part of it. "My event choice is still under question - perhaps a move to the 5000m or 10,000m will be more feasible after foot surgery, rather than risking injury over the steeplechase in such an important year."

Question: Eilish McColgan says the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio are " now more than ever " her goal after revealing she is unlikely to @placeholder again this year .


The National Farmers' Union said Welsh Government proposals to extend countryside rights of way access would "have major repercussions for farmers". It said allowing more activities would impact the day-to-day running of farms. The Welsh Government said the plans were meant to help rural businesses thrive. NFU Cymru claim the proposals are "radical" and could affect the 460,000 hectares (1,1m acres) of farmland in Wales. Open access land includes areas of open country, registered common land and private land where people are able to walk, run and explore without having to stay on paths. Geraint Rowlands, Meirionnydd NFU Cymru county chairman, said changing the access could particularly affect farmers who have "diversified" into camping. "Meirionnydd [in Gwynedd] is an area that relies heavily on income from tourism and many farmers in particular have diversified into camping businesses, for supplementary income," he said. "If the proposals to allow camping on any access land came into force, members of the public could camp anywhere on those 460,000 hectaresa€|for free." NFU Cymru said the proposals were "buried" within the Taking Forward Wales' Sustainable Management of Natural Resources consultation. "Along with the obvious monetary impact and the increased liability on farmers, there is also concern that these additional activities could disrupt wildlife habitats, scare animals, create ruts on land and injuries could occur whilst carrying out these activities in remote areas," added Mr Rowlands. "Whilst we wish to see the public and their pets enjoy their time in this beautiful area of Wales, we do have concerns that allowing access to camping, organised games, hang gliding and paragliding could impact on the running of farming businesses." A Welsh Government spokesman said the purpose of the consultation was to "gain a better understanding of views on a more modern, streamlined and effective regulatory framework" following the UK's exit from the European Union. "By bringing proposals together into one consultation we are delivering exactly what our stakeholders asked for - a more joined-up approach," he added. "A consultation workshop was held at the Royal Welsh Show in July with further events planned across Wales during September. We have also extended the closing date until the end of September to provide stakeholders more time to respond. "Access proposals relating to where people can go and what they can do are intended to help individuals and businesses in rural areas to thrive following our exit from the EU."

Question: Plans to allow paragliding , games , camping and hang gliding on open access land in Wales have been @placeholder by a farming union .


Workington Town's Derwent Park joins other illustrious host venues such as Liverpool's Anfield and the London Stadium, now home to West Ham. BBC Sport explains how this west Cumbrian town came to be included, and why league is so prevalent in that part of the world. The origins of rugby league are key to its popularity in west Cumbria. In the late part of the 1800s teams in the north drawn from Cumbrian shipbuilders, Lancastrian textile workers and the pitmen of Yorkshire could literally not afford to adhere to the Rugby Football Union's 'amateur' ethos, which outlawed any payments to players. Players injured during matches, who could not work, would not be paid, nor would those who had to miss work to play, and as such the great schism came with the birth of the Northern Union and a new code of rugby in 1895. That breakaway, the early incarnation of league, allowed clubs to reimburse players for their services, and as such those towns and cities along the 'industrial belt' of England came to embrace the game, giving league its unique geographical spread. Some of rugby league's most famous characters, such as Douglas Clark and Dick Huddart, hailed from the old Cumberland and there are traces of Cumbria's lineage throughout the current Super League, in Kyle Amor, Brad Singleton and Ben Harrison. Workington Town and Barrow both lifted Challenge Cups in the 1950s featuring stars such as Gus Risman, Ike Southward and Willie Horne and before the move to the summer game, Cumbrian clubs produced players to represent Great Britain at the highest level. While the history is rich, the current fortunes of Cumbrian club rugby league are not quite so fruitful. All three teams - Workington, Whitehaven and Barrow - will play in the bottom tier, after relegation for Town and Haven. Town's drop has coincided with a reshuffle behind the scenes with a new chairman, in former player Garry Mounsey, and a new head coach in Dave Clark. "There's no doubt that relegation in isolation is a massive disappointment for the club and the fans," Workington director Malcolm Allison said. "However, what it has done is allow us to reassess things, bring together a wider board of directors and review the structure of the club both on and off the field. "The fact that we can look forward to an international match between Scotland and New Zealand is a real tonic for the fans of the local area." Initially there were plans to create a new purpose-built stadium for the 2013 World Cup, but when that fell through Workington was handed host status, developing a bond between Scotland and Cumbria that has since been reinforced. Head coach Steve McCormack has his own links to the area with his successful spell in charge at Whitehaven, while players such as Brett Carter, Brett Phillips and Callum Phillips have worn the Bravehearts colours as Town players. "It's been good to us, west Cumbria has been really good for Scotland," Scotland boss Steve McCormack told BBC Sport. "We played our pool games there in the 2013 World Cup, got a great victory against Tonga and a good performance against Italy. "Then we played Wales in the European Cup the following year and won then, so we're undefeated there and it would be nice to do that again against the Kiwis."

Question: Amidst the expansion plans made for the Four Nations , with games staged in Coventry and London , there is one heartland area - Cumbria - whose commitment to the sport of rugby league has been @placeholder .


The incident happened during an intermission of Guillaume Tell, prompting anti-terror units to enter the Lincoln Center venue. Several audience members said a man told them he was there to release the ashes of a friend, police said. The man has been identified and the authorities are trying to reach him. Cultural venues in New York are on alert for potential threats following the 9/11 attacks and the sprinkling of the unknown material caused the opera house to be evacuated. The show was cancelled, as was the night's performance of L'Italiana in Algeri, while police investigated. John Miller, the New York Police Department's deputy commissioner in charge of intelligence and counterterrorism, said that while disposing of ashes may violate city codes "I don't believe at this point that we see any criminal intent here". Some of those attending said they were particularly sad to miss the fourth act of Guillaume Tell, which is considered to have the best music in the opera.

Question: New York 's Metropolitan Opera @placeholder an afternoon performance after an audience member sprinkled what is suspected to be cremated ashes on to the orchestra .


The Prime Minister David Cameron told his party conference earlier this month that housing was the "one big piece of unfinished business in our economy" and he wanted a "national crusade" to get homes built. The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn told his party conference that housing was "a top priority" and promised the biggest council house-building programme since the 1970s. Housing policy is on the front-line of UK politics. Both Conservatives and Labour agree there needs to be significant increase in supply, but there is a clear divide on what to build. For the Tories it is about measures to encourage home ownership while for the opposition the focus is on homes for social rent. Housing is not just about putting a roof over people's heads - it is ideological. Parties accuse each other of 'social engineering' in the policies they are putting forward. Homeowners are more than twice as likely to vote Conservative as Labour and those in social rented homes are more than twice as likely to vote Labour as Conservative. Housing has always been tribal. It is generational too. According to the last census, among the over 50s more than 80% are owner-occupiers. But among the under 35s, a majority are in the rented sector. What is more, twice as many pensioners voted Conservative as Labour at the last election. Few deny that Britain is facing a housing crisis, although its real impact is felt most acutely in the south of England - and nowhere more so than the city of Oxford which, according to the council leader, is facing catastrophe because of it. Bob Price says Oxford is now the most unaffordable place to live in Britain and warns that the world-famous city's very future is at risk. "Our University is unable to recruit and retain key people, the city hospitals cannot get enough doctors and nurses, high-tech industries like BMW and Mini are unable to maintain the workforces they need," Mr Price argues. "The major institutions of the city are in danger of grinding to a halt." It is a vision of a city unable to function. Already the shortage of affordable homes means that 46,000 people commute into Oxford each day, workers coming from as far afield as Birmingham and Swindon. The average house price is more than 16 times average earnings. To get a mortgage on a mid-priced semi requires an income of at least ?¡ê70,000 and with rents sky-high too. The man who runs Oxford Bus Company, Phil Southall, is actively considering building a staff dormitory because he cannot attract enough bus drivers to keep services going. "We need some more housing for our staff so they can afford to live locally otherwise people have to travel further and further, which means we have to pay more and more, which means people in the city have to be charged more for their bus travel," Mr Southall says. Oxford can't expand because of what some call the green garotte, a ring of greenbelt land where it's almost impossible to build homes. And even beyond, in David Cameron's Witney constituency there's fierce opposition to government efforts to increase supply. Under new planning laws introduced by the Conservatives, local councils are required to "boost significantly the supply of housing" and must commission an independent Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) to work out how many homes are needed in their area. In Oxfordshire, the SHMA calculated that to meet demand and the affordability crisis, the county needed to provide 5,000 new homes each year over the next two decades. West Oxfordshire, including Mr Cameron's constituency, should contribute around 660, the assessment calculated. But the district council refused to accept the verdict, claiming the numbers were "too high and should be adjusted downward". Councillors agreed on their own figure of 525 a year. Some parish councils in West Oxfordshire argue that even this number is far too high and have promised to fight what they see as unnecessary development. The attitude of such local communities is quite understandable. New housing development almost certainly involves disruption, noise and a lot of mess. There are often real issues around the infrastructure to support new neighbourhoods. And, of course, there will be those who worry the arrival of new affordable homes will potentially reduce the value of their own homes. The housing crisis sets homeowners against private renters, rural heritage against urban expansion. It is where progress collides with tradition and where national ambition must confront local anxiety. Party leaders at Westminster may say it is a priority these days, but the politics of housing is as multi-layered as a residential tower-block, and the solutions often hard to reach. For decades, politicians rarely talked about housing.  Now, it seems, they rarely talk about anything else. Interactive: Where can I afford to live? In video: What the average price will buy you Q&A: Why are starter homes controversial?

Question: Few deny that the UK is facing a housing crisis , the @placeholder has become a hot political topic . But the best way to solve it is still widely disputed , as national ambition confronts local anxiety and tradition .


VisitScotland said the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data showed the number of people employed in the industry in Scotland grew by 11%. UK-wide growth was just 4% in 2014-15, according to the VisitScotland. The 217,000 people working in Scottish tourism accounts for 9% of the total number of jobs in Scotland. Edinburgh and Glasgow are the two biggest tourism employers. In Argyll and Bute, tourism jobs represent nearly a fifth of all employment in the region. Visit Scotland said the figures showed tourism created jobs and sustained communities around the country. The 15,700 tourism workers in the Highlands make up 14% of the region's total - the same percentage as Perth and Kinross, which employs 8,700 people in the industry. West Dunbartonshire saw a 41%  jump to 3,100 employees, while Eilean Siar had an increase of 22% and Dundee, 20%. Tourism has been one of the brighter prospects in the Scottish economy. It should be helped by the (continuing) weakening of sterling, though the latest VisitScotland figures pre-date that Brexit effect by a year. A rise of 17% in the number of bar staff in only one year is hard to explain at a time when the number of pubs has been falling. That makes it one indication that the precise numbers should carry a data health warning. It is the bigger trends and the statistical direction of travel - pun intended - that matters more. The numbers highlight, for instance, how this sector differs from the rest of the economy in being disproportionately made up of businesses employing between 5 and 50 employees. A quick glance at developments in Scotland's cities will also see healthy growth in hotel building and conversion. Serviced apartments are a growing feature, and two of them are part of a VisitScotland mission, announced today, to attract more visitors from India. The figures suggest that employment by tour operators is down, while most other categories are up. That could signify a shift to more independent travel. That would include the big success of marketing the coastal route round the north of Scotland. The tourism infrastructure has been stretched by that success. It will be further stretched in remoter hotels and tourism businesses if employers are unable to attract flexible seasonal staff from across the European Union. Culture and Tourism Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: "Our tourism industry is going from strength to strength and these figures serve to highlight the vital role that tourism plays in Scotland's economy. "They also show how important the industry is to our rural and coastal economies. Our food and drink sectors continue to play an important role in attracting our visitors and creating employment opportunities." Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland, said: "Tourism is more than a holiday experience. It creates jobs and sustains communities in every corner of Scotland all year round and is at the heart of the Scottish economy. "These fantastic new figures show that, from hotel owners to waiting staff, tourism really is the driving force for providing the jobs of today and tomorrow."

Question: The number of people working in Scottish tourism has risen by more than twice the @placeholder of the UK as a whole , according to official figures .


Usain Bolt stands to lose one of his nine Olympic golds after a retest of Carter's sample from the 2008 Games was found to contain a banned stimulant. Michael Frater, Asafa Powell and Dwight Thomas also face forfeiting medals. "We have to decide what the best legal process is," Jamaican Olympic Association chief Mike Fennell said. "It is a team and we are interested in ensuring they are properly protected and given a fair chance of clearing their names." Nevertheless the association has written to the athletes requesting they return their medals, he said. Carter's lawyer confirmed on Wednesday that the sprinter will lodge his own appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Bolt, 30, completed a 'triple triple' in Rio last summer. He won gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay to add to his successes in the same events in 2008 and 2012. Carter, 31, was also part of the squad that won the event in London five years ago and helped Jamaica win at the World Championships in 2011, 2013 and 2015. He ran the first leg in Beijing for Jamaica's 4x100m relay team, which also included Bolt, Frater, Powell and Thomas, who ran in the heats. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which is responsible for authorising the retests for both the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Games, released updated statistics about the process on Wednesday. Beijing 2008: London 2012:

Question: Jamaica may appeal against the decision to strip the @placeholder of its Beijing 4x100 m relay squad of their gold medals after Nesta Carter 's failed drugs test .


Mr Justice Nicol said the Home Office's system to "fast track" certain cases contained "structural unfairness". The process accelerates legal hearings and appeals, while keeping the individual detained at all times. The government said it was disappointed by the judgment and would be appealing. The judge said that despite a number of safeguards, applicants were not able to properly prepare their cases and their lawyers were also put in an unfair position. Ruling on a case brought by campaign group Detention Action, the judge said: "In my judgment the Fast Track Rules (FTR) do incorporate structural unfairness. They put the appellant at a serious procedural disadvantage. "The appellant is always detained and, as is obvious, the fact of detention places additional obstacles in the way of achieving all that has to be done before a tribunal hearing. Fast-track removals were introduced more than a decade ago because the then government believed too many people were abusing the system. But critics have long said the speed of the procedure is manifestly unfair, not least to individuals who may have complex but genuine claims for protection. Mr Justice Nicol has put a stay on his judgement, and that means that the fast-track system remains in operation and asylum seekers within it can still be removed. But if the government loses the eventual appeal, it could deal a major blow to an important part of the removal system. There have been previous judgements against parts of the system - but this one is more important because the court said it was wrong that ministers could impose time limits, rather than giving discretion to tribunals. That's something which the judge said looked like sacrificing fairness "on the altar of speed and convenience". "What seems to me to make the FTR structurally unfair is the serious procedural disadvantage which comes from the abbreviated timetable and curtailed case management powers." During the case, the government had argued that the system was fair because asylum seekers could ask for a 10-day adjournment before a final decision. But the judge said the power to adjourn had a "very limited role" in ensuring a just outcome. "Therefore I find that the claimant's challenge to the legality of the Fast Track Rules succeeds," the judge concluded. Although Mr Justice Nicol has ruled the system illegal, he has put a temporary delay on his judgement coming into force to allow the government time to consider an appeal. The Detained Fast Track system plays a key role in immigration removals and can lead to someone leaving the country in about 22 days. The system was created in 2003, and was applied to 4,300 asylum seekers in 2013. Reacting to the judgement, Detention Action director Jerome Phelps said: "We are pleased that the Fast Track appeals process has been found not just unlawful but ultra vires [beyond the government's powers]. "But we are shocked and disappointed that a stay has been granted, given that this is an area of law requiring the highest standards of justice and fairness. "By granting the stay, it appears that the judge considers that the severe potential consequences to asylum seekers, including removal in breach of the Refugee Convention, are outweighed by the inconvenience to the Home Office and Lord Chancellor of suspending the process." The Refugee Council welcomed the ruling, with chief executive Maurice Wren saying: "Today the courts have recognised the detained fast track appeals system for what it is: fundamentally unfair and a grotesque caricature of British justice. "This is an important step forward in the battle to stop government officials arbitrarily and shamefully imprisoning some of the world's most desperate people who have simply asked for our protection." The government says Detained Fast Track is an important part of the UK's immigration system. A spokesman said: "It contributes significantly to the speed and effectiveness with which asylum cases are processed - including swiftly removing those found not to be in need of protection - and saves the taxpayer money."

Question: The future of a key part of the government 's system to remove @placeholder asylum seekers is in doubt after the High Court ruled it was unlawful .


Around 360,000 tonnes of oil and grease are flowing through the UK's sewerage system each year, creating a fat problem to solve. Just as fatty food swells the circumference of our waistline, it narrows the circumference of our sewage pipes, threatening blockage and back-up. If all the fat, oil and grease we wash into our drains every year were to coagulate in one place, it would create a "mega-fatberg", enough to fill an ocean-going supertanker or dwarf the Titanic. Costing the Earth: Burn that Fat is on BBC Radio 4, Wednesday, 25 September at 21:00 BST Or afterwards on iPlayer Piers Clark, the commercial director of Thames Water, says he has seen a significant increase in the problem over the last generation. "The modern diet has a much higher fat content than in the 60s and 70s. There are 111,000 food establishments in London - a number significantly higher than 10 years ago." The Greater London Authority estimates there are 8,273 fast-food shops in the capital. And beneath the streets, near Trafalgar Square in central London, Thames Water is well aware of the problem. In Victorian sewers big enough to stand in, greasy sludge is sticking to the bricks at water level. Carved-off chunks, squashed between (gloved) fingers, have the feel of hard butter, the look of lumpy Plasticine and the smell of... well, you can imagine. Robert Smith, who delights in the title of chief flusher, says that a fondness for a high-fat diet is not the only problem. Wet wipes and earbuds give the grease some structural bondage, which is what caused the berg beneath Kingston upon Thames this summer and a two-mile-long fat "snake" discovered coiled beneath Leicester Square a few years ago. Once discovered it all goes to landfill - until now. Thames Water will shortly be burning it to keep the lights on. According to Mr Clark, it is a first. "We'll be harvesting fat from our sewer network and turning it into power in our facility in east London where we hope to provide enough for 40,000 homes," he says To do this they'll need to extract 30 tonnes of fat a day, refine it to create a biofuel for use in a specially-built power station producing nearly 130 GWh of electricity every year, according to Ofgem estimates. The leftovers from the appetite for greasy food do not just go down the drain, as evidenced on the outskirts of Hull at Brocklesby Limited. Its yard looks like a nutritionist's nightmare; pungent drums of old crisps mixed with sweating kebab meat and chicken legs, pallets laden with mayonnaise and rancid butter and a paddling pool of pig fat, courtesy of the pork scratching factory. Owner Robert Brocklesby describes with some pride how much of this would once have been waste taken to rot in the ground, but now is all reused. "There has been a huge change with regard to used oils and fats being used in the biofuel market," he says. "There has been a real shift in the last decade or so as the demand for vehicle fuel is insatiable." Even those tiny butter packs served with hotel breakfasts are shredded, steamed and separated into water and oil. He reckons they produce around 80 million litres of biodiesel here, enough to fill the tanks of around one-and-a-half million cars. But they also produce lubricants, waste water for bio-digesters and fertiliser. Everything, he believes, has a use. Where waste is put and where fuel is found are two of the most heated environmental debates of the moment, so burning fat to keep the lights on or former pork scratchings in pistons seems like the perfect answer. But at the University of Wolverhampton, microbiologist Dr Iza Radecka is trying something even more ambitious - making plastic for body implants from old chip fat. "We start with something that is horrible and dark and greasy," she says. "We make this beautiful, white, flaky material which can be used for biomedical applications - a bio-plastic for implants or a scaffold for tissue repair." She says old cooking oil is good because it is cheap, biodegradable and - with the addition of the right microbes, fermentation and ultrasound - has a much higher yield of polymer than raw glucose and fructose. This means that waste cooking oil could actually be more efficient than its raw ingredients. It would be a delicious irony, so to speak, if the waste oil from the chips which clog my arteries could one day build me new ones. Costing the Earth: Burn that Fat is on BBC Radio 4, Wednesday, 25 September at 21:00 BST, or afterwards on iPlayer

Question: Last month , a " fatberg " the size of a double - decker bus was found under the streets of south - west London . But what causes them and how are they @placeholder ?


Instead, a study concluded, the only way to prevent a hangover is to drink less alcohol. More than 800 students were asked how they tried to relieve hangover symptoms, but neither food nor water was found to have any positive effect. The findings are being presented at a conference in Amsterdam. A team of international researchers from the Netherlands and Canada surveyed students' drinking habits to find out whether hangovers could be eased or if some people were immune to them. Among 826 Dutch students, 54% ate food after drinking alcohol, including fatty food and heavy breakfasts, in the hope of staving off a hangover. With the same aim, more than two-thirds drank water while drinking alcohol and more than half drank water before going to bed. Although these groups showed a slight improvement in how they felt compared with those who hadn't drunk water, there was no real difference in the severity of their hangovers. Previous research suggests that about 25% of drinkers claim never to get hangovers. So the researchers questioned 789 Canadian students about their drinking in the previous month and the hangovers they experienced, finding that those who didn't get a hangover simply consumed "too little alcohol to develop a hangover in the first place". Of those students who drank heavily, with an estimated blood alcohol concentration of more than 0.2%, almost no-one was immune to hangovers. According to lead author Dr Joris Verster, from Utrecht University, the relationship was pretty straightforward. "The more you drink, the more likely you are to get a hangover. "Drinking water may help against thirst and a dry mouth, but it will not take away the misery, the headache and the nausea." Dr Verster said part of the problem was that scientists still do not know what causes a hangover. "Research has concluded that it's not simply dehydration - we know the immune system is involved, but before we know what causes it, it's very unlikely we'll find an effective cure." He said the next step was to carry out more controlled trials on hangovers. Dr Michael Bloomfield, from University College, London, said the economic costs of alcohol abuse ran into hundreds of billions of euros every year. "It's therefore very important to answer simple questions like, 'How do you avoid a hangover?' "Whilst further research is needed, this new research tells us that the answer is simple - drink less." The paper is presented at the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology conference. What strategies do people use when they have drunk too much alcohol? Find out why alcohol can make you feel awful the morning after. BBC iWonder - How can I avoid a hangover?

Question: Raiding the fridge or downing glasses of water after a night of heavy drinking wo n't improve your sore @placeholder the next day , Dutch research suggests .


Nearly 500,000 illegal cigarettes were also confiscated during Operation Fetch. The goods were found by tobacco detection dogs working with trading standards officers from across Wales. Health Minister Mark Drakeford said the clampdown on illegal trading would help safeguard public health. The Welsh Government said smoking was the biggest single case of early death in Wales, with almost 6,000 deaths annually, and the sale of illegal tobacco undermined work to reduce smoking rates. It added it also compromised current tobacco control measures such as age-of-sale legislation, labelling and the ban on having tobacco on display in shops. Mr Drakeford said: "I am very concerned about illegal tobacco because its affordability and availability threatens the health of children, making it so much easier for them to access tobacco. It also eliminates the price incentive for smokers to quit the habit. "This is not a Robin Hood crime. It is criminality which deprives the public of vital revenue which is used to fund essential public and health services, including tackling the damaging impacts of tobacco itself but its effects extend far beyond that." Matthew Cridland, chairman of the Wales heads of trading standards, said figures showed 15% of tobacco used in Wales was illegal - the equivalent of one million cigarettes being smoked a day. "We want to work with all tobacco control partners to address not only supply but also demand for illegal tobacco and trading standards will continue to vigorously pursue all those who distribute and supply this product," he added.

Question: Almost two tonnes of illegal hand - @placeholder tobacco - enough to make two million cigarettes - was seized in Wales during the summer of 2015 .


The pair said they had reached the end of a three-year deal with the Academy and were moving onto new projects. Their departure comes after the US television audience for the 2015 show was revealed to be the lowest for six years. First-time host Neil Patrick Harris also received luke-warm reviews. Some blamed the 16% dip in the ratings - compared to 2014's show with Ellen DeGeneres at the helm - on a lack of nominations for films with mass appeal. Meron tweeted: "Ending 3 year deal producing #Oscars, its an honor to say 'We'd like to thank The Academy'". Zadan tweeted a similar message: "Honored we had 3 yr prod deal. 3 yrs stress & fun. Thrilled we were asked, happy to be moving on w/ lots of great friends. Thank you Acad." Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy, said Zadan and Meron had been "wonderful creative partners over the last three years, contributing some of the most innovative and memorable Oscar moments". Meron told Deadline that it been his and Zadan's decision to go. "Frankly before the Oscars this year were even broadcast, we were questioning whether or not, if we were ever asked, whether we wanted to do it again. "The past couple of years have been incredible, but at the same time, we've also put a lot of projects on hold, and they haven't been getting our full attention." Zadan and Meron's most memorable Oscar moments include DeGeneres taking her celebrity-packed selfie at the 2014 ceremony.

Question: Craig Zadan and Neil Meron , who have produced the last three Academy Awards , will not be @placeholder for next year 's Oscars .


A set of data due during the General Election campaign was postponed. Correspondence seen by the BBC reveals how politically sensitive this decision was. Whitehall conventions ban the release of controversial announcements during election campaigns. Data releases for which the release date has not already been published will be held till after polling day. But official stats with a publication date already in the calendar will be put out as normal. The NHS England monthly performance data had been carded some time before for June 8th which, it later turned out, was to be polling day. A Freedom of Information request by BBC News has revealed delicate internal discussions about whether or not to press on with publication on that day. An official from the UK Statistics Authority advises Government bodies and departments in an email that statistical publications of "significant public interest" due on June 8th should be rescheduled - "publishing on polling day presents difficulties in communicating data clearly and fully, not least because of restrictions in place around reporting." Intriguingly an NHS England manager responds with a concern that "changing the timing of this release in either direction would, to me, create the perception of political interference which tends me towards keeping the release for the original date." The unnamed UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) official, acting on behalf of the National Statistician, warns again of the difficulties with communicating data on polling day and continued: "If you were challenged about political interference, the response would be that this is about ensuring orderly release". The NHS manager comes back questioning how the release of data on polling day would not be orderly and asking for more of an explanation of the difficulties releasing data that day. There is another reference to "reticence" about changing the date because of how that might be perceived. The UKSA official points out that broadcast media are not permitted to report anything about the election on polling day and the Whitehall conventions prevent any corrections of mistakes by journalists.  NHS England then decides to announce a 24 hour delay in publication till June 9th and puts out a statement saying the decision was taken on the recommendation of the National Statistician, UK Statistics Authority. The figures, which came out on June 9th, revealed a slight improvement in A&E performance (patients seen within four hours), but also the highest number of patients waiting longer than 18 weeks for routine surgery since September 2008. The postponed publication will not warrant a mention in the history books and in the hurly burly of the election campaign the decision did not generate much of a political row beyond social media. But the email exchange lifts a lid on the world of politics and data. It raises questions about whether the data should have been brought forward one day instead of delayed - and whether snap general elections should derail planned data releases. All this comes a short time after NHS England quietly changed the timing of future data. In 2015, the organisation controversially moved from publishing weekly A&E waiting time figures to monthly. The logic given was that this would be in line with other statistics, such as waits for routine surgery. The result was a delay of six weeks so, for example, the key January A&E data was not published till March. A leak of internal NHS A&E data to the BBC's Faye Kirkland in January resulted in the intervention of the UK Statistics Authority. NHS England was criticised for circulating weekly data inside the organisation but delaying official publication for six weeks. The organisation has now decided to cut the delay till two weeks so, for example, from August this year, A&E data for July will be published. Official statistics allow patients and the media to assess the performance of the NHS. Delays are not in anyone's interest. Recent revelations suggest that the timing of these stats has not been as straightforward as it might have been.

Question: NHS monthly performance stats are not everyone 's idea of a gripping read . Spreadsheets and tables are @placeholder in the NHS England website and hard to find for the uninitiated . But they amount to a vitally important barometer of the pressures in A&E units and the waits experienced by patients for both emergency care and routine surgery .


After 146 years in the business, the owners said declining tickets sales and high operating costs were to blame. Activists who campaigned for decades against the travelling circus's animal acts welcomed the news. The circus was well known for its hyperbolic slogan, which inspired an Oscar-winning film. "After much evaluation and deliberation, my family and I have made the difficult business decision that Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey will hold its final performances in May," said a statement from Kenneth Feld, CEO of Feld Entertainment, the family business which has run the circus since the late 1960s. However, animal rights group Peta released a statement, saying the closure "heralds the end of what has been the saddest show on earth for wild animals, and asks all other animal circuses to follow suit, as this is a sign of changing times". In May 2016, after years of legal battles with activists, the circus stopped its elephant shows and sent the animals to live at a conservation centre in Florida. The circus troupe, including its animals, appeared in the 1952 film The Greatest Show on Earth. Produced by Cecil B DeMille, the film won two Oscars, including best picture.

Question: The curtain is coming down on the most @placeholder circus in the US , the " Greatest Show on Earth " , run by Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey .


This may come as a surprise to many in the racing industry who believe that racehorse speed has reached its limit. But researchers say more work is required to determine whether the increased speeds are due to breeding techniques or changes in training and riding techniques. The study has been published in Royal Society journal Biology Letters.. Previous studies had shown that racehorse speeds had not increased since 1950. Many in the race horse industry had concluded that thoroughbreds might have reached the limits of their speed. This raised the question as to whether it was worth horse owners paying large amounts of money to stud farms aiming to breed future winners. So Patrick Sharman, a PhD student at Exeter University and race enthusiast, decided to take a closer look. He found that previous studies were not comprehensive. They only analysed the winning time of a small number of races. These studies included middle distance (8 to 12 furlongs) and long distance (14 to 20 furlongs) races, but excluded sprints (5 to 7 furlongs). Mr Sharman analysed the times from every single so-called elite race involving the very fastest horses between 1850 and 2012, and also included all race meetings since 1997. He found that there had been little improvement in speeds between 1910 and 1975. But since then there has been a steady improvement in sprint races. The average winning time for a six-furlong race over the past 15 years has been cut by more than a second - which is a huge amount by sprint standards. A modern day horse would beat a horse from the early 90s by seven horse lengths. However, there was little, if any, improvement at middle and longer distances. Mr Sharman says that this could be due to the fact that horses are being bred for speed rather than endurance. If that is the case, then speeds at middle and long distances could also be improved if breeders changed their methods. The improvement could be explained by a change in riding techniques since the 1970s - with jockeys adopting Lester Piggott's style of riding with shortened stirrups or improved training methods. But Mr Sharman wonders why there has been no improvement in the longer distances. "My hunch is that we are seeing a genetic change, with breeders focusing on speed rather than endurance," he told BBC News. "I don't believe that over the longer distances horses have reached their limit." Brian O'Rourke, the managing director of the UK National Stud in Newmarket believes that commercial pressures tend to favour the breeding of speed. "Back in the 1970s most horses that would win the Derby would go for the Gold Cup which is two and a half miles as opposed to a mile and a half," he told BBC News. "But since the late 70s and early 80s the thoroughbred industry has become commercialised. Everybody is breeding for speed now because they want precocious horses that run at two (years old) not four. "They want instant success like flicking a switch, but that does not always happen." Last year BBC Sport asked leading experts why human athletes were getting faster but horses were not. Follow Pallab on Twitter

Question: Racehorses are @placeholder to get quicker , a study of winning times spanning 165 years of racing indicates .


A cross-party group of peers said Britain's financial sector must be offered a Brexit "bridge" to prevent firms moving to rival locations such as New York, Dublin, Frankfurt or Paris. It urged the government to act to stop business tumbling off a "cliff edge". It comes as Prime Minister Theresa May prepares to meet other EU leaders at a summit meeting in Brussels. Mrs May will take part in EU-wide discussions on defence, foreign affairs, migration and the economy as well as holding bilateral meetings with the leaders of Latvia and Lithuania and the president of the European Parliament. However, she will not be present for a dinner on Thursday evening - at which the EU's remaining 27 leaders are expected to discuss their approach to Brexit. In other Brexit developments: The UK is expected to begin official negotiations on the terms of its exit this Spring following the Leave vote in June's referendum. Businesses are pushing for an interim arrangement to safeguard the interests of companies, investors and customers during the period between the UK's departure and when post-Brexit trading and regulatory arrangements are settled. In the latest of a series of Lords Committee reports on Brexit, its EU financial affairs sub-committee said firms could decide to remove their operations from London because of uncertainty about what kind of agreement would be negotiated for cross-border trade. Analysis by Simon Jack, the BBC's business editor There are many definitions of what such a Brexit transition might look like. Is it merely an implementation period for a largely agreed deal or is it a longer term arrangement that keeps the status quo in place while details are worked out more slowly? Either way, the pressure for more clarity is growing. The Lords Committee is warning that thousands of banking jobs will go to Europe if some sort of transition deal is not made ready. Lobbying group TheCityUK will endorse that view and privately bankers are finalising contingency plans and some are close to pressing "Go". The chairman of HSBC, Douglas Flint, has told Bloomberg TV that the bank was looking at the option of moving staff to Paris if needed. As one source told me: "There is no enthusiasm for leaving. Banks are looking for excuses to stay." We'll soon see whether the sudden warmth towards a transitional deal is excuse enough. Baroness Falkner, the Lib Dem peer who chairs the committee, said that while she did not detect any sense of panic in the City, it was important "red lines" were set out in areas such as passporting rights, which London firms need in order to trade freely across EU. "Companies may decide that uncertainty is too high a price to pay so they might as well move to Dublin, they might as well move to Frankfurt - that is our great concern." The Lords urged businesses to strengthen the government's negotiating hand by sharing internal analysis about their passporting rights as soon as possible. It said a failure to do so could leave companies seeking equivalent provisions that are "patchy, unreliable and vulnerable to political influence". However, it said building a detailed picture may prove a challenge for the government because some City firms do not fully understand their reliance on passporting. "The committee got a sense that [government] engagement has been sporadic and it should be more consistent and there ought to be a clearer view," Baroness Falkner said. The Lords also stressed the importance of firms being able to seamlessly move staff around Europe to ensure they and the growing FinTech sector continued to thrive. Speaking on Friday, Mr Davis said his over-arching goal was "maximum access to markets with the minimum disruption" to firms as part of a "smooth and orderly" exit. He said a transitional agreement was possible "if necessary" but he believed both sides should be able to conclude a full EU withdrawal agreement within the 18-month timeframe set out by EU negotiators.

Question: Financial services firms could @placeholder the City unless a transitional Brexit deal is secured , ministers have been warned .


It was the latest public spat over the transfer of power since Mauricio Macri narrowly beat Ms Fernandez's chosen successor. She boycotted Mr Macri's inauguration two weeks ago in a row over the venue. Ms Fernandez had led Argentina since 2007, taking over the presidency from her husband Nestor after elections. Nestor Kirchner, who died in 2010, came to power in 2003. The administration of Mauricio Macri now uses the Twitter handle @CasaRosada - named after the iconic pink presidential palace in Buenos Aires. One of the first messages posted on the account reads: "Today the #CasaRosada finds us united. There's change in the air and we're ready to grow." Less than 24 hours after being unveiled, the new official site was showing more than 100,000 followers. The previous official account @CasaRosadaAR now describes itself as a "Twitter tribute" to the presidencies of Ms Fernandez and her late husband, Nestor Kirchner - and "not official from 10 December 2015". It currently shows 326,000 followers. Twitter removed the blue badge marking it as a verified account on 10 December, AFP news agency reports. Mr Macri's victory was the first in more than a decade for Argentina's centre-right opposition and ended the Peronist Party's 12-year rule.

Question: Argentina 's new president has unveiled a new official Twitter account after @placeholder leader Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner decided to keep the old one .


Gestede looped the ball over goalkeeper Jamal Blackman after the Blades had failed to clear Patrick Bamford's lofted pass into the penalty area. The former Aston Villa man hit the post with another header before half-time. Sheffield United, who won their opening match against Brentford, had a goal disallowed in stoppage time. Jack O'Connell was adjudged to be offside when Dael Fry nodded a free-kick into his own net and, with that, the League One champions suffered their first defeat since 24 January. Before the dramatic ending, the Blades' best attempt at goal was Paul Coutts' side-footed effort from 20 yards, which Darren Randolph palmed wide for a corner. Gestede and Bamford were two of four additions to the Middlesbrough side beaten at Wolves seven days earlier, replacing summer signings Martin Braithwaite and Ashley Fletcher, and the pair repaid their manager's faith by combining for Boro's first league goal of the campaign. The hosts also gave a debut to midfielder Lewis Baker, who played the final 23 minutes as a substitute after joining the club on loan from Chelsea on Friday. Match ends, Middlesbrough 1, Sheffield United 0. Second Half ends, Middlesbrough 1, Sheffield United 0. Chris Basham (Sheffield United) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Patrick Bamford (Middlesbrough). Attempt missed. Mark Duffy (Sheffield United) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses the top right corner following a set piece situation. Paul Coutts (Sheffield United) wins a free kick on the right wing. Foul by Jonny Howson (Middlesbrough). Video Review:. Offside, Sheffield United. Mark Duffy tries a through ball, but Jack O'Connell is caught offside. Jack O'Connell (Sheffield United) wins a free kick on the left wing. Foul by Cyrus Christie (Middlesbrough). Attempt blocked. David Brooks (Sheffield United) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Foul by Ched Evans (Sheffield United). Grant Leadbitter (Middlesbrough) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Attempt saved. Leon Clarke (Sheffield United) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the left is saved in the bottom left corner. Offside, Middlesbrough. Patrick Bamford tries a through ball, but Ashley Fletcher is caught offside. Foul by Adam Clayton (Middlesbrough). David Brooks (Sheffield United) wins a free kick in the attacking half. Grant Leadbitter (Middlesbrough) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Ched Evans (Sheffield United). Foul by Ashley Fletcher (Middlesbrough). Richard Stearman (Sheffield United) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Substitution, Middlesbrough. Grant Leadbitter replaces Adam Forshaw. Delay over. They are ready to continue. Delay in match Richard Stearman (Sheffield United) because of an injury. Substitution, Middlesbrough. Ashley Fletcher replaces Britt Assombalonga. Substitution, Sheffield United. David Brooks replaces Kieron Freeman. Offside, Sheffield United. Mark Duffy tries a through ball, but Kieron Freeman is caught offside. Offside, Middlesbrough. George Friend tries a through ball, but Patrick Bamford is caught offside. Attempt saved. Cyrus Christie (Middlesbrough) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the bottom right corner. Assisted by Lewis Baker. George Friend (Middlesbrough) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul. Kieron Freeman (Sheffield United) wins a free kick on the right wing. Foul by George Friend (Middlesbrough). Offside, Middlesbrough. Dael Fry tries a through ball, but Patrick Bamford is caught offside. Attempt missed. Ched Evans (Sheffield United) right footed shot from outside the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Jack O'Connell. Substitution, Sheffield United. Ched Evans replaces Billy Sharp. Substitution, Middlesbrough. Lewis Baker replaces Rudy Gestede. Richard Stearman (Sheffield United) wins a free kick in the defensive half. Foul by Britt Assombalonga (Middlesbrough). Kieron Freeman (Sheffield United) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Question: Rudy Gestede 's first - half header earned Garry Monk 's Middlesbrough a home win over Sheffield United and their first @placeholder of the Championship season .


Up to 100 shooting meteors an hour will streak across the sky in the beautiful natural firework show, visible around the world. Those hoping to catch a glimpse of the shower shouldn't be disappointed this year. Astronomers say they're expecting extra-dark skies which will create perfect stargazing conditions. The Perseids are actually tiny pieces of the Swift-Tuttle comet that can be seen every year when the Earth passes through a cloud of the comet's debris. They're bits of ice and dust, which can be as small as a grain of sand or as big as a pea. The fragments were left behind when Swift-Tuttle passed close to Earth in 1992. The meteors appear to come from a point in the constellation of Perseus, hence the name Perseid. They hit the Earth's atmosphere at a whopping speed of 134,000 mph, but don't pose any danger to us on Earth. The celestial show is expected to hit its peak overnight on Wednesday but you can see it any night this week. Unlike some other cosmic events, spectators don't need special technology to watch the Perseids unfold. It's best to find a wide open space away from tall buildings or trees, and with as little light as possible. The more of the sky you can see, the better. This year the Moon's glow will not interfere with meteor-watching, as it will be approaching its darkest or "new" phase, experts say.

Question: Stargazers are getting ready to @placeholder the spectacular Perseid meteor shower .


So staff and volunteers at St Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, decided this year to find a way for their smallest patients to mark their first Halloween. They decided to get their sewing kits out and made pint-sized outfits for each of the 35 babies in their care at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). The mini dressing-up box includes outfits for Superman, Captain America, Batman, Wonder Woman, butterflies and the local baseball team, the Kansas City Royals. Parents go to pick a costume which they feel suits their baby best and for Jennifer Behnke and her husband Fritz, Captain America was the only choice for their son William. "He's our superhero and we call him Warrior William because he's such a little fighter," said Mrs Behnke. William was born on 15 August at 25 weeks weighing just 1lb 1oz (481g). Ten weeks on and he has grown to a much healthier 4lb 11oz (2.1kg). "You're in your own world for 12-16 hours a day when you're in the NICU and you don't know what's happening outside," said Mrs Behnke. "So it's great with Halloween coming up to be able to celebrate even though we're still in St Luke's." Michelle Manuel, a spokesman for the hospital, said US charity March of Dimes had come up with the idea of the Halloween costumes. The charity focuses on raising awareness about premature babies and its local volunteers joined forces with the NICU nurses to make the little outfits out of felt. "It's so positive to be able to mark Halloween which is their first milestone," said Ms Manuel. "Being in the NICU can be a stressful and emotional time so to be able to provide the families with something normal and a way to make a good memory is great." As well as the costumes each baby received a gift pack with a "Trick or Treat, smell my feet" card featuring their baby's footprints, a hand-crocheted pumpkin filled with sweets and a Halloween book. By Annie Flury, UGC and Social News Team

Question: Premature babies and their families generally miss out on celebrating holidays and big @placeholder like everyone else because the focus is just on getting big enough and well enough to go home .


"I want to write a James Bond theme tune," he says. "I've got this half a song that me and Noel Gallagher worked on and I think it would be great for a Bond theme. There's a bit of minor key going on. That would be an ambition definitely." The Modfather will be 59 later this month and the ground-breaking debut album by his old band The Jam turns 40 next week. While many acts would settle for a re-mastered re-issue on white vinyl to mark the anniversary (other colours are available), this ever-changingman is looking forward to the release of his 13th solo studio album on Friday. Oh - and the birth of his eighth child, "the littlest Weller". He jokes: "Me and the wife are waiting for a summer release!" But are there parallels between knocking out another great record and fathering another child into your 60th year? "Well, every child is different, but you treat them the same. And it's the same with records really. You have to love all of them. "You can't tell how you feel about it until months later really, until you've had time to really absorb it... I'm talking about records now - not children!" He adds: "My wife always says after each one, 'Are you going to take some time off now?' And I always intend to, then I start writing again, then all of a sudden these songs come and I have very little control over it. "I can't imagine my life not writing. It's ongoing to me and I don't think it's ever going to run out until I drop down dead. "I still think I can fly high and I never want to be grounded." Weller's forthcoming musical offspring has been christened A Kind Revolution. But it's definitely "not a political record", he says. The title remains a provocative one, though, especially given it arrives just weeks before a general election. Coincidence? "Yeah, I was in deep conversation with Theresa May saying, 'When you next having an election, love?'" the ex-Red Wedge member says with a grin. "No - pure coincidence. My record is nothing to do with politics. It's about people. "I think it's a scary time for all of us, we just don't know how it's going to go. It seems the whole world is catching alight, almost like a prelude to a world war." What would the slogan on a Paul Weller campaign poster say? "Love one another, man, and try and be kind and be good to each other and the world would be a better place.  Incredibly simplistic, I know, but that's the bottom line." Weller goes on: "More compassion, more solidarity with our fellow human beings - a lot of those things are missing for me in society and in the world in general really. "I don't think any of the answers to the current state of the world lie in politics. I think it's time for people to not put their faith and judgement into theories or politics, or even philosophies, and to look inside ourselves. "Whatever happened to our own responsibility to our society and our country and the world? "We should be changing ourselves and it's unfair to expect one person is going to change everything for us." Is that easier said than done though? "Often I think about peace in the world and then I have to look inside myself and think am I at peace? Can I live up to all the things I believe in or spout? "I'm kind of intent on changing myself to get rid of thoughts or negative feelings. Until you can feel that within yourself it's hard to project that on to the world." It's clear on the new record that Weller has been doing some serious soul searching and digging deep inside his vast record collection for musical inspiration from the likes of David Bowie, The Beatles, Curtis Mayfield, Miles Davis, northern soul, funk and beyond. He confesses: "These influences are just inside me. I've soaked them up down the years and they always come out one way or another." He's also been flicking through his phone contacts to secure the vocal talents of Boy George and soul sirens PP Arnold and Madeline Bell, plus the bluesy guitar playing of Strypes youngster Josh McClorey and Robert Wyatt's jazz trumpet. Track two Nova channels the avant garde spirit of late Bowie, while next song Long Long Road, Paul's favourite, finds him back at the bar-room piano belting out a big romantic McCartney-esque ballad. Album closer The Impossible Idea even has a Broadway musical quality to it or, as Weller puts it, "it's like a German beer hall song but with a sort of French chanson feel to it too". More on that one shortly... As fans of The Style Council will tell you, Weller has never been afraid of failure, and in the last six months alone he's taken a plethora of new challenges on. He's produced a remix for his good pals Syd Arthur, a film score to the boxing film Jawbone, and has even found time to make his acting debut as a rather convincing dead Viking alongside mate Martin Freeman in the final episode of Sherlock. So what else could possibly be left on this man's bucket list? "I want to see the UK win the Eurovision Song Contest," says Weller. "And I think they need The Impossible Idea as their tune." Is he serious? Would he be there in Kiev? "Yeah, they could have it absolutely. I could be there, possibly. If it was my song then I would definitely, yeah." If you're reading this, Team UK, it's still not too late. To achieve the impossible on Saturday night, better call Paul. A Kind Revolution is out on Friday 12 May. Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

Question: Curled up in the corner of a comfy record label couch , and @placeholder down by his standards - jumper and jeans - Paul Weller is in full - on daydream mode .