
Four Buckinghamshire libraries to tell disabled people's stories
An installation, writing workshops and dramatic performances, created by adults with disabilities, will be touring Buckinghamshire libraries this spring.Called The Other Library, they have been produced by the Freewheelers Theatre and Media Company and feature 17 individual projects and three group projects, each presented in a physical or digital book.Buckinghamshire is one of five local authorities involved in the scheme, part of a wider three-year Rekindle project funded by the National Lottery."The mission is to share hidden stories of disability within the county using physical and interactive books," said Katie de Joux, culture and outreach services manager at Buckinghamshire Council
People will be able to explore the world and stories of artists with disabilities at High Wycombe, Chesham, Aylesbury and Buckingham libraries up until 23 April.Each library will feature a bookshelf installation and host a creative workshop by author and screenwriter Sara Clifford, along with two performances by disabled artists at weekends."Some of the performances will be a story told; there will be some dancing," said Ms de Joux."It is a little bit of everything and changes from location to location as well. So you never quite know what you are going to get, but it is half an hour of being blown away."
It is hoped the tour could be expanded to cover libraries across the country one day.Clive Harriss, the council's Conservative cabinet member for culture and leisure, said: "The Other Library goes beyond paper text; it is a multimedia experience where some stories are told through dance, some through music and others are told through poetry."I would like to encourage residents to pop along to one of the events listed below and explore the bookshelves and discover the stories for themselves."
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Scottish Sun
9 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Fly-on-the wall reality show following very unlikely TV star and his family ends after just one series
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'A lot of people identify with Miranda, and as years have passed, more of them identify with her. I love her.' Series three of spin-off And Just Like That . . . is available to stream now on Sky. Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme - Sun Club.


New Statesman
10 hours ago
- New Statesman
Kemi Badenoch sinks further into the mire
Illustration by André Carrilho 'Here for the funeral?' asked the man in the seat next to me. Short, stout, bearded, behatted, pot-bellied: he looked just like a garden gnome. We were in the Duchess Theatre, Covent Garden, home of the pre-theatre set menu, luvvie-land. What the gnome called 'the funeral' – and what we might call the 'oooooffft, not again' or the 'should she really have that job?' or the 'why does she keep doing this to herself?' – belonged to Kemi Badenoch, for now the leader of His Majesty's opposition. The gnome, a retired civil servant, had come in search of Schadenfreude. He was here all the way from Eastbourne, gleeful and triumphant, to watch Badenoch on stage in conversation with the comedian Matt Forde. The live talk would be recorded for Forde's popular podcast The Political Party. 'It's a slow-motion car crash,' said Gnome, widely smiling, before Badenoch had even appeared. Car crash, funeral, whatever. If you want to understand British politics, know that there are men out there who not only look like a Renaissance woodcut of a mythical mountain-dwelling creature but who will travel one hour and 35 minutes on Southern Rail to watch a politician they hate exchange sensible on stage banter out of pure spite. In Britain, complicated forms of bitterness and political despair play out through evening attendance as light entertainment. I suppose it's better than the way these things resolve themselves in Myanmar. The tickets for Forde-Badenoch cost £26.50: a price Gnome was happy to pay. A flannel-and-cardigan audience settled into their seats around us. What was Badenoch doing with Forde? It was a deep mystery, much like the continued existence of Emmerdale. Was she doing outreach a few doors down from the Royal Ballet? Are there many votes left for Conservative leaders in the bullseye centre of liberal London, or did one of her aides book her in for the sweet comic grilling months ago, when the Tories weren't finishing fourth in Scottish by-elections on an apocalyptic 6 per cent of the vote? The move showed ambition, which Badenoch can never be accused of lacking. For every two voters the Conservatives are at risk of losing to Labour or the Liberal Democrats, one exhausted Tory flack told me this week, they haemorrhage five or six to Reform. Badenoch could turn the tide against Nigel Farage right here in the Duchess by talking about herself for 45 minutes in front of an audience of Lib Dems. Before anything happened, Gnome began a rambling and dirty joke about Nicholas Soames, who I am required by law to tell you is Winston Churchill's grandson. I think Gnome may just have hated Conservative politicians. He said the joke was Forde's, although I have in the past heard it attributed to Sarah Sands, the former editor of the Today programme. Forde appeared in a shiny blue suit buttoned at the waist, set off by box-fresh white Air Jordans. He was amusing, although his gags appeared to have been printed out on A4 paper and stuck to a box at the front of the stage. Alan Lockey, the Prime Minister's speechwriter, took an indirect pasting. 'Keir Starmer has a weird way with words,' Forde began, before entering a passably nasal Starmer impression: 'I know what it's like to work in a factory… because my dad did it.' Not quite the same thing, is it, as Forde quickly pointed out – you can try this yourself. Pick your most benighted dead relative. 'I know what it's like to get blown up at the Somme… because my great-grandfather did it.' Convincing? Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe I was growing impatient for Badenoch. Understatement induces me to say that her leadership has not gone very well so far. Consider a recent defence of Ukraine that she made on one of the Sunday shows: within hours it was clipped, trussed up, lipsticked and used by the Russian embassy for their own propaganda purposes. As a parable, it's pure Badenoch. She wants to do one thing. The opposite happens. The disintegration has since accelerated. A few days previously Badenoch had given a big speech on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Imagine you are a right-wing politician fighting off an even more right-wing insurgency that draws all of its energy from promising mass asylum deportations, strong borders, the full Children of Men barbed-wire-and-police-dogs scenario. Would you then promise to leave the ECHR, which effectively stops the government from doing any of that? You might think Badenoch would have made this promise by now. 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To the extent that anything can get better when you are facing the possibility of being leapfrogged in the polls by the Green Party, Badenoch did improve once she settled, in a gold sleeveless blouse and long black skirt, into a low chair opposite Forde. For one thing, Gnome immediately fell asleep once she began talking. His head drooped first, then his chin settled on his belly. He breathed gently through his round, red nose. Badenoch has been known to induce a similar effect when she posts short-form video content on X, or speaks at Prime Minister's Questions. What's it like being leader of the opposition, Forde asked. Fascinating, Badenoch said, in a posh, slightly hoarse voice. She compared leading the Tories to Game of Thrones, a show in which most characters she might be compared to are murdered by nasty and treacherous methods. She said she'd received advice from past Tory leaders but not Liz Truss, whom she claimed might have lost Badenoch's phone number. 'But she's so good with numbers,' quipped Forde. To laughter, Badenoch poked Forde: 'Do an impression of me.' He mouthed the air before refusing. We were here to see the nice man who wrote Politically Homeless, not Jim Davidson. Badenoch condemned nationalisation, a Fabian idea Nigel Farage has taken a spooky interest in recently. 'Who would want a politician running a business?' Badenoch asked the now-silent audience, raising the uncomfortable question: who would want this Conservative Party running anything? They're not a party right now. They're a bag of snakes. Badenoch was right about Game of Thrones. Some of the material being shopped around to undermine her in Westminster is truly Targaryen in its uncompromising brutality. Leaks that make you shudder at the possibilities of human betrayal, even when the stakes are low: taking over the leadership of Britain's third most- popular political party. 'I've chosen a very, very difficult path,' said Kemi Badenoch as the funeral ended. Gnome slept on soundly. Forde grinned. She wasn't being funny. [See also: Laughing at the populist right is not a political strategy] Related


Wales Online
12 hours ago
- Wales Online
EuroMillions Friday 13th £208m jackpot draw will see huge 'smaller' prizes at stake
EuroMillions Friday 13th £208m jackpot draw will see huge 'smaller' prizes at stake The EuroMillions jackpot will remain at £208 million for a total of five draws, before a must-be-won draw will take place The eruomillion jackpot remains unclaimed (Image: NICOLAS GUYONNET, Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images ) An eye-watering £208 million was at stake in Tuesday night's EuroMillions draw, but once again, no-one struck it lucky in collecting the top prize. This follows the previous Friday's (June 6) draw where again, no-one claimed the jackpot. As the jackpot has already hit the EuroMillions cap, it remains unchanged for this Friday, June 13. The winning numbers for Tuesday were 19, 36, 39, 40, 45 with the lucky stars being 05, 06. And the fact the top prize has still not been one is good news for people who don't quite match all the numbers. Currently, the record for the largest UK National Lottery win is held by an anonymous player who bagged a whopping £195m jackpot on July 19, 2022. For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here Just two months before this, Joe and Jess Thwaite from Gloucester won £184,262,899 with a Lucky Dip ticket in the draw on May 10, 2022. Following Joe and Jess, the third largest UK win was claimed by another anonymous ticket-holder who secured the £177m jackpot in the draw on November 26, 2024. The biggest win so far in 2025 has been £83 million in January. Article continues below Speaking on the extraordinary £208m jackpot, Andy Carter, a senior advisor at National Lottery operator Allwyn, remarked: "A win of this magnitude would create the biggest National Lottery winner this country has ever seen - making a single UK winner instantly richer than the likes of Dua Lipa and Harry Kane while also landing them at the number one spot on the National Lottery's biggest wins list." But as the jackpot keeps eluding everyone, that's great news if you don't quite match all the numbers, as a chunk of the overall prize fund filters down to the next prize tier, making those winnings way more than normal. There were four individuals across Europe who succeeded in matching five numbers and one lucky star on Tuesday, each scooping over £4.5m. Furthermore, a dozen more snagged five main numbers to pocket upwards of £20,000 each. With the jackpot hitting its cap, the upcoming Friday draw will again see raised stakes in lower-tier prize categories. Andy added: "This Friday EuroMillions gets even bigger. "Not only will we see the £208 million EuroMillions jackpot up for grabs – which would make the biggest-ever National Lottery winner – but there will also be an incredible 13 guaranteed UK millionaires made through EuroMillions Millionaire Maker." He added a twist of optimism for the superstitious: "That's a not-so-unlucky Friday 13th for the lucky ticket-holders who end up bagging these life-changing prizes. "Get your tickets early to ensure you'll be in with a chance of a massive life-changing win." He further commented: "The EuroMillions jackpot is now capped, so any money that would have gone into increasing the jackpot now boosts prizes in the next winning prize tier, meaning that we could see multiple UK players banking huge prizes for matching just the five main numbers and one Lucky Star." What happens if no-one wins the jackpot once more? The maximum jackpot can only be offered five times before we reach a point where the money has to be won, whatever. So on draw five at the maximum amount, if no-one bags the top prize, the full jackpot is shared between the winners in the prize tier below. The jackpot then goes back to normal for draw six and we start all over again. Article continues below