Analysing new Syria footage and behind the scenes of Gaza investigation
Date: 09:45 BST
Title: Welcome
Content: Matt MurphyBBC Verify senior journalist
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Kathleen Rigby obituary
My wife, Kathleen Rigby, who has died aged 81, put her love of justice, writing, history and the arts to public good throughout her life. She did her best to improve things while having fun, and usually found like-minded collaborators. Her first jobs were in counter-intelligence as an officer with MI5 and MI6. She subsequently worked widely in the education sector and finally as a volunteer with the National Trust and Chetham's Library in Manchester. She also published a book of poetry. Kath was born in Edinburgh to Paddy (nee Wylie), a nursery nurse, and William Philips, who left the army as a major after the second world war to work in the London office of the English China Clays mining company. They lived in Enfield, north London, and Kath attended Palmers Green high school, until the family relocated again to St Austell, Cornwall, when her father moved to the company's head office there. Kath then boarded at West Cornwall school in Penzance. She studied history at University College London, where we met, and graduated in 1964. We married the following year. Having been recommended to MI5 by a family friend, Kath attended an interview without knowing it was for the Security Service. She was offered the job of counter-intelligence officer, which she did for five years. We moved to Manchester in the early 1970s for my work. Kath completed an MA in economic history at Manchester Polytechnic (now Manchester Metropolitan University) then in 1975 trained as a teacher. Her first post was at Priestnall secondary school. She then became head of history at Brinnington community high school, rising to deputy head. In 1987 she took the position of vice-principal of North Area College. Following a medical procedure that made it difficult for her to stand for long, Kathleen took early retirement in 1991. Shortly after, she gained an MSc in educational leadership at Manchester Metropolitan University, then became a senior lecturer at its Centre for Educational Leadership. Having held several positions on school governing boards, she was elected chair of the board of Tameside College in 1992, and became a member of the Greater Manchester learning and skills council. For many years she was a magistrate on the Manchester city bench and chair of its advisory council, taking compulsory retirement at 70. Then she became a volunteer at Dunham Massey, a National Trust house, writing blogs and leading tours. With a colleague she researched and wrote three histories of former residents of the house, two of which were published by the Altrincham History Society. She also volunteered at the 18th-century Chetham's Library. Poetry that she wrote was soon published in poetry magazines and in the Spectator. In one of her poems she mused that if she had spent less time doing the Guardian cryptic crossword she might have become leader of the Labour party, or a judge. In 2024 she published a collection of her poems, How to Be a Pear, under the name Kate Rigby. Another volume, The Winter Blackbird, is being prepared. Kath is survived by me, our children, William and Jessica, and a grandson, Alex.
BBC News
an hour ago
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Hartlepool nuclear plant given more time to carry out work
An improvement notice issued to a nuclear power station after a scaffolder was injured by a defective light fitting has been nuclear power station operator EDF has been given extra time to carry out improvements after receiving the notice from the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) in ONR said a worker had been injured by a defective light fitting in said it was developing a "specific training package" to minimise the risk of incidents. The ONR said the extension would allow the plant to complete the work which it expects to rollout in the had previously said the accident had occurred even though EDF had identified the defective light in October said EDF had not correctly assessed the health and safety risks with the light at the time. The watchdog said it would continue to monitor the plant's progress in line with the notice, which is now due on 15 station opened in 1983 and has two advanced gas-cooled reactors capable of powering 1.4m year it was announced the site would continue to operate for an extra year until 2027. Follow BBC Tees on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
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2 hours ago
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Mothers lose two-child benefit cap 'rape clause' case
Two women who conceived their eldest children when they were in abusive relationships have lost a legal challenge to rules around the so-called "rape clause" to the two-child benefit non-consensual conception exception allows universal credit (UC) recipients to claim benefits for more than two children - but only if the third or subsequent children were conceived mothers brought legal action against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), saying the rules breached their human rights.A DWP spokesperson said victims of rape and coercion should be treated with "dignity and respect" but the court decision was about how the policy was being implemented. The policy leaves some women unable to use the exception if their first two children are conceived in rape but they have further children in consensual relationships.A previous hearing at Leeds Administrative Court heard both women were young and vulnerable when they began relationships in their teens and first became Monaghan KC, representing the women, said both were subject to regular violence and first woman conceived her two eldest children through rape and was told she could not claim the benefit for her third and fourth children, both of whom were conceived consensually in a later long-term was initially paid the child element of UC for the third child, but this was later cancelled, after the fourth child was second woman, a mother of six, was subjected to domestic abuse and violent and coercive behaviour by former partners with whom she had Monaghan said she had older children in care and two living with her, but then one of the older children returned to her was refused an exception to the two-child limit under these "ordering provisions".The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), which provided the women's legal representation, said that while the first woman was eventually granted an exception for her youngest child, she went for years said this amounted to thousands of pounds of support which will not be backdated. Mrs Justice Collins Rice said the two women were survivors of "appalling relationship abuse" which involved "sustained physical, sexual and psychological violence".But she also said their argument is part of the "intensely controversial" political debate about the two-child benefit said the issue must be resolved in the "political arena" and "the forum of public opinion". Ms Collins Rice concluded: "It is also a question with potential resonances in family law more generally... it is a political law reform question."Responding to the judgment, the first woman said the decision was "disappointing" but that she would "keep going and fight this to the end"."All of my choices were taken away from me for years by my abuser before I fled," she said."I've fought hard to get on with my life for me and my kids."Claire Hall, the CPAG solicitor who represented the women, said the organisation would look to appeal the said that "in the meantime all eyes are on the government which has the chance to do the right thing and abolish the inhumane two-child limit in the autumn child poverty strategy".The DWP spokesperson said: "Violence against woman and girls is a national emergency - and our mission is to halve it within a decade."This policy will be considered along with all other levers including social security reform by the Child Poverty Taskforce and the Child Poverty Strategy will be published in the autumn." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
