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Men think I’m lucky they offer sex because I’m disabled

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Men think I’m lucky they offer sex because I’m disabled


grey placeholderBBC News A woman is looking at the camera. She is wearing black framed glasses and is wearing a pink blush lipstick. Her brown hair is untied and frames her face, she has two blonde streaks at the front. She is wearing a khaki green t-shirt and in the background there are framed photographs. They are slightly blurred as the camera focus is on the woman.BBC News

Holly says positive relationships for disabled people need better representation

Holly was just 16 years old when someone asked her if she could have sex because she was disabled.

She has been asked many other questions over the years, such as if she “can have rough sex” or if it needs to be in a wheelchair.

“People think they’re doing you a favour, almost like a sacrifice. The worst thing is I’m not surprised or offended anymore.”

Holly, now 26, has chronic pain and hypermobility syndrome and is one of a number of disabled women who have spoken out to challenge negative stereotypes and stigma when it comes to dating and relationships.

Holly Greader said it was important that happy relationships for those who were disabled were represented.

She started dating her now husband James when she was a teenager, and has been with him for nine years, getting married earlier this year.

“Often in the media disabled people have miserable lives, we’re just a sad story,” she said.

She added she has always felt supported by him, but felt stereotyped by others.

“I was told by people when we first moved in together, that if my health declines he’d leave me.

“For being a burden or too much to handle.”

grey placeholderRAM Photography & Film Holly and James on their wedding day RAM Photography & Film

Holly got married to James in September and says he has always supported her with her health

She said there were assumptions people made about her in school, which some asked to her face.

“When it comes to wheelchair users, it’s always without a doubt almost the first question, can that person have sex?”

She said the boys in her class at school would ask personal and intrusive questions.

“I got asked things like, can you only have sex in a wheelchair? Will your joints dislocate? If I wanted to have rough sex with you, would I be able too?”

Holly said people have also messaged her on social media about sex, an offer she was often made to feel she should be “lucky” for.

Holly would like to see better positive representation in the media, citing that the character Isaac Goodwin in the programme Sex Education was the only good example she has been aware of recently.

‘How do you have sex?’

Nicola Thomas, 38, from Caerphilly is registered blind.

She said: “One of the more common things people will ask is, how do you have sex? It kind of takes your breath back, it’s such an invasive and personal question.”

Nicola has an auto immune disease – Neuromyelitis Optica – she lost her sight in one eye 15 years ago and the other five years ago.

“A lot of people see barriers with blindness and I’m definitely one to break those down.”

Nicola’s hobbies include sailing, paddleboarding and travelling, her next trip is to Hong Kong.

grey placeholderNicola Thomas A man and woman kissing on a street in east Asia. They are both holding canes as they have visual impairments. The man is wearing blue jeans and a salmon pink shirt, the woman is wearing a black top and a black and white polka dot skirt.Nicola Thomas

Nicola and her boyfriend Paul, love traveling the world together

Nicola had a boyfriend when she lost her sight but the relationship broke down.

“I was treated like a burden, people would say you can’t be a carer for her, but I didn’t need a carer.”

She now has a boyfriend who is also visually impaired.

“Even though we’re both blind, we’ll navigate our way round a city, or go on a date on our own. Nothing holds us back.”

Nicola also said she feels stereotyped when people show an interest in her.

“People message on social media asking for dates, their attention shifts or acts differently when I tell them I’m blind.”

“You’re definitely treated like they’re doing you a favour. It puts you off instantly.”

Nicola added: “People do pigeon hole us. I want to breakdown that stereotype, I have a full and happy life.”

grey placeholderA woman in a wheelchair, smiling at the camera. She is wearing a black top with a black and red skirt in a houndstooth pattern. There are stairs behind her with the banisters painted orange.

“When you’re disabled you’re well acquainted with poverty but it’s more than a monetary value, a healthy relationship is definitely a poverty.”

Kat Watkins said disabled people have a right to explore their sexual identity and develop relationships just like anybody else.

She is the access to politics project officer for Disability Wales.

“Why are sex and relationships such a taboo for disabled people? There is much more to us than just being able to eat and having a roof over our heads.”

“Living your life and enjoying yourself that’s just part of life, and it doesn’t get highlighted enough for people with disabilities.”

Kat said hearing examples of how people message disabled women was “sadly normalised.”

She said adaptable sex toys and aids can help give people confidence and would like to see them on more mainstream sex sites and outlets.

“You’ve got to be comfortable with yourself and understand your body, so you can tell others how it works. Self love is also really important.”



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Wessex Water fined £500,000 over sewage leaks that killed fish

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Wessex Water fined £500,000 over sewage leaks that killed fish


Wessex Water has been fined £500,000 for polluting two rivers and killing thousands of fish.

The company admitted a series of failures which led to untreated sewage being discharged into the rivers in Wiltshire and North Somerset in 2018.

Janine Maclean, from the Environment Agency, said: “These cases are further examples of a water company breaking the law and causing serious pollution.”

It is the second-highest fine in the company’s history. A Wessex Water spokesperson apologised and said the incidents “shouldn’t have happened”.

Clackers Brook is a small river in Wiltshire. It rises near Bromham and runs just five miles into Melksham, where it joins the River Avon.

But in that first five miles, it passes the Wessex Water sewage pumping station at Bowerhill Lodge.

In April 2018 the company allowed storm water with untreated sewage to flow into the river for 54 hours.

Later the same year, there was a mechanical and electrical failure which led to more sewage flowing into Clackers Brook.

The Environment Agency found that 2,100 fish died, including eels and lampreys both endangered and protected species.

Investigators reported that all fish within 1km of the spill were killed.

Senior officer Janine Maclean said it was “very sad the pollutions had such serious impacts – killing fish and other aquatic life”.

The agency took Wessex Water to court for breaching their licence, and the company admitted the offences.

Meanwhile in North Somerset, near Weston-super-Mare, another sewage pipe burst in August 2018. Again, untreated effluent polluted the rivers and the local marsh rhyne drainage system.

This led to more fish dying, including spined stickleback and eels.

The sewage pipe in question was a so-called “rising main”, a pipe through which sewage is pumped under pressure.

The rising main had already been identified by Wessex Water prior to the incident, as a critical one that needed to be monitored, but the monitoring was not put in place until after the incident.

District Judge Joanna Dickens, sitting at Swindon Magistrates Court, ruled the company was negligent, because “of the failure to install monitoring equipment at an earlier time”.

The Environment Agency said that Wessex Water’s rising mains are “ageing” and account for many of the company’s pollution incidents.

Janine Maclean, of the Environment Agency, said: “We recognise the company is increasing its monitoring of rising mains, but monitoring is still reliant on failure, and we would like to see the company significantly increase the level of investment it makes to proactively replace rising mains before they fail.”

A Wessex Water spokesperson apologised for the incidents, and said the company had done what it could as soon it realised what had happened.

They continued: “Since these incidents took place, we have invested in AI technology to detect where potential issues on our network might occur to further protect the environment.”



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National Insurance: What are NI and income tax and what do I pay?

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National Insurance: What are NI and income tax and what do I pay?


Despite the NI cuts for workers and the self-employed in 2024, millions will still pay more tax overall because of changes to the tax thresholds.

These are the income levels at which people start paying NI or income tax, or have to pay higher rates.

These used to rise every year in line with inflation.

However, the previous government froze the NI threshold and tax-free personal allowance at £12,570 until 2028. Higher-rate tax will continue to kick in for earnings above £50,270.

Freezing the thresholds means that more people start paying tax and NI as their wages increase, and more people pay higher rates.

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think thank, the freeze cancels out the benefits of the NI cuts for some workers.

In the 2024-25 tax year, it says an average earner will have a tax cut of about £340 – from the combined tax changes – and people earning between £26,000 and £60,000 will be better off.

But by 2027, the average earner would be only £140 better off – and only people earning between £32,000 and £55,000 a year would still benefit.

Before the Budget there had been speculation that the chancellor would extend the freeze until 2030 but she said she had decided not to do so.



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Australia plans social media ban for under-16s

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Australia plans social media ban for under-16s


Australia’s government says it will introduce “world-leading” legislation to ban children under 16 from social media.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the proposed laws, to be tabled in parliament next week, were aimed at mitigating the “harm” social media was inflicting on Australian children.

“This one is for the mums and dads… They, like me, are worried sick about the safety of our kids online. I want Australian families to know that the government has your back,” he said.

While many of the details are yet to be debated, the government said the ban would apply to young people already on social media.

There will be no exemptions on the age limit for children who have consent from their parents. The government says that the onus would be on social media platforms to show they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access.

Albanese said there would be no penalties for users, and that it would be up to Australia’s online regulator – the eSafety Commissioner – to enforce the laws.

The legislation would come into force 12 months after it passes and be subject to a review after it’s in place.

While most experts agree that social media platforms can harm the mental health of adolescents, many are split over the efficacy of trying to outlaw them all together.

Some experts argue that bans only delay young people’s exposure to apps such as TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, instead of teaching them how to navigate complex online spaces.

Previous attempts at restricting access, including by the European Union, have largely failed or faced backlash from tech firms. And questions remain over how implementation would work given there are tools which can circumvent age-verification requirements.

One of Australia’s largest advocacy groups for child rights has criticised the proposed ban as “too blunt an instrument”.

In an open letter sent to the government in October, signed by over 100 academics and 20 civil society organisations, the Australian Child Rights Taskforce called on Albanese to instead look at imposing “safety standards” on social media platforms.

The group also pointed to UN advice that “national policies” designed to regulate online spaces “should be aimed at providing children with the opportunity to benefit from engaging with the digital environment and ensuring their safe access to it”.

But other grassroots campaigners have lobbied Australia’s government for the laws, saying bans are needed to protect children from harmful content, misinformation, bullying and other social pressures.

A petition by the 36Months initiative, which has over 125,000 signatures, argues children are “not yet ready to navigate online social networks safely” until at least 16, and that currently “excessive social media use is rewiring young brains within a critical window of psychological development, causing an epidemic of mental illness”.

When asked whether there should be broader efforts to educate children about how to navigate the benefits and risks of being online, Albanese said that such an approach would be insufficient because it “assumes an equal power relationship”.

“I don’t know about you, but I get things popping up on my system that I don’t want to see. Let alone a vulnerable 14-year-old,” he told reporters on Thursday.

“These tech companies are incredibly powerful. These apps have algorithms that drive people towards certain behaviour.”



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Alarm call as world’s trees slide towards extinction

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Alarm call as world’s trees slide towards extinction


grey placeholderSalvamontes Colombia Yellow flower of one of the rarest magnolias in ColombiaSalvamontes Colombia

The yellow flower of one of the rarest magnolias in Colombia

Scientists assessing dangers posed to the world’s trees have revealed that more than a third of species are facing extinction in the wild.

The number of threatened trees now outweighs all threatened birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians put together, according to the latest update to the official extinction red list.

The news was released in Cali, Colombia, where world leaders are meeting at the UN biodiversity summit, COP 16, to assess progress on a landmark rescue plan for nature.

Trees are vital for life, helping to clean the air and soak up carbon emissions, as well as providing homes for thousands of birds, insects and mammals.

grey placeholderAsh tree attacked by the fungal disease, ash dieback

Ash trees are under threat from the fungal disease, ash dieback

More than 1,000 scientists took part in the assessment of the conservation status of trees, compiled by the plant conservation charity, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Emily Beech of BGCI said 38% of the world’s trees are now threatened with extinction.

“Trees are highly threatened all across the world but now we have the tools that we need to make sure that we prioritise conservation action on the ground,” she said.

Trees are at risk in 192 countries, with clearing land for farming and logging the biggest threat and, in temperate regions, pests and diseases.

Well-known trees such as magnolias are among the most threatened, with oaks, maple and ebonies also at risk.

grey placeholderGetty Images The monkey puzzle tree is now endangered in its native habitat across South AmericaGetty Images

The monkey puzzle tree is now endangered in its native habitat across South America

Scientists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in London, are working to conserve trees across the world by collecting seeds and growing specimens in arboretums.

Conservation researcher Steven Bachman said the figures were “shocking”, with a knock-on effect for the many other plants and animals that depend on trees.

“We are currently in a biodiversity crisis,” he said. “Many species of trees all around the world are providing habitat for many other species of birds, mammals, insects, fungi.

“If we lose the trees we are losing many other species with them.”

grey placeholderGetty Images HedgehogGetty Images

Hedgehogs are in decline as natural land is lost to farming

As well as trees, the update to the extinction red list brought bad news for other plants and animals.

The hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus) moved a step closer to extinction as populations shrink across much of Europe, including the UK.

The much-loved mammal is losing its natural habitat due to the expansion of farming and land development.

There are also concerns for the survival of migratory birds, many of which make stop-offs on Britain’s vast shorelines and estuaries.

Four UK shorebirds – the grey plover, dunlin, turnstone and curlew sandpiper – are becoming more endangered on the red list.

grey placeholderRSPB Titchwell The grey plover is only found at the coast and is mostly a winter migrantRSPB Titchwell

The grey plover is only found at the coast in the UK and is mostly a winter migrant

At COP 16, world leaders are meeting to take stock of progress in meeting a pledge of protecting 30% of lands, seas and oceans by 2030.

The summit is due to end on 1 November, with many issues still outstanding, including finance for preserving biodiversity across the globe and beefing up national plans for protecting nature.

grey placeholderGetty Images Colombian Environment Minister and COP16 president Susana Muhamad (C) speaks during a press conference next to Astrid Schomaker (L), Executive Secretary of CBD and Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP, at the blue zone of the COP16 summit in Cali, Colombia on October 25, 2024Getty Images

Countries are meeting in Cali, Colombia, at COP 16



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