New flora and fauna at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
A variety of flora and fauna are thriving in east London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, where more species of bee, bird, wasp and lichen have been found.Before the 2012 Olympic Games, the Stratford site was mostly industrial wasteland with contaminated soil, polluted waterways and extensive fly-tipped waste.The latest discoveries were made in a recent "bio-blitz", an intensive biological survey with experts from the London Natural History Society, UCL and Hackney Council.Ecologist Tom Bellamy said: "I have been really surprised at the biodiversity that's been achieved here in such a short time – especially considering how polluted a lot of the ground here was before the London 2012 Games."
The survey identified three species of bee now in the park: the coastal leafcutter, sickle-jawed blood bee and the large sharp-tailed bee. It also recorded a species of hyper-parasitic wasp and a species of cuckoo wasp, 23 species of butterfly, 42 bird species, as well as 23 species of lichen.Otters, eels, kestrels, house martins, sand martins, the nationally scarce black mining bee and large scabious mining bee, and the soft-winged flower beetle - a threatened species across Europe - were all found in East Village, the site of the Athletes' Village during the 2012 Games.
Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park ecologist Mr Bellamy said: "We have kingfishers, otters, eels and it's incredible that nationally scarce species of bees have been found here."Part of my job is to establish breeding populations for a wide variety of select species that we want to breed on the park. "I'm proud of what's been achieved so far but there is always more we can do."
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The Guardian
17 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘Unless you see it, you can't believe how bad it is': the peer demanding a minister for porn
When the Conservative peer Gabby Bertin arrived for a meeting with the the science and technology secretary, Peter Kyle, earlier this year she startled him by laying out an array of pornographic images across his desk. 'They were screengrabs showing little girls, their hair in bunches, and massive, grown men grabbing little girls' throats,' she says. She had selected images which appeared to depict child abuse, and yet were easily and legally available on a popular website. 'Unless you see it, you can't quite believe how bad it is.' The minister appeared shocked and upset by the images, she recalls, so she quickly tidied them away and later shredded them. Bertin has noticed that her desire to talk frequently and openly about extreme pornography is not shared by all her Westminster colleagues. 'I've definitely seen people swerve at lunch, not wanting to sit next to me for fear of what they're going to hear coming from my mouth,' she told fellow delegates at the launch meeting of her pornography taskforce this week, prompting a flutter of sympathetic laughter. Since being appointed by the former prime minister Rishi Sunak to lead an independent review into the regulation of online pornography in December 2023, Bertin has observed how a double taboo has made most politicians extremely reluctant to engage. Some simply find the subject hugely embarrassing; others stay silent because they do not wish to appear prudish by criticising the proliferation of extreme and often illegal pornographic material online. She is frustrated by this reticence. 'You can't leave the pitch on this stuff just because you're worried about being accused of being too strait-laced,' she says. The government needs urgently to appoint a minister for porn, she recommends, to ensure that the issue gets the attention it deserves, rather than being passed reluctantly between the Home Office and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. A former adviser to David Cameron, Bertin has gathered cross-party support for her work and says she emails Keir Starmer so regularly about the issue that she has 'practically become his pen pal' (if you can have a pen pal who delegates to officials the responsibility of replying). 'We're really British about it so we don't want to have a graphic conversation about sex and porn,' she says, in an interview in the Westminster office she shares with several other peers. 'But you've got to shout about it as loudly as possible. The reason why we've got into this mess is because nobody has really wanted to talk about it.' By mess she means a situation whereby online pornography (which is viewed by an estimated 13.8 million UK adults every month) is not regulated to the same degree as pornography watched in cinemas or videos, despite the fact that videos have been redundant for decades and vanishingly few people now visit cinemas to watch porn. The absence of scrutiny has created an environment where much of the content created is, she says, 'violent, degrading, abusive, and misogynistic'. She also means a situation where a member of her own party had to resign after twice watching porn (perplexingly tractor-themed) on his phone, as he whiled away time on the green benches in the House of Commons. 'People have slightly lost the plot on porn. Would someone 20 years ago have just taken Playboy into the Commons, and had it lying on their lap? It just shows what an extraordinary place we've got to,' she says. 'You can do what you like in your private life – I don't have a problem with that – but you can't watch porn in the House of Commons, and you shouldn't be watching porn at your desk. There's a place for these things and it's not in the office.' Her review, published in February, made 32 recommendations. Last week the first of these became government policy, when officials announced that pornography depicting strangulation would be made illegal. Her new taskforce of 17 people, bringing together representatives from the police, the advertising industry, anti-trafficking organisations and violence against women charities, will focus on how to ensure harmful online content is better regulated, trying to bring parity between the scrutiny of offline and online content. She pays tribute to the 'hugely innovative side' of the porn industry, which has long driven technological advances in webcams and internet speeds, fuelled by the sector's enormous capacity to turn profit, but she has not invited any representatives on to the taskforce, wary of anything that might let the industry 'mark their own homework'. This week Ofcom announced that major online providers, including the UK's most popular pornography site, Pornhub, had agreed to implement stronger age-verification measures in compliance with the Online Safety Act, to prevent under-18s from accessing adult material. Those platforms that do not comply with the measures face being fined 10% of global turnover or being blocked in the UK. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Ofcom is also responsible for monitoring whether sites distributing user-generated pornography are protecting UK viewers from encountering illegal material involving child sexual abuse and extreme content (showing rape, bestiality and necrophilia, for example). However, other forms of harmful pornography that are regulated in physical formats are not subject to similar restrictions online. It is this grey, unscrutinised area that Bertin's panel will focus on, as well as calling for better processes to respond to stolen content, working out how people depicted in pornographic videos can request that the clips be removed from sites, and how to build safety mechanisms into AI tools that create sexually explicit content. Officials at the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) guided her through short clips of extreme material to help her understand the nature of easily available harmful content. She remains disturbed by the material she saw – content designed to appear to be child sexual abuse, set in children's bedrooms – roles played by young girls, who may be over 18 but are acting as children. 'The titles are very problematic, things like: 'Daddy's going to come home and give his daughter a good seeing to' or 'Oops I've gone too far and now she's dead' or 'Kidnap and kill a hooker.'' This content would be prohibited by the BBFC in the offline world, but is unregulated online. During research for her review, she met representatives from global tech companies, and told them how when Volvo invented the three-point safety belt they gifted the patent to the rest of the industry because staff realised the innovation was so vital to raising safety standards. 'My pitch was that they have a duty and responsibility to double down on trying to get technology that can clean up these situations, and they should share that technology,' she says. 'Taylor Swift can whip a song off a website as soon as anyone tries to pirate it. There's no reason why the firms can't come up with technology to sort this out.' Posing for photographs, she edges away from a watercolour of Margaret Thatcher hung on the wall by one of her colleagues. 'Let's do it without Thatcher in the background. That's not my doing by the way – I share the office,' she says semi-apologetically, before rapidly adding: 'I mean I love Thatcher, obviously.' But she may be making an important distinction. In a 1970 Woman's Hour interview, Thatcher said the rise of pornography was a 'frightening' manifestation of a newly permissive society that she believed was undermining family life. Bertin describes herself as a liberal conservative and wants to be clear she is neither anti-porn nor running a moral crusade. 'Consenting adults should be able to do what they want; I have no desire to stop any kind of sexual freedom. But restricting people from seeing a woman being choked, called a whore, and having several men stamp on her – for example – is not ending someone's sexual freedom. This is the kind of content we want to end.'
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Boeing plane collides with Airbus and slices tail with 380 passengers stranded
More than 300 passengers were left stranded when a plane taxiing on a runway suddenly struck the tail of another aircraft with its wing - the incident is being investigated Four pilots have been suspended after a shocking airport incident saw a jet cut the tail of another aircraft as passengers watched on in horror. The incident occurred in Vietnam's capital of Hanoi on Friday afternoon and saw a Boeing and an Airbus plane collide at Noi Bai International Airport. The Boeing 787 was taxiing for takeoff for a flight from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City. As it did so, its right wingtip hit part of the tail on the Airbus A321, which was also waiting to depart Dien Bien. Both planes are operated by Vietnam Airlines. Damage to the Airbus' tail was caused along with the Boeing's wingtip. Both aircraft were grounded so technical inspections could take place, while replacement planes were arranged for the stranded passengers. A total of 380 passengers were onboard the two flights at the time of the incident. Vietnam Airlines suspended two pilots from each flight and set up an independent team to investigate the cause of the incident with the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), the VN Express reported. The incident was classified at a 'Level B' incident by the CAAV, the second most serious on the five-tier scale used by investigators. This indicates there was a severe breach of safety that led to temporary runway or taxiway closure. Initial findings have suggested the Airbus was not in its designated point on the taxiway when the collision occurred. It comes after a devastating crash in India this month saw more than 270 people killed when a London-bound flight struck a medical college hostel in a residential area of the northwestern city of Ahmedabad minutes after take-off. The crash killed 241 people onboard and at least 29 on the ground. One passenger survived. The flag carrier of India said alternative arrangements had been made to fly the affected passengers to their destination at the earliest convenience. The British survivor of the crash said it was a 'miracle' he survived, but added he feels 'terrible' he could not save his brother. Vishwash Kumar Ramesh told The Sun: 'It's a miracle I survived. I am OK physically but I feel terrible that I could not save Ajay.' Mr Ramesh was in seat 11A, next to one of the aircraft's emergency exits. He said: 'If we had been sat together we both might have survived. "I tried to get two seats together but someone had already got one. Me and Ajay would have been sitting together. But I lost my brother in front of my eyes. So now I am constantly thinking 'Why can't I save my brother?'"
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
My jealous husband always assumed I was cheating… so I eventually slept with my boss
DEAR DEIDRE: MY jealous husband always assumed I was sleeping with other men. So eventually, I did. I'm 34, my husband is 43. We met through friends 12 years ago. It was love at first sight for him. I wasn't so blown away but he eventually persuaded me to go on a date. That date lasted a whole weekend. We barely left the bedroom and married a year later. Within a few months of the wedding, he started questioning where I was going. He put tracking apps on my phone and I caught him checking my car's mileometer when I'd been away to see my mum. He also stalked my social media, double-checking my locations and zooming in on people in the background of my photos. His first wife had cheated on him and he feared history would repeat itself. I tried to reassure him but it never worked. He'd be secure for a while then something tiny — like the sound of my text notification — would set him off. When our youngest child was five, I was so tired of my husband breathing down my neck that I went back to work. My new manager was gorgeous. He was the same age as me, single, and we had lively banter. I was keen to get ahead and not keen to go home, so I often stayed beyond my hours. One evening, my husband rang me 15 times to check if I was really at work. Hearing all the calls, my manager came to check I was OK — and we ended up on the sofa in his office. As his mouth moved over my body, the only thought in my mind was, 'My husband thinks I'm doing this, so I might as well.' I do feel guilty but I can't confess. So, what should I do? Call both relationships off? DEIDRE SAYS: There is a third option. You and your husband could work on his jealousy and try to overcome it for good. Unfortunately, his doubts and untrusting treatment has prompted the very behaviour he was so threatened by. As you've discovered, the more that you try to explain yourself, the more that your husband will believe his worries are justified. I'm sending you my support pack Dealing With Jealousy as a starting point. Read it together and decide between you what changes you can put in place. But you'll need more help. Counselling could work wonders here. It would be good if you can go either alone or together to discuss how his jealous and insecure attitude is driving you away. My support pack How Counselling Can Help explains how you can find a reputable therapist. BROKEN BY MY WICKED STEPMUM DEAR DEIDRE: FOR me, life is like the Cinderella fairytale – without the happy ending. When I was three, my mother died giving birth to my sister. My father quickly married another woman. She really was an evil stepmother – we were physically and emotionally abused from the start. This woman begrudged my father spending money on us, so we wore hand-me-down clothes or shoes that were painfully tight. Her own son was treated like a prince and got everything he wanted. I left home as soon as I could and brought my sister to live with me when she left school. But the abuse didn't stop. My stepmother guilted me into sending money. At first it was small monthly amounts but she soon started demanding large sums that I could barely afford. She'd blow that money on flash holidays. I kept up a brave face for my sister's sake – but last year she died in an accident and I can no longer cope. My stepmother did nothing towards the funeral. I organised everything. At the wake, my dad stood up and made an unexpected speech. He said he wanted to thank the woman who had arranged the ceremony. I thought he was finally acknowledging me – but he was talking about my stepmum. Now I'm 25 and broken. I don't know if I'll get over my sister's death and my horrific childhood. Can you help? DEIDRE SAYS: You have been through a very tough time and the death of your sister must have made you feel even more isolated. It's not too late to get support in coming to terms with your grief. The Compassionate Friends ( 0345 123 2304) could help. The charity also has a leaflet specifically about losing a sibling. It sounds like your stepmother has made you into the 'black sheep' of the family. She has focused any negativity and ill-feeling on to you in order to deflect it away from herself. This allows her to feel blameless and is a way for her to strengthen her hold on others. To better understand this toxic dynamic, read the book Families And How to Survive Them by Dr Robin Skynner and John Cleese, published by Vermilion. Surround yourself with people who make you feel good. You can't choose your family but you can choose who you want in your life. Don't be afraid to cut ties. Family is important but your health is your priority. LEFT HEARTBROKEN AFTER SEX DEAR DEIDRE: SINCE we stopped the 'benefits', I haven't seen my friend-with-benefits for dust. We're both lesbians. I'm 32, she's 28. We started dating casually a few months ago but I completely fell for her. She kept dating others and eventually met someone at work that she really liked. I still believed we'd end up together so I wasn't too worried, especially as we kept having sex. But the sex fizzled out and now I hardly hear from her at all. I'm heartbroken. We had always promised that we'd stay friends whatever happened. Was that unrealistic? DEIDRE SAYS: Are you upset to lose her as a friend? Or were you secretly trying to keep the door to a relationship open? That might explain why you feel heartbroken. She has moved on and, as hard as that might be to accept, the best thing you can do is to focus on yourself again now. I'm sending you my support pack called Moving On which has lots of advice on building a positive, happy life. SEX CLINIC DEAR DEIDRE: IS it normal to lose your sex drive after having a baby? I'm 35 and my husband is 37. We've been married for five years and had our longed-for baby son four months ago. But ever since, I have no libido at all. I shudder when my husband comes near me. It's starting to affect our relationship. The path to motherhood has been very traumatic for me. I had four miscarriages before my son. I also lost a baby girl at 35 weeks with my ex which was devastating. I struggled to recover from it, which is one of the reasons that relationship broke down. I feel I should be happy now I'm finally a mum. My husband is already a kind, helpful father. But when he tries to get close to me in bed, it's like I totally shut down. I really can't stand him touching me. Before the baby, we had a great sex life. I'd love us to get back to that. Is it possible? DEIDRE SAYS: It's very common for a woman to lose her sex drive after having a baby. Research suggests that only a third of couples resume sex within two months of birth – most couples take three to five months. It's even more common when you have experienced loss or trauma in the past. Even though you've now had your baby son, it would still help to talk to someone about your miscarriages, especially the emotional toll they've taken. The Miscarriage Association ( has a live chat service and a telephone helpline. There's no reason why you won't get back to enjoying a fulfilling sex life with your husband. I'm sending you my support pack called Sex Problems After A Baby. It goes through all the reasons why you might be experiencing libido loss – from tiredness, to stress, through to hormonal changes – and offers solutions and tips. The best way to get through this time is to take things very slowly together. Make sure you keep talking and cuddling to maintain a strong emotional connection. SHE WANTS TO DUMP ME DEAR DEIDRE: I'VE found out my girlfriend has been asking her friends if she should dump me. That's not a good sign, is it? We met at college and have been official for a year. Everything is great, except I have a temper and sometimes say things in the heat of the moment. We had a huge row last weekend then, this week, she showed me something on her phone and a message flashed up from her group chat. I read the whole thread. She'd told her friends the angry things I'd said during our row and asked if she should dump me. Most of them said she should. DEIDRE SAYS: Many people seek outside advice about relationship problems – like you're doing now. It's a positive sign because she's clearly still attached. Learn to manage your anger. We all get heated but it's never an excuse to lash out. It could be classed as emotional abuse. I'm sending you my support pack on Managing Anger. Focus on that, otherwise this pattern will continue into your future relationships.
