Latest news with #JamesAbbott
Irish Independent
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Podcast reviews: New ways of living and dying, and Miriam Margolyes' very frank father
Health is wealth – and a highly lucrative industry. From biotech and terminal diagnoses, to celebrities revealing their medical hurdles, topics range far and wide on these life-affirming shows. While a niche cohort of filthy rich spend millions on cryonics and the likes, most mortals put thought into 'dying well' rather than living forever. The Art of Dying Well (Apple, Spotify), presented by James Abbott, puts emphasis on the time we have left, and how best to support ailing loved ones. Palliative care has become a key part of political debate in recent years but Abbott's poignant episode Caring for Pa is a personal story of Matt Parkes whose father Jeff – suffering with a rare neurodegenerative palsy – was actively suicidal, which came into conflict with Matt's Catholic faith. The series has comparatively lighter moments too, such as the Art and the Afterlife episode in which historian Lynne Hanley, ex Sotheby's auctioneer and priest Father Patrick van der Vorst, and baroness Sheila Hollins, explore how art and culture – such as memento mori – have helped and shaped societies' views on death. Many admire actress Miriam Margolyes (83) for her unbridled candour. Many find her uncouth. She's certainly a gift from the gods for Dr Oscar Duke, author of How to Be a Dad, on the inaugural episode of Bedside Manners (Apple, Spotify) in which she attributes her corporeal openness to her GP father who normalised the likes of flatulence and ear wax ('I want to fart first, let me lift a buttock,' are her first words to Dr Duke). Margolyes's health challenges have been well documented on various TV series, including The Real Marigold Hotel and Miriam's Big Fat Adventure but the aural intimacy of a podcast adds more nuance as she describes her knee replacement and heart surgery, late-life fitness ('I've been greedy and lazy, and the body takes it revenge,' she says here), and the often overlooked importance of maintaining a social life in older age ('the way to keep going is interaction, it's as important as drinking water and not eating too much'). In contrast is an interview with Strictly professional dancer Aljaz Skorjanec, the very picture of health – but is blighted with chronic psoriasis. Opposition voices of biotech worry it could create 'designer babies', biological weapons and other Frankenstein-like scenarios – but it appears to be too late to return the genie to the bottle. In its latest episode, The Next Five (Acast, Apple, Spotify), which analyses trends in healthcare and business, discusses the wide potential and pitfalls of biotech in improving our future quality of life.
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Yahoo
Captured prison escapee asks court for freedom
A notorious bank robber and fugitive dubbed the "Postcard Bandit", who was jailed after escaping from one of the nation's toughest prisons, is making another bid for freedom. Brenden James Abbott is seeking to have his incarceration declared unlawful and is also suing the West Australian government for wrongful imprisonment in the state's Supreme Court. The 63-year-old, who escaped from Fremantle Prison in 1989, claims that sentencing laws introduced in November 1996 do not apply to him and that his WA custodial sentence lapsed while he was in custody in Queensland. He is also seeking to challenge the constitutional validity of the laws, which require an inmate returned to prison after an escape to serve an additional imprisonment equal to one third of the time they were at large, on top of the time they had yet to serve when escaping. Abbott's son James says his father has been behind bars for too long. "If you do the crime, you do the time," he told AAP outside court on Tuesday. "But the amount of time that dad has done for what he's done is more than enough. "He's paid his debt to society and he deserves to spend time with his family." Abbott is a maximum security inmate at Perth's Casuarina Prison, where he is serving a 14-year sentence for bank robbery, a prison riot and escaping from Fremantle Prison in 1989. He was extradited to Perth in May 2016 after serving 18 years in Brisbane prisons, following his recapture in Darwin in May had escaped from Sir David Longland Prison in Brisbane in November 1997, when he was serving a sentence for bank robberies on the Gold Coast. Abbott had been arrested on the Gold Coast in March 1995, five-and-a-half years after he escaped from Fremantle Prison and embarked on a covert life as a fugitive, suspected of robbing banks in WA, South Australia and Queensland of up to $5 million. Abbott is technically eligible for parole in WA in October 2026. But as a prisoner who has served more than 25 years, but is not subject to a life sentence, his situation is unique. There is a genuine prospect Abbott will never be granted parole and won't be released until his maximum term expires in January 2033, which would be 34 years and eight months after his recapture in Darwin. In 2017, he was sentenced to a concurrent five-year jail term for the 1989 Fremantle Prison escape. The hearing continues.
BBC News
27-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
National Grid urged to spare oak tree during pylon works
National Grid has been asked to spare a 300-year-old oak tree threatened by plans to build pylons across oak, known as Henry by residents in Rivenhall, and several smaller trees lie on the planned 114-mile (183km) route between Norwich and councillor James Abbott said nature faced a "very significant threat" in the area of Braintree he National Grid said it was yet to make a final decision about how it would route pylons through Rivenhall. "We continue to make changes to the proposals following the feedback received and our own surveys," a spokesman added. Campaigners feared vast gantries would be installed around Henry while the 50m-high (164ft) pylons were built in Church asked National Grid to adjust the route so the historical tree could be spared the this year, National Grid revealed "minor adjustments and tweaks" would be made to the locations of about 30 sites following feedback. 'Crass solution' Abbott said people should also consider the impact of access roads needed to build the pylons."It's the access roads that pose a very significant threat to those trees and also the clearance swathes," he opposing the pylons plan were dealt a blow in April when a report found they were cheaper than burying cables underground or at said he thought it was a "crass solution" to harnessing more renewable Grid stressed it was listening to communities and more than 13,000 pieces of feedback it received over the wider plan. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
