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Donald Trump’s bid to win a second term could be damaged by coronavirus



DONALD Trump's bid to win a second term in the White House could be damaged by coronavirus because he can no longer hold the rallies that swept him to power.




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Spain sees huge reduction in coronavirus death toll - as millions hit streets



SPAIN'S 24-hour death toll from coronavirus has hit one of the lowest levels since March 18.




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Strictly can go on in September despite coronavirus, Craig says



STRICTLY star Craig Revel Horwood has revealed that the show can still go on in September despite coronavirus - but it will be Strictly Social Distancing.




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Iranian spies ‘smuggle millions to terrorists’ in Lebanon and Syria



IRANIAN agents are delivering suitcases stuffed with £800,000 in cash to Hezbollah terrorists despite the Islamic state begging for financial help to deal with coronavirus, it is claimed.




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Canary Islands: Treasure islands of the grand Canaries



WHICH island is right for you? Whether you're a hiker or a hedonist, a kite surfer or sun lounger, Spain's Canary Islands have something for everyone




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Britain’s volunteers hailed as ‘lifesavers’ for their help during coronavirus lockdown



BRITAIN'S army of volunteers have been hailed as "lifesavers" by carrying out 75,000 tasks during the lockdown crisis.




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Kate Middleton heartbreak: Why Prince William rejected idea of marriage for THREE years



PRINCE William rejected the idea of marriage for several years before proposing to his then-girlfriend Kate Middleton.




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How Queen was transformed from a princess into a modern monarch by this historic moment



YOUNG Princess Elizabeth's night out celebrating VE Day on the streets of London helped turn her into a Queen like no other.




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What would you do if someone starts coughing next to you in public, says VANESSA FELTZ



Here's the question. With coronavirus raising its ugly head in this green and pleasant land, and with a pressing desire not to catch the horrible bug or pass it on to nearest and dearest - not to mention vulnerable strangers - at which point do we pitch in and speak out?




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Coronavirus in UK will change the way we live our lives forever, says VANESSA FELTZ



MAYBE it's because on my BBC Radio London Breakfast Show we currently talk of almost nothing else from 7-10am every day - we do try to slot in other subjects but no one calls about them - that by the time I emerge from the studio I'm so acutely aware of steadily encroaching coronavirus that I jump three feet in the air if somebody so much as sneezes.




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Nadine Dorries’s Teflon mum is a hero, says VANESSA FELTZ



I love her so much I'd like to send her a bunch of daffs and a hug. I've never met her, but she's 100 percent my Pin-up Pensioner Poster Girl for coronavirus.




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Coronavirus won’t change us. We still stand out from the crowds, says VANESSA FELTZ



WE ARE astounding, we human beings. There's a global pandemic. We have no idea when we'll see, let alone hug, the people we love most in the world.




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It’s a trying time but our love will see us through, says VANESSA FELTZ



HOW did you muddle through the longest weekend in world history? Here's how my other half and I botched the whole flipping thing up over at Feltz Towers. Following excellent advice, we were determined to have a structure, a schedule and stick to it.




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The Queen gave us the confidence that all will be well, says VANESSA FELTZ



WE DON'T usually think of the Queen as the "mother of the nation".




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We can live without takeaways. Who knew, says VANESSA FELTZ



WHO knew, amid all the panic and anxiety, our dominant lockdown obsession would be food? We're either queuing for it - at the right social distance, of course - or sleuthing out delivery slots with Kojak-like cunning.




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We must never forget the heroes of the lockdown, says VANESSA FELTZ



REMEMBER the phrase: "He had a good war"? When we heard it at school it seemed an oxymoron. I recall our history teacher, sensing our confusion, elaborating thus: "For some war was deadly. The bereaved and the disabled never recovered. For some it was a hiatus, a long and frightening test of endurance. Yet some excelled.




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We are suffering in a pandemic, we don’t need to be labelled too, says VANESSA FELTZ



LABELS, who needs them? Do you really want to be branded a lockdown "accepter", "sufferer" or "resister"? What is the point of shoving us into personality pigeonholes as if we are predestined to capitulate, throw in the towel, or give up?




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If lockdown is lifted by age, how will age difference couples cope, says VANESSA FELTZ



YOU might say the odds have always been stacked against age-gap relationships. The tut-tutters predict doom the moment they so much as sniff a union between May and December. "What does that old fool possibly think that beautiful damsel sees in him?" they ask. "How could that ancient crone believe that hunky young buck finds her attractive?"




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What happened to the dreaded Beast from the East?



A FEW days ago the meteorological fraternity was talking about the possibility of a shivering winter blast this week.




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Daily Express




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Richard and MINDY HAMMOND are back in France - will they find their dream home?



I was on another flight, London to France, just a few days after returning from two weeks there, and it wasn’t to retrieve the headphones I lost. In typical Hammond fashion, we made a snap decision to return to France and revisit the house we almost bought last year.




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A pest that caps them all, says ALAN TITCHMARSH



TOADSTOOLS are simply fascinating, scientifically speaking. The familiar caps-on-stalks are only part of a much bigger threadlike organism that lives entirely underground, sending up the familiar parasol structures to distribute their microscopic spores.




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John Terry has the ex-factor as he fails to take centre stage



NOT since the final whistle went in Munich at the end of the 2012 Champions League final has John Terry been in such a rush to get his kit on.




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The appetite for state control over what we eat is getting ridiculous, says FERGUS KELLY



Nothing better illustrates than the EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health, the relentless appetite for state control and removal of personal choice that exists as much in academic circles as political ones. The report's contents are even more indigestible than its title.




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Lawyers land killer blow to UK justice, says NICK FERRARI



IF IT wasn't so serious, it would make you roar with laughter. That we were unable to boot out of the country a "brutal" killer, a "devious" rapist, a child rapist, other sex offenders, and drug and gun dealers due to a faulty mobile phone mast is the stuff of comedy writers.




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Get tough, but don’t forget the workers, says NICK FERRARI



IT MADE for a testy moment on the radio. Home Secretary Priti Patel was on my breakfast show, proudly extolling the virtues of the new immigration system announced last week, with some its key cornerstones being that as of January next year, all migrants must have a job paying a minimum of £25,600 plus a certain level of qualifications and be able to speak English.




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Why must we still shame our heroes, says NICK FERRARI



HE'D BEEN a military hero. Serving with the 1st battalion of the Royal Highland Fusiliers, he'd survived being blown up at least once by the IRA and also served in Iraq.




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Eco-friendly? It just makes us eco-angry, says NICK FERRARI



THERE's yet more evidence that climate change protesters clearly believe there is nothing they can do nor protest they can stage that cannot be justified by the validity of their cause.




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Coronavirus is the one thing Boris couldn’t see coming, says NICK FERRARI



IT WAS achieved with almost military precision. A wall was breached and a platoon of trusted lieutenants and foot soldiers was unleashed on the nation, who were to perform brilliantly under continued fire.




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We need Churchill's spirit in this sad time, says NICK FERRARI



IT SIMPLY defies both belief and description. The coronavirus scare is like nothing anyone currently living on this planet has ever encountered - and we all need to get used to a world that will change forever. At the time of writing, both the number of those infected and, tragically, the tally of those who do not survive continue to rise sharply.




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Don't just applaud our NHS, help them, says NICK FERRARI



IT WAS the moment a nation came together to show its appreciation to an unbelievably brave group of people faced with an unenviable challenge.




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The country is staring at the worst economic slump in 300 years says NICK FERRARI



IF YOU'VE been fortunate not to have had restless nights or indeed nightmares during these hideous times, then surely the projected cost of the lockdown to the nation's economy must have resulted in troubled sleep?




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We need global unity, not a selfish scramble, says NICK FERRARI



AS IT seems that old saying "Cometh the hour, cometh the man" has never been more apt, it's also entirely reasonable to say the world has been extremely poorly served by a raft of groups and organisations that should have been there to help - but that have failed lamentably.




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Give us truth but let’s have good cheer too, says NICK FERRARI



ON COUNTLESS occasions on this page I've argued forcefully for, and supported journalists in, pursuing the truth with a rigorous and forensic determination. That's what we're put on Earth to do: to sit at the back of the room staring quizzically and sometimes snorting derisively as those in power tell us the truth as they see fit to present it. Our role is straightforward: holding to account those in power, however uncomfortable or ugly the consequences might be.




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BBC Learning English has changed!

Our website has changed and this RSS feed is stopping. You can subscribe to more Learning English feeds by using the links at the bottom of each page on our new site.




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Pensioners spend just FIVE years of their retirement in good health, warns new research



PENSIONERS spend just five years of their retirement in good health, warns new research.




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Turn hobbies into cash



RETIREMENT is not what it used to be, as growing numbers work beyond state pension age instead of putting their feet up.




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Five-minute guide to... Future of pensions dashboard



EVERYBODY is familiar with the concept of a dashboard, which gives the driver of a car or aircraft an at-a-glance view of all their controls, allowing them to plot a course and check on their progress.




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Pension scams: Victims lose £91,000 in pension fraud - How to avoid a pension scam



PENSION scam warnings have been issued by The Financial Conduct Authority and The Pensions Regulator after victims were scammed out of an average of £91,000. But how have people been duped by pension fraud?




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Pension news: UK sitting on £20BILLION ‘LOST pension mountain’ that could remain UNCLAIMED



A “JAW-DROPPING” 1.6 million lost pension pots worth nearly £20 billion are being left unclaimed, according to estimates from an insurance industry body. Savers are losing track of their pension stash due to job changes or moving house, with future retirees potentially missing out on staggering sums for their golden years.




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Millions of women to share pensions windfall



MILLIONS of women are in line for a pension boost following a landmark multi-billion pound High Court ruling. Lloyds Bank was told yesterday it had to equalise pensions benefits for men and women, in what could have huge consequences for thousands of companies.




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Retirement: Banks offer 'later life' mortgages to meet UK ageing population



MORE banks are now offering mortgages specifically designed for older borrowers and retirees, figures reveal. Lenders are clamouring to launch new products and change existing terms to meet an ageing population.




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EU’s super-Eurocrat Barnier is deluded – this is how to beat him, says FREDERICK FORSYTH



WE ARE told at every hand that dire misfortune will fall upon us if we do not capitulate to the Eurocrats and continue to make every trading concession needed by EU membership. Perhaps these ladies and gentlemen, oxygen-starved in their Brussels penthouses, could be apprised of some basic facts of life.




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How meddling officials were to blame for floods, says FREDERICK FORSYTH



No secret that this country has been experiencing rainfall of biblical proportions and that this has caused very widespread flooding of roads and towns, with consequent misery for everyone affected, many of whom are not even insured.




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This simple plan would save the best of the BBC, says FREDERICK FORSYTH



Both major parties complain about the BBC. They always have and they always will. On the one hand, they both demand impartiality - which means criticism where it is justified - and then complain bitterly when they are criticised.




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We were born free but Britons are now in chains, says FREDERICK FORSYTH



For decades, even centuries, we British have prided ourselves on being the free-est people in the world, subject only to the laws passed by our democratically elected parliament. But can we really go on preaching what has now become a canard?




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We’ll survive this because official pessimism is always wrong, says FREDERICK FORSYTH



IN A long lifetime I have never seen our old country in such a comprehensive mess. Health issues apart, our entire economy is being systematically dismantled. The damage being done will take a minimum 10 years to repair and parts of it will never return.




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Is virus really as bad as we are being told? says FREDERICK FORSYTH



THE GREAT majority of us like it when the things we are being told actually make sense. I certainly do. So when the scary bulletins and instructions pouring out of government do not do that, I experience "red light" syndrome.




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Why is the Government trusting the word of this ‘genius’, says FREDERICK FORSYTH



AMONG the many foolish vanities to which Mankind subscribes is the belief he can foretell the future. He has been trying since time immemorial. First there were chicken entrails, then animal bones, progressing to the stars, palms, crystal balls, tarot cards and tea leaves. All methods were consistent to 90 per cent - they were all bunkum and remain so. Now overtaking them all is the pseudo-scientist/boffin.




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The first mistake was to underestimate the coronavirus crisis, says FREDERICK FORSYTH



THERE is a fact of life that permits no rebuttal.