From the top lollipop person to the most dedicated convenience store managers, we celebrate the winners of the year’s most unusual accolades
Michael Leech, from Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, has been named the UK bus driver of the year
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© Photograph: First Bus
© Photograph: First Bus
© Photograph: First Bus
As casualties mount, recruitment is expanding. Three women talk about why they signed up for a brutal combat environment
Women have been involved in Ukraine’s drone operations since the early months of the full-scale invasion, but as shortages in the military increase their presence has grown, particularly in FPV (first-person-view) attack units.
Casualty figures are not disclosed but widely understood to be high, and Ukraine is becoming reliant on civilians to fill roles that once belonged to trained military personnel. A short but intensive 15-day course is given to a trainee operator for frontline deployment, a turnaround that reflects the urgent need.
Indoor and outdoor training courses set up for trainee pilots at a drone school
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© Photograph: Gaby Schuetze
© Photograph: Gaby Schuetze
© Photograph: Gaby Schuetze
Environmental charity Fidra says 168 of 195 SSSIs it surveyed are contaminated with tiny pellets
Plastic nurdles have been found in 84% of important nature sites surveyed in the UK.
Nurdles are tiny pellets that the plastics industry uses to make larger products. They were found in 168 of 195 sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs), so named because of the rare wildlife they harbour. They are given extra protections in an effort to protect them from pollution.
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© Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images
© Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images
Chancellor to set out tax and spending plans shaped by weak productivity, high borrowing costs and cost of living crisis
Rachel Reeves will unveil her make-or-break autumn budget on Wednesday, after months of speculation over tax rises.
In a critical speech in the Commons, with the government under intense pressure, the chancellor is expected to announce tax and spending measures aimed at plugging a multibillion-pound shortfall in the public finances.
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© Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images
© Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images
© Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images
In Fritzi’s Footsteps tells story of a girl growing up in Leipzig who witnesses the fall of the Berlin Wall
The creators of a children’s television series about life in communist East Germany have said they hope it will awaken interest in the region’s history, after it was awarded an International Emmy.
Auf Fritzis Spuren (In Fritzi’s Footsteps) tells the story of a 12-year-old girl living in the eastern city of Leipzig and how she experiences life in the east and the events that lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
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© Photograph: Balance Film / MDR / WDR
© Photograph: Balance Film / MDR / WDR
© Photograph: Balance Film / MDR / WDR
This update of the 1995 documentary series is utterly authoritative. And its tweak of the Fab Four’s songs is a thing of wonder – their music absolutely thumps!
It would be wrong to go into The Beatles Anthology expecting another Get Back. Peter Jackson’s 2021 documentary did such a miraculous job of recontextualising the glum old footage from Let It Be, by setting it against an ingenious ticking clock device and expanding it out to become a maximalist feelgood avalanche, that it felt like you were watching something entirely new.
But The Beatles Anthology is not new. If you saw the original series on television in 1995, or on YouTube at any point since, you’ll know what you’re in for. It is almost the exact same thing, only the images are sharper and the sound is better.
The Beatles Anthology is on Disney+ now.
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© Photograph: PR
© Photograph: PR
© Photograph: PR
What does it mean to lose a language? And what does it take to save it? Those were the big questions being asked in Barcelona recently
There’s an Irish saying, tír gan teanga, tír gan anam: a country without a language is a country without a soul. Representatives of some of Europe’s estimated 60 minority languages – or minoritised, as they define them – met in Barcelona recently to discuss what it means to lose a language, and what it takes to save it.
Language diversity is akin to biodiversity, an indicator of social wellbeing, but some of Europe’s languages are falling into disuse. Breton, for example, is dying out because its speakers are dying, and keeping languages alive among young people is challenging in an increasingly monolingual digital world.
Stephen Burgen is a freelance writer who reports on Spain
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© Photograph: James Veysey/Shutterstock
© Photograph: James Veysey/Shutterstock
© Photograph: James Veysey/Shutterstock
As the Therapeutic Goods Administration takes action, what should you do until the rules come into force?
Australia’s drug regulator has ordered that supplements with high levels of vitamin B6 be removed from general sale in response to hundreds of reports of nerve damage and other side-effects linked to long-term use.
From June 2027 any vitamin B6 product containing more than 50mg in each recommended daily dose will be moved behind the pharmacy counter. The recommended dietary intake of vitamin B6 for a healthy adult is just 1.3mg to 1.7mg a day.
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© Photograph: Brian Hagiwara/Getty Images
© Photograph: Brian Hagiwara/Getty Images
© Photograph: Brian Hagiwara/Getty Images
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