Exclusive: Reserves at public service arm drop 66% as broadcaster undertakes large cuts in effort to save £500m

The BBC has spent hundreds of millions of pounds of its cash reserves in a single year, increasing concerns at the corporation over the perilous state of its finances.

Cash reserves at the BBC’s public service arm slumped by 66% in the last financial year, from £369m in 2025 to just £125m, according to analysis by the Guardian. This is the lowest figure in the last decade of accounts.

• ‘Campus Collection’ aimed to mark 1893 club founding

• Range pulled from website two hours after launch

Oxford United have abandoned a new range of American style-sportswear after it inadvertently referenced the tragedy of September 11.

The League One club launched its new ‘Campus Collection’ on Friday morning and had removed it from sale by lunchtime, after clothing designs were revealed to bear the slogan ‘United 93’. The U’s immediately published an apology that admitted to a lack of understanding of “the historical context and associations” related to the branding and made “sincere apologies for this error and any offence caused.”

Rout raises questions about coordination and morale as some politicians claim billions of dollars were offered to persuade forces to abandon position

A bitter inquest is under way among Yemen’s anti-Houthi forces as to how what was being billed as a decisive assault on Sana’a, the Houthi-controlled capital, suddenly collapsed into a military rout.

More than 15 brigades were defeated as the country’s entire west coast fell into Houthi hands. Efforts are now being made to reorganise the anti-Houthi forces representing the UN-recognised Yemeni government in order to capture the Kahbob mountains, a strategic point from which to restrict Houthi forces moving closer to the crucial Bab al-Mandab strait.

Error first occurred at 10am but major incident was not declared until 12.30pm, says report

• Business live – latest updates

A software defect in part of the UK’s air traffic control system corrupted flight data “in the space of a millisecond”, leading to a six-hour outage and mass airline cancellations and delays across the UK last week, National Air Traffic Services has said.

But ministers said the Nats report into the incident still left questions unanswered, saying they needed “to urgently understand why this issue was not discovered and fixed before it caused chaos”.

Are you someone who thinks they have all the answers? Is your experience relevant here? Experts on the questions to ask yourself before giving advice

“Often, when people approach you for advice, they just want to talk about how they feel,” says Annalisa Barbieri, advice columnist for the Guardian for almost 20 years. For example, you might vent to a friend about your awful boss, and if they’re shocked it could confirm you’re being treated badly. “I also think people can have a lot of shame when things aren’t working out, and we like to share shame because it’s a hot potato of a feeling.” In other words, not every situation warrants advice. Sometimes, the person just wants to gauge a reaction or to share.

Het kabinetsbeleid om vooral heel snel en heel veel betaalbare woningen te bouwen, werkt zichzelf op sommige punten tegen. Onderzoekers rekenden uit wat de gevolgen zijn.

Het laatste dat fotograaf Lisa van den Berg (25) wilde, is dat de kinderen op haar foto’s er zielig uit zouden zien. Ze zijn wel ziek, net zoals zij was als kind. „In het ziekenhuis gaat het veel over jou, bijna niemand praat met jou. Ik deed dat wel, ik kwam voor hen.”

Walk into the first gallery of the group exhibition Thresholds at the Haggerty Museum of Art, and you’ll encounter dozens of hand brooms installed in long rows. Scraps of ribbons, cords, and braids in a vast array of colors and textures bind the small tools together, with raw branches from a fallen tree jutting from the top. Made during a participatory workshop this past July at Lynden Sculpture Garden, the sweepers are what artist Daniel Minter calls a “talisman, tool, and object of remembrance.”

Minter has long considered the spiritual dimension of the items we use in daily life. The broom, for example, has been an ongoing topic of inquiry as he questions what it means to cleanse and care for one’s space and self and how those acts of devotion are also ones that bring empowerment. It’s fitting that Minter sees his work as a service, a sort of public offering he can provide through sculpture, drawing, community projects, and more.

Based in Portland, Maine, for more than two decades, Minter was raised in Georgia during Jim Crow. He and his family lived across the street from a white-only swimming pool, and schools were segregated until the artist reached fourth grade. “When you start seeing the systems that create these inequalities, you also can begin to notice systems that empower you,” he says one morning over a video call. “You notice the systems that give you a stronger sense of yourself.”

One of the latter was his mother’s near constant singing and the artist’s own desire to create. As an adolescent, Minter would carve small sticks and paint signs for neighbors who needed them. He went on to study in illustration in college and today, still collaborates on the occasional children’s book. His work for Going Down Home with Daddy even won the prestigious Caldecott Medal.

At the Haggerty Museum, we witness Minter’s multi-faceted practice. In addition to the community-created display of brooms, the artist presents vibrant carved sculptures painted with stylized portraits and superimposed motifs. The figurative assemblages combine found objects with carefully selected materials that, as the artist sees it, become vessels for spiritual and ancestral knowledge.

“I came from a people with a long and complex tradition of creating exactly these kinds of tools—objects of communication and transformation,” Minter writes in a catalog essay for Thresholds, which pairs the museum’s holdings with the artist’s sculptures. “The objects and masks from the Haggerty Museum collection bring my work into direct contact with that timeless technology. They allow me to see my carving as a way of reconnecting with and continuing
a living system of communication with the spirits, the ancestors, the unseen.”

Minter is also intentional about setting the scene for such communion to occur. Nature is the foundation, and each wall within his part of the exhibition represents a different facet: blue for the ocean, red for fire and thunder, and green for the forest. Verdant settings also appear in the central, freestanding sculpture, which positions an abstract, totemic figure atop astroturf.

Typically presented outdoors or in a forest, the two-sided form is Minter’s way of instilling hope. “How do you find the things you need to see a future when the objects before you say different?” he asks. This sculpture is the artist’s answer to that question and way of offering peace to anyone who encounters the piece and is willing to listen to its message.

“Do objects transmit spirituality? No, they remind us of our spirituality. They allow us to translate. A particular object can remind you that you can think deeply and pass this obstacle that is in front of you,” he adds. “That’s a service.”

Thresholds is on view through December 19 at the Haggerty, which is part of Milwaukee’s Marquette University. Explore Minter’s practice on his website and Instagram.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Through Carved Wooden Assemblages, Daniel Minter Communes with the Spiritual appeared first on Colossal.

Uruguayan birder Juan Pablo Culasso, who was born blind, has been recording and collecting bird songs for more than two decades.

I think that because I’m blind, I enjoy birds differently. Bird songs are my way of appreciating and understanding this world.

Culasso is aided in his quest by his incredible sense of of hearing:

Culasso is blind, but his hearing is so acute (he has absolute pitch) he can identify over 3,000 components of birdsong and differentiate among more than 700 species in his native South America (he’s Uruguayan). Ten years ago, he won a $45,000 prize in a National Geographic competition by accurately identifying 15 random bird calls.

You can find dozens and dozens of his recordings on Spotify. Filmmaker Johnny Holder made a 22-minute documentary film that features Culasso called Sonora; you can watch it on Vimeo. (via the kid should see this)

Tags: birds · Juan Pablo Culasso · sound · video

DEN BOSCH (ANP) - De provincie Noord-Brabant neemt meer tijd om een besluit te nemen over het mogelijke intrekken van de vergunning van vijf pluimveebedrijven. De provincie wilde uiterlijk 1 oktober een ontwerpbesluit publiceren, maar stelt dat uit. Er wordt gesproken met de betrokken ondernemers en er is echt meer tijd nodig, aldus gedeputeerde Saskia Boelema (vergunningen).

Over de gevolgen van het loslaten van de datum van 1 oktober zei Boelema vrijdag niets. Partijen in de Brabantse Staten krijgen daar later informatie over, antwoordde ze op vragen van CDA, BBB, JA21 en PVV.

Die wilden ook weten hoe de gesprekken met de vijf pluimveehouders verlopen, maar die gesprekken zijn volgens Boelema vertrouwelijk. "Dit proces om te kijken of we tot een oplossing kunnen komen, heeft baat bij luwte en stilte."

Natura 2000-gebieden

De provincie kondigde deze zomer aan de vergunning van de vijf bedrijven te willen intrekken. De pluimveebedrijven liggen bij beschermde Natura 2000-gebieden waar nu veel stikstof terechtkomt.

Mobilisation for the Environment (MOB) wil dat de provincie daarop gaat handhaven en stapte naar de rechter. Die oordeelde dat de provincie maatregelen moet nemen, zodat de natuur niet verder achteruitgaat. De pluimveehouders maakten zelf plannen om de stikstofuitstoot te verminderen, maar volgens de provincie was dat niet voldoende. Het intrekken van de vergunning zag Brabant daardoor nog als enige optie.

Door de stikstofproblemen worden nu moeizaam vergunningen verleend voor bijvoorbeeld woningbouw en verduurzaming. Door de natuur te verbeteren, wil Noord-Brabant die vergunningverlening weer op gang brengen.

Nou en toen zei Geert IK VIND ROB STOM en toen zei Henk ja ik ook en toen zei Rob nou dan mag Henk niet meer op mijn feestje komen en toen zei Dilan maar ik wil juist dat Henk wel op je feestje komt Rob en nu heeft Rob met Henk gepraat maar Rob heeft Henk nog steeds niet uitgenodigd maar Dilan gaat wel met Henk bellen en het mooie is juist dat we nu eindelijk van dat kinderachtige gedoe van het kabinet-Schoof af zijn.

Henk huilt uit bij Bassiehof

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo: