Israel-Gaza warIsraeli hostages’ families storm Knesset meeting to demand their returnProtesters call for Israeli government to do more to secure release of loved ones, as south of Gaza sees worst violence since war began
Middle East crisis – live updates Family members of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip have stormed a parliamentary meeting in Jerusalem to demand that Israel’s government does more to return their loved ones, as fighting in Khan Younis reached unprecedented levels. Read More...
InsectsPest caterpillar helicopter spraying goes ahead despite local residents' concernsSpraying of west Berkshire woodland to kill oak processionary moth could affect local allotments and other speciesA helicopter will spray insecticide on woodland in west Berkshire on Wednesday in a bid to destroy an infestation of pest caterpillars, despite complaints that not enough has been done to consult local residents.
After 1pm, if the weather is suitable, a Forestry Commission team will spend 10-15 minutes using aerial spraying to eradicate the caterpillars of the oak processionary moth (Thaumetopoea processionea), which defoliates oaks and whose thousands of hairs cause itchy rashes upon contact with people. Read More...
Carol Rumens's poem of the weekPoetryPoem of the week: Antidotes to Fear of Death by Rebecca ElsonAn intense engagement with mortality, by a young writer taken too soon, blends religious and scientific imagery
Antidotes to Fear of Death
Sometimes as an antidote
To fear of death,
I eat the stars.
Those nights, lying on my back,
I suck them from the quenching dark
Til they are all, all inside me, Read More...
