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Effluent discharge ruining waters, says adventurer
Ray Mears has said he would not canoe in some of the UK’s rivers because they are so polluted. The adventurer made his career teaching bushcraft and survival techniques, but in an interview with the i newspaper he lamented the state of British waterways. He said: “I have seen rivers full of effluent, bubbling like they are full of detergent. It’s heartbreaking. I’m a canoeist and there are some rivers I wouldn’t put a canoe in to paddle on, which is how bad it is in some places. One of the joys for me is to make a canoe trip in wild places and at the end of the day’s
hard paddling is to literally jump in and swim and to feel nature envelop me, and I think that’s magical. We should have those opportunities.”
Mears said rivers are part of the “poetry” and “psyche” of the UK and that we have a hardwired, spiritual need to be by water. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it has increased transparency of sewage discharges by making water companies monitor and publish more data on overflows.
Inquiry into Channel ferry fire
An investigation has been launched into the cause of a fire that broke out on a ferry in the English Channel. Three lifeboats from Kent and a French tug were deployed in the Channel on Friday evening after a fire started on a ferry with nearly 200 people on board. HM Coastguard has said it was alerted to a blaze in the engine room of the Isle of Innisfree just after 5.30pm.
Irish Ferries, the boat’s operator, said there were 94 passengers and 89 crew members on board, who are all “safe and accounted for”. The boat was midway through its journey from Dover to Calais when the fire began. Irish Ferries said the lifeboats were despatched as a “precautionary measure” and the Isle of Innisfree is now “safely at anchor”.
Former Sinn Fein general secretary O’Hare dies at 80
The veteran republican Rita O’Hare has died at the age of 80. The Belfast-born activist, who was involved in the early civil rights movement in Northern Ireland, became one of the most high-profile on-the-run republicans during the Troubles, fleeing the region in 1972 having been arrested and bailed in connection with the attempted murder of a soldier. She was later jailed for three years in the Republic of Ireland for involvement in an IRA arms smuggling bid.
The former editor of republican newspaper An Phoblacht said Ms O’Hare held several senior roles with Sinn Fein, including general secretary and director of publicity. She also spent two
decades in the United States as Sinn Fein’s senior representative across the Atlantic. In later years, she lived in Dublin.
Mescal met Kidman in ‘sweaty underwear’
Paul Mescal has spoken about an unexpected visit he received from Nicole Kidman after performing in a London theatre. The Irish actor is currently playing Stanley Kowalski in Rebecca Frecknall’s revival of Tennessee William’s classic play, A Streetcar Named Desire. Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Thursday, Mescal recalled greeting the Australian actor in nothing but his “sweaty underwear” after the play one night. “We heard a knock on the [dressing room] door, and we thought it was the stage manager or something, and I go to open the door,” the actor recalled, “and it’s Nicole Kidman, and I’m standing there in, like, sweaty underwear.”
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