Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware®

Founded in 2010, The Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award bills itself as "the richest prize for a single short story in the English language." And indeed, the prize is major: the winner receives a cool £30,000 (no, I did not add extra zeroes.)

With judges yet to be finalized, the selection process will include a 20-story longlist announced in May 2020, a six-story shortlist unveiled in June 2020, and the winner revealed on July 2. The shortlisted stories will be published in an Audible audiobook, with included writers receiving "an extra £1,000 fee, on top of a prize payment of £1,000". To be eligible, writers must previously have had at least one work published in the UK or Ireland by an "established print publisher or an established printed magazine" (the Terms and Conditions include an extensive list of the kinds of publishers and magazines that don't qualify). The contest is open for entries until 6:00 pm on December 13.

You can read more about the award, including the prestigious judges who've participated and the well-known writers who've submitted stories, here.

So what's the catch? -- because you know I wouldn't be writing this post if there weren't one. Well, as so often happens, it's in the Terms and Conditions. Specifically:


To summarize this dense paragraph: simply by entering the competition, you are granting a sweeping, non-expiring license not just to Times Newspapers Limited (The Sunday Times' parent company), but also to Audible and any other licensees of TNL, to use your story or any part of it in any way they want, anywhere in the world, without payment to or permission from you.

This is far from the first time I've written about "merely by entering you grant us rights forever" clauses in the guidelines of literary contests, some of them from major publishers or companies that should know better. Sure, in this case the license is non-exclusive, so you could sell your story elsewhere--but only as a reprint, because by granting non-exclusive rights to one company, you remove your ability to grant first rights to another, at least for as long as the initial rights grant is in force.

It's not uncommon for literary contests that involve publication to bind all entrants to a uniform license or grant of rights--so that, when winners are chosen, the license is already in place. But ideally, the license should immediately expire for entries that are removed from consideration--or, if the contest sponsor wants to retain the right to consider any entered story for publication (as TNL clearly does--see Clause 4.2, below), rights should be released within a reasonable period of time after the contest finishes--say, three or six months. There's simply no good reason to make a perpetual claim on rights just in case, at some unspecified point in the future, you might just possibly want to use them.

Not to mention--why should Audible get to make this same claim?

There's a couple of other things to be aware of. Shortlisted authors enter into a 12-month exclusive contract with Audible, for which they are given a "one-off" lump-sum payment (the £1,000 noted above). But thereafter, Audible retains the right "to record, distribute and market such audio version for at least ten (10) years." Again, this right is non-exclusive--but there's no indication that Audible has to pay these authors for potentially exploiting their work for a decade. (If you don't consent to these terms, you can't be shortlisted.)


Finally, although publication is guaranteed only for the shortlist, TNL reserves the right to publish longlist and non-listed entries as well. Great! Except...there's nothing to suggest these writers would be paid either.


There's no question that this is a prestigious--and, for the winner, rich--award. But sober evaluation is definitely in order here. Enter at your own risk.

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware®

BookExpo (formerly known as BookExpo America, but still referred to as BEA) is the US's leading publishing industry event. Attended by publishers, agents, booksellers, retailers, librarians, and people and companies from all aspects of the book trade, it's an opportunity for industry professionals to network, do business, and learn about new trends, titles, and opportunities in the book world.

Although BEA doesn't happen until May 27 this year, it's not too soon for industry professionals to begin planning for attendance. It's also not too soon for authors to start receiving solicitations--by phone and by email--to buy expensive services and packages that supposedly will give their books visibility at the fair.

Here's what author and editor Jane Friedman has to say about paying to display at BEA. (Jane's website is an amazingly comprehensive and useful resource on all aspects of writing and publishing; you should definitely bookmark it.)

Aside from the Author Market [a designated area of the exhibit floor where self-published authors can buy display space], there are a handful of opportunities for authors to get visibility for their work at BEA. As far as I’m concerned—as someone who attended this show for 10 years, mainly as an editor with a traditional publishing house—it is not worth the investment. Here’s why.

The emphasis of the show is on traditional publishing, rights sales and pre-publication marketing, and does not favor indie title promotion. It is a New York industry event where traditional publishing insiders talk to other traditional publishing insiders. Yes, there are librarians and booksellers, but they’re rarely paying attention to the places where an indie book may be showcased or promoted.

Nobody is going to notice your book there. Your book is likely to be promoted with many other books, with no way of attracting attention even if someone did pause for a second within 50 feet of your book. Imagine setting a copy of your book down in the world’s largest book fair, and expecting someone to not only notice it, but be entranced by it so much they can ignore 10,000 other things happening at the same time.

If you—the author—are not present to advocate for it, your book doesn’t stand a chance. Services that offer to promote your book at BEA are rarely, if ever, hand-selling or promoting your book in a meaningful way. But they will be happy to cash your check and say that your book had a “presence” at BEA. If you want to satisfy your ego, go ahead. But it’s not going to lead to meaningful sales. (I challenge anyone in the comments to provide evidence that a self-published book gained traction at BEA because the author paid a fee to secure placement—and the author was not present.)

I'll add a fourth consideration: You will likely be hugely overcharged, especially by companies that sell book fair packages, or re-sell the exhibit services of others.

SOLICITATIONS YOU MAY ENCOUNTER


1. You may already have received an email from the Combined Book Exhibit's New Title Showcase. The CBE, an area of standing bookshelves outside the entrance to the BEA display floor, offers display packages for a few hundred dollars. For a few hundred more, you can buy an ad in its catalog; for many hundreds more, you can buy an autographing session.

Your book will be placed on a shelf with hundreds of others, in no particular order: there are no separate areas for genres, for instance. I've attended BEA many times, and the CBE is often completely deserted, with not a customer or a staff person in sight. I've never seen more than a handful of people browsing it at any one time. There is definitely no handselling involved.

A number of predatory marketing companies re-sell CBE services for enormous markups. The CBE is aware of this, and has posted a warning on its website (it's no coincidence that all the companies named in the warning appear on the scam list in the sidebar of this blog).

2. If you've chosen an assisted self-publishing company, you may be encouraged to buy presence in their BEA booth.

The Author Solutions imprints sell BEA as part of a package that includes several fairs and costs nearly $3,000. (What do you get for that? Basically, a spot on a shelf, higglety-pigglety in among an unknown number of other books by writers no one has heard of). Xulon Press sells BEA on its own, but with multiple options for spending big bucks, from shelf space only ($599) to a "Boutique High Top Table with 30 Books" ($1,999--do you get to take the table home?).

Outskirts Press re-sells CBE services--for over $150 more than you'd pay if you dealt with CBE directly.

3. Vanity publishers (yes, vanity publishers do attend and display at BEA and other fairs) may offer their authors the "opportunity" for BEA presence--at extra (possibly significantly extra) cost.

Here's my post about SterlingHouse, a vanity publisher that is now defunct but in its heyday charged its authors as much as $9,500 for BEA display of their books, signings, and other perks. (As Jane indicates above, being present to advocate for your book may make a difference--but $9,500 worth? Even if the author sold all 150 books included in the package, they wouldn't come close to making that money back.)

Here's one of the many BEA-related solicitations with which the late, unlamented PublishAmerica bombarded its authors:


4. Some unscrupulous literary agents sell slots in catalogs or portfolios that they claim to bring to BEA, supposedly to market to publishers.

Examples of this scheme that I've seen involve fees of anywhere from $150 to four figures (here's one that charges $300). If your agent is the kind of agent who exploits clients in this way, they are not the kind of agent who has contacts with publishers.

This sort of thing is far less common than it used to be, thank goodness (there are fewer literary agent scams in general, thanks to self-publishing and the many small presses that deal directly with authors), but it's still a ripoff. Don't do it.

5. The most aggressive solicitations--especially by phone--come from unscrupulous or scammy marketing companies.

Services run from the basic--a spot on a shelf in a not-always-very-professional-looking display area (you have to supply the book)--to basic with perks--mostly junk marketing, like press releases, a listing in the company's proprietary magazine, and a "post fair fulfillment report"--to elaborate packages that include an autographing session.

Prices I've seen range from $750 for shelf space only, to mid-four figures for signing packages. For instance, here's Stonewall Press's deluxe offering, which doesn't even include author presence. Note the effort to create faux urgency by pretending that space is limited.


Looking for a bargain? AuthorCentrix is a tad more economical--here are its 2019 BEA packages. The "standard" doesn't include a badge, which would add around $400 to the total.


BOOK FAIR RIPOFFS AREN'T LIMITED TO BEA

Multiple predatory marketing companies and PR services hawk book fair presence to authors. It's one of the most common marketing solicitations you'll receive. Why? Because it's insanely lucrative--for the predator.

The photo below is last year's BEA booth for publishing and marketing scammer URLink Print and Media.


More than 100 books can be counted in this photo. All the authors have paid to be there. URLink also sells ad space in a 50-page catalog, with most of the pages listing eight book per page. Writers have bought the banners shown in the photo, and others have paid to host signings. Still others have bought ads and features in URLink's fake magazine, Harbinger Post, which sits in piles on a table on the off chance someone picks one up.

The minimum cost for any of these "services" is several hundred dollars, with more elaborate packages running into the mid-four figures (see the examples above). From one book fair, a company like URLink can gross well over $100,000--a considerable profit, even taking into account the cost of booth rental, travel, and badges. Now multiply that by multiple book fairs attended per year.

The Miami Book Fair, which along with BEA is one of the fairs most frequently targeted by marketing scammers, appears to be aware of the exploitation, and provides a warning.

THE TAKEAWAY

My feeling about book fairs is the same as Jane Friedman's: book fairs are not the best place for authors to self-promote. If you do decide to attend, do it with the aim of learning and having fun--not getting "discovered"--and don't pay someone else to take you or your books there. At best, you'll get little return on your money. At worst, you'll be ripped off.

Since I started Radio Free Burrito Presents several weeks ago, lots of you have asked me if I would narrate something by HP Lovecraft. I love the Cthulhu mythos, but […]

On Thursday, the country reported its largest one-day increase in new cases of 11,231 — yet President Putin already has his eyes on reopening.

A huge carcass, suspected to be of a Blue Whale, washed ashore in Kegaon village in Navi Mumbai's Uran yesterday. The 13.10-metre decomposed carcass was discovered by locals, after which authorities were alerted. According to the deputy conservator of forests (Mangroves Cell), the whale measured 8.30 metres from tail to fin.

N Vasudevan, additional principal chief conservator of forests, told mid-day that there could be several reasons why the whale was washed ashore and it would be difficult to point to one.

"It must have died before reaching the shore. There is no major injury on the body. The place is rocky and machines can't go there, so it's problematic to dispose it. We are trying to use boats to drag it to another location. The other option would be to cut and remove the flesh and retain the skeleton," he said. Vasudevan added that a team from the Mangroves Cell has been dispatched to the site and will take a final call on what to do.

13.10m
Length of the carcass

Also Read: 42-Feet Long Bryde's Whale's Carcass Washes Ashore At Talashil Beach

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Fact that Aparshakti Khurana has emerged as one of the ultimate social media buzz makers amidst the lockdown. After initiating digital antakshari, he started interactive Instagram Lives, brand collaborations, musical series called #InstaMusic and even featured in a special Lockdown Anthem video alongside various YouTubers.

With so much on, it won't be wrong to call Khurana the most entertaining and engaging celeb on social media currently. Taking his creativity to another level this time around, Aparshakti has shared his first-ever audio short film - Hisaab Barabar on Instagram which he wanted to present back from his Radio days.

The plot revolves around a girl called Suhani and her schoolmate Rinku, revealing how after disliking each other all these years during school, they end up falling in love with each other. Hisaab Barabar is already winning hearts, thanks to its beautiful storyline and Aparshakti's brilliance at storytelling. He does not just leave you smiling but makes you believe and see these two characters when you're just hearing about them. Well, that truly is the real art of narrating stories on audio.

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Aparshakti Khurana (@aparshakti_khurana) onApr 18, 2020 at 3:30am PDT

 

The multi-talented star shared Hisaab Barabar on his handle saying, "For those who don’t know, I was working at a radio station 5 years ago and was working on a pilot of my new audio show but destiny had other plans and Dangal happened (which I am grateful of till date), because of which I had to leave the pilot midway. The idea of this audio show was so close to my heart that it continued to linger in my mind for the last 5 years. One of the segments was to be called YEH DILLI HAI MERE YAAR, where in I would have released one audio short film every Friday. Coming up is a story called Hisaab Barabar which is written and voiced by me. Just FYI, I might not have patience and energy to write and voice more stories but I shall try only if you like this one [sic]."

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Shah Rukh and Gauri Khan's daughter, Suhana, may not have yet entered Bollywood, but she still is a well-known star kid who has a huge fan following already. Suhana Khan recently made her acting debut in a short film titled The Grey Part Of Blue, written and directed by Theodore Gimeno. In the film, Suhana is cast as a happy young girl.

Now, in a series of BTS photos and videos shared by Gimeno on Instagram, you can see that Suhana Khan had a lot of fun while shooting for her debut acting venture. She can be seen laughing and just having a good time with her co-star and crew.

Sharing the BTS footage, Gimeno wrote, "I just released the BEHIND THE SCENES video to my short film The Grey Part of Blue. You guys highly requested it so here it is! It is live now!"

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

I just released the BEHIND THE SCENES video to my short film The Grey Part of Blue. You guys highly requested it so here it is! It is live now! (LINK IN BIO) Here are some teasers btw! This video is super special to me as I now finally share how we made The Grey Part of Blue. The real thing! So yeah, rush to my bio. Show as much love as you want, share it around! Everything! And maybe you’ll want to watch the short film again 🙃 Love you guys, take care during these weird times! Big love to the whole crew, the team, the friends❤️ #thegreypartofblue

A post shared by Theodore Gimeno (@theodoregimeno) onApr 22, 2020 at 9:11am PDT

The Grey Part Of Blue is about a couple, played by Suhana and her co-star Robin Gonella, who set out on a two-day road trip to meet Suhana's parents. During the trip, certain situations force them to face truths about life, love and their relationship. The 10.05-minute fiction film was released on YouTube.

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Microsoft

The fast-emerging field of Artificial Intelligence, which has suddenly caught the attention of the IT industry and the governments across the world, is facing a large skills shortage, a top Microsoft official has said.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also facing the challenge of appropriate use of data, group programme manager of Microsoft Learning Matt Winkler told PTI.

"There is a pretty large skills shortage. Lots of folks are talking about it (AI). A lot of folks are very, very excited about it and then they want to go and make that real. And when they go to make that real, there's a really large skills shortage," Winkler said.

That's why it's so exciting to be trying to bring these technologies to more developers because it's going to bring more people into the mix, he said. Winkler said the second challenge is really around data.

"How do you get the data in the right shape? How do you prepare the data? Because all of the AI in the world is based on data, and so what makes it interesting is the data that you have, the data that your business has, that what you understand about your customers. So how do you most effectively use that data to go and produce models," he said.

Then within kind of any individual product project, one of the key challenges is the same thing that the industry has seen with software, which is, if one tries and do too much, the project gets much harder.

"And so we'll often times see failed projects, which are the result of trying to create just the most amazing thing having done nothing," he said.

At the recently concluded developers conference ¿ Build 2018 ¿ Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella talked about how to make AI accessible for everyone.

"Our guidance to a lot of customers to pick a domain and pick a used case where you have a high, high-quality data and that it is really well understood. Start there, get some wins with that and then start expanding the use cases so far," Winkler said.

Microsoft is partnering with multiple players in both the private and governmental sectors to use AI for public good.

"Absolutely, AI is being used for public good. For instance, it is being used in school districts in order to predict drop-out rates in India.

"We see a ton of healthcare applications: patient re-admission rates is very very popular one. We have seen medical image analysis. We are doing some really interesting work doing diabetes prediction through scans of retinas," Winkler said.
Microsoft is working with the Snow Leopard Trust, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the preservation of the snow leopard and parts of Nepal and India to analyse in real time the presence of snow leopards.

"So it's fundamentally changed the way they do their research," he said, adding that the Microsoft is working with three-four other conservation agencies doing similar things.

"For a lot of the customers, what AI is enabling is not just an incremental... but It's something they fundamentally couldn't do before. So it really does introduce a step change for the things that they want to do in their business," Winkler added.

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India post – a subsidiary of the Ministry of Communications – stepped in to help the residents of Madh Island, after a report in mid-day highlighted their plight regarding cash. They had been plagued by dysfunctional ATMs since the national lockdown was announced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But very few transactions were successful, since most residents didn't have their active mobile numbers linked to their Aadhaar cards — which is a must for availing the service.

After reading mid-day's April 26 report, India Post sent a team of three postmen to the area on Monday, to provide door-to-door cash withdrawal services — at no extra charge — via their mobile phones. Using their government-authorised mobile phones, these postmen helped residents withdraw money from their bank accounts and handed the cash to them—provided their bank accounts and active mobile phone numbers were linked to their Aadhaar accounts. Although a handful of residents were able to carry out successful transactions, a majority of residents could not avail the service since either their active phone numbers were not linked to their Aadhaar cards or their bank accounts.

One postman = 1 micro ATM
Speaking to mid-day, Saranya U, senior superintendent of Post Office of Mumbai North Division (under whose jurisdiction Madh Island falls), said that each of the postmen deployed for this service is equipped with government-approved mobile phones that are pre-loaded with the India Post Payment Bank (IPPB), as well as a biometric scan device that can be connected to the mobile phone. "For us, each postman acts like a micro ATM. Using their mobile phones, each of them could enable people to withdraw up to R50,000 from their bank accounts," she said. This limit was extended from R10,000 to R50,000 in the light of the COVID-19 situation.

She explained that a person had to simply run their biometric fingerprint scan through the device connected to the postman's mobile phone (Aadhaar requires thumbprints to cross-confirm). "If a bank account has been linked to the Aadhaar account, then money can be withdrawn from that account. The person's current active mobile number is also required since an OTP will be sent to it. Another step also includes authenticity confirmation from UIDAI," she said.

If all these criteria are fulfilled, people can withdraw money from the comfort of their homes. "However, we were able to distribute only R11,000 in total because most people either don't have their Aadhaar or active mobile numbers linked to their bank accounts. We carried out a total of 25 transactions, but only 4 of them were successful," said Saranya, adding that India Post's door-to-door cash withdrawal service is more popular in rural areas.

'It was easy'
India Post also reached out to Manisha Suryavanshi, a resident who is disabled with polio in a leg, and was mentioned in the mid-day report. "I was surprised to see them. They ran me through the entire process… and I got the amount instantly in my hands. I also received a debit message on my mobile phone…it was easy and we were not charged for the service," she said.

4
No. of successful transactions

25
No. of total transactions attempted

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Hina Khan is the classic example of been there, done that. In a career spanning over a decade, the actor has dabbled in fictional shows, reality TV and web series. Now, she has appeared in her first short film, Smartphone, available on the Ullu App. The short film has her essaying the role of a homemaker. The actor believes the film's message of women empowerment drew her in. "Suman [her character] showcases true women power. The film highlights how one should not underestimate anybody," she says.

If the story struck a chord with her, working with Akshay Oberoi and Kunaal Roy Kapoor was an enriching experience as they fed off each other's creative energies. "There's always something interesting to pick up from the way your co-actor works on himself during a shoot. We all learnt something from one another whether it was during our rehearsals or over conversations about our respective characters."

Hina Khan

Few actors can boast an easy transition from legacy television to streaming, but Khan believes every medium has been instrumental in helping her grow as a performer. "Every medium has been kind to me. After television where I was a part of some amazing shows [including Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai and Kasautii Zindagii Kay], digital entertainment and films gave me a grand welcome with Damaged 2 and Hacked respectively. At the moment, OTT platforms are producing impressive content. The diversity [they offer] is enriching for an actor."

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Who said only Bollywood actors and filmmakers can recall the precious and priceless moments of their lives on social media amid this lockdown? Singers can have their moments of glory and nostalgia too. We are talking about Alka Yagnik, one of the biggest names of the Hindi film industry for the last three decades.

Taking to her Instagram account, she shared a candid and fun moment with the legendary and iconic singer, Kishore Kumar dressed as an Arab. And this is how she has described this classic throwback picture. "V v fond n precious fun moments with my all time Favourite Kishore da... dressed like an Arab here.... upto his antics as always ... Blessed to have sung with n spent time with him... Love u forever Kishore da" (sic)

Have a look right here:

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

V v fond n precious fun moments with my all time Favourite Kishore da... dressed like an Arab here.... upto his antics as always 🤣... Blessed to have sung with n spent time with him... Love u forever Kishore da 🙏🙏😃💖🙏🌺🙏💖😃!!!

A post shared by Alka Yagnik (@therealalkayagnik) onMay 5, 2020 at 3:37am PDT

And another singer who has been massively popular for over 25 years is Sonu Nigam, who had a story to tell on this moment. He also shared the same picture on his account and wrote- "This was in Muscat where they had gone with Kishore Kumar ji. Kishore Kumar ji wanted to dress up like an Arab and have Alka ji, Sapna Mukherjee ji and Sadhana Sargam ji as his daasiyan." (sic)

Have a look once again:

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

What a precious picture sent to me by @therealalkayagnik ji! This was in Muscat where they had gone with Kishore Kumar ji. Kishore Kumar ji wanted to dress up like an Arab and have Alka ji, Sapna Mukherjee ji and Sadhana Sargam ji as his daasiyan. Thank you Alka ji for sending this picture to me. 😇

A post shared by Sonu Nigam (@sonunigamofficial) onMay 5, 2020 at 3:59am PDT

Kishore Kumar's contribution to Hindi Cinema can never be forgotten and almost all the singers have been inspired by his journey and success. And as far as the era of the 90s is concerned, it was truly made memorable by Alka Yagnik and Sonu Nigam. They truly don't make like them anymore!

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Jyoti Amge, the world's shortest woman, has appealed to the people here to remain indoors amid the nationwide lockdown enforced to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Dressed in pink top and black boots, Amge, who is just 62.8 centimetres tall, was seen making announcements on the loudspeaker pertaining to the preventive measures to be taken to fight COVID-19 while standing on the bonnet of a police vehicle on Monday.

Maharashtra: World's smallest living woman, Jyoti Amge along with Nagpur Police spread awareness on #Coronavirus and appealed people to stay indoors. (13.4) pic.twitter.com/W1bzeXnfA4

— ANI (@ANI) April 14, 2020

Amge, who was wearing a face mask, was accompanied by a couple of policemen during the awareness drive. Amge has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia and is the world's shortest woman, according to the Guinness World Records.

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This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

It seems like English actor and businesswoman Elizabeth Hurley is taking some time to soak up the nice weather amid self-isolation. The 54-year-old British model took to Instagram on Friday to share a photo of herself. She was seen rocking a hot pink bikini top featuring gold chain detailing from her swimsuit line paired with denim shorts while she stood outside, raising her arms in the air.

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

Spring has sprung #stayhome 😘

A post shared by Elizabeth Hurley (@elizabethhurley1) onApr 24, 2020 at 12:11pm PDT

Hurley captioned the picture as, "Spring has sprung #stayhome," reminding her social media followers to continue to social distance amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

She has been quarantined in her Herefordshire country home alongside eight other family members, including her 18-year-old son Damian and widowed mother Angela.

Earlier this month, the star opened up about what it was like living with her relatives, comparing it to a '70s series 'The Waltons". It followed a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression.

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This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever

The head of the English Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) has raised the possibility of playing shorter matches to lighten the load on players if the season can restart. English clubs remain committed to completing the campaign despite severe concerns over player welfare. Players could be tested up to three times a week and be forced to stay quarantined in hotels away from their families for a number of weeks to help limit the risk of them becoming infected with coronavirus. With 92 matches in the Premier League season still to be played, players could have little preparatory time to work on their fitness in group training before being rushed back into playing twice a week.

FIFA have proposed increasing the number of substitutes allowed per side from three to five to also lessen the risk of fatigue and injuries for players on their return. "Safety has to be paramount," PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor told the BBC. "We don't know the future. What we do know is what propositions have been put, what ideas have been put, the possibility of having more substitutes, games possibly not being the full 45 minutes each way.

"There's talks of neutral stadiums. There's been lots of things being put forward. "Try and wait and see what the proposals are, and then have the courtesy to let the managers and coaches and players also assimilate all those and come to a considered view." The Premier League's "Project Restart" has been met with some resistance over plans for all remaining games to take place at up to 10 neutral venues.

The remaining matches would need to be played behind closed doors, but there are fears fans could congregate around stadiums. Some top-flight clubs have argued that under those circumstances there should be no relegation as the sporting integrity of the competition is compromised. However, chairman of the English Football League (EFL) Rick Parry said denying promotion to three Championship clubs would end up in legal battles.

"The lawyers are going to get wealthy if that happens," Parry told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee on Tuesday. "There would be a degree of outrage from a number of clubs in our Championship, and it would be a breach of the tripartite agreement. "The safe answer is that it would get very messy. Our expectation is there would be three clubs promoted from the Championship."

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On the stage at the majestic Royal Opera House, artistes take their seat in a semicircle for what is an unusual gathering. At the centre is British radio and television presenter Nikki Bedi, who, along with familiarising her guests with the flow of the show is also breaking the ice between participants. They are here to record The Arts Hour, a BBC radio production that goes on a tour once a month to capture the best in arts across the world. The Mumbai edition airs today.

Actor Bhumi Pednekar (with Nikki Bedi to her right) calls out the boors behind Padmavati protests. Pics/Pic/Bipin Kokate

In the city on the evening of November 22, the researchers have picked six artistes who they feel best represent the dynamic cultural scene of the city. Flanking Bedi are film critic and director of the Mumbai Film Festival Anupama Chopra, and actor Bhumi Pednekar. Seated next to them are stand-up comedian, screenwriter and novelist Anuvab Pal, and Shamir Reuben, head of content and social media at the spoken word collective, Kommune. On either side of the stage, fine-tuning their arrangements are the popular Hindi rock ensemble Anand Bhaskar Collective and pop duo from Kolkata — with a big fan following in Mumbai — Parekh & Singh in signature fruity suits. "The show is a way of seeing a people and their culture, and understanding their politics and issues through the prism of art. Stand-up comedy and spoken word are burgeoning fields in Mumbai. There is also a sea change in the kind of subjects that Indian cinema is choosing. Issues like sanitation, erectile dysfunction and fat shaming are not just making it to film, they are also managing to attract audiences into theatres," says Bedi about why it was a good time to come to Mumbai.

Nischay Parekh readies to perform the band's hit song

For this edition's research, Bedi, who was born a Moolgaokar and has roots in Mumbai, played the fact checker for producer Nicki Paxman along with providing other insider inputs. A regular feature of the show, The Culture Cab, involves the presenter hailing a cab with an artiste who then takes her around the city to explore it like a local. Though her Mumbai guide was Pal, with whom she explored the splash of global colours at the ongoing Sassoon Docks art project and the murals of Bandra, Bedi shared her favourite part of the city with him, too — Walkeshwar's Banganga.

Throughout the recording that lasted two and a half hours, the team's homework kept the conversation alive and relevant. Bedi, a natural at hosting, puts her guests at ease. It comes across in Pednekar's candour, who minces no words when asked about the ongoing controversy around Padmavati. "You know, these are people who don't give a s**t about history," she says, a word Paxman gets politely replaced at the end of the show with the milder "damn". Bedi then moves on to ask Pal and Reuben if comedy and spoken word have become popular for similar reasons and how social media has played a part. With artistes as guests, each segment packs in a performance. While Pal's jibes about SoBo residents have the audience in splits, Reuben's poetry moves many to tears. Vocalist Nischay Parekh of Parekh & Singh shares the inspiration behind their music video with a million hits, I Love You Baby, I Love You Doll, before performing it, and Anand Bhaskar shares why all his compositions are in Hindi before segueing the show to its end with a rendition of Fanaa.

An audience member comments about the need to see more everyday people in films

Rahul Baswani, who came to know of the show through Pal's tweet, is happy to have made it in the audience. "I listen to a lot of podcasts. So, the most fascinating bit for me was towards the end when they did the retakes," he says. In the green room, mutual understanding and fandom fill the air. "At the end of the day, we are all artistes, and we could feel the synergy and a shared language throughout," says Parekh, who has just promised Pal that he'll be there for his Kolkata gig the next day, even as Pal admits that the music duo is everything he would have wanted to be as a 27-year-old.

The sound engineers at work

Chopra, on the other hand, is happy that the show recognises the power of Indian cinema and how it is evolving. "Outside India, there is a fixed notion of what Bollywood is. But there is a different language [spoken] now, which most people don't know of. I am hoping that the show will communicate that." For Reuben, it has been a platform for artistic exchange. "The beauty of tonight was people might have come to watch comedy and they learnt a bit about spoken word. Or that they wanted to hear a poem and they left with music," he says. "For the BBC to say that there is something stirring in Mumbai is a statement."

Doctors and nurses in England will be asked to treat Coronavirus patients without fully protective gowns and to reuse equipment due to shortage fears, a media report said on Saturday.

The decision came in a reversal of guidance to hospitals from Public Health England (PHE) on Friday. Earlier this week, it was reported that the plan was being considered as a "last resort". It comes as National Health Service (NHS) providers warned some hospitals' supplies could run out in 24 hours. Chris Hopson, head of the association, which represents healthcare trusts across England, said in a tweet: "We have now reached the point where the national stock of fully fluid repellent gowns and long-sleeved laboratory coats will be exhausted in the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours."

He said that national leaders have left "no stone unturned" —but gowns that were ordered weeks ago are currently only arriving in "fits and starts". PHE changed its guidance, which until now required long-sleeved, disposable, fluid-repellent gowns for people treating COVID-19 patients. Now it says that if these gowns were not available, staff can wear washable medical gowns or non-fluid- repellent equipment. At least 50 NHS workers have died after contracting the virus. The UK has recorded a total of 1,04,769 Coronavirus cases with 14,607 deaths.

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South Africa is to launch an inquiry into the reasons behind a shortfall in tax revenue collections.

Three Democratic members of the United States Senate have introduced two tax bills designed to discourage US companies from shifting their operations overseas and establishing arrangements in low-tax jurisdictions.

New Zealand's Finance and Expenditure Committee has recommended changes to legislation that would introduce a new requirement for offshore suppliers to collect GST on low-value goods supplied to New Zealand-based consumers.