https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-57873410 Britney Spears has said she will not perform again while her father retains control over her career as part of a conservatorship set up in 2008. The singer's message is the latest in a series of emotional public comments about the arrangement that controls her personal and financial affairs. "This conservatorship killed my dreams," she said in a lengthy post on Instagram. "So all I have is hope." Britney, 39, wants to bring an end to the arrangement, calling it abusive. The conservatorship was put in place after her father, Jamie Spears, petitioned a court for legal authority over the pop star's life, amid concerns about her mental health. "I'm not gonna be performing on any stages anytime soon with my dad handling what I wear, say, do, or think," Britney, who has not performed in public since late 2018, wrote in the post. "I'd much rather share videos YES from my living room instead of onstage in Vegas... I'm not gonna put on heavy makeup and try try try on stage again and not be able to do the real deal with remixes of my songs for years." In the message, Britney also said she "did not like the way" documentaries about her life bring up "humiliating moments from the past", adding: "I'm way past all that and have been for a long time." The documentaries - including Framing Britney Spears, which has been nominated for two Emmy awards - together with the #FreeBritney movement brought wider attention to the conservatorship, and public support for the singer. In explosive court testimony last month, Britney said she had been drugged, forced to perform against her will and prevented from having more children under the conservatorship. On Wednesday, she appointed a new lawyer to represent her in the legal bid to bring the arrangement to an end. They are yet to file a formal request, and the next court hearing will be on 29 September in Los Angeles. Britney also said she wanted to charge Mr Spears for his alleged "conservatorship abuse", which can involve financially exploiting or imposing excessive personal restrictions on someone in your care. He is currently the sole person in charge of his daughter's $60m (£43m) estate. His lawyers say he has not been in charge of her personal affairs since September 2019 because of his own poor health.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-57879730 The prime minister and chancellor are now self-isolating after contact with Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who has tested positive for coronavirus. No 10 initially said they would not have to isolate, as they were taking part in a pilot scheme that involves daily testing instead. But opposition parties said it suggested there was "one rule for them and another for the rest of us". The PM later said they had "briefly" considered taking part in the scheme. But Boris Johnson said it was "far more important that everybody sticks to the same rules and that's why I'm going to be self-isolating until Monday 26 July". In a video published on Twitter, Mr Johnson added: "I know how frustrating it all is, but I really do urge everybody to stick with the programme and take the appropriate course of action when you're asked to do so by NHS Test and Trace." He will now conduct meetings remotely at Chequers. Chancellor Rishi Sunak said on Twitter: "Whilst the test and trace pilot is fairly restrictive, allowing only essential government business, I recognise that even the sense that the rules aren't the same for everyone is wrong." Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the prime minister and chancellor had been "busted yet again for thinking the rules that we are all following don't apply to them". "The public have done so much to stick to the rules. At a time when we need to maintain confidence in self isolation, parents, workers and businesses will be wondering what on earth is going on in Downing Street," he said. Mr Javid tested positive on Saturday morning after a meeting at Downing Street the day before, and both Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak were contacted by NHS Test and Trace. No 10 had said a workplace pilot scheme would allow the prime minister and chancellor to keep working from Downing Street by taking daily tests. A spokesman said they would only be able to carry out essential government business and would self-isolate at all other times. But the announcement met with an angry response. Labour's Jonathan Ashworth had told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that it was unfair that politicians appeared to have access to "VIP testing" to avoid self-isolation, while Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey asked if it was only available to "the privileged few". This must be one of the fastest government U-turns ever: 157 minutes after saying the PM and chancellor wouldn't be isolating, Downing Street decided they would. The reason is set out by Rishi Sunak on Twitter - ministers can't be seen to be following different rules to everyone else. But questions will be asked about why No 10 initially said they would be escaping isolation. Who made the decision? Who signed it off? The prime minister and chancellor must have known about the plan. There's also the fact that the PM and chancellor had the choice over whether to isolate - which most people don't at the moment. The political symbolism is also highly significant. Three senior government ministers will be in isolation on the day almost all legal restrictions are lifted in England. 2px presentational grey line The managing director of the Iceland supermarket, Richard Walker, also criticised the proposal for Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak to avoid self-isolation. "Shame the hundreds of Iceland staff who've been pinged can't avoid self-isolation. We can all do a daily lateral flow test," he said. The government said there were 20 public and private sector organisations involved in the pilot scheme, including Network Rail, Transport for London (TfL), Heathrow Airport and Border Force. Heathrow said the programme had been an "important tool" that allowed it to keep the airport open, and was now calling on ministers to extend it beyond the end of July, when it is due to end. But TfL said it was "still waiting for formal notification that we are part of this trial". One London Underground line was forced to close on Saturday because too many staff had to self-isolate. Stepping in for Mr Javid, who is self-isolating after his positive test, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick had defended the plan on the Andrew Marr Show. "The scheme is a well known and long-standing one, it's not just available for politicians," he said. But he added that his own department was not part of the scheme. Former Prime Minister Tony Blair said: "I don't want the prime minister of the country to be in isolation at the moment. I need him, you know, at his desk doing his job." He said it was reasonable for Mr Johnson not to self-isolate, given his immunity thanks to vaccination and a previous infection, and the fact that he was being tested. "The point is to do this for everyone," he said.

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https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/features/potty-patrol-how-jcb-speeding-pothole-repair After 21 years repairing roads, Mick has had enough of dragging heavy jackhammers from the backs of trucks, lugging them to a potholed patch of road and then breaking up iron-hard asphalt for hours on end. “I’m lucky I don’t have white finger by now,” he tells me. He’s referring to Raynaud’s disease, a localised restriction in blood flow caused by, among other things, vibration such as that generated by a jackhammer. When this is the cause, it’s known as hand-arm vibration syndrome. It can develop within just six months of doing this job and there’s no cure. It’s one of the biggest issues facing the Health and Safety Executive, the body charged with policing safety at work, with contractors routinely paying out large sums of compensation to affected workers. Mick invites me to try out the jackhammer he has been using. It’s a traditional-looking thing with a two-stroke motor perched on top. This makes it top-heavy and, I suspect, even more of a chore to use. Anyway, I give it a go, if only for the amusement of Mick and his colleagues in the road gang. Positioning it accurately is the hard bit, accomplished by lifting it slightly and manoeuvring it with my leg. After a minute or so, I’ve only succeeded in drilling too wide and deep a hole, which the guys will have to patch. And my fingers are tingling. Mick takes the hammer and shows me how it should be done. However, there’s a twist to his demonstration, since he’s actually competing to drill the road with a mechanised jackhammer wielded by one of the newest weapons in the war against potholes: the JCB Pothole Pro. Naturally, the Pothole Pro wins, its 600mm-wide cutting head (or cropping tool) neatly and effortlessly slicing through the road in moments to a consistent, predetermined depth. Still, a runner-up prize goes to Mick, who puts on a good show – although I would like to see what he’s like after a couple of hours of jackhammering… From a distance, the new machine could be confused with one of JCB’s traditional wheeled backhoe loaders – except that in place of a large shovel and bucket, it has, on one side of the cab, what looks like a huge shoe brush mounted on the tip of an extending arm; and on the other side, a large metal box incorporating vicious-looking metal teeth on a spinning drum, called the planer.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57861690 Petrol prices have climbed to their highest level in almost eight years, says motoring organisation the AA. Average prices have hit 133p a litre, it says, almost 20p higher than in November. Diesel prices are also up. The rise comes as families fill up the tank for summer getaways. Rival motoring body the RAC is forecasting an exceptionally busy summer on UK roads. The increase in fuel costs comes after a steady rise in oil prices and has added to fears of rising inflation. Oil prices have risen over the past year from about $43 a barrel to more than $70 now. Figures released this week showed the rate of inflation in the UK hit 2.5% in the year to June, the highest for nearly three years, with rising fuel prices one of the causes of the increase. The last time UK drivers had to deal with fuel prices this high was at the beginning of October 2013. "Surging pump prices continue to drain family and other consumer spending," said Luke Bosdet, the AA's fuel price spokesman. "A family with two petrol cars would have spent around £230 on fuel in November had Covid lockdowns not discouraged travel. Now, the monthly cost of refuelling their vehicles is above £265." The RAC says drivers are planning an estimated 29 million UK holidays this year, with 16 million of these in the school holidays alone. Its survey of 2,500 drivers says the number of people making firm UK holiday bookings has risen 20% since April, with the RAC figures suggesting the West Country - Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset - will receive the largest numbers of holidaymakers.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57862610 Pulitzer Prize-winning Indian photojournalist Danish Siddiqui was killed on Friday while covering a clash between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters near a border crossing with Pakistan. Working for Reuters since 2010, Siddiqui covered the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Rohingya refugees crisis, the Hong Kong protests and Nepal earthquakes. Siddiqui was part of a Reuters team to win the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography for documenting the Rohingya refugee crisis. In one of his last pictures, Siddiqui photographed a member of Afghan special forces firing at Taliban fighters at a check post in Afghanistan's Kandahar province. Siddiqui was embedded as a journalist since earlier this week with Afghan special forces in Kandahar. Siddiqui extensively covered the brutal second wave of the coronavirus pandemic in April and May as it ripped through India's cities and villages. In this picture published on 15 April, Covid-19 patients are treated at Delhi's largest Covid hospital. Siddiqui's pictures of mass cremations of Covid-19 victims at funeral grounds in Delhi next door to po[CENSORED]ted neighbourhoods went viral. The funeral pyres burning round-the-clock and cremation grounds running out of space told the story of a death toll unseen and unacknowledged in official data.