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  • BBC responds to interest in Cornish with new language podcast Yassin El-Moudden
    Learn Cornish launched few months after language given new level of protection Listeners tuning in to the BBC’s latest podcast offering on Friday may find themselves saying dydh da to a language that is enjoying something of a resurgence. The new programme called Learn Cornish will be fronted by the Radio 1 host Danni Diston and includes guests such as the Bafta-winning director Mark Jenkin.Diston, who is from north Cornwall, said that she initially did not know any Cornish “other than small wor
     

BBC responds to interest in Cornish with new language podcast

30 April 2026 at 05:00

Learn Cornish launched few months after language given new level of protection

Listeners tuning in to the BBC’s latest podcast offering on Friday may find themselves saying dydh da to a language that is enjoying something of a resurgence. The new programme called Learn Cornish will be fronted by the Radio 1 host Danni Diston and includes guests such as the Bafta-winning director Mark Jenkin.

Diston, who is from north Cornwall, said that she initially did not know any Cornish “other than small words that I’ve learned growing up and mainly dialect … [but] the idea would be to learn alongside other people”. She will be joined by co-presenter Sarah Buck, a fluent Kernewek speaker, throughout the weekly episodes that are designed to introduce basic phrases in the Cornish language.

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© Photograph: Ricky Vigil M/Justin E Palmer/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ricky Vigil M/Justin E Palmer/Getty Images

© Photograph: Ricky Vigil M/Justin E Palmer/Getty Images

Stern warning: one man’s mission to clear the rotting boats poisoning Cornwall’s creeks

22 April 2026 at 11:00

Unwanted vessels left to decay release fibreglass shards into the water, harming marine life. Steve Green – with his trusty van Cecil – is determined to clean things up

Steve Green, a boat engineer from Cornwall, was pulled over by the police just before Christmas. He was driving a decrepit-looking VW campervan and towing an even more dilapidated yacht up to Truro. He hadn’t broken any laws, but he admits that Cecil the campervan, which runs on donated chip oil from local pubs and has a crane and a winch on the front, “wasn’t quite what VW intended”.

Green (and Cecil) are on a mission to rid the beautiful hidden creeks of Cornwall’s Helford and Fal rivers of 166 abandoned fibreglass yachts, which are leaking plastic and toxins into the predominantly marine waters. Marine biologists have likened the thousands of shards of fibreglass they have found embedded in the flesh of sea-creatures in areas with wrecks such as these to asbestos, a substance known to have a noxious effect on humans.

Green uses a detachable crane system at the front of his van to move around bags of plastic after they have been weighed. Cecil is upholstered in recycled denim

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© Photograph: Jonny Pickup/The Guardian

© Photograph: Jonny Pickup/The Guardian

© Photograph: Jonny Pickup/The Guardian

  • ✇The Guardian World news
  • Fury in Cornwall over herbicide plan to tackle weeds Steven Morris
    Council proposal to use glyphosate to tidy up pavements criticised over potential harm to humans and wildlifeCornwall is famed for its glorious gardens and verdant landscapes but a bitter row has broken out over a plan to tackle a less glamorous type of vegetation – roadside weeds.The unitary authority has announced plans to use the controversial herbicide glyphosate to tidy up pavements and kerbsides, after largely phasing out its use over the last decade amid concerns about potential harm to h
     

Fury in Cornwall over herbicide plan to tackle weeds

22 April 2026 at 09:00

Council proposal to use glyphosate to tidy up pavements criticised over potential harm to humans and wildlife

Cornwall is famed for its glorious gardens and verdant landscapes but a bitter row has broken out over a plan to tackle a less glamorous type of vegetation – roadside weeds.

The unitary authority has announced plans to use the controversial herbicide glyphosate to tidy up pavements and kerbsides, after largely phasing out its use over the last decade amid concerns about potential harm to humans and the peninsula’s rich ecosystems.

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© Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Guardian

© Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Guardian

© Photograph: Karen Robinson/The Guardian

Supreme Court leans toward backing FCC fines against Verizon, AT&T

21 April 2026 at 19:11
After concessions from the government about its limits, the Supreme Court appeared open to backing the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) setup for imposing massive fines at oral arguments on Tuesday. The justices are reviewing more than $100 million in combined penalties against Verizon and AT&T over their use of customers’ location data. The companies say...

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