Emily Unia

Pandemic puppy owners struggle with bad behaviour say vets

Some owners use methods that distress and confuse their dogs, the Royal Veterinary College warns.

Violence fears make children miss school, youth survey suggests

The Youth Endowment Fund surveyed more than 7,500 children on their experiences of violence.

Council costs warning as fostering places fall

New Ofsted data on foster carer households in England prompts warnings over extra pressure on "severely-stretched" local authority finances.

Rail disruption: Train cancellations as high as 13% in 2023

One station, managed by TransPennine Express, has had 13% of its trains cancelled.

Care leavers: Number facing homelessness rises by a third

Data shows a rise in young people being assessed as homeless, or threatened with homelessness, after leaving care

Pandemic puppy boom illegal practices persist, say vets

The Royal Veterinary College says illegal acts, like puppies only viewed online pre-purchase, have persisted post-pandemic.

Concerns about older drivers rising, DVLA figures suggest

The number of people contacting the DVLA worried about someone's fitness to drive is rising.

Bus driver shortage: Almost 1 in 10 positions vacant

This shortage has led to services being dropped, says group representing bus operators.

Dog attacks: 34% increase recorded by police in England and Wales

By Ruth Green, Jonathan Fagg, Emily Unia and Vanessa Fillis The number of dog attacks recorded by police in England and Wales has risen by more than a third in the past five years, a BBC investigation has found. Last year, there were nearly 22,000 cases of out-of-control dogs causing injury.

Charity Become said some children were 500 miles from home

It is warning distant placements can be "extremely harmful" leaving children "lonely and isolated."

Swimming pools: Concern as closures across the UK revealed

Swimmers across the UK have lost access to more than 60 public pools in the last three years, BBC News has found. Freedom of Information requests to UK councils revealed 65 pools had closed, either temporarily or permanently, in the three years to March 2022.

Children in care homes 'seen as criminals not victims'

Children in care are too often treated in society as criminals rather than victims, an independent body has said. Applications to build new care homes are regularly met with hostility by nearby residents, said the Independent Children's Home Association (ICHA). Chief executive Peter Sandiford urged communities to view the wellbeing of children above fears over house prices.

Kinship: Third of family carers get no financial support, says charity

By Emily Unia BBC News A grandmother says she feels "pushed into poverty" after taking on parental responsibility to stop her two grandchildren going into care. The woman from Merseyside has been speaking out about the difficulties of getting support, following a national survey by the charity Kinship.

5 Minutes On - Children's Homes -

Catch up on your favourite BBC radio show from your favourite DJ right here, whenever you like. Listen without limits with BBC Sounds.

5 Minutes On - Disappearing pools: 'A health and welfare disaster' - BBC Sounds

Catch up on your favourite BBC radio show from your favourite DJ right here, whenever you like. Listen without limits with BBC Sounds.

5 Minutes On - Hoarding - why more people are seeking help - BBC Sounds

Catch up on your favourite BBC radio show from your favourite DJ right here, whenever you like. Listen without limits with BBC Sounds.

BBC Radio 4 - From Our Home Correspondent, 26/05/2020

Foster carers become accustomed to all types of placements. Emily Unia's parents have decades of experience but even so it's been special for them to share the last several weeks with a young boy and his baby sister who arrived just days before lockdown. She reveals how they've all been coping.

Dressed for Success, From Our Own Correspondent - BBC Radio 4

Tight-fitting briefs, matching Donald Trump t-shirts, and NATO camouflage.

Trespass law and Right to Roam

Saddleworth moor fire

Trespass law change could discriminate against gypsies and travellers

Gypsies and Travellers have said they are concerned that government plans to turn trespass from a civil offence to a criminal one could amount to discrimination.

The Death of Chinese Cockle Pickers, Witness - BBC World Service

In February 2004, 23 Chinese immigrants drowned off the coast of north-west England

Business Daily - Trump's 100-Day Report Card - BBC Sounds

Catch up on your favourite BBC radio show from your favourite DJ right here, whenever you like. Listen without limits with BBC Sounds.

Trump visits London

A year of Trump

One year on from Donald Trump's inauguration as US President.

Armistice Centenary

British POWs sank on this WW2 ship - should it be raised?

A Chinese film-maker wants to raise a Japanese ship that was sunk in 1942 with hundreds of British prisoners of war on board. Some of the victims' families back the idea, but one of the survivors says it's a war grave, and should be left where it lies.

Korea Summit

BBC radio piece including interview with an 86-year-old displaced man who left North Korea in 1950 and hasn't been home since.

NATO Operation Noble Jump 2017

Romania #NATO

Syrian refugees in Jordan

Visit to the Syria-Jordan border in September 2015 for BBC News

The war in Syria

Nepal earthquake R4 Today

NepalQuake - report from a temporary camp in Kathmandu Valley - May 13th 2015

Nepal earthquake

I travelled with British Gurkha soldiers to Sindhupalchok District, to see how aid is finally reaching some of the worst affected villages. #Shelterbox #NepalQuake

Chibok Girls

North Korean defector

Interview with a woman who escaped from North Korea during visit to Seoul at the time of the Kim Jong Un - Donald Trump summit.

Southern Rail Strike

Some children are contending with the latest Southern rail strike on their first day of school. Emily Unia reports and Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT, discusses the issue.

Race against time in Nepal

@Oxfam says clean water and sanitation vital to prevent disease spreading in coming monsoon. #NepalQuake

BBC News - Timeline | Facebook

We were #LIVE in Sousse in Tunisia. British holidaymakers have been shunning the country this year, along with Turkey and Egypt, following recent terror attacks. Last June, a gunman opened fire on a beach in Sousse, killing 38 tourists, including 30 Britons and the UK Foreign Office is still advising against all but essential travel.

Tourists return to Tunisia

Report on the first package holiday to Tunisia since the 2015 beach shootings in Sousse.

Thomas Cook: '1.8m customers still want to go to Turkey' - BBC News

The boss of Thomas Cook tells the BBC it's still safe to go on holiday to Turkey, according to government advice, and says the Brexit vote hasn't affected business.

England's first foster children

'It feels like a normal place to go on holiday'

Dale and Courtney are on the first British package holiday in Tunisia, three years after a deadly beach attack.

Landfill site becomes nature reserve

A huge landfill site in Essex that has been transformed into a 120-acre nature reserve has been officially opened by Sir David Attenborough.

Queen visits Duke in hospital

The Queen has paid a visit to the Duke of Edinburgh in hospital after Trooping the Colour.

Does Brexit speed up plans for an EU army?, 16/09/2016, Politics Europe - BBC Parliament

The EU has its own court, civil service and parliament - but will it get its own army?

Covid: Families could be asked to pay funeral fines

It added it is a "legal requirement and therefore, the responsibility" of the organiser of the funeral or venue manager to take all reasonable measures to limit the risk of transmission of Covid-19, including ensuring a limit on attendees is not exceeded and and mourners wear face coverings.

Funeral costs rise despite 'pauper' ceremonies

Exclusive investigation into cremation pricing at local authorities across the UK

The rise in 'pauper funerals' piling agony on grieving as costs soar

The costs of laying your loved ones to rest have shot up during the Coronavirus pandemic - despite providers offering 'pauper's funerals' in lockdown.

Cost of funerals continues to rise even as services limited

The cost of funerals has risen during the Covid-19 pandemic despite the average ceremony only lasting 15 mins, an analysis by the BBC has found.

Cremation costs: "It's robbery, you can't afford to live, you can't afford to die."

BBC News: Families in parts of the UK are paying hundreds of pounds more to cremate loved ones than others, figures show.

Cremation prices vary by hundreds of pounds across UK

Families in parts of the UK are paying hundreds of pounds more to cremate loved ones than others, figures show.

R4 Today - funeral costs

Thousands died waiting for NHS funding

More than three thousand people died in England last year awaiting an NHS decision on their eligibility for home care funding. A charity said it was "tragic and ludicrous" that families learned the outcome after losing their relatives. One widow told the BBC a nurse came to assess her husband the day after he died.

Death-registering delays 'rise by 70%' - BBC News

Bereaved families in England and Wales are struggling to register relatives' deaths within official time limits, figures reveal. In 2015/16, 187,605 deaths were registered after the five-day legal limit, a 70% rise on 2011/12, General Register Council (GRC) figures show. Cuts to council budgets are among the reasons, the National Association of Funeral Directors (NAFD) said.

Funeral delays - BBC Breakfast

Bereaved families in England and Wales are struggling to register relatives' deaths within official time limits, figures reveal.

'My mother's death registration took weeks' - BBC News

Graham Morgan says the delay caused him unnecessary stress after his mother died.

BBC Local Radio - Digital Nation Archive, Cost of cremations rises by a third

The average cost of a cremation at a public crematorium has risen by 35% since 2010. An adult cremation costs an average of £640, according to an FOI enquiry by BBC Local Radio. As Emily Unia discovered, the cost of new anti-pollution equipment and larger coffins have been blamed.But critics say crematoria are being run inefficiently.

Cost of public cremation rises by a third - BBC News

The average cost of a cremation at a public crematorium has risen by a third since 2010, the BBC can reveal. An adult cremation costs an average of £640, according to Freedom of Information responses from local authorities that run crematoria in the UK. The cost of new anti-pollution equipment and larger coffins have been blamed.

Airport row costs council £440,000

Nearly half a million pounds has been spent by a council on legal advice in a five-year planning row over an airport. Carlisle City Council revealed the £441,000 figure, which represents legal costs alone, after a Freedom of Information request from the BBC.

Nuclear waste burial concerns

Cumbrian councillors visit France to look at storage of high level nuclear waste underground.

Health care reforms

Cumbria has been piloting the GP commissioning element of the government's controversial Health and Social Care Bill, and opinion is divided.

Subsidy cut 'threatens rural buses'

Subsidies supporting 70 loss-making bus services across Cumbria could be axed by the county council. The move would affect buses in towns and rural areas, but the authority said it would help it save £1.9m per year. Forty-three daytime services, 17 evening services and 10 Sunday services receive subsidies - about 5% of the total services across the county.

MP's plea for disabled access

An MP has called for "urgent action" to make railway stations fully accessible to disabled people. Rory Stewart said that at some stations in his Cumbrian constituency passengers in wheelchairs have to be pushed across the West Coast Mainline. The Conservative MP for Penrith and the Border described the situation as "unacceptable".

BBC - Meet the new Cumbrian politicians at Westminster

Following last month's General Election, 226 new MPs entered Parliament; the largest intake of newcomers since 1997. Two of Cumbria's new MPs, Rory Stewart, the Conservative member for Penrith and the Border and John Woodcock, the Labour MP for Barrow and Furness, took the time to record audio diaries of their thoughts and feelings during their first days in the job.

Copeland voters get ready to decide

Do people care whether their local town hall is led by an elected mayor or a council leader? Politicians and activists in Copeland, Cumbria, will find out on Thursday. A referendum offering voters the opportunity to convert to the mayoral system will take place on the same day as the European Parliament election.