News about John Milton

It once hosted Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice for a street party and was also a film set for Dad's Army. But the village's parish council has had to pull out of this year's competition because of the 'awful' smell emanating from their homes. It comes after Thames Water admitted releasing sewage into the River Misbourne over the last six months. Now, homeowners in the village have lined up to attack water company bosses, telling them: 'You have ruined our community'. Office manager Katie Turner, 44, fumed: 'They need to get this sorted immediately and stop dumping sewage into the river because it's ruining the village. 'It's not great at all, Thames Water are causing a stink - literally. To say they are unpopular here is a massive understatement.

Chalfont St Giles in Buckinghamshire, nestled on the edge of the Chiltern Hills, has won the county's 'Best Kept Village' contest six times since 2002. But last week it was forced to withdraw its application for this year's contest after Thames Water admitted it has been releasing sewage into the River Misbourne since January. Villagers have been complaining for months about a foul smell and after learning of the discharges, closed a children's playground, river walk and duck pond. Chalfont St Giles was the winner of the 'Best Kept Village' award in 2023 and was hoping to scoop a further award in which previous winners can compete against each other.

A village in Buckinghamshire where John Milton penned his epic poem Paradise Lost has turned into an 'open sewer' after Thames Water pumped raw sewage into a stream for five months straight. The water company's monitors show that sewage has been discharged into the River Misbourne that flows through the picturesque village of Chalfont St Giles since January. However, a technical glitch with Thames Water's online map meant that the parish council only became aware of the spill one week ago. Chalfont St Giles councillor Robert Gill told the i that the Buckinghamshire village now 'smelled like an open sewer'.

Experts have unearthed rare handwritten annotations made by the famous English poet, which include an example of 'prudish censorship'. The notes were identified in a copy of Raphael Holinshed's 'Chronicles', which was published around 20 years before he was born and was an enormous account of English, Irish and Scottish history. In it, he crosses out a lewd anecdote and dismisses it as inappropriate.

The 'Parent Rights of Education' law in Florida allows for the prohibition of access to certain works in classrooms, including Paradise Lost by John Milton and Nathaniel Hawthorn's The Scarlet Letter, as well as Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The 'Don't Say Gay' bill, which was passed under Republican governor Ron DeSantis (pictured), has been expanded, giving the state the ability to limit LGBTQ content. After Florida passed the bill last year, DeSantis has been chastised by teachers to delete books deemed inappropriate for children by conservative parents and school boards. The legislation was interpreted by critics as part of an attempt to limit discussion of controversial topics such as race and sexuality in public schools.

BRENDAN O'NEILL: According to one observer, these 'flushed, middle-aged Brexiteers' look like pieces of a 'hearty pork steak,' and are destroying the country's political life by raging about Brexit and immigrants.'

BEL MOONEY: This week, Bel recommends a man who believes that his difficult childhood aided him in his alcohol use.

A.N. a. We have lost a beloved Queen, but we haven't lost the monarchy. And this is no accident. It is in good shape thanks to her careful custodianship, as well as those of her predecessors and our older statesmen and women, but we can't take anything for granted. The majority of people in the United Kingdom support the monarchy's idea. Throughout Queen Elizabeth's reign, there have been those who have said: 'This outmoded institution will last Queen Elizabeth's time.' If she dies, we'll talk about it again, and many of us will say that Britain should be like the other world's most adamant countries and become a republic.' They will now be gathering their forces and marshalling their arguments following the Queen's death. We'll all know that growing up is essential. After all, the United States has been a prosperous republic for almost two decades. They are all nations that have been modern enough, mature enough, to have a head of state who has voted for themselves.