Lawyer becomes Britain’s first black female blind barrister

Jess Inaba, 23, qualified as a barrister in October after five years of legal study

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published 3 November 2022

A lawyer has broken through what she has described as a “triple-glazed glass ceiling”, by becoming Britain’s first blind and black female barrister. Londoner Jess Inaba, 23, qualified last month after five years of legal study. She had used her own Braille materials, compiled with the help of friends who read books to her, and plans to apply for pupillage in January. “It’s really good feeling,” she said. “I know I’m giving hope to others in similar situations to mine.”

Rare textiles found at Tudor mansion

An extremely rare collection of Elizabethan textiles has been found at a Tudor mansion in Nottingham. The textiles – identified at Wollaton Hall during the filming of the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow – include a bedspread, two pillowcases and a “farthingale” sleeve. Made from thick cotton, the sleeve was used to support the voluminous sleeves of the silvery dress that Elizabeth I wore for The Ditchley Portrait, in around 1592. Ninya Mikhaila, a textile historian, said that when she was shown the sleeve she was rendered “literally speechless”.

A bar-tailed godwit has set a world record by flying at least 8,425 miles from Alaska to Tasmania, without pausing to eat, drink or sleep. The five-month-old bird, which had been fitted with a 5G satellite tag, set off on 13 October, and touched down in Ansons Bay in northeast Tasmania just 11 days later. Its route had taken it over several islands in Oceania, including New Caledonia, but it did not take the opportunity to stop off to refuel. Eric Woehler, a researcher at BirdLife Tasmania, said the godwit had probably lost “half or more of its body weight” over the course of its marathon flight.