Ticket Bank: London theatres take part in entertainment giveaway
Good news stories from the past seven days

Thousands of tickets for concerts and plays in London will be given away next year to people who are normally unable to afford cultural outings. Some of the capital’s leading institutions, including the National Theatre and the Barbican, have signed up to the new Ticket Bank scheme, which will work with food banks and other charities to ensure that free or pay-what-you-can tickets are allocated to those most in need. The tickets will be those that are left unsold.
Teen cancer free after gene therapy
A 13-year-old girl with T-cell leukaemia has been declared cancer free, after being given pioneering gene therapy. Alyssa, from Leicester, had undergone chemotherapy and had a bone marrow transplant, but neither had worked. With no further treatments available, her prospects looked bleak. But she was then invited to take part in a world-first clinical trial, which involved her being given an infusion of donated T-cells that had been “base edited” to hunt down the cancerous cells without attacking each other. Within a month, she had gone into remission. The team at Great Ormond Street now plan to recruit ten more patients for further trials.
‘Eco dog’ trained to pick up bottles
A border collie from Nuneaton has been dubbed the “eco dog” by locals, because of his enthusiasm for collecting plastic waste. Scruff, who is 13, had always enjoyed picking up bottles on his walks, but he’d quickly drop them again – until his owners realised his potential, and trained him to bring the bottles to them, to be recycled. They estimate that Scruff has cleared the area of 1,000 bottles this year alone. He should be “working for the council”, said owner David Grant, given he can root out as many as 15 bottles per walk.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
6 well-preserved homes built in the 1930s
Feature Featuring a restored 1934 colonial in Arizona and a cold-storage warehouse turned loft in New York City
-
Things in Nature Merely Grow: memoir of 'harsh beauty' after loss
The Week Recommends Chinese-American novelist Yiyun Li's 'devastating' memoir explores the deaths of her two sons
-
Sirens: entertaining satire on the lives of the ultra-wealthy stars Julianne Moore
The Week Recommends This 'blackly comic affair' unfurls at a 'breakneck speed'
-
Mrs Warren's Profession: 'tour-de-force' from Imelda Staunton and daughter Bessie Carter
The Week Recommends Mother-daughter duo bring new life to George Bernard Shaw's morality play
-
Critics' choice: Steak houses that break from tradition
Feature Eight hours of slow-roasting prime rib, a 41-ounce steak, and a former Catholic school chapel turned steakhouse
-
Tash Aw's 6 favorite books about forbidden love
Feature The Malaysian novelist recommends works by James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and more
-
Film reviews: Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning, Lilo & Stitch, and Final Destination: Bloodlines
Feature Tom Cruise risks life and limb to entertain us, a young girl befriends a destructive alien, and death stalks a family that resets fate's toll.
-
Music reviews: Morgan Wallen and Kali Uchis
Feature "I'm the Problem" and "Sincerely"