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18 November 2020

This England: Escape to the country

This column – which, though named after a line in Shakespeare's Richard II, refers to the whole of Britain – has run in the NS since 1934.  

By New Statesman

Abbas and Zubeda Kapasi had been planning to spend their 40th wedding anniversary in South America.

 But when the couple were forced to abandon their plans amid the coronavirus pandemic, their celebrations took a different direction – travelling to Dorset to visit every town they could find with the word “Abbas” in the name.

 Over a week-long period, the couple, who live in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, visited Milton Abbas, Melbury Abbas, Compton Abbas, Cerne Abbas, Winterbourne Abbas, Bradford Abbas, before finishing up in Itchen Abbas in Hampshire.
Dorset Echo (Linda Calvey)

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Cartoon characters have been listed online to appear as defendants in court hearings.

 Mickey Mouse was due to appear before a judge at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court alongside Buzz Lightyear, Captain Hook and a number of other characters, including Bugs Bunny, Tinker Bell, Sleeping Beauty and Cruella Deville.
BBC Staffordshire
(Amanda Welles)

Bored games

Bored with waiting for normal life to resume? It may be time to play Corona Wars: Survival, an “exciting” card game inviting you “to fight your friends or form alliances while controlling a faction in a post-Covid virus world”. Or try Infected! The Covid-19 Board Game. Try to accumulate loo paper and hand sanitiser – but don’t land on “self-quarantine” (you’ll lose your turn).
Sunday Times
(Terry Timblick)

Each printed entry receives a £5 book token. Entries to comp@newstatesman.co.uk or on a postcard to This England.

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