Billy Connolly has shared updates on how Parkinson’s disease has had a greater effect on his physical abilities over time. The actor and comedian, 80, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2013 and retired from his stand-up career in 2018 due to the illness. Parkinson’s is a brain disorder that causes unintended or uncontrollable movements, such as shaking, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination. Often, the disease gets more severe over time. In an interview conducted by Connolly’s wife, the writer and psychologist Pamela Stephenson Connolly, the comedy figure gave insight into how his Parkinson’s disease has had a greater effect on his physical abilities. “It’s very difficult to see the progression exactly, because a lot of things come and go,” he began in the Guardian profile, published on Saturday (30 September). “Recently I’ve noticed a deterioration in my balance. That was never such a problem before, but in the last year that has come and it has stayed. For some reason, I thought it would go away, because a lot of symptoms have come and gone away… just to defy the symptom spotters.” He added that the shaking had reappeared, as well as “the inability to get out of certain types of chairs”. Stephenson added that balance had been the most significant factor to affect the star’s health, and had resulted in “a couple of serious falls”. “It’s funny, that fall I had when I landed on my jaw reminded me of a thing I used to do on stage,” Connolly replied. “I used to say: “I fell out of bed, but luckily my face broke my fall…” “It wasn’t so funny when you broke your hip,” Stephenson said in response. The What We Did on Our Holiday star noted that his declining ability to control his body movements is one factor “added to the list of things that hold me back”. “I feel like I want to go for a walk, but I go for 50 yards and I want to go home, because I’m tired. I’m being encroached upon by this disease. It’s creeping up behind me and stopping me doing things. It’s a cruel disease.” Elsewhere in the interview, the couple discussed the changes to their relationship as a result of his changing health. Connolly praised Stephenson for her ability to care for him. “It’s lovely. I found a new you. I found a new Pamela. And it’s worked out great. I never thought that you’d be able to look after me the way you do. “I thought it would annoy you terribly,” he continued. “You were such an independent “look after yourself” kind of person. But you’ve rallied round to looking after me. And it suits you great. And it sure suits me lovely.” Read More Lorraine Kelly shares the career advice she got from Billy Connolly Fred Sirieix shares details of medical procedures to ‘investigate’ recent blood tests David Beckham explains why he never sought therapy after 1998 World Cup match left him ‘depressed’ Fred Sirieix shares details of medical procedures to ‘investigate’ recent blood tests David Beckham explains why he never sought therapy after 1998 England match Climbing 5 flights of stairs a day could cut risk of heart disease, study suggests

The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals find their seasons at a crossroads as they prepare to meet in Week 12

Tottenham Hotspur legend Gareth Bale has revealed that he's been impressed by Ange Postecoglou's start to life as the club's head coach. Spurs have taken 10 points from a possible 12 so far this season and have played exciting football.

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said his side's experience of playing in front of partisan crowds would serve them well when they face hosts India...

Ukraine claimed responsibility for a missile attack that struck the headquarters of Moscow's Black Sea fleet in annexed Crimea Friday, leaving one...

Twitter turned over at least 32 direct messages from the former President Donald Trump's account to special counsel Jack Smith earlier this year as part of the federal election subversion investigation, according to newly unsealed court filings.

Waagner-Biro Bridge Systems makes modular steel overpasses that can span rivers and valleys in conflict zones. As Ukraine

For years, Florida legislators and the governor’s office enjoyed a close relationship with The Walt Disney Company, among the state’s largest employers, wielding enormous political influence while bringing in billions of dollars to the state each year. Now, the company and allies of Republican governor Ron DeSantis are suing one another, following a year-long feud over opposition to what opponents have called Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law that boiled over into political and legal battles that could shape the company’s business in the state. The state’s feud with the company is entangled with volatile far-right attacks smearing Disney and LGBT+ people as “groomers” and “paedophiles,” while similar threats to LGBT+ people are making their way through state legislatures and governor’s offices across the country Last year, Governor DeSantis endorsed a broadly written bill from Republican lawmakers – the “Parental Rights in Education Act” – that prohibits instruction of “sexual orientation or gender identity” from kindergarten through the third grade and any such discussion “that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students” in other grades. LGBT+ advocates and civil rights groups warned that the measure’s broad scope could freeze classroom speech involving LGBT+ people and issues – from civil rights history lessons to discussions with students, school staff and their families – under the threat of potentially financially destructive litigation and harassment from third parties who accuse schools of violating the law. Following passage of the bill, more than three dozen similar measures have been proposed in nearly half of US states, including 26 measures in 14 states in their current legislative sessions alone. Here is how – as Disney writes in a recent lawsuit – “it has come to this.” Disney faces pressure to respond to ‘Don’t Say Gay’ threats Disney is a political heavyweight in the state. The company dispatches several lobbyists to the state capitol in Tallahassee and gives millions of dollars through its many entities to both Democratic and Republican officials every election cycle to promote its business. It’s also a cultural and economic powerhouse, drawing millions of visitors to the state each year. The company’s voice on controversial legislation could, until recently, carry significant weight. But reporting from The Independent and other outlets found that Disney entities contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Mr DeSantis and other Republican lawmakers central to the “Don’t Say Gay” law, despite the company’s history of LGBT+ advocacy. In February 2022, Bob Iger – just weeks into his retirement from Disney leadership – announced that if the bill passed, it will “put vulnerable, young LGBTQ people in jeopardy.” Eleven days later, facing pressure from LGBT+ advocates and Disney employees, now-former CEO Bob Chapek issued a company memo stating that “corporate statements do very little to change outcomes or minds” while asking staff to not “mistake a lack of a statement for a lack of support.” On 11 March, 2022, Mr Chapek announced that the company would oppose the bill and suspend its political donations in the state. He stated that the company would “immediately” begin supporting efforts to combat similar legislation elsewhere and pause “all political donations” in the state pending a review of the company’s political giving, conceding that the company failed to “be a stronger ally in the fight for equal rights”. The company’s LGBT+ employees and staff opposed to the legislation staged daily walkouts to pressure Disney to indefinitely cease all campaign donations to state officials who created or helped pass the measure and demand that Disney leadership publicly commit to an actionable plan that protects employees from anti-LGBT+ legislation. The actions culminated in a full workday walkout or “sick out” on 22 March. “Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down by the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organisations working to achieve that,” the company said on 28 March 2022, when the governor signed the bill into law. Governor DeSantis and members of his administration quickly lashed out at the company, igniting a feud that escalated to Republican threats to punish its operations in the state. By the end of that year, Mr Iger returned to Disney as CEO. DeSantis pushes for the end of Reedy Creek In April 2022, Governor DeSantis expanded the scope of a special legislative session on the state’s redistricting plans to also consider the “termination of all special districts that were enacted in Florida prior to 1968,” including the municipal taxing and government district that allows Disney to tax and regulate its sprawling park and resort properties in the Orlando area. The Reedy Creek Improvement District was first created in 1967 to give Disney control of its land use, zoning rules and public services without putting a tax burden on Florida residents. The district encompasses Disney World properties in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, spanning 39 square miles and land across Orange and Osceola counties. With Disney as the primary landowner for the district, the company is largely responsible for all costs of those municipal services that otherwise would fall under the jurisdiction of county and local governments, including the taxpayers who live within them. In effect, Disney used the Reedy Creek board to tax itself to foot the bill for all of its municipal needs. The governor and Republican lawmakers wanted to blow up that arrangement. On 19 April 2022, Republican state Rep Randy Fine introduced House Bill 3C, the “Independent Special Districts” bill. A companion measure, Senate Bill 4C, was introduced in the state Senate. The governor and his administration insisted that the initial proposal was intended to block what they called “special privileges” for big business in the state, but fundraising messages promoting Reedy Creek’s demise pointed to Disney’s “woke” opposition to the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill. “Disney thought they ruled Florida,” an email from his campaign on 19 April said. “They even tried to attack me to advance their woke agenda. Now, parents see Disney for what it is. And now is the time to put the power back in the hands of Floridians and out of the pockets of woke executives.” State lawmakers bristled over the governor’s initial plans to dissolve Reedy Creek over concerns that doing so would not only violate state law but force Florida taxpayers to pay for infrastructure projects like road construction that Disney was effectively paying for through the district’s arrangement. Instead, the governor’s own appointees will be in charge of the district and its powers to tax, build and borrow money under a new “Central Florida Tourism Oversight District”. During an event on 27 February, Governor DeSantis signed a bill that amounts to a state takeover of the new district, with a five-member board made up of his own appointees. “Today, the corporate kingdom finally comes to an end,” the governor said inside a Reedy Creek fire station in Lake Buena Vista that day. “There’s a new sheriff in town and accountability will be the order of the day.” Orlando-area Democratic state representative Anna Eskamani said in a statement that it is “absolutely wild to see a self-proclaimed capitalist like DeSantis celebrate the government takeover of a private board”. “All this bill does is rename Reedy Creek and allow Governor DeSantis to appoint hostile conservative cronies to a new board,” she said. “Disney still maintains the same tax breaks – but their First Amendment rights have been suppressed, and it sends a message to any private individual or company that if you don’t purport to what the governor wants, then you’ll be punished.” DeSantis appointees take control Among the governor’s controversial appointees include a donor who gave the DeSantis campaign $50,000 in 2022 and supported the governor’s efforts to remove an elected state attorney from office. The governor also appointed the CEO of a right-wing ministry, and the founder of the right-wing activist group Moms for Liberty which the governor has supported to transform local school boards. Board member Ron Peri, CEO of The Gathering USA ministry, was captured in a since-deleted YouTube video suggesting tap water has turned Americans gay. “So why are there homosexuals today? There are any number of reasons, you know, that are given. Some would say the increase in estrogen in our societies. You know, there’s estrogen in the water from birth control pills. They can’t get it out,” Mr Peri said in the video, according to CNN. “The level of testosterone in men broadly in America has declined by 50 points in the past 10 years. You know, and so, maybe that’s a part of it.” Despite public notice of proposed changes before the new board stepped in, the governor’s appointees were outraged to find the Reedy Creek board approved new agreements to make major changes at Disney’s campus, changes that would remain in effect for years to come. Then came the lawsuits Moments after the new board voted to strip control of its Florida resort, the company filed a federal lawsuit against the governor and state officials alleging a “targeted campaign of government retaliation”. On 26 April, the board voted to nullify those agreements, the “latest strike” from Mr DeSantis, according to the lawsuit. “Disney regrets that it has come to this,” the lawsuit states. “At the governor’s bidding, the state’s oversight board has purported to ‘void’ publicly noticed and duly agreed development contracts, which had laid the foundation for billions of Disney’s investment dollars and thousands of jobs,” the complaint alleges. “This government action was patently retaliatory, patently anti-business, and patently unconstitutional.” The lawsuit also quotes the governor’s other retaliatory statements directed towards the company, including weighing potential new taxes and tolls on its hotels and roads and the possibility of a “state prison” near the parks. A statement from the governor’s communications director Taryn Fenske shared with The Independent said that “we are unaware of any legal right that a company has to operate its own government or maintain special privileges not held by other businesses in the state”. “This lawsuit is yet another unfortunate example of their hope to undermine the will of the Florida voters and operate outside the bounds of the law,” the statement added. Disney CEO Bob Iger hinted at the company’s case against the board when he told shareholders in April “the company has a right to freedom of speech just like individuals do”. “The governor got very angry about the position that Disney took, and it seems like he’s decided to retaliate against us... in effect, to seek to punish a company for its exercise of a constitutional right,” Mr Iger said. “And that just seems really wrong to me – against any company or individual, but particularly against a company that means so much to the state that you live in.” It didn’t take long for the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District to respond. On 1 May, days after Disney’s federal lawsuit was filed, the board unanimously agreed to sue the company in state court. Disney fights back On 18 May, the company announced that it was pulling the plug on a $1bn office complex in Florida, following through on a warning from Disney leadership that billions of dollars in projects were potentially on the line with the governor’s feud. The development scheduled for construction was set to bring 2,000 jobs to the region, with 1,000 employees expected to relocate from southern California. In an email to employees, Disney’s theme park and consumer products chair Josh D’Amaro pointed to “changing business conditions” for the cancellation of the 60-acre Lake Nona project. “I remain optimistic about the direction of our Walt Disney World business,” he added, noting that the company has still planned $17bn in projects over the next decade at its Disney World campus. “I hope we’re able to,” he said. A ranking from Axios and Harris Poll that guages the reputations of the most visible brands in America places Disney at No 77 with a score of 70.9, or “good,” falling 12 points from an earlier report. This story was initially published on 1 May and has been updated with developments Read More Disney cancels $1bn Florida theme park extension amid war with DeSantis DeSantis expected to launch 2024 presidential bid next week, reports say Trump posts fresh attack on DeSantis while insisting ‘I couldn’t care less’ if Florida governor runs against him He lost his job and health insurance after his arrest under a DeSantis election unit. The case was dismissed

Some African leaders have arrived in Russia for a summit with President Vladimir Putin as the Kremlin seeks more allies amid the fighting in Ukraine

President Joe Biden is considering a supplemental request of approximately $100 billion that would include defense assistance for

By Leah Douglas U.S. Democrat and Republican lawmakers in a Wednesday hearing returned to the issue of work

If you were an 18th-century settler in Australia with no knowledge of marsupials, you just might decide to call a koala a ‘bear,’ right?