Councils in Wales should merge leaving 10, 11 or 12 local authorities rather than the current 22, a report has recommended.

The Williams Commission said discussions about how to proceed with the merger should begin by Easter.
The reorganisation suggests reducing council numbers by mergers using existing boundaries.
Opposition AMs have said they are concerned about the potential costs and loss of local identity in some areas.
The report, by former NHS Wales chief executive Paul Williams, considers how many areas of public services can be improved and made more accountable.
Attention is focused on the recommendations for local authorities, last reorganised two decades ago.
The report recommends the new councils should be within current health board and police force areas and also not cross the geographical areas governing eligibility for EU aid.
The report said change must be implemented "quickly and decisively".
"We have reflected very carefully on our findings and conclusions on this issue. We are well aware that what we propose will incur costs, and will be disruptive and controversial - but we are convinced that doing nothing would be worse," it added.
The report has concluded, as a minimum, the following local authorities should merge:
With Carmarthenshire, Powys and Swansea unchanged, this would yield 12 authorities.
Using these mergers as building blocks, the report said, there were other viable possibilities resulting in 11 or 10 local authorities.
Swansea could merge with Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend to form a single local authority, giving 11 local authorities in total.
By Tomos LivingstoneBBC Wales political correspondent
One word sticks out amongst the tens of thousands that make up the Williams report - urgent.
It is a thorough examination of what has gone wrong over years and there is no time to lose to make changes.
The main conclusion is that we have far too many local councils.
The sole arguments remaining are whether Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend should become one super-council, and whether the old Dyfed should be reconstituted.
It is an ambitious timetable for the Welsh government.
There may be some scepticism about the potential costs, and it is always tricky to explain how different structures might lead to better services. But fewer politicians? That will be the easiest part of the package to sell to the public.
It is also an option to merge Carmarthenshire with Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire to form a single local authority, again yielding 11 local authorities in total.
The cost of merging Welsh councils could be met from savings made within as little as 18 months to two-and-a-half years, the Williams report predicted.
While it does not put a figure on the costing, the report said: "If merger is implemented properly and with pace, it can protect front-line services and jobs sustainably and effectively. That alone makes a compelling case for the changes we propose."
The report also said fire and ambulance services should work more closely together.
The Welsh Local Government Association said in a statement: "We live in a time of unprecedented cuts in public spending but also know that demands on public services have never been greater.
"Government must be clear whether a reorganisation will assist in alleviating these pressures or exacerbate them."
It called for clarity on timescales. staffing implications and how it would be paid for.
Responding to the report, First Minister Carwyn Jones said: "This report addresses many issues that are critical at a time when the need for public services is outstripping the resources available to provide them. I have always been clear that the status quo is not an option.
"Change is inevitable and essential so that our public services can become more efficient, effective, accessible and responsive."
Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies said: "From a local perspective it is almost inevitable now that the Vale of Glamorgan will be amalgamated with Cardiff, as is the case with health in the area. However, it should be remembered that big is not always beautiful.
"The whole process should be underpinned by a debate about what services we as residents expect local authorities to deliver. Ultimately it would be a sad day for democracy in Wales if any systemic reform leads communities to feel greater disconnect with local authorities."
Peter Black AM, Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesman for local government, said: "The next local government reorganisation must be for keeps. We cannot afford to be considering ripping it up and starting again in 15 or 20 years time."
"I'm prepared to support re-organisation if we get it right.  That means having councils which are representative, with a fair voting system such as the single transferable vote, so that the outcome of elections are reflected in the way councils are elected."
Plaid Cymru AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas said the government needed to take "direct" action.
"The weight of evidence presented to the Williams Commission shows that if the people of Wales are going to get the services they need and deserve then there has to be a radical improvement in the way public services are delivered," he said.


A selection of the photos from across Africa this week:


Former Wolves and Millwall manager Kenny Jackett heads the shortlist to replace Paul Cook as Portsmouth manager, BBC Radio Solent understands.

Cook was unveiled as Wigan's new boss on Wednesday on a three-year deal after the two clubs agreed a compensation package for the 50-year-old.
Jackett, 55, quit as manager of Rotherham in November after just five games and 39 days in charge.
Cook's assistant Leam Richardson has also moved to the DW Stadium.
"There's a shortlist that we're looking at," Portsmouth chief executive Mark Catlin told BBC Radio Solent.
"I think it would be unfair to say that we've made any approaches for anyone at this moment in time. As a club, I think it's important we get this sorted as a soon as possible."
Former Wales international Jackett, whose managerial career also includes spells in charge of Watford and Swansea City, has two promotions from League One on his CV with Millwall in 2010 and Wolves in 2014.
Rotherham lost four out of the five games Jackett took charge of last season as they eventually finished bottom of the Championship.


John Lewis's Nottingham city centre store has flooded after 80,000 litres of hot water leaked from a ruptured heating pipe.

"Cascading" water at a temperature of about 80C [176F] brought down a suspended ceiling at the Victoria Centre store at about 22:40 BST on Tuesday.
It poured through from a rooftop room, leaving the top floor under three inches of water.
Stock was "significantly" damaged.
The building itself was also damaged, and the shop remained closed on Wednesday.
More on this story and other news in Nottinghamshire
One firefighter said: "We were struggling to find the source of the leak.
"Crews were deployed to salvage stock, [but staff] are going to be busy for a number of days."
A spokeswoman for John Lewis said the store would remain closed on Wednesday as there was no power or lighting.
She added: "We are assessing the damage and have already started the clean-up operation, which will continue as our partners arrive for work this morning."


An army sergeant abused his position to sexually attack and rape female cadets as young as 15, a court has heard.

Edwin Mee, 45, allegedly targeted 11 victims when he was a recruitment sergeant in Croydon and Cheam, Southwark Crown Court heard.
The jury was told he disregarded normal recruitment procedures to keep recruits to himself and that he interviewed applicants out of hours to "deliberately target" his victims.
Mr Mee denies all the charges.
The Scottish officer, who was also know as Jock, is accused of carrying out attacks between October 2010 and September 2011, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Mr Mee, of Tavistock Road, Croydon, is charged with 17 counts of sexual assault, three rapes and one count of assault by penetration.
The alleged incidents happened while he was working as a recruiting sergeant at the Mitcham Barracks Army Careers and Information Office in Croydon, the jury heard.
Prosecutor Rosina Cottage QC told the court: "This case concerns the abuse of trust and power by this defendant in order to bully and groom young women.
"He gauged their vulnerability in order to speak about sex to them, to touch them and most serious of all to rape those over whom he had established the strongest control."
The prosecution said Mr Mee's job was to screen applications and support cadets through the process.
The court heard that the process to join the Army consisted of three interviews, and the third should be conducted by a different person from the first two, but Mr Mee conducted all of the interviews with his applicants.
One of the complainants, who was in her early 20s when Mee allegedly began abusing her, fell pregnant when he raped her in a waiting room, the court heard.
The jury was told the divorced father told her to take off her clothes or that he would "cause problems for her".
She later discovered she had a ruptured ectopic pregnancy for which she was operated on, the jury heard.
The trial continues.


A British man who was killed in Kenya on Saturday was a special constable with the Metropolitan Police.

Jamal Moghe, 26, from Wembley, north-west London, also worked as a civilian employee of the Met based at Ealing in west London.
He is believed to have been killed by bandits while travelling on a charity trip.
Ealing borough commander Andy Rowell said: "We were all shocked and saddened to hear of Jamal's death."
Mr Moghe was a criminal exhibits officer in Ealing and also worked as a special constable - a volunteer police officer - in his home borough of Brent.
Cdr Rowell said: "He was a popular member of the team at Ealing borough and he also chose to serve his community by volunteering as a special. Our thoughts are with his wife and family at this time."
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We can confirm the death of a British national on 12 January and we are providing consular assistance to the family at this difficult time."
A source told the BBC Mr Moghe had been on the way to Marsabit, towards the border with Ethiopia, to see his family.
By Noel MwakuguBBC News
North-eastern Kenya is a remote and arid region which borders Somalia to the east and Ethiopia to the north. It is sparsely populated - most people are cattle herders - and usually it is poorly policed. As a result incidents of banditry and cattle rustling are frequent.
Armed bandits, mostly from war-ravaged Somalia, raid villages to steal animals and in some instances attack public transport convoys for cash and other valuables. The road infrastructure has been neglected - and in many parts is non-existent - making travellers easy prey. The influx of illegal arms from Somalia and the huge number of unemployed youth have also complicated the security situation.
Although incidents of banditry are common, they are not likely to affect Kenya's tourism industry. North-eastern Kenya does not feature on the tourist circuit - most foreigners visit the area for the purpose of research or work for aid agencies.
It was Mr Moghe's first visit to the region in about 15 years, the BBC understands. He is understood to have been buried in the town of Isiolo within 24 hours of the attack - in line with Muslim tradition.
North-eastern Kenya, bordered by Ethiopia and Somalia, is a remote and sparsely populated area where lack of security is a problem.
The BBC understands the bus in which Mr Moghe had been travelling was sprayed with bullets by the bandits and no passenger was singled out.
But the BBC's Noel Mwakugu, in the capital, Nairobi, says official details of the attack are sketchy and Kenyan police do not have further information about the incident.
Odiambho Joseph, from the BBC's Swahili service, says banditry has been on the increase recently and in the last year several Kenyan policemen have been attacked and killed by suspected Islamist militants from Somalia.
The Somali al-Shabab group vowed to take revenge when Kenya sent troops into Somalia in October 2011 to help the UN-backed government seize territory from the militants.
The Times's Africa correspondent, Jerome Starkey, tweeted: "Brit cop Jamal Moghe was shot in a moving vehicle and nothing was stolen once the truck overturned, say provincial Kenyan police chief."
He said there were only nine passengers in the vehicle.


A man has been charged with child destruction and causing grievous bodily harm with intent following an attack on a heavily-pregnant woman.

The 21-year-old, who was 32 weeks pregnant, lost her baby after being attacked by two men in Peckham, south London, on Monday evening.
Kevin Wilson, 20, of Stansfield House, Longfield Estate, south-east London, is due in court later.
The woman waited more than an hour for an ambulance that never arrived.
She was eventually taken to hospital by police after a 70-minute wait but lost her baby in the early hours of Tuesday.
The London Ambulance Service issued an apology for no ambulance reaching her and said the first 999 call, made by a member of the public, had been assessed as a "lower priority call".
The call was made at 20:16 BST on Monday and the Metropolitan Police cancelled the request for an ambulance at 21:25 when its officers took the woman to hospital.
She is said to still be in a critical condition.
Police said the woman was pushed to the ground by two men in motorcycle helmets who allegedly kicked and stamped on her stomach.
Detectives said she was in intensive care but had managed to provide an account of the attack to officers.
The attackers ran off and no motorbike was found, with police saying the helmets may have been worn as a disguise.
Police said they wanted any witnesses to come forward.
Mr Wilson is due to appear at Camberwell Green Magistrates' Court. The charge of child destruction is under the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929.


Horses are able to discriminate between happy and angry human facial expressions, according to research.

In an experiment using photographs of male human faces, scientists from the University of Sussex showed that domestic horses "responded negatively" to angry expressions.
The scientists say domestication may have enabled horses to adapt to and interpret human behaviour.
The findings are published in the journal Biology Letters.
The team carried out their tests at riding stables - presenting large photographs to a total of 28 horses.
"One person presents the photo while another holds the horse," explained researcher Amy Smith.
"The main result," she explained, "was that they looked [at angry faces] with their left eye."
Mammal brains are wired such that input from the left eye is processed by the right side of the brain.
"The right hemisphere is specialised for processing negative stimuli," explained Miss Smith. "It's really about the partition of energy - not using the whole brain."
The researchers also fitted the horses with heart monitors, which revealed that angry faces caused their heart rates to rise significantly.
Similar results have been reported recently in domestic dogs, raising questions about how living with humans might have influenced animals' abilities.
While horses might have an innate ability to recognise emotions in each other, their domestication by humans could have caused them to adapt that ability to humans.
"It also shows this extra ability of horses," said Miss Smith. "[It shows that] our behaviour around them has an impact."
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When Jamie Morton started making his own podcast, he certainly picked an eyebrow-raising topic - reading out his dad's attempts at erotic fiction.

Jamie's father had sent him the first few chapters of the racy novel he'd been secretly writing.
"I naively assumed it would be some story of swashbuckling pirates or a spy thriller. It was only when I started reading it that I discovered he'd been penning porn," says Jamie, 29.
Bodice-ripping sentences he stumbled over included "the job interviewer had just asked her to remove her jacket and silk blouse" and "her black brassiere was working overtime".
Following the initial shock, Jamie decided to read his dad's adult literature to some friends down the pub. They immediately collapsed with laughter and piled in with their comments and critiques.
The evening was so much fun that it inspired London-based Jamie to launch a podcast called My Dad Wrote A Porno. Every week he and his friends, James Cooper and Alice Levine, discuss and analyse a different chapter of his father's unintentionally funny book, which is called Belinda Blinked.
Since its launch in September 2015 the podcast has been a surprise hit, surpassing 50 million downloads worldwide, and regularly dominating Apple's iTunes podcast chart.
Listening to podcasts - digital audio files - that you stream or download to your mobile phone or computer has shot up in recent years.
The US continues to lead the way, with almost a quarter of Americans over the age of 12 - about 67 million people - now listening to at least one podcast every month, according to the Podcast Consumer 2017 report by Edison Research. The 24% figure compares with just 9% in 2008.
Separate figures show that 10% of UK adults are now downloading podcasts, up from 6.5% in autumn 2015.
While for many people making their podcast is a happy hobby, for an increasing number - such as Jamie Morton - it can be a very lucrative business.
So how can podcast makers make money? With most podcasts being given away for free, the answer is advertising revenues, but if you aren't an expert on the advertising industry, securing adverts may seem like an impossible challenge.
Help is at hand from the growing number of podcast platforms that connect podcasters with advertisers. Podcast platforms that offer this service, including Swedish start-up firm Acast and the UK's Audioboom.
My Dad Wrote A Porno uses Acast, and Jamie says: "Acast secures the [advertising] deals, and then we record specific sponsorship reads that we slot into the show."
What Jamie means by "reads" is that he or one of his fellow hosts will read out a message from the sponsor of the episode or series.
He adds that they then try to make the sponsor "relevant" to the show.
"It's a really great way of doing it because it makes them feel fully integrated into the podcast, and we're able to put our personal spin on them, and find editorially relevant ways of weaving sponsorship into the tone of our specific show."
While podcast expert Tom Webster, of research group Edison, agrees that the adverts work best when they "feel like part of the content", other commentators have questioned whether such an approach is being fair to the listeners.
These critics argue that there should always be a clear delineation between the content and the adverts, so that the listener knows exactly what is commercially paid for.
More stories from the BBC's Business Brain series looking at quirky business topics from around the world:
Would you carry something abroad for a stranger?
Nine-month stretch: The rise of prenatal exercise classes
Can't find the right handbag? Just design it yourself
Why you need to question your hippo boss
In terms of how much money is now spent on podcast advertising, media firm ZenithOptimedia estimated last year that the 2016 figure for the US would be $35m (Â£27m). This is a tiny fraction of the $18bn spent on radio advertising in the US last year, but podcast advertising is growing steadily.
While Acast won't reveal exact figures for how much money its users make from advertising, it says that its "top podcasters can bring in tens of thousands of dollars a month from brands".
Acast's co-founder Karl Rosander adds that podcasters "can make a very good living if you have a popular show".
Meanwhile, Mr Webster says that to earn serious money, podcast creators need to be achieving more than 100,000 downloads a month.
In addition to a slice of the advertising revenues, podcasters can also choose to put out "premium content", such as special edition episodes that people have to pay for.
Podcasting can also lead to other revenue streams.
Swedish podcaster Kristoffer Triumf, founder of weekly entertainment industry podcast Varvet, has been able to earn additional money from hosting live talk shows and has even released a spin-off board game.
Back at My Dad Wrote A Porno the team has started taking its show on tour.
Jamie says: "Live shows have been a really exciting thing to do, and we're taking our show up to the Edinburgh Fringe later this year, and also embarking on a tour of Australia and New Zealand.
"We sold out the Sydney Opera House in one day, and added an extra night due to the demand, which is incredibly exciting."
But while some podcasters sing the praises of the likes of Acast and Audioboom, others deliberately avoid them.
London-based Imriel Morgan and Efe Jerome run the Shout Out Network, a podcast network dedicated to representing diversity. Its five podcasts include Millennials of Colour, which covers issues from mental health to poverty, and are available via its own website or Apple's Podcast app.
Imriel says they prefer to work directly with advertisers so that they can have strict control over what adverts are connected to their podcasts, something she claims isn't possible via Acast or Audioboom.
"We have had a few meetings with Acast and Audioboom and have opted not to go with them," says Imriel.
"We think their method isn't suited to our audience. They monetise content and place ads next to your content - I don't want ads on the content that we haven't listened to before.
"For example, we are happy to advertise, say cars and health products, but [with those platforms] you don't know what that brand might be. We are completely against that. We have a lot of trust with our listeners."
For anyone wishing to start a podcast, Jamie Morton says it is crucial to find an original angle if you want it to be a success.
"It's such a saturated marketplace and because anyone can make a podcast there's a lot of competition," he says.
He adds that making money should definitely not be your prime concern.
"I think with anything creative, if you set out making something to earn money from it it's probably not going to work out that well."
Follow Business Brain series editor Will Smale on Twitter @WillSmale1


Heavily armed men in Mexico have abducted at least 10 people who were dining in a restaurant in the popular seaside resort of Puerto Vallarta.

The hostages were taken away in two big utility vehicles.
Police in the western state of Jalisco are trying to locate four women who either escaped or were set free by the gang.
The incident took place in an area close to Puerto Vallarta's main tourist attractions.
The motive for the attack is unclear.
It happened at 01:00 local  time (07:00 BST) on Monday.
Local media reported that up to 16 men had been abducted.
"Seven or eight armed men stormed the restaurant and told the customers to lie on the ground. We don't really know what happened after that," said Puerto Vallarta's Security Commissioner Jesus Jose Rodrigo Campoy.
Security guards apparently ran away as they saw the gang approaching the restaurant, El Informador newspaper reported.


Apple could be ordered to pay billions of euros in back taxes in the Republic of Ireland by European Union competition officials.

The final ruling, expected on Tuesday, follows a three-year probe into Apple's Irish tax affairs, which the EU has previously identified as illegal.
The Financial Times reports that the bill will be for billions of euros, making it Europe's biggest tax penalty.
Apple and the Irish government are likely to appeal against the ruling.
Under EU law, national tax authorities are not allowed to give tax benefits to selected companies - which the EU would consider to be illegal state aid.
According to EU authorities, rulings made by the Irish government in 1991 and 2007 allowed Apple to minimise its tax bill in Ireland.
Apple's company structure enabled it to legally channel international sales through Ireland to take advantage of that tax deal.
On Tuesday EU competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager is expected to give an estimate of how much Apple will have to pay back.
But it will be up to Irish authorities to calculate the exact amount.
The investigation into Apple and similar probes into other US firms have been criticised by US authorities.
Last week the US Treasury Department said the European Commission was in danger of becoming a "supra-national tax authority" overriding the tax codes of its member states.
Brussels was using a different set of criteria to judge cases involving US companies, the US Treasury warned, adding that potential penalties were "deeply troubling".
BBC North America technology reporter Dave Lee says that the US Treasury is concerned that if there is a big EU tax bill for Apple, as expected, then Apple will offset at least some of that against the tax it would be paying in the US.
"So it's essentially shifting billions of dollars from the US economy, from the US tax-pot, into Europe. The US says Europe simply doesn't deserve that money, because all the hard work that goes into creating the iPhone and other Apple products... takes place in the US, and not in Europe."
Apple is not the only company that has been targeted for securing favourable tax deals in the European Union.
Last year, the commission told the Netherlands to recover as much as â‚¬30m (Â£25.6m) from Starbucks and Luxembourg was ordered to claw back a similar amount from Fiat.
Apple is potentially facing a much bigger bill, but with cash reserves of more than $200bn (Â£153bn), the company will have little problem paying up.
Nevertheless, Apple may have to restate its accounts following the ruling.
The current focus is on the size of the bill - how much the European Commission thinks Apple should pay Ireland in back taxes. That will be big enough, but there are even larger issues at stake, including one fundamental question - who really runs the world, governments or giant corporations?
At present, it is difficult to tell.  Individual governments appear impotent in their attempts to apply their tax laws to multinationals like Apple. They have systems designed to deal with the movement and sale of physical goods, systems that are useless when companies derive their profits from the sale of services and the exploitation of intellectual property.
In Apple's case, 90% of its foreign profits are legally channelled to Ireland, and then to subsidiaries which have no tax residence. At the same time, countries can scarcely afford not to co-operate when Apple comes calling; it has a stock market value of $600bn, and the attraction of the jobs it can create and the extra inward investment its favours can bring are too much for most politicians to resist.
There is an echo here of the tycoons of the early 20th Century who bestrode America. Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt and John Rockefeller were judged so powerful that they were almost above the law, something that successive US administrations sought to curb.
The European Commission's attempt to bring Apple to heel is on the surface about tax, but in the end about the power of the multinational and the power of the state. There is more to come; Margarethe Vestager, the Danish commissioner who is leading the charge against Apple, is warming up to take on Google.
Europe versus the giants of corporate America will be a battle royale, and one that will run and run.


Apple has promoted British designer Jony Ive to the role of chief design officer at the world's most valuable company, according to reports.

Sir Jonathan previously held the role of senior vice president of design and helped design of some of the tech giant's most popular gadgets.
He was knighted in 2012 for his services to design.
The move was first revealed in an interview with Sir Jonathan in the Telegraph newspaper.
In an internal memo to employees, published later by tech blog 9to5Mac, chief executive Tim Cook said Sir Jonathan's newly created role would now expand beyond its devices and into designing the company's retail stores, new California campus and even office furniture.
Apple is in the middle of building a new campus, also known as "spaceship" for its circular shape that will house about 12,000 workers.
"In this new role, he will focus entirely on current design projects, new ideas and future initiatives," Mr Cook said in the memo.
"Jony is one of the most talented and accomplished designers of his generation, with an astonishing 5,000 design and utility patents to his name."
Sir Jonathan has helped design products like the iPod, iPhone, iPad and smartwatch over the last couple of decades.
There were reports earlier this year that Apple was working on a car and that he could be behind its design.
He will start the new role in July.
Some of Sir Jonathan's previous day-to-day management duties will now be shared by two other executives, who will work under him.
Richard Howarth - another Brit - will take over as the new head of industrial design at Apple, making him responsible for the crafting of its hardware.
His name previously came to prominence during an Apple v Samsung patent fight in 2012, when court filings revealed he had played a key role in the design of the original iPhone.
And Alan Dye - an American - will become vice president of user interface design - putting him in charge of engineering the way consumers interact with its software.
He recently featured in a Wired article, which described the work he had done on the Apple Watch.
Allowing Sir Jonathan to take a step back from some of his previous duties may reflect the fact that he was described as "exhausted" in a recent profile by the New Yorker.
"I just burnt myself into not being very well," he told the magazine, referring to the fact he had suffered pneumonia in the run-up to the release of the firm's smartwatch.
The article, published in February, said Sir Jonathan had wished to discourage the suggestion that he might be preparing to leave Apple.
Confirmation that he intends to stay with the company - albeit while engaging in more travel away from its California base - is likely to reassure investors.
"Jony Ive is intrinsically linked to the Apple phenomenon," commented Ben Wood from the CCS Insight tech consultancy.
"Apple runs through his veins in the same way it did with Steve Jobs, thanks to the focus he has given to the products that it has delivered.
"To be one step removed from that does come with some risks for the organisation."
Apple's market capitalisation currently stands at $763.6bn (Â£495.3bn), making it the most valuable company in the world.


A second man has been charged with the murder of a man who was stabbed to death in south London.

Ernest Kalawa, 24, from Southwark, died from multiple stab wounds after an attack on Haymerle Road, Peckham on 30 December.
Derron Campbell, 23, also of Southwark, was charged on Wednesday. He is due before Camberwell Green magistrates.
Previously Klark Mangal, 21, of Peckham, was charged with Mr Kalawa's murder.
His trial is due to begin on 3 July at the Old Bailey.


Prime Minister Narendra Modi has criticised recent attacks against India's low-caste Dalit community.

Mr Modi said on Sunday that Dalits have "suffered for centuries" and they "shouldn't suffer anymore".
Four Dalit men, believed to be tannery workers, were publicly flogged last month in western Gujarat state for skinning a dead cow.
Many Hindus consider cows sacred and the slaughter of the animal is banned in several states.
Speaking in Hyderabad, Mr Modi said: "What is the reason we torture our Dalit brothers? What right do you have? The section which has suffered for centuries, will you force them to suffer more?"
"If you have a problem, if you feel like attacking someone, attack me, not my Dalit brothers."
This was his second statement in two days against such attacks.
On Saturday, he asked state governments to take action against "anti-social elements who masquerade as cow protectors to save themselves".
Anger among Dalits has been mounting since the four men from their community were stripped and beaten in public by self-styled cow vigilantes last month.
The vigilantes had accused the men of harming cattle, but the victims insisted they were only taking a cow's carcass for skinning, as was their tradition.
Mr Modi had been criticised by Dalit groups and opposition parties for saying nothing about the attack until now.
There have been several other attacks on men and women across India, who have been accused of eating or smuggling beef.
Two Muslim women were beaten up last month by vigilantes over accusations that they had been carrying beef.
Last year, a Muslim man, Mohammed Akhlaq, was lynched by a mob that attacked his house over allegations that his family had been storing and consuming beef.
The majority of India's estimated 1.2 billion population is Hindu. However the country is also home to large Muslim, Christian and Buddhist minorities.


An MoD project to contract out the training of military pilots is six years behind schedule, the Whitehall spending watchdog has said.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said the £3.2bn scheme was scheduled to be running at full capacity by 2014 but will not now do so until 2019.
The Ascent consortium was awarded the 25-year contract in 2008 in a bid to reduce costs and training times.
Ministers said early difficulties with the programme had been overcome.
The NAO said there was still "much to do" to achieve the planned benefits.
The watchdog found that the early years of the contract were affected by "significant concerns" about the performance of Ascent, a consortium of Lockheed Martin and Babcock.
The MoD had managed to recover only £308,000 from Ascent for its failure to meet its responsibilities out of more than £143m spent so far.
The NAO said the delays were in part due to "substantial" reductions in the numbers of aircrew undergoing training, because of defence cuts, resulting in the value of the contract being more than halved from £6.8bn.
Ascent's performance was considered by NAO to have improved since 2012 after the MoD raised concerns with shareholders.
Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said: "The department needs to understand better actual training performance and what affects performance before it can secure significant improvements from Ascent.
"Otherwise, there is a real risk that moving to the new training will affect the military's ability to train the right number of aircrew at the right time."
Defence procurement minister Philip Dunne said: "The programme was thoroughly overhauled in 2012 and early implementation issues are now behind us.
"We are now on a much firmer footing and moving forward to deliver flight training for aircrew, more rapidly and efficiently, with greater flexibility to adapt to new platforms."


Colleges must do more to prepare young people with learning disabilities for independent living, education inspection body Estyn has said.

A report found only a few in Wales set realistic goals to help students develop their communication and work skills.
Inspectors recommended colleges set individual learning plans and design programmes that challenge pupils more.
One college was praised for monitoring pupils regularly and advancing targets.
Twelve colleges in Wales provide programmes for people with learning difficulties and disabilities, which range from autistic spectrum disorder to profound and multiple conditions.
In 2015-16, 1,400 students aged over 16 completed independent living skills (ILS) courses across Wales.
But an inspection found more colleges need to:
It also recommended councils should ensure they give colleges all the relevant information about learners' needs when they start their education and develop broader partnerships with post-16 and voluntary organisations.
It said the Welsh Government should review information on learners' achievements to ensure there is an accurate picture of success rates.
But the report also highlighted good practice at several colleges, including at GrÅµp Llandrillo Menai which operates across north and west Wales.
It introduced a six-week assessment at the start of courses to gain information about learners' abilities to ensure long-term goals could be achieved both inside and outside of college.
Inspectors found students made notable achievements, including one student who had difficulty socialising who was now attending a youth club and another who had overcome problems ordering and eating lunch on their own at college.


Huge crowds have taken to the streets across Brazil calling for President Dilma Rousseff to resign.

Opponents blame Ms Rousseff for a severe recession and a corruption scandal also engulfing her predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
She has said she has no intention of resigning but her opponents hope a large turnout on the streets will lead to her impeachment.
She faces charges over masking the budget deficit, which she denies.
Crowds in Sao Paulo at the peak of the march reached 1.4 million, the city's state security office said.
Smaller marches took place in many cities across the coutnry.
The demonstrations were peaceful, with tens of thousands wearing the national colours of yellow and green and holding banners that read "Dilma out" and "Stop with corruption".
"I support her impeachment and new elections because the presidential vote in 2014 was financed with dirty money from corruption," said protester Alexandre Cortes, a 39-year-old engineer in Sao Paulo.
Correspondents have described the crisis as the worst in Brazil for many years.
The BBC's Wyre Davies says Ms Rousseff, leader of the governing Workers' Party has come under increasing pressure in recent months over a huge corruption investigation, centred on the state-controlled oil company Petrobras.
So far, the Petrobras inquiry has implicated some of the wealthiest people in Brazil and politicians from all parties.
Prosecutors say contractors skimmed billions of dollars from the company to illegally finance politicians including those from the Workers' Party and its allies - allegations the party denies.
Ms Rousseff was head of the Petrobras board at the time of many of the infractions and opponents have accused her of involvement.
She has denied any knowledge of the corruption scheme and is not being investigated.
The demonstrators also directed their anger towards Ms Rousseff's political mentor and presidential predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
In Sao Paulo, large inflatable dolls of President Rousseff wearing a sash saying "impeachment" and Lula in prison clothes were paraded through the streets.
The size of Sunday's protests matters, because it could help define the shape of things to come for President Dilma Rousseff.
Her future in office depends on her support from Congress, where she is facing an impeachment process.
If she loses backing from MPs and Senators, she could be out of her job before her term ends, on January 1st 2019.
Support in Congress is very volatile - some of the same politicians and parties who are in the ruling coalition today were previously in governments lead by the opposition.
Sunday's protests could serve as a good excuse for some of those parties to turn against her at a moment she is very unpopular.
Last week Sao Paulo State prosecutors asked a judge to place Lula in "preventive custody" after filing charges accusing him of failing to declare ownership of a luxury sea-front penthouse in the seaside resort of Guaruja.
Lula, 70, denies any wrongdoing and says the claims are politically motivated. He says he never owned the flat.
The most hated and loved man in Brazil
Protesters also expressed frustration that Brazil - a rising economic star on the world stage only a few years ago had wasted a historic opportunity with many holding the PT government responsible.
Brazil recently lost its investment-grade status. President Rousseff has accused the opposition of paralysing the Congress with bickering making it impossible to pass the financial measures needed to jump-start the economy.


Russia's press has reacted with anger at the international report which found evidence of state-backed sports doping over a four-year period.

Pro-government papers dismiss the validity of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report, which some said was influenced by foreign governments as part of a deliberate anti-Russia campaign.
However, amid the outrage, one former leading sports star says he thinks the Wada accusations were largely true.
State-owned Rossiskaya Gazeta wades in with the theory that Wada is not politically neutral and is at the centre of an anti-Russia campaign.
"The Wada commission that was preparing the report under the supervision of its Canadian boss described itself as 'independent'," Nikolai Dolgopolov writes. "This is highly unlikely."
"The work was carried out as if following somebody's orders. The Russians are to blame, full stop."
In the same report, academic Andrei Smolensky says simply: "It is not a report, it is a farce."
Pro-government Izvestia thinks Russian athletes were just pawns in a bigger game.
"Sport is too big a temptation not to draw political profit from it," it argues.
Writing in liberal business daily RBC, Andrei Kolesnikov of the Moscow Carnegie Centre believes that Russia was being deliberately targeted.
"It is important for us to take part in the Olympics, it is a quasi-war, a demonstration of soft and hard power."
Some, however, believe Russia does share at least some of the blame.
An editorial in Moscow business daily Vedomosti says Moscow's "yearning to win at all costs" has caused a "crisis of distrust".
"It will take Moscow years to prove that it is really fighting doping," it adds.
Popular news website Gazeta.ru agrees, adding that Russia's reaction has not helped matters.
"Do not shout 'you don't have proof', but prove our innocence," it urges officials.
Russia's sporting newspapers lament what they think is the inevitable fate of not going to the Olympics.
"Mere hours remain before Russian sport is fully outlawed," Natalya Maryanchik writes in Sport Express.
However, she sees a chink of light: "This document has plenty of weak spots, from mixed up surnames to the absence of names of specific athletes."
In Sport Express, former world number one tennis player Yevgeni Kafelnikov provides a rare voice in support of the report's findings.
"I am disinclined to think that the allegations against Russian sport are the handiwork of our foes," he tells the paper.
"I don't think that Wada representatives would throw around such accusations willy-nilly. Evidently, such things really did take place."
Pro-Kremlin Twitter users have been quick to defend their country's sporting honour, while opposition figures demanded that heads roll.
"Doping [exists] across the globe, in all countries," pro-Kremlin TV presenter and media executive Tina Kandelaki tweeted. "But for some reason Russia has been made a scapegoat. Why?"
Several apparently pro-Kremlin users have circulated a picture of former US Secretary of State Colin Powell holding a model of a vial of anthrax while trying to make the case for invading Iraq at the UN Security Council in 2003.
"Wada has presented 'convincing' and 'sound' evidence that Russian athletes use doping," user "subb_zer0" tweeted.
Opposition blogger Oleg Kozyrev puts the blame in part at the door of the FSB, Russia's security service.
"The FSB leadership, Russian sports leadership, deputy premier [and head of Russia's Olympic committee Alexander] Zhukov must resign, of course,"  he writes. "The Wada report is clear."
The editor-in-chief of the liberal radio station Ekho Moskvy, Alexei Venediktov, offered an alternative solution to the issue: "Just bar the FSB from the Olympics. That's all."
BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring  on Twitter and Facebook.


Mae elusen sydd yn cynnig grantiau i gapeli ac eglwysi yn ystyried rhoi'r arian i'r rhai sydd â "chenhadaeth amlwg" yn hytrach nag i drwsio'r adeiladau pan fo yna beryg iddyn nhw gau.

Yn ystod cyfarfod mis Mawrth, â hithau'n ddiwedd blwyddyn ariannol, y cafodd y syniad ei drafod gan aelodau o bwyllgor Ymddiriedolaeth James Pantyfedwen.
Yn ôl y Parchedig Ddr R Alun Evans, un o'r ymddiriedolwyr, y nod yw gwneud y defnydd gorau o'r arian sydd ar gael.
"Trafod fu ynglŷn â'r posibilrwydd o edrych ar waith eglwysi sydd â chenhadaeth amlwg a phendant ganddyn nhw oddi fewn i'w henwad neu yn gyd-enwadol - gorau oll os mae hynny yw e - neu oddi fewn i'r gymuned.
"Beth 'ych chi'n chwilio amdano yw elfen o fywiogrwydd a gweithgarwch yn hytrach na brics a morter yn unig felly.
"Oherwydd mae e wedi digwydd, dros y blynyddoedd diwethaf, lle 'dan ni wedi dyfarnu grantiau a chael, gyda siom wir, bod y capeli yn peidio â bod mewn rhyw bum mlynedd.
"Gwastraff arian yw hynny."
Nod Ymddiriedolaeth James Pantyfedwen yw "hybu a hyrwyddo crefydd, addysg, y Celfyddydau ac amaethyddiaeth a phwrpasau elusennol eraill".
Mae'r elusen yn cael £450,000 bob blwyddyn ac nid capeli ac eglwysi'n unig sydd yn gallu elwa ond gwyliau fel eisteddfodau ac elusennau hefyd.
"O ran capeli ac eglwysi, falle bod ni yn gallu rhoi mwy o arian i lai o eglwysi wrth edrych eto ar amodau'r ymddiriedolaeth," meddai R Alun Evans.
"Yn hytrach na gallu rhoi £1,000 neu £2,000, rhoi £7,000, £8,000 i £10,000 dywedwn, fel bod gwaith pwysig o genhadu yn y cymunedau yn gallu digwydd."
Dyw R Alun Evans ddim yn pryderu y byddai'r newid pwyslais yma yn golygu prinder llefydd i bobl fynd i addoli yn y dyfodol, gan ddweud eu bod yn edrych yn ofalus iawn ar bob cais gan ystyried a oes yna gapeli o'r un enwad yn gyfagos.
Ac mae ystyriaeth yn cael ei roi, meddai, i adeilad sydd yn bensaernïol bwysig neu o bwysigrwydd diwylliannol.
"Yn ddiweddar iawn mi oedd 'na gapel yn Nyffryn Ogwen, sydd yn gapel ac iddo hanes gloyw iawn, iawn ond mae trafferthion i gynnal a chadw'r adeilad hwnnw.
"Ond am ei fod o'n adeilad eiconig mi oedd o'n haeddu cefnogaeth."
Er bod nifer y ceisiadau ar gyfer grantiau gan gapeli ac eglwysi wedi lleihau yn y blynyddoedd diwethaf wrth i fwy ohonyn nhw gau, mae mwy o geisiadau gan fyfyrwyr sydd eisiau gwneud gradd bellach mewn gwahanol feysydd.
Mae'r ymddiriedolaeth wedi penderfynu felly rhoi mwy o arian iddyn nhw.
Ond ers rhyw flwyddyn dyw elusennau mawr ddim yn derbyn grantiau.
"Er bod nhw yn gwneud cais, dywedwch, am gyfrifiadur i swyddfa rhywle yng Nghymru, o'ch chi yn dweud, wel, mae digon o arian gyda chi wrth gefn," meddai R Alun Evans.
"Mae gennych chi yn llythrennol filiynau wrth gefn ac felly mae'r elfen o gyfrannu at elusen, am y tro, wedi cael ei rhoi i'r neilltu."


Swansea City chairman Huw Jenkins says the club's proposed takeover by an American consortium may not be completed until next season.

US businessmen Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan are leading a bid to buy a 60% stake in Wales' only Premier League club.
Swansea had hoped the deal would be done by the end of 2015-16.
"It remains to be seen if it will be done before the start of next season," Jenkins told BBC Wales Sport.
"Will it be taken further and finalised in the summer? We wait to see.
"All we can do is try to continue along the same path and get ready for next season."
Jenkins is among the shareholders set to enjoy a tenfold windfall on the shares they purchased during a successful rescue of what was an ailing club in 2002.
Francesco Guidolin will remain manager for the next two seasons after signing a fresh deal.
Asked whether the potential new owners had any input into the decision to retain Guidolin, Jenkins said: "They are fully aware of the way we run the club and try to do things in a certain way.
"They are fully aware of how we work and why we make the decisions that we do."
Jenkins also revealed Swansea held talks with former boss Brendan Rodgers before opting to stick with Italian Guidolin.


A man was forced to spend 26 years doing heavy labour for tiny sums, Cardiff Crown Court has heard.

Patrick Joseph Connors, 59, Patrick Dean Connors, 39, William Connors, 36, and Lee Carbis, 34, deny a number of offences.
They are accused of keeping Michael Hughes, now 46, and another man, 41, in "appalling conditions" in south Wales and paying them just £10 a day.
On Tuesday, a jury heard the pair were "hunted down" whenever they escaped.
Prosecution counsel John Hipkin said Patrick Joseph Connors ran a driveway tarmacking and building firm, with much of the work illegally targeting "vulnerable" victims using "inflated" prices.
The two men were allegedly forced to work for the business over a number of years and were beaten or threatened if they did not do as they were told.
They were paid £10 a day or in alcohol and tobacco, living in "appalling conditions" in a shed, garage and tin hut without access to heating or water, the prosecution said.
"They were denied basic self respect and called dossers and told if they were killed that they would not be missed," Mr Hipkin said.
"If they tried to escape they would be hunted down and brought back."
Mr Hughes, originally from Aberdeen, spent more than a quarter of a century under the men's control, prosecutors said.
The second victim, who cannot be named and was referred to in court as Mr K, tried to escape four times and even jumped from a moving car during a failed attempt.
When interviewed by police, Patrick Joseph Connors said he had never committed any offences against the two men, insisting he had paid Mr Hughes well.
All four defendants deny one count of requiring another person to perform forced or compulsory labour between 2010 and 2013.
Patrick Joseph Connors, of Rumney, Cardiff, has also pleaded not guilty to eight counts of causing actual bodily harm, four of kidnap and one of conspiracy to kidnap.
Elder son Patrick Dean Connors, of Rumney, denies kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap.
William Connors, also of Rumney, has pleaded not guilty to causing actual bodily harm on a man between 2009 and 2013.
Patrick Joseph Connors' son-in-law Carbis, of Trowbridge, also denies one count of kidnap between 2001 and 2002.
The trial continues.


South Korea has confirmed the killing of the brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un, saying it could be a sign of the brutality of Pyongyang.

Kim Jong-nam was killed in an apparent poison attack in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, on Monday.
No motive has been confirmed and the attackers have not been identified.
South Korea's acting president Hwang Kyo-ahn said if North Korea was found to be responsible, it would show its "brutality and inhumane nature".
If confirmed, it would be the most high-profile death at the hands of the North Korean leadership since Kim Jong-un's uncle, Chang Song-thaek, was executed in 2013.
Mr Kim appears to have been attacked with a chemical while preparing to board a flight home to Macau from in Kuala Lumpur's airport on Monday.
His death was made public only on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning, his body was released from hospital. A post-mortem examination was expected to be conducted.
A Malaysian police official, Fadzil Ahmat, told Reuters that so far there were no suspects, "but we have started investigations and are looking at a few possibilities to get leads".
Police are studying security camera footage from the airport. Images circulating in the media have focused on two women seen alongside Mr Kim, who were later seen leaving the scene in a taxi.
Unnamed US government sources have said they believe he was poisoned by North Korean agents, but there has been no official comment from the White House.
Kim Jong-nam was attacked at about 09:00 (01:00 GMT) on Monday while waiting at the budget terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport for a 10:00 flight to Macau, Malaysia's Star newspaper reports, quoting police.
Exactly how the attack unfolded is still unclear. Officials and witnesses have variously said he was splashed with a chemical or had a cloth placed over his face. Earlier reports spoke of a "spray" being used or a needle.
He died on the way to hospital.
South Korean media named the victim early on Tuesday but the Malaysian authorities initially reported only the sudden death of an unnamed North Korean national who had fallen ill at the airport.
Police then released a statement which quoted the victim's travel document identifying him as "Kim Chol", born on 10 June 1970. Kim Jong-nam is believed to have been born on 10 May 1971.
It was not the first time Mr Kim had travelled under an assumed identity: he was caught trying to enter Japan using a false passport in 2001. He told officials he had been planning to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
Bypassed in favour of his youngest half-brother for succession when their father died in 2011, Kim Jong-nam kept a low profile, spending most of his time overseas in Macau, mainland China and Singapore.
The Tokyo Disneyland incident is thought to have spoilt his chances of succeeding Kim Jong-il, who died in 2011.
He later spoke out against his family's dynastic control of North Korea and in a 2012 book, was quoted as saying he believed his younger half-brother lacked leadership qualities.
But he had said he was not interested in assuming the leadership himself.
Mr Kim was reportedly targeted for assassination in the past.
A North Korean spy jailed by South Korea in 2012 was reported to have admitted trying to organise a hit-and-run accident targeting him.
The secretive state has a long history of sending agents overseas to carry out assassinations, attacks and kidnappings.


Hopes of a deal to end the north Belfast parade dispute have increased after a number of members of an Orange Order lodge who opposed a proposed agreement indicated they plan to resign.

Two north Belfast lodges involved in the dispute backed an agreement in June, but Ballysillan lodge refused to endorse it.
Ballysillan members who opposed the deal are due to resign which would leave supporters of the proposed agreement with a majority in the lodge.
However, this does not mean the dispute is over.
The lodges still have to re-enter talks with a nationalist residents group in the Ardoyne area, the Crumlin Ardoyne Residents Association (CARA).
The proposed deal would result in the completion of the return leg of the Orange Order parade prevented from passing the Ardoyne shop fronts in July 2013, and the protest camp at Twaddell Avenue being dismantled.
In August, the Ballysillan lodge suspended its protest.
In a statement, it said it would continue to apply for an evening parade past the Ardoyne shops.
Two other north Belfast lodges, Ligoniel and the Earl of Erne, who had backed the proposed deal to end the Ardoyne parade dispute in June have continued their protest.
The long-running parading dispute has been ongoing since July 2013.
It began after a Parades Commission determination not to allow a return leg of an Orange parade to pass a section of the Crumlin Road.


Jeremy Corbyn wasn't the left's first choice for Labour leader.

Jon Trickett, who had been close to Ed Miliband, declined to stand and Diane Abbott, who came last in her previous attempt, was concentrating on her bid to become Labour's candidate for London Mayor.
Twice, in 2007 and 2010, John McDonnell tried to get on the ballot to lead his party. Twice he failed to garner enough support from his fellow Labour MPs. He has had a heart attack since - and didn't feel like a third attempt.
But Mr McDonnell was a lynchpin of the Corbyn campaign - the "agent" that helped persuade 36 MPs, just one more than the minimum necessary to get on the ballot, to support the Islington North MP. Remarkably, this included 14 who "lent" him their backing in order to broaden the debate.
Mr McDonnell will be hugely influential.
He is the chair of the Socialist Campaign Group. He was elected for Hayes and Harlington in 1997 when Tony Blair swept to power but in many ways he formed - with Jeremy Corbyn - an unofficial opposition. He voted against many things which defined the Blair era. He opposed the Iraq war, foundation hospitals, and top-up tuition fees.
He had represented the same area of west London on the Greater London Council between 1981 and its abolition by Mrs Thatcher's government five years later, serving as deputy leader to Ken Livingstone. He championed causes which were dubbed "loony left" by opponents at the time - from support for women's sections within the Labour Party to campaigning for a united Ireland. He would argue when it came to positive discrimination, and a peace process in Northern Ireland, he was ahead of the curve.
He - unlike some on the left - has widespread experience of running things. He was chief executive of the Association of London Authorities and its successor body, the Association of London Government.
A former colleague once said life at the ALG was a bit like in medieval times - "nasty, brutish and short." Mr McDonnell is certainly more personally pugnacious than the new Labour leader but is not without charm and certainly not without intelligence.
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When Jon Cruddas - Labour's former policy chief - suggested swing voters had abandoned the party because it wasn't trusted on the economy, he posted this on his website:
"First, it is unarguable that no modern party leader can win an election if behind in the polls on economic competence. Ed Miliband, sadly, was proof of this truism. Second, deficit denial is a non-starter for anyone to have any economic credibility with the electorate. This was a key finding of the poll recently published by Jon Cruddas, examining why Labour lost the election.
"So let me make it absolutely clear that Labour under Jeremy Corbyn is committed to eliminating the deficit and creating an economy in which we live within our means. Where the Corbyn campaign parts company with the dominant economic thinking of both the Conservative government and the other Labour leadership candidates is that we don't believe that the vast majority of middle and low-income earners who didn't cause the economic crisis should have to pay for it."
Some on Labour's left have suggested Mr McDonnell would be an excellent shadow chancellor.
Like Jeremy Corbyn, Mr McDonnell has experience of working with wider movements outside the Labour Party - including the People's Assembly against Austerity, an umbrella group which also encompasses activists from the Greens, and parties to the left of Labour.
Another member of the Ken Livingstone coterie - though more recently - was a huge asset to Corbyn's campaign. Simon Fletcher was Mr Livingstone's resourceful chief of staff when he was London Mayor, during his first term of office in 2000.
Mr Livingstone had failed to win the Labour nomination and stood as an independent in 2000 against the official party candidate, Frank Dobson.
Mr Fletcher helped mastermind the victory but also negotiated an early "re-entry" for his boss back in to Labour before the 2004 election.
In 2013 he was appointed as Ed Miliband's trade union liaison officer - to heal wounds after the Falkirk fiasco. Unite's choice of candidate, Karie Murphy, had been cast aside amid controversy and accusations of vote-rigging. She was later cleared of wrongdoing but not before Tom Watson, who employed her in his office  - and now the new Labour deputy leader - resigned over the handling of the affair.
Mr Watson himself will be instrumental in holding the party together and will push for Mr Corbyn to become "inclusive", but will also encourage those to Mr Corbyn's right to co-operate with the new regime.
Mr Fletcher helped draw up the new rules under which Mr Corbyn was elected - including giving votes to "supporters" who could join at a cut price rate. He was certainly close to activists in the Trotskyite Socialist Action movement in the past but those who worked with him under Ed Miliband said he wasn't factional. They also point out the main movers behind the new rules were on the party's right, not left, as they assumed the power of the unions would decrease as a result.
One of Mr Miliband's aides told me privately "you should always believe cock up not conspiracy theories if you are thinking about our time in office".
Labour peer Toby Harris served on the London Assembly when Simon Fletcher worked with Mr Livingstone and he chaired the Association of London Government when Mr McDonnell was its chief executive.
"Jeremy is nice enough but not very organised. Both of them are organised and effective. Simon Fletcher is very bright and able; he has a political ideology but he tends to think what's the best way of making things happen. John McDonnell was very effective and very competent."
He said they are both "ideologically compatible" with the new leader but both hopes and expects that they won't launch battle against sitting MPs - the like of which was last seen in the 80s.
"The Corbyn leadership has said it won't drive people out of the party - certainly to go back thirty years in three months would be very bad for Labour so it's important we do try to pull together."
But with leading figures on the front bench refusing to serve - including the former leadership candidates Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall, as well as Rachel Reeves, Tristram Hunt and Chris Leslie - the new leader may give newer and younger MPs the opportunity to join the front bench, at least in a junior capacity.
Early backers included the former BBC reporter Clive Lewis, who won Norwich South at the general election. He's also an army reservist. So like Mr Corbyn, he is not a typical politician. But while the new Labour leader set up the Stop the War coalition to protest initially against the intervention in Afghanistan, Lewis served with the troops there in 2009.
Mr Lewis's friends say he is not sure if he is ready yet for the front bench, but another new MP, the former trade union lawyer Richard Burgon, was an early supporter and could be a valuable addition to Mr Corbyn's team.
For the past five years the two Eds - Miliband and Balls - dominated Labour in parliament.
Now two "Cats" will be influential in the new leadership - Cat Smith, who used to work in Mr Corbyn's office and who is now MP for Lancaster and Fleetwood, and Islington councillor Kat Fletcher - the London borough's deputy mayor - who co-ordinated the work of 16,000 volunteers in the Corbyn campaign.
The colourful Carmel Nolan - a veteran, if that's the right word, of Stop the War and a former radio producer - had the unenviable task of handling the growing press interest in the person who was until recently an unfashionable 66-year-old backbencher.
She likened her experience to being "at the reins of a runaway horse."
Well, the campaign has certainly gone from a trot to a gallop - and with 60% of the vote, those who were predicting that Jeremy Corbyn will soon be for the knacker's yard are thinking again.
He has a loyal, if exhausted campaign team who have enthused many of Labour's new members - but now their challenge will be moving the party's policies more in line with the views of its leader, without splitting it apart.


Sainsbury's has posted a 10.1% fall in first-half profits to £277m as sales continued to decline.

The supermarket giant said like-for-like sales sales fell 1% in the 28 weeks to 24 September.
It said that while the market remains strong, "pricing pressures continue to impact margins".
Sainsbury's added that the effect of the slump in sterling on retailers was "uncertain" as it braces for an increase in costs over the second half.
Shares in the UK's second biggest supermarket fell more than 5% in morning trading on the FTSE 100.
Despite the fall in sales, chief executive Mike Coupe said Sainsbury's had made "good progress" on delivering its strategy for the UK.
"We have invested in the quality of our products while reducing prices on everyday items, delivering volume growth and outperforming the market in customer service and availability," he said.
Earlier this year, Sainsbury's bought retailer Argos-owned Home Retail Group to expand its non-food offering in the stores.
Mr Coupe said: "By Christmas we will open 30 Argos digital stores and create a further 30 Argos digital collection points in our supermarkets."
Sainsbury's wants to put 250 Argos outlets in supermarkets over the next three years.
German discount chains Aldi and Lidl have expanded rapidly in the UK, undercutting Sainsbury's and its rivals, including Tesco, Morrisons and Asda.
The supermarket chain fought back by cutting prices on its everyday products rather than run promotions.


The US doughnut company Krispy Kreme has agreed to be bought by Kenco coffee owner, JAB Holding, for $1.35bn (Â£935m).

German investment firm JAB also owns coffee brands Peets and Douwe Egberts, as well as the luxury shoe firm Jimmy Choo and beauty firm Coty.
The deal is expected to close by September, when the 80-year-old doughnut firm will be privately held.
Shares in Krispy Kreme jumped 24% as Wall Street opened.
"For nearly 80 years, our iconic brand has been touching and enhancing lives through the joy that is Krispy Kreme," said Jim Morgan, chairman of Krispy Kreme.
"This transaction puts us in the best possible position to continue to spread that joy to a growing number of people around the world."
That sentiment was echoed by JAB's senior partner Peter Harf.
"We are thrilled to have such an iconic brand as Krispy Kreme joining the JAB portfolio," he said.
"We feel strongly that Krispy Kreme will benefit greatly from our long-term focus and support for management's vision in building on the legacy of this exciting brand as an independent standalone entity."
Krispy Kreme has more than 1,100 shops in more than 26 countries, including self-serve cabinets in about 500 Tesco stores and service stations in the UK.
JAB Holding is the investment vehicle for the billionaire Reimann siblings. In December last year they bought coffee-pod maker Keurig Green Mountain for $13.9bn (Â£9.6bn).


A review into the proposed abolition of a county council has led to a war of words between council leaders.

District councils have told Oxfordshire County Council to "get on board" with a study into proposals to create "four unitary bodies".
The districts around Oxfordshire have proposed scrapping the county council.
But the county council has accused them of "putting headlines over joint working".
Leader of the Vale of White Horse district council, Matt Barber, said: "Everyone knows the county council is having extreme budget difficulties, leading to cuts in services people value. Two-tier local government is broken in our view and we want to look at all the options for unitary councils.
He added the county council should "get on board" with the work being done by district councils and not "waste the public's money duplicating the study".
Oxfordshire County Council leader Ian Hudspeth said: "Once again the districts are putting headlines ahead of joint working.
"We have written to the districts twice asking them to discuss terms of reference for a joint study, with the public also given a chance to comment.
"They made it clear they weren't prepared to do that."
The four proposed unitary bodies - which would include district councils from Northamptonshire and the Cotswolds -  would work in partnership with the NHS and Local Enterprise Group.
According to district council leaders, abolishing Oxfordshire County Council would save the taxpayer money.
County council leaders have said the four unitary body proposal has ruled out the benefits of having a single unitary council in Oxfordshire.


Instant messaging apps must store data about Iranian users inside the country, Iran has ordered.

The new rule comes from Iran's Supreme Council of Cyberspace and firms have been given one year to comply.
Campaign group Privacy International described it as "extremely worrying" but said it could prove difficult to enforce.
Iran's most popular messaging app is Berlin-based service Telegram, believed to be used by one in four Iranians.
Messages shared via Telegram, which is free to use, are encrypted and can be seen by many users at once.
Telegram could not be reached for comment but reports circulating on social networks that it has decided to comply are understood to be false.
Most social networks are officially blocked by the state but lots of people are able to access them via services like Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), which mask a browser's geographical location.
The country's president, Hassan Rouhani, has active Twitter accounts in English and Persian.
In my view, Telegram has a tough job ahead of it when deciding whether to go ahead with what the government wants.
People are worried about losing it but they are also saying they will stop using it if the firm complies with the new law.
This is a big thing for people in Iran. They are very sensitive about security.
If Telegram does what is asked, then the government will have control over the content, it can monitor who is saying what, and it can arrest people.
The app was shut down briefly last year for refusing to comply with the government - and that added to its popularity.
Just recently BBC Persian covered a story about high school students protesting about their exams - they created a Telegram group to mobilise and inform other students about the protest.
The group got 20,000 subscribers and the protest went well. But as soon as it got media coverage the government told the group administrators to close it down.
In a short time, the number of subscribers came down to just 300.


Politicians, public bodies and the business community have been reacting to the news that Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness has resigned in protest at the handling of a botched heating scheme that is likely to cost the taxpayer £490m.

Here is a selection of their comments:
"I am disappointed that Martin McGuinness has chosen to take the position he has today.
"His actions have meant that, at precisely the time we need our government to be active, we will have no government and no way to resolve the RHI problems.
"It is clear that Sinn Féin's actions are not principled, they are political.
"Let me make it clear, the DUP will always defend unionism and stand up for what is best for Northern Ireland and it appears from the deputy first minister's resignation letter that is what annoys Sinn Féin the most."
"The UK government has a primary role to provide political stability in Northern Ireland and we'll be doing all we can over the coming days to work with the parties to find a solution to the current situation.
"The position is very clear. If Sinn Féin does not nominate a replacement to the role of deputy first minister, then I'm obliged to call and election of the assembly within a reasonable period.
"I would urge the leaders of the political parties to come together and work together to find a solution to current situation and we'll be doing all that we can with the political parties and the Irish government to that end."
"A reasonable resolution could have been achieved which leads me to believe that this crisis goes beyond RHI and points to a more intractable situation.
"The DUP and Sinn Féin's inability to work together is a fundamental flaw not envisaged in the Good Friday Agreement and will continue to burden the people of Northern Ireland as long as their best interests come second to entrenched party politics.
"Today is a dark day for Northern Ireland. I am truly fearful for our future."
"If this was just about RHI, Sinn Féin would hang in, they would hold the DUP and the first minister to account, they'd take steps to introduce cost controls and they'd support a public inquiry into what went wrong.
"But this is not about RHI - it's about Sinn Féin. We've now had 10 years characterised by disappointment, debacles and scandals.
"They are incapable of governing this country. They cannot see the greater good. The Ulster Unionists fought hard in 1998 to get these institutions up and running. We saw devolution as being for the benefit of the people.
"I don't know what Sinn Féin and the DUP have in mind [following the resignation], but it's very clear they'll do what's good for the parties, not what's good for the electorate."
"It looks like we're heading towards an election and that's happening because of Arele Foster's arrogance.
"But if people want an election, let's have it, because people need to hear that we still have no programme for government and now we have costs spiralling out of control with RHI.
"We also now won't have a public inquiry into all of this. We agree with Martin McGuinness when he tells us the DUP have disrespected the nationalist community. But some people wanted to stand side by side with the DUP, holding their hand.
"If DUP and Féin aren't prepared to hold people accountable for the RHI scandal, lets have the electorate hold them to account."
"This changes nothing.
[It] really is a case of 'any lengths' to avoid doing the job of running the country, setting a budget, preparing for Brexit."
"I've long said mandatory coalition would implode. Today it has. It's time to move on.
"The people of Northern Ireland deserve good government.
"There's no point trying to glue back together something that will never work."
"I'm disappointed at the inability of the two parties to deliver stability to Northern Ireland.
"We've nothing to fear from an election. As one of the parties that highlighted concerns about RHI from the beginning, I believe people will realise the constructive role we have played.
"But I believe and election is not what the people of Northern Ireland want. Today can only be a bad news day for Northern Ireland.
"I hope in a a week's time, we're hearing a better story and that the other parties step up and deliver what's required."
"I think it was an inevitable thing to do and when things become inevitable in politics then it is right for them to happen.
"It was clear to us that there was no mechanism for dealing with the RHI scandal within the machinery of Stormont as it stood.
"I believe that we cannot live any longer with the petition of concern and a number of the other aspects of the machinery of Stormont and we also can't go on without putting right at the centre issues to do with the economy and society which have been marginalised.
"Everybody seems to assume that the DUP is coming back to Stormont with the same strength and numbers, we shall see whether that happens."
"Martin McGuinness has led from the front in the Executive for the last 10 years, defending the integrity of the political institutions and realising the potential of the Good Friday Agreement.
"In spite of the provocation, disrespect and arrogance from the DUP, and the failures of the British government to fulfil its responsibilities over that time, Martin McGuinness has always put the people and the political process first.
"This is in contrast to the DUP who have been acting to undermine equality and partnership.
"The money squandered in the RHI project belonged to unionists as well as other taxpayers.
"It is money which should have been used to end poverty and disadvantage or to build public services. No minister responsible for such bad governance in any other administration would be still in office."
"Arlene Foster took a reasonable approach. I don't think it was necessary to have an election to make sure this was all properly investigated. I believe the fundamentals of the devolved settlement are strong."
"Having remained as positive as we can for as long as we can, there is presently a very deep sense of frustration at the instability which now characterises our political institutions.
"The hope and optimism which greeted the Fresh Start Agreement has dissipated. Business confidence stalled because of the uncertainty regarding Brexit and the change of the US Administration.
"The current political situation adds to this uncertainty and will have a negative impact on economic and social development.
"Meanwhile, the global economy is growing, so too are the economies in the UK and the Republic of Ireland, where they are working on ambitious economic growth plans.
"The sad reality is that Northern Ireland is falling behind, and we need political stability to deliver the ambitious plans set out in the new Programme for Government and Export Matters Action Plan to grow trade."
"The business community is not seeking to comment on the specifics that have given rise to today's events, other than to underline that there has seldom been a more important time for all our citizens to have a strong well-functioning Executive.
"Ahead of the triggering of Article 50, expected in March, Northern Ireland urgently requires strong leadership and representation as the UK negotiates its future relationship with the EU.
"It is vital that our collective voice is heard during this crucial period to achieve the best possible outcome for all of our citizens.
"We have waited for years. The launch of the HIA report is scheduled for 20 January...and now it will gather dust.
"I started this campaign, nine years I am doing this, and now the government collapses on us again. I am angry and hurting for everybody."
"The stability of the devolved institutions in Northern Ireland is more important now than ever, given the challenges presented by Brexit. This needs cool heads and calm leadership.
"A peaceful society, politically stable institutions and a strong economy are intricately bound together.
"The people of Northern Ireland must have confidence that there is a coherent, cohesive and collective government that is open, accountable and working in the best interests of the whole of Northern Ireland."


Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas have announced a reconciliation deal, saying they will try to form a unity government in the coming weeks.

Hamas and Fatah split violently in 2007. Previous reconciliation agreements have never been implemented.
The deal comes amid troubled peace talks between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israel.
Following the announcement, Israel said it would not attend a negotiation session planned for Wednesday evening.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier said Mr Abbas would have to choose between peace with Israel and peace with Hamas.
By Rushdi Abu AloufBBC News, Gaza City
It is not easy to find a Palestinian who is optimistic about the latest, announcement, long overdue, about a reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas.
Dozens of similar meetings have been held at home and abroad over the years. Two agreements were signed - in Qatar and Cairo - but none of these saw the light of day and nothing changed on the ground.
So what is new in this round?
Observers and analysts say there are new developments in the region.
Hamas has lost a strong ally in Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and the leadership has also lost a key base in Damascus.
Fatah, meanwhile, is looking to strengthen its position as peace negotiations with Israel stall.
Media divided over Palestinian unity deal
"You can have one but not the other. I hope he chooses peace; so far he hasn't done so," he warned.
Israel - along with the US and the EU - views the Islamist Hamas group as a terrorist organisation.
Palestinian officials responded by saying reconciliation was an internal matter and uniting Palestinian people would reinforce peace.
In a statement, Mr Abbas said there was "no incompatibility between reconciliation and the talks" and that they were committed to peace on the basis of a two-state solution.
US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington was "disappointed" by the announcement and warned it could seriously complicate peace efforts.
"It's hard to see how Israel can be expected to negotiate with a government that does not believe in its right to exist," she added.
Mr Abbas sent a delegation from his Fatah party to Gaza for reconciliation talks earlier this week.
The factions said they planned to form an interim unity government - headed by Mr Abbas - within five weeks and hold parliamentary elections within six months.
"This is the good news we tell our people," Ismail Haniya, prime minister of the Hamas-led government in Gaza, told reporters. "The era of division is over."
Senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmed said they had "agreed about everything we discussed, so we will forget what happened in the past".
The news brought thousands of Palestinians out on to the streets of Gaza City in celebration.
Ordinary Palestinians have long hoped for an end to the split between their political leaders but previous reconciliation deals in Doha and Cairo were never implemented, says the BBC's Yolande Knell in Jerusalem.
The agreement will strengthen the position of Mr Abbas - whose Fatah movement dominates the Palestinian Authority, which controls parts of the West Bank - and should also make Hamas feel less isolated as it continues to face border restrictions imposed by Israel and Egypt, our correspondent adds.
Fatah has historically been the dominant faction in the Palestinian nationalist movement, but Hamas won parliamentary elections in January 2006.
In early 2007, Fatah and Hamas agreed to form a coalition to end growing factional violence, but in June of that year Hamas seized Gaza by force and set up a rival government.
Shortly after Wednesday's reconciliation deal was announced, five people were injured in an Israeli air strike in northern Gaza, Palestinian medics said.
Israel said it had targeted militants preparing to fire rockets. On Monday, seven rockets were launched from the territory into southern Israel.


Some of the UK's top acrobats will be flipping and flying into Liverpool this weekend for the British rhythmic and acrobatic gymnastic championships.

29 July 2017 Last updated at 12:32 BST
The team are fresh from picking up a gold medal at the world games last week.
But what does it take to be a world-class acrobat?
BBC sports reporter Mike Bushell has been finding out.


Chesterfield have recalled striker Armand Gnanduillet from his loan spell with Tranmere Rovers.

The 22-year-old joined the Prenton Park side on a one-month loan deal in October.
The Ivorian scored twice in four appearances for the League Two strugglers, with both goals coming in the 2-2 draw with AFC Wimbledon.
The Spireites, who face Barnsley on Saturday, have failed to win any of their last seven league games.


Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee won the French Open by four shots as Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy failed to challenge in Paris.

Jaidee finished day three two clear of McIlroy and carded a final round of 68 to finish on 11 under.
McIlroy could only card a level-par 71 in his last round.
"The way I've felt out there and to finish third on my own, it's been a decent week in that regard," he told Sky Sports.
"I've got 10 days until the Open starts. I'm going to be working every day to try and get better and will play a bit of links golf to work on the shots I need for Troon as well."
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This will be McIlroy's first Open since winning the Claret Jug in 2014 after a foot injury ruled him out of defending his title at St Andrews last year.
Jaidee, 46, claimed his fourth win since turning 40 and never looked troubled on the final day despite Italy's Francesco Molinari shooting a 66 to finish second.
England's Andy Sullivan looked set to finish in the top three before a bogey on 17 and a triple-bogey seven on the last left him tied for fifth


Fifa presidential candidate Gianni Infantino says he would press for the World Cup to be held in a whole region rather than one or two countries.

The Uefa general secretary has included the plan in his manifesto for the Fifa election on 26 February.
His idea follows European football's governing body Uefa's decision to play Euro 2020 in 13 different countries.
"Each confederation shall have to wait at least two editions before being able to host the World Cup again," he said.
"This will ensure a more equitable rotation, while giving every confederation the opportunity to organise this unique event.
"Furthermore, Fifa should investigate the possibility of organising the World Cup not only in one or two countries but in a whole region, so enabling several countries to enjoy the honour and benefits of hosting the World Cup."
Infantino is one of five candidates standing for the presidency of world football's governing body, which is in crisis following a series of corruption claims.
He is up against Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, the Bahraini head of the Asian football confederation (AFC), Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan, South Africa's Tokyo Sexwale and Jerome Champagne, a former Fifa deputy secretary general from France.
Current Fifa president Sepp Blatter has been banned for eight years from all football-related activities for breaching ethics rules.


From exploding buses to a fox trapped in a dishwasher, the past 12 months has produced some remarkable videos.

Whether you have found 2016 a good, bad or indifferent year, here are some of the most-watched news videos from around England each month.
One of the most-watched videos of January was about secret wartime tunnels beneath Clapham South Tube station being opened up to the public.
The warren-like network provided shelter for thousands of Londoners during World War Two.
Anushka Binoy hit the headlines in January after getting the maximum score on an IQ test. The brainy youngster from Isleworth, who was then 11, sat the exam set by Mensa and has an official IQ of 162. Nearly a million people watched an interview with her.
February's top-viewed video was of a double-decker bus being blown up on a bridge in central London - all for a film.
Footage of the bus crossing Lambeth Bridge was taken by London Fire Brigade who were on standby in case anything went wrong with the explosion.
CCTV footage released by police in Kingston, showing a man neatly tripping up a suspected drug dealer was also popular, but surely nothing compares to Kurt - a former stray who is now 7ft (2m 13cm) tall and 11st (70kg)
The Anatolian Shepherd, from Chatham in Kent, manages to wolf down £120 worth of food every month, and on Fridays he has tripe, beef chunks, chicken hearts and ribs - served on a tray because it won't fit into a bowl.
The shooting of an adult film in garages in Sutton, south London, was deplored by local councillor Trish Fivey as "absolutely disgraceful". The movie was uploaded to the internet and viewers recognised landmarks including the car park at St Nicholas Shopping Centre. Glamorous.
Footage of clothes drying on a radiator may not seem terribly compelling, but it was accompanied by a health warning about dangers posed by a common household mould, leading to it being viewed a million times.
And March was also the month a 300ft (92m) mine shaft opened up under the patio of a house in Scorrier, Cornwall. It was thought to be a remnant of an 18th Century tin mine.
Stuart Dann, who runs Cornwall mine survey firm Mining-Eye in Cornwall said: "The area is like a massive bit of Swiss cheese".
There's nothing quite like a dancing gorilla, as Twycross Zoo found out when footage of three-year-old Lope aping around went viral. The zoo's director of life sciences Dr Charlotte Macdonald said Lope's "dance" was evidence of him playing - an important aspect of young apes' behaviour.
Also dancing about, but this time to dodge flying manure, was double-Oscar winning actor Emma Thompson. She was taking part in an anti-fracking demonstration when a farmer drove his muckspreader past, bespattering the campaigners.
And the London marathon took place. One runner surprised his girlfriend by stopping and pretending to tie up his shoe laces before pulling out a ring and proposing. She said "yes".
May was all about appearance. Eight-year-old Joshua Reape was sent home from school because of a hairstyle he'd copied from the hit BBC drama Peaky Blinders. His short back and sides - based on that of Tommy Shelby, a character played by Cillian Murphy - caused a stir at Abbey Catholic Primary School in Erdington.
But easily the most-viewed video of the month, with more than three million hits, was that of a London receptionist who was sent home from work after refusing to wear high heels.
While Leicester City supporters enjoyed their team's unlikely triumph in the Premier League, spare a thought for poor old Lee Chapman.
The lookalike postman, who'd attracted attention over his uncanny resemblance to Foxes striker Jamie Vardy, said he was "heartbroken" after the footballer blocked him on Twitter.
Also upset were the owners of several cars which got submerged by floods in south-east London, caused by torrential rain.
And sticking with a watery theme, a fox cub became stuck in a dishwasher. Yes, you read that right. A fox became stuck in a dishwasher.
He was eventually "ushered out" by a vet wielding a broom.
In Derbyshire, a six-bedroom luxury mansion which had been disguised as a farm shed was discovered by police. It was the work of Alan Yeomans who was jailed for drug dealing and money laundering. And the crook had called it "Shedley Manor". Clever.
July was the month to be remembered for a police dog joining in a push-up challenge. PC Steve Hopwood from Avon and Somerset Police was joined by Monty, who completed 23 push-ups to raise awareness of veteran suicide. The challenge is to do 22, but the pair did "one for luck".
In Sheffield, the challenge some sports enthusiasts filmed themselves wakeboarding through a Victorian storm drain.
August was the month in which an island in the River Avon in Worcestershire was put on the market. With no services on Osier Island, the owner lived using electricity from solar panels and rain water. BBC Midlands Today sent their drone up for the footage. The island and property sold at auction for £280,000 - comfortably beating its £190,000 guide price.
Staying with rivers, a mysterious black door was placed on a buttress of the Sonning Bridge in Berkshire. There was even a floating doormat. It's thought to have been the work of local artist Impro, and could refer to the fact Sonning is home to the Prime Minister Theresa May.
As for the pink hay bales, the giant marshmallowy structures were the brainchild of Dave Broster from Diggle Green Farm in Warrington. They were wrapped in pink plastic to raise awareness of breast cancer.
The joyous video of a deer bounding along the sands in Poole Harbour was taken at dawn by dog-walker Dave Mott in September. It's thought to be a Japanese Sika deer that may have swum over from Brownsea Island. Have a look at the little chap in action - it'll make you happy.
Another happy occasion was the wedding of Jamie and Mandy Milligan - where a stunt by the best man stole the show. He pretended he'd forgotten his speech and set off on an epic quest to find it.
An epic fail was also in the most-watched news, as a Domino's Pizza rider toppled off his bike while doing a wheelie. Which demonstrates exactly what happens to show-offs.
Oh, October was a showbiz month.
Britney Spears developed a crush on a 42-year-old man from Surrey. The object of her desire was Phil Lupton, a studio manager filmed by the singer riding his motorbike home. On the footage, which she posted on her Instagram account, the star can be heard saying: "My crush in London. Very hot, very hot, very hot."
Mr Lupton told BBC London his wife "didn't understand the fuss".
Take That crooner Gary Barlow turned up at a 13-year-old's birthday party in Birmingham and sang Greatest Day. She was in tears. Possibly of joy.
And then, baby-faced pop star Justin Bieber made a surprise appearance at an ice hockey practice session in Manchester. He even scored. Unbeliebable.
A thrill-seeker from Sheffield combined his passions for baked goods and bungee jumping by successfully dunking from 75m (246ft) away. Simon Berry's technique involved clasping one wrist over the other to offer greater stability and precision as the biscuit surged towards its small target. Well done him.
And another "well done" for eight-year-old Marcus Caffrey, who delivered his baby sister Freya when his mum went into labour. He said he was just focused on getting "the job done" before the paramedics took over.
Less well done, perhaps, for the designers of a "ghost roundabout" in Cambridge. The cobbled brick circle has been described as a "UFO landing pad" and an "urban crop circle" on social media.
Cambridgeshire County Council said it was designed to slow down traffic by confusing drivers. Job done.
In December, a meat and potato pie attached to a weather balloon was sent into space to see if its journey changed the molecular structure of the pie. The pioneering pastry was launched from Wigan.
In nearby Manchester, eyes were on an enormous fish caught in the Indian Ocean and put on display at the Arndale Market. The goliath grouper weighed 30 stone (190kg).
And to finish on a festive note, the BBC News jingle inspired a dancer in Leicester Square. After the video of Corville Cuffy became popular on social media, he was invited to the newsroom to perform it there.
The BBC, like someone's dad trying to sound cool, said Mr Cuffy threw "some funky shapes".


The result of the SDLP leadership contest will be announced at the party's conference later.

The current leader Alasdair McDonnell is being challenged by Colum Eastwood, the MLA for Foyle.
Dr McDonnell, 66, the MP for South Belfast, has been leading the SDLP since 2011.
Mr Eastwood, at 32, is the party's youngest MLA.
Dr McDonnell told party delegates during his speech on Saturday afternoon that "generational change is making its way through this party".
But he added that he intends to stay on as leader until he has completed a programme of "reorganisation and renewal" within the party.
"I don't expect to stay forever or even for a moment longer than needed to get the immediate job done," he said.
"But we need proper succession planning at all levels in this party because it is absolutely integral to the project of continuous party renewal which we have already begun."
Dr McDonnell has claimed to have achieved a "major turnaround" for the SDLP in encouraging new candidates to stand for election and increasing female representation among councillors to 40%.
But his leadership style has been criticised by some senior members of the party, including former deputy leaders Seamus Mallon and Brid Rodgers and the Foyle MP Mark Durkan.
Mr Eastwood is pointing to the support he has from figures like them, and from Pat Hume, the wife of the former party leader John Hume.
The former mayor of Londonderry says the SDLP has had "a couple of very bad elections" under Dr McDonnell's leadership and that it is time for a change.
More than 300 delegates to the SDLP conference in Armagh are entitled to vote.
The ballot opened at 16:00 GMT on Friday and the result will be announced around 17:00 on Saturday.


The youngest ever Commonwealth Games medal winner has been told she is no longer disabled enough to compete in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio.

Erraid Davies from Shetland, also the youngest ever competitor when she won bronze in the women's 100m breaststroke final aged just 13, has had her classification renewed by medics.
Erraid has Perthes disease which affects her hip bones and joints.
The teenager must now await a second opinion.
Medical specialists in Glasgow said her physical impairment was no longer severe enough to allow her to compete in a disabled event.
This stops her from taking part in the upcoming British Para Swimming International Meet, which is part of the qualifying process for Rio.
Erraid will be examined again by a different set of specialists in the coming weeks to see if they uphold the decision.
She was first taken swimming by her parents at the age of four, and her parents said her condition meant she could barely walk.
Erraid's huge smile upon realising she had won made her one of the iconic figures of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
A spokeswoman for Scottish Swimming said: "In line with IPC classification process, Erraid Davies of Delting Dolphins in Shetland, undertook a classification review at Tollcross International Swimming Centre, and has been deemed ineligible to compete in the forthcoming British Para Swimming International Meet.
"Standard protocol following such a review outcome is for Erraid to be seen again and arrangements are being made for this.
"While Erraid and her family are extremely upset and disappointed with the outcome, they welcome the opportunity of a second review and both Scottish Swimming and British Swimming are supporting them at this time."


Media companies should be more accountable to the National Assembly, a Welsh Government minister has said.

Alun Davies, who has responsibility for broadcasting, warned Wales had a "weakening" media and a lack of accountability was partly responsible.
But he stopped short of calling for devolved powers over the sector, during a media conference speech in Cardiff.
"I worry, and I am concerned, that Wales has a weak, indigenous media that is weakening," he said.
"And I am concerned that we don't always have the structures to enable us to have a conversation, apart from informally.
"The formal structures of accountability, formal structures of regulation and the formal structures to actually deliver policy.
"I think that is something which we do need to recognise, and is something that we need to debate and discuss.
"Not simply within government, or within the National Assembly, but within and throughout our society."
Mr Davies called for the assembly to have a greater role in holding media companies to account.
"I make no case for the devolution of responsibility for broadcasting to Wales or to the Welsh Government," he added.
"However, I do make the case for the accountability for broadcasting to be shared across the institutions of the United Kingdom."
Media bosses do give occasional evidence to assembly committees examining the media in Wales, but there is no formal arrangement that requires them to appear or submit evidence.
Since the renewal of the BBC's charter, the Welsh Government has been given a stronger role in appointing the Wales representative to the BBC board.
It used its veto to oppose the appointment of the UK government's choice for the position, Dr Carol Bell, earlier this year.
Dr Ruth McElroy, a media lecturer at the University of South Wales, said Wales' traditional media had weakened as the industry adapted to changing audience habits.
She told BBC Wales: "We have seen a great deal of closures of local newspapers. That's been a long-standing theme, and it's been greater in Wales than in the rest of the UK.
"I think what we have to do is be realistic that we are now in a digital age, and that modes of news delivery might be different in the future."
She added ministers should be more prepared to intervene to support media in Wales.
"There definitely is a place for government intervention. I think that sometimes, in the UK, we have been hostile to that, almost ideologically.
"In other parts of the world they are not, and they are reaping the benefits as a result."