With more bad rolling news than you can shake a stick at, we thought we’d break the cycle by bringing you your weekly dose of good news. This week, James Gill talks rock and roll, and lending a hand.

SCIENCE – A big test

A “lab in a cartridge” which can detect whether or not you have coronavirus is set to be available across Britain in the coming weeks in the hope we could speed up a return to something approaching normality. Granted, there’s a long way to go, yet the nostril swab – called the DnaNudge test – doesn’t require a laboratory to process results and is currently being rolled out across several London hospitals. What’s more, once a swab is taken, it can give feedback in just 75 minutes, compared to other tests which can take days. “It is a lab in a cartridge effectively,” explains Chris Toumazou, professor of engineering at Imperial College, where the test has been developed. “The key is that with this test you go straight from a saliva swab or a nasal swab into the cartridge with no transport and no laboratory. You can even look at such small fragments of the RNA (ribonucleic acid) that you can check whether a patient is coming out of it or going into COVID.” With each piece of kit retailing at £40, the government had ordered 10,000 kits and has recently opted to purchase a further 70,000. “This test does work and is actually more sensitive than some of the lab tests,” insists Dr Gary Davies, hospital medical director at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

ENTERTAINMENT – “Rock and roll can never die”

Performers have been hit hard by the global pandemic. After all, social distancing means that enjoying the cinema, theatre or live gigs are impossible. However, there could be a new, cutting-edge way to empower artists to stage and stream live shows. Indeed, as Neil Young once famously sang on seminal album Rust Never Sleeps, “Rock and roll can never die.” While many performers have taken to social media and video conferencing to put on shows, Microsoft believes it’s taken online performances up a few notches with the Re:Surface project, which means fans can interact with the performance, visuals, music and artist in real-time. UK singer-songwriter Jade Bird is already on board; fans can watch her perform live on mixer.com/resurface at 8.30pm BST on Friday 29 May. And Jade explains: “My entire tour was cancelled six weeks ago and, from that point, everything changed for me as an artist. I’ve had to completely update my approach to getting my music out there. I’m a singer-songwriter and my tech skills aren’t the best, which is why the RE:Surface project is so good for me. I’m really excited about the gig on 29 May and I can’t wait to see what it looks like in rehearsals next week.” Jade adds: “Microsoft has created a concept and a blueprint that’s really easy to use and it means I can continue to do what I do best, but collaborate with a number of other creative people who can evolve my gigs, taking them to a whole new level.” It will likely empower more artists to do the same, and Microsoft Director of UK and Ireland Category Management Consumer Devices, Kate Wright adds: “In these challenging times thousands of artists have had to cancel gigs, tours and effectively some have had to place their careers on hold. While many UK artists were the first to engage with their audiences online through live streaming we knew there was a way that Microsoft Surface could help connect the creative community and unlock their creativity to take their rehearsals and performances to a different level.”

LONDON – #CarnabyCares

It would take a hardy soul to not feel there’s something special about Carnaby Street. Even beyond the mental image of, say, a young Terence Stamp strutting his stuff down the iconic road at the height of the Swinging Sixties, even now (well, not “now” now – global Panny D, and all) the street has an almost magical aura. And now #CarnabyCares is a digital initiative that highlights all the terrific work done by businesses across one of London’s most vibrant areas. One such company is Leon; the food chain teamed up with several companies for the FeedNHS initiative and Kirsty Saddler, Sustainability and Values Director at LEON, says: “We are proud that we have been able to support the NHS with meals for the last six weeks and that we have done this alongside some brilliant partners like Dishoom. FeedNHS is now funding over 12,000 meals a day to hospital staff. The whole campaign is testament to the fact this crisis has brought people, and businesses, together.” Beloved British clothing giants Barbour had its factories produce PPE for hospitals, and Dame Margaret Barbour, Barbour Chairman, says: “Everyone has a role to play in fighting COVID-19 and I wanted my daughter Helen and I to play our part by turning our South Shields factory over to produce PPE product for the NHS. I would like to thank Professor Sir John Burn and the Newcastle Hospitals and Northumbria Healthcare Trusts for their guidance and assistance in helping us facilitate this. The factory, where we normally make our classic wax jackets is no stranger to adaptation. During both World Wars, we turned the factory over to make military garments to assist the war effort. We are pleased to once again be able to make a difference and this time, to support the NHS.”

ENVIRONMENT – Green book

The European Commission has unveiled a 27-page EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. Now, we’re not saying it’ll rival Jilly Cooper in terms of being a racy lockdown page-turner yet, like vintage Jilly, there’s a lot of good stuff in there. The plan promises to address the global biodiversity crisis and includes such steps as planting 3 billion trees, halving pesticide use and bumping up the use of agricultural land for organic farming (to get it from 8% to 25%). “If the corona-crisis has taught us anything,” says EU climate chief Frans Timmermans, “it is that we have to recalibrate our relationship with the natural environment, we have to become more resilient.” And Stella Kyriakides, EU commissioner for health and food safety, adds: “Nature is vital for our physical and mental wellbeing, it filters our air and water, it regulates the climate and it pollinates our crops. But we are acting as if it didn’t matter, and losing it at an unprecedented rate.”

MUSIC – True gold

Yes, this is the equivalent of the light-hearted “… and, finally…” section of the news, but this tale from Singapore is too good to not include given we all need a smile right now. Muhammad Shalehan called into radio station Gold 905 in April to try and win 10,000 Singaporean dollars. To land the cash prize, he needed to correctly identify celebrities as part of an on-air “Name Drop” game. One of his answers was Tony Hadley – the lead singer of chart-topping Spandau Ballet, responsible for such hits as Gold and True – but the station felt he’d mispronounced Hadley’s name, much to the ire of listeners. After weeks of toing and froing between the station and aggrieved contestant, who stepped in to save the day? Tony Hadley himself, chipped in via a video message after Shalehan had reached out. The decision, thanks to Hadley’s involvement, has now been reversed, with Shalehan duly awarded the money. “He obviously felt pretty aggrieved, and rightly so,” Hadley explains. “He’s a very nice chap, and him and his wife are expecting baby No4 any minute. I listened to his pronunciation of my name [and] thought, well there’s nothing wrong with that at all.” Excuse us: we’re just off to pop on Gold and sing our hearts out.