Dame Esther Rantzen has compiled the life lessons she’s learnt since being diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer in a new book. Rantzen, 82, first announced her diagnosis in January, before revealing it had progressed to stage four in May this year. The veteran TV presenter told the Daily Mirror she’s on “new medications” but that “nobody knows if it’s working or not”. However, reflecting on her life, she added that the diagnosis “made me realise how very lucky I am”. In an excerpt from her new book Older & Bolder: My A - Z of Surviving Almost Anything, published by The Times, Rantzen shares the lessons she’s learned – about health, family, growing older, sex, nudity, grief, and naps – since being diagnosed with cancer. “Sex drives people mad. Probably that’s what it’s for, because if you think about it, if you were sane, would you do such an inelegant, unhygienic thing?” the former host of That’s Life! writes. “Here is the good news. When you’re too old for sex, sanity returns. Here is the bad news. Then, nobody listens to you.” Rantzen explains she’s in “favour of nudity” because if we all did it more often “everyone would accept body hair and lumps”. She notes there are “several antidotes to grumpiness” including sunshine and chocolate, but “money, sadly, doesn’t work”. Other important lessons she’s learned over the years include prioritising spending time with your loved ones, health is the only thing that truly matters, and that naps are one of the “happy discoveries of growing older”. She also offers advice on motherhood, grandchildren, and the temporariness of beauty. In the excerpt, Rantzen recalls the moment she first noticed a lump in my armpit, a few days after Christmas last year. “An evangelical non-smoker”, Rantzen was shocked to discover she had lung cancer and later learned it was an extremely rare kind that most commonly attacks young Asian women. When she slowly began telling her friends and family, asking them to share their most fun memories together, Rantzen writes she was “overwhelmed” by their responses. “Another lesson cancer has taught me: the one thing worth hoarding is friendship. Never let it go. Stay in touch,” she adds. Rantzen is best known for being the presenter of the BBC’s That’s Life, a topical entertainment show, from 1973 to 1994. She also founded the charities Childline and Silver Line in 1986 and 2012 respectively. In 2015, Rantzen was made a DBE for services to children and older people through her charitable organisations. Read More Emily Eavis appreciation and not-so-secret sets: 8 of the biggest Friday highlights at Glastonbury 2023 Princess of Wales wows Royal Ascot crowds in striking red dress Kourtney Kardashian shows off baby bump as fans speculate about due date A woman stopped tidying up after her husband accused her of doing ‘nothing’. Then she filmed the results Mother shares heartbreak after inviting whole school class to daughter’s birthday party

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Ohio voters have resoundingly rejected a measure that would make it more difficult to amend the state’s constitution, a proposal that Republican officials bluntly admitted was an effort to kneecap an upcoming ballot measure asking voters to enshrine a right to abortion care. That proposal has failed, with roughly 65 per cent of the vote tallied by Tuesday night after polls had closed, according to projections from the Associated Press. Issue 1 would have required that proposed amendments to the state constitution receive at least 60 per cent of the vote, raising the threshold substantially from a current simple majority vote. It also would have increased the minimum number of petition signatures that groups would have to collect before qualifying an issue to get on a ballot. The proposal’s failure means that a November referendum on abortion rights will need only 50 per cent of the vote to enshrine those protections into the state’s constitution, a major victory for abortion rights advocates and democratic campaigns in the aftermath of the US Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Roe v Wade. President Joe Biden called the measure a “blatant attempt to weaken voters’ voices and further erode the freedom of women to make their own health care decisions.” “Ohioans spoke loud and clear, and tonight democracy won,” he said in a statement. Within the last year, voters have also turned out in record numbers to protect abortion rights in California, Kansas, Michigan and Vermont, underscoring the overwhelming unpopularity of the Supreme Court’s decision and the volatile landscape for reproductive healthcare in its wake, while scrambling anti-abortion campaigns from Republican officials emboldened by the ruling. Issue 1 campaign Protect Our Constitution was largely supported by GOP mega-donor and Illinois businessman Richard Uihlein. A coalition of abortion right, civil rights and democratic advocacy groups joined a No On Issue 1 campaign. “Tonight was a major victory for democracy in Ohio,” the group said in a statement following projections of the measure’s defeat. “The majority still rules in Ohio, and the people’s power has been preserved – because Ohio voters showed up and overwhelmingly voted down Issue 1.” Ohio voters saw the proposal for “what it was: a deceptive power grab designed to silence their voices and diminish their voting power,” the group added. Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, said the results mark an “incredibly profound and inspiring day for democracy”. “When faced with the choice of whether to allow politicians and special interests to consolidate power and strip voters of their rights, Ohioans fought back,” she said in a statement. “The defeat of Issue 1 should send a clear message to other extremist officials around the country that democracy will not die; people are ready to defend their rights against blatant attacks like Issue 1.” The upcoming proposal for a constitutional amendment in November will ask Ohio voters whether “every individual has a right to make and carry out one’s reproductive decisions.” After the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization last June, Ohio lawmakers swiftly outlawed most abortion after roughly six weeks of pregnancy, a law that is currently suspended by a state court injunction but could be reinstated by the state Supreme Court. A vote to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution would effectively overrule any such law. Abortion rights advocates and providers have warned that Ohio’s ban, which does not include exceptions for pregnancies from rape or incest, ignited a healthcare crisis that endangered patients and their families across the state, forcing people to seek care hundreds of miles out of state and navigate complicated legal and medical minefields while experiencing pregnancy complications. Ohio Republicans initially canceled August elections altogether, which have historically low turnout. But in May, they reversed that decision to put Issue 1 on the ballot – a decision that appears to have backfired for them. Nearly 600,000 Ohio voters cast their ballots early, with voters reporting busy polling locations across the state on election day. Read More Texas judge sides with women after harrowing testimony over anti-abortion law DeSantis won’t rule out national abortion ban but suggests there’s no ‘mileage’ left in Congress

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