- Nigel Farage hails ‘remarkable’ results for Ukip
- Ukip gains 139 seats, 26 per cent of vote
- Labour wins South Shields by-election, Ukip in second, Lib Dems seventh

Margaret Thatcher, the first and only female prime minister in the UK, has died aged 87 following a stroke.

Tributes are pouring in from across the globe for Baroness Thatcher, who led the country from 1979 to 1990.

Get all the latest and add your voice in the Channel 4 News live blog below.

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Analysis of George Osborne’s budget with Economics Editor Faisal Islam, Business Correspondents Siobhan Kennedy and Sarah Smith, and Simon Wagman of Blick Rothenberg, accounting and tax specialists.

All week, Channel 4 News has been asking whether anything has changed for disabled people after this summer saw the nation embrace the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

In our special series, A legacy to stand on, we’ve explored attitudes to disability, hate crime, transport and benefits in the post-Paralympic era. You can catch up on all the reports by clicking here.

We also want to know what you think. Join the debate on Twitter using the hashtag #c4legacy or go to our Facebook page. You can also comment at the bottom of this blog, or have a look below at your reactions to the story so far.

Throughout the week, you’ve been sending us your stories – some positive, some negative. In the film below, Channel 4 News Reporter Katie Razzall looks at some of the main themes which have emerged and follows up on one of the messages we received – from a school in Kettering where pupils with learning disabilities are running a sweet shop.

A legacy to stand on? A week of special reports

On Monday, we tackled hate crime and sadly we’ve had lots of people get in touch since then to tell us about their experiences.

While many people emailed us about serious crimes, including having crutches kicked out from under them and being pushed into traffic whilst in a wheelchair, others said that the problem was the constant low-level abuse and harassment, which many did not report because they felt they would not be taken seriously.

@channel4news #c4legacy had my crutches kicked away & was pushed over this morning whilst being told I should’ve been stoned at birth!

— Poli P (@misspbluedeva) October 24, 2012

@channel4news Not a nice way to start the day! thankfully police came & arrested her for assault & its all caught on CCTV #c4legacy — Poli P (@misspbluedeva) October 24, 2012  

Kaliya Franklin, a well-known disability rights campaigner who blogs at Benefit Scrounging Scum, wrote: “There was also the charming people who left comments on my youtube account calling for me to be gassed to death…I think that’s the kind of abuse that disabled people routinely experience and then are never sure whether to report or not.”

On Tuesday, we looked at air travel for disabled people. We’ve investigated this issue before via our No Go Britain series but this piece really seemed to strike a chord. And when our presenter Sophie Morgan was prevented from flying because of her disability a few days later it caused a bit of a storm on Twitter – her original tweet generating 4,000 retweets. For more on this story, including easyJet’s response, click here.

@sophmorg @easyjet They can put a man on the moon but they can’t put a wheelchair on a plane. Pathetic.

— Tony Barlow (@Saltbar) October 24, 2012

On Wednesday, Paralympics presenter Daraine Mulvihill investigated the reality of prosthetics – can everyone be like Oscar Pistorius? It seems not – but she cleared up a few other questions in a Twitter Q&A.

@darainemul just read the piece, glad I did as seeing doc Monday about possible amputation of left leg above knee. Glad this came now — Zec  (@ZecRich) October 24, 2012  

On Thursday, Sports Correspondent Keme Nzerem took a look at disability benefits. Our other reports have looked at the differences between Paralympians and other disabled people – but in this area, everyone is in the same boat.

@channel4news @nzerem What?! Do the government know what its like to have a disability? NO! I have autism and I am appalled with this cut.

— Rochelle (@RochelleK1994) October 25, 2012

To finish off the week of special reports, we looked at the positives for disabled people in Britain in 2012. While many are still facing major problems in their everyday lives, others feel that things are getting better.

Kevin French, who has cerebral palsy which affects his speech and body, emailed us to say: “Am I the only disabled person that feels at ease in Britain?”

He feels passionately that there is a positive legacy for disabled people in 2012. Kevin, who is an artist, model and actor – and the first disabled person to do a contemporary dance degree at Plymouth University – uses a wheelchair and has a carer. He uses a cardboard keyboard to communicate, once ran to be an MEP and has his own website – DisabledKevin.com.

In 1982, he was one of the first people to be awarded money by the Independent Living Fund.

(Click on the image below to see some of the stories we’ve been told on Facebook)

“After a year of going out alone, I was transferred from a handicapped youth to a confident severely disabled man, who, despite having a very bad speech problem, could cope in the ‘normal’ world and began to really love the independence and absolute freedom,” he wrote.

He described writing his email to us: “I started writing this in Costa Coffee. When I go, someone takes my money, I go sit on a table, then a cooled cappuccino and straw is brought and lastly, the person gets my head pointer and Blackberry tablet out, places the Blackberry on the table and my ‘hat’ on my head.”

He concluded: “Sorry to write a book but I feel despite the current political and economic negative effects on disability that I am concerned about too, there is a positive legacy that people should be aware of.”

By Jennifer Rigby

Team GB’s athletes have won: 29 gold medals, 16 silver and 19 bronze. Britain has finished third in the overall Olympic standings.

Thank you #London2012 – next: The Paralympics

• Ed McKeever wins Gold in 200m Canoe Sprint
• Team GB wins bronze in women’s hockey
• Anthony Ogogo loses boxing semi-final
• Shanaze Reade qualifies for BMX final
• Lutalo Muhammad fails to make the taekwondo semi-finals
• Luke Campbell wins bantum boxing semi-final by nine points to five
• Daniel Fogg finishes fifth in the marathon swim
• Team GB sailing silvers in the men’s and women’s 470 class
• Jess Walker through to kayak 200m sprint final
• Ed Mckeever sets kayaking 200m sprint Olympic record and reaches final
• Lutalo Muhammad through to taekwondo quarter final – but Sarah Stevenson out
• Team GB celebrates 25 golds, 52 total medals
• BMX star Shanaze Reade ready for final test

11.58
TEAM GB WIN KAYAK GOLD Ed McKeever wins Olympic gold in the men’s 200m kayak final to win Britain’s 26th gold of the 2012 Games. read more on: Team GB’s McKeever wins kayaking gold

SATURDAY 11

16:53
TEAM GB WINS HOCKEY BRONZE
Team GB wins a hockey bronze, beating New Zealand in the bronze medal match 3-1.

16:47
READE AND PHILLIPS MISS OUT ON BMX MEDALS
Shanaze Reade and Liam Phillips miss out on medals in the BMX finals. Reade get caught in a crowd of riders, and finished the race in sixth. Phillips got a strong start to the race, but suffered a crash whilst sitting in fifth position.

16:04
READE INTO BMX FINAL
Shanaze Reade qualifies for the BMX final after finishing her the three-race semi-final second, first and second respectively. the final takes place at 16:30.

16:00
LUTALO MUHAMMAD LOSES TAEKWONDO QUARTER-FINAL
Lutalo Muhammad loses his taekwondo final against Spain’s Nicholas Garcia despite producing an aggressive performance. Muhammad was penalised for a number of illegal moves and failed to land a number threatening head kicks. The result could intensify the debate over why Muhammad was picked over World No. 1 in the 80kg class Aaron Cook.

14:21
CAMPBELL WINS BANTUM BOXING SEMI

Luke Campbell wins bantum-weight boxing semifinal to set up a gold medal clash against Ireland’s John Joe Nevin. Campbell beat Japan’s Satoshi Shimizu by nine points to five.

13:55
NO MEDAL FOR FOGG ON THE ‘TINE
Daniel Fogg produces an incredibly strong swim to finish in fifth in the 10km marathon race. The 24-year-old battle from way down in the field to finish just behind the medal spots. Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia takes the gold.

13:38
SILVER AGAIN FOR TEAM GB SAILORS
The Antipodeans do it again! This time it is New Zealand’s turn to beat Team GB in a battle for the gold medal position – in the women’s 470 class sailing race. Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark struggled to find the same breeze as the Kiwis and from the start looked unlikely to catch their rivals. Team GB takes silver.

12:32
TEAM GB SAILS TO SILVER
Team GB’s Luke Patience and Stuart Bithell fails to catch a dominant Australian boat in a bid for sailing gold, but pick up the silver medal. The British sailors needed to beat the Australians with a boat between the pair to secure gold – but were unable to upset the Australians race.

Read more: After the podium and the celebrations, what do Team GB athletes do?

• Jade Jones wins gold in taekwondo final
• Nicola Adams wins the first ever women’s Olympic boxing final
• The Republic of Ireland’s Katie Taylor wins boxing lightweight gold
• Keri-Anne Payne misses out on medal in 10k swim
• Team GB reaches 4x400m relay final
• Jade Jones and Martin Stamper through to taekwondo semi-finals
• Rachel Cawthorn finishes sixth in the kayak 500m sprint

22.30
JADE JONES WINS TAEKWONDO GOLD
Jade Jones from north Wales takes Team GB’s golden tally to 25 with victory in the taekwondo final.

17:20
JADE JONES REACHES TAEKWONDO FINAL
Jade Jones beats South Korea’s Li-Cheng Tseng to make it to the taekwondo Olympic final in the -57kg weight class. Jones is now guaranteed a silver or a gold after winning the semi-final by ten points to six. Martin Stamper, who was also competing in a taekwondo semi-final, lost his match.

16:43
ADAMS PUNCHES HER WAY INTO HISTORY

Nicola Adams dominates her arch-rival Ren Cancan of China in the first ever women’s boxing Olympic final – beating her opponent by 16 points to seven. Adams, who has lost at two world championships to Cancan, came back from a potentially career threatening injury three years ago to claim gold today.

16:03
DUJARDIN SNATCHES DRESSAGE GOLD

Charlotte Dujardin scores a massive 90 per cent in the individual dressage to take gold. Laura Bechtolsheimer won the bronze. The shock win ends an uninterrupted domination of the sport over the past 20 years by Germany and the Netherlands.

14:00
PAYNE MISSES OUT ON 10K SWIMMING MEDAL
Keri-Anne Payne, the favourite in the 10k swim, fails to win a medal in the Serpentine marathon swim. Payne finished in fourth place behind Hungary’s Eva Ristov, who took gold, Italy’s silver-medallist Martina Grimaldi and bronze-winner USA’s Hayley Anderson.

• Jamaican Asafa Powell bows out of the 4×100 sprint relay title after a groin injury from 100m final
• Daniel Awde pulls out of the decathlon due to injury, after running a personal best in the 100m
• Team GB, including Olympian Nick Skelton, finish individual show jumping with no medals
• Nicola Adams through to flyweight boxing final
• Lyndsey Sharp is through to Thursday’s 800m semi-finals
• Mo Farah qualifies for 5,000m final
• Team GB’s Sophie Hitchon breaks British hammer-throw record
• Tim Brabants finishes last in the canoe sprint final

14:00
NICOLA ADAMS THROUGH TO BOXING FINAL
Nicola Adams is guaranteed to win either a silver or gold after beating Indian Chungneijang Mery Kom Hmangte in the women’s flyweight boxing semi-final.

Snowblog: What do the Olympics tell us about ourselves?

• Sir Chris Hoy wins his sixth gold of all time and second at London 2012
• Victoria Pendleton wins silver in the team sprint, but misses out on gold to Anna Meares.
• Laura Trott wins gold in the women’s cycling omnium
• Pendleton and Hoy make the sprint and keirin cycling finals
• Team GB equestrians win team dressage gold
• Team GB’s Nick Dempsey wins silver medal in windsurfing
• Team GB medal haul now equal to that achieved at Beijing 2008
• Alistair Brownlee wins traithlon gold, Jonny Brownlee gets bronze
• Usain Bolt,Yohan Blake and Team GB’s Christian Malcolm in 200m semi-finals
• Phillips Idowu fails to qualify in men’s triple jump
• Rachel Hawthorn qualifies for the 500m kayak final – finishing second in her semi
• Julia Bleasdale and Jo Pavey qualify for 5,000 semi-final
• Abi Edmonds and Louisa Sawers through to kayak doubles semi-finals
• Goldie Sayers out of the women’s javelin
• Last day of the velodrome – Hoy, Pendleton and Trott try for gold this evening

18:10
SIR CHRIS HOY WINS SIXTH OLYMPIC GOLD

Sir Chris Hoy wins his sixth Olympic gold of all time in a thrilling keirin final. Hoy had to battle hard against German cyclist Maximilian Levy to win the medal, his second of London 2012.

17:55
PENDLETON SILVER IN SPRINT FINAL
Victoria Pendleton misses out on the gold medal in the sprint in her last ever Olympic Games after suffering a relegation in the first of three races in the final. Her arch-rival Anna Meares took the gold. Pendleton had previously suffered relegation heartache in the team pursuit but won gold in the women’s keirin.

17:20
LAURA TROTT WINS OMNIUM GOLD

Laura Trott picks up her second Olympic gold medal. The 20-year-old came from behind to beat the USA’s Sarah Hammer into silver place in the time trial.

16:30
TROTT IN SECOND NEAR OMNIUM FINISH
Laura Trott slips into second place in the cycling omnium behind Sarah Hammer. She will race the two-lap time trial in 20 minutes, starting two points behind Sarah Hammer.

16:13
TEAM GB WINS EQUESTRIAN DRESSAGE GOLD
Great Britain & Northern Ireland’s equestrians wins gold in the team dressage event. It is the first time ever they have won the gold medal in the event, something they achieved by beating seven-time gold medal winners Germany.

13:30
DEMPSEY SAILS TO WIND-SURFING SILVER
Team GB’s Nick Dempsey wins silver in the RS:X Wind-Surfing, finishing behind Dorian van Rijsselberghe of the Netherlands.

13:25
BROWNLEES GET TRIATHLON GOLD AND BRONZE

Alistair Brownlee wins triathlon gold whilst his brother Jonny, who incurred a 15-second penalty in the race, takes bronze. Spain’s Javier Gomez picks up the silver. The win brings Team GB’s gold medal haul equal to that they achieved at the Beijing Games four years ago.

12:20
BOLT, BLAKE AND MALCOLM REACH 200M SEMI-FINAL
Usain Bolt, Johan Blake and Team GB’s Christian Malcolm all qualify for the 200m semi-final. Blake clocks a time of 20.38 seconds, Bolt achieves 20.39 and Malcolm runs 20.59 seconds. Team GB’s James Ellington fails to qualify.

11:33
PHILLIPS IDOWU FAILS TO QUALIFY

Phillips Idowu fails to make the top twelve in triple jump qualification and drops out of the competition. Idowu, who has been struggling injury and has had a spat with the British Olympic Association, jumped 16.53.

10:40
GOLDIE SAYERS SUCCUMBS TO INJURY
Team GB’s Goldie Sayers, who has been suffering with an elbow injury, fails to qualify for the women’s javelin final. She records three successive no-throws.