Flood in Wales

Title: Daring rescue as scores stranded in freak Welsh flooding
Subject: People rescued from flooded area in Wales
Web Address: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4363699/Daring-rescue-as-scores-stranded-in-freak-Welsh-flooding.html
Date: June 9
Author: Jack Losh

Summary:

Nearly ninety people have been rescued from homes and caravans this morning after freak flooding struck West Wales. Stranded holidaymakers have been helped in a large-scale rescue operation after water swept through caravan parks and villages near Aberystwyth. Residents remain trapped in buildings but emergency rescue teams have hit the area with inflatables and continue to evacuate people. One RNLI rescue crew even required airlifting themselves from the torrents of water after becoming stranded during rescue attempts. Local residents have resorted to sheltering in secure community buildings and local pubs. There are also some people who decided to stay and do not want to be rescued.

Reaction:

I already get grumpy if it rains a lot during my holiday, imagine what would happen if a flood like this struck your caravan park. It is a good thing Wales apparently has such a good rescue team, or things could have ended a lot worse. I think it is a little ironic that one of the crews had to be rescued themselves. However, the people who have been rescued are okay now and they probably have a pretty good time since they have been brought to local pubs. So this story has a pretty good ending. 

British Pensioners at Risk of Poverty

Title: More than 1 in 5 British pensioners at risk of poverty
Subject: Older British at risk of poverty
Web Address: http://www.independent.co.uk/money/pensions/more-than-1-in-5-british-pensioners-at-risk-of-poverty-7827985.html
Date: June 8
Author: Sarah Cassidy

Summary:

British pensioners are among Europe's poorest, with more than two million older people at risk of poverty. More than one in five of older British people were classed as being at risk of poverty in 2010. Charities said the figures should be a "wake-up call" and for a radical shake-up of the pension system. The at-risk rate has declined as average disposable incomes fell after the credit crunch of 2008. Britain had the 10th highest at-risk-of-poverty rate among the 27 EU states in 2010. The highest rates were 21.3 per cent in Latvia, the lowest rates were 9 per cent in the Czech Republic.

Reaction:

As a Dutch person this seems a little odd, Dutch pensioners have one of the lowest at-risk-of-poverty rate in the EU. I am used to rich pensioners who go on holidays all year round. But this seems like quite a serious problem. Most people work their entire life and they should not have to be poor once they finally get to retire. Especially now the risk rate has declined, that means that people who used to be in the poor-category now are not, even if their income did not change. However, the easy solution is changing the pension system. 

No more forced marriages for Cameron

Title: David Cameron in warning over forced marriages
Subject: New law will make forced marriages illegal
Web Address: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-cameron-in-warning-over-forced-marriages-7831253.html
Date: June 8
Author: David Hughes

Summary:

David Cameron said parents who force their children into an unwanted marriage will face "very tough punishments" under a new law. The Government is making forced marriage a criminal offence. Cameron said victims' lives were ruined by being taken away from the UK, often at a young age, and coerced into a marriage. Campaigners have warned that criminalising forced marriage altogether could deter victims from coming forward but the Government has announced an extra £500,000 of funding to help identify and support those affected. A special Forced Marriage Unit was involved in 594 cases from January to May this year.

Reaction:

It is always hard to decide when to draw the line between things that can be considered culture and the law. It is good that the Government is clear in its intentions. If some people will now decide not to force their children to get married that would be a good development. However, I think that people who really want to get their kids to marry a certain person they will find a way. A change in law might make some difference, but does not make the problem disappear altogether. It is a step in the good direction though. 

Sexual Health Data for the Police

Title: Police want to see teenage girls' sexual health data

Subject: Data base with information about sexual health is useful for the police

Web Address: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-want-to-see-teenage-girls-sexual-health-data-7814694.html
Date: June 4
Author: Kevin Rawlinson

Summary:

Police want information from sexual health screening databases to tackle child grooming gangs. But forces face a fight to convince doctors, who are worried both about patient confidentiality and deterring young people from getting tested. Doctors are willing to work with police on the plans to access a city-wide chlamydia and gonorrhea screening database for under-25s, with talks underway, if at an early stage. Officers said that experience shows high levels of testing for sexually transmitted infections in a particular area can suggest that a gang is grooming young people – mainly women – for sex. 

Reaction:

This is one of those typical cases where privacy and safety do not seem to go well together. There are always people who feel like privacy is a very important right and also people who are willing to give up their privacy in exchange for information, convenience or safety. Besides that it is not a good sign that there apparently are child-grooming gangs who are a real danger to young people. My opinion is that it can never hurt to test for a sexually transmitted disease and if it can help prevent crimes it is probably the way to go. 

Ouch, the doggie bit me!

Title: Toddler mauled by dogs at Jubilee party

Subject: Dogs attack two-year-old.

Web Address: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9310087/Toddler-mauled-by-dogs-at-Jubilee-party.html
Date: June 4
Author: Unknown

Summary:

A two-year-old boy was in hospital yesterday with serious facial injuries after being attacked by dogs during a Jubilee party. Two dogs - reportedly Staffordshire bull terriers, mauled the lad, who has not yet been named. The boy was airlifted to Frenchay Hospital in Bristol with serious wounds to his face. A 49-year-old man also received a hand injury as he tried to pull the dogs of the toddler. Wiltshire Police said both dogs had been seized following the mauling. No one has been arrested in connection with the attack yet, the force added.

Reaction:

It is obviously horrible whenever young children are wounded and have to be taken to hospital. It is not yet clear who is the owner of the dogs and I am sure that person will be arrested when that happens. Since it is not clear why the dogs attacked we do not know who is guilty or responsible for it. Maybe the child provoked the dogs in some way or there was something else going on. It is also possible that the dogs were aggressive themselves in which case the owner should have kept them away from young children. 

Obese Teenager Loses Weight in Hospital

Title: Britain's fattest teenager who had to be cut out of her house loses three stone in a WEEK as she admits to secretly buying junk food online

Subject: Overweight girl loses weight now she is not allowed to buy food anymore

Web Address: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2153968/Teenage-girl-cut-house-loses-stone-WEEK.html
Date: June 3
Author: James Titcomb

Summary:

An overweight girl was cut out of her house last week; she weighed about 52 stones and was not able to stand up anymore. She has lost a lot of weight now she is in the hospital. She is on a strict diet, which the hospital and the girl’s mom oversee. Without her parents knowing the girl, named Georgia Davis, ordered food, which was brought to their house. She sneaked the food up to her room and that is probably why she has gotten this big. Davis still has to stay in the hospital, for at least another three months. After that she will be moved to an obesity clinic.

Reaction:

The kind of stories about obese people who have to be cut out of their houses always shock me. In this case I do sort of understand though, it is not like her parents gave her that much food, she ordered it secretly herself. The problem is that you cannot monitor a girl this forever, at one point she has to be able to control herself and eat healthy without people helping her.  I hope that they will teach her those kinds of things in the obesity clinic and I assume they will. 

Hero Policeman Saves the Day

Title: "Tremendous courage and bravery”: Hero policeman rugby tackles teenager with gun after she fires twice at him

Subject: Policeman takes gun from girl

Web Address: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/hero-policeman-rugby-tackles-teenager-856907

Date: June 1

Author: Steve White

Summary:

A girl shot at a policeman, but the officer responded by tackling her and taking control of the gun. Before he was able to do this she also fired two shots, which landed in the pond. The officer has been awarded a commendation for bravery by a judge.  The girl, named Karri May Wood, was restrained and placed in handcuffs at the end of the stand-off, which lasted 20 minutes. She cannot be released until doctors believe she is safe to return to society. Wood pleaded guilty to possessing a hunting knife and possessing a firearm.

Reaction:

It is great that this policeman handled things so good. It can be really hard to react quick and efficient in unexpected situations. However, I cannot help but feel like this is also just sort of his job. In the article the policeman is called “a hero” multiple times. To me it feels weird to call someone a hero just for doing his job. Is that not what we expect of police officers, to protect people from harm? Besides that side note I think the officer can be happy with himself and enjoy his commendation for bravery. 

Spinal Therapy Cured Paralysed Rats

Title: Paralysed rats walk again after spinal therapy

Subject: Science trial to cure spinal injuries

Web Address: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9303251/Paralysed-rats-walk-again-after-spinal-therapy.html

Date: June 1

Author: Nick Collins

Summary:

Scientists have done a trial with rats with severe spinal injuries. Chemicals and electric currents helped them grow new nerves in their spine that bypassed their injury. This is good news for humans with spinal injuries such as people who are paralyzed. The study, published in the Science journal, is the first to demonstrate that a severely damaged spinal cord can adapt and recover enough to allow the brain to regain control of the legs. Five to six weeks later, the rats had improved so much that they could run, climb stairs and even move around obstacles. Dr Elizabeth Bradbury, said: "This is ground-breaking research. However, some questions remain before we know how useful this approach may be in humans.

Reaction:

I love these kinds of researches. It may seem harsh to some people to test on animals, but this proves once again that it can be very useful. It would be amazing if this technique could be used to make paralysed people able to walk again. Obviously one trial like this is not enough. There will have to be more trials similar to this one, on animals more similar to humans. However, one cannot help but look at the silver lining here: This might be a groundbreaking discovery in this field of research. 

Aliens in Essex

Title: The Only Milky Way Is Essex UFO spotted in Essex

Subject: Boy spots UFO

Web Address: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4347586/The-Only-Milky-Way-Is-Essex.html

Date: May 31

Author: Stephen Moyes

Summary:

An eleven-year-old boy in Loughton photographed what appeared to be an UFO. His father called the police to investigate the object. A neighbour said: ”“It was spooky. When a plane came near it vanished in a flash.” The cops said they believed the object was a weather balloon. Essex has been a hotbed of recent UFO activity. UFO hunter Andy Mannion said more than 20 sightings were reported in Essex and London in May alone. However he said this is a “particularly interesting” sighting. Locals dubbed the incident ‘The Only Milky Way is Essex’.

Reaction:

I do not believe in UFOs. Well, I obviously believe some flying objects have not been identified yet, but I think all these UFO sightings have reasonable explanations. People want to see aliens, little green men in huge disk shaped flying machines. But they have never been seen, so I am sceptical whenever one of these ‘sightings’ come up. It also does not really come across as very sturdy parenting to me, to just assume your son has seen a UFO and start calling cops whenever your eleven year old imagines things. 

Help! The Internet knows me!

Title: Me and my data: how much do the internet giants really know

Subject: The amount of information Internet giant have on you.

Web Address: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/apr/22/me-and-my-data-internet-giants

Date: April 22

Author: James Ball

Summary:

James Ball wanted to figure out how much the Internet giants knew about him (especially Facebook and Google). In the EU there is a law, which states that citizens can request all their data, but in the US there is no such law. Google saves all the data on whom you are e-mailing, what kind of documents you open and the chat conversations you have. It also saves the viewing history on Youtube and your search entries in Google itself (including Google Maps). Facebook saves everything; obviously anything ever posted, but also all the events you have been to (and when and where they were).

Reaction:

This comes as no surprise for me. As long as the Internet has existed websites have saved information about you. They did this sometimes for your convenience and sometimes for their own. Nothing has changed since then, but the amount of time we spent online. However, it is still your own decision. You do not have to use Google or Facebook, you can still be anonymous in some dark corners of the internet. If you decide to use the Internet Giants a lack of privacy is what you get. There are still enough people who do not use the Internet at all and are still very happy. So either change something about you or about the websites you visit or simply stop whining.    

Superman is Mine!

Title: Cheque that bought Superman rights sold for super price.

Subject: Cheque that bought the rights for the Superman character sold.

Web Address: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17737531

Date: 17 April

Author: Unknown

Summary:

The cheque used to buy the Superman comic character from its original creators had been sold in an online auction for 160 thousand pounds. Superman was bought back then for only 130 dollars, even though later on it turned out that Superman had created a billion-dollar industry. Superman started the whole concept of a superhero. This makes Superman so special and that is why the sale for the rights is an important moment in superhero-history. The original creators of Superman still want their rights to the hero back, because he now is worth lots of money and they do not get any of it because of their 130-dollar deal.

 
Reaction:

It does not really seem fair that you do not get any of the money that is made from your character. You put in a lot of effort to create it and you should get credit for that. However, if you sell your character, it is officially not longer yours. It does not make sense to try to get it back once the character had become popular, after all, if you yourself thought your character would make a lot of money you would not have sold it. Even when considering all the history behind it, it does still feel a little silly to me to pay thousand and thousands of pounds for a cheque. 

There is Sugar in my Juice!

Title: Sugar warning for 'healthy' soft drinks.

Subject: Estimating the amount of sugar in drinks.

Web Address: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17731052

Date: April 16

Author: Unknown

Summary:

A research by Glasgow University shows that people overestimate the amount of sugar in certain drinks. Because these drinks are considered healthy, such as fruit drinks and smoothies, people think they do not contain a lot of sugar. When asked to estimate the amount of sugar in these drinks they were of by multiple teaspoons. The problem is that this way people consume a lot more sugar than they think. Prof Naveed Sattar explains that this is a problem for people who are on a diet, people who are obese or at risk of becoming obese. For these people it would be sensible to replace these sugary drinks with water or diet drinks.

Reaction:

When you are on a diet it is obviously important to watch what you eat and drink. However, I feel like people are focusing too much on calorie intake and the amount of sugar in food and drinks. Your body needs certain vitamins. Just because fruit drinks have more sugar content than you would think does not mean they are not healthy. I do not think that this is the reason people are obese. It might be useful for people who are very overweight to watch their sugar intake through drinks, but I also believe that for most people a glass of apple juice will not do any harm. 

No Anti-Gay Buses in London

Title: Anti-gay adverts on London buses blocked by Boris Johnson

Subject: Advertisements claiming gay-conversions will not be on London buses.

Web Address: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/12/anti-gay-adverts-boris-johnson

Date: April 12

Author: Hélène Mulholland

Summary:

A Christian group was planning on posting advertisements on London buses that claim that being gay is curable with therapy. The mayor, Boris Johnson, has made sure this will not happen. He says that the claim the advert makes is an illusion, which should not be driven around on London buses. The ads would state 'Not gay! Ex-gay, post-gay and proud. Get over it!' The group that made these adverts says they had gone through the normal system to get your ad on a bus and it had only been pulled at the last minute.

Reaction:

People have the right to voice their opinions. This is something most people agree on. However, certain opinions can be insulting or can even hurt people. It is offensive to claim that being gay can be cured. I know some people really believe this is true, but all the scientific evidence tells us you do not pick your own sexual preference. Even if you truly believe in something like this without any evidence, advertising it in the middle of the city is probably not the way to get people to agree with you. However, if a city wants some sort of censorship for their advertisements, they should make them clear beforehand to everyone. 

- Anouk

The Scream for Sale

Title: Edvard Munch's The Scream comes to London

Subject: One of the famous paintings “The Scream” is for sale.

Web Address: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/apr/12/edvard-munch-scream-london

Date: April 12

Author: Mark Brown

Summary:

One of the four original pieces of Edvard Munch’s The Scream will be for sale next month. Munch painted four versions of The Scream, but the other three are all in museums, so this is the only one for sale. It is the first time that this piece of art is for public display in the United Kingdom. It is hard to predict for how much this work will sell. Specialists estimate it to be worth 80 million dollar, but it could be a lot more. The piece will be sold on May 2 at Sotheby’s in New York.

Reaction:

The Scream is an amazing work of art, all four of them. To have one of the originals as part of your own collection is a dream come through. The idea that someone will actually buy this piece and take it home is crazy, but also wonderful. I do like art to be in museums, where everyone can enjoy it, but it also feels strangely surreal and terrific that every once in a while you can buy famous and beautiful art just for you. It is a shame I do not have 80 million dollar. 

- Anouk