India continues population boom
March 31, 2011
The results from India’s latest census are in and show a continued upwards trend in population growth up to 2011.
The Indian census takes place once every decade, with the last taking place in 2001. Since that time the results of the 2011 census, which actually started in 2010, show that the population of the country has risen by as much as 181 million, bringing the new population total for India to 1.21 billion.
India features the world’s second largest population for a single country, with roughly 17% of the world’s population based there. They are preceded only by China (nearly 20%) and followed by the United States (around 4.5%).
James Bond composer John Barry dies of a heart attack age 77
January 31, 2011
John Barry, the composer of some of the most legendary theme tunes of all time, has passed away age 77.The sad news of the British composer’s death was broken by fellow composer David Arnold on micro-blogging site Twitter.
Barry, who died of a heart attack, was the composer for many of the James Bond films and was responsible for such recognisable themes as Diamonds are Forever, Goldfinger and Thunderball. Throughout his career, Barry worked on eleven Bond films. He also won five Oscars, some of which were for music in other Hollywood films such as Born Free and Dances With Wolves.
Actor Leslie Nielsen dies of pneumonia age 84
November 30, 2010
Leslie Nielsen, the actor best known for his hilarious performances in spoof films Airplane! and The Naked Gun, has died aged 84.
Nielsen was being treated for pneumonia in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when he experienced complications due to the illness and passed away with his family beside him. The actor has starred in over 100 films, and will be remembered as the “king of one-liners”.
Tributes for Nielsen have been pouring in on Twitter, with everyone from comedian Russell Brand, film critic Robert Ebert, former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash and TV presenter Ryan Seacrest posting “RIP Leslie Nielsen” messages on the site.
Prince William and Kate Middleton finally engaged
November 17, 2010
It’s official: Prince William and his girlfriend of eight years, Kate Middleton, are finally engaged to be married.
An official statement from Clarence House earlier this week revealed that the couple got engaged on during holiday in Kenya last month, and that William presented Kate with an engagement ring belonging to his late mother Princess Diana.
The official statement also said that the couple are expected to tie the knot in spring or summer 2011, and that they will live in Wales following the wedding.
Since the news broke, congratulatory messages have been pouring in from everyone from the Queen and Prince Philip to Prime Minister David Cameron.
Princes in South Africa
June 18, 2010
The World Cup is in South Africa, and that is where Prince Harry and Prince William have been on their first official joint tour to Africa.
They have been in Lesotho, a small country surrounded by South Africa. Whilst there they played football with a group of orphaned teenagers, and rode horseback to visit a children’s education centre. Harry’s team wore red and yellow – in support of his favoured team, Arsenal – and William’s team wore claret and blue – that of Aston Villa, his favoured team.
The princes were given traditional herd boy blankets to wear whilst horse riding, each with a personalised message on the back.
The Prince’s tour coincides with them being in South Africa for the England match against Algeria tonight. Hopefully they can bring our national team a little royal luck.
twin baby girls mauled by fox
June 7, 2010
Two nine month old twin girls were attacked on Saturday night by a fox, whilst their mother and father were in the house.
The parents were distraught to find what had happened, as they had evidently not noticed the fox coming into the house and going upstairs to the girls’ bedroom.
The mother and father were sitting downstairs watching the television and had left the patio door slightly open because of the humid evening air. The fox must have crept in through the door whilst they weren’t watching.
It went upstairs and must have climbed into the babies’ cot. Both girls had wounds on their arms and one has been bitten on the face, it is reported.
Both girls were taken to an East London hospital to be treated, and are now in stable condition. Luckily their older brother, also in the house asleep at the time, was unharmed.
Two men charged with walking stick killing
May 28, 2009
Reginald Baker, a 75-year-old pensioner, was attacked and brutally beaten with his own walking stick, ultimately leading to his death. The vicious assault, which was fully captured on CCTV cameras, was carried out by two men, Jobey Barney and John James.
It is thought that Barney, 25, and James, 19, were after the old man’s savings, but when Baker refused to give up the hiding place, the pair began to get violent in an attempt to force the information from him.
Baker, who had been suffering from cancer, ended up with a broken neck and back, along with every single rib being shattered.
Judge John Royce ruled the two men guilt, telling them:
“You both pursued this sickening, prolonged, callous and vicious attack before leaving this old man dying.”
Both men were given life sentences; Barney will face a minimum of 30 years, while James will be serving a term of 28 years.
The camera that brought the men to justice had only been installed by police a week earlier due to another burglary, in which £2,300 was stolen from Baker. The two men went through with up to 35 minutes of torture of Mr Baker before fleeing and proceeding to have a normal night out drinking with friends.
Octuplet mum claims she is not living off others
April 2, 2009
Ever since she hit the news after giving birth to eight babies on January the 26th, Nadya Suleman, has been in and out of the news. First of all it was joy at the fact she had managed to give birth to all those little babies. But this was short lived and it soon turned out she had used artificial insemination and had too many eggs implanted.
This caused a bit of a debate as it seems she was forewarned by doctors not to have so many eggs implanted and was actually turned down by one doctor who refused to perform the procedure.
However, once this was all tided over, Suleman was back in the limelight with her baby shower. This was no ordinary baby shower, it took place on the “Dr Phil” TV show and she was given a plethora of baby gifts, including pushchairs, cribs, bunkbeds and baby upgrades for her home.
The home improvement includes a new nursery, flooring and more in the hope of making it worthy of the hospital inspection. Sounds like one of the best baby showers a mum could hope for.
The latest debacle arose after it was claimed she was getting her parents and family to help her purchase a brand new four bedroom home. However, Suleman assures that she is paying for this new house on her own.
The institution of ‘marriage’ seems to be losing its charm
March 26, 2009
Marriage, perhaps the most precious of all social institutions, has seemingly lost its charm in the UK. If the current trend of live-in relationships and cohabitation continues, in no time, marriage will be considered as an outdated concept
The fears expressed by pro-family groups are not unwarranted. If one goes by the statistics, the number of scared nuptial knots tied has fallen further in 2008, also because of recession.
The two main reasons for couples opting for live-in relationships are the cost of living for the married couples and hefty sum of almost over ₤21,000 needed to be met for weddings. The Iona Institute of Dublin reported that the number of people who live as husband and wife in England and Wales could fall to less than half of the population.
Lord Bikhu Parekh said:
“If we include those who are living-in and in cohabitation than the number of couples has not fallen. They are now entitled to over 75 per cent of the rights of married couples and the children from such relationships are considered legitimate.”
All said and done, it clearly seems that the institution of ‘marriage’ is fast losing its sheen, especially among the younger population.
Men encouraged for jobs in nurseries
January 20, 2009
Men are being encouraged to take up jobs in nurseries. A survey suggests that many parents actually want their toddlers to emulate male role models. This is possible by having more contact with them. In reality, only two men are there for every 100 people engaged in childcare.
The Council for Children’s Workforce Development (CWDC) spoke to nearly 1,000 parents about this particular issue and sought their opinion on men working in nurseries. Single mothers appear to be concerned in particular. About 66% of them said that they would prefer a man to be involved in the development of their child. However, of all the parents questioned, almost 59% stated there was not a single man worked at the nursery where they sent their child.
The survey hints 17% of children have less than two hours of contact time on weekly basis with a male adult, whereas 39% get less than six hours. Over half of the parents surveyed, 57%, believed men and women had totally different skills to help young children.
Around 3,000 men currently work in early years childcare. This is just about 2% of the workforce. The CWDC wants more men to work in early years settings
