News Round Up
by Patrick O'Connor
GUESS what's making a comeback amongst Brits – sewing!
According to the Daily Express, the nation has rediscovered the joy of making your own clothes.
The dire financial crisis is one of the reasons but sewing machines are also back in fashion because of the success of the BBC2 TV programme The Great British Sewing Bee which aims to find the country's best amateur sewer.
The show attracted 2.7 million viewers and it seems that the number of sewing machines sold across the UK has doubled.
There has also been the emergence of sewing cafes where customers can rent sewing machines for £5 an hour and get lessons.
“Suddenly it seems sewing is the new rock 'n’ roll,” said Peter Hobkirk, of the Sewing Machine Trade Association.
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It seems that a council in Wales has decided to scrap its £50,000 a year grass cutting bill after discovering it had been trimming more than 560 lawns it did not own, says the Daily Telegraph.
Although Powys council introduced a lawn trimming service in 1996 to help elderly and sick council house tenants to maintain their gardens, a spot check in homes discovered it had been maintaining lawns it hadn't owned for almost a decade.
Councillor Rosemarie Harris said: "The study has revealed that we are cutting grass at some properties that we no longer own. Furthermore, some tenants who have been assessed as requiring this service are no longer resident in the properties.
“But the service has continued to be provided regardless of the current tenant's ability to carry out the works themselves.”
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The Daily Star tells us that TV 'star' Simon Cowell has been invited to the world egg-throwing championships after he was pelted at the Britain’s Got Talent final.
Swaton Vintage Day in Lincolnshire will host the event, which attracts contestants from around the world to compete in target throwing, two-person throw and catch, egg trebuchet, static relay and Russian egg roulette.
Here's a useful tip for guys – wear a plain white T-shirt if you want to appeal to the fairer sex.
A story in the Daily Telegraph reports that women find a man in a plain white T-shirt up to 12 per cent more attractive.
According to researchers at Nottingham Trent University, a plain white T-shirt can create an illusion that broadens the shoulders and slims the waist, producing a more V-shaped body, which is a top sign of masculinity.
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So now we know...
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says that Kung Fun Panda is “one of the greatest films made in recent years.”
According to The Sun, in an interview with Lib Dem Voice, Mr Clegg said: “I'm a big fan of quality cartoons. Kung Fu Panda I have to say is one of the greatest films made in recent years. It's superb.”
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Inspirational story in the Daily Telegraph that 23 year old Zoah Hedges-Stocks, born into the travelling fair life, who grew up in a caravan and never completed a full school year, is to graduate from Cambridge University with a First in History, after studying for three years at Murray Edwards College.
She said: “I've never experienced any snobbery about my background at Cambridge and everyone has been really welcoming.”
She is the only member of her community to have gone to university and just a few generations ago her ancestors could not read or write.
Zoah went to her local school but missed the summer term each year to travel with her family to fairs across East Anglia, helping her mother run the burger van, while her uncle had a set of dodgems, inherited from her grandfather. Her mother's family have been travelling showmen since 1821.
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Feed me! Feed me now!
According to the Daily Star, recent research shows that British teenagers cost billions of pounds to feed.
A study by Birds Eye revealed that each teenager costs an average £3,244 a year in food. One in five mothers claim their children are constantly hungry, and a third of teenagers raid the fridge for more food within 10 minutes of eating a proper meal.
The study showed that boys run up food bills of £3,458 a year on average, compared with £2,996 for girls.
Reference lists:
The Express(www.express.co.uk)
Daily Star (www.daily star.co.uk)
The Sun (www.thesun.co.uk)
Daily Telegraph (www.telegraph co.uk)