INTERESTING insight into the make-up of British society in The Independent newspaper. A report published by the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission says that a 'cosy club' of people educated at private schools and Oxbridge still dominates politics, the judiciary and media.
The report calls for class to be given as much priority as gender and ethnicity in a 'national mission' to break open an elite 'formed on the playing fields of independent schools' and 'finished in Oxbridge’s dreaming spire'.
It seems that 71 per cent of senior judges, 62 per cent of senior armed forces officers, 55 per cent of Whitehall permanent secretaries, 50 per cent of House of Lords members and 43 per cent of newspaper columnists were privately educated.
And so were 36 per cent of the Cabinet, 33 per cent of MPs, 33 per cent of the England cricket team and 26 per cent of BBC executives.
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Racing ahead in a poll to find Britain's national bird is the Robin, says the Daily Mail.
The 'Vote National Bird' poll also reveals that the hen harrier and the red kite, both threatened with extinction, are currently in the top ten. Unlike most countries Britain has no official bird although the Robin did come top in a previous poll in 1966.
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The ice bucket challenge – to raise money for charity – is sweeping the country but it had unfortunate consequences for 20 year old Isabelle Roberts, from Tipton in the West Midlands, according to a story in the Daily Mirror.
Isabelle shouted so hard when the freezing water was poured over her that she dislocated her jaw!
She said: “The water was so cold so I screamed, but as I did it my jaw just started to stick. I tried to close my mouth but it would not close, it was locked, and then I came to the realisation that something was up.”
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There was a lucky escape for nine year old springer spaniel dog Sprig, reports the Daily Express.
Sprig fell nearly 1,000ft from Britain's tallest cliffs and then spent more than a week clinging to a rocky ledge, surviving by licking moisture from rocks and moss.
When the dog vanished at Foreland Point, North Devon, his owners organised search parties but he wasn't discovered until eight days later by a passing lifeboat crew who had gone to help a stranded sheep.
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Plant power – psychologists reckon that putting plants in an office makes workers more productive. The Daily Mail quotes a report in the Journal of Experimental Psychology claiming that introducing greenery to spartan workplaces led to a 15 per cent rise in output.
A study by researchers from Cardiff University concluded: “Data from the present findings indicate that a green working environment is consistently more enjoyable for employees, more conducive to concentration, and more productive for the business than its lean equivalent.”
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Some people go nuts over Royal memorabilia and a Daily Telegraph story tells us that a collector has paid $1375 (£828) for a piece of cake from the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
The cake, still in its original white and silver presentation box, was sold online at a Los Angeles auction house.
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Also highly valued is the first ever Range Rover car which, says the BBC, is expected to go for about £140,000 at an auction.
The car was made at the Rover factory in Solihull in 1969 and still has its original engine.
It was considered lost for a number of years after its original green paintwork was resprayed gold and the number plate was changed but since 1991 has been on display in the showroom of the Land Rover Centre in Huddersfield.
Sales manager Mark Griffiths said: “ I'm one of the few people who've driven it in the last 23 years, it's probably done less than 100 miles.”
Reference list:
The Express (www.express.co.uk)
The Independent (www.independent.co.uk)
Daily Mail (www.dailymail.co.uk)
Daily Mirror (www.mirror.co.uk)
Daily Telegraph (www.telegraph.co.uk)
BBC (www.bbc.co.uk)