In The News (Cont..)

[Talisman]

I am sure that other countries will be keeping an eye on things to see whether it makes a difference, and if it does, then maybe we will see similar policies implemented elsewhere.

[Nollaig]

I highly doubt they'd do it here. There'd probably be a revolution.

[Michelle]

I can't see it making much difference - as far as I'm concerned, we need a complete change of attitude, especially in our young people. It's seen as so 'cool' to get completely drunk, and they don't see themselves as making fools of themselves.

[vodkafan]

Completely shocked about yet another school shooting in America 20 children and 8? adults I think so sad

[julie]

Thanks for bringing up the subject James . Such a tragedy . It was a small town ,but they had all the safety measures in place . We recently had all new schools built in our town, and they have the exact safety precautions in place here .

The news people are still piecing things together ,so the story is changing continually,but they just announced the names of the kids. All the adults were female .The principal ( a lady) , heard all the commotion and charged the gunman in order to direct his attention to her so the kids could get out. He shot her several times .All the kids were first graders (age 6 & 7) .

The guy supposedly had some type of mental illness, but I'm not sure which one,they keep changing the story as to which one he had . He killed his mother at home, then went to the school and broke through the glass windows or doors (not sure which) and began shooting .

It is absolutely heartbreaking . Even President Obama cried at the press conference yesterday. It was SO hard to watch him,struggling to get through his speech without falling apart. He still has kids in school,so I think it hit him close to home .

They have all these experts trying to figure out how to prevent this. Gun control ? More safety measures in school ? Armed policemen in the schools ?

I keep hoping that out of all this tragedy ,we can learn ways to try to prevent it in the future .

[chesilbeach]

This made me chuckle ... http://www.bbc.co.uk...t-fife-21292873

Edited February 1, 2013 by chesilbeach

[Cookie]

This made me chuckle ... http://www.bbc.co.uk...t-fife-21292873

 

Good!

[chesilbeach]

We've lost two of the greats in actor Richard Briers and animator Bob Godfrey recently, but luckily together they left behind a little piece of genius that those of us of a certain age will remember from our childhoods, Roobarb and Custard. Lovely to see it acknowledged by BBCs Newsnight with their own little tribute at the end of the show: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21555220

[chesilbeach]

Sort of in the news, in that I found it on the BBC News website, here's some photos from the Envrionmental Wildlife Photographer of the Year.  Absolutely stunning images.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21899535

[Chrissy]

They are extraordinary photographs Chesilbeach, so haunting. Thanks for sharing the link.

[bobblybear]

Those are amazing pictures.

[chesilbeach]

Very sad to see the news of the death of writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.  She wrote the Oscar winning screenplays to two of my favourite films, A Room With A View and Howards End, as well as a dozen novels, and I loved her work.

[Kylie]

Ooh, what do you all think of potentially switching to polymer banknotes? Apparently the country is split on the decision, but I say it's a no-brainer. We've been using polymer notes for decades and they're so much better than paper. They last much, much longer and they're also prettier, I think (well, our banknotes are nice and colourful). Australia pioneered the technology (excuse the bragging) and we print most of the polymer banknotes used by other countries. This topic is somewhat close to me because I used to work in the banknote department in Australia's central bank (equivalent to the Bank of England).

[Brian.]

I'm all for it, I think they look pretty great and if it makes counterfeiting harder that's even better. I also like the fact that the size is going to be brought into line with European standard sizes. I have a wallet that I bought during my travels and anything other than £5 note sticks out the top.