Friday Five News 25/3/16

The INTERNATIONAL news is again dominated by death and destruction caused by “the so called Islamic State group” (I wish there was a consensus on what this group should be called although most suggestions wouldn’t be printable!) The bombings at Brussels’ Zaventem airport and Maelbeek Metro station have, so far, claimed 31 lives and injured hundreds.  The death toll is likely to rise as many of those injured are still in a critical condition.

A British man has been named as one of the victims.  He was killed in the Metro station blast having contacted his family after the airport bombings.  I cannot imagine what his family must be going through.   

I find it incomprehensible that anyone could think that these indiscriminate bombings, killing innocent citizens, will validate their cause.  But it’s clear from the actions of ISIS, including the publicised beheading of their captives, that these are not people who live by the same beliefs of the majority of followers of Islam.

We can all twist quotes from the Bible or the Qur’an to suit our own purposes but I do not believe either books justify killing someone in the name of God.*

LOCAL news continues to be dominated by the fallout following the budget.  The resignation of a prominent Tory minister (Iain Duncan Smith) over cuts to those claiming disability benefits have prompted a U turn by the Government but no apology from the Chancellor for the distress caused. 

   

The article I’ve flagged talks about Jeremy Corbyn addressing the NUT conference.  (National Union of Teachers.)  He will be the first senior  Labour minister to address the conference since 2002.  This comes at a time when the teaching profession is in a bad way and the budget announced that all schools will have to move to academy status.

“The pressure of work forced more teachers to quit last year than ever - over 50,000 - and the government has now missed its trainee teacher recruitment targets for the last four years in a row," he will say.

"That has resulted in half a million children now in being taught in classes of over 31 in primary schools.

"One in four schools are increasing their use of supply teachers, one in six are using non-specialists to cover vacancies and more than one in ten are resorting to using unqualified staff to teach lessons."

A forced move to academy status will not improve this situation.

In SPORT last week I spoke about Victoria Pendleton’s change of career.  She proved me wrong by finishing a very credible fifth in the amateur equivalent of the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

This week, football supporters will mourn the loss of Johan Cryuff who died yesterday at the age of 68 after losing a battle with lung cancer.  The clip highlights his famous turning move particularly remembered from the 1974 World Cup when he led the Netherlands to their first ever final.

I couldn’t resist sharing another football item, one that I hope will haunt Martin O’Neill for a long time.  I’m not much of a Twitter user but I would imagine his comments on only welcoming attractive wives and girlfriends to Euro 2016 will have provoked a big response.

The ENTERTAINMENT news was actually under a Technology heading on the BBC site which I guess it is but my iPhone keeps me entertained.  Although not this morning.  I was notified of an update that I had downloaded but not installed.  I tried to install it this morning and every time I did I was told it could not be verified as I was not connected to the internet.  Which was blatantly untrue.  My wi-fi was working fine and my phone was connected!

I gave up doing the update but on trawling the BBC site for this post I found the reason for the failure.  There is a glitch with the update which has left some users locked out of their phones.  The article states “we have temporarily pulled back the update and will release an updated version of iOS 9.3 in the next few days”

Hmm so pulling back the update equates to you are no longer connected to the internet STRANGE TRANSLATION. 

Moral of the story – don’t rush to install software updates!

Finally under MISCELLANEOUS  I couldn’t request this clip about the use of “50 shades of grey”.  My opinion of this series has been documented.  I have never read them and have no intention of doing so.  This report from an Oxfam bookshop appears to vindicate my decision although I’m sure there are more than 100 copies in the construction.  Go on, you know you have to check out the link now.

All links are courtesy of the BBC website. Opinions are my own.

* If I'm wrong on this please don't bother trying to draw me in to a theological debate, just agree to differ.
 

Have a great Easter weekend.