Friday Five News 6/5/16

It's good to be getting back to my regular posts now that the A-Z challenge is finished.  I really enjoyed doing the challenge but it did mean that some regular blogs such as the news and the Friday Fave Five got relegated to the back burner.


The INTERNATIONAL story I’ve picked out this week is the wildfire that’s causing havoc and destruction in Alberta,Canada.  With all the focus on the Middle East and the refugee crisis, not forgetting elections it’s easy to miss some of the other big stories taking place.

The fire has caused extensive damage with some homeowners losing everything.  I cannot imagine how you pick yourself up from that but hopefully a developed country like Canada will be able to support its citizens to regroup and rebuild.  It’s when I read things like this I’m grateful that such disasters are not something likely to affect us.

The LOCAL news this week is dominated by the elections that took place yesterday in the UK.  In London we had to vote for a new Mayor and for members of the London Assembly.  The votes have not been fully counted yet but I did my bit and cast my vote.  I think it’s really important to vote, even if you feel the result is a foregone conclusion and your vote will not make a difference. If we all succumbed to that sort of apathy there could be some surprising results that we would all have to live with for the next few years!

In SPORT Leicester City have become champions of our football Premier League.  Nicknamed The Foxes, they are the surprise team of this season and defied the odds to become champions last Monday.  The season hasn’t finished yet but no team can catch Leicester now. Some of their fans will be over the moon because they placed bets on them winning at the start of the season when the odds were 5000/1. Others may regret cashing in early when they lost their nerve.  Particularly when Tottenham moved into second place and looked as if they could spoil Leicester’s party.   

Another person regretting his actions is the sports commentator Gary Lineker.  Gary is a lifelong Leicester fan, who also played for them during his career.  He foolishly said that if Leicester won the league he would present the first “Match of the Day” programme next season in his underpants.  He’s been given the go ahead to do this so I’m sure he’s shopping for the least revealing pair he can find!

Under ENTERTAINMENT I’ve linked to Shakespeare piece.  There has been a lot going on to celebrate the 400^th anniversary of his death.  I’ve never really got into Shakespeare.  I did the obligatory 2 plays at secondary school, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream and  I’m familiar with a few others.  It’s something I’d like to know more about but I don’t think reading the complete works, a tome languishing on my bookshelf, is the way forward.  This link is to a page with videos of some of the most famous speeches from his plays.

Finally under MISCELLANEOUS  I bring you the RSS Sir David Attenborough, NOT Boaty McBoatface.   
 
This is a new polar research ship that the public were invited to put forward names for.  Someone must have thought this was a good idea, until James Hand suggested Boaty McBoatface and the idea took off.  To the extent that it won the public vote. However the ship has been given an appropriate name, given that Sir David is one of our most respected scientists and will soon turn 90.

I think heads may roll over the decision to have a public vote, the Chief Executive of the National Environment Research Council, who was behind the vote, has been called to give evidence to a parliamentary committee. They wish to determine if the process had been a "triumph of public engagement or a PR disaster".

Given that they have already opted to call one of the ship’s remotely operated submersibles Boaty and social media is already debating whether this shouldn’t be Subby McSubface this story won’t be forgotten in a hurry so I’d call it a triumph.

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

Have a great weekend.