Laura Ashworth, from Bradford, suddenly died from an asthma attack on 2nd April aged 21. Because she had agreed to be an organ donor whilst she was alive, the decision was made to user her organs for transplant after she died. However, even though Rachel Leake, the mother of Laura, was in desperate need of a kidney she was not allowed to take it because no preferential treatment could be given, and the kidneys went to three strangers on the transplant waiting list. Many people have felt outraged that the state could intervene in such a way when it is so intuitive that donors should be allowed to help their family first. Not only have Laura’s wishes been disrespected but she has left behind her young daughter who is now dependent on her suffering mother.

Mrs Leake is horrified by the decision and has said:

“I believe it should be overturned, I really do. It’s an absolutely ridiculous law. Laura’s helped three people through this, but Laura would have wanted to help me. To help her mum.”

The Human Tissue Authority (HTA) defended its decision to not allow Mrs Leake to take Laura’s kidneys. Adrian McNeil, who is chief executive of the HTA, said:

“The central principle of matching and allocating organs from the deceased is that they are allocated to the person on the UK Transplant waiting list who is most in need and who is the best match with the donor. In line with this central principle, a person cannot choose to whom their organ can be given when they die; nor can their family.”

Even though he says this, he admits that there can be special circumstances to consider, which is why in the future the laws may be revised. It is just unfortunate, however, that such a statement will not help Laura’s mother. What is especially terrible is that not only has this decision cost the mother and daughter but so many people have now lost faith in the donation system and have subsequently removed their name from the register. I cannot blame them: who wants to give something away voluntarily to know their wishes won’t even be respected? Everyone would help their family if they were given the chance, especially their own mother who gave them life in the first place.

One of the experiments that was conducted was in rabbits in North Dakota that were fed a fat-rich diet. It was found that those rabbits that were given a caffeine supplement had a much better protected barrier between the brain and the main blood supply than the rabbits which were not. Similarly in humans, scientists say that there is a “blood brain barrier” which protects the brain from harmful chemicals carried in the blood. This barrier is said to become “leaky” if one consumes high levels of cholesterol, which contributes to the risk of mental diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Coffee strengthens this barrier, which means there is less potential for harmful chemicals to enter the brain.

As Dr Jonathan Geiger, who led the study explains:

“Caffeine appears to block several of the disruptive effects of cholesterol that make the blood-brain barrier leaky,” said Dr Jonathan Geiger, who led the study. High levels of cholesterol are a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, perhaps by compromising the protective nature of the blood brain barrier. Caffeine is a safe and readily available drug and its ability to stabilise the blood brain barrier means it could have an important part to play in therapies against neurological disorders.”

This is very promising news, especially for those who are currently researching into cures for Alzheimer’s disease. A spokesperson for the Alzheimer’s Disease Society says:

“This is the best evidence yet that caffeine equivalent to one cup of coffee a day can help protect the brain against cholesterol. In addition to its effect on the vascular system, elevated cholesterol levels also cause problems with the blood brain barrier. This barrier, which protects the brain from toxins and infections, is less efficient prior to brain damage caused by Alzheimer’s disease or strokes.”

Coffee-lovers will be pleased that their favourite drink will also be protecting their brains for years to come.

The winning designer of the coins is 26-year-old Matthew Dent, a graphic designer who lives and works in London. What makes the designs particularly striking is that the royal coat of arms has been split amongst the six denominations, the crowning piece being the £1 which displays the entire heraldic shield. This is the first time the coins have contained elements of a singular design. The other side will retain the traditional image of the Queen’s head and the two pound coin has not changed.

Dent is understandably amazed that his own designs will be on every new British coin. He says:

“For designs of mine to appear on a medium as significant and prestigious as the United Kingdom’s coinage and to be produced and circulated in millions is a tremendous honour.”

The new designs mark a huge event in British history. As Andrew Stafford, chief executive of the Royal Mint explains:

“It is the only work of art that every member of the general public touches every day, that is important to the nation’s way of life,”

The coins will gradually begin to circulate in the summer, though old coins will remain legal tender. Personally, I really like the thoughtful new designs and though the old coins will be missed (especially the 50 pence coins with images of Britannia), I’m sure most people will like the fresh new look which was long overdue. I can’t wait to get my hands on some (though I suspect I’ll be reluctant to use them as anything but a jigsaw puzzle initially!).

Green, who is also said to have done a very similar thing ten years ago, is embarrassed about the incident. She says it was sparked by a colleague telling her that the sound was like a “bee buzzing in a bottle”. Describing how difficult it was to keep a straight face when discussing the death of screenwriter Abby Mann, Green said:

“I’m afraid I just lost it, I was completely ambushed by the giggles. I did feel slightly embarrassed, knowing I have this reputation that I am prone to getting the giggles”

However, many listeners found the incident cheered up their day, with Today’s editor, Ceri Thomas, saying that most listeners who contacted them said “how much they had enjoyed the moment”. Not only that but Green’s fit of the giggles was repeated on later in the day as there had been so many requests to hear it again. As Green says:

“People have been very sweet and everyone has been coming up to me said how much it has cheered up their Friday morning.”

Whilst some may have found the incident insulting, I’m glad that most have been amused to witness their favourite dignified newsreader reduced to this state on air. Personally, I completely empathise with Charlotte as I know full well how difficult it is to stop laughing sometimes, and the more you try and suppress it, the worse it becomes! It is just unlucky how bad the timing was. Let’s hope any offended listeners can take this very human behaviour with a pinch of salt.

This is one of the few cases where the parents have preferred their child to have a disability than to not, and it has sparked outrage from both sides. Tomato Lichy and his partner, who already “thankfully” have a deaf child, argue that they will be able to connect better with their new child if it cannot hear – deafness, they say, comes with many beautiful cultural features such as deaf in-jokes and deaf-language. They argue that to refuse their right to have a deaf child would be discrimination, effectively saying that deaf people cannot have worthwhile lives. As Lichy says:

“The core issue is that the government is saying deaf people are not equal to hearing people. Despite the fact that over time we have seen more and more rights for disabled people they are now seeking to establish a legal principle that deaf people are inferior – and there may be more laws once this gap opens.”

For Lichy and his partner, the preference is so great that they would regard a hearing child as a disabled one. However, many have retaliated by saying that deliberately choosing a child who will face problems in life is morally condemnable. It cannot be discrimination because the argument is not that deaf children don’t have worthy lives but that hearing children have a higher potential for a better life. As chief executive Jackie Ballard of The Royal National Institute for Deaf People explains:

“Deafness is a disability and we have spent a long time campaigning to improve the lives of people who live with it. But it is certainly not a slight to the deaf to say it is better to bring a child who will face the least difficulty into the world, when there is a choice to be made.”

Personally, I agree and I think that to call hearing ability a disability is not only absurd but insulting to the majority of deaf people who do feel that their lack of hearing is a deficiency. Thankfully the Royal National Institute for Deaf People are also against Lichy’s plans. Why deliberately cause damage to a child without even giving it a chance of hearing? (no hearing child would feel “worse off”) The parents may feel that deafness has given them comparable substitutes, but how would they even know how good hearing is? At any rate, the argument is a slippery slope. What’s to stop parents who can’t walk now asking for a limbless child?

The tremors, which were felt in many places such as Newcastle, Yorkshire, Wales, and London had widespread effects. In many streets residents came out in their dressing gowns to find out what had happened. The emergency services were alerted at many homes which suffered great damage from the tremor. Not only that, but there were some injuries as well. For example, 19 year old student David Bates was pinned under masonry in his attic bedroom in Barnsley Road, Wombwell, South Yorks, and suffered a broken pelvis as a result and had to be taken to hospital. His father said:

“There was a rumble and then we heard a bang and my son screaming ‘Dad’.”

Other residents from the country also had stories to tell about the shaking. For example, Bev Finnegan from Market Rasen, where the tremors were greatest, said:

“I was terrified to be honest. The noise was really, really terrifying… it was so deep and rumbling. It felt like the roof was going to fall in. There were people coming out in their dressing gowns wondering what it was. It was quite an experience.”

Thankfully there were no emergency calls from Lincolnshire about injuries. A Lincolnshire Police spokesperson has said:

“There is slight structural damage, cracks and a couple of chimneys damaged. There’s nothing serious at present. Mostly people were distressed by it so there were a large quantity of calls coming in.”

Since this was the biggest earthquake for so long, many have been naturally worried that it will happen again, perhaps even worse than this time. But the British Geological Survey has said that earthquakes such as these are very rare so there is no need to fear. As Dr Brian Baptie, of the BGS, said:

“An earthquake of this size, of magnitude five or thereabouts, will occur roughly every 10 to 20 years in the UK. So we can get these kind of moderate to significant earthquakes of this size but they’re relatively rare.”

Myself, I felt a mild tremor all the way down in Cambridge – thankfully, I didn’t feel much of the terror as it was so mild but I was certainly confused. I’m so glad the mystery was resolved!

Many are undestandably critical, saying that such a move could give the illusion of academic rigor and thus give a whole new meaning to the already-ridiculed “mickey mouse degree”. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has, however, given the new ventures his wholehearted approval, reassuring everyone that this does not mean we are dumbing down as a nation. He says on GMTV about the course:

“It is going to be a tough course, but once you have got a qualification in management you can probably go anywhere. I think that is the important thing, companies prepared to train people up which they weren’t doing before, in the way that we want them to do, in a far greater number, so that people have the qualifications for the future.”

It certainly seems though that the government is doing everything it can to get more people getting qualifications, even if it does mean the qualifications have little respectable substance. When universities were asked whether they would accept such a qualification as a genuine one, predictably they were not too keen. Out of the ten admissions tutors who were asked, at least four said that they would not accept the new Diplomas.

Even though they may not be accepted as sturdy A levels, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) have insisted that their approval now presents McDonald qualifications as being on par in terms of assessment. A spokesperson from QCA says:

“The Qualifications Credit Framework is a new framework that allows nationally recognised courses to be broken down into units. It is componentised so if a learner drops out of a course or can’t manage to complete they can take those units with them. McDonald’s have achieved the standards for awarding accredited qualifications at Level 3. This will enable them to assess, track and recognise learning that otherwise would be lost.”

Personally I’m in two minds over this. On the one hand, it’s great that vocational workplace skills are being given some recognition and next time I order a burger I won’t end up with a McFlurry, but at the same time the snobby Oxbridge student in me wants to stamp my foot down in outrage. An A-Level for McDonalds? However good it may be for the restaurant chain itself, I doubt this wolf in sheep’s clothing will get a non-McDonalds supper.

The photograph taken by spacecraft Spirit in 2004 can be seen here. As you can see, there is a tiny peculiar shape in the left of the image which looks almost human. Whilst most would say that this is just a coincidental angle on an ordinary rock, others believe that this is something more incredible. Initially when the photographs were viewed after the mission, many were disappointed that there was nothing unusual in them, and only now have they discovered something that may be not so mundane.

What is particularly interesting and amusing is the number and variety of the theories posted online from excited space fans (who may, or may not, have been watching too much science-fiction). Bloggers have said everything from the figure being a conventional alien to the Virgin Mary, or even a mermaid. And the list doesn’t stop there. Garden gnome and Bigfoot are also on the list amongst others. The most popular opinion is that the figure resembles the Little Mermaid statue in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.

Funnily enough, if we think about it properly, all the hype surrounds a centimetre of something blurry which is identical to all the rocks around it in everything but its shape (which, too, isn’t very detailed). As Badastronomy.com said,

“A man? It’s a tiny rock only a few inches high. It’s only a few feet from the rover!”

I guess it’s up to everyone to make their own mind up now. Personally, I think we’re all just desperate to hear some good old cosmic goss’ but like others I’m unconvinced that such a small image is anything more than a funny-shaped rock.

For viewers, all they could see was the smiley face of the character Tombliboo. According to 28 year old Isaac Blake from Cardiff, however, the reality was much different. He claims that he was completely dependent on cameras to know what he was doing, but even they failed for several weeks and he was left fumbling in the dark in the costume, which was part robot and part puppet. When he complained he was rudely forced to continue and became injured as a result. He also says that another cast member called called him a “bitch” and a “faggot” but that the staff ignored this when he complained. The staff ultimately dismissed him for making a fuss.

Ragdoll productions, which also produced the Teletubbies, has denied all allegations saying that none of the other cast members had experienced any problems and that Mr Blake was actually dismissed because he was rude to staff. Actress Elisa Laghi, 31, admitted she used the words “bitch” and “faggot” to refer to him, but said that she meant it jovially and not because Mr Blake was gay. Indeed she says:

“I’m bisexual myself so I don’t have a problem with people being gay”

The tribunal now continues. If the allegations made by Mr Blake are true, then this is terrible news, particularly for those who have loved watching the programmes. To think that the actors are themselves suffering whilst producing such dramatic displays of optimism for children is saddening and I hope that any injustice on the part of the production team will not go unnoticed.

The recommendations are as follows:

1. Take regular exercise
2. Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables daily
3. Drink alcohol only in moderation
4. Don’t smoke

According to experts from University of Cambridge and the Medical Research Council, anyone who follows the four simple things above will automatically boost their lifespan for an average of fourteen years. Not only this but they will encounter fewer health problems throughout their life too. The research involved in producing these results involved analysing the habits of over 20,000 people over a decade where it was found that people who failed on all four of the criteria had more health problems and were in times four times more likely to die during that period than those who succeeded. Furthermore, what is especially encouraging is that it doesn’t even matter if you are poor or overweight, fulfilling the above will still help you just as much.

Professor Kay-Tee Khaw, who led the research says:

“We’ve know that individually, measures such as not smoking and exercising can have an impact upon longevity, but this is the first time we have looked at them altogether. And we also found that social class and BMI – body mass index – really did not have a role to play. It means a large proportion of the population really could feel health benefits through moderate changes.”

This is great news and should encourage everyone to take the simple steps highlighted in order to have longer, healthier, and no doubt happier lives.