Each week, Ben Hopkinson looks back at a serious, crazy, and happy news story from the past week.
Serious News
The number of people found rough sleeping on a single night in England in autumn 2023 rose by 27% when compared to the same time a year before.
Every region had an increase, however London had the biggest increase of nearly a third.
The government is spending £4.2billion to help rough sleepers and those at risk of being homeless.
A spokesperson for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities says: “Whilst we have made good progress and rough sleeping remains below pre-pandemic levels, there is more work to be done to meet our ambition to end it entirely, and we will continue to work with local authorities to help people off the streets for good”.
Crazy News
A first-edition Harry Potter novel has sold at auction for £11,000.
The uncorrected proof copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was bought in a second-hand shop for only 13p in 1997.
That’s an astonishing 846 times the value of the purchase.
Speaking of the buying the proof copy, the seller who remains anonymous says: “I dropped into one of my usual haunts, one of the second-hand bookshops just off the main road in Crystal Palace, looking for some Agatha Christies. The Harry Potter book was among the piles. I bought it as a throw-in with a couple of other titles - 40p for all three. I don't think I even looked at it properly to tell the truth”.
Happy News
A cancer survivor is walking 33 miles between the hospitals that helped treat her in a bid to fundraise for charity.
Linda Pottinger, aged 62, from Hertfordshire, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in June 2023.
The former police officer was admitted to Watford General Hospital, Mount Vernon Hospital, Hemel Hempstead Hospital and St Albans City Hospital – and will walk to them all to raise money for Raise, helping care “for the next person who walks through the door with bowel cancer”.
The walk is set to begin this Wednesday on 6th March, and will be joined by her surgeon for the last few miles.
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