Each week, Ben Hopkinson looks back at a serious, crazy, and happy news story from the past week.
Serious News
More than 80% of teachers are calling for a new type of education inspection system.
A survey that polled more then 4,500 National Education Union teacher members in English state schools revealed answers that the majority believe that single-word judgements do not give a fair reflection of a performance, while 62% say that the inspection causes mental ill-health and another 59% says it affects their home life.
Teachers will vote on whether the NEU (which is the largest teaching union in the UK) should lobby political parties ahead of the next general election to “replace Ofsted”.
Crazy News
Monday was of course 2024’s April Fools’ Day. This year we had some crazy stories published – only to be a matter of fiction.
Purplebricks posted about their supposed new app that could alert you of any lies from estate agents using AI lie detecting technology to warn you of suspicious speech patterns. There was also news from Ant and Dec – who always get involved in the antics – who made a statement about leaving the world of showbiz to focus on careers in the kitchen and launching a pop-up restaurant.
My personal favourite of this year was Aldi claiming to create a new reality dating show “Love Aisleland” – only for it to be cancelled just after midday as it had not been shown to the legal team
Happy News
Many professional football surfaces are made from a hybrid of nylon or other synthetics combined with grass, and the iconic Wembley stadium is one of them. However, the stadium’s ground manager, Karl Standley, has discovered a way to reuse the materials within the pitch into a new lease of life.
That new lease of life is a bench, and Standley explained the process: “Extracting the plastic from a hybrid pitch is notoriously difficult, due to its compound structure. When we first mooted the idea of recycling it, we were told it couldn’t be done. However, we were determined to find a sustainable answer to the problem. It’s been a long journey, involving testing and re-testing, but we have finally come up with a solution we are happy with. Creating something from a pitch that has had world class players perform on it is the ultimate memento. I am excited about what else we can possibly create in the future".
Once the pitch has come to the end of its life, it is dug up and stored for nine months to naturally decay, followed by a screening process to remove the plastic. The plastic is then shredded, extruded and strengthened with a tougher plastic, made from old seats.
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