Each week, Ben Hopkinson looks back at a serious, crazy, and happy news story from the past week.
Serious News
Ofwat has declared that water companies within the South-east are some of the worst operators within England and Wales.
This comes after various companies have been instructed to refund more than £260million to customers regarding a lack of performance.
40% of that figure has already come off bills for this year, with the remaining to follow next year – although there are set to be steep increases to fund upgrades to the water system.
The Environment Agency have also given England’s water companies the lowest ever combined scores within the annual environmental performance rating system because of an increase in incidents regarding pollution.
Crazy News
A farmer has invited a jazz band to play some jazz music to a herd of cows in the hope that the music will boost the production of milk.
The six-piece Dixiebeats performed to both the Jersey and Holstein cows at Smithills Open Farm in Bolton.
Staff wanted to put the experiment to the test after reading that jazz music could boost milk production by 4% and according to farmer Caitlyn Horrocks, it may have worked: “They all took turns coming to the front to see what was going on. One of them called Peggy loved it, she stayed right at the fence for the entire performance”.
@smithillsopenfarm Dixie Beats very kindly played some tunes for our girls this weekend! Do you think they liked it?🎷🎵🎺 #cows #funnyanimals #jazzmusic #fyp #farmlife ♬ In the Mood - Glenn Miller
Happy News
A Fixing Factory has opened in London, that helps people fix any broken household items.
The community repair hub opened within the Harringay warehouse district, following previous launches in Camden and Hackney.
The site also offers training, workshops as well as re-selling the refurbished items on after.
The project is part of the plans for the borough and their £1.7million waste diversion target, aiming to reduce the need for landfill or incineration. It is also hoped that the scheme will increase recycling within the area and achieve their target of 50% recycling by 2030.
Mike Hatata, a councillor for Harringay says that the project is to give the community “practical capabilities they can use throughout their lives”, at the same time as creating “genuine opportunities for people to connect, learn and build resilience together”.
Comments
Add a comment