WUFOOB (Jan – Mar 2018)

Jeremy Corbyn and the ‘Beast from the East’

Guardian, 15th March 2018
“Britain needs to hold the perpetrators to account. Yet this is not a time for hasty judgments that could lead to a new cold war,” said Jeremy Corbyn. “There can be no one in Britain who is not outraged by the appalling attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury last week. The use of military nerve agents on the streets of Britain is barbaric and beyond reckless.”

The weekend’s weather could be labelled a “mini beast from the east”. The latest cold snap comes a fortnight after blizzards and bitter cold – a weather system nicknamed the “beast from the east” – caused disruption around the UK.

KFC chicken crisis: Met Police called over fast food chain’s chicken ‘drought’

Evening Standard, 21st February 2018
The Met Police have urged hungry KFC fans not to call them asking for emergency assistance over the fast food chain’s chicken shortage. Officers in Tower Hamlets were forced to say the so-called ‘crisis’ is not a police matter after scores of London outlets were forced to close when they ran out of chicken. The closures, which are expected to last for the rest of the week while KFC battles the shortage, sparked panic among chicken fans.

Elon Musk sends Tesla car to Mars

Independent, 6th February 2018
A cherry red Tesla car was launched into space on Tuesday by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, with David Bowie’s song Life on Mars playing on repeat. Thousands of people gathered in Florida to watch the launch – the culmination of a plan five years in the making. Mr Musk used a super rocket – the Falcon Heavy vehicle – to send the car into orbit around Mars, deploying technology with twice the launching power of any existing rocket, and double that of the Saturn V, which launched the Apollo lunar missions.

Do presidential typos matter?

BBC News, 30th January 2018
Tickets for US President Donald Trump’s first State of the Union address later on Tuesday have had to be urgently reprinted because of a glaring typo which lawmakers mocked. The offending tickets invited people to attend Mr Trump’s “State of the Uniom”. “Looking forward to… State of the Uniom,” Sen Marco Rubio tweeted, while one social media user asked: “Will they be serving covfefe…?” This was a reference to a tweet by Mr Trump in May, which left many puzzled.

Who is actually running the planet?

Independent, 11th January 2018
The UK government has unveiled plans to eliminate avoidable plastic waste by 2042. Environmental groups say the target lacks urgency and does not match the scale of the crisis. It is estimated that 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced since the 1950s, with research indicating that without urgent action to cut demand this is likely to be 34 billion tonnes by 2050. In the UK alone, during its recent Great British Beach Clean Up, the Marine Conservation Society found 718 pieces of litter for every 100 metre stretch of beach surveyed, and of this, rubbish from food and drink made up at least one fifth. Shadow Environment Secretary Sue Hayman said the plan was now “years behind schedule” branding the plan “a cynical attempt at rebranding the Tories image”.