Refugees, Tim Peake, Star Wars, Shakespeare, and social media are just some of the events, people, and subjects that influence British children’s creativity and use of language, says a report published by Oxford University Press (OUP).
Following OUP’s analysis of the 123,436 entries for the 2016 BBC Radio 2 Chris Evans Breakfast Show’s 500 WORDS short story competition, a wealth of fascinating insights into the lives of British children and their imaginative use of English have emerged.

The UK’s largest dog welfare charity is appealing to MPs to support a call for the use of fireworks to be restricted in the interests of animal welfare. The subject was debated by Members of Parliament after a petition by the Firework Abatement Campaign attracted more than 100,000 signatures. The petition is calling for fireworks use by the general public to only be permitted on Bonfire Night, New Year’s Eve, Diwali and Chinese New Year.

Young workers starting their careers in 2016 will have earned a total of £1 million by the time they are 46 years old, according to new analysis by Prudential. The results show that an 18 year old starting their career this year and earning the projected average salary for their age group throughout their career, will have amassed earnings of more than £1 million by 2044 –  at the age of 46 years and 1 month.

Birmingham mums were told that parenting experts only provide the tools to help with child care issues, and the real magic comes from families themselves, when TV parenting guru Jo Frost crossed the Atlantic to drop in on mums and their children at The St Thomas’s Children’s Centre, Bell Barn Rd, yesterday.

Popular traders at a historic street market in Tottenham have moved into temporary premises while the transformation of their old stalls into a modern and bustling shopping space gathers pace. Businesses at Holcombe Road Market, opposite Bruce Grove Station, have moved onto Tottenham High Road while huge improvements to a new, permanent market are made by Haringey Council as part of ambitious regeneration plans for Tottenham.

Last Friday a team of insurance professionals from across the Midlands raisied funds for Fisher House by playing a charity football match against Lichfield Wolves at The Molineux. The insurance team, led by Mark Hands (LV= Broker) and John Court-Jones (Arthur J Gallagher), was made up of 17 keen footballers from local companies including LV= Broker, Arthur J Gallagher, Idex, Adler Insurance Brokers and Jelf.