Friday Five News 30/10/15

Of course the most important news item this week was my daughter’s wedding last Sunday but I’ve already blogged about that so here are the five news articles I’ve picked out for you this week:

In INTERNATIONAL  news I see that China is planning to relax its policy on how many children couples may have.  Well relax is probably an overstatement because it is only moving up to two children and it sounds like there will still be some restrictions in place.  Plus they haven’t actually announced when the changes will take place.  

It must be awful to live under a regime that dictates how many children you can have and to have to suffer through abortions when things go wrong is just horrific.

I was totally blessed with my children.  We decided to start a family and it happened.  Very quickly.  I had 3 children in 4 years.  I wasn’t planning on copying my mother-in-law who’d had 8 children but I’d always thought 4 would be a good number.  Moving from 2 to 3 was a lot harder than I’d anticipated so we stuck there.  It was a long time though before I totally gave up on the idea of a fourth.  But at least the choice was ours.

This LOCAL  news item about Enfield cycle plans caught my eye as it had been mentioned by one of our local councillors in a blog post about a meeting to be held in my area about “Living Streets” which I might attend.  Transport for London and the Mayor are certainly keen to make cycling in London easier and safer for cyclists but of course there is often opposition from car drivers. 

I can see both sides of this.  I drive a car but I do have a bike although I haven’t used it in a VERY long time.  I would like to use it more but cycling can be scary.  Having observed how parking has become a big issue in my road since residential zones were extended nearby, I can see how we perhaps need to move away from always using our cars for journeys and not being so reliant on them.
Since I gave up work our car has been used a lot less but I wouldn’t want to be without it.  I try and walk or use public transport when I can but I do like the security of knowing that if there is an emergency or I need to get somewhere quickly I can just get in the car.

Or maybe not – yesterday I was going to drive to the supermarket only to discover I had a flat tyre.  So I took the bus.

Today I needed to pick up a prescription and it’s quite a walk so the car would have made the journey much quicker but instead I was almost forced into doing something I’ve been promising to do for a long time – I got on my bike! Nearly fell off it at one point too so I will need to do a lot more practising.  Fortunately I can cycle in our nearby cemetery where there are very few cars and a very low speed limit.  Whoever said you never forget how to ride a bike?  They lied!

Moving on to SPORT: Lewis Hamilton won his third Formula 1 World Championship title at the weekend.  Only the second Briton to do so.  I thought this was a really top achievement until I read the article and saw that Michael Schumacher has won it seven times.  So still some catching up to do for Hamilton.  Although why anyone wants to chase around a circuit so many times, in a thin layer of metal, inches above the ground is beyond me.  Each to their own I guess.  I wonder how much he pays for insurance????

In ENTERTAINMENT   Brian May talks about the success of Bohemian Rhapsody which celebrates its 40^th Anniversary tomorrow.

How many songs become so ingrained in popular culture that they get their own nickname? Not many - but Bo Rap is one of them.

A sprawling, six-minute rock opera, it has been Christmas number one twice, soundtracked a pivotal scene in Wayne's World, and sold 2.44 million copies in the UK alone.

Not bad for a song the record company said would never be played on the radio.

For anyone who hasn’t heard it (where have you been hiding?) or those who just want to savour it:

And finally MISCELLANEOUS: There are rumours of a Gin shortage because: The juniper berry, which grows in the Highlands and is used to flavour certain gins is under threat from a fungal disease and is said to be in a "critical state".

It’s not as dire as it sounds however so gin drinkers fret not.  Personally I couldn’t care less.  Now if grapes were being threatened it would be a whole other story!

All links are courtesy of the BBC website. Opinions are my own.