On June 23rd , Britain will settle a question that's been rumbling on the ground of British politics for a generation: should the country remain within the European Union, or leave it?
This has been causing continuous commotion and conflict between everyone; especially UK’s biggest political parties.
The UK Independence Party, which won the last European elections, and received nearly four million votes is campaigning for Britain's exit from the EU. About half of Conservative MPs, including five cabinet ministers, several Labour MPs and the DUP are also in favour of leaving. They say the reason why they want to leave, is as they believe Britain is being held back by the EU, which they say impose ‘too many’ rules on business and charges billions of pounds a year in membership fees for little in return. They also want Britain to take back full control of its borders and reduce the number of people coming here to work.
David Cameron wants Britain to stay in the EU, now he has got some powers back from it. The Conservative Party has pledged to be neutral in the campaign - but the Labour Party, SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Lib Dems are all in favour of staying in. They believe Britain gets a big boost from EU membership - it makes selling things to other EU countries easier. They also believe Britain's status in the world would be damaged by leaving and that we are more secure as part of the EU.
By Maryam, Y8
Britain and the EU: coming or going?
Dancing with horses
We've heard of dancing with dogs, how about dancing with horses?
If you look through the early programs of Theatre Equestre Zingaro, you will find a sketch drawn by the late cartoonist Cabu. It shows a butcher's shop with a door knocked down. Theatre Equestre Zingaro has quite an unusual stable of performers. Especially knowing that the main stars of their shows are now horses!
Some opinions…
Maryam, year 8:‘I think it’s quite funny.’
Lottie, year 11:’I think that it’s an innovative idea that should have come out sooner.’
Olakitan, year 8:’I think it’s cool, because I’ve never heard of any other animal which dances.’
By Gabriella, Y8
Not so DinDim news...
A special penguin swims 5,000 miles every year to see the man who saved him after he was found on some rocks in 2011. The penguin was starving and covered in oil.
The man who saved him is a retired bricklayer and part-time fisherman: Joao Pereira de Souza. He named the penguin Dindim and he rebuilt his strength by feeding him fish before releasing him back into the wild.
Dindim didn’t want to leave so he stayed for another 11 months with the fisherman in his village, on the island near Rio de Janeiro.
He finally left when he had grown new feathers and had recovered.
That wasn’t the last time they saw each other though. Dindim came back the following June. He has now returned 5 times. Every year he visits Joao from June until February.
“I love the penguin. It is like my child. I believe the Penguin loves me as much as I love him.”
By Isabella, Y8
Held up hospitals
Breaking news has broken out since the day NHS had Junior doctors walking out on a strike to pay their conditions.
Today is their third time doing a strike and Hospitals could end up over-crowded on Thursday, as they struggle to discharge patients because of the junior doctor strikes.
The NHS seemed to do well on Wednesday following the walkout from 08:00 GMT over the contract dispute. However, NHS England said the second day of the 48-hour walkout in England was always going to be harder. Officials said hospitals may struggle to discharge patients without junior medics on wards.
Over 5,000 operations were cancelled ahead of the action to try to relieve pressures.
Doctors are providing emergency cover during the walkout, which ends on Friday morning, and consultants, nurses and midwives are all working in hospital as normal. GP surgeries are largely unaffected.
On Wednesday just over half of junior doctors expected in work did not turn up - a figure broadly in line with the previous strikes and to be expected considering the numbers needed to provide emergency care
This problem has caused much disruption to patients and their families.
Yasmin, Y8
Singapore Success
Once again Singapore has been ranked by the EIU as the most expensive city to live in in the world. Compared with Bristol which was not featured in the list but London came sixth in the chart. The cheapest city was Zambia followed by Bangalore.
Singapore is 25% more expensive than living in Bristol, for instance, Cold Medicine Tablets would cost £5.00 and in Bristol it would cost £3.75 on average. Singapore is leading in the world of expense because the amount of money spent on weddings, phone charging bills and over priced phones has gone up.
Even though Singapore was found to be the most expensive city, New York was 10% more expensive for living costs.
By Kitan, Y8
MP Lammy fined over nuisance calls
Labour MP, David Lammy is being fined £5,000 over 35,629 nuisance calls urging people to back up his campaign to be the new London Mayor. The calls played a recorded message that urged people to back them up.
He was offering a discount on double glazing. The people who were getting these calls didn’t give permission for them. That meant Mr Lammy had broken the rules set out in the Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations.
Mr Graham said “If you want to call someone in this ways, you must follow these rules, Mr Lammy did not, and that is why he has been fined”.
“It is not good enough to assume the people you’re contacting probably won’t mind. The laws requires you to have permission before making calls with recorded message. And if the law isn’t followed, the regulator will act.”
The calls made in August 2015 using contacts details of party members by the labour party. Mr Lammy didn’t check the number he was calling at first.
By Isabella, Y8
Millionaire Youtuber
Youtubers are taking part in a new trend of writing their own books. Zoella, who has 10 million subscribers, started this trend with her first book Girl Online. She became the fastest selling debut novelist after 78,109 copies of this were sold in one week.
Many other youtubers have decided to do this as well. Marcus butler wrote Hello Life and Tyler Oakley has written Binge. Zoella’s brother, Joe (another Youtuber), has written a graphic novel.
Caspar Lee is 21 years old and he lives with Joe Sugg in London. This is the first book Caspar Lee has written and he wanted to share this book with his mum. This book is about Caspar's life and how he grows up with many funny and embarrassing stories on the way.
For this launch, which is happening on May 31, he quoted “I am really pleased to be the only youtuber who has published a book for the past year, oh wait. In all seriousness it's been really interesting to hear what my family have been through in South Africa but that I wasn't aware of because I was too young. Thanks so much to my Mom who has captured my story and everyone who has got me to this point.”
The fans of youtubers portray their appreciation for them. A girl quoted “youtubers are bae they are so inspiring and they help me. Many people get back on their feet when they are feeling a bit down in the dumps and I hope I can write a book just like Zoella”.
By Fiza, Y8
SPORTING NEWS 2016
Olympic update
The Olympics this year in Rio have begun selling their tickets. There are going to be 45,000 volunteers, 6,500 Employees and 85,000 outsourced staff. It is starting on Friday August 5th and ending on Sunday August 21st.
There are going to be 10,500 Athletes from 206 different countries. 42 sports will be contested and there are 2 new sports Golf and Rugby. 7.5 million tickets are available to buy. The different races are 136 womens, 9 mixed, 161 mens. During all of that there will be 306 medal events.
Golf hasn’t been in the olympics for 112 years and now is is making its return. Rugby, likewise, hasn’t been in the olympics for 92 years and is making its return.
32 of the events will be happening across 4 different places: Dedora, Macana, Barra and Copacabana.
By Miri, Y8
13 years a charm?
It's been 13 years since England won the Six Nations. Can they do it again?
With just two days until England versus Wales, people are wondering whether England can keep up their streak.So far England are coming first but its not too late for the other teams to catch up.
There has always been a close rivalry between the two teams. Wikipedia states that England have won 58 matches against Wales whereas Wales have won 57.
Although things are looking good for England they could be pushed off of the top on Saturday by Wales.
We asked Ms Francey, our Geography teacher from Northern Ireland, about her opinion about the Six Nations. We asked her who she wants to win. She replied “I want Ireland to win but I think that Wales or France is going to win. I've watched it all so far, with a pint of guinness in hand.”
We also asked Mr Lewis what he thought. “I think Wales is going to win and Wales will win on Saturday because they are the best”. Another Wales supporter is P.E teacher Miss Green. “ I’ll be watching the game when I’m not on poolside and I think Wales will win with a repeat of the world cup game.”
But England do still have supporters such as Ms Cooper and Ms Langham, P.E teachers who both support England and think that they have a chance to win. However Ms Cooper did say that wales could possibly win.
Many people have different opinions of the 6 Nations Cup, but who do you think is going to win?
By Lara, Hannah and Miri, Y8