Articles labeled: england

We’ve entered a downward spiral when a student can write a two word expletive on an exam, and get something other than a big fat zero.

A British high school student received credit for writing nothing but a two-word obscenity on an exam paper because the phrase expressed meaning and was spelled correctly.

The Times newspaper on Monday quoted examiner Peter Buckroyd as saying he gave the student — who wrote an expletive starting with f, followed by the word “off” — two points out of a possible 27 for the English paper.

“It would be wicked to give it zero because it does show some very basic skills we are looking for, like conveying some meaning and some spelling,” Buckroyd was quoted as saying.

“It’s better than someone that doesn’t write anything at all.”

Buckroyd said the student would have received a higher mark if the phrase had been punctuated.

You have got to be kidding.

A 30-year-old woman, completely unaware she was pregnant, gave birth at her friend’s costume party. Oh, if only she had dressed as a pregnant woman, that would be some sweet, sweet irony. And would probably have other party goers thinking she took her costume props just a bit too far.

Ally Ashwell, from Newcastle, was touring the seaside town’s pubs and clubs in a bumble-bee outfit, when she began to feel unwell.

She returned to her hotel room, where the shocked 30-year-old found herself delivering her own baby.

The fragile 2lb boy - named Owen - is being cared for in the intensive care unit of Blackpool Victoria Hospital.

The trial of Neil Entwistle, who is being charged with shooting and killing his wife and infant daughter, begins today.

Authorities say he fired two .22-caliber bullets into his wife, Rachel, and 9-month-old daughter, Lillian Rose, then fled to his family’s home in Worksop, England, because he was despondent over mounting debt and dissatisfied with his sex life.

In the days before the killings, authorities say, he conducted online searches for information about murder and suicide.

Entwistle, 27, insists he loved his family and was so horrified at finding them slain that he returned to England to be with his parents. He said he didn’t call for help because it was obvious they were dead.

A British teacher with the intent of discouraging kids from smoking has been reprimanded after he lit up a cigarette in class and offered it to his mostly 13 year old pupils. Right message, wrong method… hopefully he doesn’t have a “don’t do drugs” lesson planned.

A statement issued by the school on Wednesday said: “The incident was fully investigated by the school and the teacher in question has been subject to disciplinary action that is proportionate in the circumstances.

“He is a highly valued and very experienced member of staff who recognises that his actions, while done to positively discourage smoking, was an error of judgement.

It continued: “There is widespread support for the teacher among parents of pupils in the class and he has the full support of his colleagues.

“As far as the school is concerned - it would like to consider the matter as closed.”

Sarah Green, an English teacher at Stockport Grammar School in England was suspended last January when a “raunchy” video she made wound up on YouTube. But it wasn’t some illicit sex tape, but rather a risque promotional film for a corporate client:

The clip was a promotional video for a construction-wear company and was never shown on television but was distributed round building firms.

It was shot two years before Miss Green joined the school and governors decided there was no reason to take disciplinary action.

But they are worried that the scandal may affect how she is treated when she returns to work, and a meeting has been set up with the school’s headmaster, Andrew Chicken. Dozens of comments from pupils were left on the video-sharing website.

A statement released by the school read: “In accordance with Stockport Grammar School’s disciplinary procedures, the circumstances of Sarah Green’s appearance in a promotional film before she became a teacher have now been fully investigated by a panel of governors.

Eh, it’s incredibly tacky but we don’t see what the big deal is. Green appears for mere seconds and there is no graphic nudity. The offending video is below (definitely NSFW). What would you think if your kid’s teacher turned up in something like this?

Not to get all judgmental, but how on earth does a mother not notice when their young teen is getting completely hammered on a daily basis?

She started drinking heavily at the age of 12. And by the time she was 14, Natasha Farnham was told by shocked doctors that she was the youngest patient they had ever seen with liver failure caused by alcohol abuse.

She was drinking up to six bottles of wine a day - and now, at 18, she has been warned that if she drinks again she will die.

Her descent into a life of ruined health and petty crime again illustrates the perils of cheap alcohol and the culture of binge-drinking that grips Britain.

The teenager wants to tell her story to warn others of the dangers.

One of the downsides of having a vast site that relies heavily (if not totally) on user generated content is that it can become increasingly difficult to monitor the content for inappropriate material. Such is the case for YouTube, who is coming under fire for making it too easy for users to upload violent and pornographic material after a video was shown of a British mother being gang raped.

In the clip, which was filmed with a mobile phone, the mother appears to be unconscious, with her head lolling from side to side, as she is repeatedly raped. Her 2-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son are heard crying in the background.

The mother, from South London, told The Sun that she had been put through the ordeal after drinking champagne that had been spiked with a date-rape drug.

“Three boys aged 14 to 16 did it and it was set up by two girls,” she said. “They came round with a neighbor I trusted and I had no problems with them coming in for a while.”

She said that she opened a bottle of champagne “to be social” and that within seconds of having a glass, she began to feel strange.

A video of the episode was later placed on YouTube, but the clip was quickly taken down after a viewer complained about its graphic nature. It is understood to have been seen 600 times.

Apparently distraught after aborting twins, a British artist hanged herself.

Emma Beck was found hanging at her home in Helston, Cornwall, on Feb 1 2007. She was declared dead early the following day - her 31st birthday.

Her suicide note read: “I told everyone I didn’t want to do it, even at the hospital. I was frightened, now it is too late. I died when my babies died. I want to be with my babies: they need me, no-one else does.”

The inquest at Truro City Hall heard that Miss Beck had split up with her boyfriend, referred to as “Ben” after he “reacted badly” to the pregnancy.

She saw her GP before the termination, but missed an appointment at a hospital in Penzance. She then cancelled, but later turned up to an appointment at a clinic at Royal Cornwall Hospital in Treliske. The counsellor was on holiday so a doctor referred Miss Beck to a pregnancy counselling telephone service eight days before carrying out the abortion when she was eight weeks pregnant, the inquest heard.

Beck’s mother is angered that her daughter did not receive the services of a counsellor to determine if she was mentally fit and fully aware of her actions. The doctor who performed the abortion stands by his contention that Beck fully consented to the procedure.

Wow, is there something in the water in Suffolk? Paging Erin Brockovich! Two lifelong friends, Tara Sturman, 35, and Andrea Cobbold, 33, who live in neighboring Suffolk, UK, villages gave birth a mere weeks apart. And in a bizarre twist of fate, both of their babies were found to have a very rare liver condition that required a transplant. Both women donated a part of their livers for the operation.

Andrea Cobbold said: “When it comes to it all mums would give anything to save their child but there was a chance I could die on the operating theatre so, with an elder daughter, Frances, three; I had a lot to consider.

“It’s a staggering coincidence that Tara had to go through the same ordeal. It’s an emotional time. Having a close friend who knows exactly what you’re going through is an enormous help.”

Andrea’s son Alex, 13 months; and Tara’s daughter India, 10 months; were diagnosed with biliary atresia within weeks of each other.

The condition affects about 50 babies in England and Wales each year and means the child is born without bile ducts outside their liver so bile enters the bloodstream poisoning the liver and causing cirrhosis.

No it’s not some sort of new fad diet, a mysterious disease causes 17-year-old Natalie Cooper to vomit after eating solids and the only thing she can hold down are the tiny Tic Tac mints. She has to receive all of her real nourishment through a feeding tube that passes a special formula directly into her stomach. We think Ms. Cooper has officially topped the kid that can only eat deer meat.

“[Mints] do give me a bit of energy, but I eat them mostly to get rid of hunger. It is psychological,” the Mirror quoted Natalie, as saying.

“When they started to come back up, I started reducing the size. I went from Trebor Extra Strong Mints to Polos and ended up with Tic Tacs,” she added.

Her condition, which she has had all her life, has left medics puzzled.

Stating that Britain has reached a “tipping point” (or is it “tippling point”? Hey-oh!) Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, has announced a new plan that will punish parents for their under-age kids’ alcohol indulgence. Ranging from community service to fines of up to 1,000 pounds, Smith is looking to crackdown on parents who won’t take responsibility for their children. Too bad they couldn’t just do that on their own without the government having to get involved.

“If we can do more to bring home to parents the implications of giving children drink straight from the fridge or the cupboard, I want to see that happen,” [Smith] said.

The Home Secretary said that almost half the alcohol obtained by teenagers has “come from the family home” and that teenage binge drinking was now a “cause for concern”.

She added that young adult binge drinkers had an “appetite for destruction” and announced that the Government had commissioned a firm of auditors to review the sale of alcohol.

Seven suicides, with a few botched attempts leaves people wondering, what is going on this town that is influencing teenagers to take their own lives?

A special taskforce began its inquiry into the recent suicides in Bridgend, south Wales, today, as it emerged that another teenager attempted to hang herself last week.

The taskforce, which includes police, children’s services and mental health experts, is examining dozens of apparently copycat suicides by young people in Bridgend since 2004.

The most recent was the death of Natasha Randall, 17, who was found hanged in a bedroom at her home in Blaengarw last Thursday.

The next day, Leah Phillips, one of Randall’s 15-year-old schoolfriends, was found hanging at her home in Pontycymmer. The girl’s stepfather said he had cut her down and given her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She survived and is now recovering at home.

Jill Hawkins, a woman from Brighton, England, appears to be going for a record number of surrogate births. She has already been the surrogate mother for seven — count em, SEVEN — babies and is planning the eighth. Unlike some surrogacies, all the children are genetically hers. It would seem like an emotional roller coaster to “give up” so many of your children — how does she do it? The answer is that she simply doesn’t want the baby she’s carrying. She has no desire to have children of her own (er, you know what we mean) and does it all for “[her] couple”, certainly a fascinating mindset that many parents would not be able to comprehend.

The babies conceived by Ms. Hawkins have all been her own genetic children but she says she has never wanted to keep them.

“I am not giving up something I want, which people can’t understand,” she said.

“I am not saying it doesn’t hurt - of course it does - and I do feel very emotional about it and I care very deeply about the baby.”

Her first child, Lucy, is nearly 16. She was followed by Bertie, Jamie, David, Sam, Alexandra and Isobel.

This toddler wasn’t goin’ for it. When the pork chops came out, she ran for the hills…

When faced with pork chops for her school dinner, three-year-old Leonie Terry was not a happy pupil.

But instead of simply asking for something different, Leonie decided to take herself home for lunch almost half a mile away.

She wandered out of the school gates and down the street towards her house before crossing four roads on her own.

Leonie had walked around a quarter of a mile and was heading towards a busy dual carriageway when luckily a passer-by spotted her and escorted safely back to school.

A similar incident yielded heated debate across America when a family in Seattle decided to give a disabled girl a hysterectomy.

Now, half way across the globe, a mother advocates for the same treatment for her 15 year old daughter…

Alison Thorpe said her 15-year-old daughter Katie, who cannot walk or talk, and needs round the clock care, will suffer undue pain, confusion and indignity by the onset of womanhood.

She wants surgeons to carry out a hysterectomy to save her daughter, who she says has no prospect of having a child, from the distress and inconvenience of menstruating.