How We See The World

Pupils should mark their own class work, say Government advisers Last updated at 13:13pm on 17th September 2007 Comments (1) 'Peer assessment helps develop self-assessment' Pupils should mark their own class work and decide what their school tests should cover, according to the Government's exams advisers. Teachers should train secondary school children to set their homework and devise mark schemes, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority said. Pupils should then assess the results, grading their own efforts and giving "feedback" to their classmates. The QCA, which devised the new secondary curriculum, said such an approach helps childre…

OJ Simpson 'is facing time' over Las Vegas armed robbery Last updated at 10:37am on 17th September 2007 OJ Simpson faces the rest of his life behind bars if he is convicted for his alleged involvement in an armed robbery at a Las Vegas hotel. The former American football star, who was acquitted in 1995 of murdering his ex-wife, was arrested and held without bail for robbing a sports memorabilia seller of what he claims were his personal belongings. Handcuffed and dressed in a golf shirt and jeans, Simpson, 60, was led away from The Palms casino hotel by plainclothes officers after the arrest of a friend who police say accompanied him with a gun during the hold…

The Queen stuns primary school by winning prize in its raffle - £10 worth of toiletries Last updated at 10:01am on 17th September 2007 Comments The Queen has shocked staff at a primary school after snapping up a ticket for their raffle - and winning a prize of toiletries. Shocked organisers of the raffle could hardly believe it when they handed over a prize of two bars of soap and bath oil to her majesty. Staff at Fox Primary School in Notting Hill, West London, at first thought it was a joke and binned the ticket. Scroll down for more... Toilet humour: School staff at first thought the Queen's £10 winning ticket for soap and bath oil was a pra…

Desperately dull: The politically-correct Desperate Dan for the 21st century By GRAHAM GRANT - More by this author » Last updated at 08:35am on 17th September 2007 Comments (11) In his prime he used to shave with a blowtorch, part his hair with a pistol shot and munch cow pie - horns, tails and all. But these days Desperate Dan is a mere shadow of his former dynamic self. In fact he is nothing more than a politically-correct big softie, according to the daughter of the man who created the Dandy's best-loved character 70 years ago. Scroll down for more Dan's favourite dish fell victim to the BSE scare Dr Jennifer Barnes, whose father Albe…

Sixty-six people are confirmed dead and around 20 are unaccounted for after a budget airliner crashed on the Thai resort of Phuket in driving rain today, the airport director said. The flight from Bangkok was carrying 123 passengers and five crew, airport officials said. Flight manifests at Phuket airport suggested that well over half those on board were foreign, mainly European holidaymakers. Amid conflicting casualty reports, police said that some people had been rescued alive from the wreckage of the MD-80, which was operated by Thai budget carrier One-Two-Go, owned by Orient Thai Airways. “The confirmed dead is 66 now. Forty-two survived and were hospi…

Copter crash near McRae property Two people are believed to have died in a helicopter crash near the Lanarkshire home of former World Rally Champion Colin McRae. The helicopter came down at 1610 BST in Jervis Wood, about a mile from Lanark, and is understood to have caught fire. Strathclyde Police said there were no survivors and that no further details about the victims would be released until Sunday. Mr McRae, 39, is known to be a keen helicopter pilot. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said it had been led to believe two people were on board the Squirrel aircraft. However, Strathclyde Police said the helicopter damage was so bad they co…

Police called to break-up Northern Rock panic queues as customers withdraw millions By SEAN POULTER and PAUL SIMS - More by this author » Last updated at 15:35pm on 15th September 2007 Comments (26) Police officers have been called to break-up panicked crowds gathering to withdraw their savings from Northern Rock. While the Government and the City said there was no need to panic, savers ignored the reassurances, withdrawing close to £1billion yesterday. Staff at Glasgow city centre branch called police to deal with 'boisterous customers'. Two plain clothes officers arrived just before the bank's official Saturday closing time of midday. Scroll down…

Trailers look good for this move, anyone intending to see it? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0381849/trailers-screenplay-E33220-10-2

Bin Laden: Still Dead After all these Years Kurt Nimmo Friday September 7, 2007 It hardly comes as a surprise… Osama plans to release “a new video recording … on or before next week’s sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States,” reports the Voice of America, the propaganda unit established by the Office of War Information. “No photos or video of Bin Laden have been seen since late 2004, and the last audio message attributed to the fugitive terrorist leader was heard more than a year ago.” Of course, this makes perfect sense, as Osama died in late 2001, and as for the audio messages, these are routinely dismissed as fakes, although thi…

McLaren have been stripped of their points in the 2007 Formula One constructors' championship after the outcome of the "spygate" row. The team were also fined a record $100m (£49.2m), which includes any prize and television money they would have earned from the constructors' championship. But drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso can keep their points. The team must also prove there is no Ferrari "intellectual property" in their cars next year before racing. The decision means Ferrari, who go into this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix second in the constructors' championship, 57 points ahead of third-placed BMW Sauber, are almost certain to be crowned champi…

Irish soccer star whose grannies both came back from the dead By LUCY BALLINGER - More by this author » Last updated at 00:08am on 15th September 2007 Comments When Premiership footballer Stephen Ireland pulled out of an international match because his grandmother had died, he had a nation's sympathy. Here, many observed, was proof that our much-maligned professional footballers do have a sensitive side. A private jet was chartered by the Football Association of Ireland at a cost of £50,000 to whisk the 21-year-old home from Slovakia, where he had scored while playing for the Republic of Ireland the night before. Scroll down for more... White li…

'Oh bugger that's gone wrong' - Top Gear's Hammond on the crash that nearly killed him Last updated at 09:40am on 23rd October 2006 Richard Hammond has spoken for the first time about the high-speed crash Top Gear presenter Richard Hammond today told of the moment he nearly died after crashing a jet powered car at 288 mph. The 36-year-old father of two, who is making a good recovery following last month’s accident, said he felt his life slip away seconds before he went into a coma. He said: "I was upside down inhaling a field. My nose and eyes were full of earth." "I'd gone ploughing on my head. My very last thought was, 'Oh bugger, that…

Archbishop says pushy parents are 'damage children' Last updated at 13:05pm on 15th September 2007 Comments (1) Dr Rowan Williams: Society is 'broken' The Archbishop of Canterbury has warned middleclass parents damaged children by pressurising them to achieve and take extracurricular activities. He urged parents who both work to put their children before their careers. Dr Rowan Williams said in an interview: 'Two working parents can be fine if they know how to structure the time the children need. It's not so much the fact of working, it's the allconsuming nature of a lot of work expectations. 'Children live crowded lives. We're not making …

TV star Chris Langham jailed for 10 months for downloading child porn Last updated at 18:16pm on 14th September 2007 Comments (7) Chris Langham: jailed for ten months today for downloading child porn Actor Chris Langham was jailed for 10 months today for downloading child porn. The 58-year-old Bafta award-winning star, who wept in court during his sentencing hearing at Maidstone Crown Court, downloaded images and videoclips with names such as "bondage 11-year-old", "Philippine child prostitute" and "Lolita". Langham claimed he was researching a paedophile character for a television drama and said he was trying to make sense of the sexual abuse he …

The 2007 ICC Twenty20 World Championship is a Twenty20 cricket tournament scheduled to take place in South Africa from 11 September to 24 September, 2007. It will be the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship. Twelve teams will take part in the thirteen-day tournament, comprising the ten Test playing nations as well as Kenya and Scotland, the latter teams having qualified by reaching the final of the 2007 WCL Division One tournament. Group A: South Africa West Indies Bangladesh Group B: Australia England Zimbabwe Group C: New Zealand Sri Lanka Kenya Group D: Pakistan India Scotland 11 September, 16:00 UTC South Africa vs West Indies(Wander…

Media Studies and other trendy 'Mickey Mouse' degrees 'leave students disatisfied' By LAURA CLARK - More by this author » Last updated at 23:18pm on 12th September 2007 Comments (2) More students are receiving first class degrees under the Labour government Trendy degrees such as media studies, tourism and complementary medicine have come bottom in a survey of how students rate their courses. The Government-funded poll of 177,000 students gave the highest ratings to traditional disciplines such as history and classics. Undergraduates were least likely to be satisfied with the quality of their courses if they studied degrees derided in some qua…

Brown welcomes Baroness Thatcher to No10 in devastating blow to Cameron Last updated at 17:54pm on 13th September 2007 Comments (13) Gordon Brown underlined his closeness to Margaret Thatcher today by meeting her at Downing Street. The one-on-one discussion is sure to be exploited by Labour to further drive a wedge between David Cameron and Right-wing Conservatives. In what appeared to be a snub to Mr Cameron, the meeting was carefully timed by Baroness Thatcher to coincide with the publication of the Tories' green tax policy report, which has itself led to anger among many Thatcherite MPs. Scroll down for more... Odd couple: Gordon Brown and Marg…

Scientists invent the world's first non-stick chewing gum that washes off pavements by FIONA MACRAE - More by this author » Last updated at 21:56pm on 13th September 2007 Comments (4) Chewing gum on the streets is a sticky problem costing millions of pounds to clean a year When it comes to true sticking power, nothing holds its ground like chewing gum. Not to mention clinging to the bottom of your shoe or even worse, your seat on the bus or in the cinema. The sticky problem of discarded blobs of chewing gum costs taxpayers £150million a year to clean up. But scientists may have found a solution: the world's first non-stick gum. Washed off…

Lads' mag under fire for publishing pictures of topless 14-year-old By PAUL REVOIR - More by this author » Last updated at 18:19pm on 12th September 2007 Comments Bare all for the lads: FHM receives up to 1,200 pictures each week from women posing topless Pictures of a topless 14-year-old girl were published without her consent in lad's magazine FHM, sparking a severe reprimand by the Press Complaints Commission. The watchdog claimed the magazine, owned by Emap, had been guilty of a "serious breach" of its code of practice, after the girl was published in a gallery of mobile snapshots provided by readers of the magazine. Parents of the girl complaine…

Return of Eddie 'The Eagle' Edwards: The new Hollywood film about Britain's favourite loser By JANE FRYER - More by this author » Last updated at 10:21am on 14th September 2007 Comments This takes the biscuit. I am being given style tips by Eddie The Eagle. "Up, down, up, down . . . Gosh, you're very static," he beams from the top of an artificial ski slope in Gloucester. "And you're steering with your shoulders. Just relax a bit. Imagine you're on a real mountain and try to flow. Give it a bit of panache!" It's a bit rich coming from a man who, nearly 20 years ago, was described as "a disgrace to British skiing", "the world's worst ski-jumper", "le Ben…

The 6ft 2in schoolgirl, 12, who towers over her best friend - the smallest in the class Last updated at 00:34am on 14th September 2007 Comments (1) Sizing up: Roslyn Grady and her best friend Faith McGowan They say that opposites attract. And perhaps that's why Roslyn Grady and Faith McGowan are such good friends. For although the pair are the same age and go to the same school, a height difference of 17in means they don't quite see things from the same perspective. But the 12-year-olds, who attend St Kentigern's Academy, in Blackburn, West Lothian, don't let this worry them. Rosyln, who is 6ft 2in, said: "I've been friends with Faith for a y…

Unsuspecting couple slept entire night with wasp nest under pillow Last updated at 12:24pm on 14th September 2007 Comments (1) A couple slept an entire night with a wasp's nest under their pillow - and escaped with just one sting between them. Vicki Hames, 57, and her husband Clive, 60, had snuggled down for the night in 85-year-old stepdad Bill Houlbrook's spare room. The couple heard a low buzzing sound before they went to sleep but were unsure where it was coming from and they were so tired after their family get together that they decided to ignore it. Scroll down for more... The wasp nest stretched from the pillow all the way down the back…

Models 'must pass medical checks for London Fashion Week' Last updated at 09:41am on 14th September 2007 Comments (3) Anorexia: Ana Carolina Reston died in November Ultra-skinny catwalk models will be forced to pass medical checks before London Fashion Week under landmark proposals published today. But women suffering from eating disorders could still be allowed to work. A major inquiry into model health called for a raft of measures to force the industry to "grow up". It failed to recommend a ban on size zero women but called for urgent action to protect "vulnerable young girls". Critics said today's recommendations were "outrageously weak…

Nude photo storm threatens to wreck career of High School Musical star Last updated at 13:02pm on 7th September 2007 Comments (1) The teenage star of one of Disney's most popular films is at the centre of a nude photo storm that threatens to wreck her career. An explicit photo of Vanessa Hudgens from the hugely successful High School Musical has been posted on the internet. Scroll down for more... Scandal: a nude photo of High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens threatens to damage her career The 19-year-old “squeaky-clean” star has been forced to admit she posed for the candid snap. The admission will come as a major embarassmen…

Caribbean steel band forced off plane after passenger feared they were terrorists Last updated at 16:20pm on 13th September 2007 Comments A Caribbean steel band returning to London was turned off a plane by armed police after a passenger thought they were terrorists. The five British musicians, on their way home after playing at a festival in Sardinia, were taken off the Ryanair flight after one of their members, who is blind, was reported to the pilot as acting "suspiciously". Scroll down for more ... Band members Jason Constantine, Michael Toussaint and Ricky Dickson - the alarm was raised when one of the musicians started reading football scores t…