First world war starts political row

It is the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I this year, and lots of events have been planned to mark the date. However, the anniversary has become a political argument this week, since the Education minister wrote a newspaper article attacking an "unpatriotic" version of history.

Michael Gove has suggested that a left-wing version of history shows the war as a series of terrible mistakes, caused by politicians and armies who were removed from the reality.

Many historians have argued that he is wrong -- including the opposition party's education spokesman, who is himself a historian.

Finally, it stops raining

The UK's weather forecast system includes "weather warnings" if problems are likely to happen. This week saw the first day since 1 December that there were no warnings about the weather.

We have had a series of bad storms with very high winds and excessive rain. These have caused flooding by the coast and by rivers, and also wind damage to buildings, trees, and cliffs. Some well-known cliffs along the south coast have been badly damaged and no longer look the same.

However, it has been very warm for winter. There are now fears that the UK will get some of the snow and extreme cold which has been causing chaos in the US this week.

Olympic gold medallist to miss Commonwealth games

Jessica Ennis-Hill, who won the Heptathlon event for the UK in the London Olympic games, will miss out on the Commonwealth games in Glasgow this summer, she has announced.

Ms Ennis-Hill, who married last year, says she is pregnant and her plans for 2014 have been "turned upside down". She says she plans to return to full-time athletics once the baby is born and try to win a second gold medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016. "In the short-term, I will make our baby a priority and enjoy the whole experience as much as possible," she said.

Boiled cabbage water keeps lady alive for 111 years

Dorothy Baldwin, the second oldest person in the UK, has died at the age of 111. Miss Baldwin said the secret of her long life was to drink boiled cabbage water every day.

Miss Baldwin lived through 24 prime ministers and five kings and queens. She worked in a bank for 38 years, and played piano with the Nottingham Symphony Orchestra. She lived by herself until she was 104.

The oldest person in Britain is 113-year-old Ethel Lang.