Airline keeps flying for Christmas 

A planned strike by British Airways staff has been stopped by a judge. Cabin staff voted to stop working over Christmas in protest at new working conditions.

But the strike vote has been overturned. This was because workers who had just left the airline were included in the vote. This should not have happened under British law. That means people who had planned to fly in late December will be able to do so.

Battle for the best-selling song

A talent show called The X Factor has been attracting huge audiences for several months. The final was held last weekend and the winner’s song was expected to sell the most records at Christmas.

The winner was 18-year-old Joe McElderry. He recorded the Miley Cyrus song, The Climb.

But then a Facebook group decided to get involved. Lots of people did not like the way that the competition dominates pop music at Christmas.

So they have been downloading a song from 1992, called Killing In The Name by a band called Rage Against The Machine. On several days this week it has sold more than the Joe McElderry song. Who will win? Who knows?

White Christmas?

In the UK we like the idea of snow at Christmas but it rarely happens. So people got very excited when it started snowing this week. Lots of children got an extra day off school and enjoyed playing in the snow.

Nobody knows yet if it will still be snowing during our public holidays to celebrate Christmas, but it is looking much more likely than usual.

Why dads can’t dance

British scientists have been looking at “dad dancing”. They have looked at the dancing styles and confidence of nearly 14,000 people.

And they have discovered that there is a reason why middle aged men dance badly.

It is to send a message to younger women that they are not suitable partners. “The message is: stay away,” said Dr Peter Lovatt, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire. He said this would mean “they were no longer attractive to 18-year-old girls.”

by Susan Young
susan@englishuk.com