Children become a luxury

The average cost of raising a child has gone up to £200,000, a report says.

British parents are spending £9,610 a year to feed, dress and educate each child. This does not include paying for a private education. It does include uniform, sports equipment and school trips. The most expensive thing is the cost of someone to care for the child while its parents are at work.

The cost of bringing up children has increased by 43 per cent in seven years.

Bright football boots banned

Sir Alex Ferguson has ordered the Manchester United junior team to only wear black football boots when working for the club.

Coloured boots were unknown until recently. White boots first appeared about ten years ago, as part of sponsorship deals between boot makers and footballers. Now boots are made in every colour, including bright pink.

A Man U player said footballers who are not playing well are more likely to be noticed and get criticised if they are wearing bright boots.

The club is the second to ban its youth team from wearing brightly coloured boots. Queens Park Rangers did the same a few weeks ago.

The QPR coach said it was to stop the players “getting too flash.”  A rough translation of this English slang is that they do not want the young players to get too proud of themselves.

Coldest winter for 30 years

There has been yet more snow in parts of the UK this week. Scotland has had very heavy snow, but parts of England have also been affected.

Weather forecasters say this winter is likely to have been the coldest since 1977.

British film awards

The UK’s annual film awards this week surprised people by having lots of winners from this country.

The Baftas (the British Academy Film and Television Arts Awards) often give prizes to the same films and actors who win Oscars a few weeks later.

But this year the blockbuster Avatar only won two small awards. Instead, The Hurt Locker won Best Film and Best Director. It is the first time the Best Director prize at the Baftas has been won by a woman.

Roast chickens

Hens are having warm sweaters made for them.

The hens used to lay eggs in factory farms. When the hens are more than a year old, the farms do not want to keep them because they do not lay as many eggs. Some hens then become pets. The problem is that they often lose feathers in the factories and get very cold.

So a group of ladies, who usually make baby blankets, are making the hens warm sweaters out of wool. The hens wear them for about two weeks until their feathers grow again.

by Susan Young
susan@englishuk.com