Britain has a new £5 note. The Bank of England released the new polymer plastic £5 bank note into general circulation in England and Wales** on Tuesday. It marks the start of several big changes the Bank of England is making. The new fiver will see the Queen on one side, and Winston Churchill on the other. It will be 15% smaller than the current cotton-paper note.
For now, it’s only fivers that are changing. Plastic £10 and £20 bank notes will follow later. The new tenner will feature Jane Austin. It will enter circulation next summer. The new £20 note will arrive in 2020. The Bank has yet to decide on £50 notes. Be aware that existing £5 notes cease to be legal tender from May 2017!
**Scottish fivers will begin to change in late September and October.
Fancy a cuppa British grown tea? You might say they don’t have tea plantations in Britain. Surprisingly, yes they do. British tea is now grown in Scotland and Cornwall, and what’s more, it’s a rapidly growing business.
Climate change is one reason why this is happening. The cool, wet British climate is now ideal, as it is helping the plantations to thrive. British entrepreneurship and business is another reason. The result is, exports of British tea are now causing a stir in China and Japan.
At the Tregothnan tea plantation in Truro, Cornwall, yields are about 35% higher than in 2015. This is due to the very wet and mild winter and the perfect tea growing conditions this year.
Today, let’s talk about going back-to-school. It is September and the school holidays have now finished. It is time to start a new term. This could be at school, university or college, at language school, or even in the office. Students are now returning to lessons, following their summer break.
For schoolchildren, the new term may result in meeting new friends, as well as seeing old ones. It means a new school timetable. It will probably mean new subjects to learn, with exams to study for at the end of the school year.
A new term also brings new teachers, as well as some of the ones you already know and sometimes love. The new term can also include the dreaded word that no one likes – homework!
The United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union. The historic vote took place on the 23rd June 2016. The result was that 48.1% of voters chose to remain in the EU while 51.9% chose to leave. The number of votes cast were 16,141,241 to remain in the EU; 17,410,742 to leave the EU.
England and Wales had an overall majority to leave the EU. London, Scotland and Northern Ireland all voted to remain. The turnout was 72.2%. It’s worth noting the vote shows that in England working class northerners revolted against cosmopolitan rich London.
Recently, British astronaut Tim Peake returned to earth from the International Space Station (ISS). His journey back to earth was with two other spacemen on board a Soyuz space capsule that travelled through the atmosphere, with temperatures outside reaching more than 1,600°C (2,912°F).
Peake travelled home with fellow astronaut Col Tim Kopra from NASA, and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko. The three completed their deorbit to enter the Earth’s atmosphere at around 10am on Saturday June 18. The Soyuz space capsule landed by parachute on its side in a remote spot in the vast scrubland steppe of Kazakhstan 15 minutes later.
Recently the UK woke up to news reports that Britain is defenceless to stop a new wave of illegal immigrants entering the UK. They are doing so by quietly slipping in to small harbours that are dotted along the British coastline.
Lax UK border controls are allowing this to happen. Why? Because the government and previous governments have cut back on the armed forces and border controls resulting in the UK only having three Border Force vessels to patrol the whole of the English Channel. It is unbelievable but true!
What this really means is Britain is poorly defended. Any group of migrants can now buy themselves a rubber motor boat in France or Belgium, climb in it, and head for any small port along the English coastline. No one will stop them, and if they do, they will be rescued and taken into the UK anyway.
The referendum vote in the UK on whether the UK should leave or remain in the European Union is edging closer. The outcome is still too close to call, as it is still 50/50 as to what the result will be.
Many people in the UK are currently watching on YouTube ‘BREXIT - The Movie’. I did. I wasn’t going to, but I am glad I watched all of it, as it’s an eye opener. The movie, whilst one sided, does show that in politics nothing changes - there is arrogance, people control, and power.
The EU in Europe is currently running its ‘empire’. It functions just like empires did 100 years ago – the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the British Empire. The latter had administrators sent out to places like India and Australia to run the ship. These days it is the likes of the Irish and Swedes working in Luxembourg and Brussels who keep the EU’s cogs working. It is no different.
Today, let’s talk about whether cafes in the UK should have toilets in them. Well, should they?
I discovered that this is actually a wonderful topic to debate. Yes, really! After all, we all need to spend a penny.
I was intrigued to read about a recent court case in Hull, England. The court debated whether a bakery with a cafe in should provide toilets or not. The bakery in question is predominantly a takeaway, but does provide some seats for customers. Therefore it argued it should not need to provide a toilet.
The outcome could flush many cafes and takeaways down the pan, as a legal ruling now says that coffee shops and fast food outlets with fewer than 10 seats must now provide toilets for their customers.
British Prime Minister David Cameron was recently caught on camera at Buckingham Palace in London telling The Queen that the leaders of some “fantastically corrupt countries” were coming to Britain for an anti-corruption conference.
Among the world leaders attending the conference at Lancaster House in London were the leaders of Nigeria and Afghanistan. When a reporter asked the Nigerian President if his country was corrupt he replied, “Yes”.
Representatives from the governments of Panama and the British Virgin Islands ironically weren’t invited to the conference. This is odd considering the recent publication of ‘The Panama Papers’ that highlighted the tax affairs of wealthy individuals from around the world who shelter their money in these countries.
In what has been described as one of the most astonishing triumphs in British football history Leicester City have beaten the odds of 5000-1 to win this year’s Premier League football tournament. It is a fairytale ending for the Foxes.
Leicester City won it without kicking a ball, after Tottenham Hotspur failed to beat Chelsea in a decisive game on Monday night at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea fought back from 0-2 down to draw 2-2, thus ending Spurs’ title bid.
Leicester City became the first new English champions in four decades to win the title. Last night’s result means Leicester cannot be caught by their nearest rivals, even though there are two games still to go. This follows the Foxes clinching a 1-1 draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.
