being referred to and, as a result, do
worse in their degree courses.
In recent years, universities have been
making increasing efforts to protect a so-
called “snowflake generation” of students
from controversial content or issues.
Oxford University’s equality and
diversity unit told students that failing to
make eye contact or speak directly to
people could be deemed a “racial micro-
aggression,” while lecturers at
Cambridge University felt moved to
warn their students that plays by
William Shakespeare could contain
upsetting gore and violence.
Rail rants
The UK’s long hot summer brought
problems to the country’s rail network
with the usual reports of tracks buckling
in the heat. Network Rail have taken to
painting some rails white in an effort to
deflect the heat which can be up to 20
degrees higher at ground level than the
air temperature recorded on a
thermometer. The Jottings team would
like to know why Spanish rails don’t
buckle in places like Sevilla where
summer can push the mercury over 40
degrees.
However, BR doesn’t have the problem
experienced in the northern Indian state
of Uttar Pradesh recently when several
trains had to be terminated early after
contact was lost with a station further
down the tracks. Officials rushed to
Murshadpur station, through which a
number of long-distance pass daily,
when there was no response to their calls
after all the signals in the area remained
stubbornly at red, halting all traffic.
There they found the problem: station
master Deep Singh snoring gently in his
office surrounded many empty bottles
of booze. A medical examination showed
a high level of alcohol in his blood and
an enquiry was opened.
Silly Season
August is sometimes referred to as the
silly season in journalism because
important news becomes scarce while
decision makers go on their holidays,
and newspaper editors have to use
whatever is to hand to fill up the space.
However, although it sounds silly, this
story from Kent is absolutely true.
Residents in Strood clubbed together
and bought an inflatable paddling pool
for use by their children during the hot
weather. They spent £64 (€72) on the 12-
foot pool and its cover as a way of
bringing the local community together.
However, officials at mhs Homes, which
manages flats in the area, told the
residents that the pool must be emptied
27
and taken down each night. Why? In case
a burglar drowns in it over night. They
add that a child might trip and fall into
the water, but a potential law suit from
an errant thief appears to have been
uppermost in their thoughts.
Residents say that the pool holds 6,500
litres of water and takes three hours to
fill, and that their problems only began
when a security gate to the communal
area broke, meaning that anyone could
enter. However, the landlord has since
said that they would consider the pool
remaining in place if it were to be
enclosed by a locked fence. Presumably
a fence which burglars can’t climb over
in their attempts to fall into the water.
Talking of swimming pools, video has
emerged of holiday-makers at a four-
star hotel on Gran Canaria racing to grab
a sunbed when the swimming pool
opened at 8.00am. The pictures,
screened on a British TV programme,
Holidays from Hell, show that every bed
was occupied within three minutes of
the gates opening. One tourist is
understood to have broken a toe in the
madcap rush. The video was shot last
August and insiders at the hotel say that
the Brits are the amongst the best bed-
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