Soltalk November 2017 | Page 28

Jottings News from the UK and around the World . . . the wild, the wacky, the wonderful, the weird and the downright infuriating School daze A British mum says she has been left speechless after her children’s primary school banned pupils from wearing Hallowe’en costumes over fears they could be found “culturally offensive.” The annual Hallowe’en disco was also cancelled because some families were apparently offended by the witches and wizards costumes on display. When she commented on social media, “Is this PC gone mad?” other mums suggested she should take the Hallowe’en disco elsewhere, while others said that the offended parents could simply take their children out of the party altogether. But one commented that it is, “very common in England for some Christians to decry Hallowe’en,” adding that she was surprised other parents didn’t realise that. Meanwhile, a London girls school has handed out free alarm clocks to all its 700 students in an effort to stop mobile phones interrupting their sleep. Heather Hanbury, head teacher at Lady Eleanor Holles school, advised parents to ban phones, televisions and computers from their children’s bedrooms because, she says, mobiles are distracting them from sleeping. This is the same £20,000-a-year private school which also recently ran workshops for students on how to, “rewire an anxious brain.” 26 Council Capers Council workers re-surfacing a road in Manchester went around a parked car leaving a chunk of the road unfinished. Bemused residents of Thornton Road in Rusholme were left scratching their heads after the road works last month and said the car, which has two flat tyres, has been there for about six months. The council said the car could not be moved as it has insurance and an MOT. A couple in Brighton have had their doormat seized by the local council who described it as a fire hazard. They returned home one day to find the mat gone and a threatening letter pushed through their letter box advising them that the mat had been placed in storage.