The English Blog

Cartoon: House Prices Set To Soar

This cartoon by Andy Davey from The Sun relates to news that house prices in the UK are expected to soar by as much as 21% over the next five years. Read more >>

A family is shown arriving at their new house, which remains unfinished. (We can assume that the family are homeless since they have their possessions with them—either that, or they've just returned from holiday). The builder tells the wife: "Don't worry luv—we'll have it finished as soon as the prices rise a bit."

COMMENTARY
The joke is that the builder is waiting for the price of the house to rise before selling it. In that way, he can make a bigger profit.

LANGUAGE
1. Luv is a written form of the word 'love', when it is being used as an informal way of addressing someone.
2. The name of the building company, Bodgit and Runne, is meant to be funny. If you bodge a something, you do it badly.

Newsy Video: Amazon Tablet to Compete with iPad

Analysts are predicting Amazon has a tablet in the works - and if it makes it to the market-- it could sell 5 million devices in 90 days. Transcript & sources >>

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

ALSO SEE
• Amazon to take on Apple's iPad, as iTunes Match shows off streaming (The Guardian)

Words in the News: Homelessness

The Guardian's lead story says a rise in jobless figures and cuts to welfare risk an increase in homelessness. Full story >>

VOCABULARY
Homelessness is the state or condition of having nowhere to live. • The economic downturn and the government's deep cuts to welfare will drive up homelessness over the next few years.

Cartoon: Gaddafi Sneaks into UK

In this cartoon from The Daily Express, Paul Thomas, inspired by a report on the UK's lax border controls, imagines Colonel Gaddafi in a rowing boat preparing to enter Britain (note the Union Flag and the white cliffs of Dover). Gaddafi tells his aide, "Relax—anybody can sneak in ..."

NOTE
Although the Colonel Gaddafi's wife and three of his children are reported to have escaped to Algeria, the former Libyan dictator's whereabouts remain a mystery.

VOCABULARY
If you sneak somewhere, you go there very quietly, trying to avoid being seen or heard. • A 19-year-old Bethlehem man faces charges after he allegedly sneaked into his neighbor's apartment to eat a bowl of cereal.

Newsy Video: Gaddafi Family Flees Tripoli

Gaddafi’s wife and three of his children fled to Algeria Monday morning. Transcript & sources >>

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

ALSO SEE
• Gaddafi's wife and children flee to Algeria (The Independent)
• Gaddafi's family escape Libya net to cross into Algeria (The Guardian)

Words in the News: Flee

The Independent focuses on the flight of Colonel Gaddafi's wife and three of his children from Libya. Full story >>

VOCABULARY
If you flee from something or someone, or flee a person or thing, you run away from them. • There is simply no data to back up the theory that the rich will flee if the United States it raises taxes on the wealthy and super-wealthy a little more. Flee is an irregular verb: flee, fled, fled.

Cartoon: Weather-Man

This cartoon by Bob Moran from The Guardian mixes hurricane Irene and Barack Obama's 2012 election campaign. 

COMMENTARY
The usual meaning of breeze is a light wind, but if you refer to something, such as a task, as a breeze, you mean that it is easy to do. • That English exam was a breeze. The cartoonist plays on the two meanings: Obama predicts that getting re-elected will be easy, and is also suggesting that hurricane Irene will not be as powerful as many had feared.

According to Toby Harnden writing in The Telegraph, Irene was a chance for Obama to appear in control: "The White House sent out 25 Irene emails to the press on Saturday alone. There were photographs of the president touring disaster centres and footage of him asking sombre, pertinent questions. With his poll ratings plummeting, Obama needed to project an aura of seriousness and command. He was all too aware that the political fortunes of his predecessor George W. Bush never recovered after the Hurricane Katrina disaster of 2005."

ALSO SEE
The cartoons in The Telegraph and The Independent both use hurricane Irene to comment on the situation in Libya.

Newsy Video: Hurricane Irene Hits U.S. East Coast

After making landfall in the US, Irene has left millions without power. When the hurricane hit New York, it was downgraded to a tropical storm. Transcript & sources >>

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

ALSO SEE
• Hurricane Irene claims lives and leaves trail of destruction (The Guardian)
• Irene: Obama warns storm still dangerous (BBC News)

Words in the News: Legalise

The Daily Telegraph reports on a call from a government adviser to legalise assisted suicide. Full story >>

VOCABULARY
If something is legalised, a law is passed that makes it legal, i.e., allowed by law. • The Liberal Democrats are set to call for cannabis to be legalised and all personal drug use to be decriminalised.

Newsy Video: Britain Meets with Social Media Over Riots

A meeting between the British government and social media corporations has some civil liberties groups worried. Transcript & sources >>

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

ALSO SEE
• Social media talks about rioting 'constructive' (BBC News)
• UK riots: is switching off social networks the answer? (The Guardian)

Words in the News: Scrounger

The Sunday Express leads with a report which says people on unemployment benefits for more than a year should be forced to take a job at the minimum wage. Full story >>

VOCABULARY
People who claim benefits illegally or who exploit the welfare system are often referred to as scroungers, especially by the right-wing press. • The Right are always banging on about welfare scroungers (invariably meaning the poor and vulnerable) while conveniently and hypocritically ignoring the real scrounging that goes on in higher echelons of society.

Cartoon: Victory Over Oppression

This cartoon by Gary Barker from The Guardian is a comment on Western leaders' support for the Libyan rebels in their fight to oust the dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

David Cameron, Barack Obama and Nicolas Sarkozy are shown at a press conference saying in unison: "We are united behind the Libyan people's victory over oppression." However, each podium features the name of the national oil company (BP, Exxon, and Total), suggesting that the motive for these countries' involvement in the Libyan conflict has more to do with securing oil contracts than combating oppression.

Newsy Video: Beating Homelessness Through Soccer

From August 21 to 28, Paris is hosting the 9th annual Homeless World Cup Championship. Transcript & sources >>

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com

ALSO SEE
• Homeless World Cup (Wikipedia)
• How the Homeless World Cup is taking young men off the streets (The Independent)

Words in the News: Orphaned

The Daily Mail leads with a story about a British couple who fell to their deaths from different buildings just days apart while on holiday, leaving their four children orphaned. Full story >>

VOCABULARY
If a child is orphaned, their parents die, or their remaining parent dies. • Due to the AIDS epidemic, many sub-Sahara African children are orphaned.

Cartoon: iQuit

This cartoon by Kipper Williams from The Guardian relates to Steve Jobs's decision to step down as chief executive of Apple.

COMMENTARY
The cartoonist plays on the names of Apple products beginning with the lower case letter 'i' (iPhone, iPad, iPod) and the first person pronoun 'I'. Of course, it should really be 'I quit' (with a capital 'I') and not 'iQuit'—but that's the joke!

ALSO SEE
• Apple stock drops as Steve Jobs resigns chief executive role (The Guardian)
• Steve Jobs quits (cartoons from The Cagle Post)