Today's 60-year-olds are the first modern generation to be less healthy than their predecessors—that's according to the Daily Mail. Full story >>
VOCABULARY
If you describe something as a time bomb (or timebomb), you mean that it is likely to have a serious effect on a person or situation at a later date; especially if you think it will cause a lot of damage. • Thousands of work computers infected with trojans could be a ticking timebomb, according to security researchers.
This cartoon by Peter Brookes from The Times provides a graphic illustration of President Obama's delay in deciding how many extra troops to send to Afghanistan.
The cartoon shows Obama as a a gunner preparing to fire a cannon crammed with soldiers (cannon fodder?) He is counting down: five, four, three, two, one ... but rather than firing the cannon, he then starts counting in fractions: a half, a quarter, an eighth, etc. Clearly, he wants to put off firing that cannon for as long as possible.
MORE CARTOONS
Christian Adams (Daily Telegraph)
Martin Rowson (The Guardian)
The Independent claims there are bitter divisions in the Obama camp over Afghanistan policy as the US president rejects all four options presented to him for increasing troops. Full story >>
VOCABULARY
A conflict is a period of fighting between countries or groups of people. • Iran's foreign minister warns against foreign intervention in the conflict between Yemeni government and rebels. Conflict can also be used as an uncountable noun. • Hugo Chavez has intensified his country's threat of conflict with Colombia after accusing its South American neighbour of "lies" and "hypocrisy" over hosting US bases. The headline features a play on the words war and conflict, which both refer to fighting. However, in the case of Obama's advisers, the war is a war of words, a serious disagreement.
Here is the CNN Student News for Friday 13 November. Click on the links to see a transcript.
The Daily Telegraph claims civil servants at the MoD have received £47m in bonuses this year. The paper also pictures people observing the two minutes silence for Armistice Day. Full story >>
VOCABULARY
1. MoD is an abbreviation of Ministry of Defence.
2. If you call someone a pen-pusher, you mean that their work consists of writing or dealing with documents, and does not seem very useful or important. • A massive rise in NHS “pen-pusher culture” has been exposed by new figures showing the number of desk jobs rose 50% over the past decade.
CARTOON
Andy Davey (The Sun)
Here is the CNN Student News for Thursday 12 November. Click on the links to see a transcript.
A headmaster is allowing pupils an hour's lie-in every morning in the hope of boosting their concentration in lessons.Traditional 9am starts at Monkseaton High School have been pushed back to 10am, giving the youngsters time for a leisurely breakfast.
Dr Paul Kelley, head of the comprehensive school, says the approach is inspired by cutting-edge research showing the perfect sleep time is nine-and-a-half hours.
Teenagers need more sleep than the rest of the population because they are coping with puberty, the research suggests. Their performances peak in the afternoons, and constantly cutting short their sleep in the mornings could affect health and academic progress. Full story >>
COMMENTS
Classes in French secondary schools often begin at 8am. Not much fun on a cold December morning ...
The Metro starts with the seven IT staff who won £6.5m each when their numbers came up in a work syndicate. Full story >>
VOCABULARY
The Metro headline features a play on the pronoun 'it', which would normally have a lower-case 't' in this context. IT in capital letters stands for 'information technology' (half of the £91 million lottery jackpot was won by a syndicate composed of seven Hewlett Packard employees carrying out IT work at a British Telecom office in Liverpool).
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• 'Gutted' sister of Euromillions lottery winner worked in the same office... but refused to join syndicate (Daily Mail)
Here is the CNN Student News for Wednesday 11 November. Click on the links to see a transcript.
Gordon Brown may have problems with his handwriting but for French president Nicolas Sarkozy, it's his memory that is being called into question. When Sarko posted the above pic on his Facebook site along with a text claiming that he rushed to Berlin on November 9th 1989 and helped tear down the Wall, sceptics accused him of reinventing history—French press archives suggest he didn't get there until a week later.
All that is amusing enough, but Photoshopped images have now started appearing on the web showing Sarkozy taking part in other major historical events. You can see a selection on the websites of Libération and Le Post. This is one of my favourites.
READ MORE
• Confusion over Sarkozy claim on Berlin Wall (Charles Bremner, TimesOnline)
• In France, a Clash of Memories and Media (New York Times)
• Sarkozy posts Berlin Wall photo (BBC News)
• French Embrace Sarkozy as Zelig Meme (New York Times)
This cartoon by Christian Adams relates to the story about Gordon Brown's controversial letter of condolence to the mother of a soldier killed in Afghanistan. A soldier is reading a badly handwritten letter from Downing Street headed 'Afghanistan Strategy' (Downing Street or Number 10 are often used as metonyms for the Prime Minister or his or her office). The soldier comments: "It's unclear and filled with mistakes", which could, of course, refer to the letter or the strategy.
COMMENT
I wonder why the cartoonist preferred 'filled with mistakes' (192,000 results on Google) to the more usual 'full of mistakes' (2,870,000).
RELATED CARTOONS
Peter Brookes (The Times)
Paul Thomas (Daily Express)
Andy Davey (The Sun)
Paul Thomas (Daily Express)
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• Gordon Brown screwed up by not screwing it up (The Times)
