The start of the London Olympics

The organisers of the 2012 London Olympics asked people to let them know if they would be interested in getting tickets for the events. In the first nine hours, 150,000 people registered their interest.

The organisers are keen to get real sports enthusiasts watching the events. There will be 8m tickets for the Olympics and 2m for the Paralympics. There will be public ballots for 75 per cent of these.

Britain joins the space race

The UK Space Agency was launched this week. It will control the country’s space policy and budget. Until now these have been spread across different government departments.

The UK is currently 21st in the world’s space nations. It is hoped that the space agency will help expand the industry and put the UK in the top ten. It is hoped that 100,000 new jobs will be created in the next ten years as a result.

Babies and the election

An election will be called soon and the politicians are busy campaigning. They are all keen to get the vote of mothers. So far the political leaders have done web chats on mothers’ websites and appeared on a radio programme for women.

So there were lots of comment when the wife of the Opposition leader announced that she was expecting a baby. If her husband wins the election he will also have to cope with a newborn baby in a few months.

Doctors want more smoking bans

It is already illegal to smoke in public buildings in the UK, including schools and shops. Now doctors have written a letter to a national newspaper asking for more bans.

The doctors want to prevent children breathing cigarette smoke. They want a ban on people smoking in cars. They also want a ban on smoking in outdoor places visited by children, including parks and playgrounds.

The doctors say children are twice as likely to take up smoking if a member of their family smokes. They say 300,000 children have to visit doctors and 9,500 need hospital treatment as a result of other people smoking.

by Susan Young
susan@englishuk.com