UK public service broadcaster in big trouble

It has been an awful few weeks for public service broadcaster the BBC. It has been at the centre of a news storm. First of all it was revealed that the BBC had not broadcast an investigation which showed that one of its former stars had abused children whilst making TV shows. This only became public when a rival TV channel made its own investigation.

Only weeks later the same BBC news programme showed a report claiming that a former politician had abused children in a children's home. It did not name the man, but his name appeared on the internet. A week later, the story was proved wrong, and it looks as if not enough checks were made. Lots of apologies have now been made.

The man in charge of the BBC was interviewed on one of his own news programmes and did not do well. He resigned later that day, after only 7 weeks in the job, with a year's pay.

Everyone's going to see James Bond

Skyfall, the current James Bond film, has become the biggest film of the year in UK cinemas after just two weeks. The 23rd film about the deadly secret agent has earned more than GBP 57m, more than The Dark Knight Rises which was the highest-earning film until now.

There are predictions that Skyfall will become the biggest Bond movie ever throughout the world, beating the US $594 earned by Casino Royale.

Firemen rescuing one very overweight person a day

More than 2,700 very fat people have been rescued by the fire service in the UK in the past five years. They have been rescuing people who are stuck in baths, who have fallen out of bed, or to help those who need hospital treatment but are too large to get out of their homes.

Firemen have also been called to help funeral services with bodies which are too heavy to lift. One rescue, which took 3.5 hours, cost GBP 11,000.

New head of the UK church

The Church of England has been looking for a new head for several months. Finally the name of the new Archbishop of Canterbury has been announced.

People who know about the Church think that Justin Welby is a very good choice. However, his appointment has surprised lots of people as he worked as an oil trader in his earlier career, and only became a Bishop last year.

It will not be an easy job. There are some controversial issues in the Church at the moment. These include the appointment of women bishops (which the Bishop supports), and gay marriage.