Entries tagged 'society'

World Book Day

By Nigel Godfrey, posted 28th November 2011 at 4:56PM | Comments

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Of course we say "World Book Day" as if there is just one, but it isn’t quite like that.

There are in fact two "World Book Days".  In the UK and Ireland we do it on 3 March (apparently to avoid having the day during the Easter holidays).  The rest of the world does it on 23 April.

However the date is not the only confusing thing.  The real title is World Book and Copyright Day, although in some places it is known as International Day of the Book.

But whatever it is called and whenever it is done it is a UNESCO organised event to promote reading and publishing, and it started in 1995.
23 April was originally chosen as a day to celebrate books in 1923, by booksellers in Spain in...

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Success without effort

By Tony Attwood, posted 03rd October 2011 at 2:37PM | Comments

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It has been suggested many times in recent years that the current generation of school children has a particular problem that has never been seen before.

In the past it has been argued, children have recognised that success generally comes as a result of hard work and effort.   That doesn’t mean that all children then go on and work hard or put in the effort, but it does mean they don’t expect things to happen just because they want things to happen.

But with the current generation – the generation that has grown up with X Factor as part of the establishment - this has changed.  There seems to be a belief that if one wants something enough, it will happen.

Children can even be heard...

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How much time do primary school pupils spend playing with computer games?

Does it matter, and what can we do about it?

By Nigel Godfrey, posted 12th August 2011 at 1:48PM | Comments

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Earlier this year a story appeared on BBC News about some research undertaken in a school in Devon in which children were asked how much time they had spent playing games on computers.

Over three-quarters of the children questioned said that they used a games console every night, with some pupils claiming they did not go to sleep until 4am.

A follow-up report in the Guardian highlighted the fact that since 2008 sales of video games in the UK have outstripped sales of films and music, while in 2009 Modern Warfare 2 was the biggest-selling item on Amazon, beating even the latest Harry Potter movie.

But does any of this matter?

Obviously children need sleep, and children deprived of...

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