It wasn’t all bad

The tiny UK overseas territory Tristan da Cunha (pop. 250) has taken a major step in marine conservation by protecting 700,000 sq. km of its waters. The government of the volcanic archipelago has created the fourth largest marine protected area (MPA) in the world, where bottom-trawling fishing, deepsea mining and other harmful activities are banned. The aim is to safeguard the area’s wealth of wildlife, which includes rockhopper penguins and sevengill sharks.

Leslie Scott, the British woman who invented Jenga half a century ago, is celebrating its induction into the US National Toy Hall of Fame. The game, which involves a 54-block tower and a steady hand, joins chess and Monopoly in being honoured by the National Museum of Play in New York. Scott, 64, has devised numerous games, but Jenga was her first: she came up with the idea as a teenager in East Africa. She played it with her games-loving siblings – then, years later, launched it on the world. Jenga (from a Swahili word meaning “to build”) has since sold in its tens of millions.

Bunches of flowers are being left around Cirencester as part of a Kindness Project. People have found the bouquets on park benches and at bus stops, with handwritten notes attached reading: “Hello stranger! If you find these flowers they were meant for you. Please take them home and enjoy them.” The project was launched by circus performer Jenny Webster, after her sister, a surgeon, found a bunch from a similar scheme in London, and it made her “really tearful”. She bought the first bouquets with her own money, but is now receiving donations.