Hedgehogs compete with world leaders for some publicity
MAJOR DISTRACTIONS
Readers may be hankering for a break from words like Brexit and Trump. Alas, no such luck will be afforded them this week, because even though the General Election campaign will be in full swing this week, the UK’s imminent split from the EU just won’t go away. It will taint almost all discussions and despite everyone’s best efforts, will be at the back of most people’s minds. Not unlike President Trump, who will, on Saturday, mark his 100th day in the Oval Office.
Therefore, there will be some kind of stocktake by the American President (and tweets), as he recounts victories thusfar achieved and delineates reforms yet to come. All this, of course, hinges upon the presumption that the West isn’t at war with North Korea.
DISASTER AND TRIUMPH
Wednesday marks the 31st year of the anniversary of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, which happened at Chernobyl in 1986. Thousands of people were killed after a reactor exploded, sending a cloud of radioactive dust across Europe and around the globe.
The damaged reactor was covered in a metal dome in November last year - it was one of the largest moveable structures ever built, standing over 300ft tall (taller than the Statue of Liberty), weighing 36,000 tons and costing $2.2bn.
DOWN TO EARTH
On Tuesday, members of the public can look forward to learning about something a little more down to earth, with the opening of a new ‘Hedgehog Street’ inspired garden at RHS Harlow Carr, Harrogate. Wildlife charities People’s Trust for Endangered Species and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society launched Hedgehog Street in June 2011 to encourage hedgehog conservation action at a local community or neighbourhood level. The initiative - www.hedgehogstreet.org - is all about getting people with gardens to make them more hedgehog friendly by removing hazards.
SKY HIGH
On Thursday, technology firms Google and Microsoft will dazzle the world with their quarterly financial results, which, given it’s now election season, will prompt calls for the firms to pay more in taxes and do more to curb obscene material on the internet.
In January, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, reported revenue for the fourth quarter of 2016 to be $26.1bn, a 22-per-cent increase on the same period in 2015. Microsoft, meanwhile, reported revenues of just $22.6bn for the end of 2016.
MINOR DISTRACTIONS
In other news, Prince Charles will visit the restored railway carriage at the Royal Deeside Railway this week. He will meet members and volunteers of the Royal Deeside Railway Preservation Trust and the restoration team before seeing the carriage, which was restored after being vandalised in August 2015. He will unveil a plaque to mark the visit. Before departing, he will even drive the steam engine. Leeds educated Mel B will be in the news, following the break-up of her marriage to Stephen Belafonte, as her restraining order against him will be heard in the Los Angeles Superior Court. If that wasn’t distracting enough, much will be made about the European Gala screening of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, a space odyssey film starring US actors Chris Pratt and Kurt Russell.
NEW BEGINNINGS
Saturday will mark the sixth wedding anniversary of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who were married in 2011, while in London, Sikhs will be marking the Vaisakhi Festival, the start of their new year, which is one of the holiest days of the calendar for over 20m Sikhs worldwide.
Unlooked for news stories seem to be appearing like weeds in an unkempt garden. Neil Hudson dons some heavy duty gloves and rigorous footwear and goes pruning