Archive: BritNews RoundUp
BritNews RoundUp: Naughty Co-Eds Edition
I'm an Oxford man myself so I can't say as I understand the way things work at the other university. The latest scandal to roil Britain's junior university is over co-eds posing suggestively for a student publication, or as the...
By John Kelly | October 30, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (3)
BritNews RoundUp: Boyle'ing Over
Remember Susan Boyle, the frumpy Scottish spinster who took YouTube by storm with her moving performance on one of Britain's talent contest shows? She's dropped from the radar here in the States but she still attracts coverage in the U.K.,...
By John Kelly | October 23, 2009; 08:23 AM ET | Comments (0)
BritNews RoundUp: Ruthless Roofer Edition
I have never had major renovation work done on my home, never had a bathroom refurbished or a kitchen installed, never had an addition put on. I have heard, however, that -- no matter how promising things are at the...
By John Kelly | September 25, 2009; 09:30 AM ET | Comments (3)
BritNews RoundUp: Sausagephobia Edition
Some of my colleagues in the British press have no qualms about faking posing photographs. We here in the U.S. cannot, of course, condone such behavior. And yet occasionally the results are so entertaining that I have to cut the...
By John Kelly | September 11, 2009; 09:10 AM ET | Comments (0)
BritNews RoundUp: Hot Fruit-on-Fruit Action
Forget the danger of rotten teeth, a father in England thinks candy can cause moral decay. Simon Simpkins of West Yorkshire was outraged when he bought some sweeties for his children. The bags of Haribo Moaom sweet 'n' sour candies...
By John Kelly | August 28, 2009; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
BritNews RoundUp: I Can See Cleanly Now
Does your husband slink away when it's time clean the toilet or vacuum the living room? Is he curiously absent when the dishwasher needs loading or the laundry needs sorting? Maybe all he needs is to have a part of...
By John Kelly | August 21, 2009; 09:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
BritNews RoundUp: Aerial Thong Edition
In my weekly BritNews RoundUp I normally include only a brief precis of the story in question and provide a link to the original source. Today, however, I feel compelled to quote a larger chunk of this delightful story from...
By John Kelly | July 31, 2009; 09:00 AM ET | Comments (0)
BritNews RoundUp: Laptop Voyeurs Edition
When I was in college I used to work at a photo lab. The younger among you will not know what a photo lab was. It was a place where you took your "film" to be "developed." Once it had...
By John Kelly | July 24, 2009; 10:15 AM ET | Comments (1)
BritNews RoundUp: Spineless Hedgehog Edition
I have remarked in this space before how much the English love their animals: dogs, cats, budgies. But also the non-domesticated ones. Take, for example, Spud, a hedgehog discovered wandering in an English garden in March. Spud was suffering from...
By John Kelly | July 17, 2009; 09:39 AM ET | Comments (0)
BritNews RoundUp: Bush League Edition
Britain's latest superhero is a nature-loving gardener who dresses up as a shrub and tends to public gardens in Colchester. He calls himself the Human Shrub and dons a bushy disguise as he tends to neglected gardens in the English...
By John Kelly | July 10, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
BritNews RoundUp: Holiday Weekend Edition
As you head outside on this holiday weekend don't forget to apply sunblock. If only the Scottish would remember that. According to a recent survey the Scottish have the unhealthiest tanning habits in the United Kingdom and develop skin cancer...
By John Kelly | July 3, 2009; 10:27 AM ET | Comments (0)
BritNews RoundUp: Holiday Weekend Edition
As you head outside on this holiday weekend don't forget to apply sunblock. If only the Scottish would remember that. According to a recent survey the Scottish have the unhealthiest tanning habits in the United Kingdom and develop skin cancer...
By John Kelly | July 3, 2009; 10:27 AM ET | Comments (0)
BritNews RoundUp: Stupid Cat Edition
As someone who has always preferred canines to felines, I was delighted to see that scientists have proven that dogs are smarter than cats. At least according to research done at Canterbury Christ Church University in Kent. I have to...
By John Kelly | June 19, 2009; 08:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
BritNews RoundUp: Blessed/Blasted Event Edition
Our first child arrived after 33 hours of labor. It was excruciating. I think it was pretty painful for my wife, too. At the other end of the spectrum you have mothers such as Katherine Allen of Milton Keynes in...
By John Kelly | June 12, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
BritNews RoundUp: Zebras, Curries and More
The English and their animals, Part 1: Horse trainer Bill Taylor had always wanted to break a zebra, that is, make it pliable enough to ride like a horse. However, noted the Telegraph: "Zebras are much less co-operative and more...
By John Kelly | June 5, 2009; 09:45 AM ET | Comments (1)
BritNews RoundUp: Bad Habits Edition
Getting drunk I understand. Going to a foreign country I understand. Even dressing in women's clothing I understand. But going to a foreign country, dressing in women's clothing and then getting drunk I don't understand. And yet it's a time-honored...
By John Kelly | May 29, 2009; 09:20 AM ET | Comments (1)
BritNews RoundUp
Here's the sort of thing you'd expect to happen around the Washington area: A local government in the West Midlands of England has been filling in only one half of potholes, arguing that the other half is in the neighboring...
By John Kelly | May 22, 2009; 11:24 AM ET | Comments (0)
BritNews RoundUp
Seagulls. They annoy us with their incessant chattering. They poop on our cars. And they try to kill innocent, defenseless seahorses. A Dorset woman thwarted their evil plan by rescuing a seahorse that apparently was dropped into her front yard...
By John Kelly | May 15, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
BritNews RoundUp: May the Force Be With You
Step away from the Millennium Falcon, please, sir. Eight police officers and two civilian employees at Scotland's largest police department listed their official religion as "Jedi" on employment forms, the BBC reports. The information was obtained by Jane's Police Review,...
By John Kelly | April 17, 2009; 11:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
BritNews RoundUp
It's somehow reassuring when age-old cliches are reaffirmed. Mike Myers based a whole character on the notion that the English have bad teeth. Now comes news that an increasing number of children in Britain are getting admitted to (the) hospital...
By John Kelly | April 10, 2009; 11:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
