Church/History Words Removed

Oxford University Press has removed words like "aisle", "bishop", "chapel", "empire" and "monarch" from its Junior Dictionary and replaced them with words like "blog", "broadband" and "celebrity". Dozens of words related to the countryside have also been culled.

The publisher claims the changes have been made to reflect the fact that Britain is a modern, multicultural, multifaith society.

But academics and head teachers said that the changes to the 10,000 word Junior Dictionary could mean that children lose touch with Britain's heritage. - Telegraph

Relativism is pathetic.

Man's Suicide Broadcasted

SKY TV will broadcast a British television first tonight -- an American man committing suicide.

Craig Ewert, who had been living for many years in Yorkshire, North England, ended his life in 2006 in an assisted suicide clinic in Switzerland, rather than live with motor neurone disease that had left him paralyzed. He also invited Canadian filmmakers to capture his final moments, which will be broadcast this evening.

The documentary will show Ewert, 59, swallowing a lethal mixture of sedatives and switching off his life-support machine with his wife by his side.

The final exchange between husband and wife, who spent 37 years together, is captured on camera. His wife Mary Ewert says: "Can I give you a kiss?" He replies: "Of course." - ABC

Sad that assisted suicide is legal.

Woman Flushes Baby Down Toilet

A mother told an inquest she did not know she had given birth until flushing her baby down a toilet by accident.

Claire Jones, 32, became pregnant after an affair with a work colleague but hid her condition from friends and family.

After "panicking" in the toilet at her partner's parents' home in Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan, she hid the baby in her car boot, where police found it.

Recording a narrative verdict, Cardiff Coroner Mary Hassell said Ms Jones had built up a "web of deception".

The hearing was told Ms Jones, of Pontnewydd, Cwmbran, did not reveal her pregnancy, telling friends and family, including David Stoneman, her partner of 11 years, that a wheat allergy had caused a hard mass to form in her stomach. - BBC News

Pathetic...

You Thought We Had It Bad

LONDON - Pump nozzle in hand, Lisa Atkins keeps a close eye on the digital display rapidly adding up the pounds. Gone are the days when she'd routinely fill the gas tank to the brim. She now has to be more cautious.

Ms. Atkins says the surging cost of fuel is discouraging her from taking to the wheel each time she needs to travel. "I'm driving less and less," she says. "Me and my nan [grandmother] go shopping together.... Weekends we try to just leave the car outside and walk everywhere local."

She's not the only one reacting to the $9 per gallon gas prices. Britons are driving less, opting instead for public transportation, car pools, and a reduced number of overall car trips. Recent surveys show that Britain is leading the way with the change in driving habits, probably because pump prices here are higher than the global average. British demand for gasoline fell by around 8 percent year-on-year in January and February. - Christian Science Monitor

Sucks for everyone!

Young Brits Prone To Abortion

LONDON (AFP) - The number of girls under the age of 14 having an abortion jumped by over 20 percent in 2007, new figures from the Department of Health show, leading to calls for more government-backed sexual health counselling and contraception services.

The total number of abortions rose in all age groups in England and Wales according to the statistics released Thursday, but most striking was the rise in terminations among teenagers as a higher proportion of pregnancies are aborted.

The Department of Health said the number of abortions among under-14s had gone from 135 in 2006 to 163 in 2007, an increase of 21 percent.

There was also a 10 percent rise among the under-16s to 4,376 abortions. - Yahoo! News

I think I got it now: the only thing I like about England is the music.