Literacy support helps trailing pupils | Schools

 Posted on April 20, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  338 words  |  Brenda Moya

SchoolsLiteracy support helps trailing pupilsA national literacy programme designed to help pupils who struggle with reading and writing is working, according to independent research published today. The Further Literacy Support (FLS) programme is a national strategy designed to target primary pupils who are trailing behind their classmates. It involves teaching those pupils - around 20% of every class - in smaller groups using classroom assistants for 12 weeks. Researchers at Leeds University who talked to 1,200 children in 160 schools across the UK found that the programme helped to reduced the gap between classmates. [Read More]

Russell Crowe says he is descendant of last man executed by beheading in England | Russell Crowe

 Posted on April 20, 2024  |  3 minutes  |  633 words  |  Christie Applegate

Russell CroweRussell Crowe says he is descendant of last man executed by beheading in EnglandActor says ancestry research shows he is related to the 11th Lord Lovat, who died at Tower of London in 1747 Russell Crowe has claimed to be directly related to the last man executed by beheading in England – a Jacobite who lived a life of “devious intrigue”. Writing on X, the New Zealand-born actor said research into his ancestry had revealed he was related to Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, who was executed aged 80 in 1747 at the Tower of London for high treason. [Read More]

Stevie Wonder every studio album ranked! | Stevie Wonder

 Posted on April 20, 2024  |  12 minutes  |  2362 words  |  Christie Applegate

Unbridled joy … Stevie Wonder on Top of the Pops, 1971. Photograph: Ron Howard/RedfernsFrom his teenage years on Motown to his funk masterpieces of the 70s and later pop ballads, Stevie Wonder’s music is nothing but joyous. Ahead of his performance in London’s Hyde Park this weekend, we rank an incomparable body of work by Alexis Petridis25. With A Song In My Heart (1963)Who wants to hear a 12-year-old singing Great American Songbook standards? [Read More]

The Future Future by Adam Thirlwell review the historical novel, subverted

 Posted on April 20, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1126 words  |  Merlyn Hunt

Book of the dayFictionReviewThis slippery, anachronistic and strangely beautiful tale of patriarchy and power moves from revolutionary Paris to a lunar commune Adam Thirlwell’s first novel in eight years is set in Paris in the period around the French Revolution. When we first meet Celine, she is a peripheral figure at the court of the dauphin; at 19, she has recently been married off to Sasha, a 46-year-old minor government official and ruthless “fascist”. [Read More]

Top 10 books about imaginary friends

 Posted on April 20, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1218 words  |  Brenda Moya

Top 10sFictionFrom Lewis Carroll to Vladimir Nabokov and Shirley Jackson, the best of these stories combine fantasy with very real psychology In fiction, the imaginary friend lives where fantasy, mental illness and the supernatural meet, and it is often intriguingly hard to tell just where it belongs. Children’s imaginary friends are often endearing, as seeen in the countless stories about favourite toys that come to life. But once the protagonist is adult, the imaginary friend can become a sinister presence – a warning that something is wrong. [Read More]

Are you anxious, introverted or just a highly sensitive person?

 Posted on April 19, 2024  |  9 minutes  |  1878 words  |  Christie Applegate

The ObserverPsychologyKanye West and Lorde say they are HSPs. What’s the science behind this newly popular label for understanding our ability to process feelings? Do you find yourself noticing faint sensations that no one else can perceive? Are you startled easily? And is your mood easily swayed by the feelings of the people around you? If so, you may be a highly sensitive person (HSP), a personality profile that is of increasing interest to both scientists and armchair psychologists. [Read More]

Haunting monotones: inside the strange world of Eikoh Hosoe

 Posted on April 19, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  877 words  |  Delta Gatti

The ObserverPhotographyA survey of the work of the Japanese photographer, best known for his controversial collaboration with writer Yukio Mishima, shows the intensity of his vision has not diminished There is an illuminating photograph of Eikoh Hosoe at work in 1968. His subject is the avant-garde dancer Tatsumi Hijikata, with whom he had collaborated for almost a decade. Hijikata is running barefoot across a field and, just a few feet behind him, Hosoe is leaping in the air while simultaneously pressing the shutter of the camera clasped to his eye. [Read More]

I love my daughter and my stepdaughter. How do we make our will fair to both of them?

 Posted on April 19, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  773 words  |  Delta Gatti

‘Wills have this weird ability to bring out the worst in people.’ Picture: The Family of the Infante Don Luis (1784) by Francisco de Goya. Photograph: Album/Alamy‘Wills have this weird ability to bring out the worst in people.’ Picture: The Family of the Infante Don Luis (1784) by Francisco de Goya. Photograph: Album/AlamyLeading questionsLife and styleLike kayaks and Ikea, wills can turn functional families into bickering messes, writes advice columnist Eleanor Gordon-Smith. [Read More]

Match.com ad showing woman carrying out subservient tasks banned for being sexist | Advertising

 Posted on April 19, 2024  |  4 minutes  |  652 words  |  Brenda Moya

Advertising This article is more than 1 year oldMatch.com ad showing woman carrying out subservient tasks banned for being sexistThis article is more than 1 year oldTikTok campaign showed woman making sure football was on TV to ‘make him realise I’m a keeper’ A Match.com ad campaign featuring a woman performing subservient tasks for her partner such as making sure that football is on TV, and ensuring there are a fresh towel and socks ready for after his shower has been banned for being sexist. [Read More]

Nokia G22 review: a budget Android phone you can repair yourself

 Posted on April 19, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1202 words  |  Christie Applegate

NokiaReviewLow-cost smartphone has three-day battery life, decent camera and is designed to be taken apart Designed to allow the back to be popped off and the battery replaced within minutes, Nokia’s new G22 is not the first smartphone to be DIY-repairable. But the Android handset is the first to come in at a budget price. Costing less than £170, the new phone has replacement parts already available starting at just £19. [Read More]