This week's UK news: 2 December 2016
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2 December 2016


89-year-old man wants a job

Joe Bartley is 89. His wife has died. And he says he wants a job to stop him "dying of boredom".

So he put an advertisement in his local paper, asking for work. He said he could do 20 hours or more each week, and could do cleaning, gardening or repair work. 

Most people in the UK stop work at around 65 years old. Mr Bartley took a job as a cleaner at the age of 70, and retired at the age of 83. 

His advertisement has attracted a lot of publicity, and he has had at least one job interview.

 

New UK currency causes trouble

If you're studying in the UK, you will have probably seen there are two different types of GBP 5 at the moment. There are the old paper notes, and there are newly-introduced plastic ones.

The plastic "fivers" are supposed to last longer and be more difficult to fake. But they are now causing a lot of trouble. The plastic which makes the notes contains very small amounts of animal fat, and people who don't eat meat are unhappy about this.

Over 65,000 people have signed a petition calling on the Bank to change the way the notes are made. Now the Bank has said it will see what it can do.

 

Banana and bacon pudding joins UK's traditional Christmas menu

It is nearly Christmas. This means that shops in the UK are full of food for special meals and events. 

One food which has attracted a lot of publicity is a pudding on sale in a big supermarket chain. It is a trifle, which is a traditional UK pudding. 

Trifle is usually made of cake, custard, fruit and cream and often some alcohol like sherry. But this trifle is flavoured with banana - and bacon.

It was created by a famous chef, called Heston Blumenthal, who likes to use flavours in an interesting way. The trifle has banana, chocolate cake soaked in rum, salted caramel sauce and custard with "a smoky bacon-flavoured cream". It also has bacon pieces for customers to add before serving. In the past, Heston Blumenthal has been famous for dishes like bacon and egg ice-cream and snail porridge.

If you stay in the UK for Christmas, you are more likely to eat a roast Turkey dinner with a dark fruity pudding for your lunch on Christmas day.

 

Older UK pop stars make lots of money (and so do younger ones)

The Beatles and the Rolling Stones began their music careers 50 years ago. But they are still making lots of money from their work.

Forbes magazine has published a "Rich List" of musicians. The Rolling Stones are in eighth place, earning more than GBP 53m this year. Former Beatle Paul McCartney came in at number 12, earning over GBP 45m. The magazine says older artists earn well because they perform in very large venues.

Other British artists did even better. One Direction, the boyband who retired a year ago, came in 2nd place behind Taylor Swift with GBP 88m in earnings. Adele was in third place with GBP 64.6m. 


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