This week's UK news: 8 March 2013
j0314269
8 March 2013


Knitting helps reduce crime

Most people who knit make scarves or pullovers for their families. In the city of Leicester, the police have asked for knitters to make items which will help people be less afraid about crime.
The police appealed for people to knit colourful decorations. These are being hung in one of the city's parks and a nearby street to brighten them up and make them feel more welcoming. The police decided to do this after finding out that people were more scared of crime happening in these areas, although they were no more unsafe than other places. Schools, playgroups, retired people's groups, Polish groups and universities have all knitted decorations for the park.
One policeman said the activity showed that everyone working together could make a difference. An expert in crime, Charlotte Bilby, said the idea could work by making the area seem safer.


A bad week for Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber, the young Canadian pop singer, has been in London to perform at the O2 venue. His stay has not gone very well. First of all, his plans to celebrated his 19th birthday at a nightclub had to be abandoned because some of his friends were too young to get in. The group ended up at a McDonalds, and Bieber tweeted: "Worst birthday".
Then the singer went on stage almost two hours late. This would not be much of a problem for most artists, but lots of the singer's fans are young girls who had to go to school next day. The show apparently did not start until 10.30 and many teenagers had to leave after the first few songs to get home. Bieber, however, says he was 40 minutes late arriving on stage, arriving there at 10.10.


Batman hands in man to police

We've all enjoyed pictures this week of a man dressed in a Batman costume bringing a wanted man to a police station in Yorkshire. The man was not dressed in the designer black costume of recent Batman films, but more like the 1960s TV programme, complete with grey outfit and underpants over the top.
He left the police station without giving his name, but seemed to know the man he had handed in, who was later charged with several offences. Later stories suggested that the pair had been to a football match together, and the man dressed as Batman had been helping his friend who knew police wanted to talk to him.

 

Fight to save stadium where Olympic gold medallist trains

When the UK won the right to host the 2012 Olympics, organisers and politicians talked about the "legacy" effect of getting more people interested in sport. When Jessica Ennis won the gold medal in the women's heptathlon event at the 2012 Olympics, there was a lot of talk about how she trains in her home city of Sheffield.
There has been lots more talk about both of these things this week, after the city council decided to close the Don Valley arena, where Ennis has trained since she was a teenager.
The city has to save GBP 50m a year, and it spends GBP700,000 on the stadium, which was originally built for the World Student Games in 1991. Ennis, who plans to defend her title at the next Olympics in Rio, tweeted "So sorry to lose Don Valley Stadium! Where it all started for me. Great memories". Her coach is worried that closing the stadium will harm Ennis's chances of winning gold again in 2016.
He says the publicity of the Olympics has encouraged a lot more children and young people to train at the stadium, and has called for it to be saved, as have many others. Now a petition has been created asking the council to change its mind, and the chairman of Sheffield's athletics club has called for Seb Coe, the man who organised the Olympics, to intervene in some way.

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