Pomp and Pageantry – Our Pick of the Best Bits From Today’s News

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Great PR in Britain for the Royal Wedding coverage

Here’s our latest daily serving of links from the web. Please feel free to tell us what you think and we would love to hear your suggestions so we can share them with everyone else. Visit our facebook and twitter pages to leave your message.

 

PRINCE WILLIAM – A HOUSE CLEANING KITE FLIER? (Laura)

As Royal Wedding fever sweeps the country today, most of us will remember where we were for the nuptials (for those of us lucky enough to be off – probably in the pub).

But what about children – what do they know about the big day and are they as caught up in the hype as we are? Well this very real and at points heartwrmingly funny blog by The Telegraph’s Andrew M Brown gives an insight into what young children think about the Royal Wedding – some of my favourites are how old they think Wills is what they think goes on in the Royal Household – baby making, house cleaning and kite flying!

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewmcfbrown/100085506/the-royal-wedding-as-seen-by-small-children/

 

WHAM, BAM – IT’S SEXY SAX MAN (Scott)

If you haven’t yet caught the antics of this YouTube sensation, then let me introduce you.

I’m not sure what is ‘sexy’ about this bare-chested and mulletted prankster. But his impromptu performances of George Michael’s Careless Whisper have proved a hit over the Pond – even sparking a series of copycats across the US. So much so, it has prompted YouTube’s trends blog to ask: Is Careless Whisper the cover song of the Month?

http://youtu.be/GaoLU6zKaws

  

CRYING OVER SPILLED OIL (Adrian)

It’s been just over a year since the tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that devastated local wildlife and led to BP being fined huge sums of money by the U.S. government for negligence.

But until now the full environmental impact of losing all that oil – estimated to be around 205 million gallons –  has not been fully revealed. This infographic posted on geek and science news website io9, however, demonstrates the destruction caused by the spill – while also highlighting the impact that using such a large amount of oil would wreak on the environment.

It’s sober reading and shows just how much we rely on one of our most precious – and limited – resources.

http://uk.io9.com/5796408/an-amazing-infographic-explains-what-wed-have-done-with-the-205-million-gallons-of-oil-if-the-gulf-oil-spill-hadnt-happened

 

POMP AND SPLENDOUR – BUT IT’S MORE ROYAL MAIL THAN ROYAL WEDDING

Maybe you’ve been swept up in the frivolity of the Royal Wedding.

Well, now do yourself a favour and take on board some mental ballast:  this superb read is from former Scotsman writer, James Meek.

It’s not for the flighty, the faint-hearted or the frothy. You’ll want 30 minutes somewhere quiet, so that you can properly savour the quiet splendour of this article, served up by a writer in his pomp.

One more thing … you won’t look at your postie quite the same ever again.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n09/james-meek/in-the-sorting-office

 

MAN OF STEEL – PROUD NOT TO BE AN AMERICAN (Adrian) 

For decades, he’s been a symbol of the United States and a believer in honour, truth and the American way. But now, it seems that life across the Atlantic has got too much even for a blue-blooded superhero like Superman.

DC Comics has hinted that the Man of Steel is set to renounce his American citizenship in a forthcoming adventure, and the move has caused an almightly row among conservative commentators and patriotic comic book fans in the States. It may seem like a storm in a teacup to us but, then again, bear in mind that this is the equivalent of DC Thomson drawing a new strip that depicts Dennis the Menace wiping his backside on a Union Jack. During the Royal wedding. In front of the newlyweds and the rest of their families.

No doubt the Kryptonian crusader will end up back in the grasp of Uncle Sam by the end of the run, but you have to admit that it’s a ballsy move by the writers at DC.  

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/29/superman-threatens-renounce-us-citizenship