In
the news
Cyril
Pearce's book Comrades in conscience: the story of
an English community's opposition to the Great War
was reviewed by the Guardian's Martin Wainwright.
"Just occasionally a historian chisels open a jammed cobwebby
window and reveals an astonishing view," he wrote. Pearce's
book, featured in Reporter 472, focuses on Huddersfield
where, contrary to accepted wisdom, there was 'an extraordinarily
strong and coherent opposition to the "great" war'. The
book is also on the New Statesman's list
of recommended reading.
Public
health nutrition unit director Joan Ransley joined BBC
Radio 4's You and Yours to discuss her work
using supermarket till receipts to estimate fat intake
for households (see Reporter 475). She suggests that "advances
in scanning technology could lead to a 'fat tally' of
the foods in your trolley, compared on the receipt against
UK recommended levels of fat."
Flying
academics Dr Alastair Lewis and Dr Jim McQuaid (see also
page 4) caught the imagination of local media as they
borrowed a plane to monitor the effect of weather conditions
on pollution around Leeds, (Reporter 477). Talking to
the Yorkshire Post, Dr Lewis said: "We must
be the only people at the moment who want this wild weather
to continue. Under these conditions pollutants can go
from the surface to four of five kilometres high in less
than an hour." In the Yorkshire Evening Post
he said: "It's quite a coup for us to get this plane.
It costs around £5,000 for every hour it is up in the
air, but the information we get will be well worth it."
Dr
Stella Bradbury couldn't resist the Guardian's
offer of 15 kilobytes of fame and submitted an image of
a gamma ray to the paper's Andy Warhol competition. Her
entry Fred the gamma ray can be viewed at Guardian
Online.
Head
of schools liaison office David Baker discussed Leeds'
position as the UK's second most popular university according
to UCAS applicant figures for September 2002 entry, with
BBC Radio Leeds. Asked why the University
was so popular, he said: "The University's excellent reputation,
the huge spread of subjects we offer, that are in great
demand, and the city, all play a part." The Yorkshire
Evening Post stressed that Leeds remains the most
popular university for applicants living in the UK and
EU.
Leeds
medical school welcomed a TV crew from Look North
on the BBC's NHS day. Asked her view on the country's
health system, third year student Elizabeth Harvey was
upbeat: "From my perspective, my colleagues are very committed,
dedicated and talented. The future of NHS looks bright."
Communications
expert Dr Richard Howells joined BBC Radio 4's You
and Yours debate on terms of endearment. Dr Howells
suggested that although 'informality is de rigueur' the
use of terms, such as 'dear' or 'sweetheart' to signify
genuine friendship becomes more difficult.
