Weekly topical news lessons

Latest weekly news lessons

• Weekly news lesson 288: 17th May 2012: Doctors back denial of treatment for smokers and the obese

  Author: Tim Bowen

  According to a recent survey, a majority of UK doctors controversially supports measures to deny treatment to smokers and the obese. This has sparked a row over the National Health Service’s growing use of “lifestyle rationing”.

• Weekly news lesson 287: 10th May 2012: Red Cross presses to protect medics in war zones

  Author: Karen Richardson

  From Libya to Afghanistan, medical workers operating under extreme conditions regularly face death threats from relatives of patients injured in fighting. The Red Cross has embarked on a major international campaign to protect them.

• Weekly news lesson 286: 3rd May 2012: US and China engage in cyber war games

  Author: Tim Bowen

  The US and China have been discreetly engaging in “war games”, organized by two think tanks from either side. Anger has been rising in Washington over the scale and audacity of Beijing-coordinated cyber attacks on western governments and big business, which China denies.  

• Weekly news lesson 285: 26th April 2012: Ghana calls an end to tyrannical reign of the Queen's English

  Author: Karen Richardson

  Ghanaians are following the example of their former British colonial neighbours, the Nigerians and Sierra Leoneans, and speaking English with a growing creative licence. This has started a row between old-school Ghanaians and the younger generation about the ‘proper’ way to speak English.