Elodie Mazein
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/ 20 December 2006

The Brits that stole Christmas

It’s looking like a bleak mid-winter for Britain this Christmas as businesses and schools seek to airbrush out the annual Christian festival for fear of offending people of other faiths. The popular press is hot on the heels of the Christmas ”killjoys”, compiling an almost daily list of politically correct do-gooders who they say, frankly, are just spoiling the fun for everyone.

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/ 20 December 2006

London meat market boosts Christmas cheer

Nestled in London’s business district, Smithfield, one of Britain’s oldest markets, is gearing up for Christmas and New Year with turkeys, geese and organic chickens selling rapidly. Once the historic wholesale meat market opens at 3am, Smithfield comes alive with the hustle and bustle of traders, as it has done for centuries.

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/ 8 November 2006

Musical adaptation of Porgy and Bess hits London

The first musical adaptation of Porgy and Bess premieres this week in London, featuring classic jazz songs like Summertime that helped save the Gershwin opera from the critics after it opened in 1935. The story of Porgy and Bess unfolds during a steamy 1930s summer in a black slum in Charleston, South Carolina against a backdrop of murder, drugs, and prostitution.

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/ 25 September 2006

UK sperm banks struggle after donor anonymity lifted

British clinics treating couples with fertility problems are suffering from a major sperm shortage after the authorities lifted donor anonymity in April last year. A BBC television investigation said that 50 of the 74 clinics that responded to questioning had either insufficient sperm or none at all. The country as a whole has about 85 such clinics.