UK'S youngest MP graduates

20-year-old Member of Parliament representing Paisley and Renfrewshire South at Westminster, Mhairi Black, the youngest MP has graduated from Glasgow University with a first class honours degree in Politics.

Mhairi made history last month in UK's general election after winning the MP seat for Scottish National Party.

 

I celebrate with you Mhairi!

Skinny jeans could be dangerous - Health experts

A report published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry has highlighted the health risk of wearing a  tight jeans following an incident involving a 35-year-old woman. The Australian noticed discomfort as she squatted while helping a friend move house.

 

Later in the day, while walking home she felt numb in her feet and then collapsed. She was helped to hospital where the jeans was cut to free her swollen legs. A scan revealed evidence of damaged muscle tissue. The woman spent four days in hospital before she could walk again.

 

I think this report is self explanatory!

Greece's Finance Minister on bike to crisis talk

You'll ordinarily expect a Minister of a government to attend government functions chauffeur driven to the venue, contrary is the situation with Yanis Varoufakis, Greece Finance Minister. The 54-year-old rode in Yahama to a recent cabinet meeting to discuss the country's debt management crisis.

Could this be a model of how to cut cost of running government?

A cake fest!

Teams of both professional and amateur bakers have created a 70m square giant cake highlighting notable landmarks of Edinburgh city. The cake map is part of Cake Fest activity in the Scottish Capital. Noticeable on the cake map is a mini Edinburgh Castle. Visitors to the event had a slice of the cake to enjoy.

It is this I call a national cake.

Mother & 8-month-old son survived plane crash

18-year-old María Nelly Murillo and her son made a miraculous walk out of their crashed small plane in Colombia while the pilot of the Cessna 303 carrying the duo lost his life to the crash which occurred in a mountainside in western Colombia few days ago.

Rescue team could not find the survivors until five days after the incident at a time they were about abandoning the search.
The young mother and baby sustained themselves by eating leaves and drinking coconut water. 

María suffered broken ankle and minor burns from the crash and her son remained in good health.

The young mother couldn't stop shedding tears on spotting rescue volunteers.

Julia Donaldson, the woman with many sides to stories

As a writer of children's books, you build on imaginations to evoke feelings out of children who loves to read. In my own words, this is prowess!!I love the power of the narratives, it brings many memories, the art of reliving an experience and your ability to bring an idea to fruition.
One great woman I respect ever since my discoveries of new generation children books is Julia Donaldson. A children's author has been able to carve a niche and immerse herself in the mastery of writing what appeals to children.

For me as an adult, at a glance, I easily recognise her books on shelves by her fonts, picture colour combination, the authors she co-writes with, the caricatures and other illustrations of her pictures are key identities to recognise her work.
Once you like an author, you look out for the name and the work anywhere you see it. Julia Donaldson an English writer and the Children's Laureate in 2011-2013. Among her notable books are The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom and Stick Man.
 
Hoping to meet with her some day.. I know what I'd ask her!

Today's Wise Saying

"Only a mother would carry the child that bites"- Nigerian saying

Henna designers and their crafts

Henna is derived from a plant known as Lawsonia inermis. The leaves, flowers and twigs are ground and refined into powder that is usually mixed with water and other plants like tea, coffee and lemon to create a dye for hair and skin. 
In this picture is a henna designer usually called  'Mai lalle' in northern Nigerian and most times its done for special occasions like weddings where bride is decorated like the above picture.

Today's Wise Saying

"There is no medicine against old age"- Ashanti Proverb

Strawberry Master Taster

As the 2015 Wimbledon tennis championships approaches, apart from the top ranking players sweating it out in courts to perfect their games, one other guy is as well sweating it out with his tongue across continents. 

Conversant of the tournament knows that Strawberry is a delicacy of the games. However, getting the right strawberry to spectators rest with Artur Grochala, a professional Strawberry taster, who is ASDA's 'fruit technical manager'.
Artur munches over 2000 Strawberries in a month in farms from Britain to Egypt to select the perfect fruit for the courts. He said: "You always have to remember the Three Ts - taste, texture and touch." 

I want to believe Artur's tongue is insured.

Introducing 'Free to Caption'

I am glad to introduce to you - ' Free to Caption', a new feature on this blog, to increase experience of visitors to this medium.

I am aware of the creative minds of this community members and their diversity and would love to explore this by urging the blog's 'commentariats' to use the commenting window available to them to suggest title to image(s) that I would be featuring under the 'Free to Caption' banner.

We all see things from different perspective and hold varying opinions on same thing. Lets therefore explore this unique attribute of our world on The Duchess.

Who knows, this might as well be the opportunity to hone your journalism skill.

Do you wanna try with this?

Girl married hubby three days to his death

This certainly not an attribute of a faint hearted. 16-year-old Amie Cresswell has married her lover Omar Al Shaikh, a 16-year-old leukemia patient, after medics disclosed the lad had not more than 7 days to his death.

The impromptu wedding was conducted at the lad's beside in hospital with a flower used as a ring. 

The 8-month-old relationship started at the couple's school in Birmingham. The young bride said; "I knew I wanted to stand by him through it all."

I wish her well, especially for her bravery.

Greece crisis needs adults?

I was following up on Greece Financial crisis talks and efforts of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and several parties to the issue. 

The lnternational Monetary Fund, IMF is a major stakeholder in the talks and its chief, Christine Lagarde thus features prominently. At the recent Luxembourg talks she expressed desire for immediate resolution through dialogue, according to her, "with adults in the room". 

This statement again echoed in my memory when I saw this image of EU boss, Jean-Claude Juncker with Greece Prime Minister at a sequel talk on the crisis. Am I missing something here?

Today's Wise Saying

"Today is the first day of the rest of your life." -American Proverb

Animal reactions at play

Watch what happens when you put an animal in front of the mirror! Very very hilarious!!

Spot the 'mix up'?

As it is the holy month of Ramadan - Muslim's month of fasting, retailers in the UK are coming up with different offers to attract Muslims into their shop floors. Retail giant, Tesco not left out, with a dedicated 'Ramadan Kareem' shelf in their aisles.

The image above is a display in Tesco that did not go unnoticed to customers confronted with 'Ramadan Mubarak' greetings promoting Pringles' Smokey Bacon crisps.

This is hilarious and ironical as we all know Muslims do not eat bacon. lol.

Sexual Transmitted Infection on the rise in gay men

There has been a rise in sexual transmitted infection among gay and bisexual men in the past year. Doctors reported 46% rise in syphilis and 32% in gonorrhoea among men who engage in sex with each other.
Dr Gwenda Hughes of Public Health England, said reducing the spread of STI's 'must be made public health priority'.

The LGBT community must have their hands full..really full.

When Michael Jackson gets you on a treadmill

You can't go wrong with this Micheal Jackson's track on a treadmill..Trust me!

Today's Wise Words

"The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go and not be questioned." - Maya Angelou

What would you do?

This picture went viral on Father's day June 21st. Hehehehe...yes what would you do?