The News. Good. Bad. Ugly?

I said recently on a blog post about the news, that I rarely watch a or read the news.
It's all too depressing.
But since I wrote and uploaded that blog post, I seem to have been reading the news, quite a lot.

Here are a few news stories that caught my attention today, for good, bad, and ugly? reasons - in no particular order.

George Osborne promises crackdown on offshore tax avoidance by firms including facebook and Google.
Read more in Private Eye here.

Reverend Howard Curtis, 71, charged over claims he stripped and spanked female worshippers.
Read more in the Croydon Advertiser here.

Grooming shortcuts women do, but won't admit to. According to the 'news' women are cheating when it comes to proper grooming doing scandalous things such as, only shaving half their legs; from ankle to knee, washing their fringes and not all of their hair, disguising stray eyebrows with foundations when time is short...
You can always rely on the Daily Mail to tell it how it is. Read more here.

Wife discovers husband of 17 years married another woman in £17,000 ceremony, after seeing photos of them kissing on facebook.
Read more about Yvonne Gibney, Maurice Gibney, and his new wife Suzanne Prudhoe in the Liverpool Echo here.

Oscar Pistorius is reportedly crying himself to sleep at night. Read more in the Times Live here.

American Slave, Dominic Adesanya jumps fence at White House, makes it on to the lawn, before being stopped by secret service dogs. Read more in the Huffington Post here.

Harry Roberts, 78, who murdered three police officers in London in 1966 is to be released from prison within days, despite judge saying he should never be set free. Read more from the BBC here.

Sara X Mills gets 26 millions hits in just one week on her YouTube video of her boobs dancing to Mozart. Read more in the Metro here.

Coleen Rooney has had ten holidays in one year. Read more in the Daily Mail here.

Homer Simpson responsible for obesity. It's all the beer and donuts. Read more in the Daily Mail here.

NHS needs extra £8 billion to cope with obesity, elderly, and cost of new drugs. Read more in the Telegraph here.

NHS cuts of £3 million, result in 89p meals, as chef wins culinary award. Read more in the Edinburgh News here.

Alvin Stardust is dead, aged 72. The singer was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. Read more in the Independent here.

Family forced to live in their car for 3 months. Deborah Talbot, her partner Gly, her daughter Rachel, and their cats, dog, and cockatiel lived in car after their house was repossessed. Read more in the Mirror here.

No official cat for Westminster mice problem. Looks like politicians will have buy some cheese and mousetraps - another excuse to abuse their expenses. Read more in the Telegraph here.

Aldi selling affordable organic food. Read more in the Grocer here.

Tuna with 'unicorn' horn caught by fisherman. See the video from AP News on YouTube here.

The Sun is unhappy. Storms on the solar surface. Read more in the Huffington Post here.

Tesco profits plummet. Tesco profits down 92%. Read more in the Guardian here.

I usually add photos to my blog posts, which are always owned by me, or Mr.R. Having rambled on for far longer than I intended, my eyes are now aching and as I don't own any photos relating to the 'news' stories I've mentioned I would usually do a quick doodle of them, but my poor eyes deserve a much needed rest.
So you have been saved from my bad art. ;) You are most welcome, dear reader. :)

I'm not sure why I've started reading more news over the last few days. Maybe subconsciously I'm hoping to find some good or funny news? It would make a pleasant change from the usual, that's for sure.
Have you seen or read any good, or funny news lately?

Todays News - In Brief

I don't often watch the news on TV, or read the news, either in the newspapers or online, because I think it's all too depressing, but today the sun is shining and I feel good, so I had a look.

Here are a few of the news headlines from today -
although some of these stories are not todays news, they're a day or two old.

• Ian Paisley, former First Minister of Northern Ireland, died aged 88.
• Eastenders actor John Bardon died, aged 75.
• Oscar Pistorius found guilty of killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Guilty of manslaughter, not murder. He is free on bail, until sentencing. 
• Robert Young, former guitarist, of Primal Scream died, aged 49.
• 60 dogs killed, and many others injured, when Manchester Dogs' Home caught fire in an arson attack. Jason Dyer, 41, and his nephew Dean Rostock, 25, bravely ran into the burning building and rescued 20 dogs. This is a heartbreaking story, but the outpouring of love and generosity from the local people in Manchester, and across England is truly heartwarming. RIP the dogs who died. 

It's not all death...
But it's not exactly good news.......

• Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, said drunks who end up in casualty at hospitals should be charged, and that their treatment should not be paid for by taxpayers. Hmm, interesting considering the amount of tax we pay on alcohol in this country. And personally, I object to the MP's wasting my tax money, not the drunks.
• Pre-orders for the new iPhone 6 crashed the Apple website.
• UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, wants the Queen to speak out about Scottish independence. He said she has spoken in favour of the union previously and should do so again now. He reportedly said it 'might be handy' if the Queen voiced her opinion. 

And now for some good news.
Well, about as good as it gets considering the mess us humans seem to be making of the World.......

• This evening Britain will experience a rare display of the Northern Lights. According to the news, Northern parts of the UK will get to see the impressive natural light display. That's something nice to look forward to, if you happen to be up North, and it's a clear night.

There were a million (almost literally) other stories I could have mentioned, but they're mainly about our inept corrupt politicians, or 'celebrities', neither of which deserve my time or attention.
And more importantly, in these days of prolific social media use, you really can't believe much, if anything, of what is reported.
It is easier than ever to spread inaccurate facts and to report made-up stories and complete nonsense.
It seems as though everyone has an agenda of some sort, whether it's to flog you an amazing new waist trimming yogurt, a miracle wrinkle cream, a car, or to convince you that so-and-so did not cheat on their partner with such-and-such a person, or that the West doesn't give billions of pounds to dictators while our own people are using food banks, or that we in the West don't sell arms to terrorists.......
Grrr, the list of the crap that gets reported as news goes on and on and on.......
So, most of the time there is little point in paying any attention at all to the news.

I wish the news was more positive, or at least had a happy ending.
I'm sure I remember the news being better when I was a child. The newsreader on TV would always end the programme with a lovely story about someone growing a giant marrow, or a Great Dane giving birth to 11 healthy and gorgeous puppies.

I want funny news, and I want funny news because there's no other news to report.
No murders. No rapes. No abuse. No violence. No war. No corruption. No crime. No natural disasters.
Just lots of funny news stories, about giant vegetables, sweet puppies, and love. Lots and lots of lovely stories about love.
I can but dream.......
Do you take much interest in the news? Or like me, do you find it too depressing?
Do you wish for a World where there's only ever good things to report?