Hello and welcome to todays Levy Letter. Its Thursday, just two more Look North programmes before the weekend. I hope you can join me for both of those if you can. On tonights programme well be continuing our coverage of one of the big stories at the moment, the campaign across East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire to save threatened post offices. There are meetings being held today in affected communities. We'll be asking Postwatch, the consumer watchdog for post office customers about why they're supporting plans for closures.
Two weeks after Lincolnshire County Council's critical report into its care of vulnerable people, a new national review has rated the service as poor, and says the council is failing those who need it most. Greyhound racing returns to Hull tonight. We'll have a tour of the facilities at the Boulevard, and meet one of the trainers raring to go, and well meet some of his dogs too! And tonight we'll also meet the man hoping his former army troop carrier will prove popular as party transport in our region! I wouldnt get in the way of that party And of course well have the latest detailed weather forecast for our region. Thats all coming up on Look North at half past six tonight on BBC One. Birthday Blues This is a very interesting piece of research I read this morning, see what you think of this. Analysis of school results in Englands state schools appears to suggest that summer born pupils do worse in exams than those born earlier in the school year. Why? Well its apparently due to the difference in age between children born at either ends of the school year. Pupils born in August are going to be the youngest in their year, while those in September will be amongst the oldest, meaning tests are taken at different stages in a childs development. 60.7% of September-born girls and 50.3% of September-born boys achieved five GCSEs grade A* to C. In contrast, 55.2% of August-born girls and 44.2% of August-born boys did so. Thats quite a difference, isnt it? I have to admit, I never really thought a year in age would make such a difference. To fix this disparity, the researchers from the Institute of Fiscal studies suggested flexibility in when national tests were taken. As I said, its something that I dont think has really come up before, not that I know of anyway, but if you were one of the youngest in your year at school, or if you have children who are, there could be a significant disadvantage in taking tests almost a year earlier than pupils in the same school year. Superjumbo Now Im a bit of an aviation fan, but even if youre not youve got to admire the amazing feat of engineering that is the Airbus A380, or Superjumbo as its been dubbed. The worlds largest passenger plane has landed in Sydney after its inaugural commercial flight from Singapore. It flew for about seven hours, and apparently passengers paid between $560 and $100,380 to be on it! Thats an expensive plane ticket. The plane has two decks, a wingspan almost the length of a football field, it can carry an amazing 850 passengers, and parts for the aircraft are constructed in France, Germany, Spain, and the UK. The cabin of the plane has 50% more floor space than its nearest rival the Boeing 747. Its incredible when you really think about it that something that big can actually take off, let alone fly non stop from New York to Hong Kong, which its capable of. Another incredible thing about the plane is that its cost a reported $18.8 billion dollars to develop! It must be quite an experience to travel on one of those I would think. Nuts Theres an amusing little story in the news this morning I thought Id mention, its been reported by the RSPCA that a squirrel had to be rescued from a bird feeder after it climbed in, ate too many nuts, and got too fat to escape! The ingenious thief squeezed into the feeder, which was apparently supposed to be squirrel proof, and filled itself up, then found itself unable to squeeze between the bars. Animals are often finding ingenious ways to find food, maybe youve got a similar story or an even more unusual one, if you have let me know, drop me a line to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Thats also the address if youve got a story you want to let us know about or a picture for the programme, or if you want to send me something for the letter. Well thats about it from me, dont forget to join me tonight on the programme at half past six on BBC One. Have a good day. Bye for now Peter And for the latest news and more where you live, go to: http://bbc.co.uk/humber and http://bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the BBC Look North newsletter, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/looknorthhull/newsletter/newsletter_index.shtml, enter your email address in the unsubscribe box. 1.94.4
