Question One:
A campaign to crack down bogus organic food is to be launched in Sidston, according to senior Trading Standards Officer Kenneth Pindar.
The inquiry, which will begin this week, is to look at sale of ordinary meat labelled as more costly organic products.
He said: “It is a crime which may appear to carry little risk because most shoppers have no way of telling if they have been duped, and the incentives to cheat are considerable.”
According to Mr Pindar, an ordinary chicken can sell for £10-£11 when labelled as organic while beefsteak can make more than £29 per kg.
In order to change the situation, a new test has been brought in with success by Food Standards Agency to measure the quantity of antibiotics in meat and see if it is a genuine organic product.
Mr Pindar said: “A local market trader was fined for re-labelling ordinary beef as organic, in a neighbouring area a producer was found to be selling allegedly organic sausages at a farmers' market.”
Figures show organic food sales are rising by 12 per cent a year nationally and currently are worth £1.2 billion annually, with sales of organic meat reaching about £200million a year.
Lawrence Platt, an organic beef farmer at Westfield, a village five miles from Sidston, said he fully support this campaign, “there are some of us who can point the finger at traders we believe might be trying to pull the wool over the public's eyes.
“They deserve whatever they get. It's a scam that must be stopped.”
Meanwhile, spot checks will be continued and suspected traders will face fines of up to £5,000 for each offence if they fraud.
A spokesman for Soil Association said: “We would ask people to report dubious traders, either to us or Trading Standards.
Shoppers should be able to have confidence in all the genuine traders in organic produce, whether it is vegetables, fruit, bread or meat.”
(324 words)
Question Two
Mr Arthur Staten was devastated to lose his twelve pigeons and newly-hatched chicks during a fire incident yesterday around 7:15pm.
The 70-year-old widower, living at 16 Wakeman Road, Sidston, called the fire service when he saw the fire in a series of wooden outbuildings at a bungalow.
Two fire crews spent more than two hours extinguishing the blaze and neighbouring roads were closed due to smoke.
The incident started when rubbish was being burned in the garden.
(80 words)
Questions Three
Sidston Merry Choristers is recruiting new members to join their choir.
They practise every Wednesday evening at Sidston Girl's High School between 7pm and 9pm.
There is a fee for practice nights except to offer newcomers the first two sessions free.
Anyone interested should contact Janie Timbers on Sidston 376568.
(50 words)
Questions Four:
Head Teacher of the school:
Why is there a need to add Chinese to the school's curriculum?
Do other school's curriculum in your borough also include Chinese? And what makes the school to do so?
How does the school reach its decision?
What do the the parents' opinion on the issue?
How important is it to learn Chinese?
Does the school's curriculum also include French, Germany or other foreign languages?
Representative of the parents:
What do you think the school's decision regarding including Chinese as part of the curriculum?
Do you want your children to learn another language? Why?
Why do you think the school make such a decision?
Do you think it is right to include Chinese as part of the curriculum?
Do you see the change just as to learn a foreign language, (no matter Chinese, Germany, French and at end of the day it is just a language) or you see it indicate another meaning - it is believed that China will become the next economic power, so learning Chinese might create more opportunities for the children themselves? What is your opinion about this?
Pupils:
What do you think to learn Chinese if your school include Chinese as part of the curriculum?
Are you learning other languages at the moment? Do you like learning languages?
Do you agree with school's new curriculum? Why?
What is the most difficult thing you can imagine now to learn a new language?
What is the best way to learn a language you think? For example, maybe go to a foreign country and stay there for a while, so you may learn quicker than learning a foreign language actually in your own country? What do you think?
Online:
A comprehensive summary of the story, regularly updated when information becomes available.
Web links guiding reader to appropriate sources of information such as the school's website, the BBC Learning Chinese website.
Cross refer to your newspaper which will carry a full story.
Invite reader to comment about the story and ask their views about the news curriculum planned by the school.
Create an online slide show to show the Chinese character samples as well as the Chinese culture.
Video:
Video key players of their interviews: head teacher from the school, parents representative, and the pupils.
Video pupils are learning Chinese.
Video local people's sound-bite views of the new curriculum.
Video local councillor or local MP commenting on the new curriculum.
Use the video of how the Chinese characters like as some background information in the news story.
Interaction:
Using text messages to break down the story and guide the recipients to your website or the newspaper about the story.
Set an e-mail alert to reader subscribers with the link to your web story.
Set up facebook and twitter page and invite locals to join and discuss their opinion on the new Chinese curriculum.
Invite reader to send in text messages of their views and publish them on your website or in the paper.
Ask your editor to comment on the story in his online and print editorial.
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