Who Sold It To Him?

A 19-year-old man who shot dead his mother and two younger siblings at their home in Luton was also plotting a shooting at his former primary school, according to police. Nicholas Prosper admitted murdering Juliana Falcon, 48, Kyle Prosper, 16, and Giselle Prosper, 13, when he appeared at Luton crown court on Monday. He also admitted other offences including buying a shotgun without a certificate, possession of a shotgun with intent to endanger life and possession of a kitchen knife in a public place.

A shotgun? How do you get one of those without a license? 

Prosper murdered his family in a “cold-blooded attack” with a shotgun he obtained without a licence, said Chris Derrick, a deputy chief crown prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service.

Are the police looking into how that was possible? I'm thinking they really should be... 

Assistant chief constable John Murphy of Bedfordshire police said Prosper had intended to cause “maximum harm and distress” to the wider community. “We understand the deep shock this case will have on people within Luton and across the country,” he said. “We are working closely alongside Luton borough council to engage with schools in Luton to provide support, assistance and guidance to both schools and parents.”

Are you working to identify the illegal gun dealer? You don't mention it. Why not? 

But Won’t It Be The Customers Who Determine Success, Nils?

It’s a euros triumph already: the value of all the companies on the London stock market is greater than all those on the Paris exchange: $3.18tn plays $3.13tn, calculates Bloomberg. Actually, we should probably contain our excitement. First, the position is not groundbreaking: until only a few years ago, London was miles ahead as the biggest stock market in Europe. Second, the current position could reverse in an instant: it would merely take a marginal improvement in the value of fashion stocks such as LVMH, Hermès and Gucci-owning Kering that are heavyweights in Paris.

Well, I guess that's up to the people that buy frocks then. If, that is, they buy enough of them...

Relative size versus Paris is a diverting yardstick, but success for London should really be measured in terms of quality of new listings, capital raised, the ease of doing business and so forth. The fascination with pure size quickly leads to the current silly idea that it would somehow be a “boost” for London if Shein, the Chinese-founded, but Singapore-based, fast-fashion retailer could be persuaded to list here, carrying a supposed £52bn valuation.

Why is that a silly idea?  

What would count as success? Well, here’s a small example from another weekend story: the founders of Melrose Industries, the deal-making company that bought the aerospace and automotive group GKN for £8bn in a hostile takeover in 2018, will return to action with a London-listed investment vehicle. Rosebank Industries – a sort of Melrose 2.0 – will raise £40m-plus via an offering on Aim, London’s junior market, Sky News reported, before hunting for deals of up to $3bn and then moving up to the main market.

This is why I never dabble in finance. I cannot fathom from this article why one is desirable and the other isn't.  

Why The Sudden Change?

Canewdon Preschool and Daycare, in High Street, Canewdon, has been rated “requires improvement” in all areas by Ofsted following an inspection in November.

Oh, and why? 

It stated: “Staff do not help children to manage their feelings and emotions effectively or to understand how their actions affect others.

“When children's behaviour escalates, staff try different ways to explain why their response was inappropriate.

“However, this is not done in a way that helps children to understand, and they do not learn how to self-regulate their behaviour.”

Why is this an issue? More specifically, why is this the responsibility of the nursery staff, and not their parents? 

How old are these children? 

At the time of the inspection, there were 20 children on roll, all aged between two and four.

Huh!  

The preschool was previously rated “good” by Ofsted in an inspection in 2017.

So, what's changed? The staff? The children? Or the criteria for awarding the rating, perhaps..?

Mysterious Weather Phenomenon...

The annual event, which is Europe’s biggest free beach festival, was due to take place on Sunday, July 3. However, due to adverse weather, the event was cancelled.

Event organisers originally pushed the start time back until 12.45pm, but later confirmed the Big Paddle event would not be taking place.

Sunday 3rd July? The weather was great! What was the concern? 

“Our water safety team have been monitoring the weather conditions all morning hoping that conditions would be okay.

“We have been hanging on in the hope we could go ahead, so our sincere apologies if you have already left home.

“Thank you for supporting our event and we hope to see you all next year.”

But nowhere do you explain what the issue was...

So we go to comments!

Seems the readers are as baffled as me!

Stranger and stranger...

Is this a clue? Who knows! It's not like we can expect journalists to ask the hard questions, is it?