SADLY, the writing is on the wall for traditional board games, in the face of computer competition. Subbuteo, the table-top football game that has kept millions of children amused for more than 50 years, has been forced to limp off the field. Monopoly, however, seems to be surviving the electronic onslaught.
Real-life footballers were taken to task by sports minister Kate Hoey who opposed ex-England player Ian Wright getting an MBE.
She wants sportsmen and women to be role models for our children, rewarded for good, not loutish behaviour.
Another boot was put into an unlikely target: the British Museum, beloved of school
parties everywhere.
The modern business methods of managing director Suzanna Taverne, a former investment banker, have provoked strike threats from workers, ranging from curators to cleanrs.
Ms Taverne was amazed to discover archaic practices when she took over the reins. She said: “I was rather astonished to find an organisation with a typing pool.”
Robbie Burns is also being dragged into the new century with a website to mark his 241st
anniversary.
The site gives the English meaning of some 2,000 of his 18th-century dialect words. No doubt thousands of professional Scots worldwide got “fou” on Burns night last Tuesday after sinking a few drams.
Back down south, some good news for London’s children: they are living in one of the most linguistically diverse cities in the world.
Philip Baker of Westminster university found more than 300 languages spoken in schools and homes, luring in leading international companies to the capital. What’s Old Kent Road and Mayfair in Urdu?
