1. Haka back home
New Zealand has taken back the haka. For 10 years the French — of all people — owned the world record for the most people performing the fearsome Maori war dance with 4,028 having performed it at Brive-la-Gaillarde in southwestern France. The title was reclaimed last month when more than 6,500 people gathered to slap their thighs, pull faces and bellow the chant in Eden Park, Auckland, the fortress of All Black rugby.
2. Coal goal
Britain, where coal power was virtually “invented” in the Industrial Revolution, has shut down its last coal plant. The Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant in Nottinghamshire was the last surviving coal-burning power station in a country that launched a global addiction to coal 250 years ago. It puts Britain first among the world’s major industrialised economies to wean itself off coal.
3. Happy marriage
A UK woman who married herself in a £10,000 unofficial ceremony in front of 40 friends celebrated her first anniversary on September 30. Sarah Wilkinson toasted the occasion with fizz, flowers and a steak dinner for one. The 43-year-old said she had managed to avoid any marital spats — but did admit to breaking a “couple of vows”: that she would never run out of loo rolls or milk. She broke both. “I need to address that,” she said.
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