Round up of upbeat news snippets to get the weekend off to a cracking start.
Stumbled Upon: There are few things as joyous as the sudden, unexpected discovery of random street art. Like this in Germany.
A New Kind of Parliament: Imagine a place where social media unites rather than divides, forging consensus on crucial issues. Well, that's how democracy in Taiwan now operates after the government appointed a hacker as their Digital Minister.
The wurst is over: More than 40% of Germans are cutting down on meat, and vegan burgers have become a shopping mall staple. Research shows that they have done so out of concerns for animal welfare and the environment.
Who Doesn't Want to be a Princess? A Belgian artist has finally proven that the former King of Belgium is her father and suddenly she's a princess!
Wales: When most people retire they normally receive a thoughtful parting gift and a card signed by numerous colleagues. In good news for his colleagues at the motor insurance company he founded in 1991, the retiring CEO of Admiral, David Stevens, gave his staff a £10 million departing gift, equating to £1,000 per employee.
Andy Haldane, the Bank of England’s chief economist, compared gloomy forecasters to “Chicken Licken”, citing the folktale of the chicken who believes the “sky is falling” after an acorn falls on its head, and said they risked dragging down the economy even as the recovery was powering ahead.
Good News for Adventurers: A new documentary retraces Bruce Chatwin’s voyages. Written and directed by Werner Herzog, “Nomad” is a tribute to the late writer. Today, when many of us are leading more sedentary and restricted lives than usual, Werner Herzog has released a paean to 'getting out there'.
World leaders pledge to halt Earth’s destruction ahead of UN summit. France, Germany and UK among more than 60 countries promising to put wildlife and climate at heart of post-Covid recovery plans.
A good word for the times: shoganai. It's a Japanese word meaning “it can’t be helped,” and the nation's catchall response to any situation, large or small, over which people believe they have no influence. A more voguish translation might be “it is what it is”. A French person would immediately recognise it as a version of “c’est la vie”.
Just when you thought you’d seen it all this year, behold, the jask. Is it a ‘jask’ (jumper-mask)? Or is it more of a ‘mess’ (mask-dress)? The fashion world loves to coin new names for its ingenious hybrid garment inventions! This one's being sold at just £14 on the faster-than-fast-fashion website Pretty Little Thing. What we are essentially looking at here is a high-neck jumper dress with loops added, to pull the collar up to your ears covering your nose and mouth.