Westhoughton, England: Goings-on Across the Pond

Welcome to the first of a series of columns from The Informer, a British newspaper delivering to you, the latest news and goings-on from across the Atlantic. This edition, Co-editor Chay Brooks, writes his column:

In the UK at the moment, the hot topic of conversation is the mega-issue of Iraq. There is a mixed feeling in Britain of whether or not Britain should get involved in a confrontation with Iraq. There seems to be a lot of the so-called "doves" flying around. There are lots of people who seem to think getting rid of the latest evil tyrant in history is wrong. Maybe those people should listen to Iraqi ex-patriots who tell tales of mass-gassing, public torturing and deeds that are too evil to talk about.

Does the Iraq crisis sound like something else in history? Adolf Hitler comes to mind, when hearing tales of unjustifiable deaths, like those happening in Iraq every single day.

Moving onto more national matters, the national sports stadium, Wembley, is finally going to be pulled down. After laughable happenings with matters of building a new national stadium, its eventually going to be ready by 2006. Although, if building the £750 million project takes as long as finalizing the plans, it may only be ready by the next millennium!

Even though it happened early in August, the Commonwealth Games that were held in Manchester, are still helping the local area. More and more people are beginning to recognize Manchester as Britain's second city (after London), which has normally been held securely by Birmingham.

The Commonwealth Games were a huge success and showed that any future Olympic bid doesn't necessarily have to be made by London. It was hard to predict how well the impact of the games had on Britain, but the medal table was with the Aussies topping the table, although followed closely by England and Canada, I must add!

Westhoughton High School, the high school which The Informer is published for, is going through a big change at the moment with a brand new headteacher, Mr Loughran, coming to the helm. Not only has he brought new ideas to the school, buthe has also brought fresh motivation to the teachers of the school. Going back on the first day in early September, you could see how enthusiastic the staff was to bring Westhoughton High back to where it should be.

The school hasn't just got a new head, but also a new block. Christened "E-Block" by The Informer, the new building features six new, modern rooms. One for English, two for Citizenship and three for Information Communication Technology (ICT). Adding to the four other blocks, E-Block is a symbol of the new initiative in WHS.

That wraps up this edition's "Across the Pond" column from your British friends at The Informer. Don't miss next month's edition which will come courtesy of another member of the team.