Looking for someone to hang out with: Parents peg details of their children on a washing line in bid to find them a partner

By Rebecca Seales

Published: 15:07 EDT, 16 November 2012 | Updated: 15:07 EDT, 16 November 2012

Singletons in China are being hung out to dry by their matchmaking parents, who are advertising details about them on a washing-line in a bid to marry them off.

The bizarre dating ritual takes place at People’s Park in Shanghai, where parents peg out information about their grown-up sons and daughters in the hope of finding them an eligible life partner.

The adverts include details such as their child’s age, height, educational background, profession and income.

The typical requirement of a prospective groom is that he be a ‘responsible man with stable income’ or someone ‘who owns an apartment and a car’.

Women, meanwhile, are required to be ‘kind, have a stable job and preferably hold a bachelor’s degree’.

The keen parents then scan the dating adverts and chat to other parents in an attempt to match their son or daughter with a potential spouse.

One parent, Ma Jianhua, 55, who was attempting to find his son a wife, told China Daily: ‘I first came here six months ago after reading about the park’s matchmaking activities in the newspaper.

‘Since then I have been coming here almost every weekend. On days that I can’t make it, my wife steps in for me.

‘My son is too busy to date girls, so I am here on his behalf.

‘Although my son and I have different tastes, I can at least narrow down some of the girls who meet his requirements, by speaking to the girl’s parents. After all, a woman’s manner and character are often influenced by their parents.‘

Ma said his 28-year-old son was looking for a caring girl aged between 24 and 26, with a bachelor’s degree.

He hasn’t had any luck so far, as while he has introduced his son to several girls, none have made the cut.

He said: ‘I will not give up, as a father, I will not feel comfortable if I don’t do something for my son.

‘I know very well that there are all kinds of people here, but it’s a good platform. Nowhere else in the city can you find so many candidates.

‘Besides, I believe matchmaking works. Some of the parents I used to see are no longer here. I think they must have found someone.’

Parents of woman who died when Irish doctors refused to perform abortion meet with Indian government to demand justice

• Savita Halappanavar, 31, was found to be miscarrying when she was admitted to Galway University Hospital
• The dentist, who was 17 weeks pregnant, was denied a medical termination, and died from septicaemia on October 28
• Indian officials have promised parents Anadappa and Akka Mahadevi Yalgi all possible help
• Pro-choice campaigners plan mass rallies in Ireland calling for abortion to be legalised
  

By Rebecca Seales

Published: 14:53 EDT, 16 November 2012 | Updated: 16:49 EDT, 17 November 2012

The parents of an Indian woman who died of blood poisoning after Irish doctors refused her an abortion have met officials to demand justice for their daughter.

Savita Halappanavar, 31, was 17 weeks pregnant when she began miscarrying, and died of septicaemia a week later.

Her husband Praveen Halappanavar, 34, has told how he begged doctors at Galway University Hospital to terminate the pregnancy, but they refused to do so because she was ‘in a Catholic country’ and the foetus’s heartbeat was still present.

The tragedy has provoked soul searching in the Republic of Ireland, where abortion is illegal, as well as considerable anger in some quarters.

Campaigners are demanding a change in the law to allow abortion in the case where the mother’s life is in danger.

Savita’s parents Anadappa Yalgi, 62, and his wife Akka Mahadevi Yalgi, 54, met with municipal government officials late on Friday afternoon at the family home in Belgaum, South West India.

The grieving couple asked Belgaum’s Deputy Commissioner, Anbu Kumar, to help ensure every possible assistance from the Indian government.

Mr Kumar said of the encounter: ‘I visited the house and offered our government’s help where possible.’

A photo of Savita now hangs in the family home covered in a garland, as is traditional in India’s Hindu community after the death of a loved one.

Echoing comments made by her parents, India’s ambassador to Ireland said today that Mrs Halappanavar might still be alive today if she had been treated in India.

Debashish Chakravarti told RTÉ radio that he hoped the Irish government would take steps to ensure the circumstances which led to her death never arose again. 

Abortion is not illegal in India when the mother’s life is at risk, the ambassador noted.

Meanwhile Ireland’s ambassador to India, Feilim McLaughlin, was officially summoned by the Delhi government on Friday to discuss an inquiry into Mrs Halappanavar’s death.

Madhusudan Ganapathi, secretary (west) in the external affairs ministry, told the Irish envoy he hoped the inquiry into the tragedy would be independent.

He also conveyed the sadness felt by people in India as ‘a young life had come to an untimely end’.

India’s External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said of the tragedy: “Saving the life of the mother is of prime importance, if you can’t save the life of the child.”

Mr Halappanavar, Savita’s husband, has described how he held her hand as she died.

Reliving her final moments, he said: ‘In the night, at around one o’clock, the nurse came running, as I was standing outside ICU.

‘She just told me to be brave, and she took me near Savita, and she said: “Will you be OK to be there, living her last minutes?

‘I said: “Yes, I want to”. I was holding her hand, they were trying to pump her heart, there was a big team around. The doctor just told me they lost her.’

Mr Halappanavar, who works as an engineer at Boston Scientific in Galway, came to Ireland from India with his wife four years ago to start a new life together. She had a job in Westport, Co Mayo and the pair lived in Galway city.

Happy couple: Savita and her husband Praveen dancing at 2010 Diwali festival in Galway, video from YouTube

They were so excited about the expected birth of their first child, which was due on March 20, that they had an early baby shower in recent weeks when Mrs Halappanavar’s parents were visiting.

Pro-choice activists in Ireland have turned to social media networks to organise a mass protest against the country’s abortion laws on Saturday.

A rally in central Dublin is expected to attract several thousand demonstrators, and follows similar rallies on Thursday night in Belfast and on Friday in Derry.

A furious mother has been driving to her four-year-old daughter’s primary school to deliver food each day after the institution banned packed lunches.

Bean Primary School has banned packed lunches for children in Year 1 and Reception due to the need to guarantee a certain number of cooked dinners from the meal provider.

But parents are outraged by the implementation of the policy which they say strips their children of their choice between a packed lunch or a hot dinner.

Some also bemoan the quality of the cooked lunches – citing meals such as ‘onion bhaji and chips’.

However, the headteacher of the school in the village of Bean, Kent, insists the lunches are of excellent quality and include alternatives for children with special dietary requirements.

HAS YOUR CHILD’S SCHOOL BANNED PACKED LUNCHES? Email jessica.hamilton.mol@mailonline.co.uk 

Fay Armitage, whose lactose intolerant daughter Bonnie is in Reception at the school, is vehemently opposed to the new policy.

She says four-year-old Bonnie regularly comes home with tummy aches from school as she’s no longer able to control how much dairy she has in her diet.

Ms Armitage was hoping to send Bonnie to school each day with a packed lunch so she would know exactly what she’d eaten throughout the day.

But parents have now been forbidden to do so, as all children in Reception and Year 1 must partake in school dinners.

Ms Armitage has been told instead to fill in a special dietary request form so the kitchen knows what they can give Bonnie.

But the mother-of-three does not seem to think that is sufficient and sometimes drives to the school gates to allow her daughter to eat her packed lunch in the car.

‘I didn’t say she can’t eat certain foods,’ the 35-year-old, who works as a part-time healthcare assistant said. ‘I just monitor what she eats and make sure she does not have too much of anything that is going to upset her tummy.

‘I don’t need them to tell me every mouthful she eats, but just to give me an idea so I can adjust her evening meals accordingly. 

‘If she has had a yoghurt I would know not to give her one later. They just told me they didn’t have enough staff to be able to do that.

She added: ‘I think it’s ridiculous, to be honest.’

Ms Armitage also feels that in implementing this new mandatory policy to have cooked dinners, the school is taking away the children’s right to choose what they eat.

The new policy currently only applies to children in Reception and Year 1. But under the Government‘s universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) policy, the same scheme will gradually be rolled out to each new academic year group until it covers the entire school, and there are three choices to order from. 

Parents are now arguing that under the new policy, Unicef children’s rights, which the school is signed up to, have been breached.

‘Bean Primary School is a Unicef Rights Respecting School – this is highlighted on their website where Article 12 states that every child has the right to express their views, feelings and wishes in all matters affecting them, and to have their views considered and taken seriously,’ Ms Armitage said.

‘Yet the school is ignoring the fact that some children would prefer a packed lunch and is forcing them to have a school dinner purely for financial gain.

‘It’s disappointing that the headteacher, Mr Reilly, and the school governors are taking away the rights of the children by refusing to let the younger children have a packed lunch.

‘While I appreciate that the government offers UIFSM, this is an offer and not compulsory.

‘It appears Mr Reilly and the governors have promised the catering company a minimum number of meals each day,’ the mother added, saying the policy is ‘forcing the children in Reception and Year 1 to have school dinners while children in all other year groups have the option of taking in a packed lunch from home’.

‘This is going to result in children being hungry unnecessarily and is not safeguarding my child or putting her needs first. It is instead preventing my child from eating properly.’

Ms Armitage has suggested the school provide a simple sandwich option for lunch, but was told this wasn’t possible.

‘I’m in a no-win situation,’ she said. ‘If I don’t collect her she’s starving, but if I pick her up we have a tantrum when she leaves because she doesn’t want to go back.

‘It doesn’t have to be fancy – just offer her a sandwich.’

Other mothers of children in Reception and Year 1 at the school are equally unhappy with the mandatory new policy.

Lissa Jones, another parent with a child at Bean Primary School, said the policy could detrimentally impact the children’s learning.

‘A decision on packed lunch or school dinners should rest with the parents of a child based on the parent’s knowledge of what a child can and will eat,’ she said.

‘Being forced to eat school dinners that children do not want to eat, will not eat and being forced to eat can have a detrimental effect.

‘A child could be put off going to school knowing that they will not enjoy the dinners, not eat much and therefore affect their happiness and learning.’

She added: ‘Of course encourage children to try new things, but don’t force them.’

Another mother, whose daughter in Year 1 was part of the first cohort under the no-packed lunches rule, said that although the policy helps her financially she’s unhappy with some of the food on offer.’

She said: ‘It’s not really fair on her that most of the week she is stuck with jacket potato that sometimes isn’t cooked very well and she comes home starving.

‘Not to mention some of the meal options not even an adult would choose. Onion bhaji and chips? What even is that?

‘The children just aren’t getting a variety of food.’

In a letter, the school assured parents that staff were checking children had eaten enough and would ensure more of what they liked was available if not.

It was also stated that if a child was not eating adequately a member of staff would let the parent know, but that they might come home with an appetite due to their busy day.

Bean Primary School head teacher Graham Reilly said: ‘The policy was brought in a year ago because of the school’s need to guarantee a certain number of cooked lunches from the provider.

‘The quality of meals is excellent and we have received many compliments from parents and pupils.

‘There were no issues last year and the policy is being rolled out as each year group progresses, so children who have brought packed lunches in the past can continue to do so until they change schools.

‘The situation is explained to every parent who takes part in the meetings for reception-age children before choosing that school for their child.

‘There is a lactose-free alternative for affected children. It is not feasible to prepare a written report on everything an individual pupil has eaten.’

A spokesman for Kent County Council said it was up to individual schools to decide on their own policies and added there was ‘no obligation’ on them to allow packed lunches.

• Tired parents typically miss out on four and a half hours of sleep each night 

By Katherine Lawton

Updated: 20:08 EDT, 4 September 2023

Princess Andre led the celebrity offspring revealing their GCSE results as she went live on Instagram shortly after receiving her grades.

The daughter of Katie Price and Peter Andre, 16, told fans she had passed three of her seven exams, after failing to obtain higher than a four in the subjects.

Princess explained that you need to achieve at least a grade four in order to pass the exam, while the highest mark possible is a nine.

In the video, Princess was joined by her father Peter, 50, who told her he was so proud of her for ‘working her butt off’ ahead of the exams.

Princess, who is already signed to fashion brand PrettyLittleThing, said: ‘I didn’t pass all of them, but it’s fine, because I passed some of them! Apparently grade boundaries were really high this year.’

Peter said: ‘I’m proud of you, I think you worked your butt off. You know what, you worked really hard. saw you working hard, which to me is more important’

Princess revealed she received a 3 in business; a 3 in drama; a 5 in English; a 6 in fashion; a 4 in music; a 3 in geography and a 3 in maths.

Reflecting on her marks, she said: ‘I need to resit maths. I got 89 but I needed 98 out of 200 to pass maths. I think a four is a C.’

Peter reiterated: ‘I can’t speak for every parent, but seeing you work hard is all I need. Look what you got in English!’

Princess: ‘I was bottom set so the best mark you can get it a 5.’

Elsewhere, Jamie Oliver shared a supportive message to children with dyslexia on – saying it can be a ‘stressful day’ for those with learning difficulties.

The TV chef, 48, was among celebrities sending their well wishes on the Year 11 results day, while other nervous parents including Dan Walker revealed their child was one of the pupils awaiting their fate.

Jamie, was himself diagnosed with dyslexia in primary school, posted the positive message to his Instagram page on Thursday morning.

Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that primarily affects accurate and fluent word reading and spelling, which affects individuals of all intelligence levels and can result in poor or inconsistent spelling and writing.

Jamie has previously been candid about his experience with the condition and explained that he has ‘come to terms’ with not learning the same way as others.

Understanding that it may be a difficult day for some, the empathetic star admitted a ‘lot of bright kids’ may be disappointed with the GCSE results they receive. 

Writing on Instagram, he said: ‘Today is GCSE results day, which I know can be a stressful time. A lot of bright kids with dyslexia will be frustrated by what they receive, because the education system doesn’t play to their strengths – but I’m always keen to say don’t let this define you.

‘The wider world is more open to you coming at life in a slightly different way. You don’t have to be conventional, you just have to have the confidence to do it. 

‘And remember, school is just one part of your journey. We’ve come a long way since I was at school, but it’s nowhere near enough. 

‘We need to embrace everyone’s inner genius, which definitely comes in different shapes and forms. Whatever your results today, I know you can and will achieve amazing things! #gcse.’

Alongside his kind words, Jamie posted a picture of himself posing against a promotional poster for his book, Billy and the Giant Adventure.

Elsewhere on social media, Channel 5 presenter Dan, 46, revealed his eldest child, Susanna, 16, was one of the teenagers expecting their GCSE results.

Dan, who said it was the first time he was experiencing the day as a parent, said: ‘All the best to everyone getting their GCSE results today… and big love to the parents involved (I am one of them for the first time).’

Sharing his own experience of GCSE results day, The Chases’ ‘Dark Destroyer’ Shaun Wallace posted an encouraging message on his Twitter page.

The successful quizzer revealed that he had flunked his own exams and insisted that results are about more than just coming top of the class. 

He said: ‘Results normally follow hard work It’s not always about coming top of the class, it’s about coming ‘top’ of your potential But when you work to your full potential, results often follow. Speaking from experience, I failed my exams! Have a great day.’

He also posted a clip, where he said: ‘Nothing works until you do!’ 

Coronation Street actress Cait Fitton, who plays Lauren Bolton, shared a message of support on behalf of the soap cast on their Twitter page. 

In April, Jamie said he recorded his first books on a Dictaphone instead of writing them down because of his struggles with dyslexia.

Last year, Jamie discussed his ‘frustrating’ struggle with dyslexia in a lengthy post as he explained he put his resentment towards school behind him.

Posting a carousel of lengthy text panels, Jamie detailed his battle, beginning: ‘Something i don’t really talk about much is the constant battle I have with words and reading…without question it is a love hate relationship.

‘In the old days at school it made me very frustrated and resentful about school as an institution and over the years i’ve come to terms with not learning the same way as most people not as a failure but an opportunity. 

‘An opportunity to look at things very differently, I’m older enough now to have a little wisdom on my shoulders only gained by the way mainly through failures and learning from them and evolving and staying authentic o the original dream and trying again and again and I realise my grammar here is s**t.

‘I’m also using autocorrect which can get me in a lot of trouble sometimes but that’s my point… if you understand what I’m saying I’ve done my job.’

Jamie continued to detail his struggle during school, admitting that getting info on paper was ‘almost impossible’ as he recalled ‘hating words and reading with a passion’.

The chef is known for his cookbooks, having released over 20 books of different styles of cooking and cuisines.

But admitting he has ‘never written a word’ of any of them, the TV personality wrote: ‘Here I am 46 years old, written 26 books apparently one of the most published authors on the planet ? No I’m not showing off I’m in as much shock as you are…but ive never ever physically written a word! 

‘I used to write my books on a Dictaphone then when I was eventually able to afford to employ an editor I would then dictate to them and that’s how I work it’s more complicated than that because I’m easily distracted and my working day has to be structured in a way that I’m kept invigorated and not allowed to get bored = fall asleep.’

‘But that’s within our gift to try and manage our time best for us to thrive and find what ever balance we are looking for right ?! when I show people around my office they often say what do all these people do? and I say they are really good at things I’m really bad at! and I’m bad at a lot of things…and this is all true.’

Jamie ended the long post by explaining his reasoning for opening up on the matter, explaining that ‘many of us are not brought up to embrace the currency of failure enough’.  

‘I believe that if our relationship around failure is managed properly, it is the key to a much happier, healthier future. If you personally struggle with anything, maybe look at it differently and take a different approach. 

‘Everyone struggles, everyone has a story that can be used to propel them forward or pull them back and i believe it’s how you choose to look at it that defines which path you take …you just need to find a way around it, do your thing and problem solve and please dream.’

Jamie has now healed his previously resentful relationship with his school days, concluding: ‘I will sign off by saying I no longer am resentful about school – quite the opposite, I think that our teachers and our schools are our secret weapon!!

‘I think it’s more than time for an education revolution especially in times like this! We need to propagate and take real care of the seedlings ~ of the future and that will fruit all that we dream and crave for our diminishing economy.’

Teachers and parents are being warned to look out for new ‘High Light’ Chinese vapes that are designed to look like highlighter pens.

The vapes are packaged in bright neon colors that resemble typical pencil case items and come in 20 kid-friendly flavors like blueberry ice, mango and strawberry banana. 

But each device contains 50 milligrams of nicotine, the equivalent of 50 cigarettes and a level illegal in most European countries.

Nicotine can cause damage to children’s lungs and brains, as well as cause nicotine addiction, lung damage, gum disease and oral cancers. 

It comes amid a school vape epidemic that is expected to get worse when the new term begins in September. Data has shown that more than 2.5 million US children use e-cigarettes.

Previous research has shown that the average teen vaper in America starts aged 13, which has gotten lower since 2014. 

The vapes are made by Shenzhen Amdecig Technology based in Shenzhen, China.

The company website claims the devices are ‘not for minors’, but packaging and flavors are geared towards a younger audience.

Minou Jones, chair of the Detroit Wayne Oakland Tobacco-Free Coalition, told Fox 2: ‘Youth are hiding the use of these products in schools and from their parents which makes it very dangerous.’

Disposable vapes appear to be the e-cigarette of choice among youngsters, with most purchasing them from bodegas.

It is illegal in the US to sell vapes to under-21s, but many minors are still able to get their hands on them.

‘Because our jobs aren’t hard enough,’ high school English teacher Dawn Finley from Missouri wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). ‘These are vape pens and not highlighters.’

Stefan Bjes, a patrol sergeant who has served with a Chicago police department for over 19 years, and previously served as a school resource officer, told Fox News the vapes are ‘pouring in from China and are completely unregulated.

‘Since they are unregulated, they could contain dangerous substances that can cause long-term damage to users.’

The officer added: ‘There is no way of knowing their nicotine content or what else may be in them.

‘We know the Chinese manufacturers of these illegal disposable vapes are also making and trafficking to the United States.’

He strongly advised parents to explain the dangers of vapes to their children and for teachers to be on the lookout for disguised vapes in schools.

Early studies that warned of their harmful effects were dismissed as outliers at first, or slammed as disinformation spread by the tobacco industry suddenly threatened by the arrival of smokeless nicotine products.

But scientific evidence pointing to their harmful effects has piled up and shows they cause nearly or as much damage as traditional cigarettes.

CDC figures claimed at least 2.6million US children are hooked on e-cigarettes, reversing a downward trend in recent years.

The report found that 2.55 million middle or high schoolers had used the device within the past 30 days.

That marks a jump of 500,000, or of 24 percent, from 2021. It is the first increase since 2019.

Super-strength disposable devices — like Elf bars — were the most common type of device used (55 percent).

The vast majority of children (85 percent) had used flavored e-cigarettes that federal regulators have cracked down on in recent years amid concerns they are purposefully marketing themselves to children.

Lucy Letby‘s parents have not turned up to see their daughter sentenced after she was confirmed as the most prolific child serial killer in modern British history.

The nurse’s parents, Susan, 63, and John, 77, were a constant presence during her ten-month trial at Manchester Crown Court and attended every day.

But they were not present for the final verdicts last Friday, and again failed to turn up this morning for the sentencing hearing as she faces a whole-life order.

Mr and Mrs Letby had been so determined to hear all the evidence against their daughter that they relocated to Manchester from their home in Hereford.

But earlier last week, Mrs Letby broke down in court as the guilty verdicts began to be returned, crying out: ‘You can’t be serious. This cannot be right.’

Last week, Letby refused to return to the dock as the jury continued to return verdicts and the court was told she did not want to take any part in her sentencing hearing, and would not follow the hearing via video-link from prison.

She again refused to attend court today, despite being brought there in a prison van.

The nurse murdered seven babies and tried to kill six more while working at the Countess of Chester Hospital neonatal unit between 2015 and 2016.

Investigators suspect Letby had told her parents scant detail about the crimes she was being accused of before it was laid out in front of them in court.

A source told the Daily Mail last week that Letby’s mother was distraught when she was arrested in 2018 – wailing, crying and even telling police, ‘I did it, take me instead,’ in a desperate bid to protect her.

At the time of Letby’s arrest, her parents’ neighbours told The Times that the family were devastated.

One was reported as having said: ‘She’s an only child. Do I have to say anymore? I just feel for them so much. I feel so helpless that there is nothing we can do.’

Retail boss John and Susan, an accounts clerk, raised Letby as an only child in a 1930s semi-detached home in a cul-de-sac.

They still live in the same house – which they bought shortly after their marriage – and holiday in Torquay three times a year, taking Letby with them right up until she was arrested in July 2018.

Nothing suggests Mr and Mrs Letby were anything but caring parents who showered their daughter with love from the moment she was born – five months after they married in July 1989.

Growing up, Letby was a ‘delight’ to her parents – neighbours remembered.

She had a part-time job at WH Smith in the city, and her parents were immensely proud when she became the first in their family to go to university.

When she attained her honours degree they marked her graduation, in December 2011, with an announcement in their local paper, the Hereford Times.

Alongside a picture of her wearing a mortarboard and clutching her degree certificate, they wrote: ‘Letby Lucy BSc Hons in Child Nursing. We are so proud of you after all your hard work. Love Mum and Dad.’

A similar announcement, with an accompanying photograph of Letby as a young child, was also placed in the same newspaper to mark her 21st birthday.

But texts Letby exchanged with colleagues hinted she sometimes felt smothered by her mother and father and guilty about moving away. She explained they missed her and hated her living alone.

She appeared to speak or text them every day and described them as ‘suffocating at times’. She told one doctor friend who was considering moving to New Zealand that she could never do that as it would ‘completely devastate’ them.

‘Find it hard enough being away from me now and it’s only 100 miles,’ she said.

In a message to another friend, she wrote: ‘My parents worry massively about everything & anything, hate that I live alone etc.

‘I feel bad because I know it’s really hard for them especially as I’m an only child, and they mean well, just a little suffocating at times and constantly feel guilty.’

Mrs Letby sometimes broke into tears in court during the trial and appeared anxious during breaks when her daughter was undergoing particularly tough periods of questioning by the prosecution.

As the guilty verdicts were returned, Mrs Letby broke into a series of anguished sobs which continued even after she had left the court. 

WATCH THE MAIL’S LUCY LETBY DOCUMENTARY IN FULL HERE  

•  Parents said they take an average of 23 photos of their child a week

By Victoria Allen Science Editor

Published: 20:03 EDT, 18 August 2023 | Updated: 20:18 EDT, 18 August 2023

• An infuriated daughter has slammed Ryanair for charging her parents £110
• The elderly couple had already checked in but downloaded the wrong passes

By Jessica Hamilton

Published: 08:34 EDT, 14 August 2023 | Updated: 08:56 EDT, 14 August 2023

• Just one 350ml drink could theoretically tip kids over the safe threshold
• It can also cause shock and cause children to lose consciousness

By Chloe Louise

Published: 08:49 EDT, 11 August 2023 | Updated: 08:50 EDT, 11 August 2023