Come spring, chances are there’ll be driving tours in fake panda cars along the A646 between Halifax and Todmorden, with overnight stays in dodgy-looking farmhouses. Happy Valley has done for Calderdale what Peaky Blinders did for Birmingham, and dark telly tourism is all about ticking off locations and looking the part (though I’m not sure hi-vis tabards will catch on). But there are three better, more active ways to explore the Calder valley. Two of these use the Calderdale Way, either the northern section or the southern, both of which involve hill climbs and traverses across fields, hedgerows, stiles – the usual argy-bargy of agricultural rambling.
Category: Sports
-
Warning over risky electric blankets sold online
Illegal electric blankets are being sold online which could cause electric shocks, a consumer group warns.
Which? found some of the products being sold are made “so poorly” they could pose “a serious risk”.
Separately charity Electrical Safety First says it found “highly dangerous” electrical products for sale by third party sellers online.
It wants new regulations to bolster consumer protection.
The cost of living crisis has seen a huge rise in the popularity of electric blankets as people try to minimise use of their central heating.
Nine out of the 11 electric blankets, throws and shawls Which? bought from third-party sellers on AliExpress, Amazon, eBay and Wish should not be sold legally in the UK.
The consumer champion group identified problems with how the products are made, the packaging, markings and instructions.
Which? found some products with electric wires that could easily be pulled out and others lacked the proper safety standard marks.
In addition to safety concerns, some of the blankets were incredibly inefficient and did not work properly.
All those flagged by Which? as having issues have now been removed by the online marketplaces.
Which? is calling for sites to bear more legally responsibility for allowing unsafe and illegal products to be sold on their platform.
The current approach puts most of the responsibility on the third-party sellers.
Sue Davies, head of consumer protection policy at Which? said buying these products cheaply on online marketplaces can put people’s safety at risk.
“The government must urgently act to give online marketplaces greater legal responsibility for unsafe and illegal products sold on their sites so that consumers are no longer put at unnecessary risk of harm,” she said.
Last week a Private Member’s Bill was tabled by Labour MP for Gateshead, Ian Mearns, to implement more regulation in this area.
The Bill, supported by the charity Electrical Safety First, aimed to “close a gap in the law” which has allowed online marketplaces to operate “without any responsibility” for ensuring that the products sold via their sites are actually safe.
Electrical Safety First found “highly dangerous” electrical products for sale by third party sellers across major online marketplaces, including Amazon Marketplace, eBay, Facebook Marketplace and Wish.com.
Boss Lesley Rudd said: “Households are perpetually being left at risk from products, such as dangerous electric blankets, as people seek to keep heating costs down.
“Without changes to the law, people will continue to be left exposed and vulnerable.”
AliExpress, Amazon, eBay and Wish.com all said they take safety very seriously and removed the listings that Which? flagged to them.
None of the third-party sellers of the products provided a comment to Which?
-
Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Noah Lyles target world records in 2023
World records come as no surprise to some of athletics’ biggest names – and one of Usain Bolt’s long-standing marks is under threat as a World Championships year gets underway.
American star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone believes “anything is possible” following her record-breaking 400m hurdles triumph to win world gold in Eugene last year.
The 23-year-old will be joined by compatriot Noah Lyles, world 200m champion, in Boston for the second World Athletics Indoor Tour event of the season on Saturday, where both athletes will compete for over 60m.
“It wasn’t a huge surprise,” said McLaughlin-Levrone on her record run.
“That was our goal all along. But it was a sigh of relief being able to accomplish it,” added the Olympic champion, speaking to BBC World Service.
Unbeaten over 200m in 2022, Lyles defended his 200m title in emphatic fashion as he broke Michael Johnson’s 26-year-old national record to become the third-fastest man over the distance in history.
And he believes beating Jamaican sprinting legend Bolt’s world record “will not be that hard”.
McLaughlin-Levrone, named World Athlete of the Year for 2022 alongside pole vaulter Armand Duplantis, produced her latest astonishing run as she took almost three-quarters of a second off her own 400m hurdles record to take world gold last year.
Improving her best time to 50.68 seconds in Eugene, she has now run five of the six fastest times in history.
That time over the hurdles would have placed her seventh in the final of the 400m flat.
The three-time world gold medallist’s stunning performances have led many to wonder when she might switch her attention to that event, in which Marita Koch’s record of 47.6 seconds has stood for 37 years.
“There’s room in both to accomplish great things and continue pushing my times,” said McLaughlin-Levrone, who will come up against world 200m champion Shericka Jackson on Saturday.
“I haven’t ran the 400 competitively in a few years. Once we decide what is best for 2023, that’s what we’ll do.
-
Missing radioactive capsule found in Australia
Authorities in Western Australia say they have found a tiny radioactive capsule that went missing last month.
Emergency services had “literally found the needle in the haystack”, they said.
A huge search was triggered when the object was lost while being transported along a 1,400km (870 miles) route across the state.
Authorities released a close-up picture of the pea-sized capsule – which could cause serious harm if handled – on the ground among tiny pebbles.
A serial number enabled them to verify they had found the right capsule, which is 6mm (0.24 inches) in diameter and 8mm long.
It contains a small quantity of Caesium-137, which could cause skin damage, burns, or radiation sickness.
Mining giant Rio Tinto apologized for losing the device, which is used as a density gauge in the mining industry.
A 20m “hot zone” has now been established around the capsule and it will be placed into a lead container.
It will be stored at a secure location in the town of Newman overnight before being transported to a secure facility in the city of Perth on Thursday.
Announcing their find, the state emergency services paid tribute to “inter-agency teamwork in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds”.
The capsule was found when a vehicle equipped with specialist equipment, which was traveling at 70 km/h (43 mph), detected radiation, officials said.
Portable detection equipment was then used to locate the capsule, which was found about 2m (7ft) from the side of the road.
The device is part of a density gauge, which was being used at Rio Tinto’s Gudai-Darri mine in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia.
“The simple fact is the device should never have been lost,” said the head of the company’s iron ore division, Simon Trott. He thanked the authorities for the “pretty incredible recovery” of the capsule.
Rio Tinto would be happy to reimburse the cost of the search if requested by the government, Mr. Trott added.
Australian authorities have promised a review of existing laws on the matter.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a news conference in Perth that the current fine for failing to safely handle radioactive substances is “ridiculously low”. It currently stands at A$1,000 ($700, £575) and A$50 ($35, £30) for every day that the offense continues.