University tells students to take swimming test ‘online’
And other stories from the stranger side of life

A university in China has baffled students after it moved its mandatory swimming test “online” in response to the city’s Covid outbreaks. Shanghai University said students who had yet to complete a 50-metre swimming test before graduating could now do so from home. Students took to social media to mock the suggestion, said Insider, with one posting a video of himself diving into bed, complete with goggles and a swim cap.
Pizza web address causes confusion
The owners of a pizza company were left red-faced thanks to their misleading domain name. Welsh Italian Pizza printed their web address on the front of their stall at The BIG ICC Wales Wedding Fair, but ww.welshitalianpizza.co.uk made many attendees think the business was called “Wel S**t Alian Pizza”, noted the Daily Mirror.
‘Vicious’ deck chairs removed from park
Deckchairs have been removed from a park in St Albans due to “health and safety concerns”. The Telegraph said the seating, provided by a local café, was free for anyone in the park to use. However, the district council has now removed the chairs, with one official claiming that it “could be vicious” and “trap little fingers”. A petition has been set up urging the council to reconsider, with one woman arguing that “children can learn to use deckchairs safely like they do with playgrounds”.
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Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.
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