Beano comics sent to Australia

(Image credit: Beano/Somerset House)

published 31 May 2023

Beano comics are among a shipment of British goods to be sent to Australia and New Zealand to mark the start of two new post-Brexit trade deals, noted Sky News. After the agreements between the UK and Australia, and the UK and New Zealand, came into force at midnight, the Business and Trade Secretary, Kemi Badenoch, said Beano comics signed by the comic'’s editor, Penderyn single malt Welsh whisky, Brighton Gin, The Cambridge Satchel Co. bags and Fever-Tree mixers will be sent as goodwill gestures.

Medieval stand-up comedy script discovered

A study of medieval comedy has shown that audiences were “entertained with edgy satire, bawdy nonsense and a story involving an absurd killer rabbit that wouldn’t look out of place in a Monty Python sketch”, said The Times. A manuscript, dating from about 1480, appears to show how an “anonymous minstrel dared to mock kings, religion, himself and — perhaps most bravely — his audiences”, as he “performed on the Derbyshire-Nottinghamshire border, probably at alehouses, baronial halls and boozy village fairs”, it said.

Vast plume suggests life beyond Earth

A huge plume has been seen emerging from Enceladus, one of Saturn’s moons, has raised hopes of life outside our own planet. The satellite has has salty water and other conditions that leave scientists to believe that it could support alien life. “Enceladus is one of the most dynamic objects in the solar system and is a prime target in humanity’s search for life beyond Earth,” expert Dr Christopher Glein, told Earth.com.

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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.