University criticised over masturbation PhD

And other stories from the stranger side of life

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The University of Manchester has been criticised for allowing a student to publish a “PhD in masturbation”, The Telegraph reported. Karl Andersson said he embarked on a three-month timetable of masturbating to Japanese comic books and making notes on each session. “It was necessary to be diligent enough to abstain from the ‘milk and muesli’ of porn during this experiment,” he explained. Conservative MP Neil O’Brien asked: “Why should hard-working taxpayers in my constituency have to pay for an academic to write about his experiences masturbating to Japanese porn?”

Peta calls for Pork Pie Roundabout rebrand

Animal rights campaigners have called for Leicester’s Pork Pie Roundabout to be renamed as Vegan Pie Roundabout. Peter Soulsby, the mayor of Leicester, was urged to make the move to “promote vegan pies” and help prevent obesity, in a letter from the charity People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta). However, he told The Times, although the letter was a “funny and quite clever way of drawing attention to themselves and their cause”, any talk of changing its name “is just pie in the sky”.

Coca-Cola launches ‘dream-flavoured’ option

Coca-Cola said its latest flavour tastes like dreams, a company spokesperson has told CNN. “We wanted to create a dream-inspired drink that was recognisably Coca-Cola but with additional cues that bring to life the playfulness and brightness of dreams,” they said, adding that they “took inspiration from the technicolor world of dreams, adding a dash of vibrant flavours to our great Coca-Cola taste”. The company has previously launched limited flavours that were flavoured with “space” and “pixels”.

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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.