Balmoral estate not planning to use planning permissions to plan weddings

The King's Balmoral estate has said it has no plans to allow wedding planners to plan weddings despite submitting plans to expand events in one of its buildings.

An application has been lodged to revamp the planetarium - in plain sight of the main Royal castle - to allow it to host up to 277 guests, plan live performances and music and serve alcohol up to 00:30.

Balmoral has been the Royal Family's Scottish holiday home since the 19th Century, and was where the late Queen Elizabeth spent her final days.

Various outlets, including BBC News, had suggested it could lead to plans for couples to plan to get married on the site. But the Royal estate confirmed later that despite the plan to get planning, there is no plan to plan weddings.

Photo by martin bennie on Unsplash

Post Office admits pre-Horizon system Abacus may have been faulty

While the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal continues its work, the Post Office has now admitted that the accounting system prior to Horizon may itself have been faulty. Abacus seemed at first glance to be a relatively straightforward rod and bead apparatus, but sub-postmasters have revealed they had their doubts about its accuracy soon after it was installed.

Raj Williams, who ran a small village post office, said problems started almost immediately after he received his Abacus from Post Office Counters. 'It just didn’t add up,' he told us. 'I’d be pushing these beads about for each transaction and at the end of the day what was on the Abacus didn’t match what I had in the till. I rang the Help Desk but they completely ticked me off. Told me to pick it up and put it down again.'

Meanwhile, The Post Office concedes there might have been an issue with sum devices, but insists nobody is making a drama out of it and any compensation due will be tabulated in the usual way.

A spokesperson for Fujitsu commented, 'At least we’re not in the frame for this one.'

Photo by Kati Hoehl on Unsplash

Car powered by sewage is proceeding swimmingly

Engineers and students at the University of Warwick are working on a hydrogen powered car that is fuelled by sewage. The sloppy jalopy development is being supported by Severn Trent Water, a company not unfamiliar with getting themselves in the sh*t.

One of the students, Ami, explained “We have tried to make the fuel induction as straightforward as possible. With petrol and diesel vehicles you fill up at the pump. With electric you use a charging point. With our car, a simple dump into the intake valve and you’re good to go.”

For their part Severn Trent have insisted more than one prototype is being built as backups will be inevitable, and they have also requested the vehicle is amphibious, so during heavy storms it can be treated as normal and pushed into the river.

Photo by Patrick Federi on Unsplash