3 18 APRIL 2024 GOOD NEWS IN BRIEF This week’s uplifting stories from Anna Shepard Perfect pizza Pizzaiolo Franco Pepe will bring his famed margherita sbagliata from Pepe In Grani restaurant in Caiazzoto, Italy to the UK from 29 April to 2 June. Franco’s pizza, seen on Net ix’s Chef’s Table, will pop up at Fatto a Mano across Brighton and London. The £16 margherita sbagliata – which translates as ‘mistaken margherita’ – has been named the world’s best pizza three times, and aims to delight customers and raise cash for charity. The big read Making time to read can be tricky, but World Book Night on 23 April is a chance to sit down with a book, by reading to a child, attending a book club or nestling down on your own. From 7-8pm, it’s #ReadingHour, a national moment to encourage more bookworms. To mark the event, The Reading Agency, the charity behind it, is donating 36,000 bestselling books to libraries and organisations including prisons, hospitals and care homes. Local lowdown A new service from the O ce for National Statistics makes it easier to explore data around the UK. From nding the best performing schools to checking broadband speed in a postcode, the online tool will also be handy if you’re planning a house move. It includes 57 local measurements, and searchable data on economy, education and health. ons.gov.uk Rare species on show Mountain chickens, spiny tailed skinks and rare Philippine crocodiles (below) are all part of London Zoo’s latest display. The Secret Life of Reptiles and Amphibians includes more than 30 unusual species, many endangered. One of the zoo’s star attractions, a Chinese giant salamander, was found in a cereal box at a postal centre in 2016 and rescued from the illegal pet trade. This year could be a turning point for plastic pollution, say organisers of Earth Day, a global event that takes place on 22 April every year to promote environmental protection. Its 2024 theme is Planet v Plastics, and calls for a 60% cut in global plastics by 2040 to help human and planetary health. “It’s an exciting time because change is within reach,” says Kathleen Rogers, president of Earth Day. “We’re advocating for widespread awareness on the health risk of plastics, as well as calling to rapidly phase out all single-use Progress in plastic pollution pact It could just be a small idea that you’ve nursed, dreaming of the day you turn it into a business. If so, now is the time, says entrepreneur Sahar Hashemi, founder of Co ee Republic and consumer movement Buy Women Built (BWB). Launched a year ago to shine a light on female-founded businesses, it currently has more than 1,000 members, with a combined turnover of £1.5 billion. Many can be identi ed by the BWB kitemark, including Little Moons desserts, Rubies in the Rubble condiments, the Dr PawPaw beauty range – all at Waitrose – or Astrid & Miyu jewellery at John Lewis. BWB has now announced a partnership with mentoring platform Digital Boost to provide a free online course for aspiring female entrepreneurs, which aims to reach 600 women this year. The six-week rolling courses cover topics such as market research, with mentorship The second-hand clothing market grew 18% last year and is now set to make up 10% of global fashion sales. The desire to live more sustainably and the rising cost of living is driving demand, according to a report by data analytics rm GlobalData, which also con rms that the interest in preloved clothing and accessories spans the generations and is not limited to younger shoppers. 10% Building on a female success story and support workshops after they end. She got the idea for BWB in lockdown after seeing a social media post saying we can buy from female-founded businesses, even if we can’t invest in them. There are 30% fewer female entrepreneurs in the UK compared to the US, according to the Treasury. “The world is full of women who have ideas but never take the leap, now you can. You’ll end up with a business plan and be able to really think it out,” she enthuses. Head to digitalboost.org.uk/begin to nd out how to join up. Anna-Marie Julyan plastic and push for a strong United Nations treaty on plastic pollution.” Also taking place in April, the UN is entering its fourth round of plastic negotiations, with talks in Ottawa, Canada. By the end of the year, it hopes to have signed the first legally binding global treaty to address plastic pollution, which has already been agreed by 175 countries. In the UK, since October, English businesses cannot o er, sell or supply polystyrene food and drink containers. Single-use plastic cutlery, balloon sticks and stirrers have also been banned, with restrictions placed on single-use plates, bowls and trays, and cotton buds and straws. This has been partly driven by the UK Plastics Pact, which brings together retailers, including Waitrose and John Lewis, to collaborate on eliminating singleuse packaging and making all plastic packaging recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. At 295 Waitrose stores, shoppers can now recycle soft plastics, such as cereal liners, bread bags and crisp packets, to be processed in the UK. FEMALE LED Pauline Paterson, cofounder of natural beauty brand Dr PawPaw (right) Photographs: Getty Images, Alamy
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