A mum who changed her name to Pudsey Bear for charity says she has been refused a passport. The bank card of the dental nurse, from Prestatyn, Denbighshire, says Mrs P Bear, and her driving licence and a council tax statement lists her as Mrs Pudsey Bear. But the Home Office has refused to grant her a passport, deeming her name change “frivolous”. She said: “Everywhere else has accepted my new name – except the Passport Office.”
Wales Online (Daragh Brady)
Earned helplessness
A City trader has been left with egg on his face after a judge derided his claim that he needed a £26,000-a-year meal allowance in his divorce settlement as he cannot even make an omelette. Mr Justice Francis, the High Court judge, told Simon Entwistle – 42, originally from Bolton –that he should learn to cook after dismissing his application for a £2.5m settlement from his multi-millionaire wife. The judge also described Entwistle’s claim that he needed £36,000 a year for flights as “astonishing”.
The Times (Amanda Welles)
Edwardian mystery
A woman called Hannah asked if her Surrey home was haunted by the former prime minister David Lloyd George. Hannah asked experts from Help! My House Is Haunted, whether her house in the village of Churt was haunted, and whether they needed to exorcise the spirit of the First World War PM. However, the Help! My House Is Haunted team has said the 1700s spook was a murderer called Edward.
Metro (Adam Robertson)
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This article appears in the 02 Apr 2025 issue of the New Statesman, What is school for?