Every Welsh local authority “must secure sufficient play opportunities in its area for children”, according to the measure passed by Cardiff’s parliamentarians in 2010. It is, says Mike Barclay, who used to do Roberts’s job in neighbouring Wrexham, “a beautiful piece of legislation”. It encourages councils to ask children what events and activities they want, and to reflect their desires in annual play action plans. It puts every blueprint for a new housing estate or plan for a bypass under scrutiny for how it will affect children’s play. And it gives play officers like Roberts extra ammo when they need cash to organise aquaslides. It makes Wales the first country in the world to take play seriously.
Bill Fulkerson on 07 Aug 20When telling a story, common but invisible words-a, the, it-are used in certain ways and at certain moments. In a study published in Science Advances, researchers from The University of Texas at Austin and Lancaster University in Lancaster, United Kingdom, recorded the use of such words across thousands of fictional and nonfictional stories, mapping a universal blueprint for storytelling.
