HERO
Irn-Bru, which has reintroduced its original, high-sugar recipe after drinkers complained about a healthier version. The company changed the recipe to get round sugar taxes in 2018, but after backlash, have brought out Irn-Bru 1901 – based on the century-old formulation handwritten in a recipe book in their archives.
VILLAIN
Cedric the swan, who has for years infuriated the residents of a Northampton housing estate near his lake home by pecking at their letterboxes. It’s thought he might be looking for food or marking territory, but no one is certain. “Sometimes it does it for three hours at a time,” Stephen Legg told the Sun. “It is a bloody nuisance.”
HERO
Skye Neville, a 10-year-old Welsh girl whose campaigning has stopped Waitrose from selling children’s magazines with disposable toys. She enjoys reading the magazines but dislikes the “plastic rubbish” they come with, she told The Guardian. “The most annoying toy I’ve had was a rubber tongue. What is the point of that?”
VILLAIN
Antony Gormley sculptures on a Suffolk beach, which locals have complained look like sex toys (one of the four artworks is indeed titled Penis). The cast-iron sculptures were installed on the beach last August by a local art collector, but will now be removed – a representative for Gormley said they were positioned the wrong way anyway.
HERO
Rome’s traffic conductors, who have returned to Piazza Venezia after a year-long hiatus while the square was being paved. These policemen, much-loved symbols of the city, stand on a pedestal directing cars with their distinctive white gloves. Giuseppe Battisti, a 12-year veteran, told The New York Times all the role requires is passion, and “a little elegance”. The podium also welcomed its first female conductor this week.
HERO
Max Woosey, an 11-year-old boy from Devon, who has raised £270,000 for a local children’s hospice by camping in his garden for a year. Max’s friend, Rick, who left him his tent when he died of cancer, said: “Have an adventure”. Now mum Rachel can’t get her son to come back inside.