Update: 12:20

FE staff call on TUC to support November strike
Lecturers were today calling on the Trades Union Congress to support their campaign for better pay for staff in further education colleges, which is set to include a one-day strike in November. In a plea to coincide with the start of the TUC's annual conference, FE members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), who are expected to hold ballots in 25 colleges later this month, have called on the TUC to join the campaign.

Rockers Slade awarded honorary fellowship
Glam rock legends Slade were today given an honorary fellowship from Wolverhampton University in recognition of their contribution to the music industry. Noddy Holder, from Walsall, is now an actor well-known for his role in the TV-hit The Grimleys. Jim Lea, Don Powell and Dave Hill are still involved in the music industry.

Obesity represents human evolutionary shift
Worldwide obesity is now so rife that it represents an evolutionary shift in human body shape, an expert told the British Association Festival of Science, taking place at Leicester University today. People are undergoing a change similar to that which occurred two centuries ago when Europeans shot up in height by 30 centimetres or more, said Andrew Prentice, a professor from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.