Cecilia Ezaz-Nikpay

Cecilia is an economist who started the first Newsnuggets group at Barnes Primary and coached at Belmont and St Thomas Primary Schools in London. For eight years, she worked as a journalist, reporting on current affairs and macroeconomics for Swedish magazines Fokus and Affarsvarlden.

She also worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company in Germany, and Enjoin Partners in the UK. The impetus to found a network of news clubs came from a deep belief in the role knowledge and empowerment of young people plays in a robust democratic society. She wanted to create a space for school children where any question is allowed and critical thinking is encouraged. Currently, she is the CEO of a food tech company, but remains a driving force and trustee in Newsnuggets.

Patricia De Mesquita

Patricia launched Newsnuggets at St Osmund’s Primary in London and is a freelance documentary maker whose career has spanned over 20 years of foreign affairs programming. She spent 15 years as part of the BBC’s core News and Current Affairs staff in London where she focussed on investigating terror-networks and radicalisation across the globe. Patricia has worked, lived and travelled in over 70 countries, producing and directing on many award-winning series and critically acclaimed strands including investigations for PBS Frontline, the BBC’s Panorama and This World.

Patricia holds a PhD in International Relations and received thorough editorial training with the BBC’s Academy of Journalism. With her extensive journalistic background, passion for storytelling and deep engagement in developing empathy, curiosity and a variety of perspectives in the next generation, Patricia has been appointed Managing Director of Newsnuggets Media Education. Her vision is to make its ethos truly global and robust media literacy a full part of children’s curriculum everywhere.

Peter Dickinson

Peter is a former TV producer at the BBC and Sky News and is currently Head of Communications and Audience Insights for the Science Museum in London. He leads the Newsnuggets Club at Barnes Primary in London.

Alison Hawksley

Alison Hawksley worked in commercial property before venturing into the entrepreneurial world as a co-owner of Lush, co-founder of Steamcream and Common Everybody – a platform for children from different countries to interact and build friendships on a one-to-one basis. One of her most rewarding jobs, however, was working with children with learning differences at Barnes Primary School – which inspired her to set up a partnership in 2009 with two schools in Rwanda. Through their local Newsnuggets Club, the schools in Rwanda work to foster strong cultural links, share stories and improve educational standards.
Featured
From: Barnes

Coronavirus declared global health emergency

By - 14/02/20 - World
The new coronavirus has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization, as the outbreak continues to spread outside China. Hundreds of people in China have died from the virus, mostly in Hubei, with many thousands of cases nationally. This outbreak needs to be neutralized. China has said it will send charter plans to bring back Hubei province residents who are overseas "as soon as possible". A foreign ministry spokesman said this was because of the "practical difficulties" Chinese citizens have faced abroad. Hubei is where the virus emerged in a fish market in the city of  Wuhan. The WHO said there had been dozens of cases in 18 other countries, but only a small number of deaths. Most international cases are in people who had been to Wuhan in Hubei. However in a few cases - in the UK, Germany, Japan, Vietnam and the United States - patients were infected by people who had traveled to China. This is the main reason China has shut its borders down.
From: St Osmunds

Deadly Virus Outbreak goes Global

By - 29/01/20 - Science and Nature, UK, World
Breaking News : British Airways has just suspended all its flights to and from mainland China today as a new deadly virus from China goes global. Coronavirus has so far caused more than 130 deaths, spreading fast across China and to at least 16 other countries.  Although there are no confirmed cases in England yet, 4 cases have been confirmed in Germany, making it the second European country to report cases, after France. Authorities in China have confirmed that the deadly virus has already infected over 6000 people and killed 132 as of Wednesday 29th January, with cases being reported in Japan, Thailand, the USA, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Nepal, Singapore and South Korea so far. Any people leaving China will be screened for the symptoms of the virus (a cough or a fever). The Chinese government have instructed no one to leave Wuhan, the city where the virus started.  And no one is allowed to enter. This is called a quarantine. Eleven million people live in Wuhan.  The UK government is arranging to evacuate Britons from Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province, with up to 300 British people thought to be in the area.   Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), which is caused by a type of coronavirus, killed 774 of the 8,098 people infected in an outbreak that started in China in 2002. Only 2.2 percent of confirmed cases have seen deaths at the moment, but this could be changing rapidly if the disease spreads and mutates. So far, there have been methods of treatment but no cure.  By - Charlie (Photo Credit : ACHMAD IBRAHIM – ASSOCIATED PRESS)
From: St Osmunds

The Rains in Africa

By - 27/11/19 - Science and Nature, World
Over 2.8 million people across 9 African countries have been deeply affected by catastrophic rainfalls over the last few weeks.  Dozens of people have been killed across central and eastern Africa after heavy rains triggered landslides and caused rivers to burst their banks. Kenya has most casualties: 130 people have died there and 250 across the region. On the other side of the Congo river at least 50,000 people were affected by the downpours, prompting the Congo-Brazzaville government to declare a state of emergency. Heavy rains and landslides have also killed dozens across the wider east African region during weeks of downpours, with 29 buried by landslides in Kenya and 10 people drowned in a river in Tanzania, officials have said. In Uganda it's also really bad with many villages flushed away. While there can still be some rain falling in January and February, the next rainy season is March to May. In Kenya typically the short rains occur in late October early November, but this amount of water is highly unusual and a consequence of Climate Change. in 2016 and 2017 the "long rains" of March - May failed entirely and the whole region suffered a massive drought. Weather experts from the UK Environment Agency said: “The rains this season have been enhanced by a phenomenon called the Indian Ocean Dipole which, when positive, can cause a rise in water temperatures in the Indian Ocean of up to 2C. This leads to higher evaporation rates off the East African coastline and this water then falls inland.” A relief worker from CARE International said: "Many of the people affected by this flooding are also the same that were affected by the terrible droughts earlier this year that left over 3 million people in food insecurity". It's important we do remember how real the changes of weather patters are. Scientists even say that extreme weather events will be the new normal if warming continues at its present rate. Floods: tips to remember (Source : The UK Environment Agency) 15cm (6in) of fast-flowing water can knock over an adult and about 60cm (2ft) of water can move a car Avoid walking or driving through flood water Move your family upstairs or to a high place with a means of escape Do not touch sources of electricity when standing in flood water Put plugs in sinks and baths Weigh belongings down with a sandbag or a heavy object Flood water can contain sewage, chemicals and animal waste so wash your hands thoroughly if you touch it. By Lara  
From: St Osmunds

Children Prisoners!

By - 14/10/19 - People, World
180 children are currently held in the prisons of Madagascar accused of stealing vanilla. They are often held in appalling conditions for years without a proper trial. Many children around the world suffer a similar fate. In Madagascar, selling vanilla is a trading policy, it sells for at least $150 in exporting markets . Stealing vanilla is a highly common crime there. It is a big business for the African island, an expensive commodity and people will try to get hold of it and sell it to make some more money for their often very poor families. Children are suffering a great deal in Madagascar just for stealing something as small as vanilla. The prison conditions there are abysmal. All these children have are concrete beds without mattresses and all are confined to tiny cells, cramped together. They are prisoners alongside 2000 other adults, many of whom have committed really big crimes and the prisons are only meant to hold 280 prisoners. Some haven't seen their mums in years because their families are very poor and can't travel to the prison. A BBC investigation dated 1st October 2019, found out that many of these children can spend more than 3 years in prison for that theft without even a trial. And when they go to trial, most of them don't even get a lawyer to defend them. In prison, they are miserable, dirty and only get one meal a day and no-one to care for them when they fall ill. Those are only some of the many children being held in prisons across the globe, children in Iraq are being punished because of things their parents did , Palestinian children have been captured and are being put into Iran's prisons for doing nothing more than protesting against grown up politics.  Innocent children everywhere are suffering in terrible conditions, they only have each other to rely on. According to the latest figures from Human Rights Watch and the UN's Child Fund, UNICEF, an estimated 1 million children are behind bars around the world today. In my eyes, it's  wrong to send children to jail at such young ages, in such poor living spaces. Human wrights groups are protesting against this but people in power just won't listen ! By Zandile Photo Cred : Getty Images