Chippy Tea?

Growing up in Yorkshire, Friday was generally "chippy tea" night.

We were lucky to have some decent chippies in the village where I grew up. My parents' house was at one stage about 2 minutes walk from the XL Chippy which was decent and did scallop fish cakes - which any northerner will tell you is NOT a fishcake. 

I checked on Street View and it's now a seafood restaurant upstairs.

Image: Alan Parkinson

I've got a reasonable collection of food-related books that reference the cultural importance of fish and chips as part of our identity, but also a meal that we owe to migrants: Portuguese and Jewish amongst others, as well as the arrival of the potato from South America and the risks taken by fishing boats in the waters around Iceland or even further north.

It's worth exploring the story of Fish and Chips.

I've produced a resource on this topic, which I've shared previously elsewhere.

It needed a little update for the 2026 situation.... and I've now completed that.

Fish and Chips - Have They Had Their Chips - 2026 by Alan Parkinson

There's an associated sheet here.

   

Fish and Chips by Alan Parkinson

A new resource which includes more details on the enquiry around this topic will be released in a few months' time as well.

Happy Finland

Last Friday was World Happiness Day....

And the World Happiness ratings for 2026 were revealed - and once again the Nordic countries are the happiest in the world, taking 5 of the top 6 slots, with just Costa Rica sneaking into the mix.

This BBC Travel piece explores what makes the Nordic countries so happy.

Iceland has gone up to 2nd place as well, which is good news.

Links with the Discover the World Education resource on the Happy Nordics.

It was not such good news for the UK.

Norwich: a fine city

Norwich has taken top spot in the Sunday Times' best place to live in the UK list for 2026.

My daughter lives there, and it's one of the places that I am considering with my wife for where to retire to. So don't tell everyone how nice it is... too late...

Here's a BBC article suggesting seven reasons why it's such a good place to live.

Here's a Radio Norfolk clip on BBC Sounds.

One for our Y7 unit explaining what makes places feel like home.... 

400 000 page views

Another milestone reached... thanks for visiting and reading!

360 tour of a Primark factory in Bangladesh

Used this again today to explain how Primark can price their clothes competitively and show inside a clothing factory...

IAPS National Geography Conference 2026

 IAPS National Geography Conference 2026

Peter King, who co-ordinates geography activity for the IAPS, has moved the date of the annual geography conference to Thursday 21 May 2026. This gives more time for people to book onto the event.

It will still be held at the lovely location of Beeston Hall on the north Norfolk coast, so we can take advantage of our location in the afternoon with a session on fieldwork led by Jon Cannell (Geographical Association).

The morning session will include a talk from Alan Parkinson (that’s me)…. (author, head of geography at King’s Ely Prep and Vice President: Education of the Royal Geographical Society) who will talk about curriculum development and Peter King will plan to share some ideas that have accelerated and improved learning in the classroom.

Here’s the title slide of my slide deck for my workshop. It will be modelled on my GeoLincs session from today.

We plan to kick off the day at 9.30am and finish around 4pm.

The cost of the day is £199 for IAPS members and £250 for non-member schools.

You can contact Peter King at the school, or click the link on the IAPS website.