Newspaper headlines: Software bug causes disruption in the West of England

Headlines on local websites and newspapers in the West of England have been dominated by one story this week; the software bug which caused global disruption.

Travel, banking and businesses were badly hit across the globe, and here in the west GP surgeries, tourist attractions and leisure centres were among the sectors affected.

Somerset Live reported that many medical practices had been “unable to access records or appointment details.”

Bristol Airport was also affected by the outage caused by cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, which said a defect in one of its software updates had hit Windows operating systems.

In other news, Yostin Andres Mosquera, of Shepherd’s Bush, west London, appeared at the Old Bailey on Wednesday charged with murdering two men, Albert Alfonso, 62, and Paul Longworth, 71.

Their remains were found in suitcases at Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol.

And sadly once again, knife crime featured in many local news outlets.

As the anniversary approached of the death of Bristol teenager, Eddie Kinuthia, his mother spoke to the media about her grief and the frustration that no-one has yet been brought to justice for his murder.

Seun Matiluko, from B24/7 reflected Irene Muthemba’s pain in an article which spoke of “how much she misses her son and his hugs,” and how she has “not given up hope that one day his killers will be found and convicted”.

A post on Bristol Live about e-scooters gained a lot of interest.

Alex Seabrook, from the Local Democracy Reporting Service, reported on data suggesting that “electric scooters are linked to about 100 serious road traffic accidents in the city every year.”

“Experts at Bristol City Council believe this data underestimates the rise in accidents linked to scooters,” wrote Mr Seabrook, “as reports from hospital staff suggest even higher numbers.”

There was plenty of excitement for the start of the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford on Friday.

Spectacular footage on the event’s official Facebook page and clips of aircraft arriving over people’s houses did well on local social media sites.

BBC Gloucestershire ran an interview with the longest-serving RIAT volunteer, Peter March, who has been helping out at the tattoo for 52 years.

Another big hit this week was ‘flying ant day’.

Bristol Live’s Ben Hurst’s story had the arresting headline, ‘Swarms appear and ‘seagulls are drunk’ on eating them’.

The occurrence takes place every summer when thousands of ants emerge from their nests due to hot weather and take flight together in black clouds.

Many people took to social media to talk about the phenomenon with some saying the natural event “should be a bank holiday”.

A top post on Burnham-on-Sea.com paid tribute to former cinema projectionist, John Smith, who died aged 96.

He worked at the town’s Ritz Cinema for more than three decades, and spoke movingly at last month’s D-Day anniversary commemorations about entertaining American troops stationed nearby during World War Two.

And finally a round up of the headlines would not be complete without mentioning the “daredevil” grandmother from Wiltshire given the job of testing rollercoasters at Alton Towers.

Several media outlets, both locally and nationally, posted pictures of Jackie Smith, 72, who said she was “honoured” to have been given the role of the resort’s “first chief thrill-seeker”.

Ms Smith, who became the first woman to join the Parachute Regiment’s display team, the Red Devils, in 1971, said: “I can’t wait to bring my expertise from a lifetime of adventure to help ensure they continue to set new standards.”