Christmas dinner is set to cost less than last year thanks to the rise of the discounters, bringing some welcome news for consumers bracing themselves for the expense of the festive season.

Good Housekeeping said it would be possible to provide the festive feast for just £2.66 per guest by shopping around various supermarkets for the cheapest ingredients.

It said the drop in cost was a direct result of the battle between the discounters and the traditional supermarkets pulling prices down for all consumers. The magazine’s sixth annual survey found the cheapest Christmas basket is down three per cent on last year.

Grim discovery on a city street

A piece of severed ear has been found in a street following a city centre brawl, police have said.

Officers were alerted by staff at the Sunderland Royal Infirmary who had taken a call from a man saying he had found the chunk of flesh in the city.

The discovery was thought to be linked to a fight in Derwent Street, off Park Lane and Stockton Road. A Northumbria Police spokeswoman said: “Police are in the early stages of investigating this incident; however, they are appealing for witnesses or people with information to contact them.”

Computer performs magic tricks

Magicians have long relied on sleight of hand and deception to thrill their audiences, but they may now have another tool in their box of tricks: a computer.

Scientists have for the first time “taught” a computer to create magic tricks, using artificial intelligence (AI).

They gave a computer program the outline of how a magic jigsaw puzzle and a mind-reading card trick work, and fed into it the results of experiments into how humans understand magic tricks. The program created completely new variations of those tricks using complex mathematical techniques and algorithms, but which can still be performed by a magician.

Clowning around for US parade

Hundreds of Macy’s department store employees and other volunteers in New York are being schooled in the art of clowning around.

A one-day training session dubbed “Clown U” has been held at the Lincoln Centre for people who want to be among the thousand or so clowns in the annual Thanksgiving Day Parade.

The “professors” were professional clowns from the Big Apple Circus, who donated their time. The volunteers will be divided into Keystone Kops, billiard balls, wooden soldiers and 25 more teams, each assigned to a balloon or float.

Teacher kills rabbit in lesson

An US biology teacher is facing possible disciplinary action after killing and skinning a rabbit in class to show students where their food comes from.

Nampa School District spokeswoman Allison Westfall says the Idaho teacher killed the rabbit in front of 16 students by snapping its neck on November 6 at Columbia High School.

The rabbit was then skinned and cut up in front of the 10th graders. Ms Westfall said the demonstration is not part of the biology curriculum and students who did not want to view the lesson were allowed to leave.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.