Sept 18th, 2012: What’s trending and why?

Ebacc, Champions League, Jimi Hendrix, Romney and London Fashion Week are all trending on Twitter today.

EBacc

Education Secretary Michael Gove has announced a replacement for GCSEs; a new exam called the English Baccalaureate certificate, or EBacc. Gove says the qualifications will be more rigorous than GCSEs and concentrate on traditional academic subjects.

i Editor, Stefano Hatfield, ( @StefanoHat) writes that merely teaching kids just to pass exams is self-destructive, we should be focusing on better education, not just exam grades.

Commentator, Annalisa Barbieri ( @AnnalisaB) , writes for our new Independent Voices section about the strictness of the EBacc and what it means for education as a whole: "You’ll pass or you’ll fail. There will be no re-sitting of individual modules; the entire exam would have to be repeated. Children will be judged on nothing other than their exam paper."

Champions League

As usual, some football is happening. More here.

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall Hendrix died 42 years ago today (September 18 1970). He was originally named John Allen Hendrix , but when his father returned from World War II, he divorced Hendrix's alcoholic mother and renamed him James Marshall. The " Encyclopedia of People Who Changed the World" says, "widely considered to be the greatest instrumentalist in rock music, Jimi Hendrix invented a completely new sound for the electric guitar over a period of just a few years."

The 'official Jimi Hendrix Twitter feed' says, " Help shape the future of JimiHendrixPark and the development of the JimiHendrix Sound Wave Wall http://www.indiegogo.com/jimijhendrixpark?c=home"

@DownloadFest tweets: " We lost one of the world’s greatest axemen 42 years ago today. RIP Jimi Hendrix – hope you’re rocking hard up there http://yfrog.com/esu52rvtj"

Romney

Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has faltered, as he told a room of wealthy donors yesterday, "my job is not to worry" about attempting to appeal to poor people.

Independent Voices editor, Amol Rajan ( @amolrajan) gives his view that this is the moment Romney probably lost the election.

@ ‏Gary_Bainbridge tweets: "We laugh at Mitt Romney, but if he were British we'd probably elect him Mayor of London."

London Fashion Week, Mulberry, #lfw

The Mulberry Spring/Summer 2013 show is about to start. According to Twitter, scary fashion mag editor Anna Wintour, songstress Lana del Rey, shiny-haired Olivia Palermo and the stars of Downton Abbey are all there, eagerly awaiting @Mulberry_Editor's offerings. Read our report on yesterday's 50's-inspired Burberry show here.