- Race
- Geographical Location
- The American Dream
(it does have to be said that there are still many hurdles to jump)
A New Bout Of Health
In the US healthcare is a major issues. I kinda described it in Obama's report card but it's one that is so embedded in US culture that it's like an Onion - there are a lot layers. For me there are three things that cause so many varying ideas, and give Obama such a very hard job:
(it does have to be said that there are still many hurdles to jump)
(it does have to be said that there are still many hurdles to jump)
Thatcher Dead?
On Friday 13th November Thatcher Died.
No, no not Lady Thatcher!
The cat of the same name owned by Canadian Transport Minister John Baird, that then got bulleted around the world and reported by a number of reputable news agencies.
And as the guy who received the text pointed out "If the cat wasn't dead, I'd have killed it by now."
Thanks for clearing that up!
No, no not Lady Thatcher!
The cat of the same name owned by Canadian Transport Minister John Baird, that then got bulleted around the world and reported by a number of reputable news agencies.
And as the guy who received the text pointed out "If the cat wasn't dead, I'd have killed it by now."
Thanks for clearing that up!
Going 'Nutts'
Ok first off I would like to state I wasn't even aware until a few weeks ago that there was a fully fledged drugs advisory board that was in almost constant use. It kinda explains a lot. So the latest big, official, reported-by-the-Telegraph controversy for Brown to have to climb the mountain of was the sacking of one of the members of this board, namely Professor David Nutt:
At the ripe old age of 17 I've been exposed to a whole load of PSHE lessons, and with this comes a whole load of drug education. The nurse at my particular college became near hysterical when giving us our annual little 'chat' about drugs. Clearly she agrees with the Government's reclassification of Cannabis (or if you're into that sort of thing skunk/weed/I'm not really sure of any others...). More liberal visitors to our school have then talked about how maybe reclassification came as a result of limited hysteria. The science teachers, none of whom have roles in the PSHE department it must be noted, taught us that no one really knows about Cannabis, although 'E' or Ecstasy was avoided at GCSE level. The whole thing is a bit of a mess really.
A bit of a mess is exactly what this sacking implies. Anybody who's been employed/employed someone/watched a crime drama/watched Casualty will be quite aware that sacking people just because they have said something that doesn't follow your line on the issue isn't really the democratic way to do things, particularly when that person knows more about the issue than you do. In fact to me (and this maybe because of my over exposure to them at A Level) it has smatterings of the dictatorships of Europe in the early 20th Century. Somehow I don't think that's the look Gordy was going for. But then again, controversy about drugs is cool: every western politicians association-of-choice Obama did it so it must be!
At the ripe old age of 17 I've been exposed to a whole load of PSHE lessons, and with this comes a whole load of drug education. The nurse at my particular college became near hysterical when giving us our annual little 'chat' about drugs. Clearly she agrees with the Government's reclassification of Cannabis (or if you're into that sort of thing skunk/weed/I'm not really sure of any others...). More liberal visitors to our school have then talked about how maybe reclassification came as a result of limited hysteria. The science teachers, none of whom have roles in the PSHE department it must be noted, taught us that no one really knows about Cannabis, although 'E' or Ecstasy was avoided at GCSE level. The whole thing is a bit of a mess really.A bit of a mess is exactly what this sacking implies. Anybody who's been employed/employed someone/watched a crime drama/watched Casualty will be quite aware that sacking people just because they have said something that doesn't follow your line on the issue isn't really the democratic way to do things, particularly when that person knows more about the issue than you do. In fact to me (and this maybe because of my over exposure to them at A Level) it has smatterings of the dictatorships of Europe in the early 20th Century. Somehow I don't think that's the look Gordy was going for. But then again, controversy about drugs is cool: every western politicians association-of-choice Obama did it so it must be!
Wild Things
Earlier this week a whole bunch of 'hoodies' (i.e. teenagers) became the next generation to enter and debate in the House Of Commons. In case that doesn't sound like a big deal it is the first time ever that non-MPs have been allowed to enter the chamber and debate. Obviously the whole thing had a slightly different spin to normal parliamentary procedure: issues debated included tuition fees and the voting age - serious issues relevant to the members themselves and their contemporaries (and no wonder - it's the whole point of a representative to represent the views of their 'electorate'). Basically, things got a whole lot more back to basics, with the member's taking their roles very seriously and literally, and applauding one another at the end of their speeches. On top of this things had a humorous and warm feeling, with older MPs and press taking the event seriously for once.
I personally have a lot of props for this event. I think it's cool to draw politics into the attention of young people as it's become a blase subject, all about personalities and cheats. Events like this follow the same vein that the election of Barack Obama did - it gives hope, a refresh, the possibility of politics having a different face. But most of all it shows all those politicians who never meet young people like us it shows that we're not all 'hoodies', that that's a minority who they've propelled into the consciousness of the ignorant. Teenagers have class. Teenagers have brains. Oh and we've got a whole heap of cool.
I personally have a lot of props for this event. I think it's cool to draw politics into the attention of young people as it's become a blase subject, all about personalities and cheats. Events like this follow the same vein that the election of Barack Obama did - it gives hope, a refresh, the possibility of politics having a different face. But most of all it shows all those politicians who never meet young people like us it shows that we're not all 'hoodies', that that's a minority who they've propelled into the consciousness of the ignorant. Teenagers have class. Teenagers have brains. Oh and we've got a whole heap of cool.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)