So long and thanks for all the fish.

So that's me done with Uni 2009. It's been a good semester, but I'm glad that it's the holidays now. Ended the year with an exam/test type thing on the stuff we've studied in History and Context of Journalism. I think I managed to do okay. I had a lot more that I wanted to write though. For the first question on modernism I wanted to talk about other modernist writers more and how their work differed from James Joyce's, but didn't get the time. In fact I barely finished on time in the first place, so I'm glad I didn't decide to expand on what I wanted to say!

I'm quite intrigued by this assignment we've been set to do on Newspeak inreal life. I'm not quite sure if it has to be present day or recent history, or if we can go back a bit further like in Soviet Russia and those sorts of places. Regardless, I think it can be a fun task to do. May incorporate Horrie's Random Bullshit Generator as well, who know!

Don't think I'm going to do anything just yet though. May wait until the New Year to do any of my assignments. It'd be nice to actually experience my holiday!

This is the end, beautiful friend.

It's hard to think that WINOL is almost over for the year. We've a special bulletin tomorrow, showcasing the best of our work but after that it'll be a new decade before we're on air again!

It's a shame it has to end so soon, especially as we've really settled in our roles and got comfortable with what we're doing. It's been a really useful exercise, I certainly know now what I want to do in journalism, which is become a sports photographer. Oringally I wanted to work on features but since working on WINOL I've realised that's not really for me. Hopefully I'll be able to sort that out after Christmas as I'd like to join the sports desk and get some first hand experience.

I think we've made the most of the opportunity and have come up with some cracking stories such as our most recent gem, which was the Lib Dem poll rigging on our site. Without the third years after Christmas the pressure's on us to maintain such a high quality of work. Personally I like to think we can do it. We know how this works now and while there may be less of us, I think we know enough to keep the WINOL machine ticking over.

Today I vent spleen at the Royal Mail.

I never thought I'd actually write a blog ranting about the Royal Mail. Normally I'm quite the fan of our ol' posties, but this week they've royally got on my tits. 

I ordered a new pair of earphones online last week but I missed the postman on the Saturday morning that it got delivered. According to the little card they put through my door, it was being left at the Royal Mail Delivery Office on the other side of the city (despite there being at least two post offices nearer to my house but oh well).

Went up on Saturday only to find it shut (thought it might be, but you never know). Deciding I'd go this morning I caught the bus (£3.60 ticket to boot) due to it pissing it down and thought I might finally get my earphones.

It boded well, the place was actually open this time which was nice. However, it then went rapidly downhill.

Apparently they don't even have my parcel! After getting a card saying it's at the delivery office it turns out that's a load of bullshit. According to the man at the desk (who,  to give him his due, was very helpful and apologetic) it could either still be with the postman or could be at the post office just up the road from my house. 

If it's still with the postman, why is it still with him and if it's at my post office, why the hell didn't he put on the card that that's where it was?!

I left them my number so they can contact me when they finally find out where my parcel and when they do ring up I have every intention of telling them what I think! If this is the type of service that we can expect from the Royal Mail then I hope the next government does privatise the Royal Mail. Perhaps then we can expect to get our post!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1! We have lift-off!

Yesterday saw the launch of the second and third years collective baby; WINOL. After two dummy runs the previous two weeks, confidence was high in the newsroom of a fantastic first live airing. I'm glad to say we didn't disappoint and all went well! Word on the street (okay, the word of my girlfriend) is that it was a good broadcast so it's not just me being big headed.

Despite being beset with difficulties and unexpected problems (such as our main presenter being ill, network and loan counter problems etc) we soldiered on and put out a news broadcast we can all be proud of.

It's weird viewing the bulletin from the point of view of a feature writer. The news, sport and production desks and the people who work on it are a flurry of activity trying to get packages done and dusted. However, us feature writers aren't quite as pressured. Sure, we have our own stories to get in and editing and the like to do, but it seems we spend a fair whack of time on a Wednesday trying to assist the other desks in any stuff they need doing.

Obviously the more we do this the better we'll become. I just hope that we don't get really settled into our roles just as we have to leave them after Christmas. Not quite sure how we're going to be running it all on our own as well. Oh well, we'll manage, we're journos.

Democracy Live!

Having been recently introduced to the BBC's 'Democracy Live' page I thought I'd have a bit of a gander and see how useful it is as a tool for democracy (and also how useful it is to Journo's!).

'Democracy Live' is a new feature on the BBC that allows people to view Parliamentary meetings for all the major parliaments relevant to Britain, such as the Commons, the Lords, European Parliament and the various assemblies. These are broadcast live online and then recorded and aired when proceedings have finished. Furthermore, this content isn't restricted to those living in Britain either; you can access the website and live streams anywhere.

I personally think that stuff like this is fantastic. It opens up the democratic process to the public and they also get access to the European Parliament, something that people may not take as much interest in as they possibly should (especially with the Lisbon Treaty coming into effect).

I just hope that the public actually makes use of this facility. It's a fantastic opportunity for us to see how politics is played out and to really engage in the democractic process. Admittedly, things like PMQ's have become little more than a chance for some opportunistic soundbites, but still, the thought's there...

Freud and all that jazz.

So today we've been guided through to wonderful world of psychobabble and all the wonderful bollocks that goes with it. Freud, to me, comes across as a bit of a knob in all honesty. Even if we ignore his blatant hating on women folk (of which there was an awful lot), the idea that everything can be traced back to sexual repression and wanting to tap my Mum is laughable. The human brain is far more complex than that, as science has shown. Yes we have primal urges, but these run right at the background of our mind in our lower brain functions.

Religion also plays a major part in Freud's psychobabble, especially in regards to his analysis of women. Most mainstream religions repress women, especially the Abrahamic religions, which Freud thought to be a good thing. According to Freud, women are miserable creatures as their sexual functions are so appalling (aka periods) and so are themselves self-repressed due to this horrible act (everything is about sex, remember?). They also wish they were men and have this thing called "penis envy". That doesn't mean they see a guys dick in the shower rooms and think "Oooh, look at him. Wish I was as big as that". No, this is that they wish they just had a penis as vaginas are horrible things that bleed every month.

This is all quite frankly bollocks. I'm yet to come across a woman who craves to have a cock attached to her and while periods are kind of shitty, I doubt they cause women to become disgusted at themselves. No doubt there are women who wish they were men, but there are also men who wish they were women. Freud would probably just say they wanted to shag their Mum's but couldn't so they just wanted to be like her or something equally bizzarre.

While Freud is a nutter, not all psychology is as mental as he is. It helps people overcome mental illnesses such as depression and is a valuable medical practice. It also helps that modern psychology has pretty much discredited a lot of Freuds ideas, so putting stock in Freud's quite frankly sexist and insane theories is a short trip to the loony bin yourself.

By the power of Twitter! Democracy isn't dead!

Goodness gracious, Twitter's had an eventful week. On the 12th October it managed to get Carter-Ruck, a big scary law firm representing a company called Trafigura, to back down on an injunction against The Guardian newspaper. This injunction prevented The Guardian from reporting about accusations that Trafigura is responsible for the dumping of toxic waste on the Ivory Coast that may have led the to death of 15 people.

The news of the injunction was massive on Twitter, with Trafigura and Carter-Ruck topping the most discussed topics on site that day. This massive campaign by 'Twitterers' had an equally massive effect on Carter-Ruck: they were forced to drop the injunction and freedom of speech won a monumental victory. The implications of the injunction were gigantic, and the fact it even got to a stage where it took the power of the people for what was right to prevail is seriously scary.

However, despite having dealt a huge blow to a corporate powerhouse, Twitter wasn't finished being the centre of attention, no sirree!

The recent death of Boyzone member Stephen Gately left everyone surprised, saddened and baffled as to how a fit, young and healthy man suddenly dropped dead of natural causes. Sadness soon turned to anger, however, as Jan Moir's article in the Daily Mail (orginally titled 'Why there was nothing "Natural" about Stephen Gately's death') managed to cause Twitter to erupt in a way that made the Trafigura scandal look like a lovers tiff.

Her article resulted in a massive backlash from celebrities and the public, with Twitter being the major outlet from whichthe anger could be expressed. Notable famous faces that have striked her off their Christmas card list included Stephen Fry, Derren Brown and Charlie Brooker.

Jan Moir, unfortunately, is still on the Mail's payroll, but her article is being investigated by the PCC (even though they're useless) and could result in her justifiable sacking. More significantly however is the fact that major companies such as Marks and Spencers, Nestlé and Nescafé all voiced their disapproval of the article. This level of outrage has left Jan Moir's reputation in tatters and effectively ended her career as a journalist. As Derren Brown put it: "If Gateley's [sic] passing causes today's kind of gutter-journalism to be held to account, we can perhaps take that as a tribute."

The fact that this and the Trafigura furore resulted in action against two incredibly powerful insititutions shows just how influential Twitter has become in the short time it's been online. Combine this with its ability to convey breaking news at such a rapid pace (for example, as it did with Michael Jackson's death), Twitter is probably one of the most powerful tools available to a journalist today and I urge any journo who doesn't have a Twitter account to get one ASAP!

Give the BNP their spot on the BBC. Its the only way they can be shown for what they really are.

With the edition of Question Time featuring Nich Griffin, leader of the BNP, and representatives from the Lib Dems, Labour and Tories fast approaching on the 22nd October, the controversy over the move is sure to become a key news story over the coming week and a half.

A lot of bad press has been levelled at the BBC for giving the BNP a platform from which to spew their propaganda and while I'm by no means a supporter of the BNP, I feel this criticism is unfair.

Much of the BNP's leadership is unmistakably racist, with some having been known members of Neo-Nazi organisations when they were younger (including Nick Griffin). However, in the last European and local elections the BNP managed, much to my disgust, to gain two seats in European parliament. This gives them an unfortunate right to representation and the BBC, who are supposed to be unbiased, have an obligation to the electorate to air their views.

Far be it from giving the BNP and chance to expand their supporters, the BBC has actually given the main three parties the chance to really put them to bed once and for all by thoroughly destroying the wooly arguements the BNP have. All the main parties have to do is take a copy of the BNP's manifesto with them and show that it's more full of holes than Swiss cheese.

Unfortunately for us and the rest of the right minded people of this country, the BNP aren't some minor nuisance that will go away overnight. They're a party with support in a deluded electorate. For this, the best remedy is to display the BNP's views for what they really are; racism masked up as policy.

Who needs to know about particle physics, I mean we can't see the stuff, right?

Max Planck once said: "A scientist is happy, not in resting on his attainments but in the steady acquisition of fresh knowledge." Profound words and no doubt true. So why is it that the STFC (Science and Technology Facilities Council) have decided to "re-focus" the science budget towards more industrial sciences such as pharmaceuticals and biotech. So, despite the science budget being relatively miniscule at only £3.5 billion (it may sound a lot, but that's buttons and lint compared to the budget of the NHS or armed forces, it's been decided that research grants will only be given for a year at a time. Congratulations, you're certifiable morons!

I first noticed this due to following Professor Brian Cox on Twitter, who's got little northern knickers in twist over this and quite rightly so. While it's important to have significant funding for the pharma and biotech industries, more academic sciences such as physics also need their fair share of the funding pie. Massive projects such as the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, as well as smaller research projects that you get at Universities need the money to find the answers to the questions that we've been asking since we banged rocks together and climbed trees.

What the sciences really need is an increase in funding across the board. £3.5 billion is a paltry sum for what we as a nation are capable of. We risk being left behind other nations in regards to science and we've shown throughout history and to this day that we are able to be the best for science. From esteemed scientists such as Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawkins and the aforementioned Brian Cox to television documentaries such as Planet Earth and The Planets we consistently punch above our weight in the sciences. To risk throwing that away simply for a few million quid would be outrageous and tragic.

"Oh Mandy. You kissed me and stopped me from shaking...". Yeah, for all of 20 minutes.

So the Labour party has learnt to love resident Prince of Darkness Darth Mandelson. Considering the hoo-hah that surrounds him whenever he manages to worm his way back into Downing St that's quite an achievement. The (somewhat considerable) applause eventually died down and he was no longer the Rasputin-esque figure of yore, but a new darling for the Labour party to look up to. He had more charisma through the duration of his speech than Gordon Brown's managed in two years since taking office.

However, while his speech no doubt lifted the battered spirts of poor Labour supporters, the spring in their step will no doubt be unsprung when they remember that anyone with an ounce of grey matter can't stand the bloke. How crap must your lot be when the only beacon of light in the fetid mire that is Labour is a politician that nobody else likes?

I equate being a Labour supporter to like being a Newcastle Utd fan; you know you're really too good to be doing as badly as you are, but that doesn't stop you being a bit rubbish and everyone else having a good laugh at your expense.

You utter swine!

So an outbreak of Swine Flu has spread around the globe, prompting fears of a pandemic.

It's likely that this will all just blow over like Bird Flu and SARS did, but this is the same virus as the Spanish Flu which killed millions after WWI, so it has potential. Plus the people it's killed have been young and strong, not the usual victims of other types of flu which are the old, young or weak.

Luckily, because it's been around for so long, most people should have developed some kind of immunity to it (at least in theory).

'Oh Dearism' - The role of News Theatre in shaping the World

Adam Curtis, the news documentary film maker behind 'The Power of Nightmares' and 'The Century of the Self', created this short documentary film for Newswipe. He makes an excellent point on how the news has become a way in which the audience isn't driven to help people, but is actually driven into a state of apathy due to over-exposure of terrible events.

At face value, this may seem odd, as the dour presentation of the news in the past also did little to make people get up and act over the injustices of the world. However, the modern news industry has become so pre-occupied with the notion of 'bad news is good news' that images of starving children in Africa no longer stir the feelings in the public that there was after the Michael Buerk documentary on the Ethiopian famine of 1984-85.

Yes, there are still massive amounts of aid being given through money sent to charities from the public, but not that sense of guilt or overwhelming melancholy. People see these things on the television and donate a few pounds, but only to feel as though they're doing something about it and for their own peace of mind.

If there's one thing the Scottish like more than swearing it's drinking, so trying to pass a law to set a minimum price for alcohol when the PM's a Scotsman is going to be about as popular as a pork chop at a synagogue.

Personally I'm vociferously opposed to such plans. I can understand the reasoning (flawed as it may be), but I can't agree with it. Yes there's a drinking problem, but ramping up the prices isn't the answer. It's like papering over the hull breach in the Titanic with paper towels and spit. When you look at mainland Europe, which has lower age limits for alcohol, as well as lower prices, yet they don't have the massive fuss that we do over here. Drink isn't treated as a stigma and people are taught how to drink in moderation from a young age. This is the way forward, not trying to hide away or price out of reach that which the majority enjoy sensibly.

Northern Ireland.

With another shooting in Northern Ireland, this time resulting in the death of a policeman, is Northern Ireland seeing a resurgence of the sectarian violence that used to dominate the country, or is this a bad patch in an otherwise improving country?

With Sinn Fein not exactly helping following the less than emphatic condemning of the barracks shooting last week, I can't see how true peace in the country can be achieved without fierce condemnings of the attacks by all sides, so long as they are truly interested in peace. Sinn Fein tip-toeing round the attack I just can't see helping in the long term.

Northern Ireland has come a long way since the height of the Troubles. I've the good fortune of knowing several Irish people and they say that yes, it's not brilliant there, but it's improving and becoming more multi-cultural and more tolerant. My boss from my job back home used to be in the police force and was stationed in Northern Ireland for several years and compared to what he's said about it (not being to have your back to the pub for fear of being stabbed for instance), it certainly seems to be improving.

I just hope that these attacks don't result in retaliations and an escalation in violence...

Special relationship or relationship of convenience?

Gordon Brown and President Obama met in America today, repeating the lines we've all heard before about Britain and America's "special relationship". However, I doubt if the sayings about this special relationship match the feelings of President Obama. Pres. Obama's suspected feelings towards the British have been well reported. I'm sure that Britain and America will continue to work together efficiently, but I don't think it'll be the type of relationship that there was when Bush and Blair were in office.

I hope that the relationship between us and the USA is maintained, especially in such difficult times as I truly think Pres Obama will turn things around in the US and I personally wouldn't mind being part of that, even in a distant way.

Charlie Brooker: My idol, my inspiration, my God.

His article in The Guardian today was absolutely superb. He nailed what the government has come to in this country: a bumbling, authoritarian mire that views the public as small pieces of rabbit shit on their Ikea flat pack flooring. Just an absolutely superbly written, eloquent and hilariously damning verdict on the government.


Bring on the Summer of Rage!

Right Said Fred

I don't think anyone can condone the massive pension payout Sir Fred Goodwin granted himself following his retirement from RBS, despite leaving the bank on the verge of collapse following his perceived mismanagement of the bank.

Hopefully the Government will do the right thing and dramatically reduce his yearly pension to something more reasonable following his cock-ups. I also find myself actually agreeing with Harriet Harman, so it must be something pretty outrageous.

Getting the fuck outta dodge!

Looks like Pres. Obama is really backing his election promises. Getting the fuck out of Iraq is great, hopefully it'll push Brown into getting our troops out of a country we had no business being in even sooner rather than later.

Hopefully this doesn't mean that the troops being pulled out of Iraq will just be packed off to Afghanistan with a new lunchbox and some more ammunition. America, as pretty much the basis for which most stock markets takes its cue, needs to get its economy back in the black before it even begins to think about spending any more money or any more troops lives in another war zone. The "War on Terror" has cost billions upon billions of dollars and there's no doubt in my mind that if it'd never happened in the first place then there wouldn't be this recession.

On your marks, get set...BATTER!

It's nice to know that in times of economic woe, those that run the country still manage to find time to have a bit of fun. The annual pancake race, won by the Peers this year round, raises money for the charity Rehab UK, a brain injury charity.

It may seem odd for Parliament and journo's to race pancakes outside Westminster in a time where we're getting royally shafted because of a recession, but I quite like the fact it shows a human side to the people we all love to hate.

I'M WOLVERIIIIIIINNNNNNE!!

Okay, so last night was the Oscars, which I stupidly started watching at 11PM GMT, a full 2 hours before the ceremony started. This meant I got a lot of incredibly effeminate men talking about dresses and tuxedo's. Delightful...

Onto the ceremony itself. If it weren't for Hugh Jackman this would've been shit. He was incredible and the opening number was some of the funniest stuff I've seen. I may have woken my housemates up with laughter, for which I apologise. I'd very much like to see Hugh hosting again, preferrably with a bit more screentime.

Another person who put in a good show was Will Smith, who presented the technical awards. He was calm, relaxed and recovered from his verbal stumble well. Definitely someone I'd like to see host it in the future. I didn't know he was an Academy member either.

As for the awards themselves, some I agreed with, some I didn't, others I didn't really care.
I'm very glad Danny Boyle got the nod for Best Director. Not only is Slumdog Millionaire very well directed, Boyle's one of, if not the, most consistent directors in cinema today.

Can't say I'm as chuffed about Slumdog winning Best Film. I enjoyed it and everything, but it's not a patch on Benjamin Button. Also, the two actor awards ticked me off majorly. I've not seen Milk, although I'd very much like to, but Sean Penn just pisses me off. He looks like such a little shit-eating wanker I very much hoped he wouldn't get anything. Furthermore, I really dislike it when people make their acceptence speech into a political debate, even if I happen to agree with it.
Heath Ledger winning Best Supporting Actor also annoyed me. I liked his performace, I kind of liked The Dark Knight, but there's no way in hell his performance deserved an Oscar when compared to other performances even in The Dark Knight it wasn't as good.

Another award that pissed me off was WALL-E winning Best Animated Film. Pixar is one of my least favourite movie studios, but I still watched WALL-E prepared to be converted. Sadly to say that wasn't the case. WALL-E is, at best, rank average.

Original Score is usually an award I care most about, but that usually pisses me off no-end. I'm still pissed off that There Will Be Blood wasn't allowed to be nominated last year for some ridiculous technicality. I sincerely hoped Benjamin Button would get the award this year, but instead it went to Slumdog. Not devastated at that, I do enjoy the Slumdog OST, but still, a disappointment. I was glad that Slumdog won Best Original Song, if nothing else other than Peter Gabriel gets on my tits for some reason.

Overall, a very predictable awards ceremony, but that doesn't bother me, so long as films that deserve the awards get them which more often than not happened. This year's looking very promising for films so hopefully next years ceremony will be even better.

Tax Cuts! Coming to an economy near you!

So President Jesus H. Obama has been hailing the fall in the US tax bill that'll be happening some time later this year, hoping beyond hope that it'll give the kiss of life to the dying US economy. Now, I make no claims to be an economic expert, but aren't taxes needed in order to provide more money for the government? Yes there's the likeliehood that with a tax cut the public will go out and spend that excess money, but I don't see that being likely. People have been scared shitless by the talks in the media about this recession. If they see that they're saving money on their taxes, surely they'd put it into savings, not buy that 50" HDTV they saw at Wal-Mart?

Added to that is the $800 billion stimulus package that's been magicked into existence. Isn't this just the same problems sort of thing that got America into this financial mire (along with the two wars it's fighting)? Money being borrowed that just adds more and more debt? Wouldn't it be wise to follow President Clinton's economic programme that turned the American economy from a deficit into a surplus?

Economics isn't my strong suit, so I may be completely off base with this...

Empirical vs. A Priori

Okay, I'll be honest, I have absolutely no idea how this blogging stuff works, especially when it comes to something like politics. Personal stuff? No problem. Reviews? Piss easy. Politics? QUE?! Anyways, in true enterprising fashion I'll try my damndest to think of something to talk about and homework is as good a place as any to start.

So, from what I gathered from the lecture, Empirical...stuff, is things that can be proven through direct observation, gathering of evidence, basically stuff you can see with your eyes that you can't argue with. I guess one current event that's economically empirical is the current recession. The GDP of the country shrank for two successive quarters in Britain, fulfilling the definition of an actual recession (the good news is that the God-awful term "credit crunch" can play hide-and-go-fuck-yourself).

Mervyn King, who our whole lecture group now knows is the Governor of the Bank of England after being shouted at for not knowing it one lecture, has helped ease the collective brown trouser time in the country by saying...we're financially buggered. Oh. On top of this we've got some experts saying it'll be worse than 1929 and we'll all be carrying our wages home in the 4x4's that we can no longer afford to run and we'll resort to eating the leather of our designer label shoes and handbags which seemed such a good idea at the time.
However, such is the cyclical nature of these things that a boom will follow the bust at some stage. Also, Our Lord And Savior President Obama is in office now, so we no longer have the most powerful country in the world run by a government with the effectiveness of Team Rocket and the eloquence of the mountain men from Deliverance.

A priori I understand as being something that can't be explicitly proven until it actually happens. So for example, Westboro Baptist Church from the States were banned from entering Britain to protest at a play in Basingstoke called 'The Laramie Project', about a man called Matthew Sheppard who was murdered for being gay.
The reasons for their hate-holiday being cancelled was, the Home Office argued, to prevent them from potentially inciting hatred. In response to not being allowed in the UK they added a page to their website, charmingly titled God Hates The United Kingdom.
Now, while there's no guarantee that their protest would've been nothing but peaceful, it's highly likely that the claims of inticing hatred would've been accurate. The Westboro Baptist Church has been dogged with controversy in the USA due to its picketing of soliders funerals, as well as the funerals of homosexuals and AIDS victims. They claim that these acts are the acts of God, who's punishing humanity for its tolerance towards homosexuality and other things they view as sinful. This is also the same Church that was followed around by Louis Theroux in his BBC2 documentary: 'The Most Hated Family In Britain' and Keith Allen in his Channel 4 documentary 'Keith Allen Will Burn In Hell'. They also provided the only situation where I've actually liked Michael Moore in this clip from YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra_fAYl4Th4

Personally, I'm not sure I think they should've been prevented from entering the country. I don't agree with a single one of their opinions, but I also don't think they should be blocked from being able to air those views, even if they are forceful. Moreover, it would've made a great piece for our course.