NUS protests against tuition fees

Prior to the elections, the Liberal democrats promised to stop tuition fees rising, the conservatives muttered something about unpopular cuts that needed to be made and Labour were too busy trying to keep up. Fast forward six months and the Lib Dem formed a new government with the Tories leaving Labour out in the cold. Since then a lot of spending cuts have been made, making the new government not very popular. As well as cuts, a rise university tuition fees has been proposed by the Tories and backed by the Lib Dems – the very same party that vowed to oppose the rise in higher education fees. So it is understandable that the people that voted for them feel cheated and betrayed.

Students unions across England have been protesting since the fee increases were announced with the first official NUS demo taking place back on November 10th. The news channels went all out with the coverage and what started out as a valid protest, unfortunately turned violent towards the end which was not the intention of the students union. The chaos was directed at the headquarters for the Tory party (Millbank Tower) and MI6. Students were subjected to being hit by batons and kettling techniques (I learnt a new term, although kettles do eventually boil so maybe not such a good use of word). Thinking about it if kettling is used to contain protesters whilst baton’s are used to disperse crowds... erm, well is anyone else seeing a problem here? Surely using both techniques on the same crowd at the same is a pointless exercise as neither method is working successfully.

Although the few people that initiated the rioting were not thought to be genuine students, it still didn’t stop some of the media from describing ALL students at the protest, as an unruly, violent, uncontrollable mob. One of those news people happened to be Sky News presenter Kay Burley, who is excellent at scary people unnecessarily and I think my favourite exchange has to be between her and an office worker from Millbank Tower.

Kay Burley: *an an overly dramatic voice* YOU must be terrified with the all that chaos going on outside? What are you going to do?!?!

Worker: *in a completely normal voice* Err, no I’m fine. I’m going to finish work soon and then go home as usual.

After a lot of fighting within the political parties and numerous student protests, this Thursday the government officially approved the rise in tuition fees, which in resulted in further protests. Unfortunately some members of the Royal family also got caught up in this, which was very unfortunate and totally uncalled for. I think the new government just weren’t prepared for just how many people would be willing to protest against the unexpected increase in fees. Also it makes me feel kind of proud that people are still willing to stand for what they believe in and not just take it lying down. Hopefully it will all get sorted out for the better soon enough but it shows that the British are still very much alive and willing to fight for what they believe in! Yay for Britain!!! :)

SNOWWWWW!!!

It started snowing on Saturday :)

A week and a half later and people are going crazy!!! Stuck in the house for long periods of times, schools and offices are closed due to the snow, frustrated at public transport not working properly. Crazy!!!

Looks pretty though doesn't it?

Sometimes two heads are better than one

... and sometimes it kind of creepy.

The Royal Wedding!

Honestly I am pleased that Prince William and Kate Middleton are finally getting hitched, but listening to people discuss it 3 days in a row is pushing it a little. I mean they have been together for 9 years (we’ll ignore that little hiccup back in 2007) so it was going to happen at some point wasn’t it?

The more cynical among us might say that the timing of the royal wedding is impeccable. I mean there is nothing like a royal wedding to divert your attention from the lack of jobs, the recession, a new government that we didn’t technically elect and so on. Other people just like the whole aspect of a charming prince marrying a ‘commoner’ (Kate is definitely not a commoner by standards!)

But no matter what others may think, the media are going to have the time of their lives with the coverage of this wedding. It has all the main requirements for a fantastic news story as it involves, famous people i.e. the prince marrying a ‘commoner’, it’s a new chapter in the story of the Royal family, something which fascinates (and infuriates!) people in equal measures and it distracts people from the depressing news of the recession. Who knows, perhaps the merchandise and wedding memorabilia alone may help pull us out of a recession?

Seriously it will be a significant national talking point for a while and not just the event but everything leading up to it. And I mean EVERYTHING! I mean it hasn’t even been a week yet since they announced but already the papers have commented on... (and I apologise for the following link monstrosity!)

Kate and her new in-laws, her choice of dress, her future job. William and his new in-laws, his choice of best man, will he be following in his father's footsteps and so on.    

Other questions such as Is Kate posh enough?, Kate's family background, the choice of wedding venue, using Diana's ring, people copying the ring, the call for a national Bank holiday, Gambler's galore and so on.

And the questions they’ll ask...

• How much will it cost and who is going to foot the bill?
• What will be Kate’s official title after the wedding?
• Will the wedding be televised and where will they go on honeymoon?
• Which designer will get to dress Kate and how much will her dress cost? 
• Who will be William best man and who will be arranging his stag do?

Regarding the last question, please, please let it be harry... can u imagine? lol. Anyway the point is it’s a hassle trying to plan a wedding at the best of times, but with everyone watching your every move, critiquing, analysing... aah, good luck to the both of them :)

Oh and regarding twitter trends; Ryan Reynolds is voted the sexist man alive? lol! But despite this and the royal wedding annoucement taking over everything (see it's already started!), I have to say more importantly EID MUBUARAK EVERYONE!!!

One of my favourite comedians

Yay for Micheal Macintyre!!! That is all :)

Gordon Ramsey’s best restaurant

First off, Bradford based vegetarian restaurant Prashad’s made it into the very select list of restaurants competing for this award – Woohoo! They then went onto to win the best Indian restaurant in the series – double Woohoo! But then Prashad’s makes it to the final as well? – Triple Woohoo!!!

Unfortunately they didn't win it though , which is a shame :(

Twitter (again)

First there was the ‘who to follow’ feature...

then I had no followers (Twitter fail)...

and then somebody went and tweeted a picture from outer space!

Speaking of pictures from outer space, a team decided to send a paper plane into space as a bit of a pet project – and it ended up costing £8,000. Ouch!

Record of world’s youngest mother

Every time I read this article, I still can’t help but feel shocked. I can't comprehend how someone so young, essentially still a child themselves, could give birth to a baby. It makes you wonder how someone arrives at that situation :(

The UK and France

I'm pretty sure everyone knows of the love-hate relationship that England and France have therefore it feels a little weird that they now have a joint defence treaty. This will be interesting for the both of us to say the least.

Jon Stewarts rally to restore sanity and/ or fear

For those of you that don’t know it yet – I love Jon Stewart and the daily show. It’s great to sit down at the end of a long day and just sit back watch some good comedy, get my dose of satire and have catch up on US events :P

So when Jon Stewart initially announced that he’s going to have a rally, I thought he was just being funny. But then he really did start planning it, an actual rally. And it actually went ahead.

The rally to restore sanity and/ or fear.

Clearly as I wasn’t there in person or watching a live TV stream at the time, here’s a link to a great article that summaries the whole thing.

Also this other website just lists some of the funny signs that were used at the rally.

A collection of my favourite ones is shown below but my absolute favourite has to the one above. Jon is NOT the messiah? Lol.

Yes, we can, but...

The midterm election campaigns have started and I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a tough time for Obama’s team. President Obama even went on Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show to try and get his message across.

Also no matter whatever news channel coverage you look at, they always seem to use a common set of stock phrases. It’s kind of like playing bingo; I mean you might even get a full house by the end of a program ;)

October stuff

Just a collection of articles that caught my eye over this past couple of months... and partly because I didn't have the time to write a proper post on each one :P

What's in your child's lunchbox?

Apart from the actual issue about healthy eating, what drew my eye to this article was the picture. Who has the time effort to do that for their child everyday in order for them to eat healthily?

Core blimey!

An apple that is half red and half green, naturally. Just a bit odd.

Leeds light night

Apparently it takes place every year. How did I not know about it before?

Torso issues? 

Guys apparently you can now get t-shirts to enhance your torso. Anything to avoid the gym then I guess.

The Russian baby - miracle or hoax?

Passages from the Quran are said to appear on a 9 month baby’s skin, which eventually fade and are replaced with new passages.

Education and women
Apparently educated women can influence and possibly extend their life as well as their partners. Well, who knew marriage had so many benefits? lol

Obama's lecturn
I hope that things falling apart is not a sign of things to come what with mid term elections around the corner. And yes... I am also worried about my new found interest in politics whether it is UK, USA or Pakistan. I should go away and do something trivial to displace these serious political thoughts.

Scotch tape wins a Nobel Prize
Just goes to show that you can still win a Nobel prize just by mucking about in the lab.

Girl power

A 20 year female criminology student has become the youngest ever police chief for one of Mexico's most violent towns. A tough position to be in... especially when you learn that town's previous mayor and numerous police officers have been kidnapped and murdered over the past few years. Eek! Good luck to her as it sounds like she's going to need it!

Old Broadcasting House wins prize

The OBH - some people really hate it, some not so much. The rusty building actually won a prize for being the world's best new tallest building, beating the Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai. Go figure :)

The Elephant's trunk
It sounds like the scene from The Elephant's Story, one of Rudyard Kiplin's Just So Stories, the one where the the crocodile pulled and created the elephant's trunk.

A toast to you

I'm always partial to a bit of toast, but then again some people just take it a bit too far. A daughter in law made a mosaic of her mother in law... out of toast. To show her how much she loved her. Okay. I have to say it is bloody good though!

Tony Blair

Aah, Tony Blair. He's never out of the news for too long, eh?

So I suppose the following doesn't how true anymore ;)

Location Lingo

Everyone has a nickname for their hometown and now a group of people with the Ordnance survey have set up database to collect these nicknames. The rule are that it cannot be an official name, it must be used by more than three for a month at least and it cannot be made up for a survey. Anyone with their own suggestions for their hometowns can visit Location Lingo.

September stuff

It's a bug's life
I just link the pictures to be honest.

The other silk road

The migration of creepy crawlies in South Africa's Kruger National Park... but on a much smaller scale in comparison to the wildebeest. And I'm guessing a different pace as well ;)

Slightly strange

Lady Gaga's meat dress
Just when you thought she couldn't get any weirder...

An earthquake in London - really?

As if the floods in Pakistan, the volcano in Indonesia and the other numerous disasters of late weren’t enough, experts are theorising that London is overdue for a major earthquake. I really hope not :(

The picture below shows the currently active Indonesian volcano in background. How scary does the dark sky look and could you imagine living nearby knowing that any moment now it could erupt? Very scary!

Silent protest at it's best 

This has to be the funniest way to protest.

Question: What do you do if your bank won’t lend you any money?
Answer: Simple, just brick up the bank entrance!
The article describes how property developer Cameron Hope, built an 8ft by 4ft wall in front of the entrance to the Barclays bank in Bournemouth.

Scientists have strated talking about a sixth sense

Well, now this is weird. A  study claims that some couples have similar thoughts and are so ‘psyhcologically alinged’ and so in tune that their brains start to work in sync. This happens when they connect on a deeper level – a sixth sense - and without any physical contact. How did they prove this? By using brain scans and analysing their nervous system via their heartbeats.

Clean freak
And people say I have issues with OCD and cleaning ;)

Last picture: Where's wally?

Um, did I miss anything?