Oops I did it again.

The words of the ever famous Britney Spears may become more popular than she had ever anticipated. In a bid to rid the streets of asbo's and delinquent youths, the government has decided that if you do not pass your maths and english GCSE's then you must retake it... again, and again, and again until you pass!


Now I'm not normally one to side with the government but YES! I agree. I believe it is very difficult to get hired anywhere these days without even a C in these core subjects. And as for those with an entrepreneurial spirit, yes the veterans of booming business left school at 16 BUT something tells me they had more in their heads than dreams of compiling pound (or dollar) signs. 


The statistics are a little shocking with over 300,000 students not having a Maths or English GCSE grade  but do we think that it is the governments job to decide what these kids do with their lives? I do (for once!) I was actually inspired to write this blog this morning after reading a "ReTweet" on twitter that read: "the British education system is an embarisment" I must apologise to the person who retweeted this as there is a small chance that you are reading this. But I think that this is the exact type of thing that may be reduced ever so slightly if young people are pushed to get the  big C.


On the other side of things, it is still legal for a 16 year old to drop out of education altogether, and the same government who are proposing this have also axed the ever-vital incentive of £30 per week Educational Maintenance Allowance so one must ask oneself, if the kiddies decide that they do not want to go to college at all, then they are not forced to resit their GCSE's and... I'm sure you are catching my drift.

Lets wait for Nick Clegg to figure it out and see what he has to say about it.

Gahh! Gaddafi and Galliano

Howdy, So I am back and in full swing I believe... we shall see what happens over the next few weeks. From the title of this blog, you can see who I am upset with right now. And its the G's. No not G as in Don or 'top general' (thats my bilingual part translating for you), rather its  Gaddafi and Galliano:

Lets start with the Libyan Leader. If you are anything like me, you will nod and 'ahhh' about a topic that everyone apparently knows so much about until you actually find out the facts. But if you happened to miss the wave of news reports on the situation because you were sitting exams that required you to answer the same question on s19(1) FSMA and whether confidentiality overrides disclosure over and over and over aga...-


I'm so sorry I was ranting and that is completely off topic! But did anybody else know that 'p' is not just a letter in the alphabet and is apparently part of a VERY IMPORTANT formula:  7/400 x (£1.5m – ‘p’) x PCTCT/’p’. 


Gosh I just can't stop! So being inspired by the somewhat successful overthrow in Egypt, the residents of Libya have taken to the streets to stand their ground in indignant protest. As the masses poured into the streets of Tripoli Muammar Gaddafi made it clear that he was not going to go without a fight. The Libyan leader has held his position for a massive 42 years. It is then no surprise that while the protesters are saying 'times up!', they have been shot at and the bloodshed and death toll has begun to make it look like just another middle-eastern-war-torn-country. 


BUT do not shut down, this is a pivotal moment in history and I believe that we as young people can fight through the desensitisation that the media has subjected us to. If these protests are successful it could have massive implications on other dictatorships and if not massive implications on the way Libya is governed moving forward. I mean can you even IMAGINE having David Cameron (i'm ignoring the other one on purpose) sitting in power for 42 years and refusing to shift, its deep stuff. Anyway this is me just saying watch this space.

Now as for Galliano, a man we have all grown to love whether we want to or not. For those of you that do not know who he is (i'll be the first to admit I heard his name for the first time last year when a friend of mine was chilling in his hotel room as part of her internship!), he is a super-duper, futuristic, furiously fantastic designer. He has currently been suspended from walking the polished halls of fashion house Christian Dior. WHYYY! you scream. Well it is not without reason. 


His marvellously skilled hands were unable to reach his mouth intime to stop him from making some rather violent remarks along the lines of 'your parents would have been gassed' (and no, he was not talking about the slang term that means talking nonsense) and other praise for Hitler in the presence of some unsuspecting Jews having a not-so-nice Latte.


Meh, it makes me a little furious when people think in such ways but being subjected to direct racism in the past it has made me realise it is a fact of life, people will think how they think and we just have to thicken our skin and deal with it. That being said this is only in reference to remarks, anything past that and people should take to the streets of Tripoli! I mean Trafalgar Square.


Anyway I will leave you with a few of Galliano's beauties (apparently he is still making the royal wedding dress HA!) 

besos x

He said he likes me, so I've opened a savings account!

Yes thats right guys, its no longer boy meets girl, fall in love, get married, have babies, raise them then think about potential university fees and other financial splurges along the way. Not on this side of the pond. Our beloved condem government who are so highly regarded in this blog have gone and tripled the university cap, suddenly, drastically and without remorse.


I must say that I was told in order to succeed in my chosen field I should demonstrate no extreme political opinion, especially if it was anything near left wing. But meh, the word on the street from Through My Aiz is that the law firms have given up on people who study law at undergrad anyway.


Now back to the matter at hand, just incase you have decided to cut yourself off from the civilised world or perhaps even just cut off your ears after hearing your 64th online lecture at law school. From 2012, Universities will be allowed to charge up to £9000 for ONE year of education at their fine establishments. It is supposed to be a war on pointless degrees but it would be easier if they just axed the LLB because judging from the percentage of GDL students on the LPC that comes TOP for pointless degerees... I digress again (I'm so sorry!!)




But its not a free for all, universities have been strictly warned that if they even dare charge over £6000 they will be subject to 'fair access conditions' and will have to demonstrate they are improving access for disadvantaged students. Yes, thats right, prove you are doing all you can to ensure the poorer children can go to university, then when they apply charge them £27,000 for it. Excellent.

I know what you are thinking, I'm not a politician so what do I know? Well I do know that graduate unemplyoment is at its highest in about 20 years and I do know that certain members of certain parties in power in certain countries have never actually had a job/owned a business outside of politics in their life so don't know what it means to not have an allowance to take advantage of spend. And I also know that there is a new love story in town and it goes like this:


Once upon a time you meet a guy, he shows interest, you like him kind of, start saving! because IF you happen to have babies, it really will be too late to start saving £27,000 when they are born JUST for university.


Sigh.


Rant over.


I'm a really happy person on the inside. Please don't let anything convince you otherwise.

xx

Rapists to remain anonymous

Flicking through my daily selection of coalition government news (I am not obsessed) I came across an interesting David Cameron decision to protect the identities of those who have been accused of AND charged with rape.

I naturally thought, this must be a headline grabber, they couldn't really have cracked their skulls together to come up with this decision, I mean I thoroughly read the main parties manifesto's before I cast the red vote and it didn't mention anything about protecting rapists.

Well no, its true. Of budgets and bicycles and all the great and wonderful changes we will be facing in the next few years, this is one that is very controversial. There are currently no laws that restrict naming of defendants over 18 years old but the plans could potentially grant them anonymity before being charged and also before being sentenced.

This is likely to have an effect on other rape victims coming forward, as if it is not hard enough already. It also suggests that it is more important to protect the statistical minority of falsely accused than it is to encourage other victims to come forward and secure a conviction.

The Ministry of Justice have said "This is a sensitive area and careful analysis of the options and implications will be undertaken" and not much else.

Personally a change such as this will cause more harm than good, while my sentiments are with those that have been wrongly accused of rape (especially the poor wrongly accused celebs who seem to be fuelling the policy behind this love train) it is important to consider the psychological effect it will have on rape victims and even rapists.

Europe and The Battle of the Budgets

It seems like the politicians of the world have entered into a quiet competition whereby whoever takes the seemingly most drastic approach to controlling their finances wins! I'm still recovering from the outcome of the Emergency Budget (although note I am not as disappointed as I thought I would be) however it seems that Croatia's Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor has outdone our cool coalition couple.

The lady in charge has banned her entire cabinate from making use of their summer holiday allowance in a bid to help with the country's financial straits. Being the country's first female PM, Kosor has been dubbed as the 'Croation Maggie' by the press. Much like our beloved ex-PM, she has recently announced deep cuts in all areas of social spending.

Looking at Europe as a whole, almost all of the nation states have made harsh reductions in state spending in an attempt to contain a financial crisis but this is having a negative effect on stocks and the value of the Euro. European Commission president José Manuel Barroso says there is now “an emergency situation from a financial point of view.” Yesterday as he addressed the European Parliament at its monthly plenary session he added:

“What is at stake is the future of the euro and you could say to some extent the future of our European project”

One can only wonder how interested our government will actually be in maintaining the future of the 'European Project' as most Tory candidates favour either a “fundamental” renegotiation of Britain’s EU membership or outright withdrawal.

Anyhoo thats enough money/politics talk for now... I did this because it looks like the rain is returning and if you are not sun-frolicking then you can read through this!

xx