Tis but a scratch.

To say that I am a journalist is far from the mark, to say that I am training to be a journalist is still far from the mark. I am currently about to start my second term of University where Journalism is my minor, it is not my goal in my life to be a journalist, my goal in life is to be happy. But that is irrelevant.  At the start of my course I was in a big lecture hall with my fellow students and we were told what we need to do, what makes a budding journalist, but also what the short comings of being a journalist might be, such as; people finding you nosey, endless hours of editing, trying to find clever people on a high street, and so on, but at no point through this lecture did I get told that there is possibility I might get killed because of something I produce.

The murders in France are horrible, they are barbaric attacks from a deranged group of men who I will not give the reward of calling Muslim, because they don't represent any religion, they are just men who obviously have inferiority complexes. Your beliefs must be pretty weak if you get so upset by a magazine that up until today majority of the world did not know existed.

Freedom of speech is a weapon that can be used in both ways, it can be used to spread hate and lies, examples being the KKK, and Britain First. But today it has been used to show that a country does not get scared easily, a country does not take the loss of its 12 citizen lightly. In the streets on Paris and cities around the world people are standing together to let these deranged men know that Freedom of speech will never be tarnished, it will never be stopped.

I have been known to offend people with off the cuff comments that I make in conversation, I suppose this comes from the fact that, I don't get offended, If people make jokes about dyslexics I am normally the first to come up with another. Lets not forget folks that Dyslexia is a disability in the eyes of the government. Also I have been called sheep shagger on many occasions, even though I'm half Welsh and wool irritates my skin. This being said I often loose my sense of humor with regards to football, just to make it clear now to every sports pundit or ARSEnal fan. Stoke are no longer a rugby club and do not play 1 directional football, sorry thats been on my chest for ages.

Back to my main point, I often get annoyed when I see stories in newspaper about how fat people get offended because the figures of men and women on toilet doors are to thin, or how Jeremy Clarkson commented on a tampon, and the womens council for womens issues is outraged (how comes there isn't a men's council for that matter).  Just because you are offended does not mean you are right. Just because you see something on telly or the internet, that you don't agree with or that has effected you personally does not mean that it can no longer be there. Just switch it off. Its simple, If you feel that something should not be on telly because you got offended well then, turn it off. I know this is kinda ironic that I'm complaining about people voicing their opinions, but I'm not, let them speak, but don't let their actions silence others. I dislike all the real house wives programmes doesn't mean they can't be on TV. Just like how Top Gear has just as much of a right to be on TV as Loose women.


Yes there is a fine line between hurting people and offending people. Attacking some one for a laugh is wrong, but using humor to get your point across is not, it is called satire. I love satire, I got interested in politics because of shows like "Have I got news for you" I wanted to know what they were laughing at, and my main idol is John Stewart, I feel if the world watched or read more satire it would be a better place.

I could write books upon poorly written books about how the world would be a better place if people just laughed instead of being outraged. But its midnight and I need to get up at 6, so I end with remembering the fallen today by a way in which I feel that the editor of Charlie Hebdo would have wanted. Being British we have long since mocked out snail eating cousins, it should not stop now, so I remind you of this amazing google image.

Je Suis Charlie

Do we really want tory boy and labour lad?

Whilst having a break from revision I was skimming through the news and the story  about an MP being caught playing candy crush, how he has had to make a public apology over his "despicable" act. I laughed to myself as I had to delete candy crush on my phone because it was getting far to addictive. 

As I read on I got to the comment section I wasnt surprised to see comments like "waste of tax payer money", "it's ludicrous what these MPs get away with". Now I know reading a comments section isnt a good slice of the public but having worked in a pub for two years I can say often the comment sections are what people really think. 

My argument is why should mp's be held to a higher exsitence than normal men and women, I have been in lectures where I have been playing games, been in a office where i have been looking at funny cats over doing my work, and I can garentee everyone who has been through education or employed as done something similar. A labour MP even called for him to resign. 

If anyone knows about how politics work, those meetings are purly for show. Its sad to say that MP's are nowadays and going forward will be more out of touch with reality than they supposedly are, if they cant act like normal people then you wont get normal people applying to be MP's. Id love to be an MP but sadly there are to many drunk photos of me out there on social media for papers to make a quick headline out of. 

I garentee it in 5 or 10 years time we see a powerful MP leaving their post becuase of something they retweeted in their early 20's about hottest babes in hollyoaks.

Before you accuse others of stupid behaver just think, I (you) would have probably done that. End of the day we are all human, everyone is a fucked up as each other

Is the pen is mightier than the sword still relevent.

The ancient saying of "The Pen is mightier than the sword" is still a wise saying and in many instances it is true but could there be a modern equivalent ?

Imagine for a moment you have a group of Mexican rebels forming on the US / Mexico border, their sole purpose is to kill as many American as possible, there is only about 200 of them, all identified by a distinctive skull mask they are all wearing. They are armed with assault rifles and sub machine guns. The US military knows they are coming, they have drones circling above them ready to fire plus half of the Texas National Guard are roughly a kilometre away ready to fire.

No also imagine a 18 year old autistic boy who's parents are wealthy but never around, he lives in somewhere Manhattan, constantly gets bullied for being a geek, has a few friends online he plays video games with, but sadly due to the expensive school his parents send him, and his appearance and interests no one gives him the time or day at school. Now this boy is very good with computers, and believes that the world hates him, but can you blame him ? So he and his internet friends decided to do something that will show society not to fuck with them, armed only with a pc from Amazon, his ability to code and understand the inner workings of the Virus protection ( I could have said he is a hacker, but I didn't want to sound like Fox news), he is able to gain access to vital military and CIA documents.

Which one do you think America is more scared of?

The Mexican Rebels can be wiped out before they even enter the US, the person who kills them is probably flying the drone from a shipping container in Nevada. But the Media will have a field day, right wing politicians will be faoming at the teeth at the prospect of building an American equivalent of the great wall of china. News stories will say how amazing it is that the US military saved them from certain death, there will probably be parties in the streets and someone will blame Obama. It will cause a few diplomatic issues but America will come out on top.

Now what about our little lonely emotionally unstable hacker? The guy who dose not have ideals apart from the fact he just wants to fuck shit up. He can strike at any moment, causing more trouble than 200 Mexicans rebels ever will. He does not have a face, the media don't know about him and a lot of people don't want to believe that in the country that fights terrorism on a global scale has their own homegrown problems. He can if he wanted control the voting system at the next election, he could share millions of peoples bank details, leak thousands of documents detailing all of the CIA's undercover agents along with FBI's, he could tell us who really killed Kennedy. The damage he could do with with a USB stick is endless.

It would be understandable that even if they never admit it they are more scared about a teenagers who has an unhealthy obsession with an anime character than rebels who have 20 year old AK-47s. It's easier to deal with the enemy you know than the enemy you don't. (I think I stole that line from some where but not sure where) So the saying the pen is mightier than the sword is correct but, to make it sound more edgy and media friendly the Pen Drive is mightier than the Gun.

Don't be scared of intelligence ( Updated)

As I look at the news today I see trouble erupting in the US of the shooting in ferguson, and of the boy with a BB gun, now I am not going to give my view on the situation, because like a friend of mine did, saying something unpopular or different to the norm is a bad idea.

The subject of this post is more about how social media has become more of a social judiciary, I was watching the newsroom the other day, they were mentioning the Boston bombings and how one person on reddit, put 2 and 2 together and made 5, but because he had shiny photos and what was perceived to be fact, there was a witch hunt for a prospective bomber named Sunil Tripathi who was never a subject to the FBI enquiry, who never showed signs of being a bomber apart from his last name and the fact he had been missing. It got to the extent where his sister would get horrific abuse on facebook and twitter, because one guy with a computer thought he knew who the bomber was.

When did we start believing faceless online profiles over highly trained professionals, the FBI at the time had to disclose vital information before they were ready just to keep Tripathi family safe, and then people of twitter still didn't believe what the FBI said.

It's the same with vaccinations! thousands of articles support vaccinations, yet some one on the internet said a vaccine gave their kids autism! There is no proof that this is true apart from a pushy parent saying "oh Oscar has autism now, it has to be down to the vaccinations", not the fact he lives in a difunctional family who spend more time trying to fight doctors who have years of experience, then giving little Oscar the attention he needs. Also Id much rather my kids have autism than fucking (sorry mum) polio! or any disease that will make them suffer a painful early death!

Britain First is another example of people blindly seeing stuff on the internet, and thinking yea that must be true. Text in front of a picture, has now become the criteria for fact. They post a picture of a muslim with a story saying something like "In Lincoln this muslim told some BRITISH kid that he must kiss her toes" or some bollocks like that! I will openly unfollow anyone on facebook who post Britain first comments.

Another thing that angers me about Britain first is that they and many of the Far right parties and organisations have stolen the Union Jack, it is now seen as a symbol of hate. Im proud to be British like i'm sure many are, I love the fact we are a tiny island and yet one of the biggest cultural influence in the world. Sherlock, Doctor Who, Coldplay, The Premier league, Royal Family, The Mini (concept, I know the modern one is german), Whisky, all globally known and yet we can't represent them with a Union Jack because Nick Griffen uses it in his sodding leaflets.

But that is not the point I'm trying to make, what I think is the problem with twitter, facebook, reddit etc is that it encourages rash decisions, yes it was instrumental in the Arab Spring, but I have met many academics that still question whether they were beneficial. Before you retweet something, or believe a tweet to be gospel. Just think there is more to a story than 140 Characters.

P.S I could have written alot more on this issue but I didn't wan't to bore you.  

It's not all about the penguin

With christmas coming up I have been reminiscing of previous christmas' my family have had. Probably the earliest one I can remember is when the green house blew away and the power went out, or the time when it actually snowed and it was awsome. 

I always remember christmas from my early teens as a time when everyone in the family got just a little bit to merry, we would all go the pub on christmas eve, my brothers would drink beer, and my parents would drink whiskey and wine, and I being 13 would drink lemonade or the worlds weakest shandy.

I should probably explain now that I'm the youngest of three brothers, my closet brother chronological is 8 years older than me. They both have wives and children, and live in two completely different worlds. 

So when it comes to christmas, gone are the days when we can go the pub or drink and laugh into the night, because either we will wake up one of my niece  or nephews, or someone is left out. 

Now I have finally caught up with my brothers in age, I'm no longer the little brother they have to look out for, or the one who gets bought pork scratching in the pub to stop me from moaning about wanting to go home, but my brothers are now another generation above me, they are more interested in just keeping their kids occupied whilst they can have an injection of caffeine. 

This may sound like a moan, but its not it more of a musing about how christmas changes over the years, yes id love to have a Christmas where everyone is under one roof and we can stay in the pub till last orders with out asking " is it alright to bring the buggy in". Being kicked out of my room because my brother and his wife cant share a single camp bed in the study for two weeks

But christmas of today in my family is something id never thought would happen. I get that magical feeling you get as a kid, purly for the fact that Im not the youngest! I have three nieces and nephews who over time will get more and more excited about seeing someone who  is a serial burgler (santa). How christmas will become a much more family affair with kids ripping open presents whilst I probably nurse a hangover, and try and get excited over a christmas card made of dried pasta. Im wafferling

Yes im sad that I missed adult the Christmas stage of our family, but im happy that I now have a huge family which im sure will only get bigger. So I too can make the jokes about people sitting on different size of chairs and trying to find batteries on christmas eve, because my brothers are idiots

Merry Christmas cheers

Net Neutrality

Yesterday President Obama put his support behind the idea of Net Neutrality. All of 3 hours had passed before Ted Cruz, a Republican Senator from Texas, (who at every moment he can will slag of Obama even if he saved him from a burning building) responds with the Tweet below.



I should probably mention what Net Neutrality is before I start getting angry. Net Neutrality is the idea that everything on the internet is equal. As long as you have an internet connection you can go on any website you want, you can watch cat videos or look at instructions on how to make a flute out of a used toilet roll. It basically means that no one controls what you look at on the internet, or internet providers CAN'T charge you more for using premium site such as YouTube or Netflix.

So back to Twat Cruz. Money plays a major part in US politics, money that is spent on campaigns is huge, often bigger than what some countries spend on education. Ted Cruz gets campaign contributions from most of the major cable providers (internet provider), in return he has to denounce the idea of Net Neutrality.

Cable companies get big dollar signs in their eyes when they realise that they could charge people for specific sites. Then those specific sites may pay to get to the top of the lists, meaning small sites like mine or small companies could fail at the first hurdle. You will be given packages like with sky tv, of available website you can choose from, but if you want to go on to a website that isn't in your price plan then well cough up the money to pay for it.



But how does this affect us in sunny old blighty? Our second largest internet provider is Sky, run by Rupert Murdoch, I don't need to make an argument there, he is as good to mankind as leaded petrol. So if you want to help with the worthy cause spread the fact that companies are trying to do this. Spread that politicians who take money from cable providers can't be trusted. You wont hear this story in the paper, you wont see it on the news (apart from maybe BBC). Talk to people about it, spread not just my words but others too. If you find an American who think Net Neutrality is a good thing just remind him or her ( He is probably called Ron) is taking he FREEDOMS away, they will love that.

I could go on and on about how fucked up US politics is on this issue, I could say it wrong for Obama to denounce it when more than half of the country hates the guy and will go against anything he says just because they are ignorant, and that is what Ted Cruz is trying to do.

I'm going to leave link at the bottom of a cartoon that explains it lot better than I can, but I ask of you please write, tweet to your MP's about this issue, share every post that supports Net Neutrality. Please share and I will read comments on this issue

http://imgur.com/gallery/WIX5h 

We will remember them.

As I ran around town tonight, I saw the flashing of fireworks over the tops of the houses. Bell practice was being preformed in the church. The town was alive with bright lights and loud noises.

All I could be reminded of during this was a article I saw in the times. About troops coming back from Afghan who are suffering from PTSD. How fireworks would send them in to uncontrable wrecks. Sounds of church bells would remind them of explosions and their "brothers" funerals. 

I have always thought that having rememberance day around the time of bonfire night was slightly stupid. But thats a story for another night.

What I want to focus on tonight is to remeber all the people who never came home from fighting other peoples wars. we should not think of remembernce day as only our troops (british). Our allies and our "enemies" at the time. The young men of the great war who marched off to war because it was cool, becuase they wanted to look butch infront of the ladies. In todays teenage standards it would be the equiverlent of smoking around a bus shelter. 

So I ask you to put your politics aside, the ideas of whether war is right or wrong, today is not about victory or defeat. Today is about men and women, who were not able to see their loved ones again.

Also spare a thought for the those who came back with scares, some visable some not. Scares that may never heal.

We will remember them