The BBC new website is reporting about 5 boys being convicted of manslaughter and violent disorder, and yet their sentence is only two years of home detention.   I realize that the “boys” are between 12 and 14, but manslaughter is manslaughter, it’s not spraying four letter words on a wall.  What kind of message are we as a society sending out if a life is thought only to be worth 2 years of being kept inside a comfortable home surrounded by people who care for you?  They killed another human, someone who belonged to a family who must now continue their lives without him.  It doesn’t seem right that the people guilty of his death are allowed to spend their punishment period with theirs.

Serious crimes are being increasingly carried out by kids in this age bracket and it’s time that the law was changed so that anyone who is convicted of a crime that takes a life is liable to be punished by more than a slap on the hand.  

On a more positive note. This is what I’m going to change next the problem prone skin pages

There has been talk lately about the possibility that Gordon Brown might be about to call for a general election. Whether it is months away or still a couple of years, one thing is for sure it will be unlike any election we have ever had before.

Many MPs as well as the central political parties have been starting their own video channels on the popular website YouTube. The site is already eating into the market share of more traditional forms of media and young people especially can spend more time each week watching videos on there than watching television.

This presents a tremendous opportunity for politicians. They can now quickly produce a simple video with a clear message and make it available people to see. If this is done well and updated regularly and integrated into every aspect of their campaign it could be an extremely powerful tool and best of all it can cost next to nothing. However, it is very unlike more traditional forms of media in that it is two way. Just as easily as the politicians can post videos saying why their constituents should vote for them. Their constituents can respond by saying why they won't vote for them and what they really think of them.

On the whole politicians have been very slow to embrace what looks like a perfect tool for them, Read the rest of this entry »

Jade Goody, (25),is set to make a TV comeback Jade has thought that getting on TV show will do her good as it's her chance to tell her side of the story - without anyone telling her how to say it or what her 'media strategy' should be. This will be Jade's first TV job since the controversial row - which she had feared would ruin her career forever.
 
Jade is a British reality television celebrity and was branded as a "racist bully". In her participation in the 2007 series of Celebrity Big Brother, she was at the centre of an international furor arising from bullying and alleged racism directed towards one of her fellow housemates, the Indian actress Shilpa Shetty

Jade made her first television appearance on Big Brother in 2002. During her time in the house, she displayed a high level of ignorance in general knowledge. She thought that the British city of Cambridge was in London. She also believed that Saddam Hussein was a boxer, and that Sherlock Holmes was the inventor of the toilet.
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University chiefs have told the House of Lords their institutions put £45bn into the UK economy and deserve continued strong investment. In a debate, vice-chancellors have said universities are vital to the economy. They said the sector supported 580,000 jobs and brought in £3.6bn income from international students alone. Universities are trying to secure funds from the summer spending review. Lady Warwick, the chief executive of Universities UK, which represents university vice-chancellors, acknowledged that finances had improved since the turn of the century. She said that universities still needed a good level of central funding despite the introduction of variable tuition fees. In a speech to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) on Wednesday, Education Secretary Alan Johnson said the country needed its world >£45 billion!!! Whoo!! Thats a lot of money. The amount of effort and economic contributions, the UK universities have put is simply remarkable. Read the rest of this entry »