MISSING

On the morning news, another story of a missing girl beams across the headlines, as the nation rallies together to find one little girl.  But I can't help but think about all the other people who go missing every day: children, mothers, brothers, uncles, fathers. What about them? I can't imagine anything worse than losing one of your relatives or friends, and just not knowing where they were, or if they were safe. Missing Kids UK reveals the shocking fact that "In the UK, a child goes missing every 3 minutes." Every 3 minutes.That's shocking. 

In situations like these the power of the media becomes devastatingly clear: one image donated by desperate parents becomes an icon of the search mission, the investigation. But what it really represents is a missing life.

 But one has to ask why we recognize the image of April Jones or Madeline McCann before any other of the hundreds, maybe even  thousands, of missing children in the UK. Obviously, the media can't cover every single missing persons case, but it is just so sad that while that one image may be an icon for all missing children everywhere, it only lasts a week. Or two if they're lucky. Why is it that so many people can go missing without a trace, and that their story doesn't ever reach a national audience?  Do the children worthy of national coverage always have to be pretty, young, female and white?  

April Jones Hotline: 0300 2000 333.
http://www.missingkids.co.uk/

Nice one Michael

Once upon a time Michael Gove thought it would be a great idea to entirely restructure Great Britian's education system without consulting anyone... well, not the Lib Dems, the unions, teachers or most of Parliament.  

Is this yet another example of coalition reactionary politics, another attempt to keep national satisfaction out of the red regardless of the future ahead? It cannot be coincidence that this news comes a month after a disastrous summer for examination awarding bodies. But what is the real problem? Are too many people getting 10 A*s, are they too easy, are they too modular or are not enough people getting basic qualifications? Either way it seems unlikely that turning back time to the 1950s is really the best way forward. If even Margaret Thatcher recognised the flaws of the old system why regress back?

 As a student who has gone through GSCEs and AS, of course I know the system could use some reform but the issue is very simple: to get an A you do not have to achieve 90%, instead the gifting of grades is entirely manipulated for statistical gain by the relative success of the whole country. How can any qualification be equal or fair when the success of a candidate is not based on their sole performance but the proportion of A,B,C and D grades that the awarding body wants to give out?   

This isn’t a solution. It is merely reactionary and cowardly to literally sweep a problem under the carpet by giving up a clearly successful system and whipping up a storm so great that the calm afterwards will not be a magical land of fairies, unicorns and A grades, but more children getting lost in the system.

Elections 2012: Anger to Apathy

Wading through the controversy and petty arguments between labour and the coalition, the 2012 local elections really revealed the truth about the UK public's view of politics. Well, not politics, but our government specifically. Looking back to the beginning of the month, the seemingly insignificant vote of our local representatives proved how disillusioned the country really is- a 32% estimated turnout, according to the BBC the lowest since 2000. The question that we need to ask is what is it that is Cameron doing wrong here? Yes, we're not on the precipice of economic and entire meltdown here a la Greece, but the entire country seems disinterested.

Is an element of apathy creeping in to voters like second hand smoke, the product of disappointment and a lack of a voice? But, more importantly, how had labour won 823 seats?Their highest success since 1966. Have people forgotten the travesty of Blair following Bush blindly in to Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003? The conservatives are not to blame for this recession, the irresponsible lack of control labour had over the banking sector is. I'm  not supporting the conservatives here, but labour is no longer the worker's alliance of Edwardian England, they are not the good guys here. It seems that it is so easy to be fickle and shove blame on to the current government, but is advocating unstable governance really helping anything?

 If you must reject the government, don't reject politics entirely. Exercise your mind, keep hold of your beliefs and don't let apathy take you. Use your vote.

Does it matter if you're black or white?

Recently, there have been fresh waves of accusations levelled at police institutionalised racism after the summer riots and the Stephen Lawrence case but a new report published this week on the 2011 summer riots suggests that it is society that needs to be changed, or rather being given a "stake" in it. 


The summer riots, supposedly triggered by the murder of Mark Duggan or perhaps against society in general has prompted an independent report to recommend greater oppourtunities for disadvantaged people, better criminal rehabilitation and improve police-public relations. But as Nirpal Dhaliwal argues, is this all there is to it? Is this really just a case of rich whites vs. poor blacks? This week there were three convictions for the shooting of the five-year old girl, Thrusha Kamaleswaran in the spine, causing paralysis. This did not elicit the rage that Duggan's murder did. It wasn't murder, she wasn't part of an infamous gang. What is the difference? The fact that the crime occured within the black community, was not a product of police brutaltity? 


If disallusionment at the lack of oppurtunities in society are the main problem - does it really matter if you're black or white?