What will 2009 bring??

I don't actually know anybody going 'out' out this New Year, in these credit crunching times who can afford it? If I was to go out in Chav central (Southend on Sea for those of you who are unaware) I reckon my night out could have cost £228.20-

Taxi there £20

Taxi Back £40

Club entry £25

Pre going out bottle of wine £6

Dress, Shoes, Bag, Accessories etc £130 maybe?

Full price drinks over the night £30 (and I'm not a huge drinker)

Cheesie chips £2.20

no thanks.

So not having that sort of cash, I like most am going to a house party/gathering. A few of my mates, some cheap bottles of wine and nibbles and a few sleeping bags and volia, not even £20 a person. Bargain. After all, the hyped up nights are always the worst aren't they, especially when you're recently split from your boyfriend (which I am).

So the likelihood of this evening is that I'll drink too much, take too many horrible pictures, cry far too much and probably be pretty miserable..... but I'll be £208.20 better off than if i went out.

Roll on 2009, although the prospects for the year aren't looking great really are they.

Back again :P Baby Names

So I've been pretty busy with deadlines, christmas and flu over the last month, but from today I'm starting up my blog again! Hurrah I hear you cry!.....deathly silence :S never mind

Anyway in keeping with my light hearted blog my first entry for a while is to be on a topic I and all my girl friends have given plenty of thought..... baby names.

According to UK parenting club Bounty the most popular UK names are Jack and Olivia. Jack I can completely understand it has been in poll position for the last 14 years.... but Olivia???? Seriously? Who names their child that?

The list also shows the British publics inability to think for itself, Ruby is now the 2nd most popular girls name (following the Birth of Charlotte Church's daughter) and Zac (presumably after Zac Efron) has now crept into the top 100.

So it seems that most children in the UK are called either Jack, Oliver, Grace or Ruby. How boring. Names are meant to be a mark of individuality, not a way to show how we all follow the crowd.

I fully intend to name my first born Humphfry-Heathcliff, maybe he'll be bullied, but a light taunting never did anyone any harm-and people will certainly remember him. And if people find that a mouthful-I'll just say his name is H, after H from Steps of course :P

Ho Ho Ho Christmas films

Stuck with what christmas films to watch over the festive period? Here's a list of my favourites.

The Santa Clause 1, 2 and 3. Tim Allen need I say more? I think I watched all three of these at least 3 times last year, (and I've already watched 3 once since the 1st of December)

The Holiday- Very similar to love actually in content, a christmas romance with an all star cast set in Britain

Love Actually-Very Similar to the Holiday in content, a Christmas romance with an all star cast set in Britain.

Nightmare before Christmas- a Tim Burton Genius, think Sleepy Hollow as a PG

Elf-whats not to love Will Ferrel AND Christmas "Buddy the elf what's your favourite colour?"

Home Alone 1 and 2 only!! With out Culkin these films have nothing

I'll be home for Christmas-actually I'd only recommend this to girls who used to fancy JTT in the Home Improvement days-for anyone else its a waste of 2 hours.

That's enough for now I'll watch some more over the next day or so :)

Holiday Inn- one of my absolute favourite films, the musical which preceded white christmas (it even includes the song)

Christmas on 34th street-original or new, it doesn't matter they're both good!

Americal Apparel, lovely in lycra or saggy in spandex?

So American Apparel has been voted top label of 2008 :)

But the thing is, whenever I ask people about this brand, the response i always get is 'eh?'

Other than fashionistas, not many people seem to have heard of it.

And then, when I try explaining that the clothes are a funky mix of spandex, Lycra and bold colours they go 'oh'.

Nobody seems that impressed with it to be honest :(

The thing is AA is a great brand, but only if you're 5 foot 10 and no larger than a size 10. If your lumps and bumps are all in the wrong places then,well, it's just not the brand for you.

AA is dance gear you can wear out. With pants that match the colours of the dresses :)

But as much as I love it, I don't think it should be label of the year, just because so few people can really wear it.

credit crunch crushes mr christmas' christmas!

I don't really know what is more pathetic here, a man that celebrates Christmas everyday, or a man that can no longer celebrate Christmas everyday due to the credit crunch.

Mad.

But Andy Park has apparently celebrated Christmas day every day for the past 14 years. According to the Metro he has eaten over 5,110 turkeys, 94,080 mince pies, 24,224 roast potatoes and pulled 204,400 crackers.

The has also watched the queens speech every day for the last 14 years-so he says.

I can't help but think that someones been telling mincey pies!

I love Christmas, but i really think this is going a little bit too far, i think you would be literally sick of Christmas if you ate all this everyday!

Telegraph Mr Christmas article

Stop showing catch ups!!!!! Please!!!!

I am a very obsessive person.

Today I have had lots of things to do yet have been unable to go out due to the fact I started watching the Gilmore Girls on E4.

Every Saturday they show the 5 episodes that were aired Monday through Friday. Obviously, since I'm at uni between the hours or 10 and midnight so during the week I can't watch it (except Thursdays when I spend my day off watching The OC, One Tree Hill, and Gilmore Girls in an endless American cycle).

But every Saturday morning I get up and think, 'I'll just watch the 1st episode-then I'll go out'.

5 hours later-I'm still in my pyjamas sitting in front of the TV. Go Figure.

Why am I so obsessive??? I EVEN REWATCHED THE EPISODE I SAW ON THURSDAY!!

And now I've wasted another Saturday day, just to move on to my next obsession-spending 3hours getting ready to go out. Grrrrrrrrr.

Lady in Red, the Domestic Goddess

So the Daily Mail is practically orgasming over  the dress Nigella Lawson wore to the NSPCC fund raising party last week.

Yes. It is a nice dress.

But I am not convinced that it really does look good on everyone.

In fact i don't even think it looks good on the four writers who tried it on. But then maybe that is because there is only so much magic a red dress can do,

They are right, it does look stunning on Nigella, but then for two and a half grand, it should! 

Also, Lawson could look stunning in a bin bag, yes she is curvaceous, but she's not fat. More importantly,  she's very beautiful. If she had mousy brown thin hair, a bland face and pasty skin, the dress would make no difference, she would still look drab, a bit like the 4 in the Mail who tried it on.

 Nigella wears clothes that make the best of her figure, the clothes take her from a 9 out of 10 to an 11. She knows her style and what works for her. The Mail are ridiculous for thinking that everyone should copy her and wear this dress. Most people cannot pull of red. And that's a fact.

Person style is important. Sometimes it doesn't work, but that's not the point. Fashion is about expressing yourself not conforming to what everyone else thinks is the must have for the season.

So for Nigella, the dress IS perfect. But everyone else.....not so much.

The barbie doll injection

Not satisfied with fake tan, and sun beds, the plastic brigade is now flocking to have the tan jab.

That's right, you can now have an injection to make you look tanned, well actually 1o injections, you have to be injected at least 10 times before it works.

Melanotan is being advertised as a short cut to a 'safe' tan. How can injecting yourself with a illegally bought chemical be safe?? It has to be illegal for a reason.

It is true that the drug is found in small substances naturally in the body, but that does not mean it is safe to inject!

What's more you cannot even prove that it works! So £20 and ten injections later, you might just end up with blood poisoning and a septic arm, now that will look attractive!

I know sun beds are are bad idea, but this is surely worse!

Buy a bottle of St Tropez girls, I know £36 seems expensive in one go, but when you work out how many uses you get, it's like £2 a week (well more if you want to look really orange I guess).

Tip: Apply with a sock instead of a rubber glove, a more even tan will be achieved! :)

Rich Kid Poor Kid

So I'm watching Rich Kid Poor Kid on c4, and despite all there differences there girls both have one glaringly obvious thing in common, their bad attitude.

Are all teenage girls this rude??

At least the Poor one is funny, she has some personality-the little rich girl girl is just mean.

But the thing is, as much as it pains me to say it, i can in some ways identify with her views.

I look down on chavs too :s

but at the same time, it gives you an insight, it shows you that it really is the parents who bugger their kids up :(

The rich girls mum is racist,  and the poor girls mum is mentally deranged :S

basically what ever class your parents are from, they screw up up.

Rich Kid Poor Kid

How to not get work experience grrrrrr

• apply to one place at a time-out of courtesy of course
• apply to multiple places at a time, in the hope of one saying yes
• apply via email- very politely stating what you want-either get no reply or a rather rude one from the Telegraph review
• call- very unhelpful switchboard assistants whose goal in life is not to let you speak to anybody

Possible ways i might try to get work experience

• offer to give them money so I can work there
• stand outside the offices with a banner saying 'MA student wanting to work FOR FREE'
• stalk the editors of the company, sit outside the office, track down their home addresses, call them at all hours of the night!
• sleep with the mail boy (that probably won't work)
• start a campaign of hate against the publications and only agree to disband unless the give me work experience.

Lenny burger vs Lenny concarne- I know what I'd rather!

So it may well be the end of the greasy, dirty and oh so satisfying burger van!!!!

Why!!!!!!

Council workers in Guilford have been warning burger van vender's that if they do not 'healthen up' their menus they may well not have their licenses renewed.

According to the Daily Mail the council wants to see "Low fat grilled sausage, whole meal bread, chill con cane with lean mince, and jacket potatoes with fillings" on the menu.

They are also considering limiting the amount of mayonnaise people can have.

The only people who really visit burger vans are the drunk and disorderly, I certainly wouldn't dream of going to one sober.

But after 1 or 2....or 12 alcoholic beverages of an assorted variety ( I normally start with wine, have a few sambucas then end up on the gnats piss we call a wkd) there is nothing I want more than to visit my mate Lenny at his burger van.

(Or if I'm in Southend-Darius in the kebab shop)

And excuse me, but at 2am, the last thing on my mind is my health-I just want something to try and stop me vomiting.

If that's what a cheese burger with an obscene amount of mayo and ketchup will do for me, then what right has the council got to completely ruin my night? (And make more work for the street cleaners btw)

Further more, who is really going to try and stop me from having as much mayo as I want?? Surely not my mate Lenny!!

I know burgers from burger vans are not good for you-but to be honest, when I'm drunk I don't care.

I know the rule- 1 burger in every 3 from Lenny could conceivably kill you-and I've suffered the consequences, more than once :S.

But at the end of the day, it's my choice. Sometimes I want a greasy mayo filled burger. End of.....

Also, I'm not fat, so who cares anyway.

Uni work-Poppy appeal

This has nothing at all to do with the rest of my blog, but what the hell, I'll put it up anyway :)

White versus red- the poppy appeal

The red poppy is a symbol of remembrance worn on 11 November, but some people feel it is out dated.

Pacifists have suggested it is inappropriate to wear a red poppy. They believe the symbol promotes war and that it is acceptable to kill for justice.

Instead lobbyists such as the Peace Pledge Union (PPU) said: “There are better ways to resolve conflicts than killing strangers” and so encourage wearing a white poppy on remembrance day.

The Royal British Legion has said to the BBC “A red poppy is not about glorifying war, it is a recognition of human sacrifice” In their opinion, any poppy has value.

News coverage portrays the white poppy as a new idea, but the campaign has actually been around since 1933.

Red or white?

Despite the PPU promoting white poppies, it is rare to see people wearing them. This might be due to their general unavailability.

This reporter has yet to find anywhere that sells them other than the PPU website, and many people are not aware that there is an alternative.

Rose Winterby, 37, Twickenham, had never heard of them.

“I haven’t seen them anywhere”, she said.

Father Jerry Devlin, from St Marys Chaplaincy in Twickenham had heard of the white poppy but felt “the red poppy is more appropriate as it is a nationally recognised symbol, and the white one sometimes offends veterans. They feel it discredits their comrades who lost their lives”.

Are poppies a thing of the past?

It is common to see the elderly wearing poppies, but younger generations do not seem so keen which suggests there is no longer a place fro remembrance in modern society.

Ben Forteath, 21 a student disagrees “of course we should remember those who gave their lives for our freedom. It’s not just soldiers in the great war we remember but all the wars - even Iraq”

Steve McQueen’s ‘Queen and Country’ is a modern form of remembrance. He immortalised those who died in Iraq by putting their faces on postage stamps.

The cat sat on the mat :P

It has emerged today that the rug Kate Winslet lounged on for her Vanity Fair photo shoot was made out of REAL fox fur.

The Titanic actress, who is an anti fur advocate was led to believe the rug she posed on was faux fur by the magazine. Vanity Fair has been forced to apologise to the actress although they issued a statement saying

"Although there were both real and fake furs on set, the fur we used in the photograph is real. We thought Miss Winslet was aware of this and we're sorry for the miscommunication"

Kate's photographs have caused much speculation this week, mainly over her 'seemingly' perfect body. People have suggested that the photo's have been severely photoshoped, with her figure completely reshaped.

Even though this is usual practice for magazines, Kate Winslet has previously gone on the record saying that she was proud of her curves after GQ magazine used photoshop to make her look thinner and taller in 2003. 

This is all very interesting....not.

The reason this article caught my eye was more to do with a serious sense of De Ja Vu.

The previous week in a class assignment we had to invent a story from the phrase, 'the cat sat on the mat'. Me and my two friends concocted a story about an actress with strong views on animal rights, who was duped into sitting on a rug made out of snow leopard fur for a photoshoot!

How funny.

Articles

Faux fur article

November 5-now we can get back to normal

So the American election is over-Obama won.

I'm happy about this for several reasons, firstly the Democrats are back in, and secondly, and perhaps more importantly, we Brits no longer have to read about it everyday. I think there was far too much coverage of the election in the British press, I bet the Americans don't have half as much coverage of our elections.

There is one woman I'm going to miss though, Sarah Palin. Not because she was a political genius, no, but because of the humour she brought to so many lives. If she had got to the white house, the world would have been a far funnier, (albeit disorganised) place.

What will become of Bush?

The one person who seems to have been forgotten recently, is George Bush. He hasn't got long in his presidency left, and he's certainly not making the most of it-I don't think he's actually done anything recently-(except star in a film about his life of course-Josh Brolin really looks so much like him!)

So what will he do once his terms over??? Here are a few suggestions, some obvious....some not so obvious

• write an autobiography, go figure
• hook up with Sarah Palin and run as her vice president when she runs for president in 4 years time! (Granted this is not actually allowed but neither of them are exactly the brightest crayons in the box and they probably haven't read the rule book) this really would be a dream team
• become Barak Obama's personal stalker (this is what ex London Mayor Ken Livingstone seems to be doing to new Mayor Boris Johnson-I spotted him skulking in the back at the London Assembly last month. If he can do it, why can't Dubya?)
• start up a range of clothing, 'powersuits for the not so powerful man'
• go off to Afghan and fight with all the other men (yeah right)
• salesman, he's very convincing, after all he managed to blag his way into the white house for 8 long years !

Incedentally another important thing happened on the 5th November....the Starbucks cups went back to red! Long live the christmas cup!!!!!!!!!!

Things that really annoy me-a moaning list

• getting up at 6.30am
• baristas who repeatedly get my coffee order wrong! Tall, Skinny, Caramel Capachinno to go-how hard is that??
•  hard core feminists who think that looking good is degrading-they're just ugly and bitter.
• people who wear stupid outfits just to get noticed-today i saw a girl with blue tights with white bones on then. I imagine it was meant to look like her sceleton...it just looked stupid, AND made her legs look fat
• coloured tights in general-i decided never to wear red tights after i heard a man pointing to a girl wearing them on the train saying "it looked like she'd had her period down them"
• Jamie Oliver- he really and truly sold out
• big bank bosses still getting bonuses and ridiculously large ammounts of money while tax payer foot the bill
• Granny Pants
• people who don't like pirate facebook- oh arrrrrr!
• wearing flip flops in the rain
• the fact that I've lost the scroll bar on my word for mac?? (if anyone knows how to get it back pleasssssssse tell me)
• x factor- a show for talentless idiots
• simon cowell- a talentless idiot
• the fact that there are no more harry potter books coming out
• when people don't email me back-Glamour Magazine I'm refering to you!!!!!
• spilling things down white tops
• men in general-need i say more?
• that my eyebrows ALWAYS need plucking!
• Sarah Palin thinking she was talking to Sarkozy-come on girl!!!!!

Sexy shoes! Don't give me feminism

Shoes shoes shoes. Why is there suddenly so much about shoes in the media?

The facination with health issues has suddenly come about due to Antonio Berardi's heel-less shoes and Gwyneth Paltrow's obsession with uber high heels.

It is all damage to your feet this, female oppression that, remember the corset this, sexual innuendo that.

So what???

What difference does it make is a girl wears heels or flats??

Well, in my opininon it makes a good deal of difference.

In heels, I feel, sexier, slimmer and generally more attractive. A cute pair of shoes makes an outfit like no necklace or bag can. I have no problems putting up with a little bit of discomfort for that extra feel good boost. I think the higher the better, (Im 5ft 10 and I still wear 4inch platforms).

Some people, just don't get that, and thats fine, wear your ballet pumps by all means. Just don't try and make me feel bad for having longer cuter legs than you on a night out!

The 'wacky' food festival- a gluten free morning

Yesterday I went to the annual Gluten Free food festival in Grays in Essex. 

And no, this was not because as one of my friends put it "I'm a wacky vegetarian" (He didn't even get the right type of diet)- but because my mum suffers from coeliacs disease and she feels that t is important to 'patronise' these things even if you don't want to go to highlight the cause.

And she's right.

Of course it was a pain to have to go, but if we, and other people didn't, perhaps companies would stop making so much gluten free food. There isn't enough of it as it is, so you have to take every opportunity to raise awareness, even if you'd rather be in bed.

Indeed, me and my mum both complained that a certain company no longer made gluten free cherry beer, (who on earth would want to drink that??) because one man we met was upset about it and wanted them to produce it again.

But it was a good thing to do, because the company said they would re look into making it.

Who or what is a coeliac??

My mum. haha.

A coeliac is some one with an intolerance to gluten. Gluten is found in flour so basically in simple terms, a coeliac is some one who is allergic to all things with flour in them

• bread
• pasta
• cakes
• biscuits
• cereals
• pastry
• sauces thickened with flour
• lost of fried food (batter)

and lost of things you wouldn't expect. Around 1 in 100 people suffer from this disease but so few people understand it.

Coeliac society

Was it wight for the BBC to Suspend Wossy??

I don't think there is anyone in Britain who is unaware of the problems Jonathon Ross and Russell Brand have caused the BBC over the last two weeks.

All over Brand doing what he does best, shagging.

But have the BBC acted appropriately? and who is really to blame?

I would argue that you can expect nothing less from Russell Brand, he is notoriously innappropriate and that is what people like about him. He draws big crowds with his rudness and crudness and that is why the Beeb hired him. He did not act out of character in any way.

I think he was right to resign. He has recognised that the public feel he went too far and apologised, but would rather take himself out of the situation entirely than restrict himself in future. At least he's standing up for what he believes-even if it is vulgar to the majority.

Ross

It is Ross the public are most disappointed with. He is a family man, a prime time entertainer and a very talented reporter/prestenter-which is certainly highlighted by his £6 millon a year. He is not the sort of person the public would expect to phone up an old man and yell "he fucked your granddaughter" down the phone and then proceed to make comments about sexually assulting the man.

He had a serious brain freeze.

The Beeb were right to suspend him. They could hardly sack him, as they'd be losing one of their most popular shows and he'd only go straight to Sky or Channel 4 and get even more money, but he needed to be punished.

By Jonathon's quitting of presenting the ITV television awards in December, it seems he agrees that he should be punished for his part in this diobolical lack of judgement.

BUT

Surely, it's really the BBC's fault? They ALLOWED the program to be aired. Sure Radio 2's director has resigned, but what about the program producers and editors?? Do they not feel partly to blame?? 

If you listen to the show, it sounds as though Ross and Brand realised they made a mistake- in my opinion they probably thought this segment would be edited out. I do not condole the hurt they may have caused Sachs, but if it had not been aired-I'm sure he would have been far less angy.

Why didn't the BBC producers realise this was innappropriate to broadcast?? 

You've gota go a long long way to find a better biscuit.

Woohoo! McVities have announced they are cutting the amount of saturated fat in their leading brand biscuits by half.

Hobnobs, Rich Tea, and Digestives will soon be much healthier!

I guess this means I can eat twice as many!

Skanky band t-shirts-height of cool?? We'll see Katie Perry in one next.

So today I was reading G2 like i always do on a Monday, when I stumbled across the fashion 'dilemmas'.

"I've recently noticed a lot of young women wearing T-shirts for bands that broke up years before they were born. What's that about?" Malcom Store.

And Hadley gives the answer that basically wearing manky "skanky band t shirts" are cool. Not only that  but "it doesn't matter what band-any will do".

Granted Hadley says all this somewhat tongue in cheek, so please don't think I'm laughing at her, (I actually really enjoy her quirky style)

But this whole thing brings me to my point-the things people will do to look cool.

"Coolness"

Kate Moss is seen wearing a "skanky band t shirt" (she is particularly fond of THE CLASH), so everybody else goes mad over them....eugh (my friend Stuart donned a primal scream t today hehe-clearly he models himself on Moss)

MP's (notably Mandy and Osbourne) aspire to a lifestyle greater than they can afford hence cavorting around with oligarchs and getting themselves in sticky situations.

Idiots like Katie Perry. She is stupid enough to think posing with a knife will make her more popular, 'cooler' and help her appeal to a younger generation. After this backfires she then has the disgusting cheek to pull the same pose, but with a spoon. She is ridiculing all those people who have lost their lives to knife crime and basically saying "f*$% you" to everyone who criticised her for her insensitivity.

Be yourself

Nowadays, everyone wants to be cool and like someone else, what exactly is wrong with being yourself?

If you want to wear a skanky band t shirt do so-don't let me stop you.....

In fact i might go out in a Pussycatdolls t shirt this week! 

Strictly Racist?? Concerns over BBC's top show.

After last weeks dance off Olympic hero John Regis and News of the World has declared Strictly Come Dancing a racist show. Please.

Last week Don Warrington, and Heather Small were in the bottom two and faced a dance off. They are both Black. Does this seriously constitute as racist??

Don Warrington, was an awful dancer. Fact. This actually really annoyed me, not because I hold any sentiments for him, (I don't actually even know who he is) but because I love Lillia. 

In my opinion, she is by far the best dancer/choreographer on the show. The judges clearly agree with me too, every other word is about her wonderful, imaginative choreography.

She also has a gorgeous figure and does not look half starved like some of the other professionals on the show.

But her skill does not change the fact that Don could not dance- the judges only gave them 23 points.

Granted it was not the lowest score given that evening, but it was hardly a good one.

And yes there were white contestants that had lower scores that were saved  by the public vote, but honestly, who WOULDN'T vote for John Sergeant?

Furthermore, if the show is so racist, then how did Alesha Dixon win last year??

It's not just talent

The show is about dancing talent, but it is also about appeal and likability. The stars need to capture the audiences hearts and if you're a B Lister with limited interpersonal skills it's likely that you'll be booted off quickly.

It is just as Erin Boag says 

"John Sergeant was the under dog. Andrew is in GMTV, Mark Foster-he got his chest out. It just happened to be Heather and Don in the bottom".

That's exactly it. It just happened.

Strictly is a show where you vote for people to stay IN. Not too boot them out in a racist frenzy.

Strictly Common Sense please people.

BBC news reports headteachers' going to Arizona-AFTER they've come back!

HA.

If the BBC had read my blog two weeks ago they would have known about this before the teachers had gone! There's no point in making a fuss about it now.

That's really all there is to be said on the matter.

Although... my mum had an excellent time, lots of bargain shopping was done. Hehe.

BBC article

Sarah Palin, Rainbow High

Eyes, hair, mouth, figure, dress, voice, style MONEY

It costs nearly 100 grand a month to look like Sarah Palin. No wonder she looks good.

 In September the Republicans spent £92,000 on her image.

This included 

• £46,186 in a single trip to a department store in Minneapolis
  
• £30,397 in boutiques in NYC ans St Louis, Missouri
• £2,900 on hair and makeup 
• £3,000 on her husband
• £181 on her six month old son Trig!!

Her trade mark glasses cost $375, and I'm sure she'll have more than one pair.

It's alright for some eh.

Palin has never been photographed wearing the same outfit twice, similar granted, but never the same.

It really makes you feel sorry for all those desperate American house wives that are trying to emulate her look.

Republicans

It's nice to know the American political parties have so much money to waste, I'm all for looking good, but i think even Victoria Beckham draws the line at 100k a month.

rotten rotherham-at least thats what we now all think

Jamie Oliver's new Ministry of Food campaign has thrust Rotherham right into the for front of the publice eye. 

For being possibly the crappest town in Britian.

Understandably the residents are not too thrilled.Debbie Johnson, who works in the Thornton's in the high street says the program

"made us all look stupid. It even made me ashamed of being from Rotherham"

I'm not surprised. Not when the poster girl for the town is a women who DOESN'T know what boiling water looks like! Honestly.

But not only are the people being publicly humiliated- they are also being fleesed by the program.

£££ for Jamie

In good old Jamie fashion, there's big money involved. The city council and the Rotherham NHS have agreed to spend £100,000 keeping the cooking centre open for a year.

Tony Mannion, a Conservative councillor said "I am absolutely astounded that we are subsidising Jamie Oliver and Channel 4 to make programs"

Well we already know Jamie's biggest cause is his own.

The food police: who stole the tarts?

In our current financial climate you will probably just as surprised as I am to discover our Police budget is being wasted on catching......wait for it......desert thieves!!!!

Yes. Desert thieves.....but not any desert thieves.....POLISH desert thieves.

You've gotta be kidding :S

This year we are predicted to extradite over 1000 'criminals'. More than 4 times the amount in 2006.

Over 40% of the cases originate from Poland.

The problem is the polish do not have a crime filtering process, which means that every case no matter how trivial has to be tried.

Polish Criminals 

So far this year British Police have arrested a Door thief, (who stole his own doors), a Desert snatcher, and a Piglet rustler. Seriously!

When our Police find these people they have to be shipped off back to Poland.

According to DS Gary Flood "We now arrange for a Polish military flight every three weeks".

Surely this has got to be costing? Time and Money??

I think the Polish are having a laugh at our expense, literally.

Jamie's fowl dinners really are fowl

Jamie Oliver, the spokesman for free range organic chickens uses battery eggs in his ready made sauces.

He is the Patron of the friggin' Battery Hen Wellfare Trust!

I guess that at the end of the day things really do come down to money.

In January this year, Jamie needed a new angle to keep up his t.v status (and wage packet), so he denounced battery chickens along with Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and Gordon Ramsey.

Camp Jamie also needed to keep profit up on his ready made sauces, so in the battery eggs go. Good plan, shame someone noticed.

Not the First Time

This isn't the first time we've seen Jamie's conflicting views on chickens, one of his restaurant's emerged to be serving eggs from battery hens earlier in the year.

Apparently Jamie was unaware of both of there incidents, and a new recipe for his green pesto sauce (made without the help of battery hens) will be on sale from January.

But the Green Pesto sauce already in the shops will stay there, they've got to keep making a profit after all.

Grandma Glamour- men want sex appeal, not knitting.

Prince Will is meant to be in a very very very serious replationship with Kate Middleton.

She's said to be at the height of cultured fashion, although in my opinino, frumpy and drab. She's not ugly, but there is something of a Katie Holmes/granny vibe about her-which is just not the right image for a young girl.

Aparrently I'm not the only one who thinks so.

Last night Wills, Harry and Chelsey (note no kate) when out on a very expensive night on the town, Kate was probably tucked up in bed with a warm glass of milk. They were having a great time, a few drinks, a few jokes....

Enter Paris Hilton. (and Christina)

Will cannot take his eyes off her. The blonde glamourous slightly slutty looking girl who is a million miles away from his dowdy girlfriend.

According to sources after inviting them to share his table, Will repeated comments on how beautiful she is, repeatedly.

I think this says it all really. No guy, not even the heir to the throne really fantasises about their grandma.

You can only be young once after all. Make the most of it. 

What's the problem with Playboy? Feminism-or just holding us back?

I have always considered myself a feminist.

Ever ready for a bit of man bashing and constantly on the brink of declaring myself a lesbian and off men for life.

I also fully believe that women are the superior sex. Lets face it we give birth, look after the children, cook dinner, wash clothes AND have careers on top of that.

Even university, which was once a male dominated area of education now has more women studying than men! 

HOWEVER

I am not one of those women who believes it is demeaning of a girl to wear a short skirt bat her eyelashes to get what she wants. Despite our superiority it is unfortunately a male dominated world and us women have to do whatever it takes to succeed.

Eva Peron did  NOT  get to be the most powerful woman in Argentina through her math and science ability.....well perhaps biology :P

Anyway, it really annoyed me when reading in the Guardian today how Joan Smith was criticising playboy bunnies, and girls who aspired to look like them. 

What exactly is wrong with good grooming and personal hygiene?

Sexual Appeal

Smith seemed to think that dressing up and making the best of yourself as a woman meant only appealing to a man's sexual nature and that it was not appropriate to get recognition for ones looks. Hello- what about self value? Looking good makes everyone feel better, just look at programs like 10 years younger!

Smith thinks it should all be about intelligence and brains.

 In an ideal world, perhaps she's right, brains should come first. But men will always see women as objects before anything else.

 Any smart woman should know that.

 If you want to be  remembered and respected you have to have sexual appeal to get male attention. Otherwise you are just an anal bitch, with aspirations that will never be realised.

And if you're a really intelligent girl, you'll let the man think he's cleverer than you, that way he'll always do whatever you want.

42 day Terror

Today the Lords are to give a decision as to whether to pass the law allowing Police to detain terror suspects for up to 42 days. It is widely suspected that they will throw the law out as many people take the view that it infringes on our human rights.

Personally, I am all for the passing of this law -I mean at the end of the day we deserve to live in a safe world and the only way to deter terrorists from carrying out attacks is to come down hard on them. 

(If i had my way we would also bring back the death sentence, but thats another story entirely.)

Also the police would have to have a good reason to believe an individual was connected to terrorist activity in order to arrest them in the first place-I'm pretty much convinced that no normal law abiding citizen without connections to terrorists would be suspected of criminal activity

So basically most of us are pretty safe. 

Indeed a YouGov Survey has found the 69 % of the British public are in favour of the prolonged period of detainment.

If Brown fails to get this through the Lords, it is going to show that people still do not have faith in him, he could still push the law through of course, but we are supposed to live in a democracy so it would really have to be a last result.

Here comes bridezilla

The perk of being a bride is to be the best dressed, most beautiful woman in the world for a day.

Without a doubt, the wedding dress is THE most important aspect of the wedding-definitely more important than being permanently attached to the man of your dreams-soon to be nightmares. 

And this is reflected by the tens of thousands of pounds women spend on 'the perfect dress', every woman wants an original, a designer label and something that will look fabulous on them, and only them.

But with the current financial climate, it seems women are cutting back on everything non essential, and sadly this seems to include dresses.

Marks and Spencers is currently selling a wedding dress for £15! Surely there's at least one 0 missing off that number, but no! £15!!! Apparently it is in an effort to clear out old stock (it has been marked down from its original £150) to try and get rid of it. This says a lot for the dress in question really doesn't it?

Indeed Natalie Theo of the Daily Mail said "the dress was not exactly oozing with style" and that the quality was debatable.

It also says even more about the budgets of the women flocking to buy this dress, according to Marks it sold out quickly and they had to replenish the stock!

The credit crunch really is a sad time for everyone, no bride really wants to get married in (shudder) off the rack.

Branded like cattle: Vicar facing possible disciplinary action

Rev Ray Mullen a parish priest in the City of London is facing disciplinary action after suggesting in his blog that gay men should have 

"sodomy can seriously damage you health"

tattooed on they buttocks.

He then went further to say that on their chins should be written the words

"fellatio kills"

Despite there being many closet (and some not so closet) gays in the church, there are many members of the religious community that still display overt homophobic tendencies. 

I know that the bible condemns same sex relationships, but it also stresses tolerance and treating everyone as equals.

If this vicar feels it is right to label gays, surely he could not appose to having bigot branded on his forehead. After all-that way everyone is being treated the same.

Mullen has however been quick to say that he was only 'joking' with his comments.   Press Association

Degree or not degree: Is university worth it financially?

People enter in to higher education for all sorts of reasons, many of which want to gain a high paying job at the end of the three years. This is the common conception of the out come of a university degree, indeed if this was not the case would so many people really spend all those thousands of pounds on it?

Today I read in the Guardian that a third of students who have started university since 1998 have not yet started repaying their loans.

This means that 10 years after finishing their degrees, many graduates are still earning LESS than 15k!

How is this possible?

Are modern graduates settling for menial, minimum wage jobs because they simply cannot be bother to fulfill their potential? Granted a small minority probably are-but the real problem is that today no company will give the graduate a chance in the real world.

Nowadays degrees are 'two a penny', and with so many being deemed 'mickey mouse' courses it's no surprise that they do not seem to be worth the paper that they are written on.

Employers would rather have someone who started at the bottom and knows the business rather than a novice with no other skills than being able to down a pint in two seconds! Students are also socially more immature than their peers who have been in full time work for three years.

Companies just don't have time for graduates. It does not make financial sense to hire them-they still have to be trained but unlike people without a degree they also expect a decent wage to do the training!

I'm not damning a good education, far from it. I 100% believe that being well educated is one of the most important attributes a person can have, yet from a financial perspective perhaps people who do not necessarily need to go to university should consider an apprenticeship or internship, before getting saddled with a loan they have no means of repaying and a long hard slog to get the wage they deserve.

And on another note, perhaps in our current economic climate the Government should think twice about getting more people into university and encouraging debts, especially those that can never, with all the will in the world, get paid off.

OJ Simpson: what goes around comes around

In a bizarre twist http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._J._Simpson"> OJ Simpson was sentenced to life 13 years to the day from when he was acquitted of murdering his ex wife http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Brown_Simpson"> Nicole Brown her friend Ron Goldman. Justice was finally served.

Hollywood couldn't write this kind of material.

This whole man's life has been one long movie script-from his impoverished background to a stunning football career-his marriage to a blonde bomb shell-his violent and jealous temper-the 'twin murders'- the 'get out of jail free' racial card-his ridiculous attempts at regaining his career and popularity-to armed robbery and kidnapping finally resulting in the sentence he should have served long ago.

Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.

If I did it

A lot of people would think Simpson had this coming. Despite being found innocent on both accounts of murder, there was A LOT of evidence to suggest that he did it. This was exemplified when in his autobiography If I did it he included a detailed yet 'theoretical' account of what 'may' have happened the night Brown and Goldman died.

Back in 1995, the Jury made a grave error of Judgement, concentrating more on the racial issues surrounding the case than the facts. Simpson was granted 13 years of freedom, but everyone has to pay eventually.

Gotcha!

A year ago Simpson was arrested for robbing Room 1203 in the Palace Station Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Two men were selling Simpson memorabilia and as his defence he claimed he was simply taking back what 'was rightfully his'.

By no means am I condoling robbery, however would OJ have received the same guilty verdict and long sentence if he hadn't been the poster boy for 'the one that got away'?

I think not.

So Simpson gets life for a not so serious crime. Naturally he is going to appeal-but does he really have the right to? Should he not just be thankful that he got an extra 13 years?

As JT says, what goes around comes around.

Do you wear a titsling, or do you buy a...bum bra????

Now I wasn't going to write about this but the fact that I literally cannot stop thinking about it suggests that I need to get it out of my system.

The Daily Mail on Thursday featured a new phenomenon-the Bum Bra.

It's called the 'Double O Thong' and is designed to give women, wait for it, a BIGGER behind! Already to me there is something wrong with that statement, having always shied away from clothes that make my derriere larger than it is- but there you have it.

Although according to the Mail it doesn't make your bum larger....just fuller..hmm whilst also flattening your stomach at the same time! Interesting.

This new pair of pants is said to give you a figure to rival Marilyn Monroe, although i seriously doubt that by wearing them you would feel even remotely as sexy and voluptuous.

These pants are....large. There is no other word for it. Granny pants with the kinky modification of being chap-less, like crotchless panties gone wrong. If these things became a global fad, then believe me, it would be an excellent form of birth control.

But according to Kate Faithful, they do actually work. Once covered up with clothes, this vile contraption turns you into 'Jessica Rabbit'. Somewhat hard to believe, but apparently true these pants make your butt 'higher, rounder, and smoother'.

This all sounds good, but women would still have to get over the hurdle of actually WEARING the things. And to be honest, I don't think I could get over the grossness of them, let alone the prospect of someone peeking them as they creep over the top of my low rise skinny jeans. Ewww.

Lovemybubbles

Singletons- Bridget is 'ruining' our families.

I love Bridget Jones.

She is the saviour of women and lets us no its ok to be normal. And by normal i mean to drink too much, to eat a whole packet of Christmas tree chocolates in one sitting, not be able to cook and to do mildly embarrassing things such as display our arses on live t.v. 

She lets us know that we are not alone in the world, that there are millions of other women like us, struggling along without a clear direction.

The Torys' view of Bridget

Bridget has recently come under fire from the Tory's for 'wanting too much'. Apparently she is to blame for today's women not getting married and 'destroying' the family . She has been to university and so it stands to reason that she wants to marry a man equally, if not more, educated. After all, why should she be the main provider??

More women are now going to university than men. Good on them.

The blame here is completely misplaced, rather than condemning women for wanting more, should we not be criticising men for settling for less??

Costa del School: Teacher training cancelled.

Today staff at the Edensor Technology college were meant to be travelling to Marbella for a 4 day teacher training course.

However due to negative media publicity as well as pressure from the town mayor ( Mark Meredith ) and parents, the Head Teacher has been forced to cancel the trip.

Cost

Admittedly the trip was said to cost £17,000 but why shouldn't the teachers go somewhere nice to do their training? It's not as if there are many other perks of the job!

Indeed if a bank or a car dealership decided to take its employees on a training weekend nobody would bat an eyelid!

Parents complaints

Parents have been complaining that if pupils are not allowed to take a holiday during term time, why should teachers be able to close the school for 2days? Of course they are forgetting that each school is allocated 5 non teaching training days a year, it is the school's own choice as to when they take them.

I think this is really more a case of the green eyed monster than anything else. It's parents who can't afford to go on holidays themselves that are kicking up a stink. Its not as if many of them making the complaints care about education anyway.

Perhaps these people would like to make a fuss over the fact that my mum (a Headteacher), is going on a training week in Arizona in 2weeks time. If they are making a fuss over Marbella, they certainly won't like that!

Good Samaritian McGarahan

At a time when he was meant to be celebrating life, Frank McGarahan, a successful city banker, was murdered. How ironic.

What happened?

He had gone to visit his brother and to attend his new niece's christening, yet an act of heroism ended his life. He chose to play the good Samaritan and help a man who was being brutally beaten by a gang of youths, they turned on him, and the consequences were fatal. The original victim survived.

Why Bother?

This leads me to wonder whether we should intervene when we see trouble, is it worth it? If i saw a man getting beaten in the street I wouldn't help, maybe I'm selfish, maybe I'm uncaring, maybe I'm a coward, but at least I'm still alive.

Would you play the hero?

911 a reflection

911- The Twin Tower Distaster. While the world was watching the news, I was watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Since the video footage is owned by the PA and costs thousands to view, I have probably only seen the footage a maximum of 3 times. One of those being today.

As an exercise in class, we had to watch and write what we saw, rather than what we know now about the event. I found this fascinating, it enabled me to really concentrate on the events as they took place (albeit 7 years later) and draw my own conclusions as to what happened that day rather than the usual spoon fed spiel concerning the event.

Watching this video, 911 strikes me as a day of complete pandemonium, desperate people unable to control the situation with no idea what was going on. There was also a lot of dust. It also seems that no one truly knew the extent of the damage these terrorists had caused.

What were you doing on one of the most important days in our lifetime? I hope it was something more worthwhile than me.

The Father, Simon Cowell, and the Holy Ghost (Pete Waterman)

Today I read something that rather unsettled me.

 According the The Guardian, the X Factor, yes the http://xfactor.itv.com/?cmpid=PPC_GOOGLE__X%20Factor_X%20Factor_x-factor&ps?cmpid=PPC_GOOGLE_X%20Factor_X%20Factor_x-factor&ps">X Factor , has replaced God in today's schools.

 Rather than learning about religion, values and morals through bible readings, hymns and memory verses, the children of today are taking guidance from what is literally 'pop' culture. All the moral fibre that was once drilled into children has been replaced with drivvaly assemblies and lessons based on a 'talent' contest filled with rude, crude and downright pointless comments! 

If X Factor is the new God, then that surely makes Simon Cowell our Saviour, which is frankly worrying. Can a high trousered, womanising, rude man with virtually nothing but his and his record labels interests at heart really teach our youth how to behave in a virtuous way??

 I think not- he's more the anti-Christ.

 I accept that we now live in a diverse culture with many different faiths, but rather than abandoning religion completely in favour of mindless rubbish, should we not be providing a multi faith education?