The 70 Nation Summit

So today Gordon Brown has marked mid 2011 as the deadline for "turning the tide" in Afghanistan. Since invading the country in 2001 little if any progress has been truly made and Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts are still unknown and day by day the death toll rises as Al Quaeda recruit militants and suicide bombers with their false preaching. Why should we have to wait until 2011, there is such anger felt and spread through the media when one of our soldiers dies out there, this may sound harsh or cynical, but if we care so much, why don't we do soemthing about it. We do not negotiate with terrorist nor will they with us, its a dog eat dog world, and sitting on our laurels hoping for peace to miraculously occurr is not the answer, action must be taken, and it must happen now...

PS3 Finally Hacked By iPhone Hacker

News has broken this evening that the teenager George Hotz, who was the first person to crack the software on the Apple iPhone has managed to hack the Playstation 3 security software.

The process involves using hardware and software, allowing users to play pirated or copied games on their consoles and Hotz has promised he will make the hacking guide available on the internet as soon as he has perfected it.

The news was met with concern by Sony officials, and it will be interesting to see what happens when Hotz publishes his hacking guide on the net.

Osama to Obama - Or is it a hoax?

A newly released audio tape said to be the voice of Osama Bin Laden, leader of the terrorist group Al Quaeda was aired on Al Jazeera today stating that the US will never live in peace until there is "peace in Palestine".

The audio tape also claims that Al Quaeda were behind the christmas day attempted terrorist act carried out by Nigerian, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who has been charged with attempting to blow up the Delta Airline's plane as it approached Detroit from Amsterdam.

The tape comes in the same week that the UK has lifted its terror level threat to "severe" meaning an attack is possibly imminent and comes as an unpleasant reminder of the world in which we live.

We can find just about anything in this world with the technology we have, but for the best part of 10 years now we have not found Osama Bin Laden (if he is still alive), and as long as he remains alive, terrorists will thrive off of his radical views and propaganda.

I am intrigued to know the authenticity of the tape and will be keeping my eyes glued to all the news sites this week, as i feel the war in Afghanistan and the hunt for Bin Laden is extremely important and his capture and inevitable death are imperative to the war on terrorism.

Haiti Disaster

Following an earthquake in Haiti, hundreds possibly thousands of people are feared dead and the country is in a complete crisis.

The earthquake struck south of Port-au-Prince, and hit 7.0-magnitude on the scale, Haiti's worst for over two centuries.

President Preval told the Miami Herald newspaper in the US he feared thousands of his people had died.

He described the epidemic as "unimaginable", and went on to say: "Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed.

"There are a lot of schools that have a lot of dead people in them."

The US and UK are readying aid , and the first of which is expected to reach the country later on today.

This tragedy was unavoidable and shows us that we undervalue our luck to live in such a normally safe country where the worst we get is cold temperature and a few inches of snow once a year!!

Rupert Hamer - RIP

Saturday was a dark day, for all of those in the journalism industry. Rupert Hamer, the Sunday Mirror's Defence correspondent, was killed by a roadside bomb raising the death toll of servicemen and women to 246 since 2001. However, this death, was the first of a British journalist and has caused a stir within the UK.

Hamer was on his 5th visit to Afghanistan, when the car he was travelling in was blown to pieces by a roadside bomb also injuring Phil Coburing (the Mirror's photographer) and several others.

In a way i felt personally

effected by this death, because as a journalism student, i can appreciate the work that Rupert Hamer was doing in Afghanistan and admire his shear bravery and devotion to his job.

As some of his family members said, "Rupert died doing something he loved", this brought a smile to my face and was a fitting tribute to a truly great servant to his job and to his love of journalism.

The death of Hamer goes along way to reminding everyone, that although the main danger lies with the soldiers fighting the "war", Afghanistan is a dangerous place and shouldn't be taken lightly, the job journalists do to report events out there is challenging and life threatening.

So maybe next time the news is on, we should all pay more attention and appreciate the reporting they do, as a journalist in practice, i know i will......

Michael Jackson - A True Icon

Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) - The King of Pop - without a shadow of a doubt.

I felt it was about time that i wrote a blog on the man because without being too cliche, his music has really had an impact on my life. No matter how bad or sad a mood i get in, as soon as i hear a record of his, my mood is instantly transformed into happiness (so much so i believe i can sing , much to the annoyance of those who are normally around me albeit on the tube or at home!!)

His countless number ones, go a long way to showing his dominance of popular music, but perhaps the most telling feature of his career was sadly, his death. The news was dominated by the great man's demise for weeks. He had been on the verge of a sell out come-back tours and despite rumour about his apparent poor health, the since released movie "This Is It" has put to be questions surrounding his health showing the great man at his best albeit drugged up to the eyeballs!!

Theres no doubt Jackson was a troubled man, and we will never know the truth about his apparent skin condition, the amount of plastic surgery he had, but do you know what, that doesn't matter, we lost a true great in 2009 , a God who walked amongst mere mortal men. Now some may say that is a over exagerration but i genuinely believe it to be the truth.

Jackson had a talent, a natural gift, of song and dance, that most of the current music industry today could only begin to dream about.

Now obviously being born in 1989, i missed out on a large chunk of his career but i've done my research and it seems that no matter how hard i look there is no real explanation for his sudden transformation from a young good looking black male, to a middle aged, troubled, white male accused of pedophilia.

Undoubtedly, Jackson's fame from a young age affected him mentally and that telling interview with Martin Bashir was compelling television and answered lots of questions, but i for one, do not believe Jackson was a paedophile, just merely a man who missed out on his childhood and who was suffering for it later in life. Its funny how, i find myself being a journalism student, yet i hate the very thought of journalists who hassle people, especiallly some celebrities, so much so that they have their lives ruined.

Michael was a victim of bad press, its funny however, the millions of dollars he earnt that he gave away to charity, the visits he made to sick children all over the world, the concerts in aid of all kinds of charitable causes, go unmentioned, yet the mans desire to have the perfect face or skin colour made the front page of every paper and dominated his life as a celebrity.

Jackson, clearly did make some strange choices in his life regarding his surgery and particularly odd yet sad comments likening himself to Peter Pan, but don't we all have weaknesses and things about ourselves we would love to change.

No matter the incidents or events in his personal life, the man was a musical genious, and i don't think any of us will experience another musical prodigy such as him whilst we live.

That is what I will remember him as....

Togo - Don't Give In!

After last night's shocking events, in which Togo's national football team's coach was ambushed by terrorists brandishing machine guns, resulting in the death of three men, including the assistant coach, the bus driver and the team spokesman, Togo today have announced they are considering boycotting the tournament and are attempting to get the other nations to join them.

For me, this is completley and utterly the wrong decision/movement.
Yes, the event is an attrocity and one that should never have been allowed to happen, (the security must be tightened at such events) but what one must understand is that terrorists can't be stopped. We can only combat terrorism by attempting to prevent it from happening, there will always be terrorists, their aim is to cause terror and spread fear. They have caused terror, in the result of 3 deaths and other injuries to players and members of staff, however, by boycotting the tournament, Togo are sending out the wrong message, they are letting the terrorists win and spreading fear across the continent.

The only way to tackle terrorists is to oppose them, be unfazed by their disgusting actions however hard that may be. Many people may not agree with me , however Margaret Thatcher was one of the best PM's this country has ever had, yes thats right , a woman. She had the perfect response for a journalist when the Argentinians were invading the Falklands, she simply replied "We will not negotiate with terrorists".

Thus in my opinion it is essential that Togo compete in the African Cup of Nations and that the tournament goes ahead as planned and let the authorities find the culprits and punish them accordingly......

The Big Freeze/Failure

As i'm sure you are all aware (unless you are one of those Briton's lucky enough to be on holiday or just completely unaware of the arctic conditions outside your home) the weather in Britain has been disastrous these past few weeks. Record amounts of snow has fallen and some places in the UK even had the nostalgic much sought after "White Christmas".

However, as per usual, the country has come to a grinding halt. Schools and Shops have shut for days on end , putting GCSE exams in doubt and harming the attempted regrowth of the economy accordingly. And what has the government done about it, reduced salt/grit supplies by 25% in an attempt to preserve ever dominishing supplies.

The government was warned by the MET office , weeks in advance of this "Freeze" that temperatures and conditions would be hectic, so instead of doing the intelligent thing in warning local authorities and providing counsils with extra grit , they sat back and let the snow hit us.

Now, i'm far from an expert on politics neither of weather predictions, but surely, just surely, common sense would have kicked in, and Brown and his delirious cabinet members should have been more prepared than they are, but i suppose that would be too much to ask. Given that the MP's are dropping like flies around him, this was Browns chance to maybe just maybe show some initiative that could go someway (not far at all) in the way of showing just how on earth he is the leader of this country that is going faster downhill than holiday makers in Les Arcs and The Alps alike.

Maybe Clarkson had it right when he describe Brown as a "one eyed scottish idiot".

Iceland (The Country) - As Cheap As The Supermarket?

So today, not only did i wake to what one could mistake for Icelandic weather conditions but also to the news that Iceland's president has refused to sign a bill to repay $5bn to the UK and the Netherlands.

President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson has instead opted to hold a referendum on the bill, following public large protests and outcry. On 2nd January, the president even received a petition calling for the bill to be vetoed, signed by almost a quarter of the country's population such is the disapproval from the public.

President Grimsson says the referendum will happen ASAP, now i admire the fact he is listening to the public and giving them the chance to have their say for their country, however, we are all suffering in these economic conditions and that money is owed to the UK and can't simply be written off because of a vote.

It will be interesting to see what Gordon Brown has to say about this.......

P.S Happy New Year fellow bloggers and Winchester Students!!

Grapes of Wrath

So , i finally have got round to doing my blog on Steinbeck's work...!

The first thing to notice is that the novel is set in the great depression and thus instantly the reader can identify with character in the novel what with these harsh economic times at present!!

The novel is centered around a family of sharecroppers (The Joads) who are forced out of their homes in Oklahoma by a water drought and changes in the agriculture industry. They are in an extremely desperate situation and face an uphill struggle in their attempts to find jobs when they set out for Salinas Valley in California.

The novel at the time of its publishing was immediately banned and was extremely controversial.

Bryan Cordyack (author of 20th century american bestsellers) writes, "Steinbeck was attacked as a propagandist and a socialist from both the left and the right of the political spectrum. The most fervent of these attacks came from the Associated Farmers of California; they were displeased with the book's depiction of California farmers' attitudes and conduct toward the migrants. They denounced the book as a 'pack of lies' and labeled it 'communist propaganda'."

Steinbeck's emotion's are evident throughout the novel and i felt he connected well with the reader. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, as if i'm totally honest i wasn't aware of the details of the great depression and have found watching the film and reading the novel a benefiting experience.

I now look forward to next term's studies..