Emma Watson is transferring from Brown University.

Emma Watson is transferring from Brown University.

Emma Watson, who is a famous actress  and celebrity, starring in Harry Potter, has confirmed she is transferring from Brown to another University.
Emma Watson was studying  European Women's history and drama, but will now pursue a course not offered at Brown. There were rumours that Emma Watson was bullied during her stay at Brown, but her representive, Vanessa Davies denies this. But according to a source, she was indeed bullied. Whenever Emma answered to something during a lecture there would be peers shouting. The most common was 'Ten points for griffindor.' Emma Watson who had spoken out her concerns about not fitting in in 2009 ‘I was afraid they’d think, “You’re famous. You’re given free handbags. Why should you deserve to be normal?'

Comment.

I have to admit that I have always admired Emma Watson. She started very young as an actress, and was not consious of the amount of money she had untill she was seventeen. Yet she is still pursueing a univeristy degree at an ivy league school. I don't like the idea of bullying at all. So if these rumours are true, then that makes those kids a bit pahtic. Probably just jelouse, but still not nice of them at all. I hope Emma Watson can continue her degree at another University and finish it without pressure of bullies.

link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1380231/Emma-Watson-transferring-Brown-University-denies-bullying.html

The Arts in England lose goverment funding.

The Arts in England lose goverment funding.

the arts in England lost goverment funding.

The budget of the arts has been cut, making sure the goverment saved up to £100 million. This also has a negative side, because not only does the goverment now saves a lot of money, most of the arts has completely lost their funding.
Last year 849 organisations were able to get funding from the goverment. This year, it is only 695 organisations who were able to get funded by the goverment. The groups that completely rely on the goverment for funding is high, so this could mean that there will be a decrease in the Arts in the UK. Unless the organisations are able to provide a alternative source of funding, such as: private sponsorship, lottery tickets, or being able to do it completely on selling tickets alone.

Comment.

I find it sad that whenever a Goverment has to cut in it's budget it choses things like this. The arts. I understand that art is not a basic neccesity such as, educaton and health service. However, I do believe that a budget can be fixed more flexible then just removing funding for one group. I do not know what happend to the other groups that get goverment funding. So I cannot give my fair opinion about this, because I do not know everything. However, cutting in the arts is getting old and I wish they had the money to leave it alone.

link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1371731/Arts-Council-funding-cuts-600-groups-hit-100m-budget-cuts.html

Bad behaviour, and now what ?

A rise in bullying among young girls.

Teachers are worried about the rise in bullying among young girls.
Incidents include bullying on social network sites such as facebook and msn, but also consist out of gang violence. The girls that participate in this kind of behaviour are often expelled.
Today in Liverpool, the members of the Association of Teachers and lecturers are to debate the exclusion of these girls from school.
The motion, who is coming from teachers at schools in Derby and Chesterfields, declares it wants a better co-ordination to help the girls who are sent home from school. Besides this it wants more support for the teacherse and heads in dealing with them.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/education/article2989599.ece

Reaction


It is always good to try and make education better, but in this motion I hardly see something that can make it better. The teachers should not help the girls who are expelled, they should try to find out why they get expelled in the first place. Maybe these girls have a rough background and could have a lot of profit from some councelling. Instead of dealing with the consequenses, I think the teachers and heads should focus on dealing with the root of the problems. The reasons why these young girls turn to gang violence and cyber bullying in the first place.

Green protesters asked to lodge appeal.

 Green protesters asked to lodge appeal. 

Mark Kennedy, the undercover agent.

Twenty protesterers were arested a few hours before a big protest at a Soar power station. They were all found guilty of trespassing near Britains, almost, largest coal-fired power station. A secret informant, Mark Kennedy, had informant the police of this.
Today they have been asked to lodge appeal as soon as possible, because the police withheld secret recorded tapes. Mark Kennedy, the secret informant, is also the man who told the prostesters to lodge appeal,     since the CPS itself does not have to power to have the case reviewed. Mark Kennedy has quit the Metropolian Police and has fled to America after he admitted he engaged in sexual relationships with two female activists.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/crime/article2990307.ece

Reaction.

Mark Kennedy was undercover for seven years, posing as a dropout green activist. He also had sex with some of the female activist in the group. I can understand that after such a long time of 'posing' as a green activist, you get used to the people you hang around. Even start feeling sympathy for them, hence the sexual relation he had with two of them. I don't find it strange that Mark Kennedy pointed them towards their rights, still a bit sad that because of this, he might have lost his career. 

The ban on homosexuals donating blood is officall over. But not really.

The goverment in the UK has decided that it is now ok for gay men to donate blood.
However, they can only do this if they haven't had sex for over a decade.
This new proposal does not mean much for the ones who need the blood.
There is indeed a rare blood shortage and even if a homosexual men, who has only ever had safe sex in his life can save another persons life with his blood, it is denied. The reasons for this is that he NHS does not trust the sexual history of gay men. If you're a straight men and you have sex with a prositute, you can donate blood a year later.


comment

I have heard about this ban before, and I always thought it was ridicilous. To donate blood, the only thing that should be important should be if the blood is clean. Your sexuality does not determine how trustworthy you are, or if you're blood is clean or not. I find these new rules rather absurd. A homosexual man cannot have sex for ten years, but a hetrosexual man can have sex with a prostitute and donate blood a year later. I thought the law didn't discriminate on sexuality, but apparently it still does. Truly considering the fact that people need the blood, that they might be dying without it, is bad.

link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/11/gay-blood-donors-safe-sex

Electricity link between the UK and the Netherlands.

Electricity.

Today, 12 May 2011, the UK and the Netherlands are officially linked together by a super power grid.
The link that runs under the Nort Sea is 260 km long and contains 23,000 tonnes of copper and lead.
After 25 years, the UK has now an electricity link to another country!
New inventions, such as the High Voltage DC ( HVDC) made this possible. Before these new cables, energy could only be transmitted for about 80 kilometers.
This new project will make it easier in the future to exchange renewable energy, from Germany to Scandinavia. If the UK does not get by on windpower alone, they can now easily import. But if they have a surpluss they can easily export.

Comment
I was not aware that they were building a massive line under the sea towards the UK to exchange power.
However I do think that it is a good idea. The UK cannot run on windpower alone, since the windpower is not a reliable source of energy. However, if there is the oppertunity to import energy when the windpower is not available, that would make it easier to use more green energy. I think it is very important that we start using more green energy. Most of the times, green energy is already around us, such as the wind and the sun, and even power from water. I would say it is a waste if we wouldn't use it and instead keep using old fashioned methods to produce energy.

link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/11/uk-netherlands-power-cable-britned/print

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