Thursday 5 December 2013

Rest In Peace Nelson Mandela

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”


Very sad news. He made a difference and he will never be forgotten.

Subject snobbery.

As I have just began my A levels a very frequent question I get asked is ''what are you taking?'' On more than one occasion I have felt some people have looked at me disapprovingly when I've listed one of my subjects in particular. That subject is communication and culture, which I understand is not as traditional as some subject options but I felt that it would be a subject that goes well with my other choices and a subject that helps me with my prospective career.

Some people I have told have even laughed and commented ''that's just a doss.'' Firstly, without having taken the subject how can you draw that conclusion? Secondly, although I agree everyone is entitled to their opinion I think you should use the initiative to know whether or not it is appropriate to express it. I don't believe that you should feel you have to take traditional subjects if you know the career path you want to take. Personally I don't think quadratic equations are going to be much use when you want to write an article on the EU referendum. Sadly it's not just individuals that are guilty of this snobbery but institutions as well.

As an A level student I like to be prepared so I have taken the time to research some university courses I have interest in and I have become aware that some of the most prestigious universities are culpable of restricting who can join their course based on subject choice as well as grades. This may seem fair and maybe almost obvious but what I mean is for example if I wanted to study law some universities don't state any specific essential subjects. However you are not considered for the course unless you have taken two facilitating or 'traditional' A levels. Now if there is not any essential subjects to study to be able to take a law degree I don't see why it should be necessary for you to have taken at least two traditional subjects as long as you're grades are good.

It's a shame that even by working hard at a subject you take interest in and chose to study sometimes it isn't enough and that an A* in Chemistry equates more to some people than an A* in Communication and Culture. Of course some subjects are typically more demanding and difficult than others but hard work and success should be acknowledged and valued for any subject not just some.

Wednesday 4 December 2013

Is it really equality?

This week well known British diver Tom Daley made a video addressing his sexuality. Although he got a lot of positive feedback and support for this I still feel as a society we have a long way to come.

In an ideal world there should be no 'coming out.' There should be no obligation to express your sexual preference or to feel as if you are lying if you don't point blank state your sexual orientation. If you compare the circumstances homosexual people face and put a straight person in those circumstances you would think of it as ridiculous. If a straight person sat down and made a video 'coming out' that they were straight you would probably think 'what's your point?' so why is it so different for gay people? How can we say as a society gay people deserve equality and then not give them it? It is absurd that this has made front page news because if you saw the same article but with the word straight you would think that it's ridiculous and irrelevant, which it is in both cases.

Some may argue that this is the case because being gay is not 'the norm' but how can you define normal? It may not fit into how the reproductive systems operate but it does not mean that it should be inferior. ''Homosexuality is found in hundreds of species, homophobia is only found in one, what's more unnatural?'' 

Many people believe that by accepting someone's sexuality we are showing equality but I believe it's more than that. When a gay couple can walk down the street hand in hand and others can walk by without batting an eyelid then we'll have equality. When a person doesn't have to 'come out the closet' or 'admit' their sexuality like it is something abnormal then we'll have equality. When we can open a newspaper or talk about a person without referring to them as 'the gay one' then we'll have equality.




disclaimer - this is just my opinion and I believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion. 

Tuesday 3 December 2013

Man vs Woman - The gender's brains are wired differently

brain networksmale blue
 female orange 

 A recent study has shown evidence that suggests that Men and Women's brains are connected in different ways.

 The study carried out at the University of Pennsylvania scanned the brains of almost 1000 men, women, boys and girls.

 The research shows great differences between the two sexes as women's brains seemed to be wired left to right criss crossing across both sides of the brain over the groove.


However males brains were wired front to back with very few connections over the two hemispheres.

Scientists from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) believe this is why men and women are better at different tasks. Men's brains are wired up so they are better at learning and performing a single task such as learning to drive or map reading whereas Women's brains are connected so they are more skillful at multitasking.

However some experts have argued it isn't that simple as brain connections can change throughout life and it is a huge inference to conclude that the behavioral variation between the sexes is down to those differences.



many thanks to the resource

Try,try,try again

This may possibly be about the fifth blogspot I have made due to their very confusing system of only being able to sign up with a google account, or maybe I'm being an amateur with technology. However, making a blog and actually sticking to it is something I've wanted to do for ages whether I get no views or hundreds.

As I'm new here and it's always nice to get to know people I will let you know a bit about myself. I'm Grace, I am 17 and I live in the UK. I am currently studying my A levels and hope to become a broadcast journalist in the future. My dream job would be to be a news reader or reporter for a national news programme such as BBC or ITV news. I can't say I know why I have such a great desire to be a news reporter, I have some interest in the news but I wouldn't say it's a passion but none the less it is my biggest ambition and hopefully one day you might be watching me on your TV's at night to keep up to date with current affairs while you tuck into your dinner .

In this blog I am hoping to incorporate some actual journalism so I can get some experience and just a general feel for the profession as well as documenting on news or topics that are of great interest to me at the time and giving my opinion on them. As well as the 'professional' side of my blog I would love to include all aspects of life that I am passionate about and just have a place where I can come talk naturally about anyone or anything. Essentially this blog is going to be a mixture of everything from political posts to fashion posts and anything in between.

Doing a blog like this as a teen is quite daunting because you feel the people that are genuinely interested in the news may be unimpressed with your documenting of it and think of you as a bit of an amateur and that the rest of the people my age have no interest in it. I wanted to write the posts about current affairs in a way that would not only include people that have a real interest for the news and what is going on in the world but also the people that find the thought of picking up a newspaper a chore instead of interesting. As you may be able to tell with my blog name and address I have got to a point where I want to start doing things for me instead of fretting whether it will be embarrassing or 'uncool'. Although at times I'm sure I'll still feel insecure about the idea of writing a blog, I feel that if Journalism is something I'm truly passionate about it's never to early to get some experience.


I apologise if you have think I rambled on. Don't worry my posts on the news, at least at first are going to be brief summaries of real news articles so they won't be so long and boring.