Chapter Ten - Shorthand (What looks like teeline)

I have to learn this stuff...

Chapter Nine - Dear Penis...?

This is funny, no question about it.

Chapter Eight - Reality is kicking in. Its time to grow up!

I finally got my A Level results last week. Overall I didn't do so bad compared to my AS results went.I got two C's and a D whereas last year I earned a C, D, E and a U. In short I have jumped up a grade in two subjects and was only three marks off a B overall in Media Studies. But its enough to get into university of my choice so that is where I will be going.

I'm off to Staffordshire University in Stoke. About an hour from Warrington so I'll be living away from home. But now its starting to kick in I'll be on my own. I'll be living by myself and taking care of myself. How fun!

But overall I suppose the experience will benefit me in the long run. Possible scenarios include trying to find a place to watch the RL World Cup early in the morning and staggering back to my room at four o'clock in the Am. Most importantly, the ability to meet new people is one I'll have to grasp quickly enough. Its time to be independent. Its time to get a grip on the real world.

Its time to grow up.

Chapter Seven - Soft government to blame for rise in knife crime.

Its not everyday I watch The Jeremy Kyle Show. The fact I occasionally watch it as a form of early morning entertainment shouldn't stereotype me into the bracket of unemployed, lazy good-for-nothing young man. I have a part time job, which as a student is more than most. I even spend my money on things I need and want, very rarely sponging off my parents for cash. So what is an eighteen year old male doing at 9:25am watching a heavily critisised show about (without getting stereotypical) the lives of lower working class individuals who are mostly from council estates and lead lives full of drugs, alchol and sex as well as lies, adultary and mis-trust.



Well, when I woke up this morning I immedietly put the telly on. What came on was a show dedicated to finding the cause of knife crime in the UK. The show which was broadcast on Thursday 7th August 2008 showed why the government is to blame for this build up to knife crime as well as why people insist on carrying knifes. The three young males on the show managed to convince themselves that they carried it around for self protection while at the same time, one of them blamed the government for being soft on society, crime and justice. And you know what? The lad who had petty thieved and threatened with knives, was absolutly right.



But why? Is it anything to do with the fact being banged up in a prison cell is against the EU's human rights charter? Maybe. Is this why setences that involve a death (such as murder, manslaughter, drink driving etc) are considered soft? Without getting onto another point, is it right a family should lose their reletive forever, but the person commiting the crime can do their time and carry on their life without thinking of the people they have murdered emotionally? But another thing that was shown on the show was a young woman came on, who was previously stabbed numberous times by her partner while his mate laughed while he attacked her. Why? Was this mindless unprovoked attack just another part of society. In 2008, why is it people have to act this way to get their "kicks", their adrenaline rush, is this what makes them tick all day long?

The justice system must start upping the ante on serious crimes. Murder, manslaughter, rape, fraud are just some examples of crimes that should have longer prison sentences, while less serious crimes should see reduced prison sentences so as not to overcrowed the prisons, which is already a major problem. All too often we hear about defendants who get away with a couple of months for drink driving, or another serious crime that you wouldn't see someone get away almost scott free in another country. The justice system needs reviewing soon to sort out this mess.

Chapter Six - Improving football.

So how do you improve what the majority think is the best sport in the world? Well, heres a little doozie for The FA to think about before the new season starts. To make things more exciting, why not set the goal posts on fire.

Heres the idea. If the goal posts are set on fire, then the goal keepers will be doing more than just standing there. Their job on the field will become a lot more interesting. Basically if the goal posts were on fire then all the strikers would aim for the goal posts hoping the ball would rebound off the post or just sneak in, which means the keeper can't save the shot otherwise he would be set on fire, which results in more goals and enjoyment for all.

However, if he saves a shot near the posts, the likelihood is he will catch fire and run around on fire for the enjoyment and amusement for all. That is, until he drops dead.

Never mind, even the greatest of inventions had flaws.

Chapter Five - The wonders of Pool & Dominos

Just watch this. This is something special.

Chapter Four - Two great addictive online games.

Skywire 2 Take control of the cable car and get the passengers to their destination safely

Play this free game now!!

Raft Wars Team up with your Brother and defend your treasure!

Play this free game now!!

Chapter Three – The politics influencing sports.

Sport is about athletes competing against each other fairly and honestly. Sport allows individuals to test themselves against others and become the best they can be. Sport’s aim is to bring people of different backgrounds and cultures together and to celebrate each individual’s love for their chosen sport. The people of Tibet and Darfur have forgotten what sport, and more importantly the Olympics, are all about.

There is little doubt the Chinese organisers intended to use the games as a boost for their country’s economy, increase the tourism industry’s revenue and make China a place rich in ancient history and modern technological advances to show it is becoming a powerful nation. Pretty much the same reasons were used to bid for the London 2012 games, only on a lesser scale as the UK already is a well established western country. But as China’s organisers, government and enemies know, the country’s relationships with its peers are balanced on how well it can host the games and if it can make a success of them. So therefore China’s enemies have taken it upon themselves to disrupt the games as much as they can by protesting.

Many are protesting against China’s human rights record as well as their army’s presence in Darfur and the trouble in Tibet. And while this ruins the pretty picture created to cover these actions by the Chinese, it highlights them because the Olympics are always in the media spotlight. Therefore taking the shine off the games overall and turning the whole sporting event into bandwagon for those who oppose the Chinese government’s actions. This, in my humble opinion, is not acceptable.

With a sporting event as big as the Olympics, where the entire world focus’ on one city for two weeks, it provides the opportunity for these protestors to highlight their issues. But it distracts what the Olympics mean and what they were invented for. They are a way of strengthening relationships with people of other countries and backgrounds through a recreational activity such as sport. The focus is on competition and being the best you can be by competing fairly. A large proportion of the above has been lost since the turn of the millennium. And so the people of Tibet it seems, have disrupted and spoiled a sporting event by protesting. What they don’t understand though, is that they are spoiling the event for the athletes and innocent spectators. They are the people who we want to see in these two weeks during August. Not the people who see sport as an excuse to highlight a political issue. Politics and sport do not mix. As highlighted by the only decent thing George W Bush has been quoted to say during his eight year reign as president, “I view the Olympics as a sporting event.”

And rightly so, George. Rightly so...

Chapter Two - The joys of Air-Banding.

Wouldn't it be great if we could get four people to do this...?

Chapter One – Example of how terrorism affects us locally and globally.

On the 20^th March 1993 the town of Warrington was hit by two IRA bombs that exploded in metal bins on the town’s high street, known as Bridge Street. Three-year-old Jonathon Ball was killed instantly, while twelve-year-old Tim Parry died several days later in Warrington General Hospital. At the time I was also three years of age and my sister was thirty three days away from being born. Luckily I was with my parents in Wales at the time of the explosion, so I was none the wiser anything significant had happened. But I have grown in Warrington, knowing the names of these two youngsters despite having never them. I have visited the Peace Centre on a number of occasions with schools and even as part of a junior rugby side. I have taken part in activities and rugby festivals that remember these two victims of the worst day in our town’s history. I know all about the events that occurred fifteen years ago, how the terrorists targeted the gas works on, I think, Winwick Road weeks before the Bridge Street bombings.

On the 20^th March 2003, Britain woke up to a war lead by the Americans when the invasion of Iraq began. The aim of the invasion was to recover and destroy, what Saddam Hussain boasted, were weapons of mass destruction. Five years on and we are yet to see these so called weapons. However, the war was justified by freeing the people of Iraq from a dictatorship that resulted in millions of innocent people being tortured or killed, and not by the fact the western world wanted a vast supply of oil from the Middle Eastern continent. Since the invasion, different sets of Iraqi people have bombed and destroyed the invaders, as well as themselves resulting in a death toll that has no doubt reached close to ten thousand over five years.

Both anniversaries were remembered in every individual’s special way, but I think that both events clash on the same day (albeit in different years) shows how terrorism and war are still a part of our lives in a global society, where we are connected better with each other than we ever have been before. While our leaders strive for peace on a larger scale, it is taking too long. Creating small and personal relationships with individuals across the world create the foundations of such a feat that our leaders can build on, and so we can accept each other in the world we live in. That is wherever we are in the world.