Black Heroes

All my prayers to loved ones in Jamaica - My loved ones are fine - hope yours are too.

Check out this excellent story in the Independent a few days ago. Tells you about notable black people - many of which I hadn't heard of - from Latin America. http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2872072.ece

More Alcohol Foolishness

Check out this story in today's Times. Basically this mother asks if it is right to serve alcohol to 14 year olds - gives the impression it isn't and then admits allowing her 14 year old son to get drunk in her own home!

Unbelievable! http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article2266099.ece

Calls to Curb Underage Drinking

Check out this story in today's Guardian. (The story is doing the rounds of most of the dailies here). http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2148619,00.html

It's about the fact that a police chief is urging action on underage drinking. This folows on from the kiling of a dad who went to remonstrate with some youths outside his house who were vandalising his car.

There is a serious problem in the UK with alcohol and sadly most people here don't recognise that there is a problem. The aim for most Brits is to get drunk. It seems alien to them to treat alcohol as a component of a meal or an evening out - for them it's the main event. And especially so for young people. To get drunk is thought of as fun.

It makes for a pretty miserable evening if - like most people in the world you are normal and don't aim to get drunk every time you imbibe - you go out in the City Centre on the weekend. There are belligerent people and people throwing up all over the place. The vomit stains remain for ages unless it rains - it's truly disgusting.

Maybe with the call by the police chief and a few others that have been raised (throat cancer is also up) the British will finally see that their attitude to alcohol is dreadful and not helpful to themselves. We will see.

Not Enough Hours in the Day

My father! There's not enough hours in the day to do everything! Been on holiday last week and now I'm back - but I'm also studying. So excuse me for neglecting this blog - I will be back in effect tomorrow.

In the meantime - those of you in the UK - the X-Factor starts on Saturday (Simon Cowell's singing contest for all ages). I love the audition stage where the people are hilarious. Let the games begin.

I think Cowell is missing out on another revenue stream (not that he needs another one!). I personally would pay a few quid to be in the room when these people audition - just put me behind a two way mirror, give me sound and enough carpeted floor space to drop and roll. Hey, it's all clean fun!

Tidbits from here and there

Ten most embarrassing moments on stage this year. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article2189373.ece?OTC-HPtoppuff&ATTR=beyonce. I know it’s terrible but some of this is very funny.

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The Guardian and other papers are saying that apparently women prefer men with more feminine looks. Which women? Not the ones I know.

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This story is about a man who was asleep in his bed at 6:10 one Tuesday morning. The thief breaks into his flat on the 4th floor and he wakes and confronts him. They argue and the thief falls from the window and is now critical. Guess who got arrested and could face life in prison? Yep – the homeowner. Read the story carefully – here in the UK if you chase a tief from yu yard and the tief gets injured YOU will be prosecuted. What kinda bad wud bad wud bad wud foolishness is this? I’m off now to thump something. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=474025&in_page_id=1770&ct=5

Later

Music - Good Music

Have been reminiscing with His Royal Highness and a friend of his about good music. And we sound like our parents. You know, saying things like back in the day and they don't write them like that anymore. But you know what? They don't.

Songs from people like Oleta Adams, Randy Crawford, Professor Nuts, the Commodores, Marvin Gaye and a whole bunch of others I can't remember right now (Remember Expose in the 80s?)

Take a trip onto Youtube and do some random searches - they even have some great old Buju (but sadly no Lovinder - I was looking for the Light a Candle song the other day. If anyone knows where to find it let me know). You will definitely enjoy yourself.

No Shipping Costs

Check out this story in USA Today about Amazon . http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2007-07-29-amazon_N.htm It's about their website Prime and how they don't charge for shipping - a really interesting read.

Later.

Soul II Soul is Back!

Yes folks - Soul II Soul is releasing a new single. It's been 25 years since their heyday and they're back in the studio - Jazzy B the founder and vocalist Caron Wheeler.

Take a look at the link for more details. http://www.mirror.co.uk/showbiz/2007/07/25/soul-legends-are-back-89520-19517928/ Can't wait to hear the material.

Later.

Bad FLoods

Things are rough here in the UK. A few weeks ago there were bad floods here in Yorkshire - people died and some still haven't been able to go home.

Now in the south west there have been even worse floods and more are to come. The pictures on the news are terrible. Thousands of homes are without running water and electricity because the electricity plants have been flooded.

So far there has effectively been no summer in the UK this year - the weather is going crazy.

There's a lot of talk of whether or not it's because of climate change or not yada yada - whatever you believe it's pretty sure that massive weather change is here and we will have to adapt to deal with it or more people will die.

It was odd to see people lining up for hours to get handouts of drinking water - much like people have to do in other parts of the world that experience frequent natural disasters. Kind of makes us all one eh?

U-Turn For Foreign Teachers

The British authorities have finally seen sense and done a U-turn on requiring foreign teachers to get UK qualifications after working here for four years.

It finally dawned on them that there would be a significant gap in schools - schools which desperately need teachers - if they followed through with this ridiculous requirement. But it is only a postponement. All foreign teachers have been given an amnesty until next September.

Again though, this smacks of 'not much thought being put into it.' At this point teachers have already been fired in anticipation of them being deported. In order for them to enroll in the necessary courses they would have to have an anticipation of being able to stay in the country. And what if the relevant courses had a sign up deadline of before the amnesty? By next September these teachers would still be in the same position.

Why oh why can't they admit their xenophobic or racist reasons for having this rule in the first place? As I have repeatedly said, if these teachers are performing - and all evidence so far says they are - and if they are allowed to teach for FOUR WHOLE YEARS on their own qualifications, CLEARLY there is no real need for them to get others in order to continue doing the good job they are already doing.

The authorities must stop the foolishness, stop impeding these teacher's (and by extension their students' - BRITISH students') progress and instead should help them as much as possible. If foreign teaching qualifications are substandard - then foreign teachers should either not be hired or at least not be allowed to teach on 'substandard' qualifications for FOUR years.

Facebook and Immaculate

A school friend of mine from Immaculate sent me an invitation to join her on Facebook the other day and I have become hooked! It's really fun contacting old friends and checking out their pix etc. It's also very easy to use.

Along the same lines - I was reading my high school alumnae newsletter and it had a link for a website some old girls started. It has a lot of really good photos which brought back a lot of surprisingly good memories. Check it out. http://www.ichsalumnae.net/

When I was at Immaculate, I never thought it was really cool to be associated with the school as the feeling was that a lot of 'Cherry Gardens' people went there. and I most certainly didn't fit into that bracket. Add to that my sisters going to Queens (they refused point blank to even pick Immaculate as one of their choices!) and that explains my feelings. No doubt there were many snobs at school, but there were also a lot of girls (most of them really) who weren't and who were a lot of fun and good friends. It was nice to see some of them again.

Advertising and Race - The L'oreal Issue

Read this story in the guardian today. http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,2120789,00.html. It's about the fact that Garnier - a part of L'Oreal made it pretty clear that they only wanted white girls to stand in stores and push their products. This was in France. Apparently racism in the work place happens a lot in France.

It reminds me of a time in Jamaica in the early 90s. I was at UWI and a part of the University Dramatic Arts Society (UDAS). A leading ad agency was doing an ad for a feminine hygiene product and they contacted UDAS for people. However, they outrightly said they only wanted 'brownin's' or light skinned people.

We couldn't believe it! Well that sealed their fate. We all decided that only the darkest skinned people would go to the shoot. Suffice it to say they weren't happy.

And now this almshouse is still happening. Thankfully the company involved has been penalised. They are appealing the decision - I wonder why?

BBC Journalist Released

Today it was announced that the BBC journalist who had been held in Palestine for 16 weeks had been released. Lovely to hear some good news for a change.

In other matters . . .

His Royal Highness would like an SUV so we are doing the rounds. Test drove a Chevrolet Captiva today. It was a very nice ride and it didn't feel too big for me to drive. The outside looked god too but the interior was very disappointing - it looked cheap. Part of the deal is three years free service and it comes with a five year guarantee so that's good. It doesn't hold a candle to the Santa Fe though.

Why a Live Liver Transplant Now in the UK - years after . . .?

Apparently live liver transplants have been taking place for the past 15 years.

However, in the UK, the first NHS live liver transplant took place this week.

Again, the first time chip and pin was introduced in the UK was last year or the year before. That is, before then you couldn't use plastic to buy something without signing for it - something that has been done in Jamaica for years.

Why on earth has it taken 15 years to do the liver transplant here on the NHS - a service most people use. I assume the qualification of saying 'on the NHS' means there might be a possibility it has been done here privately - but I wouldn't bet on it.

Globally, we must revisit ideas about who is truly advanced and who is not.

The muslim point of view

I guess by now you would have heard of the terror attacks - sucessful and unsucessful here in the UK.

A while back I mentioned the reaction of 'moderate' muslims or rather the lack of a response. Here's some reactions from muslims themselves.

http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/yasmin_alibhai_brown/article2727903.ece


http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2727899.ece

If Moderate Muslims Exist They Need to Speak Up

Once again Muslims are being portrayed as idiotic, unthinking animals - and it's those of their own ranks who are doing it.

Imagine, an independent and democratic country, the UK decides it will give Salman Rushdie a knighthood and a bunch of Muslims decide this should not be done because they believe this man has insulted their religion. Therefore EVERYONE else in the world has to agree with them or be considered an enemy.

For goodness sake!

One jackass even said that it would be right for a suicide bomber to blow up Rushdie.

I am yet to hear any moderate Muslims speaking out against this idiocy.

This is why Muslims and Islam have such a terrible reputation because it seems as though the religion and the proponents of it are intolerant, stupid and backward.

The other major religion, Christianity has some backward attitudes attached to it (in terms of the role of women) but any Christian can tell you that the perception has come about because of people perverting the tenets of Christianity - and you can point to millions of Christians living their lives and not adhering to these or other distortions of their faith. Maybe there are millions of Muslims who do likewise and if this is so they need to step out and show themselves - prominently.

When the story comes to bump - some Muslim moderate will be dragged into the public arena to say that Islam is a faith of peace - that it believes in the equality of women etc. etc./ But if this is so why can't we see it?

If these fanatics are really on the fringe - why are they so prominent? The David Koreshs and the Jack Jones (who it was clear to see weren't true Christians but nutters) haven't spawned thousands of other Christians trying to kill themselves and others in the process. I know this did happen in Ireland for many years but it was only in Ireland - that country has its own unique painful history.

But why are Muslims behaving like ignorant barbarians in so many parts of the world - without a clear picture for the rest of us to see what it means to be a true Muslim? It's time to question whether or not this religion actually is one of peace or if the fanatics represent the true face of Islam - and if so steps need to be taken to secure free countries from the terribly negative effects.

The wussy British government hasn't made any stern comment on the Pakistani Religious minister's comments about the suicide bomber - because (according to channel 4 news) they want to keep Pakistan sweet in the fight against terror. This is wrong. You can't have people advocating killing someone because of their beliefs and stay quiet.

I congratulate Sir Rushdie and hope he stays alive.

Politricks

So Lisa Hanna is running for a constituency? I haven't delved very deep yet - just read some of the current stories so I haven't got the details of what happened when it happened. But it seems that she wasn't picked fairly to run for the seat in St. Ann and it also seems that people are pissed off that she should be running for a seat in an area that she doesn't live in and probably knows little about.

Sound like a right royal cock up. I'll read more and report back.

In other news Shonda Rimes has seemingly given in to pressure and 'not asked Isaiah Washington to come back' next season. All of this because he called one of his co-stars (the guy who plays George[?]) a faggott. This actor is gay and he took exception to the term as did many other people. In return Isaiah went to 'rehab' and apologised many times and hung out with some gay groups for awhile - but all seemed to be in vain. I'm pissed he's leaving - First of all he is the best looking man on the show (God know why people thing McDreamy looks good. I swear white women are blind!) And secondly I love his and Yang's relationship.

To have him effectively fired after all the apologies etc serves no purpose whatsoever. A really stupid move.

Useful and Interesting websites

Check out this story in today’s Independent. http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2640824.ece It has a whole long list of really interesting and useful websites. Enjoy.

Recycling?

Here in the UK there has been much talk about how little we recycle. Most local councils provide green bins for recycling and some are planning to penalise households who throw too much rubbish away and don't recycle enough.

Now I recycle. All my recycling goes into that green bin which is collected once every fortnight (too infrequently for me - I fill the bin in three days). Then it dawned on me the other day.

Unless the council employs people to separate the recycling (and I doubt they do) that means my 'recycling' is going into the landfill. What hypocrites!

Messing Around With Your Means of Earning a Living

Messing Around With Your Means of Earning a Living. Something that many people in the UK seem to have an affinity for - even if it doesn't benefit them.

Case in point the situation with foreign teachers. The UK authorities will target countries like Jamaica and try and get teachers to come to their country to teach the kids that no British teacher in their right mind wants to teach. So these Jamaican teachers come over and teach these kids - and believe me - it's not a pleasant task. They face racial and physical abuse, kids who have no interest in learning, who indeed actually laud ignorance and scorn intelligence, and rampant indiscipline.

Now upon recruitment, these teachers' qualifications and experience is adequate. But here in the UK for some asinine reason, those qualifications and that experience 'disappears' at the end of four years. For after teaching for four years in the UK education system you have to pay for, take the time out to do and obtain what they call Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). If not, you can no longer teach. Poof, livelihood gone. Also as this article in the Gleaner outlines http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070603/lead/lead3.html the information the UK authorities give about QTS is often inaccurate and obtaining it is not easy when you are working, much less when you are working in the worst schools, often under what they call 'special measures.' This means that on top of teaching and dealing with the crap I described above, you are assessed by the authorities CONSTANTLY. The stress is incredible.

Now you tell me why for the first four years a Jamaican teacher's qualifications are acceptable but after they are not? That makes any sense whatsoever to you?

This place is unbelievable! It's one of two things. They are screwing with foreign teacher's livelihoods - or feel that them coming to teach is some kind of activity that only benefits the foreign teacher - because they come to live in '1st world country' and therefore there must be a limit on the 'bounty,' or they have no care whatsoever for their own kids. For logic would state that if a Jamaican has to get British qualifications to teach here, therefore the Jamaican qualifications aren't any good, therefore letting them teach for four years based on these Jamaican qualifications is placing sub standard teachers in the UK system. Ergo British kids suffer.

The whole situation is ridiculous. Teaching qualifications do not expire - if that was the case then why do British trained teachers not have to gain some other form of qualification after fours years in order to keep on teaching?

The sad thing is that the UK DOES need teachers and by keeping up this almshouse all they are doing is shooting themselves in the foot - because let's be honest - the culture here is not one conducive to obtaining a great education - because of the British attitude. Taking out qualified ( and yes, Caribbean qualifications are top notch) teachers is just adding to the gross ignorance sweeping this country.

Really really stupid in my opinion.

And in the meantime, teachers who put up with incredibly terrible conditions, can no longer earn a living doing something valuable and something they love in spite of the lack of discipline and the dedication to remain ignorant that is the hallmark of so many British people.