Politics

Mixedmatt is quite the Politician :-) …

Is there too many shops of one type on our streets?

by Matthew

Having studied the streets in my social sciences module. I’ve become a little more interested in streets. One I am interested in is Enfield Highway (Hertford Road) and how it’s changed over time. I randomly stumbled on a video of a local cafe owner talking about how the street has changed.

One thing he mentions is how many supermarkets are now on the road. Compared to the past. The problem is supermarket domination of a different kind! It’s not large supermarkets such as Tesco, Sainsburys, or Asda with their locals and express stores. It’s the large amount tailoured to one community. There are is a large amount of Turkish supermarkets (and restaurants) and not much else really 🙁

Nothing really caters towards anyone else. That’s possibly how people may feel.

I have a lot more to say on this but I have lots of studying to do. Being behind again 🙁
Love all my loyal readers I will try and update this soon!

What makes you happy? How do you measure success?

by Matthew

Not posted in a bit had a lot to do. Had my third uni assignment to do. It was terrible in my eyes, rushed and unstructured. I didn’t understand a lot of what I was supposed to do!!

Then my car needed a MOT and tax. Then I needed to submit company accounts (submitted two days late do I got a penalty notice). Ah, feel so stressed and peeved out right about now. This isn’t even to mention a friendship with a best friend broke down over the past week 🙁

Trying to put that behind me and just focus on studying. In a bit behind again and just trying to be happy.

Anyway I’ve diverted from the topic of my blog post. It was more about something I heard on question time this week, and from Piers Morgans interview with Jason Donovan that got me thinking. How do others measure success??

Piers Morgan's Life Stories: Jason Donavan

I know some people will think entirely from a cash sense here! I don’t think greed is a good answer for such a question. I have a friend who is well off, and may consider the fact that her next generation (children) will not need to work or the next. Is this success for you? Is this what makes you happy? Worryingly it seems most people in this country would agree.

I’m not saying it’s greedy to want loads of money, by some means that’s fine, but that’s what’s trashing our country. Ask any young person what they want to do in life. You won’t often hear help people out in blah blah, or become a blah blah. Increasingly you here it become money related. As if money is the key to success. Maybe this culture has been imposed on use little people by the big bankers?

I’ve always wondered where this stems from. Greed has taken over this country from the top down. Bankers who need that extra £1,000 bonus to the people out on the streets last August helping themselves to goodies 🙂

Still the core question goes unanswered. What is success? For someone it could be doing a cleaning role in that hotel. Which their family classes them as a failure for doing. Success is something very much measured by the individual. Sometimes it gets clouded up.

For this who are wondering what I was referring two in the two TV programmes. In question time a young “entrepreneur” mentioned the higher rate of tax and that it might/will make him consider learning a new language and taking business abroad. Another gentleman right after explained to him that it says more about then our tax system. To which he got a clap from the audience. Who’s in the right there? The young person who wants to pay less tax so he gets to keep even more of his money? Well, if our greedy politicians can do it why can’t the general population? Examples need to be set for society to follow again.

Regarding Jason Donovan, he mentioned after his drug abuse the new outlook he had on life. How does one measure success? He felt he had it all until his drug abuse. He mentioned for some it’s surviving cancer, making it through the day, getting their chosen job, or making that next single number one. Interesting points.

I’ve wrote quite a lot here but I believe I have a new outlook on success. I don’t take it is seriously as I do now and just seek for happiness. My success would be getting my degree if I ever get there 😛

If its difficult to read its because I’ve wrote this from my iPhone WordPress app. Sorry!

On that note I love you readers and please use the comments box for thoughts. I know theres a few lurkers out there! 🙂

Education in the UK (Part 1)

by Matthew

This post has been a long time coming. I’ve wrote so much about how the education system is a failure before in my blog I’m sure. Something I’ll have to search through I think! This time I wanna go into depth.

Real change is needed in our education system. I’m not just talking about university fees which I’ve spoke about before and the Open University tried to make clear in a letter the sent me below 🙂

Open University explains tuition Fees!

Open University explains tuition Fees!

Eric Schmidt criticised the UK education system back in August and I agree with him (and the pirate party appeared to as well). He said the UK had a strong, proud past of scientist and technological pioneers. As someone who left the school system in 2005, I will try and list what I believe is missing to create future pioneers in this country without being boring 😛

A simple IT lesson today isn’t good enough. The children know more and if they don’t in many cases they adapt faster to technology then the person teaching them. Teaching a child or teen how to work with Microsoft Excel or fill entries in Microsoft Access will (mostly) set them up for a lifetime of work. In addition to this even in workplaces other software systems are being used and embraced. A wider range of IT knowledge needs to be added on the curriculum. I can’t speak for the current curriculum though, but I would hope it’s been updated from my recollections. I think in terms of teaching IT in UK schools there should be two separate subject matters one being the traditional information technology and the other being computer science.

Many other subjects particularly at secondary level are stagnant statics. I mean the curriculum doesn’t change year after year. How can the best be provided and given when it isn’t current or broad enough? This is especially true of subjects like history. The history of the Atlantic slave trade or WW2 are both very important components in their own right these are drawn out and analysed far too deeply. International history should also be on the curriculum.

Lets take a look at the very broad (IB course) approved by the UN. It doesn’t just focus on academics. It teaches life skills. It teaches for real life rather then just programming people for work or jobs in a system. Life skills need to be taught that are broad. Enabling students to think about creativity. Not just another robot, so to speak.

A random secondary school 🙂

Teachers in UK schools are often focused on meeting targets and achieving grades. To which most are very misleading and confusing. The problem is the curriculum in schools it just doesn’t allow students to achieve the best. Often students are put in groups in English, Maths and Science. Where they generally perform to the level of the group they are in. Allowing mixed ability students to work together would work best allowing student matching. The aim being that the weaker student can learn with how the strong student does. If lessons are tailored correctly.

We really need to improve our schools. If we don’t, we will need to rely on foreign countries to supply us with brains. We already have problems producing a workforce!

It’s like most of our country at the moment we really need to self sustain more and improve what we have.

I personally feel that I’ve learnt more in the six years out of school, then I ever learnt at school! That cannot be the way no longer. Students need to come out of school ready for the world. I’ve got more to say in part 2 on this series. I actually meant to post this a few months back but didn’t finish it! 🙂

They still don’t understand the cause of the riots…

by Matthew

Kit Malthouse - Deputy Mayor of London

Instead of addressing the cause of the August riots. The deputy mayor is still focusing on what he calls “the large majority of criminals” who took part in the unrest. Can nobody see that unrest just doesn’t happen? It’s a issue with society.

The fact it took our own prime minister three nights to cut his holiday short in Tuscany and return home, just shows what a mess everything was.

People have felt marginalized. Whether through race (ignore what the media feeds you people do get treated differently in this country!), poverty, bailing out bankers, university fees, price increases (due to the global crisis), unemployment or a whole host of issues.

It’s too easy to sit back and say what a bunch of thugs and vermin these people were and not get to the root cause of the situation. I don’t condone this behavior but this is what happens when there is a mismatch in society.

The investigations into what happened do seem to be continuing here.

However, they garner little media exposure. We just hear crap about everyone who took part being hardened criminals to put the population down in their rightful place. The media can influence so many things and bend the truth. Reporters don’t know much of Tottenham and yet much of the reporting was inaccurate at the time. Media can just evoke problems with the masses at sensitive times.

During the riots, We had one reporter(BBC) saying there is a Jewish community in Tottenham. The Jewish community he is referring to is in Stamford Hill a mile and a half up the road. Meaning they had come down (for some unknown reason) when the unrest took place. Inaccurate reporting such as this lead people to believe only a people of one race, or religion is causing the trouble in a particular area. The media really is a lethal thing 🙁

Pah…. I’ve got so much to say on this issue it’d bring my blog database down and render it unusable 😛

Muammar Gaddafi Killed

by Matthew

Seems my blog is just all about death. I’ve not intended it that way! Not good, but that’s all that’s been happening out there. Muammar Gaddafi was reported captured and later killed earlier on today. I don’t like people getting killed regardless of what they have done, so I wanted to see him captured and brought to the International Criminal Courts at The Hague to be tried for his war crimes. This man was deluded and in my opinion sick mentally (its said he was bipolar).

However in terms of changing Libya, I don’t think it will make that big a difference. Democracy has to be formed. The country has no history of democracy. Weapons have to be called in and accounted for. A insurgency could still form. This is just one step. Bringing his government down was one MAJOR step this is a MINOR step in my opinion. The country will progress however. Of course after 42 years of brutal dictatorship the Libyan people deserve to celebrate this moment… but its not over. This is merely the beginning.

I feel I have more to write on this. If I think of something I will come back to it. It’s late! Red-eye!

Some articles on him from the guardian below.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/20/gaddafi-how-did-he-die

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/20/colonel-muammar-gaddafi?newsfeed=true

Terror Victims

by Matthew

R.I.P the 2,976 Americans who lost their lives on 9/11. R.I.P the 48,644 Afghans and 1,690,903 Iraqis who paid the ultimate price for a crime they didn’t commit, and the hundreds of thousands of people who die through terror attacks around the world.