BLOG 14 Boy's Victoria station killing 'planned on Facebook'

Link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12280889

Summary

Last year a 15-year-old schoolboy was chased and beaten up by an group of 20 teenagers and then stabbed to death during rush hour in London.

All the arrested boys have pleaded not guilty to this violent attack. The murder was brutal. The attackers bought knives at a local store and openly carried screwdrivers, the knives and even swords while chasing the boy in broad daylight. The attack and the buying of the weapons were discussed on face book and other social networks. A total of 20 teenagers have been charged with murder, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and violent disorder.

Reaction

I think this is shocking news. A group of young boys already so violent. I think these events can maybe sometimes stopped if there is some kind of monitoring. They say the murder was planned on face book . Now they can charge the boys also because of that, but they can also used this as a tool to prevent this from happening. Maybe if face book can detect violent words or chunks or maybe parents can watch the behavior of their children on the internet more closely. I don’t think this came out of the blue. Of course you don’t want a “big brother world”, but these are teenagers and they need to be protected.

BLOG 13 Universities must do more to end middle-class bias, says Alan Milburn

Link

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jan/25/universities-middle-class-bias-alan-milburn

Summary

Alan Milburn warns in a speech that all universities should make a greater effort to help students from poorer backgrounds. He is going to make recommendations to the parliament about what they can do to help them. He thinks that universities are not making a big enough effort to make it possible for everybody to reach their full potential. Where you are coming from should not predict where you are going like it is now.  If Universities insist on their independence over admissions policies and attract most of their students from private schools there will never be an equal opportunity for everyone.

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I think this is a big issue in the UK. British schools and society tend to make a big difference between classes and it is therefore really hard to move to another social class. I think that it is good that universities are made aware of the role they are playing and also could be playing in this matter. Money shouldn’t be the reason you are going to university and everybody deserves the best possible chance in life to make the most out of it. I also think that the government has to really make a stand and try to make a good education not only more equal on universities, but also at the start of a child’s education.

BLOG 12 Petersfield school sorry for barring 'adult' pupil

Link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-12274361

Summary

A 14 year old boy was sent home after a few days in school because his teacher thought he was an adult. The boy looked much older  than 14 and his mother, who is originally from Malawi, looked too young to be his mother the school said. The boy is 5ft 8in, weighs 10 stone and wears an extra large uniform. After his mother showed his birth certificate, the school accepted the prove, apologized and let the boy back into the school. The mother was devastated when the boy was sent home and the school is sorry for the upset this mistake has caused.

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This is a really crazy story. I don’t understand how the boy could have been in school for days already before they asked for prove. I couldn’t see on the picture that was placed with this article if he really looked young, so I found a better one. I don’t think he looks that old in the picture. I do think that teenagers nowadays look older than they used to. I think the school could have handled the matter better by inviting the mother and talk to her and ask her for prove instead of sending the boy home first.

BLOG 11 Pregnant smokers urged to quit

Link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/health/newsid_7870000/7870634.stm

Summary

Smoking can harm your baby, but many pregnant smokers are ashamed of their habit and ,afraid to be judged, they are not seeking help to quit. The NHS in England, a service to stop smoking, is now campaigning to get more pregnant smokers to ask for help in a campaign fronted by celebrity doctor Miriam Stoppard.  It is really important that women become aware of the fact that every cigarette restricts the essential oxygen supply the baby needs and that there is help to stop smoking. It is also important for the people who disapprove to stop judging and start supporting.

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I think it is good that there is more help for pregnant women to stop smoking. It is weird that women continue to smoke when they are expecting a child and put its life in danger. Just as weird as people continue smoking when they know the damage it does to their own health. I like that there is more and more attention for this subject. I’m not sure if smoking should be prohibited as a whole, but it is important to protect the people, especially children, who didn’t choose to inhale the damaging

BLOG 10 Fattest man: 'Food has absolutely devastated my life'

Link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/12120689

 

Summary

Paul Mason is Britain’s fattest man he is estimated to be around 70 stone.

At his fattest, Paul Mason would eat  20,000 calories every day. He says he hates the way he looks. A documentary follows him as he prepares for surgery. Paul is almost constantly eating, bed bound for years and it costs social services  £2,000 a week to look after him. The surgeon says Paul’s condition is an addiction. Before his surgery he was putted on a strict diet and he lost  more than 20 stone. Paul hates what he has done to himself and the fact that he cannot control it.

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I think this is really shocking and sad. I cannot understand that it has come to this. People must have fed him, because he isn’t able to get out of bed. Why would anyone give this man this much food everyday and enable his addiction?

The article says it costs £2,000 a week to look after him. I’m wondering how much it costs to eat 20,000 calories every day. How can he afford this or are there again people enabling him? I love watching “help mijn kind is te dik” on the Dutch television and I think this is a problem that has something to do with the way we live today.

I really think this man should have been helped a long time ago and I really would like to know why people kept on feeding him.

BLOG 9 Liver disease 'hits younger drinkers'

Link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/12262879

Summary

In the last ten years the number drinkers age 30 and under ending up in hospital with a serious liver problem has risen by more than 50% . Some specialist think that the problems are even bigger than estimated. The numbers are still small, but are rising fast.

After drinking heavily over a period of time, the liver can become fatty, inflamed or even fail to function. Dr Nick Sheron, a liver specialist at Southampton General, said: "17 years ago, I remember seeing a lad about 23 years old with alcoholic liver disease and he was the first patient I had seen at that age.

"Now it is not at all unusual to see people in their 20s in our unit.

"We get four or five every year and the youngest death we have seen was someone who was 26. It's a big, big difference."

Reaction

I think it is very worrying that young people are drinking so much. I think they are not aware of the dangers, because it is a “socially accepted drug”.  There isn’t really a maximum of how much you can drink, you have to decide yourself how many drinks you feel is right for you.  Maybe it should be more well-known how many drinks you can drink without putting your health in danger related to how old you are and your bodyweight and if you are a boy or girl, man or woman. Instead of letting people decide for themselves with extra information, you could also test more often on the amount of alcohol in the blood of people going out and be stricter about the amount they can have and the punishment they face if they have taken more.

BLOG 8 Northumbria Pc Stephen Mitchell jailed for sex attacks

Source

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-12154627

Summary

A 42-year-old policeman has abused vulnerable women he met while on duty. The policeman offered the women help and then attack them. He raped women he had arrested and said he would let them go if they would have sex with him. He thought no one would believe these women with criminal records when it was his word against theirs. The women thought the same, but one them was now brave enough to come forward with her story and he is now convicted and given two life sentences. It was also emerged he was accused of a serious sexual offence while he was still in the army, but this was not revealed when he applied to join the police.

Reaction

Once again I think it is so weird and so wrong that people who do something like this can get away with it and then go on doing the same thing in a different place, because there is often bad communication about this. This also happened in Amsterdam a while ago when a paedophile was convicted in Germany for sexual attacking little children and was now working in a day-care in Amsterdam and did the same thing to at least 50 little children before he was stopped again. I think it is very important that all these systems work together so things like this are less likely to happen.