Parents' behaviour 'can influence teen drinking

The Joseph Rowntee Foundation researched what most influences young people’s drinking behavior. They found out that children who see their parents drunk are more likely to get drunk themselves. This research also found out that 1 in 5 children of the 5700 children they’ve used for their research, has been drunk by the time they were 14. If parents don’t know where their children are on a Saturday night or let them watch films above 18 unsupervised, the chances that these children will have an alcoholic drink is much bigger. The most important thing this research found out is that the habits of parents seem to be particularly powerful.

I think that we should thank the Joseph Rowntee Foundation for doing such a research because now we finally see on paper that it really is true that parents have an important role in the alcohol use of their children. Alcohol maybe tasty and relief you from load but we should never lose our self control, especially not in front of children. These children see you as their hero and want to become just like you. So next time you start to drink keep in mind that your children will want to become as you, this will keep you and the children from drinking too much. 

One in six young offenders are back in jail in a month

A two year research found out that releasing young offenders into the community without support was undoubtedly meant to go wrong. When they were released without any supervision it was unavoidable that they would come back in a month. Therefore, they started a research and checked up on 41 youngsters who were released from custody. After a month they would go and see what had happened to these youngsters and find out that  only 13 of the 41 had a proper accommodation, 6 of 37 whose case still going on was back in custody and 7 of them was on the run. A ministry of Justice spokeswoman said that it is important to help find the youngsters a resettlement and give them support to find work so that the cycle of offending can be stopped.

I think this is a really good idea. It is important to give such offenders a second chance and help them build up a new life. On the other hand, I really am afraid that these offenders will only use us and continue what they were doing. You will always have people who take advantage of such a situation but we can’t ignore the people who really do pick up their life, who really want a new life. Now the proper question is if we should let some of the youngsters take advantage of us in order to make other youngsters really blend in with society? I really have no idea but what I believe in is that such youngsters/offenders deserve a second chance. 

'Jail discount' for early guilty pleas to be dropped

Many Tory MPs went mad after they proposed to allow criminals to serve only half their sentence if they plead guilty at an early stage. The judge decided that this wasn’t a good idea and dropped this case entirely. This idea started with the intention to cut the prison population by 3000 people in England and Wales and by doing so it would also cut the probation bill by 20% over four years. Ministers had many ideas as “minimum tariffs for imprisonment, release more defendants on bail and increase the use of community sentences”. However, the idea to cut 50% of a criminals prison years appealed the best for them. The Labour party said that such an idea had won the backing of penal reform campaigners was ludicrous and Sadiq Khan, the shadow justice secretary, said that a criminal justice system should protect the public and punish the criminals and that this was the only way to cut crime.

I think this is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my life. How can ministers seriously intend to cut half of a criminal’s punishment? What if it is a rapist or a serial killer who admits that he has done everything they say and then reward him for being honest? That must be the most insane thing I’ve ever heard.  I am glad that the judge wasn’t as insane as the ministers who came up with this idea and luckily dropped this case entirely. Fortunately, we still have people in our country who haven’t lost their minds. 

St Gregory's college cornrows rule discriminated

ST Gregory’s Catholic Science College in Harrow has refused a 13 year old boy because of his hairstyle (cornrows). The boy claims that his hairstyle was very important for his cultural identity and that he has had it this way all his life.  St Gregory’s said that they’ve always wanted to stick to the uniform policy which includes the hair style. The judge decided that from now on St Gregory’s must allow other boys to wear cornrows if they have to because of cultural and social reasons. This will make sure that anyone with a particular race will be in the protection of equalities legislation.

I was a bit shocked when I read this article. We live in 2011 and still we don’t accept each other the way we are. We talk about equality all the time and yet we can get refused because of our hairstyle that is of importance to our cultural identity. We can’t get equality by wearing the same clothes or have the same hairstyle we should get it because we respect each other. It shouldn’t matter how are appearances are what really is of importance is who are in the inside. It is really important that we are good human beings and that we don’t hurt each other and respect each other just the way we are.  

Figures reveal working smoke alarm fire deaths

Nowadays, 80 % of the buildings have a fire alarm. There were 54 fire services who answered the questions of Freedom of Information and the outcome is that 157 of the 340 people killed by fire around the UK had a fire alarm. The Fire Brigades Union said that it cannot rescue you or put out fires but it helps to alert you when a fire is started. The only problem is that people usually disable them if they go off too frequently or that they forget to replace the batteries. There are still many deaths in spite of the fire alarm and that is because many people didn’t plan an escape route and 40 % of the deaths had used alcohol by which they couldn’t hear the fire alarm.

I think that there are still a lot of deaths mainly because they all had a fire alarm. It is quite senseless if you forget to replace the batteries or disable the fire alarm just because it goes off too frequently. However it does happen and I have to say that I am one of these persons. I make use of a fire alarm but there was one time it went off right outside our bathroom and I was busy doing my hair. It really scared me so I ran towards the door and opened it just to find out that nothing happened. I checked every whole I have in my house just to be sure there was no fire and finally the fire alarm stops with bleeping. So I started doing my hair again and after 2 minutes it went off again and this time I just unplugged it. Now I realize that it was a stupid thing to do but at the time it was the best solution I had. However, I will never unplug my fire alarm again and I will recommend you also not to unplug it and change the batteries frequently because it might save our lives.

Ban for 1am drink-drive Cardiff milkman Brian Gallagher

A police officer saw a milk float that nearly missed parked cars and he started to follow this milk float. He followed the driver and saw that he was unable to stop for road markings and he stopped the driver called Brian Gallagher of Lechwith, Cardiff. The police officer said that Brian Gallagher “fell from the milk float and staggered to the rear of the vehicle to pick up a pint of milk”.  The police officer could immediately smell that he had been drinking and it appeared that he had 62 microgram of alcohol and 35 is the limit. Brian Gallagher told that he only drunk a bottle of wine with a meal; eventually he admitted that had 62 microgram of alcohol and was fined 100 pounds.

I think it is ridiculous that you can drive drunk, get caught and only get a ticket of 100 pounds. You should raise the sanction for drunk driving and you will see that nobody will sit behind a wheal after they’ve been drinking. This time nothing happened but what if he had run over someone; if that would have been the case he could have got in to jail. The government can prevent this from happening again, simply by raising the sanction. For every one microgram alcohol you that crosses the limit you can give a ticket of 100 pounds or even more. This will also promote the use of busses, the underground and even cabs. 

Wellington child prostitution trial: Two men dismissed

Nine men are trialed for child prostitution and all nine deny that they have abused 7 girls from Wellington.  Two of the men have been discharged of the trial because of illness and they will be trialed separately. The rest of the men face charges that include rape and sexual activity with girls under 16. The seven girls claim that they had sex with defendants in exchange for cash, alcohol, drugs, meals and phone credit. The police started an investigation after some of the teachers got suspicious.

When I read this article I wondered what those men would have done if their own daughter or sister would have been one of those girls; I think that they would have gone mad. I wanted to post this article because I want to make one think of what would have happened if these teachers wouldn't get suspicious. I would like to remind everyone that there are millions of girls who are in the same position and can’t get out of it. We should all open our eyes and hope that we can save such innocent girls. We should be able to handle adequately in such a situation and I am in opinion that all teachers should follow a course that teaches them how to spot such problems. 

Owen Wightman hit-and-run: Driver urged to come forward

Investigators are searching for a man who hit a little boy, at the age of 6. Owen Wightman lived in Kettlethorpe in Wakefield and was hit by a car in fishponds lane which is nearby Kettlethorpe. The driver instantly stopped and stepped out if his car to make sure that his care wasn’t damaged and immediately afterwards he drove away from Owen, as if nothing happened.  The police have CCTV images of the vehicle and they are convinced that their scientist will be able to identify the make and model of the vehicle. Therefore, they ask the driver (young white male) to come forward before they will arrest him.

I love children and I believe that they should be cherished and therefore I got really restless after I read this article. It always hurts me when I find out something terrible has happened to a child. An accident can always happen, it shouldn’t happen but it does. However, if you run away from something you caused then it becomes a crime, in my opinion. How sick can you be when you step out of the car and see if it is damaged and not care about a human life? You can get a new car but you can’t get a new Owen Wightman. We all should be more alert in traffic and not run away from our mistakes!

Volunteers to live life of the isolated elderly

Volunteers have accepted an experiment that will make them live as if they were old. They will have to deal with the same physical problems, for a week, as a senior does for the rest of his life. The volunteers also will be isolated from everything, for example: no telephone, no internet, no face book etc. They will have to live through an isolated life as many elderly do. Research suggests that one in five older people see other people once a week and it also suggests that loneliness can be cured easily; all you have to do is help an older person in the supermarket, look them straight in the eye and see if they want to chat. Jenny Skyes of Friends of the Elderly said that such a small thing can overcome loneliness.  

I personally think this is a great idea, everybody should do this. It will make it much easier for us to understand the elder people and when we understand them we will be friendlier. We live in a world that always has a shortage of time and that is why we don’t stop and talk to an elderly. I have to admit that I wouldn’t have stopped to chat with an elder before I read this article. I would always want to help them but never chat with them because it is so long winded. However, now I think it will be worth talking to them because I will make them feel better, I will give them the feeling that they aren’t alone. I hope I can give someone such a feeling because I cannot imagine how it must be to feel lonely. I hope that when you read this that you also will stop and put some of your precious time in talking to an elder because that will make him or her happier. 

Older people cared for at home lacking basic right

This article tells us how we take care of our seniors. The Equality and Human Rights Commission took a look in how well people above 65 who receive homecare are taken care of.  They discovered that the seniors were treated poorly. The staffs just undress the seniors in front of a window or take the effort of visiting them after 17 hours.  The Equality and Human Rights Commission claim that the seniors have to choose if they want a hot meal or their laundry done. They say that it is because of the limited time the staff has. “Whatever the reason maybe, poor care is never acceptable” said Peter Hay, from the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services. The Equality and Human Rights Commission said that they will search for a solution in how the seniors can protect their selves from such behavior.

How can it be that we just let this happen? What would we do if it happened to our parents of grandparents? Are we in such a world that we don’t care about anything but ourselves? I refuse to believe that! The staff explains that they don’t have enough time to do everything their client whishes; I don’t think that is a proper explanation. It is as Peter Hay said “poor care is never acceptable”. If they don’t have enough time then they should find a solution that gives the staff more time. I don’t think time is the only problem, people just see it as their work and don’t put any hart in to it.

Family disaster

A family drama happened in the street of Braintree, Essex. A mother (Christine) and one of her daughters (Shania) were shot in their house. Her other daughter could escape by jumping out of a window on the second floor and run as fast as she could to her dad who happened to be a neighbor. Once she arrived at her dads home she shouted : “ He is there at the house with a gun”. Obviously, she means her stepfather and the biological father of Shania. The police did not yet exposed who shot Christine and Shania they were only willing to say that they found two bodies (Christine and Shania) and that a man with an injury of gunshots was found and brought to the hospital. Locals say that the police were aware of the problems Christine and her boyfriend (locally called David Oakes) had and that they could have prevent this.

I should have been shocked when I read this nevertheless, I felt sorry for them. When I started to reflect on this I could not help but think how normal “a murder, committing a crime” got for us. I wondered if we are getting hard less or that we are just adapting to the society  we currently live in? If we are just adapting to the society we live in is it then not time to start thinking if this society is wrong? Yes, we should start to think that something is going on and that it is not right. We should try to change this society and not adept to it because ( I know) it is easier to walk along!  I also know that right now you all think of the same question “How can we change this society”? well, that is a good question! Unfortunately, I cannot answer this however I can say that this is a question we should all seek the answer for.

exam errors

This week I read an article on the BBC site that irritated me. This article was about the AS-level exams and that it had an error in it. Apparently the AQA exam board made a mistake by forgetting essential information. This piece of information was needed to make the calculation that would give the answer to how much the profits of a chocolate company were.  A business teacher contacted the BBC to tell about how his students struggled with this question and that they did not have enough time to finish the other questions. The AQA exam board says that they are sorry for the mistake they made and that the students will not be disadvantaged. The question was only worth 3 points out of 80.

Why did this article irritate me when I read this? Well let me tell you: Every year when students take their exams there is an error made in one of the exams. Everybody expects perfectness from the students but it seems as if we don’t expect perfectness form the AQA exam board anymore. Because of such a mistake a lot of students get stuck at the question that contains the mistake and have barely enough time to finish their exam. How can you make the same mistake almost every year? If one of the students would make the same mistake every year they would be kicked out of school. I ask you: how is this fair?