Gig venues losing tour dates

Recent figures show the number of gigs at major UK venues has dropped significantly in the past year.

The number of gigs taking place in big UK venues has almost halved in the last year according to Tixdaq.

One of the major factors causing the decline, is the opening up of new markets in South East Asia and Eastern Europe. More and more artists are flooding to these new markets, taking part in several gigs in these areas on one trip. The music festival in Manila is just one example of this new market. Bands like The Maine, This Century and The Pretty Reckless have all played at the festival this year and the bands keep going back for shows.

A problem with UK venues according to AEG Live are the size of UK venues. "It's facilities - it's as simple as that. In Murrayfield, it's 55,000 people in a city the size of Edinburgh.

"How many groups can sell 55,000? As a band or as a punter you don't want to be there with 20,000. It's miserable."

It's true bands never want to see a load of empty seats, especially those still growing as bands or artists.

One of the UK's leading rock bands, You Me At Six just played their biggest headline show ever on Saturday (8/12/12) at Wembley Arena. The reason for doing so was that it was their final night of their Sinners Never Sleep album cycle and the last that we'll hear of the band until 2014. It was this that helped the concert to sell out. Its doubtful that we'd be seeing them play a venue the size of Wembley Arena every show, despite them becoming one of the UK's biggest rock bands of the moment.

For a lot of artists it seems that they prefer to play small gigs. British rock band, Young Guns, played the Festival Republic tent and Reading and Leeds in the summer and in a number of interviews said they preferred playing to an overflowing tent than their opening set on the main stage in 2010.

The Leveson Inquiry

Lord Justice Leveson has called for a new independent body for the press after saying that “the press need to act”.

A campaign has now been launched by inquiry witnesses for MPs to implement a new body.

In his report, published on November 29^th, Lord Justice Leveson said that the press needed a new independent regulatory body that should have the power to investigate any breaches and be able to sanction newspapers. This new body should then be backed with legislation to determine whether the body is doing its job properly. This legislation would mean a legal duty put on the government to protect freedom of the press.

Newspapers that refuse to sign up this new body will be required to face direct regulation by Ofcom, the media watchdog.

The body should be independent of current journalists, the government and commercial concerns. It should also not include any current editors or MPs or other government members.

The report also suggests that a “whistle-blowing hotline” should be set up for journalists who feel under pressure to do something unethical and have journalists’ contracts include a clause protecting them if they refuse to perform unethical practises.

The report has split the coalition with Prime Minister David Cameron firmly against statutory control, whereas Deputy Prime Minster Nick Clegg, along with Opposition leader Ed Miliband, wants to see Lord Justice Leveson’s proposals implemented with a new law on the press.

Cameron believes that setting up such a body will only show how difficult it is to regulate in such a controversial area. Both Clegg and Miliband believe the opposite will be achieved.

 The Department for Culture, Media and Sport are currently drafting a bill that is thought to take a few weeks for it to be completed.

On Friday, the newspapers came out welcoming a new regulatory body, but supported Cameron’s opposition to the law-backed legislation, rejecting the idea of statute and involving Ofcom.

Gerry McCann, father of missing girl Madeline, has said to the BBC that, “The press has been given enough chances, and in my opinion Lord [Justice] Leveson has given them another chance to put a structure in place which they are happy with."

Actor Steve Coogan wrote in the Guardian: “By rejecting Leveson's call for statutory regulation, Cameron has hung the victims of crime out to dry. He has passed on the opportunity to make history. He has revealed there isn't an ounce of substance in his body, that he has one eye on courting the press for elections in years to come, and doesn't know the meaning of conviction.”

We wait to see the future results of the Leveson report and the effects on the press.

Jinja International Youth Meeting 2012

I recently spent a week in Uganda at the Jinja International Youth Meeting for English and Ugandan students in Jinja, Uganda. It was an experience that I will never forget and this is just a bit about what we got up to whilst there.

23 October 2012
2:45am - leave for Heathrow airport. Flight to Entebbe via Brussels
We arrived in Uganda in the late evening after being delayed slightly on the plane. As Entebbe is three hours away from Jinja, all the UK students stayed at a motel some five minutes away from the airport. This was the first time everyone had met everyone there.

24 October 2012
Wednesday morning we left Entebbe with Richard (JIYM organiser) and headed off to Jinja. It was a long journey! We did stop off at a supermarket briefly to exchange money (you can't exchange in England) and buy a couple of things. One of the weirdest things though was seeing the guards outside the bureau de change with AK47's and the guards outside the supermarket searching your bags before you went in.
We got to the Discovery Centre that afternoon about four-ish. The Discovery Centre was very hostel like; rooms down corridors on both sides of the building with around six to eight beds (they were bunkbeds) and a space in between used as the dining area.
Something we also learnt about this place was that they had young people lvingthere who had been orphaned.
That evening one of the workers at the Discovery Centre and a local man took us to one of the nearby villages. It was completely different to anything I've seen in the UK. Everyone that lived there had a part of the land they would farm on. It was a walk from the town so it was very secluded, but the people were some of the friendliest people I have ever met. Especially considering we had basically gone to their homes to take photos, you could never do that in the UK. We st down with some fo the locals and found out about how they made their living and related topics and ended up getting invited to a graduation party that weekend for two of the kids that had just finished school. Again, unlikely this would happen in the UK!

25 October 2012
Thursday we went out to Kingfisher resort which is one of the big tourist places to stay. It was a very nice hotel. After having lunch there we stopped in the town and went to the little market stools on either side of the road to buy any souviners. Something else that struck me - the price. Everything was so cheap (4000 Ugandan shillings to the pound). I bought a Uganda football shirt for my brother for 25,000 shillings which is about six pounds. That was the most expensive thing I bought on the whole trip. Altogether I ended up spending about £23 in Uganda and for the amount I bought it would have been over double if  I had bought the same things in the UK.

26 October 2012
Friday morning we visited some primary schools and another village. One of the most amazing things I will take from the trip is how happy everyone was with the simplist of things, like viewing a photo of themselves on a digital camera. It makes you realise how much of a consumerism driven country we are. The Ugandan students taking part in the conference arrived in the afternoon. The William Parker girls and I ended up sharing a room with three of them. They were all some of the nicest people I have ever met, especially considering what some of them had been through. One of the boys had been orphaned as both his parents were mrudered back in the 90s during civil unrest. He boarded at his school most of the time and lived at the Discovery Cenre who were subsidising his school fees. 27 October 2012
The conference started on Saturday. Luckily my group wasn't until Sunday so we had more time to prepare. We heard speeches on topics like global citizenship and sustainable development. Some of the Ugandans were some of the best speakers I've heard of our age. In the afternoon we did a challenge course, (which was entertaining to say the least!). But it was a real chance to bond with everyone, not just a few people.

28 October 2012
The second day of the conference, meaning we had to do our presentation. The Sunday speeches were on conflict resolution, social justice and mine, restorative justice. One of the most interesting but horrific things I learnt about that week was Joseph Kony and the LRA by a Ugandan girl. Kony was a rebel fighter in Northern Uganda who committed some awful acts. One of the questions that was raised from our restorative justice topic was whether Kony should have a international court or traditional hearing. It was really interesting to hear what the Ugandan students had to say on the issue.
We visited Iganga falls in the afternoon. That was an eventful journey. It had been raing that morning and the dusty and clay like roads had turned to sludge, meaning we were basically drving on ice. The bus nearly tipped over and there is plenty of video evidence from us watching the bus!

29 October 2012
The Ugandan students left on Monday. There were some tears by a number of people. Meeting them and saying goodbye to them seemed to come so fast. Although I will definately be keeping in contact with as many of them as possible via Facebook. We also left the Discovery Centre that day to go back to Entebbe.

30 October 2012
We left the motel at 7:30am to go to an island in Lake Victoria to vist the chimpanzee sanctury. I don't think anyone was happy with the early start, but once we were there and actually got to see them it was alright. We also went to another island to visit a groups of people and a school. We also met some of the women that make the Ugandan bracelets made out of bits of old paper. Its amazing what you can do with scrap material, I bought one myself and another for my sister.
Our flight to Brussels was scheduled for 11:55pm.

31 October 2012
9:20am - back in the UK!
Uganda was absolutely amazing and if I ever get the chance I will definately go back. It really does make you open your eyes to a developing country. Its all well and good your parents telling you how lucky you are etc., but until you actually see it and see the poverty you have no idea.
I will never forget it.

Free Speech Oxford Competition 2013: Press Release

On January 27^th 2012, Holocaust Memorial Day, Christ Church Oxford hosted a student organised public speaking competition for sixth form students there to talk about topics surrounding persecution and freedom. The competition, which was created and organised by a number of sixth form students, was put on in the memory of Paul Jacobsthal, a German Jew who came to seek refuge in Oxford during World War Two. Pupils from seven local schools took part, with the competition judged by Oxford academics, who kindly gave up their time to judge the competition. The student organisers of Chenderit School, a comprehensive in south Northamptonshire, received a wave of positive feedback after the event and plans are already in place for the competition to be held again next year with extra sessions being added, so that the competition can start to become more inclusive now that it has had its test run.The event itself consisted of several schools coming together to talk about topics to do with free speech and persecution at Christ Church College. Topics of this nature were chosen, because of the Paul Jacobsthal project and holding the event on Holocaust Memorial Day. The format of speeches was done in the traditional ESU public speaking style with a chair, speaker and questioner. There were seven judges with different backgrounds including Oxford academics and a QC, all of whom freely gave their time to judge the competition. Accompanying the public speaking was work done by year nine students from Chenderit who had just started studying the Holocaust. A selection of year nine students were able to produce a timeline for Paul Jacobsthal’s life after the student organisers of the event felt, and still feel, that this event should reach out to more than just sixth formers, especially when the Holocaust gets studied in younger years.

The whole concept of the event began in November last year, when students from Chenderit School were approached by Dr Megan Price from the Institute of Archaeology at Oxford University about their latest project on a man named Paul Jacobsthal. Paul Jacobsthal was a German professor of archaeology at the university in Marburg, Germany who mainly studied Celtic art. During the 1930’s Adolf Hitler re-wrote history by claiming that claiming that Germany had influenced all Greek and Roman art and architecture, as they were the `master race’. Along with a few other archaeologists Jacobsthal went against Hitler’s thesis and because of his Jewish roots, was forced into exile from Germany because of the Race Laws and ended up in Oxford in 1935 where he took refuge at the university. For a time he was interned to the Isle of Man in 1940 of suspicion of being an `enemy alien‘. He remained in Oxford after the war and rebuilt his contacts with fellow archaeologists back in Germany, many of who helped him out during the war at their own risk. The Institute of Archaeology at Oxford currently have a collection of Jacobsthal’s work, including diaries, photographs and drawings that were used to create an exhibition that ran from January to March of this year.

The sixth form students of Chenderit were then approached and asked to help appeal their project to young people. Seeing as the whole project was based on persecution and inequality, a public speaking competition was ran on Holocaust Memorial Day whose theme was “Speak Up Speak Out”. It was therefore decided the topics would be based on the idea of freedom of expression and discussion and to help commemorate the life of Paul Jacobsthal. A trip to Oxford in November helped the students to learn and understand the Jacobsthal project. What started out as five or six students getting involved in the organising and running, ended up with at least twelve come the evening of the event, including students from Gosford Hill and Cheney School who also helped with the organising of the event, prior to the evening. Another handful of students then got involved and did an amazing job at handling the event on the night.

With all the positive feedback we got from the evening the same set of students are now in the process of putting the event on again next January. It seems to be a mutual decision that the event will be all-inclusive and try and find competitors that maybe haven‘t really considered public speaking before. Already around twenty schools have been in contact and want to be involved in the event after having heard about January‘s competition. One of the best pieces of feedback received was from a teacher who said that the competition had reminded him why he wanted to be a teacher.

Student organizers from Chenderit have recently been to Worcester and Trinity College in Oxford who have since said they would love to get involved in the project and help accommodate students and provide judges for the competition.

With a now all-inclusive policy, it seemed important to hold workshops before hand so that everyone is on a level playing field come to the event in January. For four weeks from 27^th September a workshop will be held every week at a participating school. The first two will be on political discourse and the last two on public speaking and rhetoric. Christ Church has been in contact with a number of politicians and ex-Cabinet ministers to see if they want to be speakers at these events. It was felt that the politics was important for sixth formers as for the majority there is never an opportunity to understand UK politics before we get the right to vote, so this is just one way of getting that information.

The day of the event will also be extended to the whole day so that there is the opportunity for a keynotes speaker to come and for tours of the Oxford colleges, kindly taken by people from the colleges. This has been done so that the students can see that university and Oxford in particular is a real option for them should they wish to take it.

The future of the Free Speech Oxford in the coming years is yet to be decided, but it is very important for everyone involved that the competition continues and gets bigger and better each year. For this year competition the new, year twelve’s at Chenderit will be getting involved in the event management and organization side and will hopefully take the reigns and spearhead the event next year.

A competition of this sort is not just a chance for sixth formers to exercise their public speaking skills, but also a chance to recognize why free speech is so important for everyone.


　

　

　

　

　

　

London 2012

So after two weeks of intense competition, the London Olympics were brought to a close on Sunday night with four hours worth of entertainment. It was another successful olympics for team GB, who ended up third in the medals table with 65 medals, surpassing Bejing's 47, along with new world records and some of the most successful athletes ever.

After the hype of the Opening Ceremony, it was slow going to GB, who's first gold medal didn't come until the women's rowing, thanks to Heather Stanning and Helen Glover, but the gold rush continued after that. It's fair to say that Team GB excelled in the rowing in London.

Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy, Ben Ainslee and Jessica Ennis are sure to be the stars people will most remember in 2012 after all four of them picked up gold medals. Chris Hoy became the most successful British athlete in terms of gold medals with six gold medals in track cycling, beating Steve Redgrave with five. Hoy and Bradley Wiggins are now Britain's most decorated Olympians with seven medals each.

However, lets not forget the international stars of 2012. Michael Phelps became one of the greatest Olympians in history with 22 medals, 19 of which are gold. Phelps' last medals were won in London as he now goes into retirement.

Although he got no individual records this time round, Usain Bolt kept his fastest man title, picking up gold in the 200m and 100mm, beating rival and teammate Yohan Blake who beat Bolt at the Jamaican trials. Together, along with the rest of teh Jamaican relay team, they did get a knew world record time for the 4x100m sprint with a time of 36.85.

Kenyan David Rudisha became a star by setting the fastest time for the 800m with five of the athletes running under 1.43. China came second in the swimming after the USA with 16-year-old Shiwen Ye winning gold in the 200m and 400m IM, but American swimming star Missy Franklin, 17, walked away with five medals, four golds.

As a whole London 2012 has become the biggest TV event in the US, as NBC announced that more than 219 million viewers tuned in for the games compared to 215 million in Bejiing. Worldwide polls have suggested that London 2012 is the most successful Olympics in 20 years.

The games finished with the closing ceremony of Sunday which featured a whole range of acts, showcasing Britain's talents, also proving that Britain is still making great music. Among some of the artists were: Ed Sheeran, Emile Sande, The Who, Spice Girls, One Direction even John Lennon made a appearance in video. However for me, one dissapointing performance (that didn't feature George Michael) was Queen's collaboration with Jesse J. Let me first say that I do not dispute Jesse J's talent - she is one of our better vocalists of the 21st century, but for a legend like Freddie Mercury to be replaced with a star who has only really become a hit with all ages thanks to a TV talent show, it left me a little dissapointed. Personally I cannot suggest a suitable replacement for Freddie Mercury. If it were practical I would suggest the hologram technology that brought Tupac back for California's famous Coachella festival eariler this year. Despite this however, and George Michael (let's not go there), the closing ceremony was a spectacle, one of the best moments coming from Boris Johnson dancing to the Spice Girls.

Its strange not waking up in the morning, looking at the TV guide and seeing that the Olympics is no longer taking over the BBC, but I think its safe to say we won't be forgetting London 2012 in a hurry.

For video highlights/interviews of London 2012: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/

Has Rihanna gone too far?

We all know Rihanna is someone who pushes boundaries and usually everyone loves her for it, but now she has been photographed going into a studio in London wearing a T-shirt saying C*** Life along with a gun logo. It comes days after her tweeting a picture of her new tatoo `Thug Life' in memory of Tupac.

When leaving the studio the singer seemed to have realised her mistake and covered up the slogan, but it still begs the question - why wear it in the first place? It's not like she is so naive not to expect photographers to get a shot of the t-shirt.

Rihanna has previously said to critics who believe she is too sexual in her videos and other such things that she doesn't see herself or want to be a role model. Well here's some words of advice RiRi - you're a role model whether you want to be or not. Fact. It was so the moment you signed a recording contract with Jay-Z and Def Jam and even if you decide not to be one, thats not going to stop young fans wanting to be you.

My words to Rihanna are this:
Stop being so selfish and just accept the fact that you ARE a role model and start thinking about what you're showing to your loyal fans and how you represent yourself. Grow Up.

Prime Minister David Cameron and other political leaders to appeat at Leveson

The Prime Minister, David Cameron is to appear at the Leveson inquiry next week to further investigate press standards and the relationships between politicians and the press. George Osborne, Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg are among others to appear at the Royal Courts of Justice next week.

Gordon Brown and George Osborne will both appear on Monday. Tuesday will be former PM John Major, deptuy Labour leader, Harriet Harman and Labour leader, Ed Miliband. Deputy PM Nick Clegg and SNP leader Alex Salmond will appear on Wednesday. David Cameron will spend the whole of Thursday at the inquiry.

The Leveson inquiry is to continue on Monday after a week out.

Last time the inquiry was in session, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt spent six hours in front of the inquiry to discuss his input into the News Corporation BSkyB bid.

Next week will focus further on the relationships between politicians and the press stirred up by Prime Ministers' past and present, relationships with the main culprits, i.e. Rebecca Brookes, who opened the lid on her relationship with current Prime Minister David Cameron when she was at Leveson last month.

The Leveson inquiry, set up by David Cameron last July, is looking into first the culture and ethics and practices of the media in general and secondly unlawful activities by journalists which will begin when detectives have finished looking into phone hacking and police corruption and prosecutions have been concluded.

Disney's 'John Carter' flop

Disney's latest film John Carter is set to lose around $200 million after the film became one of Hollywood's biggest flops and an embarrassment for Disney.

The head of Disney's film-making studios, Rich Ross, and the man responsible for giving John Carter the green light, has resigned since the film has been released.

The sci-fi film starring Taylor Kitsch cost a whopping $250 million to make and only made $30,180,188 in the USA on the opening weekend. Worldwide it made $179,300,000 on its opening weekend. Doesn't sound too bad, but when considering that a film needs to make at least twice the budget overall to be considered a success, its not looking great for Disney.

The film has recieved at best mixed reviews, many saying the film is dull or messy when refering to the plot. Although some say the film isn't a total failure, when looking at the extortionate $250 million budget it doesn't fair well, especially when looking at the latest box office smash, The Hunger Games, produced by Lionsgate, which made over $150 million on the opening weekend. Yes, less than John Carter worldwide, but meaning by now the profit the studio needs has already been achieved, seeing as the film cost a measely $78 million to make when compared with John Carter.

Also consider the fact that 3D was pushed onto the film by the studio, not director, Andrew Stanton who didn't want it. The 3D itself is poor, and leaves us asking, why did Disney insist on using 3D in the first place?

Clearly, Disney made a massive error with John Carter and hopefully they can try and make something back with new action film The Avengers, (Marvel being owned by Disney), which is meant to rival the likes of The Hunger Games at the box office this summer.

Struggling pupils failing at GCSE

Latest data released from the schools league tables show that only 58.2% of pupils are achieving 5 GCSE grades A*-C. The Department of Education has released the information of around 5,000 secondary schools with around 200 pieces of data for each.

Those students that are struggling are those from disadvantaged backgrounds as expected and statistics show that a third of these children achieved the governments benchmark of 5 GCSEs.

Of those students who started secondary school above average (achieving level 5), 95% of them achieved good grades and GCSE and reached the benchmark.

When BTecs and NVQs are excluded, 52.4% of pupils got five passes at GCSE.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said: "Today's figures reveal a shocking waste of talent in many schools across the country. All too often, pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds aren't given the same opportunities as their peers."

The figures show that those children and teenagers struggling at school aren't being given the attention they need to get them to the government benchmark of at least five GCSE grades A*-C. It is the children that are already achieving highly that are given the attention when they do not necessarily need it to achieve. A lot of the under achievers come from under privileged backgrounds suggesting that these students need as much help at school as they can get as they do not seem to be getting it at home.

Oscar Nominations 2012

The Oscar nominations were annouced today. Unsurprisingly, silent black and white movie The Artist has a number of nominations (9 to be precise). Other nominees include War Horse, Moneyball, Harry Potter 7 pt2 and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

For a full list of nominations go to:
http://oscar.go.com/nominees

Holocaust Memorial Day: Speak Up Speak Out, a Public Speaking Event

On 27th January, Christ Church college in Oxford are kindly hosting a public speaking event, organised by sixth form students of Chenderit School in association with Oxford University Archeaology department.

January 27th is Holocaust Memorial Day, a day that has inspired Oxford archeaology to commemorate the event. They have made an exibition based on Jewish and German refugee, Paul Jacobsthal, who came to Oxford during the war to escape the Nazis. Jacobsthal was an archeaologist specialising in Celtic Art and the people at Oxford have found some of his old works and personal belongings like letters and photographs in his old home. By collecting all of this material, they have put on an exhibition running from January to the 10th of March to celebrate this man and to remind us all of the dreadful events of the Holocaust.

Sixth form students from Chenderit school were asked by Oxford to help them with promotion for their exibition and to organise a public speaking event for sixth forms across the area on Holocaust Memorial Day. What started with about five students has now turned into twelve sixth form students taking the inititive to organise the whole event themselves with help from students of Gosford Hill and Cheney School who will also be taking part in the event. For the past two months preparations for this event have been underway, with some students taking the role of event managing, some in advertising and others in running the event on the night.

The night itself will consist of six schools taking part in the event, with all the topics based on persecution and freedom to link to the Holocaust and the Paul Jacobsthal exibition. As well as this, year nine students from Chenderit school who have just started studying the Holocaust have created timelines and visuals for the event.

On behalf of the Chenderit school sixth form students we would like to thank all the schools who will take part on the night, Christ Church for agreeing to hold the event, teachers from Chenderit, Gosford and Cheney for giving us contacts and links and of course Oxford archeaology department for trusting us to put together this event that we hope will run annually for a number of years.