Back to school for Wills

It’s that time of year again when schools and unis restart for a new term. Although for many this might not be seen as a good thing, Prince William can’t seem to get enough of education.

He already has one degree under his belt, but the Duke of Cambridge has decided to go back to university, starting today, to study environmental management on a ten week course at the University of Cambridge.

The course is designed to help him when he takes over the Royal estate in Cornwall. 

Happy New Year

It’s time to say hello to 2014. It’s finally here! The past 24 hours have been awash with tweets and statuses informing the rest of the world that ‘a new year is a new me’ and all the usual trivial quotes that usually get forgotten about come January 3^rd.

Which leads us to ponder New Year’s resolutions. For me they are worthless, my rule is if you’re going to break them don’t make them. Despite this I see it time and again every year from all sorts of people claiming that they are going to lead a better life in one way or another by making a new year’s resolution.

But what did we learn in 2013? Well...

In the world of entertainment we learnt that even Oscar winners aren't afraid of acting like fan girls when they meet their heroes as demonstrated by Jennifer Lawrence when she met Jack Nicholson mid-interview.

 huffingtonpost.co.uk

It also became OK for number one singles to reference sexual harassment.

 alexshye.wordpress.com

Hundreds of journalists and news crews decided to have a camp out in front of some hospital.

 telegraph.co.uk

Tom Daley told us what we already knew.

theguardian.com

And we said goodbye to some of the most influential political figures in history.

Forbes.com

Npr.org

Now as we look back on some of the pinnacle moments of 2013, we welcome in the New Year and wait to see what 2014 has in store for the next 12 months.

Miley, please just stop

She's been at it again! Miley Cyrus has been twerking her way into my (and I'm sure many other people's) most annoying celebrity of the year list. This time she stepped out at the iHeart Radio festival in Las Vegas in a cringey fishnet dress showing way too much for anyone. 

It appears that it can get worse after her awful VMA's performance in which all I could shout at the TV was "who told her that obsessive tough thing was attractive?" and "stop trying to twerk when you clearly can't" Even worse than the Wrecking Ball video which lets face it, is not 'art' or whatever she wants to call it and is just an excuse to cause havoc in cyberspace when there are more important things in the world that need to be discussed, like the fact that people are dying from inhumane chemical weapons in Syria. What makes it worse is I'm now blogging about her, all be it negative, no doubt she find satisfaction in being heavily criticised and bitched about seeing as a lot of people are currently doing it.

I don't buy this "oh, she's just doing what every twenty-year-old does", because being just two years younger and knowing some 20-year-olds myself I can say that no self-respecting twenty-year-old decides to get on a massive foam ball naked and put it all over the internet.

To top it all, now that she's officially broken up with Liam Hemsworth, all I think about is that its only going to get worse from here.

The REAL Important Questions when leaving home

Leaving home is an step we all take at some point in our lives. I'm doing it now at 18, having just moved into my new flat at Winchester University. Your parents or guardians or other mature adults you live with always try to give you little pearls of wisdom when you leave that will stay with you for the rest of your life. Such nuggets include, "Never set up a direct debit on a credit card" or the classic, "don't spend all your money on alcohol so you can't pay the rent and end up in debt with an interest rate overdraft". 

These problems however, are nothing compared to the real world problems I have come across in the past three days. The utter confusion of having three different cleaning products - Cif, bleach and disinfectant. Or the threatening question of whether a blue and black stripey dress should go in the white or coloured wash.

 Luckily however, it appears I am not alone in dealing with these problems as my flatmates all seem to share the same issues. So although we may have perils to deal with along the way, like trying not to accidentally stain the carpet with bleach, I know that the next three years will be some of the most important in becoming fully grown adults.

Oh, and getting the degree at the end obviously. 

About Bloody Time: Gay Marriage plans to go ahead

Plans to legalise gay marriage are to proceed through Parliament in England and Wales backing Labour, despite opposition from some MPs.

The bill will be debated over two days with a final reading next Tuesday when if passed it will go to the Lords where it is expected to face more opposition.

Conservatives had offered an amendment to allow heterosexual couples to have civil partnerships if gay couples could get married.

Tim Loughton (Conservative MP) said the amendment would make the bill "less unpalatable  since extending civil partnerships to co-habiting heterosexuals would address a "glaring inequality" in the current proposals as well as encouraging family stability.

Nick Clegg said he had no problem extending civil partnerships to heterosexual couples as well.

On Sunday, 34 current and former local party chairmen delivered a letter to Downing Street opposing the gay marriage policy as "flawed, un-Conservative, divisive and costing us dearly in votes and membership".

They said it was causing "crisis of conservatism" saying that Europe, same-sex marriage and the "contempt" for party membership from the leadership were "destroying the party".

My thoughts...

Stop thinking about your God forsaken party and start thinking about all the couples in the England and Wales that are going to benefit from the same-sex marriage bill. Its already taken this long for the bill to go to Parliament now lets just pass it, with an amendment for civil partnerships for all if its going to make you happy.

Happily, another letter was sent to Cameron from 100 Tory activists praising him for his stance on the policy.

Under the new Bill, Church of England and Wales would be banned from performing same-sex marriages because of their strong opposition and other religious organisations would be able to opt-in.

Last week France became the ninth European country, and 14th in the world, to legalise gay marriage. Earlier this month Rhode Island became the 10th US state to allow same-sex marriages.

All I can say is just do it already for the sake of equality and freedom.

US Gun Laws: Is it Time for Change?

The US Congress voted against background checks for gun owners yesterday, despite President Obama publicly stating his views for such checks. The debate comes after a number of shootings in the US, particularly the school shooting in Connecticut that left primary school children dead. As Congress currently has a Republican majority, it is no surprise really that the result is against the motion.

Despite the decision, it appears the majority of US citizens would favour background checks for gun sales. It is of course a sensitive issue in America due to the 2^nd Amendment to the Constitution that states that US citizens have the right to bear arms.

However, what was most baffling about the decision made was that for the most part it wouldn’t impede this right. The only way an American wouldn’t be able to access a gun legally is if there was significant evidence that they would pose a threat to society at large, and surely the public would want protection from that?

From an outsiders point of view (not being American myself) it seems that there are people in the US, particularly the Republicans that are holding on too tight to the past. Is it not time to let go? The whole point of society is progression so that we can adapt to whatever comes our way and surely introducing such a law would only do this. The majority of Americans would still be able to buy a gun if this legislation was put in place. Yes the checks may take time, but in the end for most people should they choose to want a gun for self-defence their rights wouldn’t be affected.

By introducing this legislation you are protecting the weak and the vulnerable which after the shootings at the school in Connecticut along with others in the past, that’s surely who we need to be thinking about here? Such easy access to guns puts everyone in danger, with or without guns. Keeping those unfit to have weapons from arms will help make society that little bit safer. This is not the government bubble wrapping its people, this is them protecting them from what is horrific and unnecessary harm.

Obviously the 2^nd Amendment is there for a reason and to meddle in such issues is going to affect some freedom, put by limiting those people’s freedoms you are allowing for the rest of society to fulfil theirs in all aspects without fear of a violent and sometimes fatal reaction from those unfit to bear arms.

The amount of gun crime that we hear from the US is ridiculous and needless. By bringing in something as simple as background checks for gun sales you are keeping society safe from gun violence.

This legislation is the only way forward and hopefully at some point the Republican party and its supporters will see that.

Up In The Air, 30 Seconds To Mars

After a four and a half year wait, 30 Seconds to Mars have finally released a new tune. Their new single Up In The Air was sent to the international space station two weeks ago and now the people of earth can finally hear it.

The song is very much a step in a different direction for the band. After the success of their last record This Is War and their record breaking tour (over 300 shows in one album cycle) can 30STM repeat or exceed their success with the new record due out later this year?

Looking at comments on the new single it seems to have received a mixed review. The majority of fans appear to love it and are happy with the evolution of the band and the new music they're making. There are of course those who would happily have another This Is War or maybe even another A Beautiful Lie. Whatever your opinion the band seems pleased with the results.

Hear the new single below and watch an interview with Jared Leto at SXSW about the new music:






I do not own anything. These videos/audios belong to their right owners. :)