More job cuts.

In case there weren’t enough people worried about losing their job, Hewlett-Packard have jumped on the bandwagon too. 

They’re cutting 27,000 jobs by the end of 2014, as a part of their plans to simplify the business and deliver better results for their customers and employees. The cuts, which will affect around 8% of the company’s workers, is said to reduce Hewlett-Packard’s costs by £2.2bn a year.

Though it was announced this week that their profits are higher than expected, the good news was put to one side as their employees were warned of possible job losses.

Hewlett-Packard have said that the £2.2bn they’re saving due to the job cuts will be reinvested back into the company, but that’s no comfort to the 27,000 people losing their jobs.

As it seems that unemployment figures are soon to be higher, the pressure to find a job is getting even stronger. Perhaps a job as a CV-writer is the best way to go...

For the full story, click here.

Kids and iPads.

Smartphones and tablets are so popular now that pretty much everyone has used one at some point. But are they going to result in kids being dependent on such devices?

Psychologists believe that parents who are always checking their phones and iPads are negatively affecting their children’s development, and even go as far as to say that it’s a form of neglect.

According to statistics, the average 12-16 year old spends more than six hours a day watching TV or playing on tablets and smartphones, and this happens at home rather than at school. One psychologist, Dr Eric Sigman, has said that this leads to other health problems like obesity, high blood pressure and sleeping disorders.

Although some apps can help children learn by using fun techniques, some parents are using tablets and smartphones as a way of babysitting their kids. Dr Eric Sigman warns that this could lead to a lifetime of poor health, and argues that TV for toddlers should be banned to avoid a risk to their mental and physical health in the future.

But surely TV and educational apps are fine in moderation. Technology is only developing further, so kids should start getting used to these devices in small doses. It’s only when it’s relied on as a babysitter that it becomes an issue. 

What do you think - is Dr Eric Sigman right?

For the full story, click here.

Robin wakes up.

Robin Gibb was on the verge of passing away just a few days ago. He was on a life support machine and his family were told to expect his suffering to be over soon.

But the tables have quickly turned, and now he’s breathing on his own, awake from his coma and responding to his loved ones. 

The Bee Gees star was diagnosed with colon and liver cancer in October 2010, and contracted pneumonia after his intense chemotherapy, which led him to a 12-day coma.

Dr Andrew Thillainayagam, who has been treating Robin in London is shocked at his “remarkable” recovery.

It’s been reported that as he woke, he looked at his son and said “hello”, after his family had been speaking to him and singing during his time in the coma.

Concern over Robin’s health first started after Maurice, his twin brother, died from the same illness in 2003, aged 53, which must have brought extra worry for his wife and children.

Even if you’re not a fan of The Bee Gees (their music never appealed to me) it goes without saying that his condition is a horrible one, and I hope he recovers fully and he lives a long and happy life.

For the full story, click here.

Monsters found guilty.

CCTV footage of little Thusha Kamaleswaran dancing in a supermarket shortly before she was shot has been released.

The five-year-old was shot in the chest, and Roshan Selvakumar, 35, was shot in the face in a shooting at a shop in Brixton in March last year. The three gunmen, who have been found guilty of GBH with intent, were trying to shoot a rival gang member when the pair were accidentally caught.

After Thusha had been rushed to hospital, her heart stopped twice before doctors managed to save her. The bad news is that she will probably never walk again. 

Nathaniel Grant, Anthony McCalla and Kazeem Kolawole showed no remorse in court for what they’d done, and will be sentenced in April. They should be put away for a very long time.

On 22nd September the officers who worked on the case are taking part in the Three Peaks charity challenge, and are raising money to help Thusha is any way they can. They are asking the public to donate what they can, as they were so moved by little Thusha’s bravery.

For the full story, click here.

Goodbye Game.

It’s bad news for another chain of stores. Game have been forced to close nearly half of its stores.

Sales have been decreasing for months, and after a bad Christmas the company have gone into administration, resulting in 2119 of its employees will have been made redundant by the end of the week. 2104 of these are shop staff and 15 are head office workers. 

It’s expected that Game will be sold successfully, but the Royal Bank of Scotland are planning to insist that they get the money back that they’ve had to lend to the company in recent months.

With more and more people turning to websites such as Amazon to buy their games and other entertainment features, Game’s lack of income and their upcoming £21m rent bill is making their £180m debt even worse.

Though it’s devastating to thousands of people’s lives, it’s not really a surprise that another major chain has gone into administration and is being forced to close stores. It’s worrying about which of our favourite shops might be closing next.

For the full story, click here.

Pensions are for workers.

Peter Sutcliffe, a.k.a The Yorkshire Ripper, is fighting for the right to have a state pension.

His argument is that he should have access to a pension because he was working and paying taxes before he was caught in 1981 for the murders of 13 women. If he wins his battle he could get £137.35 a week, where he is being held in Broadmoor Hospital.

It’s not the first time that he’s tried to get money from the government. In 2006 he tried to get £55 a week as income support, so he could buy books and other items. He was refused this money, and should be refused access to a pension now.

Causing as much horror and pain as he did should automatically take away his rights to having a luxury life where he can claim money from the government and other tax payers. Being cared for and having food and other necessities provided to him is all he needs. 

The courts have previously stuck to the idea that convicted and sentenced prisoners don’t receive these benefits, and with any sense they won’t change their minds now for Peter Sutcliffe. A pension is for hard workers, not murderers. 

For the full story, click here.

We're doing it wrong again.

It’s just one thing after another. It seems that we can’t do anything right.

Dentists are now warning that children who are having their five-a-day are suffering from decaying teeth. High levels of acid in some fruits and vegetables are leading to enamel erosion, and children in schools are being encouraged to drink milk and water instead of fruit juice.

Parents are even being advised by Karen Harley, from the dental faculty at the Royal College of Surgeons, to only give children fruit as a treat. Rewind a few months and children were being told by everyone to eat as many fruit and vegetables as they possible can.

Whilst it does have other health benefits, it appears to be seriously damaging children’s teeth, with the estimation that acid erosion can be found in half of the UK’s five-year-olds.

There always seems to be something that the public are doing wrong, and it appears that this is the latest. First we’re told to have our five-a-day, now it’s rotting our teeth. What will it be next?

For the full story, click here.

Binge drinking.

As the pressure to sort out binge drinking grows stronger, David Cameron has described binge drinking as a “scandal” as it costs the NHS £2.7bn a year.

To try and solve the issue, 10 new radical ‘solutions’ have been suggested. These include enforcing a minimum price for alcohol, raising the legal drinking age, discouraging rounds at the pub (which put pressure on to have another drink) and banning alcohol marketing.

Another is the suggestion that children who see their parents drinking often think it is normal to drink heavily. This is pretty believable because they are teaching their children the ways of the world and the best ways to behave. 

The most interesting solution however, is to stop exaggerating the problem. The argument is that 2010 NHS statistics show that 55% of 11-15 year olds have never had any alcohol - which is very different to what the media and anti-drinking groups would have us believe. This exaggeration may lead to young people using “everyone’s doing it” as an excuse, meaning it could make the problem worse.

I’m not sure about some of the other solutions, but I think it would help if we stopped being over-the-top about the number of young people drinking alcohol. Sure, binging does still happen, but there are more sensible young people out there than the media give Britain credit for.

For the full story, click here.

The Muppets at the BBC.

Well, The Muppets are definitely back. The 10th February saw the release of their long-awaited movie, and it looks like they’re not hiding away again for a while. 

The Jim Henson Company, the producers of The Muppets, have been talking with the BBC about the possibility of a new puppet chat show to start next year. The company are going to be creating new puppets for the project, and once this is done, a pilot episode will be recorded.

As well as being a chat show, it may also feature sketches and games with the new characters. At present, they’re talking about it appearing on BBC One as a Saturday teatime fun show, due to start in 2013.

It’s difficult to say what restarted The Muppets boom, but for some their love for the cheeky puppets never died. Cravendale milk drinkers have until the 14th April to collect 20 codes for an exclusive Kermit the Frog backpack, and I’m almost there. With 15 of the codes needed, it won’t be long until I’ll be requesting my bag.

This new chat show is really exciting, The Muppets Christmas Carol was a classic Christmas film when I was growing up, and it’s pretty safe to say that this show will be a hit.

Are you looking forward to Jim Henson’s new show? Let me know what you think.

For the full story, click here.

The results are in.

The results from David Cameron’s new Measuring National Wellbeing survey are in, and it provides some figures worth thinking about.

Some results are more obvious, such as the fact that married people are more satisfied with their life, and having children boosts those scores even further. On average, the married individuals scored 7.7 out of 10 for life satisfaction, whilst those who are single scored 7.3. Unsurprisingly, those who are widowed or divorcees are considerably less happy.

The survey consisted of four questions - how satisfied they are with their lives, to what extent do they feel the things they do in their life are worthwhile, how happy they felt yesterday, and how anxious they felt yesterday.

Whilst those living in London are the least satisfied people in the UK, at 7.2 out of 10 (and, needless to say, the most anxious), people living in Northern Ireland have scored as the most satisfied at 7.58. That sounds like a good enough reason to live in Ireland to me, not that I’d need much persuasion.

There’s good news for those who are retired too. Along with students, they scored 7.7 for life satisfaction. 

So, it would appear that if you want to be really happy, you should be married with children and living in Northern Ireland. Looking back on the student life should be a happy memory, and retirement is something to look forward to!

For the full story, click here.

Puppies in need.

Whilst many of us are worrying about money due to the recession, we often forget the poor animals that are left homeless because people can’t afford to keep them.

One rescue centre in north Wales alone has taken in 16 puppies in just five days - a record number. Whether they were Christmas presents that couldn’t be cared for, or bred to sell during the festive period when people weren’t buying them, these puppies were dumped at the side of a road or kept in cupboards.

Breeders are expecting to bring in £500 per puppy, which many people just can’t afford and these poor creatures are left out to die, with the lucky ones being found by members of the public. They desperately need the love they deserve, so if you can provide a loving home for one of these puppies, contact the North Clwyd Animal Rescue centre on 01745560546, or look up your local rescue centre to help other animals.

For the full story, and pictures of the beautiful animals, click here. 

Poor girl.

You should be able to trust doctors, but sometimes even the professionals can go wrong.

A trial date has been set for January 2013 against a doctor who misdiagnosed an ectopic pregnancy in 2005. After Rachel Schoger from Idaho, USA, was given the information that her pregnancy was ectopic, she decided to go through with the abortion. However, a few days after she had her first injection to abort her little girl, doctors discovered that her pregnancy hadn't been ectopic after all and her baby was still alive.

Little Seraphine was born in January 2006 without a rectum, a vagina or a uterus, and with problems with her spine due to the injection given by the doctor.

She is healthier now though after a number of operations, but her parents are worried that her spinal issues will cause her problems in the future, and she will never be able to have children of her own.

This was a seriously stupid mistake for the doctor to make, and although they have been able to improve her quality of life, she will never be 'normal' and will suffer for the rest of her life. The poor little girl deserves more, and I hope the doctor responsible gets a prison sentence for what they've done to this girl's life. Not only does it affect her, it has also changed her family's lives, this could have been avoided with a second opinion at the time.

For the full story click here.

Be proud.

Sometimes I lose faith in humanity. Things seem to be moving forward and then something else happens to push them back again.

Five men from Derby are currently in court after handing out leaflets last year claiming that homosexuals should be given the death sentence. They were planning to protest against Derby’s Gay Pride event in July 2010, but hadn’t notified the council early enough, which meant they couldn’t go ahead with it. This didn't stop them trying to influence other people though.

Leaflets being handed out by Ihjaz Ali, Mehboob Hussain, Umar Javed, Razwan Javed and Kabir Ahmen featured disturbing images, including one of a mannequin hanging from a noose, claiming that “gay people are destined to go to hell”. 

This is disgusting. The fact that they are in court for it is a good sign, but we clearly haven’t moved on enough if people are still doing things like this. They were putting these leaflets through people’s letterboxes and handing them out on the street. Their behaviour says a lot more about them than it does about any homosexual.


For the full story click here.