...Some people would argue it is much more important than that.
Those people would be wrong.
One person more qualified than most to vouch for that fact is Sir Bobby Robson. He was first diagnosed with the deadly disease back in 1992, and has since gone on to fight off Cancer four times. However his latest fight, his fifth, he has readily admitted could well be his last.
Last year Sir Bobby was diagnosed as having Lung Cancer, and initial newspaper reports suggested he had only months to live. However one year on he is still fighting strong and has managed to raise more than £500,000 for Cancer charities in the North East of England.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/article3646265.ece
He has spoken of how he wants to make the treatment of the disease in his native North East not only the best in the Country, but also the best in Europe.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/international/article5774695.ece
I am lucky enough to be able to say I have met the man, who is one of my all time heroes. He is a truely remarkable man and always comes across as likeable and approachable. Indeed, it is a testiment to him that after a lifetime of hard work in such a vicious, competitive and unforgiving industry as football is I cannot remember a single person ever having a bad word to say about him.
His personality is enchanting and it is amazing to see that even in these hard times of battling a life-threatening disease he still has a sense of humour, as he points out about his battle: "I've had longer than a football manager".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7901685.stm
So, at a time when the Country mourns two other much loved celebrities who have succumbed to Cancer themselves in the last fortnight - Jade Goody and Wendy Richards - it is important that we do not forget the white knight of Tyneside and continue to support him as he strives not only to survive his own latest battle, but also to help other less fortunate people at the same time.
Thursday, 26 March 2009
Wednesday, 11 March 2009
Time to stop pampering prisoners.
I have always felt that people who are sent to prison should be punished for their crimes. However unfortunately in recent days it would appear to have become increasingly apparent that in reality this is not what occurs.
On March 3rd 2009, the Sun newspaper published the following story -
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2287480.ece
- in which it highlighted the fact that inmates at a Lancashire prison took photographs of themselves in their cells and posted the pictures on Facebook, for all their friends to see.
Questions must surely be asked. Not only of how and why these 'prisoners' are surrounded by such luxuries as television sets, but also as to why the heck they have been allowed to pose with them so arrogantly and, quite literally, stick two fingers up to us law abiding citizens!
Who provided them with a camera?
Why were they then allowed to publish the picture on a social networking site?
These questions need to be answered.
Not that we should be suprised though, this has become a nation that has learned to glorify criminals.
Just last week Lodon celebrated, yes celebrated, the opening of a new movie - Bronson - which is a look into the life of Britains most notorious criminal. And what better way to open procedings than with a promise from the great man himself. "See you at the Oscars" he told the audience, which raises another question. How has a man who has spent the last couple of years in solitary confinement managed to film a message to the public?
Prison should be a punishment - not a holiday camp. Things need to change.
Thursday, 5 March 2009
Is the 'Credit Crunch' merely survival of the fittest?
Ok, so this is my first blog - so I thought I would start with a nice easy topic...
Therefore I will attempt to explain the causes of the global recession, with reference to comments by PM Gordan Brown, high power business moguls and most importantly of all my Mum.
Historically reccessions have come about in the UK once every decade (so I am told), except at the start of the naughties when, apparently, the economy continued to rise steadily, rather than collapse into the abyss.
Only it didn't did it?
When you think about it on 11th September 2001 the American stock exchange closed for the longest period of time since the great depression (which I was suprised to find was 1933 and not last week). Upon the reopening of the markets on the 17th September share prices across the Dow Jones had plummeted by on average 7.1%. That represented the largest single day decline on record. Ever.
Over the course of the entire week, $1.2 trillion had been wiped off the Dow Jones - so even though this didn't take place over two successive quarters of a year, surely such significant losses represent a recession of some sort? Something to ponder perhaps.
Anyway, back on topic. The reason we are in the mess we are at current is simple (as far as I am concerned) - over the past decade or so our economy as a nation has thrived and we have all reaped the benefits in some way or another, be it through more money being made available to the NHS, education system or somewhere else. Only there is one thing that the so-called 'Greatest Chancellor' the UK ever had forgot to do...save some money for a rainy day.
The Australian dollar has historically been inferior to the pound, however during it's last significant period of growth the Country put a large amout of money away as a contingency fund, for when times weren't so great. The Government paid off it's debts and as a result the Country recorded a 1.9% growth in economy for the first quarter of the 2008/2009 financial year, a figure our own country could only dream of at the moment it would seem...
Another explanation of the Credit Crunch that i heard recently came from a member of Dragon's Den (I forget which one),anyway, speaking to BBC news he told how he believed that the recession was natures way of ensuring Darwin's theory of evolution (also known as survival of the fittest) occurred. This means in other words only the strongest and most worthwhile businesses survive and prosper, whilst the less useful or meaningful fall by the wayside.
This brings me to my Mum...
When we were out in town shopping at the weekend my mother turned to me and said "It's depressing all these shops shutting down isn't it", when i asked her to elaborate she continued "Well soon there'll be nowhere for me to shop".
I asked her to name the shops that had shut down in town and she listed them off for me: Woolworths, Peer, Barratts...then I asked her when was the last time she actually bought anything from any of those shops and she said "Well i don't, but I like looking in them though"...
I think it would be safe to say that this particular comment sums up why the shops closed indeed. No one shopped there. Thus, it would appear that bloke on Dragons Den was indeed correct. The fittest will survive, the others will not...
Therefore I will attempt to explain the causes of the global recession, with reference to comments by PM Gordan Brown, high power business moguls and most importantly of all my Mum.
Historically reccessions have come about in the UK once every decade (so I am told), except at the start of the naughties when, apparently, the economy continued to rise steadily, rather than collapse into the abyss.
Only it didn't did it?
When you think about it on 11th September 2001 the American stock exchange closed for the longest period of time since the great depression (which I was suprised to find was 1933 and not last week). Upon the reopening of the markets on the 17th September share prices across the Dow Jones had plummeted by on average 7.1%. That represented the largest single day decline on record. Ever.
Over the course of the entire week, $1.2 trillion had been wiped off the Dow Jones - so even though this didn't take place over two successive quarters of a year, surely such significant losses represent a recession of some sort? Something to ponder perhaps.
Anyway, back on topic. The reason we are in the mess we are at current is simple (as far as I am concerned) - over the past decade or so our economy as a nation has thrived and we have all reaped the benefits in some way or another, be it through more money being made available to the NHS, education system or somewhere else. Only there is one thing that the so-called 'Greatest Chancellor' the UK ever had forgot to do...save some money for a rainy day.
The Australian dollar has historically been inferior to the pound, however during it's last significant period of growth the Country put a large amout of money away as a contingency fund, for when times weren't so great. The Government paid off it's debts and as a result the Country recorded a 1.9% growth in economy for the first quarter of the 2008/2009 financial year, a figure our own country could only dream of at the moment it would seem...
Another explanation of the Credit Crunch that i heard recently came from a member of Dragon's Den (I forget which one),anyway, speaking to BBC news he told how he believed that the recession was natures way of ensuring Darwin's theory of evolution (also known as survival of the fittest) occurred. This means in other words only the strongest and most worthwhile businesses survive and prosper, whilst the less useful or meaningful fall by the wayside.
This brings me to my Mum...
When we were out in town shopping at the weekend my mother turned to me and said "It's depressing all these shops shutting down isn't it", when i asked her to elaborate she continued "Well soon there'll be nowhere for me to shop".
I asked her to name the shops that had shut down in town and she listed them off for me: Woolworths, Peer, Barratts...then I asked her when was the last time she actually bought anything from any of those shops and she said "Well i don't, but I like looking in them though"...
I think it would be safe to say that this particular comment sums up why the shops closed indeed. No one shopped there. Thus, it would appear that bloke on Dragons Den was indeed correct. The fittest will survive, the others will not...
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