Ban sunbeds for under-18s, government committee urges

The government’s Committee on the Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) wants to forbid sun bed use by adolescents under the age of 18. They want this because there are around 370 cases of melanoma in the UK each year, and approximately a hundred deaths each year can be linked directly to sun bed use. The Committee wants to forbid it to prevent more young people from using these beds because the number of under-18s who used sun beds, increased in the last year. Apparently youngsters want to look good, but do not realize what effect this can have on their health.


I think it is a very good idea to forbid young people from using sun beds. Not only under-18s, but many people are not aware of the effects of sunlight when you expose your skin to this light for a longer period of time, or, if you use a sun bed. In fact if it was up to me I would forbid everyone to use a sun bed because it damages your body. I think people do not worry about it because the damage to your skin is not immediately visible and they only see the good result as in a beautiful tan. It is a great initiative of the COMARE to make people aware of the effects of sun beds.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jun/19/ban-sunbeds-under-18s

How I'm facing up to the harsh reality of poor prospects and serious debt

Various investigations show us that students in the UK have difficulties with managing their own bank accounts. They do not save their money but spend it right away and the average student debt is £15,700 which will take more than 12 years to repay. Results of these investigations also show that students worry a lot more about their financial situation than two years ago, but they do not seem to take action. In the past few years people started to pay of their debts as soon as they graduated. This might be more of a problem in the upcoming years because at this time of recession, graduates have difficulties finding jobs.


In my opinion students should pay more attention to what they spend. Of course it is normal that you get a loan when you cannot pay for all those years of education, but I do not think it is necessary to have enormous debts with an average debt of £15,700. I understand that student’s life is great and I really enjoy it as well, but you have to make boundaries for yourself or otherwise you will finally graduate and go to work, but still have to pay for many years for you study.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/mortarboard/2009/jun/19/students-debt-recession

Belfast Romanians rehoused after race attacks

In Belfast, Romanian people who lived in the Village/Donegall Road community were attacked by racists. They threw bottles and stones at their houses and threatened the women and men that they do not belong in Northern Ireland. The men were told to be killed if they did not leave the country. As a result of the attacks, many Romanian families fled from the neighbourhood and were given shelter to at a sports complex where they could spend the night. The authorities are taking action and try to find the people responsible for these attacks. In the meantime the victims can stay at a students accommodation. But what the Romanians really want, is going home to the country where they feel welcome.


I think it is horrible that people attacked these families. I would like to know who is responsible, because then you might know if they had specific reasons to discriminate these people, or if they are simply against all other cultures except British culture. It is awful that these people do not feel welcome anymore and that they rather go home to Romania because of these attacks. They are really frightened, and I do not think the perpetrators realize what they have done to these innocent citizens. I hope the authorities will find out who did this and will take action immediately to prevent this from happening in the future.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jun/17/northernireland-ukcrime

Epidemic of marriage breakdowns overwhelming courts says top judge

The family division judge Mr. Coleridge is concerned about the number of marriages that do not succeed in the UK. In his opinion marriage is underrated these days and should be promoted, for the sake of British society. It is proven to be the most stable and enduring type of relationship. This is important to the adults, but even more when there are children involved. He understands that everyone should be able to make their own decisions about marriage and divorce, but he wants to warn people and inform them about the value of marriage in general. He would like to make couples understand that a good marriage may need a lot of work and effort from both partners, but is it all worth in the end.

I understand why this judge is worried about the many marriage breakdowns in the UK. In fact, in many countries this is an enormous problem. It seems that marriage itself has not changed, even though less people get married these days than 50 year ago, but people just deal with it in a different way. They do not respect marriage as much as before and simply divorce when it is not working out as perfectly as they had hoped. In my opinion couples should work a lot harder to make their marriage successful in stead of giving up everything when they are having a rough time. It is something we see in our entire society; people want everything to be easy and ready when they need it. But it does not work that way.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jun/17/divorce-epidemic-judge-warning

Unemployment hits young people and deprived areas hardest

If we look at the numbers from January this year up to now, young people, deprived areas and more men than women suffer the most from this economic recession. The Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Government Equalities Office found that 16.2% of 18 to 24-year-olds were unemployed in the first quarter of this year, compared to 12% in the same period last year. In deprived areas, unemployment rose to 11.3% from 8.7%, compared to a rise from 5.4% to 7.3% among the population as a whole. The unemployment rate for men rose from 5.7% to 8.1% which is probably partially caused by cuts in the manufacturing sector. The unemployment rate among women rose from 5% to 6.4%, a little less than the percentage of unemployed men. Overall the recession has cost many people in the UK their jobs.

Of course it is awful that because of the recession people loose their jobs. I do not think it is striking that more men than women lost their jobs, because in general there are more working men than women so the number of unemployed men will increase more than the number of unemployed women. I do think it is strange that young people suffer from the recession so much, because I thought companies would like young people to work for them because they are much cheaper. I do not know why it does not work like this. Overall, if I look at these numbers, I am not so worried yet. These are numbers of the first quarter of this year so there could be major changes during the other nine months in 2009. I understand that people are worried about the consequences of this recession, but I personally believe that everyone is overreacting.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/jun/17/unemployment-young-people

'Ello 'ello 'ello. Blogging detective unmasked

Detective Constable Richard Horton, a police officer of the Lancashire Police, was recently unmasked. He kept a blog, where he called himself Jack Night. At this webpage he wrote about all kinds of topics and news items, but he also gave his opinion about police business. He won the Orwell blogging prize and was hailed on blogs and in newspapers as an unusually impassioned, eloquent and informed piece of frontline reporting. Horton was, of course, very satisfied with winning the award, but felt a bit uncomfortable as well because all of the sudden he got a lot of media attention and he wanted to remain anonymous. Unfortunately another blogger did some research and discovered and unmasked his identity. Horton went to court to ask the judge to protect his privacy, but he declined. The judge said that people that write on public blogs cannot expect privacy. The Lancashire Police is not happy about their detective’s unprofessional writing.

In my opinion it is Horton’s own fault that he has problems with the police department now, because he should have realized that you cannot be anonymous on the internet anymore. If you get a lot of attention, in this case media attention, there could be another blogger who would really like to know who you are and it is not too difficult to track someone down these days, especially for people who know a lot about computers and the internet. I do understand that Detective Horton regrets that he was unmasked but I believe that a police officer has a certain role model and he did not gave a good example to the public. Of course you can give you opinion, it does not even matter if you do that on the internet or somewhere else, but Richard Horton went very far with his blog diaries, too far if you ask me.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jun/16/blogging-cop-found-out

Suzanne Breen: defending journalists' right to protect sources

The Irish journalist Suzanne Breen is refusing to give her notes about the Real IRA to the Northern Ireland Police Service. She claims that as a journalist she should protect her sources and if she gives away her information, her life could be in danger. Besides that she gives the argument that she could never work as a journalist again because no one would trust her again. She will appear at Belfast high court today to fight this police request. Breen has been a professional journalist for years and worked for the Irish Times and the Sunday Tribune. She is a highly respected journalist, known for her professionalism. It is also quite extraordinary that she gets along with both sides of Ireland and reports about both sides without offending anyone. Many other reporters, friends and other famous people like actors support Suzanne Breen’s decision to not give away this information. They all signed the National Union of Journalists Petition to support Green’s choice. The discussion about Green’s decision has a larger effect then expected; even Amnesty International expressed its concerns about this case and asks specifically to protect press freedom and investigative journalism.


In my opinion Suzanne Breen does not need to give away information about the Real IRA which she received from her anonymous source. I think you can not really do your job as a journalist when you are not able to protect your sources and I believe that the police should respect that as well. I do understand that the Irish police would like to have all the information that can help them, but they should not try to get information from an innocent journalist who is just doing her job. They should try to find other sources to get the information they need. It is great that so many people support Green’s decision by signing a petition and writing articles about this topic to make the public aware of what is going on and how the press freedom and the job of journalists is in danger. I hope she will win the case and can continue to work as a respectable and professional journalist.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jun/11/suzanne-breen-profile