Why do we spend Christmas arguing?

Summary: (words: 124)

The day that is supposed to be the most cosy day in the year, is for many families a day of yelling spoilt children and arguing parents. The children are up early and don’t want to get in to their special occasion clothes. The father comes out of bed late because he wrapped his presents ,that have cost him most of his month salary, at the last moment the night before. Mommy, who has been creating a nice and modern decoration all through the house is trying to get the kids in their clothes and off their digital toys. Grandmother is blaming the parents of the children that they are spoilt and noisy, while grandfather falls a sleep after his first gin and tonic.

Source:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/6719458/Why-do-we-spend-so-much-of-Christmas-arguing.html

Reaction: (words: 124)

Oh my god, what a horrible scenario! I must unfortunately say that I recognise this type of ‘most cosy’ Christmas day. When I was younger, I have felt uncomfortable because it was obligatory cosy. I tried to avoid to spend the whole day all together. Since my brothers and sisters and I don’t live at my parents house anymore we do enjoy Christmas day a lat more, and do play family-board-games. We are always very thankful for what our parents prepared for dinner and bring presents for everybody. In the evening after dinner all neighbours come to our place to have a drink. So at this point in my life I can not imagine spending a Christmas day like they outline in the article.

British sailors in Iranian captivity

Summary: (words:109)
The five British sailors have finally arrived in Dubai. The trip has been a roller-coaster, after they accidentally came to sail in to the Iranian waters. They have been caught by the Iranian police and had been brought to land blindfolded to answer questions of the Iranian authorities. The five men have not been separated, and they have been treated very well. Especially after the authorities knew they had no evil intentions. They just wanted to avoid oil platforms in the water. The father of the youngest sailor said he would buy his son a navigation course as an ‘early Christmas present’. The men are happy to be ‘free’.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/6712250/Wrong-maps-landed-British-sailors-in-Iranian-captivity.html

Reaction: (words: 110)
What a huge adventure! I don’t know anything about laws on the water. I find it very scary that if you just turn a little to the left or right to avoid oil platforms, or anything else, you can be sailing in water where you’re not supposed to come. After hearing and reading this news I find it a good idea that the Dutch girl of only 13 years old is not allowed to sail around the world on her own. Besides the danger of weather and pirates, this is an other scary factor at sea! I can not imagine the five men did not have a navigation course on their boat.

Eating to death

Summary: (words: 130)

Lionel Shriver wrote for the Standpoint Magazine about her brother, that he was eating himself to death. He weighted 24 stone. She could not accept his overweight, and could not accept that ‘fat’ people say they can not do anything about it. Horrible news was that her brother actually did eat him self to death, and died about one hour after she wrote the article for the magazine. He died because of respiratory crisis, and only was 55 years old. The story of her brother shows how important this issue is. Fat people are fighting for being accepted but they should not be. Fat people mostly die on a pretty young age, mostly they do not want to die, and mostly they feel horrible about what condition they are in.

Source:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/andrewmcfbrown/100018470/fat-rights-allow-people-to-eat-themselves-to-death/

Reaction: (words: 135)

My personal opinion is that there’s always something to do about it. People that don’t feel good about what condition they are in, but do want to be accepted, are having several problems with themselves. I don’t want to say it is easy, but with the help of a doctor you can always loose weight. The only aspect that is needed is that the person in question really, really, wants to loose the weight. If they feel sad, and try to get a better feeling by eating, it won’t get better. I’m sure it won’t be an easy battle, but I’m sure there are always possibilities. How it comes so far that somebody gets so much weight, is an other question. Like it is said in the article. Obese people need moral support, not ‘acceptance’.

Prince Charles enthusiastic about complementary therapy

Summary: (words: 104)

Prince Charles, who is very enthusiastic about complementary therapy like homeopathic medicines and Chinese herbalism, is speaking with the health Secretary Andy Burnham. They are speaking about introducing safeguards, to avoid that anyone who is not a registered health practitioner is not able to sell any medicine anymore in the EU. The EU plan needs to be ready in April 2011 so campaigners have started already. There are fears that small practitioners might be forced to close when it would come to an agreement in the EU. Prince Charles did not make himself popular with the scientists, to their regard Chinese herbs are ‘quackery’.

Source:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/6701717/Prince-Charles-urges-government-to-protect-homeopathic-medicine.html

Reaction: (words: 101 )

I like it that Prince Charles stands up for those smaller practitioners. I like homeopathic medicines. Off course when a person is really ill medicines like antibiotics and penicillin do their work to make the patient less suffer. But it is a fact that it doesn’t kill the virus it just keeps it down. My personal opinion is that a person is in a much stronger condition when he/she tries to recover without chemical medicines. Sometimes homeopathic medicaments do a perfect job, and for some people, in some cases only the idea of using a medicine helps to feel much better.

Scandle at NHS hospitals

Summary: (words 124)

A true scandal is happening at the NHS hospitals in Great Britain. There now is a list with 12 NHS hospitals on it that are judged to be significantly underperforming. Health care organisations are doing research on this now. It is a question of life or death. 5.000 patients died in their care more than they expected in the last year. The chair of the NHS has been fired. But the problems are not solved yet. Horrible mistakes happen like operating the wrong body part of a patient, things that have been left inside a patients body after surgery are rated on 209 cases, and 5024 people died after the NHS hospitals told them they were in low risk conditions and could go home.

Source:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/nov/29/nhs-hospitals-safety-report

Reaction: (words 121)

This does not sound to me like we are in Europe at all! I do not know if it is maybe a little exaggerated by the media. Of course it can always happen that a patient dies even when the doctors have told him that he was without life threatening health issues. The situation can change, sometimes a doctor can not directly see what the problem is that a patient has. It won’t be the first time to hear that a patient always has to ask for a second opinion if he truly thinks there is something wrong. But statistics of patients that died un-expected to make me worried! I would not go to a NHS hospital after reading this article!

Peckham Fire

150 people homeless after huge fire in Peckham south-east London.

Summary: (words: 119)

26 November 4:30am, a big fire started at Peckham, south-east London. The area of the fire was half as big as a football pitch. 150 fire fighters came to fight the fire. 150 people have been forced to leave their homes and became homeless. Fortunately nobody died, everybody could be evacuated in time, one person went to the hospital with breathing problems but the condition is not life-threatening. Several ambulances where at the location just in case that they would be necessary but luckily that was not the case. All people that live around the fire area had to be evacuated as well. Several roads in the area are closed and the evacuees are brought to an emergency accommodation.

Source:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6658809/Peckham-fire-150-people-abandon-homes-as-building-site-blaze-spreads.html

Reaction: (words: 109 )

Horrible! Losing all belongings during a fire is one of my worst nightmares! After reading this article I have seen this on the news as well. Only the foundation is left of a huge building where 100 people lived in. It’s impossible to renovate this so what I hope now is that the government decides to re-build a new flat at the same spot where the same families, that are homeless now, can life in when it is ready. I’m scared that will not happen ,when they rebuild a more expensive flat, that the people that lost their homes now can not afford. Let’s hope the best for them!

Royal Mail

Pre-Christmas Strike?

Summary: (words 107)

There might be another strike at the Royal Post which could cause a problem with the Christmas deliveries. The CWU tells employees to prepare for an other strike. CWU did negotiate with Royal Mail but the Royal Mail did not offer to do enough concessions. Last October many employees at the post walked out so there is already a problem with more than 60 million letters and parcels that came to late to their addresses. The strikes started because of a problem between the Royal Mail management and her postal workers. The Royal Mail had spoken about modernisation in delivery methods and cutting jobs to realise that.

Source:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6936023.ece

Reaction: (words 107)

A strike is a reaction of the employees, when they don’t agree with the company. Mostly it is because the salary. This time the strike is because of modernisation in delivery methods. I think it’s sad that because of the modernisation the Royal Mail will be cutting jobs, but I think a strike does not help to avoid that. A strike mostly causes problems for citizens; think about strikes in public transport, and strikes of teachers. Also in this case the citizens have to deal again with the problems that it brings with the delivery of the post if the employees of Royal Mail decide to strike.