Daily Mail Allows Extreme Islamophobia During Ramadan.

Daily Mail Allows Extreme Islamophobia During Ramadan.

I was genuinely quite amazed when I read this article from Katie Hopkins in the Daily Mail today. It is usually quite easy to ignore anything she says because she is too much of an idiotic caricature to take seriously. However, when an article starts with something as offensive and inflammatory as,

''Tis the season of bombers and Uber drivers who haven't eaten for 20 hours - welcome to the Midsummer madness of Ramadan',

it suddenly becomes quite difficult to just scroll past without stopping to marvel at the sheer level of prejudice being presented by a highly paid columnist for something that claims to be a reputable newspaper. 

She later tries to cover her obvious hatred of Muslims by pretending that she is writing from the viewpoint of somebody who is concerned about health and safety during fasting. However, this does not explain her need to refer to Muslims as 'bombers and Uber drivers' as well as all the other language that has been carefully chosen with the obvious intention of being as hurtful and derogatory as possible towards the 2.7 million people (approx) who are fasting during Ramadan in the United Kingdom. In a twist stranger than the ending of 'The Sixth Sense', she finishes the article by saying that she is only criticised for what she says due to unfair prejudice. Yeah, i don't get it either. 

In conclusion, The Daily Mail should be held fully accountable for the decision to allow such extreme Islamophobia during Ramadan. Inexcusable. 

 

Hodgson's Choice.

Hodgson's Choice and the Angry Masses


Hodgson has made his decision about the team going to Euro 2016 and it has mostly been met with:

"WTF IS HE THINKING?!?!" 

This is because people tend to focus on the negative rather than the positive when it comes to English football. This attitude of 'we're completely doomed' is something you see before pretty much every single tournament we are involved in and something that separates England from many other countries in regards to support for the national team. It's no wonder that English players seem to have such lower confidence compared to other players when performing on a big stage. 

Before you get the pitchforks ready, I do completely agree with the general masses that Drinkwater should have been picked over the likes of Wilshere or Henderson. I mean, he is in incredible form and Wilshere is inconsistent at the best of times.  

However, there are also some positive inclusions. I'm really pleased that Rashford has been chosen. He is a player of genuine quality and his pace and eye for goal could make a real impact (as long as he doesn't just sit on the bench). Also, with an average age of 25, it is the youngest team to ever represent England at the European championships! This makes such a nice change from the same old, tired teams we have seen in recent years. Anyone else trying to ignore the fact that they're now older than the average England player? Plus, at least Delph was prevented from being picked (sorry Delph). 

In conclusion, when my fragile enthusiasm is inevitably proved to be horribly misplaced, at least we have a manager with a face capable of creating many a high-quality meme.   

 

Watership Down and other Traumatic Children's Television.

Watership Down and other Traumatic Children's Television


I saw recently that channel 5 got into trouble for putting Watership Down on television on Easter day and subsequently got into trouble for traumatising a new generation of children with the violence, struggle and heartache that is endured by Hazel, Bigwig and the others rabbits looking for a new home. Then it got me thinking, which things do I remember watching on television as a child that were technically suitable for children but I still found somewhat traumatising myself? Here is my list but let me know which traumatic kids shows, films and adverts you remember from your childhood. 

5 - The Animals of Farthing Wood.

A happy story about a group of woodland friends? Absolutely not. This series featured a group of animals trying to find a new home (similar to Watership Down). However, on their journey it felt as if more characters were killed off than in a series of Game of Thrones which is a bit surprising considering it was made for children. I remember some of them meeting particularly gruesome ends at the hands of humans or other animals. Still, it was actually a brilliantly written series that I remember vividly to this day. 

4 - 'Hush' episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Whilst Buffy The Vampire Slayer may not have been made specifically for children it was still on early enough for me (and many other kids I knew) to watch it. For the most part this was fine. It was a well written show with decent humour, lots of action and strong female characters. That is until the 'Hush' episode which featured a group of ghouls name The Gentleman who steal peoples voices so they can't scream whilst they cut their hearts out. What most disturbed me as a child was the creepy way the glided silently just a few inches above the ground. Oh, and they looked like this,

 

3 - Are You Afraid Of The Dark?

This was a show for children in which each episode was a different horror story. Unlike the Goosebumps show which was largely ridiculous and funny, this was made to seem just that much more believable. There were many genuinely creepy episodes, the one that stands out to me was when a girl realises she is the dead girl from an urban myth she has heard (anybody remember it?). Also, the intro with the music and the swing swinging by itself!

2 - The Playstation advert with the weird girl.

As a kid who desperately wanted a Playstation I would latch onto anything on television that mentioned it. That was until I saw the advert with the girl who had the creepy face and the Scottish accent. I've just looked her up and, yep, it's still just as creepy now as it was back then.  

1 - Paperhouse.

This was a film that my Mum put on for me because it sounded like a nice kids film. Basically, a girl discovers that whatever she draws comes to life. [Spoiler alert]. So, she decides to draw herself a friend. Problem is, she forgets to draw his legs so he can't walk and has to drag himself around the ground. That's okay, she can draw him a Dad to cheer him up. Problem is, she forgets to give him a smiley face so he is an abusive psychopath. That's okay, she can just scribble him out. Problem is, that just means he is now an abusive psychopath with no eyes. Nightmares ensued.  

Special mention goes to the episode of The Fresh Prince when his Dad walks out on him. Man, childhood was tough for a 90's kid! 

Duchess Foot Shocker.

Daily Mail does it again

I previously wrote an article about the Daily Mail publishing an article about a bubble that looked vaguely like the Virgin Mary as being the most ridiculous 'news' article I had ever read in a 'serious' paper. However, they may have finally outdone themselves with this article which is literally about the fact that the Duchess of Cambridge didn't wear nail polish on a recent visit to the Gandhi Museum in India. 

They stretch out the article by somehow claiming that her lack of nail polish is proof of how down-to-earth and humble she is. This isn't one of the tiny articles hidden near the bottom of the website, it is genuinely almost headline news. As for Gandhi, he is lucky enough to get a mention after they have finished giving us the intricate details about Kate's feet. 

I can't help but wonder if William is now kicking himself at missing the opportunity to show the nation how humble he is by choosing to keep his socks on.

 

 

"It's just a prank bro."

"It's just a prank bro."


I recently watched this video (about prank videos) by h3h3 productions. In this video, he comments on a 'social experiment' by two Youtubers called MoeandET who, in this video, convince a woman that she is going to be assaulted by a group of men in balaclavas so that they can 'teach people' about the dangers of meeting someone from Craigslist. This is a recent trend by Youtube pranksters to do increasingly awful things to people by putting it in the guise of a 'social experiment' that is apparently supposed to exist for the purpose of educating people. By pointing a camera phone at someone and claiming "it's just a prank bro" or "this was a social experiment" they justify to themselves and their fan base that worrying levels of harassment are completely fine. Lots of the pranks are staged but many aren't. 

 
Examples of things that Youtubers have considered it okay to do because "it's just a prank bro" include: this video where Sam Pepper gropes the bums of random women. This video in which Joseph Costello mocks a homeless woman and this video where Roman Atwood 'tricks' black people into thinking he has said a hugely offensive word. I should point out that many white 'pranksters' specifically target black people in their videos, I guess having a camera also excuses them of racism. 

 
The only thing I hope to see from prank videos in the future is when karma prevails and these people get a little taste of their own medicine, isn't that right Jack Jones?

 

5 games that taught me something as a child (kind of).

5 games that taught me something as a child (kind of)

As a teacher, it can be a bit worrying when primary school aged children regularly tell you about how they've been playing Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto V. However, video games and board games can also be incredibly beneficial in helping to teach children. This can be shown through the creativity of a game like Minecraft or Tim Rylands using Myst to help children with their writing. Here are a few games that I think taught me something (some unexpectedly) when I was a child. 

Risk - Geography

Obviously, Risk misses out a fair few countries and also uses old and now redundant names for a lot of the countries. However, as a basic tool for teaching me the layout of the different continents I feel that Risk did actually teach me something. 

 

Civilization II - History

I remember my teacher being genuinely impressed at my knowledge of Roman military, town names, technology and leaders when we started our Roman topic at school. Little did she know that the vast majority of this knowledge had come from obsessively playing Civilization. 

 

Theme Hospital - Maths

There were a few games I played that involved some level of money management but this is the main one that sticks out. You are constantly having to make calculations based on how much money you need to make and how your financial decisions are going to impact you getting there.

 

Spider-Man Cartoon Maker - English

A game where you have to make your own Spider-Man cartoons? I can't think of many better ways to have gotten a young me interested in writing my own story lines and dialogue for different characters. Granted, most my cartoons did end in an unimaginative plethora of explosions; I was basically a young Michael Bay. 

 

Music - Music 

The imaginatively titled, Music, for the PS1 was surprisingly versatile in allowing my twelve-year-old self to create different tracks. Even my bowl haircut and complete lack of musical ability couldn't stop me from briefly thinking I was going to be the next Fatboy Slim.