It has been nearly a year now since getting my GCSE results, and I still think that the new 1-9 grading system is shit


As I am sure you all know too well, this year the whole process of “grading” at the moment is a little bit up in the air. This is due to the pandemic, meaning that students weren’t able to be in school for quite a few months, and therefore they would not have been able to do exams either. Now this means that the grades which are distributed to students aren’t going to be entirely fair, as the act of getting teachers to rank their class from top to bottom is always going to be subjective. Furthermore there are always going to be students who didn’t work during mocks, so there’s going to be those who would have been capable of achieving much more than what their mock result showed. While it does not help that some teachers simply have favorites while we cannot overlook issues like discrimination plus many other potential problems which will arise. And lets face it; however hard teachers try to reduce some of these problems, which I am sure that they will do, it is still going to be far from ideal… However is the process of giving students two or three exams, based on two or three years of work for that subject, really a much better way of grading students? Well there is no room for the teacher to play any role in bias because, these are marked externally. However these are pretty much wholly dependent on how well the student performs on the day, therefore many issues can conflict with this. Plus the ability to perform well in a GCSE paper, is often based on the student’s performance on the day (as well as their short term memory!), rather than their understanding and dedication to the subject.

So thinking about these flaws, whether you think that using pretty much exams alone to assess 16 year old’s is the best way to do so or not, the new hierarchy system to assess teens has done nothing to reduce these. In-fact it has made the process of taking exams more stressful than ever, for both the students and the teachers- and there really isn’t any need for it…

So to begin with, the decision to replace the initial “C” with a 4 which corresponds to a “low C” and a 5 which is meant to be somewhere between a C and a B, just seems rather silly. When initially a C was simply a pass… But now I feel that the new 4 and 5 correspond to a “strong” and “weak” pass meaning that students will feel that they’re not good enough if they only get a 4. Even though a 4 actually represents the two lowest thirds of the initial C, meaning that students are now generally going to feel the need to work even harder; in order that they receive a grade which they “feel good about”. This can subsequently lead to lower self esteem when the student thinks that they may only be able to get a 4, as well as higher stress. Furthermore this isn’t just the case under student’s eyes however we have seen “schools agonizing over whether kids are getting 4s or 5s”. Because the government too now assesses schools over a strong and standard pass rate. Which means that teachers will be spending more time worrying about and focusing on this, rather than focusing their energy on ensuring that as many students who can pass do so. This extra burden on the teachers will also be passed onto students meaning students will be under more pressure than ever. Now this surely messes things up, as in reality we all know that most students lack the fundamental “life skills” as well as gaps in potentially essential knowledge, so would it not be better if schools were able to help students in these areas, rather than encouraging teachers to spend more time going over the same GCSE content?

Now from the 4 and the 5, there is a 6 is meant to be about the same as a B; meanwhile the 7, 8 and 9 are all meant to be of some kind of an A. Here a 7 is attributed to the standard A, an 8 being well- close to an “A star” but not quite there, and a 9 being like the A**. Now this might sound good, when we think of the number of students achieving As, and the fact that there seemed to have been a kind of “grade deflation” going on, meaning that an A was of less value than it had been say 15 years ago. And while the grade boundaries could have just been altered so this wouldn’t have been the case any longer, or just ensure that the questions are slightly harder, there still might be a large range of abilities amongst the current A star students. So we should welcome the fact that universities will be able to distinguish more between this high end group! But is this not something which should occur at A level and beyond? Rather than having students feel that they need an A level standard of understanding of the subject, before they actually go on to take it at A level?? This way the new means of assessing GCSE students seems pretty pointless, considering the scope for students to show their enthusiasm throughout this period of time, by working hard throughout the course, partaking in extra curricular activities as well as further reading. This way, the whole thing seems a bit silly when universities have been known to assess students on their actual enthusiasm as well as their personal attributes? But lets face it, at least now schools have the opportunity to boast about the number of 9s students! Meaning that schools will be focusing more of their energy on helping the “very best” students, rather than ensuring that everyone can achieve what they are capable of. This way, this could potentially hinder the number of students who feel that they have the opportunity to attend a top university, as those places will now be judging upon the top GCSE as well as A level grades. While many students would have to relay upon tutoring, going to a good school, or an excellent memory in this stage of their education. Would it not be better if universities just dedicated their places based on enthusiasm, and love of the subject. Rather than implying that numbers and letters are the most credible thing? Leading on, this is going to inevitably have a catastrophic effect on the mental health of all students (well it has done so already). And even head teachers have backed this up with “Nine in 10 heads say tougher new GCSEs have harmed pupils’ mental health” states a poll published by the Association of School and College Leaders.

And another issue I have with this romanized prospect of achieving the incredible 9, is that it means some of the exam papers are going to be ridiculous. Thinking back on taking the GCSE higher maths paper, I remember looking at the grade boundaries and realizing how stupid they were. With only needing to get scarcely above 50% to achieve a 7, or an A in the old money, the rest of the paper was filled with content which looked pretty alien to any functional being… Yet this also means that the teacher of the subject is spending more time teaching the top content, rather than ensuring that everyone has a decent understanding, to get the grade which they deserve.

It also seems a little bit strange that I have taken the decision to do another post on the 9-1 GCSE system, when literally last year, having just got my results, I chose to write a blog post about it . But at that time it would only be natural for me to be disagreeing with the examination system, simply because it was so recent as to when I had been through the seemingly painful process of receiving my results.

Looking back on taking GCSE’s, I cannot say that I was more stressed about taking the exams when I had just as much time before taking these exams, as I do with A-Levels. Simply because I know and I knew then that A-levels go much further in determining where you end up. Or in other words, which universities may or may not be open to you. When thinking about it this way, we can see how A levels may be seen as being important, however there are many ways of achieving something, and a top university isn’t necessarily going to determine how successful your career will be, and it certainly won’t determine how fulfilling you might find it. Then put this into perspective with GCSE’s. In a way these are similar, in that they act as a bit of a gateway as to which 6th form collages you might be able to enter, and which ones that you may be prevented from. But likewise it is not the end of the world if you don’t manage to get into a certain one, plus I would argue that it would be completely unfair for a school to turn you down if they knew that you were a dedicated student.

Another thing is that if you happened to take GCSEs before the system changed, or if you know someone who has done so, I am sure that you can relate to the fact that much of what you learn is forgotten. Meanwhile like mentioned earlier, I am sure that there are things which you wished you learned at school, but you didn’t. Therefore would it not make more sense to reform GCSEs in a way so that students are able to learn more things of use to them and to wider society, as opposed to getting them to do an increased amount of work that will be forgotten meaning there is even less time available for learning anything of use… Saying this, I believe that it is extremely important to teach all students reading, writing and arithmetic (as well as science) because knowledge and skills learned about these subjects are crucial in pretty much all occupants and well- there are so many careers relating to these topics. Nonetheless we always need to be able to draw a line with these things, and I think that teaching students stuff which they would otherwise be learning if they chose to take the A level in a years time is a bit of a push.

Finally from the way that this has such a terrific impact on young people’s mental health, how it makes it harder for teachers to focus on helping all students achieve their potential and how it is simply unproductive, I really struggle to come to terms with how this new system could be of an improvement at all. While I struggle to understand why this was reverted to the way that it is, and I really cannot see how this can be of any benefit. And the more that I think about it, the more damaging I think it to be, harming the mental health off students as well as being, well really a bit off a waste of time.

Social Mobility: Reality or a Myth?


Introduction

Hiya, so as a continuation of my previous post which discussed the huge fall of “traditional working class jobs” which were seen as being respectable careers, in this post I am going to be talking about the highs and lows of social mobility. Now during the time that these jobs went into decline, there was also a lot of emphasis on individualism. Which is basically the theory that an individual’s achievements are based solely on their merit and their efforts, rather than due to their circumstances or the society that they have grown up in. This is meant to mean that each individual who worked hard would be able to achieve what they wished to do so, however it also meant that those who did not try as much, would not be likely to go as far; simply down to being their choice. Though the emphasis on individualism is still very much alive today.

Yet in reality, this theory is less promising and straight forward as it looks, as we so often hear about those dropping out of secondary school feeling like there is no point in studying as there is nothing for them to do anyway. In opposition those born into privilege manage to stay as part of this chain due to the opportunity which is basically wheeled along to them on top of a dinner plate. Subsequently this suggests that the argument that we live in a society where anyone who works hard will be awarded accordingly, is nothing but a mere fantasy… Though it does seem as if the “middle class” is far more accessible to us all now, compared to say 100 years ago. Yet at the same time the concept of belonging to one or another class has become far more complicated and it seems as if things are now getting worse once again. Therefore it only seems right to question firstly whether our middle class is as good, big and easily accessible as we like to make out, or if being a member now means you aren’t even rich. Which also leads to the question of what it actually means to be middle class. Therefore we need to ask ourselves if we are really living in such a socially mobile society or it is actually very difficult to become part of the “middle class”. While if this is the case, what kind of implications has this had on the “mainstream” attitude toward the working class?

What is Social Mobility?

So the definition of social mobility according to thoughtco is “The moving of individuals, families or groups up or down the social ladder.” This is “often used to describe changes in wealth, but it can often used to describe general social standing or education.” Just to make things a little more complicated, there happens to be two types of social mobility; Intragenerational which refers to “the movement of an individual’s social class within their lifetime” while there is Intergenerational meaning “a family group moving up or down the social ladder across the span of generations.” These tend to go hand in hand, though it fair to say that it is more likely that a family will be able to move further up the social ladder, compared to someone on their own. As if a family have worked very hard together over a few generations, then there is a higher possibility that the youngest members would now at least be able to “stand a chance.” Yet we know that generations worth of hard work certainly doesn’t guarantee this kind of escape out of poverty…

The success story of Diana Lee, who went from working at a car dealership to being founder of Constellation agency which provides advertising for brands including the Jaguar shows that it is possible for families to be able to work themselves up. Because while she worked very hard her parents were from South Korea and worked “15 hour days to support her and her sister”. Nevertheless many families are not as lucky, as often we see that second and third generation immigrants are living in areas of deprivation meanwhile twice as many people (2 fifths) from ethnic minorities are living in poverty. Meanwhile intragenerational mobility is a bit more of a funny concept, because we would like to think that anyone who works hard at school is able to make it as far as they wish, yet we know this is a lie! Thinking that there are many poorer schools which have had very few students, if any making it to “Oxbridge” however in Eton, out of 261 students, 68 managed to get accepted in 2015. This just proves that wealth and social standing are far bigger factors in determining “success” rather than personal merit! Though it gets more complicated when we think of the few successes of people from poor backgrounds, who haven’t even got GCSEs let alone any kind of degree. The classic anecdote here would be Lord Sugar, who is now one of the most successful entrepreneurs, a peer and has a network of over £1.2 billion, yet he started out as a barrow boy without obtaining one “O level”!

What’s more, we need to acknowledge that individuals can also go down the social ladder during their life time… Though it’s unlikely that a lazy student from Eton would end up with a career in McDonalds.

Therefore it is difficult not to ask ourselves to what extent is social mobility, well a “thing” here in the UK, and to what extent is this purely a myth? While is it really appropriate for us to be taking pride in our education system. When the reality is that by 3, poorer children are estimated to be by an average of 9 months behind those from wealthy backgrounds while by the age of 16, children receiving free school meals achieve 1.7 grades lower compared to other students.

The rise of the “middle class” and social mobility within Britain:

It is hard to put a finger on exactly when the middle class in Britain was officially established, however it was during the first half of the 19th century when the values of the middle class became more prominent within Britain, as class dimensions began to shift. These sorts of people who would have identified as middle class, would have been factory owners, merchants and professionals. Collectively their ethic was that “work was the basic human good”, believing that those who work hard “should prosper” meanwhile “he who suffered did so because he didn’t work.” Taking this further, much of literature around this period of time was based upon stories of poorer people who worked hard in order to better themselves, and obtained success. This included works by Author Samuel Smiles, best known for his novel “self help, with illustrations of character and conduct” which was based around three successors. Thinking about it, these kinds of values are still very much part of the mainstream today.

Yet we need to recognize that when this book was published, in 1859, we were in a period where state education hadn’t been established, meaning that those from most poor families would not have had the opportunity to become part of the “middle class”. And even when state education was established in 1870, it was only to support those up to the age of 13. More recently the 1944 education act introduced “compulsory free school education for all” as well as the introduction of selective schools while it was only very recently in 2013 where it was made compulsory to be in some form of education, including an apprenticeship, until the age of 18. The idea of these have basically been so that young people are able to acquire a sufficient amount of skills and education in order to find relevant work or to be able to progress into higher education, regardless of their financial circumstances. Thus creating a more socially mobile society and potentially paving the way for a larger “middle class”.

Though strangely enough Thatcher’s policy which sold off council homes and to share offers for public utilities was actually pitched toward the working class who were aspiring toward the middle classes. Which makes sense, considering that property ownership is a strong indication that someone is “middle class”. However we need to remember that so many areas went into complete decline without being “saved” by some scheme like Canary Wharf not to mention her “radical” cuts she made to the welfare state (which she saw as an indicative source of the economic and social problems of the U.K) which in reality created greater hardship and more barriers for the working class. Then these policies didn’t just stop there, but future leaders have adopted her laisse-faire approach.

Love him or loath him, Tony Blair did put a strong emphasis on the power of the free market. Partly by removing Labour’s commitment to nationalization as well as expressing his support for the free market in his speeches. This included at a Labour party conference, after having won his third election; saying that “An open, liberal economy prepared constantly to change to remain competitive” works best, adding that those who debate about globalization “may as well debate about whether autumn will follow summer as debate about globalization” (although now the former argument looks like something we might have to debate!) However he did also put a very strong emphasis on education and did increase the spending on it, yet failed to acknowledge the importance of the welfare state, by being the “first ever Labour government not to raise levels of welfare benefit on taking office”. While £3.2 billion was cut from the welfare budget, before his reforms came into place. Therefore while the lucky ones might have been more able to progress and potentially access the “middle class” thanks to spending on education, there seems to be a growing number of those who have been left behind.

The middle class today and the increased struggle of the young:

So when I was refining the first post on the effect of deindustrialization on the working class (which as writing this now, I am still in the middle of because it is a rather long process) I decided to give myself a little break from it and take a quiz off BBC to work out what class I am. Yet I realized that the results wouldn’t be so straight forward as I had expected when I came out as an “Emergent service worker” rather than something more obvious. But these results showed that I had little in the way of savings (duh I’m young!), rent my own home (not yet though I do live in a rented household), and that I enjoy a cultured lifestyle (some of it is great, but I swear I will never be able to afford to go skiing or watch Ballet!) It also said that those in my category are more likely to be young so this explains a lot! Though I do wonder whether most in my position would call ourselves “working class”, due to having to study very hard and to have a part time job in order to make “social progress” or because we are aspirational and we may have some more “middle class interests”, we would be more likely to identify like that. Or is it not the kind of thing that we would really think much of anymore?

There were two other groups which I would call working class resulting from this quiz. One being the “Traditional working class” with an average age of 66, meanwhile there were the “Precariat” which was the most deprived grouping. This shows that the working class as a grouping are changing (probably for the worse), but at least it is home to a significant number of young aspirational people! There are also three types of middle class now being the established middle class, technical middle class and the new affluent workers, and these are just the categories listed here because other websites have come up with all sorts of different subcategories to put the middle class into. And with all the expansion on higher education as well as property ownership and service sector employment, it seems rather obvious that the middle class is a much greater proportion of us than it was back in the 1950s. Yet this still seems really unclear, and is it really as common to be living a middle class lifestyle, as to what people think it may be?

The middle class now have a diverse range of values attributed to them; though commonly they “tend to be ambitious”, “vaguely liberal” and “meritocratic”. Meanwhile it is fair to say that a lot of culture within the UK is circulated around the “middle class lifestyle”. Now regardless of what class you identify with, I am sure you now hear of people going for “Brunch”, of these “hipster” coffee establishments not to mention the school ski trips. Oh and let’s not forget that when people think of British culture they think of the Queen, endless cups of posh tea, and how all of us are apparently incredibly polite!. Hmmm… But we can tell from this that the middle class stereotype in England is very mainstream, however is this the reality for most citizens? Because though it is fair to say that those within the young working class are often pretty likely to engage in more “middle class” cultural activities with the prospect of living this lifestyle at some stage, it would be ridiculous for anyone to try to suggest that we can all become rich if we want to! Because in 2013 the median gross income was only £27,000 whilst 85% of people earn under 40,000 a year. While to be middle class, your income needs to be between “£24,488 and £48,977“being 75%-150% of the average income. However if someone happens to be at the lower end, then don’t for one minute think that they are going to be able to afford to do yoga class every Monday before work. Because in reality the average UK cost of living for a single person is £27,000 which just shows that even those on “middle incomes” cannot afford much luxury! This way though people can aspire to a “middle class occupation”, it most certainly doesn’t mean they will end up wealthy. So why are we all so bizzarly obsessed with middle class culture? And while this has seemed to expanded, it seems as if working class culture has somehow diminished..

Is this about to get a lot worse?

There is also much fear about the future, as property prices continue to rise, jobs are scarce plus Brexit… Then now, on top of all this, there is the impact of the coronavirus. For a start this means that there will be even less work for people in deprived areas, meaning these areas will become poorer still as more people simply will not have the money to spend. Also I am sure that by now you have heard about the deplorable attempt to put students from generally poorer schools at an immense disadvantage by downgrading some A-level grades by three marks. All while further advancing the rich. Nearly 40% of students had been downgraded, and while private schools like Eton would have benefited as students were actually more likely to have a result upgraded rather than downgraded, those from state schools were those that were far most likely to have their result downgraded.

Meanwhile although a U turn has been made on this, meaning that after all students will be allocated their teacher predicted grades, there is concern on how the closure of schools will have hindered the progress of poorer students, from the first year of primary school, to those meant to be taking exams next year (I don’t even want to think about it)! But I hate to think what it would have been like for the youngest children who have been living in crowded conditions, usually without a garden to play in or without appropriate equipment to facilitate their learning and development. Meanwhile those from wealthy families will have been more likely to have parents able to help them with their work, not to mention acres “play space”. Now do I dare to mention the older students who have a nice garden to sit in while working, as well as having a computer that doesn’t freak out when trying to access some of the more technical power points. Now if you think I am exaggerating, then even the daily mail admits that these issues could put an end to social mobility; with “Just 41 per cent of children at state schools in the most deprived areas attended online classes during the lockdown period, compared to 79 per cent of families paying for private education.” This just proves the extent of the effects of the pandemic on educational outcomes. Now just to make matters spill, there is the worry that many universities which contain a proportionately higher number of students from deprived backgrounds in “the North East, the Midlands and Wales” are going to go out of business. This all means that being able to make progress is going to be more difficult than ever, as more and more students will find themselves in an increasingly difficult environment.

So, social mobility is a pretty complicated topic, and though it seems as if more people are aspirational now, compared to before and that more people can make social progress on the basis of how much work they put in, it seems that the harsh reality is that just because the opportunity is there, it doesn’t mean that those who take up this will be guaranteed to live a comfortable life. Therefore it does seem that the concept of social mobility is definitely exaggerated within the UK, which means that those who seem to be at the bottom, may be viewed with harsh hostility.

Now politicians generally like to emphasize the importance of education, and it is a topic which touches the heart of so many of us; Students, Parents and grandparents alike. Therefore unless the government is really keen on reversing some of the immense progress made on social mobility and quality of education, then something ought to be done to prevent those from the poorest of backgrounds from falling further behind. Therefore the Next Post in this series will explore further into class politics and how it has effected the working class.

Your Best Life is NOT the Most Productive



Is your Saturday morning routine pretty productive, involving you ticking off a list of tasks from your “to do list”? Or do you like to have a lie in, and have a relaxing weekend, where you unwind from that seemingly long week that had just gone by, even if it has not been that busy?


Well chances are you fall somewhere in the middle of this, where sometimes you find that you are having to work hard. But at other times, maybe subconsciously, you find yourself heading down to the park for the afternoon, just to sit on the grass and watch the world go by. Or maybe you intend to meet a friend for an hour or so for a morning coffee, yet you find that you are still together come the evening. Or perhaps you wish to get up early so that you can achieve a significant number of tasks before most people are up, yet you still manage to sleep through your alarm about 10 times. Chances are, if you are one of these people, you tend to feel a bit bad about your less productive times, thinking about what could be done with the time that you had seemingly been wasting. Because with it seeming that pretty much everything and every one is giving you tips on how to be more productive, it is rather difficult to aspire to doing less…


Pretty much everywhere on social media, we are being bombarded with influencers throwing tips our way on how to be more productive, making it seem harder for us to provide a legitimate excuse to counter this. Which is obviously going to make us feel worse! However are any of these tips, or even what they are about, the key to success?
Just by having googled  “productivity tips” for 10 minutes or so, I am confronted with so many of these. Now there are loads of these which I could list, but a few which stuck out were telling us to; “do the work constantly”, get frequent exercise, cut out the distractions, get the hardest task done first and always write down what you aim to achieve the night before. Now I am sure that many of us are likely to go into overload just by looking at these tips. Though think about what can be achieved if we stick to all of these! Yet as helpful as they can be, can we seriously be living our best life if we are constantly sticking to such a strict regime, rather than living a more carefree lifestyle?

We also hear of many “successful people” saying that they stick to certain habits to ensure that they are more productive. For instance, business man, Ben Franklin, would ask himself “what good should I do today” each morning and then in the evening (around 10pm) he would ask “What good have I done today”. But exactly what does this entail? It makes sense that people who do have strong aspirations are going to take whatever advice they can get in order to advance toward their goal. However firstly everybody does need to have a rest whilst why should we all feel obliged to strive for a super busy, and constantly stressful lifestyle? Yes you are going to get more done and this may well make some people feel happy if that is what they want from life, but is it not natural for most to want to enjoy a little peace? Surely for a happy lifestyle we don’t need to be constantly working to the most sharped edged version of ourselves? Though I am sure that some of these are genuinely very helpful, given the right person, situation and circumstance. But not for all the time…


For a start I think that being productive in the short term can bring about many costs and benefits? For me I must admit there is certainly the feel good factor, not to mention feeling as if I am in control. While common reasons why people feel so positive around being productive, is due to the feeling of having achieved something when ticking off things on a to do list, having greater esteem when working toward goals, and finding purpose within productivity. However if we become as obsessed with it as some if these lifestyle bloggers do, then surely it cannot be healthy for us. Now let’s compare it to having a diet consisting solely of fruit salad and nothing else. Because some people love fruit salad, however it isn’t for everyone. While consuming too much of it can make us feel ill in the short run, while depriving us of essential nutrients in the long run. Because I feel that although being productive can very beneficial for a wide number of reasons, it is simply not healthy to be “constantly working”, while others naturally prefer a more tranquil lifestyle. In the short run, people often face the choice of having a nice night out (or in) or revising for an exam/doing paid work. And often, if we choose the former, we tend to feel bad about ourselves for doing so afterwards thinking that we would have been far better advanced if we had stuck to what we knew we should have done. As clearly this would benefit us in the long term? Though imagine if we never chose to do the thing that we enjoyed most. None of the memories plus, well no primary enjoyment. Furthermore these effects also penetrate into the long run. Because it is not only grim that we are missing out on this enjoyment and these connections, but I am sure we have all heard about burnout. Being a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands.” While even if we don’t burnout, it has been proven that being “constantly busy” cannot have a good impact at all on our mental health. That’s because it can lead to chronic stress, suffering relationships and even for the workplace to become less productive! Therefore I hope that from this you can see why leading a productive life cannot always be the best for you, in-spite of what everyone else says!

I am sure that you are aware that the emphasis on productivity isn’t just a fad that has recently been impinged on us, but for a very long time there have been people feeling pressured into living an overly productive lifestyle. Which often begins in the home as I am sure that many of you have faced the extra burden of pressure on us from parents.
Now to me this seems a little toxic, because not only can this have a poor impact on the young person’s mental health, but it can batter the relationship between them and the parent. Which I find extremely sad, but when you think about it, it is understandable why a parent would feel that they need to encourage the child in this way; simply because in this life, unless we happen to be born rich, we do usually have to work pretty hard in order to earn a living, let alone achieve anything else…


I think that collectively we do need to question the importance of productivity more than what we do. Though it is more than reasonable to suggest that this is very difficult, considering how society almost impinges this kind of lifestyle upon us, whether we want it or not. But put it this way. First think about what we would achieve if we put aside an extra 5 hours each week to focus on doing something productive? Maybe we would be earning more money, getting a higher grade or whatever else. However lets put this a different way round. Imagine what else could we be doing, learning or simply getting out of life if we took this the other way around and set aside 5 hours instead for leisure? And what we could get out if it. This Could be hiking, socialising, reading or anything really. And often though we may better ourselves in career and wealth prospects by working harder, we actually become more rounded people by engaging in other activities too. And most likely, we are also finding life more enjoyable. How could this not be important?
Therefore I will acknowledge that productivity is important on varying levels, however it is fair to say that there is certainly a point where it becomes too much. When we are less productive than what we feel we ought to be, we therefore need to stop feeling bad about ourselves for it and to instead feel grateful that we are able to relax and do other things .

Side note: When I was writing the draft for this post, I couldn’t help but think about my own “productivity” and how I wish that I was “more productive”, even though I know how important it is to wind down. Therefore it shows that it is important to tell ourselves that being productive isn’t all that it is hyped up to be, but also that it is an issue which is so embedded into our way of life.

Series post: the Decline of Britain’s Working Class- Deindustrialization


Introduction

So this is a series post about the demoralization of Britain’s Working Class; relating to deindustrialization, class politics and social mobility which all play significant roles in the decline of Britain’s working class. But before we get to grasps with how this has happened, lets take a quick look at how the working class become almost romanticized in the 20th century.

During the industrial revolution, the working class began to develop a strong culture and identity, as they began to be regarded with respect for the work they carried out. This was in stark opposition to being treated as “peasants” during previous times. A lot of this culture was taken on from the “localized folk culture”. This led on to TV programs which were (and some still are) centered around working class life such as the Simpsons, Family Guy and Only Fools and Horses. This happened around the same time as the emergence of the Labour Party, which at the time strongly represented the working class. This came about partly due to the widening of the enfranchise meaning that those working class people who had previously been unable to vote, needed a party to represent their interests. This party was also closely affiliated with trade unions, and was in-fact created by these unions as well as socialist societies, which were there to speak up for the rights of workers. Therefore the working class were becoming more prominant within both culture and politics. Subsequently it was harder for the middle and upper classes to dismiss them, and in-fact working class culture was almost romanticised within the middle and upper classes. Until around the 1960s, this respect affiliated with the working class remained strong, however from the mid 60s-early 70s, the journey towards the new essence in hw the working class see themselves, and how they are portrayed by others began. So between the industrial revolution when the working class earned their dignity, and now where the attitude toward the working class is at best dismissal and at worst; dispute, what exactly went wrong, and why?

See the source image
The cast of “only fools and horses”, TV comedy popular around the 1980s, centered around the lives of working class people

The Decline of industry

It was from the beginning of the 1960s when industry begun going into decline. This was partly as a result of arising globalization meaning it was cheaper for Britain to import goods like iron and steel from abroad due to lower costs, compared to continue to produce these goods at home. This was not just the case within Britain, but many European countries as well as America saw a decline in industry for this very reason. Now all countries which have experienced this have suffered on varying degrees, and I won’t go into detail and compare these with the UK. However it is clear that deindustrialization has had a devastating affect on many areas within the UK, which is very visible even to this day.

Now whether you are for or against globalization, it is more than rather clear that policies of the government during this time (old Maggie), didn’t at all help in mitigating some of the issues which would arise from industry going abroad. Rather she almost enhanced the suffering. By privatizing and neglecting many industries such as the coal mines, it meant that the government couldn’t help them so couldn’t help to hinder the affects of deindustrialization. Meaning that the hit on certain areas and workers within them, would not have been so drastic. Another hit was the so called “help to buy scheme” put in place during her era, where millions of initially council homes were sold off to private developers meaning that most of those who would have previously been elidable to attain a council property, now are most likely to have to put aside their scarce money, in order to save for a “partly owned property.” Unsurprisingly she also put extra emphasis on the myth that if left to the free market, any level of work put in by an individual equates to what they get out of it, for themselves. Clearly a myth, because how on earth are people in areas with few jobs, little money, and poor schooling meant to “work themselves up”, while it is ok for someone of a higher class to basically inherit wealth and have all of their educational and occupational opportunities handed over to them on a plate. It’s bullshit! But this might explain why subsequent governments, including the most recent Labour one, tended to “brush off” the struggles now facing the working class, because now opportunities are clearly so equal that there is no need to worry too much… But we need to keep in mind that the numbers made unemployed within the UK happened at a faster rate than in any European country, therefore I would guess that the government did actually make a difference…

So now we know what happened with regards to jobs for the working class at the time, but how come 40 years later, the effects of this are still so apparent? And what is it about the previous jobs owned by the working class, that makes them so difficult to replace? Well back in 1950 the work place was dominated by jobs in manufacturing including an affluent coal and steel industry. Plus many of these jobs were based in areas now experiencing some of the highest rates of deprivation, such as in the North east and west. However as we probably know these jobs have now been replaced by those in the service sector including “Public admin, education and health” which accounts for 30.2% of the workforce and “distribution, hotels and restaurants” which accounts for 18.2% of the workforce. Meanwhile a mere 9% of the workforce are in manufacturing. This clearly emphasises the shift in types of occupations avaliable. But we know too that the UK now is far more known for it’s industry in finance, compared to its hospitality industry or its public services. Because while not many are actually working in high paid jobs in the financial industry, the financial sector contributed £132 billion to the UK economy, which accounts for 6.9% of the economic output, meanwhile although 7% of total jobs within the UK are within the financial sector, many of these are low paid admin roles such as working in call centers. Whilst there is a small number of people working in finance, who are earning immense amounts of money. This basically suggests to us that unlike before when the UK was partly known for its good number of industrial jobs dominated by the workers, it has been replaced by a small number of people on very high salaries in the affluent capital. Whereby 49% of the sectors output being generated there (source, House of Commons Library). Thus suggesting that the economy has reverted to revolve around those on the very highest salaries, while the working class are no longer deemed as being at all significant.

This may seem rather far fetched, but the income inequality illustrated by the gini coefficient has significantly risen, being at 0.26 in 1961, and at 0.34 ending 2014. Not only this, but it looks like the very rich in Britain are getting far far richer, as a report conducted by the the economic policy institute last year shows that in 1969 the CEO to average worker earnings ratio stood at 20-1 in 1969, meanwhile last year it was at 271-1. I would argue this is partly due to the decline of trade unions, who stand up for worker’s rights, which peaked back at the start of the 20th century.

How the UK Gini coefficient has changed over time (the higher it is, the worse the inequality)

Contrary to this notion, some may believe that the “working class” are better off now, compared to Pre-deindustrialization times. Because lets face it, coal mines were smelly and many ex-coal workers now suffer with persistent lung, heart and goodness knows what other problems; while most of these manufacturing jobs were very physically demanding. While nowadays you are unlikely to see many 13 year old’s working at a till, let alone down a mine, though it does happen… However while these were hard going, tedious and rather dangerous, we cannot deny that there was a strong sense of identity and community attached to this kind of work. Whereas within the current job sectors, which would be aimed at the working class, there just isn’t the same kind of feeling of belonging. But what is it about the “working class jobs” out here now which has lead to a loss in pride? Or would there be other factors too going alongside this issue?

By looking at the recent rates of unemployment, being at just 3.9% as of 2019, it would be difficult to understand why the working class are viewed in such a bad way. Because this suggests that the majority of the workforce are job secure and therefore why would they or others perceive their job in such a bad way? However we need to recognize that it is far harder to claim unemployment benefit nowadays. Previously claiming this benefit was based upon amount of National Insurance paid throughout working without the need to “prove” that you are looking for work. However now to claim “jobseekers allowance” you need to be taking “reasonable steps to look for work“, to have worked as an employee as well as having paid “class 1 National insurance contributions usually within the last 2 to 3 years.” This means that the unemployment rate is likely to hugely underestimated in areas of high structural unemployment due to the sheer difficulty of finding work. This therefore shows that there is more of a problem than what it might seem, when regarding unemployment. And because our politicians like to boast about the really low unemployment rate, it may lead to some people questioning the morality of those people who are unemployed- and as we can guess, right wing mainstream media is going to parrot these views.

The harsh reality of Australian youth unemployment - MacroBusiness
Just an example of the many newspapers echoing hostile fears toward those who are unemployed

If this profound difficulty in claiming unemployment benefit is not enough, nowadays a lot of these jobs are temporary, part time or are based on a zero hour contract. Someone on a zero hour contract basically doesn’t know whether they will get any work at all, or 7 long days of work on a weekly basis, meanwhile they are not entitled to some of the worker’s rights like sick pay. Firms as big as Sports Direct and McDonalds are notorious for having their workers on zero hour contracts. But this hasn’t always been the case, because until very recent years, the number of workers estimated to be on zero hour contracts stayed well below 300,000 while now it is estimated that as many as 1 in 40 workers are on them, and many more are at risk. Furthermore there are many roles now which only offer temporary contracts. As many local areas are more heavily reliant on the tourism sector now than they would have been say 50 years ago, due to decline of industry. This has been seen in large parts of South Wales, which was once home to coal mines which accounted for “a third of the total world exports of coal“, contrary to now where if you live in an area where there are high levels of tourism, you are rather likely to be hopeful that you can find work within that industry. However the tourism industry within all parts of the UK (and the world coming to think of it) is heavily dependent on external factors such as the weather, the strength of the economy, and now the coronavirus. And while tourism supports so much of the workforce, being 10% within Wales, people employed under it are not necessarily guaranteed alternative work during winter months, while there is high insecurity regarding whether they will still have their jobs come the following summer… Therefore due to the high insecurity and the most likely higher turnover rate, it is going to be difficult to replicate the same sense of pride and community, and sadly this trickles down to perceptions . Now it seems that it isn’t just workers who have lost this sense of pride, but the jobs for “the new working class” are not really regarded with the same essence. But how about work in retail, especially within supermarkets, surely this is just essential if not more so?

For instance as of 2019, there were “2.9 million UK workers in retail“. However as mentioned already in a previous blog post, we know that these retail workers are not very well treated with the levels of abuse that they face, whilst they are not well paid either. For instance with Tesco, the UK’s biggest supermarket, pays all workers a mere £9 an hour. This is just above the minimum wage, of £8.72 for over 25s. Now £9 an hour might therefore seem like a reasonable level of pay, nevertheless work in retail, especially in supermarkets can be exhausting. Many workers at Lidl have acknowledged that they receive good pay, however many also state that “hours and pay are not constant and reliable” where it is not uncommon to go well over your shift. There have also been “poor management”, and “safety concerns.” While if you think the standard of this is poor, there are many well known companies which exploit especially young workers massively, where they receive undeniably low pay correlating with the various low minimum wages for under 25s. For under 18s this is only £4.50 while if you are under 21, it is just £6.45.

It is most likely that there are going to be more of these jobs available in the more well off and highly populated areas, simply because where there are more jobs for the working class, there are more people of all classes dependent on the work which needs to be done. Therefore if you happen to be working class and living somewhere where there are wealthy people, then you are lucky in the essence that if you hunt for a job for long enough you are probably going to be able to find one, even if it is horrendously paid and you don’t know whether you are coming or going with the management.

Redcar, in the North East of England, is a perfect anicdote of a region where this is not the case, with there being nothing really for those living within the area. This is where though tourism plays a small role in the economy, it’s main industry was steel. But now due to it’s decline, it is one of the Country’s most deprived regions. Here as many as four of the wards have over 40.8% of children living in workless households. Meanwhile this decline has evidently affected some of the other jobs on go in this area, where it saw the loss of their “Regent Cinema” due to structural defects. Showing that this decline has been a spiral, whereby the effect of the steel industry has affected a loss in other jobs. Furthermore those steel workers who have found work since, are most likely to have experienced “big wage cuts”, therefore their standard off living has declined.

See the source image
We can see that Redcar is a nice place, however if you live here now you are very likely to be reliant on this factor. As opposed to the steel works which can be seen in the background

This is just an example of one of the many regions within the UK which has been a victim of such sudden decline, and now neglect. And if you happen to live in a region like there, it can genuinely be extremely difficult to find work, let alone work which would be regarded as “dignified”.

So while the old “working class” might have encountered significant difficulties, even during the era when the British working class was romanticized, in many ways life is just as hard if not harder for the working class as it was. With short lived occupations, where the worker doesn’t often know what days they will be needed and when, it makes it almost it almost impossible for these people to find a sense of pride in what they do. While now the areas once home to the UK’s heavy weight industry, are now nothing more than pockets of decline. Working class jobs today tend to be behind the scenes work, work which actually fulfills everyone’s needs yet most still don’t regard it with much respect or work to serve people’s desires. This is instead of working within an industry at the “heart of a Nation”, so it is rather clear why other’s no longer perceive the working class in this strong willed manner. Because let’s face it; there is nothing very romantic about the smell of KFC’s chicken and chips making it’s way out of the shop and onto the streets. Meanwhile because unemployment statistics like to make the country look good, it makes those who are not able to find work look especially bad. As if it is the fault of those people, rather than down to the failings of the state… Of course we know that this is far from the truth, if we choose to be aware off the reasons why some areas seem to have particularly high numbers of those with seemingly nothing to do, yet these areas seem to just be filled with those too lazy to work? Anyway rant over for now, but you can see how this all contributes to the decline of the working class today…

Of course I have not managed to explain all factors which have affected the loss of dignity within jobs for the working class. And while you see people of all ages working in establishments like supermarkets, restaurants and retail outlets, you have probably noticed that a good number of these workers do however tend to be young, and probably won’t be working there all throughout their lives. Therefore it looks like something happens with some young people, meaning that although they do have to work, they are able to make further progress throughout life; in other words they have become socially mobilized. Though as good as it sounds, like with anything, the concept of social mobility is incredibly flawed as it stands. Therefore the next post in this series will explore the positives and the negatives of this concept, how class constructs are not as rigid as they used to be, as well as about how this slight change has caused much stigma to arise by the mainstream media.

Free Speech vs Cancel Culture: Why not Listen?


Alright, who else likes to speak their mind? Yep, not just me right. While who else wishes they could say more than what they actually choose to say; maybe due to fears on how people will absorb and react to our opinions? Yeah… It is not that surprising knowing that we will be forced to take a large step back once we have finished, and have them belittle us. Even if we happen to be right, we know that once we have finished talking they are going to have to reciprocate for at least 5 times as long!

This is at least the case with me and not really with just free speech, but with making decisions, taking up opportunities and even- well, just talking. Life sucks. And I think it is true when they say that the “stronger personalities” tend to dominate whatever climate we are in, as they kind of feel automated to do so. Now if this was the sole issue that this post will be about, then it would be bad enough. Though unfortunately, at least the way I see it, this issue with not being able to say what you wish does more than just “spill slightly” into the political world. With terms like “cancel culture” becoming widely incorporated into our social and political vocab, it is pretty evident that many of us do seem to have issues with other people’s fundamental rights of freedom of speech and expression. Though I’m not sure how anyone would feel if they got cancelled! But should we “cancel” these concerns relating to it, or are these problems something which we we ought to be paying more attention to?

I suppose some might say that free speech is a problem within itself because more problems tend to arise from it, as to get resolved because so many different views and experiences are expressed. This might lead to some saying it is not only unproductive, but it is often damaging due to the amount of discord that could arise from many people discussing opposing points of view; in which there is often a strong emotional attachment to. This way it is almost inevitable that further conflict will arise. However we ought to regard this as being of a pretty weak argument because when you think about it, the more views and experiences which we are exposed to, the more open our minds become. Therefore in theory this ought to lead to a “nicer society”, however many could rightly argue that evidence proves that it is not in the nature of us to be so open and uncritical, at least until we actually understand where everyone is actually coming from… Though the reality is that there is probably enough evidence to legitimately justify either side of this argument. However I do like to imagine my gut feeling to be that freedom of speech and expression, when exercised sensibly, will lead to problems eventually being resolved, rather than caused.

But how can we prevent the numerous amount of tensions arising from the power of free speech? Well one method would be by exercising “cancel culture” in order to eliminate; well anything that either looks silly or that makes the picture rather too complicated. According to Wikipedia, this “describes a form of boycott in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles – either online on social media, in the real world, or both.” Furthermore this is “commonly used in debates on free speech and censorship.” This way it is implying that if someone in a particular group utters a view that many within that group disagree with, the person can not only be disregarded, but also booted out of the group. While in wider society, the way I interpret this is that any varying views within a mainstream category will be silenced, so different mainstream categories would appear more united and resolved, when this isn’t really the case. But it’s not really fair is it, to silence or even exclude those with opposing views, and would it not be wiser to educate these people if they seem to be in the wrong?

While according to Pop culture dictionary, it refers to “the popular practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive” often exercised “on social media as a form of group shaming”. This gives a slightly different description, but is still a similar exercise of blocking out everything which we don’t like the look of. Though it can be good in the way that it enables us to freely show our disapproval of the behavior of certain brands, such as being able to stop buying from somewhere if we find out that their way of producing clothing is unsustainable. However from recent examples, and from what I can gather; it could mean no longer “liking” or “supporting” a celebrity or influencer due to what they have said or done. Or just simply dismissing someone from a group of people (especially within a political discussion on social media), because they have said something which isn’t adjacent to the rest of the group’s opinions. Now this sounds like a pretty simple and effective way to, well, rid of all the bullshit. However surely most people who we associate ourselves with, who we may get along with very well, have questionable beliefs regarding at least one or two issues. Therefore although it might sound promising, it is kind of impractical! Meanwhile it is always better to educate others rather than simply block them out!

Also it means that those who now feel “silenced” on the views that have been “cancelled” are going to have no means of expressing what they think, therefore they are much more likely to remain uneducated. Which is not only unfortunate, but can be pretty dangerous because when people can no longer openly speak out about what they think, their opinions won’t go away but instead it will remain in their system, then froth and bubble, then will eventually spill over. Looking at the EU referendum result can prove this to some degree, with “33% of leave voters” said the main reason for leaving was to “regain control over immigration and its own borders.” What’s more is that after the referendum result there were “record hate crimes” with over “14000 hate crimes recorded between July and September”. Would it have not been better if people prior to the EU referendum felt that there was less of a barrier on free speech, meaning that their fears may have been more transparent beforehand. Giving others a chance to inform them so that they would be less hateful, therefore the referendum result may have gone the other way, and there would now be a far less hostile environment. Preventing it from instead “bubbling up in their systems.” Though I do acknowledge there were many other reasons why people did want to leave the EU.

Nonetheless most of us are pretty guilty of enacting “cancel culture” even if we do not realize it. Including myself such as when I came across an Instagram account basically using Christianity to advocate against LGBT+ rights. With over 2000 followers, it was fairly accessible to Instagram users, however it wasn’t exactly so big to allow this kind of in my view, hateful, propaganda to blow up on Instagram. Now this account wasn’t doing any harm to anyone, however it was fair to say that no one likes seeing content which is hostile to any group of people. Therefore when I immediately saw someone advocating for this account to be taken down, I furiously found the account and reported it, before posting it onto my story, instructing others to do the same. But thinking back on it, I should have just written an comment to explain why I don’t agree with what the account was standing for in order to express my disapproval. This way it was pretty obvious that I was apart of this so called “cancel culture”. Oops…

This also shows how prone we are to reacting to the behavior of others, rather than carefully thinking something through ourselves. And while I strongly agree that unity is very important when coming about to achieve something, and it can be extremely effective within free speech and expression, I also feel that people ought to find the time to think through the conclusion that they find themselves drawn to. This would enable us all to become more rounded, as we gain a greater insight into other people’s views and experiences.

But with all of this anti cancel culture business, I am sure that there are many thinking that if everyone could say what they wanted to, it would cause much upset to various groups. Which I to some degree agree with, but then often people are aware on much of the rooted hatred. And some may differ on this, but I would personally rather hear more views that I disagree with and know that these views are being counter argued rather than know that these views are widely held, yet hidden.

I think it is also reasonable to say that many people who complain about feeling that they can’t “say what they want to” are what many would call the bigots in society, often holding racist, sexist or homophobic views. And though it would be nice if people could give them a nice little lesson, it is hard not to question whether they would actually pay attention or not. Within the book “Why I am no longer talking to white people about race” (I definitely recommend reading this) the Author Reni Eddo-Lodge perfectly expresses this concern. By claiming that she often hears people stating that many people feel that the defending of hate speech has gone too far, partly due to calls for certain words or phases deemed as offensive, to not be used. This is because it prohibits these people from exercising free speech. But then she quite rightly points out that she wouldn’t have a problem with these claims, if the same people would actually listen to what others have to say. As why should they be allowed to say what they choose to, if they are going to stop everyone else from doing so?

A prime example of this would be the fact that those who become arrogant when they are told not to utter certain words, due to being offensive to certain groups of people, aren’t necessarily aware on reasons to why they are offensive, such as how the word was initially used. While if the person became aware, then at least they would be able to truly decide for themselves whether the word or phase that they are using is really appropriate or not… Therefore to have a good level of free speech within society, is more than just about not cancelling everything that we don’t like, or about educating others, but it is about being prepared to reconsider yourself and make sure that everyone actually can be heard!

Therefore “cancelling” something in this way is like providing short term pain relief to a long term health problem, which could actually be cured by something else which would just take longer. But at the same time, it is very questionable of whether adults would be willing to “change” their opinions based upon what other people are saying. But yet again, if “society” chooses to cancel the wrong things, then it could be really damaging, and we all know the importance of having the right to free information. Though at the same time, complete freedom of speech and especially expression can be just as damaging, therefore it is a right in which we must exercise, but also regard with respect. Therefore I think it is important that we are pay attention to what others are saying. But to also be willing to speech up and provide a counter argument when we hear something which we don’t agree with, or know is factually incorrect, even if it is against that “annoying loud person”.

UK Obesity Plans aren’t going to Work (and Instead will be Counterproductive)


Recently we have been told that being overweight or obese is not good for you, and we have learned about yet another risk associated with this. Which is of course a greater chance of experiencing coronavirus symptoms on a more severe level. Therefore most of us would recognise that this is a problem which needs to be resolved, thus the government has played their part by putting pland in place to tackle the problem at hand. To many these may sound very convincing at first, but as we delve further down, we ought to ask ourselves whether this plan is really going to be successful at tackling this issue at hand. Or on the contrary is it just going to appear convincing to the public, by merely putting something in place that is barely going to touch the real problem and will rather be counterproductive.

Now this is not the first time either that we have seen various governments making efforts to attempt to tackle the problem with obesity; where I would essentially argue haven’t been too successful. These included plans to tackle childhood obesity by encouraging schools to promote and help children achieve a more healthy life style. Advocating the 30 minutes of activity a day aswell as making school food healthier. Also we have seen a huge increase in the numbers of fast food outlets displaying the number of calories in meals including in places like Subway. Plus the traffic light system has become increasingly prevelent and we cannot forget about the infamous introduction of the sugar tax on fizzy drinks. Therefore there has certainly been a good range. Now all of these issues sound like they would be rather effective don’t they? Because it is rather obvious that if children are persuaded to live a healthy lifestyle from a young age they will stick to it, while all adults can easily switch to making the right choices when the food they know is naughty also happens to be cheap, and convienient to buy…

Yet there is much evidence which suggests otherwise, and many of us may choose to ponder on why this is. The most recent data tells us that the problems of obesity are still on the up, even though I am sure that most of us are more aware than ever on the dangers associated with being “fat”. Between april 2018 and december 2019, there were 11,117 hospital admissions directly relating to obesity which was an increase of 4% on 2017/18. Meanwhile it is estimated that 67% of men and 60% of women were either overweight or obese while a fifth of childen aged 10-11 were catagorised as obese. Therefore this strongly suggests that the government needs to come down more hard on the problem with obesity by being even more strict on food labelling and have sky high taxes on junk foods. Because while it does look like a lot more needs to be done to tackle this problem, there has actually been evidence to suggest that these fairly small efforts so far have been mildly successful, with only a very slow increase now in the number of children aged 11-12 being obese. Therefore surely the government just needs to do more…

Though is it not funny that the prevelence of obesity amoungst children from the most deprived backgrounds is actually twice as high as those from the least. Meanwhile the increase in obesity diagnosise in the least deprived group has actually come to a hault, yet the rates are increasing at a faster rate amongst the most deprived group. Therefore it looks like governments have been somewhat successful in helping the more wealthy families realise the importance of healthy home cooked meals and expensive dance lessons for their children, while ignoring the reasons why it is not so easy for those on lower incomes to switch…

Improving health by tackling market failure | The Health Foundation
There is a growing gap between the percentage of children who are obese from the most deprived areas, compared to those from the least deprived (source, health.org.uk)

But anyway, lets have a look to see what stands out from this government’s newest attempts to cut (no pun intended) the size of our Nation? Well this time round the government is going to make food outlets with more than 250 employees to display the calorie content, ban the advertising of foods high in fat, sugar or salt on TV before 9PM and to introduce evidence based tools and apps to support people with losing weight (source, gov.uk).

Therefore surly this is a caring, consciencious approach which will affectively tackle the problem at hand, leading to a far healthier, more active and happier Nation. Or is it ignoring the root problem which I keep on about? Let’s then look into this in more detail so that we can see why I don’t think that the government is going down the right track…

In the first place the government needs to take a closer look at why this problem disproportionatly effects people from the lowest income groups. As you can probably guess that it is not only young children who are going to be affected by this, but this leads to adults becoming more likely to be obese for a number of reasons which need to be addressed. It is true that those on lower incomes are probably consuming more foods which are high in fats, sugar and salt in comparison to those on higher incomes. Which clearly explains why then that more people on low incomes are more likely to be obese. But people on low incomes aren’t going to randomly decide to prefer unhealthy foods in comparison to those on high incomes…

Rather, to begin with it is much cheaper to buy an “unhealthy” precooked meal compared to a “healthy” one. Just look at fast food for instance then you will see that to buy the traditionally “unhealthy” and dare I say low in nutrients “big Mac” meal would cost you less than £5 while a meal from the healthy “Wagamama” is often going cost you more than £10. Therefore those on low incomes are going to have little choice but to purchase something which is cheap rather than slightly more pricey. This argument may lead to some people who spend too much time paying attention to right wing news outlets stating that it works out pretty cheap to buy healthy ingredients and make a home cooked meal, considering that vegetables in shops tend to be fairly cheap. However this is partly a problem due to the long, often late shifts that these people tend to work, meaning it can be next to impossible to arrange a meal with the family together. Oh and actually it is more expensive to prepare a home cooked meal with a right balance of nutrients, rather than just pasta and ketchup, therefore these claims about cheaper home cooking aren’t even true. Plus fit is pretty obvious that if you live in a larger home, with more money avaliable then you are going to take the avaliable storage space for kitchen applicants, and the applicants themselves for granted.

Furthermore working long and late shifts can be very tiring. Now I am sure that at some point you have resorted to coffee, or foods high on sugar when you have felt especially tired. Now just imagaine what it would be like if you were in this situation every day… Additionally it reduces time avaliable for exercise and other leisure activity, especially when people work night shifts, meaning that they would be sleeping in the day time.

The exercise issue also explains why children from low income backgrounds are more likely to be overweight or obese. Unlike while their middle class counterparts who generally have a larger garden to play in, paid sporting opportunities and more family outings, those from lower income households don’t often have the money and resources to do this- however much they might want it for their children. And the parents on low incomes who’s children do have some of this, have worked incredibly hard and have made huge sacrifices to enable this to happen. Furthermore those from low income families tend to live in areas with higher deprivation, where there are higher rates of crime, and often less green space. Therefore parents are likely to be reluctant to let them out at a young age due to the issues which they might face.

I also think that this could potentially lead to those on lower incomes being even more belittled than what they are currently, basically because while information and encouragement about having a more healthy lifestyle is more avaliable than ever before, from this you should already realise why in reality this is difficult to achieve. Therefore much of the press is going to boast even more so than before about how these people are lazy for example, when in reality we know that this is far from true. This potentially could make potential policies about creating a better welfare state even more difficult to achieve when poorer people are going to be blamed even more for their own difficulties. Although I will acknowledge that there has been a small step made in the right direction, as the government is extending the free school voucher scheme over the summer holidays meaning that children from low income families are not going to lose out over this period, however this is not going far enough to tackle all of the intertwined issues that these families face.

Funnily enough I also spotted a policy which does more than bypasses the issue, and actually puts the focus on the wrong issue entirely. The irony is in that most resteraunts are now going to have to display the calories on their foods. Now how on earth is this going to be effective. When it is those from middle and high income families who can afford to frequently eat out in resteraunts, while it is more of an occassion for those on low incomes. Yet there again, I think that there are very few people who eat out every other day, regardless of their income levels, and we already know about what is kinds of foods are good and bad therefore those who are privileged enough to be able to eat out that frequently could also choose to become a member of a gym! Therefore surely when we do get the chance to go to a resteraunt, we should be allowed to simply enjoy our meal for a change, rather than getting all fretted up about the numbers of calories?

Now I want to finally add that I feel that this policy is going to be doing far more harm than good. For a start, by getting restaurants to display calories on all the foods and drinks, having even more foods with the calories labelled on, as well as introducing yet more apps which aid weightloss, will put yet another obsticle in place for those who are trying to recover from an eating disorder. As for many, a large part in letting go is by no longer counting calories. However when confronted by a list of dishes with the calories next to them clearly displayed, it is going to turn an enjoyable meal out into a mentally euxausting often traumatising time out, being triggered into having no choice but to think about old, unhealthy and irrational behaviours. And it is not just terrible for those trying to recover from an eating disorder, but I think that it is going to have a catrastrophic effect on how society as a whole percieves the thought of consuming calories, especially young children. Already calories are being portrayed as being increasingly “evil” things, rather than being something that is absolutely essential. Because they don’t make you bloody fat! Instead they enable our hearts to pump blood around us, power our brains and let us reproduce (if you have a vagina that is). Now you might think that I am horrendiously overreacting, but already there are 1.6 million people in the UK who are suffering from eating disorders, and this is what we know of. While according to a UK survey, more than half of teen girls want to lose weight, and this was conducted a few years ago. Therefore do we really want to risk extending the already widespread fear of weight gain amoung society, especially amongst the youngest and most vulnerable?

Therefore I cannot see how this is going to have much success in reducing the rate of obesity. Though I do acknowledge that the government is also going to extend the provision of free school meals over the school holiday, which will merely help the poorest of children get the continued provision of one healthy meal a day during this period. I also acknowledge that food labelling to some extent will help further educate people, but considering the damage of this on top of it at resteraunts, this most certainly is going to be doing more harm than good. Therefore mainly this will be further dehumanising toward those on low incomes, and is going to enhance many problems which from what I have seen, the government is turning a compleatly blind eye to. And though getting rid of all nutritional information on foods is not ideal either, displaying calories on all products is certainly counterproductive and there is surely another, better way forward. Rather maybe foods which are either very particularly high in fats, or that are particularly low in calories could be discreetly labelled so that those wishing to lose weight are able to process, and a traffic light system from shop brought meals could still be used so that people don’t end up consuming far too much sugar and bad fats. This way the calorie content of all foods won’t involuntarily be chucked into people’s faces, making them feel inclined to pick something with a very low calorie content because they are apperiently evil. While the government could actually put in a bit of effort to make the lives of those on low incomes more comfortable so that they are able to make the choices that they are being told off for not making!

Monthly Moan: Stop Abusing Retail Workers!!


So this post is pretty much self explanatory; in that it is simply not ok to be rude to anybody who is simply trying to do their job! These are people who are running up and down aisles just so you have a choice of foods, cleaning the high-street so that you can be in a safer and cleaner environment and being glued to a desk where they can sort out the issues that you have with a particular product! Just so that they can make enough money to feed themselves and their families. So just why do people think that it is acceptable to give people who work in these sectors a thundering of abuse? Anyway, hopefully after reading this, anybody will realise that these people are dealing with enough as it is therefore it is simply unacceptable to throw any kind of mistreatment toward retail workers!

You might initially think that it is unusual for someone working in these types of job to encounter any more abuse than anyone else, just because you don’t witness a shop worker being persecuted every time that you walk into tesco. Therefore surely this is something that someone working in retail may only experience once or twice throughout their whole time working, and even when this does happen, it is “not even that bad.” However in reality the numbers are far higher than what you might think, meaning that the risk of being subject to this kind of maltreatment is just something they just have to carry with them while at work.

A survey recently conducted by the USDAW (union of shop, distributive and allied workers, which stands up for those who stand up people in occupations like retail, call centres and packing) shows just this; with “62% of shop workers had been verbally abused, 29% had been threatened and 4% had reported a physical assult.” And this had been within the last 34 days! This had clearly taken a toll on the mental health of many workers saying that customer attitudes were “getting worse” with one saying that they “had never cried at work until the first week of lockdown.” Reports have also backed up this claim, with one published by the University of London showing that a rise in threats, abuse and asult has resulted in “long lasting anxiety and PTSD” and “severe mental health consequences”. How on earth could this be considered merely acceptable? That on top of the stresses of being within often a very fast paced and demanding environment, which on it’s own would be enough to impact the mental health of many, those who they are serving are also voluntarily choosing to make their job even more straining and, well, simply unpleasent!

Now although I said that we don’t exactly witness this abuse every time we take foot into a shop, I am sure that now we can all recall many occassions where we have witnessed a customer being aggressive in some form toward a worker. This might even be coming from a relative or parent… A time which sticks out for me was when a man in his say late thirties, early fourties was hurling insults, and if I remember rightly, swearing, at a man much younger than himself in the confines of a mobile phone shop. Obviously he was having some kind of trouble with his phone but he was clearly well out of his depth to be speaking in this way! Because for a start the worker he was “speaking to” would have no involvement with the manufacture of the product, no one likes being sworn at by someone who they are trying to help and additionally how could anyone in this age group, wearing a tottenham shirt be guaranteed to know everything about the way in which mobile phones should work? Thus there is no way that well thought through and rational reasoning could lead to the belief that abusing workers in this manner is acceptable!

Another far more recent example was back in March/April which was obviously during the lockdown. Here a “respectable, middle class, middle aged” couple decided that they would not comply with some of the regulations which were in place at the time, by refusing to quew in order to be directed to where to pay. Now when asked nicely, they showed a strong hostility to the young shop worker. Subsequently, after many attempts plus intervention from other staff members, they finally managed to cruel to the right place. But this excercise was far more strenuous than what it should have been and is a typical example of sheer arrogance and lack of respect during a time when shop workers were working harder than ever. Putting themselves at immense risk, in order to protect the rest of the population… Now you may think this sounds rather petty, but imagine going to work throughout the worst of the pandemic knowing that there is a real chance of someone being very unpleasent towards you. Only about an imperfect but effective attempt in place to keep everyone safe, which requires such little effort from those using the service. This is more of a piss take, and experiencing this every day must feel incredibly dehumanizing. Now can this ever be classed as acceptable? My immediate reaction would be absolutely not!

Ok, so now we are more aware about just how common it is for workers to be treated in a poor mannerism, it isn’t really such a great deal is it? Thinking that it is only a little bit of verbal, which is something which the workers should surely have the capacity to cope with and cannot really affect them much. Well wrong and wrong. Nobody should accept bullying behaviour to apart of their day to day work, and actually it is pretty common for workers to experience genuine physical abuse. Just as an example, In Barnsley, north east of Manchester, A coop shop worker was attacked by a knife during a robbery, just last week. While in 2017/2018, 374,000 adults experienced physical violence or threats at work, whereby over half of these had been done by a stranger. Therefore not only is it the case that most people are bound to experience some kind of verbal abuse during many points during their working life, however they also stand a very significant chance of being physically hurt or threatened. When work place conditions are often dangerous as they are, would it not be nice if the customer could make tiny efforts to not make this any worse for them by trying not to be rude?

But surely in order to tackle the issue of retail abuse, we ought to understand more about why some customers are so abusive in the first place? While if customers are not happy about the service they’re recieving then surely they should be able to express their disatisfaction and make those who are serving them aware? I know that often people come into these places while they are in a rush and don’t want to be waiting for the person who is meant to be serving them, to finish potching about with the coat hangers. Meanwhile we all have our bad days, and if someone has been keeping their feelings hunched up all day, then at some point they are going to need to relieve tham somehow. Well for a start often these places are short staffed, under no fault of the worker. Therefore someone is not always going to be able to rush up to the customer and help them immediatly, if they have someone else to deal with first. Not how on earth could it be their fault, when they are in there working, and chances are the place is either not wishing to take on more staff, or even that the staff are poorly paid and poorly treated therefore it is more difficult to get more people to join… Now as we might have a little sympathy for someone who is having a bad day, think about how the workers are finding their day. Therefore it is compleatly disrespectful to take out your anger on those working! Finally those people who have to serve and sometimes deal with the customer are often going to be rather young, under 18 in many cases. Therefore would it not be considerate to think about how taking out your anger and annoyance is going to affect other younger workers?

Therefore it would be impossibe to draw any other conclusion from this apart from that the act of abusing or mistreating any kind of worker simply needs to stop. Because chances are if you are young, then you either do work in this a similar kind of environment to this, or you will do in due course, and even if you aren’t going to experience this, I am sure that many of your friends will. Therefore you know what it is like to be subject to this kind of behaviour, so next time you are slightly annoyed at someone who is working, please think about the effect of what you say. This could be something as small as when someone filling the shelves is bypassing your way, and when they clearly feel like they are a burden by pathetically apologising to you. Be polite and tell them that it is fine, and surpress your annoyance, as these things need to be done. While if you are older, please remember that once upon a time you were young and chances are you have worked in an environment like this, so remember how you would have felt if yourself and your friends experienced such unpleasent behaviour. As the more of us who become conscious as to how we behave, the less likely we are to slip. Therefore being rude to workers will become decreasingly socially normalised.

Chat post: My Problem with the Current TikTok…


Hiya, so this post is going to be focused on the fairly new and extremely trendy app TikTok, which in these last few months, it’s seemed to have taken over the internet. Now like with any app which blows up in such a short period of time, there are many exciting features on it, however work needs to be done on it to enable it to be safer. And I am personally very worried about some of the vast number of concerns with this app. Therefore by writing this post, I aim to express why I think it could be potentially very harmful and why I think that work needs to be done to keep it safe, so that those who want to use it are able to benefit from it.

Part of the reason however as to why I fear the extent of the more negative effects of this app is due to the demographic using it. Unlike other social media platforms, TikTok is especially aimed with the young person in mind (more so than Instagram now to be fair). According to statistics, just 13% of TikTok users are under 16, but with there having been a ban on private messaging for this app for this age category, chances are that many more are in this young age group than what is visible. Moreover I am sure you all remember a time when you had to lie about your age so that you could access some social media account at some point of your life. While a further 42 percent on here are aged between 16 and 24, still a fairly young age group considering. While it is also very addicting with the average person spending 45 minutes on this a day, and chances are, those younger people have been spending a proportionately higher amount of time on it throughout lockdown compared to the slightly older users. The reason this is so problematic is partly because it means that a high number of users are going to be very prone to coming across the wrong kind of content at this young age…

Disclaimer: I am aware that I don’t have in depth knowledge on every specific element which I am going to write about. However I hope that I can still write about this in a way which is informative, and to show why I am concerned about the way TikTok displays these issues. Though if you do feel that I have put anything on here which is inaccurate, then please don’t hesitate to let me know. This is definitely not one of my best posts, because I found talking about some of these topics difficult. Because I am not really used to writing chunks about social media, and I am certainly not used to writing stuff about fashion, but let’s take this as a kind of learning curve and hope that the next post with similar features may be a little better. Also this post will mention mental illness including eating disorders as well as grooming and while I am not going to go into any close detail, or include any inappropriate photos or videos, I would advise that you don’t read this if you could become triggered.

So to begin with, I will start with the topic of mental illness, because there really is so much content on this, whereby I would argue that a lot of it is glamourizasition which is basically going to bee harmful for especially younger users, and it really could trigger some dangerous behaviors.

So just by searching depression on it ( spelt like #depresision probably because Tik-Tok would have filtered out the proper spelling), I found nearly 90 million videos. Now to be fair, these are mostly aimed at encouraging people to “stay positive” or are meant to be “funny” or “relatable”. Now I personally don’t see any harm at all in having videos which are promoting recovery/positivity because these people making these videos are going to be suffering themselves, therefore will understand the issue at hand. While those ones which sort of replicate the idea off memes, are generally harmless, though there is the danger of someone misinterpreting it, then seeing certain mental illnesses in a humorous light and therefore posting about it in a jokey way. Now the danger with this is that it could really upset those who have a mental illness, because of so many not taking it seriously. Therefore I think that generally memes are harmless, though there is just the issue of it reaching people (aha young TikTok users) who will get the wrong impression of something serious, though I think that older internet users wouldn’t take something like this the wrong way.

However the classic “artsy, sad tumblr” vibe is also very evident on TikTok, which to me seems to almost be glamourizing mental illness. The first one of these which I came across was a gif of someone on a swing, with a sad quote written. Now this sounds completely harmless and I am sure that I am overestimating the impact to some extent, but it still seems as if something which shouldn’t be glamourized, is being glamourized. Now you could legitimately argue that this is almost a means of expressing negative feelings as art, which has in-fact been done for hundreds/thousands of years- not only since tumblr came along. However likewise with the memes, there is the danger of it reaching the wrong sort of people seeing this who A) Might think that something like mental illness is completely “normal” therefore not treat those who are suffering with as much concern B) Think this way and be less likely to feel able to seek out help if they were struggling or C)Be more likely to resort to unhealthy behaviors associated with this, thinking that it is “normal” and maybe even “cool” to do so.

On the subject of over beautifying mental illness, it was not long at all when I found a video associated with an eating disorder. So the first video I came across was basically featuring someone who was clearly struggling with an eating disorder, and while the video was expressed in a “meme” kind of format, I know that this could be very triggering for many people. In-fact I could tell that she was really expressing a deep sense of pain. But the concern is that this video (and the account) could quite easily reach the wrong types of people: being those who are suffering from ED’s (and may be triggered by this sort of content) plus the younger users of TikTok where this kind of content poses a greater risk to them. Now going on from this video, I realized there were many many of these videos with the similar theme. Oh and did I mention that at this stage I hadn’t even asked for any results on EDs. This shows how easy it is for videos like this to be discovered, therefore how easily they could reach those who are more vulnerable, who’s behavior could be easily influenced. Now I am not attacking the people who upload these kinds off videos, as it is simply a coping mechanism and I reckon that it represents a wider failing of the general system which is meant to help and listen to those who are dealing with mental illness and difficult circumstances. This way I do genuinely hear those people, but the concern is about how some may see these videos, and see this in a kind of normalized way, and not recognize the immense danger in having ED behaviors and subsequently be less likely to be as concerned for others who may be developing unhealthy behaviors, and be less likely to seek help themselves.

Consequently there is already possible evidence of those who are seeing these videos and interpreting them in completely, basically expressing these kind of behaviors as a kind of trend. Let’s take an example which we may be more familiar with: fad diets. Now I hope that you recognize that these can be extremely dangerous for somebody who might be needing to lose a little weight, let alone for someone who doesn’t. However access to viewing these is a little more dangerous, and I mean at least it is explicitly tells people that going one one as a “fad” is not particularly normal, plus being a “diet” shows us that this behaviors shouldn’t be sustained. For instance on TikTok were filming themselves eating a few berries for example, and then stating that it is “substantial enough” that this is all that they have eaten all day. Now is this not very triggering to those who are struggling with, or trying to recover from an eating disorder? And what about young people who are going to subsequently think this as being normal?

I did then type in “EDs” out of curiosity to see what results I would get, as well as typing in results for other dangerous behaviors linked to mental health, and the number of results which I got was pretty disturbing. And I note that the pain expressed in these was all very genuine, and I mean I feel it is good for them to have at least some kind of platform to be open about what they are going through. But seriously, I should not have been able to have been able to access this content so easily, because it proves how easy it is for users (more regular than myself) to get their hands on content which can be very damaging.

Another, possibly less well known concern is that TikTok has become a “pedophile magnet”– not in my words but in the words of Susan McLean, Cyber Security expert. She expresses her concern for “bullying and grooming by predators”. This has been where there have been many- dare I say pervy comments by pedophiles, and while TikTok has managed to delete most of these comments, the accounts of these people tend to remain meaning that TikTok is far from a groom free zone… Furthermore these people can view videos of these sometimes very young people dancing etc, and then use this for the wrong reasons…

Now another issue with it, which I suppose really is pretty relevant with all social media, are the sort of inflicted beauty standards which the app kind of evokes. And I know this sounds a little harsh and unclear, but I cannot help noticing that the people who are most well known on there are. I have also noticed a number of people adopt these looks, which I would say is completely harmless to some degree, however I also feel that in some circumstances this can easily become harmful. Basically people have been looking at trend setters for many years, and it is natural to look up a trend and adjust the way you express yourself for it. This has obviously been happening for many years. However with social media, the idea of following fashion is becoming aimed at people at a younger and younger age. In-fact I reckon the problem is more prevalent now than it was five years ago. Because in-spite of my struggles growing up, and feeling the need to live up to certain standards and to be experimenting with makeup at a far too young age, at least back then you could escape from all of this fairly easily. As though I would have spent a considerable amount of time on social media back then, I don’t think that it compared to the average time an 11 year old spends now. In-fact data from nearly two years ago from ofcom tells us that half of 12 year olds “maintain a social media platform” while “children between 5 and 15 spend on average 15 hours a week online.” There were also strong correlations showing that those who spend less time on social media have an overall better mental wellbeing. Meanwhile actual children are spending increasing amounts of time looking at social media as well, as an alternative to watching daytime TV. While you may think that it wouldn’t be too harmful for a child who spends this average amount of time online a week, however this online exposure at such a young age, may mean that as they mature into teenagers, this amount of time is only going to increase. Another report done by ofcom in the same year, actually finds that “nearly a fifth of people aged 16-24 spend more than 7 hours online a day” which further shows how many children are going to be open to so many of these kinds of images and videos conveying often fails beauty standards. And I feel that TikTok is basically just going to further encourage more and more younger people to be spending increasing amounts of time online, looking at content which is going to make them feel worse about themselves, and possibly provoking them to feel that they need to “glow up”, or to be “growing up” too soon.

But how could this problem be so prevelent on TikTok, when we cannot exactly photoshop our faces, because well- these are videos. However anyone familiar with the app will realise that TikTok contains a large range of filters. Which I am not knocking in itself, we all know that filters can be just a bit of fun. Nevertheless as with anything, they can often be used in the wrong way, or more specifically for the wrong reasons. For instance, people can use these to make themselves look “better” or “prettier”. And while they had plenty of filters for making your skin look clear, meanwhile many influencers on Instagram would use photo editing apps, TikTok now includes a “teeth whitening filter” as well as a “beauty mode”. But as the main user of these networks age, then the young internet user is going to be more excited by TikTok rather than other networks. Which suggests there needs to be a change to the way some social media platforms work, not just solely TikTok.

Though saying this, there seems to be a fair bit number of influencers on TikTok who are going against your traditional beauty standards, and are telling us that it is ok to have so called “flaws”, like stretch marks, rolls (who the hell doesn’t) and that there is nothing at all wrong with taking up space. Meanwhile it seems as a means of expressing yourself, as many people on it have sort of “alternative styles” which I would argue there is more kind of freedom around it, which has got to be a positive thing.

Therefore I would argue that TikTok is not at all entirely harmful, and it is just that there are definitely some consequences of it at the moment, but I think and hope that these can be sorted out. As there are also other features of the app which I would say to be beneficial which I have not mentioned on this post, which I think could benefit all people. Therefore what needs to be done is for the harmful content to be monitored and controlled more, so that one could not just simply search something up and receive results for it almost instantly, and instead there would be the situation where this kind of content would be very difficult to find/not on there at all. Because whether we like it or not, there are going to be a lot of young and vulnerable users on it, and when something is so easily accessible, these people need to be protected.

Thankyou and well done if you have got through to the bottom of this. I will reiterate that this is certainly not my best post, and the views may not be perfectly expressed.

Please feel free to comment any of your views on TikTok, be it something which I have attempted to discuss or something else.

Thankyou! :))

Little Update


Hi hope that you are all ok.

Now as I am writing this at the beginning of the “summer holidays”, I decided it would be a good time to do another off my updatey posts, where I basically ramble on about my life and probably moan about a few things, and not do very much else. So then, here we go…

If I am honest, I feel like a bit of a mess at the moment. As I feel as if I have come to a bit of a hault in where I want to go from this point in life, and I don’t often have much motivation to get cracking with something. I think what has triggered this, was the rather snap decision of dropping one of my A levels, being music, meaning that from next year I will focusing on three as opposed to four. I feel a rather intense feeling of regret about having to drop, considering that this time last year I was extremely excited about making a start with this subject- as I hadn’t actually taken it at GCSE. Now I think the reason as to why I chose this was because I had this strong desire to possibly persue a career in music, but this has definitly worn down this year, therefore while I was behind anyway, I didn’t have that huge motivation to make rapid progress in the subject… While now I am much more certain as to what kind of path I would like to take, and I am hoping to persue a cereer in journalism. Now I have got nothing to show for a years worth of A-level music class, but I don’t regret learning what I learned in the class and being involved and watching others in concerts. Whilst next year I am certainly going to be able to spend more time focusing on my other three, as well as the possibility of more extra curricular and leisure time, while there is no longer the heavy burden of music performance and composition, which is going to be a collosal relief. But I suppose i was at a point of denial at the amount of work I would have to do the following year if I wasn’t to drop one of my A-levels, therefore once it did kind of hit, I sort of lead myself into a bit of an oblivion.

Another issue relating to this topic is that I am now very unsure on whether I want to take a gap year or not (I might do another blog post about this, discussing this in further detail) but I have one kind of party advising me that I ought to take a gap year, and I have a strong feeling that this could be a great advantage, and a unique experience which couldn’t really be replicated at another stage of my life. I mean who doesn’t want to travel to places we have never been to before at the age of 18 hey? But at the same time I am a little hesitant toward taking that year off, as then I would probably be one of the oldest in my classes at university. Though something as trivial as this really shouldn’t put me off! While there is also the money side of things, where I am not entirely sure how I will fund this because this factor hugely depends on whether I get any success in finding a job during the summer, where I am working for more than 12 hours a week.

I was also initially concerned about whether I would be “allowed” to partake in a gap year or not, considering that I have never really been away on my own before, and because of the expense. But firstly it is my decision afterall, I will be a legal adult (scary) plus it is a brilliant opportunity to get involved and gain a massively valuable experience and insight. Therefore, I think I an allowed 😉

Another thing, driving lessons have now started back again. Which I personally really enjoy and I feel that driving is feeling a little more “natural” now than it did initially, and I feel more in control of the car than what I did when I first started out. Well until we start talking about Doc Martins or the weather, or until I get distracted by dogs. Yeah, I am certain that he thinks that I’m a weirdo, but who cares? We have had quite a few goes on the main road, have become confident on the “pull up on the right” maneuver and I have had a few attempts of using the handbrake at one of those pesky steep junctions. So that has been pretty fun. Next Monday however, I have got the excitements of parallel parking. This time for proper, as we were meant to do this last. Never mind!

Now onto what’s going on in the world. There is so much bad stuff which has been going on, but I also feel that recently there have been positives which have been coming out of this, which might just give us a glimpse of hope for the future. For instence there has been so much more activism recently, and I think that this is absolutely brilliant. In that so many people (especially young) are taking a much greater interest in the world which we are living in, and seem to have a real desire toward making the world a better and kinder place. Meanwhile sadly the corona virus is still pretty very much apparent in many countries (including England) even thought lockdown restrictions have seemed to have eased at a rather fast rate (and don’t even let me get started on the USA). But in the last few days there has been really positive news which has come out about a vaccine which has been created, which has so far proven to be safe. Which is obviously an excellent progression, and lets remain optimistic and strongly hope that this continues to be tested as being safe, so that those at most risk can be protected from catching this. Oh, but by the way…Masks. I obviously completly welcome that they will now be mandatory in shops, but why now, when the government could have made these compolsury back in Feburary and March? And why the hell are some people so resistent to wearing these?

So this is definitely a more stressy, and more self focused entry than last time- however in a way I feel I might be in a slightly better place now than I was say nearly 2 months ago. Don’t worry I am ok and I was ok then, but just in a bit of a state of confusion amongst other things. The difference is, is that before hand I was in a bit of a state of denial (though considering the wider circumstances this was pretty inevitable) and this was at a point where both the world and my mind was a little aloof. Partly because now looking back at the time during the strict lockdown, I had put myself into a little bubble, and was filled with uncertainty about what would happen in the future, and I wasn’t telling myself let alone others about all of my concerns, or maybe I wasn’t seeing them myself. But now I feel things are just a little clearer, and while I am confused, at least I can at least realise how confused I am, at least to some degree. I am now able to make enough progress to gradually begin to move forward and accept a few things. I feel there is a little page which is turning, so I am not sure but I will see how the next few weeks pan out- in time for another exciting update post. Yey!

Yeah there is still miles to go, but I feel that the correct choices have been made. Meanwhile I have semi-taken yesterday and today “off” (though have been trying to be a little productive) but from tomorrow onwards I am going to put in more effort with things again, and focus on achieving my goals set out for this month (so far none have been achieved which is terrible but at least if I focus on it in the next ten days, perhaps I will be nearer to achieving them than to what I was before). And now as I finish this little conclusion, I am looking outside the window, the sky is bright blue, and I can almost feel the sun coming through. So I did actually say initially that now that it is summer, and I don’t have the weight of school work, and while I don’t have a job during at least the day time, I would be using this time to get outside a bit more. SO… I am going to do just that.

Edit: I went through and edited this post after I had written the last paragraph. I did go out in the sun, but the weather looks rather grim now…

Things we all should have learned from LOCKDOWN


Hiya, so if you haven’t been submerged under a rock, you will be aware that by now the UK (and most countries) are pretty much out of lockdown. And while it hard for many of us to contemplate this having happened, I feel we have all gained a deeper and new insight into this world.

Personally I am still very much in denial of this having happened, even really this affects me on a day to day basis! As whilst this “new normal” is far closer to the normal we knew before lockdown, compared to in the midst of it all, there are considerable differences in the way which we experience things now, which we had initially taken for granted.

Even the experience of walking into a shop now is still completely different to anything like it used to be (please don’t get me started on those who won’t follow the arrows). Then there is the quew we become confrounted with, if we attempt to go into any shop in town after 10am. Not to mention that face masks will be mandetory from the something of JULY. I am not sure what was wrong with introducing this in June, May or even back in February. Probably deemed as too precautionary for this government. Though I won’t delve too far into politica yet, as that can wait another minute or two…

But even concerning our own homes, we have had to make so many adations to our ways of life in such a short spam of time. Because lets be real- who reading this actually knew how “zoom” worked back in January? Meanwhile businesses are obviously having to be more innovative, by making various changes to how they function. But really this post is more about the ways in how my perseption of -well life- has changed, and how I feel others may have too.

Therefore here is a list which is personal to myself, however I feel that many may have similar feelings toward this as well. It would be cool if you could let me know in the comments if there are any of these which you do relate to or not, or other ways in which your vision may have changed, adapted or evolved.

1. Life is too short for being stuck in a place where we don’t like:

Sometimes this is inevitible and if we cannot safely get out, then sometimes it is best to wait. However if we know that we can get out, or are able to gradually get out of a difficult situation (which is true in most cases), then it is important to do so. What I mean is that if you felt a strange selse of relief when certain things in life came to a halt at the beginning of the lockdown, and this feeling persisted throughout lockdown and maybe you have a genuine sense of dread about returning, then chances are you are in a situation which you don’t want to/shouldn’t be in.

Now in my irrational mind, this would mean to get out of this situation ASAP. Though I recognise that this cannot always be practical; and if you had/have a job which you strongly dislike but where it would be too risky financially to suddenly leave, then I would advise finding another job, while still working in the place where you dislike.

Therefore although it cannot always be practical to make drastic changes to your lifestyle, it is important to think about whether there is anything which you are finding very difficult which isn’t completly inevitible, while having conversations about this. This way you can think about making changes, so that things can improve in the long run.

2. Teachers aren’t even that bad

So not going to lie, but I always presumed that most teachers would go into school, teach for say 3 hours, then spend the rest of the day lulling about in the staff room. All while drinking tea, eating biscuits, drinking more tea- oh and gossiping about us lot. But really, (though I’m sure they do a lot of this) they are also incredibly dedicated, at least where I study.

Because having heard about so many teachers going into school during, well the height of this pandemic, looking after the children of key workers (who would have had a more proportionate chance of having the virus coming to think of it) made me realize that in reality, teachers are more than just these lazy people who sit and slurp tea. Also they have all been able to keep on providing us with relevent work, have continued to give constructive feedback, and have even been checking up on us. In fact I even heard that many are working much harder now than before, because now that “school” had moved online, a lot of teachers have been receiving messages, questions and even work to mark; at all manner of times. In one incident, a teacher was being sent “work” from the year 7s! (basically 11-12 year olds) at as late as ELEVEN PM!!

To me that is compleatly unacceptable, but it goes to show how they are genuinely so keen and devoted to their jobs. Yup, I never thought I would be saying this either.

3. We need to take things more slowly

So over lockdown obviously things haven’t really been the easiest, however small things which previously may not have excited me as much, have really become more appreciable. And while we are super busy, we often don’t really have the time to settle down and appreciate these. Rushing about from one place to another can genuinely be pretty draining, and we don’t always realize this.

Honestly, sometimes it can be so nice just to sit down and have a chat and play a board game, rather than immersing ourselves in some form of work from start to finish- just because we feel that we ought to. Definitely something I feel I should be working on; though when I do take things more slowly, I often feel guilt at not being productive enough. Anyone else with me?

4. We need more equality

Apart from any other damage this pandemic has done directly and indirectly, it has definitely enhanced the sheer amounts of inequality within society. Which seriously suggests that something needs to be done- urgently- to address this! It has been found that “People of Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, other Asian, Caribbean and other Black ethnicity had between a 10% and 50% higher risk” of dying from this virus “compared to white British people.” I think this is due to the disproportionatly high number people of ethnic minorities living in poverty. Which is unjust for two big reasons, why on earth should those of a different race still be stuck in this poverty cycle, and why should the gap in wealh be dividing to this extent?

For example team of researchers looking specifically at Massachusetts found that “areas with “widespread economic segregation and heavy concentrations of poverty, people of color, and crowded housing” had higher mortality rates compared with everywhere else from the beginning of the year through April 15.” These are in communities where many people are working “essential jobs” where they have no choice but to be in crowded conditions, or having to live in crowded conditions. This is also the case for Lecister, where many workers from ethnic minorities are working in “sweatshops”, where conditions were not only extremely overcrowded, but where people were forced to carry on working when they knew that themselves, or a family member was affected. Furthermore some are paid as little as £3.50 an hour, which is less than half the adult minimum wage.

Another major concern is how this is going to affect how children from lower income households will be effected regarding school. As it is most likely those belonging to high income ones will have had access to sufficient technology to enhance their learning, parents with more time to help them with their studies (not having to spend say 9+ hours in a supermarket) as well as having the luxury of a garden so that they can get the fresh air they require. Why on earth is this the case? That to this day people DON’T even have an equal opportunity, and the gap in wealth is going the wrong way- becoming wider! It would be nice to be able to say that the amount of wealth someone has doesn’t affect their health at all…

Now there are many more issues I could potentially go into, but as the issue of inequality is going to be enhanced in the next few weeks, months and years, I hope that we as country and the rest of the world can begin taking steps, leaps in the right direction to reduce some of these burning injustices.

5. People are mainly nice

So I have been amazed to see the genuine kindness of so many people. And I think that this has been a period of time for it to be shining through many people.

In my local area for instance I know that thousands of people signed up to volunteer, to a variety roles including answer phone calls of those who are isolated, while helping with tasks like shopping. I personaly signed up for this, but there were so many others who did, and it turned out that a family member was going to help the lady who I had been associated with, meaning that I wasn’t needed. Nevertheless it was so good to see so how that there were more than enough volunteers in my local area to help those who had been aligned with this programme. Not to mention how so many people had volunttered to help the NHS, including students and retired members; just out of sheer willpower for these people.

Meanwhile the majority have and are continuing to act sensibly by keeping to the lockdown restrictions, while looking out for families etc. Not to mention all the brilliant work from our key workers!

6. We have horrendously been underestimating the hard work of many essential workers

Ok, before recently I had always respected the NHS, however I had no idea about their sheer dedication to what they do, as well as their pure gratitude and virtuosity toward others. Now no one can sensibly say that this is “just a job” and they are doing this because they have to, because every day they have been putting their life out there in order to help save others. When the reward for those working day in and day out being just roof over the head and enough to eat without any luxuries (earning as little as 22,000 a year)- nobody can say they’re choosing to do such a demanding, lengthy and terrifying job for the money.

And it’s not just those working in healthcare. Now this sounds a little cheesy, but how about those who serve us in supermarkets? Though this might be categorized as fairly “unskilled”, try to imagine how some of those highest paid people in the financial sector would cope if they were chucked into a supermarket a couple of months ago, and were expected to provide for all customers demands. Precisely! We take these people for granted every single day and it isn’t at all fair when we dismiss them as being “low-skilled” or even “lazy” when in reality they probably work harder than many of these very wealthy bankers!

Now I hope that many reconsider the rewards earned for different jobs. Because anyone who doesn’t work as a front line worker should now realize that actually what they do should be highly commendable. Thus they should receive a higher wage! It has sadly been the way for many years, but thinking about it- it doesn’t really make sense…

7. We all need to take a step back and have a look at what is going on in the WORLD

So if these last few months you have found time to take a step back and reflect on the world you are in, then I doubt you will have regretted the extra knowledge gained. And while this has been a small time really for us to learn more about the world we are in, I hope that this will continue after lockdown! As though not all issues can feel as dramatic as this one simply because they don’t all directly affect you, I hope that in the future we will continue to emphasise with other problems occurring in the world.

Though if I am brutally honest, I fear that there will be less awareness and activism as we do leave lockdown, especially on mainstream media. I can understand why and how “clap for carers” came to a hault, but I hope that general awareness won’t die down.

But I think it is so important to stay on top of what is going on the world, and I feel it is much easier to do so now. Now someone as a blogger who freqently uploads posts relevent to politics, it is easy for me to stress the importance of “staying on top of what is happening”, however I think that everyone can genuinely have some basic understanding or knowledge. When there there are so many posts online, even filling people’s instergram stories now, it is very easy to know what is going on in the world.

8. Things can change so drastically

Yep, lockdown definitely made us have to adapt to a new kind of lifestyle all too suddenly. This felt like anything but how changes should happen in life, which is true. You would hope that any change faced in life would be steady. Nevertheless I feel that often things within our personal lives by accident or purpously, things can change very drastically. This might feel very strange and scary, but I think that knowing this and knowing that things can change, having experienced the past few months, can prepare us and make us more willing and able to adapt later on.

So I hope that some of you may agree or relate to some of these. Now I feel that what has been learned is obviously more complicated than this, and these few points are just ones which I have thought of, at this time. Meanwhile I think every individual has taken this in, in a slightly different way, depending on who we are and depending on our way of life. Meanwhile the world has had to tackle this in a seemingly unique way, because well- this whole pandemic has been “unprecedented”.

But I do hope that these lessons will be sustainable, and it can be as a push forward towards a better society.