The Takeover Continues...

The Takeover

... and now this...

Thousands of spiders 'bleed out of the walls' and force family from home.

I think it's fairly appropriate to say... WTAF!?

Light the Fuse.

The blood boils.

Campus nightmare: female students on the rise of sexual harassment

Just HOW is all this allowed to happen in this day and age? These boys (I purposely refrain from using the word Men) are our next generation of working professionals... and this is how we allow them to behave at university? Disgusting. Sexism at it's foulest.

This the same day that I read a newspaper article about a 25 million pound a year footballer coming out of prison after serving half his six year sentence for the rape of a 17 year old teenager, and walking straight back into his job.  Is it any wonder?

Sick.

Fresh Meat.

The Sexism of Freshers Week

A brilliant article by the Guardian about "Lad" culture impacting on young women during the crazy time that is Freshers week.  I have to say I can't remember being exposed to a great deal of this at my university, however that was around ten years ago and the whole pathetic "Lad" retaliation movement hadn't occurred.  Also, I tended to avoid those horrendous meat market uni nights to favour other club nights out and social occasions because I've never really felt the need to follow a crowd and conform, especially if it's with total twats.

The article highlights some disturbing and obscene trends which I hope women begin to fight back.  One occasion I do remember at uni, at one of the horrendous Friday Night Disco (FND) meat markets I rarely went to- was being physically picked up and carried out of the union by a really tall man who looked like Greg Rusedski.  I laugh at it now, but to be honest, the whole thing really bothered me.  This man was a stranger, and although we'd danced on the dance floor, this man was able to physically pick me up and walk out the Union with me, as if he'd picked me off the shelf at a supermarket. Because I'm so small, petite and skinny, it really bothered me that he was able to physically over power me.  Nothing bad happened, he put me down outside the union with no malicious intentions and I promptly walked back inside, but it could so easily have been a different story.  It's one of the reasons that I feel so much better about feeling physically stronger through my gym training, because whilst I'm still tiny and easily overpowered at least I know I have some strength to punch, kick and fight back; anyone who knows my tenaciousness will know I'd put up one hell of a good fight if I had to. 

Anyway, read the article.  It's a good'un.

Be Afraid.

These guys will soon be running your Probation services, making communities even less safe...

Prisons Rated :  "Serious Concern" over two private prisons.

Well done Mr Grayling, you Tory shitbag, great move.

Sound of not-so-silence.

At the risk of revealing that I've achieved NONE of my tasks today- I'm going to share one of my many quirks with you.

For years, more so the last ten years, I've had this issue with certain sounds.  It all started with my Grandad.  My Grandad, probably no different to most older folk, is a loud eater.  I've been seeing my Grandparents and family in the city of Nottingham since I was a kid, and our traditional day would be spent visiting the rellies for Sunday dinner and then the other set of Granparents for tea.  (Yes that's DINNER and TEA. As it should be).  My Grandma would prepare us a small buffet tea of sandwiches, salad and rolls for tea and for reasons unknown, my Grandad would always wait until the rest of us had finished eating before selecting his food and starting his own.  I began to dread this moment.  Then it would start- the slow, inevitable chomp chomp munch squelch of chewing. On and on it went... having to endure every morsal of food sometimes with the addition of a slop and a churn... until it was all gone.  Each sound enraged me.  I would get so uncomfortable I would have to move or eat something myself just to drown out the sound.  Even weirder, no one else seemed to notice.  Although fleeting, the rage was there, I'd physically grit my teeth or clench my jaw with annoyance. 

This has got predominantly worse over the years to the stage where if I can hear pretty much anyone chewing or chomping I feel uncomfortable.  I don't usually act on it, other than the odd comment now and then. 

Regular readers will already know that I hate snoring but my dislike of hearing these kind of sounds doesn't stop there - I dislike hearing people breathing- the whistle nose or worse still- a combination of whistle nose, chomping and heavy nose breathing at the same time.  Hell.  Pure, utter hell.  Oh god.

Well, I'd never really linked all these together, putting it down to my hyper sensitive body- but it turns out this whole thing is a recognised condition!!!!

*This New York Times article* describes my "condition" precisely and calls it Misophonia! Who knew that this was a recognised disorder of the brain!? Woohoo! Another one to add to my collection.  Hehe, I jest, Obviously. 

UK not OK.

A few weeks ago, I was going to write a blog post about perceptions of the Police Force in the UK Media.  I put it off- and feel like today is the perfect day to bring it back up again.

Over the last few years, having seen Policing from the inside out, I've taken more notice of media perceptions of the Police in this country.  In the last 18 months there has been an outpouring of anti-police messages from the media ranging from tory-based newspaper articles, to TV programmes.  The papers are quick to pounce on a story highlighting inadequacies, incompetence and the chance to ridicule a police force- but there was little praise for the Police officers who leapt into action when the Riots took off in August 2011.  Not a word from the home secretary or Cameron to thank them for their hard work. 

Specifically, a BBC made programme called Mayday made a mockery of the UK police service showing incompetent police civilian staff and bumbling police officers, not to mention the actual murderer was a police man.  This isn't the first time, but is the freshest in my memory.  An ITV series, about to finish on prime time TV, called Broadchurch also shows a struggling police investigation with staff mostly painted out as demotivated, miserable workers who are feeling around in the dark. 

None of the above is an accurate portrait of UK Policing. None of it is justified or fair and I believe it is a deliberate attempt to rouse a general distrust from the public for British Policing and de-sensitise the public to  the damage being done to the Police Force by the Tory Government.

In stark contrast, in the US, Police Officers are respected and praised.  They are celebrated in US cop shows- CSI, NCIS, Law and Order, Hawaii 50, NYPD Blue all show clever, dynamic and vibrant policing where the officers are given an almost hero status.  On the day that US police captured their bombing suspect- celebratory tweets, thanks and praise flooded in for the police operation and officers involved. Boston Police's now famous "CAPTURED" tweet was re-tweeted around the world in seconds; Fellow American Facebook users posted "Thanks to our Forces" pictures, words like Justice where being used just for the police arresting a man who is still by all accounts just s a suspect!;  even the anti-police BBC ran a full headline story about the policing operation. 

Whilst I am aware there are changes that should be made to British Policing, our force does NOT deserve the daily onslaught of degrading news articles and TV representation. There is good policing going on, unheard, unseen; it's because of Officer and Staff hard work without fanfare or reward, that communities are kept safe from harm for the most part unaware of some of the dangers they may otherwise face. 
It's not the British way to celebrate and praise- but a bit of pride, respect and recognition from the media would be nice.  I don't think for a minute that the general public has as much disregard for the Police as the Media clearly does, but it still has an impact on community perception, especially when the Police is undergoing such huge financial strain.

Policing needs the backing and support of the communities it protects.  The media would do well to remember that.

Home is where the money is.

Today marks the first day of the housing benefit reforms imposed by the Government.  I already received one phonecall to my department today from a vulnerable person - who will no doubt be in custody by the morning due to the big change.

On this day, two articles caught my attention:

This article by Ricky Tomlinson:
"10 Lies We're Told About Welfare"

and in stark contrast:
"Queen receives a £5m payrise from the taxpayer"

Think about it.

Unite.

MP's back Gay Marriage Bill

A small step forward and FINALLY something positive from our dictatorshi... sorry, Government.

Today, 400 MPs voted for fairness and equality, while 175 (a staggering but not unsuprising 140 of these were Tories) voted against it. 

Some of the arguments (if they can be called that) against this are nothing short of laughable. Some blatant homophobia. Some stemming from the dark ages. Some just spineless nonsense.  Anyone who has a problem with a member of my family doing something that I'm able to do, better have a damn good reason.

I'm glad and reassured that common sense has prevailed on this particular occasion, and while there's still a long road ahead, a small positive step has been taken.

Good news :-)

The Balancing Act of Being Female; Or, Why We Have So Many Clothes

I just read the above article.

It's an interesting albeit brief article on the labelling of women based on their clothing choices.  It's a sad fact that women label women in this way just as much as men do.  Interestingly men's clothing choices matter very little... in fact I can't remember many conversations around mens clothing choices reflecting their personalities and although I can see how a personality may be relfected in a mans clothing choices, they're not routinely labelled in the same way.  Men seldom are labelled. 

The image in the article, as usual, sums it all up a thousand times quicker and with more clarity than words do. 

Well done to the young student addressing these issues. 

Ill Manners

Chav-Bashing- a bad joke turned into bilious policy

 

I've posted the above article because it very much relates to the video below.  I came across the below a few months ago and was struck by it's social commentry.  I would strive to say it's the most powerful music videos I've seen for many years and I think it sums up the last few years better than anything else I've seen or read. 

 

It's aptly crafted - edgy, raw and with a deep, angry intensity which is captured both musically and visually.

 

I have no doubt it's messages, many ironically contradictory, will be missed by both sides using it as an influencial piece condoning certain lifestyles and behaviour and for this reason I fear it's potential poignancy has been negated.  In all the articles, literature, websites and papers I've read on the social impact of the Tory Government- THIS, to me, is the most intensely powerful and honest account of the widening social divide that's expanded before everyone's eyes. 

 

Eight Legged Freaks.

After a couple of weeks fighting the good fight and having to rid the house of these vile, evil beasts; imagine my utter horror happening upon the following article:

The Return Of Britain's Biggest Spider.

  

This article goes on to explain how ten zoos around the country have been breeding this uber spider and are about to set about releasing them into the wild.  This actually means, they've been breeding billions and billions of a massive super spider which they're now about to release into peoples homes.  We all know that these things are clever; evil-clever.  They've managed to get themselves bred with the advantages and safety of scientific-human help and now they're being released into people's houses- because we all know they rarely live outside where they could catch a hell of a lot MORE of the food they ALLEDGEDLY eat: flies;  A long held argument for their existence which is, of course, crap.  They would have no need to live inside houses if they ate flies.  There's a FAR greater chance of catching flies OUTSIDE- where all the flies are.  Needless to say, the great big bastards that stalk people's homes don't have 'catchy' webs for flies, they just leave trigger trails to pounce on and eat, what I can only assume, are other spiders or people. 

 

I have found a number of spiders in my close proximity in the last few weeks.  My knowledge of these things has grown over many years of observation and brain storming (see Spider Theory) and as such I knew the first few I saw last week were just the small ones;  The scouts.  The ones that stake out the territory before the big ones come in.  I was right. 

There it was in the bath. 

 

I tried to drown it. But it formed an umbrella with it's legs, an air pocket, so it couldn't drown.  This intelligence fills me with dread.  They know stuff.  They think.  You can see them thinking.  I therefore had to resort tothe rather uncomfortable, but necessary, scorchingto death of turning on the hot tap.  I don't care what anyone says- they're evil.  It does NOT need to be in the house.  If they wish to come up with an agreement by which they stay the fuck away from me, I will happily share the earth with them.  But if they INSIST on invading my house, trying to crawl on me, or touch me in any way shape or form, or threaten to, they will die.  Until of course they overpower us. 

 

Not entirely sure how I'm going to sleep tonight knowing that some IDIOTS have been releasing these 8cm leg span spiders with the ability to glide over water... but still, I have a whole day off work tomorrow to enjoy so sleep I must.