Things you may have missed - January (and a bit of Feb) 2016
If you have been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks you may have missed a few things. Here is a bit of a round up for you.
People are giving cancer the finger:
January 2016 was the worst month in terms of high profile deaths from cancer. I can't think of another month in my life time quite like it. First of all, just before the year actually started we lost Motorhead front man (and ultimate rock star) Lemmy at the age of 70 to cancer. Then the year started and it got worse and worse. First of all David Bowie, the wonderful and creative musician and actor, passed away at the age of 69 from cancer immediately following the release of his album Blackstar. Then actor and total legend Alan Rickman passed away at the age of 69 from Cancer. Lastly, on the very final day of the month, we lost the veteran and beloved broadcaster Sir Terry Wogan at the age of 77 to cancer.
What a crappy start to the year huh? These people meant so much to so many around the world. They all had their own unique ways of uniting people who had a common love or understanding of the work these men did.
People have come up with a unique way of giving the finger to cancer though and I think this image that has been doing the rounds on the internet is quite brilliant.
RIP you utter legends.
Donald Trump is not the winner he thinks he is:
Thank goodness for this one. The Iowa caucus was this weekend just gone and the results showed that Ted Cruz was the winner in this round. This is the process by which the candidates for presidency are picked and there are key areas which basically decide this. Donald Trump is the billionaire property tycoon who was on the US version of The Apprentice and is now running to be the Republican candidate in the US Presidential elections this November. There are never any good options as far as this leftie is concerned when it comes to picking a new president in that country (even the Democrats are too right wing a lot of the time) but I would edge to the Democrats over the Republicans any time. Basically the race is between Cruz and Trump. Even Cruz has some dangerous and outlandish ideas but at least he hasn't offended women, Muslims, refugees, Europeans, the British (in a separate rant). Trump even managed to get the support of professional loud mouth and all round offense machine Katie Hopkins!
On the other hand you have Hilary Clinton (who people seems to either love loads or despise because of how she has handled things in the past and then there are the people who just can't cope with the 21st century and the idea of a female president). Clinton would be the first female president and it would be the first time a husband and wife have both had terms in the oval office. Her main opponent seems to be Bernie Sanders who, to be fair, is the most left wing person in the running. He wants things like free at the point of use health care (similar to the NHS) and stuff like that and he seems to be a big hit with the young radical voters. In fact, it hasn't gone unnoticed that he gets the same reception among young voters as Jeremy Corbyn has done in the UK for Labour (another very socialist politician). In fact the only reason that Clinton won in Iowa is because of a coin toss...yup, America's democracy is based on a literal coin toss and Clinton won six out of six. I thought our first past the post system was bad but sheesh!
Refugees are still dying in the Med:
The winter is a particularly rough time for refugees fleeing places like Syria. Initially they try and make their way to Greece and from there to other places in Europe. The sea crossing is the tragic thing that does it though. Only this week there were many more deaths reported as bodies washed up on the shores of Lesbos.
There are loads of plans in place all over Europe to take in the ones that make it, but even one death at sea is too many. What really needs to be done is to stop the violent civil war that has killed and threatened so many in Syria and also, more recently, let in the Daesh militants. The civil war has now been going on for four and a half years! For more information it is best to get a run down and you can do that here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26116868
Zika virus:
A couple of years ago the biggest threat was the rising cases of Ebola. No where seemed safe as volunteer doctors and nurses became victims of the disease. Now we have the Zika virus. This is a disease that seems to be spread by mosquitoes and, according to one case in the US, through sexual intercourse. The symptoms are rashes, fevers, conjunctivitis and joint pain (so similar to flu like symptoms in many respects). The most shocking thing is that it can affect pregnant women in a serious way leading to birth defects in their children.
The virus is named after the Zika forest in Uganda where the first cases were recorded in monkeys in 1947. It was in 1960 that the first human cases were recorded. The scary thing this time is how many cases have been reported and how widespread the virus is as it takes up most of the Americas. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared it a serious health threat and there is a race on to develop a vaccine.
It has been said that the human population would settle eventually through famine or disease (or something else) but this is distressing to see. Anyone who has been infected (women especially) are told not to have babies for up to two years!
Athletes competing in this year's Olympics have been given warnings (it is being held in Rio in Brazil, one of the affected areas) but there are no plans to cancel the games yet. It would be sad if they had to be cancelled but obviously, with athletes from all over the world going there they could take the virus home and that is the primary concern.
The bedroom tax is evil:
Ok so we already knew this. There have been several cases of people committing suicide because they were so scared of the bedroom tax. Their cases were not looked at on an individual basis and the concessions they should have had never happened.
For those not in the know it is basically this. If you receive housing allowance and have spare bedrooms you can lose out on some of your funding. This is to encourage people to move into smaller properties. However, there have been huge issues in this. There was a case of a family who needed a spare room for respite care for their disabled child and were being taxed for it. There have been other cases of people who have recently lost loved ones and they have been penalised for keeping their rooms during their grief.
Recently there was a ruling on some of these cases that they were not looked into and well thought out and that people were made to suffer unnecessarily.
People are giving cancer the finger:
January 2016 was the worst month in terms of high profile deaths from cancer. I can't think of another month in my life time quite like it. First of all, just before the year actually started we lost Motorhead front man (and ultimate rock star) Lemmy at the age of 70 to cancer. Then the year started and it got worse and worse. First of all David Bowie, the wonderful and creative musician and actor, passed away at the age of 69 from cancer immediately following the release of his album Blackstar. Then actor and total legend Alan Rickman passed away at the age of 69 from Cancer. Lastly, on the very final day of the month, we lost the veteran and beloved broadcaster Sir Terry Wogan at the age of 77 to cancer.
What a crappy start to the year huh? These people meant so much to so many around the world. They all had their own unique ways of uniting people who had a common love or understanding of the work these men did.
People have come up with a unique way of giving the finger to cancer though and I think this image that has been doing the rounds on the internet is quite brilliant.
RIP you utter legends.
Donald Trump is not the winner he thinks he is:
Thank goodness for this one. The Iowa caucus was this weekend just gone and the results showed that Ted Cruz was the winner in this round. This is the process by which the candidates for presidency are picked and there are key areas which basically decide this. Donald Trump is the billionaire property tycoon who was on the US version of The Apprentice and is now running to be the Republican candidate in the US Presidential elections this November. There are never any good options as far as this leftie is concerned when it comes to picking a new president in that country (even the Democrats are too right wing a lot of the time) but I would edge to the Democrats over the Republicans any time. Basically the race is between Cruz and Trump. Even Cruz has some dangerous and outlandish ideas but at least he hasn't offended women, Muslims, refugees, Europeans, the British (in a separate rant). Trump even managed to get the support of professional loud mouth and all round offense machine Katie Hopkins!
On the other hand you have Hilary Clinton (who people seems to either love loads or despise because of how she has handled things in the past and then there are the people who just can't cope with the 21st century and the idea of a female president). Clinton would be the first female president and it would be the first time a husband and wife have both had terms in the oval office. Her main opponent seems to be Bernie Sanders who, to be fair, is the most left wing person in the running. He wants things like free at the point of use health care (similar to the NHS) and stuff like that and he seems to be a big hit with the young radical voters. In fact, it hasn't gone unnoticed that he gets the same reception among young voters as Jeremy Corbyn has done in the UK for Labour (another very socialist politician). In fact the only reason that Clinton won in Iowa is because of a coin toss...yup, America's democracy is based on a literal coin toss and Clinton won six out of six. I thought our first past the post system was bad but sheesh!
Refugees are still dying in the Med:
The winter is a particularly rough time for refugees fleeing places like Syria. Initially they try and make their way to Greece and from there to other places in Europe. The sea crossing is the tragic thing that does it though. Only this week there were many more deaths reported as bodies washed up on the shores of Lesbos.
There are loads of plans in place all over Europe to take in the ones that make it, but even one death at sea is too many. What really needs to be done is to stop the violent civil war that has killed and threatened so many in Syria and also, more recently, let in the Daesh militants. The civil war has now been going on for four and a half years! For more information it is best to get a run down and you can do that here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26116868
Zika virus:
A couple of years ago the biggest threat was the rising cases of Ebola. No where seemed safe as volunteer doctors and nurses became victims of the disease. Now we have the Zika virus. This is a disease that seems to be spread by mosquitoes and, according to one case in the US, through sexual intercourse. The symptoms are rashes, fevers, conjunctivitis and joint pain (so similar to flu like symptoms in many respects). The most shocking thing is that it can affect pregnant women in a serious way leading to birth defects in their children.
The virus is named after the Zika forest in Uganda where the first cases were recorded in monkeys in 1947. It was in 1960 that the first human cases were recorded. The scary thing this time is how many cases have been reported and how widespread the virus is as it takes up most of the Americas. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared it a serious health threat and there is a race on to develop a vaccine.
It has been said that the human population would settle eventually through famine or disease (or something else) but this is distressing to see. Anyone who has been infected (women especially) are told not to have babies for up to two years!
Athletes competing in this year's Olympics have been given warnings (it is being held in Rio in Brazil, one of the affected areas) but there are no plans to cancel the games yet. It would be sad if they had to be cancelled but obviously, with athletes from all over the world going there they could take the virus home and that is the primary concern.
The bedroom tax is evil:
Ok so we already knew this. There have been several cases of people committing suicide because they were so scared of the bedroom tax. Their cases were not looked at on an individual basis and the concessions they should have had never happened.
For those not in the know it is basically this. If you receive housing allowance and have spare bedrooms you can lose out on some of your funding. This is to encourage people to move into smaller properties. However, there have been huge issues in this. There was a case of a family who needed a spare room for respite care for their disabled child and were being taxed for it. There have been other cases of people who have recently lost loved ones and they have been penalised for keeping their rooms during their grief.
Recently there was a ruling on some of these cases that they were not looked into and well thought out and that people were made to suffer unnecessarily.
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