Why should we settle for an average university when we can push students to go onto the best ones? Every student has the potential and every student has the environment to exercise that potential, so why? Why isn’t that six percent of students attending “good” universities in Thurrock, sixty?
This discrimination is no greater felt than when one tries to apply for Disability Living Allowance. If one has a physical limitation, the process is easier as the people who perform the medical, if one gets that far, have a visual cue or something measurable to test regarding the suitability for work and the ability to perform everyday functions.
When this was introduced it was also introduced with PIPA (Protect IP Act) in order to raise awareness. As soon as internet organisations such as Google and Wikipedia heard of this they didn’t waste any time in alerting the public of the outrageous outcomes that would follow if the act was passed. All of its users quickly started sending letters to their congressmen and doing anything they could in order to prevent the bill from being passed.
As a child I remember going into Grays on a Saturday morning and spending hours looking around all the shops, both in the precinct and on the High Street, including Woolworths and Somerfield, before having a nice lunch in McDonalds (only if we were good of course). But now, not one of these stores remains in Grays Town Centre. Who would have thought? Instead we have a walk-in health centre, pound stores and a betting shop in their place.
Assuming one could successfully clear the first hurdle of preparing oneself for one’s foray into the political arena with the ‘professional’ jackals, the next problem is how to deal with the tribalism that is inherent in most modern democracies. Is there actually a party that reflects one’s world view? There is, in the UK at least, the choice of three main parties reflecting the moderate left (Labour), the moderate right (Conservatives) and the centre ground (Liberal Democrats).
£12 a month to watch the footie on TV is a much better prospect and this is where we stand. Oh yes some merry few of us will travel to London , will even have a great time, but the majority will let the Olympics pass them by as a standard of why devolution is the vanguard of what we perceive as fairness, why be interested in something that is unfair.
A sunday stroll through a few issues. The economy (stupid), Twitter, Thurrock students at Oxbridge and a lovely Grays Athletic fan.
I’ve known people who have graduated from Cambridge, dropped out from Cambridge and been accepted to Cambridge, but is a degree now just considered a degree. Perhaps, much like in the working world, are students looking for any universities that will except them, let alone apply for that coveted place at Oxbridge? If I achieve my predicted grades, I could be a possible contender for Oxbridge but part of me wants to pursue the Open University, which some profusely question.
I do have a Twitter account. I have yet to use it. I am not sure that many of my constituents would sign up to hear my latest missive, though I can imagine many politicos would. As the audience is self-selecting I am not sure that it even reaches out to the people the messages are intended for.
Some people may think me mad but there is a precedent for amateurs changing the world – Darwin was an amateur in his field, yet he changed the world with his theory of natural selection. There is nothing stopping a determined group of amateurs making a similar contribution to the history of mankind except our own apathy and I’m not giving into apathy anymore.
So, while those of you who are in a position to celebrate Christmas this year, please spare a thought for those who will be lucky to make it through the winter alive. Be kind and reach out to those in need because one day it could be you.
STILL jet-lagged and in New York City for the week as it is my 50th birthday (Nov 24th), I got up at 4.30 am to write, edit and publish some stories. I noticed a tweet from St Luke’s Hospice telling us that there was still places left for the Brighton Marathon in April 2012.
The issue of the high staff turnover at Grays Hall was brought to the attention of the Chief Executive of South Essex Partnership Trust (SEPT) about a year ago by my very self and yet, despite being given assurance that the matter would be looked into personally, there has still been no hint of an investigation, let alone any findings.
IT HAS been over a year since we last spoke to Tattoo John. He has been away recently, Five weeks in Belmarsh. There is a Groundhog Day element to John’s life but you get the feeling that come the nuclear war, only three things will remain standing and one of them is Tattoo John.
We have won the argument regarding the need to tackle government debt and borrowing, but beyond this we are losing the narrative regarding the broader aspects of the coalition’s programme. The result is that, yes, more than at any other time we are viewed as the party of economic competence, but we risk being seen as being all about money.
ON SATURDAY, THE BBC asked the country to record what they were doing as part of a mass observation project. They will take all the video footage and weave it into a documentary to be published on the BBC in 2012. YourThurrock has been making films every day for over three years.
She justified her absence from the council committee meeting by nominating another councillor to fill her place. I am informed that her nominee made no contribution to the business of the meeting and seems to have been there simply to make up the number present.
Most of us want to lose a few pounds but when it comes to it, we’ll more often than not make those tempting excuses so nothing ever seems to change. But sometimes it’s that we don’t know what to do: with all these apparent contradictions how do we know what and what not to eat?
AS I began wondering what to write for this article a few initial thoughts came to my head (If you have seen the Boondocks you can relate, if not go watch it after you read this article you won’t regret it!). First, with the voice of Riley Freeman ‘Why we only get a month though?!’, then Huey Freeman calmed me down ‘The month is a great time for reflection’.
Back twenty years ago, there were first time bankrobbers using their own car to pull of heists and now there are people hocking their blackberrys to Cashconverters in Romford and then reporting that they have been robbed the next day. Yes, they are desperate acts but these are desperate times for many people.
On behalf of the Mayor, I attended this event at the Grays Registrar’s office on Saturday 24th September 2011 from 9.45 to 11am. Twenty two local residents received their certificates of British nationality from the Home Office. I had an opportunity to welcome them to Thurrock and exchange views with them over a cup of tea.
What I think would have some comedic value would be public transport. The drip of spilt coffee cascading onto the Underground tracks as workers hurry in their voguish suits doesn’t seem that amusing, but seeing all the different personalities on the train promises to be something of a laugh. I’ve heard of the hilarious stories from my grandmother as she brushes through the doors of her early morning train everyday. So why not turn your camera on as you travel into work? That is of course what Britain is most famous for, aside from the publicity powerhouse that is the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
As I looked across the Council Chamber, from my seat in the Public Gallery, my eyes were drawn to a rather pensive looking Deputy Mayor, Cllr Yash Gupta MBE, sitting alongside the Mayor Cllr Charles Curtis. I could not help but wonder if Cllr Gupta was thinking of a previous Deputy Mayor who had twice been denied probable elevation to Mayor, I speak of ex-Councillor Eddie Hardiman, who must at times felt that he was in the words of the old saying “always the bridesmaid never the bride”.
I distinctly remember one English lesson at William Edwards when my teacher, Mrs Stevens, told us there is a theory that there are only eight original novels ever penned; that the remainder are partly copied, have been emulated, or are almost sheer replicas.
