Are journalists taking over the political institutions?

I’m on my way back to my hometown Crawley for the weekend. Andrew Marr’s ‘My Trade’ book, is what I am reading right now on the train. Although I’m still halfway through, I think it gives future media professionals an insight to the history of journalism.

I had to get a photo of this page (188) as it is probably the most controversial part of the book.

It’s true. Journalists are powerful.

But I have a few questions to ask:

Are journalists too caught up in holding politicians accountable for everything?

Are politicians too scared to tell it how it really is, in fear of journalists misinterpreting? (Knowingly or unknowing)

Is it fair to say that journalists are taking advantage of their freedom by mocking politicians?

What happens more? Mocking or reporting?

Or is it that politicians should know that journalists are watching them?

Maybe journalists can’t trust the politicians to exercise their power fairly?

What if the journalists know about some politicians being corrupt, so they want to keep a close eye on the rest?

 

What do you guys think? Comment below!

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Katie Hopkins: the opinionated Z-List celebrity

Hopkins has spread her tongue far over the past two years: stereotyping ‘overweight’ people, people with tattoos and infamously names of children. However, lately the controversial character has got her horns into moral and undeniably issues which evoke humanity throughout the world such as immigration. Katie has shown her true colours describing people travelling from Somalia, Syria and Libya as ‘cockroaches’ and that she would ‘use gunships against migrants boats’, in order to send them back. Although some argue Katie’s comments were light hearted and were to be taken in jest, this is not entirely the case. These ludicrous comments have not had the humorous and light hearted reactions Hopkins was hoping for. Judging by Hopkins’ previous comments on moral issues, it is evident that there are some shades of bias. Due to this, a petition set was up by Izzy Saunders, to have Katie Hopkins sacked from The Sun achieved over 200,000 signatures in a matter of days.

The hopefully soon to be ex- columnist called for Loose Women star Janet Street Porter to be sacked previously in February, saying that she felt attacked by Porter questioning Hopkins on her views on cancer patients and Katie Price’s son. Maybe it would be better if Katie focused on her own children? As it seems her priorities lie in criticising other parenting. It is clear today that the tables have turned and Hopkins is now eating her words, as many are demanding her to be sacked from The Sun. Moreover, as a result of Katie’s opinions, new ideas of a chat show hosted by Katie on TLC have been scrapped as no celebrities would dare deface themselves by sharing airtime with her, demonstrating how these comments were not simply controversial, they were, as the United Nations defined as ‘pro-genocidal’. Katie described herself as being a ‘conviction individual’, whilst the rest of the world are ‘seeing magnolia’. Unfortunately it is due to people like Hopkins that the public has lost faith in democracy. Many argue she should not be given a platform to express her views, it is people like her that exploit freedom of speech, evoking hate in the community, instead of harmonising views. One thing is for certain, Hopkins certainly burst the nations bubble with her Nazi-like comments tweeted by Russell Brand, who compared her comments to Nazi commander, Heinrich Himmler.

Hopkins, who studied Economics at the University of Exeter, is a perfect example of how someone’s education does not define their intelligence, common sense or social intellect. Katie’s future as a political figure is unjustified, moreover her distinction of a celebrity seems to be spearheading into abyss. However, Russell Brand calls it best by summing up Katie Hopkins as the ‘puss emerging from the pimple of our policy.’ Nonetheless, as the rest of us have a natural human trait of compassion still left in us, on behalf of the people, I’d like to wish Katie a fast recovery, we hope you get well soon. We hope you see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Guest blog post, by Niala Hussain

Exam results do not have the power to define intelligence

I know I haven’t been able to post as much as I have wanted to and I apologise for that, I have been busy preparing for my final A2 exams, I’m sure you can all imagine! But I thought I’d leave a hard-hitting, provocative video for you all to watch before I pause my blogging for a short while.

This video explains the reasons for why the current education system is so flawed, impractical for the future and futile. Will you leave compulsory education knowing how to buy a home, basic first aid, or even how to deal with personal finance?

This is a video that I found online, as I know lots of people will be feeling the pressure of getting target grades, for universities, apprenticeships and other reasons. I felt that it was important to remind ourselves that the grades we get do not define how intelligent we are. The current education system is very narrow, in the sense that we are forced to memorise pretty much everything and then our intelligence is judged by how much we memorised? How is memory testing supposed to test one’s intelligence?

Real education is where we are taught life lessons, things that we will use for the rest of our lives, such as home owning, basic first aid and even personal finance.

Will you leave compulsory education knowing how to buy a home? Get a loan? Carry out CPR?

If you want change, I strongly suggest you to read up on the different manifestos (policy statement) of each political party and decide which party you would vote for. It doesn’t matter if you can’t vote yet, at least you can develop a political opinion. If you don’t agree with any, perhaps you could volunteer for, or join a pressure group to stand up for what you believe in? You could join pressure groups such as the RSPCA, Oxfam, NSPCC, Fathers For Justice, Greenpeace, PETA, Friends Of The Earth, the list is endless!

Dips’ Politics

Parring Off Politely has been running for a couple of months now and I haven’t even introduced myself properly, how very rude of me!

So, let’s start with a real introduction, hello! My name is Dipali Limbachia and I have had an ongoing passion for UK Politics since I studied it at AS Level back in 2013.

In my opinion, the energy at which my Politics teachers taught the subject rubbed off on me. I thoroughly enjoyed studying topics like the main political parties, pressure groups and electoral systems. I guess this is a thanks to my teachers for the charismatic approach to such a controversial subject, not to mention the constant debates in my class, which were very interesting to observe and participate in, of course. The mixture of different political views in my class enriched my learning because of seeing things from other people’s perspectives, which in my opinion, is important in terms of gaining as much knowledge as possible.

The reason I have started up a blog is because I felt that my passion for Politics was not being expressed and I was not using my political knowledge to benefit others. To begin with, I have explained the main ideas of the major political parties, so that we as young people know how relate to and develop an opinion for each party. Parring Off Politely is for the youth. It is a blog that contains valuable information about the Government and their policies affect the new generation, with a hint of opinion, making it controversial.

Research by YouGov suggests that more than 2 million young people will not vote out of 3.3 million eligible to vote. The decline in political participation from the youth is an ever growing problem for proportionate representation (for young people’s views to be represented fairly when it comes to decision making).

As a result of the expected low turnout (number of people of voting) on 7th May this year (according to YouGov), it is obvious that people do not trust the people in power, however, people are resulting to other ways to participate. Signing petitions, joining pressure groups or campaigns and protesting are also valid to voice your opinions. Using social media can also be used to participate in politics such as social networking websites, setting up blogs, signing online petitions and online campaigns.

I hope you enjoy my blog and I will continue to give you relevant information. I sincerely thank you all for the ongoing support and the feedback, keep it coming!

 

Dipali Limbachia

Parring Off Politely

Not so simple Socialists

Socialists believe that people should work together and co-operate with each other and believe that equality is a one of the most important elements needed for a fair society. Whereas conservatives and liberals highlight the importance of political equality in their ideologies (set of beliefs). Socialists emphasise on co-operating to achieve economic equality. (This is the idea of everyone in the country having equal pay, despite their occupation). They support the idea of redistribution of income (dividing people’s earnings and dispersing it) by incorporating taxes in the law. This is where the rich pay a larger quantity of their income in tax than the poor. The revenue (money collected altogether) is then used for systems of public services such as general healthcare (the NHS), public education and social security (the police force). These are all present in the UK to ensure that everyone can benefit from the country’s wealth. This is why the Labour Party opposed the privatisation (the act of selling a firm to a company) of the Royal Mail it was seen as a public service.

However in my opinion, the government misuse the privilege of being able to spending the money obtained from the public too often. For example the MailOnline reported: “Governments biscuit bill in 2011-2012 was £3 million” or the Home Office paying “£427,000 on rubber bullets” that the police were prohibited to use! For more ridiculous government expenditure stories visit their website.

The Labour Party is seen as a ‘left wing’ political party, more in-depth information on both ‘wings’ can be found here. It includes the different approaches in which the country can be governed according to a social scale of authoritarian versus libertarian and an economic scale of left against right-wing.

Political power is not supposed to be solely in the hands of the rich, every legitimate individual in this country has the right to vote. This is emphasised upon by the Labour Party’s ideology (beliefs). From my perspective it means that the country needs to be run or governed by the people; of the people and for the people. This is Abraham Lincoln’s definition of democracy, which is still respected today.

Labour also have an optimistic view of human nature. This means they believe people are fundamentally good, but it is society that can make individuals bad. Capitalism (the economic system without the government interfering in trade, which is called private ownership and the unequal distribution of money) in a socialists point of view, is what makes citizens selfish, greedy and overly competitive. Socialists seek to develop an ideal society where individuals can co-operate for mutual wellbeing.

“I absolutely love all types of Italian food!” Said glamorous upcoming actress Bhavna Limbachia, Alia from Citizen Khan.

In an exclusive interview, Bhavna Limbachia, who stars in the Birmingham based sitcom Citizen Khan, tells Parring Off Politely (PoffP) about her love for Italian food, artwork and career.

When asked about her favourite type of food, Bhavna said: “Ooh.. Italian! I absolutely love all types of Italian food! I’m hoping to go to Italy for a while and do a cookery course out there with the real Italian pros!”

Bhavna also tells PoffP about her family’s reaction to the launch of her career in the media industry: “they are very supportive and proud. It’s nice to see them take an interest and enjoy what I do.”

 Everyone needs encouragement from family or friends, Bhavna seems to have a lot of it!

 Bhavna Limbachia has not only got skills in acting, she has also had success in different industries such as fashion design: 

 “My Fashion and Costume background will always be a part of me. However, I always knew from a very young age that I wanted to become an actress. I went into Costume Design and realized I still wanted to satisfy my creativity and pursue acting, so I decided to concentrate on that instead. It wasn’t an easy leap to make but I couldn’t regret something I didn’t do- it just didn’t make sense to me. So here I am…Haha!” 

We can tell Bhavna has had some sort of experience in fashion, she always looks amazing in her photos.

The sitcom star also reveals how she has done some modelling, but her ultimate goal is to carry on with acting:

“I do the odd bit here and there. But it’s not something I would want to pursue as a career. My passion is acting so I’d like to see that through.” 

‘Life is too short to have regrets’, is a motto recognised by all types of people around the world. But Bhavna has a much better way of reflecting on her life so far and career choices:

“Each choice has lead me to where I am now. I still feel I have a long way to go but I’m enjoying the journey and I am deeply grateful for every opportunity that comes my way.”

In April, Bhavna retweeted some artwork by Art and Design student Henna Limbachia. Bhavna tells PoffP about her fondness of art:

“I’m a huge fan of Art. Especially abstract and surrealism. I come from an artistic family and I studied Art at school and college. I still love being creative in that way. I also admire up and coming artists like Henna who send out strong messages through their work so feel it’s important to share their talent.” 

Henna has posted numerous pieces of her astounding artwork on her Instagram account: @hennalimbachia

Getting in to acting can be a struggle, Bhavna tells PoffP about how she managed to debut in the sitcom, Citizen Khan.

“Initially I was contacted by the casting director to audition for the part of Alia (Mr Khan’s youngest daughter) for the sitcoms showcase in Salford back in 2011. At this stage the show had not been commissioned so it was a case of going through the audition rounds to be a part of the showcase. Citizen Khan turned out to be very popular on the night and we were all thrilled. The show was commissioned to be aired on BBC1.”  

Limbachia also told us about how she likes to sit back and relax after the filming of a series:

“Filming a whole series -especially in front of a live audience is hard work and it can be exhausting. So after the series I tend to have a bit of time off to recover and then bounce back for the next project.”

Speaking of projects, Bhavna explains her future aspirations as an actress: “I would love to do some gritty British drama like Happy Valley or even an action packed feature! Something I can really get my teeth into that would challenge me on all levels,” -it is important to be challenged in life of course, it allows progress with the help of skills and experience.  

As a result of her own career path, the talented actress likes to give advice to anyone who wants to take the route of acting: 

“First and foremost, you have to think really hard about if acting is something you really want pursue as a career, because it won’t be an easy ride. With anything creative you have to be committed 100% at all times. Get as much experience as you can and really put yourself out there. Most importantly- enjoy it!”  

The slender beauty queen replies to remarks about her toned body:

“Toned? That’s nice of you say! I wasn’t a gym goer before but I realized it was important to be fit and healthy so I joined. I also have a sweet tooth so thought it would be a good idea to balance things out.”

So that’s the extra special Christmas treat for the lovely Parring Off Politely viewers. Seasons greetings and a happy new year to you all.

Laid-back Liberals with a hint of a failing financial plan

Liberalism includes a more positive view of the human nature. This means, liberals believe that humans are creatures who venture for freedom who need some sort of control, Laws. But their view on society is much more optimistic compared to conservatism. Liberals concentrate less on authority and focus on government by consent (agreement). I agree with this because I respect that liberals seek consent before any radical changes.

Liberals believe the role of the Government should be limited and not abuse its powers. In my opinion, this means that they like to take decentralised decisions in the political system. This is a strength because I feel that each member of the Government should have the right of freedom of political expression when decision-making. I also think that decentralisation (dispersal) of power is key in the running of a democratic country because decisions made by the Government are inevitably bound to affect the public. Therefore it is paramount that Government officials are given the freedom of political expression to fairly represent the interests of the general public.

In order for everyone to have the freedom of speech, Liberals believe it is vital to ensure that all citizens have equal opportunities; an example of this could be their proposal of lowering the voting age to 16. Despite the lack of political knowledge in 16 year olds nowadays, I believe that lowering the voting age will encourage youngsters to increase their political participation which will automatically broaden their political understanding, perhaps even developing opinions on certain issues. There are way too many under representations in our DEMOCRACY. The Government Equalities Office (http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100505211508/http:/www.equalities.gov.uk/pdf/301611_GEO_WomensRepresentation_acc.pdf, page three) says as little as 19.4% Members of Parliament are women. So 19.4% of the Members of Parliament represent more than half (51%) of the female population, quite frankly, this is appalling.

The need for younger Government officials is increasing, as the usual Government officials (older White Anglo-Saxon Protestant men) are taking over OUR Parliament, making decisions on OUR behalf without OUR consent, misrepresenting us youths who are the people of the future. Did we get a say about the university fees? No. According to the BBC, (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-30080659) The Higher Education Commission is concerned about the amount of money being spent on writing off student debts. Yet they’re still enforcing this failure of a financial plan on us. What a fantastic government we have! Of course people with more power and high status always influence weaker individuals in society. Nevertheless, liberals are still against the concentrated power of elites (a small group of people with power).

Emphasizing the significance of tolerating (accepting) different manners of living, traditions and religions is important to the liberals. From my point of view, I too, think it is important because England’s concentration of people from different backgrounds and races is increasing. As a matter of fact, people of different ethnic backgrounds enrich England with a variety of cultures.

Is it vic ‘Tory’ for the Conservatives?

I support the Conservative Party’s pragmatic approach in dealing with problems instead of being idealistic (unrealistically aiming for perfection). In my opinion, I think that flaws in society should be dealt with in a realistic way because it is pointless in telling people “everything will be ok.” Being practical, reduces misguiding.

Another point in conservatism that I approve of is evolutionary change. This shows that the Conservatives are ready to change their policies or ideas to suit the society today. This suggests that the Conservatives treat our society as a living organism. So the government will grow through transformation with the society, which is a strength in the concept if conservatism.

I disagree with the Conservative’s view of preserving the monarchy. Except for the Royal Assent (the Queen’s signature at the end of a law to enforce it), The Queen sitting on her Throne does not make a difference in the political system nor the everyday lives of the people. Yes, I understand that some people are proud of British heritage and traditions, also that Britain is known for having a Queen. However too much of the public’s tax money is spent on the Royal family.

Our people are working hard in order to feed their families, not for a Royal family member’s private jet. The Royal family members are just normal people but still they are spoon-fed with other peoples’ hard earned money. The Mail Online (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2303016/Queen-gets-pay-rise-receiving-5million-taxpayers-money-official-duties.html) says: “Queen gets a pay rise after receiving another £5million of taxpayers’ money for official duties.” I wonder what her official duties actually are. The article also says:” The increased fund could be used to give royal staff, pictured at Buckingham Palace, their first pay rise in years”, this can be used as proof of a misuse of money. The Queen is abusing the privilege of having money. It is said on Arts.Mic (http://mic.com/articles/53069/royal-baby-2013-50-000-in-taxpayer-money-is-being-spent-on-what) that over £50,000 of taxpayers’ money was spent on giving “lucky pennies” to parents that give birth to a child on the same day as George. So the Queens “official duties” include paying her servants and spending more than £50,000 for bits of metal. Is this what Britain are “proud” of? This is a weakness in the ideology of conservatism.

I agree with the Conservative’s view that marriage, the family, church and education are important to maintain social control. People overgeneralise and say: “it is because things like divorce and families with a single parent are what waste the peoples’ money”. They also say that taxpayers’ money should be in good use. I understand that the Church is strict with divorce, this could potentially reduce single parents and reduce the amount of broken families. This would reduce the cost of providing benefits to single parents for example. Also saving the cost of it for another important aspect of the Governments funding such as the NHS. I do understand that benefits are essential for those who are entitled to it. In this case, single parents. This is kind of social control that I think conservatism is referring to.

I agree with the concept of economic freedom and capitalism. Wealthy people have worked for their money, they have earned it. So they deserve to keep their hard-earned money. They should not be taxed according to how much they earn. The idea of privatisation in the Thatcher years has created a wealthy economy in Britain.

The Lookbook of the lazy

If you want outfit inspiration then look past Fashion Week and focus on your next door neighbours taking the bins out, they are the true Prada Princesses. The appearance of the average human is the most underrated, yet it’s so easy to achieve, here are the looks that are too powerful for the runway:

The everything-is-in-the-wash-so-this-happened

Lazy yet lovely

This look is all about not even thinking, if it feels comfortable and is just an arm reach away, it works. The only thing required for this outfit is a quick sniff-test, if it smells okay, then it looks okay too. Perfect for when you just cannot be arsed.

The less-is-more

Less shoes, less problems

It’s a myth that fashion is all about the latest trends, being fashionable is about being original and steering away from the mainstream looks. In order to be as fashionable as possible, have a look what…

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