Priorities

Nikki: "I think I'd want my husband to have footballer's legs"
Me: "But then he can't wear skinny jeans?"
Nikki: "Yeah, ok then, rugby player's legs."
Me: "Yeah, but then he really can't wear skinny jeans..."
Nikki: "Can you not see I'm trying to emphasise how much I don't want him to wear skinny jeans?"
Me: "Oh"

Sometimes I think I need to get out of this "type" I have selected for myself. It isn't healthy.

Progressive nonsense

I saw this video a while ago and at the time was a bit like 'meh'. Literally that was all the emotion I could sum up. However, I was reading Guido Fawkes, as you do...and I came across the video again. But because times are as they are (what a stupid saying) then I figured I'd just highlight odd bits of its hilarity.

I wouldn't bother watching it all (/any of) the 8 minutes and 40 seconds of it, it's so dull and tedious. I've seen it twice now and I'm about to watch it a third time, FUN.



Right...ARE YOU READY FOR HILARITY?

At the beginning they ramble on about how they've been on the side of progressive change for YEARS, years guys. Progressive conservatism, because an oxymoron is where it's at. The thing more hilarious than that statement is that they say "Look at all the wonderful things our party has done, isn't it fabulous!" and then at the end they say "David Cameron has brought change to the Party". You can't spend a whole video telling people why you're so brilliant and then go "...ah, well all this progression throughout the years of the Conservative Party just wasn't working, ya know?  We need a change in direction (but not really), so we become even more progressive than we were (actually weren't)."

If you don't like actual policy shit skip the next two paragraphs. 
I'M SO NICE FOR TELLING YOU THIS.

I generally just despise the whole "Look what we did" feeling in this video. The legislation they introduced wasn't put through because they had the interests of the people at heart, it was put through because they had no other choice, as so many people were campaigning for change; whether that campaigning was by some feminists or moral purity campaigners (re: the many acts of the 1880s, specifically this one, even though that's hideous in many ways) or campaigners (for example, re: working class men getting the vote).

They also say that in 1923 that Stanley Baldwin came up with a comprehensive old age pension. For starters, we (Britain) got Old-Aged Pensions in the 1908 Act under the Liberal Reforms. It wasn't that good, considering you had to be 70 to claim it and bugger all people got to that age. And yes, I'm aware that pensions underwent reform in 1923 and the Tories can cling onto that smidgen of progression, but to be honest, our pension system is piss-all in comparison to many other countries at this period, so they can piss off. AND they state unemployment benefits as their 'thang' too, that comes under the Liberal Reforms too, I'm afraid, there were reforms to it in the late 1920s/early 30s, but they just made it all worse (because  unemployment benefit was cut after the Wall Street Crash, smart move). AND they state health insurance as theirs too...achem...again, Liberal Reforms. Any increase in provision is mainly because they had to...can't fight a war with a sick nation, right?

Are we picking up a pattern here? Any idea who's interests they have in mind? Anything at all???

I'm missing out a massive chunk here because it's SO.VERY.BORING. But basically, we have an NHS (Labour's doing), some Education Reform and apparently some new homes to live in. How dandy. AND women can vote, jeeez, it's all coming up good for Tory governing! (Not really though, let me emphasise that).

NOW FOR SOME THATCH. There's a change of music and everything before she comes on waving her witchy arm about. My favourite bit of this whole video (as I'm sure you can guess, there are many *rolls eyes*) is where they say "SLASHED PENAL TAX RATES" and a bit of red-tape is cut and floats away. Ahhhh, what imagery.

I'm ignoring John Major completely. You wouldn't have noticed unless I'd said, don't lie.

The only bit William Hague gets is HELPED SAVE THE POUND *snorts*. Well done, Will. I found this bit almost as funny as the red tape bit, not quite, but nearly.

At the end they have all the images of the Conservative leaders moving from left to right, so it's like you're going back in time but actually you're going forward in time because the leaders are going forward in time. I don't know if that's just me being picky, but I dislike that. I'm probably the only person in the world to have noticed this.

BEST VIDEO EVA, RIGHT?

Chat chat chaaattyyy

(EDIT: This is not what my life solely consists of, but you all don't need to hear how much of a mess my life is, thankyouverymuch)

It's been a while since a did a chatty blog. I've been ranting about something or other in all my past blogs. Shame on me. Well, here is a nice blog full of things I've been up to. EXCITING (it may not be very exciting, as I haven't been up to that much).

It has been rather chilly here, just like everywhere else. I'm sure you've heard about the country being quite cold, right? I know, I know, there is nothing more newsworthy than the snow/cold in December. It's a shocker every year. Leamington Spa -being the aesthetically pleasing place that it is- looked even prettier in the ice and snow...I say snow, the snow here was pitiful. It was literally just ice and I dislike ice (does anyone actually like it?). My dislike is mainly because I'm not the most graceful of people and I'm generally quite clumsy...so I slip a lot. The other day I managed to slightly trip on air (because for some reason I don't need things to actually trip over) and I landed on a Postman, that was a hideous moment. I was in a rush to get to the bus stop so I just ran off saying "Thanks for saving me from the floor!" So embarrassing.

I and few of the Warwick Labour lot ventured in to the depths of a snow-covered Coventry to do some leafleting the other week. It was freezing with actual snow. I obviously wasn't dressed appropriately, as I'm never dressed properly. I wear what I wear in summer during winter, I just add/remove cardigans/leggings. It was fine. Ben and I looked suitably frozen by the end. It didn't help that Ben posted our map in someone's house, ha. Also, people in Coventry, why do you all have stairs going up to your house, it's such a massive effort and it's terrifying during icy-snow-times.

I've just realised that I'm going backwards in time. Basically, the further down the blog you go the longer ago it happened, understood? This picture (in which I have gum in my mouth, not some weird protruding tooth) was from the first lot of student protests, ya know the ones. If the words "Siege of Milbank" don't mean anything to you, then quite frankly, you're very out of the loop. This was over a month ago, where have you been? I, along with the majority of people there, enjoyed a bit of peaceful protest. Again, it was freezing. The day was rather hilarious (not the cause, the cause is anything but hilarious, condem wankers). We ended up going to King's College SU and having some food and alcohol. We were sat in the warmth watching the coverage of the protests on Sky News and the BBC (which is quite weird when you've just been stood right there) and we saw the headlines about something was being broken into. We weren't that pleased at the time, as we thought it'd make us all look like student wankers...then we found out it was Tory HQ that had been 'seized' and all was well. However, I will highlight something...Baroness Warsi, the ultimate Wicked Witch of the Tories, was apparently in Tory HQ at the time. To those of you that know about her you'll understand why we were quite happy that the building was being ransacked. Bitch. (I have more opinions on the violence -in this demo and the ones that have succeeded it- but quite frankly I can't be arsed writing them). 

Good day to you all, it's quite nice to have a nice chatty blog again :)

I hate Pitbull.

I know for a fact that I'm not the only one who occasionally does this face at the music in the charts. That gif is a good choice, actually - as it is all a copy of a copy. All of it sounds painfully similar. I'm not going to do some annoying analysis of this song, as amusing as that usually is (you're all so disappointed!)



The comments on this video reinforce my opinion that people do not know about good music.

Pitbull's arrogance and lack of talent combined with T-Pains non-lyrics just upsets my poor ears. I already despise Pitbull, as he's does nothing, NOTHING. He also doesn't help himself with his whole "I know you want me" spiel. I find it hilarious that he's not good-looking in the slightest yet is like I KNOW YOU WANT ME. No, no I do not want you *shakes head*. However! Despite his incredible lack of talent, arrogance and his love for featuring on so many other shit chart songs it's offensive, he does have his hoard of bikini clad women. You know the ones, right? They do that dancing thing where they don't really dance, they just stand there and slightly move their arse a bit and their arms up and down, they have their mouths slightly open in a half gawpy/half fake-porno-face way and they do that really weird squinty thing with their eyes. It's hot stuff.

Basically, he looks like the man that did our gas and central heating back home, and he probably has just as much talent as him, too *

Some things never get better...(Pitbull songs, winters, the Tories opinions on things, etc...)

*No offence to Bill, you did an excellent job on the heating.

'Healthy' relationships

Thursday 25th November was International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The Home Office posted this, quite interesting, but I'll just highlight a particular point.

• early intervention – making sure young people understand the importance of healthy relationships and respect the right to say no
• make sure young people understand the importance of healthy relationships and respect the right to say no
• crack down on irresponsible advertising and marketing, especially to children 
• take steps to tackle the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood, and publish materials on teenage relationship abuse to support young people, teachers and schools to tackle this issue

If you're going to teach children about healthy relationships, and that people should respect their right to say no, you have to start with children at an early age. Many people take for granted their own privilege and don't acknowledge that the difference between right and wrong is not set in each individual as 'common sense', it is something that is learnt through one's experience. Children could witness awful things at home and believe it to be completely normal as they've never been told otherwise. However, if you're going to teach children about healthy relationships, that means teaching them about relationships between all people, between differing religions, races, genders, sexualities etc. I'm aware that this particular publication from the Home Office is to deal with violence against women and girls, but I think a wider point needs to be acknowledged. Emphasising the importance of healthy relationships means talking about inequalities in relationships across society, not just between men and women in the private sphere of the home. Equality between men and women is really important, but if we're discussing relationships, and I'm assuming (I know you shouldn't ever assume, but whatever, I'm going to) they're meaning relationships in a sexual sense, I'd be interested to see whether our lovely *cough* Coalition are up for talking (or 'promoting' as the Tories often call it) about homosexuality in schools. Homosexual relationships are also relationships, right? I just hope that when the government say they wish to teach children about healthy relationships they emphasise the different relationships in society, it'd be sad if they didn't.

And...whilst I'm here... (this does actually link, I'm not going completely off topic)

Anyone who has had to talk to me for the past week will know how much I've been chatting on about Sweden and how jealous I am of their fabulous country, and I'm about to do it again, so sorry to those of you that are already sick of this. Sweden start teaching Sex* Education between the ages of 7 and 10, incorporating lessons about sex and relationships into other parts of the curriculum. Sweden has one of the lowest teen pregnancy rates in the developed world, with less than 7 births per 1000 teenagers. So surely, because Britain hates teen mothers**, it would make sense to establish better sex education (and whilst I'm ranting I may as well say, compulsory sex education) from an earlier age. Although, the downside is, the chances of us getting younger children to learn about healthy relationships and the right-wing press not overreacting to the idea of sex (even though it isn't sex) is so slim *rolls eyes and sighs at ridiculousness of this country*. They -the right-wing press- hinder so much progression, it's really frustrating. 

I'm done now, you can all get on with your merry lives.

* It's not really anything to do with sex, not that that'll stop the right-wing press over here if anything like this was established in the UK

** There hasn't actually been that much of an increase in the teen pregnancy rate at all over the past 30 years. It's just another moral panic. Oh, and for what it's worth, our sex education is a lot better than the U.S.A's, at least...

True.

Messy room, messy mind

Lily Cole: 'Why I support the student protests'

And all that Chas: 'I always thought The Evening Standard was a right-wing hate rag...'

The Doll Says: 'Underwear'

Julie Bindel: 'Let's make Peta History'

Stuff No One Told Me: '57'

Happymarx: 'July 1981…A song that captured the political moment…'

Left Foot Forward: 'Immigration was a factor, but it did not cost Labour the election'

done.

Plain offensive

I shall now tell you about a conversation I had yesterday. Enjoy *rolls eyes*

Girl: You know, men are getting children to sit with an address on the streets and women see the children and feel bad for them, so they take the kid to this address and they get gang-raped by these men
Me: That's really horrible.
Boy: It probably wasn't horrible. Ya know, about 9 out of 10 women enjoy it.
Me: Well that's bullshit.
Boy: No, it's a fact. Especially if the men are hot.
Me: Are you actually joking?
Boy: No. Why? You gonna get all feministy on me?
Me: Probably
Girl: Are you a feminist?!
Me: Yes
Girl: Oh I love feminists, are you gay?
Me: Sadly not
Girl: Ahh, that's a shame.

WHAT EVEN WAS THAT?!!?

Quote

“Feminism expects a man to be ethical, emotionally present, and accountable to his values in his actions with women — as well as with other men. Feminism loves men enough to expect them to act more honorably and actually believes them capable of doing so.”

-Michael S. Kimmel

Lyrical masterpiece: #1

"I am a ladies man,

Come be my lady, ehhhh"

- Flo Rida et al (2010)

Flo Rida, creating slightly catchy shittastic music with zero emotional capacity beyond 'we should hook-up', since that annoying song he made in 2007 with T-Pain (the guy from "I'm on a Boat"). I know right, he works with all the stars; T-Pain, Ke$ha, Timbaland, David Guetta, even The Saturdays *fans self due to fan-girl moment*.

To be honest, nothing any of us do will ever amount to the brilliance he's achieved in his life (I mentioned he worked with Ke$ha, right?), as now, he's so hot the club can't even handle him. I kind of wish that would happen to me so I could stop going to clubs, ya know, so I could stop hearing the Flo Rida songs they play all-the-fucking-time.

Apparently he doesn't even say 'ehhh', he says 'and', but if you listen to the song it sounds more like 'ehhh' and quite frankly, I don't think me questioning his lyrical capabilities would bother him that much, he's probably aware that Club Can't Handle Me isn't exactly Candle in the Wind.

Warwick Labour

Such love <3

Week/Weak

I am so utterly dead, but I'm in a writing mood, but not one that can be of any use to my degree, as that would be sinful. Productive towards my degree, urgh, no more. I've had this blog for just over a year, and in that time it's gone from "here's a list of things I did, aren't I productive and fun" blogs to "why aren't people fucking striking the passive wankers" blogs. I will say though, this blog is a massive distraction and I love a good distraction, preferably a pretty one...with good taste in music....and quick wit....

Because I don't really do the "here's what I did with my life, please confirm my ability to be a real person" blogs any more, here is a list of things I've done in the past couple of weeks :)

1. Went to London for the Feminism in London conference. That was good.
2. Walked from Euston Station, to Tower Bridge to Westminster then died.
3. Went to a Q&A in Coventry, Ed Miliband was answering questions. He was stood like a foot away from me at one point and smiled at me and I swooned. (There were two questions about trains at that thing, are people really that concerned about trains?)
4. Went to Warwick Labour things. Have met some lovely people. Had a ridiculous all-nighter that ended up with me seeing my Volunteering leader in Costa at 8.30am, I looked like such a mess. I wasn't even meant to go out, I was meant to watch Warwick Question Time, go home and make chilli then watch real Question Time. Instead I was awake for 26 hours and had a really stretched out hangover. Urgh.
5. Had a breakdown on Floor 5 of the library.
6. I made chilli con carne. I've never made it before, I was proud.
7. Bought 2 books, one cookbook, one amazing book.
8. Still haven't started my dissertation, don't have time/the motivation.

There we go, look, I'm a real person who does real people things.
Can you tell I'm feeling a little stressed and bitter about life?
I'll be over it by tomorrow, it's finnnnnneee.

Having a dumb week

My friend Chris said to me the other day - when we were discussing politics -"people sacrifice their life to it". It was weird, I was up watching the US midterms on BBC News 24, I was knackered, it was 2am and I was just mindlessly watching it, half concentrating, giving a small "woo" when the Democrats won/held anything. Today, when I was on the way to the library in the rain I was thinking about what Chris said. I read so much political crap on a daily basis, and genuinely feel like I know nothing, like it's useless knowledge. I know it's not completely useless, some of what I read does go and in and it does stick. Comparing myself to people who've made politics their life will never help. I think I'm just having one of those weeks where I feel very dumb. It's not the best of feelings, I blame all the bastard smart people at this university. Urgh, smart fuckers.

*rolls eyes*

I was on the bus the other day and there was a girl who said "There's nothing worth going further north of here for". Yep, anything north of Coventry is absolute wasteland. She did however, highlight how she does think Edinburgh is worth going to, as they have a massive ski-slope, and Newcastle (?!) as they have "fit geordie accents."

Really though? 

Sometimes Warwick students are twats. Pretentious ignorant twats.

Things that are embarrassing: #1

You listen to crap early 2000s pop music with flatmates one evening, later on you update your iPod, forgetting that everything on the 'Recently Played' playlist will be synced on to it.

The next day your iPod is on shuffle, you get into the Library lift, you're listening to a lovely acoustic song by Laura Marling and that song finishes, the next song comes on very loudly and everyone in the lift can hear it. One person even giggles. Everybody in the packed lift stares at you.

This is the song.

YouTube / Spotify

I should have just died. Right there.

The French.

This is boring if you don't care about French History, pensions or the British tutting about things.

In my seminar for Creating Social Europe this morning we were discussing the rise of Trade Unionism (and all the other things that came with Trade Unionism) in Britain, France and Germany. I find France's case particularly interesting, I'll give you a bit of background before I make my actual blog point.

They first began with the mutual (mutuelle if y'all want to get all French) in the Second Empire under Napoleon III in 1852. They were created to encourage stabilisation under a new regime, as the Second Republic had only lasted 4 years, obviously Napoleon III would rather his Empire lasted a teeny bit longer than the pitiful 4 years. By introducing mutuals there was some (although mutuals were hardly fabulous) form of social welfare, albeit limited in many ways (it was restricted to the Petit-bourgeoisie, particular crafts and it barely had any presence in rural France, oh and women were pretty much ignored...). The mutual supported the family, benefits were given to families, and were based on family need. Family was massively important (remember this for later), one of the main mantras of the Second Empire was that money should not be given from the rich to poor, but from the celibate to the family. This is to do with the Church often being the only form welfare for families, those who are celibate should promote and help the family and France's dwindling birth rate. In France there is something you don't really see here in Britain, intergenerational solidarity. Léon Bourgeois argued that people had a social debt, this is acquired due to your incapability to care for yourself when you are born, therefore you are cared for by family, friends and society. This debt is then repaid back when you are an adult, for example, in caring for elders.


Right, now that's out the way, here is my actual point...


In the past few weeks many people I know have gone to France for their year abroad (as they're doing language degrees). There have been many statuses on Facebook written about the strikes in France, and from a British perspective the strikes could be seen to be for a silly reason. They're raising the pension age from 60 to 62, doesn't seem like a big deal really. George Osborne revealed a much bigger rise in the pension age (particularly for women) yesterday in the Spending Review. He said that the pension age for men and women in this country will be 66 by 2020. Right ok. We've accepted this change, which will affect millions, and just said "Oh, ok, bit annoying, but I suppose it's fair". I'm not arguing that the retirement age shouldn't go up, it should, we're living longer, it makes sense (as long as pensions etc are not compromised). What I'm trying to get at is the difference in how we reacted, and the way the French reacted.


The reaction is so vastly different across the Channel. Anyone who says that the French are being ridiculous as "it's only two years" needs to understand that it isn't necessarily the increase that they're striking against. They're striking to prove a point, that they are a republic and that it isn't an autocracy, it's a democracy and President Sazkozy has no right to implement such a change in the law. Oh, and all the stuff I said before, about the intergenerational solidarity, do you see what I mean? The people striking are the young, students, adults, it isn't just a load of almost-retired oldies, it's everyone. There is something to be said for a load of people that go out on strike when the piece of legislation they're arguing against won't affect some of them for 40 years. 

Britain could probably do with scaring some politicians a bit, they get it far too easy in this country. I'm not saying we should be more like the French, *insert French joke about their army/food/Frenchmen here*, but you must get the idea. We tolerate so much, just look at the cuts the Coalition announced yesterday, it really is ridiculous.

Grrrrr.

I am disappoint.

Genuinely haven't found time to blog about anything. Despite having a list of things I want to vent about. I know you're all very disappointed. Anyway, go read some better stuff.

Here're some things I've starred on Google Reader in the past week.

Laurie Penny: 'The Sexy Way to Die'

Why cis attendees of Reclaim The Night are letting trans women down.

The Trouble with Hooters

Labour's universal discomfort

The social cost of variable tuition fees

Pictures of David Miliband looking stupid

Cameron cuts back on the truth

And the biggest news of all.
Sauron in bid to lead Tea Party Movement

I fucking love xkcd

Tuition fees ramble.

All the news can talk about at the moment is tuition fees (and the Commonwealth games, but I have no interest in that). This is due, as many of you may know, to the release of Lord Browne's report tomorrow and the whole 'Vince Cable doesn't want a graduate tax' thing that's been going on. I originally wrote "I'm not going to rant on", but that didn't happen. Never mind.

A lot of this rambling is heavily influenced by the fact I volunteer for Aim Higher in partnership with Warwick Volunteers, and therefore work with under-privileged children every week. I probably appear a little mental, sorry for that, but when you hear the kids reasons for not wanting to go to uni/further education, the importance of money isn't as high as the media like to portray. Oh and, I hate using the word 'poor', but seen as that's what the media have gone with, I'm using it, for consistency and such (not that the media is very consistent on a lot of things *rolls eyes*)

Couple of points I just want to clear up first.

• Firstly, I totally understand why people are bothered about higher tuition fees putting off poorer students, obviously it's really important, for the sake of social mobility and such, that poorer students have the opportunity to get a university education.
• Secondly, it makes sense that we pay tuition fees, higher education is expensive and if the government want so many people to enter higher education, it doesn't come cheap. However, tuition fees are largely subsidised by the government anyway. The £3290 that students pay isn't the entire fee. It's quite shocking how many students think that is the entire cost of them going to uni.
• Thirdly, if we're going to make students in England pay full fees (/any fees at all), we should probably extend this to everyone in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, right? Equality and all that...

Right, so...

Obviously higher tuition fees will put off some poorer people from going to university. But people seem to forget that those who are from poorer backgrounds get a lot of bursaries, and the maintenance grant. The people at uni who have less money are not the 'working class', it's those from middle income families. Students that are from families who earn middle incomes do not qualify for bursaries because their parents earn too much, yet their parents do not have the spare money to help their children through university. I know this isn't the main issue, but I do think it's important and often overlooked.

Right, obviously the tuition fees is main thing people are talking about, but
a) You don't pay that 'til after university.
b) You don't pay it until you're earning £15,000 or more
c) The rate at which you pay back your student loan is 9% of your total earnings. That's it. 9%.

Most people who are at uni now, who will finish in the next couple years, will owe around £20,000. I think that's how much I'll owe anyway, I think most people are around that or a few thousand more. So obviously tuition fees shouldn't go up, because being 21 with £20,000 of debt (and rising) is hardly the most amazing way to start your working life...The media are focusing largely on the fact it will put poorer students off, and yeah, fair enough, it will, but in all honesty, it's going to put everyone off who doesn't have parents that can fund you through uni. It's going to put poor people off AND a lot of middle income earners off. But those with middle incomes are more likely to suffer during there time at university.

Oh and other things I think I'll mention

• Higher education isn't the be-all-and-end-all. Why is no attention focused on apprenticeships etc.?
• I think having a society that focuses mainly on academic achievement isn't healthy.
• What should be tackled is the reasons why a lot children don't want to do any form of education after secondary school. I know there are connexions advisers and people like me who volunteer and teach people about other options after school (besides going straight into employment), but they aren't present in every school. AND if the Tories get their way, then ConneXions advisers will be cut from some areas where they are needed.

Obviously in a perfect world we wouldn't even pay tuition fees and everyone would have equal opportunities to everything, but this isn't going to happen anytime soon/ever. Blah. (Sorry for the pessimism, but it's true)

Bassiicaalllyyy, it's a mess and I don't want our system to end up like America's. End.

It never ennnddsss.

The Conservative Party Conference this week was genuinely the final nail in my conference coffin. My Google Reader is at 900 [Edit: by the time I finished this blog it was at 937, may have to dedicate a day to reading all that]. I feel like my brain is smushed with so much political blaaahh. I'm not complaining, I obviously like politics, or I wouldn't follow a million (/185, according to the reader) blogs. Not all of those blogs are political, I'm not that insane. (If anyone wanted a really good insight in to my brain then my Google Reader would be the best way in.)

Now the Shadow Cabinet has been announced, Lord Browne's report is coming out and then the Spending Review is in like, 9 days. These are the events I actually care about, there's a load of other stuff happening too. Blah.

Looking forward to Ed Miliband at PMQs (ok, not looking forward in the same way I would look forward to a holiday, but ya know...excited to see. Is excited too enthusiastic? You know what I mean.) Though it'll be his first and therefore probably a bit painful. Poor Mili-E. Although, saying that, his performance on The Politics Show was brilliant. I love when he says "come off it". He's such a joy. Hopefully he'll stick to acting human-like, it's going well so far.

(If you can spot in this blog where there should be a "That's what she said", then you can have a prize).

Yo, Feminists!

On Saturday 23rd October, the LFN are holding a feminist one-day conference. 

Speakers include: Helena Kennedy, Natasha Walter, Ceri Goddard, Nadje Al-Ali, Beverley Beech, Naana Otoo-Oyortey, Rebecca Mott, Leila Alikarami, Ann Rossiter, Finn Mackay, Heidi Mirza, Cynthia Cockburn, Rahila Gupta, Vera Baird, Pragna Patel and more.

EXCITED.

>> Feminism in London <<

Delirium *sings LadyHawke*

I'm currently sat in my university library, I've been waiting for an hour for some books (as Floor 5 is closed and it is also my second home, it's outrageous). So whilst the man gets everyone's books I am sat here trying to occupy myself and have thus turned to blogging. Ahhh, life. I realised that I can spellcheck all this too, as there is a blogger spellchecker. Internet Explorer - which is what our library computers all have - is the most archaic thing ever. It doesn't have a spellchecker, its slow AND it isn't even pretty. It's shite, basically. I don't know anyone who still uses it, even Meg -who was using it until Marchish this year- has now converted to the other browsers of joy.

Anyway, this blog has no purpose, I'm literally just bored out my face. I can't read any more political blogs, I've got my Google Reader down from 490 to 400 today, that is way more than my brain can deal with. I'm thirsty, hungry and I probably need to pee but I don't want to let my computer out of my sight, because random international students always leap on the computer, despite me being CLEARLY logged on. Anyway, I think I'm going delirious from all the things I just mentioned. I wish this man would hurry up. I want to go home and eat a mince pie. I so don't regret buying those mince pies, I don't give a shit if it's September, mince pies are amazing. In fact that's a lie, not all mince pies are nice, but these Co-op ones are lovely. Right done talking about mince pies.

Erm, today I read about Ed Miliband, Ed Miliband...and like...more Ed Miliband. Seriously, how many words can be written about this? It can't be much more surely? I think I've read everything ever about his election as Labour leader. I can't not read it, as I have a fear of missing out on some crucial information. It's one of the reasons I follow so many blogs, I feel like I need to know a lot of stuff about a lot of things. It gets very tiring. AND I'm not even that good at remembering any of it. I'm alright, but I'm rather clumsy with my knowledge, I tend to remember a lot of useless stuff and then the interesting stuff can only be retrieved once someone says it, which is USELESS. Apparently I'm meant to be getting a degree. Apparently I'm also in 3rd year. Urrgghhh, I need another 3 years at uni at this rate...*ponders about a masters...*

This is the biggest load of bollocks I've ever written. Although if you occasionally read my ramblings you probably have a favourite other shit post. My favourite is the one I did just before my Gender, Culture, Popular Media exam in 2nd year (I still got a 2:1 for that exam, so I can't be that bad at life). That was a stressful time, relieved by shit-blogging. It's very therapeutic (can't spell that, thank God for spellcheck).

I'm going to buy myself a cookie and get my books which should be here at some point...I've been waiting over an hour and a half :( AND I have no bag to carry them home in, so will have a carry a massive pile of books with my actual arms. How stressful is that :|

Oh and for those of you wondering why I'm getting books when term starts on Monday. I'm using my smartz and gettin' em befor everyone else wantz em. BOOM. Intelligence for you there *bows*

God, I properly need some tea...possibly a sleep.

hilarious/slightly cool/ridiculous

A few things (after narrowing it down a bit) that made the past 10ish months hilarious/slightly cool/ridiculous.


- All the day trips we had, whether they were to Stratford-upon-Avon, or to Barton Grange for tea and cake :)

- Going to Portcullis House for lunch with Cat and then pottering down to Tory MP Alan Duncan's office. Sitting on those incredibly padded green sofas watching Sky News, making small talk and waiting for tea. Listening to his John Major & Tony Blair impressions and getting a glimpse of the pictures around his room, including one of him and Thatcher. Cat's interview on the Rotary Club went well, my technology use went well and he said my scarf was nice. Ridiculous.

- Going to the Reclaim The Night march in London. Being slightly amazed by all the police by our sides and the amount of people watching. I don't want to say we were marching, because when there are that many of you and you're all shouting it turns in to a shuffle. So, we shuffled from Whitehall to just by King's Cross shouting a series of rhymes and generally just shouting and saying "wooo" a lot. Amazing experience. At the end of the march we had no voice and our legs has seized up from a lot of shuffling. (The headscarf was only temporary, there was RAIN).

- Going to Paris with Meg, Hannah and Susan. Seeing some old bands that hold an important place in my life. Seeing some bands I have a new found love for. Seeing the Eiffel Tower at night in the pouring rain, being drenched and wandering the streets of Paris attempting to sing Edith Piaf - Non, je ne regrette rien  at the top of our voices. Getting to the metro and singing the "voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir" line and embarrassing Meg (and ourselves) whilst doing so. Beautiful French boys, cheap (and good) wine and a generally amazing festival. Let's not forget about Ugly Naked Guy ;)

- Going to an Object event in London, Caitlin Moran, Susie Orbach, Diane Abbott and some random woman from Object who I didn't really like, were sat about 5 feet away from me. Which was an odd experience. They were hilarious (except that Object woman, it's not that I didn't like her, but her feminist ambitions were so very unrealistic that it made me not like her). Cat and I wandered around the room chatting to all these amazing women about feminist issues. Possibly the most grown-up I've ever felt (okay, except for when I voted) and also the most out of my depth I've felt. Such a weird experience.

Oh, and that whole 'being able to vote in a General Election' thing was quite cool.

Pope? Meh.

I have no opinion on the Pope's visit, I'm genuinely indifferent (hence the 'meh'), I wish people would stop brining up the cost though, it isn't important. Grr. It's a nice place to be, this indifference island. I was going to discuss why I don't care, but it's been done much better over at Enemies of Reason.

However, a couple of things anyway, as I always like a good(ish) write.

I don't like saying I'm an Atheist, but I don't believe in God. I don't really understand it either, but basically I get scared of calling myself an Atheist in case people lump me in with the religion-haters. I am certainly not a religion-hater. I also dislike Dawkins's whole 'religion is awful and it's corrupting our children and soon creationism will be taught in schools rather than evolution and the world is going to crumble if we don't bow down to the superior power of the Atheists' blah, shit. I have no problem with the man, I just think that he's become a big of a figurehead for Atheism and I don't agree with everything he says, so I don't really want to be part of his 'club'. Other than all of those issues, I'm probably an Atheist...maybe. I'm possibly an Agnostic, as I like the idea of something, not necessary a God. I like the idea of a presence, but something entirely subjective.

In general, religion can be nice and it can also be horrible. Like most things :)

(This post had a lot of "I"s in it. Sorry for that. I won't be so self-obsessed next time...)

Cute? You what?

Is being called cute a compliment? I know it's not necessarily a bad thing to be, but it's hardly something people aspire to be, is it? I'm only mentioning this because I'm often told (mainly by males, it'd be a whole different blog if it were women) that I am 'cute'. I never know how to take this, usually I just smile and say thanks,  what else am I meant to do? I can hardly get all defensive and say "WHAT? HOW DARE YOU! I'M A GROWN WOMAN*, HOW CAN I BE CUTE?" A) Because I don't particulary care enough to do that and B) I don't take being called cute as something offensive. I'm not dim, I know they aren't calling me cute in the same way they'd call a hyper toddler smushing cake on their face cute.

I'm intrigued though. Should I be offended? I just looked at the definition of cute and then looked at WeHeartIt pictures of cute and I've decided cuteness is pictures of couples kissing in true sarcastic indie fucks fashion, or small domestic animals.

I have two thoughts on this, my feminist one and my 'pah, just shut up and take the compliment' one.

Feminist one says - Cute is passive, it's informal, it's not taking things seriously. Something which we women totally have a habit for, ya know. It reminds me of an Alan Carr bit, he's discussing how his Dad doesn't trust him with 'man' things because he's gay *rolls eyes* and Alan Carr responds with "like I'm gonna come out of Dixons with a pony, oh what am I like!". I feel like this is what cute is, it's very just-going-to-pat-you-on-the-head-and-let-you-get-on-your-merry-little-way-sweetie.

'Pah, just shut up and take the compliment' one says - Being cute is a nice thing to be. It makes you feel all girly**. The dictionary seem to pounce on the whole 'informal' meaning of cute, and I'm totally agreeing, I am quite informal, I don't see this as a bad things, it helps me make friends easier and means I get on with people easier than if I was a walking piece of boring formalness.

At the moment, whilst I still have my youth, I will continue to enjoy being called cute. Then when I'm 35 I'll probably find it weird, who wants to be middle aged and called cute? It begins to sound tragic and a bit patronising at that age. I don't know why this rule changes when you become a pensioner, (well, I kind of do know, but again, that's another blog/academic-y essay). When I eventually hit 65, any man calling me cute will be on my radar, just sayin'. Gotta have those old lady options open, ya know.

*Okay, so maybe 20 isn't a grown woman (*plays Britney's Not A Girl Not Yet A Woman really loudly whilst singing into a hairbrush*)

**Note how I said girly and not womanly. The fact that men often use words that usually describe young girls to describe women is a bit odd, no?

I read some Marx and I liked it.

A few videos from the past week that have made me happy :)


I read some Marx and I liked it.


The bit where the picture says "didn't you know I was a LAD?" kills me. So funny. This video is true for so many of my friends, we all do arts degrees and watch obscene amounts of crap TV and genuinely fritter away our life discussing crap until stupid o'clock (/until essay deadlines are due, obviously).
If you don't follow the the guy that made this video on twitter, you should. His tweets are hilarious >> @lawrencegemmell.

The BBC are amazing. They have SO many videos up from Edinburgh Fringe Festival. This is one of my favourites > David O'Doherty: My Beefs.

(He does miss out the people who insist on being emo via Facebook. I'm kind of glad though, as those people deserve no more publicity than their own Facebook page.)

Another reason why the BBC are amazing, Grandma's House.

Hilarious. For odd reasons. I love it.








Because I haven't really mentioned music for a while (which is really unlike me), look here :)
http://open.spotify.com/user/sophieb1990/playlist/3gZ9sqBluAUMS0UyyNp9B5

Labour Leadership (for those of you that prefer politics-lite).

I've just watched the Labour Leadership Debate on Sky News, refereed  by Adam Boulton. Sky News clearly wasn't enjoying all the red light and talk of equality and such. They managed to get Adam Boulton to say the lyrics from The Red Flag. You could feel his insides crying.

Quick summaries of things I think. I'm partly doing this so that evaluate what I think. Many a blog and many an article has been read throughout this leadership contest, so typing it all out will be a nice way for me to finally evaluate my thoughts. (Finally evaluate? Surely that's what an evaluation is? It's final. Whatever, it's staying, it makes sense in my head).

I've decided that Ed Miliband is my favourite. I've put a picture up because his brother is in the leadership contest too, and people who aren't as obsessed (/weird) as me don't know the difference, which is fair enough. The main reasons I like MiliE is because I agree with his reasons for why Labour lost the last election completely. I do think that MiliE would be able to take the Labour Party in a different direction, one that actually reconnects with those that are disenfranchised by politics. MiliE is advocating things that I think matter, like the living wage, the graduate tax (rather than tuition fees or general taxation, as I agree with neither of these, it's probably because I want to teach, so I'm a little bit bias) and his views on capitalism and tax are incredibly similar to my own. So yes, MiliE it is :D.

Although, MiliD is kind of hot for a politician. Kind of kills me to say that, but he is. I agree with a few things he says, but his reasons for why Labour lost the election, his views on Higher Education and generally some of the things he says I just don't think are right. Which is kind of annoying, as I like MiliD, he was my favourite for a while, but he's kind of lost to his cooler lefter brother. I think he'd make a decent Labour leader though, I reckon he'd probably be the best out of all the candidates against David Cameron, you can just tell.

Andy Burnham is a treasure. I don't really need to say much more than that. He's clearly mega passionate about his job and generally seems to be a nice guy. I just can't see him as Labour leader...well not at the moment anyway. Oh,  AND he's northern and REALLY cool. Which is really important, clearly. (He's also fabulous).

 Ed Balls is nice enough (although note his lack of smiling in the group picture ^^. That's because Ed Balls smiling just creates some smug layer). I like him more after this debate, which I didn't think I'd ever say :|. I just cannot see him as the next Prime Minister. Come on? Really? I can't be the only one that thinks that. I just cannot see him at PMQs or giving any kind of heart-warming inspiring speech (because all politicians do that...all the time :|). He has this constant air of smugness that I just don't like. He's nice enough, I'd just rather he was in the cabinet, not the Labour leader.

Dianne Abbott needs to stop waving pens round like some giddy wizard. She also needs stop grinning, it's unnerving . Constant pen waving and grinning. I totally do not even ever slightly ever ever think of her being Labour leader. Could you imagine? She's just a bit all over the place. Imagine her trying to argue with David Cameron. There'd be pens waving about and nervous laughter everywhere, urgh. No, thank-you.

Good-day and happy Labour leadership voting to you all :)

Tinie Tempah - Mass Culture is Art

My lovely friend Cat has started a blog called Mass Culture is Art and I get the joy of being a contributor.

My first post is about Tinie Tempah's lyrical masterpiece 'Frisky' (you should all know me well enough by now to detect the sarcasm in my sentences)

"Tempah finds this woman and she is most definitely a ‘winner’. She’s clearly many things that chivalrous Mr. Tempah finds simply spine-tingling. Conditioned hair, a manicure, she talks lots and of course, she looks like a bit of sinner, which is just a nicer way of saying ‘she’s probably up for it’. It's hard to gather whether this song is about a one night stand or Tempah just having sex with a girl that likes him, but he doesn’t really care about that. Although, judging by these lyrics, he doesn't sound too pleasant about whatever it is he feels:

“Girl you better keep your distance I just wanna have eh eh,
I'm on a mission I don't even wanna kiss her,
Honey I won't even miss ya when I'm done with ya”

We all know that ‘eh eh’ is sex, but this song has to be played everywhere, so obviously the lyrics have been edited so they don’t sound at all explicit *rolls eyes*. In the video the two men have a nice laugh after saying ‘I won’t even miss ya when I’m done with ya’, lovely chaps. The fact that he doesn’t want to kiss her shows that he really just wants sex, kissing can often conjure a sense of intimacy that involves feelings, something that Tempah isn’t really looking for (something we've kind of gathered by now.) He has no feelings towards the woman he’s pursuing he wants to ‘pick her up, and put her down’, although he does think she’d be good on television, which is nice of him to notice. [read more]"

http://masscultureisart.blogspot.com/

Rock en Seine, Paris

This summer my holiday was to Paris for a music festival called Rock en Seine. This combines two things I absolutely love, live music and an amazing historical beautiful city. I love gigs, although I've stopped going to them recently because I suddenly feel really old, the crowds are always full of 15 year old children that are  incredibly hyper and generally pissing annoying. I understand being excited, but when that means you look like you've taken too many Es and you can't go 5 minutes without taking at least a handful of pictures of yourself, I don't want to be there to witness the horror.

The Music

The band I really wanted to see was Blink-182. As a mosher/emo teenager they were my life. I don't really listen to them anymore, but they still hold a really important place in my musicy mosher heart. They were amazing live, which I was quite shocked at, as I'd heard otherwise from quite a lot of people. They were amazing, I won't discuss it anymore, they were just fab.
I won't bore you with all the details of the music, you had to be there, definitely. Foals were brilliant live, probably the best I've ever seen. Electric Bloom was AMAZING, everything about the performance was perfect. I think I'm possibly in love with Yannis Philippakis. Well, I would be if it wasn't for a drunk Luke Pritchard coming on stage and being so incredibly drool-worthy. He's just so hot. 

Paris - It's probably better if I show you in pictures :)

The Smiths - Cemetery Gates lyrics at Oscar Wilde's grave.

Notre Dame

Pompidou Centre

Lovely.

Things that need a mention but I will not provide details:

Festival toilets, French boys, ugly naked guy, rain, the spider check song, Meg organised smugness, crepes, the amazing wine board, the amazing festival food, smoking, Patrice, "Yeah yes yeaah yeah yeah", Edith Piaf, singing in the Metro, French PDAs, Hannah's hat, SO MANY MORE (will edit and add when I can remember).

Things to make you think.

Sainbury's, you disappoint me.

I'm feeling too lazy to even bother writing any opinion crap (there's a first for everything), so here are a few things to make you think if any of you are...well, ya know, not thinking...
'Undercover with the young Conservatives' by Laurie Penny
'Graduate Tax: Stop the bullshit'
'Lady Gaga's sexual revolution sees female stars reach for the leather' by Polly Vernon
'Ed Miliband is right…'
'I'm an atheist but this anti-Catholic rhetoric is making me nervous' by Padraig Reidy
Nice bit of variety for you lovelies :)

Being "girly"

If you're male and you're reading this you probably want to stop in case I bore your face off with crappy girly words. You've been warned.

I've always been slightly obsessed with things that are girly. Not in an "omg everything I own should be pink" kind of way, I'm not insane (and I'm not that big a fan of pink). Instead, my way of being obsessed with girly has been, either really avoiding being girly or, really liking being girly. I've wanted to write this blog for quite a while, mainly because I've always had rather a warped idea of femininity and writing about this sort of thing always helps me. I think it's only in the last 6 months that I've actually sorted my idea of femininity out. I think a lot, I've gathered I'm weird. Shush.

When I was 15 I wore baggy jeans, t-shirts, thick black eye-liner, had a massive emo fringe and wore hoodies with stupid badges on. I was pretty sure my parents either thought I was a lesbian, a social reject or both. Everyone I knew was 'quirky' and I was a proper geek. Femininity was so the last thing I wanted to have, mainly because I thought femininity meant all I wanted to do in life was attract guys and be all "let's paint our nails, giggle and watch rom-coms". Basically, I associated femininity with being ditzy.

When I went to college I met some of the best people, people who wore skirts and dresses. Oh how they saved me. I also met quite a few guys who were very in to the whole "women should be good housewives, look after the children and basically have no lives" idea. Seriously, where was my college, the fucking 1950s? Why didn't I just hit them instead of taking this all on-board and ruining my self-esteem and brain for a good(/stupid) 3 years? Anyway, I was easily influenced and I decided that I hated feminism, and that I totally wanted the 2.4 children, loving husband, and the white picket fence (I'm currently feeling a little sick writing this). Mission: Become More Girly was in operation. I was pretty shit at it to be honest, I'm not into looking really groomed all the time. By the time the end of sixth form appeared I was completely different to 15 year old Sophie. Some people had never seen me in trousers, ever. This was now normal. I was totally on the way to the 1950s, except ya know...I was going to university and all that 'having rights' shit. Pretty good shit, really.

Going to uni meant a few things.
- Being lumbered with feminists.
- Being lumbered with people who thought being a housewife would be boring.
- Being lumbered with girls who were smart AND feminine (clearly freaks).

No matter what age you are, being feminine is something women worry about. I know that I still worry about it, and this is me, a girl with long hair, always painted nails, I do the girliest subject at uni and I wear dresses and skirts everyday. I'm a proper girl (don't take that proper as in people who don't do that aren't girls, that would make you an idiot for reading it that way). However, I do wonder, if I just stopped doing all that would I still be girly? Would I even care? It slightly depresses me, because I'd massively care and I've no idea why. Some feminists make out that wearing make-up and spending time on grooming is just ridiculous, it's another way of keeping women 'down'. I don't think that things that are classed as 'girly' should necessarily be a weakness, why can't we just embrace these things rather than accusing them of being harmful to feminism?

Seriously, I'm all for sharing this girly shit, a lot of men could seriously do with some make-up.

Life.