State substitution.

'Weak states have been further weakened by an inability to deal with the political and social turmoil and rebellion resulting from globalization. Often economic liberalization and deregulation have been accompanied by a reduction in the role of the state - in both the economy and society, in the developing world (whilst in industrialized countries over the past two decades of globalization, a solid core of governmental activity has remained untouched - and untouchable such as the National Health Service in the United Kingdom). In developing countries where governments were often weak to begin with, `rolling back the state' in order to enhance global competitiveness has left a vacuum of political authority. This has been clearly demonstrated around the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean where after state subsidies and basic services were cut back during the 1980s, Islamic groups and other non-state actors quickly stepped in to substitute for the government: providing health care, soup kitchens, education and other social services. The substitution, however, had deeper implications for the state since many non-state actors did not just provide social goods, rather they mounted a direct challenge to the authority and legitimacy of the state.'

- The Political Economy of Globalization (By Ngaire Woods) 

"Oedipus was the first mother fucker"

People who are younger than you and achieve massive things are rather annoying. I'm only 20 years old (which is pretty young...) yet people younger than me are multi-millionaires. Uhhhh. Saying that, I lack any specific talents; I make a good brew and I'm kinda useful in an argument but you can't really make money off that. Anyway, all of this has a point - I recently went to see Bo Burnham at the Arts Centre on campus. He is younger than me by a whole couple of months. A whole couple of months. Guh.

Bo Burnham is as close to my perfect comedian as I'm ever going to get. He calls himself an 'artist' throughout the show, and whilst he says this in an arrogant and rather satirical tone, there is an air about Burnham that I believe permits him to say he's an artist (maybe it’s just me that thinks this). His show was a wonderful conglomeration of music, comedy and theatricals; and his flexibility as a performer is completely captivating. Naturally I can’t help but sit there with my mouth slightly open and my eyes glazed over as I stare and swoon.

He has a rather camp vibe to him which I’m pretty sure he has because he’s really tall. Pretty much everyone I meet who is tall and skinny also happens to be quite awkward (...and camp); I think it’s because you’re quite aware of your height and so you’re not really sure how to hold yourself and that translates into looking camp (hand on the hip type thing). I only say this because I’m tall(ish, I’m 5’8”) and when I’m surrounded by lots of short women my body language is really awkward (the fact I’ve noticed this is a step towards progress, woo!). His campness is quite charming, there was an amazing bit where he was talking about how his Dad always thought he was gay and how surprised he was by this...he then threw glitter and confetti all over himself in a beautifully camp manner. Love it.

Anyway, here's some of his stuff for you to watch and love. His show was amazing and I would recommend it to anyone. A couple of the new songs he played look brilliant too. You all must go and see his show if you ever get the chance :D 

Two albums are also on Spotify.

(By the way, he took the piss out of Michael McIntyre - it was HILAIR)

Results Limbo

I finished my degree over three weeks ago now, naturally I have done nothing of any importance since then. I've applied for a few jobs, edited my CV, got drunk, danced around the house, got drunk, did a bit of tidying, seen friends for food and brews and slept a lot. It's super nice, if a little empty - I'll worry about the emptiness when I go home in a week...maybe

There's just something really nice about not having my results yet. I've had a few nightmares, which have obviously been horrible. It's not that I think I'll fail, I'm 100% sure I've passed, I'm just worried about what I'll get. Guh. However, now I know when results day is the nightmares have stopped. Thank God.

Current love of life. Need to see the new X Men film so that I can swoon over him more than I already do.

Degree = Finished

Now that my degree is over (I know, how exciting/scary) I will probably using this dear blog to type something a little bit more profound (maybe) to what I usually write across the internet. Let's keep in mind most of my writing on the internet is either in a Facebook chat box or on Twitter, so it's not that hard to write something more profound, all I have to do is probably spell a little better and not think in 140 characters or less. Difficult timez guyz. So yeah, no promises, innit.

I write in such a chatty manner, I'm glad I never have to see "quite informal writing style" on another list of essay criticisms ever again. I don't write like this in essays, but sometimes I get a little chatty and when it's 3am and I'm on 700 words of a 2500 word essay, I'm hyped up due to too much sugar (Haribo and a little sugar in my tea when I'm feeling adventurous) and I would like to be in bed rather than writing about policies that probably didn't work or had some irritating ever-lasting mark of ridiculous (ASBOs, I'm looking at you).

This blog post isn't anything really, I'm just sad that it's all over. I'm currently approaching it with humour, in about a months time expect me to be crying and uploading a picture via iPhone Blogger of me chained to Warwick's University House. Don't do that face at me. It could happen.