iblog

Virgil: Students ahoy! If you're at University then it's likely you have a student bank account. If you have a student bank account then its likely you have an arranged overdraft limit for which you aren't charged. This amounts tends to range from £300 (Halifax) to £1000 (HSBC). If so, here's a tip. Before closing your account, make use of this free cash. Take out the entire overdraft and put it in an ISA or similar high-interest account somewhere else. You can then collect interest on the free cash until you reach your time-limit. Finally, put it all back and close up, then walk away with an extra £50. Neat, no?

Rushda: My recent ethics essay for my course at university considered the question of whether you can believe something is right and yet do something completely different. Quite fitting, therefore, to read about Yassin Omar, one of the men recently accused of attempting to detonate a bomb on the London tube. As if it wasn't already terrible enough that he could willingly participate in such barbaric destruction, he was also apparently completely against such acts only a little while prior to performing them himself. One can probably think was that these comments were just a cover-up in preparation for his big day. But from reading about it further, it really does seem that he believed the things he said. He was apparently always committed to the belief that extremists were giving Islam a bad name. So what happened? How could a charity giver always going on about peace be a bloodthirsty terrorist? I have no idea, and worryingly, I doubt many people do.

Rushda: In the age of dating agencies and websites, it is almost refreshing, though perhaps a tad bizarre, to see signs of a more, shall we say, traditional approach to forming relationships. By this I am unfortunately not talking about conventional dating tactics. A group of lonely farmers in Wales have started to advertise their availability by putting photos of themselves on milk cartons. This stems from the idea that "the country is a hard place to find a date", and could be the start of a whole new venture in terms of rural matchmaking. Good luck to them I say, though I'm a little bemused at the lengths people go to avoid talking in person!

Rushda: Why oh why is it that when I have a money off voucher, I end up spending more than I would have done otherwise? Like other avid shoppers, I've sometimes found myself getting tangled in a strange vicious circle with my own money-saving schemes. So let's just say I have a £5 off voucher which I get for spending £10 or more on something. I then naturally use this voucher on something that costs £15 (not being able to find something I like cheaper), something i wouldn't have bought otherwise but simply bought because it looks good that I'm saving a third of the total. That means I've spent £10 again and get yet another voucher. The cycle keeps repeating, I keep spending more money, and I keep ending up with the stuff I shouldn't have bought. Make sure you don't get trapped!

Caroline: An extract from Jasvinder Sanghera's book "Shame", published in this week's Sunday Times makes chilling reading. She ran away from home in 1980 aged 15 to avoid an arranged marriage. 27 years on she has not been forgiven. She has devoted much of her life to setting up a chain of refuge and advice centres for South Asian women escaping from arranged marriages, domestic violence and honour killings. The suicide rate amongst these women is three times the national average and Jasvinder's own sister killed herself by setting herself alight. On Fri the House of Lords will debate a bill on forced marriages. Although this is just a start it is a step in the right direction. As Jasvinder says in her book, forced marriages are not an issue of cultural understanding. It is about people abusing other people.

Caroline: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome has suffered a bad press for the last 20 years. It has been described dismissively as being yuppy flu, all in the mind and the disease for those with nothing better to worry about. Part of the problem was that until recently there has been no proof of physiological abnormality, hence the wide-held belief that it was nothing but a touch of hypochondria. Researchers in America discovered last summer that patients with CFS have a set of proteins in their spinal cord fluid, not present in healthy people. This must come as good news to the 250,00 UK sufferers. 55,000 of those are bed bound or house bound according to a recent survey - an awful enough state without being thought of as malingerers.

Caroline: Well done to Marks and Spencers. They are opening a one stop bridal shop where brides will no longer have to fork out thousands of pounds on their wedding dress, at a time when there are so many other financial demands. There are twelve dresses in their collection in champagne, cream and white, costing between £59 and £175. Morning suits for the groom are also available at under £200 for the jacket, trousers, waistcoat, shirt and cravat. At the moment all this is available only online but will be hitting the High St in the near future.

Caroline: Whatever could Glen Johnson have been thinking of when he tried to steal a toilet seat and taps from B and Q? He was spotted by a security guard and given an £80 fine when police were called. As a Portsmouth player he earns £30,000 a week so I can hardly believe that financial reasons lie behind the crime. Presumably he is not suffering from the same mental health problems as Winona Ryder, the other celebrity shop-lifter so all I can think is that this was a so-called "laugh" by a couple of "lads" - what an example to set to all the young fans who look up to him as a role model. Sadly the fine is hardly likely to have dented his pocket. Perhaps a bit of enforced community service a la Boy George would make sure he is never tempted to do it again.

Rushda: I've often wondered if teachers who dish out punishments for petty crimes are just on a power-trip. In a recent case, a teenager was given a detention simply for eating an apple in the school grounds, the reason being that it was against the rules to be eating anywhere other than in designated eating areas. My most natural reaction to reading this was to think, oh for goodness sake, it's only an apple! Whilst I do understand that such punishments are there to enforce discipline and promote good behaviour, I do fully empathise with the student in question. I remember times at school when I frustratingly had to pay huge prices for breaking arbitrary rules. I was always a sensible and well-mannered student, but sometimes even I was made to feel like a criminal.

Rushda: Scientists have discovered an unusual dwarf planet the size of Pluto in the outer solar system which could become the brightest comet ever known. The large lump of rock, shaped like a rugby ball, could be in close encounter with the planet Neptune. If there is indeed a collision, it may be catapulted into the inner solar system and become the most magnificent sight in the sky. Only problem is the process will take around two million years. How I wish I could still be around to see it!