iblog

Jeanne: Here’s another troubling abortion-related issue in light of Kayleigh’s recent blog.

Female foeticide has long been a problem in a number of Asian countries, especially India. However, researchers and social workers now believe that many UK Asians may be choosing to abort female foetuses rather than experience the ‘shame’ of having a female child.

The study, carried out by Oxford University examined birth statistics within the Asian community between 1990 and 2005. It found that 1,500 girls are missing from national birth data in England and Wales. In addition, the proportion of sons born to Asian women has been steadily increasing since the 1970s. In 1970, statistics suggest that 103 British Asian boys were born for every 100 girls. Between 2000 and 2005, however, the ratio had increased to 114 boys for every 100 girls. The difference may appear small, indeed insignificant, but it is a trend which can only really be explained by female foeticide. Dr, Sylvie Dubec, who was responsible for undertaking this study has underlined the problem posed by sex-selective abortion:

“According to my calculation around 1,500 girls are missing… it’s significant compared to the total number of births.”

However, this is a trend that is likely to continue. In India, the perceived superiority of the male child is a widely held notion. Many British Asian women state that they abort female foetuses in order to avoid pressure back home. Speaking anonymously to the BBC, one lady described her thoughts on learning the sex of her baby:

“Unfortunately, it was another girl. My husband and I thought the burden would probably be too much and the pressure when I got back home. So we decided to terminate.”

As a reflection of the extent of this problem, many British Asian women are willing to go back to their countries of origin simply to abort female foetuses. This is despite the fact that, officially at least, female foeticide has been illegal in India since 1980. However, during the last 25 years some seven million girls have been reported as ‘missing’ from Indian population statistics. Without government action, there is every chance that this sorry tale will be repeated in the UK as well.

Kayleigh: The BBC has discovered that women are still having back street abortions even though they were made legal over 40 years ago.

A BBC undercover reporter posed as an illegal immigrant who was 6 weeks pregnant and went ‘for help’ to special Chinese herb shops in East London. One of the staff who worked at the Shanghai Herbal and Acupuncture Centre offered to help her. He said:

“If you see the bleeding come out, that’s fine, some people don’t. I need to call another company, from China, [they will] deliver it to here, you understand?”

He then sold her a drink for £40 so she would have a miscarriage.

Currently in the UK, an abortion is only legal up to 24 weeks. Some desperate women, often teenagers and younger women, feel they have to turn to illegal abortions to get the help they need. Professional private abortions can cost between £350 and £750, so you can imagine it can be difficult for some to find this kind of money.

Whilst I do not agree with illegal back street abortions, I do think the waiting list for abortions is far too long on the NHS and needs to be looked at. Abortion can be a traumatic experience for any woman to go through, and women shouldn’t have to feel they have to turn away from their healthcare service in order to get one.

Kayleigh: The England football team are out of Euro 2008 after they were beaten 3-2 by Croatia, leaving the nation in a state of mourning.

England’s manager Steve McClaren has also been sacked as has his Assistant coach Terry Venables.

The England manager said: “It is a sad day to have been relieved of my duties but I understand the decision of the FA. I have huge been a disappointment for the nation and fans. But I will learn from my failure.”

Chief Executive of the FA who sacked McClaren, said: “I’d like to apologise to the fans personally. I care about this passionately, it has never been just a job. I’m in it because I care about football, football fans and football teams.”

Peter Crouch, England’s striker, was very disappointed with the result. He said: “The fact we expected to qualify and we haven’t done is the most disappointing thing. Once we get it out of the system we can look at where we went wrong in the other games as well.”

The England players were saddened to hear the news that McClaren had been sacked. Micah Richards, England defender said: “I was sorry to see Steve McClaren sacked as England manager but, after we failed to qualify for Euro 2008, I wasn’t shocked. The players definitely thought he was the right man for the job but when you are England manager you get assessed on results.”

Even the Sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe had something to say about the game: “It’s hugely disappointing not to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals.”

Fans are not so forgiving however and many are blaming the performance of England on Steve McClaren, and are angry he has been given a £2 million payout. Peter Cooper, a football fan from Manchester said: “McClaren was rubbish; everyone knew it from the start.”

England haven’t failed to qualify for a major tournament since the 1994 World Cup.

The FA have now started to recruit for the next England manager. Potential candidates include Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill, former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, and even Alan Shearer.

When it comes to the World Cup and the Euro, I think we all want the boys to do well. It is very unfortunate we will not be in the competition next summer. Let’s just hope the boys work hard and we get a good manager who will lead us into the World Cup in 2010.

For more Football news - please visit TalkFootball.co.uk

Rushda: Yesterday it was announced that two CDs containing the “confidential details of 25 million child benefit recipients” had been lost by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). These discs hold data such as the names, addresses, dates of birth, and even bank details of every family who has a child under the age of 16 in the UK. The news has understandably alarmed millions of families, with many panicking and distressed over what will happen to their personal details. The loss marks a huge let-down by the government for incompetency - failing to protect parents and children against serious dangers such as identity fraud.

In an emergency statement 10 days after the discovery of the loss, Chancellor Alistair Darling consoled the public by saying that it is not yet clear what has happened to the missing records, but there was no evidence the data had got into the wrong hands. This must, however, have offered little comfort when he explained that:

“The missing information contains details of all Child Benefit recipients: records for 25 million individuals and 7.25 million families.”

Darling explained that certain serious mistakes were made by junior officials at HMRC who sent off the discs to the National Audit Office without adhering to strict security procedures. Apparently, the data on the discs was not even sent by any form of recorded or registered delivery post, let alone properly encrypted on the CDs themselves. However, Darling insists that no one will suffer as a result of these failings as there are strong measures in place that will not allow anyone to suffer any financial loss. Banks and authorities have been alerted, although everyone should still make sure they check their bank accounts regularly “for any unusual activity.”

I really don’t understand how the government can tell us all not to panic. They insist that the data hasn’t fallen into the wrong hands and yet have no idea where it is! It’s staggering to think that so much personal data is even at risk, let alone actually lost. There are so many questions about the issue that even if the data is retrieved now (and I sincerely hope it is soon), this has still put a huge blot on the public confidence with the government. It will be tricky winning their trust again, especially with the plans to introduce further risky systems such as identity cards.

For those who are concerned, an advice line has been set up by the HMRC on 0845 302 1444.

Kayleigh: The online bookseller Amazon has created a digital bookreader - The Kindle- which can store up to 200 books.

Amazon’s aim was to create a devicethat could provide its consumers with a wider variety of entertainment, like the Ipod does with music.

The device is about about the same size as a standard paperback, weighs around 290g, and offers access to about 90,000 books and 11 daily newspapers.

“We’ve been working on Kindle for more than three years,” said Amazon boss Jeff Bezos. “Our top design objective was for Kindle to disappear in your hands -to get out of the way so you can enjoy your reading.”

Once you have bought a Kindle, however, (which is £195) that doesn’t mean you get to read these books for free. Costs range from 75 cents to download a national newspaper and classic books cost around $1.99 each. Best sellers are naturally pricier, and can be downloaded for $9.99, but it is still cheaper than books bought in a store.

The device also offers access to online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia, and about 300 blogs. It can also play MP3 music files and has a slot so it can store a memory card which enables it to hold hundreds of books.

“We want to make sure everything anyone wants to read is on the Kindle,” said Laura Porco, Amazon’s director of digital text. “We won’t stop until we can offer millions of books.”

Although I think this is a good invention, and is good for book lovers, I myself will not be buying one. Why buy a device that costs almost £200 when you can read the books for free online on your laptop?

Kayleigh: Celebrities such as Girls Aloud, Leona Lewis, and Penny Lancaster have all posted personal clips on YouTube aiming to help people who are being bullied.

The clips were made because of the increasing number of ‘happy slapping’ videos that are being filmed with mobile phones and then published online for all to see.

The stars are asking people to use the beat bullying channel on YouTube which is designed to help children who are being bullied. On the channel, children and teenagers can share their own experiences of bullying and can give each other help and advice.

Many people are bullied online, through social networking sites and emails. Many young people have also received death threats by text messages.

Singer Kimberley Walsh from Girls Aloud said:

“Happy-slapping may be funny to you, until it is a member of your family sat at a bus stop being slapped. How would you feel if someone made a humiliating video of you or a member of your family and put it online for everyone to see? This year more than 20 people will take their own lives in the UK alone because of bullying. It’s not funny.”

Penny Lancaster said on her clip: “My main memories of school are when I was bullied. I had one boy race his bike up against the back of my legs and I was bleeding and I couldn’t really hide that so I’d go home crying, it was very traumatic.”

Beatbullying director Sarah Dyer said: “The Beatbullying YouTube channel will revolutionise how young people access information on how to avoid being bullied and, importantly, on how to avoid being a bully. It is frighteningly easy for a young person who would never consider being a bully in real life, to do something online which they think is funny or humorous but in fact is a terrible act of bullying.”

I am really glad celebrities have done these videos. Bullying isn’t acceptable and maybe bullies will think twice when they see their favourite celeb disapproving of their behaviour. Bullying is a serious matter, and many children and teenagers take their own lives because of it. I hope this videos will help tackle bullying in Britain.

Rushda: A recent case involving a man who was caught simulating sex with a bicycle has sparked a human rights debate about the unfairness of his sentence. 51-year-old Robert Stewart has been put on 3 years probation for what has been classified as a “sexually aggravated breach of the peace,” even though he performed the act behind closed doors. The act was discovered accidentally when the room door was unlocked by the housekeeper at Aberley House Hostel in Ayr.

Despite Stewart denying the claim and pleading that it was simply because he’d had too much to drink, the cleaners were shocked when they discovered him and quickly called the police. Stewart has subsequently been added to the Sex Offenders Register for 3 years as well as being on probation.

Like many who have protested, I can’t understand the grounds upon which Stewart was sentenced. Surely had the case been in public the situation would have been different, but in Stewart’s case, despite the very unsavoury nature of his activity, he was doing it in what he thought was his own privacy with an inanimate object. It is no different, notes one internet blogger, than discovering a woman using a vibrator, and yet that would have by no means resulted in the same kind of sentence that Stewart received:

“Apart from the fact that the sex toy was manufactured for the purpose, and a bicycle wasn’t, I really don’t see that the two acts are all that different.”

Furthermore, Human rights lawyer John Scott is concerned about the conviction and has said that raises important issues about privacy. He says:

“It certainly prompts questions about what people can and can’t do behind closed doors with inanimate objects. However, the difficulty is that the man involved in this case pleaded guilty to a breach of the peace, so these issues of privacy weren’t considered by the court. The sheriff had to act on the guilty plea and make a decision about whether or not there was a sexual nature to the offence. Clearly there was, and that’s why the man has ended up on the register.”

I personally think that such situations should cause one to question their taboos, especially when they result in legal action. It is a shame that such a liberal society is still allowed to punish people for harmless activities behind closed doors. The poor man was not only shamed and humiliated by the ruling but will now suffer other consequences forsomething that didn’t harm anyone. Whether he admits to a crime or not should be independent of whether he is guilty or not.

Rushda: You wouldn’t have thought it a couple of years ago, but now high-waisted jeans are finally coming back into fashion. Thankfully, one of the benefits of this is no more “muffin top” - the unflattering flab which overhangs your trousers. Though no one would deny that hips are great, muffin tops have become something of an embarrassment for everyone caught displaying them. And yet for anyone who is not a supermodel, it seems inevitable. So are high-waisted trousers the answer? Marks and Spencer certainly seem to think so, and the whole of their next summer’s wardrobe will be filled with them.

The term “muffin top” has now become such a vocabulary mainstay that it is even in the dictionary now. It conjures up the perfect visual image - only one that is not so sweet. Originally popularised by Australian comedy Kath and Kim, shown on BBC Two, it is now a term almost every woman knows and fears. Apparently the blame for muffin tops goes to designers, whose outfits, whilst fitting the models perfectly, do not seem to translate to an average British audience. As Andrew Groves, head of fashion at Westminster University says:

“They worry about what looks good on the proportions of a model but not your average woman. As a result, there is a mismatch of image from the catwalks to the High Street.”

But remember before you go to rush out to buy a new pair of high-waisted trousers to hide your bulges that even with high-waisters there is a bulge problem, only this time it will be your tummy. It’s a sad fact that for many women, though they will now have more of a choice, what a choice it will be: looking like a muffin or looking pregnant.

Personally, however, I don’t think there is really so much to fear. I think the obvious rule still stands that if you are overweight then anything to you wear that is too tight (low-waisted or high-waisted) is going to look terrible. Furthermore, it is obvious that the different styles of jeans out there are designed to suit women with different body shapes. When will women realise that wearing what looks good and not what fashion dictates is the ultimate fashion gospel?

Kayleigh:

Schools are failing to give diabetic children the help they need in the classroom, and are increasingly relying on parents to help.

Research shows that a remarkable 70% of schools asked parents to come in and inject their child with insulin if the child could not do it themselves. Diabetic children are also missing out on school trips because of their condition, a research study by Diabetes UK found. The findings were released on World Diabetes Day.

Douglas Smallwood, Chief Executive of Diabetes UK, said: “This research confirms what too many parents have been telling us - that children with diabetes get a raw deal at school. Every aspect of school life is important, whether it’s access to the support needed to manage a child’s diabetes and protect their long-term health, or crucial social elements like sports and trips.”

The survey also showed that school staff and teachers are not given the training they need to help diabetic children, and wouldn’t know how to help them in an emergency situation. This is bad news because results from the National Diabetes Audit revealed that 83 % of children are not achieving recommended blood glucose levels, increasing their risk of developing serious complications of diabetes.

Diabetic children may miss out on sport, school trips and extra curricular activities as staff do not have the training to handle situations that may arise.

Most children with diabetes are around 10-14 years old, and suffer from type 1 diabetes, which means they need a daily insulin injection to balance their blood sugar levels.

A new website has just been set up by Diabetes UK for teenagers to help and give them advice about their condition, called MyLife.

Although I do not expect every teacher to be able to treat diabetic children, I do think there should be quite a few staff in each school who receive training to handle emergencies. I do not think it is fair for parents to come into school and give their child their daily injection, they should be able to go about their daily lives while their kids are at school knowing they are safe.

Rushda: Yesterday marked a sad and embarrassing day for the British judiciary system. Despite finally convicting the real killer of 11-year-old Lesley Molseed, who was murdered in 1975, this also confirmed the terrible injustice towards a poor man who was sent to prison for sixteen years for the crime despite being innocent. Stefan Kiszko was charged with the murder of Lesley 2 months after her body was found, and jailed for life. He spent all of his time in prison protesting his innocence and only in 1992 was his appeal upheld and he was allowed to leave. Sadly, he died shortly after, and this event was marked as the “worst miscarriage of justice of all time.”

The real murderer, who has recently been convicted, is Ronald Castree, who is now 54 years old. After a prolonged investigation and the emergence of compelling new evidence, Castree has been linked to the crime. Castree preyed on his vulnerable victim when she was walking down the road doing an errand for her mother. He not only sexually assaulted her but stabbed her numerous times in the heart and lung before leaving her for dead on the Moors in Yorkshire. What is most chilling is that he then carried on his life as usual as though nothing had happened.

The aunt of Stefan Kiszko, though hurt by what was obviously a harrowing ordeal, is glad that the real murderer has finally been caught and her nephew’s name can be cleared for good. In a statement she said:

“Castree has had the best years of his life already. He killed that girl when he was 21, just a couple of weeks after having a baby himself. Unbelievable. I feel sorry for his wife and children. They have lived with this monster for years without knowing what he has done. They are the innocent ones. Our family knows what it is like to be marked as being associated with a child killer.”

Though everyone will be glad that justice has finally been done, it is ever so tragic that it came so late. There can be no compensation for Kiszko who was humiliated, beaten up in prison, and made to live in a separate cell for his own safety. It is believed that Kiszko’s giant lumbering size and child-like personality led him to be a strong suspect in the case. However, it is revealed that his immaturity was the result of a medical condition and he was completely innocent.

One cannot come to terms with the horrific acts Castree committed which not only destroyed one innocent life but two. Now that he will serve the rest of his life in jail, justice has finally been done.