iblog

Steve Robinson: Fabio Capello was made England manager yesterday, a move that should give England fans a renewed sense of hope following the disappointing failure to qualify for Euro 2008. The former Real Madrid manager has signed a four-and-a-half year deal, with an option to terminate after the 2010 World Cup.

“I am delighted that Fabio Capello has agreed to become England Manager. When we set out to recruit the new manager, we said we were committed to appointing a world-class candidate. In Fabio Capello we have that man.

Brian Barwick, FA Chief Executive

Capello had been touted as firm favourite since Mourino ruled himself out last week. The FA were keen to stress however that Capello was their number one choice, and the appointment was unanimously agreed by the FA Board on Thursday. The appointment comes only three weeks after Steve McClaren’s reign came to an end with the defeat at Wembley to Croatia. The new manager begins work on Monday 7 January with his first game scheduled for 6 February, a home friendly against Euro 2008 hosts Switzerland.

Capello has an impressive CV. The Italian started his playing career with SPAL before moving to Roma, Juventus and AC Milan. He was part of the Italian national side for four years, gaining 32 caps and scoring 8 goals. In 1991 he became coach at AC Milan, with whom he won Serie A four years out of five, culminating in the UEFA Champions League victory over Barcelona in 1994. He later coached Roma and Juventus, winning the league with both, before returning to Real Madrid where he again won the Spanish league title. Although he has never coached at international level, Capello has worked with the top players in Europe, as well as being a former international player himself, and so is well qualified to lead England forward.

The FA announced they would scour the world for contenders, and take as long as they deemed necessary to find the right man, given the next competitive game is not until September 2008. Yet, England were without a manager for just three weeks, a move that has been rightly called into question. However, the FA singled out their man and went for him, a decisive trait they lacked when searching for Sven-Goran Eriksson’s replacement. In Capello, the FA have found an extremely capable manager. Put simply, the FA deserves praise, despite their previous failings, and England fans should look forward to the future.

To read more about this and other Footballing stories - go to TalkFootball.co.uk

Image: Flixya.com

Rushda: Despite most Britons still celebrating Christmas with the same kind of vigour as before, a new study has found that fewer and fewer people know the details of the birth of Christ. Indeed the survey has suggested that “more than a quarter of adults in Britain do not know where Jesus was born.”

The survey was conducted for public theology think tank Theos, which found that only 27% were able to identify Bethlehem as Jesus’ birthplace. The same percentage also accounts for those who did not know who told Mary that she was about to have a son. Young people were affected the most as around one-third of them could not say much about the birth of Christ. According to Paul Woolley, director of Theos:

“The fact that younger people are the least knowledgeable about the Christmas story may reflect a decline in the telling of Bible stories in schools and the popularity of nativity plays. No one seriously thinks that being a Christian or a member of the established church is the same thing as being British today. But, at the same time, if we are serious about social cohesion we can’t afford to ignore the stories that have bound us together as a culture for 1,000 years.”

Personally, what I find particularly dismaying is that traditional Christmas does seem to be vanishing from schools as well, with only 1 in 5 schools putting on a nativity play this year. For me, the yearly nativity play was an indispensable aspect of school life as a child and I always waited for it impatiently, regardless of whether I believed the story was true. It seems a shame, therefore, that so many children will miss out on all the features of it which made it so great - the festivities, the community spirit, and the general excitement which accompanies it.

Though I am not a Christian myself, I empathise with those who think that there would be something lost if people started forgetting about the traditional story of the birth of Christ. A little bit of thought behind the festivities would certainly not go amiss for anyone.

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.

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.

Kayleigh: Tory leader David Cameron has announced he is going to pledge for tougher rape laws in the UK after it was found that rapists in the UK escape being punished more than any other country in Europe.

Cameron’s plans include teaching pupils in school early on that when someone says no to sex it means ‘no’ and also intends to put more funding into rape crisis centres.

At current, only 5.7% of reported rapes cases result in a conviction, and it is a wonder if all women report rapes with such an off-putting percentage, not to mention the emotional trauma they have to go through.

Mr Cameron said:”Studies have shown that as many as one in two young men believe there are some circumstances when it’s okay to force a woman to have sex. To my mind, this is an example of moral collapse.”

At current, the average prison sentence for rape is seven and a half years, with a minimum of five years for offenders over 18 years.

At current, there are only 45 rape crisis support centres left in the UK, meaning victims face waiting lists of up to 7 months.

Katherine Rake, director of the Fawcett Society, welcomed the proposals. She said: “Rape crisis centres are at risk of closing all over the country due to a lack of funding, leaving women with nowhere to turn at a time when they desperately need support.

“Women have been let down for years as politicians have failed to prioritise tackling rape. We hope today’s announcements will be the start of a serious debate.”
According to Rape Crisis, over two-thirds of reported cases are dropped out at the police stage and do not make it as far as the courts.

Statistics also show that one in twenty women have been raped, but only a quarter of them report it.

Katy Meany, a 21 year old student at the University of Central Lancashire, thinks the plans are a good idea. “Rapists should be sentenced for longer, as the trauma of a rape is likely to stay with that woman for life.”