iblog

Alex: I’ve posted a few times over the last few weeks regarding a whole host of Social Networking webapps. So you’ve got yourself addicted to Twitter-crack, sorted out your Myspace and Facebook, have a Flickr account, keep all your links on Del.icio.us and every song you ever listen to gets posted to last.fm. And never look at a real blog because no one does these days. Its all about the RSS stream via Bloglines or Google Reader. And your books are all at Goodreads or Librarything? Viddler and Youtube? Welly, welly, well. Why not integrate every single one of these services into what the hipsters are calling a Lifestream. Here is some cats lifestream in action. And some other dudes.

Yes, that’s right, allow the rest of the internet to track your every online movement. One service is non-ironically called istalkr. There are a million rival services as well. Worrying? Interesting? Discuss?

Alex: Finally, after an exhausting year long bout of rumours, accusations and hearsay, Tony Blair has declared that he will resign on the 27th of June this year. The time has come, ibloggers from around the country and indeed the world - our gentle readers - to assess the legacy of without doubt the most politically successful politician of our generation. Surely, he made  terrible policy decision regarding the Iraq War and has continued to make poor decisions concerning the on-going conflict. Yet this man revolutionised the Labour party and was responsible for aiding its complete re-branding, the man who romped home to landslide election victories every time he stood. He is the man who is so significant that the Conservative party is within his thrall sufficiently to attempt to create their own puppet Blairite figure. Yet to gain power, did Labour betray almost every one of it’s founding principles, and finish the job of crushing the unions that Thatcher started through discrediting almost every one of their activities? However, his actions in Northern Ireland have been filled with patience and care, resulting in a final victory for peace over centuries of violence. What of Tony Blair the musician, the family man dealing with a drunken teenage son, with a wife unafraid to enter the public sphere, with a human being whose party that is divided against him and who attracts the hatred of many of those who first brought him to power. Just how much hair has he lost since 1997? Why has he seemingly aged about 30 years in the last ten? How will history judge Anthony Blair? And what of his successor? Comments, as ever, are open.

Anna: At a time when the UK government is reviewing the £3,000 cap on tuition fees. with some universities likely to be allowed to charge higher fees once a decision is made 2009, a developing country is doing the opposite. In Kenya tuition fees will, by January 2008, have been abolished in public secondary schools, greatly improving access to secondary education. 4.3 billion Kenyan shillings have been earmarked to cover the cost of this tuition. That’s roughly £32 million, and represents about 1.2% of total budgetary expenditure. The UK spends a lesser percentage of the budget on education as a whole, assuming the the CIA World Factbook, the BBC and I have got our facts right.

The Kenyan Government is also reviewing the cost of running secondary schools, so as to try and minimise the burden on poor households - even if education itself is free families still have to pay for uniforms, books and materials. This can add up to an annual bill of 8000 shillings - about £60. I know my eagle-eyed co-bloggers will pour scorn on my overly simplistic comparisons, but here are two for you to think on:

* £60 = cost of a year’s schooling in Kenya = a night out with your mates in the UK
* £20 000 = cost of putting twenty Kenyans through University = the amount of cash recently spent on the installation of CCTV cameras in a Manchester school.

Rushda: Essex university has just launched its new degree course for students where students can attend lectures and seminars without even leaving their rooms. The subject that this can be done for so far is Business studies, and it will work by lecturers delivering lecturers online in real time. Interestingly, though rather spookily I think, there will be a special icon on the computer screens which will allow students to indicate a show of hands. You can even click a button that means you are laughing at a joke, or another to show you are clapping.

Gosh, I guess that’s the development of technology for you. But I really don’t like it. OK, I admit it sounds so so convenient, and I’d love to just roll out of bed and watch my daily lectures on the computer in my pyjamas. But isn’t it so impersonal? Going to university lectures together and seeing everyone else and hearing their real laughs is what it’s all about. The new system is just isolating and, as I said before, spooky.

Rushda: …Des’ree’s well known hit Life, as voted by Radio 6 music listeners recently. To be top of the list for bad lyrics in the pop world is probably a most shameful crime, and so I’m not surprised that when interviewers tried to get Des’ree to make a speech about the award (how cheeky!) they simply got “dignified silence”. Personally, I’m rather amused at the award given that the song has been stuck in my head for ages and now finally when I get a break from it it goes back in there! Though I think it’s rather catchy, many a time I’ve laughed about the ridiculous lyrics with a friend, and now I’m glad I’m in good company. What’s perhaps most amusing is that some popstars are even a little annoyed to not bag the award saying they “could have written worse”. Oh well, not sure about that. Here is an extract of the profound song. Enjoy!

I don’t wanna see a ghost
It’s the sight that I fear most
I’d rather have a piece of toast
Watch the evening news

Life, oh life
Oh life, oh life
Life, oh life
Oh life, oh life

Caroline: Volunteering has never been financially lucrative. After all you wouldn’t be a volunteer if you were receiving a wage but I remember my contemporaries working in the late seventies and early eighties for organisations like VSO and not having to take out a small mortgage to do so. My daughter has been researching her options for doing some voluntary work abroad when she graduates and we have been amazed to see how expensive it is. Whether you want to help Vietnamese orphans or Orang-utans in Borneo you have to be prepared to fork out up to £1000 for a one month placement and then about £150 a week after that. This does not include your air fare which for some of the more exotic destinations can be pretty steep. It’s not as if you will be staying in anything other than basic accommodation either - digging your own long-drop toilet was mentioned for one particular job. It’s also surprising that with many organisations there seems to be no selection process - just the ability to write the cheque. I guess the solution would be to volunteer in this country but human nature being as it is, that somehow is not what the majority of young people want to do. It’s rather sad that this valuable experience for volunteer and charity alike has turned into something for the well-heeled only.

Caroline: I don’t suppose it would have made any difference to the tragedy at Virginia Tech but reading that the gunman’s parents had not been notified by the University of their concerns about his mental health did get me wondering about the price we are willing to pay for protecting the individual’s privacy. I know of one case where a young man at University was suffering from cannabis-induced shizophrenia and it was not until he was sectioned that his family found out. I know of another instance where a young woman stopped attending all lectures and tutorials, started self-harming and displaying bizarre behaviour but still her parents were blissfully unaware of the situation. I know that as a parent we have to respect our adult children’s privacy but starting University can be stressful and it would be nice to know that the authorities felt able to contact a student’s family in certain exceptional circumstances - not just that your child got drunk last night or didn’t hand in an essay on time but where there is concern that they could be a risk both to themselves and others.

Caroline: As many travellers will tell you, bad driving, poor roads and badly maintained vehicles are endemic in many countries. We spend a lot of time and money having every immunisation known to man to protect ourselves and then take our lives in our hands when we step into public transport in many parts of the world. That of course is the rather selfish tourist viewpoint - a million times worse if you actually live in these countries. Of the 1.2 million fatalities each year in road crashes, most are in developing countries. In Europe over the last 30 years road casualties have been falling dramatically but in places such as South-East Asia, South America and Africa the numbers have risen to one fatality every 30 secs. The cost of this carnage to developing countries is up to $100billion a year. The Commission for Global Road Safety is trying to introduce measures such as aid-funded road projects and road safety education projects to combat this problem and their Make Roads Safe petition is available online if you want to sign it.

Caroline: According to the Institute of Education in London there is a significant link between a woman’s educational status and whether or not she has children. Their Centre for Longitudinal Studies has found that 40% of women graduates remain childless at 35 compared with 32.7% of women who were born in 1958 and were childless at 35. Whether or not the 35 year-olds are planning on children later in life is not clear. 35 is by no means “old” nowadays for having a first child although for various health-related reasons it may not be ideal. It would certainly be interesting to have some follow-up results for these women at say the age of 45

Caroline: If you have ever dreamt of emigrating to sunnier climes you are not alone. The latest statistics show that 500 Brits leave the UK every day and the most popular destinations for emigration are Australia, Spain and France. Of the 380,000 who left in the 12 month period under review over 50% were Britsih citizens. If you are wondering why our little island still seems so crowded with this great exodus it is beacuse in the same period 565,000 people arrived in Britain boosting the population by a net 185,000, the highest figure since 1991. Of these, 80,000 came from Eastern Europe and the country best represented, accounting for 70%- yes, you’ve probably guessed - Poland!