Turmoil in Greece will be the Start of a Domino Effect

AS the UK’s debt tumbles into the dark and gloomy red there is a chance to look around us, at fellow European countries and realise that we are doing comparatively better than they are. If we take Greece, where their (according to the Daily Mail) debt crisis could wreck the eurozone in 5 years time as well as some EU leaders declaring it the worst crisis in Europe since WWII.  However, we cannot just stand back and watch Greece fall to their knees due to it having a huge and detrimental impact on us.

Britain’s recovery from the banking collapse and recession of 2007-8 is being heavily slowed down and made far trickier due to each and every successive event shaking markets across the world. The global financial system is already very fragile yet it is being put to the test after the ‘Euroland’ has endured a roller-coaster ride bringing Greece, Portugal and Ireland to the brink of collapse. Other unstable governments such as Italy and Spain are already feeling the aftermath of the Greece fiasco. City analysts say that Spanish property markets have slumped by far more than it admits (down by 50% or more, rather than the official 14%). Once this is confirmed there will be a far bigger crisis due to investors “fleeing” putting further strain on the Euro which is according to the Week, suspected to collapse no later than 2013.

Fortunately, Britain is not part of Europe’s single currency meaning that we are marginally detached. Although, like it or not we are part of European Union and if there is to be an eruption we cannot escape the effects. Britain is under further pressure to contribute to the second Greek bailout having already sent around £1.5billion due to the International Monetary Fund. This second bailout cannot be ignored by the UK as if need be the IMF will be forced to step in and the UK will have to dig into its pockets.

Although £1.5bn is a huge sum of money it is not as detrimental as having to bailout Ireland. The UK have already loaned a whopping £7billion to Ireland and the Irish look unlikely to be able to pay it back resulting in a “budget black hole in the Treasury”. If Ireland cannot repay their debts then they UK may be forced to step in again for a second time which would be ruinously expensive.

Greece has to pay $485billion (340 billion Euros) of debt which amounts to an astonishing 30,000 Euros per person. MP’s in Greece will be now asked to approve 28 billion Euros of cuts, tax rises, fiscal reforms and privatisation plans. The vote took place against a backdrop of great tension in Greece, which is in the grip of strikes and sporadic riots. Vast numbers of demonstrators surrounded parliament, chanting “Thieves! Thieves!”

Germany will end up having to give off huge loans and guarantees, far bigger than any other country. “We pay – still we are abused!” This is mainly due to the fact that Germany has done so well out of the Euro and if they want the Euro to survive for much longer “they are going to have to foot the bill”. Although it may still seem unfair the bailouts terms will still inflict pain on the Greeks while saving German banks.

“To argue that deeper political integration is the solution to this mess is like recommending that a man with alcohol poisoning should retreat himself with a more powerful brand of vodka.” The Euro-elite have suggest that the way out of the crisis is an even closer European Union which would be catastrophic according to Gideon Rachman in the Financial Times. The political elites have in fact railroaded their countries into an unstable currency union which has left the two segments (the rich north and the poor south) feeling betrayed and resentful towards each other.

By Max Monteith

Simon Heffer - Interview

Leading writers are informing aspiring journalists to go elsewhere. Simon Heffer, columnist and Associate Editor for The Daily Telegraph, has stated that "my standard advice for any young person who wants to study journalism is don't.  My son wants to study Journalism, but I am trying everything I can to talk him out of it."

He revealed only momentarily afterwards that he felt that public schools were not even teaching English properly. Anyone who was listening into the conversation I was having with Mr Heffer, suddenly turned in horror as if he had said something that no man had ever dared mention.

"English public schools cannot teach English. They are appalling at teaching basic English and they merely overlook the topic of 'spelling' as something which is not needed."

Although this was a rather bold and extreme view that all public schools cannot teach English, there were definite reasons for his beliefs in the form of spelling tests.

The mentioning of 'spelling test' brought Mr Heffer hastily on to the topic of his interviewing process.  He regularly examines people for the graduate trainee scheme in the Daily Telegraph and as you can imagine he is very strict about whom he does or doesn't choose.  He explained that each candidate had to endure a 45 word spelling test.

"Last year, I interviewed a man who had gained a double 1st at Cambridge having studied English. We short listed him and put him through a series of tests. Having had a spotless CV with absolutely no errors and to finish off we gave him the usual spelling test. He only managed a dismal 18 out of 45."

This does prove Mr Heffer’s point that spelling is not taught properly at school or university and that maybe they should focus teaching students the core basics rather than advanced analytical texts.

In order to pass one of his interviews, not only do you need to have a stunning CV with a spotless set of results but you have to "load yourself with qualifications". He highly recommends that you work in a newspaper abroad before coming to see him.

"American newspapers are stultifyingly boring but they have the best journalistic training."

He then went on to say his first light hearted comment of the evening.

"Jokes must be illegal in American newspapers, as I've never read a joke in an American paper, or nothing that made me laugh anyway."

The interviewing process conducted by Mr Heffer does not always look at what a candidate has studied but where they have studied.

"After securing a good degree, I would highly recommend getting a post graduate journalism course or a MA at places such as; City University, Cardiff or even Sheffield University. However, the best place in the world is Columbia University in New York.

"My first degree in English was utterly irrelevant to being a journalist as I never learnt how to write properly. I therefore prefer future employees to have a broad knowledge and be generally rounded people who have done degrees in other subjects."

As the interview came to a close, Mr Heffer looked around with a sense of satisfaction as if he had let a huge amount of steam off his chest that afternoon. For a moment one may have thought that the interview would have finished on a rather solemn note. However it wasn’t to be as he concluded that the journalistic business is just around the corner from a complete and utter melt down.

"Newspapers as we understand them will not exist in 20 years due to uncontrollable technical advances. It is therefore a declining business and I urge anyone I meet who is thinking of becoming a journalist to reconsider."

By Max Monteith

AV - Don't be fooled

The 5th May is drawing nearer and the times coming when we are going to have to make that all important decision. Yes or No to AV? I have no doubt that each side has its own benefits, but which one is better? Well, thats a hard question due to all the answers on the web being so opinionated. The main idea is that if you voted Conservative or Labour at the last General Election then you should be voting NO for AV but if you voted for any other party you should be voting YES for AV. You may now be thinking that you recently just voted for Conservative/ Labour but quite like the idea of a change in system. Well I am now going to tell you why that could be disastrous for your party.
The first problem with AV is that if you vote for either of the two main parties then your vote will quite simply only be counted once. To understand why that is a bad thing you have to visualise how AV works. AV is in effect a succession of run-off elections, with the loser being eliminated in each round. Everyone who voted for the loser, will have their second choice put back into the ring. This process will continue until a winner is found (to win you must get 50% of votes). This therefore means that anyone who voted for Conservative or Labour will not have their second preference votes added to the system, which is understandably unfair. This in turn uncovers a whole new problem, the person whom voted for an eliminated party ends up influencing the outcome. Parties that are most likely to be eliminated would be extremist parties such as 'BNP', hence revealing that the outcome to our next General Election would be decided upon by individual racist minorities. By giving extremist parties 'an extra vote' will end up making it virtually impossible for Conservative and Labour to win outright creating far more coalitions and split governments. This is where the NO campaign holds its main argument, that AV is simply unfair. They feel that the winner should be the candidate that comes first not the candidate that comes second or third. They go on to say that "we cant afford to let the politicians off the hook by introducing a loser's charter."
On the other hand, AV would force MPs to work harder to earn and keep our support. This is because at the moment all they have to do is secure 1 in 3 votes to be handed power, however with AV they would have to get 50% of the votes therefore needing to work "harder to win - and keep - your support". By ranking your MP's in order of preference you can have a "bigger say on who your local MP is." When its phrased like that AV doesnt sound all that bad (ensures that MPs are working harder and giving the voter a bigger say) but in actual fact how much of that is actually true? MP's probably will work harder but when they go on to say that you will have a "bigger say on who your local MP is" is ridiculous. As stated earlier, the majority of the population will be voting for Labour or Conservative not a minority party. Byinlarge It will only ever be the minority parties who have their second preference votes redistributed, revealing that we will not have any more of a say than in the First Past The Post system.

Well, there you have it. My slightly bias opinion on the matter of AV. Personally I believe thoroughly in saying NO to AV and backing First Past The Post because it has been tried and tested over the years and most importantly it is fair and simple. One other factor is that it will cost an additional £250 million to change to AV which should either be saved in a time of recession and debt or spent on matters of far more importance. An old farmer from Georgia once said "If it aint broke, dont fix it."


By Max Monteith    

Are we witnessing the fall of Christianity?

Surely there is some sense within our government, surely. How can Britain, a Christian nation be told not to display the Christian symbol. Our freedom as human beings are been infringed by the laws of equality which surround us to this very day. Has our politically correct nation gone completely and utterly mad? Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury has stated that "Its outrageous that anyone cannot display a small palm cross. This is political correctness gone mad". As a Christian nation we should surely be told to stand up for our traditions and cultures and be proud of our heritage and past, however, we are almost trying to erase it all together as if it is something to be ashamed of. Although, some may suggest that we have always had a mix of cultures and tribes from the very beginning which should therefore indicate that if we were to correctly follow our culture and traditions we should be a multicultural country. On the other hand, as far as our records indicate there have never been any Sikhs, Muslims or Buddhists existing on our turf since the turn of the previous century.

How is it fair that there is one rule for Christians and another rule for followers of any other religion? Since the start of the 21st century have the Government been trying to make Britain into a multi-cultural state and trying to get rid of the overwhelming Christian majority. If so, they have done a great job. In the 2001 census, there was a hefty 71% of Christians living in the United Kingdom, however, since then a survey by Tearfund suggests that there is now a much smaller Christian community living in the UK (53%). If this rate continues to drop, we could see Christianity completely fall off the radar. If Christianity were to drop off the radar it would be down to one of two causes. One may be that there is to be a rise in another religion therefore prompting the fall of Christianity. The other would be the decline in Christianity due to the rise in Atheism. Both could potentially be incredibly damaging. Depending on which religion would take over we could see a vast change in the culture which ruins the way we have lived for centuries. However it could be far better than the rise in Atheism.

As generations would pass, they would each in turn, lose their faith in not only God but themselves. They would no longer believe that they could accomplish things. We've all done it ourselves just before an interview, or exam or even a football match. Whatever it might be we would have all prayed for God to give us some sort of luck, such as giving us a kind interviewer or some easy questions or scoring a last minute winning goal. We all needed psychologically to have the belief that we could go on and do something, whether or not God exists is a different matter all together. Without belief we would fail to reach courage and without courage we cannot accomplish anything. If our nation is to continue to develop we need a religion at our forefront. If its not Christianity then it would have to be a religion that is trustworthy and does not demand too much from the public in terms of changing their everyday life. Just stay away from Atheism and our country should go on living strong.

By Max Monteith