£1BN under the water

If you've been tuning in to the news recently you may have seen this:

Now some of you may be thinking, what is Trident? Trident is our nuclear deterrent.  A Series of nuclear submarines that only the highest people in the MOD (ministry of defense) know their whereabouts of. The ships paddle around the UK under water making sure no one knows where they are. They rise to the surface very rarely and can supposedly go around the world 16 times. These ships are supposed to be protecting us, but from what? 


It seems as though the government wants to spend excess money on things that aren't actually essential at this moment in time or anywhere in the near future. Unless WW3 breaks out any time, this is just another extravagant expenditure paid for by the taxpayer.


This is coming at a time where there are cuts left, right and centre. Problems in this country are rife and instead of trying to solve them the government chooses to spend the money to help keep their nuke system top notch. 


I do agree that we need to be protected against threats, but this is like bringing a bazooka to a knife fight (Maybe someone in the government is using big nukes to make up for a lack elsewhere). The main "enemies" of the UK seem to be the likes of Al Qaeda and other extreme terrorist groups, not other countries. And last time I checked, they didn't have nuclear warheads or have the means to get any. Unless there is some underlying plot where they do get their hands on one and threaten to destroy the world wouldn't the current system we have in place be able to prevent that? 


Although the initial bill was though to be £1bn it is thought that it could rise to at least £34bn with the extra costs included. Now that is a lot of money to be spending on something that is only meant to deter a nuclear attack on our country. 


If you thought this idea was just recently introduced by our oh so popular coalition government then I'm afraid you're wrong. It actually started with the previous labour one and is continuing on through the current crop. It started in 06 so that's Tony Blair and continued onwards. It had opposition then and it still does now with the Lib Dems wanting an alternative system in place, not to mention the fact that it goes against the international nuclear disarmament agenda adopted by most of the world. 


The supposed good points of the renewal are the 300 new jobs it's going to make (going to submarine or nuclear specialists who have to create the fleet) and apparently without replacing the system our nuclear industry would be severely damaged with 15'000 jobs being lost.


Overall though, I believe it's a serious waste of money and resources. The UK is already a messed up place with shootings, unemployment, and homelessness being some of our  problems. Renewing our nuclear deterrent is only going to incite more violence in a bitter world and allow others to believe that we are a force to fear, not respect. 


If you want to spend £1bn on anything, why not spend it on restoring this country to it's previous greatness and maybe fight against the enemy that is inequality because at the end of the day that is where the problems start. 

Sources:
http://www.naval-technology.com/news/newsuk-mod-unveil-1bn-trident-replacement-contract
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4805768.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/17/coalition-split-trident-nuclear-submarines-replacement
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/defence-and-security-blog/2012/jun/22/trident-nuclear-weapons?newsfeed=true

Obesity: The Death Of Us All

Everyone knows that if you are obese you are putting your life in danger, but new studies show that obese people could actually put everyone else in danger too! Why? Simple, finite resources.

In this world that we live in the human society depends on a limited amount of resources. From food to energy nothing that we have is fully sustainable. At the current rate of population growth and scientific innovation we'll still be in grave danger of running out of everything. And now with the increasing mass of the population, food may just become a little more scarce.

So what does this mean for the rest of us? It means that there's very few things that we can do to stop this. Other than campaign for more restriction to control obesity or help a friend lose a few pounds and live healthier there's not many things non obese people can do.

Only the obese people can really make a big difference and they can be the difference between life and death for the rest of the world (a bit exaggerated but I wanted to add some drama >.< )
If somehow, someone put in initiatives to specifically target overweight people then there might be a chance of a better life for the rest of us.

If you think about it, obesity actually affects everyone as it is at the moment. The NHS already spends hundreds of millions of pounds sorting out problems associated with being on the heavy side. The daily mail recently published an article stating there were 110'000 super obese people in the UK who cost the NHS £450 million alone. From heart transplants to lip suction and tummy tucks, it's all coming from the taxpayer and putting extra unnecessary strain on the already pressured and money stricken national health system.

So who is to blame for this level of portliness that the world is now knee deep in? Well there are many areas and no one thing is to blame. It's a culmination of things, which only makes the problem harder to eradicate.

LAZINESS INSTANT ERA: Everything that we want we can get with very little effort. Companies go out of their way to make things easier for you (for a small charge) meaning that you can get everything you need delivered to your door. There are even businesses out there that make meals for you and deliver them to your house so you can eat cooked food without the fuss! Even then, we have microwaves which can heat food instantaneously, saving you from heating up pots and pans. This means that people are using less energy throughout their days and are getting out and about a lot less. And as they sit down for most of their days at work and then at home they pile on the pounds and when they get hungry they can simply get some........

FAST FOOD: Following on from the last point, people will generally go for the easier option instead of the healthier option. This is where the fast food places have benefited and made their money. By making food that tastes mediocre, targets the body's salt craving, is cheap and by definition fast to get at the companies have absorbed millions of customers. Some people eat fast food as often as cows eat grass. So it's no wonder that it's so easy to gain the pounds and so many people have. So, will these companies actually make healthy fast food? They probably will make a few but I personally don't think they'd ever defect to a healthy ethos. Mainly because they make too much money of their unhealthy products so will carry on for as long as they can.

EDUCATION: People are educated in a load of things, most of which helps people through life. In most cases you do have classes on food and how to make it, but why are there not in depth classes on what is IN the food and which ones are HARMFUL or BENEFICIAL to your health. At the moment most people learn about the 5 food groups and how you should include all of them throughout your day. If people knew what to look for when they choose to eat, a lot more people would avoid the bad foods and stick with the foods that are good for them.

HEALTH SYSTEM:  The health system is this country is a free one , although you pay taxes for the services. So anything that may or may not happen to you will be covered. This means that the people who are obese and can't be bothered to reverse their weight gain, regardless of what their doctors and specialists will tell them, will always be able to get a bypass or an operation with no fees. If the system were different where people where only allowed a set amount of free operations per patient if the reason for the operation is self inflicted then we may see people start to take control and try to stop themselves from having another operation because they know that they'll have to pay for it. This could also work for smokers and alcoholics but wouldn't affect people with cancer for example.

SOCIETY: The world that we live in is one where we are bombarded with what a good looking person looks like and in most cases it's an anorexic or fairly thin woman or a lean, ripped guy. The effect of these images can be that people try as hard they can to get to that sort of physique and can end up not eating food at all in a kamikaze attempt to lose weight. If they achieve the look then they tend to stick to their dangerous ans self harming lifestyle thinking that they are attractive now. And if it doesn't work then people end up crashing and this affects them psychologically and may go on an eating frenzy and gain lots of weight. The view that society has on overweight people can be a downward spiral for people who are overweight. As they hear the negative comments related to being overweight they may comfort eat and so on.

In conclusion, the increasing mass of the general population of this planet is a very worrying thing and unless something drastic is done it will continue to rise much to everyone's detriment. Whether the change comes from the fast food industry or the government the way people are allowed to gain weight and benefit off other people's taxes is not right and if it's going to affect everyone else in the future then there's even more reason to stop this trend. One thing I forgot to mention was how people are eating a lot more food than they need to and in other places there is not enough food, a fact i learned on the link below is that more people are overweight than undernourished. Will things change? Only time will tell...

If you liked this there's a series related to this on BBC 2 called The Men Who Made Us Fat.

Follow on Facebook or Twitter

Sources
:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18462985
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2161976/Obesity-crisis-The-110-000-super-obese-patients-cost-NHS-450m-year.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
http://www.nhs.uk/news/2011/08August/Pages/half-of-uk-predicted-to-be-obese-by-2030.aspx

Islamic Takeover

This post is not intended to offend, it's an expression of my opinion. If you don't like it, leave a comment and I'll see to it that nothing is done.  =)
I have done my best to get the facts right but don't quote me on this as some bits may be inaccurate. If they are leave a comment and I'll change it.

So you're probably wondering what I'm going to say considering the title is Islamic Takeover, It's nothing major just their HALAL food which, to be honest, seems to be everywhere. You can't go to any place for food or grocery shopping without getting halal food. Be it halal at your KFC, tomato sauce with the halal logo or HFA approved bread. I find it annoying and disrespectful of other people's eating habits. Jewish people immigrated to England well before Muslims and they didn't turn all the meat kosher so I don't see why everything is turning halal now.

The reason I find it annoying is it's method of production. Halal meat is meat that has no blood and is killed in the name of Allah. It has no blood because the creature is slaughtered in such a way that the heart has time to pump out all of the blood with usually 3 or 4 cuts to the main veins. The animal effectively bleeds to death.
That's not all, during the death, the person recites certain parts of the Qur'an over the creature (the tasmiya or shahada)

Cruel Much?

Another reason I am against halal meat is religion. In the Sikh religion it is forbidden to eat meat that has not been killed with one strike. This means that the animal dies instantly with little or no pain and no prolonged suffering. This is how, in my opinion, it should be done.

However, there is some debate amongst groups of people who believe the halal meat isn't actually halal but just a label for extra sales. They say that British laws state that the animals to be killed aren't allowed to suffer for any prolonged period and that the animals are killed instantly. The meat actually has to be stunned first, via electrocution or a bolt through the head prior to killing.
The meat is then sent to certain places to be "halalified", the same cuts are made and the Qur'an is placed on a loop on a cassette player. As many places do this to make halal meat it would be a violation of the rules as the animal has to be alive when it is slaughtered. And although the Muslim (and Jewish) communities are exempt from a section of the law that required all animals to be stunned before they are slaughtered, many people just use the method mention previously where they simply buy the meat pre-killed. So they say.

So although I don't know whether the food is actually halal, the fact that people claim it is, have it certified and have it checked pretty much makes it. The problem with asking the staff is that they think you want halal food and so say that it is for the sale which is wrong in itself.

Overall, I respect that the Muslim community can only eat halal food and so many places are adapting to this by buying halal meat and groceries from their suppliers. My only wish would be that they still bought the NON-HALAL food thus giving people the OPTION of whether they want halal food or not. It wouldn't cost extra. They could just buy a small amount initially and have everything clearly labelled that there is an option, see how it goes and get stock through sale projections over a 6 week period. Now if they had that from the start, I wouldn't be writing this post, I wouldn't have the headache of asking if the meat is halal or not and  I probably wouldn't have converted to vegetarianism.

In the end, Freedom of Choice is all I ask for.


Sources:
Wikipedia
http://www.shariahprogram.ca/eat-halal-foods/islamic-guidelines-slaughtering-animals.shtml
http://www.quran-islam.org/articles/halal_meat_(P1156).html
http://www.cometoislam.com/halalmeat.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/uk_1.shtml
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1995/731/contents/made
http://www.rspca.org.uk/allaboutanimals/farm/slaughter/factfile
http://www.halalfoodauthority.co.uk/definitionhalal.html

£$ The Pursuit of Money $£

£$ The Pursuit of Money $£

A truth I once knew and slowly, as time ticked on, forgot. Life should never be all about money. 

After spending my last year and a half working most of my free days, I took a holiday with the family and it struck me there that I wasn't happy. Why? I asked myself. I was fine before, nothings changed since a few months ago. Why the sudden change of heart? 
And I realized that it wasn't having fun. The holiday reminded me what it was like to enjoy life again! 


My life involved working or studying 6 out of 7 days a week with my only day off on a Friday. I would then try to cram my hobbies in that one day, get really exhausted and then the whole ordeal would start over. The thing that kept me through it was the daily exercise. It's amazing how much better you can feel after an hours hard work training. The positive chemicals released from the training made me not think about if I enjoyed working myself to the bone or if I had anything to look forward to. 

In this day and age materialism rules. People are obsessed with things. Phones, laptops, Ipods, games. These are all things that people "can't live without" and it's ridiculous. And to get those things they have to work, some to the extent that they shrug off their families and friends on most occasions. Once you get to that stage where your earning lots and never have a free day it's always what can I buy next? New house? Better Car? 


I've finally taken action and decided to slow the hamster wheel down a bit to enjoy life. I've quit my weekend job, giving me extra time to watch f1, cycle with Thames velo and spend more time with the family and friends. Not only will I have more free time I'll be happier in general, leaving a job that I found tedious and boring. Something that made me dread weekends for months on end. This weekend is the last one I'll be working for a long time! 


I told my uncle this and to my surprise his response was one of incredulity. He thought I was crazy. Why? Because of the money. He thought I should stay there and try and get a higher position if possible, even though I told him I hated the job, couldn't be happier that I was leaving and would never work on the weekends again.
This was a person who owned his own business where he worked extra long hours, and then sometimes after work would go to his other job for night shifts! The fact that he wanted me to almost follow his lifestyle was disheartening  


I couldn't help but analyse him and his relationship with his immediate family thereafter and what I concluded was that he was overworked and lacked patience when dealing with problems with his kids. The environment wasn't one of constructive criticism but one of short tempered outbursts. Sadly, most of the outbursts where from him. 


It just proved to me that leaving this job would be a big benefit to my life. Although I will have less "cash to splash" I know that it's okay, because I'll be happy regardless. You don't need material things to be happy, that's why a lot of rich people go to drugs and act out. They have everything money can buy but it can't buy happiness (clichéd but what the hell =P )


Add me on Facebook or Twitter