ome Secretary was always going to find out. But Richard Timney probably didn't want it to happen like this - revealing his midnight Television X expenses [right] in a Sunday newspaper. The secret is out, and well done to the Sunday Express - a paper I often criticise for its boring content and abundance of errors - for a quality piece of investigative journalism. Expenses have been exposed as a rather murky world amongst politicians over the last year, and this is just another example that could not be more embarrassing for everyone involved. The government spending our money on banks is a strange enough concept, but the idea that taxpayers are funding Mr Timney's pornography habits is quite bizarre.* * *
More than half of Britons think the countryside is boring, according to a Tra
velodge survey. This is a great shame - I live in an urban town back home (Leigh-on-Sea) and a very urban city at university (Sheffield), so it's nice to get away to the countryside every now and again. But we seem so obsessed in this country with going abroad to a sunspot, that hopefully this summer people will stay in the UK because of the credit crunch, and go to a nice little country cottage. Unlikely, however, when easyJet and Ryan Air can get people to some tacky Spanish resort for a fiver, and they'll end up drinking until dawn with exactly the sort of people they'll find on a Saturday night back home. Well, if that's your choice, then so be it - but I was once told holidays were for relaxing, so surely Herefordshire is a better idea than Mallorca then.
velodge survey. This is a great shame - I live in an urban town back home (Leigh-on-Sea) and a very urban city at university (Sheffield), so it's nice to get away to the countryside every now and again. But we seem so obsessed in this country with going abroad to a sunspot, that hopefully this summer people will stay in the UK because of the credit crunch, and go to a nice little country cottage. Unlikely, however, when easyJet and Ryan Air can get people to some tacky Spanish resort for a fiver, and they'll end up drinking until dawn with exactly the sort of people they'll find on a Saturday night back home. Well, if that's your choice, then so be it - but I was once told holidays were for relaxing, so surely Herefordshire is a better idea than Mallorca then.* * *
I think I got an A* in GCSE Science primarily because I found I was reasona
bly good at remembering lots of facts and regurgitating them in an exam. I can hardly remember anything I was taught, and if I had to sit the paper again tomorrow, I would probably struggle to even pass it. So I was pleased to hear Andrew Baker, the headteacher from my secondary school and sixth form, Westcliff High School for Boys, say: "I think that some of the papers in science do not adequately challenge more able pupils. I am sorry the interests of those pupils have not been fully reflected in the exam system, and not for the first time." However isn't this the case across many other subjects as well? I could list Maths, Geography and Business Studies for starters as subjects which were designed to prepare you for an exam and not much else. Things need to change in exams, and the government's got to sort it out soon.
bly good at remembering lots of facts and regurgitating them in an exam. I can hardly remember anything I was taught, and if I had to sit the paper again tomorrow, I would probably struggle to even pass it. So I was pleased to hear Andrew Baker, the headteacher from my secondary school and sixth form, Westcliff High School for Boys, say: "I think that some of the papers in science do not adequately challenge more able pupils. I am sorry the interests of those pupils have not been fully reflected in the exam system, and not for the first time." However isn't this the case across many other subjects as well? I could list Maths, Geography and Business Studies for starters as subjects which were designed to prepare you for an exam and not much else. Things need to change in exams, and the government's got to sort it out soon.* * *
So there we were - five of us armed with cans of Strongbow in a friend's bedroom with a laptop each. Reading Festival 2009 here we go! Well I hope so, as long as a) my friend'
s credit card can handle it before I pay him back tomorrow; b) the confirmation screen we saw was actually real; c) the tickets don't get lost in the post; d) it doesn't get cancelled because of the rain; and e) we weren't duped. I don't want to end up on eBay and pay an extra £100 than I wanted to, in order to get in! Buying tickets is a stressful business at the best of times, but this is ridiculous. How can so many people want to spend £175 on spending a few days camping out in a Berkshire field? The answer: Arctic Monkeys, The Prodigy, Maximo Park, Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, Radiohead... the list goes on. It's going to be a great summer.
s credit card can handle it before I pay him back tomorrow; b) the confirmation screen we saw was actually real; c) the tickets don't get lost in the post; d) it doesn't get cancelled because of the rain; and e) we weren't duped. I don't want to end up on eBay and pay an extra £100 than I wanted to, in order to get in! Buying tickets is a stressful business at the best of times, but this is ridiculous. How can so many people want to spend £175 on spending a few days camping out in a Berkshire field? The answer: Arctic Monkeys, The Prodigy, Maximo Park, Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, Radiohead... the list goes on. It's going to be a great summer.
