Boomshine

Follow this link to a great little game that will have you addicted! No instructions, but fairly self explanatory.

Global Justice and Human Rights

I have just started a module with the title 'Global Justice and Human Rights', and am thoroughly enjoying it at the moment.

Yesterday we had a seminar on the construction of human rights and whether or not they are 'universal' or 'relative'. The universalist approach states that human rights are universal (hence the name!) and apply to everyone. EVERYONE has the right to life, the right to an education etc., regardless of where they live in the world. The relativist approach disagrees and says that we should not force our western liberal thinking on others, but that human rights are relative to the particular culture/people that we are talking about.

Both have their arguments for and against. Whilst it is easy to agree that we should not detract from someones culture and heritage, it is difficult to allow practices such as Female Genital Mutilation to go on without questioning the logic behind them.

It was interesting to note that in the seminar, when asked at the beginning of the session, 90%+ said that they were from a universalist persepective (as well as acknowledging the drawbacks that this has), but by the end of the lecture about the same proportion were now arguing relativist arguments!

Any thoughts?

Home Alone

Several newspapers and websites are today reporting the story of Mavis Ward. The 83 lives in Newquay, Cornwall, in an ultra-modern block of appartments, quite literally, on her own!

The other 29 appartments are used as holiday homes and Mavis says that she can go for weeks without seeing another resident. Sounds a bit lonely? Well one of the positives from it is that she has pretty much exclusive use of the appartment block's private gym, swimming pool and underground parking!

Goalkeeper with a sense of humour!

West Ham goalkeeper, Robert Green, has shown that he has a good sense of humour. In a recent match he wore gloves with "England's Number 6" on them, a joke about his supposed place in the England international set-up.

A close friend said:

"Robert has got a great sense of humour and there has been banter with the West Ham fans all season. They keep chanting England's No. 1 - and he sticks up six fingers to show where he thinks he is in the pecking order. That is No. 6. This is just Robert taking the joke a step further by wearing these gloves. It is really tongue in cheek and not meant to be having a go at anyone. It is not a protest. He is having a laugh at his own expense."

It would be interesting to note whether Capello, took it as the joke it was intended, rather than a dig at his selection policy!

What are they thinking!?

The English Premier League is considering the idea of staging some matches around the rest of the world. The league season will be extended so each team plays 39, rather than 38 games. The10 extra games would be played at five different venues, with cities bidding for the right to stage them. It is understood the additional fixtures could be determined by a draw but that the top-five teams could be seeded to avoid playing each other.

I have to say I completely disagree with the proposals being offered here, and for two main reasons;

Firstly, it is possible that the Premier League will be decided by balls being pickes out of a hat, rather than form or consistency. If two teams are on equal points at the end of the regular 38 game season, and the draw sees one of them set to play Aston Villa, whilst the other team gets pitted against Derby, this is not fair! We already have two domestic cup competitions for the 'magic' of the draw to be seen in, and it would be riduclous for a team to have performed consistently as well as another team over 38 but to potentially lose the league because of when they were pulled out of the hat.

Secondly, with the exception of the 'big 4' and possibily one or two other, Premier League clubs are struggling to fill up their stadiums with fans from the area local to a team. Sure, international games featuring Man U and Arsenal may well be sold out, but will smaller clubs who don't have the same international recognition or fanbase be so successfull? Unlikely!

Giants Amongst Men

Last night I stayed up late to watch the Superbowl, and was very glad that I did; it was one of the best American Football games I've seen, likened several times by the commentators, to a game of chess, with the New York Giants' defence bossing the game and to carry on the analogy, putting the Patriots into check. It was Eli Manning, however, who delivered to move of the game, 'check-mate', effectively, breaking tackles to avoid the sack before making pin-point accurate pass to his teammate Tyree. Tyree then acrobatically made the catch, clutching onto the ball one-handed, bringing it down with the aid of his helmet! Without doubt, the play of the game.