A 70-year old man has died today after crashing his car into some railings outside a college in Winchester. It is unclear whether his death was as a direct relation to the crash or whether he suffered from some unrelated medical condition that took his life however, it does raise the question of whether or not people should have to resit their driving test once they hit a certain age.

I am unaware of the causes of the crash and fully acknowledge that more accidents are caused by the under-25s than anyone else and for all i know this gentleman may have been a fantastic driver. However it does seem odd to me that as people get older and their reactions start to slow there is no effort made by the state to ensure that they are still competent to drive. In many collisions involving older drivers it has been clear that the slow reactions of the drivers, regardless of age, have had an effect. Therefore surely anyone, regardless of age, should be re-tested if their eye sight and reactions begin to slow. The chances of them being more of a danger to themselves and other road users is undeniable and a time will surely come when the DVLA will decide re-testing of certain groups of society is a necessity.

This is not ageism and i stress that the gentleman involved in today’s accident may be entirely innocent of any bad driving and may have, for example, swerved to avoid an animal. But perhaps the time has come that some solid research is conducted so that we know once and for all whether re-testing will help protect road users.

The news that the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust plans to dig up whiskey buried by Ernest Shackleton raises a key question about the future of archaeology and its standing in today’s society.The two bottles were buried under a hut used by the polar explorer during his unsuccessful bid to reach the magnetic south pole at the start of the 20th Century. Plans have now been made to use special tools to cut through the ice that now encases the crate in an attempt to restore the whiskey to its original condition. Although there is no intention to sample the drink the question has to be asked, why bother?

Things like this are little colourful dots in the canvas of national culture. I am sure that they efforts by the Antarctic Heritage are noble and that they do not wish to offend anyone or disrupt the national history of New Zealand. But this takes away some of the mystique and will take away from the uniqueness of the trip that ended with Shackleton being forced to turn back. That is not to say that it is only New Zealand where this is an issue. By an extension of this argument though you could say that all forms of archaeological are wrong. Therefore we would have no Tutankhamun or Terracotta Soldiers. However this misses the point.

The large important discoveries are of such significance that they have to be removed from their site in order for us to properly understand their significance. This is not the same in the case of Shackleton’s booze and as such it should be left alone to continue being an interesting side note in the history of polar exploration.

Another week roles past and more lives are lost. More men and women of our armed forces are killed at the hands of the Taliban and more families lives are ruined. The media will exclaim, ‘too much!’ the Tories that ‘we have had enough,’ and the public will cry ‘bring our boys home.’ It is tragic.

It is tragic that the country that raised these brave men and women are betraying their memory by claiming that the cause that they fight for is, for want of a better term, pointless. The fact remains, whether it is a nice one or not, that these brave people were soldiers, they signed up and were trained to fight on the front line. That is not to take anything away from their sacrifice or their selflessness, however let us remember why we are in the gulf. Perhaps less Iraq but certainly in the case of Afghanistan, the people, the law abiding, peace seeking mass populous were robbed of any and all freedoms. Denied the right to express feelings, women denied the right to an education and children denied the right to play in the street. Is this a nice war? No of course not, but what wars are?

We have just remembered as a nation the sacrifice that many millions of this country’s brave men made in defiance of tyranny and oppression. They laid down their lives to give me the right to write this today, they laid down their lives so that people could feel safe from censorship and not have to worry that they would be kidnapped in the middle of the night never to be seen again. Yet now it appears we do not care for this. We have forgotten as we take it for granted. The men and women fighting in the gulf are fighting for exactly the same reasons. Ok perhaps not on the same scale but does it make a difference if 100 people are denied freedom as opposed to a million, does it make a difference if one woman is told she can not attend school as opposed to a thousand? It makes no difference what so ever, an injustice remains an injustice and a just cause remains a just cause.

This doesn’t make the burden any easier to bear, it doesn’t make it any easier for a mother to accept a folded flag in exchange for her sons life, but it does matter. It may be a war of political aspirations and personal gain for those in office but do you honestly think it is for those bleeding in the battle field. They still see the children that have never had a street safe enough to play in and talk to the farmers forced to grow opium as opposed to wheat to feed his family with.

800,000 British souls were ended or wounded in WWII and the current death toll in Afghanistan stands at 223, admittedly there is a clear and obvious difference yet the cause remains the same. For those that argue Hitler wanted to wipe out an entire religion as opposed to the Taliban ‘merely’ wanting to domiante a region, do you not think they would do the same, were they in a position to pursue this goal? The fact is whether we like it or not, brave British boys and girls have been sacrificing their lives in the name of freedom for hundreds of years and they will continue to do so. Each life lost is a new tragedy, not just because it traumatises a home but because that loss was needed in the first place, that a death is necessary to show the world that the way it treats each other is important.

Confucious once said ‘In a country well governed poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed wealth is something to be ashamed of.’ This is very true with the wars we are fighting today. Whether or not you agree with the fact that Britain, America and their allies are in the gulf the fact remains that for the average civilian their they are more free now than perhaps they have ever been, yes there is still trouble and yes people are still dying but that is the sacrifice that has to be made in the pursuit of freedom and it is one that British men and women have always been prepared to make, no matter what the cost.

This nation has too long a history of imposing its feelings and authority over other states and now we are having to address it. It is not easy, it is often awful and normally tragic if such a juxta-position can exist but one thing it is, is right and just.

With week two of WINOL complete I feel that it was a vast improvement on last week. Right from the outset this week’s production had a better atmosphere and this started right from the news meeting on Monday. With last week’s news conference slightly low on stories, I was concerned that we would face similar issues this week. However the number of stories and the fact that we already had stories in the can, impressed me and made the whole episode seem somewhat more relaxed. The news meeting was conducted in a far more structured manner this week and seemed to be completed far quicker despite the fact that there were a lot more people in attendance. This meant that the news team could focus more on chasing up stories they had and editing material they had already gathered and less on looking for new stories. This lead in turn to a far more efficient team and news room. My one reservation from the news meeting however was the deadlines set on packages. It seemed clear to me that some of the deadlines set were clearly never going to be met and this is something that I really think needs addressing. Even if a buffer is built in so missing the deadline is not the end of the world, it is bad practise and we need to ensure that the deadlines set are completely concrete. Going into Tuesday the newsroom seemed fairly quiet and as of that time there were no major problems forseen. The only concern was the fact that we would be recording our two packages to lead the bulletin at 11am on Wednesday due to the nature of the pieces. This meant that we would need to get the teams back to the news room and edit in time to hand over to the production department before the bulletin at 4pm. With regards to my own role in the team I feel that I had a very productive week. I have logged the website as a registered business in several local web based directories. Further to this I contacted SU President Jimmy Weighell about a potential live broadcast and arranged a meeting about that on Tuesday. The meeting went well and I got a clear indication of how relations between the Student Union and WINOL would work this year. He didn’t think a live broadcast from BOP would be workable due to the usual drunken goings on associated with BOP however did feel that a broadcast of the Children in Need activities on Friday would work. I am still waiting to hear back from Jimmy with more news. Further to this the newspapers began being delivered to the University this week so we now get papers, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I also began looking at promotional material and banners for the first live broadcast. However I am doubtful that the University will pay for us to get a banner made even though the prices were lower than I anticipated. The ongoing problem with the loan counter remains as they seem reluctant to permit us to use the TV studio even when it is not in use. Not only this but they seem to feel that we are rude to ask, this is an issue that needs to be addressed as is the current problem with getting access to a camera. However short of buying more equipment I do not see how this issue could be resolved. On Wednesday the news room was obviously a hive of activity and slowly but surely everything began slotting into place. This was mainly due to the fact that the packages were ready far earlier this week than last. With the exception of the two Armistice Day pieces that were being edited till 3pm due to the fact that they could only be filmed that day, everything else was ready to go. This is not to say that it all went smoothly, we again had issues with the script and running order and the dressing of the set definetly has to be addressed. Save for a few individual mistakes the bulletin went well, far better than last week. There are still many things we need to improve on, obviously, however I am very pleased with the improvement. Going in to this week’s bulletin the work is going to be even harder, the website has been transferred over to www.winol.co.uk and the bulletin will be going out at 5 on Wednesday regardless of how it looks. It’s going to involve a lot of hard work but i’m confident we can produce a good news programme.

I don’t know whether it is the on set of the colder weather or the ever increasing years of my life but i have finally come to the decision that humanity is inherently bad. Having completed my Government and Politics A level several years ago now i know that the basic understanding is that left-wing liberals believe in the goodness of humanity compared to the right-wing ethos that the masses are constanty looking to get one up on each other and get ahead.

Having seen a fair amount of years come and years go now i have reached the opinion that mankind is inherently bad. I have reached this decision for many reasons however it is not with exceptions and reservations. Firstly when i say bad i do not mean that everyone wants to go around murdering each other but i do believe that the majority of people would cause a stranger a small harm if it improved their lives. If you asked a hundred people if they would question £500 suddenly appearing in their bank accounts the portion that said yes i would argue are being dishonest as even if they suspect it must be owed to someone else they would not want to enquire for risk of losing it.

This is not to say that mankind is always selfish, small mercies, so to speak, are often evident, people donate organs and blood and many give money to charity. However how many of these people genuinely do it for the good of others and not for the feeling of self satisfaction they garner from it. This raises the question is there such an action as entirely selfless deed. Surely all things that one does even in an unselfish manner would give the instigator the feeling of having done something right, therefore removing the unselfishness of the act.

Perhaps i am just getting old or perhaps it’s my cynicism arising from my constant desire to read the news and watch news programmes. Or on the other hand perhaps as im growing up the rose-tinted glasses handed out to everyone at birth are slipping from my frowning face.

Lloyds have announced today that they are going to cut a further 5,000 jobs, not the top brass or those collecting their massive Christmas bonuses, no it’s those that are seen as supplementary to requirement. Admittedly, some 2,400 of those jobs will be temporary staff but those are the age brackets and backgrounds that have been hit hardest by the rocketing numbers of unemployment. With the number of those seeking worker higher than in most peoples living memory the news of yet more cuts is certainly not going to be a welcome one with Christmas just round the corner.

Considering the fact that 43% of the Lloyds group is owned by the taxpayers many of them will feel betrayed knowing that many of the big bosses of the bank will be collecting ludicrous end of year sweeteners. All the various sectors are being effected with 940 jobs going from their insurance arm.

So, many more people will be searching the job columns now and even more will be concerned at the risk to their own jobs with the holiday season approaching and stockings needing filling.

Two leading campaign groups have today called for the complete upheavel of current libel laws amid growing concerns that freedom of speech is becoming ever more endangered. Both the Index of Censorship and the English PEN are challenging many facets of the current restrictions and have set out new ideas to address the growing trend in foreign celebrities coming to London to sue due to the nature of our censorship. 

REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS (www.bbc.co.uk)

There are certain events in the year that unite a nation. As the year draws to a close these events come round more and more regularly with the turning back of the clocks and the darkening of the nights the random explosions begin to ring out across the still night air. Bonfire night and Halloween signal the start of a couple of months of large national days. As the bonfires burn themselves out and the catherine wheels spin their last turn we move steadily towards Remembrance Day and the lonely poppies begin to appear adorning the breasts of the grateful. The old hunched over against the wind as they battle to complete their early Christmas shopping, the young that do not really know why they are wearing one but it’s exciting and the smattering of 20 somethings that have been raised properly to respect and remember.

Each year more names are added to the history books, more lost fathers, brothers, sisters, wives more souls pass on, their visage trapped permanently behind the glass, framed in pictures around the houses they once called home. The individual stories of loss are too many for me to talk about here, too many for me to do justice to and too many to really hit home. One that struck a real note with me while watching the goings on at the Cenotaph yesterday was of a young Welsh guardsman. His mother walked the woods around his child hood home explaining that this was his original battle ground, where he played at war as a child. His widow went onto explain that on the anniversary of his death she climbed the hill that overlooks her home and planted a Welsh flag proud and visible above the village. Every time someone walks up the hill and sits by the flag it brings her some relief, she knows that someone is thinking of her lost love and that brings her some level of relief. It makes it more personal for her, makes it more real.

This is the emotion that should be felt throughout the nation. Yes let’s remember the nations loss but on at 11am on Wednesday just think for a moment of the individual loss. Think of the daughter who has no father to walk her down the aisle, think of the wife whose bed is cold, think of the mother with no son to cook dinner for, think and keep thinking make sure it’s never forgotten.

The first week of production on the new Winchster News Online site is over and there are both good and bad points to examine. The news meeting on Monday was somewhat short of ideas for hard stories, at least for this week’s production as opposed to coming weeks. However under the careful stewardship of James Kenyon, a selection of stories was eventually hammered out. With the sport section providing a good number of varied reports, there was a good feel about the 1^st news conference and I am optimistic that those that follow will be even more rewarding.

Earlier in the day we had been taken through Joomla and learned how to upload articles and for those that needed to edit, how to do so. This was very interesting and obviously essential to the running of the site. This meant that from that point onwards reporters and feature writers were able to upload articles to be edited and then published.

Having concluded our news conference under the watchful gaze of Angus Scott, the editors returned to the news room to liase with the features team. This meant that we were able to confirm with Chris Horrie what the stories were that we were going to work on and how it may pan out into a running order. With Alice Rimes, confirming the details of what her features team would be providing, we were hopeful of a high quality first dummy run.

Going into Tuesday many people were beginning to edit packages having filmed the previous day. Omar Mussa constructed a good looking feature on fashion and the newsroom was a hive of activity with the production team starting to get to grips with the site and the editing process. The news stories were written up on the news board and this means that everyone had a better idea of what was going into the package. Several members of the team however were only noticeable by their absence and this began to be a cause for concern for me. With the Deputy News Editor missing for the first news conference on Monday and many sub-editors unsure of how to use the software due to the fact that they missed the relevant lectures there was some concern as to the quality of the bulletin. However as the newsroom wound down on Tuesday I was confident in both the end production and my colleagues whose task it was to actually produce the packages in time for the production staff to actually edit and upload.

Wednesday, production day, deadline day and I was hoping that everyone would pull together to make the first dummy run as efficient as if it was the genuine article. The people that were in the newsroom I can not speak highly enough of. Considering some of the inexperience of some of the reporters and the fact that many people did not think that they should turn up as ‘it wasn’t their day’ we all pulled together as a team. The fact that News Editor, James, had to leave to follow up a story was the greatest cause for concern for the whole week for me. Due to the fact that some of his reporters had either left editing left or hadn’t come in at all he had no choice to go out chasing the damage caused by the previous day’s hurricane. This left the newsroom in the hands of myself and Production Editor, Rich Taylor. With the sports team being worked hard by Sports Editor, Mark Lovell and the features work assured by Alice Rimes, I remained confident that we would produce a good looking bulletin. With the studio unlocked and some of the more inexperienced second years not needed in the newsroom I should have assigned them to practice on the cameras and lighting as well as the gallery equipment. This is something that I will remember for next week.

With time ticking on we were working flat out to ensure that we would have a bulletin to run with. At this point the production team went into the studio and after a couple of hours frantic work on the script and final running order they were ready, although time constraints had prevented them from having a run through. Considering that Claire and Tom had never done any presenting before they did very well. James’s late arrival back in the newsroom and the hard work of the rest of the news team was not enough however as the two lead packages just missed out on making it into the bulletin.

However the team should not be down heartened at all. We worked very well and very hard, a little more input from certain people and more experience with both editing and filming will stand us in good stead going forward. There were a lot of positives to take from the first week. We all worked well together on the whole especially as we have never had to do anything like this before. The newsroom was relatively calm even when under pressure. The stories that we did get even if they didn’t quite make the deadline were of a good standard and perhaps most importantly, everyone helped each other, features staff were helping out the news team and the sports desk was lending a hand in the studio. This is what I feel it is all about ensuring that everyone pulls together, we stand or we fall as one. If the bulletin isn’t good due to poor news stories then it is not just the news team that fail. If dodgy lighting or camera work lets us down the sports team still have to suffer for it. So I think everyone should take heart from what was a good start and be prepared to lean on each other even more in the coming weeks.

A few points that need addressing this week are:

1. Attendance – as Managing Editor I have already sent out an email regarding this, the simple fact of the matter is that if you expect a good grade you are in the newsroom from 9 till 6 on Wednesday, no excuses, end of debate. I have discussed this with Chris and Brian and this is the case.
2. A better understanding of everyone’s location – I am going to gather contact details of every member of the team and therefore they will be contactable at all times. This should eliminate issues like the News Editor having to leave the newsroom on deadline day.
3. Tighter and harder deadlines – the simple fact is if the production team do not have the packages by 2pm they are going to be rushed when they have to stack the Vts before we go live. I will discuss this in the editorial conference this week but I feel 2pm is suitable, fail to meet this deadline your package is cut, no debates. We can not run the risk of having black space again.
4. Better use of people and time – I will ensure that people that are stood around doing nothing are given something to do even if it means watching someone edit so they get more experience on equipment.

On the whole I feel it went well and am looking forward to an even better bulletin this week.

Whilst watching Sky News this morning i was shocked to discover that i actually agree with a decision taken by the current Government. The interview with Home Secretary Alan Johnson was regarding the recent dismissal of the head of Labour’s drug advisory board, Profesor David Nutt.

Since this decision was made, Dr Les King of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs, has resigned in protest to Prof Nutt being denied his ‘freedom of speech’ so say the BBC. However this is entirely misleading and misrepresenting the point. The issue is not whether Prof Nutt is permitted to express his opinions or not, rather the fact that he has taken an opposing view to those people he is supposed to be advising and representative of.

Having spoken openly against the Government’s decision to upgrade cannabis to a Class B from a Class C and having claimed that taking ecstasy is no more dangerous than riding a horse, you can see why the Home Secretary felt this man was not a good representative of the Brown leadership.

Let’s just think about this for a moment. If the Government were to appoint a military expert to advise it on the deployment of our nuclear arsenal, would it then be ok for said expert to join the CND. No, of course not. If they were to appoint someone to discuss the problems of prolonged NHS waiting lists and this person then said that they didn’t think they actually existed then again there would be a problem. So what is the difference when the chief drug advisor attacks the decisions that the Government have made.

In reality the arguments as to whether it’s right or wrong to change drug classification will be somewhat lost now as the issue becomes more and more politicised but i do not think that we can blame the Government for sacking someone who has been attacking them publicly.

Oh and you may want to take a picture people because me agreeing with Governmental decisions does not happen very often.