'No man is an Island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main;... any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.'

The Survival of James Bond

With the release of the newest Bond film, Skyfall, I thought it would be appropriate to do a Bond-related post. My family have the box-set of Bond films and I’m ashamed to say we’ve made our way through all of them... The first of which, Dr. No, was released in 1962. The films have stood the test of time - despite every one of them pretty much following the same formula. The films are also rather sexiest. In every film, all the female characters fall in love in Bond and seem incredibly unable to defend themselves.

I think what still attracts viewers to James Bond after all these years is how England is presented. The secret services are shown as slick, glamorous and unstoppable. Bond is an idealised version of the sophisticated English gentleman. Everyone likes to pretend that this is what English is like, rather than the reality of fish and chip takeaways and council estates…  I think that with the exception of Americans (who probably do believe that this version of England is accurate) viewers enjoy watching a film where this idea of England is a reality.  

Paying for our education.

I'm a big believer in state education. I don't agree with free schools or religious schools (but they're both whole other stories) and I would never dream of sending my child to a private school. But I was thinking today about education and I realised that to get somewhere, you really do need money.

The amount of money my parents have spent on books is ridiculous - necessary but ridiculous. Schools trips cost money. Re-marking exam papers costs money. Re-sitting exams costs money. And going to university without your parents' support (in terms of money)?... It doesn't happen for most.

I don't really know what the solution is. We have to pay for supplies... and can't expect the government to fund every individual's education. But it is a great injustice that those born into less afluent families suffer.

The incredible opening lines to an incredicle film.

"Have you ever confused a dream with life? Or stolen something when you have the cash? Have you ever been blue? Or thought your train moving while sitting still? Maybe I was just crazy. Maybe it was the 60's. Or maybe I was just a girl... interrupted."

Radio stations reading out texts from drivers

I was just listening to Reggie Yates on Radio 1 (because my sister insisted on putting it on...) and he was reading out texts from listeners. One of them read 'Partying while I'm driving!'

I just thought about the fact that drivers text into radio stations while they are driving and how unsafe this is. I've heard so many texts like this read out on Radio 1. It occurred to that by reading out texts from people who were driving, the stations are arguably justifying using mobiles while driving. I think it would better to just ignore those texts and read ones out from those actually texting legally...

This may have been the most boring, old-Conservative-loser type blog post EVER but this just occurred to me!

Prince Harry and his Crown Jewels...

This week everyone (or those interested) has been discussing the pictures of Prince Harry naked in Las Vegas. I don't really have much of an opinion on it... I don't think it's a massive deal in comparison with other news (SYRIA FOR EXAMPLE?) but at the same time it doesn't seem very prince-like behaviour.

Some people have been saying 'it doesn't matter... why does anybody care?... he's a normal bloke and every bloke has done things like that... etc.' I find this view ridiculous because Prince Harry is not a normal bloke. He's a Prince. And he has responsibilities to act in a certain way. It's not exactly the sort of the thing you would expect from a representative of the country.

However other people have been saying 'it's just disgusting behaviour... he should be ashamed' or whatever. I don't agree with this either. He is just a young man who made a bad decision that night and whose minders weren't quite doing their job well enough... Everyone makes mistakes.

But then I also disagree with the view that says 'he's a very hard working man... he has a difficult life and was just letting off steam'. Yes he may work hard, I am sure he does. But everyone works hard. Not everyone has millions and a free ride in the way that Harry does. I don't feel sorry for him and I think that he should apologise for what has happened. 

So that's my view of the Harry situation. I don't really have a fixed position. I disagree with both sides of the debate about the appropriateness of his behaviour. One thing I do have a strong view on, is the Palace's decision to threaten papers who publish the pictures with legal action. I think this is ridiculous. They can't dictate what papers can and cannot do. As a public figure, Prince Harry is news. And that includes the pictures. There should be no exception just because he's royalty. The pictures can be easily found on the internet anyway so I don't know what difference the Palace think it's going to make. The Sun decided to print the pictures. This is obviously for money and publicity rather than anything else, but who cares? If they want to print them, let them print them. The Palace shouldn't be able to stop the paper.

Security at the Olympics

Everyone's talking about the Olympics - even while my family and I were on holiday everyone was asking why we weren't back in London to see it. So I thought I'd write an Olympic-themed post. Yesterday we went to watch the athletics because my dad managed to get tickets. It was a really fun day but actually what stood out for me was the way the security was managed. I was expecting an over-the-top, police everywhere with intemidating stares, approach. But I was actually really surprised at how calm and unobtrusive it all was. You weren't made to feel like a criminal when going through security or to feel uncomfortable when walking next to Police Officers/Soldiers. Everyone was very friendly and smiley. It doesn't sound very important, but it really does make a difference. I definitely feel that the way security was organised was just right.