"Mickey-mouse degrees"

Today's moan is directed at the influx of arrogant journalists picking fun at those spending thousands of pounds and three years of their life on so-called "Mickey Mouse degrees".

Initially, I was annoyed that my degree (Music Journalism and Media) is most probably classified as such, but then I thought even all those graduates in Golf Management and Surf Studies have paid in excess of £18,000 and three years hard graft only to be down-trodden in the broadsheets by a plethora of ignoramuses.

It seems incredibly easy to just point and poke fun at these type of degrees without actually looking into the individual modules and how they can be applied to future work. My degree is deceptively broad in that it covered various journalistic styles, regulations, and ethics against a backdrop of the history and workings of the media. It is forgivable to assume that I am only trained to write music reviews. I can tell you now, I would not have wasted my time if that was the case.

I agree to an extent that there are some courses such as Equestrian Psychology that probably don't cut it as a degree subject. However, I'm not going to insult the efforts of wannabe Equestrian Psychologists by labelling their degree as a Mickey Mouse subject.

In my opinion, University today is not all about the specific degree subject. I've learned so much about living independently and about myself (bit cheesy.. yes) as well as attributes like prioritising workloads, organisational and teamwork skills which funnily enough always seem to crop up in the personal specifications section of job applications. That's the whole point of going to Uni isn't it? To get a job?

I'm going to end with a reference from The Times newspaper article: "'Mickey Mouse' degrees?" which states that with regards to the Golf Management degree, "Graduates finish with a degree and a Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) qualification. Even in these straitened times, over 90% find graduate-level work within six months". I bet the odds are a lot bleaker for the 'classic' degree subjects!

Kay Burley - the uninformed, tactless woman who is an embarrassment to journalism.

I've added Sky News broadcast journalist, Kay Burley, to the list of people I'd like to give a good kicking (others include Carol McGiffin and Amanda Holden) because of this interview:

Firstly, people didn't vote for a hung parliament you stupid woman! I don't remember wandering into the ballot booth and seeing a box on the paper with 'Hung Parliament' next to it!

Secondly, LET THE MAN ANSWER THE QUESTION! Why bother asking those inane questions if you're not going to let him answer it!

I didn't realise this was the same woman that also made Peter Andre cry, strangle a female photographer, make jokes about the ash on Joe Biden's forehead (on Ash Wednesdsay) and ask the wife of the Suffolk Strangler, "Do you think if you'd have had a better sex life, this wouldn't have happened?" How has this woman still got a job??? Argh!

Bloody journos!

Eeeh just look at this shameless hounding of an old woman by the press. My moan isn't at Gordon Brown as I think he has a right to have an opinion. However, in his line of work it's obviously incredibly important not to be so bleeding careless about broadcasting it before an election. The moan is directed at the reporters' over-the-top persistance at getting a reaction out of this woman and their incredible arrogance in thinking that their job objectives have priority over her privacy.

As a journo student, I recognise that it's important to be persistant but they overstep the mark. Is it just me or does it seem they are asking questions just for the sake of asking a question? What really got my goat was how they chuckled that Mrs Duffy had the sheer audacity to answer her phone while being on "sky news and many other channels". How fascinatingly patronising that Sky News man is as he interupts her phone conversation with his hand on her shoulder, presuming that the only reason she'd get a phone call at that moment in time is because she's on the telly.

What a pair of twats.

Bloody Politics!

I'm a bit fed up of the government in this country. I'm not just one of those people that are jumping on the bandwagon after the expenses scandal, I am genuinely annoyed that when I start work (and pay taxes)... I'm just handing over my wages to these pillocks and letting them do whatever the f*ck they want with it.

It seems a bit odd that in this so called democracy there are essentially 3 political parties to choose from. Correct me if I'm wrong but 2 of them seem incredibly similar and the one that makes most sense to me is constantly labelled as 'as a wasted vote'.

I'm not interested in point-scoring and blatent PR stunts like Gordon Brown on Piers Morgan or David Cameron on Titchmarsh. All I want are honest politicians that lay down their manifesto with big changes to so-called 'Broken Britain'. If I don't agree with that particular party's views then I'll choose a different party with different plans.

The reason this is baffling me now is reading about public spending cuts on our defence industry. I cannot fathom why this is even considered. Without a sufficiently funded defence, we'll end up with no country to govern anyway! In a similar article, I read that politicans outside the 60-minute radius of Parliament are allowed to claim for a second home but only to the value of a one-bedroom flat. Well woop-de-do. Oh hang on, what was that? £1, 450 a month?!! Why should anyone have to subsidise a one-bedroom flat for an MP to stay in at the value of that?? I've seen some of their houses, they can afford that kind of luxury themselves! I don't know what flat prices are like in London but I can bet your ass that a grand per month isn't your bog-standard bedsit!

I'm not going to pretend I'm a political expert but why don't they cap certain people's wages that are slightly ridiculous. e.g Directors and executives at the BBC (who are incidentally using tax-payers money) or high-flying bankers? The PM of this country should hands-down earn the highest salary.. no-one has a greater responsibililty than running the country. Those at the BBC who are using licence-payers money should definitely get their wages capped and the excess should be ploughed back into public spending.

It's absolutely ridiculous that nurses, the army and the like get paid the amount they do for what they do and that the government are talking about cutting down public spending! .. all the while BBC execs are driving home to their posh pads in their extravagant cars and dining out in the best restaurants with that £145.50 pp per year we're forking out.

I know who I'm voting for in the next election. I don't agree with the whole 'I'm not voting because I don't care about politics/I don't like anyone' bullshit. That's how idiots like the BNP get in. There are plenty of different parties, even if they aren't the publicity mongers like Labour or Conservative, so use your vote wisely. Politics is important, it determines how this country is run. So don't be a dickhead and decide.

Heavage & Shirt-lifters

Why have men suddenly decided it's sexy to wear plunging necklines to show off their pecs? JLS are by far the worst offenders. For every performance, at least one of em dons a flimsy low-cut t-shirt presumably to get some screams off the girls/inflate their ego?

The snap below is just a little snippet of their 'One Shot' video where it's man boobs galore. I don't mind looking at JLS's bodies.. they're quite fit... it's just the blatent vanity that's a bit cringey. Is this really necessary....??

Another vanity crime JLS are guilty of is the 'shirt'lifting' kind. (N.B I am using 'shirt-lifter' as its literal meaning, not the one you're thinking of on Urban Dictionary!) Presumably for the same reason they pull their collars down, they also give their girly fans some toned ab action.... as demonstrated by Aston below...






 

Blaaatently just to get some screams.. why even bother wearing a shirt Aston? At least JLS are decent looking fellas, it's the less attractive heavage-showing, shirt-lifters that are the real problem! Par example.... this guy:

Oh god. Although in fairness, Cowell isn't a renowned shirt-lifter.. just a serial hairy chest barer. As of today, I'm on pec-watch.. will this trend ascend? I'll update this accordingly.

I'm not a real woman?

My moan of today is to stick up for the gangly girls out there who society has decided to downtread in place of "real women" with curves in all the right places.

Remember the time when Nicole/Mischa/Posh/Lindsay and all that lot graced the pages of Heat with their tiny frames because it was fashionable to be a size 0 or just a skinny girl? ...while all over the globe women were retorting, "Well I'm a real woman" because they had boobs and hips and whatever else. Well yes, times have moved on and it's all about the meat now.. curvy women with hourglass shapes etc etc.

What about the girls who are naturally skinny and haven't got big boobs? Why does that make them less of a woman? I can completely appreciate that Nicole Richie most probably had a strict diet which means she was malnourished and that is damaging for young girls to look up to.. but not everyone who is skinny eats two celery sticks a day and runs 100 hours on a treadmill each week!

I am a skinny girl. I have a good bum, if I do say so myself, but there's not much up top. I eat like a horse, don't overly exercise (just walking to uni and back is really all I do) and I don't get any bigger. The odd month I might have too many burgers but it goes to my hips and nowhere else... so how is it fair that through no fault of my own, I'm made to feel less of a woman by the media? Never mind having difficulty to find dresses that fit over my hips but doesn't leave a space where some boobs should be!

Why is it curvy v skinny? Why can't it just be both?? There should be more effort put into girls making sure they feel good in themselves whatever their shape or size or even what they look like. Give it til they're 60 and looks won't matter to them anyway!

I still believe the media is very much to blame for girls not being happy in their own skin, especially magazines who have the photoshopping tool to make their models/celebrities look immaculate. If girls think they should look like the digitally-altered faces in the magazines they read, there is definitely a problem.

To illustrate this, here's a video from Dove's 'Campaign For Real Beauty' with the conclusion "No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted"...... shocking.

Pissed, legless, rat-arsed, shit-faced, wankered, drunk... no.

Sometimes I just don't feel like a proper student. I just can't be arsed to get drunk anymore. I love the inebriated feeling of dancing with your arms in the air like you just don't care it's just the morning after that spoils it.

It annoys me that as a student, it is a requirement that you must love getting leathered at any opportunity. It may aswell be in UCAS agreement that you must piss half your money away to pay for an earth-shattering headache and to throw up curry/chips/vodka until 3pm the next day. I have the added expectation that being from Newcastle, this is just part of the daily routine.

Now at the ripe old age of 21 years and 8 months, I feel like enough's enough. Is it so bad to prefer going to Alton Towers with your mates or the zoo?? I'm putting all this down the fact I have had about 5/6 years experience of getting so hammered my mates/randomers had to give me piggy backs home, throwing up in bushes/roads/outside taxi windows, going to the toilet in nettle bushes and generally making an arse out myself only to wake up the next day and recoil in embarrassment at what I've done. For some people, coming to uni is the key to a world of corkys, vodka and The Codfather which has previously been hidden under the parental plantpot so I don't blame the kids for indulging a bit!

I just want to make it clear, I'm not so past it to refuse a few vodka and cokes after exams, deadlines, birthdays and other occasions.. I'd just rather stay in with a cup of tea watching shite TV with a takeaway than gracing Huddersfield nightlife every Monday and Wednesday. Let's face it.. there's only really Camel and Tokyo to choose from. Nuff said.

Let's see if my opinion stays the same with some pennies in my pocket back up in the toon....