The unsinkable sequel

When a movie is a box office smash you expect a sequel, it is bound to happen. The producers want as much money as possible from their audiences. Sometimes though, you just cannot make a sequel, it’s not possible. This is especially true with disaster movies, how much worse can it get right? The world cannot end twice. But I think this fact is even truer if the story is factual.

Movie producers The Asylum disagree. To prove their theory they are currently making a sequel to…Titanic. Yes, that’s right, apparently when the ship sunk the story was not over. You would think that the facts of history would make this sequel impossible but it appears that this theory is untrue. The story continues.

With the tagline ‘100 years later, lightning strikes twice.’ I cannot wait to go see what will evidently be an even bigger box office hit. The plot which is outlined on their website states:

On the 100th anniversary of the original voyage, a modern luxury liner christened "Titanic 2", follows the path of its namesake. But when a tsunami hurls an ice berg into the new ship's path, the passengers and crew must fight to avoid a similar fate.

Very exciting, am I right? Unfortunately, we have to wait until August for this sure-to-be stunning movie... Or possibly, just possibly, it could turn out to be a disaster movie in both sense of the word.

50 years of Vogue

It is possibly the most famous fashion magazine on the planet and last night Vogue celebrated 50 years in the publishing world. The star-studded party was held at Claridges in London and was attended by the likes of Kelly Brook, boyfriend Danny Cipriani, Jerry Hall and Sam Taylor-Wood.

All were dressed to impress with Brook wearing a simple red one-shouldered dress with black accessories. Former model Jerry Hall wore a sleek black and gold dress, showing off her still fabulous body, proving that she still had it.

However, it was not just in London where the celebrations were going on. All over the world Vogue has been celebrating 50 years. This includes Australia who will release a book entitled ‘In Vogue: 50 Years Of Australian Style’ and Italy who are to create an exhibition of the most iconic photographs featured in Vogue Italy.

Student events: Carnage UK vs The Big Night Out

Students like to drink, it’s kinda what we’re known for. I would say it’s a stereotype but it’s not. We like to go out and with so many student events and promotions who can blame us? The two biggest events at the minute are Carnage UK and The Big Night Out. But which event is better?

Carnage UK has received a lot of stick from the public recently, since the incident with Philip Laing, who was caught urinating on a war memorial last November during an event. However, it is not fair to blame them for something one irresponsible person did, he should have known his limits. Carnage UK does not promote binge drinking they only make it safe for students to something they would have done anyway.

From my personal experiences The Big Night Out is better, yes you have to travel two hours there and back on a coach but you do get to go clubbing in London. It’s different and it’s exciting. Carnage is a glorified pub crawl. And, it's always so busy that you barely have time to get a drink at each bar before you have to move onto the next.

Both are fun and well organised but spending half an hour at the bar trying to get a drink then having to leave before you’ve actually finished, well it annoyed me a little bit, I have to say. Although, the Big Night Out has its disadvantages too, for one, sitting one those coaches can get a little boring and as you’re allowed to drink, people get rowdy and very drunk. They can then be refused entry to the club which is a waste of time and money. But at the end of the day it’s not the company’s fault. We are all warned when we buy the tickets and when we are on the coach what the consequences are so if denied entry it is our own fault.

A united victory

Does anyone else think the idea of a Conservative-Liberal Democrats coalition is a bit weird? They stand for completely different things! And just a few weeks ago they were slating each other on national television in a bid to get more votes than the other person.

Lets be honest, both parties did this for themselves, not for the people. They wanted power, Clegg wanted a foot in the door and Cameron obviously would go to any lengths to ‘win’. So what happens now?

Well Cameron is Prime Minister. Clegg is his deputy. And there are a surprising number of Lib Dems who have been appointed major parliamentary roles.

Cameron has said this marks a “historic and seismic shift” in British politics. But what does it mean and how is it going to affect us? Their agenda is to cut the deficit, support the troops and “build a stronger society”. But what about the issues they disagree on, like education or immigration? It seems the parties have already come to some arrangement on this. The Lib Dems are being allowed to abstain from voting for higher education funding and have agreed to limit the amount of non-EU economic migrants.

Still, can this new coalition government really work? At the moment everything points to yes but it is only the first day. A few months down the line and I can guarantee there will be problems, MPs will stop co-operating with each other and there is a strong possibility that our new coalition government will fall apart.

And of course there is the other big question…who is going to live at Number 10?!

Hot Tub Time Machine

Hot Tub Time Machine was one of the most idiotic ideas I’ve ever heard for a movie yet it was surprisingly entertaining. It kept me laughing all the way through with its mix of gross-out comedy and witty one-liners. The different personalities of the four main characters give every member of the audience something to identify with, which always makes for a good movie.

The concept for the movie did not really appeal to me: four men visiting a hotel they went to in their younger days as an escape from their lives for the weekend. Getting wildly drunk and finding out the hot tub in their hotel room is a time machine; they return to 1986 and get the chance to do things differently.

I thought the plot was very similar to The Hangover although nowhere near as good, or extreme. However, still very amusing.

And for those who are currently following the 80s retro trend you are sure to enjoy the outrageous hair-dos, bright outfits and music included in the film. But even if you’re not into the 80s you can still laugh at how badly dressed they were!

The biggest civil engineering project in the northern hemisphere

Malcolm Cowley, 48, works for Vinci Construction. They are the biggest civil engineering and concessions company in the world. Macolm is currently Project Controls Manager for the Cross Rail Project. This means he will be responsible for the costs and programmes of tunnels, portals and shafts throughout this project.

I asked him a few questions about the project.

So, Malcolm, what exactly is the Cross Rail Project?

We will be building a new railway that will take mainline trains through London in tunnels. It involves 29 miles of tunnel and major station upgrades at Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Raod, Farringdon, Liverpool Street, White Chapel and Canary Wharf. We have started a few already and plan to start more in the next couple of years.

How much will all this cost?

It is etimated to cost around £16 billion pounds.


Wow. So, what will this mean for London?

I'd say the most important thing is that it will increase rail capacity for London commuters such as myself. But, it will also be good for business as it will link heathrow to Canary Wharf and or course, it will be creating thousands of jobs during its construction.


When is the project due to end?

At the moment the plan is to have it all finished by the end of 2017 and right now we are on trakc to do so.

For more information go to the Cross Rail website:

http://www.crossrail.co.uk/

Bar brawl

A fight between rival motorcycle groups broke out in a pub in Ashford on Friday 26 March. The fight which took place at the Conningbrook Pub and Hotel led to several injuries and a major investigation by the local police who are still appealing for witnesses to come forward.

The event occurred at 9.20pm the night before the pub was due to close for three weeks for renovations. Local band Dirtie Bertie were in full swing according to eye witnesses when eight people entered and proceeded to attack certain punters in at the bar.

When asked to describe the events of the night James Bridle said "Three pairs blocked off the three entrances while the remaining two attcked three people." He said that one used a hammer to hit a victim repeatedly. Injuries included a large cut on one of the victims head and broken knee caps, arms and a nose.

Mr. Bridle and other eye witness, Malcolm Cowley, both said they were shocked by the whole event which happened so quickly. When it was over Mr. Bridle was able to give first aid to the victim suffering from head injuries while they waited for the police and paramedics to arrive.

Mr.Cowley has since said that he has heard rumours that the attack was a result of the victim allegedly shooting someone from the other group two years ago.

The Police arrived 20 minutes after the event but so far have been unable to press charges as witnesses are reluctant to come forward and there was no CCTV due to the imminent closure of the pub.

Christopher Peach, assistant manager of the Conningbrook said "I am worried that the fight will ruin the reputation of the pubs good family name."

I apologise for the lack of articles of late, my internet has been down. However, I'm back now and ready to fill you in on what's been going on the world (according to me, of course).

ECLIPSE June 30th!!!!!

Crackdown on household waste could lead to fines of £1000

New government rules were unveiled today, which could land you with a £1000 penalty fee if you fail to comply.

Using the wrong bin to discard your rubbish is the crime which may attract this fine under the new legislation. Households could soon end up with over five different bins for their waste. This includes a slop bucket for food waste.

Households will be required to sort through their rubbish before throwing away for anything that can be recycled, reused or converted into electricity. People who continually break these new rules are the main targets for the £1000 fine.

This new legislation proposal comes from environmental secretary Hilary Benn whose aim is to banish all food, cans, paper and glass from landfill sites in an attempt to slash greenhouse emissions.

The Tories criticised the idea with the Conservative environment spokesman Nick Herbert saying “We need to divert waste from landfill and more food and farm waste should be used to generate energy, but the way to achieve that is to encourage households by rewarding them to recycle.”

About 55 per cent of household waste ends up in landfill sites. This new scheme would save councils money on the landfill tax charged for every tonne of waste. The other issue this would solve is the problem of finding new locations when existing landfill sites are full.

While recycling rates increased dramatically over the last decade the rate has slowed in the last two years leading Benn to create this new idea. He said, “We have made good progress, but we can go further”.

Graduates losing out

With the amount of people choosing to attend university growing each year the competition for jobs in every industry is growing too. Talking to one student who graduated from Canterbury Christ Church University last year I found out just how tough the competition is getting.

Samantha Cowley, 21, has a degree in Marketing and Retail Management which she recieved in June 2009. She has since been looking for a job as a retail buyer. Asking how hard she has found it to get a job she said 'it has been extemely difficult', she went on to explain that employers are looking for more than just a degree, they want experience too. A problem for Samantha as her course did not offer any practical experience such as a 'sandwich' year, which she says are more commonly found in the business and marketing side rather than retail management.

The retail industry is very competitive especially since the recession as there have been lots of job cuts so a degree is not enough anymore, they are looking for other attributes. And in most job descriptions it is stated that you need at least a 2:1 to get hired at an entry level position. I asked Samantha what she is doing to overcome this problem and she said she is still applying to graduate schemes as well as trying to work her way up through a compay gaining experience that way. She also said that while doing her degree she worked wth two major fashion retailers. Samantha is also doing an excel course as many companies are looking for people who have these skills and she says she is 'making sure to put myself ahead of the competition'.

The last question I asked was whether Samantha thought the issue would continue to grow, to which she said 'yes'. She gave a number of reasons for this, the biggest being the amount of people recieving degrees every year and the fact that it means it is not just this years graduates looking for jobs but last years too.

Students take action

For months now there have been claims that university fees are set to rise to almost double the amount after the General Elections. Now, with the election drawing near the biggest issue seems to be whether this rise in fees will prevent people from going to university.

The result of this has led to numerous protests by students all over the country. Now Canterbury Student Unions are getting involved. On 11 November 2009 38 students from Canterbury travelled to London to join the protest on tuition fees, these students were led by Canterbury Christ Church University’s Student Union Vice-President Steve Godwin.

It has recently come to light that there is to be another demonstration of this nature which is to take place in Canterbury. This again is being led by Steve Godwin who, with regards to this matter has said ‘this is the biggest Student Union campaign in the last 10 years’. The demonstration which is set to happen 27 February 2010 will consist of a march through Canterbury high street towards the new Christ Church library, Augustine House. They also plan to question the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats on the possibility that fees will rise.

What they want is for local members of Parliament to vote against this. However, the MP’s have very carefully kept quiet until now; the students are no longer giving them the choice. The force of the multiple demonstrations has made it clear that the students have an ever growing voice in Britain and they plan to vote for the candidates who prove sympathetic to their cause.

Dear Student, Important information regarding tuition fees in Canterbury. Please spread the word. 1) Our tuition fees are under review - the next Government will announce if they will rise or not in the next six months. 2) We don't want others to pay more to come to University. We currently pay up to £3,225. This could rise to £5,000 or £6,000 per year! 3) We are demonstrating here in Canterbury the last week of February. Check www.canterburyunited.co.uk for more info. On Saturday 27th there will be a mass of people meeting at Westgate Hall (near Westgate towers) at 12.00. We will be marching down Canterbury high street, into the Dane John Park, and then into Augustine House. We will question the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats on the potential rise in fees! Please be there, join the Facebook groups and keep this movement strong. In Unity, Steven Godwin - Vice President Welfare and Education Silvia Rasca - Education Officer

The demonstration in Canterbury is being advertised everywhere, with emails being sent to every student at Christ Church University, Kent University and Canterbury College. The unions want to get everyone involved; Steve Godwin says ‘it affects all of us, why should we have to pay almost double the amount we are paying now to be educated?’ He goes on to say that it is unfair and the product will be a lesser educated nation as people will no longer be able to afford to go to university.

So the question remains, will university fees rise to £6000 per year, unfortunately we will not receive an answer until after the election. However, one thing is for sure, the students are not willing to just bow down and admit defeat.