Stop mixing the science of climate change with the politics of climate change!!!

Are there too many immigrants in Britain? No but there are too many people in the world. Is multiculturalism a threat to British culture? No British culture is always changing & I love living in a society with a diverse range of people. Is gay marriage a threat to 'traditional marriage'? No it will just mean that people aren't discriminated against based on their sexuality. Should Britain renew Trident? No the £30 billion or so it will cost would be much better spent on reducing poverty in the UK. Should we intervene in Syria? I'm not in favour of us doing an 'Iraq' on them but I definitely think we should do something, such as a no-fly zone or put pressure on different divisional commanders in the Syrian army to flip sides. Should the top rate of income tax in the UK be higher? No but I think the government should do more to clamp down on both tax avoidance & tax evasion by corporations & wealthy individuals. Should the UK bring back the death penalty? No it's inhumane & doesn't act as a deterrent. Would a communist society work? No but I believe capitalism will evolve into a more ethical & sustainable economic system within the next century. 

Now all of the above questions are asking me of my political opinion on such matters. I answered them with my political opinion, I may well be wrong on them & my answers will stem from a mixture of my logical & emotional reasoning. I can offer evidence for my opinions if asked but I don't think any one of my above opinions stated could be considered a 'fact'. 

My belief in climate change however is taken from a scientific perspective. After learning about climate change in a unit called 'Environmental Management' during my Business degree, I have looked into the science on many scientific websites, listened to what the national scientific bodies say & I am sure that human activity is the prime reason for the recent rise in warming in the last 200 years. My belief in climate change is as certain as my belief in evolution- the vast majority of scientists in their field support both theories.

I have researched the science of climate change by using reputable scientific websites such as the Royal Society's. The Royal Society acts as the UK's academy of sciences & is many of the world’s most distinguished scientists drawn from all areas of science, engineering, and medicine. The Society’s fundamental purpose, as it has been since its foundation in 1660, is "to recognise, promote, and support excellence in science and to encourage the development and use of science for the benefit of humanity."

The following quote is taken from the official website of the Royal Society: "It is certain that increased greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of fossil fuels and from land use change lead to a warming of climate, and it is very likely that these greenhouse gases are the dominant cause of the global warming that has been taking place over the last 50 years." 

And "The Society has worked on the issue of climate change for many years to further the understanding of this issue. These activities have been informed by decades of publicly available, peer-reviewed studies by thousands of scientists across a wide range of disciplines. Climate science, like any other scientific discipline, develops through vigorous debates between experts, but there is an overwhelming consensus regarding its fundamentals. Climate science has a firm basis in physics and is supported by a wealth of evidence from real world observations."

(http://royalsociety.org/policy/climate-change/). 

Here's what the world's most prestigious scientific bodies put it in a joint statement signed by the heads of the national science academies in Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US:

"The existence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is vital to life on Earth – in their absence average temperatures would be about 30 centigrade degrees lower than they are today. But human activities are now causing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases – including carbon dioxide, methane, tropospheric ozone, and nitrous oxide – to rise well above pre-industrial levels. 

Carbon dioxide levels have increased from 280 ppm in 1750 to over 375 ppm today – higher than any previous levels that can be reliably measured (i.e. in the last 420,000 years). Increasing greenhouse gases are causing temperatures to rise; the Earth’s surface warmed by approximately 0.6 centigrade degrees over the twentieth century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected that the average global surface temperatures will continue to increase to between 1.4 centigrade degree." (http://www.nationalacademies.org/onpi/06072005.pdf)

Now onto my political beliefs regarding climate change- I believe through a mixture of environmental legislation, consumer pressure to make organisations more environmentally friendly & ethical, greater education & awareness about climate change as it increasingly has a negative impact on people around the world, we will help to prevent climate change from  making our planet uninhabitable. I believe the solutions to climate change will come from a variety of political persuasions so the sooner all sides accept the science the sooner we can focus more on the politics & the possible solutions. 


Below are several other reputable & scientific sources on climate change:

http://www.newscientist.com/topic/climate-change

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11462-climate-change-a-guide-for-the-perplexed.html

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=science-behind-climate-change

http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/syr/en/spms2.html

What is happening in Syria means we need a bullet proof global arms trade treaty more than ever

For over a year the ruthless Assad dictatorship in Syria has terrorised and murdered thousands of its own people. The bodies of adults and children have been burnt and destroyed by the Assad army. A recent UN report has revealed that children have been used by Syrian troops as ‘human shields’ and as child soldiers during the conflict.

The US government has alleged that Russia is sending attack helicopters to the regime and warned that Syria’s conflict could become even deadlier. Russia has continued to insist that any arms it supplies to the country are not being used to suppress anti-government dissent. Personally I think that’s bullshit- Russia's veto of the UN security council resolution on Syria was followed by reports of continuing arms sales by Russia's state arms trader.

It is estimated that almost 10,000 civilians have been killed in Syria – the time has come for Russia to stop transferring arms to Syria. But Russia isn’t the only one responsible for the deadly but booming arms trade- $45-60 billion arms sales are agreed each year. Each year enough bullets are made to kill every person on this planet twice; At least 1500 people are killed in armed conflict & violence every single day- these deaths are not unavoidable. They are the tragic consequence of an arms trade that is out of control.

It is one of most corrupt trades in world, a lot of the arms that western governments have sold have gone into the hands of military dictatorships or corrupt governments. Tea gas grenades used by Egypt security forces to gas their own citizens in November 2011 were supplied by the US, some were even made in the UK. A recent Amnesty report  highlighted how the UK, USA, France and other countries sent weapons to Libya, Bahrain and Yemen despite clear signs that these weapons would be used by repressive governments against its own civilians.

This senseless violence could have stopped a long time ago, but for Russia and China vetoing UN Security Council resolutions, putting profit from arms sales before people.

We have treaties to regulate the global trade of many products, even Bananas, dinosaur bones, postage stamps, but not guns & bullets- there is virtually no accountability on how weapons are traded between countries, or how they are used. 

There will be a meeting at the United Nations in New York next month, where countries from around the world will gather to negotiate the first-ever international arms trade treaty.

The aim of such a treaty is to have a globally agreed set of standards to regulate the trade of all conventional arms, stopping the sale of weapons to places that pose a serious risk to human rights. 

A draft treaty has already been published, which – if adopted – would ban all weapons sales to countries that could use them to abuse human rights, or encourage corruption or armed violence. Most countries support the idea of such a treaty, but under pressure from their own arms industry, some want it watered down. China, India, Pakistan want to leave out small arms like machine guns & assault weapons. US wants to leave out bullets. Anna Macdonald, head of arms control campaigning at Oxfam, states: "Guns are useless without bullets. Bullets are what turn guns into lethal weapons. It is absolutely essential that the sale of ammunition is included in the treaty. It would be totally irrational to leave it out. The price paid in human lives for the trade in ammunition is incalculable."

The UN security council's permanent members, China, France, Russia, UK and the USA, are also (alongside Germany) the world's largest profiteers from arms sales. If this treaty is going to work, it needs to include a wide range of weapons, equipment & deals, & it must safeguard human rights.

There is a need to push for a treaty that regulates and asks states to track their sales of ammunitions. The problem is that conflict zones are already flooded with weapons. It is the continued sale of ammunition that makes those weapons far more deadly than the clubs they would be otherwise.

The UK government must take a leading role in the international talks to secure a binding and comprehensive arms trade treaty to stem the flow of weapons and ammunition to rights abusing governments. To help save those lives all you need to do is persuade Cameron to get it right. He can only do that by publically committing that the UK will not compromise on human rights during the negotiations. 

The world needs a bullet proof arms trade treaty. Please email your MP now asking them to support one

http://action.amnesty.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1194&ea.campaign.id=14684

For further information on this, here’s a few links:

http://action.amnesty.org.uk/ea-campaign/action.retrievestaticpage.do?ea_static_page_id=1994

http://www.un.org/disarmament/convarms/ArmsTradeTreaty/

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/global-issues/arms-control/arms-trade-treaty/

http://www.oxfam.org/en/campaigns/conflict/controlarms/why-we-need-global-arms-trade-treaty

*A shorter version of this article was published through the UK's most popular left wing blog, Liberal Conspiracy @ http://liberalconspiracy.org/2012/07/04/syria-is-proof-we-need-a-global-arms-trade-treaty/

Our grandparents fought, died and defeated the greatest threat in their lifetime so that we could have our freedom...we should live a more sustainable life so that our grandchildren can enjoy theirs

We are very passionate about remembering our war dead, our war heroes that fought and died in the name of democracy, and rightly so. They did it because it was the right thing to do, to fight the Nazis and Hitler’s fascist agenda. If they had just sat back and said “Ah, it’ll be ok”, “I can’t be bothered today” etc then we wouldn’t be here today, we’d all be speaking German, and wouldn’t be able to enjoy the many freedoms we have in a liberal democracy. Our ancestors, including my great granddad, William Whitmarsh who fought under Field Marshall Montgomery in North Africa defeated the greatest threat in their lifetime. It would have negatively affected them had they not won and Europe, and probably the world would be a lot darker place than it is today. The Daily Mail claimed the Nazis weren’t a threat and today the same sensationalist tabloid is refusing to admit the truth about the greatest threat we face today.

Today the greatest threat to humanity is climate change, man made climate change. Some people refuse to believe it. To those that deny its existence, you are disagreeing with 97% of climate scientists, with 35,000 of the world’s scientists of the IPCC, and with science. I’m afraid that no matter how hard you argue with science, it will always win because science is based on cold hard evidence. The evidence for man made climate change is overwhelming- (here it is). Each year, human activity causes billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases to be released into the atmosphere. As scientists have known for decades, these gases capture heat that would otherwise escape to space – the equivalent of wrapping the planet in an invisible blanket. This has caused the earth to warm by 1.4 °F in the last 100 years, threatening the habitat of many plants and animals already.

We are running out of oil and global production is likely to peak in about 10 years. Relying on this finite source of energy not only damages the environment but pushes prices up, hitting the economy. Some of the consequences include rising sea levels, an increase in the number of people exposed to devastating droughts and floods, and a potentially massive increase in extinction rates. Not to be alarmist but scientists say that we could see a 70% wipe out of all life on this planet by the end of the century. It will have grave consequences for our grandchildren. I care not because I want to have my name on a plaque but like my great grandfather, I care because it’s the right thing to do.

And yet the only war we need to fight is against the burning of fossil fuels; the only enemy we face is ourselves; our burning ambition to keep on with our addiction to oil; we need to realise that we cannot keep on with an capitalist economic system that relies on infinite growth in a world with finite resources. There is constant opposition to fighting climate change from the right wing tabloids such as the Daily Mail because of the short termism to Tory policies and many people refusing to change their unsustainable lifestyle. BP and other oil companies spend millions on PR and lobbying our government's to reduce environmental regulation.

This is all we need to do- realise the facts, and start thinking about how we can all live a more responsible, sustainable life. We need a change in culture and it won’t come unless we all come together and realise that we just need to make a few sacrifices in our lives.

If you would like any further information on climate change this is an excellent link

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/interactive/2011/aug/15/everything-know-climate-change

This is a good link for how to live a more sustainable life: http://sustainableliving.about.com/

There are other things you can do, such as tell Nick Clegg to make himself useful for once!!
http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/speakout/tell-nick-clegg-to-take-a-stand-on-climate-change

YOU are the 99%

There appears to be some misunderstanding about the Occupy Movement in London, mostly due to the lies the tabloids print (http://www.theweek.co.uk/uk-news/occupy-movement/35703/occupylsx-slams-dishonest-claims-about-empty-tents).  They are not communists, they are not against business.

Let me tell you what they are against: The fact that FTSE 100 Directors have seen their total earnings rise by 49% over the last year whilst share prices has remained stagnant (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/oct/28/ftse-100-directors-earnings-rose-by-almost-half);

the fact that HM Revenue and Customs allowed the investment bank Goldman Sachs to avoid paying £10 million in interest payments they owed (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/oct/28/uk-uncut-goldman-sachs);

also allowing Vodafone to escape paying £6 billion that they owed in tax (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/mps-hit-out-at-vodafone-tax-letoff-6258782.html);

the fact that banks are still paying billions in bonuses this year and the government is doing nothing to stop them (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12131092);

the fact the government is refusing to implement a financial transactions tax that would mean they would pay their fair share to clean up the mess they helped create (http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/11/tax-financial-osborne-robin);

the fact that the Coalition government is reducing the deficit by making 1.5 million public sector workers unemployed and making a total of £113 billion in cuts by 2015, including cuts to social care services, unemployment benefits, the NHS, education, emergency services, pensions- that's right, services the country needs!! (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10390823);

the fact that the Coalition government recently printed £75 billion and handed it to the banks (who are still refusing to lend anything near the amount of money needed to help the economy grow) and wasn't given to the public negatively affected by the Coalition's cuts (http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2011/10/26/comment-qe-the-bank-should-let-us-win-our-own);

the fact that tax evasion by wealthy individuals and greedy corporations costs the UK economy £15 billion a year (http://news.sky.com/home/business/article/15533289);

the fact that tuition fees are rising to £9000 a year, putting many potential brilliant (but working class) students off from going to university (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-11677862).


If you think this is all ok and we should just carry on as we are then I guess you are one of the 1%. If you feel any of this is unfair and you think that more should be done to stop our corrupt undemocratic economic system then welcome to the 99%. We are for the many, not just the few. (http://www.occupytogether.org).

Murdoch's Humble Pie Analysis

I doubt whether Rupert will be arrested, or anything- I doubt he knew about the phone hacking, although him and James were very evasive with the questions. Rupert was very slow to answer and when he did he was very vague and often said "I don't know, perhaps James can answer that". The fact is, that as Chairman and CEO of News Corporation, Rupert is in charge of the corporate governance of the organisation, he is the man responsible for ensuring that the company remains within the law etc, and he has failed, he repeatedly said he didn't know about certain things, such as the payment of £1 million to a Max Clifford because his phone was hacked, I mean that's a big sum of money- he must have known.

 James was also poor at answering the questions, although at least he went into more detail than his father. I think as the investigation into News Corp continues, James could well face criminal charges against him. I believe both Rupert and James will leave the company in the near future.  Unfortunately today was overshadowed by an idiot protestor who tried to put a "foam pie" into Murdoch's face (Murdoch's wife Wendi slapped him). Before that happened, Rupert was anything but a victim, now they can portray him as such, The Sun already has and I'm sure Fox News will lead with that narrative too. I believe that as more revelations come out, both Murdoch's will leave News Corp in the near future- the other shareholders can now clearly see they are not fit to run the company.

If there's one thing we need in the world, it's better education for ALL

People often ask me out of all the Coalition's policies, what is the one that I am most pissed off about? This is easy. The university fees rise. This is the least progressive in my opinion, the one policy that really sets Britain back years in terms of equality. "Oh but they don't have to pay the £27,000 back straight away." No, they don't. But they shouldn't have to pay ANYTHING back. University education should be based on ability to learn, not ability to pay. Otherwise too many great minds are wasted. Communism doesn't work, we know that but the principle that we are all born equal and it should remain that way is wonderful.

Maybe we will never achieve complete equality, maybe we will always have the class system but we should be progressive, we should be giving EVERY young person a chance to achieve their dream. Too many are falling by the wayside, society has failed to give them the proper chances in life. The least we can do is make sure that every young person has the CHANCE to go to university, to achieve their potential. If they are intelligent enough, they shouldn't be put off by the thought of having to pay back £50,000, and it's not the middle classes who worry about this. It's the same the other way round too- too many middle class gimps go to university cos Mummy and Daddy will pay for it, they fuck around, they don't have a part time job whilst studying, they get pissed all the time, they couldn't care less about their degree, but they pass it because yet again Mummy and Daddy help them, and then they help them to get a good job in a good firm, or in their firm. And they are set for life. They spend their entire life blagging people and brown nosing their way up to organisations, or politics, and think they are invincible, and then they do the same for their kids.

Whereas the people who actually have a brain, and want to do well in life, don't. Society doesn't let them achieve their full potential. They may have great minds but their neighbourhood, their surroundings leads them to drugs, alcohol, homelessness, crime, prostitution, and an early death.

I'm not just talking about in the western world- I'm talking about children in Africa who are born into poverty, disease, famine. No one gives them a helping hand, a chance to achieve their potential. I just watched Bjorn Lomberg giving a talk at the TED conference in 2007 where he asks people to rank the biggest problems in the world such as AIDS, Malnultrition, people lacking drinking water, climate change, and he asks them to prioritise them if we had $50 billion to spend. Where would we spend the money? Well I would say why not spend the money on making sure as many children as possible get the education they deserve in the world?

That would be a long term investment for sure, and wouldn't save lives immediately. But if you think of the world as an organisation and its people as employees, would you send employees for more training and development based on how much their parents earn and where they live, or based on their potential and intelligence? This will then create more talent, create better ideas of all kinds- business, economics, medicine, technology, entertainment, philosophy, politics, etc, making us all wealthier and creating a better and fairer world for all

My Vancouver Island Experience

My Dad has lived in Canada for 6 years now and moved to Campbell River, Vancouver Island a year ago with his wife Wendy. He had been asking me to fly over to Canada for more than a holiday for a few years, and having graduated, I thought I should take up his offer. Faced with more months stacking fruit and veg and Nigel moaning to me about 'nights not doing enough', it wasn't hard. So thanks Nige. I originally looked into getting a work permit, but found out that in order to get one, you need to have a job offer. And of course it isn't easy getting a job offer for Canada in the UK. So I thought F*ck it, I just booked a flight for January 1st and flying back to the UK on the 28th May and I will do some voluntary work.

Before I came, I had a bit of a cough and a chest infection. Yes Mother, yes Charlotte, I should have listened to you both but that would have been sensible. Because I didn't go to the doctor in the UK, thinking it would clear up (as I'm NEVER ill), when I got to Canada it only got worse, and this resulted in me having to fork out $66 to see the doctor (in Walmart, seriously) . So after touching me up and down, and asking me to breathe in and out (I thought I already did that automatically) he gave me some antibiotics, and so I spent my first few weeks on Vancouver Island mostly resting.

I didn't know what to expect of my temporary new home, but I was more clued up than Gary from work who told me not to come back as a 'Queer French dude', not sure where he got that misinformation from, or that it would snow the WHOLE time!! (A few people). Well it did snow, a few times but the weather changes quite quickly here. Only twice was I woken up at 530am by my Dad to clear the driveway so he and Wendy could get to work.

My Dad's house is massive, the houses here are generally cheaper than in the UK as the land isn't as scarce, and of course there are a lot less people here. He shares it with his wife, and Rosie and Farley, a St Bernard and a Scottie dog. Rosie is a big clumsy dog who delights in running up to you, and wiping her stalactite like drool all over you. So I knew I was going to have lots of fun with her.

So after getting better, I took a few trips into town. It took an hour to walk into Campbell River, and bear in mind this  is a town with a population the same as Altrincham (but 5 times larger) but you don't mind if you're walking along the ocean when it isn't too cloudy. From my Dad's lounge window, there is a beautiful view of Mount Washington if you look forward, and a big forest to to the right so I never got tired of looking at any of that.

So I arranged an appointment with the voluntary organisation here in town, and I had a few volunteer placements I was interested in. Due to me having to get a criminal record check done, and this taking a month or so to come back, I wasn't able to start volunteering until late February.

I kept hearing lots about the wildlife here, including bears, whales, cougars, wolves, coyotes etc but for the first month or so, it seemed like there wasn't anything as the most I saw was a rabbit at the side of the road! Anyway one day, I was looking after Rosie and Farley and whilst I was lounging around on the sofa on the computer, Rosie comes running into the lounge visibly distressed and whining, and then I heard something drinking her water in the kitchen, where she had just come from. I thought it must be Farley, but then I noticed him sat on the sofa....so with no idea of what I would do if I came across a bear (probably scream and tell him I didn't want to die) I crept up slowly to see what it was, and noticed the kitchen door was open. I had a quick look around, couldn't see anything, so closed the door but was still shitting myself! Especially when I heard a sound from the other end of the kitchen, I jumped out of my skin! At the time it had sounded like a little animal about to jump out at me, but then I noticed it was just the printer! (You wouldn't appreciate how much a printer sounds like a chipmunk unless you had witnessed this!). So I told my Dad and Wendy what had happened, and after laughing at me, they concluded it had most likely been a cat. But then I still don't think Rosie would have been scared of a cat, so the mystery deepens.....

So I eventually got a few volunteer positions- one was helping out with a community garden, but the most I did was attend meetings there. I also started volunteering as a tutor helping to train retirees the internet, computers etc. I realised how hard it is teaching something you do automatically to someone who is scared of turning on a computer in case they blow up the world, or to an elderly lady who thinks you operate the mouse the same way as a remote control. Here I met some wonderful people, such as the project co-ordinator, Kat, who does a wonderful job, and many retirees who were genuinely interested and amazed at the power of the internet (One lady actually gave me the biggest smile and an "Ooooh!" EVERYTIME she double clicked on something and it opened up; She almost had an orgasm when she got her first email through.) So that proved to be a very rewarding experience.

My other 'job' was at the alcohol and drug information society in Campbell River, where I was asked to make the organisation and its services appeal more to younger people. Bit hard when the majority of your material is 1980-1990'S VHS tapes!! So I honestly felt as I had gone back in time here. Anyway, throughout April and May, I updated their website, and put them on Facebook, Twitter etc, made a database on the computer, and introduced the organisation to the 21st century!!

The majority of my exploring of Vancouver Island was done with my good friend Adam Hindmarch during his 2 week holiday here. First I met him in Vancouver, where we spent one night and then half the day there, I saw enough to know that I would love to live there! We then went to Victoria, which I loved also. We went to the fantastic museum there and watched a film, 'Arabia' at the IMAX. As we were there for 3 days, we asked some ladies at the museum whether there was a zoo in the city. One of them replied, "Well there's a petting zoo....with goats." I questioned her some more and it was established there was JUST goats at this zoo. I think my look of total disappointment said it all! From there we rode the Greyhound (a Canadian coach service, not the dog breed) with a drunk man who wanted to be everyone's friend to Nanaimo. The Nanaimo Hostel was in stark contrast with the luxury hotel we had been staying in Victoria. Despite it being a bit of a dump, we had a fun time there, largely due to the fact we were sharing the facilities with several rednecks, the highlight being their argument when the lady redneck walked in on the male redneck on the toilet. Female redneck: "I just pushed the door open a lil' to see if anyone was in is all!!". The fact that they continued to argue even after she walked off and he was still on the bog was hilarious. We also met a South Korean who wouldn't reveal his age and seemed to spend his entire time cooking and then eating food. He was doing one of these activities EVERYTIME we saw, whether it be morning, afternoon, evening or night!!

We then had another Greyhound trip to Campbell River, where we passed Fanny Bay, to much amusement!! We then spent a few days looking round Campbell River, where Adam was drowned in Rosie's drool every night!! We also took the ferry across to the nearby Quadra Island, where we shared the nicest pizza ever and had a look at the nicest view on the island (April Point).

Tofino was the setting for our next adventure, where we spent 2 nights. Unfortunately it rained practically the whole time, but this is one of the best places to go on the island. Adam didn't get to see the whale on the whale watching, as he was vomiting out the side of the boat at the time! We also did the Hot Springs tour, which involved travelling to an island that resembled Skull Island (from King Kong) and walking along the boardwalk in the rainforest for 30 mins, although thankfully we didn't meet any tribes wanting to eat us, or a massive gorilla! That night we headed out with a guy we had met on the Hot Springs, for Tooney Tuesday, and met a young Roy Keane, and lots of Canadian girls loving the English accent, one of whom I remembered promising we would join together to solve global warming! The next morning, hungover, we had a 6 hour bumpy Greyhound ride back to Campbell River to enjoy. Before he left, we treated Adam to two of Campbell River's best tourist attractions: Elk Falls, and Dick's Fish and Chips! We also walked a few trails in the forest here.

I also had my cousin, Charlene over for a week and so we went to Victoria and Tofino again, and thankfully we did get to see some good sightings of whales this time. On the way back from Tofino, we saw a bear by the side of the road but by the time we had got out and walked over to it, it had gone (Maybe a good job, didn't fancy getting eaten that day).

I didn't miss much about the UK, apart from my family and friends and the lack of politics media. I went to the supermarket hoping to buy some magazines I might be interested in. All I could find was women's Hello, Heat like mags, with silly headlines on the front cover like "Who's gay and who's not", accompanied by pictures of very famous hetrosexual celebrities!! I couldn't give a f*ck!!! Thankfully the wonderful Charlotte sent me over copies of my New Statesman subscription a few times, which is an excellent publication. I was also able to satisfy my politics addiction with watching Questiontime, 10 O'Clock Live on Youtube, as well as reading Tony Blair's autobiography and 5 other books during my time here.

One of the highlights of the trip was going to do some labouring on East Thurlow Island, inbetween Vancouver Island and the mainland. There I was moving bricks, 40kg bags of cement and shovelling tonnes of gravel. In return I got breakfast and 2 great meals each day, and a great experience by driving an ATV along the boardwalk, as well as catching crabs and then eating them.

I am heading home tomorrow and feel indifferent, as there are people and things I love in both countries, but I have made some great friends and contacts in Campbell River, and I will be back!!! I am so grateful to my Dad for introducing me to Canada- It has increased my confidence and cultural awareness. It has broadened my horizons by exposing me to a different culture, and it has made me learn different ways of doing things, with different people, and increased my appreciation and understanding of the wider world. I now have the urge to go and work in lots of different countries for the rest of my twenties!!

So that's left to say is thankyou for my Dad and Wendy for putting me up and showing me your wonderful country, and to Adam and Charlene for coming to Vancouver Island! Thankyou to Charlotte for understanding that I needed to do this, she is a little beauty!!

Jack x