Yet another disappointment...

It comes to no surprise that we are starting another new year with yet another disappointment. 2008 brings its bad luck into 2009 with Woolworths alongside a string of other retailers closing down. For over 90 years the store has served a great purpose within small communities and cities across the country.

The seriousness of the economy hit home to me when I saw hoards of people crowding the shop with a motive to bag a bargain. Many left with shelving and bags of black bin liners full of discounted purchases. I bought a newly released album for just £1.50 and a stack of chocolate that came to £3. It's scary to think that this is only a small snap shot of people who have lost their jobs. It was reported yesterday in The Sun that 1 in 10 workers will be unemployed by April, which if my Maths is correct works out at 3,000,000 people. Of course, this doesnt take into account employers of small businesses.

I don't pay much attention to the state of the ecomony but our future looks gloomy. More homes are being re-possessed, the price of food and drink is still sky high and recent figures show the pound is 98 p to 1 euro. The only good thing is the price of petrol and diesel has dropped to the price it was in 2004 and mortgage rates have dropped too.

I seriously hope that the Government takes productive action to make Britain a better place. The attrocity of the economy will have a knock on affect with tourists coming to the country in the summer time, and over all the immigration percentage will soar as Britons know they will stand a better standard of living elsewhere.

Hopefully 2009 will bring us some luck!

Snapper sues Rihanna

I recently read in the OK magazine, that a Hollywood Pap Luis Santane is in talks of suing the R'n'B singing sensation Rihanna $1,000,000. It is alleged the star's bodyguards 'attacked' the photographer, after he managed to take a picture of Rihanna and fellow R 'n' B crooner Chris Brown 'making sweet music' together back in May.

According to Santane, Rihanna's 'heavies' attacked him for taking a picture of the pop sensations through the open window of their limo. He went onto say that he was beaten and that his £1,500 camera was stolen, and the picture would have made a fortune because the couple weren't officially an item.

The pair have gone to great lengths to hide the true nature of their relationship. Rihanna's publicist denied the "pair are a couple."

I'm curious as to why Rihanna's body guards were able to 'beat' this guy for doing his job? I'm in the position where I want to scoop an exclusive, it's the nature of the industry that I am in.

As an elite person, Rihanna like any other celebs have to respect is this pap was only doing his job, and interfering paps and journos comes with the celeb industry. In recent cases it seems celebrities enjoy physically lashing out at paps.

In a classic case, a deranged Britney Spears attacked a pap with an umbrella for taking a picture of her. Funny and unusual it seems, it is frightening for the person who is on the receiving end of a punch and who maybe sued by the court for intervening.

The courts take seriously cases of media intervention. However where is the punishment when a celeb or bodyguard imposes physical violence on the media? It begs the question as to whether the law should restrict the power in which bodyguards/celebs can impose on media people?

social networking mania

Is it me or has socal network sites bombarded our lives? Where has the time gone when people spoke to one another on the phone and sent letters to loved ones across the seas. It appears the growth in technology has dominated and changed the way in which we communicate to people. The development in the internet has meant strong concerns surrounding the issue identity, which links to the increasily common problem of child paedophillia.

Alongside this fear, I acknowledge that simple precautions can be taken to prevent this from affecting anyone. It is of human interest to be nosy, i.e. why is that person crying? What has so-and-so been up to this weekend? It seems social sites satisfies our growing interest to interefere with others peoples' lives.

It comes to something when at any given opportunity to go onto the internet, I always sign into facebook first before I do any productive work. But in my opinion, 'social networks are the best thing since sliced bread'. In the last two years I have climatised myself to the fact that random people will access my Bebo account and glance through my pictures and post comments to me. It is inevitable that if you don't want people to know about your private life then don't bother publicating yourself.

It does frustrate me how the success of such sites has meant many corporations jumping onto the bandwagon. I find it extremely frustrating when two social sites are set out in the same format. Which leads me nicely onto Facebook.

Since the introduction of Bebo in 2005, facebook has generated equal success through targeting an older audience. At first I was reluctant to give into the temptation of signing upto the site. Friends pestered me about "how I was missing out and Bebo is a 'chavvy' networking site." But in honesty, I seen the site as a replica of Bebo.

However in recent months, I have noticed a growing trend in teens of my age switching to facebook. Admittedly I now prefer facebook to bebo. So does that mean bebo is on its way out? Or is facebook just a phase people are going through and in time will become bored of?

The end of an era

As you may have gathered, Christmas is rapidly approaching! Which can only mean one thing for avid saturday night entertainment fans...the count down to the winner of talent shows.

We are in the height of rivalry between the shows who want popularity and the contestants who are eager to be crowned the winner. Of course, once Strictly Come Dancing and the X Factor finishes, people will be rushing out to buy the winner's single and spend the first few days of January following a Strictly Come Dancing exercise on DVD to shift the Christmas pounds.

Whilst on the topic, I must mention that Saturday's X Factor was an absolute farce. The people who voted to boot Ruth Lorenzo out of the competiton clearly must have had ear plugs embedded into their ears whilst she was singing. Out of all the acts she was the best by far! As for the sqeaky clean teenage lovebirds, Diana Vickers and Eughan Quigg who merely escaped eviction, must to my surprise.

We mustn't forget, this is a talent competition not who is the 'nicest and cutiest person' competition. Of course the contestants left have talent otherwise they would have been told to leave during the audition process. But surely, viewers are just saving the acts they like and not basing their votes on who is the best singer/performer. Week after week, Ruth has provided fantastic entertainment, personally she is the only reason why I have been watching the show for so long.

In terms of who will win, and lets face it there isn't much competition, Alex is the queen of the show!