The answer is almost as depressing. Newspapers (or at least big ones such as Metro) subscribe to a few news agencies such as Associated Press, Press Association and Reuters. Journalist ‘hack’ types simply pick which news stories they think will suit their target audience and simply rewrite or tweak the story and place it in the newspaper. No wonder they’re paid so little.

I spent a week at Northcliffe Media, and as of July 2009, the media giant was responsible for 4 titles- Metro, The Daily Mail, London Lite and The Evening Standard. The Independent have recently moved their staff to the Northcliffe offices in Kensington and the company command a weekly circulation of almost 7 million from their High St Kensington offices.

I have only had one work experience placement and cannot argue with any great conviction that state of UK newspapers’ news gathering techniques is completely devoid of it's own ideas. But  what I did see at the UK’s 4th largest read newspaper was a drab, flat, monotonous and almost pointless exercise.

This wasn’t what I got into Journalism for.

Vietnam, one of the most scenically beautiful countries in the world and one of only a few places left where tourism has yet to ruin its culture. However, a new industry is booming in this suppressed country, that of war tourism, where occupants see no harm in exploiting their harsh history.

I can only describe Vietnam as being the only place in the world where I have felt ashamed to be white. Even when purchasing a bottle of water from a street seller you may be met with the hostile question, “Where are you from?” I can only assume that if you answer America, you will be treated with even more hostility. And yet although today's government line, “We're all friends” is the constant response to Vietnam’s attitude towards America, it is clear that bitterness is ever present.

The infamous conflict of the 20^th Century has boosted Vietnam’s tourism industry with locals thriving off of remnants from the war. Millions of Zippo lighters belonging to fallen US troops engraved with G.I mottos have been found buried under former battleground. These have become highly sought after by many westerners and can be bought from street vendors for less than $5. I use the dollar as a currency, because much to my amazement the dollar is more commonly used than the Vietnamese Dong. It appears that America left more than death and destruction behind them.

Another reminder of the war is the vast amount of ammunition and artillery left behind by the Americans. Unfortunately local residents soon realised that this is a potential tourist attraction. Whilst sauntering through the hectic streets of Ho Chi Minh (formally Saigon) being approached by men on mopeds offering to take you on trips through the countryside is not uncommon. This is almost always safe, and a great way of seeing life outside of the City. Sadly, these men have extraordinary preconceptions of why tourists wish to visit their country. For $15 you can shoot a chicken with an AK-47. For $50 you can shoot a pig with a M16. And for $200 you can fire a B40 rocket launcher at a cow.

A must-see tourist attraction is the Cu Chi Tunnels, one of the most famous battle grounds of the Vietnam War. It is an immense network of connecting underground tunnels covering some 75 miles, used as living quarters for the Vietnamese guerrilla fighters. Today, a quarter of a century since the end of the war, much of the tunnel system as it was has collapsed, but an area named the “heroic village” has been preserved and a section of the tunnel enlarged to accommodate the large frames of visiting Western tourists. As if this wasn’t enough to satisfy any tourist’s desire to experience life during the war, before leaving the site, you are given the opportunity to fire a gun. For a dollar a bullet, a steady stream of westerners looking for that “Nam experience” queue to fire an AK-47 or an ageing US-made M16.

Why anyone would wish to visit a blood stained country for a chance to shoot a gun, especially on such an inspiring site, ceases to amaze me. You can’t blame the locals, they are just using what happened to their advantage, and if they can make money from the war why shouldn’t they? What worries me is how keen Westerners are to fire a gun on such significant land, with no thought for how many people have fallen on the ground on which they now walk. Will we be seeing this new industry develop in the Middle East in 25 years time? I hope not.

The bill can be conceived of as a response to the palpable tensions in Uganda that surround the issue. These sentiments surged in the late 1990s when gay rights groups began to emerge in Africa. Placing these proposals in a global context serves to highlight the draconian nature of the bill. Worldwide acceptance of homosexuality is steadily increasing; Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and parts of the United States of America, recognise homosexual marriage. A further twenty countries acknowledge—and perform—civil partnerships. Yet, on the African continent, South Africa is the only country that allows gay marriage. However, it should be acknowledged that the legalisation of gay marriage does not warrant the inference that gay men and women can live peacefully. Some South African groups have rejected homosexuality as "un-African" and one of the ways that this attitude is taken up is by gangs carrying out so-called "corrective" rapes on lesbians.

Whilst the bill arouses a provocative moral debate in which one can become easily entrenched, it is vital to step back from the controversy in order to focus clearly on what the consequences might well be for Ugandan citizens if such legislation is implemented.

Seen from a global health perspective, the consequences on the escalation of the HIV/AIDS pandemic could be dire. The bill forbids the “promotion of homosexuality”, which has the effect of banning Non-Governmental Organisations and sexual health providers who work with the shadowed LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) community in HIV and AIDS prevention. Doctors fear they will be prosecuted for “aiding and abetting” homosexuality by employing established prevention strategies (for example sex education, use of condoms and distribution of sexually transmitted infection self-treatment kits) and this could reverse the country's previous successes, which have been positive and significant. Furthermore, legislation which imposes the death penalty on “active homosexuals” who have HIV will only consign those individuals into paralysing predicaments: the options are either execution for those who are found to be HIV positive, or abject suffering for those who are undiagnosed and unable to access the antiretroviral drugs that are desperately needed.

Among the many international public bodies that form a chorus of opposition, Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, has denounced the bill as breaching international human rights standards: "to criminalise people on the basis of colour or gender is now unthinkable in most countries. The same should apply to an individual's sexual orientation".  Other observers have said that Uganda has failed to acknowledge the diplomatic and economic repercussions of this legislation, in light of the US and Sweden’s threats to cut off aid should the bill become law. In response to these widespread criticisms, Okello Oryem, Ugandan Foreign Affairs Minister, has curtly stated that Uganda will not bow to external pressure, nor will they respond to the threats of withdrawing aid.

The bill is currently in the stages of being debated by Parliament and could undergo amendments before a vote, for which a date has not yet been set. Angelo Izama, an analyst with the Kampala-based think-tank Fanaka Kwa Wote, said a watered-down version of the bill may be adopted as sources seem to suggest that the Cabinet is divided on the death penalty clause. As it stands, a committee chaired by a local government minister has been formed, which will deliberate on this highly contested piece of legislation before reaching a final position.

image courtesy of http://forum.globaltimes.cn/forum/showthread.php?t=8175

Lebanese fashion designer Sana Sabini has established a directional presence in the Middle East with her eclectic, original style. Her participation at fashion shows across Paris, Germany and Italy determines an unmistakable charisma that she brings to the fashion industry. I had the opportunity to speak to her and see how the fashion industry had been treating her.

We began by talking about her initial introduction to fashion, she revealed to me her fascination with fashion from a very young age, “I think I was actually born with a needle and thread in my hands, with a measuring tape across my neck! I’m just joking, I used to design and cut out small dresses for my dolls, it was the only thing that kept me entertained for hours.”

Eventually her pastime became a reality, whilst still being at school Sana worked for a big company, promoting their designs to small boutiques in her hometown Beirut. She realized how much she enjoyed being in touch with the fashion environment and started to use her unconventional ideas in designing her own clothes. She recalls, “My first proper piece was a stunning red dress, tight-fitting and long – with a luxurious silk fabric. A very famous actress wore it for a television program, and I sold a lot of that design after!”

To thrive in being an accomplished fashion designer she advises “above all things, you need to have a strong passion and love for it – otherwise you can’t succeed, and educate yourself in all its aspects.” Sana believes only after fully dedicating yourself to fashion can you reach its sky scraping heights.

Eventually, we ventured onto the topic of her inspiration, deep in thought, she listed the many things, which she is touched by, or that make her feel a certain way. She described how on her travels she was able to appreciate that other countries are so rich in culture and how she is able to draw much influence from them. “Sometimes a drawing inspires me, sometimes a piece of fabric – inspiration comes from a lot of things in life and nature” she explains.

Once she has been inspired she explains that compared to working for a large fashion corporation she can demonstrate individuality with her own label. “I can express my feelings in a single dress. My whole mood can be reflected in a collection. I can create an explosion of my feelings into a language that a woman enjoys and loves. This is something you don’t get to do if it’s not your own label.”

Sana speaks enthusiastically of her career choice and displays a real zest for it. It makes me see just how much devotion and commitment is required in being a fashion designer. She passionately relates the thrills and challenges she encounters on the job on a daily basis. “Its exciting, spontaneous and energetic.”

Nevertheless, despite her constant zeal for designing Sana still acknowledges the difficulties in running her own label. One of the biggest challenges she faces is to continually provide new designs that are to the same standard, if not higher than the previous. “I always like to maintain high standards for my collection and preserve customer satisfaction.”

With this in mind she indulges me into what she thinks the top style trends for 2010 are “I think it’s a youthful look this year. Everything’s fresh, feminine yet with a touch of elegance. A woman will be someone’s darling forever, and clothes this summer are focusing on that.”

Looking to the future Sana is dedicating most of her time and efforts on two of her upcoming fashion shows in Paris to showcase her 2010 summer and winter collections. When I asked her what a typical day for her is like she smiles and simply says “Unpredictable! But you can be sure there’s a lot of coffee involved!”

It was to get worse. Eriksson’s contract was terminated and the FA opted to return to an English manager. Step forward Steve McClaren, whose CV included one Carling Cup victory and the mild-success of turning Middlesbrough into a steady mid-table team.

McClaren failed to qualify for Euro 2008 after a 3-2 Wembley defeat to Croatia, and the Wally with the Brolly packed his bags for Dutch side FC Twente.

The FA, learning from their mistake, returned to the continent and brought in incredibly decorated Italian Fabio Capello.

Don Fabio set about making his mark on English football and England cruised to World Cup 2010 qualification – exacting revenge on the Croatians in the process.

At club level, English clubs continued to dominate the Champions League, and 2005 started a run of five consecutive seasons with an English club in the final.

Firstly, Liverpool came back from 3-0 down to beat AC Milan in a shootout. A year later, Arsenal were beaten by Barcelona while 2007 witnessed the second Milan – Liverpool final in three years, only with a different outcome.

In 2008, Manchester United met Chelsea in the first ever all-English final. The Old Trafford came out on top in a shootout after a 1-1 draw. United returned in 2009, only to be outclassed by an in-form Barcelona side.

In the Premiership, Roman Abramovich’s millions paid off as Chelsea stormed to two Premier League titles in a row before a slightly irked Manchester United decided they didn’t like finishing second or third and retained the trophy for the following three years.

In tennis, Roger Federer continued his domination of the men’s game, winning it in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009, with a runners-up medal in 2008 after succumbing to Rafael Nadal in one of the most anticipated matches in the sport’s history.

And the women’s game wasn’t much different, with the Williams sisters seemingly taking it turn to win at SW19.

But the most important emergence of the second-half of the decade was that of Scot Andy Murray. Henman Hill quickly became Murray Mound and the British had someone new to shout about.

At just 22 years old, Murray has made a glittering start to his career, reaching five ATP Masters Series finals, winning four, and progressing to the 2008 US Open final where he was beaten by Federer.

Murray finishes the decade ranked World Number 4, but has spent a number of weeks ranked 2 and 3 – making him the highest ranked Brit since Fred Perry in the thirties.

But the last word must be about Federer, who met American Andy Roddick in the 2009 Wimbledon final. A-Rod had Federer on the ropes before the Swiss star did what he’s done so effortlessly all these years by swooping to snatch a 16-14 victory in a thrilling five-set epic.

The victory was the 28-year-old’s 15^th Grand Slam, overtaking America’s Pete Sampras and becoming the most decorated man in tennis history.

In athletics, Britain’s first victory was in 2005 when London won a two-way fight with Paris by 54 votes to 50 at the IOC meeting in Singapore, after bids from Moscow, New York and Madrid were eliminated.

On the back of this news, the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing were also a huge success for Great Britain.

One of the surprise stories of the 2008 Olympics was swimmer Rebecca Adlington who won two gold medals. Her 400m freestyle success was Britain's first Olympic swimming title since 1988, and the first swimming gold by a British woman since 1960.

Her second gold, in the 800m freestyle, meant she also equalled the best performance by a British woman, from any sport, at the summer Olympics and was the best swimming performance by a Briton at the Olympics for 100 years.

In cycling, Chris Hoy became Scotland's most successful Olympic competitor ever and the first Brit to win three gold medals at a single Olympic games since Henry Taylor in 1908.

Also part of Team GB was 14-year-old Devonian Tom Daley, the 2008 European 10m champion and one of the youngest athletes to ever compete for Great Britain at an Olympics.

Top Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos swanned down the catwalk in August of 2006 to applause and approval from the fashion elite who sat staring from the rows below her. Yet, minutes after stepping from the catwalk, she complained of feeling unwell and, suddenly and instantaneously died from heart failure.

Ramos had been told by her modeling agency that she could make it big if she lost an undisclosed amount of weight to reach the scarily-tiny size 0. The impressionable 22-year old took this as read and for three months prior to Fashion Week survived on a pitiful calorie intake consisting solely of salads, greens and Diet Coke. It failed to keep her alive. Later the same year two other models, Ana Carolina Reston and Hila Elmalich, also died from complications relating to the eating disorder, anorexia nervosa.

The noughties have been the focus of endless fashion discussions: skinny jeans, big shoulders, boho-chic yet the most significant issue raised has been it’s relationship with body image and the shrinking size of models everywhere.

After these three tragic deaths in 2006, the Health Authorities of the Region of Madrid and the Annual Cibeles Fashion Show banned thin models from participating in this year’s event. Models with a Body Mass Index (BMI) below 18kg/m2 (30% of the participants) were refused a position on the catwalk but instead offered medical help. (The average BMI for a healthy woman is between 19 to 25kg/m2 and to be diagnosed with anorexia nervosa a BMI of less than 17.5 is needed.) London took notice too, after Janet Treasure Head of the Eating Disorder Unit at King’s College London wrote to the British Fashion Council stating her concerns. Treasure wrote that fashion’s exaggerated and idealized image of beauty was unhealthily influencing women everywhere and a contributing factor in many a patient’s demise to anorexia. There seemed real action taken when 2007 the British Fashion Council set up the Model Health Inquiry to debate Treasure’s concerns and also consider the issue of retouching and airbrushing in shoots which “perpetuate an unachievable aesthetic”.

Yet, here we are in 2009, and no statements have been made and no solid guidelines, in the way of Madrid or Milan’s, have been set. The fashion industry seems to have a tendency to brush over these remarks sticking by their adage that skinny girls make the clothes look better and women are more likely to buy a magazines with a size 2 girl on the cover than a curvaceous size 12. It seemed that those of us outside the fashion industry were the only ones genuinely worried about what these skeletal images of pretty girls frolicking down the catwalks would be doing to the fragile minds of today’s youth.

Most designers have kept their mouths zipped on the subject, worried not to upset customers, buyers and advertisers alike. The formidable designer at Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld, know for his right-wing fashion views provocatively stated those complaining about fashion being too thin was, “fat mummies sitting with their bags of crisps in front of the television”. Other fashion royality such as Editor-in-Chief of French Vogue Carine Roitfeld continues to by-pass this issue without comment but is nearing size 0 herself and frequently photographed in leather leggings proudly showing the world her pencil-like legs.

A Vogue editor who has seemingly broken the mold is British Vogue’s Alexandra Schulman, who in June this year sent an unprecedented letter to a host of designers accusing them of supplying magazines with “minuscule” sample-size garments for their shoots. Schulman described how she had been forced to hire models with “jutting bones and no breasts or hips” in order to fit into the clothes and was frequently “retouching” photographs to make models look larger; the latter sounding highly disconcerting to those of us who think the majority of shoots feature all too-thin girls already. What worried her was that “the established star models,” were suddenly unable to fit into the designer pieces, meaning they were getting obviously smaller. One would believe a letter written with such conviction and by such a prestigious name would coax numerous responses , but yet again, we heard nothing.

A more public yearning for more curvaceous and realistically shaped women was found in Glamour magazine’s September issue in which little known ‘plus-size model’ Lizzie Miller was captured in the nude. More shocking than anything was the fact this beautiful girl was plus-size at all. A curvy size ten with little more than a small roll of fat round her stomach, Miller reaches 5ft 11 and weighs 12.5 stone- hardly plus size. Within minutes of this un-touched and un-airbrushed image being published, Glamour’s Editor Cindi Leive was inundated with emails from readers excited by the picture of a woman who was more like them than any of the other hundred bony ladies donned in Lanvin throughout the entire magazine. The photograph gained international press and Miller herself stated it was clear “how keen the world [was] to see all different body types”.

On the wave of this publicity, Mark Fast, a young designer who has won prestige from the harshest of fashion’s critics used three plus-size models in his S/S 2010 catwalk show, unheard of within such high realms of fashion. The flurry was exaggerated when renowned stylist Erika Kurihara pulled out of the show at last minute claiming the three plus-sizes, “didn’t have the walk down as well as the more experienced slimmer girls”. Fast, on the other hand, attempting to play the situation down, stated, “I wasn’t trying to make a huge statement… I just thought it was time: I see so many beautiful women out there, I just want to put them on the catwalk.” But how long will it really be before we see these realistic sizes on catwalks all over? Not in Karl Lagerfeld’s lifetime, that’s for sure.

Slowly but surely, small groups of people within the fashion industry are coming together and fighting for a change. Andreas Lebert, editor-in-chief of German’s most popular women’s magazine’s Brigette, declared she was “fed up” of having to retouch pictures of underweight models. Lebert believes these girls had no resemblance to her readers and is now adamant in using ‘real’ women throughout the publication. In October the Institute of Contemporary Arts held The Real People’s Catwalk Show, an attempt to break stereotypes with a catwalk made up of different shapes, sizes, ages and ethnicity. Created by Designer Sales UK (DSUK) it saw students, artists, and stylists come together to embrace diversity. The event gained a little attention but was soon enough forgotten about amongst the hubbub of Spring Summer buying on the fashion calendar.

Above all, it is crucial to understand the power of the fashion industry and the extensive imagery that we are bombarded with. The picture perfect never-ending magazine editorials and advertisements that give us unrealistic ideas of what is obtainable. The late noughties has magnified the fact we are no longer a text based culture, but an image-based one and the ability to read and understand images is essential to our well being. As Janet Treasure, the Head of the Eating Disorders Service stated herself, “people may say that clothes look better on skinny models but do not forget there was a time when smoking looked good too.”

Then we got Pop Idol’s identikit bastard offspring, The X Factor, both of which are only the seedy love children of Opportunity Knocks anyway, with Simon Cowell (still wearing his hair as a bet) instead of Hughie Green. Ah, Hughie Green: The Oppenheimer of Light Entertainment. The bugger gave us Su Pollard, Paul Daniels and Pam Ayres; clearly he must have hated humanity. But then again, he was cursed with the voice of a gangster from a late-50s Dick Tracy cartoon, so I guess he had a lot of rage to vent.

Still, love ‘em or hate ‘em (and let’s face it, they’re not going away) at least all the New Faces X Factor contestants had some sort of ostensible talent. Even the deluded buffoons we see in the opening auditions can display some inherent – if schadenfreude-tastic – skill. This description, however, can in no way be applied to contestants appearing on Deal Or No Deal, which first pretended to be entertainment back in 2005. The only criteria for appearing appear to be a) the ability to open a box (otherwise known as 'owning hands'), and b) enormous self-restraint from punching the neck of Noel “Christ how I want to punch him in the neck” Edmunds as he leers unnervingly and spurts his Age of Aquarius cosmic bunkum. It’s a mystery to even the wisest of us why the show is so compelling, but somehow it is. I have my own personal theory, but it’s libellous. Suffice to say it involves Edmunds, sodium pentothal, and our drinking water.

Talent was certainly on the minds of various Stateside TV producers and talk-show hosts in November 2007 as some 12,000 members of the Writers Guild of America went on strike in a dispute over royalties. Overwhelmingly supported by various Hollywood ‘slebs, Democrat politicians and the viewing public itself, the strike put the kybosh on almost all of Hollywood’s scripted output – which instigated the rather unfortunate side-effect of the almost instantaneous commissioning of a bevy of new reality shows. Reputedly costing LA’s economy anywhere between $400 million and $2 billion, an agreement was reached in February 2008, though later in the year the WGA announced they were to take the networks to arbitration for reneging on the deal. The writers’ strike proved that the talent in some areas of Hollywood certainly wasn’t going to lie down and let the profits of the digital revolution pass them by. Writers in Hollywood have long been at the bottom of the totum pole (and deliberately so – studios knew that generally they couldn’t get by without them) and so it was refreshing to see the underdogs taking a stand.

A good few TV anniversaries popped up during the latter half of the decade, too - in February 2005 EastEnders celebrated 20 years of depressing the nation (in the same year Neighbours would celebrate the same milestone, depressing people with the power of its title music alone). Three years later, EastEnders broadcast one of the most unusual – and starkly brilliant – episodes in its long history. In lieu of the usual Laaahndan squawking and misery, viewers were treated to Walford stalwart Dot Cotton (the spit of Kenneth Williams since 1976) given a half-hour monologue all to herself, dictating a message to her bedbound husband Jim. A brave move by the EastEnders crew (with a great twist at the end to boot) which made for compelling – if slightly odd – viewing. It’s a damn shame soaps don’t take more chances like this.

Also in 2008, Blue Peter celebrated 50 years of being the least cool show on TV; what was soon to arguably become the coolest celebrated its 40^th on 23 November 2003, the same day its return to BBC1 was announced. Two years later we got TV gold.

In 2005, Doctor Who burst back onto our screens, watched by a staggering eleven million viewers. With so much quality British TV to choose from, I’ll still stand proudly by the fact that the reinvigorated Who has easily been the best (if not perhaps defining) show of the last ten years. My ingrained geek credentials aside, no other show has matched its imagination, consummate production, acting and writing. Capturing the viewing public in pretty much exactly the same way it did back in 1963, Who proved that quality, idea-driven family drama could still work, and work wonders. With Tennant’s eagerly-anticipated swansong The End of Time set to broadcast on Christmas and New Year’s Day, it’s a fitting tribute that the decade closes with what’s both a fondly-remembered classic and a modern phenomenon rolled into one. Merry Christmas everybody – and happy viewing.

Still, what does this booze-addled, barely-sentient geek know? Heck, everyone’s got their favourite TV shows and moments from the last ten years – so let’s hear ‘em. Comment away, and don't pull them punches.