The Queen’s Christmas speech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ0A9BKKmzs

This year the broadcast was recorded in 3D for the first time. Before the Queen starts with her speech, you see a music play in the ballroom of Buckingham Palace. When the Queen begins, she says that the Diamond Jubilee and how it was celebrated, was memorable for her and her family. She talks about the strength of fellowship and friendship during celebrations of the Jubilee, but also during the Olympic Games. Thereafter she tells that Christmas is a time for coming together, however she talks about those who cannot be together due to service as well.  The broadcast ends with a carol.

I think many people like the Christmas speech of the Queen, because it does not happen a lot that she talks about her own views. I did not like the music play in the beginning, I was glad when they stopped playing simply because it is not my music style. However, I did like the carol in the end. I  can imagine that those women who were performing, were very nervous. Although the text was very good, I found it hard to stay awake. In my opinion the Queen talks very boring. Overall it was a neat broadcast.

Extreme anorexic who is appalled to be a role model

Valeria Levitin is the thinnest woman in the world as she her weight is just four stone (25 kilo). Her body should teach people what damage eating disorders can do with a human body. However, Valeria says that she has received fan mail from girls who want to look just like her. She developed her eating disorder as a teenager, when her mother was afraid Valeria would grow up obese. Valeria, who is trying to gain weight said: “The best cure I ever found was when I said to myself, I’m going to recover.”

The fan mail that Valeria Levitin receives is very alarming. It is possible that girls think it is fun to send email to get attention, but I believe there a lot of people who have an illness like anorexia. These people think they look beautiful when they are so skinny as Valeria. In these days, models and celebrities are so skinny, that it looks like this is natural. They make a new standard, which is in general a very unhealthy one. The government should pay more attention to young girls and boys, to make them understand that they look beautiful just the way they are.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/real_life/4702938/anorexic-gets-fan-mail-from-girls-wanting-to-look-like-her.html

Cystic fibrosis woman died with smoker's donor lungs

Jennifer Wederell, who was 27 years old, died of cancer 16 months after she was given the donor lungs of a smoker. Her father said that she would never have agreed the transplant, if she was aware of the condition of the lungs. The hospital has apologised for not giving her the choice of refusing the lungs. However, when there would be a policy of refusing lungs from a smoker, there would be 40% less available lungs for transportation. Jennifer’s father said: “She was dying a death that was meant for someone else.”

I believe that the hospital should have told Jennifer Wederell that the lungs came from a smoker. If she refuses the lungs, she just has to wait longer for new lungs. In this way people know what kind of extra risks there are, and they can decide on their own if they want those extra risks. Obviously, there is no guarantee that there will be better lungs available on time if they refuse the lungs. When somebody refuses the lungs, the next in line will have the same opportunity. In this case, I think that the hospital can be sued for dead by negligence because of not giving all the information.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-20762437

Government plans to cut whiplash injury claims

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/dec/11/government-plans-cut-whiplash-claims

Chris Grayling

Because of many whiplash claims, the insurance premiums keep rising. According to justice secretary, Chris Grayling, a lot of claims are not genuine. New independent medical panels will diagnose whiplash injuries, which will mean that exaggerated, misrepresented or fraudulent claims can be denied. Even though the reported accidents have been reduced with 20%, there is a 60% rise in claims. These extra claims add an extra of 90 pounds to the insurance premiums every year. Grayling said: “For too long honest drivers have been bearing the price of a system that has been open to abuse and it is time for that to change.”

I think it is good that the government wants to take action against false claims. Nevertheless, I cannot stop thinking about how much this will cost the government. I am afraid that if they have to check 1,500 claims every day, it will cost a lot more than it will gain. I think it is better if they set a fine on a false claim. In this way only the genuine claims will be submitted. Medical panels can also be paid by money from the insurance premiums. Unfortunately in this scenario, honest motorist will pay as well for false claims.

Rhod Gilbert’s Work Experience Season 3 Episode 3

In Rhod Gilbert’s Work Experience stand-up comedian Rhod Gilbert tries out all different kind of jobs like a farmer, a butler, a police officer and a drag artist. In this episode Rhod Gilbert want to find out how it is to be a women. At first he has a wax session, and he has a lot of hair on his body. They remove every single hair that is not supposed to be on his body. After his hair and make-up is being done, he has a photo shoot as “Rachel”. The episode ends with a performance of Rachel.

This show was very funny, and I attend to watch more episodes of it. Not only the subject is very amusing, but Rhod Gilbert is also a good comedian who makes it nice to watch at. In my opinion he is not a very good drag artist as you can see that he is not comfortable being a women at all. I think the result would have been better if he had tried better, but it was also fun to see how he struggled being a women. The funniest thing during the episode was the way he talked to sound like a women; it sounded anything but a women.

Original airing date: 21 May 2012

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xj68UIBssDE

Never Mind the Buzzcocks Season 26 Episode 10

Never mind the Buzzcocks is a television show with a pop music theme. The show has not a permanent presenter, but during this show Stephen Magnan was the host. The team captains were Phil Jupitus and Noel Fielding. Michelle Heaton and Kayvan Novak joined Phil’s team and Sway and Katherine Ryan joined Noel’s team. In this episode the four rounds were: mix of faces, intros round, identity parade and next lines. During the third round Alton Edwards and Dan Corsi were special guests. In the end Noel’s team has won.

In general I think it was a nice episode. Unfortunately, I did not know all the guests or the songs, which made it hard for me to understand everything. They gave a quick introduction about the guests, but if you do not know them, you still will not know them after the show. In the intros round the teams had to guess a song that other members performed a capella. It was a pity that I did not know those songs. 
In other rounds it was fun to think with the teams about the answers. 

http://www.free-tv-video-online.me/player/divxden.php?id=lu5npvbpehae

Original airing date: 03 december 2012