5 Aspects of Capital Punishment you didn't know

1) Murder for murder is hypocritical. If murdering someone is considered a crime, then why should a goverment commit the crime in return? We would turn out to be a harsh, and morally incorrect country like China.

-It offers oportunities for terrorists to be considered marters. If a terrorist wanted to die to get a point across (e.g wanting a new goverment etc) you're giving into what he wants. If we give in to what terrorists want, it can only encourage them. Not only terrorists, but extremist religous groups looking to die as marters; this makes the goverment look bad.

-If murdering is a crime,  using the death penalty makes the goverment look just as bad as the murderer in the first place. Do you really want to have a goverment who are a bunch of murderers themselves?

-Studies show there have been more murders in the US states with the death penalty than without. Why? because terrorists see this as a chance to make the goverment look awful. Murderers too.http://www.nmrepeal.org/issues/deterrence

-People who have died from the death penalty in previous occasions have been later found innocent. Think of their families, and how devastating it must be knowing that the real murderer is remains on the loose to this day. ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_executio

If i were the Prime Minister.....(Education manefesto Part 2)

What after you're thoughts on the distinct difference between public and state schooling? My previous blog post in relation to this one had mentioned the beneficial effects of free schooling(following the regulations of summerhill school). However, free schools would not be paid for by higher class parents; all schools will be equal. Equal. If we Illiminated all private schools, and replaced them with higher quality, equal state schooling- this will create a more fair society. Why seperate the rich and the poor? This is an outdated tradition from hundreds of years ago!

Having attended to both private and state schooling, I have experienced a series of different learning enviroments. My private school learning did benefit somewhat, but I was unhappy. Moreover, being amongst a smaller class was a struggle to make friends; there were just enough of us to enable teachers to give each student more of a priority. Whereas in a state school, theres thirty of us and we have less induvidual attention, and treated equally. However, I respect being treated equally over recieving all the advantages from private schooling. I despise this seperating the rich and poor, its really, REALLY appauling that it continues to this day. Childrens education should not depend on the families income. Social mobility is only possible with a good education educaton-whereas the private system limits that to only a few. For example, even today disproportionate numbers of Oxford and Cambridge students were privately educated. I don't believe buying your way into a higher class education should ever occur in a fair society.

Lets end this proposterous tradition of seperating induviduals based on the wealth aspect. We want free, fair and equal schooling.

Please sponsor me for UNICEF's Live Below the line campaign!

One of UNICEF's most recent upcoming fundraising events had been mentioned on their 'Live Below the line' campagin. Their aim is to reduce the shocking figure of 27,500 children dying each year from malnutrition, and prevent children living in poverty. Between the 28th of April-2nd of May an event is being held to raise money for these children who live below the poverty line. The event consists of eating just £5 worth of food during the space of 5 days (£1 a day). I'm sure even £5 is far more than what the reality is for the children-but the point is to see how much we take our food for granted, to get a taste of how much more of a struggle it would be for them to face daily. 

I've decided to take part in this campaign,as it would be a great opertunity for me to raise awarness aswell as gain sponsers for my five days living on £5. Below is a link to my sponsorship page-My aim is to raise £250. Please donate whatever you can afford. Thank you!
https://www.livebelowtheline.com/me/mariamouzouropoulos

If I were the Prime Minister....(Education Manefesto part 1)

Have you ever been bored or stressed as a result of 'school'? If the answer is yes, then you're not alone- I am always discovering scribbled table messages stating 'tick if bored', not to mention the never ending ticks it recieves on a regular basis. Although i  realise education is nessasary for my future,but I just cannot stand my school. The lessons, the bitching popular people, the peer pressure. I sometimes find school good fun, as long as my friends are there with me. But,I do also occasionaly leave lessons thinking 'I didn't learn anything' or 'That lesson was pointless'.  Admitedly, alot of students will also have this atitude- but the truth is, most of the lessons ARE, no use to us. Design and Technology-Not intrested whatsoever, absoloutely useless at it. Don't get me started on my attempts of acting in Drama. The point is, we children have no freedom whatsoever about what lessons we attend- we are forced to turn up to all kinds of lessons that we feel are pointless,useless, meaningless. Its a prison to us. You're probably thinking- 'These subjects are beneficial and you just don't realise it. You will have to chose your GCSE subjects soon'. Having attended a state (attended a private school for a while) school for the last decade or so, I believe in a handful of logical soloutions to this aspect of what you're thinking, which could be considered a far superior way of controlling the education system within the UK.

Do you want to know the real reason why children hate school? Theres no freedom, students are forced to stay within classrooms for 6 hours a day. I've been researching about a Summerhill school in Sullfork, established in 1921 and an independant british boarding school. It was made to fit the child rather than the other way round. In other words, It's whats described as a democratic school which gives the children the opertunity to choose the lessons they want to go to. If a child wanted, they could sit around doing nothing all day, however most of these children are aware of the consequences of doing so. As a result, the vast majority of the pupils have enough maturity to attend the lessons at their own accord, and lead on to sucsessful lifestyles. The daily mail had claimed this school to be 'one of the most progressive schools on the planet'. Argubly, In state schools you could say that alot of the children could take advantage of optional lessons and not go to any, but one way round this is if schools had regular meetings once a week. 'Meetings' are also the technique used in Summerhill school,just like assemblies in state schools but less formal. If we made these meetings an essential part of the school timetable, we could encourage the children on a daily basis about how the more lessons they attend,the better their job,the better their future, the better their life. Their lesson options are chosen by them, as an induvidual. Independant learning. Therefore, i believe this will certinaly benefit them for when they have to make choices themselves in the long run/future. In addition, the meetings I mentioned previously could be a wakeup call to all unmotivated students, it will offer them the chance to see the light in education. It will make them see school in a different perspective, and not something they are forced in to doing. They will now see 'school' as a term defined as small steps to towards a career and way of meeting with their friends at their own pace! As stated in my introduction, I see this as a much better way of treating youngsters; by giving them the independence, it can only leave them with the maturity to make their own decisions. They need this maturity in advance, so life isn't a shock to them in when they see the real world. I know tons of teenagers assume they will marry someone rich, or automatically become a lawyer when they don't even bother doing the work to required to reach their ambitions. They need this maturity, we need independence and democracy amongst schools.

Futhermore, Before I decide on this change i would send a referendum system to all secondry school pupils, as well as their parents.  I would only allow this practice to take place on the understanding that the child is under supervision in school, and only in secondry schools. Parents can also have the opertunity between choosing their child to attend the free school, or going for the more traditional schooling. All education facilities will be equal and at no expense whatsoever. Private school teachers who are made redundant will automatically have the opertunity to be a teacher in one of our newer schools. Children want to see school in a better light, instead of a forced requirment by the goverment.

My thoughts on badger culling

When scientists and experts discovered that during their investigation, certain badgers were prone to a deadly disease ‘TB’; the only solution that appealed was culling them. Recent figures show over 30,000 cattle died contagiously from TB. However, other studies show after when the culling took place a few weeks ago 6.4% to 18% of the badgers were lying for an agonising 5 minutes before they died, whilst a staggering 1,771 were shot in total! Although, is it really fair these animals should be killed in such a brutal form, just so Britain can have a more varieties of meat in our diet? But before the culling took place, there was no evidence proving the public the benefits of their actions towards the badgers. Not only did the animals suffer, but over £7.29m was wasted on this practice- and that figure was spent using our tax bills according to the Independent Expert Panel, Care for the Wild. The result of this devastating happening has proven to making no difference to the TB being distributed to cattle. There was no evidence as to why it would’ve been a good idea in the first place.

In conclusion, around 50% of Extensive research carried out by Prof Woodroffe  in the 1990s had showed a failure to kill this percentage of badgers- in fact it could actually worsen matters as the disturbed and diseased animals took the TB into new areas! All in all, the numbers from now could either multiply the issue of TB, or remain the same. But before the culling took place, there was no evidence proving the public the benefits of their actions towards the badgers.

Arguably, if people in parliament were told lies or false evidence about how it’s necessary to cull badgers- of course a lot of them will fall for the opposition if it sounds persuasive enough. However, on the other hand the information mentioned may’ve been true- But clearly, not enough information to show the true benefits of badger culling, as the results were shown useless and fatal. Anyhow, I’m sure a lot of Members of parliament must’ve voted for the culling for this to have happened in the first place.

Hopefully parliament will learn from this tragedy and find the correct evidence before assuming it will save the disease from spreading to cattle.  I believe the public should automatically have a say on where their taxes go- rather than a group of people deciding it for them, because the decision agreed was by far one of the worst.

Why do teenagers get such bad press?

Ever since the age of ten, I've always had an awareness of how teenagers have the worst reputation in contrast to any other age group... my question is- why? Why do people feel the need to label any age ending with 'teen' as ignorant, moody 'teenagers'? Couldn't you say the same about a screaming, aggressive child? I've acknowledged that, yes - we are hormonal, which causes mood swings from time to time (sometimes hormones be blamed for a series of psychological problems too, such as bipolar disorder or depression). I've acknowledged that, yes - some teenagers consider vandalism as 'cool' (and sometimes they vandalise to release stress and anger within, sometimes hormones). Take another moment to look what's inside the brackets. For some teenagers, their actions are a result of something that's not their fault, and it's actually just their way of expressing themselves. Futhermore, most teenagers are absouloutely lovely despite their constant mood swings, like my friends! Therefore, I'm now going to suggest things you may of witness that may've been caused by teenagers, and you're reaction. I'm not going to lie, but we all see 'grafity' as a disgrace, to some extent!

First things first, as I mentioned previously grafity is a common source of vandalism and often found nearby railway tracks and abandoned areas. However, if its professional looking and forms a picture it can look fantastic! Teenagers or young adults use grafity the most, but the reasons why some risk their lives beside tracks, no one really knows. My guesses are aiming to feel precious and 'cool'  having thousands of passangers pass you're artwork on a daily basis, or because they are contemplating suicide (extravagant but possible). We don't know the reasonings, but assuming grafity is done by a selfish, heartless teenager is definetly a no, no. The same goes to any form of vandalism, from park benches to burned cars in the woods. Like I said, vandalising and grafitying  are how some people release bad emotions, and we all deal with these negative emotions in many different ways. Some smash and break property, some talk to others. The way people express their emotions vary from one person to another. When you're a teenager, the emotions become more and more promenant and aggressive everyday it's just not our fault. Its these hormones.

We've now established that no one really knows the real triggers of vandalism, but you've seen my guesses and hopefully you can now use them to see that it's not nessasarily teenagers fault for acting in such a way. I know that being a teenager (as do most of you!) will probably be remembered as the most enjoyable but most upsetting years of my life. Upsetting, because a lot of my time is being wasted with endless crying for no reason what so ever, but it also remains the most enjoyable experience because I know that I'm surrounded by people who are going through the same issues as me.

So next time you see a source of vandalism, please don't assume its an ignorant or selfish teenager, instead imagine yourself in the shoes of one and consider their situation.