Designer babies - are they ethical?

How many times have you wished that somehow, some part of you were eradicated/different? Many people tend to dislike some part of themselves, which is why 'Designer Babies' could be introduced. For those who don't know, a designer baby has genetic make-up selected in ordered to abolish a particular defect, or to insure that a particular gene is present. As great as it may seem initially, there are a series of ethical/moral issues that lie behind the prospect. The fact of the matter is – the procedure is not even 100% safe yet, so the procedure is rather risky at this point in time. However, the controversial topic has to be discussed for the future of medical ethics.

One of the most common opposing arguments include the fact that the procedure is not cheap and not everyone can afford it.  It costs around $50,000 in the US alone, therefore only the well-off families could afford such an amount. Not only could this create a prominent line between ‘Designer’ and ‘Non-designer’ children, but the ‘non designer’ children could miss out on life-changing opportunities. For example, jobs among other things are more likely to take the optimum candidate (i.e the designer baby, who might have an intelligence-boosting gene etc..). This will immediately create a gap in society, between the ‘designer’ babies who are better looking, more smarter etc and the ‘non-designer’ who will feel inadequate and inferior. Induviduality will be barely present, because lots of people would be relatively similar. If the process is not done carefully, the embryo could be accidentally terminated – which is why there is a huge risk factor involved. Another prominent argument is that parents may use the technology for superficial purposes. These superficial purposes include seeking out a blonde haired, blue eyed baby for appearance concerns only – which is morally wrong for the sake of individuality. In addition, you could end up with a genius, but a very angry child. This is because a gene that controls intelligence could also control anger management. Therefore, what you desire in a child could actually create unwanted problems in the long term.

Although all these problems could arise, there are also a range of benefits that highlight the topic around designer babies. For example, parents can give their children a healthy life by eliminating any re-occuring illnesses that run in the family. This aspect would increase children’s life span up to 30 years! Likewise, Parents can also request to abolish any defects they may have so their children don’t have to live with it too. This would most likely make the child happier as well as reduce their chances of developing autism, Alzheimers, Huntington’s disease, and many more. Additionally, inherited conditions such as obesity, anemia, diabetes and cancer could all be prevented too. Notably, if designer babies were reinforced, genealogists and biologists would have a better understanding of genetics. Overall, designer babies would keep up with modern technologies and enhance children’s lives for the better.

My impression on this topic so far, is that designer babies should only be required for preventing illnesses or medical defects that might run in the family. I believe the line should be drawn when parents ask for their child to have an altered appearance to fit their ideal. The child won’t nessasarily want to look the way their parents wanted either – which is not fair on them. Why should we ask for them to look a certain way? After all, Induviduality is vital and we need it more and more everyday. It’s what makes us special. It’s what makes humans people. It’s what creates culture.

Why I went on the anti-austerity March

I once heard a quote, 'create a life you don't need a vacation from'. Easier said than done. Having been on a March against austerity yesterday, I faced the true reality. The realisation that over 1 million people needed food banks last year, 370,000 of them being children. Fundamentally - children are being deprived of even the most satisfactory of upbringings. How can we create lives we don't need vacations from, when people can't even afford a standard meal for their children? The Conservative cuts are slowly and slyly crumbling the lives of the most vulnerable, and it has to come to an end.

Like a lot of people, when I first heard about austerity, I thought 'Great, get the deficit down so we have nothing to worry about!'. However, in hindsight, making cuts to public services, wages, benefits, is also cutting people's happiness. People will have less money to spend when shopping, which means buisnesses make lower profits, which means less taxes are paid. It's certainly not the way forward, and critised by economists - the people who really know what's best for the economy! An article in the independent shows that 2/3 of economists say that austerity has damaged the economy. 

The reason I went on the anti-austerity demonstration in the end, is because poverty is a crisis can't be slyly dismissed by our own prime minister any longer. I'd like to see him Living off the minimum wage for a week. 

Although austerity doesn't affect me, it affects others. The 37% of people who acctually like conservatives do so, because they don't drastically get affected like millions do. They have no idea how many people can't find jobs, those who can't get houses, how many people have been hit with the bedroom tax, people who struggle to bring food to the table, people who can't afford meals for their children, nurses and teachers working tireless hours being underpaid. Millions and millions of people suffer in the UK from the cuts. It may not be you, but have some integrity - the cuts could cut you're happiness, too.

My thoughts on Ebola

In December last year, UK parliament had foreseen, yet overlooked, what is now an international crisis. We've all heard about Ebola, and the trail of devastation left behind, slowly deteriorating Africa. What you my not of heard, is that the UK dismissed the increasing cries for help during the course of a year. Ebola feels like internal torture. It's the symptoms of all illnesses combined. Our late reaction has resulted in over 5,000 unessasary deaths. This is on top of millions of traumatised and crumbled lives. Why? Why have we allowed this to happen?

I'm certain that the true scale of this outbreak reflects a worrying point; that it could potentially spread wherever, whenever. Even Barak Obama States that Ebola is 'spiralling out of control'. Margaret Chan, director of the World Health Organisation declares that 'there isn't even 1 bed to treat an Ebola patient in the whole of Liberia'.Imagine that, your internally bleeding and you aren't even accomodated with a matress even. Moreover, Chan mentions that Ebola is by far the 'most complex' and 'most severe' illness ever seen.

Africa is now over a year into the last epidemic in modern history. The number of new cases is moving faster than the capacity to manage them.

If your still not remotely appalled by the lack of integrity from our government, listen up. Imagine you're the mother of two young, vulnerable children. You begin to show the signs of the deadly virus, such as exsessive vomiting and a rising temperature. You're children are aged 3 and 5, and you are forced to send them to an orphanage immediately. Without even a split second to say just a simple 'goodbye', you are sent to a hospital. Your treated by unqualified 'doctors' and 'nurses' - or so they claim to be. Your just lying there on the agonising, cold floor of an overcrowded space. Before you pass away in the spur of the moment, your last memories repeat the screaming of your children. Your children overwhelmed, distressed, anguished, TRAUMATISED.

This is a true story, and occurred a couple of weeks ago. The two children, Dominic and Sony were interviewed. Although, words couldn't describe their pain, so they remained speechless.

Considering our country was aware of this situation, and the serious measures of the impact on lives, it's truly shocking and disturbing. Considering the thriving, economically developed country we are assumed as, it really isn't good enough. Only now we have begun to sent aid, but I am still disgusted about the late response. This late response has resulted in thousands of deaths, and is not justified.

Can you just imagine being a victim of Ebola? No, because you've never had it. You'll never care enough until it hits you. That's why our country has only began sending aid now, mainly because there could be a threat to our country.

Sometimes I wish we could all help others for their sake, instead of helping them in case of the threat to ourselves. It just shows we give no concert to the poorer countries, and Africa as a continent! A whole continent is predicted to be demolished, claims the guardian. Yes, that's one third of our world. Oh well, we haven't died yet to that's not our problem(sarcasm).

My bucket list

This blog post is going to be slightly different to my normal posts, but I have been intrigued to write my own 'bucket list' for a while now. For those who don't know what a Bucket List is, it's a series of things you wish to achieve in you're lifetime- and I thought I would share with you some of mine. I would love to hear some of yours as well, but be prepared as mine is quite long!



Do all water sports(paragliding, wake boarding, windsurfing, scuba diving)
Be fluent Spanish
Get my grade 8 on the piano
Go in the shard
Go swimming with dolphins
Paint run
Get a fish pedicure
Go to Thorpe park
Go cliff jumping
Have a huge waiter balloon fight
Own a great camera
Go on a hot air balloon
Go on a no budget shopping spree
Go to london zoo
Feed the turtles in london aquariam
Release a paper lantern
Stay in a 5 star hotel
Run a marathon
Have a walk in closet
Hold a baby cheatah
See the northern lights
Get a sun tattoo
Try skiing
Go parasailing
Try skittles vodka
Hold a koala
Smash a pie in someone's face
Go on a banana boat
Go on a Disney cruise
Hug Minnie and Mickey Mouse
Ride a camel and an elephant
Dance in the rain
Breathe in helium
Ride a jet ski
Go ziplining
Go to a spa
Go to a foam party
Have my dream home
Meet someone famous

Go to japan: go on the underwater rollercoaster
Go to China: Tokyo
Go to Italy: leaning tower of Pisa, Venice
Go to Dubai
Go to Germany
Go to Barbados
Go to Australia: Sydney, bondi beach, the pink lake
Go to France: Paris, Eiffel Tower
Go to America: Mall of America, Statue of Liberty, Disney land, Las Vegas, skydiving of the stratosphere, Grand Canyon, Niagra falls,Christmas in New York, LA, sit on top of the Hollywood sign, go to the Times Square
Go to the Maldives: Stay in a hut on the ocean
Go to Greece: Zakynthos & 5 Islands + Athens
Go to Chicago: try every ride at six flags, go on the sky deck
Go to Mexico
Go to Kenya: Safari
Go to Thailand
Go to Brazil

My suspicions about Nigel Farage & UKIP

The UK Independence Party has established some fundamental principles, but I have remained suspicious about their candidates. You only have to look at Nigel Farage- People fall for his 'just-like-a-normal-british-guy' attitude and the simple  policies he produces. A Channel 4 news documentary  'Nigel Farage-who are you?' had displayed Farage drinking with his mates at the pub-Just like a normal British guy. Nigel, is not a normal British guy-he is quite the opposite. He had a priviliged  upbringing in a private school. A party leader is expected to be open to new ideas in ordered to change the country for the better. Farage is not exactly that either. The daily mail quotes an ex-UKIP member said Nigel Farage had called a woman 'Stupid' -outrageous! According the the telegraph, Farage had racist and fascist views as a school boy. Not only, is UKIP incapable of listening to any suggestions outside the boundaries of their public school upbringing, but their pro-death penalty. Just look at the petition produced by Paul Nuttal, nearly All UKIP candidates were in favour. As you read on, be prepared to hear more evidence that supports my dislike towards UKIP.

UKIP plans to cut, cut, down on the NHS spendings. UKIP plans to cut, cut down on immigrantion altogether- who aid our country's economy. Who will suffer? You. You're benefits would be risk being cut- if you claim them. You could be less well off. Healthcare could be less sufficient. No cultures-this means no business. No foreign buisness? No economy growth. Whilst all this money is being cut from the economy,yes we could save money after years. Yes, years. In the meantime, what People don't realise that paying of the debt comes at a price itself, and we could suffer as a result. Do you really want this?Whilst UKIP is strives to make these cuts for everyone else, it was only yesterday he had been accused of claiming £15,000 to run his office in Bognor Regis. There are some exceptions for UKIP, as Nigel claimed he would allow some Syrian refugees here. However, I'm convinced that if he come to power his exeptions could be abandoned. Wikepedia also suggested Farage was not in favour of same sex marriage whilst other UKIP members were. Some people even think Farage is raicist - due to his ambition to exclude immigrants is so often expressed.

All in all, I'm not a fan of Farage as you may of guessed. Don't even mention UKIP....

Why we need finance and budgeting lessons in all schools

Money, money, money. It can be a worry-but a blessing for some. A staggering 1 in 6 children live in poverty in the UK- claims the BBC. Why are these appalling figures multiplying? Unfortunately, as well as a low income, some parents are incapable of budgeting as they had never been taught. That's why we need to introduce finance and budgeting lessons throughout every school within the UK. Helping children budget will not only increase their ability to save, but It will also raise children's  understanding and teach responsibility when dealing with their income. The benefits of these lessons will be extraordinary.


A deficit of Money can also leave some British Citizens relying on the governments benefits to live on. For some- this deficit can be a result of wasting money on items they don't need. However, we could reduce the percentage of people on benefits because of this- by  Introducing children to the consequences in the long term of where their salary goes. Let's say a graduate walked immediately into a job, and just bought holidays and clothes with his salary. Although it is an instinct to spend money when you gets paid; the downside could be him never being able to live in London, or save for a house deposit. These lessons will teach insurance, loads,mortgages, tax etc.

Overall, I believe finance  and budgeting lessons would be something incredibly important to consider in all schools. We don't want students to leave school, splash all their money on waste and be left homeless. We need to give children the maturity to understand how to buy their first house, and why it is essential that they save as much money to do so. As well as this aspect, we could create multiple jobs for teachers interested in finance, budgeting etc. There would be no reason why it should cost a lot either!

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