Sheryl Crow urges us all to save the world by using one sheet of toilet paper per bathroom visit. Whilst I’m sure her heart is in the right place, her advice is crap (which would take a lot more than one sheet of toilet roll to clear up.)  
In her rock star world, I’m sure that one sheet of 15 ply, double quilted, extra velvet tissue roll does indeed suffice. I, however, am a poor student, with the meagre offerings of the 99p store flapping uselessly in my bathroom. Honestly, just breathing in my toilet tissue’s direction causes it to disintegrate immediately. I would be in trouble if dictated to use just one sheet. 
There are plenty of small things we can all do to combat global warming, but it’s unlikely that Ms Crow’s suggestion will be widely adopted. Thank goodness for that.

 First we had the shameful scrum rampaging over Stella Macartney’s collection for H&M. Then we had the Primark phenomenon reach its zenith and cause a mini riot at the opening of the flagship store on Oxford Street.

Now we have the new Kate Moss Collection for TopShop- which is set to spark scenes of unrivalled retail mania. So worried are Topshop bosses that the launch of the collection has been planned with military precision- involving a complicated wristband entry system and a handbook of Do’s and Don’ts. This is indeed consumerism gone mad- the expression of an “I want it now” and “me me me” culture at its worst.

Many people will stampede to get their hands on Moss’s hotpants (which no doubt are extremely unflattering and overpriced anyway) and then flog them on EBay for 3 times their original price. It is unlikely that this cynically earned cash will go to any good cause.

Meanwhile, those who keep the clothes will probably be bored of them soon enough. Surely people would be better off spending their energy, time and money doing something more useful than scrabbling around for a flimsy waistcoat or skinny jeans?

Alas, this disgraceful and undignified trend looks set to continue- look out for more rip-off must haves produced by cheap labour in the near future.

I had the pleasure of meeting David Miliband, albeit very briefly, on Monday night. Well, rather than a meeting it was more him walking past, saying something, and me swooning. Visibly. Anyway, swooning aside, he is a very nice chap. Personable, decent, seems clever enough.

But to tell the truth, I am extremely glad that he hasn’t thrown his hat into the ring for the Labour leadership contest. He has done himself justice in the past few weeks. Despite the pressure on him he has remained remarkably level headed and aware of the fact that running against Gordon Brown would do him no good at all. Instead, he has shown incredible loyalty to his ally, and agreed to back him all the way to Number 10. Labour needs loyalty like this right now.  

It will also give him time to become better known to the electorate- to make his mark- which will stand him in good stead for future cabinet reshuffles, and when the time arrives to appoint Brown’s successor he will be ready to take the reigns, should he even want to.  

Hats off to a sensible politician.

 There is an intruder in my kitchen, dressed entirely in grey. I have named him Charlie. 

Charlie is a mouse who appears to have taken up residence behind my washing machine. He comes out at night when I am blogging too furiously to notice. When I first saw him, he made me extremely nervous, and I am sure I made him feel just as scared. But he and I seem to be used to one another now. In fact, I quite look forward to his nocturnal visits.

So I am starting to feel decidedly uncomfortable about the mouse trap in the corner. It has become something of a moral dilemma- should I kill this inoffensive, harmless creature? I just don’t think I have it in me.

The world wide web that is... I have finally joined the MySpace revolution.
Despite having never before been a computer lover, in the space of just a month I have blogged, networked and messaged my way around the internet, and I have to say, it's really pretty darn good. Here's to the web!
To blogs, to new friends and to pointless and inaccurate information on Wikipaedia.

www.myspace.com/helena_rose_justice

Scanning through some blogs recently I found some ones that I felt had an incredibly pessimistic and narrow minded view of Britain today. I won’t name names. They probably know if I am referring to them because I left comments on their blogs already. 

One particularly unpleasant piece took the view that Britain is full of stereotypical Vicky Pollards, pointing the finger at chain smoking TV addicted layabouts for the decline of Britain. Whilst I feel that it is a shame that some people indeed spend much of their lives without opening their eyes to the world around them, this does not make them bad people. I have met many who would fall into the blogger’s classifications, and yet they are kind, funny and generous, if a little rough around the edges. So what if the highlight of their week is playing bingo and watching the X Factor? Who are we to say that they do not lead valuable lives? 

I would say that these views are informed only by class prejudice and snobbery, sneering at those less educated, less cultured and less proactive. It is mean and judgmental and we have no right to generalize about people in such a way. Focus on your own faults and allow others to do the same.

I know this is hardly recent, but I think Anthony Gormley’s artwork “Another Place” is truly wonderful. The cast iron figures staring wistfully out to sea from a beach on Merseyside are strongly reminiscent of the Maoi of Easter Island.  

They gaze out to an endless ocean, not looking inland, thus reminding us that there is more out there than our own chaotic little lives. They represent the part in all of us that yearns for freedom and for release, the part that is searching for something more from the world, for “Another Place.”  

And yet they remain, motionless, unmoving. Ever searching, ever still.

It was gut wrenching to read about Ben Vodden in the papers today. He hanged himself last year because of bullying. He was only 11 years old. 

Children can be so cruel. There are those that single out the kids who look different, speak funny, wear the wrong trainers, or are good at maths. There are those that use physical violence, and there are those, like the ones who bullied Ben, that prefer to pick, taunt and tease until the victim’s self esteem is completely worn away.  

My heart goes out to them; the lone boy sitting on the bus wishing he was invisible so the jeers behind his back would cease; the girl who gets spat on and is too afraid of recrimination even to acknowledge the fat wedge of chewing gum nestling in her hair; the kids who have no friends and wonder around like lost souls, sporadically used as moving targets by the boys playing football. I wish I could do something to make it better, like I wish it could have been a little better for me.  

It is too late for Ben, but I hope that his suicide will shock some of these bullies into realizing what they do, and what the consequences can be.  

From one lost soul to another: Goodbye Ben. I hope you have found happiness.

Dear Guardian

 
Faithfully I pick you up every morning, and enjoy the time I spend in your company. I am happy to spend money on you, because I have always felt that you were worth it. But I was disappointed with you today. I feel you let me down.

 On your front page you led with a story about Russian diplomacy. The mass killings in Iraq were amalgamated into another story on the third page- “In Baghdad, Carnage Continues.”

 Is that it? Is that what 200 lives are worth? One measly page and an unimaginative headline?

 The Indy led with that story. So did the Metro. You, Guardian, you picked Cold War over Hot War, diplomacy over deaths. You let me down. And, you let yourself down.

I love my new job- it’s worthy, fun and interesting. But for some reason, working for a gay rights charity automatically means I must be gay. On singing the praises of my workplace to my mother, her thoughts lay not with the pension plan or the salary. Instead she anxiously queried: “You’re not going to become a lesbian are you?”

 
My partner’s family, my friend’s parents and other acquaintances all have similar questions regarding my sexuality, simply because of the career choice I have made.

What I think this demonstrates is ignorance along the same lines as the idea that a man cannot work for a feminist organisation, or a white person cannot be against racism. It also shows that gay rights is still viewed as a niche issue, only cared about by certain ‘types’ of people, and lost against more high profile equality campaigns.

 
I would like to think that the job I do is much more important, and far more interesting, than my sexual orientation. 

Something for those who have hit rock bottom:

"It is only when things are at their darkest, that we can truly see the stars."

Front page news today was of course the campus shootings in America. This was indeed a terrible event- at least 30 people were killed- a death toll which has already earned the incident reams of news stories and analysis, and a place in America’s history of mass shootings.  And what of Iraq yesterday? The list of casualties topped 60- according to www.icasualties.org, which keeps track of the reported deaths by news agencies. Inevitably of course, the death toll day by day is much higher than reported. Yet deaths in Iraq are now the NIBs (news in briefs) scattered throughout the media. They are no longer occurrences of note for us here in the west, instead, they are filler material for the lesser read pages of the lesser read newspapers.  

We will soon know everything there is to know about the casualties of the American shootings- their faces, their names, their ages- all soon to be commemorated on a tasteful memorial no doubt. The Iraqi’s who die daily will remain faceless, anonymous and forgotten.

I hate to put a dampener on this gloriously hot sunny day, but my inner killjoy has spoken and desires to be heard.
If this unseasonable warmth continues into summer, we face the prospect of yet more drought warnings and hose pipe bans. We just cannot ignore the fact that groundwater supplies are already depleted and the solution for London does not lie in simply building a desalinization plant, as Thames Water has proposed.
Whilst the hosepipe ban has been lifted we must take more responsibility for personal water usage, for example, by turning the tap off when cleaning our teeth. And Thames Water should use more of their million pound profits to fix as many underground water pipes as possible. They simply are not working fast enough and last year 894 MILLION LITRES OF WATER A DAY were lost through leaking pipes.  The forecast for the future- sunny and very, very dry.

Why oh why do I like Any Dream Will Do so much? It was the third installment last night on BBC One and I sat riveted through the whole cheese fest, practically shrieking with delight.  
The emotion! The Music! The terrible dancing! All my instincts say “look away now” but my heart cries out for more. I was uninterested in the problem of Maria, and the new Grease searchathon is like sugar coated crap, but the quest for Joseph has me singing along emotionally, (and badly) much to the chagrin of my lovely boyfriend, who I actually think would make quite a dashing Joseph.

 I can’t quite put my finger on it, but come next Saturday, BBC One will be my channel of choice for the evening.

The media scrum over Prince William and Kate Middleton’s break up is diverting the public from considering the really important questions about the future of the British monarchy, namely, do we want them to continue after the Queen passes away? 
It is easy to overlook the fact that it is Prince Charles who will become King next, when all the attention is squarely focused on William as the future monarch. It looks unlikely that Prince Charles would not accept the position and stand aside for his son, as he would relish the chance to garner more influence to promote his opinions, some of which I fear are misguided. The monarchy still has an influence in politics, and although much of that is purely for show, the King or Queen still gets to meet weekly with the Prime Minister. I wonder what agenda Prince Charles will be trying to push? 
Another point of note is of course that in a country with an age-old democracy, undemocratic elements such as the monarchy are a bit of an embarrassment. Charles, William and Harry, like the generations before them, are in their rather fortunate positions through birth and no other right. It is incompatible with the ideals of meritocracy. Aside from this, I do not want my head of state to be someone who I feel has no comprehension of the ordinary life that their subjects lead. They have never known inequality or struggle and are only brought into contact with these things through benevolent charity work, where they cast aside their royal robes to chat with the unfortunates before swanning off to Boujis for a spot of groping and grinding with pretty and privileged young ladies.

Can you work it out.....?

We are the music makers
And we are the dreamers of dreams
Wandering by lone sea breakers
And sitting by desolate streams
World-losers and world-forsakers
On whom the pale moon gleams
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever it seems.

My favourite poem, by Arthur William O'Shaughnessy

This has become the throwaway catchphrase of the apathetic masses, their excuse for not exercising the right to vote in local and general elections.
Whilst canvassing in the local elections last year, this was the “reason” given to me for so many empty ballot papers. It angers me so much because it is an invalid, lazy argument for those who simply cannot be bothered to examine the individual candidates and make an informed decision.
The vast majority of people who claim that politicians are “all the same” have never bothered to contact their MP, have no idea what they stand for and more often than not they do not even know their parliamentary representative’s name. Hard working local MPs who do fantastic work in their constituencies are penalized by the electorate because of the popular view of their central party, regardless of whether or not they differ from their front bench on a number of important policies.
Politics as a whole has become more focused on simple generalizations, because people have neither the interest nor the inclination to delve a little deeper between the dividing lines of political ideology. It is far easier, for example, to identify one party with one person and a simple set of centralized policies, rather than recognize the myriad faces that actually form parliament, and all the many different viewpoints that they represent. The popular press has largely propagated this attitude and their readers do not challenge it.
Voters should not make excuses about being alienated by their local MPs. Parliamentarians all have their own websites, email addresses and local offices, and run regular local surgeries for their constituent’s. It is easy enough to find out what they stand for, and to give them your views on matters of personal importance. Making an informed choice at the ballot box is not difficult, it just requires a little more effort than standing at the door repeating the tired old sentiment- “Oh politicians, they’re all the same aren’t they?” Um, actually, no.

The headlines on February 24 make decidedly uncomfortable reading. "Off her brolly- Raging superstar loses plot...again." A photo of a bald headed celebrity brandishing an umbrella and gesturing wildly accompanied the article in The Sun. The inicident in question was also described graphically by the Daily Mail under the humorous headline "Hit me Britney one more time ," and by the Daily Star as "Britney's got brolly rage! Skinhead singer goes beserk over her kids."

Pop superstar Britney Spears seems to have suffered a very public mental breakdown, much to the glee of the tabloid press. Described as “wild eyed”, “crazy” and “mad” in various stories, the language used and the jokes made at the star’s expense are indicative of a media culture where mental health, and the way it is portrayed, is not taken as seriously as it should be.

A 2006 report by SHIFT, a government body dedicated to tackling the stigma around mental illness, found that whilst reporting of everyday mental health issues has improved, severe mental illness is still subject to prejudice in newspaper reports. The study found that 15% of stories highlighted the risk of violence posed by mentally ill people, and that only 6% of stories actually quoted people with mental health problems.

AGE - 25.

Angelina Jolie certainly seems to have noble aspirations for her family, and has created a habit of adopting children from impoverished countries in an attempt to ‘rescue’ them from a life of ill-health and poverty.Admirable as her actions may seem, her bid to create a ‘rainbow’ family has been carried out in a wholly inappropriate way, which will prevent her ‘adoptees’ from reaping the full benefits of their new lives.
Let us consider the most simple tenets of child psychology (and I don’t claim to be an expert here)-all children need love and attention, which can only be gained through adequate contact time with parents (biological or otherwise). Adopted children from unstable backgrounds will require even more to compensate for the upheaval in their early years that has the potential to psychologically mar them for life.
Yet, Ms. Jolie has adopted too many ethnically diverse young children in too short a time to give them what they undoubtedly require, regardless of how rich, or determined she may be. Add to this mix Ms Jolie’s biological daughter, Shiloh Nouvelle, and you have the potential for intense sibling rivalry, alongside the cultural confusion that inevitably results when a child is removed from their homeland, and has their name changed, as Ms Jolie’s new Vietnamese addition so recently did.
Ms Jolie would do better to allow a much longer adjustment period for her new arrivals before adding to her growing brood again. They will need her undivided attention, and no amount of money will buy her more time in which to give it.
The salient point to bear in mind is this: Like the character of Mrs Jellyby in Charles Dicken’s Bleak House, a wonderful moral crusader can still be a inadequate parent.

No I haven't gone mad- today is the Tamil New Year, as I am reliably informed by my Sri Lankan correspondant.  And in the spirit of things I thought I would try a new blog, now that I think I have the hang of this.

Why wait for January 1st to make resolutions? Free yourself from the drudgery of the calender and create your own beginnings!