Pension age: Ministers to speed up rise to 66

The government wants to speed up plans to rise the state pension age to 66 for men before 2016. The ministers are even thinking about rising up to 70 in the following decades. Work and Pensions Secretary Ian Duncan Smith said it was time to "reinvigorate the pension’s landscape". Under the plans, women will move to an age of 66 in a few years after men. The previous Lab our government's policy was to rise the pension age to 66 in 2024 and then gradually to 68 by 2046. The coalition argues that this should be speeded up, eventually meaning a pension age of 70 or older. Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union, said: "To force someone who has done a lifetime of toil on building sites, farms or in factories to work until they are 66 is completely unacceptable."


Comment:
The government has to reconsider this plan, because I agree with the GMB union. It is unfair to let people work to 66 or even maybe to 70 years. For upper class people it is easy to accept if they have a job like being a lawyer, but people who work 9 hours a day every day in factories or do heavy work it is not that easy to work more than half of your life even though the people are living longer and healthier, there is a limit of strength and energy a human being has got.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/politics/10398918.stm

Schools told to help on healthy packed lunches

According to Ofsted, schools should help parents who have low incomes who do not qualify free meals for their children. Two in five schools were failing to meet the requirements for healthy food and primary schools were weak at giving the pupils fruit at lunch. Advice should be given to parents about what to put in their children’s lunch pack, the report said. Report also said that parents with low incomes cannot afford to pay for school lunch. Healthy food is more expensive than donuts and crisps. Parents felt that it was more important to provide food that they knew that their children would eat instead of taken a risk that their children might not eat all day. Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said ‘it is not the responsibility of the teachers to be lunch box inspectors’.

Comment: Parents really need to pack their children healthy food. A lot of studies show that healthy food, like an apple, helps you better to concentrate. Like the head teacher said, it is not the responsibility of the teachers, but I still think they have to make rules at schools for banning unhealthy food. In my time, when I was at primary school, we were not allowed to bring snacks to school. We had a shelve in class for our lunch pack so that the teacher could see what we had for lunch. To improve their skills and test results, the school and the parents have to think about what they can give them for lunch. What the parents said about that they would not take a risk that their children might not eat all day, they have to reconsider that, because eventually children are going to eat, they would choose hunger for healthy food.
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/health/news/article2573392.ece

Smiling makes you happy research into botox shows

Researchers have discovered that being unable to smile will make you unhappy. People who use botox have less movement in their facial expressions and therefore have less facial expression. A person, who has less facial expressions because of Botox use, will also feel fewer emotions. The Botox paralyses the muscles in the face and therefore will have less feedback to the brain about facial expressions, said researcher Joshua Davis, a psychologist at Barnard College in New York. The simple act of smiling can help you feel better and happier and frowning can bring your mood down.
Comment:
I have always been against using Botox. You’re just injecting chemicals into your face and it helps for a few months. Nowadays, there are a lot of creams for helping out the wrinkles and lines and causes any pain. It is awful not to feel emotions because you cannot express yourself. This leads to that facial expressions are very important for feeling emotions, it sets up your mood and the way you feel. I think I even will get frustrated because I cannot use my facial expressions to show how I feel, or e.g. when someone is telling you joke and you want to smile or laugh, but you are not able to show it, that will frustrate yourself and even so the person who is telling the joke.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7849905/Smiling-makes-you-happy-research-into-botox-shows.html

Scrap 'breast is best' slogan, say campaigners

Campaigners are calling on the government to drop the slogan ' breast is best'. They think that this slogan does not convince the new mums to breast feed their newborns. The Breastfeeding Network says that breastfeeding is a norm and not something called special. Research shows that breast milk helps reduce obesity. Lesley Backhouse, chair of health department breastfeeding network, says that it is important to communicate to new mums that breastfeeding is free and easy to feed a baby. Figures show that eight in ten women in England start off breastfeeding but only five continue breastfeeding their child up to six months. Breastfeeding is good for mothers and for babies.


Comment:
I think that the Breastfeeding Network is right. Breastfeeding is definitely a norm and not something special. Breastfeeding is the easiest and most natural way to feed a baby. Studies show that breastfeeding protects from obesity, allergies, asthma etc. so why spend your money on baby milk, if you can feed your child with breast milk, it is easy and free. I think that it is good that the Breastfeeding Network wants to convince the pregnant women and the new mums to breast-feed their babies.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/10368037.stm

Different exams set for girls and boys.

Exam board wants to prepare two types of science GCSE. Studies have shown that girls are better in coursework and boys are better in the exams. Bill Alexander, the exam board's director of curriculum and assessment, told the Times Educational Supplement: "We could offer a route for boys that are very different to a route for girls. John Bangs, head of education at the National Union of Teachers, said it was "extremely dangerous" to get into gender stereotyping. He says that there are also enough boys that are interested in coursework as well. However, he suggested that their work should be marked by professional assessors.


The exam board has to reconsider this plan, because I think too that it is gender stereotyping. Not every girl is good at coursework and not every boy is good at exams. On the other hand, it shows that the exam board wants to improve the percentage of passing the GSCE. However, they have to ask the pupils as well and even the parents have their right to say something about it. The bigger problem is, in my opinion, how are they going to mark it. There is going to be different way of marking it between the girls and the boys.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/jun/18/boys-girls-different-gcse-course

The secret to happiness - speak to your father

Studies have shown that children, who talk to their father regularly, are happier than children who do not. Young people who talk to their father about things that matter “most days” gave themselves 87 per cent on a happiness scale compared with 79 per cent of those who hardly ever speak to their dads. As academic research has shown that child’s well-being later in life depends on how the relationship is with their fathers. The investigation will go on in autumn for recommendations on how the obstacles to better child-father relationship will overcome.

Comment: I find this article very interesting, because it seems that the child-father relationship is very important for a child’s well-being later in life. I never thought that relationship between father and child is so important to have a happier life. I think it is more important for boys, because they see their father as a role-model and cannot talk about everything that matters to them with their mothers. The relationship with the father is important, but we have to not forget that the relationship between mother and child is important too.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7835708/The-secret-to-happiness-speak-to-your-father.html

Home computers ‘harm children’s test results’

Studies have shown that PCs can lead to a decline in test scores amongst pupils. Using home computers, children get distracted and spend a lot of time socializing with friends than spending time for homework. Professor Jacob Vigdor said: “Adults may think of computer technology as a productivity tool, but the average kid doesn't share that perception.” Researchers compared the results of children before and after having a computer at home and the results showed that children who have home computers are getting worse at math and reading. The conclusions from last year are that technology disrupts education.

Comment: Nowadays, children are using computers all the time. I can see a point in that children are getting worse in math, because everything is now solved with a calculator. Computers are a distraction for the children. The average kid does not read that much anymore now technology has taken over. In my time, when technology was not used that much, children were reading books or playing outside to make fun, but nowadays children are sitting at home and spending time with their computers. I think that parents have a say in this, they have to make rules so that their kids would spend more time for homework instead of getting distracted by their computers.