I was at Occupy Toronto

I was at 'Occupy Toronto' last Wednesday (19 October) and spent 3 hours filming, walking around and talking to the protestors. What you will see in these videos is my view about the 'Occupy' movement and a general look around the park where they are camped.
It is all too easy to dismiss and criticise these people and to walk by them with your self-righteous nose up in the air. These people are intelligent with points to make. Stop and listen to them. At least they are making a stand. What else are the rest who are affected by the banking fiasco doing? We hear people complain everyday about how bankers put us in debt but we put up. The 'Occupy' movement is about helping make everyone's lot better.
The movement has been criticised for not having a point to make. They do. It is the '99%' message. Global inequality is huge. The 1% are getting richer and the 99% are getting poorer. The 99% are getting further into debt through borrowing and credit card use. The Governor of the Bank of Canada, Mark Carney, said, the movement was due to the increase in inequality and that the less well educated have been hit the hardest.
What I saw in Toronto was a desire for social mobility. Some people I spoke to just didn't have the opportunities to do so. They were either jobless or homeless. I think the world needs to start paying a lot more attention to the 'Occupy' movement. This is a revolution of a global movement without a human leader. Their leader is a cause. This is a leaderless revolution. It is BIG.
I watched Ezra Levant on the Sun news channel mock these people in Toronto. I disagree. Ezra, you are wrong. They may not read books from the library and they may not be as well read as you but they have a passion and a point.
If you are a part of 'Occupy Toronto' please bring this blog post to the media tent's attention because I promised them that I would write about my experience.
Go Occupy Toronto, Go.

Piers Morgan flying Brit Flag in North America

I am in Toronto, Canada attending a conference (more on that another time) and have been fascinated by the British news and personalities making the headlines here.
The first of the pick has to be Piers Morgan who showed a fantastic British disregard for authority by trying to make Hermain Cain feel foolish for saying that Gay people choose to be gay. Piers did his interview the day after the Republican presidential candidate debate, which I watched. Herman is in the running but Piers wasn't letting Herman get away with homophobic views.
Simon Cowell is on billboards everywhere too. Should we be embarrassed that an export consisting of people who all think they can sing and dance their way to a fortune overnight is the big Brit thing?
Dulwich Gallery received a four column article in the 'Globe and Mail' (main newspaper here) for hosting an exhibition on Canadian art. Golly, I have never been to the Gallery and i have friends in the area whom I visit!Liam Fox got a big mention in an article titled 'Minister quits in best man scandal'.
Lastly, Alistair Campbell, Yes, Alistair because he used a rude work when he tweeted about the Blackberry breakdown. I can't tell you what the word is because I am a child so you will have to look at his tweets.

The Cafe Latte Generation

Alex White, Matt Downey, me and Huw Edwards.
(Matt and Alex are talented liberal youth who are my good friends)

I have discovered something new about myself and it isn't often that this happens to people. Thanks to George Alagiah and his series on Mixed Race Britain I am part of the new growing colour mix of people. The surprising thing is that I don't feel any different or special compared to single race people.

However, I do think that the history of how mixed race people were treated is important because if we do not understand this then, as a society, we cannot progress. What amazes is how much racism and shame was associated with being mixed-race. Brown babies were put into orphanages because their white mothers were shunned by society. The Nazis conducted experiments on children like me to find out the DNA make up of these children.

I don't know what challenges lie ahead of me as a mixed-race child. Will there be genetic inheritance problems or will society start to view people like me differently as a result of the publicity for mixed-race people? Surprisingly, when my Asian mother was pregnant with me she was told that I would have a hard life because of my cultural mix. This was only 12 years ago. This shows, till how recently, racism was still in existence. I am pleased to say that I have not faced racism at all and being mixed has not held me back.

The BBC is featuring footage and history of how hard life was for mixed race children and their parents. By contrast I am grateful that I was interviewed recently on the BBC News 24 during conference by Huw Edwards. My colour did not even come into it. Integration has come a long way. However, people may not care about my heritage but I have been asked many curious questions by the press about my 'pushy' mother. It is assumed that because my mother is Asian she is forcing me to do things that children my age would not be doing. This partly comes from the memoirs of the Tiger Mother, Amy Chua, who pushed her daughters to excel. I don't have a pushy mother but she does encourage and help me to achieve my best potential. She is a Huffington Post blogger and you can read about her parenting style at:   

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/jane-chelliah/the-malaise-of-middle-cla_b_954366.html

Jumping On The Bandwagon of Cats



My Cat :)

 You thought this was going to be a post about Theresa May and the cat and the Human Rights Act didn't you? Everything has been debated to death already so I thought I would just post a picture of my cat, Sarah. I wanted to be a part of the debacle but in a different way.  

Feminism's Footprint in the Front Line

Today David Cameron apologised for appearing to make sexist comments. He claims that what he said came out wrong and that he is not a sexist man. When David Cameron said 'Calm down dear' he was just quoting from an advert and he did not mean it in a sexist manner but the way the male MPs reacted it seemed as if they were promoting sexism and this is terrible.

It is important for the Prime Minister to say that sexist jokes are wrong because it shows strong leadership and it sets the trend for a non-sexist society. Prime Ministers always need to be very careful about what they say, this is not the 1800s (or even past then) where sexism was accepted and no women were allowed into the House of Commons. We live in a modern and free country where feminism is coming into action. The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is known for having really bad attitudes towards women. We don't want that.

I don't understand why the MPs reacted so much when David Cameron said that Nadine Dorries was 'extremely frustrated', she was talking about abortion, a very sensitive subject and she has the right to get angry about it. Lots of male MPs get frustrated in the House of Commons and they are not jeered.