A Plus Side to the Zero Hour Contract

A prominent issue during the 2015 UK General Election was the scrapping of zero hour contracts. This motion had almost unanimous support from the major parties and rightly so. It would end employers taking advantage of their staff and would mean that people would have a secure wage under a contract with a set number of weekly hours. What's not to like? Zero hour contracts cause insecurity and hassle for those who are in a position where they may not have any other employment options. Ending the zero hour contract allows stability and structure for those people.

But what about those who benefit from zero hour contracts? Their voice was largely quashed during the discussion of the abolition of the zero hour contract. Students, workers with more than one job and those with other full time commitments are often graced with some much needed flexibility that a zero hour contract provides. It is a means through which people can earn money without being tied to a set number of hours every week. In some cases, it means that these people are able to choose their working hours, enabling them to uphold a healthy balance between working and their other full time commitments.

An obvious example is that of the student, who is already overworked in some cases. Students are notoriously short of cash and through working a few hours a week, are able to build up funds for food, heating and perhaps having a healthy (boozy) social life without having to worry quite as much about the looming student loan demon. Despite the plethora of problems it can cause for other people, it still stands that a zero hour contract has the potential to provide a solution to a study/work balance.

Obviously, I am playing devil's advocate here and I do recognise that scrapping zero hour contracts will benefit the majority. However, I believe it is important to consider the implications that a motion such as this can have. I also think I am sightly biased: if I was not a student and did not see the benefits of zero hour contracts for someone like me, I doubt that I would be writing this. 

The Mourning Bandwagon

2016 hasn't been a good year for big names. We have seen the passing of talents such as David Bowie, Alan Rickman and today, George "the fifth Beatle" Martin. Coincidentally, we have also seen a rise in their respective fan bases. 

It is understandable that any sort of media coverage of the death of a public figure will remind us of what they achieved in their life. We may reminisce by listening to their music, reading their books or researching their legacy. It is sad and it is appropriate to mourn these figures by appreciating the ways that they may have touched peoples' lives. Moreso if you consider yourself to be a particularly invested admirer of theirs. If this is the case, you may feel it appropriate to express your sadness and condolences on a platform where you can communicate your thoughts and feelings to others; a platform such as social media.

It is almost expected that die hard fans of a well known artist to convey their emotions in a facebook status or, if they feel they cannot succinctly articulate themselves, through sharing articles about the loss. However, I believe that it is somewhat inappropriate and frankly annoying when someone suddenly seems to think they are a fan of that David Bowie guy (is it pronounced 'Bo-wie' or 'Bow-ie'?) because they heard a cover of the song Changes on the Shrek soundtrack. It is as if people recognise that they have missed out on being involved in the fan base of a talented person and once they realise that they cannot be part of it, they will jump on the mourning bandwagon. 

This was brought to my attention today after the announcement of the passing of George Martin. Twitter was up in arms, for it means that his readers will not find out the ending of the Game of Thrones series. Tweets were sent out by people expressing their condolences to the family of George RR Martin, stating that it is a travesty that the sixth book in the GoT series will remain unfinished. Unfortunately for them (but not for him!), those people have not realised that they are grieving over a man who has not actually died. They will should be gleeful to find that they have the wrong George Martin, and the Game of Thrones novelist is still alive and fully intending on finishing the series! And what's more, is that other Twitter users seem to think that the news of the death of George Martin of the Beatles is old news- didn't he die like ten years go? No, that would be George Harrison... 

I think that this proves my point- that people are so keen to jump on the bandwagon of mourning the dead famous person, that they don't even fact check if what they are saying is correct. This even goes to the extent that people mourn someone who is still alive. C'mon people, fact checking saves lives! 

Donald Trump: A distraction

America 2016- The topic which currently dominates the media and somehow works it's way into daily conversation. Almost synonymously is the topic of the notorious Donald Trump. You can't discuss one without discussing the other. And whether you hate or really hate Donald Trump, you cannot deny that he dominates discourse when it comes to the 2016 USA Presidential election.

However, is he really an entity we need to worry about? He is fun to discuss- he is controversial, he is outlandish and we are already aware of him and his reputation. For this reason, we love to pick up on when he further confounds his loathsome personality, even The Pope has become involved in the Trump discussion. We hate him, and we love to say our piece about him. 

Does this therefore mean that we have lost sight of the truly important topic at hand- who will be next President of the United States? We are so distracted by our new favourite supervillain that we are not focused enough on who we do support in the presidential race. I am not the only person who has caught on this idea: there are conspiracy theories which suggest that Trump has been planted by the Democrats, as he is so unelectable, that he alone can secure a Democrat win. As much as I love a good conspiracy theory, I can't say that this one is particularly convincing!

It is clear that we have acknowledged who we don't as the next President of the United States. Now, we need to choose the person for the position and focus on them, rather than awarding Trump with our attention and coverage on social media platforms. If we switch the negativity for positivity, we will find that people will realise that for themselves that Donald Trump is an undesirable, money-grabbing, racist hate monger. Let's convert that hatred into ambition and political motivation; let's shout about the good guys of American politics, not the bad ones.