TALK WECOMEONE

Monday 14 May: BBC publish an article indicating that most of masterfood’s products (Mars, Snickers, Twix etc.) will no longer be suitable for vegetarians due to the inclusion of rennet (a chemical sourced from calves’ stomachs). This also includes the ice cream version’s as well guys! This took place from May 1st but any products with a best before date up to 1st October 2007 would not be affected.

At this point I was astonished why this company did this. Not only are they pushing away vegetarians but also many other cultures such as Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Jewish and many more who would not tolerate this.

However…there was a twist…

Sunday 20th May: The plans are abandoned. They would go back to using a vegetarian source due to constant petitioning, MPs against the idea and bombardment from the public through emails and other complaints. So its a win-win situation right? I’m not convinced by what masterfoods plans are. It has definately made me think twice when I see a chocolate bar in my local newsagents.

Its clear that the media are portraying this as ‘power to the people’ and all that pluralist stuff. At Wecomeone, we want to know what you think.

With one of Britains leading supermarkets making over £2 billion in profits over the last year, its no surprise that there was reports earlier this year where they wanted to break into the Russian, Chinese and Indian markets. Cheap labour? Well over 2 billion people to aim at? Or do they feel they want to conquer the eastern world? Personally, I’m not entirely convinced what they want to do. Yes there is cheaper labour in the eastern countries (not ethical) but they don’t want to lose their assets in Britain, again winning over 2 billion people (constant advertising and ‘everything under one roof’) means higher rates in profits in the near future a whole lot more are reasons why they want to expand. It wont benefit smaller businesses in these countries as they will lose out. People will see more big red and blue logo’s flashing 24 hours a day and seven days a week. It is a clever idea the company have come up with but is it right for them to build an unlimited amount of supermarkets in various countries?

I only saw this film yesterday evening in my student union cinema but I thought it was really good. The basic jist of the story follows a scottish man named Nicholas who arrives in Uganda to work as a doctor. He is then asked to treat the countries new president, Idi Amin. I’m not too sure if this character is in fact real or was even a doctor and close associate to Amin but his eyes are opened by the corruption in the country. It portrays Amin in a different way and I actually learnt alot from this film. Its based on a true story and is worth seeing when its out on DVD. It wasn’t as gruesome as I thought it would be (despite a couple of scenes), but a really interesting insight of what happened to the country in the 1970s after its independence. Its also based on a book so that might be worth reading.

I wanted to write something about Chess - why? I do not know! For who - well no one really, and everyone simultaneously. Its something that I love and thought I’d share my little poem with you:

Complicated, intricate, demanding and all consuming,

An escape, a distraction but mostly a passion,

A beauty to a game,

A co-ordinated dance,

with a deadly focus,

sometimes surgical precision to a checkmate,

and then to the long drawn out battle of mind,

to the last piece,

the winner takes nothing,

and the loser forfiets little,

only a transcendental peace remains,

a silent admiration of the other,

a warm shake of the hands,

and a release of the mind from its cage of intense logic,

it grabs one by the throat,

forces us to live each move,

to be responsible for our actions,

it teaches us the value of sacrifice for a greater good,

and the timelessness of patience,

the infinite abyss lays before every chess player,

no game is ever the same,

to swim the currents of forever,

in the midst of the butterfly effect,

always a measure of skill and knowledge,

but never enough,

the true lesson lies in how to use such knowledge with such precision,

And yet there is a wickedness to it all,

to disrupt your opponents position,

to steal his pieces,

to thwart his attacks,

to snatch victory from his side,

and to make Athena’s blessings your own,

A delicious thrill,

to con the conman,

to out steal the thief,

to trump the gambler,

to beat the crook at his own trade,

for Chess has its own world,

where rules of play provide a vastness of possibilities,

where both the winner and looser can appreciate the beauty of a swindle or trick,

A surprise move,

or a hidden threat,

And in Chess there is no room for complacency,

Arrogance will be humbled,

Ignorance is punished,

Weakness is defeat,

and Beauty is the Game itself.

 

Sachin 

 

I met Mr. Blair several times and twice we spoke at great length. I’ll be straight - I liked the man. In fact, I think he’s the best Prime Minister our country has ever had! New Labour with him at the helm have changed the British political landscape forever - its the work of Mr Blair, that has made the Conservatives take public services and the environmental issues seriously. I’m no Blairite or a Labour man - in fact I actively work against both at times, but credit has to be given where it is due.

The infrastructure of our country has vastly improved - and yes, I do think that NHS has got better, and schools and more of us are working. Mr. Blair has been the first ever PM to build a framework where big business could prosper as well as the working classes. It was he that bought the minimum wage - and so the millions of people who have benefited from that should never miss this little point! It was he who increased the pay of doctors and nurses by over 40% in his time - they shouldn’t forget that either.

And then of course there was the Iraq Invasion - a total and utter disgrace!

I think in hindsight, we will all learn to respect what he has managed to do, even if we don’t particularly like him. Yes, he bought spin, and a heap of other “Blair” side effects - but I think he cured our illness and now that our country is fitter, we don’t need him - and so I say Good Bye, Good Luck - & THANKS for all the FISH!!   

I thought you guys might find this interesting!

US stargazers beheld the most spectacular supernova ever seen when a massive star exploded in a cosmic flash 50 billion times brighter than the sun, the space agency NASA said on Monday.

“Of all exploding stars ever observed, this was the king,” said Alex Filippenko, one of the leaders of the NASA-backed operations which observed the phenomenon that began last fall, in a statement presenting the find.

“We were astonished to see how bright it got, and how long it lasted,” said Filippenko, who headed teams at the Lick Observatory at Mount Hamilton, California, and the Keck Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

The supernova, named SN 2006gy, was likely caused by “the death of an extremely massive star,” said Dave Pooley of the University of California at Berkeley, who headed the overall observation project by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.

The resulting stellar light show lasted 70 days.

A supernova usually occurs when a vast star collapses under its own gravity because it has ceased to produce nuclear energy in its core. But the astronomers think that this explosion may have been due to a drop in energy caused by particle changes brought about by radioactive gamma rays.

It takes a star at least eight times the size of the sun to burst into a supernova, but SN 2006 appears to have been much bigger, the report said — around the size of 150 suns.

“Astronomers think many of the first generation of stars were this massive, and this new supernova may thus provide a rare glimpse of how the first stars died,” the team’s statement said.

“It is unprecedented, however, to find such a massive star and witness its death.”

For some the name ‘get cape wear cape fly’ may not ring any bells.  But imagine taking a gap year away from your studies, and go out on the road self-generated and self-funded. This may relate to some (who have travelled lots and lots) but how about going out on the road self-generated, self-funded and making use of a talent to create and play melodies. The guy I’m reffering too is Sam Duckworth and he’s 20 years old. His music took off in 2005, but its the message he puts across that counts. Whilst being an avid supporter of the Love Music Hate Racism campaign, Sam is also a keen Fairtrade supporter.

I had the privilege of seeing him live earlier on in the year and thought he was amazing. His message clearly came through his music, something which does not happen a lot with new and young musicians.

To check out more of his works visit his website: http://www.getcapewearcapefly.com

 

I felt a great deal of empathy when I read these facts in the ‘private eye’ magazine.

400 - The number of people killed in a cross-border raid by Sudanese army on Chad last month.

200 - The number of people killed in a single day of terrorist attacks in Iraq a fortnight ago.

100 - The number of people killed in a mining disaster in Russia last month.

66 - The number of people killed in a single day’s fighting in Somalia last week.

These things just don’t happen where I live - in quite Leicester! When I hear these cold facts, its almost as if they’re just stories, not real, but fictional - something to keep the masses glued to the TV screens or news pages.But ofcourse, its not fictional, its real - and thats the tragic bit. It took a little while to actually “connect” with these dry cold surreal facts - but when it sunk in, I really felt low about the state of our planet in the early 21st Century.

And ofcourse not everything is bad - I think the planet has never been better, in human history (probably - don’t quote me on it), and yet we as ONE HUMAN FAMILY need to all play our parts in making it better. Am happy that Wecomeone, and my 9 to 5 here in the office makes that tiny difference - which all counts!

The Publisher rang me late last night, “Sachin, how are you”, he asked, in his usual up beat, slightly condescending manner.  “How’s the book coming?” The truth was since my ten days sprint in book writing, I just haven’t found the time to get on with it.  He’s not happy - but hey - it’s hard writing a book on philosophy thats meant to reflect ones own life! A few of you guys have asked for an update so here it is: Chapter 4 called “Angels come in all sizes”, and this is from a sub-section called “Luck comes in Gangs”.  Bear in mind that this is still only the 1st draft…so ignore the grammatical mistakes - there are plenty!

“What the fuck are you all playing at”, I yelled.  “Look at what shirt you’ve got on, we’re Rangers, not bunch of pussy footing minnows”, I went on.  “Now we have two choices in front of us.  One is this, we go on that field half hearted, embarrassed and weaker than the opposition.  If we go out like this we’ll get beat.  Fuck it, we’ll get hammered.  We’ve been played off the park by these, and I’m sorry to say that I think coach is wrong, it’s not about tactics; it’s about fucking spirit; the spirit to fight and to do what it takes to win.”  Now while I was in the middle of this war cry, the opposition coach was carefully listening to what I was saying, I was completely unaware.  “The second choice” I carried on, “is that we play like Rangers, we play to win, we fucking fight till we bleed and we don’t stop running till our legs fall off.  If we do this for forty-five minutes, we’ll walk away with pride.  So what do you want?  In forty-five minutes you can become men or we can leave here as a bunch of pussies.”  At the top of my voice, I yelled “What are we?”  “Rangers” came the proud call back.  The lads were awake and fired up for the fight.  “Who are we?” I yelled again.  The name “Rangers”, echoed across the field. 

The team played like champions, we won the game by four to their two.  It was an incredible performance.  After the game, we went to shake hands with the opposition.  Their coach came directly over to me.  He shook my hand, firmly but with respect.  His eyes told me that he was proud, of his team but also, of me.  “Amazing come back”, he said.  “Thanks”, I acknowledged looking down.  “Don’t know if I like being called a bunch of pussy footing minnows”, he came back.  I immediately looked to gauge his facial expressions.  He was smiling and relaxed.  “Sorry I didn’t mean for you to hear that”, I said rather meekly.  “You have quite a character, I’ve never seen a coloured boy like you” he blurted out.  His face showed no sign that he acknowledged that what he had said was racist and deeply offensive.  He said it innocently; there was no malice in his voice or on his facial expression.  As we walked in the direction of the changing rooms, he spoke again, “have you thought about what you want to do with your life”, he asked.  “No, not really”, I replied.  “Well, from what I’ve seen today, I think you’d make a great officer in her Majesty’s Royal Air Force.  Why don’t you come to the recruitment offices on Rutland Street in town, and I’ll personally take you through what the RAF can offer someone like you.” 
It took a while for it to sink in.  The sound of “Her Majesty’s Royal Air Force” echoed in my head all day.