You might think I seem to have a morbid fascination for true crime, judging by one of my previous posts, but I wanted to write here about a book I’ve been reading recently. I can’t remember when, if ever, a book has ever made such an impact on me emotionally, I really can’t. It’s a truly incredible read and I really recommend it as a story of courage and tenacity.
‘For the Love of Julie’ is written by Ann Ming, whose daughter Julie suddenly disappeared from her home one night in November 1989 after finishing work delivering pizzas. Ann, who had been babysitting Julie’s toddler son, was due to meet Julie the next morning but Julie had completely vanished. Because mother and daughter were so close, Ann knew immediately that something terrible had happened.
But after police searched Julie’s house, there was still no sign of her. Three months later, Ann was in Julie’s bathroom when she smelled a terrible stench coming from the bath. Noticing the bath panel was coming loose, she took it off and found herself staring at her daughter’s body, bundled up in blankets.
It didn’t take long for the police to track down her killer, a local man well known for violent crime, Billy Dunlop. He went to trial but the jury were unable to reach a verdict, because there was no official cause of death, due to the body being so badly decomposed after being hidden for three months. After a further re-trial, the jury were yet again unable to decide on his guilt, so Dunlop was formally acquitted, despite evidence such as his fingerprints on Julie’s keys and fibres from his jumper being found on her body.
It wasn’t long before Billy Dunlop was boasting to anyone who would listen how he had committed ‘the perfect murder’ and got off scot free. And because of the law of Double Jeopardy, which means the same person cannot be tried for the same murder case twice, essentially – he had done just that.
Ann Ming, frenzied with grief and anger, began what would be a fifteen year campaign for justice for Julie – she battled furiously to change the law of 800 years that had been enshrined in the Magna Carta. Year after year, she met with MP’s, Home Secretaries, judges, wrote dozens of impact statements, went directly to the House of Lords and gave impassioned pleas – she stopped at nothing. And eventually, it paid off. The law of double jeopardy was finally changed in 2006, to allow criminals to be re-tried for a crime they had previously been acquitted of.
Billy Dunlop had made a big mistake in bragging about his ‘perfect murder’. Seventeen years after Julie Hogg was strangled in her living room and stuffed under her own bath, her murderer was found guilty and sentenced to life.
Reading the whole story, of how Ann found her daughter’s body and how she never ever gave up her tireless campaign for justice for her daughter, makes you go cold. I can’t stop thinking about this story – a moving story of a mother’s complete love for her child. And tragic as the story is, with everything she has done, Ann has ultimately ensured that something positive has come out of Julie’s death, and that she did not die in vain.
READ THIS BOOK!!!!!!
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Monday, 23 August 2010
Liar, liar....
This weekend, I was standing in front of the mirror trying to decide which, out of a plethora of my very best dresses, would be the best to wear to the upmarket restaurant I was going to be gracing that night.
After a good twenty minutes of getting nowhere, I enlisted the help of my laid-back boyfriend for a man’s opinion.
“Wear that nice black and white one,” he suggested. “You look great in that.”
“What about this one?” I said, pulling out one of my favourite dresses – a slinky burnt orange number which I totally love because it’s great at making me look a good few pounds lighter than I actually am. Score!
“To tell you the truth,” said my lovely boyfriend. “I’ve not told you this before, but I’ve never actually liked that dress.”
Well, he had barely got the words out before he was avalanched with a tirade of my apoplectic rage, accusations and various four letter words.
How could he be so mean? How could he dislike my lovely little dress? I had been walking around thinking I looked sensational when apparently; all my boyfriend could see was some kind of orange apparition.
“I’m just being honest,” he protested, wide-eyed. “I love most of your clothes, but I’m just not keen on that dress.”
After I had calmed down and put away the hairdryer that I was about to throw, it got me thinking about honesty in relationships. Women claim that they just want honesty from their other halves, but when it’s the kind of honesty they don’t want to hear – well, the gloves come off.
Which is why I was extremely amused to read Mavis Cheek’s article in today’s Daily Mail, entitled: “Why lying is good for you: Even tiny fibs harm relationships according to the new radical honesty movement.”
Apparently, some psychiatrist/guru named Brad Blanton, (who for some reason, makes me envisage a character from that old TV show Malibu) a pioneer of this honesty movement, says that we can only transform our lives for the better by being completely honest. That means that even telling the littlest of white lies, can be potentially detrimental to our relationships.
But, let’s be honest – how easy is it lie in our day to day lives? The answer? Very!
“No thanks, I’ve just got some brand new windows,” to the persistent double glazing salesman on the phone. Or “I think your hair is totally innovative and looks fantastic,” to your friend who has just got her hair chopped, spiked and dyed electric blue.
So is the latter type of fib more acceptable because we know if we said what we really thought, we would be offending the other person? In other words, we’re lying to protect their feelings, because who wants to be told they look a big blue ridiculous mess??
Mavis Cheek says in her article that these so called ‘comforting lies’ are a woman’s ‘social cement’ in a cruel modern world, which to an extent I agree with, but Brad Blanton’s ‘Radical Honesty’ resonates with me far more. What is the point of a relationship if you cannot be totally honest with each other? As Blanton says, ‘It's the kind of authentic sharing that creates the possibility of love and intimacy.’
“No you can’t read a map and you cannot sing to save your life but I love you anyway,” is to me, worth much more than, “You have the most amazing voice I’ve ever heard – Mariah should be quaking in her boots,” whilst secretly thinking: ‘I’ve never heard anything more terrible in my life.’ Because the former is HONEST.
So, I won’t lie and say that next time my boyfriend gives me a harsh dose of his brutally honest opinion, I’ll embrace it with sing-song gratitude. I’ll no doubt kick off and stew in my own anger for a few minutes. But at the end of the day, it’s honesty, and that’s all I can ask for.
After a good twenty minutes of getting nowhere, I enlisted the help of my laid-back boyfriend for a man’s opinion.
“Wear that nice black and white one,” he suggested. “You look great in that.”
“What about this one?” I said, pulling out one of my favourite dresses – a slinky burnt orange number which I totally love because it’s great at making me look a good few pounds lighter than I actually am. Score!
“To tell you the truth,” said my lovely boyfriend. “I’ve not told you this before, but I’ve never actually liked that dress.”
Well, he had barely got the words out before he was avalanched with a tirade of my apoplectic rage, accusations and various four letter words.
How could he be so mean? How could he dislike my lovely little dress? I had been walking around thinking I looked sensational when apparently; all my boyfriend could see was some kind of orange apparition.
“I’m just being honest,” he protested, wide-eyed. “I love most of your clothes, but I’m just not keen on that dress.”
After I had calmed down and put away the hairdryer that I was about to throw, it got me thinking about honesty in relationships. Women claim that they just want honesty from their other halves, but when it’s the kind of honesty they don’t want to hear – well, the gloves come off.
Which is why I was extremely amused to read Mavis Cheek’s article in today’s Daily Mail, entitled: “Why lying is good for you: Even tiny fibs harm relationships according to the new radical honesty movement.”
Apparently, some psychiatrist/guru named Brad Blanton, (who for some reason, makes me envisage a character from that old TV show Malibu) a pioneer of this honesty movement, says that we can only transform our lives for the better by being completely honest. That means that even telling the littlest of white lies, can be potentially detrimental to our relationships.
But, let’s be honest – how easy is it lie in our day to day lives? The answer? Very!
“No thanks, I’ve just got some brand new windows,” to the persistent double glazing salesman on the phone. Or “I think your hair is totally innovative and looks fantastic,” to your friend who has just got her hair chopped, spiked and dyed electric blue.
So is the latter type of fib more acceptable because we know if we said what we really thought, we would be offending the other person? In other words, we’re lying to protect their feelings, because who wants to be told they look a big blue ridiculous mess??
Mavis Cheek says in her article that these so called ‘comforting lies’ are a woman’s ‘social cement’ in a cruel modern world, which to an extent I agree with, but Brad Blanton’s ‘Radical Honesty’ resonates with me far more. What is the point of a relationship if you cannot be totally honest with each other? As Blanton says, ‘It's the kind of authentic sharing that creates the possibility of love and intimacy.’
“No you can’t read a map and you cannot sing to save your life but I love you anyway,” is to me, worth much more than, “You have the most amazing voice I’ve ever heard – Mariah should be quaking in her boots,” whilst secretly thinking: ‘I’ve never heard anything more terrible in my life.’ Because the former is HONEST.
So, I won’t lie and say that next time my boyfriend gives me a harsh dose of his brutally honest opinion, I’ll embrace it with sing-song gratitude. I’ll no doubt kick off and stew in my own anger for a few minutes. But at the end of the day, it’s honesty, and that’s all I can ask for.
Thursday, 12 August 2010
'Booking' the Trend
Today's Guardian features a (to me anyway) fascinating debate about the world’s favourite underrated contemporary writers in its Book Blog.
Yesterday’s edition explored the most overrated writers – a topic I can get a bit loquacious on when it comes to overrated books. I think I am most definitely in the minority here, but the likes of Harry Potter and Twilight have made as much impact on me as the latest series of Big Brother (that is none whatsoever).
Well for me, it’s about a journey of education, discovery and escapism. I admire authors who enable their readers to think hard. It requires effort to do so. There’s nothing wrong with taking an ‘easy read’ on holiday to read on the beach. Nor with feeding your mind with trivia every once in a while. We all do it. But why hail books as ‘modern classics’ when they are generally lacking in substance?
Probably my favourite literature series of all time and what I would definitely peg as ‘modern classics’ are the Adrian Mole diaries. I have followed his life's trials and tribulations since I was about 12 and can honestly say, no other book has taught me so much about the society in which we live. Granted, it is quite politically one sided but through Adrian Mole, author Sue Townsend completely captures the zeitgeist of both the 1980s and modern times. Reading the series from the beginning teaches the reader about how Thatcherism paved the way for how society is today. The books are superbly written and balance the right amount of utter hilarity and pathos. I can’t praise them enough.
And a lot of modern books today are excellent too. Through literature, people can learn about people, and that must mean some sort of progression and development. Without good books in the world, people will never be able to find themselves, and society will simply stagnate.
Yesterday’s edition explored the most overrated writers – a topic I can get a bit loquacious on when it comes to overrated books. I think I am most definitely in the minority here, but the likes of Harry Potter and Twilight have made as much impact on me as the latest series of Big Brother (that is none whatsoever).
Twilight is a series the world seems to have gone bananas for. OK, so I can understand the Robert Pattinson hoopla. But lovestruck vampires? What happened to the mad passion of classic protagonists like Heathcliff and Cathy or Blanche and Stanley?
Just to be clear, I am categorically NOT slating those who like to read contemporary books like this at all. Nor am I slating the books themselves, even if it seems like I am. I think anything that encourages more people to read can never be a bad thing. But I, personally, struggle to understand what can be learned from books like Twilight and Harry Potter. Yet an avid fan of both could challenge me and ask what can be learned from the classics, or even if we need to learn from books at all. Which leads me to an interesting debate. What is the point of literature?
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| Adrian Mole - world's greatest diarist |
Modern life demands quick fixes to everything and books like Twilight mirror this culture in requiring no depth of thought. Am I jumping to conclusions when I assume that a large number of young people today have only started reading the Twilight series because of its good looking lead male in the movie version?
I hate the thought of the ‘classic’ books being overlooked. By ‘classic’ I mean books that continue to ask questions and go some way to providing many of the answers. When JD Salinger died earlier this year, he left one of the greatest pieces of modern literature in his legacy, ‘The Catcher in the Rye’. A lot of young people today have never even heard of it.
Probably my favourite literature series of all time and what I would definitely peg as ‘modern classics’ are the Adrian Mole diaries. I have followed his life's trials and tribulations since I was about 12 and can honestly say, no other book has taught me so much about the society in which we live. Granted, it is quite politically one sided but through Adrian Mole, author Sue Townsend completely captures the zeitgeist of both the 1980s and modern times. Reading the series from the beginning teaches the reader about how Thatcherism paved the way for how society is today. The books are superbly written and balance the right amount of utter hilarity and pathos. I can’t praise them enough.
And a lot of modern books today are excellent too. Through literature, people can learn about people, and that must mean some sort of progression and development. Without good books in the world, people will never be able to find themselves, and society will simply stagnate.
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Compensation for Criminals?
Thirteen years ago, a pretty young teenager called Billie Jo Jenkins was home alone painting patio doors outside her foster parents’ house in Hastings when she was bludgeoned to death with a metal tent peg.
Her foster father Sion Jenkins, who was out at a DIY store with his younger children, has always profusely claimed to have found Billie Jo lying in a pool of blood when he returned.
But police did not believe his story, and Sion was found guilty of her murder the following year. He spent over six years in prison, where he was physically attacked, and he was divorced by his wife who took the couple’s biological children to live in Australia, believing he was guilty. Jenkins eventually appealed against his conviction and was formally acquitted in 2006. He is in the news today, because after seeking up to £500,000 in compensation for the prison term he served before being acquitted, he has been refused any payout by the Ministry of Justice and his request has been dismissed.
If he IS guilty of battering Billie Jo to death, then he should be locked up and deserved everything that has happened to him in the past 13 years. But the fact is, he was ACQUITTED. There was no substantial evidence that he was the one who killed Billie Jo. Jenkins has always maintained that the prime suspect in the case was a man he says stood in his hall on the day of the attack, who has never been traced. Surely more effort should have been put into finding this man instead of immediately pinning one man down for the crime?
Jenkins is not the only one to apply for compensation after being acquitted. He was said to have been buoyed by the £700,000 awarded to Colin Stagg who was wrongly imprisoned for murdering Rachel Nickell in 1992.
So I’m all for wrongly accused victims to claim recompense for being tagged as a ‘murderer’, and if Sion Jenkins really is as innocent as he says he is, then I hope he receives the money he deserves.
But what would be laughable, if it wasn’t so tragic, is Ian Huntley’s recent six figure compensation demand for injuries he received in prison. Early this year, his throat was slashed by an inmate and Huntley claims the prison service failed in their duty of care towards him.
I actually thought this was a joke when I first read it. For one thing, it’s not like there was no evidence to disprove he actually did kill Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. He clearly murdered them and should be rotting away in his cell. Instead, he is playing the victim and making a mockery of the little girls he killed.
Their families received £11,000 maximum for their loss. If Huntley was to win his claim of nearly £100,000 there would be no bigger travesty in my opinion. Not that any amount of money is going to ease any of the families’ pain, but for the girls’ killer to assume he is entitled such a ridiculous sum of money is a complete joke.If he had any shred of remorse for his crimes, he would do the decent thing by dropping the case, hibernating away and getting on with serving his time.
Monday, 9 August 2010
Clegg - Lapdog or Lothario?
Well, well, well. How quickly things change. Just 3 short months ago, Nick Clegg appeared to be THE flavour of the month for the upcoming election. But it appears that his 15 minutes is dragging to an uncomfortable end, if you’re to agree with Mark Seddon who writes a scathing article in this weekend’s Daily Mail.
Easily the most attractive politician since….well, ever - either everyone was actually THAT cheesed off with Gord that when it came down to choosing between an aging Scottish bloke or an uptight former public schoolboy for Prime Minister, the suave, chiselled lothario with a proclivity for yellow ties was the best of not a very exciting bunch; or they staunchly believed Clegg was the man to single-handedly change a rapidly deteriorating Britain.
Some compared him to Obama – could this doe-eyed straight talker with a keen sense of empathy for the middle classes really transform the country with his promises of ‘new politics’? All the other parties had failed miserably, he argued. Vote Lib Dem for a better future.
And many did. In a remarkable turn of events, we ended up with not one toff running our country, but TWO of them. I, for one, was extremely interested to see how all Cameron’s policies would clash spectacularly with Clegg’s, after hearing both of them slag the other’s off in the run up to the election – but as yet there have been no fisticuffs at dawn. The waters of Downing Street are running smoother than silk, and Cameron and Clegg seem to be as pally as two members of the Famous Five.
But according to Seddon, the Lib Dems are becoming increasingly disillusioned with the amount of enthusiasm their party leader has shown in signing up to his so-called ‘rival’s’ policies. Their poll rating has slumped to a measly 12 percent and Clegg’s own personal satisfaction has fallen by a whopping 64 points since the election.
A big factor in his declining popularity was the alleged deceit he showed over Spending Cuts. Though he didn’t support the idea of a faster programme of deficit reduction back in March, claiming that early cuts would be ‘economic masochism’, he recently admitted to changing his mind and is now backing the Tories’ plans for a faster package of cuts.
When he was asked why he kept schtum to his constituents about this, Clegg said: "... to be fair we were all ... reacting to very, very fast-moving economic events."
So what’s the truth? Is the Clegg to be trusted? I must admit to sitting on the fence here. I’m no ‘lefty journo’, nor do I claim to know everything about our political situation, but I did believe Nick Clegg could be a welcome symbol of change for Britain, as I believe, did many others. But it seems to me that at this moment in time, that Clegg Factor is most definitely on the decline.
Easily the most attractive politician since….well, ever - either everyone was actually THAT cheesed off with Gord that when it came down to choosing between an aging Scottish bloke or an uptight former public schoolboy for Prime Minister, the suave, chiselled lothario with a proclivity for yellow ties was the best of not a very exciting bunch; or they staunchly believed Clegg was the man to single-handedly change a rapidly deteriorating Britain.
Some compared him to Obama – could this doe-eyed straight talker with a keen sense of empathy for the middle classes really transform the country with his promises of ‘new politics’? All the other parties had failed miserably, he argued. Vote Lib Dem for a better future.
And many did. In a remarkable turn of events, we ended up with not one toff running our country, but TWO of them. I, for one, was extremely interested to see how all Cameron’s policies would clash spectacularly with Clegg’s, after hearing both of them slag the other’s off in the run up to the election – but as yet there have been no fisticuffs at dawn. The waters of Downing Street are running smoother than silk, and Cameron and Clegg seem to be as pally as two members of the Famous Five.
A big factor in his declining popularity was the alleged deceit he showed over Spending Cuts. Though he didn’t support the idea of a faster programme of deficit reduction back in March, claiming that early cuts would be ‘economic masochism’, he recently admitted to changing his mind and is now backing the Tories’ plans for a faster package of cuts.
When he was asked why he kept schtum to his constituents about this, Clegg said: "... to be fair we were all ... reacting to very, very fast-moving economic events."
So what’s the truth? Is the Clegg to be trusted? I must admit to sitting on the fence here. I’m no ‘lefty journo’, nor do I claim to know everything about our political situation, but I did believe Nick Clegg could be a welcome symbol of change for Britain, as I believe, did many others. But it seems to me that at this moment in time, that Clegg Factor is most definitely on the decline.
Sunday, 8 August 2010
The birth of a new blog
Dearest blog readers,
Welcome to the beginning of what I hope will be a beautiful journey. It will generally consist of the said process: me hearing something on the news, reacting positively/negatively to it, taking to my laptop and expressing my views, then fending off any harsh and unwanted criticism from the comments section. (I hope there won't be much of that - we're all friends here)
And this blog might not all be about topical news. You might find some random musings on here too. If I wake up one morning and feel compelled to blog about the sheer brilliance of Basil Fawlty, then I will.
Welcome to the beginning of what I hope will be a beautiful journey. It will generally consist of the said process: me hearing something on the news, reacting positively/negatively to it, taking to my laptop and expressing my views, then fending off any harsh and unwanted criticism from the comments section. (I hope there won't be much of that - we're all friends here)
And this blog might not all be about topical news. You might find some random musings on here too. If I wake up one morning and feel compelled to blog about the sheer brilliance of Basil Fawlty, then I will.
But I will mainly be focusing on what's happening in the world right now. And there's no louder voice wanting to be heard than a twenty something journalism graduate who has opinions on everything from Mr Osborne's new Budget plans to Michelle Obama's new jacket, and a staunch penchant for all things News.
News happens every single second. News can be devastating and it can be heart-warming.
But the sheer beauty of it is that no day is ever the same. Whatever is happening in the world right now that I happen to have an opinion on - I will be using my journalistic skills as well as my charming persona, sparkling wit and repartee, to blog on here to whoever wants to listen.
Not for you? Then ciao bella - you're taking up my personal space.
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