Thursday 28 August 2014

Great British Bake Off- Bin Gate

It all kicked off on last night’s Great British Bake off after Baked Alaska sabotage unfolded in front of our eyes. And the British public are livid.

If you managed to completely stay out of the public outrage that unfolded last night, it all stemmed from a contestant, Diana Beard, taking another’s baked Alaska out of the freezer during the showstopper challenge.

When the ice-cream centre of Iain Watters’ Baked Alaska failed to set in the allotted time (possibly unhelped by fellow baker Diana TAKING IT OUT OF THE FREEZER) he threw the remains in the bin in a fit of rage and stormed out of the tent in full-blown fury.

With no bake to present Iain then topped the outrage by presenting a BIN to Mary and Paul. As you can imagine, Mary’s face was an absolute picture.

Ultimately, Iain (my previously least favourite contestant due to his resemblance to an elf), was sent packing by Paul and Mary. However, Iain didn’t blame #DirtyDiana (as it began trending on twitter).

As Iain left the show twitter was at bursting point with #BinGate and #DirtyDiana trending worldwide, signifying how important a small-scale British baking competition is to the core of the universe.
Someone even took the pleasure of changing Diana’s occupation on Wikipedia to “Ice cream melting super villain”.

More controversial than the great custard theft of 2013, bin gate sparked national wrath, showing that what unites the nation is not politics, religion or society, but the disobeying of baking etiquette.

So what can we learn from the scandal? Well the rest of the world now knows that the British public have a terrifying store of anger reserved for baked goods, and Alaska has been put back on the map, having received the most attention since Sarah Palin ran for presidency.

Personally, I was hoping David Cameron would break off his holiday and head straight back to 10 Downing Street to deal with the outrage.

Roll on next week.



Friday 15 August 2014

Why doing badly in your AS levels isn't the worst thing in the world

Despite it being over two years ago, A Level results day still had me tied up in knots just thinking about it. The sense of panic and uncertainty is one of the most nerve-wrecking experiences.

I’m about to enter my third year of university and so my AS and A level results days are long gone, but I can still vividly remember the nerves.

I didn’t do as well as I had hoped in my AS levels, and so I know that it can feel like the end of the world.
Good news is that it really isn’t. Some even better news is that I honestly think it was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

Why? Because it put a kick up my arse and I started to realise some very simple mantras for life that still keep me motivated even now that I’m at university.

First and foremost it’s important not to lose hope or sight of your dreams. Your aspirations are what will keep you going. As Albus Dumbledore said: “Happiness can be found in even the darkest of times if one only remembers to switch on the light,” and he’s right.  

Everyone thinks that the hardest thing is changing other people’s mentality-how they perceive you and what you do and think-when in actual fact the hardest opinion to change is your own.

If you let other people tell you that you can’t do something just because you don’t have the right grades it’s your attitude that needs to change not theirs. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t, because even the biggest dreams are achievable, no matter how long or difficult the road may be.

Whoever we are here on the earth, we might be princesses somewhere else. Or writers or doctors. Or whatever the hell we want to be that everyone else says we can’t. And guess what? The best feeling in the world is proving people wrong.


Thursday 14 August 2014

Is chivalry dead?

Maybe I’m old fashioned, but holding a door open for a woman to walk through and giving up your seat on the bus are all gestures I expect to be common manners.

Unfortunately the world doesn’t seem to agree with me, and over the past few weeks in particular I’ve found myself disgusted with the poor behaviour from the men out there.

Don’t get me wrong, like in all situations; there are some real gentlemen still out there, but it seems the majority are letting the side down.

Why is it impossible for men to do the, what I consider, ‘normal’ thing? When did all the men out there lose their chivalrous touch? What happened to pulling out chairs and holding doors? Or just buying a bunch of flowers because the girl you love had a bad week?

I blame society- mostly because men can’t be blamed for everything, but partly because women play a role in the death of common manners. If boys do put in the effort they come off as a clingy emotional idiot and all their friends consider them wet.

Well, I’ve got a news flash for you- holding a door open for a woman will go a lot further than your pervy sexist pig of a friend who beeps women as they stand at the bus stop just because they’re wearing a skirt

The other problem is that women have become complacent by agreeing to the bare minimum. For example a man doesn’t let her sit down on the bus and society tells her that because men and women are equal it doesn’t matter.

It does matter.
I’m the first to argue that men and women should be equal and I definitely don’t agree that all women should go back to being a 1950’s housewife who pampers after her husband's every need, but when it comes to decent manners equality doesn’t even come in to it.

Men will always be the physically stronger sex, so it’s only natural for them to show consideration towards women. Yes I can open the door myself and I’m perfectly capable of standing up on the bus, but sometimes it’s just about being nice.

Ok, so I’m not expecting flowers every week or you all to kiss the floor I walk on, although that would be nice. I’m just asking for a man to say, “after you” as I walk through the door, or hold our a chair for me to sit down, and I don’t think that’s asking for the world.