It's People Power What Done It

The NoW scandal that has been happening all week has finally resulted in NoW closing and stopping production on Sunday 10th July.

168 years of history has come to a dramatic end but the potential fall out of the NoW acts and accusations of phone hacking will continue, and rightly so, until the responsible people are punished accordingly.

NoW has always been a popular Sunday newspaper, and has in the past been responsible for harnessing the power of the people to change laws, with Rebekah Brooks personally pushing for Sara’s Law, yet it seems that people power has turned on the NoW to ensure that it has finally accepted its wrongdoings.

The NoW was one of the first newspapers to sponsor sport, it has most recently broken the story of corruption in the Pakistan cricket team, and has had a very high reading ratings every Sunday since it was first published nearly 170 years ago.

There have been in the past few days outrage by fellow journalists, politicians, and the general public about the phone hacking scandal surrounding the end of publication of the NoW, most notably with a Commons debate which lasted over 3 hours, and with online campaigns by organisations such as Aavaz to stop Rupert Murdoch’s takeover of BSkyB.

People power is an important factor to include when understanding why the NoW finally crumbled, as once the public displayed it’s outrage via social networking sites such as Twitter, advertisers realised that they did not want to be associated with an organisation that has caused such outrage across the UK and also globally. A newspaper with no advertisers cannot survive, and as the traditional version of newspapers in a printed form has in recent years been struggling to survive, with many newspapers creating online versions of the newspaper through subscription only, the decision to remove advertising from NoW papers by giant corporations such as NPower and Asda made the decision to close NoW pretty much inevitable.

NoW has had an impact on the British public for many years, with iconic headlines and some cases of respected investigative journalism, and although there are rumours that the Sun will now become a 7 day newspaper to help counteract the fall of NoW, the NoW will be noticeably gone for good.

Davis V Wind Turbines: What The Outcome Could Mean.

Earlier this week, a two week landmark High Court case was started between Jane and Julian Davis and Fenland Windfarms, EDF Energy PLC and Fenland Green Power regarding the level of noise that wind turbines make, and how much this has affected the lives of Jane and Julian Davis.

The Davis have started this legal process as they have moved out of their home into rented accommodation blaming wind turbines for this essential move as the noise was unbearable and made their life a “nightmare”, It has also been reported that the couple used alcohol and sleeping tablets in order to block out the noise.

A reported published in 2000 by RenewableUK states that the noise from a wind turbine further than 300m away from the source is equivalent to the same level as noise from a flowing stream about 50-100 metres away or the noise of leaves rustling in a gentle breeze.
The Davis’ disagree. They argue that the noise levels are more accurately described as “helicopter whirring” and as such are filing for compensation of £2.5 m.

The difference in opinion is substantial and does warrant further investigation. RenewableUK have a high level of respect and authority within the UK – and have global recognition that their reports are generally the most scientifically accurate going – yet their report and the Davis’ account of living in Lincolnshire over 300m from the wind turbine are very different.

According to the claimants, the wind turbines are located 930 metres from the Farmhouse, which is downwind of the predominant wind through the turbines; the turbines are about 500m from the Claimants’ land boundary. They have stated that their lives have been a “nightmare” since the introduction of the wind turbines in 2006, and want to receive either £2.5 million in compensation or the total removal and shut down of the wind turbines located near them.

If the Davis’ are awarded compensation or the wind turbines are removed, then this could spark a trend of law suits regarding wind turbines and noise pollution, which could damage the reputation of a highly valued and important renewable energy source.

Jane Davis, a qualified nurse, said one in five wind farms cause noise problems for the local people. "All I know is the amount of health problems people have suffered since [the turbines were put up] seem to be excessive in relation to what was happening," she said. "Those symptoms include sleep deprivation, tittinus, vertigo, depression, raised blood pressure, atrial fibrillation (abnormal heart beat), needing to go the lavatory at night more often than you would normally, pneumonia, ear infections, stomach disorders and psychological stress."

There have in the past been fears that wind turbines can cause health problems, yet these have not caused a substantial amount of damage to the wind turbine industry, but if the Davis’ claim that their lives have been dramatically affected by the implantation of wind turbines over 500m away from their house, then this land mark law suit could indeed be damaging to wind turbines and their future.

Can We Break The Taboo?

Rape and sexual assault of any form are not topics that are comfortably talked about, due to a variety of reasons, but are the reasons justifiable, or should we just be honest with ourselves and bring this topic well and truly into the frontline of discussion?

Since Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested on suspicion of rape on 13th May 2011, the topic of rape was once again in the public arena, yet as the case has developed, media coverage of the event turned from focusing on the potential wrong doings of the ex-IMF chief to covering the life and times of the 32-year-old Guinean immigrant claiming that she knew convicted criminals and that her story of events regarding the alleged rape were not potentially viable in court.

Since being released from house arrest, another woman, Tristane Banon, has come forward claiming that she has also been a victim of rape by Strauss-Kahn in 2002.

It is not possible for someone outside of the situation, without verifiable facts to make judgements or decide if someone is innocent or guilty, nor is it their place to do so, yet, unfortunately, figures suggest that the general public in the UK believe otherwise as “nearly a third of people (30%) say a woman was partially or totally responsible for being raped if she was drunk” according to a Fawcett survey.

Rape and sexual assault are events in individuals lives that should be treated with great sensitivity and understanding, free from judgement and bias, and since a high proportion of rape and sexual assault go unreported it is difficult to ascertain just how many people are victims of these crimes, but latest figures suggest that at least 47000 women per year are victims of rape alone, and as these figures do not include male victims, nor unreported cases. The closest estimate to how many men are affected by rape or sexual assault by ManKind is that 3 in 20 men are sufferers of some form. This is a staggering statistic yet, again, it is impossible to know how truly accurate this is as so many rape and sexual abuse crimes go unreported.

The victims of rape are often assumed to be female, and their attackers’ male, yet there are cases of female victims with female attackers, and male victims with female or male attackers. There are no rules of conduct during this vicious crime, and victims can be of all ages, races, gender and sexual orientation, yet stereotypes mean that in society a young woman is seen to be the victim, with a man the attacker. This stereotype is often blamed as to why men find it difficult to come forward regarding the attack, as they fear they may not be believed, or that people will dismiss the event as “men can’t be raped”.

The impact of rape and sexual assault on any individual vary, and each victim should be treated as an individual, not as a statistic, yet less than ¼ of all local authorities in the UK have any sexual assault or rape centers for individuals to access, and so many victims access the internet to gain support. Detailed at the end of this article are links to some of the specialist resource websites available for any victim or family/friend of a victim.

The crimes that Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been accused of have provided the public and the media the another opportunity to discuss rape and sexual assault once again, and although this is not the first time, and is unlikely to be, the last time the topic is in the public arena, perhaps this time we can use it to discuss this taboo subject properly and encourage victims to come out and confront their attackers, or to get support from family, friends and the Sexual Assault Referral Centres (SARCs) for victims of rape.

Useful links:
http://www.rapecrisis.org.uk/
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Sexualhealth/Pages/Sexualassault.aspx
http://www.rapehelp.com/
http://www.mankindcounselling.org.uk/