2013-06-18T21:17:40-04:00 Lewis Shepherd http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=lewis-shepherd Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Lewis Shepherd Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2916654 2013-03-20T13:10:16-04:00 2013-05-20T05:12:02-04:00

Lewis Shepherd http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-shepherd/
Generation Y has been getting some stick, so to speak, over the last few years, which mainly comes from them being referred to as Generation Me. This is because surveys found people in their teens and early twenties from this generation had an increase in narcissism, and are predicted to switch jobs more frequently than other generations, due to high expectations.

Because of this many young people today are often considered lazy, ungrateful and as often cited in the press; are unwilling to work. But if this is true of members of this generation then whose fault is it? Surely high degrees of narcissism and great expectations couldn't have developed without having a sense of purpose or righteousness bestowed upon you?

When we look back, young people over the past thirty years were quite lucky; they benefited from the ecological and technological boom, many people's parents were much more affluent during this time, and many people had the latest gadgets bought for them because their parents wanted to try them out, or because there was disposable income to buy them. During this time higher education also became much more accessible, which meant more people could go to University, no matter what your background, and consider a career doing something they hadn't previously. No longer where people confined to do what their parents did, or acquire a job for life that they may not enjoy simply because they needed a job.

All the time this was happening, children were constantly being told by parents and teachers they could be whatever they wanted to be, allowing aspirations of being an artist or a writer flourish in young people's minds. Add on top of this a media saturated society that allowed anyone to become famous through reality television, whether they were talented or not, and be adorned by fans across the country in various glossy magazines, its no wonder Generation Y began to think they could be anything they put their minds to.

When you think about all that was happening whilst Generation Y were growing up, there's no wonder that many may have a slightly overinflated ego or feeling of superiority. But when you add on top of this the economic downturn that hit whilst many were in their teens or early twenties, many of these promises from the media and their parents looked far more unattainable, which for a generation brought up on promises can become depressing.

Therefore we have been left with thousands of highly educated being told they can't do what they want to do and that their expensive education was almost pointless. This seems to be breading a new strand of Generation Y; Generation WHY bother?

Many young people now feel as though they have been let down and lied to about their futures, so feel as though there's no point trying any more, and yes some may feel that menial work is below them, but this is a minority.

But what the general population needs to realise is, although there is a percentage of Generation Y that feels this way, there is a much larger portion of said generation trying their best to work with what they have, and live the dreams and promises they were given in the best way they can. This includes doing unpaid work and a more menial job in order to live and hopefully further their careers, which is what the majority appear to be doing.

Despite some inflated egos that were probably achieved because of the hopes Generation X or the Baby Boomers bestowed upon them; the majority of Generation Y aren't thinking 'why bother?' they are thinking about how to be the next great generation, despite the opposition they encounter.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2875282 2013-03-14T09:32:56-04:00 2013-05-14T05:12:01-04:00

Lewis Shepherd http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-shepherd/
Firstly I blame the supermarkets for this, or more importantly all those people who wondered how amazing it would feel to scan their own food just the once, well that came back to kick you in the face didn't it, because now the chance of getting served by a real person is about as remote as finding a unicorn in the Sahara desert.

Although they do come with their perks, because lets be honest some times you wonder how the person serving you managed to get a job in customer service as they send a scowl in your direction, whilst scanning your vegetables because you disturbed them. However if I had to sit there and scan someone's ten bottles of wine knowing they were off to a party I think I'd be annoyed too.

But despite this one minor perk of the self scan, we now find ourselves regularly shouting at machines in the supermarket because there's an "unexpected item in the bagging area," which was once reserved for your own living room when your computer told you that you'd "performed an illegal operation.'

The worrying thing is though, we seem to have become our own shop assistants when in store, in Ikea there's a machine so you can locate an item in store so you don't disturb the otherwise overly busy staff. In Argos there's also a self-service machine so you can go and sit on those horrible little chairs and stare at you item on the shelf for ten minutes before they call your name.

Even though the high street may die a death, machines powered by us will probably run the shops that remain open. But this technique of doing things ourselves appears to be running into other areas of our lives.

Just look at hospitals and doctors surgeries. I have spoken before about how difficult it is to get an appointment at a doctors surgery, in fact by the time you get there you'll probably have already recovered from your illness or died a horrible yet convenient death for your GP. But just in case the wait at A&E is too long or your problem isn't that serious and you can't get into your GP surgery for another six weeks, there's always NHS direct.

Anyone who's used the NHS direct system, either online or by telephone will tell you that it is about as much use as a chocolate teapot. When you phone you can sometimes be on hold for about thirty minutes, if not a full hour, and if you check online the categories and questions are so vague that you end up being told you have bubonic plague.

After this mass struggle to find out what is wrong with you via this efficiently rubbish system, the person on the other end of the phone or the computer usually tells you to make an appointment with your GP or go the A&E anyway, rendering the whole experience pointless.

Although during the journey into the self scan life, some people bypassed the whole NHS direct thing and became self-diagnosing self-trained doctors, well if you can become a shop assistant yourself why not a doctor?

This has then lead to a nation, if not a world population turning into a bunch of screaming hypochondriacs who think they have some weird sub-tropical disease that hasn't existed since 1906 because they Googled 'what is wrong with me if I have a red rash on my stomach.' Basically no matter what your symptoms, Google is going to tell you you're dying, no matter what.

Certain aspects of our lives such as doing the weekly shop or popping to Argos or Ikea have become the first casualties to the self-service lifestyle. But I wonder how long it will be before we are doing everything ourselves? If we've already began developing into Google trained doctors, who knows what else will come next in our ever evolving self-scan/self-service kind of life.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2818614 2013-03-06T09:45:16-05:00 2013-05-06T05:12:01-04:00

Lewis Shepherd http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-shepherd/
My partner then informed me that the particular bench they were sitting on was the best place to get free Wi-Fi in the area, as there are four open connections there. This got me thinking that at the age of 22 how much the telephone has changed in the last few years. When I was 15 the thought of being able to sit on a bench and access free Internet through my phone was pretty unfathomable, and for my partner, who is 29, the thought of doing so when he was 15 would have been even more preposterous.

As my brain began to fathom the thought some more, it made me realise that in the last thirty years the technology that allows everyone to communicate has changed vastly, and that the issues for teenagers communicating with each other whilst out and about has changed rapidly as well.

Long gone are the days that your parents talk about when you had to "knock on" to see if someone's in. In fact the though of knocking someone's door not knowing whether they are in or not seems positively medieval these days. But for those who were teenagers in the 90s, thus most likely being born around 1980, the troubles that they experienced when trying to find their friends not only differ from their parents, but also greatly differ from their own children or younger siblings.

For example my partner was born in 1983, therefore the troubles he had would have been similar to others born in the early 80s. His telephone communication issues surround the phone box, which seems positively Stone Age these days, I mean I've never used a phone box in my life and there's only seven years between us. He began telling me about the problems of finding a phone box, making sure you had money to use it and the anger you would feel when you saw someone enter a pound into the aforementioned phone box. The thought of using a phone box to me seems ancient, which fills me with dread about how people feel about my teenage communication methods.

My method of teenage communication however seems a little less pre-historic as mobile phones became the norm by the late 1990s. As I was born in 1990 I was using mobile phones throughout my teens and the main issue I had was my signal cutting out, which usually resulted in dancing around like a lunatic with my arms waving above my head, trying to make my phone grab any dreg of signal that happened to be floating about. When I was 15 we also had WAP, which is an ancient form of mobile Internet only seen now in museums, but everyone knew it was rubbish so didn't really bother with mobile Internet. Besides we had MySpace and MSN to communicate through at home, my how I feel old.

This then brings me to now, I have a younger sister who's only eight years old, yet she has a mobile phone that is more advanced than mine was at the age of 18. It makes me think that by the time she is 15 the major problem when it comes to her mobile phone will be not having a 3G signal in order to Facebook her friends, tweet a whimsical yet non-informative 150 characters via Twitter or to Instagram her lunch, with the thought of actually making a phone call just passing her by. However I think this may already be happening, but as I am now clearly over the tech hill at the age of 22, it doesn't really matter.

All this said I too feel like I've been catapulted back to the Stone Age when my 3G connection cuts out, as I'm sure many of you do. But if I've never used a phone box it makes me a little sad that teenagers these days are going to have much better phones, resulting in tech traumas that I've never heard of, which quite frankly makes me a little jealous for some unknown reason. However if 3G were to cut out completely I wonder how teenagers would communicate? After all without free WI-FI that group of teenagers I saw would have just been sat on a bench, not talking to each other. Oh the joy.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2765247 2013-02-26T10:14:17-05:00 2013-04-28T05:12:01-04:00

Lewis Shepherd http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-shepherd/
As I went to University I began perfecting this art. As many University students will know, when it comes to gathering a pile of books to find information and quotes to help develop a 2,000 word essay, menial tasks suddenly become the most important things that ever existed. You tend to find yourself taking your clothes to the washing machines knowing that in an hour they will need to be put in the tumble dryer, this means that for the next few hours you can't actually start your essay as you will need to go to the tumble dryer and move your clothes and then ultimately have to bring them back and put them away.

This is only one of a number of tasks I found myself doing during the first two years of my University life, one time I found myself on my hands and knees cleaning my bedroom skirting boards, as they looked a little too dusty. The fact that I had a deadline in a few days time obviously had nothing to do with my sudden need for a spring clean, well that's what I told myself.

I know a whole host of people from my time at University who also found they succumbed to the need to complete pointless tasks in order to delay thinking too much about their essays. However luckily for me by the third year I had grown out of this phase, as I wanted to get my work done and attain a good grade, since this was the main reason I went to University in the first place. I also know that a number of my fellow students grew out of this as the workload got heavier and more important.

This was a good thing as the constant work made sure I couldn't get too distracted, obviously now and again updating my Facebook status became much more important. But overall this art of procrastination was beginning to go as I prepared myself for the workload I would endure when I was finally finished with my studies, and entered the world of full time work.

However for me, like many other graduates things didn't manifest as I'd hoped and I found myself sitting at home applying for copious amounts of jobs praying for the day I'd start work. This therefore brings me to a key point, when does this art of procrastination stop being procrastination and become laziness and more importantly does having nothing to do breed laziness?

I say this because when I was at University procrastination may have distracted me from my studies but it also meant that tasks such as the washing the dishes or doing the laundry got done, and in the end so did my assignments. But now that I am out of University with no assignments I don't find myself becoming distracted by the washing, therefore it doesn't get done as much as it used to.

Now I find myself sat on the sofa, drinking tea, applying for jobs and watching the TV, in a state that many people would call laziness. Its not that I am lazy, in fact I love being busy as I'm sure many other people do, it's just that I have nothing to do, so by having nothing to do these menial tasks become the only thing I have to do and once they are done they are done, leaving me with extra hours to sit around and do nothing.

The way it feels is that whilst the job market is in such a bad state, meaning that many graduates and people in general can't get jobs, leaving them at home with nothing to do after they've done their tedious tasks and applied for all the jobs there are to apply for, which isn't many, they find themselves slipping into a state of being bored where doing nothing is the only thing to do.

With more and more people being out of work for much longer periods of time, and by having nothing to do its looks as though the inability to get many people into work is breeding a generation of experienced laziness as their main skill, not because they are lazy but because it's the only thing they now know how to do.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2733400 2013-02-24T19:00:00-05:00 2013-04-26T05:12:01-04:00

Lewis Shepherd http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-shepherd/
Recently after experiencing some problems I contacted my doctor's surgery to try and book an appointment, this to me seemed like a very straightforward task that would involve a telephone call and arranging the appointment. I'd already considered the fact that I may have to wait a few days, but as usual nothing is completely straightforward.

During my telephone conversation I was told that the earliest appointment I could have was the 1 March, which would have been fine if it was a few days before. However I just happened to be ringing three weeks before the given date, which to me seemed very strange. When I enquired about getting an earlier appointment I was told that they were fully booked until then, a phrase I thought was reserved for hotels, restaurants, hairdressers and the sort. Then when I mentioned that I'd been having a pain in my chest the receptionist, in a very rude manner, told me I should go straight to the hospital before saying goodbye and hanging up.

After this happened I was in total shock. I know if you experience pains in your chest then you should go to the hospital, but as the pain had been happening for a few days I was quite sure it wasn't a heart attack, hence my delay in approaching the hospital. It's also worth noting that a few months back when my partner had experienced extreme chest pains and we went to the hospital, he was told at A&E he should have gone to his local GP first. Talk about mixed messages.

The whole situation is baffling as it would appear the GP surgery expected me to predict and schedule the days that I was ill, I know this isn't the case but given the way I was told they were fully booked this is how it felt. I was also rudely told on the phone that to get a quicker appointment I would have to ring the next morning at 8am, which tells me and anyone else who has experienced this that the GP surgery did in fact have appointments, which they could hand out instead of making countless potential patients angrily tap away at their phones the next morning in an appointment bidding war.

I have actually done this before and it took around 68 engaged phone calls in four minutes before I actually got through to a person, at which point I couldn't get an appointment until 4pm.

Now many may blame this type of treatment on budget cuts or privatisation, but for as long as I can remember it has been like this. I can even remember my own mother enduring the telephone bidding war when I was younger to try and gain an appointment for the illness that she had so inconsiderately miss-scheduled.

It is a sad state of affairs that many people who are unwell and may in fact have a more serious underlying condition have to wait weeks on end to see their GP, by which time it could be too late. You could go to the hospital where like I previously mentioned you will be told you should have seen a GP first, be made to feel like you're wasting valuable hospital time and resources only to find out that there's nothing to worry about. You also get to find this out after an eight-hour wait, which is always a lovely experience.

Sadly there's nothing that can be done, and it looks like this is going to continue if the frightful news stories about the NHS and doctor's surgeries are to be believed. However I did file a complaint with the surgery on the day that I was denied an appointment as there was no room at the inn, but as you may have guessed I'm still waiting for a reply, which I won't hold my breath for as I may not be able to get an appointment for the lack of oxygen in body whilst doing so.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2667738 2013-02-12T05:57:54-05:00 2013-04-14T05:12:01-04:00

Lewis Shepherd http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-shepherd/
Now as we all know music and film piracy is wrong, I mean who can forget the adverts at the beginning of any number of DVDs, Blu-Rays and if you can remember them VHS tapes warning of the dangers. After all it is a crime and crime is wrong, but after a recent trip to the cinema I can almost see where some people are coming from.

A few weeks ago me, my partner and another couple decided to go see the revamped 3D release of the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which is just another way of milking money out of a film that has been rehashed and re-released several times since the 1970s. Before we began our trip we assumed that a taxi there, food and a ticket should cost around £25, which is still a rather large sum of money for two people. This however was only a fraction of what the actual price was, because upon our arrival we discovered that for four tickets the price almost totaled at £50, not including anything else. Surely that can't be right? It's no wonder the Internet is now filled with websites offering free film streaming and free downloads.

Now I'm not advocating illegal downloading in any way, shape or form, but given the current economic climate where most people can barely afford to buy the bare essentials such as food and drink, you can almost see where they are coming from.

Lets look at it this way, we are constantly told that these films cost millions and millions of dollars, pounds or what ever other currencies there are to make. We are then informed about the vast sums of money these films make at the box office along with the umpteen numbers of records they've broken. I mean you would have had to have been living under a rock for the majority of last year to not know that The Avengers grossed over a billion dollars at the box office, and it's no wonder when a ticket costs around £10 a pop.

It appears that the film companies, and the cinemas for that matter have no idea just how extortionate these prices are (or maybe they do.) It feels like they don't realise that most people can't afford the prices they are charging in order to go to the cinema, therefore more and more people are turning to a 'life of crime' in order to obtain films to get some release from the hardships of day to day life.

The whole situation is quite a sad state of affairs when you think about it. Due to the greed of these companies, the general public are getting criminal records and ripped apart in the press because of a simple want of escapism, which was once a very affordable thing to do, and in the current world situation is clearly something they need. In turn because of this greed, which is turning people to a life of piracy, the film and retail industry is also suffering. Maybe they only have themselves to blame?

I haven't hopped aboard the Internet's version of the Jolly Roger to begin a life of piracy, but have instead decided to wait for the DVD release of any film I want to see in the future, as it'll cost the same price (and in some cases less) and I can watch it over and over again at my hearts content.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2632377 2013-02-06T15:38:23-05:00 2013-04-08T05:12:01-04:00

Lewis Shepherd http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-shepherd/
Anyway after flicking through the questions there was the usual; do you smoke? Yes, do you drink? Yes, how much fruit and veg do you consume a week? As you can see it was a pretty standard set of questions. Now this is all well and good and maybe just maybe the survey will help with something, I don't know what it'll help with besides helping to waste some more precious NHS money. But as I got to the end of the survey there was the typical 'about you' section, gender, age, ethnicity you get the picture. I assume this is to help them narrow down which age groups, genders and social groups are suffering the most and which ones are experiencing a happier life, but the one question that was missing was that of sexuality.

Now before you start making assumptions that I'm someone who wants to shout from the rooftops that gay people are being ignored again, I'm not, but you can't help but wonder why this option isn't there. I mean study's have found that LGBT people are more likely to suffer from mental health issues or drink and drug abuse, and by asking this question on a more localised survey by the NHS they could find a way of tackling this, instead of leaving it to certain organisations such as Stonewall and the LGF.

Not every area in the country has somewhere that gay people can turn to for help, and some may send this survey back and be found to be severally depressed or unhappy with life who may be gay, yet this will go unnoticed. I filled out an online health and wellbeing survey a while ago specifically for LGBT people, which was put together by an LGBT organisation, just so I could help out with these statistics that so many organisations such as the NHS are missing.

However it isn't just this NHS wellbeing survey that fails to ask this question. When I was at University I applied for a job at a supermarket so I could make some extra money. Me and my friend (who happens to be a lesbian) went to get the application forms and both said there's no point applying, as we wouldn't get the job. However after noticing the equal opportunities section I made a quick joke that this was our way in, however there was once again no section asking about sexuality. I didn't get the job, because I had no experience working in a supermarket and neither would I want to be given a job simply because I am gay. But it makes me wonder how a company can call themselves an equal opportunities employer and only mention disability, race and ethnicity on an application form as if they're the only reasons why people would be discriminated against when applying for a job.

Now I may have digressed into something completely different there but the principal is still the same, does the NHS not care about the well being of LGBT people? Of course they care, but how will they know the full extent of the health and wellbeing of a social group that does suffer abuse in the areas in which they live (do you feel safe in your area was a question on the survey), and are known for having higher abuse rates if they fail to include a small section in a survey?

Maybe they just forgot, maybe they ran out of space on the paper or maybe because there are LGBT groups out there who've conducted these kinds of studies in the past they felt they didn't need to. The thing is we will never know why it wasn't on there, but the other fact is; if they continue to miss this off surveys in the future then the health and wellbeing of a vast amount of LGBT people will continue to go unknown, which could be a big problem for many.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2590150 2013-01-31T10:15:23-05:00 2013-04-02T05:12:01-04:00

Lewis Shepherd http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-shepherd/
Yes I am aware that it is dirty and disgusting but at the same time I am addicted, in the same way that alcoholics are addicted to drinking or crack addicts are addicted to crack, and in most cases in the same way I'm addicted to eating like the pasty scoffing moaners who look down on me as they hastily try to make their way to Greggs only to be blocked by me and my annoying craving.

However us smokers also have a number of hates when it comes to other smokers, yes we get annoyed by the fact that non-smokers continue to moan about the smell even though we are stood outside huddled amongst some questionable people trying to get some warmth whilst the British weather hammers us with rain, wind, snow or all three at any given time. But that aside the biggest hate I find that comes with being a smoker is the exasperating question that is regularly asked "can you lend me a cigarette?"

Well quite frankly the answer to that question is no. It seems that other smokers who may have left theirs at home, can't afford to buy any or just don't want to smoke their last one quite yet, feel that as a fellow smoker I have a moral obligation to give them a cigarette because I can feel their pain. Yes I can feel your pain and I myself have felt it, but I wouldn't approach someone who is minding their own business in the street and ask for one of their fags, and then hurl abuse at them when they say they can't give you one.

Firstly I would not be lending said cigarette as I will probably never see you again in my life, therefore you will not be giving me one back in the foreseeable future, so what you really want to know is can you have a cigarette. The answer by the way is still no. Also at about £7 a pop for 20 fags that works out as 35p for one, which at the moment is frankly too much money to waste on someone I do not know.

This apparent 'moral obligation' that should be shared amongst smokers where the giving of cigarettes to strangers should be done freely does not apply to anything else though. For example I am a human, which mean I need food and water to survive and on many occasions I have been starving whilst walking past people eating, yet if I was to approach someone and ask them for a chip, a bite of their sandwich or a sip of their drink I would probably be looked at in disgust and given abuse in the same way I'm given abuse when I refuse to give someone a fag, because this is deemed as socially unacceptable, unlike the handing out of cigarettes.

This then brings me to the biggest annoyance of a smoker, the social smoker. Yes we have all encountered them at some point during our smoking life, a non-smoker who has had too much to drink and thinks they will look 'cool' with a ciggie hanging out of their mouth. Now we all had to start smoking somewhere, which probably happened when a friend who smokes gave us a fag, but these people don't smoke, won't smoke and probably look down on smokers during the daytime when they are stone cold sober. They also haven't ran out of fags on their night out prompting them to ask to have one of yours because they never brought any with them. This everyone is the most annoying, either you smoke or you don't, you cannot just decided to smoke on a whim on a night out and take everyone else's.

So next time you get annoyed whilst looking at a smoker, just stop and think about how annoyed they are at other smokers, social smokers and those who look down on them, because they are probably more annoyed than you, which is most likely the reason why they need a fag in the first place.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2533187 2013-01-23T08:52:55-05:00 2013-03-25T05:12:01-04:00

Lewis Shepherd http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-shepherd/
Throughout the month of December during the build up to Christmas most people for some reason like the famous song says dream of a white Christmas only to be met with grave disappointment when once again all we get is heavy rain, wind and freezing cold temperatures. We then have to endure the disappointment that these people spread through social media about how gutted they are. Lets be honest we haven't actually had a white Christmas in quite some time as we all know here in the UK it won't actually come until January or February just like it has done in recent years, and given how bad it has been recently you wonder why people do get so excited.

Well as usual January has come along and the snow has come out in full force to put a stop to everything that we would usually do on a day to day basis, you have to wonder how people in countries such as Russia or Norway cope with the amount of snow they get throughout the year, I mean you never hear about those countries coming to a complete stand still do you?

Well I must say that I am probably one of the only people who dislikes snow and I've stuck to this for a long time, so much so that when it did fall last week I came close to avoiding my Facebook, Twitter and especially my Instagram account due to the number of tweets, status updates and pointless pictures of snow covered cars there were, as if people think I can't actually look out of my window and see it for myself.

So what does Britain do during this time, apart from updating their entire friend list about every snowy step they take? Well after the initial few hours of excitement as it falls where they throw face destroying lumps of ice at each other in the form of snowballs, build snowmen that never look like the ones in films as they have some type of road attached to them and enjoy the novelty that is snow, they soon turn from happy snow dancing hippies in a cynical moaning bipolar country that hates snow and never wants to see it again.

Yes we all know what happens, two days later when it begins to turn to suspiciously yellow and brown looking slush and ice the country panic buys every loaf of bread and pint of milk that's around because there's the possibility they may get snowed in. This for a start ruins everything for normal people as you can't have a cup of tea or a piece of toast as someone somewhere is sat with a panic room filled with bread and milk that will expire long before the snow has finally left our streets.

Now they're all sat there moaning that the snow won't leave, they can't get to work because it would probably be an 8 hour trek to get there, which in some cases means no pay and are anxiously praying to the Facebook and Twitter gods for it to go away. In other words they are finally realising why I hate snow in the first place and never wanted it to come.

It's not just snow that endures this but summer as well. You've probably seen some of these ex-snow lovers now praying for some warmth and sun, who are now saying they can't wait for summer. Well we all know what will happen in the summer, everyone will be excited about the sun but then moan about it two days later because it's too hot and the heat of their work office is getting too much for them. This is coming from a country where people will pay hundreds and hundreds of pounds to go to Spain for two weeks.

Lets just face it, no one in this country is ever happy, if we could save the economy from our ability to want something and then continue to moan about how much we hate it when we've got it we would never have entered a recession in the first place, in fact we'd probably be the most powerful country there is.

So for now we will just have to suck it up and deal with the snow and wait for it to go so we can be happy, that is until next year when everyone wets themselves with excitement at the first sight of a flake of snow. There's just no winning.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2494461 2013-01-17T07:58:37-05:00 2013-03-19T05:12:01-04:00

Lewis Shepherd http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-shepherd/
However given the recent news that two more big high street stores; HMV and Blockbuster have entered administration this week adding to a list that includes Jessops, Comet, Woolworths and many more, you only have to look at the Disney/Pixar hit Wall-E to see where we may be heading.

In the film the human race has been evacuated to a space ship where they fly around all day on floating chairs hooked up to what is quite obviously the internet, watching films, television and listening to music all day because the earth has been destroyed due to mass consumerism. Now this mass consumerism that has destroyed the planet in Wall-E could be seen as happening because of the very invention that keeps them so greatly entertained, the Internet.

Yes that's right, in statements this week from both HMV and Blockbuster they've mentioned that their custom has been greatly affected by the internet with many choosing to stay indoors and shop on Amazon for the latest DVD, game and music releases instead of heading somewhere such as HMV, or if they have chosen not to buy a film they've instead opted to stream it from LoveFilm or Netflix rather than renting from Blockbuster.

Yes that great invention has truly changed the way we live, we no longer have to leave the house to buy anything as we can get clothes, games, music and even our food delivered straight to our doors thanks to the option of buy online. We don't even have to go out to meet new friends thanks to social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter, and if we decide we want to meet a boyfriend or girlfriend there's no need to go out and awkwardly eye up the nearest available person as the internet is littered with dating websites filled with "hot singles" in your area that are just waiting to chat.

Yes it is quite a sad state of affairs when you see these great high street stores disappearing. I for one will be greatly saddened if HMV does in fact vanish from shopping centres and the high street alike, their website has already been disabled due to their current issues, and it all seems to have happened because the internet has given us the ability to be lazy and opt for convenience in every aspect of our daily lives.

For some people one of the main reasons they leave the house is to go to work, but with computers giving us access to work information and the ability to work from home, I wonder if going to the office will one day just mean sitting on the sofa with a cup of coffee in your pyjamas communicating work stuff via email and telephone?

It also brings up the issue of whether we will continue to go out for meet ups with friends and family, after all what's the point when Face Time or Skype could allow everyone to have a night out together from the comfort of their own living rooms? Provided that you have a good Internet connection and your supermarket of choice delivered your wine on time.

Yes the Internet is a brilliant creation and we wouldn't know what to do without it now as it has made everything so much easier. But what's happening is a very sad and unnerving state of affairs, and maybe we won't end up in a space ship hovering above the earth waiting for a plant to be sent up inside a robot in the way that Disney foretold. But sitting in isolation communicating and doing everything via an Internet connection, like the morbidly obese in the animated hit, could become a dreaded reality if we aren't careful.

After all we may only be a few shop closures away from the high streets of Great Britain resembling old western films with tumbleweeds taking the place of the almost extinct high street shopaholic.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2013:/theblog//3.2467185 2013-01-13T09:52:49-05:00 2013-03-15T05:12:01-04:00

Lewis Shepherd http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-shepherd/
Yes that's right the whole of the British public, who spend the whole year waiting for that month of December where eating and drinking as much as you like without being judged is finally gone. And even though we love it so much it's nice to finally get back to a sense of normality. I'm demonstrating this normality myself by finally getting round to writing a new article.

We've now begun slipping back into our old ways, which involve plodding through the week looking forward to the weekend, eating when we normally do instead of waiting for Christmas hams to be cooked and cheese boards to be presented to us, waking up when we feel like it on the weekend and waking up during the week feeling slightly sleepy but without the dreaded 10 day hangover than comes with Christmas, which makes some of us wonder how alcoholics do it.

Don't get me wrong Christmas is a great time of year where we get to see all our family at once and revel in each others company, but to be honest that usually goes awry. If you've been having the loving family Christmas over the couple of days before hand, where nothing goes wrong and everyone likes each other you can almost guarantee that at some point on Christmas day a full scale war is going to break out.

The Christmases of years gone, where a selection of family members enjoyed a few games and watched Christmas television are now things that some of us can vaguely remember. Now Christmas day has turned into a struggle to get toys out of the box for children and an even bigger nightmare when it comes to setting up the latest gadget, which usually turns into technology vs. technology half way through the day when brothers and sisters or husbands and wives look for the nearest gadget to attack the other with, which can become Wii control vs. iPad on the living room rug. Yes Christmas is a fun time of year isn't it?

But let's be honest, hasn't Christmas always been a little like this? Even when it was just board games and Christmas television someone would always start a row because one person wanted to watch Coronation Street and the other wanted to watch Eastenders, which would turn into a battle of wits as the one waited on baited breath for the other to leave the remote control unattended. Also you'd usually have the one member of the family who does all the cooking seething over a big pot of potatoes as everyone else enjoyed themselves drinking wine and pulling crackers.

To be honest Christmas has never really changed, it has always been a bit of a tedious struggle that we all look forward to but at the same time detest in the back of our minds, it's no wonder there's so much drinking involved, I mean how else could the British public cope with spending so much time in a confined space with the 'ones we love?'

So this begs the question, what will we do this Christmas? Will we stay at home and just leave all the hassle to everyone else or continue with the effort that is the season to be jolly?

The truth is, as much as we moan and groan come September, which seems to be the start of Christmas in the UK according to shops and advertisers, we will be making arrangements for whose house we are spending Christmas at, and who's going to be cooking and so on. I for one will be staying in my own home as travelling the length of the UK to visit everyone is quite frankly too expensive, what with trains, presents, drinks, food and nights out, however this will probably change come September,

So until then I'm going to haul myself up and stick to my routine, before all those people who I've been avoiding since last Christmas rudely interrupt it. Wizard was definitely wrong, I do not wish it could be Christmas everyday. In fact I thank god it only comes once a year.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2330419 2012-12-19T10:23:07-05:00 2013-02-18T05:12:01-05:00

Lewis Shepherd http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-shepherd/ X Factor ending last week after four months on air, which in all fairness felt more like 10 months, and with the final of Strictly Come Dancing heading our way this weekend it looks as though the reality TV season is finally over for 2012.

However we don't have to wait long for it to start up again as I'm a Celebrity and Dancing on Ice will be back on our screens in the new year, that's if we survive the end of the world, but to be fair if 21 December doesn't kill us the monotony of C list celebrities eating kangaroo testicles and falling over on ice probably will. If we do survive this then we also have Britain's Got Talent, The Voice and more X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing to look forward to as the never ending stream of reality TV sets out to take over our lives again.

As a nation we watch these programmes religiously, I am no exception, as we get involved with the characters and storylines that the press and the shows themselves create. But one thing that has been niggling in the back of my mind for sometime is; have these shows changed the way we now live our lives?

This may sound like a strange question, but if I narrow it down to dating specifically you can see they have.

It appears that the days of meeting and dating are gone and the generation of dating auditions has begun, well it probably begun quite some time ago to be fair. The internet does play a large part in this with the huge rise in internet dating websites that now means it's easier to find a date. So you can get as drunk as you like on Saturday night as you could meet Mr or Mrs right tomorrow whilst online. Smartphones have also contributed as we can now date on the go, Grindr anyone?

But as I was saying it seems as though the X Factor audition process has seeped into the dating world, especially with online dating. Now people can spend hours trolling through thousands of profiles where they can decide if someone doesn't have the right hair, body shape or cloths size to go on a date with them, or they may decide that this person isn't right for the part after reading their profile, where they may find out they're a Satanist or maybe a little too obsessed with cats, either way this lack of sellable personality wouldn't get you through to boot camp on the X Factor or dating boot camp.

However a lucky few may make it to the online conversation where you can discuss yourself with one another, lets be honest many of those who make it to the online chat of internet dating are usually only there for the reason Jedward and Rylan got into the X Factor final, which is usually comedy value or just generally being bored.

Then if this person is lucky enough to go on a date it's like being at judges houses, where you decide to continue dating them the same way Gary would decide whether to put you into his final three. Here you can see if their personality matches up to what was online, or if the smoke and mirrors of the Internet made them appear to be something they weren't.

Either way dating in the digital age has got a set of rules, which coincidently or not mirror that of the X Factor auditioning process. Maybe this is how people have always dated, or maybe it's something we picked up because the formula worked and could be applied to other situations. Either way no matter how you look at it, Simon Cowell and all the other TV executives have changed more than just our Saturday night viewing; they've also changed our love lives.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2301493 2012-12-14T11:57:13-05:00 2013-02-13T05:12:01-05:00

Lewis Shepherd http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-shepherd/
However the thing that many people fail to forget is that the cleaners aren't there to clean up after the workers, of course the job of the cleaner is to clean, but the job is to hoover the floor, change bin bags and ensure the place isn't dusty or unfit for human habitation, not pick up subway sandwich wrappers that have been strategically placed under chairs, in an attempt to hide them because the bin was a whole 10 foot across the room.

I myself have worked a number of cleaning jobs and on the most part they've been fine with the usual day-to-day mess that includes coffee stains on desks and floors, the odd smudge on a window and an overflowing bin that needs changing. On the other hand I've also encountered desks filled with dirty plates, with the occasional one gathering mould or even the odd half filled coffee up with mould growing on top of it. I once found a banana just left in the middle of the room as if it had tried to escape the kitchen that had been left looking like a small explosion had occurred in it, sadly the banana had just been dropped and not picked back up.

The worst part of this is that the majority of these issues were found in offices and kitchens in NHS offices. It's nice to see that a place that should be cleaner than all others like doctors surgeries are occupied by some people who don't know the practical function of a bin.

The funniest part about this is I recall a time when I was at sixth form and the common room had been left in a bit of a mess, by mess I mean a few empty crisp packets and foil wrappers left lying around the room. Because of this the cleaners made a complaint to the head of year, who promptly informed us that the cleaners job wasn't to pick up after us and if it happened again the room would be locked. A week later the room was locked.

Now is it just me or does anyone else see anything odd about this? Because a group of teenagers made a mess they were locked out of the common room and refused entry until they learnt how to keep the facilities they were using clean. However in the now adult world it appears that it is perfectly acceptable to leave a huge mess for the cleaners to deal with, without the worry of being locked out of the kitchen, sinks filled with dishes is a particular favourite in the workplace.

I also remember the question we would get asked regarding the mess in the common room, which went a little like this; "would you leave your own home like this?" to which the answer was no. So does the same question apply to adults who make mess? Or do they feel it is their right to leave copious amounts of rubbish lying around as they spend enough time cleaning in their personal lives? Which cleaners obviously don't do.

These are all questions I can only speculate on, so for the time being it looks like I may just have to suck it up and accept the fact that most work places, including those in the NHS, will be left in an almost apocalyptic looking state until the cleaner makes it fit for habitation, that is until the next work day starts of course.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2250910 2012-12-06T12:06:46-05:00 2013-02-05T05:12:01-05:00

Lewis Shepherd http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-shepherd/
However many of these interns have spoken out about how they were treated badly and made to work nearly every hour that was available, and all this for no pay. Many have spoken out about how this is wrong, but it isn't just the fashion industry that's doing it, many others are too.

For those who want to work in television, radio, PR or as journalists, they all have to undergo the same routine. For many recent graduates out there wanting to forge a career in their chosen industry doing this type of unpaid work, in some cases for up to 12 months, just isn't practical as it's just not financially viable.

To start most of the jobs in the creative industries are located in London, and as we all know the cost of living in London is pretty much unaffordable to most. Many taking part in these internship are also working part time jobs in call centres, restaurants and bars just to get a bit of money behind them, but this type of part time work isn't enough to allow you to live in the capital.

Therefore many young people who are fully qualified to do these types of roles just aren't getting their foot in the door as they either don't live in a commutable area to get to London, or their parents can't afford to foot the bill for them to work unpaid for 12 months. This is therefore preventing many people from entering work that they are qualified for, resulting in them having to take menial jobs. That's if they can get those jobs as many employers are worried that they'll leave as soon as something better comes along, which I wrote about in a previous article.

It's not just the fact that most of these jobs are unpaid, there are even websites offering freelance work that is unpaid with the hope of giving someone experience. But when you apply for any of these types of freelance work or internships the process you have to go through is very long and gruelling, and for the most part you end up with a rejection at the end.

Take freelance writing, many times I have had to undergo the sending of the application form, CV and cover letter, followed by sending some work, which then leads to an interview and a test article and in some cases even a second article, only to be told you didn't get the job as you didn't have enough experience, even though it was an unpaid entry level job. Many people endure this on a daily basis.

I've seen many job adverts from companies that say they cannot yet afford to pay people and this is why there is the offer of unpaid work. Although this looks like a way of hiring a number of people to do all the hard work in order to avoid paying someone by saying it's an internship. Now not all places are like this but you'd be surprised how many job adverts actually say this.

It only seems to be the creative industries that are getting away with this too, because lets face it, someone who has just qualified as a nurse wouldn't be asked to rush around a hospital and help save lives for no pay for 12 months, all in the name of experience. I know that student nurses train throughout the three years they are at University, but so do those who aspire to work in the creative industries, otherwise what is the point of spending the best part of £20,000 to earn a degree for that specific job?

As this issue is rife within the creative industries, and many people have already weighed in on the issue surrounding the fashion world it looks as though it's about time the remainder of the creative industries were looked at; before a generation of graduates fall to the sides as they just didn't live close enough, or have parents able to pay for them to get their foot in the door.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2210876 2012-11-29T08:56:50-05:00 2013-01-29T05:12:02-05:00

Lewis Shepherd http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lewis-shepherd/
There are many people that will say it is a good idea and some research carried out by Sheffield University shows that a minimum price would reduce alcohol consumption by 4.3%, which in turn could lead to 2,000 fewer deaths and 66,000 fewer hospital admissions within 10 years of implementing the scheme.

However you only have to look at the smoking ban and the increase in the price of cigarettes in recent years to see how this could work. Yes there will be many who have quit smoking because of the price rise and I'm sure there are those who rejoice in the fact that they no longer smell like an ashtray after a night out, but the fact of the matter is people still smoke and young people are still beginning to smoke at a young age.

Those who enjoy smoking or are addicted to it will go out of their way to find a cigarette often turning to a cheaper cigarettes or a roll ups, or in some cases buying cigarettes instead of items they need such as food. So it makes you wonder, will the same thing happen with alcohol? Will people just go to a cheaper alternative such as booze cruises in the same way that people stock up on as many duty free cigarettes as they can on their return home from a holiday, to either smoke them or sell them.

On the issue of cheaper alternatives there are also those that are much more dangerous than the odd booze cruise or suitcase filled with duty free. Ten years ago who would have imagined that we would be reading stories about people using bath salts as a drug in order to get high? Will an increase in alcohol turn people to these alternatives? Probably not but it is obviously going to be a risk that is always present and maybe a little more so if alcohol becomes unaffordable to many.

On a more positive note the increase isn't expected to affect drinks in many pubs, which could be a good thing due the decrease in people visiting their local pub since the smoking ban was introduced with people opting to stay in with a cheaper alternative. However where as pubs may get a little more custom, remember people don't really have the money to go crazy down the pub all the time at the moment. Also many shops may get less and less custom as they rely on drinks offers to secure customers, which could have a negative effect on employment if these shops where to subsequently go out of business.

But lets not forget one of the key points; this raising of the alcohol price will hurt responsible drinkers the most. Whereas a significant amount, nearly 25% of the population are drinking excessively, there is still that other 75% who aren't drinking irresponsibly and are subsequently being punished for the behaviour of others.

A minimum pricing on alcohol doesn't look as though it will have as big an effect as the government are hoping for, because as it has been proved in the past if an individual wants something then they will find a way of getting hold of it, even if it means going hungry for a little while. Yes they do have a tricky situation on their hands and some will no doubt accuse them of trying to implement a nanny state. But this is a time when most people can't afford many luxuries due to unemployment or being part of the working poor. For many the odd trip to the pub has now become a rare treat, so they've had to opt for a few drinks at home, which now looks like it may become a very rare treat for many and another of life's few luxuries they can't afford.]]>