Southern Rail Strike: Commuters face chaos in 48-hour walkout

I found this story on the main page of the BBC News. It was published on 13th December 2016 on the financial tab of the news.

It has been written regarding the Southern Rail Strike and the effects it's been having on the commuters, in particular the fact that rail passengers are facing travel chaos as striking train drivers bring the Southern network to a halt.

Members of the Aslef union walked out for 48 hours at midnight. A further 24-hour strike is set for Friday.
About 300,000 passengers usually travel on 2,242 Southern services every weekday. There will be no trains on any route and people are being warned not to travel.
The government said it may consider banning strikes on the railways.
Transport secretary Chris Grayling dubbed the action as a "deliberate act of militancy" and said he would examine possible changes in legislation "very carefully."
Aslef and the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said ministers had prevented Southern from negotiating properly.

Analysis by Chris Mason, BBC Political Correspondent
Ministers say they have no legal power to halt this dispute but are pointedly publicly entertaining the idea of changing the law, albeit without offering any detail about how they might do this.
Chris Grayling told the BBC he would look at all the options when this strike was over, and while he wasn't "ruling anything in" he wasn't "ruling anything out" either.
The general secretary of the Aslef trade union, Mick Whelan, said the strike wasn't politically motivated - but a response to what he called "ill conceived" changes "fraught with danger".
Passengers have suffered months of disruption in the dispute, which is about whose job it should be to open and close the train doors, but this is the first strike by Aslef drivers.
It has closed most Southern routes although there is a limited Gatwick Express service to and from London Victoria.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said Southern rail passengers had been "abandoned by the government".
He tweeted: "You deserve a better service".
Simon Wells, Aslef's assistant general secretary, said: "This isn't just about safety, it's about having a decent service.

"What they are looking to do is replace the existing guards in the future with zero-hour contracts and agency staff. There is no guarantee there will be a second person on the train."

"We want to see driver-only operation ended across the whole country."

On Monday, the Court of Appeal rejected an attempt by Southern's parent company Govia Thameslink Rail (GTR) to halt the action.
Passenger services manager, Angie Doll, said: "The strike today is totally unjustified and totally unnecessary considering the small changes we want to make.
"We need the unions to work with us to modernise the railways. "

Brexit: EU's negotiator says deal needed by October 2018

I found this news article on the main page of the BBC News. It was the main story and was written regarding the idea that the UK will have to reach a Brexit deal with the European Union by October 2018, according to the EU's chief negotiator for Brexit.

Michel Barnier told a press conference on Tuesday that negotiations "would be shorter" than two years, because the proposed deal needed to be ratified.

He said a taskforce of 30 people had been set up to make sure the EU would "be ready" when Article 50 was called.

He warned against "cherry picking" on issues such as the single market.

Speaking at the press conference in Brussels, Mr Barnier said: "Time will be short. It is clear the period for actual negotiations will be shorter than two years.

"At the beginning, the two years included the time for the council to set guidelines and to authorise negotiations. At the end, the agreement must of course be approved by the Council and European Parliament. Finally the UK will have to approve the agreement - all within the two year period.

"All in all there will be less than 18 months to negotiate. That is short. Should the UK notify by the end of March as Prime Minister Theresa May said she would, it is safe to say negotiations could start a few weeks later and an article 50 reached by Oct 2018."

The chief negotiator said he had spent time speaking with members from all European states and the Brexit negotiations had been informed by four main principles.

These included the "determination for unity" and a pledge to not start negotiations before being notified of Article 50.

But he added: "Being a member of EU comes with rights and benefits. Third countries (non members as the UK will be after Brexit) can never have the same rights and benefits since they are not subject to the same obligations.

"The single market and its four freedoms (which includes freedom of movement) are indivisible. Cherry picking is not an option."

A former EU commissioner, Mr Barnier led the EU's banking reforms and was dubbed "the most dangerous man in Europe" by some in the financial services industry.

But after he championed capping bankers bonuses, he won respect as a tough but even-handed negotiator.

Mr Barnier has refused to take part in any pre-negotiations before Article 50 is triggered, but he did meet Brexit Secretary David Davis for coffee last month.

Speaking in November in Brussels, he said: "Don't ask me to tell you what will be at the end of the road, we haven't begun to walk yet."

\i decided on housing this story for my weekly news. because it is one that is now concerning not only the whole country, but also all the other countries which are part of the EU. The topic of the news article is one which I am interested in and can relate to as Britain leaving the EU can have an impact on me due to the idea that I am not British and the decisions of the government can have an impact on the decisions me and my family will have to make in the future. In addition, it relates to the representation of Britain.

Documentary - Amy

During our A2 Media studies, we have been concentrating on British music, and in particular the case stusy of Amy Winehouse. Therefore, in order to get a better insight and understanding about the singer, we watched the documentary Amy. This being a 2015 British documentary film about the life and death of the British singer-songwriter. It was directed by Asif Kapadia and produced by James Gay-Rees, George Pank, and Paul Bell and co-produced by Krishwerkz Entertainment, On The Corner Films, Playmaker Films, and Universal Music in association with Film 4. 

The film covers Winehouse's life and her struggle with substance abuse, both before and after her career blossomed, and which eventually caused her death. The movie presents us with the reality behind all the flashing lights and "amazing rich" being, that the celebrities have to live out every single day. Amy's daily struggles were dismissed even by the people who were the closest to her, especially when her father decided that she does not need to go to Rehab (inspired her to write the song"Rehab") even though doing so might have helped to stop the further development of her addiction and so preventing further break down and maybe even death. Later on in the movie, we are also presented with her father in the dark light once more, when he visited his daughter on vacation with a camera crew so that he would be able to record his own show, not taking it into account that Amy was struggling and only wanted her family close to her. The pain she felt through this as well as the drive for money within her father was even more highlighted when Amy said that if he wants the money she can just give it to him.

Furthermore, the way Amy is treated by her manager and even family, when her career develops higly, implies to us how selfish the industry really is. The artists have no say in what they really want and even if they do, none of if is taken into account, an example being shows when Amy was "forced" to go to Serbia for a show by being carried on to a plane while being asleep drunk. She hiwever, was able to stand up to the situation and decided to not perform while walking around the stage. This clearly angered the management as straight away the rest of her tour was cancelled. In addition, this scene in the movie also shows that the audience are not consideret of the artists and their well-being as it was known publicly that Amy was struggling yet the audience can be heard to shout remarks such as "you either sing or give me my money back." 

Overall, I think that the movie is a great and very deep documentary and should be watched by everyone, not only fans of Amy Winehouse. This is because it shows us how difficult being a celebrity really is and how far reality is from what we are shown in the media.