News Article 34

Budget 2016: Low-paid workers to receive savings bonus

Millions of low-paid workers who put aside savings could receive a top-up of up to £1,200 over four years, the government has announced. Employees on in-work benefits, such as tax credits, who put aside £50 a month would receive a bonus of 50% after two years - worth up to £600. That could then be continued for another two years with account holders receiving another £600.

Meanwhile, the national minimum wage is also set to increase from October 2016. The measures will be detailed in this week's Budget, in which Chancellor George Osborne has already warned of spending cuts.

He said that the UK had to "act now rather than pay later" and that the UK would see cuts "equivalent to 50p in every £100" of public spending by 2020, which was "not a huge amount in the scheme of things".

Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell called for more long-term investment, specifically in skills, infrastructure and new technology, to enable the UK economy to "withstand the global headwinds". The government said that research showed almost half of UK adults had less than £500 set aside for emergencies.

It said the savings scheme, known as "Help to Save", would be open to around 3.5 million adults who received universal credit or tax credit. They would be able to withdraw the money if necessary and there would be no restrictions to how it could be used.

If the maximum amount was paid in to the scheme over four years, it would mean savings of £3,600, with £1,200 coming from the government.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: "I've made it the mission of this government to transform life chances across the country... That means giving hard-working people the extra support they need to fulfil their potential."

The "Help to Save" accounts will come into effect by April 2018 , with consultations on how exactly it will be implemented to begin shortly after the Budget.

News Article 33

Bailey Gwynne case: Trial told victim had 'No Chance'

A teenager who died after being stabbed in an Aberdeen school had "no chance", a murder trial has been told.

Bailey Gwynne, 16, died after being stabbed in the heart at Cults Academy last October. The accused, who is 16 and cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murder.

Advocate depute Alex Prentice QC, prosecuting, told the jury during his closing speech at the High Court in Aberdeen: "Bailey Gwynne had no chance."

He said: "This was a lethal wound inflicted by a lethal weapon." 

He said it was a "silly trivial fight between two schoolboys".

Mr Prentice started by asking the jury: "Why do you think a young man would carry a knife and a knuckleduster?"

He added: "You would have to have hearts of stone not to be moved by the emotion of this trial, but you must put emotion aside." Mr Prentice asked the jury to convict the accused of murder, but added they could convict of the lesser charge of culpable homicide. He also asked for guilty verdicts on the two charges of having knives and knuckledusters in school.

Mr Prentice said: "There was a stab wound to the heart inflicted by a lethal weapon that was routinely carried. "It may be everyone in this room wishes they had the power to turn back time.

"If we could do that, what would we do? We would say 'get rid of the knife, school is no place for a knife'.

"This case demonstrates the dangers of carrying a knife. If you have a knife you have the ability to use it."

Defence counsel Ian Duguid QC said the jury was dealing with a "spontaneous event" which lasted about 30 seconds. Mr Duguid said the accused had shown "extraordinary stupidity" but suggested Bailey Gwynne had shown "recklessness" in assaulting a fellow pupil.

Mr Duguid said a "trivial" matter started the fight, but said the accused was not a "fighting boy". He said: "Of course if he did not have a knife that day there would be a burst nose and a fat lip but for who? Bailey Gwynne? I don't think so."

Amy: The Girl Behind The Name

Amy directed by Asif Kapadia is a 2015 British documentary film that follows the life and death of British singer Amy Winehouse. It shows who Amy truly was as a person vs how the media portrayed her. She was presented through home videos with a voice over of different people who knew and spent time with her. They described her as a person and also in some parts how others treated her.

This film could be used as a case study because it covers a variety of different representations. It incorporates the representations of gender, issues and age. Gender is a strong representation in the film with a strong theme of dependency arising. Amy depends on men in her life mainly because of her lack of a relationship with her father, this has caused her to become needy towards other males. She further becomes heartbroken when going through a break up which destroys her further. 

The music industry was took a huge impact on both her rise and fall in the industry. Without the music producers in the industry Amy wouldn't have made it in the industry but that is so for all music artists who all need someone already in the industry to help them join. But the industry was also one of the biggest reasons for her fall and destruction because of how much they were asking from her. They tried to change Amy into something she wasn't, she only wanted to be herself something which the industry wouldn't allow her to do. They would also try to rush her into creating albums etc. something she planned to take her time with.

I think the audience responded to Amy well because she was so natural, and was easy to relate to as she was like any other girl expect she had a strong talent in singing. Also because she didn't try to make herself out to be someone she wasn't she appealed to the audience further because she was down to earth. She was quite like Adele who doesn't change her self because of what people want to see. 

Technology took a huge impact on Amy allowing her to get further recognition within the media. The use of TV interviews showed the audience the real Amy. But with things such as radio her songs were played allowing her popularity to rise. However the heighten of technology in this century has enabled more listeners to her music with social media and music streaming such as Spotify. But this was unavailable when she was alive so she was unfortunately unable to use these services. 

Overall I enjoyed the film and thought the way it was put together was very creative and different to the majority of documentaries. The use of home videos allows the audience to see Amy behind the camera rather than who they tried to make her.