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. 

News Article 32

Oscars 2016: Leonardo DiCaprio finally wins an Oscar

Leonardo DiCaprio has finally won his first Oscar for survival epic The Revenant, after six nominations.

He was named best actor at the 88th Academy Awards, with Brie Larson named best actress for Room.

Spotlight took home the best picture Oscar with Mad Max: Fury Road picking up the most awards of the night, with six accolades.

Mark Rylance won the best supporting actor Oscar, with fellow Briton Sam Smith winning best original song.

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'Is Hollywood racist?'

The ceremony had been boycotted by some Hollywood figures protesting about the lack of ethnic diversity among this year's nominees, as all 20 nominees in the best acting or supporting acting categories are white.

Host Chris Rock addressed the controversy head on as he launched the ceremony, and it was a theme that was returned to several times during the night.

Rock commented he had "counted at least 15 black people" in the montage that opened the ceremony, before welcoming people to the "white People's Choice awards".

"You realise if they nominated hosts, I wouldn't even get this job," he quipped. "Y'all would be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now."

Rock added: "Everyone wants to know is Hollywood racist? You have to go at it the right way. Is it burning-cross racist? Fetch-me-some-lemonade racist? No.

"It's a different kind of racist. Is Hollywood racist? You're damn right it's racist but it's sorority racist. It's like: We like you Rhonda, but you're not a Kappa.''

Among the winners for Mad Max: Fury Road - nominated for 10 Oscars including best director for George Miller - was British designer Jenny Beavan, for best costume design.

The Revenant won three of the 12 awards for which it was nominated. Alejandro Inarritu also won best director and Emmanuel Lubezki won his third Oscar for cinematography in a row, having won in 2015 for Birdman and 2014 for Gravity.

News Article 31

Kesha denied legal request to escape contract with man she alleges raped her

Singer cried as judge ruled contract with Dr Luke’s record label will remain intact despite Kesha’s allegations that he physically and sexually assaulted her.

Kesha filed a lawsuit against Luke, whose real name is Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald, in 2014, claiming that the physical and sexual abuse began soon after she signed with him in 2005, when she was 18.

In the lawsuit, Kesha alleged that Luke plied the singer with drugs and alcohol before making sexual advances toward her. Kesha claimed that on one occasion, Gottwald gave her “sober pills” during a drinking session, and that she later woke up naked in his bed, unable to recall how she got there.

Gottwald quickly countersued, claiming Kesha’s allegations were part of a “campaign of publishing outrageous and untrue statements”. Judge Shirley Kornreich denied Kesha’s motion for preliminary injunction, claiming that “there has been no showing of irreparable harm”, BuzzFeed reported.

Kesha reportedly sobbed as the verdict was announced, and was comforted by her mother who accompanied her to the trial. Dozens of Kesha fans gathered outside the New York City courthouse in support of the #FreeKesha movement and outrage spread over social media.

Attorneys for Gottwald argued that the producer had invested $60m in Kesha’s career and had agreed to allow her to record without his involvement. Kornreich said her instinct was the “do the commercially reasonable thing” and noted that Sony had agreed to let Kesha record without Gottwald’s participation – an agreement Kesha’s lawyers said would set up the singer for failure since Sony’s interests lie in promoting Gottwald.

I think it's terrible Kesha is trapped in a record deal with a man who abused her. I believe he did as kesha does not achieve anything from lying. She should be released from the contract as she has not even released any more music as she can't bear to make money for this man any more. #FreeKesha

The Music Industry - Adele and Jessie J

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (born 5 May 1988) is an English singer and songwriter. She graduated from the BRIT School for performing arts and technology in 2006. Adele received a recording contract from XL recordings in the same year. She received commercial and critical success for her debut album 19 (2008), 21 (2011) and 25 (2015). Her net worth is said to currently be about £53 million.

Adele has won over 90 awards from a range of different music awards. Adele’s 25 album sold 3.38 million copies in its first week in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music. That’s the largest single sales week for an album since Nielsen began tracking point-of-sale music purchases in 1991. 25 is the first album to sell more than 3 million copies in a week in Nielsen history, and only the second to surpass 2 million sold in a single frame. 

Adele also made a huge impact in both the music and film industry with her song Skyfall which featured in the 23rd instalment of James Bond.

Adele was accused of plagiarism in 2015 over her song one million years ago after it was pointed out that it sounds very similar to Ahmet Kaya’s song Acilara Tutunmak which was released 30 year ago. Fans of the Kurdish artist were quick to point out similarities between the album track and Kaya's song, which was released in 1985.

Taking to social media one questioned: "Million Years Ago has too much similarity with Ahmet Kaya's Acilara Tutunmak to be just a coincidence @Adele"

Adele was also accused of stealing lyrics from Lionel Richie’s song Hello with her own song Hello. "I was so amazed. However, Lionel Ritchie said Everyone said, 'Lionel, Adele is doing your song Hello,' and I said, 'No she's not,' and all of a sudden I heard Hello. But it's Adele. Even though she didn't cover the song, [just] the word Hello, automatically everyone called me on the phone and said 'she used Hello,' and I said, 'Well, I kind of own Hello.'2 But not to the point where it's any kind of problem. I'll loan Hello to Adele."

Jessica Ellen Cornish (born 27 March 1988), better known by her stage name Jessie J, is an English singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, she began her career on stage, aged 11, with a role in the West End Musical Whistle Down the Wind. She studied at the BRIT School where she graduated in the class of 2006 along with singers Adele and Leona Lewis before signing with Gut Records and striking a songwriting deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing where she wrote for artists including Chris Brown and Miley Cyrus.

Jessie J was signed to Gut Records, recording an album for the label, but the company went bankrupt before any material was released. Since then Jessie j has won over 40 music awards. As of January 2015, Jessie J had sold over 20 million singles and 3 million albums worldwide with her net worth being around £5.6 million. Alike to Adele Jessie J featured her song Flashlight in the film industry in the film Pitch Perfect 2.

Jessie J has also been called out over plagiarism back in 2012 with her song Domino by TMZ Will Loomis from the band The Loomis & Lust over his song Bright Red Chords. She was also accused of fixing the votes on the singing show The Voice which she featured as a judge.

News Article 30

Black Workers earning less than White colleagues 

Black workers earn much less than similarly qualified white workers, at all levels of education, research suggests.

Analysis of pay data by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) suggests that the difference in average pay rates amounts to a gap of 23%.

Black graduates earn on average £14.33 an hour, compared with £18.63 earned by white graduates, the TUC says.

The average pay gap between black and white workers with A-levels is 14%.

And at GCSE level the gap is 11%, the TUC says.

The TUC's general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "Race still plays a huge role in determining pay.

"The harsh reality is that at any level of education, black and Asian workers are getting paid less than their white counterparts.

"The government cannot afford to ignore these figures and must now take genuine action to tackle pay discrimination."

The Runnymede Trust, a leading race equality think tank, has previously found that pay gaps are not due to the type of university attended, as they even extend to black workers with degrees from the most selective Russell Group of universities.

In fact the TUC's analysis, based on the Labour Force Survey figures from 2014 and 2015, shows the pay gaps are widest for those with higher qualifications.

"This suggests that education alone will do little to address racial inequalities, and the need for interventions that directly challenge racial inequalities in the workplace," the TUC said.

The trade union umbrella body is calling on the government to recognise the scale of the problem and to urgently develop a race equality strategy.

As part of an anti-discrimination drive announced on Sunday, David Cameron said universities in England would be forced to disclose the proportion of ethnic minority applicants who get places.

The prime minister said transparency would force top universities like Oxford to work harder to broaden their intake.

I think the fact racial discrimination is taking part in the amount of pay someone receives is terrible. Just because someone is white doesn't mean they'll work harder than any one else. But this is obviously down to the dominant ideology and who they think will do the best job. This topic this article surrounds is useful when talking about the representation of race.