You've Read this Post Before You've Read it: My Valentine's Day and Why I Should Read More

You thought I was gone again, didn't you? You thought 'Martin has said he's going to start blogging again but he won't follow through on it', didn't you? Sorry, I hate people telling me what I'm thinking as well. Nevertheless I'm almost convinced that those thoughts crossed your mind when you read my post a couple of weeks ago - and rightly so.

Anyway I'm here again, even if just to prove a point. There is tonnes to be written about, but I'll limit myself to just a couple of musings tonight. Together those musings should form a ramble, and at my hand that ramble should constitute the ramblings of a twenty-something. If that doesn't fit the brief then I don't know what will.

Lads' Mags are mere Pornography? Give me a Break

One of the more enjoyable sides of studying for law exams is the heightened urge to argue about anything and everything. In the last three weeks in particular I've found myself climbing the steep ladder to my high horse over lots of stuff - and some stuff that I don't even care that much about. Thankfully this didn't suddenly stop after my last exam and this morning, as I tucked into an eclectic mix of Bran Flakes and Cheerios, something on Breakfast (no Susanna this morning sadly) really got me going. It appears that a legal challenge is in the offing regarding the display of so called 'lads' mags' in newsagents and supermarkets. According to the Lose the Lads' Mags campaign, the front covers of these magazines cause offense to shoppers, children and employees alike. What a load of rubbish.

The John Terry Saga

John Terry: Captain Fantastic

As a law student (albeit a Scots law student) and an ardent Chelsea fan, you might have thought that I would have had a conflict of interests as John Terry's trial at Westminster Mags unfolded last week. I saw the Youtube video (as apparently did everyone in the world) and saw the same words being uttered as everyone else. As it happens, my situation (the potential conflict of interests) meant that I've spent the last few months defending John Terry from both points of view. Firstly my law student mind saw me defend him from the point of view of the 'innocent until proven guilty' stance. People don't like to hear that argument but it's one that I will stick to because it's the right argument in a society such as ours. My Chelsea supporter's mind was telling me that I had to defend him because I like him as a player and as a captain of the team that I'm a fan of. The latter, as you can well imagine, was not as strong a standpoint.

A Look Back on the Jubilee

I risk becoming something of a social commentator if I keep on going like this. Not that this would such a bad thing because, after all, it might be that I better myself in such a role. My posts over the last 6 months have wavered between inane teenage angst and stiff social/political comment - I feel like the latter might be of more interest to the masses. Anyway, and speaking of masses, today saw the end of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations and left me with a lot of think and write about. This might just be the start of something new for me as I look to find a quasi-genre for a blog that is otherwise lacking in such. This evening I feel more like a Brit than I have done in my 10 or so years of social consciousness and it feels nice. At the start of the weekend the sight of the Union Jack would make me slightly queasy but now it invokes in me a feeling of, dare I say, pride.

Diamond Jubilee in the Rough - A Look at the Monarchy

It takes a long time in a short life for you to be able to make your mind up about big things. Take politics for example. You spend your adolescent years either not watching the news or at least not watching until the sports section comes on - that might just be me though - not really paying attention to anything that happens in the world around you. Why do you need to at that age? Let the grown-ups deal with that whilst you find new things to make out of old bits of cardboard or undertake the more important task of training up your Pokemon. It's not until young people hit their teens that they start to notice 'important things'. It's fascinating to look back at the period of your lifetime and the things that were happening in the world that you were blissfully unaware of. Politics might not be a great example because we all take to that in different ways (and at different times) but this weekend brings fresh opportunity to explore the nation's relationship with the Monarchy. As the Queen gets set to strap herself into a golden life-jacket this afternoon I ask you this: what does the Monarchy mean to you?

Tragedies and Their Futures

A week not of tragedy itself but of the memories of tragedy. In the last week we've seen the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and in the week ahead we'll see Anders Behring Breivik go on trial for the atrocity that he conducted last summer. Two events that seem are so far removed from each other but which share such a bitter common factor: the loss of lives of many innocent people. In the Titanic's case 100 years is a poignant anniversary but people seem to have missed the point. The commercialisation of the anniversary (talked about below) can only but make you cringe - not the desired response to the memories of over 1500 people. In the case of Breivik, a madman will be dumped onto the conveyor belt of justice this week and rightly so. Why, though, do I pick up on these two things in the same post? Well read on and let me explain.