Plumbing fun

We are having a few plumbing problems, which have been going on for a while. Hopefully our landlord will come round and sort them out. When I have a shower, there is gurgling in the toilet – it sounds like singing – and the shower takes about 10 minutes to clear of water. The sink takes quite a while to empty too and there’s a similar gurgling. When I flush the toilet it fills with water and takes a while to empty (so tends not to actually flush everything away. Mmm, nice). Then there’s a bit of a bad small and a spout of water comes up out of the plughole in the shower, which gives a bit of a shock the first time it happens. Oh, and there’s a permanent puddle on the bathroom floor which we think is leaking from the bottom of the sink.

It’s sad when it’s a bit of a relief to go to the toilet at work because I know it will flush with no problem.

Politicising a generation?

I've been quite sceptical about Live8. It seemed to distract attention from the campaigning going on at Edinburgh. And it was made out that the numbers attending and all the excitement somehow showed how many people cared about world poverty and justice and all that. But not really - it just showed that people wanted to go to a free concert with huge-name-stars and be Part Of Something. People 'wanted to show they cared'. But how much did it really do to educate people? How much of a lasting impression will it make? How much will it actually change?

I thought all this until today, when I may have changed my mind a little. I saw a big advert for the DVD of the Live Aid concert. One of my earliest memories is buying the Live Aid single, aged probably 5. My mum explained what it was about and I asked whether I could send a bottle of milk and a chocolate cake to the people in Ethiopia and she explained that they needed special food beacuse they were so hungry they couldn't eat normal food.

For me, that is a significant memory. And now, aged 26, I'm starting an MA in International Political Economy because I want to find a way to make the world fairer. I campaign for global justice and I'm interested in these issues. I'm not putting it all down to one single, but in 2025, will there be a whole load of today's 5-year-olds who were influenced by Live8? I'm not saying there will, I'm just saying that it made me think a little.