Dubai and other revelations

Some of you may remember, or know (as I keep going on about it) that I went to Dubai last year. I meant to write about it at the time, and then I felt a bit sheepish about it; I worried what people would think of me – for I knew that my overall impression was positive, and that largely, people don’t really like the idea of it being remotely positive. People actively wanted me to have a bad time there. Even if they hadn’t been there themselves. This is due in part to bad press, but also actually due to a very generic, all-encompassing western view that everything we know and grew up with is – well – ‘All There Is’. The One Way to do things. Anything that might not fit into that view is terrifying and Very Bad Indeed.

So, Dubai. I’ll be brief: I loved it. I met loads of people – people who have travelled or come from all kinds of places, who were doing different things. (Talking to them made me realise I have not done enough with my life.) I felt very safe most of the time I was there. I liked the sun shining (mostly). I liked the amazing, incredible architecture which is literally everywhere. Nearly every building is remarkable in its own way. It’s very American. It feels American on the surface. But its roots are Arabian, and I like that. I love eating out and going to bars, and Dubai is not short of restaurants or drinking establishments – I think only once I was a bit disappointed with food. The rest was gorgeous. There are some world-class views to be had there. Some amazing experiences, sights, and idiosyncratic/surreal things – like going skiing in a shopping mall in the middle of the desert. Or seeing a tiger hanging out of a car window. It mainly lacks culture in appearance, but it is there, bubbling just underneath the surface if you dare to scratch it. Then there’s the record-breaking Dubai Fountain, the immensity of which took my breath away… In short, it is not like any other city I have ever visited, and I don’t think it is like any other place on earth. Really.

Of course, there are negative aspects too, but I’m not going to dwell on that here. Google it or something.

Four months down the line, I’ve realised that it was a big learning experience for me. I’ve always been of the impression that – sorry, gap year haters! – going abroad really widens your horizons, and every new experience helps to shape you as a person. I could easily list a few off the top of my head:

1) Romania, 2 days after my 17th birthday, taught me that I could dive into the dark on my own, and still survive.
2) My first university taught me that sometimes, things don’t work out, and that it’s okay to fail sometimes.
3) My first job made me realise that I genuinely love working. Far, far more than studying.
4) Australia in 2010 taught me that I can be happy, that I can be fulfilled, and that I can be the life of the party if I truly want to.
5) Dubai taught me that I need to look at the bigger picture, that open-mindedness works both ways, and that it’s not possible to see things as they are until you, ummm, see them as they are.

It is this bigger picture part that has finally, finally started to make sense – that experience has suddenly collided with previous experience and now I feel a bit more sure of myself and where my life is going.

It’ll take a while to explain because it’s been a long time coming: When I was at University, we did a unit called Global Current Affairs, which I didn’t really like at the time, but got good grades on. That summer of the second year, I went to work experience at an FT magazine about Africa (TIA), which was exclusively about news in business, entrepreneurialism, trade and finance on the African continent. I really, really enjoyed it. It was niche, it was about something that was, to me, far more exciting than UK news, and I was able to put into practice a lot of what I learned in GCA. I don’t think I ever felt like I was really learning much from my degree, so it was nice to finally have something I could point to and say “THIS helped me”.

Anyway – every journalist worth their salt knows they need to have some kind of direction, some kind of passion or area they want to go into. I had previously said something along the lines of “I dunno really – whatever drops out, I’ll take”. But that’s not the most convincing answer to the question “What do you want to do with your life?” So I realised that finance and business journalism is probably where I wanted to go – I’d been nudged in that direction unintentionally, and really enjoyed it. It pays well. Finance and business will always be around, so it’s a relatively stable job. That sort of thing.

But I wouldn’t really be that happy doing that here. To me, it’s boring. I want to know about what’s going on in a bigger way – like Dubai – going there really opened my eyes to the possibilities the Middle East has, just like TIA did with Africa. They opened my eyes to the idea that maybe, just maybe, there is more to life than the western world. I want to know why Russia and China are blocking UN resolutions on Syria. I want to know how much of Africa belongs to China, and what they’re doing with that land. I want to know who else has been investing in Africa, where Brazil comes into the picture. I’m not really interested in small details anymore. Perhaps I’m being remiss, but I feel a bit like London, the UK even, isn’t big enough a stomping ground for me anymore.

I’ve finally decided I want to do international journalism, or at least business/finance – elsewhere and not here. It’s a bit of a weird one because it’s taken me a few years to really realise this is what I want to do. I’ve always wanted to travel loads, and since I can remember, I’ve never seen myself settling down. I like the idea of minimalism and scaling down, and making-do and being on the road. I like the idea of waking up to a different place and different experience every day. I feel like I’m doing something positive then, and I feel more connected and purposeful. I can’t sit around and feel sorry for myself when I’m busy.

Things are changing in my life and in my little corner of the internet. It’s a necessary move, and you’ll all understand in a short while. I’m not sure if I’ll keep this blog, even. But I feel reinvigorated, and a lot better than I have been in the recent past. I feel a bit like things are finally happening, even if its just mainly me figuring myself out – and this can only be a good thing.

Open letter to Chris Grayling

Dear Christopher Grayling,

I’ve just read this Telegraph article (can’t find strength to find the actual piece you wrote). Let me start by saying I disagree with the concept of unpaid work experience full stop. I would love to say that my work experience thus far has been paid, but it hasn’t. HMRC’s reluctance to sort this out – when they know which companies are doing it, when these companies are extremely easy to find out about, and when these companies don’t even pay expenses – is indicative of how very little consecutive governments over the last decade or so actually care about individuals. In fact, it’s telling that this neat little industry arrangement benefits huge corporations, and governments can retain their confidence.

I digress. I am against the “Workfare” scheme because it is not about improving the individual at all – it is about providing a source of free labour for organisations – at the expense of the taxpayer, no less! I am currently on Job Seeker’s Allowance and I have been tactfully informed that I “may as well” apply for any jobs going at the centre (ones with literally no connection to what I have done in the past, no connection to my degree, and of no use to me or my career) because I will be forced to take something that comes up in a few months, or I risk losing my benefits.

“Short term work experience placements lasting a few weeks are of immense value to young people looking to get a foothold on the job ladder”

They are rarely of value. I don’t see how working in Tesco stacking shelves – for which other members of staff are paid – is going to be of any use to me when I am looking for a job in journalism. Do you? Especially not when you consider that I have already worked for a large supermarket chain for over a year. I worked there when I was doing my A Levels. I later worked full-time for my local authority. I have worked. I have experience. I am the opposite of workshy, Mr Grayling, but having been to university – something all young people are now being funneled into regardless of suitability for their career needs or wishes – I have graduated and found the economy in a devastating state. I have worked for free in many, many places over the last 8 years, in pursuit of the career I want – but I just don’t think that working for Tesco in exchange for money which I already receive is reasonable or at all justifiable.

“The critics are job snobs. The Guardian newspaper publishes stories attacking big retailers for offering short-term unpaid work experience placements for young people. But that same Guardian newspaper advertises on its website – yes, you guessed it – short-term unpaid work experience placements for young people.”

It’s not snobbery. Nobody is against anyone working for Tesco – the issue is that they are unpaid, but also that they are mandatory and thousands of people nationwide are being forced into work experience schemes that are not relevant to their line of work. You must realise that these unpaid work experiences are hugely harmful:
a) these workfare people on JSA are performing a function that could be performed by another member of staff, therefore they are actively harming the job market and exacerbating already-dire unemployment rates by reducing the amount of paid work available.
b) in the time that these people are working unpaid, they cannot look for jobs that are actually in their line of work, so they are effectively breaking their own contract with the job centre to comply with what the job centre says.

The work experience you mentioned at the Guardian and BBC Newsnight is voluntary and undertaken on the basis that the individual knows from the start it is unpaid, but they will gain valuable experience that will help them in their career. The workfare scheme touted by the government is nothing of the sort. People are being forced into these situations because they have been told if they do not comply, then they will lose their benefits. Benefits that they have received because they need a subsidy to live as they cannot find work. Pulling the carpet out from under people and telling them that they chose to sit on the floor is hugely disingenuous and lying about it, or pretending to equate workfare with genuine work experience opportunities is an insult to any right-thinking person.

I am intrigued as to how you still feel, what with companies dropping out of the workfare scheme like flies, that this is still a reasonable situation to put unemployed people in – especially when the economy is in such an awful state. But please do let me know if you find someone else who agrees with you.

Yours faithfully,

@ThatSoph

When 38 degrees lost their way

I’m not really sure what the last straw was for me, but I’ve been ignoring 38 degrees for a while now, having at first been a rabid supporter of everything they were doing. They have done some brilliant campaigns in the past, but more and more I started to noticed that what they were concerned about, wasn’t what I was concerned about. In fact, a quick glance at their website shows where their campaigning interests lie:

- The Big Switch (people being ripped off by utilities companies)
- Tax Dodging
- The NHS

I am concerned about the welfare reforms. I am worried about disabled people and the impact that will have on their lives. I’m worried because I am unemployed, on JSA (and have been tactfully told if I don’t find anything soon I will be more or less forced to work somewhere anyway), I identify as disabled (though not affected as not on disability benefits), and I’m acutely aware that at any moment I could become disabled.

We are currently going through what seems to be to be an extraordinary period where things will change in a massive way. It occurred to me that: a) there is no mandate for this change; b) this will affect millions of people in the UK, some now, some later; c) there’ll be no political will in the future to change it back. So we need to fight this now, and we need to be fighting hard, exposing lies and fraud where we can and telling the truth about what the health bill and what the welfare reform bill will actually do to people’s lives.

What is disappointing is that 38 degrees, once so on-the-ball, has now created those campaigns that no longer represent my views or interests. What’s more, they no longer represent the views of a lot of people I know. Yes, people being ripped off by utilities companies is bad but not as bad as disabled people being forced to work for free on a permanent/long-term basis, in return for benefits they should be entitled to regardless. Tax dodging is bad, but there are already other organisations dealing with this, and making more headway than 38 degrees – I am, of course, thinking of UK Uncut and associated regional activist groups. And as for the NHS, yes this again is another thing that needs to be done but it’s also being done in a much better way, by a whole host of other charities and organisations. The NHS story is a huge topic of interest at the moment, so people are already aware of what’s going on.

The other thing that is interesting to note is how much of their campaigning is puff. They want money, and they want signatures. Money to run ads or do something-or-other, and signatures and letters to give to MPs. I hope I am not the only one who can see that this sort of activism has well and truly had its day, and that clicktivism is dying out. If it isn’t, it should be. I’m no expert but I can’t remember any time I had a truly satisfactory response from my local MP or indeed anyone I have written to, asking for them to reconsider their views.

It is kind of sad, really, that an organisation is taking on already-popular and already well-known issues. I would have expected them to take the welfare reform bill to pieces and really go for that, because it is a really big change and will have huge repercussions. Is it possible that they are simply taking the easy way out?

With membership numbers presumably dropping (quick mention on twitter created ire from friends, and a lot of them felt the same as me. I can feel a palpable sense of exhaustion at clicktivism and writing letters to MPs) I don’t expect they will enjoy the popularity they experienced in 2011 this year, somehow.