Shaun began his challenge on 1st January 2012 to find his musicians on the Underground.

A London fundraiser has been announced to conclude a yearlong challenge from musician Shaun Buswell.

Last year, Shaun attempted to create an orchestra made up entirely of musicians he met on the Underground to perform for one night only to raise money for the charity Daytrippers.

His challenge involved various rules, including that the 30 to 100 piece orchestra must be formed by 12.12.12 and must perform at one of twelve top London venues.

Rehearsals are well underway and the event is to take place on the 26th January at the O2 Shepard’s Bush Empire, the performance being the largest on-stage line up the location has ever had.

Along with the orchestra’s performance, the event will also act as the premiere of a documentary that focuses on Shaun’s journey as tried to complete the challenge.

Tickets for the performance start at £10 seated, or £7.50 standing, and can be purchased online at Shaun’s website.

All money raised will go to Daytrippers, a charity that provides children with disabilities or terminal illnesses once in a lifetime experiences.

For more information on the challenge, visit Shaun’s website, twitter or Facebook page.

As a born and bred British Pakistani female, men have always been perceived to be superior to women in our culture. It was a relatively shocking surprise when Benazir Bhutto was elected as Prime Minister. Who would have thought a woman would be allowed to lead the citizens of a nation in an authoritarian society? However, in this attack against Malala, it is not Pakistan who is solely responsible for this horrific event on Malala, but essentially the Taliban. It is Pakistan’s duty to protect its citizens from danger and more should have been done to protect Malala from this attack.

But Since the United States’ invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, the Taliban have focused on Pakistan’s Swat Valley. The Taliban have maintained a permanent residence in the area to impose exploitation and control upon the people of Pakistan, leaving them in a vulnerable state. Initially they used the argument of Muslims carrying out a Jihad against the non-Muslims as the reason for their occupation, but it is clear that the Taliban are carrying a jihad against their own people. According to a Pew Research Center Survey, nearly 6 out of 10 Europeans believed Muslims are fanatical and half believed they are violent. The Taliban have certainly misrepresented Muslim’s in a poor light as this is not what Islam preaches.

This is where Malala’s act of bravery really shines. It is her right to speak out on issues that are affecting her, therefore her right to demand an education to secure a hopeful future for herself. Malala did no wrong in speaking out against the Taliban who are depriving young girls from an education. It was recently argued by Religious Affairs Correspondent, Jerome Taylor for The Independent that Muslims are criticised for not speaking out more vocally on issues that affect Islam. Young girls having to fight for an education is an issue, perhaps not a religious issue, but certainly a matter of concern. Islam does not preach sexism. Nor does it say in the Holy Qur’an that women are forbidden an education.

The poison of sexism is a global pandemic and the recent controversy surrounding the speaker of the Australian parliament, Peter Slipper’s offending sexist messages to a former female staff, is another example of sexist bigotry. The Australian Prime Minister confronted opposition leader Tony Abbott in parliament of the misogyny insults that took place with an explosive video airing online.

It is immensely difficult to imagine living a life without your own will, something we take for granted. A life with no education – something most children will not think twice about in this country. A life of being unable to speak and continuously monitored by unwanted extremists. The feeling of suppression frightens me. But this is the case of thousands of young women all over the world fighting for a voice. It is fundamentally critical that these women are helped, as they are simply the positive change these countries need.

What can we learn from Malala’s bravery and the Australian Prime Ministers debate to stop sexism? The courage to stand for what is right, regardless of sex or gender. This act is an indication of how strong these sexist beliefs are held not just within the Muslim population but all over the world. Maybe we have a long way to go before views on equal gender rights can be accepted.  Malala’s bravery and the Australian Prime Ministers’ debate is the glimpse of light we need to see at the end of a stereotypical tunnel of views we hold in the western world. How can we help stop sexism in general? Could this be the beginning of the end for sexist bigotry and can extremist groups be gridlocked from doing this again?

Real life politics is never as good as The West Wing. The characters aren’t as clear cut, and you never really see their private faces (unless someone is covertly filming them on a mobile phone).

As a piece of political theatre, though, Miliband’s speech was about as close to perfect that real life is likely to get.

Now, admittedly, Ed was preaching to the converted with me watching. I knew he would get my vote. But, up until now, I had been largely unimpressed by his work as leader of the opposition. He seemed too unassuming. Too quiet. His smile was too Aardmanesque.
Tuesday’s speech, however, showed a different side to Miliband. In front of a home audience, he seemed relaxed, congenial, and most importantly of all, verbose. He may not be Josiah Bartlet, but he spoke his words with conviction, and compassion. Whilst the substance might not have been there, the veneer was, and there are two years left to iron out the real meat of the policy.
With two years to properly prepare, we could well see Miliband in Number 10.

President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have a month to convince the American public which of them deserves to be in The White House.

Until Wednesday night, Obama seemed destined to keep his house. Romney has been painted as unreasonable, unrelatable, and, more damagingly, unsympathetic.

But, in the presidential debate, he was the better talker. Regardless of whether or not he had been lying, or whether his facts had any real world viability, he was confident and engaging. President Obama was aloof and detached and frankly allowed himself to get walked over.

It certainly makes the next few weeks slightly more ‘interesting’ from an outsiders’ point of view, and it will be interesting to see if the President is able to level the playing field in the next few debates.

It may not be Santos v Vinick, but I’ll be tuning in.

And I may disagree with his politics, but I would be interested to see what David Cameron has to say for himself next week.

Based on the author’s own experience in the army, Our Boys explores the lives of five men as they recover from injuries incurred in the line of duty.

The five characters are all hugely different and come with varying injuries, but their world is rocked by the arrival of a young potential Officer. Unexpectedly, the six boys mix and an alliance forms. But when charges of misconduct are rumoured, accusations rise up and betrayal swiftly follows.

Written by Jonathan Lewis, the play allows you to fall in love with a character and seconds later finding yourself turning on them and supporting another. Full of witty one liners and amusing practical jokes, you feel your stomach ache from laughing within minutes of the production beginning. But there are some lines you don’t expect, and suddenly the ache from laughing vanishes and you’re left feeling terribly empty as the cast go silent. Though the balance between the two extremes is good, when you leave you can’t help but echo those haunting lines in your head and remember how deeply moving the whole experience was.

The whole play is staged in one basic hospital room, with only one entrance on and off the stage via the ‘hospital corridor’ to the rear of the stage. It has such a basic feel to it that you almost come to experience the real sense of isolation and restlessness that the boys would likely be feeling. But equally, the fact that the scenery is so basic makes you really focus on the boys and their emotions and allows you to really get involved with their lives rather than focussing on the staging.

There is no other word to describe the cast but sublime. With hugely known television and film actors such as Arthur Darvill, Laurence Fox and Matthew Lewis, it will come as no surprise that many theatre-goers will come out to see the show purely for those three. But the other three (Cian Barry, Jolyon Coy and Lewis Reeves) are truly magnificent. All six of the actors kept to their character throughout the play. Even in during scene changes, you could see Cian Barry (played character Keith) limp on and off stage into position. Lewis Reeves’ performance kept you truly riveted as you watched his character Ian develop and progress throughout, making you feel a real love for him and a real joy when you saw his improvements. Laurence Fox, on the other hand, played a very complex and  complicated character and I felt a real confusion through most of the play as to whether I should like him or not. As his character progressed, I really came to like him and feel a real sympathy for him.

For a first night performance, the boys did incredibly well and i noticed only one or two minor slip ups (maybe of someone cutting in to swiftly, or hesitating too long mid sentence). But overall, the production can receive nothing but praise. I, for one, will be back to see it again.

Our Boys runs from the 26th September to 15th December, at the Duchess Theatre. For more information or to book tickets, click here.

However, Boris’s tendency to speak his mind is also one his most worrying traits. In the wake of the recent Hillsborough report Boris was again forced to apologise for an article he gave his name to in 2004 whilst editor of the magazine Spectator. The article asserted that Liverpudlians “wallow” in their “victim status” and blamed “drunken fans” for their own demise. The families of the Hillsborough are right to maintain that this is a stance that cannot be simply brushed off with an insincere apology and a PR visit as Boris has hoped. The article was a derogatory, misinformed and highly offensive attack on the victims of a deep injustice that remained uncovered for 23 years. Equally worryingly it also gave an insight into Boris’s own prejudice and London-centric disdain for the innocent Liverpool supporters who died because of the failure of the public services and not because of “drunken fans… who mindlessly tried to fight their way into the ground” as Boris assumed.

With his outspoken criticism of the PM’s cabinet reshuffle and public challenge for David Cameron to bring in tougher anti-strike measures for unions it is becoming increasingly clear that Boris intends to run for PM. Given his surging popularity this may not be as absurd as Boris himself recently claimed. However, his article on the Hillsborough disaster suggests he is hopelessly out of touch with wider British interests and capable of making major misjudgements not just harmless, mildly amusing gaffes for which he is so well known. Consequently, I find the prospect of Boris as PM a worrying one.

For everyone who thinks Boris Johnson is just a “harmless buffoon” – when will you see through his facade? #sackboris twitpic.com/au49f6

— Brent A. Martin (@zeitgeistlondon) September 13, 2012

US embassy [source: Flickr- jthetzel]

The film “Innocence of Muslims” portrays Muhammad as a fraud and homosexual, amongst other things, and has caused worldwide demonstrations.

On Tuesday the US ambassador in Libya was killed when militants, suspected of using protests to stage an assault, attacked the consulate.

The pressure group Hizb ut-Tahrir said that hundreds of Muslims from the UK would demonstrate outside the US embassy today “in solidarity” with others across the world.

The demonstration is to take place outside the embassy in Grosvenor Square today at 2.30pm.

A statement from the group said: “The demonstration will be condemning in the strongest possible terms any and all insults against Islam and the symbols of our religion; especially those against the greatest man sent to mankind the Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him.”

About 200 protesters are burning USA and Israeli flags outside the US embassy in London #antiUSprotests #antiislamfilm

— AJELive (@AJELive) September 14, 2012

300 Muslims protest peacefully by praying outside the US Embassy in London.twitter.com/mrjammyjamjar/… [Via @mrjammyjamjar ] #MyProphetMohammed

— Muna ~ منى(@ArabsUnite) September 16, 2012

One more photo from the Islamist protest outside the US embassy in London twitter.com/pauliemyers/st…

— Paul Myers (@pauliemyers) September 16, 2012

Taken at the Islamist protest outside the US embassy in London twitter.com/pauliemyers/st…

— Paul Myers (@pauliemyers) September 16, 2012

Photo via @stesharifian

It has been twenty three years since the events that occurred during the FA cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham forest. Now known as the Hillsborough disaster what should have been an exciting day out for fans and families was to result in horror as almost immediately a huge crush of people resulted in 96 fatalities.

What should have been a simple investigation into why this event occurred has instead taken almost a quarter of a century. However, while the recent findings of the investigation by the Hillsborough Independent Panel may finally bring some kind of peace to the families and friends of those who lost their lives, it has also raised further questions as to why the emergency services did not do more to prevent the loss of life.

The panel found that of the 96 people who were killed 41 of those might have been saved had the police and other emergency services acted accordingly to the event erupting before them. This investigation has finally removed any blame that had been attached to drunken fans, a step in the right direction, but for many it is far too late for apologies.

What some will find most worrying about the findings of the investigation will be the uncovering of documents that had not been available to previous investigations. These documents revealed that authorities had worked to hide what had occurred; it has transpired that South Yorkshire police had altered written statements so that comments that were seen to be critical of the way they acted were removed.  The police and local authorities had worked to hide their own failures by pushing the blame onto fans that did not have anybody to stand up for them, a discovery that many may not be surprised by.

In the past day apologies have been coming from every direction over the handling of the disaster and the reporting of it in the years following. But is that enough? Richard Wells, the chief constable who ran South Yorkshire police from 1990 to 1998, has called for there to be a criminal investigation into the handling of Hillsborough and this may help the families of victims to see those who are ultimately responsible for the 96 deaths. Although it has been a long time coming the report by the Hillsborough Independent Panel has finally removed the blame that had been placed on drunken Liverpool fans and instead revealed ‘The Truth’.

Portman Avenue in Mortlake, The street where the stowaway landed. Photo via Google Maps

Is the thought of work stressing you out? Summer has reached its climax and the notion of having to wait 9 months until the next opportunity for a week in the Mediterranean sun is numbing. The pale grey clouds overhead only further confirm the mindless daily routine that you are about to undertake. This is how I feel, like most Londoners the reality is that your boss is expecting you to outperform last years goals. You hear the same speech about how lucky you are to have a job in this recession and how multitudes of people would kill to be in your position. It goes in one ear as quickly as it leaves the next. But then really think. Is your life, as terrible as it may seem, really that bad?

In the early hours of Sunday morning the body of a man, in his 20’s, was found in a peaceful area of Mortlake, south-west London. There was no wallet to identify him, no signs of foul play and no suicide note. So just how did this man get there?

In order to answer this question we must rewind 24 hours and take to another continent. A country, with minimum infrastructure, a corrupt government and a lack of clean drinking water set the scene for this Greek tragedy. Angola, where there are 31 landmines to every square mile, where resultant amputees number in the 100s of thousands, where every day is a struggle to survive. How desperate must you be to risk arrest to break into an airport, hide opposite a runway and wait patiently for that chosen flight? London is the Promised Land.

The number of deaths as a result of so-called ‘stowaways’ in international aircrafts is unknown. Some believe it to be in the 100’s each year. Usually, a stowaway tries to jump into an aircraft by hanging on to the airliner’s landing gear as the plane takes off, with the force of the wind easily capable of making a stowaway fall to his or her death. Because people flying on aircraft as stowaways must stay within the landing gear area, they face other risks, such as being crushed in a confined space when the gears retract, falling when the plane is landing, or dying from the heat produced by the engines of the aircraft. Deaths from hypothermia, caused by the extreme cold at high altitudes, or anoxia (lack of oxygen) are also possible and probable. In short, death is more likely than survival.

As it happens Mortlake is in Heathrow’s flight path and that is where this short tale comes to a bitter end. The man’s identity is unlikely to ever be known nor the circumstances surrounding his getaway attempt. An unmarked grave is all that will remain. So the next time you wake up to your alarm clock making that all too familiar sound, wishing you could just have one more hour in bed, staring at the rain trickling down your window, just stop for a second and think about the falling man, put your life into perspective. I promise that no matter what the day has in store for you, it won’t seem anywhere near as bad as it did before you took the time to think about the nameless man.

Shaun Buswell, 35, is hoping recruit enough musicians to be able to perform a concert to raise money for charity.

The concert will take place on the 12th December this year, hence the name “The 12.12.12 Underground Orchestra Challenge”.

Shaun said: “The challenge was set up out of a desire to do three things; raise some awareness and support for organisations I believe in, to achieve something people deem impossible, or unimaginable and to prove that in London, we’re all a lot closer than we realise.”

So far he believes he has recruited around 30 people, but the orchestra could have up to 100 members.

Shaun has self-imposed rules the he must follow when recruiting for this challenge; he must not know them personally, they must be carrying their instrument when they meet and they must meet inside the Tube network.

The concert will be held at one of twelve top London venues.

Shaun said: “It’s never been about personal gain, the organisations we’re trying to support are ones that I think do fantastic work.”

All money raised from the concerts will go to his chosen charities: Kick4Life, Music Alive and In Harmony, Sistema England.

For more information on the challenge, or to find out how you can get involved, visit Shaun’s website, twitter or facebook page.

Why I won’t throw my old Roald Dahl books away

I’m not ashamed to admit that my family are borderline hoarders. Every doll, teddy and piece of lego I ever loved is redundantly stored under the stairs; every exercise book of my academic career is tucked safely away in the loft; every chipped piece of china is being put to some use in the shed. One item however, trumps all others in its ability to spill out every crevice of the house: books. With a new academic year starting I was recently mandated (by exasperated parents) to clear out the childhood collection – musty Enid Blyton, Anne Fine, Dick King Smith and Jacqueline Wilson all found their way to the charity book shop, but I just could not bear to part with anything by Roald Dahl. As a child I remember listening, beside myself with glee, to a tale of two grown-ups playing pranks on each other (The Twits), and being desperate for a visit to Willy Wonka’s chocolate river, but my favourite was Fantastic Mr Fox’s triumph over the greedy farmers. The fox’s success had me so excited I vividly recall running through the garden bellowing the chant of ‘Borris and Bunce and Bean’. In 2009, Wes Anderson released his all-star adaptation of the Fox’s story, its box office success proved the continued relevance of Dahl’s characters not only for young viewers, but for all ages. Dahl’s tales reflect a victory of the simple values epitomized by the uncomplicated years of childhood, they are timeless because of a general desire that humans share to maintain their innocence. Yet, it is not a longing to regress to my childhood that causes my 21-year-old self to cling on to my Roald Dahl books; it is the secret hope that those simple values will once again prevail.