R.I.P Harry

Harry Ukponmwan was a great friend to many. When you were with him, you never felt scared. He brightened up everyone's day. He would just sit in the library looking at the ceiling as though there was something intresting on it. When he laughed, everyone would smile and say "That's Harry!" and start laughing with him. He was always smiling, even when it was the dullest day of the year. He always stood up to give an answer and whenever someone laughed at him or started talking, he would tell them to be quiet and start his sentence over again. He would never feel embarrassed. It was so hard not to like him. He was born on 21st May 1992 to a wonderful family. Everyone knew he had a serious heart condition but because he ket fighting it, everyone believed that he would continue to fight it forever. He sadly died on 30th October 2004. Harry was an inspiration to us all. He fought until the very end and should be remembered as a brave person who brought happiness to the lives of those that were lucky enough to know him. Harry will never be forgotten. He will always be in our hearts showing us the way and no-one can replace him.

x~Underage Sex~x

The topic of “underage sex” has been popping up a lot recently after two 12-year-old girls announced that they were pregnant. The 14-year-old boy responsible for these pregnancies claimed to have slept with ten other women before.

In England, Scotland and Wales, you need to be 16 or over to legally have sex. In Northern Island, you need to be 1 years or over. According to the law, this illegal sex includes: penetrative sex, oral sex or masturbating together. If a girl is between the ages of 13-15, the boy with whom she had sex with can go to prison for two years. If the girl is under 13, the boy can be sentenced with life imprisonment. If a 16 year old, or older, has sex with a boy under the age of 16, the girl can be prosecuted for indecent assault.

According to the law, the legal sex age is 16 with extra rules applying to those under the age of 13. When a girl is under 13, she is considered not mature enough to have sex. Anyone having sex with an underage girl is therefore committing statutory rape whether consent is given by the girl or not. If found guilty of statutory rape, the maximum sentence for the offender is life imprisonment, but the average is between five to seven years.

If parents are aware of their children having underage sex, they could be at risk of prosecution for aiding and abetting the unlawful intercourse. Naturally, this is rather difficult to do as children will try and find ways of “doing it” without their parent’s knowledge.

The number of underage pregnancies and underage abortions have risen more than a 5th in the last 10 years. Don’t be one of those children!!!

By Gurpreet Kaur Sihat

x~There is no Such Thing as Honour~x

Amandeep Atwal was stabbed to death by her father for having a relationship with a Canadian boy.

Anita Gindha was strangled to death in front of her baby son for refusing an arranged marriage.

Ayesha Baloch was mutilated two months after her marriage on the suspicion of premarital sex.

D. Kannagi was forced to drink poison in front of witnesses, then burnt for marrying outside her caste.

Hatin Surucu was shot for “living like a German!”

Banaz Mahmod Babakir Agha disappeared from her home in London in January 2006. Her body was later found in a suitcase – she had chosen to end her arranged marriage.

Each one of these women were supposedly “stepping out of line” and rather then forgiving them, these women were killed in order to protect the honour of their families. The numbers of these honour killings are endless – at least three quarters of the world know someone or has heard about a victim of honour killings. But there are still thousands of women whose births haven’t been registered, nor their deaths. No-one would even realise that they have mysteriously “disappeared”.

Honour killings are global and they happen on a regular basis. Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Uganda, Turkey, Afghanistan, Brazil, Iraq, India, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Ethiopia. These are just a few places in which honour killings occur and what’s worse, is that half of the murders in these places aren’t even noticed or reported – it is considered to be a “private family affair”. According to the UN’s reports, every year, at least 5000 women are murdered for honour. When will it end? When will equality between men and women be granted? When will women stop being shown as the inferior sex?

In a lot of circumstances, it is the father, brother, son or even the husband that is kills women for honour. Every so often you hear of the woman’s mother doing it! Women killing women! How many more women must die because of honour? According to Indian writer and publisher, Urvashi Butalia, Heshu Yones was 16 and in love with her fellow college student. When her father found this out, he slit her throat – killing her. The young man belonged to a different religion to Heshu and the two were planning to marry against her father’s wishes. Urvashi wrote that before Heshu ran away, she wrote a note saying: “Me and you will probably never understand each other, I’m sorry I wasn’t what you wanted but there are some things you can’t change.”

A lot of murders that occur are due to religion or race. Why? What is so different between a black man, and a white man? What is the difference between a Sikh and a Muslim? Is there any? Aren’t we all human beings? If you are for or against honour kills, please comment and send in your opinions!

By Gurpreet Kaur Sihat

x~Goodbye and Goodluck~x

Who would have thought that you’d actually miss those noisy Year 11s when they leave? You’re looking forward all year to that moment where they walk out onto the playground on their last day with writing all over their shirts, and when it finally comes, your cheering and signing their already messy-enough uniform. You just can’t seem to get rid of them as quickly as you want to.

But then afterschool, you walk out onto the playground and expect to hear the loud rush of the noisy bunch, but you can’t hear them. Instead, you hear the Year 7 and 8 girls, screaming at the boys who keep throwing water at them, and the Year 9s talking about who they like and whether they’re gonna watch the football match that’s going to be on later on that evening. And then you hear the Year 10s and the sixth-formers and they seem all to busy thinking about how they wish they were in the position of the Year 11s-being able to go home early, going to the Prom in the evening-even if it means that you have to spend a week at home revising for your GCSEs.

And you can’t help but miss them. Their bubblyness, their loud-voices and even the guys running and jumping onto each other which seems…I can’t think of a word at the moment but I’m sure you catch my drift. So what do the Y11s think of it all? I asked three people about their time at Greenford High.

Lucia in 11G1 said that her favourite memory of Greenford High is her friends and the teachers (thinking that Ms. Thomas is the best). As a whole, she thinks that the school itself is “good” and the students are “nice”. But to all those future Y11s, she says “study and work hard”.

Gaganpreet in 11M1 agrees with her. She says that the best memory in Greenford High has to be her friends and the best teacher is still Ms. Thomas. She thinks that as a whole, the students and the school are both “OK” and to future Y11s, she says “revise now for your exams”.

Kyle in 11T1 on the other hand had a far funnier view of Greenford High. He says that the best part of being in Greenford High was “getting in trouble”. He too said that the students at Greenford were “nice” but as a whole, the school was: “Sh** lol only joking…alright” Kyle also said that the best teachers where Mr. Wakeford and Mr. Bekkles and his advice to future Y11s? “cause trouble before you get into Y10”.

So follow these simple steps (maybe not Kyle’s though-don’t cause trouble at all!!!) and you’ll see yourself as successful (and maybe even noisier) than this trouble-making lot.

So, finally: Goodbye and Good Luck Y11s, and don’t stay away too long, we’re missing you!!!
Hoping that you’ll be successful in whatever you all choose to do…
All our best

GREENFORD HIGH SCHOOL

Please note that this article was written for the current 12s.

x~Animal Testing~x

Animal Testing. Good or Bad? Right or Wrong? Everyone has a different opinion. Some are for it and some are against it. But how about you?

It is estimated that 50-100 million animals worldwide die in scientific procedures every year. YES, animal testing helps to develop vaccines against such diseases as rabies, polio, measles, mumps, rubella and TB. And YES, antibiotics, HIV drugs, insulin and cancer treatments all rely on animal testing.

Operations on animals help to develop organ transplant and open heart surgery techniques and legislation protects all lab animals from cruelty and mistreatment. And how about all those people who are against animal testing that kill animals for food, for food and for fun without guilt?

At the moment, there is no alternative to animal testing that works. I guess you could say that it’s a natural cycle-like the food chain.

By Gurpreet Kaur Sihat

x~Death in the Viper~x

In 1993, accomplished actor and guitarist, Johnny Depp, and business partner, Anthony Fox, launched The Viper Room. A successful club, The Viper Room invited celebrities and tourists from all over the world. Situated in Hollywood, California, The Viper has had her own share of shocking problems.

In October 1993, club regular River Phoenix, died from a drug overdose. A little before 1am on Halloween night, River was in the bathroom doing drugs with his friends. He was offered a snort of high-grade Persian Brown. Minutes after he had taken the drug, he started trembling and shaking. He shouted at the drug dealers before vomiting. Trying to help, one of the dealers gave him Valium-a strong depression drug.

River staggered out into the bar towards his sister, Rain, and ex-girlfriend and Christian Slater’s Broken Arrow Co-star, Samantha Mathis (right) Complaining about being unable to breathe, River passed out. Once he came around, he asked Mathis to take him outside the club for some fresh air. River's brother, Joaquin, who was a couple of days over 19 at the time, was helping him out when River collapsed in his arms, fell to the floor and had a series of seizures. Joaquin phoned 911 at 1.14am just as Rain threw herself on top of her brother in attempt to stop the attacks.

The paramedics arrived soon after River had slipped into full cardiac arrest. After performing CPR unsuccessfully, they rushed him to Cedars Sinai Medical Centre. They arrived at 1.34am and noticed that although River's skin was warm, it was a dark blue colour. And even though the ER Physicians had inserted a pacemaker, a small machine to help your heart beat, River didn't make it. He was pronounced dead at 1.51am.

An autopsy was performed showing lethal levels of cocaine, morphine (heroin shows up as morphine), valium, marijuana and ephedrine. The autopsy also showed: "small abrasions on the knuckles of the right index finger and the right thumb. On the shin there is a red-purple contusion."

On November 4th 1993, 60 mourners watched a once amazingly firm environmentalist and animal rights activist, in a blue coffin, wearing a black t-shirt with the Aleka's Attic (his band) logo on, being cremated and his ashes being scattered onto the family ranch near Gainesville.

A sign was left outside The Viper Room, as it closed, from the staff:

WITH MUCH RESPECT AND LOVE TO RIVER AND HIS FAMILY; THE VIPER ROOM IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED. OUR HEARTFELT CONDOLENCES TO ALL HIS FAMILY, FRIENDS AND LOVES ONES. HE WILL BE MISSED!

But The Viper was not the only one who was deeply traumatized by the death of River Phoenix. River's best friend, Keanu Reeves, who was filming Speed with Sandra Bullock at the time, actually stopped talking and many believed that he and River's brother Joaquin would die right with him. When interviewed, Reeves said:

RIVER WAS A REMARKABLE ARTIST AND A RARE HUMAN BEING. I MISS HIM EVERY DAY.

Many of us have forgotten River's uniqueness and this article was written both to remind you of that young Indiana Jones from 'The Last Crusade' but to remind you just how bad drugs can be and to beg you not to go the same was this fantastic person did. River had his problems and he didn't keep in mind that pain is the only road to happiness. He tried to solve his problems in another way that ended up taking his life away from him. Don't make the same mistake as many before you.

Encase you were curious to know, Johnny Depp's partner, Anthony Fox went missing and Depp was forced to sign The Viper Room over to Anthony's 19 year old daughter, Amanda. There are now rumours that Amanda is planning to sell.

By Gurpreet Kaur Sihat

x~Celebrity Influence on Teenagers~x

Teenagers Rebel - But is it because their idols influence them to do it?

Celebrities: sometimes we love them, sometimes we hate them. But have you noticed how much they influenced teenagers? The majority of celebrities understand the great responsibilities that come with being a child’s hero but how many of them actually take their responsibility seriously? How many of them care what people think of them? How many of them are just in it for the money? How many of them actually realise that they can make a difference in the world? We investigate the positive and negative effects of celebrity behaviour on teenagers.

Some celebrities, such as Sandra Bullock, Angelina Jolie, Rachel Weisz and Live 8 organiser Bob Geldof, give off a example. Sandra Bullock split her earnings for Miss. Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous and gave 60% of it away to a charity for supporting children in Africa. Angelina Jolie not only spent time in Africa but adopted her two beautiful children (not including hers and Brad Pitt’s baby, Shiloh Nouvel) Maddox and Zahara from poor countries but also is involved in a number of charities.

Rachael Weisz is following suit by involving herself more in charity work and also spent time in Africa as well. And then you have Bob Geldof…and we all know what he’s been doing with Live Aid and the fairly recent Live 8. But honestly, who would you put as your idol in a questionnaire-Bob Geldof or a glamorous supermodel like Tyra Banks who isn't widely known for helping people.

However, there are some celebrities that don’t set a positive example. Celebrities such as Gangster Rap Kings 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre have been promoted by revealing their criminal past. 50 Cent released a movie earlier called Get Rich or Die Trying all about his past life and about ho he was shot nine times. Snoop Dogg was arrested at Heathrow Airport after he had caused an argument because he was refused entry in the first class lounge. And did you know that Speed star Keanu Reeves was in hospital after demon riding (driving at night without headlights on which is illegal) before the filming on the first Matrix movie and was nearly paralysed?

"This week we taped Honey I shrunk the Kids off the Disney Channel and they were watching it, and that is it now-everything they do. They have taken on the names of the characters and they’re acting out everything from the film, which isn’t a bad thing because there is nothing in it. But it did make me think, at least when I put on a video on I know what I am giving them to watch, whereas some of the television channels, I just won’t let them watch.”

-Anonymous Parents

The news and nearly all magazines only focus on the negative attention when it comes not only to celebrities, but world issues. This makes teenagers want to be more like their idols and heroes. All this negativity on teenagers form stereotypes-not all teenagers are like that. So is it the celebrity’s fault or is it the media’s fault? You decide.

By Gurpreet Kaur Sihat

x~The Jungle of Northolt~x

Imagine that you’re walking through a jungle full of a million and one different species of amazing creatures that you’ve never seen or heard of before. Now imagine that these mysterious animals surround you, corner you into one edge of the room, as though they’re getting ready for the kill. Alright, perhaps I’m exaggerating a bit too much but for someone who has never been around that many kids before, that’s what it felt like.

It was my first day of work experience and I was nervous as Hell, so, naturally, I went off to work half an hour early – first impressions are always lasting impressions! – in my best jeans, favourite top and brand new hooded jacket. And don’t forget my sister’s thumb rings, the brand new watch was given, and the diamond love heart necklace that my mum and dad had brought me. Probably didn’t look as good as I thought that I did, but it was a start.

But then it happened…I walked into the nursery and was surrounded by nearly 30 kids all under the age of 5! – believe me, it seemed a lot more at the time. They all hugged me and then kept coming back for more! I remember nearly falling down as they all rushed towards me like a stampede of elephants. If I was nervous before, I was even more nervous after that! But the staff made me feel at home. I guess that you could compare them to lionesses; graceful, majestic creatures that look after the cubs (however annoying) and hunt the strongest prey (or in this case – cook the best meals).

Oh my God, the meals they fed me! Some of the tastiest things I’ve probably ever had (apart from mum’s curry of course! No-one can beat mum’s curry). I must have made their lives much harder, being a strict vegetarian. But they still always found something for me to eat whether it was pasta with Dolmio sauce or pita bread pizzas with salad. It was so funny when they discovered that I was vegetarian – the look on their faces. All that time they had been thinking that I was watching my weight because I wasn’t eating, but it turned out that I wasn’t eating because they were cooking meat! “The Nursery” has to be the healthiest nursery I know, especially with their carrots and cucumber snacks.

It was so easy to make friends at “The Nursery” whether it was with the lioness-like staff, the awesome children, all with their own personalities, and their parents, or the staff’s fox-like kids – sly but absolutely lovely and fun to play with. Everyone at “The Nursery” has their own unique personality and when you put them all together, it really is as though you’ve stepped into a jungle of wondrous creatures that you can’t help but be fascinated with. “The Nursery” is one of the most spectacular places I’ve ever been to – they make you feel like part of the family…like one of those magnificent animals that I compare them to.

By Gurpreet Kaur Sihat