Bookworm..

I think it’s fair to say that your first ‘assignment’ at uni is something that can either make you or break you, and I have to say, I am beginning to feel slightly broken. What’s even more disheartening is the fact that my first ‘assignment’ was to read the first chapter of a book. This in any other context would be child’s play I grant you, somewhere in line with the first week of high school homework, where you have to go home and cover your book with some form of wallpaper, because the book itself simply isn’t sufficient. However this is no ordinary chapter, and it is from no ordinary book. No, it is the first chapter of McNae’s ‘Essential Law for Journalists’, this course just got serious. The sheer size of the book is enough to make you quiver in your boots.

Despite this I still managed to knuckle down and get reading, and I cannot deny I found it incredibly interesting. Fortunately I had been foolish enough to spend the past two years studying A-level law so many things were very familiar to me. Having a pre-formed knowledge of the judiciary system served me a great help, I don’t know how I would of coped had I not known the meaning of all the legal jargon. Although it just serves as an introduction to the rest of the book it goes into great depth about the right to freedom of expression, and to the extent that it actually exists in practice. For example the Human Rights Act 1998, thought to provide better protection for freedom of expression, has been attached to several other bills such as the Coroners and Justice Bill 2009 and the Counter Terrorism Act 2008. This has resulted in disappointment from journalists, as the attached bills do not seem to demonstrate the same level of protection to the freedom of expression. I like the fact that this book pre-warns you of your possible future disappointment, I appreciate the honesty.

Now, I am about to embark upon the next section of assigned reading, if I start now I may just about grasp a vague understanding of it by my lecture a week from today. Fingers crossed I can blog with some intellectual insights by then.

Start as we mean to go on....

So here it is, the big day. Fresher’s is over and the education part of uni is about to begin. Having survived the past week relatively unscathed, and with a blood alcohol level high enough to tackle Charlie Sheens', it is now time to knuckle down and immerse myself in the work of McNae and Bertrand Russell. To say I am panicking would be an understatement. But hey "optimism is the faith that leads to achievement" or so Helen Keller would have us believe. So here it goes, my first day of perpetual optimism.