The first impression is a good one: the exhibition is impressive in both scale and design. Covering an entire floor of the Sainsbury Wing, the gallery is decked out in garish block colour, quite a contrast to the more staid surroundings of the rest of the National Gallery.

The marketing campaign, from Tube posters to the bright green exterior of the exhibition, has highlighted Close Examination as a contemporary, accessible exhibition. In reality, the paintings themselves are of more appeal to those with an appreciation of art history – pieces that have been re-painted, altered or reconstructed, with an impressive amount of detail on the world of art reconstruction. There’s perhaps a lack of standout exhibits, but the six galleries each offer a different insight into how art historians piece together the history of a painting.

What’s also fascinating is the questions the exhibition asks about the role museums play in public appreciation of art vs. other types of exhibition stands. Artworks by anonymous artists, which would ordinarily not reach such a wide audience, are displayed prominently, and are deserving of their place – particularly a powerful image of a fallen soldier, by an artist known only as ‘A’. There’s also a large amount of wall space devoted to contentious pieces, where the artist is uncertain. Often the debate is around whether the work is by a famous hand, or an impressive impersonator. To many observers, this may feel irrelevant; to a gallery, it makes a difference to the value and credibility of a piece of work.

Overall, Close Examination is certainly a worthwhile diversion, with something to capture most imaginations (I particularly enjoyed the remarkably spooky X-rays of otherwise picturesque paintings), but is perhaps not the exciting peek into the mysteries of art that the posters suggest. There may not be a Thomas Crown-esque Mona Lisa hidden behind a watercolour, but there are a number of great paintings by sadly anonymous artists, and an interesting debate as to what makes a painting great.

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In its broad definition, social welfare is the provision by a government of certain social services and facilities to the less fortunate in the society. This includes things like hospitals, welfare programs, food stamps, and schools. There are those who benefit for this program and many more that do not. I do not believe these programs work the way they should. Here are three fundamental reasons why I hate social welfare.

First off it seems to support many of those in our society who are simply lazy. Social welfare gives people money when they are not working and even more if they have children. Although I understand the principle, I believe it is abused by those it is meant to help. Many people have been charged with fraud for taking advantage of the system in different ways such as claiming for welfare when they no longer need to.

It also encourages people not to aspire to or seek out better situations. So what you find is that many people will no longer look for work and choose to live off of what they receive via the state’s welfare program. What this leads to is a shrinking of the workforce and a greater strain on the system in terms of the money it would take to keep the program running. The less people working, the less taxes the government receives and the less money is available. Not to mention that when you look at Dagenham flats and houses for rent that you will pay through the teeth for because it is in central London, you realize that you are right next to a stack of council flats that people are living in the same situation for a tenth the cost. So why should you be paying your hard earned wage for someone else to not work and live in the same situation?

Finally, the cost of supporting the different welfare programs is prohibitive and is a drain on the economy of the country. Most social programs are free to residents and to provide these services a grater portion of collected taxes have to be used. Often what you find is that a lot of waste is seen in these programs and those who really need the help are not able to get it because of abuse by others.

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It amazes me how many people sit there and complain about their job. They absolutely hate it. They complain about how much they are paid and how little raises they ever get. They go on and on about how much they cannot stand getting up to their alarm clocks and having to drive through the morning bumper to bumper traffic.

Here they are every day of their lives complaining about their jobs, but yet they keep doing the same thing each day. They get up to the dreadful alarm clock, sit in hours of traffic and punch in to the time clock everyday just to get their measly paycheck each week. If they hate doing this so much, my question is, then why do they keep doing it? There is a better way to earn a living and that is to make money from home.

Yes, people it can be done. There are countless companies out there looking to hire people to telecommute from their home. Whether you want to work in customer service, data entry, freelance writing or even have your own home business, the possibilities are endless to make money from home. All it takes is a quick Internet search and you will find just about any type of work that you can do without having to leave your home.

So, there you have it people. You can go on complaining about your 9 to 5 job, but continue to get up and go through this rat race, or you can get yourself a work at home job or business.

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What is the opinion of the British people? One issue that is weighing hard on their minds is if Nick Clegg has “sold them out” and moved over to the Conservative side or if he will stand his ground for the Liberal Democrats that he represents. On the contrary to that, there are people that believe that the Conservatives in representation now have been stalling certain issues and have actually secretly supported the Liberal Democrats. Some issues are quite large like taxation, and some are quite delicate such as the state of DNA testing. There are a few questions as to how Nick Clegg got picked for his position as deputy minister and they aren’t favorable. They ponder as to what he did or what the current Prime Minister has up his sleeve that needed Mr. Clegg. Other British citizens don’t care much as to who’s specifically running the show as to what they are going to do to fix the United Kingdom’s ongoing problems. On the top of that list is the financial debt that the country is in. They want to know what is going to be done and how long it’s going to take.

Overall, Cameron talks a good talk. He discusses the need to bring all political sides together for the good of the country. It sounds like a great idea. But most people agree that in politics nothing is ever so simple.

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I wonder why it is that so many of us feel it necessary to express ourselves through art? We do it through painting, music, writing, dance, crafts and sculpture.

Perhaps it is simply a way of ridding ourselves of certain unwanted emotions, thoughts or memories. There are a lot of art therapists out there who will tell you how beneficial it can be to do something creative. Art can be a great way of coming to terms with grief or other traumatic events. On the other hand, maybe it is just a way of escaping from the locum doctor job that you work at all day and thinking about something else completely.

Or is it a way of being noticed by others? Maybe we create art (in any of its many forms) to gain the attention of other people. After all, a picture or a song is a message in many ways; it is a way of sharing something that we see or feel.

But the thing is, just about everyone will have a go at drawing or making up a tune at some point. Most of us have sat doodling whilst we are talking on the phone or humming a ditty of our own construction when we are having a bath.

There are several different facets to art…

· It can be a way of reaching out to others.

· We may do it to attain a sense of achievement.

· It can be a big part of a personal healing process.

· Some of us will try our hand at drawing/writing/music/dance out of pure curiosity.

Art can even be tied up with religious belief; many artists have tried to capture the beauty of God’s creations on the canvas so they can better understand Him. To be able to create, as The Creator did, may make us feel that we are more in tune with His mind.

Whatever art is about (probably something very different for each of us) it is undoubtedly a very good thing. It is a large part of being human and any type of creativity is a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

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I used to be the proud owner of an original Swiss Army Knife. I loved that thing. It was everything to me between the ages of about thirteen and fifteen, when I spent every single evening after school pretending to be John Rambo. But somewhere along the line, amid puberty, girls and living life, I lost that treasured knife of mine. It disappeared one day and I haven’t seen it since. The worst part about it is that I don’t even know when that day was–I was to busy doing other stuff (like worrying about what kind of hair loss remedy I might eventually need to buy…). My, how I let my loyal friend down–

Now, I don’t know where this idea came from, but I happen to think it’s a corker, so here me out: my idea is this–A mobile phone with Swiss Army Knife attachment on the back. I mean–How good would that be? How fantastically useful and brilliant?! With that thing you’d be able to open cans, email people, telephone people, all while opening a bottle of wine. I’m just praying it’s going to happen, because that really would make my day.

Or I might just make one myself. I have a friend who’s good at engineering, so I’m sure he wouldn’t mind helping me out, since he used to love playing John Rambo as well.

Of course, there is a danger that this craze might catch on, so I can see that I’m going to have to be very careful. Part of the fun of the Swiss Army Knife was that it was something only me and a few friends had. What would I do if the whole world got in on the act?!

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Everyone loves Apple. As far as the latest groundbreaking technology goes, whether it be computers or the mega-successful iphone, they are the cream of the crop. The iphone blew minds when it came out. With its many apps and easy usability, it solved a lot of problems that had dogged mobile users for ages.

And it seemed Apple were unbeatable. That is, until now.

The brand-new tablet had been expected for some time. Promising a lot and hyped with a global marketing campaign that had people everywhere literally chomping at the bit, the tablet had a lot to live up to and to begin with it delivered. Then the problems started, and they haven’t stopped yet. In fact, this just seems to be the beginning and may prove as troublesome as pigmented lesions …Read about this in detail here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8606727.stm

Some people are surprised. I say it was bound to happen eventually. Looking back through history, every mega-company has had a serious problem every now and again that had the whole world laughing at them. Back in the day it happened to Amstrad, and more recently it happened to Toyota with their accelerator pedal debacle. So it was only a matter of time until it happened to Apple, wasn’t it? And to be fair it probably wasn’t entirely foreseeable. The company simply wanted to get it out there as quick as they could, and by doing so it’s clear that they missed out on some crucial things that will now have to be resolved at an inevitably high cost to the company.

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Like Cosmetic doctors who see so much beauty they go insane, and firemen who get told they are a hero for the umpteenth time, dogs bite and they bite for good reason. I don’t really blame them. Asking a dog not to bite is a bit like giving someone who really, really hates ducks a machine gun and surprising them one day with a million ducks that are highly attracted to mentally disturbed individuals. But I don’t think we should blame dogs for biting, because I think I know why they bite–

It’s because of us, of course. Or, more precisely, those of us who love and spoil dogs so much that we put on a daft voice and bombard them with love. As soon as we get a dog we tell he / she that they are the greatest thing: a “good boy” or “good girl”. This then progresses to the slightly more worrying “very good girl” or “very good boy”. In the most extreme cases things turn sinister. The owner starts to call them funny things, inventing weird names for them that slowly but surely confuse the dog, thus driving it crazy. After a while this dog, so loved and so cherished, flips out. After being told for the three millionth time that he / she couldn’t be any better, the dog decides to fight back, asserting my theory that every creature realizes that once ultimate perfection has been achieved, there is simply nowhere else to go. Nothing to do.

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Think about how dangerous daily life used to be, and how much less dangerous it is now: in Victorian times you could die from a terrible disease just by washing your teeth in dodgy water, or fall from a chimney and that’d be it. But nowadays that threat and many others have been all but obliterated. Now more than ever there are, of course, other dangers which threaten everyone, no matter how careful one is: things like cars, stuff falling out of space, and farming machinery. But on the whole I think you’ll agree that we live in relative safety. (Apart from when we turn on and get the shock that is looking at Simon Cowell’s big and ridiculously square head…)

Which is why the TV show I watched the other day shocked me to the core. It was exploring the no-win-no-fee culture and the vultures who run businesses that capitalize on stupid accidents, turning them in to profit at the expense of the councils of this land. Like a boy who stubbed his toe in the playground playing football: he received 2000 English pounds for his inability to look where he was going! And the mother who fell at a school sports day (unrelated), and decided to sue the school for quite a lot of money (probably to fund her next trip to Botox Manchester). I ask you, what will come next?

Clearly there are real cases where the council are liable (like pot-holes: in England we have some of the deepest in the world), but there are also many others which are just stupid.

And there is a serious affect on the younger generation, too. By showing them that money can be got from every orifice in society, we are condoning them to live a life where every opportunity is seized—no matter of who it affects and the impact it causes.

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