A topic that nearly everyone can and probably will relate to, friends. No matter what age or gender friends are something we need; life really would just be dull without them.

We need peers for support, comfort and play; also to become a social person your first real people skills usually start with the day you make your first friend. Although many seem to come and go, we devote a lot of our time making those relationships last and stay strong. But the question, is do they hold the key to our actions?

A study shows that as society is developing the time we spend with our friends is also increasing. It shows that in the European-American culture teens spend over half of their time with friends. Obviously then our peers have very high influence on our lives.

The amount of teenagers the drink and smoke in London- where would they have picked up these bad Read the rest of this entry »

I’m writing this article for two reasons; one of them is to spread the word and the other is to show support for a campaign to invest in comprehensive mental health services for young people by British Youth Council.

The British Youth Council has launched a Manifesto created by young people for young people. It outlines five actions that Parliament must take to improve the lives of young people in the UK. Mental Health is one of them.

I’ve known people that really needed help but found that help is only aimed at adults. Further, it is a taboo subject amongst young people who don’t understand what mental health is. This is wrong I believe. By 2020, the World Health Organisation predicts depression will be the second biggest global health concern after heart disease. Read the rest of this entry »

Young people across the UK are challenging politicians to make five key changes to improve their lives.

Through a General Election Manifesto created by the youth-led British Youth Council (BYC), young people in the UK will let MPs and Prospective Parliamentary Candidates know exactly what they want, and show society they can make their voices heard.

Five priority actions featured in the Manifesto, Our Parliament, Our Vision:

·         Lower the voting age to 16

·         Support a national youth transport card that offers young people a third off public transport fares Read the rest of this entry »

Volunteered recently?  Maybe you helped do some work at school or maybe you helped clean up the environment? Whatever it is, big or small, YOU should be recognised for it! There are several schemes out there which award YOU for volunteering. Continue reading to find out more… (Did I mention that “Volunteering” also includes helping out at NYPO? *wink*).

World Wide Volunteering

World Wide Volunteering (WWV) is a scheme which aims to encourage young people to volunteer. If you have done 25 hours of volunteering – ANY volunteering that is – you are eligible for the Bronze award. If you do another 25 hours, you get the Silver and if you do another 50 hours (25 + 25 + 50 = 100 hours), you get the ultimate… Gold certificate. What’s great about the WWV is that it is UCAS recognised (or so it claims). So, for all you Asians (or people with Asian-like parents) out there whose parents have been training you up to get into Cambridge University since the day you were born, this is a great way to Read the rest of this entry »

Hi. Call me “Girl with the Pink Bag” because that’s my undercover name. Anyway I’m writing this because each month I want to tell you and just only you about my life. You may be wondering if it’s going to be an ordinary life. But open your eyes as you will begin to read the most extraordinary chapter of my existence as I reveal all.

Brothers. They can be annoying. No, very annoying. Do you ever find it annoying when you have a big brother who’s always picking on you, just because you’re the smallest? Well I certainly do. I just hate it when it happens to me. It’s like they see me as a harmless fly, and they think they can do anything to me. Well it’s not long before I snitch on them, on which they’ll stomp upstairs, like enormous elephants nearly breaking the house down.

If there was to be a vote on who is the most annoying brother, I would definitely choose my older brother. Yes, my brother, the one with the silly voice that has no life and always picks on me. To make him anonymous, I have given him the name Greedy. He is so irritating. Ooh, he’s coming now, best hide what I’m writing, because, believe me if he found out that Read the rest of this entry »

Hi. Call me “Girl with the Pink Bag” because that’s my undercover name. Anyway I’m writing this because each month I want to tell you and just only you about my life. You may be wondering if it’s going to be an ordinary life. But open your eyes as you will begin to read the most extraordinary chapter of my existence as I reveal all.

In my family I am the youngest, and it sucks. Well sometimes it doesn’t because I get more of what I want than the other girls. I’m not going to tell you literally how many of us there is, because believe me; you’ll go crr-ray-zeh!

Now let me introduce you the favouritism in my family. My mum who is in her early 40’s has two favourites out of the whole family. And the answer is obvious. My two brothers. It’s true they say that mums love their sons more and Dads love their daughters more. Because my mum would give any extra food to them and not to us girls.  She won’t even let us eat anything that we have stacked away until our Read the rest of this entry »