If you’ve got something to get off your chest or want to enter into the Great Debate, drop us a line at: About Magazine, Town Hall, Queens Road, Hastings, TN34 1QR. Alternatively email: marketingadmin@hastings.gov.uk
Dear About
I think it is a bad idea for teenagers to have plastic surgery. It has been known that plastic surgery can be dangerous. So although they might think it’s a good idea and it’s supposed to make you look more beautiful, it is not. I think the only way we can convince adolescents is by showing them a video that may put them off or the other thing that could do it, and I suppose it would be more direct, is for someone to go in and talk to them about it.
Ironlatch Avenue
Dear About
I have been ill over the last five years and as part of my recuperation I have spent a lot of time on walks around the town.
During this time I have seen so many things change and think Hastings Borough Council deserves praise for turning these ideas into reality. In particular I have noticed a real difference in St Helen’s Wood and Alexandra Park and gardens and look forward to reading about plans for Burtons St Leonards and the seafront. I have really enjoyed reading About as it has kept me informed on all the plans for the town.
St Leonards
Dear About
Yes our society is looks obsessed and I feel sorry for young people who are pressurised into feeling insecure and undervalues because they are not (or think they are not) good-looking. Every film or television production is dominated by beautiful or handsome people and the camera pans in to reveal flawless features. Over the years I have seen various versions of Jane Eyre and she is always portrayed by a beautiful actress, even though in the novel Jane is a plain (meaning unattractive physically) girl. The same is true of many other stories of plain women reproduced for television and cinema. Why do newsreaders or weather people need to be attractive?
Even religion suffers from the prejudice - nowhere in the Bible does it say Mary is beautiful, but have you ever seen a portrayal of her where she is not? From art to Hollywood she is physically, as well as morally, lovely.
Martin Luther King had a dream that one day we would judge people by the content of their character and not by the colour of their skin. If he were alive today he would find a world far less racially divided than it was but still judging people more by their looks than by their character. In our society nowadays, people of any colour can be newsreaders, but only if they are beautiful or handsome.
It would take a long time to change this obsession with looks but let’s try.
Hastings
Adult enough to get married, adult enough to get a job and pay taxes, adult enough even to join the Army, so why at 16 are you not adult enough to vote? Everyone, it seems, has waded in with an opinion on the subject, from politicians to media pundits, everyone that is except the Prime Minster, Tony Blair.
In the run up to the General Election Mr Blair remained firmly on the fence, saying:
"There is obviously a case for saying: ‘Look, people grow up a lot more quickly, so why shouldn’t you be able to vote."
On the other hand, if we don’t consider the average 16-year-old mature enough to drink alcohol or see the Blair Witch Project, how can we expect them to make informed, responsible decisions on who runs the country?
Are you 16 and think you should be allowed to vote or do you think the rules should stay exactly as they are?
Write with your views to: About Magazine
The Great Debate.
Town Hall, Queens Road,
Hastings, TN34 1QR.
Alternatively email:
marketingadmin@hastings.gov.uk
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This page last updated: 22/06/2005