Canada: A Ban Too Far?

News emerged this week, Oliver Rawlings readers, that Canada banned among others things, marmite. It seems ridiculous but it’s true. What we wanted to ask this week is; is this ban too far?

Canada announced last week that it was now banning the importation or sale of several key classic British foods and drinks. Amongst others these included marmite, Irn-Bru, Ovaltine and Lucozade. However this wasn’t just some arbitrary ban, there was a reason for it.

It was done on health grounds. Basically the owner of a British store was told to stop selling the products because food officials discovered that these items contained an illegal additive. Well, at least one that’s illegal in Canada.

Subsequently the man was made to stop selling these times. However it brings up a key issue for food enthusiasts and culture warriors everywhere. How much should we be restricting certain food stuffs?

It comes at a time where more and more people are worrying about what we put into our bodies. In particular people are worried about the effects of E-Cigarettes and sugar. This is likely to add to the chorus of people who are saying that we should be enforcing stricter laws about what we put into our bodies.

This is a debate that has been raging foryears, and it’s unlikely that we’re ever collectively going to arrive at a conclusion that everybody’s happy with. It’s one that asks how much should we be a nanny state?

We are somewhat of a nanny state these days. We restrict most drugs; we also have major restrictions on alcohol and tobacco. We have these restrictions in place because we recognise, to some extent, that we have to have rules in place to protect people from themselves.

However we certainly haven’t gone as far as this before. Addictive substances such as alcohol and tobacco are still legal and widely available. Sugar is laced into practically everything we eat and only Canada has banned these items; we still consume them by the bucket load.

So it’s a balancing act, which isn’t that surprising really. The real question is that now Canada has raised attention to these items, will other countries follow. Will Britain one day treat marmite as contraband? Only time will tell the answer to this question many of us never thought we’d have to ask. 

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Should ‘Get Lucky’ Have Gotten Lucky

Every so often at the Oliver Rawlings blog I like to step back from the current affairs and explore pop culture. With the Grammy Awards airing last night, I wanted to take this post to ask, should ‘Get Lucky’ have gotten lucky?

I’m asking this because Get Lucky; the Daft Punk collaboration with Nile Rodgers and Pharrell won one of the ultimate gongs; Record of the Year.

This wasn’t the only time Daft Punk got lucky on the night.  The tracks album, Random Access Memories, took home the prestigious Album of the Year award. However one of the night’s other top gongs, Song of the Year, went to New Zealand starlet Lordes for her mega hit ‘Royals.’

So what I want to ask is did get lucky deserve to indeed get lucky? Well we always knew it had the makings of a mega hit. It was the collaboration between three of the most successful acts in modern music history. Nile Rodgers in particular has been the moving force behind many hits; perhaps most notably Madonna’s ‘Like a Virgin.’

So when it came out, you might have imagined that such a dream team would fall flat on its face; mega collaborations that are hyped up are often disappointments.

However this certainly wasn’t the case with Get Lucky. It was a monster hit. It topped charts all over the world, it made a lot of money and it entered the hearts and minds of people everywhere. It could very well be a top contender for the most successful record commercially in 2013.

However the Grammy’s aren’t just about commercial success. Time and time again commercial success actually hinders an acts crusade to score a Grammy; it’s almost as though they see commercial success as a badge of dishonor; as though they’re no longer worthy of being cool.

However Get Lucky wasn’t just a commercial success; it was also a critical one.  Critics around the world went crazy for it. If we’re being honest only ‘Royals’ itself saw as much critical acclaim as Get Lucky did.

So it appears that the Grammy’s really did get it right for once, and this time they actually managed to pick a track that is both critically and commercially successful. Here’s hoping that trend continues!

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What Should You Be Looking For In Christmas Television?

It really is the season now isn’t it OliverRawlings readers? You really can’t escape Christmas now. The decorations are going up all around you. The lights are beginning to blind you. You’re putting up your tree and making it look lovely. You’re really getting in the mood and preparing for the big day. When the big day rolls around you want to make sure that you really enjoy yourself. You want to make sure that all the presents are just what everybody will want. That the food is ready and waiting and will be delicious. You also want to make sure that you get the best in Christmas TV possible.

Christmas TV really does have a polarising reputation doesn’t it? On the one hand there are things that we love. There are programmes that have amazing Christmas specials. These are the ones we spend all year looking forward to.  The ones that prove iconic. Then there are the Christmas movies they play every year. The documentaries which rehash the same subject over again. The types of TV that puts you to sleep and makes you wish that the day would just end already. So how do we discern one from the other. How do we define the characteristics of good Christmas telly? Well there are a few things it has to have.

Drama: It has to hold you on the edge of your seat. It has to make your mouth dry and you heart start racing. It has to be exciting and daring and make you feel for the characters on the screen. It’s a special occasion; it makes sense then that you want to watch a story that’ll have you biting your nails and wanting more.

Comedy: Christmas has always traditionally been a time for merriment. People want to feel good about themselves. They want to enjoy the holiday and have a bit of a laugh every now and again. You need to watch something that’ll have you in stitches.  Something that really is laugh out loud funny.  It needs to have the ability to make you feel good and leave you with a warm feeling.

Balance: You need something with both drama and comedy to really make a good Christmas special. This is the telly that people are waiting for throughout the year. They don’t just want one thing. They want something that is going to tick all the boxes. This is the thing that separates the good Christmas telly from the great Christmas telly. It’s the hardest bit to get right.

Heartwarming: At the end of the day, it needs to make people feel good. It has to have them believing once again in the innate goodness of humanity. That’s what the holiday season is all about after all. 

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The Emergence of Chris Christie: Strongest Republican Candidate 2016?

Hello Oliver Rawlings fans! How have you been? I’ve been somewhat sucked in. What do I mean by this? Well I think you all know by now that I’m an avid follower of politics; I can’t help it, there’s something extraordinarily intriguing about the power plays, secrets, lies and grandstanding of politics; it’s like Hollywood on acid. That means that of course I spent last week hooked on the American off year elections. There were three races to watch; the governors’ races in Virginia and New Jersey and the mayoral race in New York. What I want to talk to you today about is the New Jersey race.

Incumbent moderate Republican governor ChrisChristie won re-election by a landslide, it wasn’t even close. What’s interesting to note is that even a fair number of Democrats voted for him; the women and minorities coalition that has been credited with electing Obama to the Presidency both times somewhat went for Christie. This all seems odd remembering the fact that Christie is a Republican; he has bucked the national trends and is particularly being noted as being successful in re-election in a deeply blue state. Now many are hailing Christie as the obvious choice of Republican candidate in 2016. So, what’s the likelihood of a Christie 2016 campaign?

If Christie were to get the Republican nomination, he’d have a fighting chance, a good chance even, and that’s more than you could say for most Republican presidential hopefuls like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. That’s because Christie’s a proven moderate. Through his governorship in New Jersey Christie has proved that he can work across the aisle and work with Democrats and the American people are sick of a Tea Party backed movement that categorically refuses to work with Obama and other Democrats. Plus Christie’s approval ratings are through the roof.

However there are two reasons why Christie may have a hard time running. The first is his own party; specifically the Tea Party wing. Quite frankly; they don’t like him. Hell, these days unless you’re Ted Cruz, they don’t like you. They’re on a movement to ‘purify’ the Republican Party and they’re not letting anyone get in their way. This wouldn’t be important except they’re notorious for voting in primaries to pick candidates and going to huge efforts to oust candidates they don’t like. The Tea Party will do everything they can to stop Christie getting the nomination. If they get their way, Ted Cruz will cruise to the nomination; but he’ll lose the election. America doesn’t want a Tea Party President.

The other reason goes by the name Hillary Clinton. To be honest, she’s one of the few American politicians that could beat Christie quite easily and that’s because she’s more popular, more well-known and has access to fundraising avenues that he could only dream of. If Clinton runs, she will be America’s first female President; she’s hugely popular with the so called Obama coalition. The only silver lining to this for Christie is that nobody is sure if she is going to run yet.

In conclusion, Chris Christie is probably the best chance the Republican Party has at taking back the White House. However their tendency to pander to the Tea Party Wing means that he has a fight on his hands for the nomination. Then, after that, he better pray Hillary decides not to run; I’m pretty sure at this point she’s unstoppable. 

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Oliver Rawlings - What the Munich Painting Discovery Might Mena for the World of Art

Hello Oliver Rawlings fans. Growing up I was drawn to art of all kinds. Whether it was the master pieces of the renaissance artists, the landscapes of the romantic artists or the abstract musings of the modern impressionists, I’ve always appreciated a skillfully depicted piece of art. Art was what got me into photography; what taught me the value of taking something beautiful and capturing it into an image for the world to see. This is why the discovery of any type of art that was thought to be lost excites me in a way that little else does. It provides me with hope for the future of the medium.

It’s been a few weeks now since the world discovered how a stash of art had been found at an apartment in Munich. This discovery actually happened a few years ago, although it’s only just been revealed to the general public. What happened was that an old German man, whose father had worked for Hitler as an art dealer back when the Nazis terrorised the continent, was found to have over a thousand works of art that were thought to be lost after the Nazi’s stole them during the war. They stole them either because they labeled it ‘degenerate art’ that needed to be taken away from public consumption or because they wanted it for an art museum Hitler was planning to build in his home town of Linz in Austria.

It’s been a few weeks now since the world learned of this discovery. The dust has been given a chance  to settle and the press had finally stopped reporting on it 24/7 and those of us with a genuine interest for art can finally start to try and speculate what this treasure trove of discovered works may bring to the field of artistry. Most obviously it brings us works we thought we had lost forever. These were some of the works that we thought we’d never get back, that our children and grandchildren would never get a chance to see. Now, once they’ve been cleared by the German government and put on display then many future generations are going to get a chance to see the works of these masters of the craft and learn from them. We thought that chance was lost.

However it says a lot more about what we still might find. The man in question supposedly knows what happened to the Amber Room, a room’s worth of art that disappeared after it had been stolen from St Petersburg in Russia. It makes me think, there are still many works of art that the Nazi’s stole that we have long thought to be lost. What if we’re still able to find them? That’s the true value of this discovery; it gives art lovers all over the world hope that we will still find the pieces that were stolen from us so many years ago.

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The Dangers of a Good Cocktail

Hello Oliver Rawlings followers. I’m coming back to work after a weekend that saw me drink more than my fair share of cocktails and as you could probably guess, I’m feeling a little worse for wear. To be honest, even in my office alone, I’m hardly the only one. I walked in this morning to be greeted by a sea of miserable faces and pale complexions; however the show, so to speak, must go on, and I guess I’ll just have to power through and drink a lot of coffee.

Skittles make me angry!!! Rawwr!

I blame this all squarely on the new cocktail I tried this weekend. Known as the ‘Skittle’, I’m not entirely sure what it had in it, but it was a luminous green and tasted of skittles. It sounds like a recipe for disaster, and folks, it really was. I also discovered the lager cocktail, yes folks, you heard me right, the lager cocktail. It was called the flaming Doctor Pepper and was comprised of Amaretto, Vodka and Lager. You wouldn’t think so, but it went down a treat (as evidenced by the next day’s epic hangover). Now as I’m regretting everything and thinking about how it’s all the cocktails fault, I’m asking myself, what is it about the cocktail that makes it so appealing?

It’s time for a history lesson now. The cocktail, at least as we know it, was devised by bartenders in the 1920’s to promote alcohol to women. At that point, alcohol was thought to be the province of men. However, the 1920’s, which was a time of technological evolution and economic growth, saw women, for the first time, venturing out to bars and clubs and there was a growing market that alcohol professionals knew they had to tap  into. They did, and the cocktail was born. It has since gone from strength to strength, with the invention of such classic drinks as the Mojito, Sex on the Beach, Sidecar and many, many more, which have contributed to cocktails growing to become a billion dollar industry.

So, now we know that cocktails were created to appeal originally to women, we have to ask ourselves how this happened. The idea was that back then, it was thought that women couldn’t handle the harsh  bite of alcohol (sexism rears its ugly head),so it was thought that adding elements such as fruit juice and mixing two different types of alcohol together could produce a drink with a  sweeter, milder taste. It obviously worked, and more successfully than ever imagined, since it came to appeal to a centuries worth of alcohol drinkers.

At the end of the day, I may be moaning but it was a fantastic weekend, and it’ always good to try something new. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time; a cocktail may be more enticing than ever, but we’re all adults, we can make our own decisions, and we are responsible enough to live with the consequences. That’s why they invented coffee!

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Oliver Rawlings on Why the Smartphone Changed his Life

Hello Oliver Rawlings readers! Do you remember the days of the flip phone, pay as you go and ‘Snake’? I do; like everyone else who’s just entering adulthood, I grew up in a world where the mobile phone came to dominate the hearts and minds of kids everywhere. We’ve grown, developed and changed right along with our phones. Society graduated from the brick phones of 90’s TV shows, to the smaller models to the flip phone and finally to the Smartphone.

Picard uses Android!

I’ll admit, when I first heard about phones such as the Blackberry and the IPhone, I was just as sceptical as everyone else. After all, my phone could make calls, my phone could text, I could play games on my phone and it even had a camera. Like the majority of us, I started to look down on the celebrities and public personalities who started promoting the smartphone in their masses and seemed to take it with them everywhere. It got to the point where you couldn’t open a magazine or internet tab without being greeted with a picture of a celeb clutching their Blackberry in one hand and a Starbucks in the other, consumed in their little hand held device.

However, as my friends and family gradually succumbed to the seduction of the Smartphone, I couldn’t resist the allure forever. Yes friends, I forsook my derision and went and got myself my very own smartphone. Now, it wasn’t quite as sophisticated as the ones we have now, but it quickly sucked me in and opened me up to all the possibilities this one little piece of technology could bring into my life. I’ve never been the same since.

The biggest change to my life had to be the smartphones introduction of 3G internet into my life. Like anyone my age, like all of you out there, I grew up with the internet, I grew up learning just how valuable it can be to live your daily life with the internet there to help you. Although the smartphone made it evolve to the next level. Now I use the Google maps app whenever I get lost (I get lost a lot!) I use the Twitter app to talk to people, I use Snapchat to snap an amusing pic and give people a laugh. I do online banking on my phone, I post pictures to my Facebook profile on my phone, I even use it to check when the next bus is due; it’s just that amazing.

I may sound like a hypocrite, but I bet you can all relate. In 2013 the whole world has caught on to the smartphone craze. The next time you catch a train, have a little look around and observe how many people are looking down at their phones, not even making a call. It makes me wonder how the smartphone will change the way we live our lives and interact with each other. Is the smartphone as big a cultural advancement as it is a technological one? Only time will tell but I have a sneaky suspicion that the answer to that question just might be yes.

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