Contemporary Issues

[Lexmarker]

Just found this website, looks really good. I am at Uni and would like to know what social issue's in the UK, really get your back up. This would help me choose a contemporary social issue for my coursework! Thanks All

[naomi24]

reinganum I don't disagree with anything you say, and the appalling hygiene in our hospitals is at the very top of my agenda. Hospital managers are responsible for spending the tax-payers money in whatever way they deem appropriate, and ultimately they must shoulder the blame for our filthy third-rate hospitals, and for hospital-acquired infections. There doesn't seem to be much evidence of commonsense within the management of the NHS, since if such abysmal failures occurred within the private sector, the contractors would be swiftly dispensed with, and the situation would not be allowed to continue - and if the manager responsible for employing such inefficient workers didn't resolve the issue, his services would be swiftly dispensed with too. Hygiene should be the top priority in any hospital, but it's not. If it were, then the incidence of hospital-acquired infections would be reduced significantly, saving the NHS millions in subsequently trying to cure them. The standard of cleanliness in our hospitals is a complete and utter disgrace to civilised society.

[China Doll]

HI Naomi

With regards to mental health as a threat to society. There is some evidence of a rise in depression in young, black men which is not being dealt with and no one quite seems to know the cause. I find it quite remarkable myself and I wonder what the implications are to society on this issue. I certainly think some folk in News would have a field day with it.

Depression and mental health issues are also on the rise in society and more and more people are suffering with them. Why? Genetics? There is a gene called FAT which has been identified but my understanding (such as it is) is just that it makes you more prone to depression but you'd need other contributory factors (nature v nurture and all that)., is it how we work and live? If that's the case then society really needs to take a look at itself as if we carry on like this it won't get any better. Victim mentality? Well maybe in some cases but I would say this society is more known for stoic attitudes and shoving stuff under the carpet. So I don't know all the answers but I do think it's a bigger issue than is given credit.

Talking about religion the way it has been on this and other threads I find worrying because religion is not to blame for what's happening at the moment. Extremism is. Also, it smells rather like the Irish situation several years ago. That was put down to the proddys and the catholics fighting for years but the simple truth is it was all politics. Current circumstances seem the same to me with varying themes. So to me religion seems like a red herring at least and at my most cynical it's the old sh1tty stick used to strike up fear, create divisions and as a form of control which are the very reasons why I dislike organised religion of any form.

[naomi24]

China Like everyone else, I have no idea why young black men should be prone to mental illness. Do you think it's confined to young black men who embrace gun and knife culture, etc, and who are less educated and come from poorer backgrounds, or does it manifest across the board?

At one time we were a society that presented a 'stiff upper lip'; we kept our problems to ourselves, and we resolved our problems, but I don't believe that is so now. You only have to look at popular TV shows like Jeremy Kyle, or at Body and Soul or Chatterbank on AB to see that many people are only too willing to ask for help and are not averse to telling all, or to displaying their innermost feelings in public, so I do believe a 'victim' mentality exists. However, I think you're right when you say this is a bigger issue than we give it credit for. Do you think it's lifestyle, peer pressure, and the 'must have but can't afford' syndrome, a general lack of respect - either for self or otherwise, too much freedom, the influence of TV and celebrity, lack of spare time, pressure of work, the pressure to be thin, cool, rich, beautiful, smart? What?

You're absolutely right in saying that religion is not fundamentally to blame for the world's problems. However, although politics is at the heart of it, Muslim bombers are religious extremists, so in a way it's a combination of the two. I believe the motivation of those who train the bombers is political, and those recruited to carry out the deed are indoctrinated by their masters to hate the west - but they also have the expectation of eternity in paradise in their sights. It's a totally different mindset and one we will never fully comprehend. Without religion we would have only politics, which is bad enough - but there's no doubt that life would be simpler.