Cruel Intentions.

It was revealed last week that more universities had thrown their hats into the ring of nine hundred tenners and stated their intention to charge forthcoming students the maximum tuition fee available to them.

There are now 24 universities that have stated their intentions in terms of fees. Possibly most significant of all of last week’s announcements was the one made by Manchester University.

Yes, the pompous older sibling of the three Manchester universities became the first Northern institution to state their intent to charge the maximum tuition fee of £9,000 a year. Incredibly bad news for the North West.

Dear Britain: Get a grip!

What a week it has been. Ed Miliband chose his front benchers set to fight to the death with their Tory-Liberal counterparts; Nato troops were deprived of fuel supplies as Pakistani Taliban fighters destroyed tankers headed for Afghanistan; the Commonwealth games kicked off in Delhi; and the Chilean miners look close to being released from their underground prison.

Of course nobody cares. Because they’re far too busy protesting radically about the goings on at their football club. I am of course talking about the sale, or non-sale, depending on how you look at it, of Liverpool football club. They’ve been bought by another American firm, NESV, owners of the Boston Red Sox. And of course current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett like the idea of making money, so they’re attempting to block the sale.

Now, it’s fair to say Liverpool fans don’t quite like them two. So I wasn’t really surprised to find a video on YouTube of Liverpool fans addressing Tom Hicks, telling him and his mate George to get out. Of course the video is given a bit more clout and publicity by having a few celebs pop in to give their two cents on the matter. I say celebs, there’s Ricky Tomlinson, Sue Johnston and John Bishop. There are others, you can tell who the celebs are as they act like they’re important, but I don’t know who they are from Adam.

This is all well and good but they manage to go way, way over the top. One bloke (maybe a celeb) says: “The only way you‘d understand it, how much we feel about this club, is if someone came to your house and burnt it down.” Really? You bloody idiot, so you’re telling me what they’ve done to a business is the equivalent of someone burning your house down?

Then Ricky T comes along half way through to say that they’ve not just stolen their club, but they’ve stolen the game from them. Now, I love Ricky Tomlinson, but that’s just stupid. How can you steal the game of football from someone? Apparently the football fields in Liverpool are deserted, you won’t find kids running around the streets kicking a football about, and Sky Sports is only available to Everton fans. Thanks Hicks I hope you’re happy.

But the one thing that really annoyed me after watching this video is the inconsiderate moron who stands there with his hood up, wearing sunglasses indoors, and spouting: “Imagine if your family, which is what Liverpool Football Club is to most people, especially the real fans who go home and away, it‘s like you‘re raping all of them at once.”

This needs to end now. People need to stop the use of the word rape to mean ‘casually attacked’. It’s one of my big hates, when someone substitutes words like attack, tackle, beat et al, with rape. I mean, how offensive is that? To even imply that rape is just a casual act of violence or offence is just down-right wrong. Yes Hicks has run Liverpool into the ground, but you can’t come out and say he’s a rapist. It’s ridiculous. Rape actually happens, and I’d hardly think those women would liken what they went through with Liverpool Football Club losing money and being unsuccessful. Such an idiot. Anyone wearing sunglasses indoors is, but this guy is something else.

And what was all that about the “real fans who go home and away”? Some real fans would give their left arm to get to watch their football club at home, never mind home AND away! See, the ‘real fans’ are priced out of watching their own team they once supported from the stands, just as their parents did, and their grandparents and their great-grandparents. All because football, since it’s a business, got greedy. Now your average supporter drives a Merc and drinks fine wines as he watches on. Football clubs don’t care who supports them, as long as they have money. Who cares if Liverpool aren’t successful on the pitch? The real fans, once the lifeblood of the team, don’t get to see that pitch anyway.

So yes, I’d like it very much if these melodramatic fools would stop moaning about Liverpool's situation. I think John Bishop put it best when he said “jog on.”

However, these protests have been dwarfed by the backlash that was found after the weekend’s reality TV show evictions. Sigh. This week it's the plight of Gamu, yet another girl shot into a week’s worth of fame by the juggernaut of light-hearted entertainment that is the X-Factor. Now, I first caught wind of this on Monday morning when someone told me how ‘insane’ it was for Cheryl to reject Gamu and choose two other generic cyborgs instead. Of course I brushed off this ‘news’ story and went about my day.

But it didn’t go away. A couple of days passed and Gamu’s face is up on ITV News with the shocking headline ‘Gamu to be deported’. Wow is this what it’s come to? Sorry, you’re not worthy of half-arsed fame brought by the X-factor, please get out of this country and don’t come back (unless you bring money). But no, it turns out the reasoning behind it is the fact that Gamu’s mother’s visa application was turned down. Seriously that’s why it was on ITV News.

Now the country is up in arms! There are people stood outside her house in Scotland, presumably to protest, although they’re not so much protesting but trying to get themselves on TV which is why this whole story even exists in the first place. Then we have a reporter, who must be dismayed that she went to university for this, waving a microphone at the closed door of Gamu’s house interviewing the mother about paper-work.

Okay, first of all, people need to stop complaining about Gamu’s rejection. The show is called X-Factor, it is not a talent show for crying out loud! I mean, Cheryl Cole is one of the judges! She couldn’t find a haystack if you placed one on top of a needle, so why do you think she’ll be able to pick someone talented from a bunch of clowns? Obviously I’ve heard Gamu sing in the last week as I haven’t been living underneath a rock for seven days, and yes, she can sing. But so what? A lot of people can sing. She hasn’t exactly made Cheryl’s water turn to wine has she? Will.I.Am did that. Annoyed.I.Am

Secondly, just because you have a Facebook group it doesn’t mean you can change the law in the UK to allow her to stay here. This must happen to hundreds of people every week. But do people care about them? No. But Gamu was on X-Factor, she’s a national treasure just like Joe McElderry and Kerry McGregor (yes, I just did a Google search). It actually got to the point where new Labour leader Ed Miliband was actually asked his opinion on the matter. Of course he stated the bleeding obvious saying that they can’t make exceptions for X-Factor contestants. I’m sure he wasn’t expecting that question when he was elected.

Scotland's Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop has actually written to the Home Secretary regarding Gamu’s situation stating the following:

“As you will also no doubt be aware, Ms Ngazana's daughter, Gamu Nhengu, has been participating in the X Factor television show. Gamu has demonstrated that she is a hugely talented singer, and potentially a great asset to Scotland's cultural community… I would strongly urge you to take a personal interest in the family's circumstances, to ensure that all relevant factors are properly and fully considered, so that any options which would allow them to stay in Scotland are fully explored.”

You hear that immigrants? Want to stay in the UK? Get yourself on the X-Factor. You want to know the real winner in all this? Simon Cowell, who “really feels for Gamu's situation.”

People need to stop for a minute to look at what they’re bothered about. Aid worker Linda Norgrove, who was taken hostage by terrorists in Afghanistan, was killed this week in a rescue attempt. She had dedicated her life trying to help others who desperately needed aid. If you interviewed the population of Britain and asked them if they knew who Linda Norgrove was, very few would know. But ask the same people who Gamu Nhengu is and a heck of a lot more would be able to tell you. I certainly didn’t see a massively publicised Facebook group campaigning for the release of Linda Norgrove.

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The full video of the whining Liverpool supporters is below. See how far you can get through it before stopping it.