Do you remember that old
Christmas cracker joke – ‘what’s black and white and red all over?’ Apparently
these days the answer is ‘an embarrassed Zebra’, in my day the answer was ‘a
newspaper’! And I have to say like the answer, I thought newspapers as we once
knew them, were on the way out – killed off by the rise of on-line versions. Indeed, I've not bought a newspaper for many a year. Thankfully, one
of my neighbours does and periodically, he very generously donates a pile of
old newspapers so I have something to light my log fire with.
However, in a research report
published in February this year, Neil Thurman (from City University) revealed
that 89% of newspaper reading still uses the real thing, with just 7% on mobile
devices and 4% on computers. His research showed that people
who read print versions spent on average 40 mins reading the news per day, but for those
reading on-line versions, just some 30 seconds a day! On-line versions have sometimes doubled or even tripled
the overall readership of newspapers. The Mail remains the most popular newspaper in the UK,
with some 30% share of the total market.
One of the papers I read last week
was the Sunday Times, the South African version that is. I came across an
article written by Mlambo-Ngcuka, who was South Africa's first female
deputy president. Since 2013 she has headed the UN body charged with promoting
gender equality and women’s empowerment. As well as discussing pay in-equality,
she said that violence was the biggest challenge facing many women today. Across the
world, 50% of female murder victims are killed by partners of family members. 1
in 3 women suffer physical or sexual violence during their lifetime and around
120 million girls worldwide (which is about 1 in 10) have experienced forced
intercourse or other sexual acts.
The article also reported on the global
campaign aimed at stopping violence against women and in particular, sexual violence.
The #RedMyLips campaign invites people to wear the brightest red lipstick (or ‘rock
your red’) during the month of April (international sexual assault awareness month)
both as a sign of solidarity and to raise awareness of the issues. You can find out more about the campaign here – and the campaign welcomes both men and women
to take part, joining together in speaking out and making a difference. Whilst
the majority of rapes (90-98%) are committed by men, men and boys can also be victims
of sexual assault, abuse and rape. 1 in 6 boys experience sexual abuse before the
age of 18 and 1 in 33 men will experience rape or attempted rape in their lifetime.
And last week I took time to read
the European Medial Journal – whose March cover was Black, White and Red – this
is a journal that both publishes curated material alongside original papers. They
would not be afraid to publish hard hitting articles. However last week they were
one of the many on-line news sites who picked up on the Marmite story. You either
read it or you didn’t – loving Marmite is a black and white issue. Me, I am in the ‘loving
it’ contingent and try and have Marmite every day.
It appears that eating Marmite is
good for you. In a recent study one group were given Marmite every day the other group
peanut butter (I have both together on toast – sometimes with cucumber too). The
study showed that the group who ate Marmite had healthier brains than those who
only ate peanut butter. The science behind this is that Marmite appears to
boost levels of the neurotransmitter gamma-amino-butyric acid. Importantly this
acts to reduce anxiety. Marmite has 116 times more vitamin B12 and
3 times vitamin B6 as peanut butter. While Marmite maybe a quintessential
British food, it has always been associated with a ‘love it or hate it’ debate.
As I have already said I love
Marmite – equally I love the famous 1923 Red wheelbarrow and white chickens
poem written by William Carlos Williams, the first line of which seems poignantly
important in the context of the #RedMyLips campaign:
So much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
gazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens
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