Chin up Cheryl

It wasn't long ago that I was blogging about how gutted I was about the fact that my second favourite X Factor judge (Simon was obviously number 1) Cheryl Cole had jetted off to America, to star as a judge on the upcoming USA X Factor. I definitely wasn't expecting to be writing this a little less than two weeks later..

There still haven't been any official words from either Simon or Cheryl, and with representatives for Fox and  Mr. Cowell's production company both declining to comment the rumour mill has subsequently been on absolute fire today about the alleged axing of Cheryl from the American version of X Factor. It's been a trending topic on Twitter since the early hours of the morning, sprawled across several newspaper front pages, all over gossip websites and even discussed on the 6 o'clock news!

It was first reported that Cheryl had apparently been axed because of her strong Geordie accent and that the American producers were worried that their audience wouldn't understand her. However I'm not sure if I buy into that story. I mean they would have surely run a few screen tests etc before choosing her as a judge to see whether or not she (and her voice) would be appropriate for their audience. Wouldn't they? It was then later said that it was in fact her own doing, that she had decided to pull out of the talent show herself because she was feeling homesick and couldn't bear being so far away from family and friends. Then started the rumours that actually it was because she had clashed with Paula Abdul, and there was a complete lack of "chemistry and compassion" between the two female judges.

Rumours are also rife that the former Girls Aloud singer will be replaced by Nicole Scherzinger, who appeared on our version last year in replace of Cheryl after she contracted Malaria on a trip to Africa. (I have 4music on in the background and they're currently playing "Cheryl & Nicole's X Factor Battle!" a run through of each of their videos back-to-back - they sure don't hang around!) Nicole was first hired on USA X Factor to present the live shows alongside Steve Jones. Also, it was only a couple of days ago that Cheryl stepped out in Chicago in a cute polka dotted dress ready to start the auditions there. She smiled and waved to the crowds and posed and spoke to journalists and news crews about how she was enjoying her new role. A prime example of how a lot can change in a couple of days I guess..

Although, as I've mentioned, Cheryl still hasn't come out and said anything about the whole incident yet (I imagine if she has been sacked she'd be pretty embarrassed that it's all so public) Dannii Minogue (who also recently departed ways with X Factor as the schedule clashed with her Australia's Got Talent timetable) has. She took to her twitter page earlier on today to say "Judging roles should come with a life jacket, drop down oxygen and a life raft! Sending Channii love" Oooohhhh..

So did Cheryl jump or was she pushed? Was she sacked because of her accent? Was she homesick? Was it due to her not getting on with Paula? Is the real reason behind her leaving actually because she wants to appear on the new MTV show Geordie Shore? Or is it all a farce and Simon Cowell is actually pulling a massive PR stunt, to muster up media attention and then turn it all around and keep her on the panel? Whatever the answer I'm sure there will be more developments tomorrow.. And in the meantime the only thing I'm really concerned about is whether she'll be returning to our X Factor or not. My fingers are tightly crossed that she does because I really couldn't imagine much worse than having that N Dubz rude-girl being a judge instead. Face, meet my palm!

And by the way Cheryl, if you're reading this, if you have been axed at least now you can come home and watch all the soaps you said you'd desperately miss over in America, drink English tea without having to get it shipped in and also it could have been worse, at least you lasted longer than Kelly Brook did on BGT..!

Obama's Visit

I've mentioned in several previous blog entries my absolute admiration and love for The Obama's and our Royal Family. So imagine my absolute delight when I heard that not only Barack but Michelle as well, would be paying a visit to good old blighty! And first stop, after Ireland, was Buckingham Palace. Oh how I wish I was either a Princess or a fly on the wall for that day..

President Barack Obama and his (fashionable) wife Michelle began their state visit to Great Britain and Ireland on Monday 23^rd May 2011, arriving in Ireland 15 minutes ahead of schedule in fact! Where they were sadly greeted by a cold, blustery (have a look at the picture of Michelle’s hair! Unless it was on purpose, it’s very Jedward-esque, and they were in Ireland after all!) grey and miserable looking Dublin airport. Ahh British weather, you just can’t beat it can you! Their first stop was to meet the Irish President, Mary McAleese and her husband, with whom he planted a tree. Nice for the environment, cheers Barack! Now, don’t get me wrong I’d love to have a celebrity family member. But clinging onto an eighth cousin is, in my opinion, taking things a little too far. Nethertheless Barack Obama’s eighth cousin only bloody lives in Ireland doesn’t he. How convenient. So he scheduled in a little meeting (probably the first and last, I would imagine) to meet his eighth cousin, 26 year old Henry Healy.

Barack gave one main speech whilst over in Ireland. During which he was protected by three sides of see-through bullet proof glass, almost as if he was in a fish tank! He opened his speech with “Hello Dublin. Hello Ireland. My name is Barack Obama, of the Moneygall Obamas, and I've come home to find the apostrophe that we lost somewhere along the way.” Hahaa apostrophe. Geddit?! O’Leary, O’Donnell, O’Bama, literally side-splitting stuff right there! During he gave his speech it was decided that Barack and Michelle would have to leave earlier than expected to fly to England safely due to the Icelandic Volcanic Ash.

Aside from all of the speech giving, the political talks, tree planting and greeting the adoring public Barack and Michelle managed to fit quite a lot into their time in Ireland, including a brief game of golf, a trip to the place where is ancestor's used to live (Moneygall) watching the spectacle that is a performance from Jedward (who were described as the Irish Justin Beibers – ok then!), they also watched Westlife belt out a couple of numbers (did Louis Walsh sort the bookings out or something?!) and they knocked back the compulsory pint of Guinness (which Barack offered to pay for saying “A President pays his bar tab!” Fancy paying for mine on Saturday night as well?!) I’d say that it was a pretty successful trip in all, especially finding that long-lost-distant-relative. I mean talk about absolute bonus! Having landed in England just a little before 11pm I'm guessing he slept, there were no pictures published of him partying, but you never know, stranger things have happened!

The following day, Tuesday 24th May (Dermot O'Leary's birthday!) and not only was the sun out but so too were the Union Jack flags in the Mall, just like for the wedding, they were being flown with proud but this time awaiting for the arrival of the President and the First Lady to the Palace, not the newlyweds. Anyway, this is beside the point but apparently the tap water in Buckingham Palace was deemed "too risky" for the President to sample. Ha! C'mon Barack, fluoride is good, it strengthens the teeth! Anyway Barack and Michelle made their way over to the Palace with Charles and Camilla just before midday. Yippee. They were greeted by HRH The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh. Sadly no hugs, high fives or kisses were exchanged! Now, I've always admired Michelle's fashion sense, however she let me down here. 1-0 to the Queen, in my opinion! I mean, credit where credit is due, she's nearing on 90! Anyway the Obama's were there for lunch and a banquet later on that evening. Which the table setting for which was rumoured to have taken a ridiculous 7 hours, with a tape measure being used to make sure the distances were all even. What the heck!

Next came the moment I was hoping for (well almost, I was a left a little disheartened by the fact Harry wasn't present, but you can't have it all) the moment when Barack and Michelle would meet William and Kate, sorry I mean the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Yay! I can only imagine that Kate is laughing at the ridiculous ensemble Michelle chose to wear. Whereas Kate looked as flawless as ever in a little beige (which emphasised her post-honeymoon glow) high-street number. The camel bandage dress was actually from Reiss, and cost £175, just in case you want to dress like a Princess! This was their first royal duty as a married couple, and seeing as Barack and Michelle couldn't make the wedding it was the first chance the couple had had to congratulate the newly-weds personally. A Clarence House spokeswoman said the couples spent around 20 minutes together, chatting informally, probably about the alleged Ryan Gigg's scandal I'm guessing!

William and Kate returned from their romantic honeymoon in the Seychelles at the weekend and made a special trip to the Palace just to see the President and Mrs Obama. Cute! However they decided not to attend the meal later on that evening to avoid drawing attention away from the Presidential couple! The menu of which was actually released.. Sole with watercress or lamb with roasted corguettes and radish were the main course options. I dislkie both, so it's just as well I already had other dinner arrangements of my own, which sadly meant I couldn't make the banquet last night... ahem! Unlike myself, many other celebrities could attend, and those who did included Sir Richard Branson, Tom Hanks, Kevin Spacey, John Major and Helena Bonham Carter. What a varied bunch! 

Whilst being in the UK Barack has also met with the Prime Minister and had a BBQ, visited Westminster Abbey to lay a memorial wreath, played a bit of ping-pong (as most do on State visits!) and given several speeches, one of which I've just sat through on Sky News. (I spotted Tony Blair in the audience - I think!) The only other thing that I feel worth mentioning about his trip is that he'll shortly be making his way down to Bournemouth  for a Strawberry Daiquiri with me - Barack is paying! Cheers!

What the heel!

This morning I watched last night's episode of Made in Chelsea. It was horrendous. I'm still unsure as to whether they are a group of (really bad) actors or whether they are genuinely like that and basically, to put it politely, complete idiots! I mean it wouldn't come as much surprise as I know many people (who will remain nameless, but those who know me will know who I'm talking about!) who would fit in perfectly in the new Channel 4 programme about those who live the "high-life in Chelsea"! Anyway one of the best lines from last night's show was when a girl (I don't know all of their names) was talking about different ideas to raise money for charity when she came up with the concept of "Louboutins for the blind." The guy she was talking to (I believe his name was Francis) said he didn't understand the connection to which she replied "I know they're like blind and can't see the red-sole, but Louboutin's are like classic shoes.." Wow. As most of you well know, I don't always come out with the most intelligent of quotes, but seriously? Anyway the whole red-sole topic leads me nicely onto this blog, which will be looking into the question of who invented the famous, fashionable and most sought-after shoe sole, The Red Sole...

"I did not really choose the red sole, it's more like the red sole came to me and had to stay with me. It started as a happy accident, which I kept. I was very inspired by pop art so all my drawings were really full of colours. So the first prototype arrives. It's very similar to my designs so I was very happy, but something was missing. Thank God I had this girl with me who was painting her nails. Grabbed her nail-polish - thank you to Chanel for that! I grabbed the nail-polish and I painted the sole."

These were the words from Christian Louboutin himself on how the famous red-sole that feature upon all of his shoe designs came about. Some of you may already know (and if you didn't you will after reading this blog) that Louboutin launched a legal attack against Yves Saint Laurent last month in an attempt to stop them selling "virtually identical" red-soled footwear in shops that stock both the popular brands. However YSL have hit back saying that Mr Louboutin was fraudulent in his claim that he had the 'exclusive' use of the red sole.

The French fashion house, which is apparently being sued for $1 million, says that it has been putting red soles on shoes since the Seventies, which is long before Mr Louboutin who actually only registered his trademark red-soles in the U.S. in 2008. YSL went on to say that the concept has been used for centuries, dating back to red shoes which were worn by King Louis XIV in the 1600s, and then obviously the famous ruby red shoes that were worn by Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. "As an industry leader who has devoted his entire professional life to women's footwear, Mr. Louboutin either knew or should have known about some or all of the dozens of footwear models that rendered his sworn statement false." Yves Saint Laurent claims. Meow! Personally I think there's one, obvious way to solve this disagreement, and that would be to grab a pair of their respected heels and fight it out. May the best designer win...!

Louboutin is a brand favoured by a never-ending list of celebrities, including my personal favourite Queen VB, along with Jennifer Lopez, Blake Lively and Kylie Minogue. Who wore the most beautiful pair I have ever seen, whilst she performed on X Factor last year. I loved them at first glance and made my mum immediately pause the show so I could get a closer look. They were silver and encrusted with diamonds and lots of glitter, which teamed with the eye-catching red-sole resulted in one hell of a stunning shoe. I was very jel. And having immediately commencing my research, I found that the shoes were going to cost a mere three grand *rolls eyes* and hadn't yet been launched or available to buy for us commoners! Amusingly, whilst prancing around the stage, Kylie slipped up in them - it happens to the best of us Kylie, don't worry! Now I'm not saying that YSL isn't as popular a brand, because it is. But for me Louboutin's "thing" is shoes, whereas YSL do amazing clothing, make up and perfumes. 

I often look people up and down (without realising and with no malicious intent behind my stare) just to view their whole outfit and to judge how well it has or hasn't been put together. Whenever I see a glimpse of a red-sole the outfit automatically gets the full 5 stars. No matter how awful the clothes, in my world, a pair of Louboutins can turn any awful outfit right around!

I think, for me, red soles will always scream Louboutin, and my UK size 4 *hint hint* feet will long for a pair, until they're snuggled up and strutting down the street wearing them! Regardless of who invented the red-sole...!

By the way, if after reading this blog you would like to buy me a pair of Louboutins (or YSL's - I'll happily accept either) please do feel free! As I mentioned above I'm a UK size 4, which is a European size 37. Thanks in advance x

Emma Jamieson - Virgin Atlantic Red Hot Reporter

Hi, my name is Emma and I'm 22,
and this poem will hopefully prove I'm the girl for you.
For the last three years I studied to be a 'journo',
I'd love to add this exciting opportunity to my portfolio.

I'm quite well travelled and I love to fly,
I've been to New York, the Caribbean and Dubai.
I like new cultures, to party and to dance,
Je ne comprend pas beaucoup le Francais, but I'd still work in France!

If I'm honest I'm into tanning, lip-gloss and fashion,
but writing has always been my ultimate passion.
I follow on twitter, journalists Porter and Hughes,
they inspire me when I blog about global news.*

I hope you'll agree I'm your ideal Red Hot Reporter
If I'm chosen I'll be raising a glass thats filled with something stronger than water!



The video doesn't have the greatest of sound qualities and I couldn't work out how to flip it round the right way, but have a little watch anyway! I'd love to be given the opportunity to report from Miami for you, for not only the amazing experience and the weather, but also because I know all of the lyrics to Will Smiths hit - Miami! Perfect!

* Please feel free to read previous entries of my blog. Ones that may be of interest are:
Osama Bin Laden Dead http://emma-ezhilton.blogspot.com/2011/05/osama-bin-laden-dead.html
My take of the Royal Wedding http://emma-ezhilton.blogspot.com/2011/04/royal-wedding-friday-29th-april-2011.html
Japan earthquake and tsunami http://emma-ezhilton.blogspot.com/2011/03/japan.html

Check me out on twitter @emmybabee

#redhotreporter

I'd also like to thanks Hannah and Megan for filming me and passing me the props! Superstars!

Cheryl Cole

Good evening lovely readers. Today I have spent my day doing not an awful lot. I did however, bake a cake. Yes you did read that right, I, Emma Jamieson, baked a cake. And after trying it I'm still alive to tell the tale. How brilliant is that! I need to work on its appearance as it looks a bit of a shambles, but taste-wise it was spot on. It was coconut and chocolate flavour, for those of you who were wondering! Anyway although a little off topic that story was infact relevant to this blog because seeing as I haven't done a lot today, I've had Tweetdeck open all day (a programme to use for twitter) and I've been keeping up to date with the old celeb goss, you know what it's like. Bit of heatworld, Perez, femail... anyway this evening there has been a lot of chat about a certain Ms Cole. You know the one who's jetted off to America and left us poor Brit's to face the X Factor without her. Gutted. Yeah her, she's in Cannes for the film festival and she's just rocked up in an absolutely stunning white dress. She looks amazing. So here I am writing a blog on her, why not hey!

Cheryl Cole (or Tweedy as she was known as back then) was born in 1983 and bought up in Newcastle with her family. I've only just worked out that this scarily only makes her 6 years older than me. Damn she's achieved a lot! She first became well known when she took part of Popstars: The Rivals. As a huge Davina McCall fan back then, I was glued to this series (she presented it) and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Although it's fair to say I wasn't that keen on ol' Chez back then, because to be honest she came across as a bit of a pikey. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't great myself, rocking the playboy pencil case and the Von Dutch hats with Juicy Couture velour trackies isn't exactly elegant but I was young and naive.. ahem, anyway... She was chosen by the public nearly ten years ago in 2002 to be one fifth of the girl band: Girls Aloud. And she's been a household name ever since, but not always for the right reasons. Let's discuss further...

Girl's Aloud's very first single "Sound of the Underground" went straight in at number one which also nicely coincided with the Christmas number one for that year. Bonus! Later in 2003 rumours started to surface that Cheryl had allegedly hit a toilet attendant in a nightclub in Guildford. It was said to have been a "racial attack." Naughty! Because of this, Cheryl had to do a total of 20 hours unpaid community service and was ordered to give the toilet attendant £500 (mere pocket money to her!) Just a year later in 2004 Cheryl started dating Ashley Cole. Dickhead. Ahem. They announced their engagement just a year later in 2005 whilst away on holiday in Dubai, very nice! They went on to get married in July 2006 which was obviously featured on OK! magazine like the majority of celebrity weddings do nowadays as they sold the rights to their pictures for a rumoured £1 million. In the pictures it looked like the perfect dream fairytale wedding, and it may well have been, but the marriage was far from a fairytale..

In 2008, just two years after they wed, several stories started to emerge from several different girls about an allegedly unfaithful Ashley. Cheryl's wedding ring came off as the couple took a break. Later on in the same year Cheryl took Sharon's place on the X Factor and in her very first year of being a mentor she had helped Alexandra Burke on her way to winning the show. Cheryl was rapidly becoming a national sweetheart, many felt sorry for her after the whole Ashley saga, however when the wedding ring was seen back on her finger in 2009 and it was publically revealed that Ashley and Cheryl were back together many lost the respect they had once had for the strong, independent Cheryl. I, personally, didn't. She obviously meant it when she took her wedding vows (unlike him) and wanted her marriage to work so gave it another shot. Although I wasn't naive enough to believe that Ashley would change I thought it was good for her for trying.

The same year she started work on solo stuff with people such as Will.I.Am. Cheryl had featured in his song and video for Heartbreaker and the pair have worked well together ever since. Her first solo single was titled Fight For This Love (a subtle choice after the year she'd had, I think you'll agree!) and it sold 134,000 copies in one day alone! It subsequently went straight to number 1 - no surprises there! She also found time to walk up Mount. Kilimanjaro along other celebrities for Comic Relief. Their trek raised an amazing £3.4 million for the deserving charity. And at the end of 2009 Cheryl returned to the X Factor for the second year running and once again was the winning mentor but this year with a boy - Joe McElderry. This year she was noticed for wearing particularly extravagant and bizarre outfits throughout the competition which got everyong talking and often made the headlines more than the actual contestants!

A year on and 2010 arrives and once again Cheryl isn't off the front pages of magazines or newspapers for long. In early February another string of girls come forward (5 to be exact) with pictures, about affairs they'd been having with Ashley. Cheryl moves out of their home and the wedding ring comes off again. During this whole saga she performed at the Brits (I bet she wished she'd chosen a different song as her debut single instead of Fight for this Love!) On 23rd February Cheryl announced that she would be spliting from Ashley, her husband of nearly 4 years. Later in May she filed for divorce citing "unreasonable behaviour" of her estranged husband as the reason for their public break-ip. Late the same day her PR company confirmed the divorce, posting a message on Twitter stating: "We can confirm the divorce. We have no further comment." I remember seeing that tweet and feeling gutted for her, she had obviously wanted to make her marriage work, but people aren't there to be changed, no matter how much you want them to. They were divorced in September. She has since continued to used the surname Cole, and in October 2010 in an interview with Th e Guardian she explained her controversial decision by saying she would continue to use her married name, because changing it back would make her seem "ashamed" of her marriage.

In July 2010, not one to stay away from some drama, Cheryl once again made the headlines, but this time because she had contracted Malaria. (Or so that's what we've been told... hmm!) Anyway after a short trip away to Tanzania with Derek Hough (not overly sure what's going on there..) During an X Factor audition Cheryl complained about feeling weak, almost like she had the flu. The following day during a photo shoot she collapsed and was taken to hospital where she stayed for several weeks and it was very touch and go for a bit. After recovering she returned to the X Factor for the judges houses and the live shows. She also released her second album "Messy Little Raindrops" along with a few more solo singles including "The Promise." She also famously went on Piers Morgan's Life Stories where she spoke for the first time about the Ashley situation and shed a few tears doing so. It made for emotional watching.

It was announced just under 2 weeks ago that Cheryl has been chosen as one of the new judges for USA X Factor and has now swanned off to crack America by doing so, leaving us Brits not only without Simon but Cheryl as well (the only reason I'll be watching X Fac this year is for Derm!) Not only that but she has she had twenty consecutive top 10 singles (including 4 number 1s) with Girls Aloud, as well as 5 albums with the four other girls, two number 1 solo singles and two number 1 solo albums, received five BRIT award nominations, appeared on numerous glossy magazine front covers such as Vogue and Elle, completed 3 series of the UK X Factor and contributed to Girl's Aloud's book "All that Glitters" but amongst all of this she has also managed to squeeze in being the face of L'Oreal, endorsing companies such as Barbie, Nintendo DS and KitKat. Crickey!

And here I am tonight, writing this blog simply because I saw a picture of her on the red carpet in Cannes and I thought she looked incredible. Simply perfect. She really has come a long way from the chavvy looking 19 year old we saw on our tv screens back in 2002. Cheryl is one of the most beautiful and talked-about celebrities of recent times, and who can blame us for talking about her, she's been through quite a lot in the last ten years hasn't she! But with all these stories comes many strong opinions that people have of her. I for one, have always been very pro Team Cheryl. I don't have a bad word to say about her, yeah some of her outfit choices for X Factor have been lets say "interesting" but she's pulled them all off, and for me she can do no wrong (just like Britney and VB.) But, love her or loathe her, you've got to hand it to her, having been bought up on a council estate from Newcastle, she's totally turned her life around and is now one of the most well known and sought after women in the world. She's done al-bloody-right for herself hasn't she.

Good on ya pet!

Miss Lazy

“Today I don’t feel like doing anything. I just wanna lay in my bed. Don’t feel like pickin’ up my phone, so leave a message at the tone, ‘cause today I swear I’m not doing anything, nothing at all.”

Bruno Mars – The Lazy Song has pretty much been my anthem for today. I have tried to follow Bruno Mars' example perfectly. I didn't answer my phone and I didn't brush my hair! In fact today I haven't done anything that involved a lot of energy. Instead I’ve spent my day catching up on all of my favourite American programmes (I have to watch them online. I'm too impatient to wait for them to be aired in the UK!) So three episodes of Desperate Housewives, two of Glee, one of 90210 and another of Gossip Girl later and I hope you’ll agree that I have had a very productive day..

Apart from that today has mainly involved avoiding all social situations. Now, I’m possibly one of the biggest “people persons” going, but today I genuinely couldn’t be bothered with socialising with anyone. I’ve had my phone switched off the whole day. I’ve ignored the house phone every time it’s rung. I’ve only been on twitter once. I checked facebook to see if my friend Coralie had reached Australia safely (she had) and also to see whether Ema was having a good time in California (she is), other than that I have successfully avoided all human contact. I woke up to an empty house - my dad had gone to work, Liam had gone to college and my mum was out - perfect. I have subsequently happily spent the entire day by myself, with the TV and Jazpups (who I actually ventured out of my house for, to walk this morning.)

Sometimes it’s nice to “lay low” and not do an awful lot. But having done it for nearly 10 hours straight now, I’m feeling a little restless, hence this blog. I felt I needed to do something with my day, and walking Jaz for half an hour and hanging out some washing didn’t quite cut it! Having said that I can’t be bothered to write too much more, so whether this will actually be long enough to be considered a “blog” is yet to be decided!

Anyway tomorrow I plan to rejoin the social world. My phone will be switched on, I’ll answer people’s calls, I’ll reply to texts, read BBM’s, go on facebook and most importantly I’ll be all over Twitter like a nasty rash! And I also plan to venture outside of my house for longer than half an hour. I think I’ll go shopping. So, I guess I’ll see you all tomorrow! Until then I'm off to watch my official Royal Wedding dvd's that arrived today. Adios x

Osama Bin Laden dead.

I woke up this morning ready to embrace my last day as a 21 year old, turned on my TV, as you do, and was greeted with the news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed. My first thought was BLOG! My second thought was "actually Emma you normally blog about really trivial things, like bags, shoes and celebrities, you could be a little out of your depth with this one." Then my third thought was "hold on a minute, I could have sworn they killed him years ago." (I was later advised that that was in fact Saddam Hussein - proving the second thought to be accurate!) So yeah this isn't exactly my forte, but hey I'll give it a shot, why not! (Oh and by the way for those who were wondering, my forth thought was "I'm hungry." Standard!)

Let’s start with some background; Osama Bin Laden was the founder of the jihadist organization al-Qaeda, who as a group, were responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States along with numerous other mass-casualty attacks including the 7^th of July one in London. He was on the American Federal Bureau of Investigation’s lists of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives and Most Wanted Terrorists. Since 2001 Osama Bin Laden and his organization had been major targets of the U.S. War on Terror. He had been believed to be hiding near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan along with fellow al-Qaeda leaders. On May 1, 2011, President Barack Obama announced to the world that nine years, seven months and twenty days later, Osama Bin Laden, the ‘mastermind’ behind the attacks, had been killed in a firefight by American forces. He was allegedly found hiding in a million-dollar three-story mansion (alright for some) in Abbottabad, Pakistan. After the news broke crowds gathered outside of the White House, Ground Zero and in Times Square to celebrate.

The first time I personally heard of Bin Laden was after the attacks that took place on America on the 11^th of September 2001. It was the most disturbing event I had ever seen. I remember going home from school and for the first time in my life my eyes were glued to Sky News. I couldn’t stop watching, it’s like when you drive past a crash on a motorway you have a look to see even though you’re wary of what your eyes may come across. It was truly horrific and too much for my 11 year old brain to cope with. I was obviously aware that this was a major event, but it seemed so far away and it hadn’t personally affected me directly. The closest person I knew who was involved was a colleague of my Dad; Eric Picht. He was actually unfortunate enough to then be on a tube when the attack happened in London as well; thankfully he lived to tell the tales unlike so many others. Anyway a few years later and I visited New York with my family and we went to visit Ground Zero. My Dad showed us where a hotel used to be where he used to stay when he worked in New York (how gutted am I that he turned down a position there when he found out my mum was pregnant with me. I could have been a real-life ‘Upper East-Sider’ I’ll never forgive him for this.) Although the rubble had been cleared and there were new buildings all around it still hit home how horrific it had been. Walking the streets around Ground Zero made me remember watching people running for their lives away from the thick smoke and rubble that was following them, screaming, crying and looking for safety, and there I was walking around those same streets, on holiday, clutching my brand new Chloe bag without a care in the world. It really hit home then.

On the morning of the 11^th of September 2001, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four jet airliners. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the aeroplanes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others working in the buildings. Both towers collapsed within two hours, destroying nearby buildings and damaging others. The hijackers crashed a third airliner into The Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane, which the hijackers had redirected toward Washington, D.C., to target the White House. There were no survivors from any of the flights. There were nearly 3,000 victims in total. Devastating.

As today, 2^nd May 2011, has gone by more details have been released and it has been made public that Osama Bin Laden’s body has been buried in the North Arabian Sea, in a process that followed Islamic traditions. His body was washed, wrapped in white sheet and placed in a weighted bag for burial at sea. A U.S. military officer gave scripted religious remarks before the body slid into the sea. I’m sorry but the man ruined thousands of lives why they hell are you respecting him and his beliefs? It also seems a little convenient that we don’t get to see his actual body (not that I’d personally want to.) To me, it’s a little bit fishy (no pun intended) or maybe it’s just me being a massive cynic and wanting actual physical proof that it has happened before I believe.

There’s absolutely no doubt that Osama Bin Laden was an evil, twisted man who totally deserved to die. How anyone could want to ruin so many people’s lives and cause such devastation is totally beyond me. And although I am happy and thankful that he has been killed, it would be naïve of me to think that this would mean the end of it all, although I wish it could be. Sadly, I personally don’t see that there is that much to cheer about; yes thankfully we are rid of one less evil creature and hopefully those families who lost loved ones can feel like they have been served a bit of justice, but he had a loyal group of followers who are just as vengeful as he was and will want to cause as much devastation as he did. However, I live in the hope that they grow bored of spreading such hatred and causing such misery and that maybe one day we can all live in a happy peaceful world where we all get along, skip around holding hands and making daisy chains… but not with Taylor Swift. I hate her.

Nat told me to end the blog on this note (and I quote) "Osama Bin Laden has been killed in Pakistan.. who says you can't take your bin out on a bank holiday?"

Oh and while I'm at it; news just in re: Bin Laden's death. Elton John to record tribute song 'Sandals in the Bin'.

I'm done, I'm off to look at shoes and read Heat magazine before my brain erupts.