Wise Words for You

Mental health problems affect 1 in 4 people every year and no one should feel ashamed. By sharing our experiences, together we can end the stigma. Over the next 31 days starting tomorrow, we will share people's stories.

ScotRail customers will be able to travel on the first new Hitachi class 385 electric train this week, the rail operator has announced. The first of the class 385 Express trains will run on the Glasgow Queen Street-Edinburgh Waverley via Falkirk High route from Tuesday, 24 July. The remainder of the new class 385 trains for that route will be phased in over the course of the coming months, before the rollout is extended to other routes across the Central Belt.   The new Hitachi trains are part of ScotRail’s £475 million rolling stock investment, following the £858 million electrification of the line between Edinburgh and Glasgow by Network Rail Scotland. Key elements of the overall investment programme include: Significantly upgraded stations along the route, including the redevelopment of Glasgow Queen Street; Electrification of the Central Belt, including the route between Glasgow/Edinburgh and Stirling/Dunblane/Alloa; Extended platforms at Glasgow Queen Street and Edi...

We all love Netflix, that's why it's basically killed broadcast TV, but let's not beat around the bush: it can be an absolute mess to navigate. The TV app in particular just throws categories at you randomly with no apparent rhyme or reason. Sure, the 'Continue Watching' strip is at the top, but sometimes we've had to scroll down through some really obscure stuff to get our personally-curated list of things we want to watch ( Pokémon , essentially). Well, rejoice, fans of Netflix on your TV. The streaming giant has unveiled a new redesign for the TV apps, and it's a welcome change. ©    Netflix Similar to the YouTube apps on TV, there is now a sidebar to the left that allows you to quickly access the search function, your list, new additions to the service and separate categories for movies and TV shows. In  a blog post , Director of Product Innovation Stephen Garcia said: "Our research has shown us that while a me...

From the Romford Recorder A new bright green 86 bus that will travel throughout east London honouring the memory of a much-loved bus driver has been unveiled. The Stagecoach bus, sponsored by Macmillan Cancer Support, has been rebranded in honour of former driver Martyn Henderson, who lost his own battle with cancer in July 2017 – it even bears his name in large lettering down the side of the vehicle. Martyn, who had become Assistant Garage Operations Manager at the Romford garage in North Street before he died, was supported throughout his treatment by the charity, and to commemorate his passing, Stagecoach and Macmillan have announced a new £50,000 partnership over the next two years. The bus, which is just a small part of a public awareness campaign the two organisations have planned, was unveiled at a special ceremony at the Romford depot on Monday, July 9. The emerald 86 bus will soon be seen travelling from Romford through Chadwell Heath to Ilford and then onto St...

It has become second nature for us to pick up our phones and log on to our social media profiles immediately after waking up. We mindlessly scroll through hundreds of posts. We comment, we react, we ‘like’ and we ‘share’. Many of us prefer not to think of the disadvantages of social media, because of how dependent we are on it as a form of entertainment — a way to kill boredom. For many of us, it is an unknown addiction. Although we jokingly admit that we can’t get enough of Instagram or Facebook, we sometimes don’t realise how much we need to look through our phones to fulfil the little hole inside us. According to a recent survey by the Royal Society for Public Health in the United Kingdom, social media has been described as more addictive than cigarettes and alcohol. Just imagine you smoked as much as you checked your feed. Are we truly aware of how many times a day we pick up our phones to look at other people’s perfectly curated online life? It is an amazing pl...

Two international giants Hitachi and Bombardier, who employ over 5,000 people in Britain, have confirmed they intend to submit a joint bid to design, build, deliver a fleet of bespoke state-of-the-art high speed trains for HS2. The proposed partnership, building upon recent high speed success in Italy, offers HS2 a world class team that has established manufacturing and servicing centres in Britain. The collaboration brings together a deep understanding of very high speed rail with a strong reputation for building and maintaining highly reliable, cutting-edge and iconic trains. The team can deliver the most efficient and advanced rolling stock for Europe’s most demanding and exciting transport project. The trains will run on a new high speed network and connect 8 out of 10 of Britain’s largest cities, increasing capacity, delivering greater comfort, faster journeys, while contributing to prosperity and growth. The joint bid would support the UK Government’s aims of boosting UK job...

“There are certain times,” thought Lisa, “when you know things have gone from really bad to  out of control .” The party had started out fine, like they always do. And things got a little crazy, like they always do. But Lisa’s friend Sarah, a small framed senior had had way  too much alcohol  and had been throwing up for an hour while going in and out of consciousness. There were  no adults  around and they were miles from the nearest town, at somebody’s vacation home. “We need to  call 999  or take Sarah to the hospital now!” Lisa said to the group of five friends in the bathroom with Sarah. “No way ,” one of the girls said. “We’d be in so much trouble. My parents cannot know I’m even here! If they find out, this will be my last time out of the house before leaving for college!” Lisa felt  more scared  than ever before in her life. She felt in her gut that Sarah was worse off than any of them could deal with, and if they didn...

Noah  faced his earliest  ethical dilemma  in the first grade. Most of the time he felt quite happy at school; he liked his teacher and had a lot of friends from different groups. But there was one thing he really didn’t like at all. Every day he saw the same boy in his class  tease and bully  the same girl during recess. The boy never bothered Noah, but was very careful to tease the girl where teachers couldn’t see it happen, or during times adult supervision was scarce. It was the same thing every day: the boy would approach the girl, call her names, and follow her until she was just on the verge of crying. Then he would laugh and walk away saying,  “ I was just kidding!” What was hardest for Noah to deal with was the fact that  no one ever said anything  to the teachers. Sometimes he or someone else would try to stick up for the girl, but that only stopped the teasing that day. It would just begin again the next. And every day N...

Erin knew something was weird  when her parents greeted her after school by saying, “Nice report card, Honey! We knew you could do it!” She put her backpack down and picked up the report card from the kitchen table. English: A, Maths: A-, World Civilisation: B+, Chemistry: A-. Erin looked again. And again. The chemistry grade was wrong , there was no doubt about it. Erin thought back to last week. She went into the final exam with an A-, but she received a C- on the exam. She had been  devastated . So much so, that she didn’t say anything about it to her parents. So, what happened? Her teacher must have either miscalculated Erin’s grade, or hit a wrong key when he was entering the grades. The science final was worth forty percent of her grade. That would make her chemistry grade a B-. The real question was,  “Now what?” For better or worse, today was the first day of semester break. Erin had a week before she would see her teacher again. She had a week to ...

Ben  said good-bye to his friends and started heading for home. He was in a great mood. He had two weeks off from school for winter break, he had just passed the test for his driver’s license, and with no homework he could hang out with his friends whenever he wanted to. Things couldn’t be better. He turned his iPod up and smiled. As he passed the last row of stores before the hill leading to his house something caught his eye at the bank. Something was sticking out of the ATM machine. As he got closer,  he saw it was cash. Ben looked around. There was nobody. No cars, nobody walking nearby. Someone must have just used the machine and then forgotten to take the money.  Whoever it was, was gone now.  He walked over to the machine and took the money out.  Sixty dollars.  There was also a receipt sticking out. Ben looked around again. Still no one. He could turn the money in at the bank tomorrow—it was after hours now. But, really, it was sixty ...

Have you ever wondered why libraries have special atmospheres? They are places where many congregate but where silence is the code. Quietness in an atmosphere means there is the presence of quiet minds, and quiet minds are not only relaxed, they can concentrate easily and create more freely. Imagine you are in the library of your mind, browsing the accumulated wisdom on the shelves of your life – listen to the silence, be aware of the stillness. Now you can really listen. Now you can really hear. Now you can really think. Now you can create. And behold, you are an artist. Did you not know that silence and creativity are lovers?

 “Omigod. That is so  retarded! ”              Katy cringed.  She hated that word. She knew it was meant as a joke but it wasn’t a joke to her because it made fun of people who had done nothing to deserve it and have no choice. She thought about how many times a day she heard that word. And that wasn’t the only word that made her cringe these days. If she heard the word  “gay”  one more time used to mean someone was stupid or weird she was going to scream. Ever since her fifth grade social studies teacher spent a lesson on language and how words shape how we see the world, she started seeing examples everywhere that proved him right. But now that she realized all this, what was she supposed to do?             The following week, Katy was in the cafeteria when she heard a friend at her table complain that the science teacher was making hi...

Many people think we celebrate the Fourth of July because it is the day we received our Independence from England. Have you ever wondered why we celebrate the Fourth of July or how the Fourth of July holiday came about? Many people think we celebrate the Fourth of July because it is the day we received our Independence from England. While those people are thinking along the right track that is not the entire reason that we celebrate the Fourth of July, nor is it the reason that the Fourth of July holiday came about. Way back in the 18th century the United States was not considered the United States. In fact, what we now call states were actually called colonies. The United States was actually an extension of England. People traveled from England aboard ships to settle in America, but eventually differences in life, thought, and interests began to develop which caused a rift between Britain and America. When the colonies were first settled they were allowed to pretty much develo...

Devon had just been elected  school president of his boarding high school. He had chosen a student senate to serve under him, whose job would be to help make all decisions that affected the student body. It was the end of his junior year and he and the new senate were to begin their positions in the fall. Devon was  well liked  in the school community and  respected  by both students and faculty. Everything seemed perfect for the start of the new school year. The following week Devon made a  dumb mistake . He signed out with some friends to have dinner in town and came back with alcohol on his breath. When approached by the faculty on duty in his dorm, he, along with his friends, admitted  he had been drinking . In the morning Devon was asked to meet with both the current senior class president with her senate and Devon’s incoming senate. Here is where things got  messy . The current senate was impressed with the fact that this wa...

Andrew  spent most of his time feeling like  he could never please his father . In elementary school, he made the baseball team but his Dad tracked the time Andrew spent on the bench and posted his findings on the refrigerator. Once he studied all night for his history test and when he actually got an A-, his dad asked him if he had cheated. When he said no, his father replied, “You should have. You might have gotten the A.” No matter what Andrew did or how hard he tried, he felt like a failure when it came to his father. His dad always told him that he only wanted the best for him. One thing he felt pretty certain about,  he didn’t know how to be himself  and please his dad at the same time.  Now the  pressure was even higher . Andrew was going to graduate from middle school in a few months and his dad expected him to go to one of the private high schools in their area. As far as Andrew was concerned, this was just another opportunity for him to l...

Peter and Bridget  had been best friends since fourth grade. Everyone knew that if you were looking for him or her, just look for the other. They were together every second of every day. They shared everything with each other and counted on the other to fall back on whenever they needed someone to lean on. Even when they got to ninth grade and started dating (other people) things were still great. Bridget and Peter felt like were like brother and sister, only better. They helped each other with their respective boy or girl friends and watched each other’s backs at parties to be sure the other was safe and not making stupid decisions. They knew that each held secrets about the other that no one would ever know. But, what happens when you know your friend could be in  serious trouble  and doesn’t want to listen? That was what Peter suddenly found himself dealing with and, for the first time in his friendship with Bridget, he felt lonely and lost. A few months ago, ...