I’m well aware that it is probably just me and no doubt it is a genetic flaw in my personality – but is there anyone else out there who, like me, just doesn’t get the cult of celebrity?

You see I just don’t understand why so many people are fixated by so many dreary and untalented individuals just because they appear on TV. Now I have to confess at this point that I have never invested my hard earned money in magazines like Hello and Heat – and the reason is simple. It is because I have absolutely no interest in what so-called celebrities might be doing and even less interest in staring at airbrushed photographs of them at incestuous garden parties.

Now don’t get me wrong – I have no problem with people who are famous for very legitimate reasons (though I still have no desire to look at pictures of them in trendy magazines) but I do have problem with people who have been labelled celebrities just because they happen to have appeared in tiresome and odious reality TV series like ‘Big Brother’ or ‘I’m a celebrity – get me out of here’. For some unfathomable reason, far too complex for my simple brain to understand, these individuals seem to believe that just because their faces have appeared somewhere in the media that they have somehow miraculously acquired overnight celebrity status. In short, they tend to believe they are suddenly ‘more important’ than the rest of us.

When I was at secondary school and thinking about careers one of my best friends decided that he wanted to become an Actor and to his credit worked his way through acting school. After a lot of trudging around London he started to get small bit parts in plays and a few low-key TV appearances. As far as he, and I, was concerned he was an accomplished Actor but nothing more. Today just by virtue of a few TV appearances he would be called a “Star”-but what does ‘Star’ really mean? Is it just a fancy name for what we used to call an Actor or Musician?

My complete bewilderment about celebrity status doesn’t just stop at a mind numbingly boring magazines however. I have to confess that even if the Queen, Brad Pitt and Robbie Williams decided on a whim to come and visit my street I probably couldn’t be bothered to even venture out of my front door. This is not because of any rudeness or disrespect on my part, it is simply because I would be tempted to treat them with the same level of civility as if they were the postman or the guy at the chip shop.

I know that a lot of people might find my attitude to celebrity a bit weird but I guess that’s just the way I am. If you were to ask me to name those people that I look up to and admire then I suppose that my definition of celebrity would be people like the nurses who do an amazing job for very little pay, the soldiers fighting the roots of terrorism in Afghanistan, the unsung heroes who every day risk their lives to help others and other individuals who work for the benefit of humanity without the need to label themselves as ‘stars’ as far too many vain ‘celebrities’ do.

So I’m sorry to all you wannabe pseudo-celebrities desperate for a place in the next series of X factor or Big Brother, and I’m sorry to all the wannabe rap artists desperate for us to decipher their garbled and unintelligible lyrics but I really don’t want your autograph and I don’t really care about what you might want to say to the media about your astonishing rise to fame.

For me, fame and recognition have to be earned and until you are featured in Heat magazine for doing something that has made the world a better place then I think I’ll just stick with The Beano.

For some of us reading our horoscope is nothing more than harmless entertainment – something to read in the daily newspaper during the morning coffee break. For many people though it is something to be taken much more seriously and is not only an important checkpoint before important decision making but also an integral part of their lifestyle.
But what exactly is Astrology all about? Is it just antiquated nonsense as many scientists believe – or is there something more to it after all?

Originally ‘Western Astrology’, as opposed to ‘Indian’ or ‘Asian’ Astrology (which seems to have developed independently) was synonymous with the study of Astronomy rather than considered as a separate discipline. Archaeologically it was found in its most developed form in ancient Babylon from where it spread outward to other nations. It arrived in Greece about the middle of the 4th century B.C. and reached Rome before the advent of the Christian era. With the introduction of Greek culture into Egypt, both Astronomy and Astrology were actively studied in the region of the Nile during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. Astrology was further developed by the Arabs from the 7th to the 13th century, and in the European courts of the 14th and 15th centuries Astrologers were highly sought after by royalty and other rich patrons.
The Mayans and the Aztecs of Central America also developed their own form of Astrology using surprisingly sophisticated forms of mathematics. Other cultures and civilizations around the world also created their own Astrological systems particularly in the Indian subcontinent and China where today it still remains an important aspect of the culture along with other forms of divination such as I-Ching. The ‘horoscope’, which is the main tool of the Astrologer, is the name given to the chart that shows the position of all the astronomical bodies (planets and stars etc) at a specific point in time (usually at the time of an individual’s birth) Astrology is therefore based on the premise that this chart can then be used to ascertain the ‘potentiality’ of certain events happening during the life of that individual.

Historically the terms ‘Astrology’ and ‘Astronomy’ have long been closely related. An Astrologer is essentially an interpreter of celestial phenomena who studies the supposed correlations between the positions of various heavenly objects based on the belief that there is an inextricable link between the Earth and the Stars and therefore the time and date of everyone’s birth would not only have a causal link to specific zodiac signs with their own special characteristics but would also, to a large extent, determine their ultimate destiny. So ingrained were these beliefs that even Kings and Queens would appoint their own personal Astrologers to help them choose the most auspicious times to sign treaties or introduce new laws etc. An Astronomer on the other hand takes a more scientific approach and studies the motions of the heavenly bodies including things like the phases of the moon and timing of eclipses.

Logically, according to the purely scientific viewpoint, there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that the movements of the stars and planets relative to the Earth have any direct influence on individuals or their destiny. For years experts in astrophysics, geology, astronomy, chemistry, biology and environmental science have delved deeper and deeper into the mysteries of nature and our level of knowledge has grown exponentially to such a degree that today some of the most profound workings of the universe are now well understood. And it seems to the academics that the more that we learn about the universe the less credence we should give to Astrology which many believe should now be consigned to history as a ‘quaint but naive’ notion invented by our ancestors. And yet, for some reason, Astrology just won’t go away!

However, whether you believe in Astrology or not there is no doubt that something disconcerting is starting to happen in scientific circles that have profound implications for our understanding of how we are connected to the universe as a whole. Biologists have known for a long time that the human body is not somehow a separate ‘entity’ from the natural world but an intrinsic part of it. Whether it is menstrual cycles correlated to the phases of the moon, migraines initiated from atmospheric pressure, elation in the presence of air charged with negative ions or mood swings relating to the weather there seems to be a growing awareness, supported by detailed research that each of us is fundamentally an intrinsic part of the natural world and our bodies are in constant interaction with it. As more and more research is carried out on things like atmospheric pressure, sun spot activity, gravitational fluctuations and planetary movements scientists are now starting to admit that many aspects of our lives like hormone levels, moods, health etc are indeed subtly influenced by forces emanating from the stars. In other words maybe there is more to Astrology than the sceptics like to think.

It is difficult for us to understand today just how important Alchemy and Astrology were up until the twentieth century. Alchemy gradually evolved into the well respected science we today call Chemistry, but Astrology seems to have taken a different direction. Instead of gaining credibility and evolving into a respectable science it has instead become more of a sub-culture amusement activity equated with harmless ‘fortune telling’.

Today we can check our stars in the daily papers or on the Internet, we can phone “professional” astrologers to give us personal readings or we can even buy magazines or books dedicated to our own personal birth sign. Whether you are believer or non believer though, it seems that Astrology is here to stay and whether you are a Libra or a Virgo, a Taurus or a Capricorn there will always be those days when your horoscope is surprisingly accurate and sends a little shudder down your spine.
I have just read my stars in the morning paper. It says that today I should relax and not worry about anything too much. Thank the stars!

Three minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport the plane struck a flock of Canada Geese while still climbing towards its cruising altitude. The bird strike, which occurred just northeast of the George Washington Bridge, resulted in an immediate and complete loss of thrust from both engines.

When the aircrew of the Airbus 320 determined that they would be unable to reliably reach any airfield from the site of the bird strike, they turned it southbound and glided over the Hudson, finally ditching the airliner near the USS Intrepid museum about three minutes after losing power. All 155 occupants safely evacuated the airliner, which was still virtually intact though partially submerged and slowly sinking. Everyone on board was quickly rescued by nearby boats which had witnessed the whole incident.

The entire crew of Flight 1549 was later awarded the Master’s Medal of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. The award was in recognition of the emergency ditching and evacuation, with no loss of life. The Captain in particular was hailed as a hero, averting a potential disaster and central to this unique achievement in aviation history.

Although the incident was reported widely at the time something else happened on that day which has irrevocably changed the way we define ‘news’ – and the repercussions are now changing history.

On that particular day hundreds of people were out taking a morning stroll beside the Hudson River. There were dog walkers, joggers, people going about their daily business and people travelling to work. As the plane started to get into trouble and change course the people on the ground started to reach for their mobile phones to take photos of the descending plane. Others sent text messages describing the unfolding events, some sent messages via Twitter and other social media sites. By the time the formal news channels heard of the incident the plane was already in the water – but already people the world over knew what had happened. In other words by the time CNN and Sky News got their reporters to the scene the incident was already old news.

Later that day, in the boardroom of one of the leading TV News Channels, a Senior Manager was quoted as saying to his team “Gentlemen, as of today we are no longer in charge of the news. It is in the hands of the people.”

On that day ordinary people were sending news updates, images and sound clips around the world from their mobile phones. In other words ordinary people were using mobile phones to spread developing news stories faster than the corporate news channels could ever hope to. Suddenly, the News Channels woke up to the reality that they no longer had a monopoly on the news.

Social media, by which I mean popular sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace, have already started to irrevocably change the social and business communication landscape. Now it seems something as reassuringly familiar as the News on TV and Radio is being challenged by the media tools available to all of us. Whether you believe this to be a good thing or a bad thing is obviously a matter of personal opinion. What is undeniably clear, however, is that mobile phone technology is not just changing the way we interact with each other. It is now also changing the way the very fabric of our society operates.