Happy New Year

Hope everyone has had a fantastic Christmas break and a very good 2013 so far.
Below are some interesting articles to get you thinking about some issues this year.
First of all, the gun control issue in the USA is due to be a big feature of Obama's political year as he tries to persuade Republicans to pass some sort of gun control legislation.  Here is a Jonathan Freedland article from the Guardian about why it is so difficult to achieve in the USA.
Another key issue so far this year has been the public outcry about the treatement of women in India after a female student was gang-raped and murdered on a bus in Delhi.  Shocking new information is revealed daily about the problems there from female infanticide and abortion to now in this BBC article the trafficking of women that results from a shortage of women.  Feminism Society recently held a session on this worrying situation.
Lastly, this is an article about the latest film about to come out about the killing of Osama Bin Laden by Kathryn Bigelow, the first female director to win an Oscar.  Naomi Wolf criticises it for 'peddling the lie that CIA detentions led to Bin Laden's killing' and compares her with the Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl, who you might remember from GCSE History.  A nice combination of History and Politics!  Now the US Senate Intelligence Committee has asked to see the information that the film producers received about the use of torture, BBC article attached.  Please comment if you see the film and tell us what you think (it is classified as a 15 certificated film remember).