Here goes...

I wonder how many people start their blogs by saying: So, i've finally opened a blog...So i am not going to go down that route.

I'm still surprised at myself though. Up until September (basically until starting the IJ course) I was absolutely dead against blogs etc etc. My opinion has always been that my life is only interesting to me and maybe a couple of other people (I hope...), so what's the point of putting details about myself on the web? Blogging is a form of self-advertising, and I find that very irritating. So it's going to take more than coercion by my IJ lecturers to feel convinced by blogging...

I mean, what the hell are you supposed to put in a blog? Is it a diary? Is it citizen journalism? As an aside, I am getting pretty annoyed at the constant harping on about 'citizen journalism'. If it was really that big a deal, why the hell are there still real journalists in the world? Personally, I don't believe in citizen journalism. People sitting in front of the TV on a saturday night pushing that red button on their remote control are hardly 'journalists', citizen or otherwise. Neither are people calling/texting BBC Breakfast on a weekday morning tellign them their views on some random news item. Things like that have been going on for decades on your average radio and TV shows across the world - why the sudden interest in it? It gets my back up...

Ah, I think I have discerned the way this blog is going...basically it will be an opportunity for me to do some good old ranting! And there's a lot in this world I could rant about...Forget the diary/citizen journalism idea: this space will be my personal letting-of-steam page!

Just to clarify, in case there are some people who have ventured on my blog: I've named my blog after the novel by E.M.Forster which I love. It's about this girl who lives this incredibly sheltered life in Edwardian England, but gains a wider world view during the course of the novel. It's great, I'd recommend it. And the film with Helena Bonham-Carter! Watch it!