Tampon Tax is an issue I have felt strongly about for a long time but I have refrained from putting up a blog post about it until I could read up on the tax and make sure I was properly informed before I wrote about it. According to EU law, European countries must impose a minimum of 5% tax on tampons. In the UK, this tax is added to the cost of tampons, sanitary towels and all other feminine hygiene products. This is ridiculous as tampons are in no way a 'luxury item', they are a necessity. Getting your period is not a choice, it is painful and uncomfortable and therefore tampons should be exempt from tax in the same way other medications and basic human necessities are. Women could not function if once a month they had to hide away in their homes and free bleed for a week, not least because they are already earning less than men (in 2016 the gender pay gap was 9.4%) and need to be at work more often to earn the same as a man (who doesn't then have to spend his hard earned money on sanitary items). The tax was originally introduced in 1973 when Britain joined the common market, which means that this basic and insulting sexism has been ingrained in our country for over 40 years. The Labour government in 2000 managed to reduce this tax by 12.5%, and this year many supermarkets such as Tescos and Waitrose have started paying the tax for you, but it is simply not enough. The sexist principle's the problem more then the money. Last year, a debate was held in parliament over pushing the removal of the tampon tax, but Britain's MPs voted against it. This is ridiculously unfair as at the time of the vote there were only 196 female MPs in comparison to the 453 male. This means that more than two thirds of the people who were eligible to vote on this matter did not even have a uterus of their own. Of those voters, 305 voted against the removal of the tax which disappoints me immensely. I can't comprehend that in this day and age there are still that many people who are that deeply sexist. #endtampontax

To those of you unfamiliar with the rail system in England (maybe the whole UK, but certainly here in England), at the age of 16, you become an 'adult' ticket on the trains. This means that instead of getting 50% off train tickets, you now pay full price unless you buy the '16-25 Railcard'. What is this, you ask? I'm so glad you did: you pay £30 per year and can get 1/3 off train tickets.

Seems fair, no? Well I find it unfair for the following reasons:

• 16-year-olds are now obligated to stay in further education or an apprenticeship until they're 18. Even apprentices, who do actually get paid, only earn £3.50 per hour. Yet 16-18 year olds still have to pay full price.
• Young people are most unlikely to own cars, because of the RIDICULOUS insurance costs for young people to have a car, so rail companies should try to appeal to this captive audience
• Global warming is a thing and using a train is probably far better than travelling by car. Incentivising a more eco-friendly transport system can only be good, right?
• £30 per year for a railcard is quite steep, which is probably done on purpose to deter people from actually saving money, but I'm not sure I would actually buy myself one as it would take a few journeys to pay for itself.
• The increased privatisation without regulation of train companies can allow these companies to hold young people (with tiny political capital) to ransom.

aghghfgufhsuahidhsd v

PS - I lied in my previous post when I said I was on a hiatus from ranting, I'd just clicked post and I remembered this HUGE inconvenience

I apologise for the negativity of this post but I feel this is important to say. I am not one to often speak out about my political beliefs, as I usually don't feel it is worth the arguments it can cause but I am still very upset about the results of last year's referendum. I think it is thoroughly unfair that people who will not live long enough to see the effects of this decision were allowed to vote whereas I was not simply because I was 5 months off of my 18th birthday. Statistics show that within ONE WEEK of the referendum the tiny percentage that tipped the vote had already died! Yet parliament bangs on and on about 'the will of the people'. Furthermore, many of the 'facts' that the leave campaign presented have turned out to be either faked or simply incorrect. I cannot see why a decision like this can be made this simply without further consideration and it makes me very angry. On top of this, I am the daughter of a European immigrant. My grandparents (her in laws) told my mother that it was 'not her but the other immigrants' who were the issue. I love them very much but I just feel that this perfectly captures the narrow mindedness of many of the people who voted to leave.