All those manifestos (2021 Local Elections)
18th April 2021
Local elections are taking place this year across the UK. Cities are electing mayors, countries are electing parliaments (except for England) and councils are electing councillors. This is the first election to happen since 2019 and all the stuff that has happened since then. So, here’s all the lovely manifestos I have managed to collect […]
Tell me moreIntroducing Calum Childs Shop
10th April 2021
Over the past few years, I have been taking photos and sharing them with everyone on Facebook, Instagram and my portfolio site. Today, I am announcing the launch of my new online shop, Calum Childs Shop. It currently sells prints and canvases of many of my photos that I have taken over the past few […]
Tell me moreMr Red Blob Book Trailers
15th February 2021
World Book Day is on the 4th March, and to celebrate, I have made three book trailers, which will be released over the course of March. I have made a book trailer before for World Book Day about Silence is Goldfish by Annabel Pitcher but the books I have made trailers about this year are […]
Tell me moreBring Home the Revolution Book Review
25th January 2021
Bring Home the Revolution is a book by Jonathan Freedland about how Britain can become more like the United States. And, no, he doesn’t think we should all have guns or people be able to hunt animals. He writes in the Guardian, but he isn’t as left-wing as some of the Guardian’s other columnists. The […]
Tell me moreWe need to make wearing masks mandatory in our homes
12th January 2021
Over the past few days, there has been lots of debate on whether restrictions should be tightened further. Some of the ideas that are being thrown around by scientists and politicians include making it mandatory to wear a mask outside, arresting people for not staying two metres apart in a supermarket and limiting the number […]
Tell me moreNew YouTube video: A Christmas Special
18th December 2020
A new Mr Red Blob video has been released today. It is a Christmas special, and the story is this: Mr Red Blob is trying to get home to his family on Christmas Eve, but his boss wants him to do something first… Will he get home in time for dinner? If you can’t watch […]
Tell me moreDiscworld Series Book Review
17th November 2020
Everything starts somewhere, although many physicists disagree. The Discworld series by Terry Pratchett is strange, funny and, in some ways, educational. There are 41 books in the Discworld series (just a disclaimer: I haven’t read them all!) Unlike many other series, each book can be read on it’s own, in any particular order. Here are […]
Tell me moreNew YouTube video: The Monster
9th October 2020
I have been spending the past several months making a lot of Mr Red Blob videos (as well as other things, such as updating the Homework Help For Kids designs and apps.) This is the first video I made, which is about what happens when Mr Red Blob and his family go on a walk […]
Tell me moreHere’s how we can save BBC Four
15th May 2020
If the rumours going around the Internet are true, the BBC is planning to shut off BBC Four at the end of this year to save money. BBC Four was always going to be a victim of any upcoming cuts because it doesn’t fit into the BBC’s future vision of trying to attract young people […]
Tell me moreNew Homework Help For Kids web design
18th April 2020
After months of work, the new Homework Help For Kids website and app design has finally been launched. This is the first time both the website and the app (Android version) have had the same design. This was the hardest website design that I’ve done so far. Homework Help For Kids is the website that […]
Tell me moreHere’s how the Oscars can become more diverse
11th February 2020
In the past few years, many people have been saying that the Oscars aren’t diverse enough. That was mostly true at this year’s awards: there was only one non-white actor nominated for this year’s Best Actor award. And the Best Director award contains no women – many have asked why Greta Gerwig wasn’t nominated for […]
Tell me moreWhy the television licence fee must not be abolished
28th January 2020
Now that we are almost certain to be leaving the EU by the end of this year, politicians will now turn their attention to other domestic issues that haven’t been addressed. One issue that has been raised, mainly because of the news that those over 75 not on pension benefits will have to pay their […]
Tell me moreAll those manifestos (2019 Election)
15th December 2019
Now that the election is over, the manifestos that the political parties have made for this election will probably be removed from the parties’ websites over the next few weeks. So I’ve uploaded (nearly) all of them onto my server and put the links to them below. Do whatever you like with them. Conservative Manifesto […]
Tell me moreWe will be leaving the European Union on 31st January 2020.
13th December 2019
As I am writing this, at 5.09am, the Conservatives have just passed the 326-seat mark needed to form a majority government. This means that, assuming they pass the deal in Parliament, which they now certainly will, we will be leaving the EU on 31st January 2020. Labour has lost many of their seats in their […]
Tell me more2019 Election Prediction: There will be another hung Parliament.
12th December 2019
I think that today’s election will result in another hung Parliament. It seems that the Conservatives won’t have another minority government with the DUP due to the Irish border issue, so if they don’t achieve a majority in Parliament, then Labour will probably team up with either the Liberal Democrats (if they are 10 – […]
Tell me moreNew Mr Red Blob website design
2nd December 2019
At the beginning of 2017, I launched a website for my YouTube channel, The Adventures of Mr Red Blob. I had copied a design from W3Schools. Whilst it looked good, I still felt that it lacked the personality that I wanted for the website. A few months later, I redid the website using Bootstrap (a […]
Tell me moreThe campaigning has begun and all sides are now showing their true selves
19th November 2019
And… we’re off! The third general election in 5 years has well and truly begun. All sides have started firing their slogans and promises onto our television screens, doorsteps and Facebook feeds. But it seems that there is more at stake for all sides in this election than any other in recent history. Obviously, there’s […]
Tell me moreWho should you vote for in this General Election?
31st October 2019
A general election has been recently called by Parliament and it is definitely going to be dominated by one thing: Brexit. In two hours, I have created a tool that you can use to figure out which political party you may want to vote for, based on your views on Brexit. Try it out! No […]
Tell me moreOutside Book Review
16th April 2019
Outside by Sarah Ann Juckes is about a girl called Ele who has been locked into a tower all of her life. She has never seen the outside world, let alone been in it. In the tower, she has herself, the Others and Him. The Others have been in the tower with her for as […]
Tell me moreWhy no Brexit would be a catastrophe
26th March 2019
As of Friday 22nd March, one petition has gained 3.4 million signatures. It was for revoking Article 50 and remaining in the EU. A day later, there was a large “People’s Vote” protest in London, which hundreds of thousands attended. Staying in the EU or doing a second referendum would be a catastrophe for democracy. […]
Tell me moreNew photography portfolio
22nd December 2018
Since I finished my mock exams, I have been working on a new portfolio for all of my photography. And it is now ready to view here. Some of you may be wondering, “Why is he making a new photography portfolio? He already has one.” Well, you’re about to find out! Better design My brand-new […]
Tell me moreWhy a no-deal would bring more certainty than May’s deal
25th November 2018
Theresa May went to Brussels and negotiated a deal which would leave us in most parts of the single market and the customs union until at least 2022. And it’s up to the EU as to when we can leave the customs union & single market. This is the exact opposite of the “strong and […]
Tell me moreHow Women Got The Vote eBook
23rd October 2018
For a few months now, I have been working on an eBook about how women got the vote in the UK. Now it is finally ready, and it is available to download below: Download the free eBook
Tell me moreI’m taking a break
16th October 2018
I’m currently doing my exams at the moment, and the work is piling up. The GCSEs are also getting harder, which is why I need to focus on my revision. Because of this, I’m going to stop writing blog posts for a while. I may get the time to do the odd post once in […]
Tell me moreWhat’s happened to social media?
9th October 2018
You may, or may not, have heard of the news that 50 million Facebook accounts were breached a few days ago. But, Facebook was caught posts linking to a legitimate Guardian article about the breach as “spam”. (If you click on the “i” on the bottom right of the article link, a pop-up will explain […]
Tell me moreNew YouTube video: The Martians Get Revenge (Part 2)
7th October 2018
If you don’t see anything, click the button below: Watch video on YouTube
Tell me moreArtificial intelligence: How far can it go?
2nd October 2018
AI is coming faster than we think. Go onto any social network and login to your account and on the “News Feed”, what you see is there because artificial intelligence thought you would like it. Jobs may soon be entirely taken over by artificial intelligence – especially ones which involve repetitive work. But, how far […]
Tell me moreIs Christmas coming too early?
25th September 2018
It’s September, and when we’re out and about, I’m already seeing Christmas cards. Advertisements for Christmas dinner bookings, Christmas events. And as the weeks pass by, I’m seeing this more and more often. From late October, I turn on the radio and hear Christmas songs. Christmas decorations are being sold in shops around early October. […]
Tell me moreShould we change our national anthem?
18th September 2018
In my opinion, Britain needs a new national anthem. Why is that, you may ask? Well, I think it needs changing because the National Anthem is about just one person: the Queen. And she doesn’t need saving from anything: the UK Government give her millions of pounds a year. Another reason I think that we […]
Tell me moreOur wildlife is under threat
11th September 2018
Thanks to humans, across the globe, our wildlife is under threat. Animals are being chained up, tortured and forced to do things that they don’t want to do – all just for our amusement. And that’s just one of the things we’re doing to them. We’re destroying their habitats just so we can grow palm […]
Tell me moreElectric cars: Are they worth it?
4th September 2018
Electric cars are being praised as being a very environmentally-friendly alternative to petrol. But are they better than petrol and diesel cars or are they just as bad? Let’s start with the environmental benefit: Cleaner air Electric cars don’t directly pump out pollution into the air, which is good for those living in cities and […]
Tell me moreShould people become vegetarian?
28th August 2018
I’m not a vegetarian myself – and I’m certainly not going to become one. But I’ve been doing some research, and there are many very interesting pros and cons to becoming a vegetarian. We shall start with the pros: Pros Less animals are killed. When you become a vegetarian, you don’t eat meat so as […]
Tell me moreDisney: please stop making live-action versions of fairy-tales
21st August 2018
A bit of film this week. We all know Disney as a film studio which makes films about fairy-tales and other family-friendly films. But recently, the company has started to make some of it’s most iconic films, The Jungle Book (I can understand why they did this as the animals were all animated very realistically), […]
Tell me more2 inspiring people
14th August 2018
When you turn on the news sometimes, you can see humanity at its worst. Terrorist attacks, crime and climate change are all great examples of how humans can do terrible things without a single thought to those affected. But this blog post is different. Instead, it is going to tell you all about the inspiring […]
Tell me moreWhat should we do about climate change?
7th August 2018
Climate change is the result of what humans have done to this planet. And now we should be the ones to stop it. But, how can we solve a large problem that will affect all of us? Those currently in power shouldn’t leave it to the next generation to sort it out – after all, […]
Tell me moreWhy the National Trust is important to me
31st July 2018
It’s really hot at Britain at the moment. Temperatures are getting as high as 30 C — and even higher. There are quite a lot of people who have been driven outside by the long spell of really lovely weather. And this has been evident when we go to our local National Trust places, which, […]
Tell me moreWomen in sports
24th July 2018
The (Men’s) World Cup recently ended – one where we could have got to the finals and potentially won had we scored a few more goals. But, you won’t have to wait until 2022 to sing “It’s coming home” again. The FIFA Women’s World Cup will be held next year (2019) in France. Now, women’s […]
Tell me moreWhat would you do if you were prime minister (of the UK?)
17th July 2018
Sadly, I’m too young to become Prime Minister. But since this country has been descended into chaos by a bunch of people who’s mental age is 10 years, I’ve decided to put what I would do (about this country’s major problems) if I was prime minister. And trust me, this country would be a lot […]
Tell me moreMy Trip To Hampton Court Palace
10th July 2018
On Friday 29th June, I went to Hampton Court Palace with my grandad. It took two hours to get there by train (we changed once.) Eventually, when we got there, there was a nice breeze. This was quite a relief as it was very hot that day! It was my second time going to Hampton […]
Tell me moreShould we go back to the old GCSE?
3rd July 2018
A few years ago, the education secretary (at the time) Michael Gove said that the old GCSEs were just too easy (to be fair, I have never seen an old GCSE paper, so I can’t really say whether that’s true.) And so he changed everything, including the grading system. Now, like most of Michael Gove’s […]
Tell me moreWhy I don’t want a smartphone
26th June 2018
Many people ask me the question, “What phone do you have?” and are shocked to find out that I don’t have a smartphone, before usually asking why I don’t have one. And this is my answer. Everywhere you look, the majority of people are on their smartphones, not paying attention to the world around them. […]
Tell me moreIs radio old-fashioned?
19th June 2018
Do you still listen to radio? I do, but I don’t listen to Heart, Magic or any of the radio stations that play music. (Unless you count Classic FM.) One of my favourite radio stations is LBC, where they discuss current affairs and politics. I only listen to Nigel Farage’s programme, but there are many […]
Tell me moreShould schools reward students for 100% attendance?
14th June 2018
As a student, my school rewards those who have never missed a day of school, in that term or academic year. Now, many people are against this because the majority who don’t get 100% attendance don’t get it because they may have been ill once or twice (or maybe they happen to be ill quite […]
Tell me moreRHS Wisley
10th June 2018
I went to RHS Wisley today and it is fantastic! All the plants were out in full bloom and it is very beautiful today. There were so many types of plants and there was even a large greenhouse filled with plants from deserts and tropical rain-forests. Here is a few of the photos I took:
Tell me moreThe Manifesto on How to Be Interesting Book Review
9th June 2018
The Manifesto on How To Be Interesting by Holly Bourne is about a very unpopular girl who starts changing her personality so she can get more writing material (she wants to be an author.) And how it all turns out is very interesting. What I thought about it I thought that the book was very […]
Tell me moreHow I made my website
9th June 2018
A few people have asked me now how I made my website since I launched it a few months ago. Well, I haven’t really known how to answer that question. Until now. A whole lot of code Now, I have used code to create all of my portfolio pages. I learnt HTML (used to specify […]
Tell me moreShould formal exams be held in the winter?
24th May 2018
Most of us have been or will start doing their formal exams, whether that be GCSEs, A-Levels or just the normal exam you get round about the end of every academic year. But do you think that formal exams such as GCSEs and A-Levels should take place in the winter? I think they should. Why […]
Tell me moreSave the Internet
12th May 2018
The Internet as we know it is under threat. Net neutrality rules are going to be scrapped in the USA on the 11th June unless Congress vote against it. But exactly what is net neutrality and how does it affect you? What is net neutrality? Net neutrality means that ISPs (Internet Service Providers) can’t block, […]
Tell me moreSocial media is a great tool, but some things need to be changed.
23rd April 2018
Say you live in the USA and you have a friend that lives in Australia. Your family can’t afford to go to Australia – and AirMail is too expensive. But social media can solve this problem as you can chat online as if you were talking face-to-face. But this great tool is also destroying lives. […]
Tell me moreIt’s going to get cooler? That’s what spring should be like…
22nd April 2018
When the weatherman said that it was going to get cooler next week, I thought, “That’s what spring should be like in the UK.” Heatwaves during spring (and there are many more examples of this) are called freak weather (weather that doesn’t usually happen at this time of year)
Tell me moreSpring is here (at last!)
19th April 2018
Hello and welcome to my first proper post on this blog. I still have some of my chocolate left from Easter, and my Lindt bunny partly melted in the sun (once I found out about this, I instantly ate the rest of it!) Anyway, that ties into this week’s post perfectly, because this week is […]
Tell me moreMy sister’s YouTube channel has launched
9th April 2018
Go and watch the video: calumchilds.com/toysaremagic.
Tell me moreCreate a poppy in Illustrator
18th March 2018
Here’s a video to show you how to create a poppy in Illustrator:
Tell me more