If the variable you are checking would be in the global scope you could do a array_key_exists('v', $GLOBALS).
I guess the obvious answer to all of this is... Don't initialise your variables as NULL, initalise them as something relevant to what they are intended to become.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.