Evolution of Folk Music

The Evolution of Folk Music Almost all of the music that we hear today can be traced back in one way or another to folk music. The evolution of folk music is rich in history and it is easy to see how the current events and the times created the changes that were to occur. Folk music got its roots from Anglo-American Folk Music and later evolved into what was known as the blues and continues to influence much of the music that is written to this day. Many artists have had major impacts on the music industry some of which are Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, Muddy Waters and B.B. King. Their individual styles were essential in the evolution of music. By taking a closer look at Anglo-American Folk Music and each of these artists we will be able to understand the role that each of them played in their specific genres. Anglo-American Folk Music occurred during the time that the original thirteen colonies were being created. It got its start from what was cal led Psalmody which is the rendering of the 150 psalms of the Old Testament; however they were present in the form of songs. Psalmody is one of the oldest traditions of western music.Psalm tunes were carried over from the old world through the found of the colonies by the English and Dutch. They were often kept in a psalter which is a book that contained psalm tunes. Pilgrims were the first to bring psalters to Plymouth when they arrived in 1620. The religious reform in the 16th century that started in Europe had the greatest impact on the subject matter of Anglo-American Folk Music which was mainly focused on communicating religious matters. Over the course of 100 years we find that two different styles of communicating the old testaments.One of those was in the written format and the other was in what was called â€Å"the usual way† which was through oral communication. The oral tradition is where the Anglo-American Folk style evolved from. It involved what was called  "lining out† which is basically one person singing or reciting lines of psalm tunes. There were many critics of the oral tradition who said that there was not enough variation in the tunes and that there were too many changes in pace. The answer to these criticisms was found in singing school during the American Revolution here we see an increase in the musical abilities of our new nation. Of course these schools mainly resided in more highly populated areas. Out in the country you would often find what were called singing masters and composers who often were no more than just common people like craftsmen or small business owners. It was in these singing masters that we found a return to the lack of variation in tunes which was given the name â€Å"strophic form† which simple means that the music is the same for all lines. Strophic form is very common in folk music.The American folk singer Woody Guthrie lived from 1912 to 1967. Woody grew up in Oklahoma and decided to t ravel out to California during the great depression in hopes of finding better opportunities. However, all he found was more heartache. The economy in California was no better than the rest of the United States. Many of Guthrie’s songs reflect the trials and tribulations of the people he met in his life and of his own life. He is one of the few artists that was truly able to connect to the common people in ways that other artists could not.His music is about the things that happen in people’s everyday lives. He sings about people packing up and looking for better opportunities in other places. His music also varied in its tone. Some of his songs are upbeat and cheerful while others have a more sobering tone to them. In addition to singing and performing Guthrie also had a passion for writing. It is said that he made use of his G. I. bill after the war and attended a college where he took philosophy and writing along with a few other classes. However, he decided to drop out before he finished because he decided he needed to hit the road.Woody Guthrie was unique in his style and lyrics. He never felt the need to alter his style in order to fit in with the changing fads. His style is the epitome of what folk music should sound like. We often hear him make use of the strophic form in his songs. He was an inspiration to many musicians that followed him, which included the well known Bob Dylan. Guthrie enjoyed working with other musicians as well like Pete Seeger. Many folk singers including Woody Guthrie had strong political views which often came through in their lyrics.Much of folk music emerged during times when people felt that government was being unfair in the way the common people were being treated and that changes needed to be made in order to bring equality back. I think this is perhaps the one commonality that many folk singers had in common when it came to their music and what was driving their lyrics. Guthrie, Seeger and Dylan were all ve ry popular during times of war which had major affects on their careers and the choices they made. A fellow folk artist who Guthrie was known to perform with from time to time is Pete Seeger.Like Guthrie, Seeger was another folk activist who often sang songs that called for changes in political matters and more equality for the common people. The Almanac Singers was the name of the band that Seeger was a member of. Seeger formed the group in 1941 which was made up of a group of left-wing New Yorkers. Although the group made drastic efforts to try to create a band where everyone was equal they had difficulty battling the media in attempts to keep Seeger out of the spotlight. The Almanac Singers often found themselves in the company of Woody Guthrie.The group got along easily because they had the same political views and shared the same musical style. Seeger and Guthrie were also known to write songs together. One of their most well known songs is â€Å"Pittsburg† which was a c ompilation of their feelings about the war, environment and corruption in the steel industry. The subject matter of Seeger’s music gave him the title of most boycotted performer in history. There have even been accounts of attacks by people at his performances because of the lyrics his band chose to sing.Right before the Nazi’s invaded Russia the CIO had approached the Almanac Singers to go on a national tour with them. The news of the attack was released the day before they were due to leave for their tour. Since most of their song were anti war people could not make the decision to continue to support their music when it was against something that was now a necessary evil. One journalist said that the grouped â€Å"lacked the true politicians facility for changing overnight and the group soon found themselves in trouble† (Dunaway 91). This came to be the end of the band.Another folk artist who came to be well known because of his songs of protest is Bob Dylan. It seems fitting that one of his major influences and all time idol is Woody Guthrie. Like Guthrie, Dylan wrote songs about â€Å"general human conditions such as poverty† (Lorenzo and Kingman 76). One of his most well known songs is â€Å"Masters of War† which was originally written because of the cold war. However, after the release of the song it was found that the feelings that the song was able to create within listeners was the same during the time of the Vietnam War and even later to the War on Terror.Accounts of a concert that Dylan performed at on Veterans day in 2002 said that the crowd had the same feelings and sentiments that was felt by people during the first release at similar performances. Unlike Guthrie who kept his style consistent throughout the years, Dylan was known to change up his style, sound, type and even material of his music. These changes often caused fans to feel like they no longer could relate to the music of Dylan because they had just grown accustomed to the latest styles of his music. Others were suspicious of his constant changing and often accused him of chasing trends.However, Dylan’s compositions usually stayed true to the original style of protest songs in that they used barrow tunes from older songs with an ostinato found in the accompanying guitar while Dylan did his best to show authenticity in his voice. Regardless of how people feel about Dylan he still is seen as one of the major players in the folk music industry. Another form of music that originated from folk music is the blues. While it is said to be related to Black folk music from the south it is safe to say that Black folk music was highly influenced by American folk music.Black folk music was well known for use of antecedents in the form of hollers and cries which was still present in some forms of blues. The blues relates very closely to folk music by means of their subject matter. It was common for â€Å"some blues to speak of a nam eless depression, work or lack of it, poverty† (Lorenzo and Kingman 76). While some blues tells of hardships it also speaks often of personal lament of the relationships between men and women. One of the best known blues singers is Bessie Smith who is often referred to as the â€Å"Empress of Blues. By the end of her first recording year she was said to have sold over 2 million records and at one point in her career was responsible for saving Columbia Records from going bankrupt. Bessie Smith is most famous for her performances in which she was able to master the use of idioms and delivery her songs with such forcefulness that there are not that could surpass her in the industry. Towards the end of Smiths career she refused to adjust to the more modern tones which eventually led to her falling out of the music industry.Even though she was one of the most highly purchased recording artists she managed to spend all of her earnings without saving anything for her later life. It is said that when she died in a car accident in 1937 that she died without a penny to her name. A major reason for her lack of financial stability could be attributed to her life long battle with alcoholism. Bessie Smith was lucky to have worked with and learned from the Mother of Blues, Ma Rainey. Ma Rainey got her start as a young child in the minstrel-show business. However her music was always closest resembled rural folk blues when compared to other blues artists.Many of Ma Rainey’s song were found to empower females, which was often the opposite of the image that was portrayed by Bessie Smiths lyrics. I think it is important to make a connection between more traditional folk music and the blues that were sung by Smith and Rainey. It is important to remember that many folk singers were inspired by the changing times and unfair poverty that was being forced upon the majority of people during those times. Similarly, the blues era occurred immediately following the abolitio n of slavery.Much of the blues was focused on the expression of individual emotional needs. Considering that blacks had just been given their personal freedoms they were still imprisoned by their social and financial standings. It seems to make sense then that the music would focus on the one thing that they really did gain freedom in which was their love lives and the ability to choose who they would have relationships with. â€Å"Freely chosen sexual love became a mediator between historical disappointment and the new social realities of an evolving African American Community† (Davis n. ag). Many of the songs by Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith were about the changes in what was believed to be the â€Å"place† of women in the world. They were singing for more equality and for people to realize that the sole purpose of a woman was no longer to please her husband and to care for a household but that she could be independent and earn a living and take care of herself and her family if need be. Both the blues and folk music had important messages to communicate in regards to the changes occurring in society. Another well known blues singer was Muddy Waters.He was actually born with the name McKinley Morganfield but he was given the nickname Muddy by his mother and later decided to legally change his name. Waters musical style helped blues to transform into the next style of music which would be names rock and roll. Waters was responsible for introducing amplified music to blues. He is often referred to as the father of modern Chicago Blues which would be in the urban blues category. Urban blues introduced the use of more instruments of which included the piano and drums along with many others. Waters was strongly influenced by the more traditional gospel tradition.However, his own style was not so traditional in any sense. He gained his notoriety by his mastery of a guitar style that is called bottleneck. When Waters was discovered a scout was sent to fi nd a man that worked in the same field that Waters worked in. When the man got there he found that the person he was looking for had passed away and instead he discovered Waters. Race records were common during this time and it is most likely that Waters was discovered during an expedition to record race records that would be able to turn some quick sales.Because Waters was a man with such great talent the scout came back looking for him again and eventually Waters moved to Chicago and make music his life. Waters did not find it easy for him to make a name for himself in the music industry. It was not until after he had toured in England that he was able to return to the U. S. and was finally being seen for what he really was by the American people. Waters has been a major influence on many of today’s artists. Another blues artist who helped to pioneer the change from blues to rock and roll is B. B.King. King experienced the loss of his mother at the age of four years old and has been said to have had the blues running through his veins ever since that day. Like many artists King was able to use the pain and hardships in his life as inspiration for his music. However, his music also covers issues of the Civil Rights Movement and even the complicated politics that surrounded the music industry. His greatest success would have to be the part he played in pushing the limits and finding huge success in changing over from blues to rock and roll.It is often a difficult task to get people to change from their old ways and try something knew but King was able to win over fans and help give birth to one of the greatest musical eras to this day. After looking back at the history of where folk music originated and then taking a closer look at some of the artists of various eras of music it is easy to see how even the songs we hear on the radio today can be traced back to folk music roots. The one thing that music seems to keep in common in all eras is that there w ill often be songs that relate to the current events of the time.Especially when there is an unusually hardship or major event that has shaped society. After the war on terror began there were many artists from all genres that began to sing songs about our soldiers and their families and the heartache and pain that people were experiencing from the loss of loved ones of loneness of being apart. I think that music will continue with this oral tradition of communicating events and problems for the rest of time. Works Cited Candelaria, Lorenzo, and Daniel Kingman. American Music: A Panorama. 4th ed. Schirmer:Cengage Learning, 2004, 2007, 2012.Print Cray, Ed. Ramblin’ Man: The Life and Times of Woody Guthrie. New York: Norton andcompany, 2004. Print. Danchin, Sebastian. Blues Boy: The Life and Music of B. B. King. Mississippi: University Pressof Mississippi, 1998. Print. Davis, Angela Y. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism. New York: Vintage Books, 1998. Print Davis, Francis. The H istory of the Blues: The Roots, the Music, the People. Cambridge: Da CapoPress, 2003. Print. Dunaway, David King. How Can I Keep From Singing? The Ballad of Pete Seeger. New York:Villard Books, 2008. Print.

Historical Development of the Early Childcare Essay

a) History and current status of childcare provision in Ireland During the early Twentieth century in Ireland there was a lack of job opportunities for women in the workforce. Women were still seen largely seen as the ‘stay at home figure’. Due to this environmental impact, children were cared for in their own homes mainly by their mothers. Therefore there was less of a demand in the Early Childcare Education sector. This ended when children started attending Primary school. During the latter part of the Twentieth century, during the times of the Celtic Tiger, the number of job opportunities for women in the workforce escalated. This resulted in an increase in urbanisation and a decrease in family support. For example: Families lived further apart from each other, and as a result, it did not make sense to leave the children with their grandmother or other family members due to financial restrictions such as the price of fuel, or time restrictions such as the length of time taken to leave the children from one  destination to the ot her. This lead to parents seeking the childminding services privately or within their local area. Statistics have shown that approximately 60% of children under six years of age attended a form of childcare service at this time. (Class Notes) There was a substantial increase in the demand for both private and community childcare services. In response to the rapidly increasing demand for childcare service, it was deemed necessary that an ‘Expert Working Group on Childcare’ was formed. The Expert Working Group came together and arranged a meeting to discuss ways to resolve the upcoming problems within the childcare services sector. They held discussions on how to make childcare services more readily available and accessible to families in Ireland. It was recognized at this point, that there was a need to develop a ‘National Strategy’ to assist them with the transformation of the current childcare services sector. Thus, a National Strategy was developed and was published in 1999. The National strategy recognized and contained the following principles: ‘The Needs and the rights of the child, Equality of access and participation, Diversity, Partnership and Quality’ (Class Notes Page 2) It also contained suggestions and advice on support for parents/guardians, Laws relating childcare, Qualifications, Employment, Planning and Co-ordination. In 2002, the Centre for Early childhood development and Education was established. This centre was set up to develop standards and to improve the childcare sector. The Centre for early Childhood Development and Education aimed to ensure that every childcare setting (whether it was a Full-time / Part-time service or a Public / Private service); met the criteria and quality standards that that were established by the Centre. The main objective of the Centre for Early childhood development and Education was to focus on improving more disadvantaged are as as well as the more advantaged areas so as to ensure that all areas within the childcare sector offered the same quality of services In 2006, ‘Siolta’ was launched. Siolta was set up to implement the first aim of the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education which was to develop the current standards within the childcare sector. This was called ‘The National Quality Framework for Early Education’. This ensured that there was support in improving quality across all childcare services which contained children from 0-6 years of age. Further to this, in 2009, a new scheme was introduced within the Childcare sector. The Early Childcare  Education scheme ‘Free pre-school place’ was formed. The free pre-school place enabled children within the age range of 3 years and 3 months and 4 years 6 months in September of the relevant year to engage in one free academic year within a full time or seasonal service. If a childcare service/ centre wanted to take part in the Early Childcare Education scheme, the criteria set out by Siolta had to be met and furthermore the Principles set by An Siolta would have to be implemented within their current childcare setting. It is important to recognize that this is the first time that Early childhood education has received any direct Universal funding. As a result of the free pre-school place initiative, the demand within the childcare sector continued to grow. (Siolta) More recent developments within the childcare sector include the introduction of a new initiative called ‘Aistear’, which was established by the Department of Education and Skills through NCCA in 2010. Aistear from the Irish word meaning ‘journey’, is of relevant importance to childcare settings where children from the ages of 0-6 years receive their care and education. Aistear works closely alongside Siolta and consists of an informal curriculum that contains twelve principles and themes that give guidance to the childcare worker. Aistear recognizes that education and care are not separate within the childcare sector and they aim to help children grow and develop independently.(Aistear) b) Current range of childcare provision in Ireland Six types of services that can be categorised under sessional and fulltime services are: Naà onraà  – A Naà onraà  is a sessional service. It organises and communicates with the playgroup through the medium of Irish, they recognise each child as individuals. The service doesn’t put pressure on children to speak Irish, they still encourage and support children either way. As the children are surrounded in Irish they will gradually pick up and learn the language in their own time. The service is recognised by Forbairt Naà onraà . Parent and toddler groups – This is a sessional service and is supported by Early Childhood Ireland. Parents and their children/toddlers meet in one area, often held in one of the parent houses who are taking part in the service. It gives children the opportunity to gain the experience of interacting with others, therefore promoting and developing the child’s social skills. It also gives parents the opportunity to intera ct with other  parents, gaining support of each other. Montessori pre-schools – The pre-school is usually privately run, it develops its curriculum around the methods of Dr Maria. The Montessori focuses mainly on the child’s educational development, its curriculum is therefore more practical based, isn’t fully focused on play. This action of purely practical based education may be scrutinised by certain individuals as it thought by some theorists that children should experience and develop through the experience of play at this young age. The pre-school functions on academic year and mainly cares for children from three to six years of age. Home and community playgroups – Home and community playgroups care for children within the age range of 2 and a half to five years of age, they operate in either a home or community basis. Home playgroups are generally privately funded where as community playgroups receive funding from the government, each service usually opens and runs for a period of three to four hours each day. The service highlights and develops children’s social and emotional learning through play. Crà ¨ches, Nurseries and Day care services – These services are recognised as a fulltime service and cater for children from the age of approximately three months to five years of age. They are open at a minimum of eight hours a day and usually provide a day-to-day curriculum. The services can be privately or publicly run, an increase in demand for these services greatly increased after the Free Pre-School Year was introduced. Each service provides the children attending the service with a hot meal and snacks during the duration of the day. Each service helps met the child’s safety, welfare and developmental needs. They also help children make the best of their abilities, whether that be through play or practical learning. Family Day Care – Children are looked after in the childminders home. There is no specific age group that Family Day Care caters for, they can cater for all different age groups at once in the same facility. The hours that the carer caters for the children is arranged between the child’s parent and the carer. The children become easily settled in this form of day care as they are only interacting and building a relationship with one adult with the service. The children are provided with snacks and possibly hot meals, depending on the length of time the child is attending the service. The service is supported and recognised by Childminding Ireland. c) Current range of roles in childcare support organisations and agencies Health Service Executive (HSE) – is the first service contacted when there is a serious concern involving a child safety or family issue , the Health Service Executive then has the responsibility of bringing services and agencies together to help resolve the concerned matter. The Health Service Executive provides services that helps protect and support children, parents/guardians and families. There are many roles within the Health Service Executive, they include: Family support worker – The Family support worker offers support and supplies services to family’s going through emotionally distressing times. The Family Support Worker tries to keep families remained together unless there is a family member deemed at serious risk if kept together. Some of the services that The Family Support Worker will supply to the family to try help resolve the issues are, â€Å"Parenting Skills, Confidence and Personal Development, Home Care management, Diet, Nutrition and Health Care, Budgeting and family Finance†. (Class notes page 4) Community Childcare Worker – The Community Childcare Worker works alongside professionals to give support to children who are in disadvantaged families, deemed at risk, deprived or in care. The Community Childcare Worker also helps children deal with or come to an understanding of why they are in that care home. Social Worker – works with problematic families and individuals, The Social Worker helps resolve problems in families whether that is emotional, behavioural or social problems. Social Workers also deal with problems such as child abuse, domestic violence, and adoption. Before removing children from their home and separating families social worker s have to prove that they have gave families every option possible, if the family /parents does not comply with any of the options, the matter continues to rise and the child/children are still recognised at risk then the case is taken to court and assessed by a Judge whether the child/children should be removed from the family home, thus action is seen as a last resort. Barnardos – Barnardos is Ireland’s biggest children’s charity. It is focused on working with children and families on, whether that be group work or one-on-one interaction. Barnardos help children make the best of their abilities when going through difficult situations, such as neglect, abuse,  or poverty. They provide a range of services to help families through distressing time’s i.e counselling, and bereavement help lines. Barnardos also protest against Government laws that affect children and their way of living e.g. child benefit cuts. d) Six National Childcare organisations Barnardos – Barnardos is Ireland’s biggest children’s charity, it is mainly focused on working with children and families. Barnardos provide a range of services to help assist and support families through distressing times, they also help children make the best of their abilities whilst going through or have gone through difficult times e.g. neglect. Childminding Ireland- is a registered Charity and was created in 1986. It was created by a small group of childminders that further grew into a bigger organisation. The organisation promotes home-based childcare. Forbairt Naà onraà  Teoranta – is a voluntary organisation which supports education and care for children from birth who are brought up in Irish. St.Nicholas Montessori Society of Ireland – Provide opportunities for Montessori teachers to further their profession. They also offer help, support and give guidance for Montessori teachers. The Irish Society for the prevention of Children’s Cruelty – Provide a 24hour support service for children who are going through a difficult situations. States that id high quality childcare service wants to keep their service high quality, then the service must ensure that there is good child protection within the facility. The organisation also recognises children are individuals and therefore the child’s right s and values should be supported. Border Counties Childcare Network – Is a network that services in counties such as Monaghan, Meath, Louth, Cavan, Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim in helping deliver a childhood service of high quality. LO4: Clear explanation the rights of the child in the context of an ECCE setting. A) Examine the UN convention on the Rights of the Child. The UN convention on the Rights of the Child has 54 articles. These  fifty-four articles are a written list of the different types of the child’s rights, if those rights are intentionally broken it is seen as breaking the law. The UN convention on the Rights of the child can be broken into four broad areas, these four areas are – Survival, Development, Protection and Participation. Survival – The child has a right to life and the right to the basic requirements to survive life e.g. food, water, shelter, clothing, medical aid. Development – The child has a right to education, religion, play, develop the identification of right and wrong and leisure. The child also has the right to be provided with a safe environment to develop these skills and knowledge. Protection – The child has the right to be protected against abuse and neglect. If a child has come in interference with and suffered from abuse then the child has the right to some form of counselling to come to an understanding and overcome the traumatic situation. Participation – The child has the right to join organisations e.g. clubs, groups, freedom of expression and speech. Standard 1: Right of the child. â€Å"Ensuring that each child’s rights are met, requires that she/he is enabled to exercise choice and to use initiative as an active participant and partner in her/his own development and learning.† (Siolta page 13) Component 1.1 – Choice for the child Practitioners could put component 1.1 into practice at meal time. By giving the child the options at meal time, this could be achieved by giving the child the choice of two different meals therefore enabling the child to make its own choices. If a child decides they do not want to eat at meal time the practitioner should respect the child’s decision. By having different utensils available at meal time e.g. chopsticks, this provides choice for the child. The child can then make the choice on what they want to eat there meal with. Component 1.2 – Use initiative A practitioners could put component 1.2 into practice with a child from twelve – thirty-six months by providing the opportunity of letting the child out on its coat independently, enabling the child to zip or button  the coat. The practitioner should talk the child through the process, encourage the child as she/he is trying to overcome and accomplish the task and support the child if he/she comes into difficulty. Component 1.3 – active participants A practitioner could put component 1.3 into practice with a child from birth to eighteen months by viably communicating. While/when the practitioner is changing the child’s nappy he/she could viably communicate to the child and make eye contact whilst changing its nappy. The practitioner could also sing nursery rhymes and act out movements to the child e.g. three little pigs, touching the child’s toes whilst singing the rhyme. This makes the child feel comfortable and an active participant throughout the activity. LO2: Detained description of the qualifications and experience needed for work associated with one occupation in the ECCE sector. a) Outline legislations, policies, practices and procedures pertaining to ECCE provision. Childcare Act 1991 Provides asset of rules relating to children/young adults under the age of eighteen in Ireland, it governs the care and protection of children in Ireland. (Classnotes) Due to this legislation the Health Service Executive has a mandatory duty to promote and protect the wellbeing of all children under this act. Children who are being abused or at risk, this Act allows those children to be removed or be placed under the care of the Health Service Executive. In relation to preschool services the Act is consulted with when rules and regulations are being drawn up for the supervision of children of pre-school services. Under the Act the pre-school carers have a responsibility and duty to implement safety and wellbeing of children under their pre-school setting. If the pre-school carer has concern for a child’s safety health it is their responsibility to notify the Health Service Executive. If a new pre-school setting is being set up or is intending to set up the local Health Service Executive must be notified. The Health Service Executive then has a duty to inspect the pre-school setting to  ensure the health and safety standards of the setting are being met. The rules and regulations drawn up from the Act must be strictly followed by the practitioners. Childcare (preschool services) Regulations 2006 The regulation outlines the standards that a preschool setting of any form must put/have in place before it can commence e.g. all forms of health, safety and welfare of the setting must be put in place to ensure full safety of the child is being met. It is the Health Service Executive’s duty for inspecting and giving a report of information on pre-schools of any sort or kind who care for children from the age of zero-six years of age. The regulation is arranged in six parts – thirty-three regulations and can be broadly covered over the following areas: â€Å"Health, welfare and development of the child Notification and inspection by the Health Service Executive Record keeping Standard of premises and facilities General administration† (class notes) Policies and procedures must be drawn up and developed from these points. Children First 1999 Children First was first made available in the year 1999 but was later replaced with Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children 2011. The general rule of the document was left unchanged but acknowledges past inspections and reports and feedback, due to this the document had been edited to set out distinctive guidelines that individual roles should take is concerned for a child’s health, safety and welfare. Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children 2011 main aims are to ensure children’s health safety and welfare are being constantly met. That society are aware that they should not assume but should report any concerns regarding a child’s health and safety and realise that it is their responsibility to put this action into place. The legislation provides advise/support for parents/guardians in regards to their role as a parent/carer. Inspections made by the ‘Department of Education and Science’ will take place through-out schools of all sorts to  reinforce and ensure that the new legislation is being enforced. Siolta Siolta is made up of twelve principals, sixteen standard and seventy-five components. The twelve principals provide the base of the frame work. Without the principals the components wouldn’t be able to be put in place. The principals give direction for childcare workers on how they should carry out their work in an Early Childhood Care and Education environment, how to interact and communicate with children and fillies, how subjects should be taught and how the services that the childcare worker works in should be organised. The twelve principles contain: Equality – is a necessary aspect to have in a childcare setting, it is essential every child feels equal. Diversity- Every childcare setting should recognise that each child comes from very different backgrounds. It is the childcares settings responsibility to confirm that they understand, respect and accommodate this with visual aids e.g. posters, dolls from different ethnic backgrounds, chopsticks in the home area ec t. Environment- The physical layout of the setting should be organised to meet, encourage and develop the child’s abilities so the child can reach their full potential. Welfare- The child’s health, safety and welfare is essential and should be met as much as it possibly can be e.g. if a child has chicken pock’s, that child should be removed to a room where no other children are present the child’s parents should be contacted and the child shouldn’t return until it has cleared to prevent it infecting other children. The role of the adult- The adult working in the setting has a responsibility to make sure the child is making the most of their experience and are reaching full potential while in that adults company. Teamwork-Good communication and respect should be shown and practised in settings between the various workers in the setting. If there isn’t respect among workers, there won’t be good teamwork skills therefore the children present in that company will pick up on the negative energy and put what they have picked up on into practice. Pedagogy- The study and theory of the methods and principals of teaching should be put in place in early childhood care and education through holistic play, as this is the most appropriate method of learning for children of that age range. Play-Should be promoted, as it is an essential part in a child’s development  whether that be physical or theory learning. Sioltas sixteen standards are essential and necessary in services as it give guidance for workers within the service, IT gives guidance on how to act, provide and develop services with the setting. The standards contain various elements such as the various elements such as the child’s rights to the legislation and regulation. It’s from the sanders that the seventy-five components are made up. The components help meet the standard. Without the sixteen standards and seventy-five components the knowledge of the twelve principals wouldn’t be able to be put in place as effectively. Siolta was created to improve the way childcare is taught, organised, carried out and viewed in the Early Childhood Care and Education settings who cater for children from the age range of birth to six years of age. It â€Å"defines, assess and supports† these improvements. Early Childhood Care and Education settings and services taking part in the free school year must implement Siolta, making more demand for the service. (siolta) Aistear Aistear, was established by the Department of Education and Skills through NCCA in 2010. Aistear from the Irish word meaning ‘journey’, is of relevant importance to childcare settings where children from the ages of 0-6 years receive their care and education. Aistear works closely alongside Siolta and consists of an informal curriculum that contains twelve principles and themes that give guidance to the childcare worker. Aistear recognizes that education and care are not separate within the childcare sector and they aim to help children grow and develop independently. (Aistear) The manager The manager is required to have a minimum level 7/8 qualification in childcare, they have to manage the day-to-day routine of the preschool setting, ensuring that the developmental needs, safety and wellbeing of each individual child are being met. The manager may also be required to work unsocial hours and must attend to relevant meetings. The manager also has the responsibility to ensure the child protection policy is being implemented within the setting, recording and concerns and also ensuring high sanders of safety are being maintained at all times. (Class notes) The Childcare assistant The Childcare assistant is required to have a minimum of a level 5 qualification in childcare and previous experience is required. They assist in the day-to-day organisation and preparation of the childcare setting. The Childcare assistant must maintain all personal information of the individual children as confidential and at times have to work unsocial hours. The assistant must ensure the children within their care are receiving high standards of care, safety and wellbeing whilst also ensuring the developmental need of the children are being met accurately. The Childcare Assistant will have to at times participate in fundraising activities, special events and outings. They must strictly follow the Child Protection policy and report any concerns. (class notes) The Playgroup Leader The Playgroup Leader is required to have a minimum of a level 5 qualification in childcare and previous experience in childcare is required. The Playgroup Leader is required to manage the day-to-day routine of the playgroup. The playgroup leader has the responsibility to ensure the safety, wellbeing and developmental needs of the children are being continually being met. They must keep all personal information regarding the children within the service, children’s family and staff strictly confidential. Must strictly follow and promote the Child Protection Policy, ensuring high standers of hygiene and quality are being promoted within the setting. Organise regular meetings with parents throughout the year. Must regularly carry out appraisal on the staff’s performance, make sure all staff and volunteers have guard vetting. Must try to obtain good staff more and show respect to other staff members. Special Needs Assistant A Special Needs Assistant must have a minimum level5 qualification in childcare. Must ensure that all personal information regarding children or staff they work with remains confidently then it should be reported. Must strictly follow the Child Protection Act and make sure the developmental needs of the child are being met. The assists are recruited to help assist  and support children with special needs or difficult behaviour problems in schools. The assistants engage regularly with the parents of the special needs child, they also participate in fundraising activities, special events and outings to further help the child or children with special needs. Montessori teacher Must have a minimum level5 qualification in childcare. Must strictly follow the Child Protection Act and make sure the developmental needs of the child are being met, ensuring high standards of hygiene and quality are being promoted within the setting. A Montessori has the responsibly to provide opportunities for children so they can figure out how to do something for themselves. Must observe children within the setting and comment on their development. They provide challenging tasks for the children, so they make the best of their abilities. Organise meetings with the parents throughout the year. Detailed description of the qualifications and experience needed for work associated with on occupation in the ECCE sector. One occupation in the Early Child Care and Education sector I have chose to further evaluate on is the pre-school manager. The pre-school manager has many roles and responsibilities such as: Being strictly confidential within and outside the Early Childhood Care and Education setting in relaxation to keeping personal information about the children, their family and also the staff. Ensuring when planned activities are taking place that each individual child’s developmental needs are being met. Making sure that every area and all facilities of the Early Childhood Care and Education setting are being met to Sioltas standards. Has the role of preparing and creating curriculum plans for the staff to carry out in the Early Childhood Care and Education setting. Making sure that there is good staff morale, resolving any issues that arise promptly and effectively Making sure that there the Child Protection policy is being promoted and that the policy is being firmly stuck to. If any concerns are arisen then the manager must document and record this. Organise meetings with parents throughout the year to inform them and discuss such things as the child’s progression and also  adhering to any concerns raised by the parents. It is also a role and responsibility of the manager to prepare and organise special event and outings for the children attending the Early Childhood Care and Education setting. ( class notes) The preschool manager must have a minimum qualification of level of seven/eight in childcare.This qualification can be obtained in most IT’s. The duration of study that it would take to obtain this would be approximately three to four years depending on the level of qualification. To then further become a pre-school manager the level of experience the individual would need to have would depend on the Early Childhood Care and Education setting. Generally the minimum experience needed by the individual would be approximately two – four years. It would be appropriate that the individual had experience as a supervisor before becoming a pre-school manager. Employment and Career Opportunities in Childcare Funding that is made available to state to childcare services, such as the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme, the Early Childhood Care and Education Scheme / Free Pre-School year and Community Childcare Solovention scheme make the option of childcare services more appealing and therefore increase the demand for childcare services. As a result of the increased demand for childcare services, the demand for employment opportunities also increases. The Early Childhood care and Education Scheme / Free Pre-school year (FPSY) was introduced in 2009. The scheme recognized the importance of qualifications within the childcare sector and as a result it introduced a minimum qualifications standard for pre-school leaders. An important feature of the scheme is that it offers more funding for better qualified staff and because of this feature it can increase or decrease an individual’s employment opportunities e.g. if an individual applied for a particular position in which the state requires the potential employee to hold a Level 7 qualification, and the candidate did not hold a Level 7 qualification,  that candidate will most likely not get the position as a result as their employment would not benefit the pre-school. The Community Childcare Subvention Scheme is a support scheme that was set up to aid and support non-profit childcare services/centres. This scheme does not support profit childcare services. The schemes main focus is to help the non-profit childcare services. This scheme allows non-profit childcare services to provide their services at a lower rate, which enables children with disadvantaged parents the opportunity to attend childcare services. Each Community based service that takes part in the Community Childcare scheme, has the responsibility to make a guideline available of the different rates for each type of service that they offer to parents. There are four types of fee rates available; and the parent/guardian will be offered the rate depending on what price band or category they fall into based on their individual financial situation. This scheme enables more access to all types of parents and therefore increases the demand for childcare services and effectively increases employment opportunities. Special Needs Assistant – Due to the downturn in the Irish Economy, there have been substantial cuts in Special Needs Assistants. It has been revealed that approximately 1200 Special needs assistant positions will be cut in the near future. (Class notes) If this happens, there will be a sharp decrease in the amount of employment opportunities available within the childcare sector. It is also thought that as a result of the cuts, individuals that currently hold a Level 7/8 qualification may not be willing to apply for job opportunities that become available due to the poor pay conditions and low status of the childcare positions. Progression of qualifications within the childcare sector e.g. achieving a Level 5 and progressing to a Level 6, Level 7 and Level 8 qualification is becoming more important to childcare workers to help them increase their employment opportunities. The better the qualification that a childcare worker obtains means they have a higher chance of securing employment within the childcare sector. E.g. If an advertisement is published in a newspaper for a childcare position, and an individual that holds a Level 5 applies  while also an individual what holds a Level 8 qualification also applies, the individual with the higher qualification i.e. the Level 8 qualification, will have a higher chance of getting the position. After obtaining a Level 8 qualification i.e. A Degree in childcare, which is generally obtained over a three year period, there is a career opportunity to continue to study towards a Primary school teaching qualification. A further two years of study in Teacher training is also required before obtaining a qualification as a Primary school teacher. After achieving a minimum of a Level 7/8 qualification, there is also the opportunity to become a manager within a childcare setting. An individual seeking to further their career or who wishes to pursue a career in management would also need sufficient experience within the early childcare and education setting to secure a higher position. This career opportunity can only become available for the individual if they have obtained a Level 7/8 qualification.

American History Essay Example for Free (#6)

American History Essay African American (597) , American history (69) company About StudyMoose Contact Careers Help Center Donate a Paper Legal Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Complaints â€Å"The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil† was a wise phase once uttered by Hannah Arendt. I love this quote because is perfectly describes the two boys from â€Å"American History X,† Danny and Derek. These two boys have seen and done it all when it comes to hate groups, as both were members of a neo-nazi hate group. Neo- Nazi hate groups use authoritarian, scapegoat, normative, and exploitation theories to justify their hate, discrimination, and torture of anyone who isn’t a part of the â€Å"supreme race,† or white. Boy Danny and Derek end up in this life from an early age. Parents are one of the biggest, if not the biggest influence on a child’s life. When Danny and Derek were both relatively young they looked up to their father, thought of him as the â€Å"ideal† man. However their father was a racist, influencing almost every thought the boys had. At family dinner when talking about about a black school teacher their father said, â€Å"It’s nigger bullshit,† and warned Derek not to buy into the equality teachings. Because Danny and Derek both looked up to their dad so much, this would be and example of the exploitation theory. Exploitation theory is when one societal group, in this case whites, use hostility to keep their position and power intact. This really come into play after Danny and Derek’s father was murdered and Derek believes it was a race related killing. Right after their father died, Derek joined a neo-nazi hate group known as the DOC(Disciples of Christ). Being extreme believers in the white supremacy movement, the DOC acted out with violence and extreme hatred toward any other race, especially blacks. Derek, being a high ranking member, murdered 2 black men for the cause. He served three years for the murders, which impacted his whole family tremendously. At the beginning of Derek’s sentence he did not want any visitors, claiming it would be to hard to see his family. He made friends with other neo-nazi members in prison, but soon started realizing that they were not serious about the cause like he was. He also started becoming friends with his black work partner who said, â€Å"I ain’t the nigger in here, you are† Derek started realizing that white supremacy what basically just a scapegoat. Meaning that the followers of the movement were just trying to find someone to blame for their problems, which in this case happened to be  the blacks. After befriending his black work mate he realized that blacks are human too. Once he could recognize blacks as human he finally felt guilt for killing to people, not niggers, people. Derek was determined to help his brother and family by getting them out of the gangs and hate. One of the biggest influences on Derek while in jail was his principal from high school. He was a black man with experience in dealing with â€Å"troubled youth.† He gave Derek the push he needed by saying, â€Å"Has anything you’ve done made your life better?†. Later Derek told Danny, â€Å"It’s just because I was pissed off†. I think this was Derek’s way of responding to his principal, he really didn’t believe in the cause it was more of just an outlet for his anger that his father would have approved of. While Derek is locked up. American History. (2016, Oct 18). We have essays on the following topics that may be of interest to you

Service innovation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Service innovation - Assignment Example Designing for service, according to Barrett et al. (2015), is fundamental to achieve service innovation in the contemporary businesses environment. Design thinking entails generating insights about the end users of a service to outlining perspective of their preference. First, Barrett et al. (2015) suggest that researchers should embrace the concepts of design thinking approach to integrating insights of end users of a service to promote innovation solutions. That involves focusing on multiple the demands actors who use the service such as managers, employees, customers, users and other stakeholders during the design process. In relation to the suggestion, designing for service in the banking sector should take into account the unique demands of all users of the system. It must integrate the necessities and demands of managers in the banking sector. It must suit the demands of customers and other users. For instance, designing for service should ensure security of the system that constitutes a key concern of the managers. Managers should have a secure system that is not vulnerable money laundering or effects of cyber-attacks. It should support supervision of activities and transactions in the system. In meeting the demand of employees, design for service in the banking sector should be easy to use and secure. Customers demand innovation solutions that are effective in driving competition. It should create new possibilities in financial transactions that are convenient for the customer to use. Design for service in the banking sector should allow the use of new technologies that promote efficiency for the customer. Other users such as shareholders in the banking sector should find the system easy to access and use. In essence, all users of the service expect exceptional mix of products suited to address their distinct

Working at McDonald's Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Working at McDonald's - Assignment Example That is because most of the workers at McDonald’s are students high school and their job at fast food restaurants interferes with their lessons and homework. That very often becomes a reason of dropouts which eventually leads to further life without deep professional knowledge and working at low cost jobs without career opportunities. Another significant detail is the basics of the inequality that are created by the low cost jobs like one in fast food stores. Statistics shows that minorities are a big part of all people working at stores like McDonalds. As for the sources author provides a knowing of research by Ivan Charper and Bryan Shore Fraser but he is not satisfied and argues with authors on some points. As the final argument the author criticizes the way teenagers spend their money. In his opinion undeveloped teenagers become very comfortable with the typical American consuming way of life and that makes youngsters feel like adults. With the situation like this it is of ten more desirable for teens to work couple hours longer in Burger King to buy clothes instead of doing your homework and receive knowledge for the rest of the life. Educational aspects of work in fast food stores like learning how to operate cash-register or doing your job under the supervision in authors thought are very insignificant and because teens most of the time work only with other youngsters there is no possibility to take somebody as an example or a role model. The author`s point of view is very interesting, fresh and deserves attention. Some of his arguments can and should be discussed but in whole the problem of low cost jobs at fast food stores is a very actual question because it connects with the teenagers and teenagers are the future of our society. In his article Amitai Etzioni at first compares teenager’s job at McDonald’s (or any other fast food store) with the old time concept of the first job

Organizational Justice Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Organizational Justice - Assignment Example There are clearly defined ways to improve the perception of organizational justice by one's employees or members. Samples of some alternatives are; fairness of hiring practices, non-discriminatory policies, allowing for feedback from employees, management fairness training, and a clearly procedural rewards system. As the characteristics of a process (procedural justice) are more closely linked with the perception of justice of the organization and therefore the employee's trust, more research is needed into just procedures. Employees or members of any organization that feel it's policies and procedures are at minimum unbiased are more likely to feel their contributions make a difference to the organization. When employees feel they are valued they establish a relationship with their employer/organization which invites loyalty, dedication, and higher production. Therefore, it is important to measure perceptions of trust and justice to ensure that employees feel they are treated fairly and justly. It is important to evaluate the progress of the company/organization and constantly ensure that its employees are content. This allows for maximum retention, performance, and production. Organizational Justice is the term used to define people's perception of fairness in an organization. The majority of studies on justice were conducted in the 1960's, but the majority of studies on justice in organizations have been published since 1990 (Charash 278). As it is a relatively newer field, it is surprising the number of studies that have been conducted, Charash mentions 400 studies and 100 theoretical papers. It is therefore obvious that it is an important topic in Business Management. There are three main types of Organizational Justice; distributive, procedural, and interactional (Charash 278, Henle 248). Distributive justice emphasizes the perceived outcome of fairness, and is mainly related to the cognitive, affective, and behavioral reactions to particular outcomes. When an outcome is perceived as unfair, it will affect the employee's emotions and ultimately their behavior in relation to the organization. Distributive justice fails the measure the interpretation of the methods of an organization, it only addresses the outcome. Procedural justice shifted the focus from emphasizing not only the outcome as with distributive justice, but rather the perceived fairness of the process by which the outcome was achieved. (Charash 280). It is simply defined as the fairness of the process by which outcomes are determined. Procedural justice is perceived to exist when procedures follow certain types of accepted principles. Leventhal's 1980 conceptualization addressed six rules that yield perceptions of a fairer procedure. They are; (a) the consistency rule; (b) the bias-suppression rule; (c) the accuracy rule; (d) the correctability rule; (e) the representativeness rule; and (f) the ethicality rule. It is worth noting that perception of unfairness in an organization's procedure will result in reactions directed toward the organization as opposed to distributive justice, where the reactions will be directed toward the decision maker. The third type of Organizational justice is interactional justice. Interactional justic

Case study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 106

Case Study Example The Swiss chocolate ice cream cake roll has to be sourced from another vendor in the supplier’s list immediately. The situation analysis needs to begin with the communication breakdown. It is important to assess the communication between the sales department and the conference organizer who was supposed to ensure that the guests did not bring along their pets. The reservationist failed to inquire if the guests were dog or cat owners, which would have helped to avoid the two pets from creating a commotion at the Times hotel. The events demonstrated failure among the reservations personnel. There is need to ask them to explain why the mess occurred. The reason for two room attendants not to report to work during such chaos is questionable and needs an explanation. The switchboard operator failed to relay calls with important information to the chef and the reasons need to be known. The air conditioner was faulty and the front office manager did not get this information as calls from the executive engineer went unanswered. The switch board operator plays a significant role in the hotel’s co mmunication network and should not fail in his/her duty. The significance of effective communication between the front office and other departments cannot be overemphasized. It is important for the front office manager to develop an analytical perspective of the communication system. Active participation by front the office manager in routine communication is important for the effective management of other departments. Employees need to be trained on how to deal with colleagues within their department as well as in other departments to enhance professionalism in communication and service delivery. The function board needs to be reviewed with every employee on respective shifts to ensure professional initial guest contact. The front office manager needs to help the employees to concentrate on every day’s

Micro & Macro economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Micro & Macro economics - Essay Example The response to the increase in APA is depicted in the figure below. The line is seen to shift leftwards and repositions the IS line such that the IS curve and the APE line continue intersecting at the original GDP line. Since the decrease in need for funding the APA is matched with an increase in the funding by the nation’s producers, hence the requirement for funding remains equal to the ASF supply. The present situation is APE This case is just opposite to the above case where there is decline in the funding supply (ASF). All decreases in the ASF includes a reduction in M x V in comparison to the price index (p). During the phase, the rates of interest would be rising, tracking the point of intersection of ASF and GDP lines as they move up across the IS line. The rates of interest would remain below its original level unless and until substantial concessions on costs are able to allow profitable operations at low prices which consequently compensate for the loss in output and unemployment. The fall in the supply of funds of the country (ASF) would trigger a dramatic rise in the interest level because producers would react to the fall in sales. This would be done by the price-output adjustment which involves deflation, output, employment, interest rates and profits, until the equality is restored among the ASF, APE and GDP lines. Output and employment are expected to continue declining unless and until prof its and prices rise to their original levels. The process will end with the fall in employment and output levels, rise of interest rates and thus unchanged outputs and profits (Ashby, â€Å"Case #5m – Money-and-Credit-Caused Recession†). The figure below would depict the cost push inflation. Due to a wide spread increase in the costs of production, the profit levels, employment levels and output levels would fall. This would be accompanied with the rise in the interest levels in the nation. The employment and output would continue to fall unless and until the negative economic profits can be eliminated completely and successfully. This would happen by allowing the reduction of output till the level that prices rise by the amount equal to the increase in cost (Ashby, â€Å"Case #5c - Cost-Push Inflation†). Growth problem in the economy can be explained in the diagram below. It is seen from the diagram that an increase in the output would be followed by an increas e in the rates of interest. Producers would immediately react to the low demand in the economy. The rates of interest would fall along with the employment and output levels until they reach their original positions. Since the initial fall would be compensated by an offsetting rise in price levels, they would be maintained at the original positions. After returning to the original position, the economy would suffer a shock which would push down the levels of output, employment and rates of interest below their original positions leaving the price levels at their unchanged positions (Ashby, â€Å"

Handscrolls in the Song Dynasty or in Tang dynasty or you can compare Essay

Handscrolls in the Song Dynasty or in Tang dynasty or you can compare - Essay Example Gu lived during the Jin Dynasty (265-240) and is known as a the founder of the classical Chinese painting. The predominant style of painting during the Jin Dynasty was scroll paintings. Gu was from Wuxi family and worked as a government official when still of a young age. Gu was not only a painter but also wrote several poems and essays. He had a chance to travel to many places and he would document his experiences as poems, essays or paintings. He is a very important figure in studying Chinese art history (McCausland, 43). This paper looks at Gu kaizshi works of art and analyses the specific characteristics of these paining as a way of getting insight into the style used by Chinese artist during the Jin dynasty. Nushi Zhen â€Å"Admonitions of the Instructress of the Ladies in the Palace†) This is one of the most documented paintings by Gu. This painting is adopted from Zhag Hua’s moralizing text that details the right behavior that ladies in the Imperial Harlem should show. This scroll is made of direct quotation from the texts which are followed by illustrations in terms of painting. The paintings were made with ink drawn on silk materials. The paintings in this hand scroll are very different from those of the Han dynasty. Unlike the previous paintings the figures in this hand scroll have characterized facial expressions showing emotions (McCausland, 560. This shows a development towards the creation of portraits with the figures showing individual characters and is not general like the previous pictures. An example of this portrayal is seen in scene 10 when a lady approaching the emperor was repulsed by a gesture of his raised arm. Gu uses long even strokes of his brush that show the swirling of the drapery. One can also read the expressions on the two characters involved. An important aspect of Gu painting in this scroll is the strokes. He uses evenly narrow and long strokes without a lot of diversification. This kind of line was named as spr ing-silkworm-spitting-silk line. It was the earliest line style used by Chinese artist and it was not until Tang dynasty where the artists started using more diversified line strokes. Gu was also limited in terms of the colors used to paint the apparel worn by his characters. This is because the color used was only ink either ochre or vermilion ((McCausland & Gu, 356). Gold was used in representing ornamentation in women. Gu paid a lot of attention to details as seen in his work of art and this explains why it was possible to characterize his figures. This was borrowed by other artist and it now possible to tell a person’s character from the manner they are displayed in portraits. Nymph Of Luo River This is another work of art which has contributed to the growth of the modern day Chinese art. This work of art was based on a poem written by Cao Zhi. This art can be seen as a milestone in the transition from figure painting to landscape painting. It is from the Jin dynasty that artists started to recognize the powerful influence of nature as setting was now seen to be an integral part of displaying themes in paintings. The originating is based on the story of the price Cao zhi meeting a nymph by the Luo River. This story is found in a poem written by Cao zhi himself. The nymph was the daughter of a mythical ruler called Fuxi. This is a doomed romance since the gods and human cannot marry as they live in different worlds. This form of art also shows the

The Process of Planning a Party Research Proposal

The Process of Planning a Party - Research Proposal Example As a college student, my personal experience on holding party was a few days after I had received my results of passing to the next level and academic year. This greatly motivated me to hold a house party in order to celebrate this achievement. After deciding on a location that was outdoor within our compound, I felt it was the right idea to make a list of people who will be attending my bash. This list included mostly my colleagues though my relatives and family members were also included. I also allowed everyone to bring with them a friend if they were single not forgetting to caution them about respect for the party. This was because the party had even my family members and relatives present. With the friends of the invited guests present, I was very sure the party will be extremely lively. I thereafter filled my invitations and got them in my mail. Hand delivery was an alternative for the friends and relatives I failed to reach through the mail. This was done earlier before the e vent in order to get down to my party details. My party, of course, had a guest of honor that was my dad. This was my suggestion for it gave us an opportunity as college students to get advice from this wise man. The date I had set was on a Friday. This was a holiday hence, most people were free during the daytime. My preparation for the day was short and I had to advise my mum on how to go about my party. It is always a good idea to get with someone close to you for a bit of advice on how to decorate, type of food to eat and on the positive and negative impacts of holding a party. Advice is vital while planning for a party for if you get wrong advice then the whole party is prone to be ruined (Ideas & Liz 23). The decision on the budget should be within the range that is not very expensive and not very cheap as well. The questions I asked myself included the amount I wanted to spend which made me budget while putting into consideration the amount of money I had set aside for my par ty. The food combination was so simple and it consisted of drinks plus a few snacks. This is because the party was during the day and most of my guests were to leave by evening hours thus there was no need for heavy meals. When it comes to music, there is no lively party without music. This sets the mood as well as the tone of the party. The music genre included techno music, pop music, and some cool afro-fusion music, which every guest seemed to be greatly impressed with. Some party games were also set up. Routine dance as one of my best party game made everyone very happy. Lastly, the party had various ways and use of the cautions and warnings and the guests as they were all college students had to seek their parents’ permission in order to attend my party. Seeking permission should not only be applied to the person holding the party but even the guests in my case for we are teens and could end up messing up at the party.

Life of Rabindra Nath Tagore Essay Example for Free

Life of Rabindra Nath Tagore Essay Tagores international travels also sharpened his opinion that human divisions were shallow. During a May 1932 visit to a Bedouin encampment in the Iraqi desert, the tribal chief told him that Our prophet has said that a true Muslim is he by whose words and deeds not the least of his brother-men may ever come to any harm Tagore noted in his diary: I was startled into recognizing in his words the voice of essential humanity. [1] In his last decade, Tagore compiled fifteen volumes of writings, including works of prose-poems such as Punashcha (1932), Shes Saptak (1935), and Patraput (1936). He also continued his experimentations by developing prose-songs and dance-dramas, including Chitrangada (1936), Shyama (1939), and Chandalika (1938). He also wrote the novels Dui Bon (1933), Malancha (1934), and Char Adhyay (1934). Tagore also took an interest in science in his last years, writing Visva-Parichay (a collection of essays) in 1937. He wrote on topics ranging from biology to physics, and astronomy; meanwhile, his poetry — containing extensive naturalism — underscored his respect for scientific laws. He also wove the process of science (including narratives of scientists) into many stories contained in such volumes as Se (1937), Tin Sangi (1940), and Galpasalpa (1941). [2] [edit]Illness of 1937-1941 Tagores last four years (1937–1941) were marked by chronic pain and two long periods of illness. These began when Tagore lost consciousness in late 1937; he remained comatose and near death for an extended period. This was followed three years later in late 1940 by a similar spell, from which he never recovered. The poetry Tagore wrote in these twilight years are distinctive for their preoccupation with death; these more profound and mystical experimentations allowed Tagore to be branded a modern poet. 3] After extended suffering,[4] Tagore died on August 7, 1941 (22 Shravan 1348) in an upstairs room of the Jorasanko mansion in which he was raised. [5] This date is still mourned in public functions held across the Bangla-speaking world. The last person to see Tagore alive was Amiya Kumar Sen (brother of Sukumar Sen, the first chief election commissioner); Tagore dictated his last poem to Sen, who wrote it down. Sen later donated the resulting draft to a museum in Kolkata.

Scientific method Essay Example for Free

Scientific method Essay Summary paragraph introducing the project, building, hypothesis, highlights of findings. concise brief of the parts to the case study. Introduction Description of building, background information, designer’s intent, observations, and how team decided on topic. selection of an interesting or challenging building; relevant issues to current building performance topics that address energy-use and conservation and/or occupant well-being and associated topics covered during the Fall term. Hypothesis / Inquiry Questions. A question converted to a statement that can be tested, deals with one relevant topic, and has only one clause. suitability in scope and context to the case study building; testable and well-framed statement linking design intent to performance topic. Significance in going beyond the mundane. Methods / Equipment Step-by-step procedure that explains how, who, what, where and details of the collection of information. innovative utilization of field methods which are well-matched to the hypothes(es) and based upon direct experience with the selected building; appropriate approach and use of equipment for this case study. Data / Analysis Collection of data and explanation and interpretation of the results. effective communication and analysis of results in response to the research questions; this may include creative or unique ways of representing data; Conclusions / Design Lessons Learned Concise statements of key findings and what was learned. understanding of the complexities and variables of the project. appropriateness of concluding statements suggestions for studies to build upon this case study. Web Design ease and logic of navigation; readability and clarity; creativity in using the web to enhance the representation of data. appropriate attribution, acknowledgement, etc. A =demonstrates meeting the objectives and criteria above; serves as a useful model of information for the design community. B =demonstrates meeting the objectives and criteria above C =meets several of the objectives and criteria above, is deficient in areas. D =does not demonstrate meeting the objectives and criteria above Evaluation Procedures. The following process enables us to give a fair and objective review to each of the case study projects, according to the objectives and criteria set forth in the assignment. 1. Instructors will review an initial set of selected case studies together and assign letter grades (see below) for content and web design according to the criteria above. As a group, we will discuss the merits and deficiencies and come to agreement on the final content and web grade, by consensus or averaging the grades. Comments and grades will be entered into a master spreadsheet (which contains team names, email addresses, GTF, title) which will facilitate sending feedback to the teams and provide a master document should students come in to talk to us later. 2. For efficiency of time and because of the number of case studies, we will break into grading teams (one instructor, two GTFs) and use the same process to evaluate the rest of the case studies. Adjustments and re-calibration of grades can occur as we progress through the grading process. The instructors may float between teams. 3. Presentation grades from the instructor and GTF will be entered into the master spreadsheet. 4. Generally, GTFs will not be on a team grading their own students’ case studies. They can be however, consulted to ask about the team’s initiative and general performance. GTFs should review the grades with the grading team. 5. All instructors will â€Å"vote† for case studies to be place in the Hall of Fame (4-5 total). Once these have been selected we will notify them after grades have been submitted and case study files can be posted to the Hall of Fame site. (this may be early winter term).

Legal Sources of the UK Constitution and Human Rights Law

Legal Sources of the UK Constitution and Human Rights Law 1. The UK constitution is described as an unwritten one. Explain with reference to the legal sources of the UK constitution and appropriate examples, why it is called unwritten, and consider whether the distinction between a written and unwritten constitution is legally significant. The word constitution has many different meanings, however only two of them are applicable to constitutional law. Firstly, constitution could mean a written document which contains the rules and principles according to which a country is run. Secondly, the word constitution could refer to: the body of rules and arrangements concerning the government of the country.[1] The second definition does not impose any requirement of writing. It should be stressed that although some states do not have a written constitution every country in the world, including the UK, has a constitution in the second sense of the word. Over the centuries the attitude towards the British/English constitution ranged from admiration to sever criticism. Thomas Paine went even further, he ruled out a possibility that an English constitution could exist.[2] The British constitution has been sometimes described as ‘political.’ Griffith believes the word ’political’ can be used to refer to a wide range of qualities, e.g. the UK constitution assumes equality of all citizens and many important rules are not legal rules. He also stressed that operation of the constitution is closely linked to Parliament and Parliamentary elections, this leads to a conclusion that the British constitution must be analysed in the political context.[3] The UK constitution draws on a wide range of sources: statutes, common law, the royal prerogative, international treaties and agreements, conventions and academic texts written by legal experts. As an expression of Parliament’s will statutes are the most important source of law, some of them have a particular constitutional significance, e.g. the Magna Carta 1215, the Act of Settlement 1701, the Representation of the People Act 1983 and the Human Rights Act 1998. Another written source of law is case-law. Although judges should merely interpret the law, and not get involved into a law making process, many crucial legal principles have been established in the course of legal proceedings, for example in British Railways Board v Pickin[4] Lord Reid said that the courts have no power to overrule Acts of Parliament on any grounds. International treaties and agreements, such as for instance the Treaty of Rome 1957, have also become a source of English law; similarly, texts written b y legal experts may acquire exceptional legal significance, e.g. Diceys An Introduction to the Study of Law of the Constitution. The unwritten sources of the UK constitution are the royal prerogative and conventions. The royal prerogative stems from the powers which used to be exercised exclusively by the monarch and which are now exercised by the ministers on the Queens behalf. The examples of the royal prerogative are the power to declare war, the control over the appointment of ministers and the right to dissolve Parliament. The legal nature of conventions is somewhat different, they are non-legal norms which should be obeyed by those to whom they apply; although conventions cannot be enforced by the courts they are usually respected. As the above discussion illustrates, a large part of the constitution is written. However, due to lack of a separate document which could be called a constitution this fact is often disregarded and the UK constitution is said to be unwritten. The unwritten character of the UK constitution, or rather the existence of unwritten rules, has serious legal implications. The first point to note is that Parliament can pass and revoke the law as it sees fit. Until recently the British constitution did not guarantee any rights; although an Act, called the Bill of Rights, was enacted as early as 1688 it dealt exclusively with issues related to Parliament and Crown. This meant that, in theory, Parliament could pass any legislation it considered appropriate even if it infringed rights of UK citizens. Prior to the enactment of the Human Rights Act 1998 the only limitation on the Parliamentary sovereignty in cases involving of human rights violation would have been the rule of law. However, effectiveness of the rule would have been limited if the courts, wanting to avoid interference with Parliamentary decisions, refused to enforce it. This should be juxtaposed with countries which have written constitutions and where rights of ordinary citizens are protected by specially drafted provisions. In addition to being uncodified the UK constitution is flexible and unitary (provided devolution is not taken into account) but it is not entrenched. The result is that while written constitutions are rigid the UK constitution is flexible, an advantage of flexibility is that any necessary changes can be introduced quickly and relatively easily. On the other however, lack of entrenchment leaves a lot of power in the hands of a small group of people. Moreover, unwritten constitutions always involve a degree of vagueness, the situation is made worse by the fact that norms which are not written cannot be enforced by the courts. These problems do not arise if the constitution is written, yet it does not follow that all the relevant law can be found in the constitution. Munro argued: â€Å"It ( ) also suggested, wrongly that in countries such as the United States, all the rules and arrangements concerning government had been reduced to writing in a single document. In practice, this is never the case.†[5] Both written and unwritten constitutions rely on the legal precedent, they are formed and modified by judicial interpretations of the law and political practices. The UK constitution is said to be unwritten however as has been shown above it is not, strictly speaking, true. The constitution relies on a wide range of sources and most of them can be found in writing. It has already been mentioned that the constitution can be described as political, yet following developments such incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights, membership of the European Union and changes which took place post-1997, more and more constitutional rules are being codified. Thus, according to Munro the UK constitution is becoming ’legal.’[6] It is, therefore, submitted that the gap between the unwritten British constitution and the written constitutions in other countries is gradually becoming narrower. The new EU constitution may close this gap entirely. BIBLIOGRAPHY TEXTBOOKS Munro, Colin R, Studies in Constitutional Law, Butterworths, second edition, 1999. ARTICLES Griffith, John, The political constitution, (1979) 42 MLR 1. CASES British Railways Board v Pickin [1974] AC 765, [1974] 1 All ER 609. STATUTES, TREATIES AND CONVENTIONS 1215Magna Carta 1688Bill of Rights 1701Act of Settlement 1950 European Convention on Human Rights 1957Treaty of Rome 1983Representation of the People Act 1998Human Rights Act 2. Explain the doctrine of ministerial responsibility to Parliament. Consider whether it should be constitutionally necessary for Ministers to defend their decisions in judicial review claims before a court, as well as answering to Parliament for those decisions. Ministerial responsibility can be either collective or individual, since it is a convention it is unwritten and unenforceable in the courts of law. The operation of the doctrine can be described as follows: â€Å"Ministers are responsible for the general conduct of government, including the exercise of many powers legally vested in the Monarch; and ultimately, through Parliament and parties, to the electorate†[7] The convention of ministerial responsibility has a historical origin, it is a product of tradition and a multitude of historical events. In the nineteenth century ministerial departments used to be very small and the ministers’ workload was limited, in this circumstances it was not unreasonable to expect ministers to be responsible for all their civil servants; this explains how the doctrine of individual ministerial responsibility was born. Collective ministerial responsibility can be traced back to the ministers’ relationship with the Monarch, in the past the sovereign played a role of the Prime Minister and ministers were expected to answer to him. A minister who fails in the performance of his duties has four options: he can explain the situation to Parliament, apologise to Parliament, choose to take action or, in extreme cases, resign. The convention of individual ministerial responsibility has often been found problematic, it is not always clear when, and for what reasons, ministers should resign. It is debatable whether they should resign due to problems in their departments or only if they fail to accomplish tasks for which they are personally responsible. In the past ministers could not be excused from responsibility for their own civil servants, however following the Crichel Down affair (1954) the convention no longer seems to be so severe. It can even be argued that as ministers begun to refuse to resign there has been a shift towards the other extreme. In 1983 James Prior did not hand in his resignation over the Maze Prison escapes. In his view the fallings of the prison system resulted from an inadequate policy.[8] Th e Scott report also had an effect of limiting ministerial responsibility, it concluded that ministers should continue to answer to Parliament but they should no longer be personally responsible for the mistakes of their subordinates. The Nolan Report on the other hand deepened the extent of ministerial responsibility, it stated that ministers should avoid conflicts of interests and bear in mind the impact which their private lives may have on their ministerial positions.[9] The past few years have seen an increasing drive towards accountability, transparency and codification. Thus, in 1992 a decision was taken to publish the previously confidential Questions of procedure for ministers. The Questions, which are now known as Ministerial Code: A Code of Conduct and Guidance on Procedures for Ministers, provided guidance for ministers and played a role of a partly codified convention. In 1995 the Code was amended and the new version instructed ministers not to intentionally misinform Parliament. Appointment of Select Committees also had an impact on ministerial responsibility, the Committees can conduct their own enquiries, question ministers and interview witnesses. At the same time, however, complaints have been made regarding the availability of witnesses and access to documents. The doctrine of collective ministerial responsibility is based on three main principles: the confidence principle, the unanimity principle and the confidentiality principle. The fist principle presumes support of the House of Commons as long as the Government does not receive a vote of no confidence. The second principle imposes an obligation on ministers to vote unanimously while the confidentiality principle demands that any discussions which take place in Cabinet remain confidential. A good example of a breach of the convention of collective responsibility is Clare Short’s disapproval for the war in Iraq. Judicial review can be described as a process of challenging decisions of public bodies, public bodies include the executive but not Parliament. Judicial review proceeding are conducted by the Divisional Court of the Queens Bench. It should not be confused with an appeal procedure, judicial review involves an assessment of the legality of a decision. There are three grounds on which the court can declare a decision ‘unlawful:’ illegality, irrationality and procedural impropriety. Illegality arises when the law has been misunderstood or misinterpreted and therefore applied incorrectly, irrationality applies to cases where the judgement appears unreasonable or unfairness, while procedural impropriety refers to cases involving bias. Following the judgement in R. v. Secretary of State for the Environment, ex parte Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council[10] even discretionary ministerial powers can now be challenged in the process of judicial review. Nevertheless, review of ministerial powers will not be possible in cases involving political decisions, national security or government policy. In R v Director of GCHQ ex parte Hodges[11] one of the judges said: I apprehend for myself that the majority of their lordships were of the view that once it had been established by evidence that a decision had been made on behalf of Government in the interests of national security the whole ambit of that decision was one which the courts can neither enquire nor intervene. It is undisputable that the GCHQ case is a groundbreaking decision, instead of concentrating on the source of the power the courts have been encouraged to focus on its nature. Many forms of scrutiny of the ministerial power are already in place, ministers answer to Parliament, they are subject to judicial review and in cases of serious misconduct they may be investigated by the Select Committees. As regards the breach of conventions the sanctions are political rather than legal, this means that conventions may be ignored and courts are unable to compel the executive to obey them. Yet, ministers may be subjected to political pressure, Clare Short resigned two months after her Iraq war announcement while Sir Thomas Dugdale resigned over the Crichel Down affair. In the later case the process of Parliamentary scrutiny was as a result of pressure exerted by backbenches. In these circumstances, it does not seem necessary for the ministers to answer to Parliament as well as be subjected to judicial review. BIBLIOGRAPHY TEXTBOOKS Munro, Colin R, Studies in Constitutional Law, Butterworths, second edition, 1999. ARTICLES Oonagh Gay, Thomas Powell, Individual ministerial responsibility issues and examples, Research Paper 04/31, (2004). Oonagh Gay, Thomas Powell, Collective responsibility of Ministers an outline of the issues, Research Paper 04/82, (2004). CASES R. v. Secretary of State for the Environment, ex parte Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council [1991] 1 AC 521. R v Director of GCHQ ex parte Hodges (1988) QBD. 3. Explain whether devolution has had any impact on the sovereignty of the Westminster Parliament. Devolution is delegation of centrally held power to regional governments. In the 1980s New Labour advocated devolution in order to win votes in Scotland and Wales, however the actual process of transferring power did not gain momentum until the 1990s. Devolution featured in the New Labours election manifesto and it was only when New Labour won the general election that changes begun to take place. Yet, the reasons behind devolution were not only political but also economic. In the 1980s England was going through a period of high unemployment and although the economic situation in England was critical it was even worse in Scotland and Wales. There was also a feeling of discontent caused by an unequal distribution of EU funds and unfair economic policies which favoured England. Dissatisfaction with British rule was even more visible in Ireland where it frequently led to violence. The 1916 rebellion in Dublin, known as the Easter Rising, was followed by the two year civil war. Eventuall y, the persistence of Sinn Fein forced the British Government to negotiate and Ireland was divided into two parts. Britain retained a much smaller northern part which is now known as the Republic of Northern Ireland.[12] Both academics and politicians distinguish three different types of devolution: administrative, legal and financial.[13] As the name implies, administrative devolution involves delegation of power to manage parts of the administrative system. The central government retains control over related matters of greater importance, for instance even if a regional body is put in charge of healthcare and/or education, as it is the case in Scotland, privatisation decisions must be taken by Westminster. Financial devolution involves granting of power to rise taxes, change the taxation rate or make decisions concerning distribution of public funds. Similarly, legislative devolution refers to the transfer of rights to pass legislation. Devolution is often said to be asymmetrical this means that power is not distributed evenly, e.g. although the structure of the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly are similar the later cannot legislate on policing and criminal matters.[14] These a rrangements have far-reaching consequences for Westminster, firstly it can be argued that following the break-up of the colonial system Parliament exercises its powers over a smaller geographical area.[15] Devolution, along with the membership of the European Union, create an impression that the remaining Parliamentary influence outside England is largely superficial. Secondly, the fact that devolution is asymmetrical could lead to calls for additional rights in order to redress the balance, the White Paper considering an extension of legislative powers of the National Assembly of Wales is already being considered.[16] According to Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution, a classic work by Dicey, sovereignty means that Parliament has the right to make or unmake any law whatever; and further, that no person or body is recognised by the law of England as having a right to override or set aside the legislation of Parliament.[17] In view of the above discussed developments can it still be argued that Westminster has not suffered any loss of sovereignty? Theoretically, there is no conflict between sovereignty and the process of devolution, in the memorandum to the Procedure Committee, the Leader of the House, Margaret Beckett said: None of the devolution legislation affects the House’s ability to pass legislation on any matter. For all public bills, the Government would expect that a convention would be adopted that Westminster would not normally legislate with regard to devolved matters without the consent of the devolved body.[18] Finally, Munro explains that being sovereign Parliament is free to impose limitations on its own power.[19] Despite what has been said above there is also evidence to the contrary, devolution produced a paradoxical effect known as the West Lothian Question. It means that although Scottish MPs can seat in the British Parliament and decide on issues related exclusively to England English MPs have no influence on similar Scottish issues which have been devolved. This situation has been severally criticised on many occasions and led to calls for an English Parliament.[20] Parliament tackled these problems by further devolution but this time power was devolved to the English regions, e.g. the Regional Agencies Act 1998 established development agencies[21] while in 2000 the newly established Greater London Authority saw its own elected Mayor and the London Assembly. In November 2005 the Government issued a Consultation Paper which proposes extending the responsibilities of the London Assembly and the London Major.[22] These developments have already limited, and will continue to limit, the power s traditionally held by the legislature and the executive. Although, in theory, Parliament could choose to withdraw the devolved powers at any time a total withdrawal is unlikely to be possible in practice. Westminster would have to consider both political and social implications of such actions and it is likely that the response of the public would range from widespread discontent to outright violence. Riots would be likely to break out in Northern Ireland where, as mentioned at the beginning of this paper, violent resistance to English rule has taken place in the past. In 1972 Edward Heath re-established direct rule over Northern Ireland, he was criticised by both unionists and nationalists. The sense of national identity in Northern Ireland remains very strong while in Scotland objections to a withdrawal of devolved powers would probably be raised on nationalist, and particularly economic, grounds. Consequently, it is difficult to deny that devolution undermined sovereignty of Westminster Parliament; arguments to the contrary have limited , and purely theoretical, validity. BIBLIOGRAPHY TEXTBOOKS Munro, Colin R, (1999), Studies in Constitutional Law, Butterworths, second edition. ARTICLES CONSULTATION PAPERS A Consultation Paper, The Greater London Authority: The Government’s proposals for additional powers and responsibilities for the Mayor and Assembly, (2005). Leeke Matthew, Chris Sear and Oonagh Gay, An Introduction to Devolution in the UK, Research Paper 03/84, (2003). Wood, Edward, The Procedural Consequences of Devolution, Research Paper 99/85, (1999). WHITE PAPERS STATUTES 1998Regional Agencies Act 2005Government White Paper: Better Governance For Wales INTERNET SOURCES Campaign for an English Parliament, http://thecep.org.uk/devolution.shtml [Accessed on 4 August 2006]. 4. Explain how the Human Rights Act 1998 has changed the approach to the protection of human rights in the law of England and Wales. Has the change been for the better or for the worse? Enactment of the Human Rights Act was one of the many objectives which featured in the New Labour’s 1997 election manifesto, the proposal to implement the Act was also part of a much broader programme of constitutional reforms. The statute, which entered into force in 2000, implements the European Convention on Human Rights. According to Lord Lester of Herne Hill the Human Rights Act 1998: â€Å"declares basic rights and freedoms inherent in our common humanity, and the ethical values of a modern democratic society governed under the rule of law a society in which individual and minority rights must be protected against the tyranny of majorities and the abuse of public powers, especially where excessive means are used to pursue legitimate ends. The Act provides an ethical framework to guide law- makers, judges, and individual men and women.†[23] However, as will be shown below the changes brought on by the Act have not always been considered positive. Prior to its entry into force the Act received a lot of negative media coverage, concerns were raised about widespread abuses of the immigration procedures as well as the welfare system. There were also fears that the Act would force judges to disregard Acts of Parliament and by doing so undermine the doctrine of Parliamentary supremacy. Yet, as the subsequent events have shown most of these concerns proved misplaced. The unease about statutory interpretation was mainly due to section 3 which provides that, whenever possible, legislation must be enforced consistently with the Convention. Section 4 adds that in cases where such interpretation is not possible the court may issue a declaration of incompatibility. The declaration does not overrule any provisions but merely states that the law does not comply with the European Convention of Human Rights. The Act lead to an increased protection for the rights of individuals, e.g. in Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones v Hello![24] the Court of Appeal recognised the right to privacy. Another notable example of human rights protection is the decision in Mendoza v Ghaidan,[25] in this case the protected Rent Act tenant passed away. The court was asked to consider whether, for the purposes of the law of succession, the surviving homosexual partner should have the same rights as he would have had if the couple was heterosexual. The case is significant for several reasons: firstly, the court held that discrimination was unlawful, secondly, it shows that the Human Rights Act applies both to public and private bodies and thirdly, the court interpreted the Rent Act 1977 broadly enough to give effect to the Convention rights. In the opinion of Lord Lester of Herne Hill Mendoza[26] was correctly decided, he even prised the decision for upholding constitutional rights which include equal tre atment.[27] Despite what has been said above the Act is also known to have its opponents. The decision in R (Q and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department[28] proved particularly contentious and it has been a subject of a sever ministerial criticism. The court held that firstly, the Home Secretary must support asylum-seekers and secondly, the Home Office acted in breach of Article 6. Article 6, which grants a right to a free trial, was violated when the applicants were refused to have their circumstances assessed on individual basis, moreover they were not allowed to appeal. In response to this decision the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, said: If public policy can be always overridden by individual challenge through the courts, then democracy itself is under threat.†[29] In Alconbury Limited v Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions[30] Lord Hoffmann was equally disapproving of the way the case-law has been developing, he that although the Human Rights Act was meant to reinforce the rule of law it reinforced the rule of lawyers instead. September 11 gave rise to many contentious legal issues, human rights, terrorism, extradition and prohibition of torture are now hotly debated. Some of the problems stem from the fact that newly granted civil liberties are counter-balanced by measures introduced on the grounds of national security; hence the Terrorism Act, which came into force on 13 April 2006, prohibits ’glorification’ of terrorism. The ’glorification’ of terrorism is now a criminal offence and applies to speech as well as membership of political and non-political groups. There is a possibility that the provisions of the Act will conflict with the rights guaranteed by the Human Rights Act 1998, future challenges are likely to be based on Article 10 which guarantees freedom of speech and expression. It is yet to be seen what will be the effect of the Act and how it will be interpreted. Another issue which has become particularly contentious is extradition. The Human Rights Act 1998 does n ot contain any provisions prohibiting extradition however it does impose some conditions, the person who is being extradited should not be subjected to torture or inhuman treatment. Finally, can it be said that following the implementation of the Human Rights Act the protection of human rights has improved or, on the contrary, worsened? It seems that there is no ’right’ answer to this question. As has been shown above, ministers can be very critical of the way the Act is interpreted while the judiciary appears very enthusiastic. Nonetheless, human rights are now an integral, and written, part of the British constitution. The Act introduced a new approach to statutory interpretation and added to the range of reasons on which government action can be found unlawful. In other words it increased the accountability of the executive and at the same time encouraged respect for the rule of law. Accordingly, it can be concluded that the Act facilitated many positive changes. BIBLIOGRAPHY TEXTBOOKS Munro, Colin R, Studies in Constitutional Law, Butterworths, second edition, 1999. ARTICLES Glover, Richard, Retrospectivity and the Human Rights Act 1998, [2003] 4 JCLI. CASES Alconbury Limited v Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions [2001] 2 WLR 1389. Mendoza v Ghaidan [2003] 2 WLR 478. Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones v Hello! (2001) 2 All ER 289. R (Q and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, 20 February 2003, Times Law Reports STATUTES 1998 Human Rights Act 2006Terrorism Act INTERNET SOURCES Lester, Anthony, The Human Rights Act five years on. 2003 (online). Available from: http://www.hrla.org.uk/docs/lord lester.pdf#search=human rights act 1998 law [Accessed on 6 August 2006]. Footnotes [1] Munro, Colin R., Studies in Constitutional Law, Butterworths) 1999, p. 1. [2] Munro 2. [3] Griffith, John, The political constitution, (1979) 42 MLR 1. [4] [1974] AC 765, [1974] 1 All ER 609. [5] Munro 3. [6] Munro 13. [7] Munro, Colin R., Studies in Constitutional Law, Butterworths) 1999, p. 57, per G. Marshall and GC Moodie. [8] Oonagh Gay, Thomas Powell, Individual ministerial responsibility issues and examples, Research Paper 04/31, (2004). [9] Oonagh Gay, Thomas Powell, Collective responsibility of Ministers an outline of the issues, Research Paper 04/82, (2004). [10] [1991] 1 AC 521. [11] (1988) QBD. [12] Munro 32. [13] Munro 29 44. [14]Matthew Leeke, Chris Sear and Oonagh Gay, Parliament and Constitution Centre, An Introduction to Devolution in the UK, Research Paper 03/84, (2003), p 7. [15] Munro 127 -166. [16] Government