The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, that is to say it has a monarch (a king or a queen) as its Head of State. Nevertheless, the Monarch has very little power and reigns with the support of Parliament. Parliament consists of two chambers known as the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
The Parliament
The Parliament (Congress in the USA and Stortinget in Norway) is made up by the House of Commons-the Commons or the Lower House, and The House of Lords- the Lords or the Upper House.
The House of Commons are the legislative ones. They have most of the power in the Parliament, where the House of Lords have lost their power.
The Lower House is therefore the ones to:
- Make laws
- Decide the level of public spending and of taxes
- Watchdog over the government
- A recruiting office for the top jobs in government
- Can give different groups in Britain a voice
- Can or cannot give its assent to the government, can defeat a government and force it to resign.
The Lower House or the House of Commons consists of 659 members, one from each constituency and they are members of the party that won in the constituency. They are called MPs- Member of Parliament. The members of the Parliament represent the country- it’s not the same to be a member of the Parliament- being an MP, as being a member of the Government-because the one party with most seats in the Parliament rules the country.
The House of Lords
The House of Lords is the Upper House or Second Chamber. Today they don’t have the power they had before.
The Government
There are about 100 members of the Government. The Prime Minister also has a Cabinet- a group of twenty ministers. They are his closest and often called the Secretary of State
The Prime Minister
The leader of the party that gets most seats in the House of Commons is elected as Prime Minister.
søndag 10. mai 2009
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is a part of Great Britain together with England and Wales.
We all know that there has been an ongoing conflict in Northern Ireland. Here is an explanation of why the conflict even occurred. It was between the Nationalists (Roman Catholics) and the Unionists (The Protestants). The Nationalists wanted to be a part of Ireland and politically united and they felt like Irishmen. The Unionists, who felt like Brits, wanted to continue being a part of Britain. The conflict is not based on religion but ethnic, resources and historical reasons. It is about power, where religion is used as a sorting key. The two groups of people felt so different, even though they lived at the same area. Even though the conflict ended years ago there are still some disagreements. A couple of months ago IRA splinters bombed and killed two British soldiers. Why a new conflict now?
• The compensation given to both sides in the conflict (I have written about this earlier), all that loss someone. That brought a lot of problems.
• Fight for leadership, the new generation fights to show they can lead.
• Change of government from a coalition to an ordinate one.
• They are basically mad!
We all know that there has been an ongoing conflict in Northern Ireland. Here is an explanation of why the conflict even occurred. It was between the Nationalists (Roman Catholics) and the Unionists (The Protestants). The Nationalists wanted to be a part of Ireland and politically united and they felt like Irishmen. The Unionists, who felt like Brits, wanted to continue being a part of Britain. The conflict is not based on religion but ethnic, resources and historical reasons. It is about power, where religion is used as a sorting key. The two groups of people felt so different, even though they lived at the same area. Even though the conflict ended years ago there are still some disagreements. A couple of months ago IRA splinters bombed and killed two British soldiers. Why a new conflict now?
• The compensation given to both sides in the conflict (I have written about this earlier), all that loss someone. That brought a lot of problems.
• Fight for leadership, the new generation fights to show they can lead.
• Change of government from a coalition to an ordinate one.
• They are basically mad!
OneNote
I have now used OneNote for a couple of months and find the program quite helpful. It is a program made by Windows to help organize, and it sure has helped me to systemize my work. I especially like the Print Screen function, where you can take a picture of a web site. It also gives you the time and date of the virtual print. You can also record for example lectures and put them into OneNote. If you have forgotten where you wrote about a specific thing you can just search for a word or a phrase, and it will find the document. OneNote has a lot of smart applications and I truly recommend it, and will continue using the program in the future.
tirsdag 21. april 2009
Is plastic surgery the only option!?
Blonde (a story by Katherine Min)
Blonde is a story about wanting to be someone else than you actually are. You feel that everything about you is wrong, the hair, the nose, the height- the list is endless. The fact is that we always want what we cannot have. This makes us the victim of wanting to be a different person. The others, like the blonde girl in the story Lisa Ogleby or Marylin Monroe, are perfect. They have everything, the right looks and the right moves. As humans we struggle to imitate those we find perfect. The people we imitate don’t have to be tall and blonde; maybe their movements and ways of acting are enough to regard them as perfect. As the girl in the story says: “I studied her movements, her laughter like low sneezing, the way her part was etched down the middle, revealing a reddish scalp, “Studying to be blond,” I called it to myself. “
We also tend to believe we are someone else, to feel better. To make up stories f. ex about our background, will be the same as dreaming to be a different person, a person we find more interesting , prettier, more perfect and successful. Doing so will only make us feel worse about ourselves. At one point everyone will think negative thoughts about themselves; it’s a natural part of being a human. If they are sp unsatisfied they could either work on their self esteem or (take a plastic surgery!?), just make the best out of it- not focusing at the negative sides.
Blonde is a story about wanting to be someone else than you actually are. You feel that everything about you is wrong, the hair, the nose, the height- the list is endless. The fact is that we always want what we cannot have. This makes us the victim of wanting to be a different person. The others, like the blonde girl in the story Lisa Ogleby or Marylin Monroe, are perfect. They have everything, the right looks and the right moves. As humans we struggle to imitate those we find perfect. The people we imitate don’t have to be tall and blonde; maybe their movements and ways of acting are enough to regard them as perfect. As the girl in the story says: “I studied her movements, her laughter like low sneezing, the way her part was etched down the middle, revealing a reddish scalp, “Studying to be blond,” I called it to myself. “
We also tend to believe we are someone else, to feel better. To make up stories f. ex about our background, will be the same as dreaming to be a different person, a person we find more interesting , prettier, more perfect and successful. Doing so will only make us feel worse about ourselves. At one point everyone will think negative thoughts about themselves; it’s a natural part of being a human. If they are sp unsatisfied they could either work on their self esteem or (take a plastic surgery!?), just make the best out of it- not focusing at the negative sides.
mandag 23. mars 2009
How important the use of media and internet is
Barack Obama recently visited Jay Leno. To be on a show like that has its pros and cons. Firs of all Obama will meet a big audience, maybe the younger generation. In this way he can reach out to everyone and more people will listen to him. But there are negative sides visiting Jay Leno. His program isn’t the most serious one and this can make people think Obama in unserious. This isn’t a program for the President of America but for celebrities, but today the President is a celebrity. He is modern and different. But as said earlier, it can be risky being interviewed at Jay Leno’s show.
A group of students has used the internet to make an important statement. Their families are struggling because of the financial crisis. It has gone so far that they might have to quit school to work and take care of their families. People are losing their jobs and they are going through a hard time. Obama used internet a lot during his campaign and so did the students. Obama actually watched the video, said that he “listened to them”. He wants to help his country and show that he is listening. What the students accomplished was important, not only did they describe their situation, but they know others are struggling even more. Their goal was probably to reach the President, and they succeeded.
A group of students has used the internet to make an important statement. Their families are struggling because of the financial crisis. It has gone so far that they might have to quit school to work and take care of their families. People are losing their jobs and they are going through a hard time. Obama used internet a lot during his campaign and so did the students. Obama actually watched the video, said that he “listened to them”. He wants to help his country and show that he is listening. What the students accomplished was important, not only did they describe their situation, but they know others are struggling even more. Their goal was probably to reach the President, and they succeeded.
torsdag 19. mars 2009
In Depth....
Well, I thought about my finale project and decided to change subject. I am actually really tired of the whole "financial crisis and what to do"- thing. Therefore I now want to work with:
Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, why did he win and how important was his role in the civil rights movement?
What he has done is amazing, but I don't feel I know everything about him. This is also something I really want to work with and feel is important.
Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, why did he win and how important was his role in the civil rights movement?
What he has done is amazing, but I don't feel I know everything about him. This is also something I really want to work with and feel is important.
tirsdag 3. mars 2009
Written Senior Project
I have decided to do a project on the financial crisis in America, and what Obama can do to save his country. This seems like an exciting task and I am looking forward to it.
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