David Hume video

Great discussion about David Hume's philosophy to celebrate his 300th birthday.

Britain's run out of talent?

So this years Britain's got talent ended yesterday, with singer Jai McDowall who probably deserved to win the competition, especially when looking at the rest of the finalists. In fact half of the acts in this years final were either a novelty or to be honest just not that good. I personally felt that the only good thing about this years competition was the inclusion of Michael Mcintyre to the judging panel, who provided some much needed comic relief to the judging panel.

Here is a quick run though of the acts in the final; 3 singers, a piano player, for some reason an organist, 3 dance acts; only one of the deserved to be in the final; then there was a teenage boy band and finally an impressionist to round up the group. Compared to some of the acts that we have seen on BGT in previous years this group of finalists were largely a disappointment and I think that the lack of Simon Cowell during the auditions shows that BGT could be on its last legs.

This quick blog is not only to say how bad BGT was this year but to also show an amazing act from the start of this years America's got talent. The act is called iLuminate and are probably the best thing I have ever seen on a talent competition. Here is their audition

J’Accuse, Zola, the Dreyfus Affair and a little bit of Stephen Lawrence.

J’Accuse was written by Emile Zola in 1898 in response to the imprisonment of a French military officer Alfred Dreyfus. J’Accuse was written as an open letter to the President of France exposing the errors in the trial, and accusing the French army of anti-Semitism. To understand the concepts within the article a little background of the state of France at the time is needed.

The French had recently been defeated by the Prussian army in the Franco-Prussia war, it was an embracing defeat for France, who believed themselves to be dominant over their opponents. The French people looked for an excuse as to why the war was lost and many came to believe that it was a conspiracy masterminded by Jews which had given the Prussians the advantage. This only helped to increase the anti-Semitism in France at the time.

In 1894, a French spy who worked as a cleaning lady in the German embassy found a suspicious document in a bin, it was found to contain French military secrets. The French army accused an artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus of handing to documents to their enemy and was stripped of his ranks and then imprisoned on Devil’s island, it is as bad as the name suggests.

Emile Zola was outraged by this obvious miscarriage justice and wrote J’Accuse to expose the lies that had sent an innocent man to be unjustly imprisoned.  In J’Accuse, Zola, gives his reasons for why Dreyfus is an innocent man.

In J’Accuse Zola said why he thinks Dreyfus was accused of the crime. The French army claimed that handwriting analysis from several experts showed that Dreyfus had written the letter, but because of the nature of the evidence, to show it would endanger national security. But Zola believed this evidence to have been falsified so that the French can blame their defeat to the Germans on Jewish conspirers. Dreyfus was a clever, successful, high ranking in the army and most importantly Jewish. This is why Zola believed Dreyfus to the perfect target for the army to blame for the crime. Zola then gives evidence that it would have been an member of the infantry who would have had the information in the letter that Dreyfus was accused of writing, Zola even goes as far as identifying the guilty man. But he said that for this man to actually be guilty it would mean that all of the generals involved in the court-martial would be guilty as well. By saying this I think Zola believes that he is fighting a lost cause because he knows even with the evidence he provides he knows that it is unlikely the guilty man will be brought to justice.

In 1899 Dreyfus returned to France for a re-trial, he was found guilty again but this time was given a pardon; after a second appeal 7 years later he was given an annulment of the guilty verdict.

Zola deliberately brakes French libel laws and challenges the man that have been accused to defend themselves and prove their innocence, Zola fled to London after this to avoid the libel claims. This tactic of deliberately defaming people in newspapers to try to gain justice though libel. One of the notable examples of this is an article published in the Daily Mail, declaring the murderers of Stephen Lawrence.

After the case was dropped by the Crown Court for insufficient evidence the Daily Mail published a front page with the headline “Murderers” and pictures of the 5 suspects in the case. The newspaper challenged the men to sue them after clearly being defamed, but the men did not, and haven’t till this day. This was an important case for journalists to study because it had an effect on newspaper laws, double-jeopardy laws and highlighted race problems within the metropolitan police. I have mentioned this example, not only because of its relation to Zola and J’Accuse, but also because after 18 years, two men are now standing trial for the murder after new evidence has been discovered. Stephen Lawrence new DNA evidence here is a link for more information about the new evidence and the trials.

Much like the Stephen Lawrence case Zola’s J’Accuse exposed many flaws in the legal system and brought to light a lot of prejudice and corruption. It is still considered to be one of the most influential pieces of journalism ever written.

He's Back

The former Mr Universe, actor and former Governor of California is back, this time in a comic book. Arnold Schwarzenegger has reinvented himself again, this time as the super hero The Governator. Arnie has teamed up with comic book legend Stan Lee to create the comic book and cartoon.

The character was inspired by the persona Arnie adopted during the 2003 elections, after the media began calling him Governator. Arnie has been known to take on some questionable roles in the past, just a few that come to mind include playing a pregnant scientist in Junior and Danny DeVito's twin in Twins. But for every poor comedy there has been a great action role.

Here's a trailer for The Governator, tell me what you think about it

It aslo looks like Arnie will be returning to the big screen in a few years, are you excited about his return?

County and District councils

In England there is a two-tier form of local council, this form of council will cover district; there are a total of 362 districts in the UK. The two-tiers of council will be the County Council and the District Council.  Using Winchester as an example of the two-tier system, the district is governed by Winchester city council (District council) and Hampshire county council (County council).

There are also single-tier districts in the UK, in which the duties of the county and district council are performed by one authority. These are known and unitary authorities; there are 55 of these districts in the UK. This type of council is present in counties where it would not be practical to split the area into districts, for example Cornwall, and in large districts, for example Southampton.

The county council controls civil services throughout the county, these include: social services, highways, fire and rescue services, waste disposal and country planning. The councilors deal with issues that affect the entire region that it governs, and the budget it controls reflects this, for example Hampshire county council has a budget of £1.8 billion. This is the main difference between the two tiers of council; the county council has a much larger budget and deals with issues covering a much larger area. 

A district council, in Winchester’s case Winchester city council, governs a much smaller area, in this case the wards inside and around Winchester. The city council has control over smaller issues such as traffic, council housing and community issues. A city council is more concerned with issues that have an effect on the ward that they govern which is why its budget is so much smaller than the county councils’, Winchester city council has a total budget of £12.5 million.

To show the difference in the scale of the two councils I will use examples from meeting that I have attended. The county council had county wide issues on their agenda, for example how to implement faster broadband to people living throughout the county and how the way in which adult social care should be paid for. There are all large issues which do not just affect people within a ward or a city, but a county.

Whereas when I attended a safer neighborhoods meeting which included members of the city council, the issues that were being discussed included people speeding, noise complaints and theft in the high street. These are all much smaller issues which come directly from the councilors ward and therefore will only affect a small number of people within the city.

In conclusion the main difference between a county and district council is size and power, each council performs the same task which is dealing with the issues of the people in represents, but a county council does it on a much larger scale, and has the resources and budget to do so; whereas a district council focuses on a much smaller area and has the resources to match this.

Final Radio Bulletin

 

Winchester’s  Trinity Centre, a support centre for the homeless, has re launched a campaign, previously called diverted change, under the new name spare change for real change which encourages people to give money to organisations that aid the homeless. 

Sue Mckenna, Development manager for the Trinity Centre, epxlains more:

Audio in: "The idea is that.........."

Audio out: "That really do make a difference to homeless people"

Winchester Tourist Information Centre has been shortlisted for the final four of the National Tourist Information Centre of the year awards.

The Centre made it into the national awards after coming top in the South East regional finals.

Team Leader Sarah Harfield was ecstatic that their hard work had paid off.

 Audio in: “We’re really pleased….”

Audio out: “Free information that we provide”

The winner will be announced at the EnjoyEngland Awards to be held in the Great Hall in Birmingham on the April the 15th.

The University of Winchester Rugby Team has made it through to the semi finals of the Sessa Cup after beating The University of Portsmouth in the quarter finals. 

Winchester beat Portsmouth 73 pints to 3. Team captain Rob Payne said he was extremely pleased with the team’s performance in the match and throughout the season.

Winchester will not play Writtle College in the semi finals and will be hoping to continue their good form and make it to all the way to the finals.

Drunk Toddlers

Yeah, so just to give you some faith in our society, a 3yr has been treated for alcoholism. There have been 13 children under the age of 12 diagnosed with alcoholism in England, we all knew there was a problem with underage drinking, but this is just crazy.

Here's something i cant understand, how does a 3 year old get alcohol anyway, or even a 12 year old. I was struggling at 16, and its not like a 3 year old can ask a older person to go get them a bottle of cheap cider and then go down it in the park.

An 8 year old girl was diagnosed as the youngest alcoholic recently, she is from Scotland, but 8 years old just seems crazy. Apparently she would steal drink from her parent's drinks cabinet, probably the size of a small off licence, but seriously 8 year olds getting drunk 4-5 times a week. I suppose Jeremy Kyle will be happy.

Also, how funny would a drunk todler be, they arent exactly sturdy on their feet, i can imagine a few incidents like this:

Winchester Tourist Information Centre has been shortlisted for the final four of the National Tourist Information Centre of the year awards.

The Centre made it into the national awards after coming top in the South East regional finals.

Team Leader Sarah Harfield was ecstatic that their hard work had paid off.

 Audio in: “We’re really pleased….”

Audio out: “Free information that we provide”

The winner will be announced at the EnjoyEngland Awards to be held in the Great Hall in Birmingham on the April the 15th.

Length 42'

Radio part 1

England have moved one step closer to a grand slam victory in this year’s 6 Nations.

Last week they defeated close rivals France in a 17-9 point victory and are now the only unbeaten team in the championship.

They won the closely contested match thanks to a try from Ben Foden, and will now be confident moving forward to this weekend.

England will now face Scotland, who will be looking to get their first win of the tournament.

England have not won a grand slam since 2003 and will be hoping to repeat the achievement this year.

Lenght 27'

Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft was a feminist writer who believed that men and women were created equal by God and therefore should be equal within society, because if God deemed them equal then they should be treated equally within a civilised society. Within the reading she comments on how women are treated within different aspects of life and also how women in the different classes were treated and how they differ from each other because of their upbringing and virtue. 

This view that man and woman are created equal is like Locke's idea that everyone is born as a blank slate with no prior knowledge and then as we experience the world knowledge is gained through out experiences. She questions that the most important question is whether or not a woman can reason, because if she can do this then she has the key to knowledge. She also writes about how understanding has been denied to women because they have lost the power to draw conclusions from ideas

Education, she believes, is one of the key ways of creating equality between men and women because an educated woman can be dependent from her husband; because dependency on a husband makes upper class women weak minded. "The very constitution of civil governments has put almost insuperable obstacles in the way to prevent the cultivation of the female understanding; yet virtue can be built on no other foundation. The same obstacles are thrown in the way of the rich, and the same consequences ensue." This quote highlights how highly she views education in shaping people, saying it is the only way to become virtuous, but also how the class structure and government hinder female education. 

On the subject of education Wollstonecraft shares some of the ideas of Rousseau: "Educate women like men," says Rousseau, "and the more they resemble our sex the less power will they have over us." This is the very point I aim at. I do not wish them to have power over men; but over themselves." This is an important factor to Wollstonecraft's thinking; she does not want women to have power over men, or visa versa, but wants people to have power over themselves. I think this is the main reason why Wollstonecraft dislikes the class system, because it gives men dominance over their wives.

She believes that an education can help to guard against the allure of false romance: "It is not against strong, persevering passions, but romantic wavering feelings, that I wish to guard the female heart by exercising the understanding: for these paradisiacal reveries are oftener the effect of idleness than of a lively fancy."

She writes that when a man becomes older he has a goal to a future advantage which he has gained through his education Whereas a woman who has not had the same education does not have the same goals or direction, rather she aspires to marry advantageously so that they may more from pleasure to pleasure. She said "Pleasure is the business of woman's life, according to the present modification of society; and while it continues to be so, little can be expected from such weak beings." Which underpins her opinions in how the current society makes women weak and subservient. 

Wollstonecraft also writes about marriage in this chapter. She appreciates the sanctity and importance of marriage but also questions the formation of marriage and relationships through love and sex. She believes that a persons sex should only matter when a relationship or marriage is involved, other than that is should not be considered important. Her opinion on love is interesting, she said that: "Love, considered as an animal appetite, cannot long feed on itself without expiring.... But the wife, who has thus been rendered licentious, will probably endeavour to fill the void left by the loss of her husband's attentions; for she cannot contentedly become merely an upper servant after having been treated like a goddess." So once a woman looses the love of her husband she will then want to experience the "sunshine of life" rather than care for her children; because after being lavished by her husband she does not want to subside into being am upper servant. In fact she later writes that love does not exist on Earth but it is rather a sensuality hidden under a sentimental veil, and has come from the imagination.

Wollstonecraft comments on how women in different classes of society differ within marriage claiming that upper class women are the most subservient and are treated like caged birds and have nothing to do but plume themselves because everything is provided for them by their husband. But rather than paying for this or working for it, Wollstonecraft said that their liberty and virtue is given in return.” This, however, arises in a great degree from the state of idleness in which women are educated, who are always taught to look up to man for a maintenance, and to consider their persons as the proper return for his exertions to support them." She also writes about how women are educated to feel that they must give themselves as payment for their husbands care. 

The idea that the weakness of women is attributed to their position in society is something that is repeated throughout the chapter, she believes that if the role of a woman continues to be so subservient in the upper classes then women will never become equal. "It is to be feared that women will avail themselves of the power which they attain with the least exertion, and which is the most indisputable." This means that women will continue to gain power by marrying powerful and educated men if it is easier than becoming educated themselves and working for their power. She writes that the way to happiness is to return to a state of nature where labour is rewarded with true pleasure. This idea of pleasure through labour can also be linked to her views on higher and middle class wives, the first of which are subservient and has not laboured in life and therefore hasn't experienced true pleasure; whereas the other has laboured through life and therefore will have experienced true pleasure.