How far Has the Modern Conservative Party Departed from the Coursework

How far Has the Modern Conservative Party Departed from the Thatcherite Agenda - Coursework Example The departure of Cameron’s â€Å"Big Society† from Thatcher’s â€Å"New Right† is more on the semantics but many of the principles of its predecessor remain the same. First, Thatcher’s â€Å"there is no such thing as society† did not mean the dissolution of social ties that composed society. She herself clarified that the original intent of the statement was distorted beyond recognition. What she meant by â€Å"there is no such thing as society† is to diminish dependency on welfare and to encourage individual members of society to help themselves. In effect, it lessens the burden on public expenditures which contributed to the inflation that beset UK’s economy. Thatcher may have just put it in the wrong way but the intent and purpose of her statement was to strengthen industry by enabling society’s individual members. In effect, Cameron’s â€Å"Big Society† is just the same with Thatcherism when it intends c ut back public expenditures (though explaining that he is just returning it to 2007 level). It only differs in a way that it encouraged public engagement and volunteerism and by putting up a Big Society fund of ?200M to enhance societal capability (Channel4.com 2011). With regard to the economy, Cameron also adopts the free market system which is precisely what Thatcher asserted despite public criticism during her time. Cameron’s economic policy pronouncements also do not subscribe to Keynesian inflationary measure of pump priming the economy through increased public expenditure. It is only his method that differs from Thatcher because he intends to cut public expenditure which Thatcher was opulent during her term. II. The Conservative party and its ideology The Conservative Party used to be known as Tories that dated back in 1678. It only assumed its present name Conservative Unionist Party in 1912 after it allied with the Liberal Party. Its dominant ideology in the early 20 th century was One Nation Conservatism, which was to unite the varying sectors of society (Heywood 2007). Among the esteemed ideologues of the Party was Edmund Burke. Burke was a follower of Adam Smith and his market economy whom Thatcher herself acknowledged to have influenced her liberal economic policy. During the late 19th century, the Conservative Party agreed for a greater representation of the middle class in the parliament. This was contained in the Tamworth Manifesto which was the fundamental political belief of the new Conservative Party. Business also supported the Conservative Party with its coalition with the Liberal Party which made the Party of industry and commerce (Ingle 2008). III. The Thatcherite Agenda: The New Right (1979-1990) Before Margaret Thatcher assumed as the Prime Minister of UK in 1979, UK had been experiencing high unemployment rate under a series of trade union strikes which the media dubbed the â€Å"Winter of Discontent† because the Labour l ed government implemented a freeze on the pay increase of the workers to control the lingering inflation of 20% (Hall and Jacques 1983). Upon assumption of office, Margaret Thatcher implemented her policy programs which are popularly known as â€Å"The New Right†. The Thatcherite Agenda was characterised by neo-liberal policy of a market oriented economy and neoconservative policy which emphasises the traditional Tory values of One Nation Conser

Refurbishment and its advantages

Refurbishment and its advantages Chapter 1 Introduction In recent years there has been a large increase in the refurbishment of old and vacant properties in preference to constructing new builds. Some of the reasons for this may be: legislative reasons i.e. if a property is a protected structure and there is no choice but to renovate it. During the boom there was so much money that people could afford to own a second home and invested money in refurbishing older houses with the intention of selling to make a profit or renting. Or the advantages to be gained by opting for refurbishment rather than a new build project. 1.1 What is Refurbishment? There are a number of definitions for refurbishment, for example â€Å"Refurbishment is the process of major maintenance and minor repair of an item, both aesthetically and mechanically.† A very broad definition of the term is ‘work undertaken to an existing building. However, refurbishment schemes can take many forms and may be undertaken for a variety of different reasons. Another definition for refurbishment is Extending the useful life of existing buildings through the adaptation of their basic forms to provide a new or updated version of the original structure. (Riley, Cotgrave 2005) The amount of work that is required in order to achieve these definitions stated above will be very different on different projects, and will depend on: The condition of the existing structure The shape and size of the existing structure The location of the structure The intended use of the structure The amount of work required to the existing structure to enable compliance with current Building Regulations Whether the building is listed, either who Adequate funding for the works Whether or not the works can be carried out safely. (Riley, Cotgrave 2005) Some other terms, which are used instead of, and also in conjunction with the term refurbishment, are: Conversion The use of the building may be altered but the structure will remain the same. Renovation The process of restoring or improving a structure Restoration The process of bringing a building back to its original state Retrofit the use of new and more modern systems in an existing building. Refurbishment is difficult to define as it could include one or all of the above elements, but as the dissertation continues there will be different aspects of refurbishment discussed thus leading to a greater understanding of the term. 1.2 The advantages of Refurbishment 1.2.1 The availability of buildings suitable for refurbishment Advances in modern day lifestyle, in terms of work and leisure, have led to larger numbers of buildings becoming outdated and redundant. In effect this has produced a large number of buildings which are ideal for refurbishment projects, or even conversion to suit new uses. (See Appendix A, Fig 1 Fig 6) 1.2.2 The quality of buildings suitable for refurbishment In a large amount of the cases, the buildings themselves are structurally sound and well constructed, this, for some people tends to be deciding factor in favour of refurbishment. You should never judge a book by its cover is a common phrase but often a book with a poor cover is never opened. However in some instances when the buildings are surveyed in detail,and, the potential developers and buyers are dealing with well constructed and structurally sound buildings. These buildings in turn provide a perfect basis for refurbishment to be carried out. 1.2.3 Shorter Development Period   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the main advantages of refurbishing a building ahead of a total new build is that in most cases, new accommodation is available in a much shorter period of time. If a total demolition and construction of a structure is planned instead of refurbishing, the structure then generally it will take a considerably longer time period to carry out. This may not always be the case, for example, if the building needs to be structurally altered and also if the building is unstable then it could prove that a demolition and new build would be the best option as refurbishing a building such as this would be very time consuming and expensive. In general, it is believed that in most cases the time which is spent on a refurbishment job (including pre contract planning and planning permission) is only a half to three quarters of the time which is needed to complete a demolish and new build construction. Because of the time saved on the refurbishment of the structure there are financial rewards such as; the shorter development period reduces the cost of financing the scheme and also the client receives the building sooner which he in turn receives revenue sooner from renting etc (Highfield,2000) 1.4 Planning permission is not always necessary A big positive aspect of refurbishing a house or building is that in some situations planning permission is not needed, for example. Under the Planning and Development Act 2000, planning permission is required for ‘development. However, Section 4 (h) of the Act states that â€Å"the carrying out of works for the maintenance, improvement or other alteration of any building which affect only the interior of the building, or do not materially affect the external appearance of the building does not constitute development†. (www.irishstatutebook.ie). Works like these do not constitute development. Therefore if a house or building is being refurbished internally and nothing is being carried out on the exterior of the house then there may be no need to get planning permission for the works. There are exceptions to this rule of course, such as mentioned in section 4h of the Act which states that if the use class of the building changes then planning permission is required. For example if someone decides that it wants to refurbish the interior of a house to become a shop or pub but no works are being carried out externally, planning permission will still be required. (M Taggart, 2008) 1.5 The large amount of structures available for refurbishment. Because of the constant developments in technology, design, quality, appearance and performance in the building industry, peoples desires for houses and properties have also developed with the market leaving many structures which are lacking in these areas abandoned, obsolete and redundant. As most of these houses and buildings are structurally sound and built in great locations they provide lots of potential opportunities for the public to undertake refurbishment projects. Once it was believed that it was necessary to move into towns and cities so as to be closer to everything such as shops, factories, amenities etc, and because of this many people decided to leave the countryside and move closer to the cities. This left many properties empty in the countryside. Nowadays however the times have changed and people are trying to move away from all of the hustle and bustle of towns and cities, and are instead moving out to the peace and serenity of the countryside. The large number of abandoned properties in the countryside provides ideal opportunities for people to refurbish the properties into modern homes in lovely surroundings, and for a much lower price than demolishing and rebuilding. (Highfield, 2000) 1.6 Environmental aspects As we all know, these days we are constantly hearing about the effects, problems and concerns of global warming. The experts keep telling us that it is because of the worlds huge consumption of energy we need to re-use, re-place and re-cycle our present resources much more so as to decrease our rate of using up our energy resources and to slow down global warming. Whenever a building is recycled, by opting for refurbishment rather than demolishing and rebuilding the structure then a large amount of energy is being saved by avoiding the need to extract raw materials and convert them into a replacement building. Smaller scale refurbishment, for example; when the existing structure and the external building envelope are retained, will clearly yield the greatest energy savings, but even the more drastic renovations, where larger scale refurbishment takes place involving the structural aspects and the refurbishing of the outer leaf will mostly use up considerably less energy resources than the choice to demolish and rebuild. (Highfield,2000) Even though this may only seem like a very small saving of energy compared to the overall consumption of energy, if a lot of projects are refurbished instead of being demolished and rebuilt then a lot of energy could be saved. 1.7 Aesthetic/ Architectural advantages Another advantage of choosing a renovation project is the aesthetic and architectural advantages that can be obtained if attractive older buildings are chosen to refurbish. The reason for this is because a lot of older houses and buildings were constructed with highly expensive materials, natural materials, high quality and skilled workmanship. All of these factors contribute to a very attractive faà §ade to the exterior and interior of the building. An example of the architectural quality that an older building has is when you see an old house, with the outer leaf of the house being constructed using cut limestone (Highfield,2000) If a refurbishment project is undertaken on a house or building that already has highly architectural and aesthetic qualities such as Skilled workmanship Antique furniture and fittings Highly attractive faà §ade In the vicinity of other architecturally attractive properties Expensive materials Then these qualities along with the proper carrying out of the refurbishment work, could add to the financial value of the house or building when the works are finally completed. 1.8 The financial cost involved in the refurbishment project. On renovation projects the overall cost of financing the actual scheme will mainly depend on the following factors. The cost of the renovation works The duration of the scheme The level of interest rates prevailing at the time of the scheme As we well know the financial cost of any type of construction project is of huge importance, so in a renovation project the financial aspect can have a major advantage over other options. In a large number of renovation projects the total interest payable on the money borrowed will be much less than that for a new build because of the lower overall costs and the shorter development periods of renovation and refurbishment projects. Because of the way that the interest rates are increasing in the past year or two it would prove much cheaper to choose a renovation option (Highfield,2000) 1.9 Availability of existing infrastructure When a refurbishment project is being carried out, the contractors can, in a lot of cases, use the existing infrastructures, which are in place, such as: Water services Electricity Gas mains Waste water connection Cables and telecommunication These infrastructures would not be available if for example a new build was chosen on a green field site. The availability of these infrastructures can prove to be very beneficial financially to the client as there is no need for the services, which are aforementioned above to be installed Other than the direct financial savings that are being achieved, there are indirect savings to be achieved such as, the development period being further shortened because of the infrastructure already being in place whereas this time saving would not be available if no infrastructure was in place. References BOOKS Highfield, David (2000) Refurbishing and Upgrading of Buildings, E F spoon Taggart Martin (2008) Lecture notes on Refurbishment Riley, Cotgrave (2005). The Refurbishment and Maintenance of Buildings, Macmillan WEB SITES http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2000/en/act/pub/0030/sec0004.html#parti-sec4

Politics and Religious Faith in the Media Essay -- Essays on Politics

Politics and Religious Faith in the Media On January 29, 3003, thousands of Americans were seated in front of their television screens, eagerly and somberly watching the man on the screen. During the man’s speech, the words â€Å"There’s power, wonder-working power† were brought forth, and it was those very words which have turned heads, and incurred opinions, articles, and editorials across the nation. Had this man been a preacher there is no doubt that his comments would have gone un-criticized. However, this man was not a preacher, but rather George Bush, the President of the United States of America. His comment did not escape notice nor criticism, and has become highlighted in the recent media focus on politics and religious faith. Just a week ago Newsweek published a cover story on â€Å"Bush and God†, and TIME magazine, USA Today, and The New York Times have all published articles and editorials concerning this topic. In response to the recent media coverage, Americans are sitting up as well, taking more careful notice, and often voicing their own opinions. As the journalists and newscaster are questioning to what extent personal beliefs are affecting political performance and agenda, I find myself questioning the journalists and newscasters themselves. How are they presenting this topic, and how are these presentations influencing the publics understanding of the truth of the situation? Is it possible to report on a topic as controversial and complex as religion and politics in such a way that is not biased or catered to popular opinion? Through my research I have found material to suggest that the media, specifically magazines, newspapers, and on-line articles, are not clearly delineating between tho se who favor Bush’s relig... ...nsorship.† Mass Politics: The Politics of Popular Culture. Ed. Daniel M. Shea. New York: Worth Publishers, Inc., 1999 Lampman, Jane. â€Å"New Scrutiny of role of religion in Bush’s policies.† The Christian Science Monitor 17 March 2003: A1+ Fineman, Howard. â€Å"Bush and God.† Newsweek 10 March 2003: 76-84. â€Å"Silent Evangelical Support of Bush’s Proposed War Against Iraq.† Morning Edition. Host Bob Edwards. Natl. Public Radio. WCAL, Northfield. 26 February, 2003. Religion in Politics. 19 & 20 March 2003. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. http://pewforum.org/issues/display.php?IssueID=6. Gruener, Claude M. Letter. The New York Times. 14 March 2003 â€Å"Delivering the Good News.† MSNBC. Yourish, Karen. 19 March, 2003. http://www.msnbc.com/news/878520.asp Dr. Gary. Errant Skeptics. 19 March 2003. http://www.errantskeptics.org/Quotes_by_Presidents.htm

Obesity Essay

Obesity is an eating disorder and a condition where your Body Mass Index (BMI) is 30 or greater. It is genetic or it depends on your eating habits. This can affect your mental, psychological and physical health leaving you with inabilities to cope up with your daily life. The causes that affect people include lack of breath, having difficulties to sleep, increased sweating, snoring, inability to cope with sudden physical activity, feeling very tired and fatigued every day, and finally back pains.Some symptoms include high blood pressure, high cholesterol problems, heart diseases which lead to heart attacks and fatal strokes which can make you disabled are mainly caused by your inability to exercise . People may have lack of breath because when they breathe, they might not get back enough oxygen for it to go all parts of the body. They might have difficulty to sleep due to lack of breath, snore loudly since they get very tired easily. They get fatigued really easily because they donâ €™t have a lot of energy. They have back pains because they might need to walk a lot.They might have long term problems like high blood pressure, cholesterol, heart attacks and fatal strokes because of their eating habits and their inability to exercise. Obesity can be overcome through a technology called adjustable stomach band which is the safe process replacing stomach stapling as it is very unsafe. Gastric Banding is when they attach a band to your lower part of the torso and they tighten. This works because it triggers your senses not to eat food which makes you thinner and light. After the procedure, which tkes an hor to complete, the doctor can adjust the band so it keeps the size of your new smaller body.Gastric Balloon is a non-surgical way of overcoming obesity. The put a tiny balloon in your mouth and they make you drink a special liquid called â€Å"sterile saline fluid† to expand it. When the balloon is full it will float freely in your body. It takes about s ix months to complete as it is not as effective as gastric banding. This can also cause many health threat as mentioned above. Another process that can help overcome obesity is gastric stapling surgery. It works by them stapling 2 special staples which creates a small pouch where they put a gastric band according to the size you want your new body to be.This solves the problem because it help you to resist eating fat foods and tells your body to work out more. After the procedure, they remove the staples but the band still stays for two more weeks to ensure your body size remains the same. It is very unsafe as it has caused many fatalities as they staples came out and they stomach burst. This is also referred to as gastric stomach stapling. I chose gastric sleeve as it is safe compared to other processes used to lose weight and get rid of your weight pretty slowly compared to other procedures like gastric banding and stapling.It helps you lose the weight faster but is more expensive . It is less complicated rather than stapling your stomach through staples and ensure you out the staples in the correct position and place the band in the correct part and they make it the correct length depending on your weight and BMI. The Gastric Sleeve is used for people who have a BMI of more than 38. It is used to loose weight extra fast as it keeps only 25% of your original body size. The Neel Bagai 8. 4 (T3) procedure takes about a year and a half to complete. It solves the problem by losing 3/4 of your weight.Positive Impacts of Gastric Sleeve: It is safe to do as it is less complicated as they don’t have to cut anything or place anything You don’t need any special devices like a gastric band while the surgery is going on. Negative Effects of the Gastric Sleeve: This has many side effects like you start vomiting, diarrhea and dumping syndrome by becoming moody and your attitude starts to change. Effects: This affects the economy because it costs about US $10, 000 for the surgery but of you need to do gastric banding surgery afterwards, you need to pay an extra $7,000.You even need to take both medical and life insurance, which is optional. Doctors recommend it as it can have medical effects on you. This affects the world socially as you might have to take some time off work to see doctors biweekly for them to see if any problems have occurred with the gastric sleeve. He will even question you about you going through any side effects. After every two months, with the results, he will decide if the gastric sleeve will need to be removed from your torso.

Retroactive: a Single Work of Art, with Many Faces

A Single Work of Art, With Many FacesBy: Logan Dodge Few works of art are able to perfectly capture a period of time as thoroughly as Paul Reassurances does with his masterpiece titled, Retroactive. He was one of the first artist who wanted to take mass media into the art studio, and break down the barriers between art and things like advertising, newspapers, and television. Retroactive is a brilliant collage of iconic images from the early ass's and it captured all of its political drama, scientific breakthrough, and the emotions that went along with that time period.It is a masterpiece, but it is a masterpiece that almost did not happen. In 1961, America led a failed invasion of the communist island of Cuba. This led to the Cuban missile crisis the following year and in 1963, a man sits in the back seat of a car with his wife. Both of them waving to the crowd gathered at the sides of the road. A few minutes later that very car would be racing away as the onlookers scattered in terr or. The president had been shot and killed in Dallas, and an artist decides to abandon a painting he had been working on.The death of President Kennedy left people in awe. The great man who had prevented doomsday, and who had stood up to the communist was now dead. And for Reassurances, continuing his work felt wrong. Reassurances thankfully did not completely abandon the work and instead approached it with a new goal and from another angle. He began working on Retroactive again with the goal of memorizing a dead hero. For Reassurances, with his goal of breaking down boundaries between mass media and art, Kennedy would be the perfect subject.Kennedy had become an idol and a martyr for the American people to look up to. So he restarted his work on Retroactive, Throwing out the idea of t being completely a painting he restarted his work. Instead, â€Å"Robert Reassurances reintroduced recognizable imagery into contemporary art, and preferred employing popular mass media, such as news papers, magazines and television, as his sources. Reassurances transferred these â€Å"found† media images to canvas, using commercially prepared bibliographic silk screens† (Headwords Athenian).Reassurance's use of disconnected pop culture images and putting them into the work shows a use of the collage method of art. His use of objects that are historically important also shows the theme of capturing history, and the human experience. Kennedy, the space race, and the use of color all come together to become a work that captures the emotion of an important time in history. The work would be finished in 1964. In his work titled Retroactive, The most prominent and central figure is that of President Kennedy.His image is in large proportion compared to the others that take up the remainder of the work. He is the central image because image from one of Kennedy's televised debates, showing him in a position of strength and confidence that defined his character as a leader. His hand is repeated in the OTTOMH left corner pointing as it is in the larger central picture of Kennedy, to show the authority of Kennedy, further reinforcing the character of the assassinated President.Kennedy is colored the cool color of blue to embody the sadness felt by the country after his assassination. Through the use of color to evoke emotion, and the central figure of Kennedy, Reassurances tries to make Kennedy into a metaphor for America, he tries to turn him into a symbol for what the great American is, and can be. Much of this painting can be interpreted in multiple ways. In Retroactive, There is a black cloud over Kennedy's head. This with the red and enlarged image by Gluon Mil, that was originally published in Time Magazine†(Andrew Graham-Dixon).Represents the black cloud hanging over Kennedy's head during and after his presidency in what is known now as The Cuban Missile Crisis. Red was the color that represented Communism around the world. The warm color of red is also used. It comes in contrast to the cool color of blue used to shade Kennedy's central image. Red is the color of blood, and the memories of when the world came so close to spilling the blood of everyone who inhabits this planet must have surely haunted Kennedy in the mind of Reassurances.As I said with the double meanings of certain aspects of this painting, if one wants to see Kennedy as a representation of the great American citizen, the black cloud would be the sadness of the American people, the black cloud that would hang over this country for many years after the assassination of its beloved President. The imagery that this evokes is astoundingly vivid. Each generation has a great sadness that occurs. One that shocks, surprises, and devastates, the populace. Reassurances knows how much his death meant, and explores the emotions that the assassination led much of America to feel.In the top left hand corner there is an image of an astronaut, angelically hanging in sp ace. His image represents the scientific advancements during the early ass's by the United States. It also represents Kennedy's ambitious goal of special exploration he announced to the American public in 1961. The astronaut could also represent an angel, hanging over the dead presidents head, or possibly the fact that it is above all the other images could possibly represent Reassurance's personal belief that Kennedy's triumph in his goal to explore space alongside the American people, will e what is most highly remembered after Kennedy's death.The oranges might represent the state of Florida. Kennedy's image between the oranges and the red picture in the bottom right corner of the work, further represents Kennedy's invaluable intervention in the Cuban Missile Crisis. The image could also represent the fertility and freshness that President Kennedy brought to the country. For all of Reassurance's use of symbolism through pop culture, and the double meanings he uses, I consider Retr oactive a work of art. It uses themes of collage through the gathering and connecting unrelated images into a cohesive work.His use of pop culture images and icons, familiar with the American public and the rest of the world as well, allows me to say that this is also a form of pop art. The pictures also hold significant importance in a historical sense and he uses these images to show what important events took place around the time that the primary figure of this image, narrative and cultural story telling. Reassurances uses colors both warm and cool to convey emotions and he enables the viewer to draw their own conclusions to the meanings of each image in connection with the other ones in the work.