As with last weeks lecture we talked more about William Cobbett and Charles Dickens, here are the points we made and the questions we asked.
Cobbett
Was he an effective campaigner?
He didn't actually live in the country side for a lot of his life - can he really know and understand?
He wrote for several papers/pamphlets - Peter Porcupine
Due to accusations a law suit was put against him
He was a spokesman for the working classes
Emotion rather than reason is what made a lot of his decisions?
The Prophet of Democracy? - to predict the future of Parliament
He believed that we could change our status, our lives and our work - whereas the church believed that our lives are pre determined
Did Cobbett and Dickens agree?...they both didn't want interference from the Government?
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Week 5 - Lecture - A Tale of Two Revolutions
This lecture discussed two people; Charles Dickens and William Cobbett. We talked about their ideas, their writing and why they were the 'Champions of the Countryside/Urban'.
Here were the other topics which we discussed, relating to Dickens and Cobbett:
The French Revolution
The English became very curious with the French Revolution, they were scared that the same thing would happen to them. People have different reasons as to why they think it didn't happen in England, perhaps it was that they experienced a snippet of the potential violence at the Peterloo Massacre.
It was expensive, income tax was created to pay for the war effort.
The Corn Laws
Products from other countries became more expensive, the products from your own area were cheaper so that you would only buy goods from your own area - keeping profit inside the country. Although there were downsides to this, it made the cost of bread even more expensive and the workers wages didn't go up - so they were earning the same but having to pay more. Making the poor, poorer.
People began looking for different new jobs, a lot of people fled to the cities.
The Poor
The Speenhanland System - aimed to take away the stresses of high rising prices.
It created the workhouses; men women and children were separated and made to work all day everyday. The conditions were beyond poor, the people who ran the workhouses had worked out how much they could feed the poor to keep them alive but at the same time slowly kill them. It criminalised the poor.
William Cobbett
The Champion of the Country.
Cobbett was an anti-radical who became a radical...the plight of the farm workers was what changed him in the 19th century.
Cobbett spent 20 years away in America, when he returned to England he was shocked at the state of the country side. Due to the Corn Laws and several other reasons people have fled the country side to find jobs else where. Cobbett believed that the countryside should be filled with people/communities all the time.
He was a very passionate man, writing 'Rural Rides' at nearly 60 shows how he continued to be passionate right through his life. Rural Rides was written about the country side, he rode around the country for a long time taking in the new countryside which he was faced with.
Charles Dickens
The Champion of the City.
He was a campaigning journalist, he wrote a lot of his books in series's within newspapers (sort of the Eastenders of his time!)
Here were the other topics which we discussed, relating to Dickens and Cobbett:
The French Revolution
The English became very curious with the French Revolution, they were scared that the same thing would happen to them. People have different reasons as to why they think it didn't happen in England, perhaps it was that they experienced a snippet of the potential violence at the Peterloo Massacre.
It was expensive, income tax was created to pay for the war effort.
The Corn Laws
Products from other countries became more expensive, the products from your own area were cheaper so that you would only buy goods from your own area - keeping profit inside the country. Although there were downsides to this, it made the cost of bread even more expensive and the workers wages didn't go up - so they were earning the same but having to pay more. Making the poor, poorer.
People began looking for different new jobs, a lot of people fled to the cities.
The Poor
The Speenhanland System - aimed to take away the stresses of high rising prices.
It created the workhouses; men women and children were separated and made to work all day everyday. The conditions were beyond poor, the people who ran the workhouses had worked out how much they could feed the poor to keep them alive but at the same time slowly kill them. It criminalised the poor.
William Cobbett
The Champion of the Country.
Cobbett was an anti-radical who became a radical...the plight of the farm workers was what changed him in the 19th century.
Cobbett spent 20 years away in America, when he returned to England he was shocked at the state of the country side. Due to the Corn Laws and several other reasons people have fled the country side to find jobs else where. Cobbett believed that the countryside should be filled with people/communities all the time.
He was a very passionate man, writing 'Rural Rides' at nearly 60 shows how he continued to be passionate right through his life. Rural Rides was written about the country side, he rode around the country for a long time taking in the new countryside which he was faced with.
Charles Dickens
The Champion of the City.
He was a campaigning journalist, he wrote a lot of his books in series's within newspapers (sort of the Eastenders of his time!)
Saturday, March 6, 2010
'No hoods' policy unfairly enflicted on great-grandmother Peggy Harden.
Reading through the BBC News and The Daily Mail websites I came across an article which shocked and confused me.
In December 2009 great-grandmother Peggy Harden was shopping with her husband Desmond when she was confronted by a security guard in the shopping centre who asked her to remove her hood due to their 'no hoods' policy for security reasons. Peggy and Mr Harden, both of who are 84, were confused by the situation.
A spokesman for the centre has apologized to Mr and Mrs Harden but said that the banning of hoods is 'to ensure a safe and enjoyable shopping experience for everyone'.
After reading both articles from the sites I was firstly very shocked, I couldn't believe that someone could find these people threatening; they clearly weren't out to steal anything with Mrs Hardens hood and their walking sticks!
Although from another angle if the shopping centre has a 'no hoods' policy then surly it should apply to everyone? If we begin to single people out then the issue could become more complicated.
I understand that the policy is there for a reason, but it was clear to see that Peggy was not a threat to anyone.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8407754.stm
In December 2009 great-grandmother Peggy Harden was shopping with her husband Desmond when she was confronted by a security guard in the shopping centre who asked her to remove her hood due to their 'no hoods' policy for security reasons. Peggy and Mr Harden, both of who are 84, were confused by the situation.
A spokesman for the centre has apologized to Mr and Mrs Harden but said that the banning of hoods is 'to ensure a safe and enjoyable shopping experience for everyone'.
After reading both articles from the sites I was firstly very shocked, I couldn't believe that someone could find these people threatening; they clearly weren't out to steal anything with Mrs Hardens hood and their walking sticks!
Although from another angle if the shopping centre has a 'no hoods' policy then surly it should apply to everyone? If we begin to single people out then the issue could become more complicated.
I understand that the policy is there for a reason, but it was clear to see that Peggy was not a threat to anyone.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8407754.stm
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1234744/Arthritic-great-grandmother-Peggy-Harden-ordered-remove-hoodie-shopping-centre-crackdown-yobs.html
Friday, March 5, 2010
Week 4, seminar - Kant and Hegel
- Kant disagreed with Hume in several ways
- Kant wrote for himself? Whereas Hegel wrote for others? Nationalist?
- Does the Nuomenal world make sense? - we all see things differently anyway
- We're born with an instinct - a motherly instinct to protect and care for
- We're also born with the ability to learn from others - brothers and sisters learn differently and have different hobbies
Week 3, lecture - Kant - German Idealism
Kant
- seen as the founder of German Idealism
- supported the French Revolution
- he wrote the book 'A Critique of Pure Reason' - this was one of his most influential books which outlined his main ideas
- he believed that there are two natures; Nuomenal and Phenomenal
- he believed in Copernican Revolution - the mind shapes the universe
- Categorical Imperative - a duty
Hegel
- he believes that every idea we have contains it's own negation - an opposite
- devout Christian
Week 4, lecture 4 - Key Developments in the History of the Press
There are four versions of media history:
- as an 'event', 'breakthrough'
- a Technological determinist model
- The March of the Progress
- as a struggle for control between the powerful and subordinate
Context:
- political
- economic
- social and cultural
- technological
Week 3, lecture 3 - Key Developments in UK Broadcasting 2
History of TV in the UK
- John Logie Baird demonstrated a TV system in Selfridges in 1925
- Other companies such as RCA, Marconi and EMI spent millions of pounds on research trying to create better systems
- EMI and Baird both created good systems - on alternative weeks their systems would be used to see which one was better
- In February 1937 Baird was dropped
- Service was suspended in 1939 due to the fact that the Germans could holm in - it restarted in 1946
- By 1954 TV was being broadcast for around 6 hours a day but NOT in the evenings - this would suggest entertainment and not education
- Commercial TV started in September 1955
21st Century TV
- 85.1% of households are multi-channel
- Scheduling affected by multiple time shift technologies - sky+, free view
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