WINOL: Go Ape

As my first package for WINOL: Travel and Adventure Magazine, I went to Go Ape in Moors Valley along with Amy Moore and Karl Payn. This is the result.

Produced by Bronte Dawson.

Music by Karl Payn.

Camera work by Amy Moore and Karl Payn.

Editing by Bronte Dawson and Amy Moore.

Introduction to British Politics

Growth of Political Parties

Political parties are based on ideology but they react to events. Harold Macmillan, a former Prime Minister, was once asked what's the most important thing in politics and he answered events.

19th Century Politics

Politics before the 19th century was rather more so to do with Kings and Queens, they ruled liked a God, and were divinely ordained. Parliment is now where the power is; it can get taxes, that means it has most of the power.

The industrial revolution forced change in Britain in the 19th century. It crammed loads of poor people into cities and the cities became massive and so for the first time, the poor began to see themselves as an entity, almost as a political section of society. The people who were running the factories became wealthy and weren't the aristocracy, they weren't the kings, queens, barons, etc, they were middle classes and they had money now. They wanted to have polticial power; particularly in cities such as Manchester, London and Liverpool.

The poor were working and started to have identity, middle classes were the rich.

Reform Act in 1832 abolished slavery and expanded the amount of people that could vote. The political parties responded quickly so there wasn't too much change.

Two parties major at this point, the Tories vs the Whigs. Tories were conservatives and supporting the King, the whigs were the radicals; they wanted change and supported the reform act.

Middle classes said that food must be made cheaper because otherwise they'd have to raise wages for the poor they employed as they couldn't afford food at it's current price. They pushed for import taxes to be removed from all the cheap corn etc coming from outside England and they were successful. The farming industry within England collapsed but food in England was now cheap meaning the poor could afford it and the middle classes didn't have to raise wages.

Corn laws smashed both parties and essentially wiped out the whigs. They are now known as liberals. 

Up until then, people who voted were those that owned lots of land. Sufragettes and poor people eventually gained the vote and political classes slowly started to relent and more and more people were allowed to vote.

20th Century Politics

There are several key events that happened in the 20th century;

1918 - women over 30 can vote

1928 - women over 21 can vote

1969 - 18 year olds can vote

There was the first world war; post war, socialism and the rise of the labour party in 1920s

There was also the second world war; the only people that really won the war was America because Britain had no money. It was in immense amounts of debt with America and only paid it back roughly five years ago.

Churchill, the prime minister during the WWII, was dropped by the public at the end of the war. There was a labour victory because they promised to bring in the welfare systems. Attlee had control of Britain and it's empire, despite secret plotting to remove him.

William Beveridge, a British economist, spent each day wallowing in cold statistics, he believed anyone who was genuinely in trouble should be helped. This was the poetry of justice. They created the NHS, a safety net, they were going to look after people from cradle to grave.

Margaret Thatcher, the first female prime minister, was known as the Iron Lady. She embraced radical right wing politics that she hoped would cure Britain. She wasn't personally popular but Britain wanted change. She took the country from a position where trade unions were in power, she wanted to get rid of publicly owned companies and she went about selling them all off, meaning a lot of money for government and share holders. She was one of the most influential prime ministers of all time. 

The 1980s was a decade of real political clashes and there were a lot of strikes. The main event remembered in the 80s was the miners strike. They were an incredibly strong group as were there trade unions. Thatcher went head on with miners in a ferocious battle that lasted for years until the miners were ruthlessly destroyed. If you were in the northern cities at the time, you would have thought it was a civil war.

The 1990s saw John Major in power, who felt England had too much of a moral decline so he decided to launch a campaign to reinstate old British morals; "Back to basics". This ended up uncovering vast amounts of 'Tory sleaze', one scandal after another was revealed.

In the late 1990s, labour comes in. The country was so damaged from the 70s with the winter of discontent of Thatcher, they tried desperately to disassociate themselves with the past and called themselves the new labour. This is when hip, young and artistic Britain came about. Blair fashioned himself as the "easy going bloke at Downing Street"

Successful Radio Interviews

Successful radio interviews basically rely heavily on good execution of operation of recording equipment and sensible questioning. 

However, to go into more detail...

Recording Equipment

Before you go to an interview, make sure you know what you're doing and are well acquainted with the controls of the recording equipment you will be using. Check the equipment is fully charged and in full working order BEFORE you leave. When you start your interview, make sure it's actually recording and the sound quality is of a publishable standard.

Microphones

Unfortunately, mics can be temperamental and sensitive. Don't move about more than necessary and don't make any unnecessary noise as this can affect the sound quality. Make sure it is plugged into the correct socket and the sound is working correctly. Hold it about six inches from the mouth and speak across it rather than into it.

Recording

Don't worry about switching the machine on and off or pressing the pause button during the interview; it only makes editing harder and is more likely to cause mistakes. When you've finished recording, hold the mic still for a couple of seconds which will make editing a little easier and leave a bit of ambiance at the end rather than it just being an abrupt stop; making the entire piece sound more natural.

Places to Record

Don't always go for a quiet place, actuality sounds good and makes the piece seem more real. Natural sounds add texture to your piece. Try to avoid rooms with an obvious echo unless you want it; i.e. basketball stadium or church hall. If this can't be avoided, stand next to curtains or something similar to drown out the echo. It's important to be aware of sound quality and odd sounds; boilers, air conditioners or fluorescent light strips as this may ruin an entire piece. If in public, keep away from heavy traffic unless its directly relevant to your story. When outside, turn your back to the wind; recording outside can be problematic on a windy day. If you have to record in a really noisy place, hold the mic closer to your mouth so your voice will be more prominent over the background noise.

Questions

The best interviews are those that sound like unscripted chats. Don't write down a long list of questions, just jot down a few questions and key ideas. Listen to the answers, develop his/her answers if something they mention interests you by asking supplementary questions. Questions should be simple and straightforward but avoid making them closed questions with yes or no answers. Most importantly, do your research; know who you're interviewing and the best questions to ask them. Try not to be overly deferential to your interviewees, always be polite and in control. When they're answering, nod silently to encourage your interviewee but don't speak as this will affect your audio.

Triplo Formaggio Ripieno di Pollo

Triplo Formaggio Ripieno di Pollo
(Three cheese stuffed chicken)

The chicken, cheese and ham combination is an all-time favourite of people everywhere and is now made easier than ever to make as part of a delicious meal.

Ingredients:
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
6 slices of parma ham
50g Red Leicester, thinly sliced
50g cheddar, thinly sliced
50g fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper





Easy
Serves 2
Prep time 20 minutes
Cook time 25 minutes

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 210C/Fan 190C/gas 6.

2. Lay three slices of parma ham onto a chopping board, each sightly overlapping and place a single chicken breast on top of the parma ham to the right, leaving enough to wrap around later.

3. Cut the chicken through the middle to the edge like a book and bat gently with a rolling pin to flatten slightly.

4. Open the breast, lightly season with the salt and pepper then place half the cheese inside.

5. Fold to chicken to enclose the cheese and wrap tightly using the parma ham.

6. Repeat for the other chicken breast.

7. Place on a baking tray in the pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes until parma ham is crisp and golden.

Feeling adventurous? Why not try using brie or stilton?

Find the original article at http://www.winol.co.uk/winolfood/?p=14

Iconic Media Over The Past 50 Years

There has been many iconic clips filmed over the past fifty years, the following are the four that stuck out most to me.

WARNING: Some of the below videos may cause distress or upset.

Concorde on Fire

On 25th July 2000, a concorde set alight in the air and killed all 100 passengers, nine crew members aboard the flight and four people on the ground. The above footage is the only footage available and was filmed on one of the first camera phones from a member of the public's phone.

9/11

The above is on of the, if not the most, tragic incidents of my generation. The devastating attack was recorded live. Shortly after it was first released, the footage of the plane actually crashing into the building was no longer shown as it was deemed too distressing.

I Have A Dream

August 28, 1963; Martin Luther King delivers an emotive and world changing speech, known as 'I have a dream'. This televised speech has gone down in history as one of the best speeches ever delivered. 

 Michael Buerk's Ethiopia Report

I'd like to concentrate on this last video, which effected people on a global scale; all it took was a short television report by Michael Buerk on the BBC 9pm news in 1984. The images are shocking; people being touched on the head if they were to receive the much needed food and those rejected, looking to an inevitable and fast approaching death, watching those that have been chosen to receive food and shelter, combined with his evocative language, the broadcast showed the tragedy of biblical proportion.  This sparked a massive movement in charitable actions across the world, the nation’s opinion changed entirely and everybody came together as a community to help stop the poverty in Ethiopia. Straight after it was broadcast donations were flooding into existing charities and had an impact on a certain person, who would start something to change the world; this was Bob Geldof.

He is the man behind Live Aid, which got so much food and necessities over to Ethiopia. It all started off with Geldof contacted some of the best known names in music such as George Michael, Bono and Bananarama to create a charity single where all the profits would go to helping the people of Ethiopia. This was the first record ever made that was free from any tax due to Bob Geldof publically standing up to Margaret Thatcher making all the headlines, even a studio was offered to them at no charge for 24 hours to create the record. The single went straight to No.1 in the charts and outsold every other song in the chart combined. It became the fasted selling track in the UK of all time, selling well over a million copies in the first week of its release. After the charity record was released, Geldof decided to set up Live Aid, organising concerts across the world. With the profits of Band Aid and Live Aid combined, approximately 283 million pounds was raised for the Ethiopian famine.

The impact was huge, following the release of the first Band Aid single in 1984, numerous records have been produced to support charitable causes, even another Band Aid single in 2004, all with a direct correlation to Bob Geldof. Together with the actions of Michael Buerk and Bob Geldof, the nation felt like a global community and united in a cause that was deep in everyone’s hearts.

HCJ: Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz

Before we get started, there are two important words that must be known.

Metaphysics; meaning trying to figure out what reality really is.

Epistemology; meaning the theory of knowledge and how we know what we know.

Now on to Descartes; people look at Descartes as the beginning of modern philosophy. He follows from the scholastic/medieval period, where learning was simply about Aristotle and the Bible.

"I think, therefore, I am" is one of the most famous lines in philosophy, formed by Descartes. It forms the cogito, pronounced co-ji-toe.

Towards the end of 17th century and the beginning of 18th century a debate between was sparked between empiricists and the idealists  i.e. British empiricism and continental rationalism.

Empiricists' idea of knowledge was that 'we know what we know because we can see it'.

Locke, a famous empiricist philosophy, has no innate ideas, all his knowledge was gained through experience. He believed we only get knowledge through experience and it all comes from senses; sensory data. His philosophy insisted there are no innate ideas; when you are born, it is a blank slate, there is nothing in your mind and is absent of any ideas. He completely disagreed with Plato's metaphysics.

Rationalists'/Idealists' idea of knowledge was that 'you can learn about the world simply by thinking about it'. Sensory data is not needed for this. Logical answers can be formed in the mind;  the pre-eminence of the mind. Descartes, Leibniz and Spinoza are all examples of idealists. 

Materialists' idea of knowledge is that only material exists. It is the idea that everything is either made of matter or is dependant on matter for existence. Hobbes is a well-known materialist philosopher.

Descartes

What is going on in the world outside my mind?

The issues he raised were right at the start of philosophy, at the same time as Locke, Shakespeare, Galileo. Despite being a man of God, he was very much in favour of science and was critical of the education he recieved at university such as Aristotleanism and traditional education. Artistotlean logic was circular as everything was based around two books and Descartes said: "I gained nothing but an increasing recognition of my ignorance". He felt all he knew and all his education was useless and a waste of time. 

After education, he took it back to basics and assumed everything he knew was wrong and decided to start all over again. This project was the method of doubt, known as 'Cartesian doubt'. A famous example of doubt is "If you have a barrel of apples and fear one of them is rotten, empty them all out and check if everyone one of them is rotten or not". This is what Descartes did with knowledge. He wanted to create a theory of knowledge that would stand the test of time.

You have to accept your almost certainities may be uncertain. It is at least possible your name may not be your name, your parents may not be your parents, your age may not be your age; after all, you could be hypnotised. It's very unlikely but it is possible. Senses have before deceived you, for instance, when drunk, when tired and when lost. If senses have even let you down once, you have to dismiss them, you can not trust them.

Descartes then comes to a moumental moment of accepting all may be untrue. However, he says 'I am thinking, this means that I exist'. It is from this thought the phrase cogito ergo sum was formed; I think, therefore, I am. Even if my thoughts are wrong, I am still thinking, therefore I still exist.

He identifies his thinking with his mind; the mind and the body are entirely seperate. This is Cartesian dualism. If someone was to cut off my hand, I'd still exist, therefore my existance depends on my mind, not my body, therefore, they are clearly two seperate things. He can still doubt everything except his mind.

Berkeley has a similar view to Descartes, that there was only one substance and that is mentality. Berkeley said "all we can be sure of is that my mind is telling me these things and it is real to me; it is impossible to prove anything out of this"

Decartes' epistemology sets off a tendency in European philosophy called idealism and included philosophers such as Kant and Hegel.

After getting to this point, he knows he needs to escape the Cogito. He needs to avoid collapsing into solipsism; only I exist for sure. His answer was God. He needs God to help him climb out and escape into the Cogito. In order to do this, he has to prove God exists, for which he came up with three arguments..

Trademark Argument

Descartes has the idea of God; so where did it come from? It can't have come from no where; God must have given it to him. God is a benevolent being and therefore wouldn't deceive us.

Ontological Argument

A priori argument for God's existence. God is a perfect being, so he must exist, if he didn't exist, he wouldn't be perfect.

Cosmological Argument

Everything has a cause, at some stage something must have triggered the first cause; the uncaused cause; this being God.

Spinoza

He argues that if the world is seperate from God then he has boundaries, so for God to be infinite he has to be part of the world. Therefore there was only one substance, not two like Descartes says, this was God. This was monism or pantheism; there is one thing and that thing is God - as opposed to dualism. All our thinking is embodied and has a physical manifestation.

Leibniz

Leibniz thought the world was made out of one type of thing called a Monad; a simple, non divisible, soul like entity that is everything" His philosophy cuts everything down to the minimal. As long as something still has an extension, it can still be divided. The smallest thing something can be before physical being is a Monad; it is the building block of everything. It is similar to Plato's forms.

Huxley

Huxley was a believer in epiphenomenalism - the idea that mental events are caused by physical events in the brain, but have no effects upon any physical events; physical beings, closed causality, physical brains. He believed our inner lives were just the hum of the machine but doesn't move the machine; it's just a by product. He compared mental events to a steam whistle that contributes nothing to the work of a locomotive.