Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Analysis and Opinion on June 2010 UK Budget Report Essay
Analysis and Opinion on June 2010 UK Budget Report - Essay Example Tariffs, taxes and rates indicated in the Budget also do have an impact on the trade policy and the volume and type of import and export transactions that take place in the light of budgetary restrictions or allowances. In the long run these will impact the UK’s balance of trade and balance of payments on current and capital account vis-a-vis its trading partners. Macroeconomic Objectives of the June 2010 Budget A review of the June 2010 Budget document as unveiled by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on 22 June 2010 indicates that two main macroeconomic objectives are to (a) rebalance the UK economy and (b) put it on the path toward sustained economic growth (Budget Document, p1). In order to achieve these twin goals, the Government has determined that action needs to be taken in three areas: (1) deficit reduction, (2) creation of business opportunities for private enterprise and (3) ensuring in fairness that all sectors contribute to deficit reduction. The Government has even created an Office of Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) and this institution has been entrusted with the task of reviewing the policy measures taken by the Government and their execution from time to time to ensure that these steps will reduce the deficit and contribute towards sustained economic growth in the future. The OBR in its review of the June 2010 Budget document has already opined that there is a more than 50 percent chance that these measures will achieve the Government’s planned macroeconomic objectives of reducing the deficit, meeting fiscal and debt policy objectives and thereby kick-starting the economy towards sustained economic growth. Macroeconomic Problems Highlighted in the... This essay is one of the best examples of the comprehensive analysis of the state of Budget fulfilment on a certain date in the United Kingdom. The Budget Report attached with the June 2010 Budget document very succinctly highlights the state of the UK economy. The new coalition Government led jointly by Nick Clegg and David Cameron promised to usher in a new era of prosperity and recovery, and at least be truthful to the public in order that its integrity never have to be questioned. The first step was to take stock of reality and let the public know how good or bad things were. Once this was established, new austerity measures were soon on the anvil to mend the state of the economy and bring the UK to a better path on the road to recovery. While everyone acknowledges that we are still not out of the woods yet, there has been some recovery in key sectors like banking, insurance and retail sales- which shows consumer confidence in the present Government and its ideals and vision for the future. The Budget is a key instrument for controlling the incomes and expenditures in the economy. The fiscal and monetary policy are other tools and instruments by which the Government and the Treasury hope to control the rate of interest, lending and borrowing and spending and saving. Care must be taken to keep the British Pound and the Euro at a good rate of exchange on the open market, while reducing signs of inflation or deflation at home. The Government is serious about promoting private business expansion through various actions.
Monday, October 28, 2019
Black Culture Essay Example for Free
Black Culture Essay During the Harlem Renaissance, writers, especially black ones, portrayed the black culture and style in their writing. They used black assumptions, generalizations and stereotypes to show, what they thought was, the black culture. Not all of this was far from the truth. Three writers, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Sterling Brown are examples of writers that emulated black culture in their works. Langston Hughes works, â€Å"†The Negro Speaks of Rivers,†â€Å"Mother to Son,†â€Å"When Sue Wears Red, †â€Å"The Weary Blues,†I, Too,†and â€Å"Harlem†are examples of the portrayal of black culture through writing. In â€Å"The Negro Speaks of Rivers,†Hughes focuses on important accomplishments and places where Negroes were heavily populated. â€Å"I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. / I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. /I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. / I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln/ went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy/ bosom turn all golden in the sunset†(Hughes 1291). In â€Å"Mother to Son,†he describes advice of a mother given to her son. She tells him how her life was no â€Å"crystal stair†and how she had to struggle to get where she is and that she is still struggling to get even further. She describes her trials and tribulations as â€Å"tacks/†¦and splinters/ and boards torn up/ and places with no carpet on the floor/ bare. †(Hughes 1292). She tells her son never to give up on his dreams and to keep climbing that â€Å"crystal stair. †This is because the mother knows how hard it is to get ahead in the world when you’re black and that everything that blacks have they have worked hard to get. â€Å"When Sue Wears Red†describes the beauty of the black woman. He compares Susanna’s face o â€Å"an ancient cameo/ turned brown by the ages. †He also compares to â€Å"a queens form some time-dead Egyptian night†(Hughes 1293). â€Å"The Weary Blues†portrays the musical side of the black culture, describing a man playing â€Å"that sad raggy tune like a musical fool†and singing in â€Å"a deep song voice with a melancholy tone†The music that â€Å"comes from a black man’s soul†(Hughes 1294). â€Å"I, Too†show the degrading manner in which black people were treated. The black house workers were treated as if they were inferior or not fit to be around white people. This is shown when the worker tells us, â€Å"they send me to eat in the kitchen/ when company comes. †Due to the high hopes and determination of black people, this does not discourage the speaker. He knows that, one day, he’ll â€Å"be at the table/ when company comes. / Nobody’ll dare/ say to me/ ‘eat in the kitchen’/†¦they’ll see how beautiful I am/ and be ashamed†(Hughes 1295). He believes that one day black people will be accepted and will be able to â€Å"eat†with the whites. This attitude is what kept blacks striving to succeed. â€Å"Harlem†questions what may happen if black people put off their dreams and progression. This delay may be willing or by force but either way the dreams may â€Å"dry up/ like a raisin in the sun†or stink like rotten meat†or even worse â€Å"explode†(Hughes 1309). Stopping black people from fulfilling their dreams would at worst cause a rebellion. This rebellion may not be nonviolent. Sterling Brown uses poems such as â€Å" Odyssey of Big Boy,†â€Å"Southern Road,†â€Å"Slim Greer,†and â€Å"Ma Rainey†to describe black culture in his eyes. Brown wrote mostly of the working class black population. He wrote his poems as though it were a work song that they used to keep time. Thus, you see a lot of repetition in his works. This is seen in both â€Å"Odyssey of Big Boy†and â€Å"Southern Road. †In â€Å"Odyssey of Big Boy,†Brown gives sight to some of the folklore heroes of the black culture, such as â€Å"Casey Jones†and â€Å"Stagolee†(Brown 1248). This not only shows the heroes represented in black culture but also their use of stories past down through the generations to keep the culture alive. He goes on to describe the manual labor that black people have done over the ages. This includes how they â€Å"skinned as a boy in Kentucky hills/druv steel there as a man/†¦striped tobacco in Virginia fiel’s/†¦mined de coal in West Virginia†etc (Brown 1249). These are prime examples of the jobs that the lack culture held whether it is when they were slaves or after they were freed. It was characteristic of them to hold jobs that involved a great deal of manual labor. â€Å"Southern Road†depicts some of the struggles that a typical black man may have dealt with during those times. He speaks about working in a chain gang, a father dying, going to jail and white men degrading the black man. â€Å"Slim Greer†is about a black man that passed as white. He met a white woman who â€Å"thought he as from Spain/ or else from France†(Brown 1256). It was not until he played â€Å"some mo’nful blues†that they found out that he was indeed black (Brown 1257). This depicts the musicality of the black culture. Music was one of the many ways they used to express themselves, so, for the most part, they had a great talent in it. â€Å"Ma Rainey†is also a poem about the musicality of the black culture. Whenever Ma Rainey came to town â€Å"folks from anyplace/ miles aroun’/†¦flocks to hear/ Ma do her stuff†(Brown 1258). Black people enjoyed gathering around to listen to music. This was probably because not only was it entertaining but it also told a story. Zora Neale Hurston depicts black culture through her works entitled â€Å"Sweat,†â€Å"How IT Feels To Be Colored Me,†and â€Å"Their Eyes Were Watching God. †Hurston wrote a great deal about the togetherness in the black community. Many of her stories, including these three works, took place in an exclusively black town and included at least one seen where the entire community sat outside together talking, usually gossiping, and watching passersby. In â€Å"Sweat†they gossip about Delia Jones, mainly they talk about how her husband, Sykes, beats and abuses her and how he is having an affair with a woman named Bertha. They badmouth Sykes, saying how horrible and stupid he is for cheating on a god woman like Delia, especially with such a fat woman. This also shows how it was common in the black culture, especially in the south, for men to like thicker women. â€Å"Their Eyes Were Watching God†also has a few scenes in which we see the black community together. In the beginning, Janie is seen by the whole community walking back in overalls. They immediately begin to talk about her. They make assumptions, such as Tea Cake stole all of her money and abandoned her. They talk about how silly she was for taking off with a younger man in the first place and whatever happened to her probably serves her right. In conclusion, the black culture is evident in many works by various black writers. They show the good and the bad, the truth and its exaggerations. Reading works written in the time gives us a good look into what the black society was actually like back then.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
costs and affects of quarrying in National Parks Essay -- essays resea
Mining and quarrying were the backbone of Britain’s economy since the start of the industrial revolution. Due to cleaner methods in energy production, which have been enforced during last 100 years and the course of developments in modern technology, Britain’s principle wealth is now governed mainly by the success of her tertiary businesses synonymous with the larger towns and cities. Nevertheless our standard of living also depends on the supply of aggregates, the most basic of building materials but most commonly used in the construction of buildings, transport networks, tunnels railroads and airports. According to Foster Yeoman (1994) the aggregates industry is five times the size of the domestic coal industry. However, such material often comes from quarries located in areas of high scenic value, which are often National Parks or Areas of Natural Beauty (AONB’s) and is raising cause for concern among environmentalists and local communities, but for different reasons. The National Parks of England and Wales were designated as such under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949. The purposes for which they were designated were to: ‘conserve the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage of its area and to provide for the enjoyment and understanding of its special qualities by the public’ Association of National Park Authorities (ANPA 2001). Furthermore the National Park Authorities (NPAs) are also required to foster the social and economic well being of the communities within the park.’ Scotland however had a much smaller population; therefore the pressures on the land were deemed not to be as great. Consequently places of natural beauty did not warrant the designation of national park status. Nevertheless, the new Scottish Parliament is currently implementing National Park areas throughout Scotland. Described by Simmons (1974) protected landscape is a non-consumptive resource: the crop is of a visual nature and when this has been taken in by the consumer; the source remains the same and it is the aim of the management to perpetuate this attribute. It is the duty of the NPAs (and their governing body ANPA) to promote methods of sustainable development, which is commonly achieved by each NPA having a ‘balanced membership’, consisting of local people and those representing the national interest by virtue of their individual knowl... ...01 http://www.qpa.org/profile_ohme.html     02 May 2001 http://www.peakdistrict.org/Pages/Facts/fz2tour.htm     02 May 2001 http://earth.leeds.ac.uk/~visimp.htm     07 May 2001 REFERENCES Wallis E.     Geofile: UK Mines and Quarries     April 1992                     Edition 194 McGarvie M.     Foster Yeoman 75     Butler & Tanner                     A Pictorial History               1998 Simmons I.G.     The Ecology of Natural Resources     Edward Arnold                     1974 http://www.anpa.co.uk http://www.yeoman-poland.pl/e_ofirmie2.html http://www.qpa.org/profile_ohme.html
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Critique of “Against Gay Marriage†Essay
In his essay â€Å"Against Gay Marriage,†William Bennett, a great spokesman for conservatives and former Secretary of education under President Reagan, maintains his conservative stance that allowing same-sex couples to marry would have a harmful and lasting effect on our society’s intrinsic values and, in his view, would stretch the â€Å"fragile†institution of marriage beyond recognition (409). Bennett, as the title indicates, presents a powerful argument â€Å"Against Gay Marriage.†He argues that allowing gay marriage would change the meaning of marriage, the ideal of marriage as being an â€Å"honorable estate,†and would have a large role in molding sexuality (409). One does not have to agree with Bennett to appreciate the strength and honesty of his mind. Still, although he raises thoughtful objections to same-sex marriage, his claims overall read more like an outline, lacking specifics and expert opinions, referring to one organized, caref ul study, and committing a number of logical fallacies that muddy and diminish the effectiveness of his argument. Throughout his essay, Bennett makes many underlying assumptions about same sex couples and the legalization of homosexual marriage. From the beginning, Bennett states that even entertaining such a debate â€Å"would be pointless,†were it not for the â€Å"confused time†we find ourselves in (409). Bennett does concede, however, that arguments made by homosexual advocates such as Andrew Sullivan are â€Å"intelligent†ones, and even â€Å"conservative,†and â€Å"politically shrewd†(409), when touching on the idea that allowing gay marriage would actually promote healthy long term relationships. Sullivan does an excellent job of arguing his point that legalization of gay marriage would in fact, help promote healthy relationships and monogamous tendencies, which in his essay he states that the legalization of gay marriage would in fact also encourage homosexuals to â€Å"make a deeper commitment to one another and to society†(409). From here though, for William Bennett the views expressed in his editorial piece are clear cut, simple, and largely dismissive in their tone. Besides this claim, to Bennett there are no reasons in his mind why gay marriage should be legal. Bennett admits, though Sullivan’s argument is shrewd, Sullivan is not right. In fact, Bennett would insist and has an underlying assumption in his essay that gay marriages will weaken the institution of marriage even more and will not be truly monogamous and committed to each other because of the â€Å"openness†of gay relationships and that homosexuals have â€Å"less restrained sexual practices†(410). Bennett’s continuous assumptions that gays cannot be truly monogamous and committed shows that to him there exists no room for compromise on the matter, and weakens the strength of his argument. Bennett also throughout his essay makes many fallacious arguments for example, in his opening, Bennett makes a very strong assertion if not an outright overstatement, when he says that recognizing homosexual marriage would symbolize the potent change in the interpretation and characterization of marriage, and â€Å"would be the most radical step ever taken in the deconstruction of society’s most important institution†(409). Of course, Bennett is respected for his personal opinions, but the reader may wonder if any studies or expert opinions exist to support Bennett’s view, to which he has none. This yet again takes away from the strength of his argument because, unlike in Ryan Anderson’s â€Å"Marriage: What It Is, Why It Matters and the Consequences of Redefining It†where claim after claim Anderson presents the reader with numerous statistics and expert testimony on why marriage should not be changed and the repercussions and â€Å"dangers†of gay marriage being legalized. Anderson presents the argument that marriage exists to bring a man and a woman together as husband and wife, to be father and mother to any children they create. Anderson states that marriage increases the chances that the man will be devoted to both the children that he helps produce, and to the woman with whom he does so. Anderson then backs this up with testimony from Maggie Gallagher, a popular social conservative commentator, that joining sex, babies, and moms and dads, is the role of marriage and helps explain why the government rightly respects and addresses this feature of our social lives. In the next paragraph, Bennett wanting to suppress the movement toward the redefinition of marriage, cites the rather peculiar example of two brothers: â€Å"On what principled grounds could the advocates of same-sex marriage oppose the marriage of two consenting brothers?†(409). By citing two homosexual brothers, Bennett commits the â€Å"straw man†fallacy. That is, he reasons from an exceptional case that defies logic and, once recognized, does little for his argument. Who else has ever seen such an extreme example? Is this a real pair of brothers, or are they merely made up and cited for the sake of argument? Whether or not these brothers are fictitious is never stated, but as Andrew Sullivan puts it in his essay â€Å"For Gay Marriage†, the right to marry has been appropriately denied by the state to close family members and relatives because â€Å"familial emotional ties†are too powerful to permit a marriage contract to be entered freely by two independent adults (404). In this regard, Sullivan believes homosexuals do not fit into the same category. To believe that the realization of allowing same sex marriage would lead to the further breakdown of laws governing familial misconduct, such as incest or polygamy, is outlandish. It appears that one logical fallacy breeds another, as in the very next paragraph, Bennett co mmits what seems to be a glaring over-generalization. He states â€Å"Nor is this view arbitrary or idiosyncratic†(409), to say marriages, especially in today’s society, cannot be whimsical or happen by chance because that’s what has gone on for thousands of years or what the major religions state is ridiculous. Even though at one point marriage was seen as a way to increase survival chances and secure your livelihood, it is no longer viewed that way. We no longer live in the middle ages or the 1800’s. People today marry for love and their emotional bonds with people, and love’s intrinsic value is to be random and can happen to anyone. Nor should religious traditions dictate whether gay marriage should be legalized or not, as today there are numerous homosexuals in all branches of major religions; there are gay bishops and preachers, this shows that both religion and homosexuals can coexist and be beneficial to society. Bennett’s final strong claim about gay marriage is that the legalization of same-sex marriage will lead to teens being confused about their sexuality, conservative parents will be denied their rights to instill their values about sexuality to their children, and that heterosexuals are better parents than their homosexual counterparts. Bennett makes many over generalizations about the impact the signals of legalizing gay marriage would send to teens. Bennett almost contradicts himself with the inclusion of the quote from Harvard professor E.L. Patullo, â€Å"a very substantial number of people are born with the potential to live either straight or gay lives†(410). Many people are born with the potential to lead gay or straight lives, it is a choice, and the legalization of gay marriage would not cause societal indifference, but would rather foster a welcoming environment for young gays to come out into rather than living in fear or shame because of the hate and reper cussions of being homosexual. Bennett also over generalizes the findings of an article about teenagers and adults being interviewed about being gay and bisexual. Fifty kids and dozens of parents and counselors does not speak for the whole population of a country, but also shows the weakness of Bennett’s argument as it shows the lack of actual education there is in much of the country on the subject of homosexuality. Bennett also makes assumptions about how conservative parents will lose the right to teach their kids their views on sexuality if same sex marriage were legalized. Just because gay marriage would be legal and the subject of homosexuality would be taught in school more does not mean at home parents could not teach their children their values. If parents did however, cause an uproar and keep their children from being exposed to certain views on homosexuality just because they didn’t want that to happen, they would be viewed as â€Å"intolerant bigots†(411). Finally Bennett makes a glaring assumption and overgeneralization stating that it is far better for a child to be raised by a heterosexual couple rather â€Å"than by, say, two homosexual males†(411). In the Film â€Å"Daddy & Papa†it shows four separate families, all homosexual males, and how they all care, love, and are just as capable of raising children as heterosexual couples. They want nothing more for their children than what any heterosexual couple would want for their kids, the best possible life. Bennett may believe that the legalization of gay marriage will destroy the institution of marriage, but time after time homosexuals have proven they are just as capable of fulfilling the duties of marriage as heterosexuals, and it is a part of our society today. To have equality for all citizens, it is a right that will soon have to occur. Work Cited Sullivan, Andrew. â€Å"For Gay Marriage†. Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 11 ed. Ed. Suzanne Phelps Chambers. Boston: Longman, 2011. 404-407. Print. Anderson, Ryan T. â€Å"Marriage: What It Is, Why It Matters, and the Consequences of Redefining It.†_The Heritage Foundation_. The Heritage Foundation, 11 Mar. 2013. Web. 25 Sept. 2014 _Daddy & Papa: A Documentary Film_. Prod. Johnny. Symons. Dir. Johnny. Symons. By Johnny. Symons. 2002.
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
A Mother’s Legacy In Mary Shelley’s Mathilda Essay
Abstract Mary Wollstonecraft and her daughter Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley are two writers whose ideas are likely to be similar. Shelley admits that she is influenced by her mother. Therefore, the purpose of this essay is to find out and to identify the ideas presented in Wollstonecraft’s essay on women’s rights A Vindication for the Rights of Woman (1792) and see if they are incorporated into Shelley’s novella Mathilda (1819). My analysis of A Vindication for the Rights of Woman shows that Wollstonecraft’s main ideas are that limited education, the subjugation of women by the family, female dependency on men and romantic thinking are the source for women’s inferiority. This essay identifies and examines these ideas in the light of some secondary material and tries to suggest that they are visible as themes in Shelley’s Mathilda. In Mathilda, these ideas are visible as themes throughout the novel. The tragedy that befalls the characters illustrates the immoral and self-destructive tendencies which women obtain when being subject to these conditions. On the other hand, Shelley does not emphasize a lack of education and offers an additional point of view where Wollstonecraft’s views on motherhood are criticized. The conclusion drawn is that Wollstonecraft’s ideas must have had an influence on Shelley as the fate of the characters is an illustration of the society that is criticized in A Vindication for the Rights of Woman and its destruction. However, Shelley does not agree on ideas with the subject of upbringing and goes against a few of her mother’s main points, namely the role of mothers and the pre-eminence of education. They mostly have a consensus as most ideas that are present in one work are present in the other but Shelley has rebelled against some of her mother’s notions.
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