GB European parliament elections 2014

The European Parliament elections took place in may 2014, and what we saw throughout Europe was votes thrown on far-right parties. At the same time, there was only a 42% turnout; not even half of the Europeans used their vote. In Britain, The United Kingdom Independence Party(UKIP) became the victor, a party working against the EU.

So, what is the European Parliament? The European Union is a political and economic union, consisting of a number of European states, kingdoms and so on. There are several smaller parts of the union, like the European Economic Area, in which for example Norway takes part of union, without really being a member. However, the EU is governed much like a state, with a parliament of its own- and a executive power (The European Commission). What's different from a state like, lets say Norway, is that in EU, the Europe Commission (the executive power) has more power than the parliament, which means that the separation of powers is not really that democratic (at least that's what the critics are saying.)

The European parliament, with it 751 seats, makes its decisions together with the Council Of the European Union, and their roles consist of ratifying new laws, passing new budgets and accepting new member states into the union. 

The MPs are elected every 5th year, directly by the citizens of their respective nation. and there are 28 member states. Each nation gets at least 6, and at most 96 MPs. 

UKIP

UKIP poster. Far-Right, populist propaganda.

In GB UKIP became the winner, because even though the Conservatives won most seats, they lost 7, while UKIP gained additional 11. Why? The European Union has the last ten years seen some poor times. Economically things have been really difficult in the south, and in England the scepticism towards the Euro has increased (they have not accepted the Euro as currency in the Kingdom yet). UKIP is a far-right, populist, party- working against immigration, open borders, and thereby the European Union. History has shown that poor times means far-righters, as well as far-lefters (for example Syriza in Greece). What happens when people from UKIP (and every other major far-right party, including fascists and Nazis) are elected into a parliament which they oppose? We'll have to wait and see, but for the unions sake- I don't think its very positive. For GB sake, it's days in the union isn't looking that bright for the future. 

But, even though the far-right are the victors, does that mean that the majority of British, or European, citizens belongs to that side? Not really. With only a 42% turnout, we can guess that only those really fighting and mobilizing are the ones voting- every one else simply don't care any more; maybe they've lost hope. Graphs show that there is no member state, in which a majority of the population believes -all things considered- that the Union is a good thing. If the Union is to survive, and reach it's goal -which is that of a federation, like the USA- they have to step it up, make sure every single voter in Europe feels the union is of the better, and not a non-democratic institution, influenced heavily by far-righters. 

London tour

This week, the English classes went on a school trip to London. Staying at the St. Giles Hotel, Monday-Friday, it became a great trip, packed with museum visits (and of course pubs). Among others, we went to Tate- modern, British museum, Churchill War Rooms, and Warner Brothers studios (the Harry Potter set).

Tate Modern

Myself, looking quite philosophical, at Tate Modern 

Tate Modern is Britains national modern art gallery, and the class went there the first day. With close to 4,9 million visitors each year, it's quite popular. The gallery is packed with modern artwork, and the exhibitions are called; 

• 'History/Memory/Society'
• 'Nude/Action/Body'
• 'Landscape/Matter/Environment'
• 'Still Life/Object/Real Life'

I am not that found of modern art, but there were some cool pictures, sculptures and whatnot. I really liked the exhibition showing Russian revolutionary posters. However, not really my thing (we ended up taking a cup of coffee).

The BBC

Inside the BBC News Broadcast Room

One thing I really enjoyed was the BBC. Since some of us was part of the team working on Connected Learners, Ann got us a guided tour in the all new BBC building. Finished in 2013, the building (where over 6000 people work!) is extremely modern, and looked like a great workplace. I was staggered by the, well, positive vibes inside the building; everyone seemed extremely satisfied with their job. 

With coffee (or tee for those wanting to be a bit more British) in our hands, we was guided by a journalist and the head of BBC Technology, who got us inside the broadcast room (where they do editing and stuff for the BBC news, which of course happens live); it was simply awesome. On the top floor we got to see BBC Radio One, which was just as great. If there is one place I, right now, would have worked- this place definitely tops the list. 

The Rosetta Stone

British Museum

After a late nigh, and a groggy morning, me and my friends rushed to British Museum; a museum packed with artefacts brought in from those places once conquered by Britain. We had quite many hours there, so I teamed up with a friend, and managed look through a large part of the museum. Of course, one of my favourite places was the Egyptian section with mummies and stuff, and the infamous Rosetta Stone. What's so special with this stone? It was the key to solving hieroglyphs. In  1799, Napoleons soldiers found this stone by coincidence- and it was three years later brought to British Museums (because the French lost to the Brits in that campaign). Not long after, french scientists cracked the puzzle (the French  managed to smuggle out documents and and copies).

The Rosetta stone is in fact a Ptolemaic decree, dating from 196 BC. It tells which taxes to be cut, and what statues to be built (short version). The decree was ordered in three languages, hieroglyphs, wynen (similar to greek), and demotic- all three found on that stone, thereby making it possible to translate the hieroglyphs.

In addition to the Rosetta Stone, we saw a cool clock-exhibition, and what is basically whole Greek temples transported back to Britain. And yes, both Egypt and Greece (among others) has demanded that some objects are to be returned, but Britain holds on tight to most of it. 

(source: British Museum)

Churchill War Rooms

During the war, the Germans bombed London to pieces during the Blitz. Westminster and the government was of course targeted, and Churchill had no other option than to move underground. Today, this bunker (which remained top secret for many years) is open to audience- and you are able see how the entire war cabinet worked and kept the war effort going. One fun fact (if you can say that), is that the bunker was never built to withstand powerful bombs, so a German direct hit would have destroyed everything- but that never happened, so well. 

We went there, and it was really cool- I have been there before, so I sort of rushed trough- but everything is kept they way it was. Maps, chairs, offices, meeting rooms etc.- it is all there. The war rooms also contains a Churchill museum, showing everything about his life and deeds. 

Me and Sindre driving Hagrids Motor bike. (pardon the filter,
it was taken for Instagram purposes)

Harry Potter 

The last day, we went to Warner Brothers Studios and their Harry Potter set. Being a 8 movie long franchises, the set got bigger and bigger- and they decided to make a museum out of it. The great hall, wand store, costumes, cars (like the tree stories London bus), the model used for filming Hogwarts- it is all there. I am not the biggest Harry Potter fan, but it was actually really awesome. I was amazed by all the objects created for these movies; paintings, houses, cars, books- the list goes on for ever. 

Different guided tours (walks), pubs, restaurants and cafès

Here lived Lawrence Of Arabia

In addition to museum visits, we had a couple of guided walks showing us around London and Westminster. The first walk I, to be honest, feel was a gossip anno 1880 tour. Really not much information, other than who had a romance with who and so on. We got see some interesting places though- such as a house Lenin had lived in. The other walk we had, around Westminster, I found much better. We learned a lot about the parliament, and the area around. To my joy, we went past the house of one of my favourite historical characters; Lawrence Of Arabia. I might do a post on him later!

The rest of the time in London, I mostly teamed up with two friends of my (Sindre and Anne), and tested out cafès, went on sighting, ate good food (Chinese in Chinatown for example), and tasted the local beer. Overall, it was a really great trip!

Sindre, Anne and me. Tnx London!
(sorry for shitty front camera)

  

5 reasons for Obama to be satisfied

The last years has not been easy ones for president Obama, which was shown in the midterm elections. However, despite poor election results, he has achieved lots of goals he can be quite satisfied with:

Unemployment rate has gone down

People working in the states goes up month by month, and the oil prices are kept low. Mitt Romney promised to achieve an unemployment rate below 6%- Obama has achieved 5,8%.

Gas prices are low

To most peoples excitement, gas prices are now bellow 4,5 Norwegian kroner. Prices has gone down with over a dollar pr gallon the last year.

Relationship with Cuba

After fifty years of boycotts, and a hard line in diplomacy (non existing), Obama surprised everyone by handshaking Castro at Nelson Mandela's funeral. In all secrecy, the US government has negotiated with the Cuban government, and announced this winter that their relationship will be normalized. Polls show that the US population is more than happy with this, so Obama has really accomplished something!

Immigration policy

Obama has made sure over 4,2 million immigrants has received protection, and will not be thrown out.  Later polls show that people are happy with this (especially Spanish speaking), and most people want the congress to keep working in this direction, instead of trying to block Obama. 

Popular wars

Obama has pulled out troops from Afghanistan and Iraq, both wars with little support back home. However, his latest campaign against ISIS receives support- possible because he is not using large amount of ground forces. Obama has stated that he is skeptical when it comes to involving ground forces, due to poor results from previous occupations.   

9/11 attacks

9/11 2001, the worst terror attack ever seen hit American soil. Two Boeing plains hit the twin towers, another hit the Pentagon; one went down on a cornfield, probably headed for the president. I thing everyone has seen those clips; the towers collapsing, people jumping; almost three thousand people were killed that day.

Today we watched "9/11", a documentary never ment to be, made by two french brothers; Jules and Gedeon Naudet. In 2001, they went to New York wanting to make film about being a probationary firefighter, Tony Benetatos. However, one day, out filming the firemen working on a gas leak, they hear a roar- the camera is pointed towards the sound, by reflex.

What was a normal innocent documentary-film job about a young firefighter, had now turned into filming history. The roar was jumbo jet, hitting the first tower. First on the scene, they were able to film inside the lobby of tower one, filming how firefighters started the demanding walk up over sixty floors; most of them would never come out alive. As the documentary is filmed in the lobby, showing how the chiefs are trying to organize the rescue work, you can hear screams, and bump sounds- people jumping.

The documentary is really showing what happened, from the inside. Few bodies are shown on camera, but there is no need for it either. The look on the firefighters eyes, the running when the tower collapses, people walking like ghosts trying to find their loved ones- the dust. The film is horrible, gruesome in it's way, but still so magnificently made.

Below is a clip from the documentary, showing the collapse from the inside.

Edublogs awards

My nominees for the Edublogs awards 

Best librarian blog, for being an awesome school librarian with an  awesome blog: Metaingrid.blogspot.com

Best student blog, for having a really good and informative blog: http://relatedsignals.com/

Best teacher blog, for using it active in class, posting great tasks and really making a difference: http://annmichaelsen.com/

"If not me, who? If not now, when?"

Late September, Emma Watson held a speech at the UN. She addressed the importance of feminism, and launched a new campaign, called "He For She." The goal of the campaign is to mobilize men and boys, and make them the advocates for equal rights between the sexes. She started the speech by telling how she became a feminist, and said that:  "I decided I was a feminist and this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word. Apparently I am among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, anti-men and, unattractive."

In her speech, she made it clear how feminism is not a fight just for women, but also a fight for men; equal rights will benefit everyone; socially, politically and economical.

Watson's speech was, I think, a punch in the stomach to so many people, both men and women. Because, Watson has right;"feminism" has become an unpopular word. Very few of my friends, even though they say they want equal rights, would call themselves feminists. What Watson did with her speech, was to remind the world that feminism is not about women gaining power over men, it is simply about equal rights, that will benefit everyone. ¨

I have always regarded myself as a feminist, because I find it absurd that men earn more in salary for the same work as women. It's really quite simple. Unfairness is wrong, and the only way to remove this inequality is to fight for it, and never forget how much those before us had to fight, just to to get where we are today.

Emma Watson's campaign is important, because it is about remembering that feminism isn't a bad word, it is a word that should be won back.


http://www.heforshe.org/

The Cameron ministry

On the 11th of may 2010 prime minister Gordon Brown and his Labour government resigned, giving the Downing street nr. 10 keys to  the new Conservative PM David Cameron.

With 36 percent of the votes, Cameron did not form his government alone. Being the first since Churchill, he formed a coalition government; he did so with the 23 percent Liberal Democrats.

Foreign policy

The Cameron ministry has, as most conservatives governments, a pro-NATO attitude, and has taken part in all NATO operation during the four years they have been in office. Cameron has stated that they believe in foreign intervention in order to spread "democracy and freedom", and that the terror-threat must be defeated by power.

The conservation wanted to intervene in Syria, but the Liberal Democrats voted against it in parliament, a major defeat for Cameron; one of the problems of a coalition. After the defeat Cameron stated that "I strongly believe in the need for a tough response to the use of chemical weapons but I also believe in respecting the will of this House of Commons ... It is clear to me that the British Parliament, reflecting the views of the British people, does not want to see British military action. I get that and the Government will act accordingly."

The ministry is against a full EU-membership, but Cameron believes some of the policies (fishing, military) are good for the UK. Overall they have a conservative attitude on foreign policies, with NATO being an exeption.

Economomy and climate

Some of the Cameron administration’s most important economic goals are reduction of employment and wealth tax. The administration views this as something important because they think this will boost English companies’ ability to compete in the international market. The administration does also wish to increase tax on flying for people who uses air transport a lot as well as remove tax for people who don’t use air transport that often, the administration wish to do this to make people fly less and in that way decrease the total amount of CO2 emission in the UK.

A economy policy that the Cameron ministry focuses on is enviroment. Cameron has descibed himself as "passionate about our environment" and believe that it is our "social responsibility to the next generation". Some of the reforms Cameron would like to introduce is a fair fuel stabilizer which will keep the oil prices stable. As the price of oil goes up, the taxes will decrease, and if the price of oil goes down, the taxes will also increase. Another policy is the taxation cut. The ministry promised to reduce tax on alcohol, corporations and small businesses, as well as increasing the inheritance tax exemption.