‘The Beano’ and ‘The Dandy’
Dundee publishers D.C. Thomson & Co. produced both ‘The Dandy‘ and ‘The Beano‘ from 1937 and 1938 respectively, with ‘The Dandy’ being […]
Read MoreMonth: November 2019
DNA fingerprinting
In 1984, Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys (1950-) realised that each DNA ‘bar-code’ he was studying was unique to each donor and that […]
Read More
First-past-the-post voting
For UK General Elections and local councils in England and Wales we have always used the first-past-the-post voting system, in a metaphorical […]
Read MoreFor UK General Elections and local councils in England and Wales we have always used the first-past-the-post voting system, in a metaphorical reference to a horse race where the winner is, of course, the first horse to pass the finishing post. There are many calls for this system to be replaced, but while the people in power continue to be elected by its means, they will be very reluctant to pull the rug from under their own feet.
The system is simple and produces results quickly, in that it only involves counting one vote from each ballot paper. There are no second or third choices to consider and no transfers to calculate. In each of the 650 constituencies, the candidate who receives the most votes, wins. This MP or Councillor is therefore focused solely on their particular area.
However, being based entirely on constituency boundaries rather than looking at the totals for the whole country, it does also produce remarkable unfairness. For example, in the 2015 General Election, the Green Party had 3.8% of the total vote, giving them one MP. UKIP had 12.6% but also just one MP, while the LibDems had only 7.9%, giving them a disproportionate total of eight MPs.
Image: Furfur at Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0
(Top image: Karen Arnold at publicdomainpictures.net / Public domain)
Graduation ceremonies
After studying hard for a degree, a university student will have mixed feelings on graduation day. It is an achievement to fill […]
Read More
George and Robert Stephenson
This father-and-son partnership were the pioneers of the railways. George Stephenson (1781-1848) never went to school but his great talent was in […]
Read More
Coroners’ Courts
The role of coroner was first established in England in 1194. The equivalent in Scotland is a ‘procurator fiscal’. Coroners’ Courts are outside […]
Read More
Cheddar Man
Richard Cox Gough (1826-1902) discovered the cave, now named Gough’s Cave, which yielded many human remains, including the 10,000-year-old ‘Cheddar Man‘ skeleton. […]
Read MoreRichard Cox Gough (1826-1902) discovered the cave, now named Gough’s Cave, which yielded many human remains, including the 10,000-year-old ‘Cheddar Man‘ skeleton. This was found by Gough’s sons in a side fissure called Skeleton Pit in the year following their father’s death. The family’s aim had been to open up the cave for tourists visiting Cheddar Gorge in Somerset and it is still the most visited show cave in the UK.
‘Cheddar Man’ is the country’s oldest near-complete skeleton. His age was deduced from examination of a molar. An attempt to determine his eye colour, skin tone and hair colour was made in 2015, but the technology is not yet advanced enough to produce definitive results. However, the suggestion is that he had green eyes, a swarthy complexion, dark wavy hair and that he is genetically linked to modern-day ethnic Britons.
He died either from a blow or infection and was spared the hunter-gatherers’ cannibalistic rituals that scientists have surmised went on. Instead, his skeleton was preserved under a slowly-forming layer of stalagmites. Much of the other archaeological material from Gough’s Cave was discarded, but bone fragments up to 14,700 years old indicate that red deer, horses and arctic hares were also present.
(Top image (cropped): Abhi Here at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Irony
Irony is seen as a particular feature of British observations on life, appealing to our sense of the absurd. It works visually […]
Read MoreIrony is seen as a particular feature of British observations on life, appealing to our sense of the absurd. It works visually and face-to-face more effectively than in writing, perhaps, especially in today’s ‘social media’, where nuance is virtually impossible and the use of emojis is frequently vital to put across the intended meaning. Irony is the juxtaposition of two states in one situation, sometimes with comic effect, as in this example:
Occasionally people misuse the word “ironically“, but if you can substitute “..and yet..” or “..funnily enough,..” and what follows still makes sense, then they have probably got it right! Irony is appealing to us because it requires the listener, viewer or reader to realise the double aspect of what is presented and it therefore carries some satisfaction. A newspaper headline that indignantly reports so-called ‘vandals’ putting graffiti on top of what is essentially graffiti, is ironic, especially as the newspaper seemingly parades this with no self-awareness.
‘Bitter’, ‘sad’ and ‘sweet’ irony can be seen in many of Shakespeare‘s plays, as when, for instance, Romeo thinks Juliet is dead, so kills himself. Ironically, she was only drugged and on waking up sees Romeo dead, then kills herself too.
(Top image: Chris Bertram at Flickr.com / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Language of the court
The language of the court is that which is spoken by the aristocracy. It is deemed to be the most prestigious and […]
Read More
Feudalism
The feudal system prevailed in Britain between 800 and 1500, when a government with centralised control became the new method of ruling […]
Read MoreThe feudal system prevailed in Britain between 800 and 1500, when a government with centralised control became the new method of ruling the country. Feudalism had served its purpose well, but after the catastrophe of the Black Death, the Peasants’ Revolt and the revelations being made by science and exploration of the globe, societal changes were inevitable. The growth of towns and cities gave alternatives to rural life.
The medieval belief was that there was a hierarchy of closeness to God ~ the Pope, then the King, dukes, earls, barons, knights and, at the bottom, peasants. The monarch was, and still is, the absolute owner of the country’s land and everyone below him or her was/is a tenant. The term ‘freehold’ comes from the feudal system and means that your tenancy is indefinite.
Under feudalism, peasants were given a cottage and up to five acres of farmland, usually by a baron, in return for food, taxes and membership of the baron’s private army, signified by a ceremonial oath of fealty and homage. This type of relationship was replicated up the chain to the King. At a time with no welfare state, police or judiciary, this was a sensible, mutually beneficial community arrangement.
(Images: Wikimedia Commons / Public domain)