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Thursday 25 March 2010

Radio Bulletin 4

A bric-a-brac market stall is set to be closed down after nearly 17 years of trading. Owners of the stall, which is located on Middlebrook Street, are looking for a guarantee that they have a long term future.

Managers have denied plans to scrap the stall, yet trader Paul Roberts still has concerns:

Audio: http://edublogs.tv/play_audio.php?audio=6814

Radio Bulletin 3

Residents of Peninsula and Erskine Road are becoming increasingly impatient over promises of a playground in the area. However, concerns have been aired that this location is currently unsafe, due to a lack of streetlights on the pathways.

Councillor Ian Tait, of Winchester City Council, has some reassuring information regarding the issue.

Audio: http://edublogs.tv/play_audio.php?audio=6672

Tuesday 16 March 2010

Radio Bulletin: Week 2

Story 1: Detectives are appealing for witnesses after an armed robbery was carried out in an Andover service station.


The Shell Garage, on Weyhill Road, was targeted by robbers at around elevenpm on Sunday night. Two men entered the premises brandishing a firearm and a metal bar before demanding money from the till.


The cashier handed over a small amount of cash before the men escaped in a blue Renault Clio with a third male driver.


Nobody was harmed during the incident, but detectives are keen to speak to anybody in the area around the time of the attack, who may be able to help with their enquiries.




Story 2: An Eastleigh Borough Councillor has switched political alliance with only two months to go until local elections.

Councillor Joyce Sortwell, along with husband, Graham, has joined the Conservative Party, after leaving the Liberal Democrats.

The switch is the result of a disagreement with her former party leader, over the West End Parish Council vote.

Mrs Sortwell had this to say about the move:

Audio: http://edublogs.tv/play_audio.php?audio=6807


Story 3: Issues regarding the state of Britain's roads have been highlighted by AA Insurance.
Based on the number of insurance claims last year, damage caused by potholes has risen by six hundred percent.


These figures highlight the after effects of the severe weather during the winter months, as local authorities have been unable to keep the issue under control.


The Government are planning on increasing fuel prices by two point five pence per litre, on the first of April in an attempt to find the funding to tackle the problem.


North Yorkshire county council have also been forced to increase council tax by 8p a week in order to try and control the problem.



Story 4: Residents across the district are being asked to get involved in a sponsored walk to help raise fifty thousand pounds for local homeless charities.


The Rotary Club have set up "Winchester Walk for the Homeless-Beating the Bounds", which will take place on Sunday 9th May.


Walkers can choose between a twelve mile, five mile, or one and a half mile route, with a party to be held at the finish line.


For more information, or to register for the walk, see www.winchesterwalk.co.uk

Monday 15 March 2010

HCJ Lecture: Dickens and Cobbett

Bleak House

A tale of 2 revolutions- Political and Industrial.
This era is shown in 2 perspectives: Urban (Dickens) and Rural (Cobbett).

England did very well out of the French Revolution- although during the period of the Napoleonic war it was very expensive, and income tax was created in 1799 to pay for the war effort.
British Naval Power was absolute and the blockades of the French ports destroyed French trades and created a boom for British exports to such an extent that the British manufacturers were clothing the French army.
With the European armies occupied, Britain started building its empire: India, Singapore, South Africa, Sri-Lanka, trading monopoly with South Africa.
The Transatlantic Triangular Trade was enormously profitable for Britain.
16th Century: 1 million slaves transported from Africa to America. This rose to 3 million in the 17th Century and 7 million in the 18th Century, until the Abolition of Slavery Act in 1833.
Textiles made up of 60% of exports. Coal output doubled between 1750-1800.
Manchester: From 1760-1830 population went from 17,000-180,000. The city was seen as a revolutionary-it had never been seen before.
Cotton was the key to the industrial revolution-the raw material came from the slave platations, but it was the modern Lancashire which produced the finished article, mainly for exports.
Inventions such as the gaslight allowed the process to be done virtually around the clock by women and children in enormous factories.
The end of the war meant the end of the boom-and this caused widespread unemployment and a fall in wages. In response to this, the Government brought in the Corn Laws, which put a tariff on imported grain, to give farmers a better chance. However, this made bread very expensive, which pushed many families below the breadline (no pun intended!)
The conditions in towns and cities were dire. Most people lived in slums, and diseases such as Cholera were rife.
The policy of brutal repression on any sort of dissent and strict penal penalties was effective in the short term.
The protesters demanded that growing industrial towns of Britain should have the right to elect MPs. Less than 2% of the population had the vote, and resentment was sharpened by "rotten boroughs". This was changed by the Reform Act in 1832.
The repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 meant that bread became cheaper, but wages could be lowered because workers could survive on less.

Farming: Enclosures had ended the idea of landholding peasantry- and there was nothing to stop the transfer of the workforce from non-industrial to industrial.
Population had been rising slowly, or not at all, from about 5 million at the end of the 17th century until the middle of the 18th Century. After 1770 it started to rise dramatically, doubling every 50 years.
Riots across the South in 1830-rural labourers opposed to the use of new advanced technology.

The Poor: The poor were looked after by the Speenhamland system, which was devised as a means to alleviate the distress due to the cost of grain. The immediate financial impact of this fell on landowners.
Bentham proposed the New Poor Law Act in 1834, which stated that no able-bodied person was to recieve help or money except from the workhouse. The idea of this was to make the aid for poor people so unpleasant that they wouldn't want it, an "object of wholesome horror". This Act effectively criminalized the poor.

Ireland became part of the UK in 1801.
Famine between 1845-1850: More than 1 million died of malnutrition, and 2 million emigrated.
During the years of the famine, Ireland was a net exporter of food. Armed troops escorted the crops to the ports to be exported to England.

Cobbett- was an anti-radical who became a radical. This decision was made by the plight of farm workers in the early 19th Century. He thought that rapid industrialisation was going to destroy traditional ways of life.
He was a heroic agitator, convinced that farmers faced ruin. He spent 20 years abroad in the army but was shocked when he returned by the state of the countryside. Farm workers were like walking skeletons.
He had no time for the Government that taxed the farmers, or the army, or church. He was nearing 60 when he started "rural rides", and also wrote the political register, which was read by the working class.
A tax on newspapers led Cobbett to publish the Political Register as a pamphlet, which had a circulation of 40,000.
He was jailed for sedition and later fled to America to avoid being arrested again, however was charged with libel 3 times upon return.

Dickens- London was the largest city (in terms of population) in the world at this time. It was also the most advanced, and was overcrowded.
Dickens was interested in particular times of reform, which shows in his works:
Oliver Twist: Utilitarian Poor Law
Bleak House: Court of Chancery.
Dickens believed that the poor should be given decent homes and education. His writing attemped to stir up the middle classes into action.

Monday 8 March 2010

Newsday 1: Radio Bulletin

Local transport service, Bluestar Buses have launched a new scheme in a bid to break historical stereotypes of miserable bus drivers. The idea involves additional training to show staff how to treat passengers, as well as how to deal with language barriers and other cultural issues.

Here's what Bluestar Operations Manager, Alex Hornby, had to say:



*Audio Cut: Bluestar Audio

Duration: 30 seconds*



(Unfortunately I have been unable to upload the audio)