Discuss the relevance of the concept of the rule of law to current constitutional arrangements in the UK
"In the mouth of British Constitutional Lawyer, the term "rule of law" seems to mean primary a corpus of basic principles and values, which together lend some stability and coherence to the legal order". (TRS Allan). In the light of the quote above, I am going to discuss the relevance of the concept of the rule of law to current constitutional arrangements in the UK. I will be looking at the current constitution in the UK, the doctrine of the rule of law and the relevance of the doctrine in the operation of state power. The UK is said to have an "unwritten constitution", because it has no single codified documentary constitution. However most of the constitution does exist in the written form of treaties, statutes and court judgements. Due to the absence of a formal written constitution in the UK, there is no positive statement of the basic principles governing state actions and no guidelines that could be used to assess the legitimacy of government action. Lawyers and politicians have used the concept of the rule of law in order to provide such a measure.1 The rule of law is capable of being interpreted differently by different people. It is a recognised principle of the English constitution, which is frequently used to signify a notion of "law and order". At it's broadest it is a framework that constrains arbitrary use of power. The concept of the rule of law dates
MRSA. About 1 in 3 of us carries SA on the surface of our skin, or in our nose without developing an infection. This is known as being colonised by the bacteria
MRSA MRSA (sometimes referred to as the superbug) stands for methicilin-resistent Staphylococcus aureus (SA). SA is the bacterium from the Staphylococcus aureus family. It was discovered in 1961 in the UK, it is now found worldwide. (www.mrsasupport.co.uk) The organism Staphylococcus aureus is found on many individuals skin and seems to cause no major problems. However, if it gets inside the body, for instance under the skin or in the body or into the lungs, it can cause important infections such as boils or pneumonia. Individuals who carry this organism are usually totally healthy, have no problems whatever and are considered simply to be carriers of the organism. About 1 in 3 of us carries SA on the surface of our skin, or in our nose without developing an infection. This is known as being colonised by the bacteria. However in addition to the boils and pneumonia, you call also contract impetigo, if they get into the bloodstream they can cause more serious infections. (www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk) The term MRSA or methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus is used to describe those examples of this organism that are resistant to commonly used antibiotics. Methicillin was an antibiotic used many years ago to treat patients with Staphylococcus aureus infections. Today it is no longer used except as a means of identifying this particular type of antibiotic resistance.
Examine an area of oppression and discuss how this manifests itself in institutions and societies and how it impacts upon the lives of individuals and communities.
Examine an area of oppression and discuss how this manifests itself in institutions and societies and how it impacts upon the lives of individuals and communities. This essay will examine disability as an area of oppression in society. When answering this question it would be useful, first of all to put forward a definition for the term disability. The Disability Discrimination Act (1995) describes disability as 'a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day to day activities'. In Northern Ireland there are an estimated 201,000 Disabled Adults (Working with Diversity). Despite this high number, people with disabilities are treated as a separate homogenous group to the rest of society. I will examine how this oppression has manifested itself through institutions by drawing on the medical and the social model of disability. The medical model of disability is seen as being a discriminatory perspective that perceives disability as a personal tragedy. In contrast, Thompson (2006) regards the social model of disability as being an anti-discriminatory perspective that requires a change in how we view disability. Thompson (2006) refers to disablism as 'the systematic discrimination and prejudice against people with disabilities which produces a milieu of oppression and degradation' (p.122). Lack of
What were the main causes of population decline in England from the beginning of the fourteenth century?
What were the main causes of population decline in England from the beginning of the fourteenth century? In the fourteenth century there was a huge demographic crisis and England's population fell dramatically taking centuries to fully recover. The most obvious cause for this was the Black Death that swept through Europe arriving in England in the summer of 1348. However the population of England was already falling by the time the plague arrived. Figure 1 shows that the population reached a high around 1300 but started to decline for the next 50 years until the plague where population drops and by 1525, when these figures end, the population has not even reached half of the 1300 levels. In his early work Postan argues that the decline cannot be purely blamed on the plague but that there must have been other more fundamental reasons such as over population and exhaustion of the land. I will examine other causes of population decline such as famine, war and fertility rates as well as disease to determine the main cause of this decline. However this is complex to examine as this was "a period with no parish registers, no hearth taxes, no large scale censuses excepting Doomsday book and few serviceable taxation returns excepting those of 1377."1 The records left are mainly of the wealthy and the monks who kept detailed records which although useful is frustrating as
EVALUATE THE EXTENT TO WHICH CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS ARE ABLE TO PROVIDE ANY EFFECTIVE PROTECTION AGAINST THE EXCESSES OF EXECUTIVE POWER
EVALUATE THE EXTENT TO WHICH CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTIONS ARE ABLE TO PROVIDE ANY EFFECTIVE PROTECTION AGAINST THE EXCESSES OF EXECUTIVE POWER Firstly, in order to provide an adequate evaluation, 'constitutional conventions' and the 'executive' must be defined. The 'executive' can de described as the section of the state that creates policy and is responsible for the operation of those policies (Barnett, 2002). Therefore in formal terms the sovereign is the head of the executive although in practice this position lies primarily with the Prime Minister, his cabinet, and other ministers, followed by those in the Police and the armed forces. Whilst most countries have a written constitution to define the rules, regulations and practices of an executive, Britain (along with Israel and New Zealand) has no such document. It thus follows that formal protections against the exercise of power which exist in those countries with a written constitution do not exist in Britain (Bradley and Ewing, 2003). Instead, the British constitution has three sources of rules: Acts of Parliament; judicial precedent; and non legal rules known as constitutional conventions, (Allen and Thompson, 2002). A.V. Dicey (1965) defines constitutional conventions as: "...understandings, habits or practices which, though they may regulate the conduct of the several members of the sovereign power, of the
Inter-professional Practice and Safeguarding Children
20042188 CYCC52 Inter-professional Practice and Safeguarding Children CYCC52 Inter-professional Practice and Safeguarding Children Different professional groups may each have their own priorities when it comes to safeguarding children. Giving examples of these, discuss whether it is possible for professionals to work together with the interests of the child to the fore. Essay: 60% of module mark, 2500 words, learning outcomes 1 & 3. First and foremost during this essay I will examine what inter-professional practice is and where it has come from. Furthermore I will analyse the different ways in which the agencies that I work alongside work together to help safeguard children and young people. I will discuss the priorities that they may have using examples which I have been involved in within my setting. I will then discuss whether it is possible to work solely child centred when it comes to safeguarding and analyse the difficulties we may come across while attempting this, mainly focussing on budget restraints and how they affect the young people we provide a service for. I will briefly divulge into the tragedies of both Victoria Climbie and ‘Baby P’ discussing why inter-professional practice was not successful. And finally I will discuss ways in which I believe inter professional practice could be improved across the board by introducing reviewing
How much credence should we give to Procopius' portrayal of the empress Theodora?
How much credence should we give to Procopius' portrayal of the empress Theodora? If we omit the chroniclers, there are hardly any sources for Theodora that are written without parti pris. The most important, Procopius of Caesarea, who is our only source for the lurid details of Theodora's early life, presented a different Theodora in each of his three works, the History of the Wars of Justinian in seven books to which an eighth was added later, the Anekdota or Secret History, to give it its popular name, an essay purportedly written immediately after the first seven books of the Wars were published and containing data which were too defamatory to circulate openly1, and the De Aedificiis or Buildings which is a panegyric on Justinian's building program throughout the empire. All these works were written or at least completed after Theodora's death in 5482. In the Wars, Procopius credits the regime's success at suppressing the 'Nika' revolt of 532 to Theodora's courage and imagines a splendid scene which may have some basis in fact, where she declares that she, at least, will not flee the capital city3. The Anekdota is full of scurrilous details about Theodora's early life as an actress and courtesan, and her intrigues at court. In the De Aedificiis, however, the picture is uniformly flattering. The emperor and empress shared a common piety4, he claims, and her loveliness was
The democratic deficit can be closed by simply extending the powers of the European Parliament
CANDIDATE'S NAME: David Alexander Ruddock STUDENT NUMBER: 0702621 MODULE CODE: EU4602 MODULE TITLE: Policies and Politics of the European Union SEMINAR TUTOR: Frankie Asare-Donkoh ESSAY TITLE / COURSEWORK ASSIGNMENT: 'The democratic deficit can be closed simply by extending the powers of the European Parliament.' Do you agree? WORD COUNT: 2000 DATE SUBMITTED: 08/12/2008 PLAGIARISM STATEMENT: I declare that the work submitted is entirely my own. 'The democratic deficit can be closed simply by extending the powers of the European Parliament.' Do you agree? There are many different definitions of what the democratic deficit is, and in fact on whether or not there even is such a thing as a democratic deficit in the European Union to be able to give a definitive definition of it. European Union scholars Majone and Moravcsik believe there is a credibility crisis not a democratic deficit. A working definition for the purpose of this essay is, 'the democratic void, perceived or real, between citizens of the EU, and the EU institutions that govern them, where decisions are made by non-elected institutions which are based not on public will, but by a bureaucratic elite in Brussels, accentuated by the limited power of the European Parliament.' The idea of solving the problem by simply granting the European Parliament with more power is an attractive one, and one that has
Citing a number of contemporary issues, evaluate pressures on water and discuss the means by which the resource might be better managed in the future.
Citing a number of contemporary issues, evaluate pressures on WATER and discuss the means by which the resource might be better managed in the future. Water, after air perhaps, is the most precious resource available for use. Humans cannot survive much more than 5 days without drinking water, we need it to grow crops and feed animals, for cleaning and cooking, and for processing all man made goods and the provision of services. Although water is abundant on earth 96.5% of the water is saline (Pennington & Cech, 2010) which is undrinkable and unsuitable for agriculture and industry. A further 1.7% is stored as frozen water. So when discussing water as a resource, in this case, it is the 1.7% that exists as groundwater, in rivers, lakes, wetlands and soils that is being referred to, although not all of this is accessible. Currently the population of the world is over 6.8 billion (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010) and population growth worldwide is about 1.17% per year (Google, 2008). Life expectancy is increasing and coupled with these population factors are advancements in human society which are increasing our demands on water resources. In 2005 it was estimated that 48.6% of the world's population lived in urban areas (Encyclopedia of Earth, 2009) with this number constantly on the rise. Urban water provision usually depends on inefficient infrastructure which is susceptible to
To what extent did the idea of a separate sphere(TM) of life for women become eroded in the period 1870-1914?
To what extent did the idea of a 'separate sphere' of life for women become eroded in the period 1870-1914? In her review of six different historical texts on 'separate spheres', Judith Lewis astutely remarked: 'one gets a healthy sense...that historians have been far more bamboozled by Victorian propaganda than the Victorians were.'1 Indeed, 'proponents of...[the]...feminine ideal...for instance, Tennyson's "The Princess"...[and]...Coventry Patmore's 'Angel in the House'2 were certainly part of - and also inspired - the contemporary prescriptive literature. As a result, the stereotype of the domestically imprisoned woman prevails, and 'separate sphere' has become an orthodox term in the study of female history.3 It is important to examine how far these ideals were followed. As K.D. Reynolds pointed out, 'this...version of femininity...ascrib[ed] to the least desirable qualities of the gender - frivolity, lack of application, corruptibility, frailty...and sexual weakness'4 thus making it seemingly impractical, not only for the poorer middle and lower classes whom most likely could not afford such an inefficient member of the family, but in (theoretically) the introduction of women into the public sphere (another concept to be later examined). What must be remembered, however, is that 'separate spheres' is a historical rather than a contemporary term. In other words, it is
