Our first lecture back...

For our first lecture back Chris delved straight back into politics and the law etc etc, with topics from Jacobitism, and Presbyterianism, to cartoon drawings of Gordon Brown depicted as a pig in The Independent, and John Major’s secret romps with Edwina Currie. For the moment I will start with the former topics, exploring Jacobitism first of all, as I had never heard of the term or been aware of the movement prior to the lecture.

So, Jacobitism refers to the political movement dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland. The term was coined from the Latin form Jacobus of the name of King James II and VII. The movement was a response to the removal of James II and VII in 1688 when he was replaced by his own daughter Mary II, along with her husband and first cousin (?!) William of Orange. After that, the Stuarts resided on the European mainland, however occasionally they attempted to regain the throne with the help of fellow countries France and Spain. The primary seats of Jacobitism were Ireland and Scotland, and in England the movement was the strongest in the north. Many people supported Jacobitism because they believed parliamentary interference with monarchical succession was illegitimate. Many Catholics hoped that the Stuarts would end discriminatory laws, whilst others belonging to various allegiances became involved in military campaigns. Jacobitism is celebrated on June 10th, known as White Rose Day, and its emblem is the White Rose of York.

A brief paragraph on Presbyterianism now, which refers to a number of different Christian churches conforming to the Calvanist theological tradition within Protestantism. It typically emphasises the sovereignty of God, that is, the right to exercise the functions of the state. The religious group evolved primarily in Scotland, and the few members found in England can trace a Scottish connection somewhere in their family tree.

As for Gordon Brown and Edwina Currie, I think I will leave them for my next blog to be written very soon!

Nothing to do with Journalism, but hey it's an article none the less...

To be 15 again. The younger sister of my best friend Mark is having a party and I can hear the music perfectly. You were about to be shocked then, that I could hear it from wherever I was, the sad fact being that I’m only one door away. But that’s not the point. Sitting in the bathroom listening to their topical conversations and girl’s screaming, probably being chased by boys no doubt makes me nostalgic for the days when I was that age. I can’t see them but I can picture the party now, girls parading around in short skirts and tops, lusting over boys that probably don’t really care. Boys, swooning about like they own the place, can of Foster’s in one hand, fag in the other, because they’re hard, you know. Not to mention the music. God. I admit I do still listen to some of the stuff I can hear, but at a party? No no. Just to cut in quickly and prove my point, I just heard one girl shout ‘Emily how many people have been in your bra tonight!!?’ Ahh, the wonders of being 15. Listen to me, acting like I’m a mother of two or something, when in actual fact I’m only three years older, and probably none the wiser. I still parade about in skimpy outfits, the only difference being I wouldn’t be flattered by guys staring or wolf whistling at me, in fact I hate that. Another thing I must touch upon because it’s the single most eventful part of a party is the drama. Oh, the drama. You have to love it, as long as you’re not involved, that is. For the 15 year olds one door away I can tell you now the drama will consist of who kissed who, who got too drunk and wrecked the house, who had a fight with who (over a boy, probably), who had a fight with who (over a girl, probably). I remember the innocent days of who kissed who at a party, a few years later you lose that innocence and it becomes who fucked who, pardon my French. Since when did that start to happen at parties? It becomes who could be pregnant, who cheated on who, who’s having a sex change. Well, maybe not that far. I’d give it another few years. All in all, nothing really changes, but as you get older house parties become less frequent, it’s all about the pub now, the boring, atmosphere-lacking pub. How I miss a good house party. Somewhere down the line girls favoured flashing their IDs at bouncers rather than flashing their boobs at a house party. How times change.

Belated Blog!

I wrote this on the 26th of March but I hadn’t got round to posting it yet, it had just been lying around in my word files. So, here it is:

I read in a book today that storytellers are “keepers of wisdom; they weave spells which feed the human soul.” What an imaginative quote. I must say I automatically went to reference that, and I will tell you what book it was from, but I won’t do it the Harvard way like I am so inclined to do. I am taking it as a good sign however, that I felt the urge to reference; my brain must be embracing this university way of thinking well. Anyway, the quote is from ‘Creative Novel Writing’ by Roselle Angwin. As smart as I sound quoting books in my blog I’ll admit that I read this in the first paragraph of the first page, but I’m working my way through it. The reason for my

I had my tutorial with Angus today, which I thought went well. Although there wasn’t much work to look at article wise because we haven’t really had much to submit, he said that my style of writing and forming a sentence in an article was “absolutely right”, so I’m happy with that. I may regret this but I also mentioned to him about starting a second blog for his side of the course where I’ll write an article or two every week so he can look at my progress. A good idea, we’ll just see if it’s carried out as well as it was thought up. I hope so.