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Inside the System
Now where did I leave my shares?
THE QUEEN is not the only toff with a memory problem. She conveniently forgot her conversation with Diana's butler which could have prevented millions being wasted on a trial. Now a top judge has forgotten that he owned shares related to a case he was trying.
THE QUEEN is not the only toff with a memory problem. She conveniently forgot her conversation with Diana's butler which could have prevented millions being wasted on a trial. Now a top judge has forgotten that he owned shares related to a case he was trying.
Justice Nelson was trying the case brought by more than 50 families against 28 international airlines last week. But the landmark trial had to be halted when the judge remembered he had some shares in British Airways.
Nelson told the court that he had seen a newspaper report about British Airway's recent surge in profits. 'It occurred to me, regrettably for the first time since taking on this case, that I had some shares in BA,' he said. He had 1,400 shares. Most of us would probably remember if we had a few grand tucked away.
The case was brought by families alleging that the airlines' cramped seating caused themselves or their relatives to suffer deep vein thrombosis. The trial has been adjourned, so they will have to wait even longer for justice for those who may have been injured or killed because they were treated like cattle by the airlines.
ANOTHER 'Philipism' from the Duke of Edinburgh. During a palace reception he asked Labour MP Parmjit Dhanda, 'What did you do before you entered parliament?' 'I was a student and a trade union official,' the MP for Gloucester replied. 'You didn't do anything then,' said Philip.
Mr Dhanda asked, 'What did you do before you were Duke of Edinburgh?' Philip was more than a little needled by this lack of respect. 'I served in the Royal Navy during the war,' he barked, flicking a regal two fingers at the MP.
BOOTS the chemist brags about how it 'is developing strong links with local communities'. But those links are not so strong after all. Boots decided to help staff stand out in the run-up to Christmas in the west of Scotland, getting them to wear orange sashes.
The orange sash is a symbol of the anti-Catholic Orange Order. Shoppers and new staff complained that Boots was promoting the sectarian Loyalist Orange Order. When Boots was forced to withdraw the sashes a company spokesperson said, 'We were unaware of the connotations that this might have in this area.'
Pull together
WORKERS ARE often told to 'pull together' to save their jobs. This has been taken to new lengths in a Romanian car plant. The ARO Camplulung plant is £16 million in debt. So trade union leaders have told the workers to donate sperm to pay off the debts.
'Our feasibility study shows that if 1,000 workers donate their sperm for several months we can get enough funds to pay part of the plant's debts,' says union leader Ion Cotescu. The scheme is also a protest against the government's privatisation authority which has failed to find a buyer for the plant.
Schooled in spying
IF YOU thought The Project was far fetched in its portrayal of New Labour's dirty tricks, try this news of Charles Clarke's dirty dealings. Back in 1991 the current education secretary apparently used information from MI5 against left wing MP Bernie Grant.
Reports allege that in a private meeting Clarke accused Grant of being paid by the Libyan regime of Colonel Gadaffi. Clarke warned the MP against taking part in a Libya exhibition in London, saying, 'I must warn you not to do this. It is in your interests not to proceed.'
Someone who was working with Bernie Grant at the time said, 'We were both amazed at how Clarke could have known. 'They must have had Bernie under surveillance.' Mr Grant's widow, Sheila, said, 'I do recall the incident. Bernie was concerned.' Clarke said he had no recollection of the meeting.
Bush's masters
GEORGE BUSH helped block a law that could have stopped the Washington sniper's killing spree. Bush supports the right wing National Rifle Association, which put pressure on the US Congress not to pass a law bringing in a national ballistics fingerprinting database.
If that law had been in place people would have known who owned the gun used by the sniper. The sniper used a gun made by Bushmaster Firearms Inc to kill 13 people. Bushmaster's president was the Maine finance chairman for George Bush's 2000 presidential campaign. He was forced to step down after reporters started to question him about Bushmaster's dealings. It is notorious for sidestepping a ban on the sale of assault rifles.
Thanks to Tony Collins.
THERE IS a new 'evildoer' in the US's sights. US forces on the island base of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean have been put on full alert because of a brown tree snake seen on the island.
Increased flights from the US's base in Guam, where the snake lives, mean increased danger of snakes getting among the cargo and exiting on Diego Garcia. The brown tree snakes have eaten their way through half of Guam's bird population since the 1940s. They have caused regular power cuts by slithering across cables and bringing them down.
The British authorities on the island are concerned that the arrival of the snake on the island would mean that the island's bird life would be destroyed. It's a pity they didn't show such concern for the thousands of indigenous islanders they turfed out in the 1970s to pave the way for the US base. The islanders are still fighting for justice.
Things they say
'CAMBRIDGE IS an elitist institution. And that's not necessarily a dirty word – there's a place for elites. I think elites have an important role to play.'
Education secretary Charles Clarke
'WE'VE been through too many wars, and we know what they bring – bitterness, exile, loss, misery and death.'
Jabbar Hassan, director of the Iraqi Community Association for Iraqi exiles, opposing an attack on Iraq
'AT NO stage have the police produced such a tape, or any witness who has heard such a tape, and we have no evidence of a tape.'
Prince Charles's office tells a royal lie to deny the existence of taped allegations against his staff
'WE ARE building a map of all those countries that might give us a headache.'
Spokesperson for Ariel Sharon on fears that Israeli politicians and soldiers could be arrested for war crimes if they travel abroad
'ON EACH time we met he left me reeling with his charm. He enriched many lives.'
TV presenter Anne Robinson on her late employer, pension thief Robert Maxwell
'THE problem with Burma arises when companies collaborate with an unpleasant regime which is totally contrary to our notions of democracy.'
Kenneth Clarke MP, deputy chairman of British American Tobacco, which pays Burmese workers 23p a day at a factory it owns jointly with the government in Burma
'AN international company cannot reform the politics of the government of any country in which it does business.'
Kenneth Clarke
Bush gang's smoking gun
Evidence grows of Aznar's Spanish lie
Starving in an English town
Capita does the job...
Shining a light on the inner workings of the system
Lies to help prepare for war
The US defence department announced last week that a satellite positioning device had been found in an Afghan cave. They said the equipment was lost in Somalia in 1993. The discovery, they proclaimed, was concrete evidence at last that Bin Laden's Al Qaida network was behind the deaths of 18 US soldiers in the disastrous raid on Mogadishu.
Now stick an ASBO on Labour in Hartlepool
CRIME BECAME a key issue in the Hartlepool by-election in an unexpected way last week.


We have the Baylee Bag, Faye Bag and the most desirable Drew Shoulder Bag. But an icon will always be an icon and no bag can take away its name. We will always love the Marcie Bag.
This bag has been around since 2010, originally inspired by Horse Shoe and is one of the most sought-after accessories. Featuring tennis-wrapped double top handle, cross-body strap, a hidden open pocket under the front flap – It has everything you need.


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Home JAZZ, ROCK, POP Austin City Limits Evolution Brings Mixed Bag Of Performers
Austin City Limits Evolution Brings Mixed Bag Of Performers
Music festivals remain one of the mainstays for live music experiences that continue to draw fans in from all over the world. There are few concert experiences that can compare to a multi-day festival of strong performers, blending artists who are well known and established with emerging and rising stars. Austin City Limits in the capital city of Texas has a 14 year history of bringing music fans together in the celebration of sound. Yet as the years have gone by, iconic performers have shifted the way that attendees view the festival.
Austin City Limits has evolved much in its decade and a half to attract more mainstream artists which have provided a mixed bag of performers and mixed views on the experience. The 2015 lineup included pop artist Drake, country legend Dwight Yoakum, and EDM specialist Deadmau5.
What has certainly shifted in the long-standing casual nature of the festival, a historically family-friendly weekend gathering, is a mixture of voices and talent that don't typically fit into that mold. The music styles of the performers stretch into even further varying degrees than what I consider normal, but that's not a negative takeaway. Blending country with hip-hop with alternative rock with emerging singer-songwriter is a good thing for the palettes of music fans across the board. Where the issue lies is the performance quality of these artists who are used to a different type of gathering in a widely different platform.
Drake's Coachella performance still lingers in the minds of both his die-hard fans as well as music critics seeking the famed performer to offer some kind of redemption. Austin City Limits afforded him that chance, though critics and fans seemed on the fence if that redemption was delivered.
Critics haven't left their jeers strictly to the pop-styled Drake, with the Foo Fighters taking a fair share of jabs following a performance that featured nothing but radio hits including the finale of Best Of You. Die hard fans want more than what radio has overplayed for 20 years, and new fans deserve more as well. Dave Grohl & Co have been rocking hard for over 2 decades but that time and experience seems to have sapped new creative juices from spilling into their stage shows. One shining piece of their set was the inclusion of local (Austin) talent Gary Clark, Jr with a performance of "What Did I Do? / God As My Witness."
The festival is also a place where emerging artists have a chance to make a strong debut to a larger audience. Kali Uchis, the pop sensation had a wonderful opportunity to showcase her blossoming talents, and the setup she had was primed to do just that, incorporating a 6-piece backup band in place of a DJ. The big obstacle she faced, and the audience experienced, was the lack of cohesion and gelling between her and her band members. The concept was great, the execution was not. The big stage or the small stage at Austin City Limits is the opportunity to showcase months of rehearsals and performances in other places, not to do a test run of a concept in the making. However, all of those criticisms aside Kali Uchis has definite talent and given time between her and her band's ongoing performances there are certainly big horizons in store for her.
It's no surprise (to me anyway) that indie musicians were the ones to really provide audiences with the quality performances. Though they didn't have the main stages to execute their set lists, nor the draw of the Foo Fighters or The Strokes, folk/country's Drew Holcolmb & The Neighbors (regularly feature on The Appetizer Radio Show) gave fans and attendees something else to be look forward to in emerging indie songwriting. Waxahatchee brought the alternative fans exactly what they were hungering for including potentially the best cover song of the event, playing "I Lost It" originally from Lucinda Williams.
As the festival continues to mirror what the city of Austin is becoming, a growing metropolis shifting from a heavy indie arts culture into a corporate arts district, we can only assume that the Austin City Limits festival will evolve into more of the same. As 75,000 music fans descend on the Texas capital for a short period of time, the influx of talent and commercialism will do more of what SXSW has done, grow out of its indie roots into something much more mainstream. The results will continue to be a mixed bag, with those smaller, indie artists doing the job of mainstay creators: inspiring true music fans with remarkable, yet non-commercially popular art.
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Magna Carta Unlocked
Magna Carta – a text for our time?
Snapshots of English history
Akhenaten, heretic pharaoh
Snapshots of English history AD 449 to AD 1642
Is history just "one darn thing after another" or are we right to look for patterns in how nations develop and the choices they make? Was Magna Carta just a flash in the pan or is it part of a consistent thread in England's national story? What happened up to the outbreak of civil war in 1642 to bring Parliament to the point of armed insurrection against the King?
The last legions were withdrawn from the province of Britannia in AD 410 to defend Rome from the Goths. They left behind the infrastructure of some three and a half centuries of occupation and a highly Romanised elite. For all its outward sophistication, however, this Romano-British world was fragile within and without. Soon, the rich pickings it offered were attracting barbarian adventurers from across the seas. Amongst those who terrorised the coasts were tribes from northern Germany and southern Denmark: Angles, Saxons and Jutes. Their names are preserved in English regions and counties such as East Anglia, Sussex (land of the south Saxons) and Essex (land of the east Saxons). England herself is Engla-lond, land of the Angles.
Hadrian's wall from Housesteads fort
Image: Wikicommons
In common with their former masters, Britons sought to divide and rule by paying one group of enemies to fight another. Thus was a Jute war-band led by Hengist and his brother Horsa invited to settle in Kent, to serve as mercenaries in defending Britannia against incursions by the Picts (who lived in what is now Scotland). In AD 449 these Jutes landed at Ebbsfleet on the Isle of Thanet and in due course helped their masters to a great victory over the raiders from the north. Yet within a short while employer and employee came to blows. In the ensuing conflict Horsa was killed, but in AD 455 his people were victorious at the battle of Aylesford. So tradition has it that the English conquest began. It was bloody and bitter. In contrast to barbarian conquerors in continental Europe, the newcomers seem to have conducted a campaign of what we would now call ethnic cleansing, dispossessing and driving back the people they overcame. The invaders were pagans. They were pitiless.
They remained so until the coming of St Augustine in AD 589 and their subsequent conversion to Christianity. The arrival of the missionary from Rome was attended by strange correspondences and coincidences. He landed at the very spot at Ebbsfleet where Hengist and Horsa had disembarked one hundred and forty years earlier. Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory the Great, who some time before had seen fair-haired slaves for sale in Rome and had asked where they came from. On being told that they were Angles from Deira, using a Latin pun he replied: "Not Angles, but angels," and "plucked from God's ire, and called to Christ's mercy!" When informed that the name of their king was Aella, Gregory seized on this as a good omen: "Alleluia shall be sung in Aella's land!" he cried. So it was, and as England became Christianised, campaigns of extermination and dispossession seem gradually to have given way to increased readiness to live alongside the conquered British. A new nation was being born.
Alfred, king of Wessex from 849 to 899, is the only English monarch to bear the epithet "Great." It is a title he amply deserves, for without him there would quite simply be no England. In 793 Danish raiders attacked the monastery at Lindisfarne on the east coast of Northumbria, putting the defenceless monks to the sword and looting priceless manuscripts and works of art. Thereafter, Danish raids became more frequent and daring year by year. In 865 pillage turned to conquest as a large Danish army landed in Kent. By 876 the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia and East Anglia had been destroyed in battle and their lands settled by the rank and file of the Danish armies. Only Wessex remained outside their control. Alone of the English kingdoms, she had offered resistance stiff enough to turn the invaders' attention elsewhere, but the respite was short. A renewed Danish assault came in 878. The Viking leader Guthrum launched a surprise attack in the depths of winter, striking deep into West Saxon territory. Alfred was caught off balance and driven with a small band of followers to seek refuge in the marshes of Athelney in Somerset.
King Alfred the Great
Image: Sceptred Isle Productions Ltd
The king was on the run for several months, launching hit and run raids against the Danes. Then, seven weeks after Easter, he emerged from the marshes and called his people to join him. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (the great early history of the English) records that when he did so: "there came to meet him all the people of Somerset and Wiltshire and … Hampshire, and they rejoiced to see him." In this sparse account we see the strength of Wessex and the regard in which the people held their king. In the depths of defeat and despair, they rallied to him. Soon afterwards, Alfred led his nation to a resounding victory at Edington, where a white horse was carved into the chalk hillside on the king's orders after the battle. In the course of the fighting, the English captured the Danes' standard, a banner depicting a raven (representing the ravens said to attend on their war god, Odin). The spiritual symbolism was powerful. It was underlined a fortnight later when Guthrum sued for peace and agreed to be baptised. The Danes were expelled from Wessex.
For the next eighteen years Alfred was engaged in continual warfare against the Danes, yet never again was the survival of his kingdom seriously threatened. Gradually, he began to take the offensive and to expand the areas under his control. England was kept alive and, in old age, the king at last enjoyed a measure of rest and security he had rarely known: the final three years of his reign were ones of peace. Alfred ensured the survival of the Wessex, yet his achievement goes beyond this. He was a great military leader, but much more besides. Through wise policy he ensured that the West Saxon kings became the acknowledged leaders of all Englishmen who were not under Danish rule. Through generosity in victory and friendship in peace, he laid the foundations for integrating Viking settlers into a new polity. Through promotion of learning, sponsoring Christianity and promulgation of sound laws he helped create a state more solidly based and a system of government more sophisticated than any other in west Europe. The chronicler Asser described Alfred as "enthusiastic and generous in alms-giving to fellow-countrymen and foreigners, extremely affable and pleasant to all men, and a skilful enquirer into the unknown. Many … submitted voluntarily to his dominion, all of whom he ruled, loved, honoured and enriched as if they were his own people." His originality of mind and breadth of outlook gave a new dimension to English kingship.
The reign of Aethelred the Unready (the un-redd, or badly advised) groans under a weight of adverse circumstance, made worse by the character of the king himself. There is no doubt that he succeeded to a difficult inheritance. He was only eleven years old, and his elder brother Edward fourteen, when their father King Edgar died in 975. There was a disputed succession, with some taking the side of one boy and some of the other. Edward was crowned, but there was civil war and in 978 the young ruler was murdered. The taint of a foul deed clung to Aethelred for many years, though there is no suggestion that he was in any way personally involved in his brother's killing.
Barely had Aethelred ascended the throne than the Danes resumed their raids on England for the first time in decades. No blame attaches to the monarch for this – the renewed assault was the result of developments within Scandinavia – but his reaction to the attacks was disastrous. Starting in 980, raiding continued with unabated ferocity so that almost every year for thirty years some part of England was harried. Aethelred lacked the steadfastness needed to bring good plans to fruition and he proved a terrible judge of character. Time and again he promoted the lazy, incompetent, corrupt or traitorous. He seemed incapable of choosing good subordinates or of placing confidence even in those few decent men who occupied positions of power and influence. Property was expropriated on the flimsiest excuse. Several times those in high office or their relatives were blinded on the king's orders for faults real or imaginary. His own arbitrary and inconstant behaviour fed distrust of the crown and ultimately disloyalty. The result was that, although there were honourable exceptions at local level, all too often the armies that England put in the field against the invaders were betrayed by their own leaders. When properly led, English troops showed repeatedly that they were still able to give a good account of themselves, but as time passed the creeping rot of demoralisation spread wider. Year by year the payments required to buy off the Danes (the so-called Danegeld) became larger. The burden on the country, which was required to support the armies of friend and foe alike, was enormous. In 1005 the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle speaks of a famine "more severe than any that could be remembered."
Viking runestone, Sweden
In 1002 Aethelred's poor judgment broke out in infamy. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records his hearing that the Danes in England "intended to kill him and all his counsellors, and afterwards to possess his kingdom," so he ordered the so-called St Brice's Day massacre. The order was never fully carried out and in any event was impractical of execution in areas of heavy Danish settlement, but amongst those killed was Gunnhild, sister of king Svein Forkbeard of Denmark. Aethelred could scarce have conceived a better way to ensure the undying enmity of a dangerous adversary. So the onslaught continued, without let-up or relief, as long as Aethelred lived. His miserable reign came to an end in 1016.
Thereafter, his son Edmund Ironside led a brief English revival, showing what could be done with proper leadership, but died in the very year of his accession a few weeks after defeat at Assandun by King Cnut of Denmark. On his passing, the exhausted and ravaged country meekly acquiesced in the claim to the throne advanced by Cnut, comforted perhaps by the fact that this Viking ruler was no longer pagan, but baptised a Christian. Not until 1042 was the house of Wessex, Europe's oldest royal line, restored by Edward the Confessor, another son of Aethelred.
Harold Godwinson is one of the nearly men of English history. He came to the throne on the death of Edward the Confessor in January 1066, having been nominated by the dying king on his deathbed and unanimously elected by the Witan (the high council). In the course of less than 10 months he showed talent, energy and courage worthy of the greatest monarchs. If an air of inevitable doom now hangs over his reign, it is largely the product of hindsight and Norman propaganda. Bad luck dogged his attempts to defend the realm, however. Alert to possible Norman attack, he mobilised a fleet to guard the Channel, but bad weather delayed William's crossing. By the time the Duke of Normandy was able to move, the English ships had run out of supplies and been dispersed, whilst Harold had been called north to face a second invading army under Harald Hardrada ("hard ruler") of Norway.
Map showing the invasions of England in 1066
To cap it all, there was treachery: Harold's disaffected brother Tostig, who had been exiled in 1065, raided the English coast with a fleet of sixty ships from May 1066. Although defeated by earl Edwin of Mercia at the battle of Lindsey, he escaped to Scotland and subsequently returned to make common cause with Hardrada. Together they were a fearsome army – the joint force numbered some five hundred ships – and after a bloody fight which cost both sides dear, they beat Earl Edwin and his brother Morcar, earl of Northumbria, at the battle of Fulford Gate on 20 September. Meanwhile, however, the king was hurrying to meet the threat.
The campaign that Harold fought in September and October 1066 deserves to rank alongside the finest feats of arms. He surprised the enemy at Stamford Bridge a few miles east of York on 25 September, winning a tremendous victory in which both Tostig and the Norwegian king were killed. So great was the slaughter that the survivors needed just twenty ships to make their escape. Scarce was the battle over before news came that William had landed at Pevensey Bay in Sussex. Straight away Harold led his best troops south by forced marches. They covered 400 miles in just over a fortnight, having destroyed the Norwegian army on the way. The king allowed them a week's respite in London whilst he gathered men from the southern counties to face William, though most of the new recruits were village levies, many armed with little more than clubs or billhooks. Yet still the battle of Hastings was so hard-fought that its outcome was in the balance almost to the end.
Harold fell on Saturday 16 October 1066 on Caldbeck Hill, which the Normans called Senlac (lake of blood). His brothers Gyrth and Leofwin, together with almost all the nobility and gentry of the southern shires, fell with him. In a single afternoon, England lost her finest soldiers and practically her whole leadership. Many more fled overseas, with a large contingent of exiled Englishmen joining the Varangian Guard, crack household troops of the Byzantine Emperor. The nation they left behind was at the mercy of the Conqueror.
Defeat at Hastings dealt a grievous blow to England, but her spirit was not altogether broken. For two hundred years and more she had borne the assaults of Vikings from Denmark and Norway. She roused herself for a further effort against the Northmen from Normandy. On news of Harold's death, the youngster Edgar the Atheling, the only surviving prince of the house of Wessex, was elected king. Yet as William slowly advanced through Kent and Surrey to encircle London, one by one the remaining English leaders (most prominent amongst them Edwin and Morcar, respectively earls of Mercia and Northumbria) began to submit to him. They were influenced no doubt by William's claim that the throne was his by right, by his promise to uphold English laws and by the fact that the boy-king Edgar was of no age to exercise real leadership. They could not then have envisaged what the reality of Norman rule would be.
Statue of William the Conqueror outside Lichfield cathedral
Despite this initial submission to William, hardly a year passed between 1066 and his death in 1087 when the Conqueror was not in the saddle directing the suppression of rebellion somewhere in his new kingdom. In truth, many of these outbreaks were minor local affairs that posed no real threat to Norman rule. Some were more in the nature of feudal quarrels amongst the Normans themselves. The exception, however, which clearly shook William and lead to far harsher rule on his part, was the great national revolt of 1068-71. The catalyst for widespread uprising was the killing of the Norman Robert of Comines, whom William had made earl of Northumbria beyond Tees, in 1069. Thereupon, the men of Yorkshire joined with a Danish force to take the newly built castle at York and at this the West Saxons and Mercians, too, took up arms. William's response was typically vigorous. He bought off the Danes, leaving him free to engage and defeat the English rebels. Thereafter, he showed no mercy. In the winter of 1069-70, the Conqueror set about the deliberate devastation of the most fertile and populous parts of Yorkshire. Not only was livestock slaughtered and stores of grain and other foodstuffs burnt, but the implements which the survivors needed to recover from the disaster by planting and harvesting were systematically destroyed. The destruction was appalling, the suffering agonising.
At length, such resistance as remained centred on the fenland of Cambridgeshire. At Ely lay an island of firm ground amidst the swamp, then so wide and deep that the only practicable means of transport was by boat. Here gathered a desperate group, led by an English thane called Hereward, known to posterity as the Wake, meaning "the Watchful" or "the Wary." His identity is obscured by lack or contradiction of details, but such fragmentary records as exist suggest that he was a native of Lincolnshire and that he was of turbulent and lawless character, an outlaw before ever he was in revolt against Norman rule. The battle was noble but forlorn, and utterly hopeless once William had ensured that there was no chance of Danish support. The Normans blocked escape routes from Ely with ships and built a causeway across the marsh, whereupon all surrendered save Hereward, who escaped with a handful of followers. What became of him thereafter is unknown. So ended the last serious English challenge to the Conquest. Yet Saxon ideas of kingship were not lost. Their memory remained to inspire later generations.
In a muddy field by the banks of the Thames gathered the signatories to a momentous document: on one side a disgruntled King John, on the other a knot of rebellious barons and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langton. Magna Carta (the Great Charter) was sealed at Runnymede in Surrey on 15 June 1215. It is widely regarded as the foundation stone of English liberties and a key text of the English constitution. Such was its totemic power that it was repeatedly re-issued by subsequent kings: by Henry III and Edward I. An amendment during the latter's reign established the principle of 'no taxation without representation.'
On its face, the document is hardly a democrats' manifesto. Its sixty three clauses focus largely on matters of concern only to a privileged few, with two primary aims: to define (and thereby limit) the feudal rights of the Crown and to protect the privileges of the Church. Yet by placing a brake on the unfettered exercise of royal authority, it became a bulwark against all oppression. Combined with the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 (a requirement for the authorities to produce in court those being held in custody, which drew on the rights enshrined in Magna Carta) and the Bill of Rights of 1689 (whose sponsors self-consciously thought of it as a new Magna Carta), the result was to secure for Englishmen an unprecedented degree of freedom from arbitrary rule. Thus reaction to the rapacity of grasping John Lackland redounded to the ultimate benefit of his subjects.
The sealing of Magna Carta
The aggressive expansionism of Plantagenet kings produced a similar defining moment in Scotland: the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320. The signatories declared, "We are resolved never to submit to English domination. We are fighting for freedom and freedom only." It was a long struggle. William Wallace (1270-1305) first roused Scottish resistance, but success at the battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297 was followed by defeat at Falkirk the very next year. Wallace went into hiding, was betrayed and at length was hanged in London as a common bandit, becoming both martyr and hero of Scotland's cause. After his death Robert the Bruce took up the baton. He, too, was hounded and defeated, until inspired by a spider in a cave to try, try and try again. His perseverance was rewarded. Though it was not fully apparent for generations, victory over the forces of Edward II at Bannockburn in 1314 effectively set the seal on Scottish independence. Thus were seeds of freedom nurtured in England and her northern neighbour. From them in time grew great oaks.
In 1348 England caught the full force of a pandemic that had already ravaged Asia and other areas of Europe. It was fuelled by three related types of plague, two carried by rats and one on the air. The symptoms were horrific: the most common, bubonic form caused painful swellings in groin and armpit, with dark blotches on the skin from internal bleeding. Three or four days of unbearable pain were followed by certain death if the bubo did not burst beforehand. The affliction was called the Pestilence or the Great Pestilence, otherwise known as the Black Death.
The Dance of Death by Michael Wolgemut
It is commonly reckoned that something like one third of the population of Europe died between 1346 and 1353, though some hazard yet higher mortality. Contemporaries often speak of half or even three quarters of the people around them dying, though it is difficult to substantiate death on such an extravagant scale across entire countries. At all events, it is not fanciful to think of some one and a half millions dead in England, eight millions in France and perhaps some thirty millions for Europe as a whole. Those figures are horrific in themselves, the more so when we remember the population of the entire British Isles in 1346 probably did not exceed five millions.
Reactions to the horror varied from panic and wild debauchery to dutiful fortitude. Many clergy suffered disproportionately through bravely ministering to the sick and dying, whilst others fled for their lives. The authorities were helpless, doctors useless. There was nothing for it but to let the disease run its course. At length, it burnt itself out in Russia in 1353, leaving behind a ravaged continent. The psychological trauma ran deep, heightened by the fact that plague had been absent from Europe for six hundred years. No longer: there were further outbreaks from 1357 to 1365 and thereafter every ten years or so until the end of the century. The macabre Dance of Death made its appearance and a new breed of mendicants, the so-called Flagellants, whipped themselves bloodily from town to town in a bizarre enactment of repentance. The conviction reigned that God was punishing mankind for its sins. Many claimed that the end of the world was nigh.
Pilgrims and ploughmen
Geoffrey Chaucer, who lived between about 1340 and 1400, is widely reckoned the poetic genius of Middle English. His life was full of incident, and he became an active participant in many of the major events of the day. He was almost certainly of an age to remember the horror of the Black Death. He fought in France during the Hundred Years' War, being captured and later ransomed, was employed on diplomatic missions to France and Italy and most likely on secret service in Flanders. He was probably present at Smithfield in 1381 when the young king Richard II confronted Wat Tyler and the rebels of the Great (or Peasants') Revolt.
Manuscript of the Canterbury Tales
Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are rightly famous, painting a picture of a whole society in the shape of thirty two pilgrims riding together from tavern to cathedral, entertaining each other and revealing themselves as they do so. His keen eye and sharp pen describe many of the issues of his day, being particularly scathing of corruption, greed and hypocrisy amongst the clergy. More or less contemporary and almost equally esteemed is The Vision concerning Piers Ploughman, usually attributed to William Langland. Here Conscience preaches to the people, Repentance moves their hearts and many are prompted to seek the way of Truth with the guidance of the trusty ploughman.
The world that these poems describe was one of almost bewildering social change. Formerly immutable hierarchies were starting to crumble. Widespread death from plague loosened the bonds of feudalism and the survivors of a decimated peasantry found their bargaining position much improved. Pressure on the land was reduced, workers were in short supply and wages began to creep upwards. Increasingly, obligations of service were commuted to cash payments. All over Europe, attempts were made to preserve the old economic order. In England, the Statute of Labourers was passed in 1351 to hold down wages. Resentment against such measures was widespread and consequently popular risings were commonplace in France, Germany and elsewhere. Revolt usually fizzled quickly with the killing of rebel leaders and dispersal of their followers, but the medieval world was passing.
There was a ferment of ideas: John Wycliffe made the first translation of the Bible into English and the rebel priest John Ball spread egalitarian views. In the popular ditty of the day: "When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?" This caught the spirit of the time. Following Wycliffe's lead, the Lollards, objected to prayers for the dead, priestly celibacy and other church ordinances. They attacked the wealth and intolerance of the clergy, proclaimed the right of every man to examine the Bible for himself and held that all authority was founded on God's grace. This was revolutionary indeed, for it led all too easily to the conclusion that wicked kings, popes and priests should have no power. The authorities could not let this pass. Wycliffe was silenced and those who espoused his teaching were persecuted to extinction. Their thoughts, however, were not so easily expunged and budded afresh in the Protestant Reformation some hundred and fifty years later.
Side of the angels?
For those who bemoan the moral decline of modern Englishmen, history can be a good antidote. Such was the profanity of the English soldiery during the Hundred Years' War that the French named them "les goddams." We are accustomed to look with pride and some degree of astonishment at the roll call of victory after victory against seemingly impossible odds during this conflict: on sea at Sluys (1340), on land at Crécy (1346), Poitiers (1356), Agincourt (1415), Rouvrai (1429) and a dozen more besides. We choose to avert our eyes from the widespread practice of the chevauchée, an armed raid through French-held territory characterised more often by pillage, rape and murder than any real military objective. We prefer not to consider the activities of the so-called Free Companies, mercenaries who treated France as their playground, where fortunes could be made on the back of plunder. In truth, beneath the gloss of victory lay little glory.
By 1429 France was in a pitiable state. Large swathes of the country were under the control of England or her ally, Burgundy. French armies had been defeated time and again by a foe whose weaponry, tactics and soldiering ability seemed in every way superior. Her capital was in the hands of the enemy and the royal court had been driven to a provincial backwater at Chinon. She had indeed no king, the dauphin being as yet uncrowned, his paternity in question and the legitimacy of his claim to the crown challenged by the English. Dissolution and dithering marked his conduct. Worse yet, a new English offensive was under way. The fearsome warrior king Henry V had died in 1422 leaving an infant son, but the prosecution of the war scarce faltered. The Duke of Bedford, regent for the young Henry VI, urged his commanders forward. Orleans, key to control of the Loire valley and the French-held lands beyond, was invested. Its capture would almost certainly mark the final phase of the war and lead to all France coming under English rule.
Far from the fighting lay a little village called Domrémy. In its fields a peasant girl had since the age of thirteen heard voices and seen visions. She was known to her family and neighbours for her piety and prayerfulness, for her purity, compassion and gentleness. She is known to us as Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc), the Maid of Orleans. Around eighteen years old in 1429, at this time of great peril her voices told her that now was the moment for her to save France. What she saw and heard changed the course of history.
Orleans in 1429
By every human measure, France was without hope in the early months of 1429. By every human measure, it was ridiculous to suppose that an untutored shepherdess could win an audience with the future king of France, let alone persuade him to allow her a leading role in his armies. By every human measure, an innocent girl should have been the prey of mocking soldiers, not their revered heroine. That something more than human was at work in Joan's story is hard to deny: even her enemies conceded that, though they claimed her power was demonic. Accustomed to defeat and anticipating annihilation, the dauphin himself at first was sceptical. When Joan arrived at Chinon, he dressed as one of his courtiers and mingled with them – this in an age when few of the peasantry would have seen their ruler, or even a picture of his likeness. Yet unerringly she sought him out and fell on bended knee before him. "Most noble dauphin," she said, "the King of Heaven announces to you by me that you shall be anointed and crowned king in the city of Rheims, and that you shall be his vice-regent in France."
The dauphin nevertheless remained alert to the charge of having leagued himself with a sorceress. He thus ensured that every conceivable test was made of Joan's purity and orthodoxy, until at length he and his advisers were satisfied and she was sent with the army to relieve Orleans. Joan's bursting on the national stage was accompanied by religious revival. Clergy travelled the country preaching and calling on the people to repent. Soldiers, mindful of the presence of the Maid in their midst, laid aside swearing and vice. Thus the French marched forth, with a girl at their head, clad in armour and bearing a banner of her own devising. Within three years the siege of Orleans was broken, the dauphin crowned king at Rheims and the English embarked on the long retreat that at length saw them expelled from France: by 1453, only the enclave of Calais remained in English hands. Joan did not live to savour victory. She was captured by the Burgundians and sold to the English, who put her on trial for witchcraft. Under great pressure she at first disclaimed having received any divine commission, but when this did not set her free, she spoke with renewed courage: "If I said that God did not send me, I should condemn myself; truly, God did send me … I have [abjured] for fear of the fire and my retraction was against the truth." She was burnt at the stake in Rouen on 30 May 1431.
There is nothing like comprehensive defeat in war to sow dissent and discord. So it was in England as her gains in France were steadily eroded. Henry VI came of age in 1437, and proved a pitiful king. Military disaster overseas was compounded by incompetence at home, where his wife Margaret of Anjou dominated government. So appalling was the monarch that he was twice deposed (and once reinstated) before eventually being murdered in 1471. A weak sovereign and a disputed succession ushered in the dynastic contest known since Victorian times as the Wars of the Roses, comprising over a quarter century of tribal strife under the banners of the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster. From 1450 onwards England was laid low as rival armies pressed the claims of competing candidates for the throne, each descended from Edward III: Henry VI for Lancaster and for York first its duke Richard and then his son Edward, Earl of March (later Edward IV).
Medieval warfare (from Froissart's Battle of Crécy)
Battles were fought the length and breadth of the land, from small and scrappy skirmishes to great set-pieces. The pendulum swung first one way and then the other. Richard, duke of York gained brief ascendancy after the battle of St Albans in 1455 before the Lancastrians recovered control and the upstart duke was slain in battle at Wakefield in 1460. The tide turned again with comprehensive Lancastrian defeat at Towton on 29 March 1461, fought in a snowstorm on Palm Sunday, the outcome decided by the late arrival of Yorkist reinforcements under the Duke of Norfolk. This savage engagement cost the lives of an estimated twenty to thirty thousand Englishmen, a greater proportion of the population than perished on the first day of the Somme offensive in 1916 – one in every hundred, the equivalent of over six hundred thousand today. Towton is the largest, longest and most murderous armed contest ever to take place in these islands. Its closest rival, another Yorkshire bloodbath at Marston Moor in 1644, had only a quarter of the casualties. Shakespeare did not exaggerate when he wrote in Richard II of the coming Wars of the Roses: "the blood of England shall manure the ground and future ages groan … disorder, horror, fear and mutiny shall here inhabit, and this land be called the field of Golgotha and dead men's skulls." The carnage was the culmination of disastrous choices by the nation and its leaders.
After Towton the earl of March, who had already taken the title Edward IV, was formally crowned king and Henry VI fled overseas. In 1469 it was the usurper's turn to be shunted aside in favour of a reinstated Henry VI, but Edward returned to win decisively at Tewkesbury in 1471 and thereafter held the throne until his death over a decade later. All the while, the country and the common people suffered. So weak did royal authority become that for long periods the balance of power was held by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. Such was his influence that he was known as Warwick the Kingmaker. It was his support that enabled Richard of York in 1460 to force Henry VI into recognising him as heir. In 1469, it was Warwick's changing sides that led to Henry VI being restored to the throne the following year. The earl remained a force in the land until he was defeated and killed at the battle of Barnet in 1471.
Edward IV died in 1483. Two years later, the wretched conflict came at last to an end when Henry Tudor defeated Edward's brother Richard III at Bosworth. As Henry VII, the new monarch wisely did all in his power to make sure that a line was drawn under the war. Symbolically, the Tudor Rose included both the white of York and the red of Lancaster.
A tongue of our own
After the Norman Conquest, French remained the official language of law courts for three hundred years (until 1362, during the reign of Edward III). Similarly, the common people were denied access to the Bible in their own tongue. Most ordinary folk, of course, were illiterate but even those who could read would normally only have access to the Latin Vulgate. This state of affairs had first been challenged on a widespread scale in England by the Lollards, but the Protestant Reformation of the early sixteenth century gave criticisms of abuses by the Church extra force. Into this world came a man driven by passion: a desire for learning, a longing for the Word of God and a yearning to share that Word with others. This compelling force led him to burst out one day to a clergyman whom he considered a disgrace to the cloth: "If God spare my life, I will cause a boy that driveth the plough to know more of Scripture than thou dost." His name was William Tyndale and though he was not the first to translate the Bible into English – Wycliffe had already produced an English version of a large part of both Old and New Testaments – Tyndale's work was influential far beyond his predecessor's.
To some degree the impact of Tyndale's Bible was a consequence of being in the right place at the right time: Protestantism was undermining traditional church hierarchies and emphasised the right of everyone to examine the Bible for him- or herself. It benefitted from new technology, as printing meant that large numbers of Bibles could be printed on the continent and smuggled into England. It reflected the fact that changes in language were already rendering Wycliffe's version unintelligible. Yet Tyndale also deserves credit for his courage and self-sacrifice, his diligence and scholarship, perhaps above all for his economy and elegance of expression. So accurate and felicitous was the result that the Authorised Version produced in the reign of King James I (1603-1625) was in overwhelming proportion based on Tyndale's work. Many phrases that have passed from the Bible into common usage are pure Tyndale. Together with the works of William Shakespeare and the Book of Common Prayer, he has been one of the central influences on the formation of modern English.
The Bible issued to Parliamentary soldiers during the English Civil War
For his pains, this scholar of Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic was forced to flee his own country and to live in hiding overseas. There he adopted various disguises and aliases, rightly fearful that agents of the English king were in search of him. Henry VIII (reigned 1509-1547) had earlier been awarded the title Defender of the Faith by the Pope for authoring a pamphlet defending traditional orthodoxy and had no desire to let writings that were banned by the church into his realm. Indeed, Sir Thomas More (who became Henry's Lord Chancellor – or chief minister – following the downfall of Cardinal Wolsey in 1529) seems to have developed something of a fixation with Tyndale and pursued him unremittingly. Tyndale was eventually strangled and burnt at the stake as a heretic in Brussels in 1536, having been tracked down and entrapped by an agent probably sent by More, then handed to the local authorities for sentencing and execution. He refused to save himself by abjuring his life's work and went bravely to his death. As flames licked about him, he cried, "Lord, open the king of England's eyes."
More martyrs followed. During the reign of Henry VIII's daughter Queen Mary (1553-1558) nearly three hundred Protestants were burnt at the stake. Amongst them were Archbishop Cranmer and Bishops Hooper, Ridley and Latimer. The last words of the Archbishop of Canterbury and of the Bishop of Worcester in particular have resonated down the centuries, making a deep impression on all who heard them. Latimer, burnt alongside Ridley at Oxford in 1555, called out to his friend as the flames licked about him: "Courage, Master Ridley. With God's good grace we shall this day light such a fire in England as shall never be put out." A year later Cranmer, author of the greater part of the Book of Common Prayer and thus instrumental in establishing the Calvinist orthodoxy of the Church of England, who had earlier recanted of Protestantism and then thought better of it, held his right arm to the flames and said: "For as much as my hand hath sinned, by writing contrary to my heart, it shall be the first to burn."
The queen who had these men put to death, devout and sincere as she undoubtedly was, is the Bloody Mary of infamy. When she died childless after a reign of six years, the popular support that had accompanied her accession and enabled her to weather the usurpation of Lady Jane Grey had evaporated. Her passing was unlamented, her only lasting legacy the loss of England's last piece of territory in France. She said that she died "with Calais engraved on my heart."
Protestant wind
In the sixteenth century Spain was not just a European power of the first rank, but a world power beyond compare. Under her control came all South America bar Brazil, the whole of Central America and much of the Caribbean, together with what are now the southernmost parts of the United States. In the Far East, she held the Philippines. Within Europe, her Habsburg kings were also rulers of the Spanish Netherlands and much of Italy. Her resources of manpower and of bullion from the New World seemed inexhaustible. It was not realised at the time that the yearly import of vast quantities of gold and silver was the source of rampant inflation, nor that the illusion of bottomless wealth was encouraging severe imperial overstretch. In 1588 only her strength was apparent. For years England had provoked Spain: through raiding of Spanish treasure fleets, through support for Dutch rebels and through her unrepentant Protestantism. King Philip II determined that enough was enough. A mighty fleet was equipped: seventy three fighting vessels, attended by over fifty freighters and lighter craft, together carrying 2,400 guns, crewed by eight thousand sailors and carrying in addition seventeen thousand soldiers. Their orders were to sail up the Channel, pick up a further sixteen thousand men of the Duke of Parma's forces from the Netherlands and land these, together with the Armada's own complement of soldiers, in the southern shires. Little serious resistance was expected to Parma's battle-hardened force and in truth the raw recruits of the English army cut a sorry sight alongside the veterans of the Spanish tercios, then acknowledged as the finest infantry in Europe.
The words of Elizabeth I as she addressed her troops at Tilbury in Kent were defiant: "I know that I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England, too; and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm." The reality was that, unless the Spanish could be prevented from landing, the outlook was bleak. All depended on the outcome of the war at sea. As Drake shrewdly observed, "The advantage of time and place in all practical actions is half a victory; which being lost is irrecoverable."
The Armada sets sail from Ferrol, Spain
Elizabeth had at her command some of the most talented sailors England has ever produced. The Lord High Admiral (Lord Howard) was not an experienced seaman, but he was a good chief and a wise judge of men. With Drake, Hawkins, Frobisher and others at his side, he was able to achieve a deliverance that seemed almost miraculous. As the Armada sailed up the Channel, scores of English ships clustered around it, dodging Spanish attempts to grapple at close quarters and pouring broadside after broadside at the enemy. The image is glorious, the truth rather more prosaic. Despite a prodigious expenditure of powder and shot, by the end of the third day of fighting the English had only succeeded in capturing, sinking or disabling two Spanish vessels. Whilst Howard's fleet had suffered little damage, the Armada was still a formidable force and its formation remained intact.
A turning point came on 28 July 1588. Eight fire ships were sent amongst the Spaniards by night as they lay at anchor off Calais. In the event, these did not destroy a single vessel and burnt themselves out harmlessly on the sandbanks east of the town, but they did something that the English had been unable to achieve hitherto: they broke the Armada's cohesion. Scattering into the North Sea pursued by an adversary with his tail up, the Spaniards took a terrible pounding from shot and shell and were driven beyond the point at which wind and currents made junction with Parma impossible. Their enemy continued to harass them along the North Sea coast as far as the Scottish border and then left them to the mercy of the elements. The battered remnants of the once-proud force limped home several months later. Only some sixty ships returned, with a loss of perhaps fifteen thousand men killed, captured and dying. Many vessels that were not lost in action were sunk in storms around the coasts of Scotland and Ireland. The English rejoiced at their deliverance.
During the war with Spain the dog that did not bark was the feared fifth column within England: its Roman Catholic minority. Those who remained loyal to the Pope had been driven underground, but a network was kept alive to enable them to continue worshipping in secret. Country houses up and down the land still proudly show their 'priest's holes' where the celebrant of Mass could be hidden during searches by government agents. Those who declined to embrace state-sponsored religion were called recusants (from the Latin recusans, meaning refusing) and these adherents of the old faith lived a curious double life, often mixing outward conformity to Anglican rites with their inner allegiance. One such was the composer William Byrd (1543-1623). He was able to walk the tightrope with such skill that in 1563 he became organist at Lincoln cathedral. Thereafter Elizabeth I appointed him joint organist of the Chapel Royal with his co-religionist Thomas Tallis, with whom he was granted a licence to print and publish music and whom he succeeded in 1585. For all his success, however, Byrd never forgot where his heart lay: his treatment of Psalm 137 is in effect a coded statement of continued loyalty to Rome.
The expectation that religious allegiance would trump national feeling made this embattled group dangerous in the eyes of government and people alike. Nor was the danger wholly illusory. Elizabeth was the intended victim of a number of Catholic plots, excommunication by the Pope in 1570 having absolved subjects of loyalty to her. It is easy now to overlook what a fraught time this was, even after defeat of the Armada removed the most direct military threat. In the last days of Elizabeth I's reign there was grave uncertainty about the political future, as an ageing and childless queen neared the end of her days; there was disquiet about the uneasy compromise governing religious affairs, with Puritans at one end of the spectrum, Roman Catholics at the other and the Church of England in between; there was discontent at economic disruption resulting from closure of the monasteries, the enclosure of common land and a new class of indigent poor thereby created. The country was coming by degrees to that fork in the road that led eventually to civil war.
Signature of Elizabeth I
The reality of the potential threat was made clear early in the succeeding reign, for in 1605 a group of Roman Catholics, of whom Guy Fawkes remains in popular imagination the central figure, conspired to blow up King James I during a sitting of Parliament. The plot was discovered before the intended date of its execution: 5 November, still celebrated with bonfires and fireworks each year as the date of the Gunpowder Plot. Fawkes and the other conspirators were executed, not for their religious beliefs, but for treason. The link between Roman Catholicism and treason thereafter became so fixed in the minds of most Englishmen that the merest hint of suspicion was capable of producing hysterical overreaction. Nevertheless, despite (or perhaps even to some degree because of) this turbulent background, the Elizabethan era saw an astounding cultural flowering, with poet and playwright William Shakespeare its proudest legacy.
A nation chooses
Macbeth is one of Shakespeare's finest tragedies. In the opening scene, three witches prophesy that the victorious general will become thane of Cawdor and thereafter king of Scotland. When the first prediction comes to pass, Macbeth's wife persuades him to murder King Duncan so as to make the realm his. Remorse, despair and madness unfold against a background of further killing before the usurper dies in battle and the rightful order is restored. The play was most probably finished in 1606, by which time the first Stuart king of England, James, had been three years in London (after already reigning more than thirty years in Scotland). This "wisest fool in Christendom" was the reputed author of the True Law of Free Monarchies, published in 1603, the year of his accession to the English throne. The book responds to the contention that a king is elected by and is responsible to the people and makes the countervailing argument: that kings are established by God and are responsible to him alone.
Being a foreigner in England, James trod carefully. His son was less circumspect. As the reign of Charles I progressed it became increasingly obvious that Parliament and the king had competing and mutually exclusive concepts of government. The former looked to the privileges it had won from often reluctant monarchs in preceding reigns and sought to protect and augment them, the right to vote taxes being particularly jealously guarded. The latter proclaimed with increasing stridency the so-called divine right of kings and sought to free administrative purse-strings from the unwelcome control of elected representatives. The contest increasingly acquired a religious overlay as Puritans sided with Parliament, whilst high Anglicans and Roman Catholics aligned with the king.
The True Law of Free Monarchies
For eleven years the monarch dispensed with Parliament altogether, using ingenious and ever more desperate schemes to raise the money he needed, imagining that he could with impunity ride roughshod over the accumulated freedoms of the English, dispense with the people's elected representatives and rule by decree. At last, however, the need for cash was so acute that he could not avoid recalling Parliament to vote new taxes. The result was uproar as pent-up resentments burst in a torrent against the king and his ministers. The stage was being set for civil war. Shortly, the nation would be forced to choose: between Parliament and the king, between rebellion and loyalty, between competing visions of right and wrong. On 22 August 1642, the monarch made what was effectively a declaration of war by raising his standard outside the walls of Nottingham castle. The place is called Standard Hill to this day. There he called on loyal subjects to join his army. In fact, few did, for Nottingham's sympathies lay with Parliament. Nevertheless, the king had set his people on the road to a calamitous conflict, in which perhaps as many as one in twenty of the population may have died.
An extended version of the above can be found in Redeeming a Nation: biblical reflections on English history by Philip Quenby (Onwards & Upwards Publishers, 2012).
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Christianity and rule of law: what price a covenant-making God and a moral standard for law? #learnfromthepast #magnacartadontletfreedomdie, Jul 17
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Christianity: is free choice its essence? #learnfromthepast #magnacartadontletfreedomdie, Jul 12
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Christianity: organising genius of Western democracy? #learnfromthepast #magnacartadontletfreedomdie, Jul 10
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African Events, Celebrity News, Music, Video & Entertainment – Eventlabgh
Celebrity, Entertainment, News
Wayne CHAVIS Consult Says It Will Set The Precedence That Will Build Investor Confidence And Protection In Reaction To Black Sherif Breach Of Contract
Follow @eventlabgh < A 55 year old worker has won more than £20,000 in a race and age discrimination claim...
By Eventlabgh , in Celebrity Entertainment News , at March 11, 2022
Follow @eventlabgh
A 55 year old worker has won more than £20,000 in a race and age discrimination claim after a black colleague called him an 'old white guy'.
Barry Moore repeatedly told he was too old to do his job by younger fellow tyre firm employee Desmond Owusu, an employment tribunal heard.
A panel ruled the constant harassment Mr Moore received amounted to bullying, forcing him to resign after complaining he didn't come to work to be 'abused and victimised'.
He has now won £22,027 compensation after winning his claims for unfair dismissal and for race and age discrimination.
The tribunal held in Leeds was told Mr Moore worked as a tyre grader for Sean Pong Tyres Limited, a firm in Rotherham, South Yorks, which recycles and exports tyres.
The tribunal heard Mr Moore was one of two white workers while the owner Sean Frimpong, Desmond Owusu and another employee called Eric Barkoh were all of Ghanaian origin.
Mr Moore and Mr Owusu had known each other for many years. In fact Mr Owusu had dated Mrs Moore's sister at one time and for a long time they were on good terms. They worked closely together every day and took their breaks together.
However, the tribunal heard their relationship 'went downhill fairly rapidly' towards the end of 2020 and start of 2021, when Mr Moore complained about Mr Owusu.
The company's case is that this was just banter and was reciprocated. Mr Owusu said they often swore at each other but insisted they never used any racist language.
Employment Judge Eoin Fowell said: '(Mr Moore) found it intimidating, and complained about it and tried to get Mr Frimpong to bring it to an end.
'There is no suggestion from Mr Owusu that he ever felt intimidated by Mr Moore. Indeed he accepted that he did enjoy winding Mr Moore up.'
In January 2020, Mr Moore filed a formal complaint and described Mr Owusu as shouting abuse at him, coming up into his face, taunting him, telling him he was too old and threatening to hit him.
He said he was called a 'gay white man', a lazy w****r, being too old to do his job, and on one occasion Mr Owusu being called him a c**t in Ghanaian.
This was in front of Mr Barkoh and Mr Frimpong, who had to translate, and then tell Mr Owusu to stop.
Judge Fowell added: 'Mr Moore's account that he was mainly on the receiving end of such language seems to us more plausible. This sort of thing is not banter. There is no element of humour in it.
'Although it is possible that two men in a robust working environment might use abusive language to each other without any bad feeling, there is a risk that it tips over into aggression. We conclude that that is what happened here.'
The pair were made to discuss their issues and shook hands at the end of a short talk about this in January 2021.
However, the tribunal heard the truce 'must have lasted only a few days', because Mr Moore soon after made a written complaint to his boss.
He wrote: 'Unfortunately I have no choice but to lodge a complaint. I have spoken to you on several occasions via phone and in person in regards to the racism slander, and discrimination of my character and a lot of abuse.
'Since Desmond started at the company he has done nothing but single me out and slurring abuse at me causing a lot of stress and sleepless nights.
'I feel intimidated at times this isn't acceptable I am 55 years old and don't come to work to be abused and victimised.'
The next month, Mr Moore was signed off work by his GP for depression. after the initial two week sick note he was signed off again and in the end he decided he could not return.
In April, Mr Moore submitted his resignation, stating: 'The situation has gotten so bad causing me many days of stress, upset, and sleepless nights and loss of appetite.
'This situation has also affected my mental health and gave me no choice but to seek medical help.
'I feel for my own sanity I must move on.'
Judge Fowell concluded: 'It is clear that the abusive remarks were on a regular basis.
'In the claim form he referred to being called an old white guy.
'He may not have appreciated the effect he was having on Mr Moore but in our view it did create a hostile and intimidating working environment and amounted to bullying and harassment.
'Hence the resignation was in our view a constructive dismissal and an act of direct discrimination on grounds of age and race.'
The tribunal rejected an additional claim by Mr Moore that he had also been the victim of sex orientation discrimination as well.
Content Source: Ameyawdebrah.com
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A taste of tradition: International Tamale Festival brings nostalgia, flavor and fun to all ages
Maria Sestito
Some things have changed at this year's International Tamale Festival, but the most important thing hasn't: The tradition and nostalgia of being surrounded by tamales brings those who grew up making them.
"I used to make them with my mother way back in the day," said Leonard Corral, 60, of Indio. "We all did."
The traditional Mexican dish is labor intensive and takes time to make, but all that work makes eating tamales a special experience.
"It's a recipe that works its way down," he said.
The last time Corral had tamales was for his birthday in 2019, just months before California instituted its first coronavirus pandemic-related restrictions. The Indio International Tamale Festival was canceled in 2020. The festival typically draws more than 100,000 attendees and hundreds of vendors.
This year, in its 29th year, the festival is a bit smaller and more spread out, according to Corral, who has been attending for years. The nearly seven block festival spanned from Smur Street and Requa Avenue to Indio Blvd. and Fargo Street, with most of the event concentrated between Indio Blvd. and Civic Center Mall.
Vallarta's sponsored the festival, which is free to attend, but the food and experiences (including the carnival rides and bounce house) are extra.
In addition to traditional Mexican tamales, there were Salvadoran-style tamales and dessert tamales, including strawberry, pineapple and pumpkin spice. Some of the lines took as long as 45 minutes during the morning but tamales were "worth the wait," according to festivalgoers. Those opting not to wait had their choice of shorter lines for pupusas, tacos and other Mexican food, bacon wrapped hot dogs, churros, ice cream, smoothies, chicken fingers and French fries, or macaroni and cheese.
For nearly a decade, Corral's wife would make a huge pot of pozole to bring along. They would set up camp at their friend's business, JW's Paintball Armory on Smur Street — where the festival takes place — and serve the dish to friends old and new.
Since the business closed during the pandemic, Saturday was the first time the Corral family didn't make any pozole (a Mexican stew) and, instead, lined their folding chairs in a shady spot facing a row of portable restrooms along Towne Street.
Christopher Perez, who lives in Los Angeles County, noticed the changes. He also said there seemed to be fewer beer options and, in general, less shade.
The temperature was about 82 degrees at noon in Indio.
Erica Jimenez, one of Perez's relatives, was at the festival for the first time, so the setup didn't bother her.
"Of course, it's going to be different," she said. "The pandemic changes everything."
This was her family's first year not making tamales themselves, so it was important to Jimenez to make it to the festival.
"I love tamales," she said. "I'm looking forward to trying them all."
Tamales remind her of when she was a child and help keep her connected to her family's Mexican roots. She considers making those recipes as a family a "bonding" experience — and a "tradition."
Events like the Tamale Festival are going to become even more important, she said, as younger generations lose interest in learning how to make their family's recipes.
Her daughter, Alexis, who is 25, was most excited for the giant inflatable castle. Billed as "the world's largest bounce house," the 32-foot-tall castle was even open to adults.
"The Big Bounce America" brand describes itself as a touring inflatable theme park. Inside the castle at the festival, adults and children of all ages could tackle inflatable monkeys, climb an inflatable rock wall, crawl through an inflatable maze or just bounce their brains out. Beside the castle was, of course, a giant inflatable slide.
It's one of the new additions to this year's event along with a 3,600-square-foot roller rink and luchador wrestling. Music in English and Spanish and headliners La Sonora Dinamita, a Spanish-singing group comprised of members from Colombia and Mexico, will perform Sunday.
The festival continues from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday.
Playing Sunday at the festival:Meet La Sonora Dinamita, the band headlining the 2021 Indio International Tamale Festival
More:What to expect at the 'reimagined' Indio International Tamale Festival
Reporter Eliana Perez contributed to this story.
Maria Sestito covers issues of aging in the Coachella Valley. She is also a Report for America corps member. Follow her on Twitter @RiaSestito, on Instagram @RiaSestito_Reporter or email her at maria.sestito@desertsun.com.


text:
El último viaje de Robert Rylands és una pel·lícula hispanobritànica dirigida per Gracia Querejeta que es va estrenar el 18 d'octubre de 1996. Va ser el segon llargmetratge de la seva directora. El seu guió és una adaptació lliure de la novel·la Todas las almas de Javier Marías, que el novel·lista va repudiar, pel que va ser objecte d'una polèmica que acabaria amb una demanda en els tribunals, que va resultar en una indemnització cap a l'escriptor i l'ordre de retirar el seu nom dels crèdits de la pel·lícula.

Argument
Robert Rylands, un seductor arqueòleg i professor universitari vora dels seixanta anys, es presenta voluntàriament per a declarar en la comissaria. El seu relat davant el comissari, que dura tota la nit, comencen amb l'arribada a Oxford de Juan Noguera, un jove professor espanyol que impartirà un curs de literatura espanyola a la universitat. Juan s'allotja a casa del seu col·lega i amic Alfred Cromer, que viu amb la seva germana i la seva filla petita.

Juan aviat percep que el recent retorn de Robert Rylands a la ciutat, després d'una absència de deu anys, pertorba la família. Intenta indagar la causa, però tant Alfred com Jill rebutgen revelar-li el secret que hi ha entre ells. Mentrestant, Alfred cau malalt, i li diagnostiquen un càncer terminal. Robert Rylands intenta repetidament contactar amb Alfred, però aquest es nega a veure'l.

A poc a poc Juan i Jill comencen a enamorar-se. Al final Juan descobreix la causa del ressentiment contra Robert Rylands. Robert i Alfred van ser amants, i Gill es va interposar ficant-se al llit amb Robert un dia. Gill va quedar embarassada de la seva filla i en descobrir-ho Alfred la relació entre tots dos homes es va trencar, i llavors Robert es va embarcar en un dels seus viatges d'exploració sense data de retorn.

Alfred surt de l'hospital en cadira de rodes, i al poc temps, Juan col·labora en un parany perquè es reuneixi amb Robert. Després dels retrets del retrobament es reconcilien. Robert li diu que vol que visquin junts el temps que li queda, però Alfred li contesta que si realment l'estima ha d'ajudar-lo a morir dignament. Robert finalment accedeix, i després de disparar-li amb la seva vella pistola es presenta en la comissaria per a confessar.

Repartiment
 Ben Cross - Alfred Cromer;
 William Franklyn - Robert Rylands;
 Gary Piquer - Juan Noguera;
 Cathy Underwood - Jill, la hermana de Alfred;
 Perdita Weeks - Sue, la hija de Jill;
 Kenneth Colley - comisario Archdale;
 Lalita Ahmed - Ahira, el ama de llaves de Robert;
 Karl Collins - Abraham, alumno de Juan;
 Maurice Denham - Hume.

Premis i nominacions
 1996: guanyadora de les medalles del Cercle d'Escriptors Cinematogràfics a la millor pel·lícula, millor director (Gracia Querejeta), millor fotografia (Antonio Pueche), millor muntatge (Nacho Ruiz Capillas) i millor música (Ángel Illarramendi).
 1996: nominada a la Conquilla d'Or del Festival de Sant Sebastià.
 1996: nominada al Goya a la millor música original.

Referències

Pel·lícules d'Espanya del 1996
Guanyadores de la medalla del Cercle d'Escriptors Cinematogràfics a la millor pel·lícula
Pel·lícules de temàtica LGBT del Regne Unit
Pel·lícules de temàtica LGBT d'Espanya

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
A Magical Candlelit Tribute To Daft Punk Is Coming To Liverpool This Summer
Laura Rogan • July 19, 2021
Celebrate the iconic duo one more time…
It's the end of an era for celebrated French electronic duo, Daft Punk, and while the news may have proven saddening for many a music fan – we have just the thing to soften the blow. Providing the ultimate tribute in the wake of their split, Fever's best-selling Candlelight series is back in town – and this time, their world-class musicians will be performing stunning renditions of some of Daft Punk's biggest hits.
Credit: © David Black
From huge tracks such as Around The World, One More Time and Get Lucky, this spectacular tribute show will delve into the genre for the first time ever, with the Kaleidoscope Orchestra transforming the tracks with a classical spin. The orchestra, which is known for taking popular music and adding their own classical touch, has performed at world-renowned events such as Creamfields – and gathered huge crowds at venues such as Manchester Academy and the O2 Ritz.
Taking place at the architecturally gorgeous Grand Central, the venue will be completely bathed in candlelight – providing an intimate and ambient atmosphere as the orchestra steals your heart with the sounds of their instruments.
The event will take place on Saturday 21st August – with two sessions that evening to choose from. Further information about the show's programme is expected to be announced soon, however, tickets are on sale now (and expected to sell fast).
Culture Sponsored


Stylish and oh-so-clever, our set of 10 Advice for the Bride and Groom Coasters make for a wonderful gift and fun game at engagement showers and rehearsal dinners! Guests pen their tried and true words of wisdom on each heavyweight paper coaster. The newly wed couple can then enjoy each token of guidance as they share a glass of wine or enjoy a refreshing drink in their new home! Each set includes 10 coasters. Coasters are 4 inches in width.


A new report from the UNU Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) examines the role of governance in developing and achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The report, led by UNU-IAS Senior Research Fellow Norichika Kanie, presents ideas generated at the International Workshop on Governance "of" and "for" Sustainable Development Goals held in New York on 1 February 2014, which brought together over 40 experts involved in the SDG process.
A key part of the international process to formulate a post-2015 development agenda is the creation of a limited number of sustainable development goals, with negotiations ongoing within the United Nations to develop these SDGs and to provide the necessary financing. While issues of governance have been emphasized at prominent points in the discussions, they have not been fully explored.
The report highlights the need to make governance a central issue in the SDG agenda. It suggests that even the best designed and funded goals and targets are likely to have significant limitations, unless attention is paid to national implementation and international governance for support and monitoring.
The SDG process has the opportunity to go beyond the millennium development goals (MDGs) in adopting a systemic approach which bridges efforts to eradicate poverty with social progress and environmental sustainability.
Although governance is an important idea, the term itself is not understood by all countries in the same way.
The best option may be for governance to be integrated into discussions on each individual issue, or to link different issues together.
The SDGs should be made as inclusive as possible, with incentives created for actors in both developed and developing countries to become involved in the process and maintain their involvement.
Because of diverse understandings and experiences of governance, the SDGs may need to take a differentiated approach in integrating governance issues.
For more information and background on the workshop and report, see the UNU-IAS website.


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The North Star Knights were overjoyed when they won the District 6C East volleyball championship last Friday night in Chester. And the performance they got from Paij Peterson was certainly a big help. Peterson did a little bit of everything for the Knights in their three matches, as she averaged 21 assists, nine digs and seven kills per match. Peterson also had a team-high in blocks in the championship match against CJI, as well as nine service aces over the tourney. Peterson is also a standout basketball player in the winter for the Knights.


text:
Scottrade Charged Under DOL Fiduciary Rule in Massachusetts
Retirement Planning > Saving for Retirement
By Melanie Waddell
February 15, 2018 at 05:52 AM Share & Print
The Massachusetts Securities Division charged Scottrade on Thursday with violating the impartial conduct standards laid out in the Labor Department's fiduciary rule, which took effect on June 9, 2017.
Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin, the state's top securities regulator, charged the broker-dealer with "dishonest and unethical activity and failure to supervise" for conducting sales contests that violated Labor's impartial conduct standards.
Despite Scottrade adopting a rule to adhere to the impartial conduct standards that prohibited sales quotas, appraisals, bonuses, contests and other incentives for retirement or prospective retirement account clients, the broker-dealer "held at least two sales contests which included retirement assets" after June 9, the complaint states.
The complaint states that prior to the impartial conduct standards becoming effective, "Scottrade employed a firmwide culture characterized by aggressive sales practices and incentive-based programs."
For example, from December 2015 to April 2017, Scottrade conducted a "series of call nights and sales contests, in part to drum up additional business in light of an upcoming merger with TD Ameritrade," the complaint states.
By conducting at least two sales contests after June 9, Scottrade failed to enforce the new standards it had put in place.
"The performance of agents who participated in the contests was tracked and appraised, and awards and incentives were given out in connection with retirement assets," according to the complaint.
TD Ameritrade, which acquired Scottrade in September, says that it does not comment on pending regulatory or legal matters.
ERISA attorney Fred Reish, a partner at Drinker Biddle & Reath in Los Angeles, told ThinkAdvisor Thursday that while the Employee Retirement Income Security Act "has its own remedies, for example, claims for fiduciary breaches, it was not [made] clear how violations of the Impartial Conduct Standards involving IRAs would be enforced."
While the IRS, Reish explained, "has authority to audit for violations of the rules governing IRAs, it does not have a history of looking at advisors to IRAs and, in any event, it has agreed to the non-enforcement policy during the [fiduciary rule's] transition period—until July 1, 2019."
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The Massachusetts action "brings some clarity to that question: State securities regulators may be using the Impartial Conduct Standards as a basis for claims."
At issue in Massachusetts is "whether Scottrade violated Massachusetts' rules and whether it violated its own policies," Reish continued. "However, the complaint makes numerous references to the Impartial Conduct Standards and to possible incentives to advisors that may cause recommendations that are not in the best interest of IRA investors."
Massachusetts' action "will likely be followed closely by the securities regulators in other states," Reish said.
He advised broker-dealers to "review their policies, procedures and practices, including supervision, around any compensation arrangements that could incent advisors to make recommendations that favor the advisors over the interests of investors."
When "properly handled, sales contests can be designed and managed in a manner which complies" with Labor's fiduciary rule.
Galvin has been a vocal supporter of Labor's fiduciary rule. Massachusetts' action looks to be the first action taken by a state regarding fiduciary rule compliance.
"Despite the efforts in Washington to kill the fiduciary rule, the impartial conduct provision remains in place," Galvin said Thursday in announcing the complaint against Scottrade. "If the Department of Labor will not enforce its own laws and rules, then the states must do what they can to protect retirees from firms who believe they can play with peoples' life savings by conducting sophomoric contests."
The complaint against Scottrade seeks a cease and desist order, censure and an administrative fine.
— Check out Chamber CEO Pledges to Push Bill to Rein In Regulators on ThinkAdvisor.


A change in your domestic partner's employment may also mean a change in his or her health benefits eligibility. You have 30 days from the date of your domestic partner's change in employment to change your TI benefits.
Update your TI benefit information using the NetBenefits* website. Click the menu in the top left corner and select Life Events, than select the appropriate life event icon. To update your elections by phone or speak to someone about the changes you may need to make to your TI health benefits coverage, call TI HR Connect at 888-660-1411 and select the option for the TI Benefits Center.
You may wish to drop your spouse and/or your dependent children from your TI health benefit coverage if your spouse has gained eligibility for coverage through his/her employer. You might also consider adding coverage for yourself and/or your dependent children under your spouse's employer. You have 30 days from the date of your spouse's change in employment to change your TI benefits.
Update your TI benefit information using the NetBenefits* website. Select the Health & Insurance tab and then select the "What to do when" link. Update your benefit choices by selecting the "Spouse Gains Coverage" life event link. To update your elections by phone or speak to someone about the changes you may need to make to your TI health benefits coverage, call TI HR Connect at 888-660-1411 and select the option for the TI Benefits Center.
You may wish to add your spouse and/or your dependent children to your TI health benefit coverage if your family received health benefits from your spouse's employer. You have 30 days from the date of your spouse's change in employment to change your TI benefits.
Update your TI benefit information using the NetBenefits* website. Select the Health & Insurance tab and then select the "What to do when" link. Update your benefit choices by selecting the "Spouse Loses Coverage" life event link. To update your elections by phone or speak to someone about the changes you may need to make to your TI health benefits coverage, call TI HR Connect at 888-660-1411 and select the option for the TI Benefits Center.


text:
class FormSave
{
public:
    static void show()
    {
        newtWinMessage((char*)"Markit", (char*)"OK", (char*)"Database saved successfully.");
    }

    static void execute()
    {
        Users::exportToFile("db_users.csv");
        Cards::exportToFile("db_cards.csv");
        show();
    }
};

#endif


text:
Seattle Mariners Transactions
Mariners sign OF AJ Pollock to a one-year deal
An active Saturday for Seattle.
By John Trupin@JohnTrupin Jan 8, 2023, 10:00am PST
Share All sharing options for: Mariners sign OF AJ Pollock to a one-year deal
The Seattle Mariners have made their biggest free agent move of the winter, adding veteran OF AJ Pollock to the roster on a one-year deal worth $7 million, per ESPN's Jeff Passan.
Outfielder A.J. Pollock and the Seattle Mariners are in agreement on a one-year, $7 million contract, pending physical, sources familiar with the deal tell ESPN.
Pollock, 35, crushes left-handed pitching and joins new acquisitions Teoscar Hernandez and Kolten Wong in M's lineup.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 8, 2023
The $7 million is the largest sum committed to a free agent hitter in the Jerry Dipoto era, outpacing Norichika Aoki's 2016 deal. Pollock's contract also reportedly has up to $3 million in incentives that could expand its value. It's a long-winding reunion for Dipoto and Pollock, as Dipoto was the director of professional scouting for the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2005-2010, and eventually interim general manager for half of the 2010 season. The 35-year old Pollock was Arizona's 1st round pick in the 2009 draft.
Once one of the premier center fielders in baseball on both sides of the ball, Pollock is now in a different stage of his career. Pollock spent his first seven seasons in the desert before signing a four-year, $55 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was dealt just before Opening Day in 2022 to the Chicago White Sox for RHP Craig Kimbrel in a fascinating challenge trade that didn't quite fulfill expectations satisfactorily for either side, but Pollock opted out of his $13 million option for 2023 all the same, with a $5 million buyout instead due to him. He's roughly matched that rate in this deal, with incentives that could push past his prior rate.
Pollock's best season was his age-27 year in 2015, when he ran a 131 wRC+ and played a full healthy campaign with 157 games and 6.8 fWAR, knocking 20 homers and swiping 39 bases in 46 tries with a .315/.367/.498 line. Pollock's trajectory is sadly not dissimilar to former M's outfielder Franklin Gutierrez, as injuries repeatedly have robbed the righty of playing time and athleticism, yet like Guti, Pollock has found a second life. Bulked up somewhat, Pollock had stellar seasons in 2020 and 2021 with L.A. as a platoon player focused on obliterating left-handed pitching. Pollock has been an above-average hitter for nearly every season of his career, though a disappointing 92 wRC+ in Chicago last year was the result of over-exposure to righty pitching. Pollock ran an extraordinary 161 wRC+ against lefties in 2022 in 133 plate appearances, and while that sample is not quite representative, his career line at a 129 wRC+ and a .285/.335/.533 line with lefties, whiffing just 15.5% of the time shows exactly what he can and will be in Seattle to do.
Pairing with Jarred Kelenic, Taylor Trammell, and/or Cade Marlowe in a corner outfield spot to cover platoon disadvantages hearkens back to his prime days in Arizona, where he was an early adopter of the swing changes his breakout helped popularize, including both directly and indirectly influencing the development of another struggling former first round pick in the D-Backs organization: Mitch Haniger. It was a conversation Pollock had on the team bus with Haniger and fellow infielder Nick Ahmed back in 2015 that sparked the ascendance of Mitch, and both outfielders have had commendable careers subsequently. Hopefully Pollock's influence can be similarly valuable for the M's young hitters, in between solid performance of his own.
Mariners Moose Tracks, 1/28/23: Bryce Miller, Jeff McNeil, and Pete Fairbanks


Multiple-choice questions have been the main type of exercise for testing and evaluating knowledge of the past 100 years. New research by Associate Professor of Education and Psychological & Brain Sciences Andrew C. Butler at Washington University in St. Louis takes the concept one step further. His research shows not only best practice for using multiple-choice questions in tests and assessment, but also of measuring learning performance in general. With digital learning that is making its way into general education. Where you can measure the learning performance in real time. As the importance of traditional testing diminishing this is a very interesting approach.
The main conclusion of the study is that: "The overall recommendation from both literatures (meaning best practice for tests and learning with multiple choice exercises) is to create questions that are simple in its format (e.g., avoid use of complex item types), challenge students but allow them to succeed often, and target specific cognitive processes that correspond to learning objectives." From the result of the research Professor Butler provides six recommendations for best practice in multiple-choice exercises.
Avoid complexity, as digital learning technology gives more opportunities complex multiple-choice (CMC) items has become more common when creating multiple-choice questions for tests and learning. However, as CMC makes the exercise more complicated for the learner. It does not help understanding and higher-order thinking at the same level. The CMC tends to be too much about the form at the expense of content and deeper learning. Another recommendation is to focus on the engagement of specific cognitive processes and make it challenging for the learner, but not too difficult. And again something that has been much easier to create in the digital age, namely focus on qualitative feedback. It is inevitable for qualitative learning with multiple-choice exercises but also works as a formative added value in tests.
Tagged assessment, learning design, multiple-choice tests, pedagogy.