JUNIOR RISE IPSOFACTO ALL OUR FUTURES... PUPILS PERSPECTIVES Mr M Garide Head Teacher, St Ambroe Barlow Mr A Higon Editor RISE, Salford Univerity Mr D Hyne Head of Englih, St Ambroe Barlow Columnit Sam Deakin Niall Whitehead Gemma Robinon Ilaria Anetoli Mr E Oborne PA to Head Teacher M J Darby Adminitration Aitant Home St Ambroe Barlow R C High School A Specialit Technology and Applied Learning College Shaftebury Road, Swinton, Mancheter, M27 5SZ Telephone: 0161 794 3521 the deign and print group 0161 295 2630 (30019/10) Inide Facele on Facebook Salford Unearthed When Diater Strike Olympic: For the high jump? PLUS... p8 Seeing Star p8 Sound Idea Home? p16 About the writer Sweet p18 Forthcoming Event
09 inide 04 Home Sweet Home? Welcome... 06 Facele on Facebook 07 Perception of Salford When approached by Salford Univerity in December and invited to participate in a challenging project with a tight time chedule, my initial reaction wa one of energied trepidation. The tak preented wa to produce a magazine which, to a degree, reflected ome of the iue voiced in the pretigiou RISE publication. What wa unique about the project, however, wa that the contentiou iue addreed would be written entirely from the pupil perpective. Therefore, not merely a hybrid, the magazine would provide an opportunity for everal of the chool talented writer to howcae their kill. A an educator, my primary role i to a encourage a multiplicity of kill not leat innovative thought and olution baed trategie to facilitate problem olving. The pre o often totally miinterpret young people with negative tereotyping. Rarely doe it praie ignificant achievement. The group of pupil I have been working with embody and exemplify what i bet in our youth. They embraced the challenge preented, demontrating maturity and a very real thirt for knowledge. The pupil peak... At St Ambroe Barlow, we apire to learn about current and topical affair, developing our view and opinion upon them. When we were approached by Mr Hyne, our Englih teacher, and given a clear explanation a to what wa involved in the proce of producing Ipo Facto, we experienced a ene of excitement, tempered with a degree of apprehenion. We knew that, not only would we be creating a magazine for a pretigiou audience, which i nerve wracking in itelf, but alo, that there would be time contraint involved a we endeavoured to produce the main article to meet publication deadline. However, under Mr Hyne guidance, upport, and expertie, our fear were allayed and the tak actually became extremely enjoyable and energizing. Further, all too often, young people are preented by the media a, at bet, empty-headed and, at wort, anti-ocial delinquent. Above all, we wanted to diprove that unfortunate myth and demontrate that thi i rarely the cae a the majority of teenager are dedicated, inpirational and, mot off all, mature enough to expre themelve clearly. We genuinely hope that you enjoy reading thi magazine a much a we have enjoyed producing it. Samuel Deakin, Gemma Robinon, Niall Whitehead, Ilaria Arnetoli 07 08 14 Meage from Marie Garide, Headteacher St Ambroe Barlow R C High School 07 Salford Unearthed 08 Seeing Star 08 Sound Idea: Software for Deaf Children 09 Dubai The Deert Singapore i jut a Mirage 09 On Your Mark Get Set... Go! 10 The Next Dimenion: Holographic Imagery 10 Girl into Engineering 11 When Diater Strike 12 The Liar, the Snitch and the Parliamentary Glitch 14 The Large Hadron Collider: Economic Black Hole? 15 Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen 15 Married to the Web 16 About Me 18 St Ambroe Barlow R C Achievement Page 18 Forthcoming Event 19 IPSO FACTO Reflection The article they produced are thoughtful, olution-baed and original. It ha been, a alway, a joy to work alongide Sam, Niall, Gemma and Ilaria. Deirdre Hyne Head of Englih St Ambroe Barlow R C High School value the relationhip it enjoy with Salford Univerity. Thi project ha been an excellent example of thi relationhip in practice. The opportunity to produce uch a profeional, high quality magazine ha inpired the pupil to reflect on both local and international current affair for the benefit not only of themelve but alo the reader. We would like to thank Salford Univerity for their help and look forward to other exciting collaboration in the future. We hope that you enjoy thi iue... Marie Garide Head Teacher 03
Home Sweet Home? Samuel Deakin, Gemma Robinon, Niall Whitehead, Ilaria Arnetoli Get Smart (The Electrical Grid) A Hitory of Social Houing Social Houing i the practice of tax-funded houing for thoe who are incapable of purchaing and running their own property. Council houe pecifically began development in the late nineteenth century but reached a peak in production in the mid-twentieth century. Well-built houe gathered together over large uburban area, known a council-etate, were made available below market-rate rental agreement. Alo many of thee urban development featured large tower block Right to Buy Scheme Individual local council have alway had the ability to ell council houe to their tenant but thee ale were extremely rare before the 1970. However, during the 1960, Horace Cutler, the Chair Houing for the Conervative Greater London Council, peruaded the ret of the council to create a general ale cheme (GSS). Under Labour adminitration at the time, however, thi wa diallowed until Cutler became leader in 1977. A Cutler and Margaret Thatcher (then a London MP) were cloe and the GSS wa becoming ever more popular, the cheme wa paed on a a Conervative Party policy to be rolled out nationally. Thu, when Margaret Thatcher became Prime Miniter, the Right to Buy cheme wa implemented in the Houing Act of 1980. Council houe were old at market valuation but alo included a dicount to encourage take-up and to reflect the rent already paid. Hundred of thouand of home were old due to thi lucrative marketing offer. The effect wa to reduce the amount of council houe to be updated and the amount of tenancie to be monitored. Initially, the Labour Party wa oppoed to the policy but dropped their pledge againt it a it proved to be popular and valuable vote could have been lot. However, ince 1977, the Labour Government reduced the amount of dicount available to tenant, reulting in high preure on local authoritie houing tock. Repercuion When Margaret Thatcher introduced the Right to Buy cheme, it wa een that many people in need of ocial houing were being puhed out of their only chance to live in affordable home, by well paid, full-time worker who had the capital to renovate the dilapidated building. Therefore, the only poible way out for thee people wa to purchae the council houe privately. Thoe who could not afford to do o were at the mercy of their local council who were till expected by government, to provide the people with accommodation. Thi reulted in people living in qualour at low rent B&B, often with whole familie haring mall room. Money for other eential ervice thu became contrained a Council truggled to pay the bill. Rackmanim therefore thrived (the practice of landlord charging extortionate price which had to be paid for by the council). Peter Rackman wa a wealthy and notoriou Landlord of Polih decent. He exploited deperate local council by charging over the top price for poor, often foul accommodation for homele familie. Due to the lack of council home, the council had no choice but to comply with thee charge. However, to the cheme credit, people who had lived in ocial houing for two year or longer were able to purchae their home with a 44% dicount. Thi ound laudable but there were many rule to abide by, meaning that if you did not fulfil the numerou requirement, you and your family were rendered homele. Unfortunately, Margaret Thatcher policy reulted in maive ocial upheaval which people are till paying for now, a affordable houing tock remain depleted. Wa he anti ocial houing or jut anti-ocial houing? I upect a little of both. FACT BOX In America, over 60% of tree cut down are ued for the building of modern houe and with the average houe ize rapidly increaing each year, the requirement for wood i urely to rie with it, leading to a negative impact on the environment One way to ave energy, and thu reduce carbon emiion, would be to develop a mart grid throughout Britain by coupling the current National Grid with the Internet. At preent, upplier have few way of tracking the electricity they produce, and conumer, fewer way of controlling when and how their appliance ue it. The reult, i an electrical grid prone to wating energy through heat, leaving upplier in the dark regarding blackout. A mart grid (coupled with mart appliance) would be able to power down automatically during price peak and repower once electricity i cheaper. It would better integrate intermittent energy ource uch a olar and wind power, which cut carbon emiion and ave conumer over 10 billion over the next decade. The main reult, however, would be a flattened demand curve, reducing the need for new, polluting power tation. Provided that, a in California, upplier were rewarded for eentially elling le electricity and that the grid wa afe-guarded from hacker, it could be a viable way of cutting Britain electricity ue. Futuritic Deign In the 21t century, we have been introduced to many wonderfully wacky and weird idea in the building indutry. Some claim that the waxing lyrical deign of innovative architect are more about outdoing the competitor than deigning living pace for real people. Other, however, welcome the diverity created by uch. Acro the country different tructure have emerged, from the child-like implicity of a quare tructure with a triangular roof, to being replaced by curved urreal edge, gla wall, open pace, elf upporting moveable floor! I could go on. Indeed, although they may be very attractive to look at, we have to quetion; are they really meant to be lived in, and jut how much do they cot? Further, doe the proce of ourcing the material and creating the building itelf have a good or bad impact on the environment? Practicalitie Everybody heard of olar panel and wind turbine. Today they eem like buzz word that make you more eco-friendly, but are they really the bet way to go? And why are not many people buying into them? I m afraid olar panel may not be the god end we are after. It i a common miconception that they do not produce electricity in heavy cloud cover; they do, but they do not, however, by definition, work in the dark, which, in our dark winter month mean they would only be generating electricity for jut nine hour. Unlike other mammal, I m afraid we can t hibernate. Alo, are they worth the money? Solar panel are not only very expenive to intall but expenive to buy in the firt place. With an etimated payback time of over 100 year, it unlikely that you will be alive to get your money back! Thee point can be tranferred to wind turbine a well. Thu, if both of thee power ource are unreliable and expenive, what ele i there? Alternatively, there are modern houe being built which are extremely environmentally friendly. If modern houe ued the Smart Grid approach then it would be eay to ue renewable energy throughout the houehold. It i clear that olar panel and wind farm aren t enough on their own. Thi future houe will utilie many alternative ource of energy, more obcure one that will really make the future houe mart. Whilt it will ue olar panel in a mart grid, thi will facilitate the generation of electricity. Further, a mart grid would make it eaier for houe owner to generate their own electricity and then ell it back to the grid. Thi way, the olar panel will practically pay for themelve, uing battery pack that tore energy, even when the un in t hining. Electric car would draw a lot of power from the grid, but with the marter cheme, mobile batterie could be ued. Plu you would be able to control electricity ue through a laptop making it imple and controllable. New, marter appliance would run when the demand i low and in the mart grid, the thermotat would remotely control the houe heating and cooling. Finally, enor on the power line could control blackout before they cacade out of control. Let jut hope that it and we are mart enough to take action. 04 05
Facele on Racit group are growing evermore popular a the more Fan they gather, the more profile they appear on and, therefore, yet more follower join. The group are known to promote everything from racit taunt to full-cale racit violence. Extreme racim on Facebook i an iue my peer and I believe mut be combated, and now. Of coure thi iue i uppoed to be dealt with by the Facebook regulator, but it appear to me, that a there are o many of thee group, the regulator are either unaware of their exitence or do not have enough evidence to jutify the group being detroyed. Facebook i a globally popular ocial networking ite. It i a webite on which people can hare picture, play on game and ocialie with friend near or far. It wa not built a a format on which terrorit can flaunt their corrupt opinion and eugenit can advance their perverted Nazi view. Facebook Action againt Racim There are however a group of adult working independently to bring about the demie of thee racit. Indeed, a many of the cabal are unfortunately tarted by naive, gullible teenager, they are relatively eay to terminate. Thoe adult who earch for the group are pending a valuable amount of time detroying each repective group dicovered. Thi i achieved by threatening to report the adminitrator, either to their chool (which are often lited on the unprotected profile), or to their local authoritie which often peruade the adminitrator to leave the management of the group open. Once the group i left open, the adult who ha made the threat, can then take over the running of the group and in turn, can change the whole perona of the group to omething ele (often promoting anti-racit ideology). Of coure, a ha been known to happen, the adminitrator may chooe to call the adult bluff and doe not leave the group open. Fortunately thi i imply olved by actually following through with the threat made and informing the chool or police. I ue the word threat repeatedly a thi i the only language thee racit will undertand and react to. Peronally, however, whilt I believe thi approach i very noble, it can be dangerou for thoe who take part; if their identitie are dicovered then there could be ome violent repercuion. I prefer the idea of a webite connected to Facebook on which victim and other can anonymouly pot the name of racit group and give evidence againt them o that their allegation can be proved and the group detroyed. We live in a multi-racial ociety and grow up urrounded by people of other ethnicitie. I believe thi i a rich and fulfilling part of life and we learn from thoe around u. Racim i jut another form of bullying utilied by thoe who conider themelve of better tature and heritage than people who are different. There i NO place for thi attitude in today world of great diverity. Gemma Robinon Gemma Robinon Perception of Salford With the BBC moving to media city UK at Salford Quay, a flock of outherner i planning to migrate north thi winter. Many will not jut be bringing family and luggage with them, but preconception of the local Salfordian. So are we all flat cap, wooden pipe and Coronation Street? In 2008, BBC Director-General Mark Thompon announced the taggering declaration that the BBC wa moving from the capital city to Salford. It river of employee, including journalit, preenter, reearcher and adminitrative taff, would thu be flooding onto our unny hore. Remember, many of thee intrepid explorer have lived in mighty London, or it affluent urrounding area all their live, having little knowledge of the haple north, or indeed northerner, uing Coronation Street a a guide to life in the tick ; Salford and Mancheter. I wanted to find out what were the preconception of Salford from what ome ee a the invading outherner. Therefore, I interviewed Channel M reporter, Richard Johnon, who pent mot of hi child and young adulthood in London, living there before moving to the grim north. Unfortunately, a expected, hi perception at the time mirrored the general conenu of opinion about Salford. He expected to be confronted by the Victorian image of an indutrial city; air thick with dirt and moke, children playing hopcotch on the pavement you get the idea. Interetingly, Salford at that time, wa conidered better off than neighbouring Mancheter! Yet whilt Mancheter eem to have altered her image, the traditional image of Salford ha obviouly been perpetuated and, thu, Richard expected a deprived, crime-ridden haven for ociety reprobate; nowhere for the mart-uited city type. However, although he did not expect cloth cap and whippet, a he had pent ome time in North Wale a a child, where he probably actually met ome northerner, he knew that thee notion of Salfordian were what hi le informed colleague in London had internalied. Depite all the negative tereotype, Richard Johnton had hopeful expectation that people in the north would be generally friendlier, would talk to tranger, would take the time to give direction or jut engage in a general chat. In other word, we are imple up here, but engaging in a patroniing ort of way. I have to quetion, why doe thi tereotype tand? The Economic Intelligence Unit annual urvey of the bet citie in the world for liveability revealed that Greater Mancheter, Archaeologit at work which include Salford, i the bet city to live in the whole of England, ranking five place above London and even beating the fahion capital of the world, Milan! Surpriingly, thi tudy even included a conideration of the weather! No, it in t alway raining in Salford. Thu, ignorance can be the only reaon for thi. However, one thing made clear in the interview with Richard i that Salford ha a lack of identity. Many people from the outh even believe that Salford i a borough of Mancheter and not a city in it own right. Perhap thi i undertandable. In Swinton, where the writer of thi article abide, the potcode i M27, not S27. Doe Salford till have an identity crii and i thi the reaon why o many outhern jeie quake and tremble at the thought of moving to our gloriou, modern city? Salford i the greatet city in the country. It inhabitant need to recognie that it i, in order to eradicate the erroneou perception of other. Samuel Deakin Salford Unearthed With a wide hitory ranging back to 1896, Salford Univerity i often perceived a out of date; a Victorian monolith, with a cloth cap approach to education. Nothing could be further from the truth. Indeed, recent development are proving thi theory to be utterly wrong. A the city of Salford, a a city, move ahead in the digital revolution, due to the maive BBC complex being built at Salford Quay, enormou benefit will be reaped not only by buinee, but alo the educational ector, notably the univerity. One of the major project which interet the young particularly, i the new archaeological enterprie which the univerity ha et up. The centre will be primarily baed at the CUBE gallery on Portland Street and will invetigate archaeological ite, hitorical building and indutrial heritage acro the North Wet. Uniquely, thi will provide local communitie with the opportunity to be a part of an archaeological excavation. There i already an ongoing project at Buckton Catle, a 12th century building in Stalybridge. Member of the public will be trained in the pecific method and technique needed for an archaeological tudy and will alo be expoed to much more of their community hitory than ever before. Thi i a chance for all citizen of Salford and the urrounding area to become more knowledgeable and killed in practical tudy but it i an epecially good opportunity for Salford youth. The young today are often accued of being unruly at bet and many blame thi on their unoccupied time; thi project give them a chance to do omething worthwhile and may even interet them into a career. Peronally, a a Salford teenager, I believe that thi project preent a fantatic opportunity to work alongide committed and concientiou adult. It would be o energiing to be part of a team excavating our pat, for a we know, the pat alway inform our future. Gemma Robinon 06 07 Salford Quay
Seeing Star Forty year ago, man et foot on the Moon, but i till to do o on another planet. Space-Obervatory Satellite Thu, it could be argued, that our knowledge of our world remain rather limited. 2009 wa the 200th anniverary of the death of Haydn; the compoer of the world famou oratorio The Creation. The Creation wa a magnificent compoition, written to illutrate the biblical Book of Genei. It portray the beginning of the world, and the magnificent feature that occurred in the formation of the univere. Haydn cleverly ued muic to broadcat hi work, o that people could gain a deepened knowledge of how their world wa created and how man fit in the cheme of thing. To commemorate Haydn and to act a a homage to The Creation, Alan William,a compoer, and the BBC Philharmonic Orchetra, have recreated a vocal verion of the piece that elaborate on our undertanding of the Big Bang theory, named Wonder. Thi i a fitting title a we all wonder, What happened? and How? and, When did it all begin? One can only aume the marvel that took place which are till yet to be dicovered! Being a Salford baed compoer, even chool from the area were involved in haring and collecting their idea and viion to accompany the oratorio. The pupil viion of the creation formed the impetu for the development and completion of the oratorio. To thi end, the pupil worked with Jodrell Bank to compoe their own verion of the original, which would be played alongide a preentation by Alan William. The lucky pupil were able to perform their work in Salford Univerity Maxwell Hall. What a unique opportunity! When interviewed, Alan William talked about hi enthuiam for working with the pupil and people from Salford. I think it great that my work will be premiered in Salford. I m very proud that thi will be a celebration of Salford and the BBC Philharmonic reidency here Certainly, the project wa very ucceful and did, indeed,finih with a BANG! Perhap the pupil could give the Hadron Collider phyicit a run for their money. They may have tumbled upon the God particle! Ilaria Arnetoli DUBAI The Deert Singapore i jut a Mirage Dubai i well known throughout the world a a wealthy Arab deert paradie with river of money flowing into thi coatal haven of glamour. However, thi river i dry, bringing drought to Dubai and it appear that Dubai dream to become the Middle Eatern Singapore i jut a mirage. The United Arab Emirate (UAE) glittering embodiment of capitalim i broken. A of the 25th November, Dubai ha had to potpone it giant $80 billion debt, ending it economy crahing. Thi ha led the world to ak the quetion: Where did it all go wrong? Whilt Dubai origin are hrouded in mytery, it i known that thi now comopolitan principality tarted a a humble pearl fihing village. However, along with many other neighbouring citie, Dubai fortune changed in 1966 with the dicovery of oil in the UAE. Although it reerve are actually quite low, compared with Abu Dhabi and other Emirate citie, miraculouly, the area ha propered. Indeed, the paucity of natural reource led to Sheik Mohammed bin Rahid al-maktoum to focu upon other indutrie. Thu, over the year, thi ha become a free trade jewel in the On Your Mark, Get Set... Go! UAE crown with the opening of the tax free InfoTech hub; Dubai Internet Citie, bringing buine from all around the world. With the mot expenive hotel in the world, the Burj al-arab and the breathtaking mamade iland uch a the Pal Jumeirah, financial ecurity and outide invetment eemed limitle and afe. But even Dubai in t receion proof. In 2008, Dubai halted all real etate venture. The Crown Prince, of coure, ha played down the debt, which can be etimated at riing more than 100%GDP. Thi i bad new for the invetor who looked for a quick buck in a ure-fire money maker. David Beckham ha reportedly lot million in hi invetment of Dubai. Unlucky, David, maybe you can jut take Tiger Wood pot in the Gillette advert or ell ome more permanent marker. Depite a $15 billion bailout from Abu Dhabi, the dream for Dubai i fading into the deert. Samuel Deakin Sound Idea: Software for Deaf Children In the late 1800, pupil with phyical or mental deficiencie would be ent to welcoming etablihment like the Catholic Blind Aylum or Park Houe Aylum for Idiot. Such building were often foreboding, ugly place where children were imprioned from other. However, a time ha progreed, our ability to help thee children ha grown, with the development of new approache and technique to help them live a normal life. One of the project currently under development i Lumionic, a piece of oftware that can tranlate ound into circle on a creen. If I make a ound and lower the pitch, the ring contract. I can change the pitch uing a keyboard and ee how that appear a I do o, explained Dr Mick Grieron, from Goldmith, Univerity of London, who developed the ytem. Uer can alo record and edit ound recorded from an intrument or generated by a computer. It allow deaf and partially-deaf children to relate to ound better than they had before. Another new piece of oftware, created by SMART Technologie, i the latet edition of Phoneme, 6.0. Thi verion now include the Cued Speech option in which human lip are diplayed on the creen and ynched to certain word. Anne Worfold, Executive Director, Cued Speech Aociation UK comment: The undertanding of ound- baed Englih ha been identified a a key element in learning to read. The Phoneme Machine will give for the firt time ever a multi enory claroom-baed reource which teacher can ue to teach phonic to deaf children and which children can alo ue individually. I expect it to tranform the way that deaf children learn to read. We have come a long way from the day of blind and deaf aylum. Through technology like thi, we can limit, a much a poible, the phyical barrier that blind and deaf children face and provide them with a normal life and ever-more-pecialit care to fit their need. In it literature upon educational reform, the Government contantly promote it Every Child Matter agenda. Thu, every child ha the right to a good education and certain tandard of living. The ue of thi technology, if introduced into maintream deaf chool, could have a great impact on the progre of the agenda. Niall Whitehead Although 2012 may een a long way away, it i actually jut thirty month from now, when Britain hot the bigget porting competition known to man. The quetion i are we ready? At the lat Olympic, Britain wa phenomenally ucceful, winning 47 medal, including 19 gold. We mahed world record throughout the competition and exceeded all expectation. Hoting the 2012 Olympic, provide u with the opportunity to how the world that, not only do we hine in port, but we are a nation compried of paion, pride and accomplihment. Therefore, we need to put on an outtanding performance, more pectacular, more daring and more innovative than Beijing and Sydney. Do we have the reource and, in thi economically bleak time, the money? In and around the capital, new tadium, port and aquatic centre are being deigned and contructed. Unfortunately, architect, conciou of the receion, are facing limitation. If thi i the cae, why then i Britain throwing away money and making foolih economic mitake? Take for example, the fact that the Mancheter Velodrome, built for the Commonwealth Game, hot international meeting and i renowned a a world cla venue, with world cla facilitie yet i not being ued! Why i the Olympic Committee pending million of pound on the creation of a new Velodrome in London? Mancheter i a forty minute plane journey away from the capital, a two hour trainride, and a four hour bu or car trip. Further, would it to be too much to ak, to pread out the wealth generated by the Olympic acro the country? Surely thi would benefit London alo? It would decreae the amount of tourit in the capital, which apparently i cauing headache for organier a accommodation i limited. More importantly, it would pread the income acro Britain meaning buinee in other part of the country would benefit. The athlete are preparing, o why in t our country? I don t mean in the form of building tadium, but in building mind. We all want to be part of the celebration. Ilaria Arnetoli The viion for London 2012 08 09
When Diater Strike The Next Dimenion: Holographic Imagery Far from the futuritic depiction of hologram found in many popular cience-fiction work, to find one today, you need only to look in your wallet. Simple holographic image (2-D image on a 3-D urface) can be found on your driver licence or credit card, utilied pecifically to prevent forgery. They can be found on DVD, CD and oftware packaging, a well a anything old a official merchandie. However, more often than not, thee hologram are uually imple, unclear hape uch a parkly picture or mear of colour. Even the image endored on official merchandie often appear more a green picture than 3-D imagery. However, large-cale hologram, uually diplayed in a darkened room and enhanced by laer effect, are incredible. They are two-dimenional urface that eemingly project precie and detailed 3-D image without the need for pecial glae or ViewMater. Recently, American new tation, CNN, decided to put thi technology to the tet by beaming a three-dimenional image of reporter Jeica Yellin from outide an Obama campaign tent before the election to their new tudio in New York. It wa revealed that thi technique wa achieved by placing a ring of high-definition camera around Yellin. A the camera picked up her every movement from all angle, the film were placed on top of each other and played back in 3D. However, ceptic argue that thi method differ from true holography and hould not be counted a uch. So, will we ever reach a point where true holographic imagery can be beamed into our home? Other companie have tried. Teltra, an Autralian phone company recently beamed it chief technology officer from Melbourne to a buine meeting about 460 mile away in Adelaide. Cico recently unveiled it latet product, On-Stage TelePreence Holographic Video Conferencing through uing high-definition camera and TV creen to make executive in different location feel like they are having an in-peron meeting. They howed thi through beaming in their CEO from New York to Bangalore, India. For the mot part, holography i till too expenive for mot companie to deploy commercially. However, if it could be applied to chool, a ingle, accomplihed teacher could educate multiple clae, while different image could be examined for ubject uch a biology and poibly DT. At home, it could mean you could talk to relative and make friend from the other ide of the globe and repreent the next poible tep in ocial networking. The poibilitie are immene. Niall Whitehead Hologram image on a Britih 20 pound note Girl into Engineering Dirty hand, being a member of the tronger ex, overall, and an unhealthy obeion with motor car are the obviou prerequiite if you wih to become an engineer. Recently, whilt attending a chool organied trip, I learned otherwie. It i quite normal to aociate being an engineer with being a man, but thi i quite wrong. There are numerou area of engineering that are eminently uitable for both exe. I wa lucky enough to interview Sarah Curran, who i a civil and tructural engineer. I aked her about her experience: When I firt tarted my coure to become an engineer, a I walked into the lecture hall, it truck me that only about 20% of the people in there were women. People predict that, being an engineer i about getting mey and working with tool. It in t. I had to work hard to get where I am now. You do have to achieve good A-level, but the coure I took wa really good and, at the ame time, challenging. Sarah completed a four year Mater coure at Durham Univerity, graduating with a degree in Civil and Structural Engineering. Sarah, who now work for Jacob Engineering aured me that anyone who work in engineering, both male and female, are treated equally and the training involved, for example completing placement in different countrie, i a brilliant experience. So why are female o turned off from becoming an engineer? Why aren t women a enthuiatic a Sarah about uch an occupation? Perhap it i becaue of the negative image we are influenced by on TV and in variou other media. Plu our female role model tend to come in the hape and form of Cheryl Cole and Katie Price. I omehow cannot ee them exploring the intricacie of a petrol powered machine! Actually, I probably have metaphorically hit the nail on the head myelf! We relate engineer with mechanic, aka Phil Mitchell and Kevin Webter. However, let be poitive! I attended a Mancheter Univerity training coure recently, entitled Girl in Aeropace. The purpoe of the coure wa to encourage and engage girl into conidering engineering a a poible future career. The day wa filled with an intereting challenge that numerou chool from acro the North Wet had to tackle. We had to deign, make and then race hovercraft entirely without aitance. I thought it wa a brilliant exercie and it made me contemplate all the poible option I could chooe from in my future career. So, come on girl, let how the boy what we can do! Ilaria Arnetoli Finally, after year of turmoil, Sri Lanka clawed back control from the eparatit Tamil Tiger thi May. However, one of the longet armed conflict in Aia hitory ha left the Sri Lankan people, who already live in a third world country, detitute. So what exactly i diater management and how i it defined in countrie uch a thee? Mozambique ha recently been added to the ever growing lit of third world countrie truck by diater. In 2000, Mozambique experienced it wort flood for 50 year. Whilt thi left hundred of thouand detitute, Mozambique alo ha the highet number of land mine in Africa; thu thee flood wahed mine from known minefield into village, covering them. A a reult, thee landmine are inviible killer in a country plagued with dieae and petilence. They are a foul reminder of the civil war in Mozambique which lated for two decade, fuelled by Cold War politic. However, in 1997, a law wa igned that topped the production and elling of landmine, if many minefield till remain. There are campaign in the wet gaining momentum to remove thee mine, but no action a of yet ha been taken by the Mozambique government. Imagine if you lived in a war torn country where your houe ha been detroyed and every tep you take could literally be your lat! Unfortunately, the lit of countrie devatated by natural diater and war i adly endle, with Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Haiti and Madagacar, to name but a few. So what i diater management? How doe it help thoe who cannot help themelve? Diater management i a concept that involve preparing for a diater and then upporting and rebuilding the ocietie that are left broken or everely damaged. There are three tage of diater management: Preparedne, Repone and Recovery. Salford Univerity ha recently invited a election of invited expert in different field to a workhop focued on diater management. National diater are either caued by geographical location or nature and it obviouly i not feaible to control uch. However, rapid and effective repone mut be the key and, hopefully, Salford initiative will inform future practice. However, a rather clichéd aying i more relevant now than ever before: prevention i better than cure. Would it not be more effective to put into place defence againt diater in what we know are high rik area? New Orlean wa devatated by Hurricane Katrina. Thi wa in America, the world leading global power. Surely it could have pent money fortifying houe in high rik area like New Orlean? We have international agencie that tockpile and provide food, water and helter. The quetion i, Why don t individual countrie follow their lead? Samuel Deakin Addendum: Thi article wa written before the recent Haiti diater. The chool children have been raiing fund to help the affected citizen of Haiti. 10 11
The Liar, the Snitch and the Parliamentary Glitch There are currently 646 Member of Parliament in Britain, but do we know, or even need them at all? They all repreent different political partie and erve different purpoe. Surely, a they are uppoedly repreenting the electorate, then we hould know all about them, wart and all...? Samuel Deakin, Gemma Robinon, Niall Whitehead, Ilaria Arnetoli Do we know our Leader? Up until recently we were told to trut our MP. Recent revelation about expene and ecret expoed, however, have haken that trut. Perhap it i becaue of the receion or a hift in our value, but the financial mimanagement for want of a better word, by our repreentative, eem to be more heinou than the alaciou torie written about them in The Sun and The Star. In my mind, what i really wrong about politic today, i that every politician i grey. They no longer eem to have real opinion but rely on ound bite and towing the line. Thi wa not o in the pat. Love or loathe her, Margaret Thatcher wa an independent woman and for a ignificant period of time, one of the mot powerful women in Britain. Did we really know what he tood for? I believe voter did. Thatcher herelf wa full of character and revelled in alway finding herelf in the public eye. Tony Benn, on the oppoite ide of the political pectrum, wa paionate about hi politic. We knew what he tood for and there wa a real honety about him unlike today. Intead, we eem to be preented with facele bureaucrat, more intereted in ound bite and preentation. No wonder we are no longer engaged in politic. It i important that we influence young people like me, to become intereted in politic becaue, a cheey a it ound, we are the future. If young people, teenager epecially, continue to be o blatantly iolated from politic, then what will happen when they reach voting age? Unfortunately, they will not know who to vote for and why they are voting for a pecific political party or ideal. Young people will not be influenced by a politician who come acro a dreary and bland, but intead will be attracted to the MP who ha a peronality, i publically recognied and paionate about hi or her politic. Sun hining on Torie Let face it; media i one of the mot powerful entitie in the world. Famouly, a televiion channel in America recently turned down Barrack Obama deire to addre the nation in favour of an interview with the Hairy Angel, Suan Boyle. Unfortunately, uch i the tate of affair in our brave new world, where celebrity tatu oar above the meage to be delivered by the mot important man in the world. So what happen when thi almighty force, the media, actually back a politician? Tony Blair, new Labour aviour in 1997 wa famouly upported and elected thank to the red top tabloid, the ome-what eedy The Sun. Let not hide it; it i the lowet common denominator, with it being the only newpaper I ve had the mifortune to read that feature economic hard new oppoite and vying with virtually pornographic tople women. Unfortunately, The Sun i the mot popular newpaper in the UK, which I think ay more about u a a nation, when we care more about John and Edward new hoe than new that directly affect u. Although it favour reality TV how uch a I m a ha been Get Me On TV!, Big Brother and the Next Factor with hard new hidden within, it comic like tyle and tatu eem to appeal to the nation. It wa The Sun, not jut Tony Blair charima that won for him numerou general election, re-inventing Labour from the old poor-man party to a more contemporary one. Yet The Sun ha grown our of Labour and Gordon Brown, witching to the Torie and David Cameron. A more vulgar carbon-copy of the notoriou Daily Mail, can David Cameron repeat what Tony Blair achieved in the upcoming election? Doe he have the Celebrity Factor? It appear we ll jut have to wait and ee. No Expene Spared From chocolate bar to econd home, from junior miniter to Gordon Brown himelf, MP have been found guilty of abuing their expene claim for peronal gain. Far from uing uch expene claim a they were intended, to ubidie extra cot aociated with their poition, many have been uing them imply to upport their lavih lifetyle and home live while the taxpayer foot the bill. The claim vary from Sir Peter Vigger lame requet for a 1,645 floating duck houe to Tourim Miniter Barbara Follett 25,000 ecurity (becaue he did not feel afe in her London home). Some are attempting to repair the damage done, by paying back the expene, uch a Prime Miniter Gordon Brown pledging to pay the 12, 415 bill for home maintenance and gardening. However he i not alone. Conervative chief David Cameron ha been aked to explain a mortgage claim from three year ago and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg wa hit by a demand to pay back a 9,100 gardening bill. The impact of the claim candal ha reulted in a eriou decline in voter trut in the main political partie. Thi could benefit partie uch a the Green Party, which could be deemed a poitive, or the BNP, which would be catatrophic. Whether thi lack of trut will extend to the next election, however, remain to be een. The Labour Party i attempting to ave face through the election of a new Speaker, John Bercow, who promie greater tranparency in the expene ytem. Thi alo remain to be een. Pateuried Policie In 2002, Labour wa deemed to have kept 80% of the promie it had made upon it election into power five year previouly. The remaining 48 out of 229 promie were deemed too difficult to judge or had not been met. In today political climate, however, do politician rely on popular-ounding promie that not only have no chance of fulfilment, but alo contradict their own party view? For intance, recently, a popular bill wa poted claiming that non-reident hould not be able to offer donation to political partie a they do not pay tax. However, not only i one of the main Conervative donator a non-reident, Lord Laidlaw (who donated 4m ince 2001) but one of Labour donator, the party whoe backbencher founded the idea, i alo regitered a a non-reident for tax purpoe (Lord Paul). There are other incident. Labour ha approved the ale of 187 chool playing field depite claiming they would end the ale in 1997. The Conervative, meanwhile, recently decided not to hold a referendum on the Libon Treaty, depite David Cameron promie to do o in 2007. All thi could further damage trut between the public and political partie. In future, politician would do well to remember their manifetoe and party moral intead of pandering to the trend of the day. Teen View Teen today hold a very cynical view of politic. The vat majority are completely unintereted and the ret are either inactive oberver of political machination or peimitic critic. The firt group, the unintereted, hold a very blaé approach to Politician; they have no opinion on the policie and are often ignorant of all but the name of the mot ignificant head of tate i.e. Barrack Obama. They don t make derogatory tatement but are alo, through lack ofknowledge, incapable of making peculative comment. I believe thi i the fault of a political mindet which only target thoe who are eligible to vote, ignoring potential future voter. The inactive oberver are like myelf; we carefully monitor political going-on but are legally unable to act upon any of our view. I think thi in itelf i a micarriage of jutice becaue I and many other have trong view and relevant idea about the running of our country but are, again, ignored due to our adolecence. The cynic or peimitic critic are rare, a not enough of u have enough political knowledge to condemn other. Thee people crutinize every apect of Politic; people like my opinionated fellow writer, Samuel Deakin. Such people often expre damning opinion about politic publicied policie but can do little about them. All thee group repectively have a high chance of becoming non-voter like thoe in the paive public who will not vote through a lack of motivation. Thoe who are oberver will not vote due to confuion and bewilderment, and finally the cynic will not vote due to a belief that all politic i corrupt and, therefore, their vote are lot a a reult of our democracy failure to deliver the meage. I think that the key to teen undertanding of politic i education. All adolecent hould, further, be purued by politician a, after all, we are the voter of tomorrow. Remember: Silence Speak Volume 12 13
Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen A many of u are aware, global warming i a eriou iue looming over the collective head of the world and may be cauing eriou (poibly catatrophic) problem now, and in the future. However, will the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference produce a concrete plan to reduce carbon emiion perceived to be the major pollutant? I have eriou doubt and reervation about it ability to do o. The Large Hadron Collider: Economic Black Hole? The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) i the world larget and mot powerful particle accelerator. In layman term, it will loop oppoing particle beam around a track, accelerating the particle until they finallycollide at 7 teraelectrovolt per particle, around 7 time the kinetic (movement) energy of a flying moquito. The reult will then be monitored by cientit from the European Organiation for Nuclear Reearch, or CERN. The Collider lie in a tunnel, 27 kilometre in circumference, a much a 570 ft beneath the France-Swi border near Geneva, Switzerland. But i the LHC anything more than a billion-pound toy for pretigiou cientit? Actually, it may be pivotal to proving or diproving ome of the main block of future cientific reearch and, indeed, the bae quetion of particle phyic. Thee include the exitence of other dimenion due to tring theory ( ripple in pace and cauality running through a many a 26 other dimenion) and olving the myterie of dark matter. Mot importantly, it may finally prove the exitence of the Higg boon, nicknamed the God particle and uppoedly the reaon ma exit in the Univere and o, in fact, the reaon the Univere itelf exit. While the LHC may not, for intance, olve the energy crii or prevent global warming, it will affect the average peron in that it could, undoubtedly, prove the Big Bang theory and o finally debunk Creationim. A tated above, it would alo prove that other dimenion exit and hed light on dark matter. Whether or not, however, it i worth the billion of pound pumped into the project, epecially after the technical fault found lat year that ha taken a year to rectify, i debatable. Mind Blowing Mumbo Jumbo So it come down to thi How do you think the univere wa created? Perhap the mot logical explanation i the Big Bang Theory. The general cientific view i thi: The Big Bang i the comological model of the univere which i the bet upport of all line of cientific evidence and obervation. It i the dominant cientific theory about the origin of the univere. According to the Big Bang Theory, the univere began ometime between 10 and 20 billion year ago from a comic exploion a a ingle point and ha ince been expanded in all direction. It ha evolved from a primordial dene and hot tate in a finite time in the pat and continue to grow until today. Thank you, phyicit, Nick Greene. Am I the only peron yawning? I m not trying to offend Mr Greene, who i an eteemed cientit, but doe the average man or woman on the treet undertand thi? I d recommend thi long tring of cientific jargon a a cure for inomnia. Thi i ad, a the cience that explore the creation, i potentially the motintereting topic of all and it pain me to ee people turn our at the idea of a long, tediou explanation riddled with cientific neologim. Unfortunately, it i thi that turn people away from the mot realitic of all theorie on how the univere wa formed. In layman term, the Big Bang Theory i that a uper-dene, uper-hot ma, maller than a proton, exploded and expanded rapidly, eventually cooling and forming the tar and planet. See, what o difficult about that? The ame can be aid about the Hadron Collider. Obviouly, cientit do not want to patronie people and the general intelligence of the public i underrated, but urely ome compromie could be made to eradicate the condecending tone and alter the impenetrable jargon? We aked Pete Redman, a nuclear engineer and employee of CERN, if he could explain the Hadron Collider to u. Here i an extract from hi e-mail: The circumference of the LGH i 26 km. A an electron travel round corner, it loe energy in the form of photon which i not good, o the bending radiu of the accelerator i maller; conequently the circumference i bigger. The ize i alo a combination of cot and practicalitie! So thank you Mr Redman, you ve really cleared that up for u! I it neceary to flood the mae with an inundation of cientific bombat? Maybe more people would upport the Hadron Collider if there wan t uch a dene cope of jargon aociated with it explanation. I thi why o many people have fallen out of love with cience? Samuel Deakin, Gemma Robinon, Niall Whitehead, Ilaria Arnetoli For year, the conenu ha been that the main way to reduce global warming i to apply avage reduction in carbon dioxide emiion. Thi wa firt endored at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and extended in Kyoto 13 year later. At preent, all we can how for thi devotion to the plan i a long lit of unmet target followed by a rie in the number of people who believe climate change i not worth worrying about or omeone ele problem. So why ha thi approach failed? Well, economically, it propoe a cure arguably wore than the dieae. It i etimated that by doing nothing about global warming, it damaging effect will cot the world cloe to 4 trillion a year by the end of the century. To prevent thi, a plan ha been drawn that would require cut in global emiion in order to keep average temperature from riing any higher than 2 degree Celiu above current indutrial level (the amount the Earth i expected to warm even if the ummit i a ucce). Whilt thi goal i ambitiou, many expert do agree that it could make a difference to global warming effect. The problem lie in the fact that, to upport thi goal, the leading indutrial nation would have to place a huge tax on foil Married to the Web One of the Univerity of Salford latet idea i the Digital Cluter (founded in 2005). The Cluter i a network of academic, practitioner and teacher from acro the Univerity, ome of whom pecialie in computer and video game deign and reearch, digital animation, new media, virtual environment, mobile media, interactivity and digital art and culture. One of the project currently underway i invetigating the potential of ocial commentary on ocial webite, in particular SecondLife. Thi wa inpired by ma virtual protet outide the online embay of a far-right French political party and how the webite may have a far greater degree of ocial concience than the conumer aethetic of SecondLife ugget. The project, a a whole, aim to bridge the gap between virtual reality and reality itelf and to compare virtual avatar to their real creator. fuel. By the end of the century, aid tax would be 3000 per metric ton of CO2, or 6 per litre. Thi would reduce world GDP by around 30 trillion a year. No wonder we aren t getting anywhere. It alo mean that, to upport thi figure, alternative energy ource would have to be developed that produce 20 time the energy they do now. For all the optimitic talk of utainable, carbon-friendly reource, none are capable of bearing the extra load. The fact i, around half the world electricity come from coal. For emerging, yet poorer countrie like China and India, the figure i around 80%. For them, burning foil fuel i the only way to rie out of poverty. A memorable (paraphraed) quote from a pat ummit read, The Chinee leader undertand the threat of global warming perfectly. However, they have million of people under them who are more intereted in making money. It i worth bearing in mind. So what can we do? Intead of trying to make foil fuel more expenive, we hould focu on cheapening alternative energy reource. The cot of fully implementing the Kyoto Protocol (in term of lot economic growth) ha been etimated at around $180 billion a year. For around half that amount, we could increae Another project achieved by the Cluter i the Digital Economy Scoping Study. In layman term, the project act a an evaluator, looking at ubject uch a infratructure and equipment in order to determine where grant hould be given and where help if needed, can be aured in order to enure UK leaderhip in reearching the field. It i primarily focued on the application of new reearch, rather than the preervation of the outcome of previou reearch which ha been the focu of imilar project. Finally, the mot olid of it three main project i adding the ICT expertie of it member to the EU Building Energy Performance Management Sytem. With the help of Mancheter City Council, a well a partner in France, Sweden, Italy and Bulgaria, the project aim to improve the energy efficiency of public building acro Europe. It will focu on building uch a office and chool and will involve the ue of Facebook and SecondLife in order to aign emiion allowance to buinee. our pending by fifty time on reearch and development for technological breakthrough uch a mart grid, or ultra-efficient batterie on hydrogen fuel cell. Thee will be needed to break the addiction to foil fuel. Developing nation would be far more likely to follow a plan that upport their economy, rather than handicap it. At preent, we have little more than good wihe and fanciful promie that either mean nothing or have zero chance of fulfilment. If we are eriou about removing the knife over our head, we need action that actually work rather than concience booting and moral poturing that make u feel good, but only lower the knife further. Niall Whitehead Addendum: Thi article wa written before the cloe of the conference, it would appear the author fear were realied. Polar Bear - Arctic circle Overall, the Digital Cluter i a veratile and ambitiou project that ha been recognied by the government a a key example of Britih univerity upporting new ector growth and engagement. The report highlight the Digital Cluter a a forum and centre of excellence, which combine and lead on high quality reearch, academic enterprie and teaching in area of informatic, digital media and new and convergent technologie. But will the Digital Cluter affect u? It may tie into Martin Blow, of the National College for School Leaderhip and hi E-word plan. He plan to wap traditional practice for ICT-baed project, and o engage learner through the ue of ICT, deepening meaning changing the content, proce and location of learning. The Cluter, or project imilar to it, may help teacher and pupil communicate and hare their knowledge between different chool collaborating on project and learning from the technique and method of their counterpart. Niall Whitehead 14 15