If the Libdem are to decide in my opinion they are closer to the Conservative party then the Labour party!

A new general election is coming up in Britain, and it looks like we're going to have a draw between the Conservatives and the Labourers. This means that the Liberal Democrats now have a lot of power, as a coalition between the Liberal Democrats and any other party will basically mean success.

I personally think that the Liberal Democrats will form a government with the Conservatives because even though they are on different sides of the political spectrum, they still have common interests such as the economy, health care and how to rule. The Laborers haven't recovered from their horrendous term, and that is another reason for the Liberal Democrats to go with the Conservatives.

Protecting the blind side

We've just watched "The Blind Side," which is a film that covers the life of Baltimore Ravens left tackle Michael Oher. He grows up with an impoverished and drug-addicted mother, so you could easily tell that his childhood were different than the standard A4 life.

The story of Michael Oher and the family that chooses to take him in as their own son is truly unique, and I think it is rare to see something like that happen. I really enjoyed the film, because the characters and the relationship between them. I would like to note out that Sandra Bullock's role as the motherfigure was in my opinion the strongest, because she handeled all the emotional stress as Michaael came about.

This is England.

This is England is a film made in 2006 that depicts the life of a skinhead-group in 1983. The Falkland War ended in favor of the United Kingdom, but at a price. The main character, which is a young boy named Shaun actually lost his father in the war, and growing up without him really tores on Shaun.

One day, at school, Shaun beats up an older boy at school for talking smack about his dead father, and on the way home he meets up with a gang of apolitical and non-racist skinheads. They quickly bond, and the film follows the life of Shaun and the skinhead-gang.

I think the film was really good, because it felt very real and at the same time different. I think the characters were really well-played. The harsh life of skinheads and the personal struggle Shaun fights is very original, and I must say that it left a big impression on me. I feel that the way he headed when he teamed up with the racist skinhead Combo was obviously wrong, but I think he did it because he wanted to honor his dad. The things they did, such as beating up kids and tagging on walls served as a great way for Shaun to channel his aggression, and I think that it is easy for many people to go down that road under the given circumstances.

As the story progressed, it became clear that the boys got more violent and ruthless as they went, and the scene where Shaun, Combo and the rest of the guys get high off cannabis really served as the turning point, because Combo almost beats Milky to death because of his color. I have to say that I almost shed a tear, because it was so unfair, but at the same time I have to admit that I liked the emotions Combo showed when he understood his actions, and that he chose to carry Milky to the hospital rather than leaving him.

All in all, the film was very unique, and I have to say that I feel bad for little Shaun and the way his little gig with the skinheads turned out. The character is very strong, and I think that Shaun is one of the most memorable characters I've ever seen.

Mathias~

Politics in the UK

In Great Britain, almost every household owns a TV. The TV is therefore a suitable medium to broadcast the debates in the upcoming election. However, a prime minister In Great Britain have never been in a live TV debate, and debated against the two main opposition parties.


There is therefore a moment in political history when the primeminister and leader of the Labor party Gordon Brown, have agreed to take part in a TV Debate against the leader of the Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg, and the leader of the Conservative Party David Cameron.


During this historical event the politicians get an opportunity to express their view on politics in front of millions of viewers. The party leaders are also taking a huge risk when they participate in the debate. They may increase their support after the debate, but they may also lose votes if they deliver bad figure during the debate. It is therefore substantial for the political parties, that their leader delivers a good performance during the debates.

In order to make the debate as fair as possible the political parties have together with the TV companies BBC, ITV and Sky news (who will podcast the debates) agreed on 76 strict rules for the debate. The audience will not be allowed to respond to leaders' answers and applause will be restricted to the beginning and end of the debates. Every debate will be 90 minutes long. The debates will start to debate a selected topic, and then the studio audiences will be able to ask direct questions on any subject, with viewers doing the same via e-mail.

The first debate will be broadcast by ITV from the north-west of England. The moderator will be ITV newsreader Alastair Stewart and the selected topic will be domestic policies.

The second debate will focus on global issues. The moderator will be Sky's political editor Adam Boulton and the debate will take place in south-west England.

The third debate will be hosted by David Dimbleby and the BBC in the Midlands. The theme will be economy.
In contrast to Great Britain, there have been arranged TV debates between presidential candidates in the United States for decades. That also includes debates between the sitting president and new candidates. The first general presidential debate was arranged as early as in 1960. Since then there have been many arranged many more, and some of them have been described as crucial for the outcome of the presidential election. In 1980, the sitting president Jimmy Carter had a narrow lead over Ronald Reagan in a race considered "too close to call." However, Reagan, with years of experience in front of a camera as an actor, came across better than Carter and was judged by voters to have won the debate by a wide margin. Because this particular event, the election went from being a close race, to become a landslide victory for Regan. You can see the full video from the debate here. Do you find Regan upbeat and positive? Does Carter seem comfortable, how often does he smile?

Remember, because of one debate, the politics in the worlds most powerful country was pushed in an entirely different direction. If the candidate’s wants to have only one good day at work, then they should have it one the day of the TV debate.

P.S, Jimmy carter was a very experienced politician. From 1966 to 1970 when he promoted his candidature for the governor position in Georgia he held over 1 800 speeches (!) And when he debated against Regan in 1980, he had been president for tree years. Had carter only a bad day when he debated against Regan, ore was he a bad speaker? Take a look at his “Crisis of Confidence" Speech and decide for your self.

UK Politics

Question time is a happening at the parliament where the members of the parliament ask questions of Ministers of Government. This also includes the Prime Minister, and the little tweak is that the Ministers are obligated to answer. The actual time differs from day to day, but it is always for an hour. The Prime Minister answers questions in the Commons every Wednesday.

Gordon Brown appeared as a very eccentric man, as he frequently gesticulates to add to his arguments. He did it in a very controlled way however, and he did show a great sense of humor. That really added to his argumentation, and I also have to say that I was really surprised by how informal they are inside the Commons. It also seemed like he was on the defensive end rather than attacking people, and he backed up his arguments by telling the MPs statistics.

All the questions did get answered, but I don't think they were all answered properly. A thing we often saw was that the MPs and Ministers just tried to push the question in another direction, or just to try to change the topic.

David Cameron seemed rather un-prepared, as he frequently focused on personal attacks rather than making a statement based on the politics of his party. To me it feels dumb to try to trample on the Prime Minister when the next election is "right around the corner."

The debate in itself was rather heated, but it really depended on the topics under discussion. The reason for that is that there are bigger differences between the parties on different topics, which means that there will be more heated debates when discussing for example the wages of the Scottish MPs. Also, I would like to add that The Speaker did a great job at interrupting the MPs when things got out of control,

I think the election will end in favor of the Conservatives, as both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown has been failures, so I think that the British people wants to see a change in government.

-Mathias

Charlie Wilson's War.

We saw Charlie Wilson's War today, and I have to say that I were very impressed. The film covered the real story about Congressman Charles Wilson, and his quest to make sure the poor Afghan people got the weapons they needed to stop a Soviet invasion in the midst of the Cold War.

I think the film had a lot of very interesting characters, spanning from the lighthearted Charlie Wilson to the rather inverted Joanne, and also Gust, which I would describe as a reckless and rather realistic American. I think these three characters made the film, but I also have to add that there were several other deep and funny characters.

Also, the story around Charlie Wilson and what he did in the 1980s is something everyone should know. That he managed to lobby and make deals with several Middle-Eastern governments while keeping everything under the press' radar is rather extraordinary, and it also helped the Aghan people get their liberty and peace. What is rather ironic in this film is that Charlie Wilson was advised by Gust to keep sending funds to Afghanistan, as they needed a lot of money to re-build the country. Of course, the Americans often come in and clean things up, but they often don't care too much about what happens afterwards, and you could say that they got smacked by not doing so.

I really enjoyed the film, and I have to say that I've found a new character on my hall of fame; Gust Avrakotos.

A new way of working in the classroom

Mrs Michaelsen had a brand new idea of teaching today, and that was to divide the class into five different groups with different responsibilities, and our collaboration should end up with a proper and high-quality text around our topics.

The groups were as following:

1. Front desk, responsibilities: divide material, prioritize, approve material, give time limits talk to all groups
2. Research group, find material, and send to front desk, journalists, teachers and designers
3. Journalists, write blogs, and send to front desk, teachers, designers
4. Teachers, make rubrics with criteria for testing, write test questions
5. Designers, make Glogs and Photostory with material

Anders and I were in group one, and we had the responsibility of approving material, giving out time limits to the other groups as well as organize the whole process. I think we did a pretty ok job, but I have to say that we were wrong on how much time the different groups needed. The journalists were way over time, and that kind of slowed the process down. The latter groups had to start improvising without having any material, but I think it worked out pretty good overall.

I liked this way of learning, because it was very unique. However, I think some of the groups like the front desk didn't have to do a lot, which gave us too much free time. We did however use it wisely as we read, researched on our own and also wrote a few blog entries.

Mathias