Assignment on Politics (major constitutional changes) Essay

Assignment on Politics (major constitutional changes) - Essay Example After 2010 elections, the government became the first formal coalition since the second world war. The Coalition has been made between Liberal Democrats and The Conservatives. Both parties now have the same plan for the government as they give promises about solving different issues in the UK. As such many new reforms have been proposed and implemented in this new political environment. This essay will discuss the political changes that have been presented by the new coalition government. One of these changes is tax changes. According to this change is "the most radical for a decade", and it affects everyone whether they are rich, poor, unemployed or employed. People think that the policy of increasing the tax-free personal allowance to 10,000 GBP is too much, but this policy allows an individual to keep more of his income before tax, and decrease the need to the government money.... Within these changes perhaps the largest is the introduction of a Freedom Bill. This bill does away with, â€Å"ID cards, the National Identity register and the ContactPoint database, and halt the next generation of biometric passports† (â€Å"Policy-by-policy: The Coaltiion,† 2010). Still, a growing number of critics have noted that the coalition government has not gone far enough in establishing civil liberty reforms. It’s noted that, â€Å"the people with the passion, audacity and sacrifice who set the Freedom Bill in motion are being sidelined† (â€Å"The coalition government,† 2011). Another civil rights aspect is the implementation of consumer protection measures. This included banning excessive interest rates on credit cards and placing a seven-day wait period for store cards. Furthermore, credit card companies will need to provide better information to consumers and put it in electronic format so they can figure out if they are getting the b est deal. A large amount of consideration has also been given to local and community government change. In these regards they have proposed a freeze council tax in England for an indefinite period. They also are trying to have mayors elected directly from the 12 largest English cities. They also are trying to stop the general restructure of councils throughout many parts of Great Britain. Local and community crime is another major area of concern. Health and safety laws and being amended through ‘common sense policing’. Greater levels of transparency are also being developed in terms of crime and policing. For instance, local police agencies are now being required to publish statistics about crime and crime rates every month. New attention has also been given to

Alexander of Macedon Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Alexander of Macedon - Research Paper Example Alexander as commander ensured excellent use of psychological war and propaganda, as it created a sense of revenge appealing to the Greeks. Despite the sources Alexander did win the battle which led him to continue his invasion of Persia. As for his troops, Alexander visited the wounded and received great respect from his men. Plutarch wrote of the capture of Darius’s family, and on much more on Alexander’s campaign. The action performed showed Alexander’s respect and nobility as a commander ignoring the reality that Darius was his enemy. Continuing on, he defeated Bessus, then moved on to India, and fought King Porus at the Hydaspes River in which once again was another victory. The truth that Alexander overpowered Darius, Bessus and King Porus in their own kingdoms reveals Alexander’s brilliance as an outstanding commander. [1] His mentality as commander was flexible and the concern he showed to his army led to few casualties in battles. When men died, A lexander showed compassion and honored the dead, and this led to Alexander having the great respect from his men. ... ccording to Bosworth â€Å"He loved them and they loved him as their king and as a man, and they could not bear to let him die without greeting him.† [2] This statement can assist in proving the ‘love’ aspect of his relationship as king with his men, and one must see this side of Alexander’s Kingship. In the determining of the rift at the Hydaspes River, after shedding tears and after listening to his men moaning outside his tent, Alexander assured them in these words which definitely consoled them then and there â€Å"but all of you regard as my kinsmen†. [3] In addition to this compassion, Alexander paid off his men’s debts off which totaled to 20,000 talents, a kind deed, and in the thirteen years of Alexander’s rule, he brought Macedon â€Å"immense wealth which maintained their strength for generations†. [4] The affiliation of Alexander as King towards his Macedones is wide-ranging. It is obvious that Alexander was an obsess ed king whose sufferings and implementations to Persian traditions created enormous annoyance and aggravation between his men towards him. There are more unconstructive perspectives in regard to Alexander’s successes as king, but in certain circumstances, we see the positives and affection Alexander and his men had for each other. As statesman, Alexander established his kingdom by using his skills as statesman. One of his first and most significant achievements as statesman was gaining the submission of Greece after the death of his father Philip. According to Hammond, when Alexander died he had 25 satrapies, which were ran by hundreds of influential senior officials from Asia and Europe. Of the Satrapies, most of the satraps (governor of satrapy) were Persian. Alexander kept these men in these powerful positions because they had the

Human Resource Strategy Of The NHS

Human Resource Strategy Of The NHS Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is located at the Tameside General Hospital in Ashton-Under-Lyne. The organisation was formally authorised as a Foundation Trust on 1 February 2008. The Trust was formerly known as Tameside Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust. Employing approximately 2,300 staff, the hospital provides the wide array of services one would associate with a general hospital, including Accident and Emergency services, general and specialist medicine, general and specialist surgery and full Consultant led obstetric and paediatric hospital services for women, children and babies. The Trusts clinical services are provided in a number of different specialties and departments. These are organised into four Divisions. Situated at the foot of the Pennines, eight miles to the east of Manchester the Trust services a population of over 250,000. The population is concentrated in the largely industrialised areas of the eight townships of Tameside, which comprises Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council. The Trusts overarching purpose is to become the local Hospital of Choice for patients, the public and staff. The Trust will continue to play its part in the local community, and to seek to build strong and enduring partnership relations throughout 2010/11 and beyond. The Trust is committed to building on its achievements of 2009/10 and continuing to improve the care the hospital provides and the way we work. Tameside appears to have a very positive future ahead as we have recently undergone extensive building work under a PFI (private finance initiative) Project where we have had  £120 million investment. The Health Investment in Tameside (HIT) Project is the biggest investment and most extensive site improvement Tameside hospital has seen for decades. It will result in new Acute and Mental Health facilities with a construction programme which started in autumn 2006 and will be completed by the end of 2011. The organisations expenditure consists of around two thirds on its workforce. The approach in the way the hospital manages staff is crucial and is key to delivering the best possible care to patients. Staff have the opportunity to develop their skills, knowledge and attitudes and engaging staff in this way will the lead the organisation through a very difficult economic climate. Tameside Hospital like other hospitals is dominated by a mainly female workforce and this is impacting on a previously male management culture and there is a competitive edge now between the existing male workforces in similar organisations. The financial and economic outlook for the coming three years is very challenging and the demands on healthcare services are likely to rise at the same time as available funding becomes more constrained. Improving productivity will be a key focus of the Trusts work over this period, but this will not be allowed to come at the expense of the quality of healthcare services. The Trust Board recognises the challenge of maintaining an accessible and comprehensive range of clinical services for the population of Tameside and Glossop in the current economic climate, and acknowledges that this may be more readily achieved through both innovation and scale. The potential to work collaboratively with another organisation in the development of a hospital group to ensure the continued delivery of quality and productivity is being actively explored. The key aim of such collaboration would be to achieve additional efficiency and quality gains, without the need for major structural change (merger). The Trust already has an active programme for the involvement of patients, the public and staff in its work. Website http://www.tamesidehospital.nhs.uk/Documents/AnnualPlan201011.pdf Accessed 30.03.11. However, it remains the view of the Trust that there are additional benefits to be gained from developing wider and deeper involvement. The Trusts staff also will need to feel empowered to seek out ways to achieve quality gains whilst also delivering productivity improvements, such that the Trust can secure financial and service stability going forwards. As stated above, the Trusts Stakeholder Engagement and Communications Strategies will set out the Trusts plans to enhance the involvement and engagement of key stakeholders. Staff involvement plays a major part in delivering the high quality services expected by such a large community like Tameside and as such the organisation invests heavily in staff development. There is a direct link to the performance of staff and the organisations HR strategy. Unfortunately in the current economic climate this couldnt be further from the truth as staff morale and motivation is certainly not what it was as job cuts is the focus of every member of staff at the Trust. Current Challenges in Strategic Priorities The HR function at Tameside Hospital has become the forefront of driving change within the organisation. The workforce strategy (see Appendix 1) links back to the Trusts Mission Statement (See Appendix 2) for being the hospital of choice for the people of Tameside and Glossop. The Trust wants to use this to underpin the strategy and link it to its business performance. To define human resources and human resourcing strategy Human Resources Human Resourcing Strategy The efforts, skills or capabilities that people contribute to an employing organisation to enable it to continue in existence The general direction followed by an organisation in how it secures, develops and, from time to time, dispenses with human resources to help it continue in the long term Leopold et al (1999) Since the recent change in government and the plans reform the NHS, HRM has become more prevalent to everyone working at the Hospital and what the unknown aims and objectives will be in the coming years. The much criticised Nick Clegg at the Liberal Democrats conference in Sheffield recently has been humiliated by his own party after passing a motion that our family GPs will be in control of commissioning services. Paul Burstow the Health Minister was quoted saying There will be no US-style privatisation of the health service on our watch. Sunday Times 13.03.11. The truth is that nobody really knows what the future holds for the NHS and whether the future reforms will be successful. Mr Burstow also told delegates stripping out layers of needless management and capping administrative costs (means) well be able to make  £5bn of savings over the next four years all of which we will plough straight back into patient care. www.bbc.co.uk. The strategic HR priorities of the NHS as a whol e will be on how these cuts will affect staff and the services they deliver and also how with a significant number of job losses the business is expected to continue with delivering the adequate patient care required. The Independent predicts that union leaders have also indicated that a loss of 50,000 jobs could be lost to due to efficiency savings. www.independent.co.uk. Inevitably this type of reform is going to lead to failures on the frontline with the loss of nursing staff delivering the patient care which is so widely criticised. The focus in our organisation currently is efficiency and effectiveness as there is a significant hole in the purse which funds the whole organisation. We are currently nearly  £2 million in deficit and this is predominantly the case for many public sector organisations where cuts are being made within the existing workforce to combat the financial deficit which hospitals, police and local councils are declaring at the current financial year end. The role of Human Resources is also changing not only as a result of a coalition government but also as a result of globalisation and the expectations of stakeholders and how the rapid development of technology impacts on HRM. Within a change in environment, the HR professional has to evolve to become more strategic and a change mentor within the organisation. People Management (January 2011) suggests that in many Asian companies the positioning of HR is best placed as a business function with a leadership role and operating at a very transactional level and they tend to think less about HR strategy but focus directly on growth. This indicates that the UK can learn from the way their HR leaders operate. They have: Faster implementation cycles Asian leaders have a much more fluid interpretation of HR structures and that a rigid definition of business partner, specialist and HR services can create silos and slow response times. Putting insight at the heart of the function HR leaders are savvy and they use this to drive business growth strategy. Pull the purpose lever they create a sense of purpose by harnessing the press, the project and the organisation behind a big idea. True Engagement they use the three As accountability, authenticity and adaptability. It could soon mean that the UK is struggling to keep up with the way HR is responding to competition and change. In order to succeed in the UK, HR must be a business driven function with a thorough understanding of the organisations bigger picture and be able to influence key decisions and policies. In general, the focus of todays HR Manager has to be on strategic personnel retention and talents development. HR professionals will be coaches, mentors and succession planners to help motivate organisations members and their loyalty. The HR manager will also promote and fight for values, ethics and beliefs within their organisations, especially in the management of workplace diversity. Leopold et al (1999) states that strategy makers are seeking to achieve a fit between HR Strategy and the broader business strategy and ultimately this should contribute fully to the achievement of business objectives. Whittingtons (1993) fourfold typology shown below is extremely useful and helps to understand the complexity and the multidimensional ways in which strategy might be conceived. It is based upon outcomes and how they are perceived purely between either profit-maximising or pluralistic and whether the strategy is either deliberate or emergent. Processes Deliberate Classical Systemic Outcomes Profit-Maximising Pluralistic Evolutionary Processual Emergent Whittingtons typology of strategy Marchington et al (2008) Mabey et al (1999) suggests that the National Health Service has been exposed to decentralization and division into profit-responsible divisions. The organisations workforce strategy is also expected to deliver the employer of choice and the domains for this method are as follows: Employee Resourcing The focus for Tameside is workforce planning and contingency staffing, managing change, modern recruitment and selection practices, new roles and job redesign and developing shared services. Workforce/HR Planning This is essential to any organisation in ensuring we get the right caliber of staff, with the right skills. As an integral part of the business planning process it involves recruitment, retention, development strategies and the provision of workforce information to managers. Effective workforce planning ensures you will have a workforce of the right size, with the right skills, organised in the right way within the budget that you can afford, delivering services to provide the best possible care. www.healthcareworkforce.nhs.uk There are four categories of staff that are important in human resources planning: Exisiting staff New recruits Potential staff Leavers Marchington et al (2008) suggests when the world markets were much more stable and predictable, HR planning was prominent in HRM, personnel management and labour economics. HRM texts have discussed whether HR planning is still worthwhile. In some new organisations HR planning conveys images of bureaucracy, rigidity and a failure to comprehend the limitations of planning in an uncertain environment. Tamesides Workforce Strategy focuses on tactical adjustments to address unknown forces in relation to high demand of services from our commissioners and also the public. Tamesides workforce planning is flexible in nature which allows the organisation to respond effectively to the peaks and troughs of activity. This is through the use of agency and temporary staff which relieves some of the pressure associated with peak times of the year like winter. Skill mix is another focus for the organisation to ensure staff can work across all divisions which gives increased flexibility to the staff we have and which departments they can work. Changes over the next 5 years are projected in our Workforce Strategy. The reductions in staff are significant and this will be managed through effective strategic planning and the deployment of HR interventions such as stringent vacancy controls, allowing for natural wastage, effective redeployment and a planned approach to contingency staffing. Beardwell et al suggests that the Markov model is something which should be used by manpower planners in addressing internal factors that need to be considered in the development of a manpower plan. Recruitment Retention Staff are the most valuable asset in an organisation. Their performance determines whether the organisation achieves its goals and expected results. As a manager you need to create and maintain an environment in which your staff are motivated to perform well. The Trust is developing Recruitment Retention strategies locally, nationally and internationally to help fill vacant positions and hard to fill posts across the Trust. We are seeking to recruit returners back into nursing, midwifery, professions allied to health and medicine. In addition we monitor the reasons for staff leaving and have developed an exit questionnaire to ascertain the main reasons why staff leave. The NHS as a whole advertises through a centralised internet site http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/ this enables the organisation to attract a wide variety of candidates for any single advertisement. We also use techniques such as talent banking and generic recruitment campaigns. The trust aims to ensure that the recruitment and selection of employees and volunteers is always carried out in a fair, timely and cost-effective manner. Poor staff retention has many consequences including cost of staff turnover, loss of company knowledge, and decreased morale. These things can all be detrimental to your business. The retention of key employees is critical to the long-term health and success of any business. Organisations need to try to do what they can to retain their best employees to ensure customer satisfaction, product sales, satisfied co-workers and reporting staff, effective succession planning, and deeply embedded organisational knowledge and learning. www.health4work.nhs.uk Tameside is considering undertaking the introduction of assessment centres, psychometric testing and competence-based selection methods for all vacancies within the organisation. This approach will underpin our commitment to delivering dignity in care by ensuring a workforce hard wired with the requisite behaviours and values. The induction process is also being reviewed and it will be mandatory for staff to be re-inducted every 2 years. Essentially Tameside is aspiring to be as modern with its recruitment process as possible as well as cost efficient. The Trust marks itself to be able to attract and retain the best possible staff but Torrington et al (2005) suggests that this varies over time as labour markets become successively tighter and looser depending on economic conditions. Because an organisation may have to bring about a cultural shift within the company in order to improve employee retention, you may be faced with some resistance to change from some members of staff. Resistance can take many forms ranging from the subtle undermining of change initiatives or withholding of information, to active resistance including strikes. Poor communication has been linked to issues surrounding the effectiveness of change management because imposed change can lead to greater employee resistance. Reward and Recognition Through communications, pay modernisation-benefits realisation and staff recognition schemes Tameside audits itself to ensure the workforce is fully engaged with the delivery of the corporate objectives. Benefits realisation of the recent new pay systems so we can continuously improve productivity. There are schemes which recognise staff commitment which reinforces values and behaviours: Chairmans Prize for Service Improvement, Teamwork and Innovation Above and Beyond Award Caring for Those Who Care Award Long Service Award 100% Attendance These schemes motivate staff and contributes to wider organisation performance and links back to Tameside being the Local Hospital of Choice. Succession Planning Ideally an organisation would not want one talent to replace another but to develop a pool of talent. This is a more dynamic approach to succession planning and gives individuals the chance to put themselves forward to a talent pool. One of the key features of a structured management development system is a succession plan. Cole (2002:390) Succession planning is typically defined as a process by which one or more successors are identified for key posts (or groups of similar key posts), and career moves and/or development activities are planned for these successors. In other words, succession planning is about preparing organisations for likely or inevitable changes now, in order to minimise challenges later. www.idea.gov.uk Some large organisations develop schedules for their succession planning but Tameside does not have such an elaborate schedule. Succession planning is a very informal discussion between managers identifying potential candidates who would be suitable for roles which are about to become vacant from retirement, voluntary leaving, dismissal or sickness. Strategically the NHS has a workforce review team (WRT) but at local levels like District General Hospitals it is more difficult to implement workforce planning effectively. With an organisation such as Tameside a more formalised approach to succession planning would be advisable to build a pool of staff rather than assessing staff within your own department. For workforce planning to be successful it requires accurate data, modelling, continuous and iterative planning, specialist skills, scenario building and stakeholder involvement. Talent Management Develop leadership and staff empowerment, talent spotting and succession planning. Performance Management and Monitoring with HR Metrics, Performance Monitoring and External Benchmarking. Tameside recognises the importance of a positive approach to the management of unsatisfactory work performance to enable the Trust to deliver quality services. Unsatisfactory performance by individual employees for whatever reason is detrimental to the service and Trust as a whole. As well as reducing standards of patient care and service delivery, poor performance by individual members of staff has a demotivating effect on other employees. The hospital operates a rigorous Capability Policy for managers to use when assessing individuals who require performance monitoring. It also ensures individuals are treated fairly, sensitive and in a consistent manner. It is the responsibility of managers to ensure when recruiting that the right candidate is selected and they can perform the role they are applying for. Managers are given full support from their individual HR Managers to ensure the policy is adhered to. There are 4 stages to the Capability Policy: Stage 1 Informal monitoring, coaching and counseling Stage 2 Formal meeting Stage 3 Formal meeting Stage 4 Formal hearing stage This is a lengthy process and on occasion has been known to take 12 months to redeploy or dismiss an employee who is not performing their role. Performance Management takes the form of a continuous self-renewing cycle, as illustrated in the figure below: The performance Management Cycle Armstrong et al (2009) There is a lot of red tape to the current performance management technique. If a staff member is unable to perform the role to the required standard the process is so long that nobody really bothers to use it and usually waits for the individual to leave. This workforce strategy was produced in 2007 and was scheduled to be periodically reviewed over the course of 5 years. Leopold et al (1999) suggests that the correct definition for Human Resource Strategy is personnel strategy. Organisations which do not concentrate on attracting and retaining talents may find themselves in a very vulnerable position, as competitors may be outplaying them in the strategic employment of their human resources. With the increase in competition, locally or globally, organisations must adapt themselves to become more resilient, agile, and customer focused to succeed. Human resource management challenges cost your organisation money, time, resources, lost opportunities, and reduced productivity, to name but a few. Organisations need to rethink their strategic HRM and think more about strategic recruitment. www.strategic-human-resource.com Cole (2002) suggests that there should be strategic long-term goals when it comes to a HR strategy which includes: Ensuring the HR needs for the next five years are met Maintain wage and salary levels sufficient to recruit, retain and motivate staff at all levels in the organisation. Give priority to the development of leadership skills Ensure effective training and development opportunities Effective communication systems between management and other employees Provide mechanisms to cope with the human consequences of change This is certainly reflected in Tamesides Workforce Strategy. How Human Resources Management (HRM) contributes to the achievement of organisational objectives. HR Consultant Louise Allen suggests there are key steps in the quest to delivering a successful HR strategy that links to the organisation objectives of the business. Aligning business and HR needs The business goals sit at the heart of any HR strategy and in order to align business and HR needs can your organisations internal capability deliver its business goals? A HR strategy which is aligned with the business strategy is about the growth of the organisation by increasing the performance of the employees and keeping budgets under control. The process of the alignment of the HR strategy with the business strategy is about going deeper and finding the real root of the successful human capital management in the organisation. Developing your HR strategy It needs to understand your business goals and the business model can identify any potential threats and opportunities in the quantity and quality of human resource required by your organisation. It is critical the HR team as a whole has a high level of knowledge and expertise in aligning HR interventions and how this impacts on business performance. Organisational performance This is the process by which business goals and objectives are cascaded and managed across and down an organisation. It provides a rationale for all other HR activity and directly impacts the business success, enhancing HRs reputation and contribution. Organisation culture Culture commonly described as the way we do things round here www.thetimes100.co.uk Organisations tend to create their own culture and this gives the business a sense of identity. The organisation culture encapsulates what it is good at and what has worked for the business in the past. These values can often be acknowledged and accepted without question by long-serving members of the business. In re-aligning an organisations culture there can be real benefit and competitive advantage through improved service. Changes to the Organisations Current HR Strategy The fundamental change to our Workforce Strategy is that it needs updating. The current strategy differs somewhat to where we are currently. The change in government is not something that was envisaged and the impact of this change and how it would affect the Trust. I understand this would be difficult to envisage but all eventualities should be considered in a HR Strategy which has a 5 year plan. There isnt a one-size-fits-all and your HR strategy may change as the business evolves. www.humanresourcesiq.com The organisation needs to create a robust performance management process that sets out performance objectives for all levels of staff within the business. This is an opportunity to develop line managers skills in being able to disseminate and set stretch targets for their business. Another element is a personal development review process where individual strengths and weaknesses are identified for the purposes of assessing and meeting organisational development needs. Evaluation of the impact of SHRM on the business Even though HR professionals like Guest and Legge are convinced that their efforts add value to the organisations bottom-line, frequently there is little evidence to demonstrate such belief. www.allbusiness.com Improvements could be made to our HR department but it seems to be a consistent trend throughout the organisation with regards to funding and resources which would enable you to deliver those objectives. A prominent guru of HRM, David Ulrich discusses the role of HRM moving from a functional to a more operational role and involves partnership rather than being resource based. He describes HR as being a four sided partnership consisting of: Strategic Partner Change Agent Employee champion Administrative expert This allows the challenge of change to be more transparent and enables a strategic involvement from the beginning involving all stakeholders from the macro and micro environment. The employee champions act as an advocate for the employees and protects them throughout the process of change. The administrative expert is a flexible role within Ulrichs model ensure the maximum possible quality service is delivered at the lowest possible cost to the organisation. The Ulrich model relates very closely to how Tameisde will require support in the future developments and changes within the organisation. Competitive Advantage There is evidence to suggest that HR practices have a direct link to sustaining a competitive advantage in any organisation. Leopold et al suggests that in order to gain human resourcing advantage there should be a combination of efforts towards generating both human capital advantage (by recruiting and retaining outstanding people) and human process advantage (instigating difficult-to-imitate, socially complex, historically evolved processes such as learning, co-operation and innovation). There is also evidence to suggest that mixing human resourcing activities inevitably presents HR planners with a major challenge. To help with this, the notion of horizontal integration, this relates to the degree to which different aspects of HR are compatible with each other. Porter has argued that employers have three basic strategic options in order to gain competitive advantage: Cost Leadership Differentiation Focus www.business-fundas.com Porters five forces model (Appendix 4) provides a simple perspective for assessing and analysing the competitive strength and position of an organisation. This model can be used alongside other models like SWOT and PESTEL with good analytical effect. More recently Michael Porter has been working with Elizabeth Teisbery to revolutionise Healthcare reform in the United States. The Economist (Aug 2008) suggests that Porter effectively redefined the way that businessmen think about competition Conclusion After reviewing the HR strategy for Tameside Hospital it is clear that as an organisation we have yet to deal with any real human resource issue that leads to any disciplinary action. Our paperwork trail is not fluent and procedures are followed in a haphazard way. Due to a significant cut in resources even before the new round of government cuts it is difficult to follow out-of-date policies effectively. There is a real need for training and education on Human Resource Management as Tameside is leaving itself wide open to legal disputes. Clear guidelines need to be in place to protect the workforce and also the employees and organisations interests. The succession plans of the business are also ineffective. There are no established structured channels for promotion for staff within the business which are committed to their own self development. With the future of the Primary Care Trusts diminishing and the commissioning role transferring to the responsibility of the GPs, Tameside will come under increasing pressure to have their policies and protocols up-to-date which are adhered to by staff at every level.

Gothic Horror in Susan Hills The Woman in Black and H.G. Wells The Re

Gothic Horror in Susan Hill's The Woman in Black and H.G. Wells' The Red Room As with all things, the gothic horror genre of literature did not begin at one definable point, but evolved gradually. Gothic horror evolved out of gothic fiction (as opposed to classical fiction, for example the novels of Jane Austen), before establishing itself as a genre in its own right. However, many literary scholars and critics would point to "The Castle of Otranto", written by Horace Walpole and first published in 1764, as the first true gothic horror novel, containing as it does many of the clichs prevalent throughout the genre. Gothic horror novels are typified by their dark, lachrymose atmosphere of dread and fear. In fact, the key to gothic horror can be summed up in one word: tension. This is created by many devices, as well as having an evil force present working against the hero/heroine. The characters, locations and atmospheres created are designed to be threatening, even when nothing sinister is actually happening. Although the gothic horror genre didn't die out altogether, it certainly lost popularity. However, it has had a minor resurgence over the last decade. Susan Hill is one of the authors who has turned her hand to the gothic horror format, her short novel "The Woman In Black" being released in the late eighties. Susan Hill says she wrote The Woman In Black because she "had the urge to write a story in the old fashioned sense," perhaps because of a dissatisfaction with modern horror writing and its reliance upon gore and physical danger. HG Wells, although primarily a science-fiction author, also wrote a gothic horror story, "The Red Room". I will be comparing these two stories, to see how these ... ...t be too lightly dismissed. These two stories are particularly interesting because they were both written by authors who aren't normally associated with the genre, so they have explored the clichÃÆ'Â ©s more than a seasoned horror writer might. But despite being so blatantly "influenced" by genre standards such as Henry James' The Turn Of The Screw and work of M.R. James, they remain gripping. This is because they appeal to our wish for escapism and a decent scare, a need that is pandered to by almost every work of fiction. This is the basis of horror writing - that the reader wants to be scared; if the reader approaches the story with the attitude of not wanting or expecting to be scared, he or she will not be affected by the story so much. However, gothic horror is still one of the most effective mediums for provoking fear, ensuring its enduring popularity.

Duchess’ behavior Essay

Elizabeth Oakes’ article concerns itself with the answer to the popular question of criticism facing The Duchess of Malfi. This question is whether or not to judge harshly the widow Duchess’ behavior. She describes the scholarly fact that some have analyzed the Duchess as somehow deserving her fate, that her behavior somehow reduces her status and removes any natural sympathy the reader would have for her. However, she continues, there is a school of thought that makes the widow out to be someone who is actually maintaining the status quo of widows of her time. She is just in keeping with decorum. Eventually, through her article Oakes argues for the second view. The author even goes so far in the ending of her piece as to argue for the widow Duchess’ arrival as a female hero of the genre of tragedy. Oakes’ article is well written. She presents her piece in a balanced fashion, acknowledging the contributions of other scholars before her. She admits their ideas and notions as perhaps being the more standard views. This only serves to strengthen the weight and findings of her arguments by placing them in the context of orthodox literary criticism. The result is a compelling argument on strength of reason. Writers who seek to understand and then pass on their understandings of large works like Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi would be well served to emulate the style of Oakes’ critiques. The power of Oakes’ writing is her willingness to compare her findings to those of other prominent academicians. The placement of Elizabeth Oakes’ article within the journal Studies in Philology and its acceptance within the literary and academic circles of the University of North Carolina presses gives automatic credence to her work. It is far removed from popular contemporary treatment, and authorized as a work of academic critical scholarship. Palter, Robert. The Duchess of Malfi’s Apricots, and Other Literary Fruits. Columbia, SC: South Carolina UP, 2002. 270-81. Robert Palter’s entertaining and insightful book offers a refreshing literary criticism to the art of analytical reading. His book explores the literary episodes or incidences of fruits in books and plays. He finds these occurrences in all levels and genres of writing, even in the more classic ones of religious works such as the Bible. In particular, and more specific to the topic of The Duchess of Malfi, he argues for the passion of apricots in dealing with both love and widowhood – the key topical issues of the work by Webster. Again, it is a counterintuitive argument, perhaps. The book utilizes some two dozen languages and nearly countless, it seems, texts from across the international literary realm; these are all readily translated for the reader by distinguished translators. The writing itself is supported by artful illustrations and is arranged topically by type of fruit. It is easy to read and cite. The strength of Palter’s book is its compelling engagement of the reader. His take on the critical analysis of literature may seem farfetched at first, but that only serves to invigorate the academic reader who may be seeking to dismiss the notion. Palter’s reliance on reputable sources of literary critique, however, draw the reader further into believing the arguments contained in the chapters. Its thorough documentation and lively and entertaining reading make it an easily digested piece of academic commentary. After having read The Duchess of Malfi’s Apricots, and Other Literary Fruits, any reader will be more fully informed both on a new aspect of literature, and particularly inspired to study Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi. Robert Palter is a reputable source. He holds a Ph. D. in philosophy from the University of Chicago and is currently serving as the Dana Professor Emeritus at Hartford, Connecticut’s Trinity College. Pearson, Jacqueline. â€Å"The Difficulty of the White Devil and the Duchess of Malfi. † Critical Quarterly. 22. 4 (2007): 43-55. Web. Pearson’s article on the difficulties inherent in studying the two tragedies of Webster is a very thorough one. She concerns herself with attempting to cover all of the various problems that come with approaching the two texts in a critical fashion. As such, the writing moves from traditional rendering to traditional rendering, considering the past opinions of other analysts and comparing the vast divergences of thought found in them. She also offers her personal academic opinions on the topic. Primarily these dwell upon and deal with encouraging the reader to look at all of the various angles that a critical reader can look at Webster’s works. She provides numerous examples of these: usage of imagery and allusion, the coverage of multiple moral dilemmas within each piece, multiple views including realism and extremism of style that are often included within a single scene, and the often deliberate seeming efforts at obfuscation. These all add up, she argues, to make Webster’s texts, and The Duchess of Malfi in particular, singularly difficult to undertake a concise and proper assessment. Undoubtedly Pearson’s writing on this topic is valuable. They lend a plan or at least an agenda to reviewing and gleaning potentially hidden messages and angles with Webster’s tragedies. However, on the other hand, she can tend to become just as bogged down and self-conscious as the plays that she is exploring. She maintains an academic tone but is often difficult to follow for the same reason. Sometimes her writing is fairly inaccessible. After some time, and multiple readings, though, her points become clearer, and with patience, the critical reader can take away an intriguing new method of looking at the genre. Jacqueline Pearson is a difficult, but good source. Her presence within the Critical Quarterly and placement within the Wiley Interscience Database do lend some power to the arguments and academics that she is presenting. She should be used as a secondary source. Roider, Nancy. â€Å"Arbella Stuart, Catherine of Valois, and The Duchess of Malfi: An Examination of Women, Marriage, and Widowhood in Jacobean England. † Trivium Publishing (2009). Web. 11 July 2010. Roider’s lengthy article is aimed at understanding not only the text of Webster’s famous tragedy, but more importantly the social context that the work is found in. This is her overarching point: that to fully understand a work one must look at the sociological implications of its place in history. This is a good twist on literary criticism. She utilizes multiple scholarly sources to sort out the many facets of the widow Duchess’ time period. The aim of the writing is apparently one of not buying into any single, traditional viewpoint but of borrowing some of the best from each and incorporating it into a fairly unified whole. Primarily her opinion is that Duchess of Malfi is the story of an independent and unexpected widow that is inspired and motivated by the great transitions of the social and political world of Jacobean England. Roider’s arguments are successful. Especially due to the language that she uses which borders on the colloquial at times, she is able to reach the readers while dealing with a fairly heavy topic. Her method of transition from topic to topic removes burden from attempting to organize one’s thoughts while still reading critically. Overall, one comes away from Roider with a better understanding of the implications of The Duchess of Malfi, and of the historical time settings in general. Nancy Roider is a strong secondary source. Although the article does not present her credentials on their face, Roider uses strong and accepted academic methodology in presenting her arguments and is not bashful about citing many other accepted academic pieces in writing hers. Her piece is well organized and insightful and offers the academic and literary world a new viewpoint on the interpretation of Webster’s writing. Webster, John. â€Å"The Duchess of Malfi. † The Duchess of Malfi: Eight Masterpieces of Jacobean Drama. Ed. Frank Kermode. New York: Modern Library, 2005. 463-566 This is an academically authorized version of The Duchess of Malfi and its text. It is the rendering that is most useful and presentable for study of the tragedy. The complete, word for word play is found here in clear and concise format. The Duchess of Malfi is included as one of several (eight to be precise) important piece of the drama written during the Jacobean period of England. This raises the level of Webster’s writing to that of paramount and vital authors of the era. This book is valuable for the study and analysis of Webster’s writing. Although it would perhaps seem redundant to explore the tragedy in such a lengthy volume as an anthology as this sort, it is actually well worth the time. It can be quite insightful to place a work within the context not only of the period of literature in which it is found, but also in the specific context of comparison to other writers in the time as well. This helps one to understand the topical issues that were currently in vogue, and also provides a good starting point at which to begin to grasp nuances and divergences within one specific piece that makes it interesting and novel. In addition to this facet, the contributions of the editor Frank Kermode are helpful. His commentary in the introductory material are also well worth the while to read and understand. His thoughts lend to the starting point for analyzing The Duchess of Malfi and encourage the readers to see behind the text. When informed by this, a more analytical rendering can be made. Editor Frank Kermode’s The Duchess of Malfi: Eight Masterpieces of Jacobean Drama is a great academic source for studying and writing about Webster’s work. He is an acknowledged expert in the field of literary criticism. He has been knighted in his home of England for his numerous contributions to the field. Kermode is also routinely listed as the foremost literary critic of Britain, if not the whole of the Western world.

If Legislation Fails Who is There to Follow?

Judge Richard C Wesley, who had worked in the Legislature of New York, and subsequently, in its High Court, gave a speech in the Albany Law School, where in he discussed the technique of appellate judging in Common Law Courts. The second such exposition was at a seminar on the use of legislative history in interpreting New York State and Federal Statue, at the same venue. The discussion dealt with law making and the history of the legislature of this state. In respect of Article III of the Constitution, he stated that Congress had limited the powers conferred by the constitution in respect of resolution of cases. With regard to judicial verdicts, he discussed the statutory interpretation in respect of several cases which had a bearing on the future of the State as well as the Courts. Further, he expressed his discontent in respect of the process of Judicial Review, which results in the failure of the Court in framing an opinion. In this context he cited the case of Majewski v Broadalbin – Perth Control School District. The issues discussed were whether the changes in the workers’ compensation law restricting third party tort-fea ·sor seeking contribution from an injured employee’s employer were prospective or retroactive. Though the statute did not provide a clear answer, the Bill’s sponsor in the assembly proclaimed that it was prospective, while the Governor announced at the Bill’s signing that there would be an appreciable reduction in the insurance premia being paid by employers. Based on this outcome, he opined that judges will have to decide what was intended by such legislation. In his opinion, Judicial Activism has been limited to querying the Congress to explain the meaning of the various statutes. In this connection, there are occasions where regulatory or legislative schemes come under scrutiny and come up short under Constitutional Analysis. Judges have to follow the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The Supreme Court has heard two cases, U.S.V Baker and U.S.V Fanfan, which more or less signals the end of the sentencing schemes under the Constitution. According to him, the will of Congress does not trump the Constitution. This results in Congress forsaking the guidelines as a discretionary sentencing guide and leaving the task to even up the range of sentences to a law based arbitraryness review. In another case, Campaign for Fiscal Equity V New York, the Constitutionality and Federalism of the State were challenged. In 1995, the Court had ruled that the plaintiff’s complaint did plead a cause of action on State Constitutional Grounds. The Constitutional Standard for that Mandate was that the State must provide a sound basic education to all New York Children. The outcome of this case was that the School funding is based on political expediency and not on educational necessity. According to him the Court had transposed the Constitutional Provision from a general commitment to public education into substantive policy – laden guarantee of educational proficiency that would ultimately drag the Courts into a resource allocation fight with the Legislature. Absence of a Legislative Response to a Judicial Decree, declaring the Constitutional shortcomings of a state education system, the Courts have to manage the State’s Education Funding System; this is a job, which the majority of the fiscal equity noted that the Court had neither the authority, the ability nor the will to do. Richard C Wesley expressed his view that the quasi – legislative/ executive role will strain the Courts’ own intellectual and institutional resources, while providing the Executive with an excuse to usurp the Courts’ Powers. He further, contended that Governing and Judging are two dissimilar things and that the public policy is best formulated by means of public debates. Though the Judiciary has been granted an independent existence by the Constitution, in reality the Legislature controls it. Since Legislature is the most powerful wing of the U.S.Government, according to Wesley if it fails, there is no further recourse. The foregoing discussion illustrates the penchant of the legislature to interfere with the functioning of the judiciary. Whenever, the legislature fails to resolve any problem, the judiciary steps in to rectify the same. However, with the legislature making all out efforts to subjugate the judiciary, there is nothing which can retrieve the situation once the legislation fails (Wesley, n.d). References. Wesley, Richard C. (n.d.). If Legislatures Fail, Who is there to Follow?