Students, parents, teachers and residents of Camden hurried into the hall. Everyone had the option to put a question into a box that producer Victoria Wakeley and presenter, Jonathon Dimbleby, would filter through to find questions for the show. At half past 7, the editor gave the audience a ‘warm up’. She demanded the students to be as loud as possible, and emphasised the value of Any Questions is that of freedom to speak and challenge politicians, with an unselected audience in a more informal setting- in contrast to Question Time that has a selected audience for ‘balance’.

The editor also gave a brief history to Any Questions. Orignally only a ‘filler programme’ for a slot of 6 weeks in 1948, Any Questions was only meant to be temporary. However, 62 years later the program is going strong with a response show every saturday; Any Answers. The audience were told about the first ever question asked on the show in 1948; ‘if there were more women in politics, would there be a better democracy?’ was asked by Lady Mayoress of Winchester. Oh how it is still prevalent today! In the news this week, the while male dominated world of politics has been hilighted, as it can be asked, is this type of parliament still relevant in our multicultural, tolerant, diverse society ?

At 7:50, the panel for the show arrived. Jack Straw, Caroline Spelman, Justine Roberts and Menzies Campbell were in the building. The Labour Secretary of State for Justice, the  Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the co-founder and managing director of Mumsnet.com and the former leader of the Liberal Democrats were cheered into their seats.

The possibily of a hung parliament was first on the agenda. The Conservative representative, Carolina Spelman, was opposed to a coalition government, calling it ‘inherently unstable’, while Menzies Campbell was very positive about it.

Next on the agenda was ‘Englisnhness’. As it was St Georges day, the question was raised as to whether a immigrant could celebrate it. The majority of the audience voted yes while some apparently Conservative audience members were adamant that an immigrant could not celebrate being English. Justine Roberts remarked on the ‘tolerance’ of Britain and that St George’s day should be a positive celebration- it has unfortunately been clouded by extremist parties such as the BNP using it in campaigns. Roberts discussed the ‘fear of immigration being greater than the fact’, a refreshing outlook in relation to the political debates where immigration has been a key topic for discussion. Jack Straw demonstrated his political experience, in response to Spelman’s statement that immigration is an issue now, he reminded everyone of his time in political campaigns in the 60′s where immigration was an issue then too. It seems his point is that immigration is part of British society, and simply highlighting it as an issue is nothing radical. Menzies Campbell was the most favoured on the panel, as he expressed views excersising their influence ‘in the national interest and not in the interest of the liberal democrats’, furthermore he stated that politics is ‘an issue of policy’ ‘not personality’.

Jack Straw jumped from laughter to apparent boredom in minutes!

The topic of censorship and the power or freedom to offend was raised in light of the recent censoring of a Southpark episode in which depictions of living beings of the Islamic religion were promoted. Jack Straw wanted ‘to see the greatest respect for faiths of all kinds’. Dimbleby was quick to respond, bringing up a blast from the past for Straw; when he asked a woman to remove her Hijab to speak to him- a very disrespectful request.

Amongst the audience, the strongest support from Campbell was from the young people of Camden . They cheered and clapped as he stated that ‘parliament for too long has ignored what the people has said in way of messages’ and that ’freedom is indivisbile’. I overheard people wishing that Campbell was the leader of the Liberal Democrat Party, not Nick Clegg.

Although Spelman was fairly badly received by the audience, her statement about tolerance was applauded slightly: ‘the very essence of our nation is one of tolerance’ ‘through education is actually how you improve tolerance’.

The final question was pretty useless and a waste of time, but provided comic value. The panel was asked whether they would prefer to be in a pub! Jack Straw responded, rather nobely that ‘this is democracy and some of us are slightly driven’ while Campbell stated he would love to be ‘out and about’ in the ‘beautiful countries’ of Britain. Mumsnet founder Justine implied that she was not particularly comfortable in her position on the panel: ‘the way I feel now, I will definitely be going to the pub and probably be staying there quite a long time!’

Overall it was a wonderful experience to see how Any Questions was set up, run and formulated for production. I was lucky enough to meet Jonathon Dimbleby afterwards who was absolute delight, and had begun to working on Any Answers just minutes after the end of Any Questions. He projected a productive, positive attitude.

LISTEN : http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qgvj

También, Hurtlocker ganó 6 Oscars, mientras Avatar ganó 3. ¡Katheryn Bigelow es la primera mujer que gana el premio a la Mejor Dirección! Creo que es fantástico.

Mo’ Nique ganó el Oscar a la Mejor Actriz de Reparto, por la película Precious. Creo que Precious es hermosa, impactante y realista.

En relación a El Día Internacional de la Mujer que es hoy, (www.internationalwomensday.com), estos premios destacan los progresos de la mujer en el cine y los medios de comunicación. En este día se conmemora la lucha de la mujer por su activa participación en la sociedad, y la lucha de sus derechos. Es una celebración de la igualdad de género.

El sábado pasado, hubo una marcha llamada ‘Million Women Rise’ en Londres. Mi madre fue al evento, y dijo que era fantástico.

Vi ‘Todo Sobre Mi Madre’, ‘Hable Con Ella’, ¡Átame!, ‘Y tu Mama También’ y ‘La Mala Educación’. Creo que todas estas peliculas son fantásticas. Almodóvar y Cuáron son directores buenos, por que usan técnicas interesantes y  crean momentos bonitos mientras tratan de temas fuertes.

Almodóvar usa melodramas y colores fuertes, humor y cultura pop para crear peliculas mágicas. Si Almodóvar no usara estos elementos, sus peliculas no serian tan impresionantes o impactantes. Las peliculas de Almodóvar son tan buenas que aún a la gente de habla inglesa le gustan. Algunas personas prefieren ver las peliculas de Almodóvar que las peliculas inglesas. Quizas esto sea asi, porque Almodóvar usa una combinación de humor y melodrama. Lo que me gusta de Almodóvar también, es la exploración de temas controversíales o tabu, y el uso de personajes singulares.

Por otro lado, Cuáron no es tan excéntrico o radical como Almodóvar, sin embargo es un fantastico director. ‘Y tu Mama También’ es una pelicula emocionante y conmovedora . Los actores de esta pelicula se llaman Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna y Ana Morelos. Todos estos actores son brilliantes y el guión es subrealista pero actual.

Si yo fuera actriz, me gustaria ser dirigida por Cuáron o Almodóvar por ejemplo Penélope Cruz es un actriz que ha aparecido en varias peliculas de Almodóvar y me gusta su trabajo mucho.

On Thursday, I went to Trafalga Studios to see an adaptation by DI SHERLOCK, of ‘The Worlds Wife’, by Carol Ann Duffy. Linda Marlowe lead the one woman show, and gave a  beautiful, frightening and heartfelt performance. She was unstoppable. The use of movement and physical portrayal of poems such as ‘Mrs Beast’ was fantastic, and the rendition of ‘The Devils Wife’ was chilling, creating high level tension in the theatre. Marlowe toyed between the comedy of ‘Mrs Darwin’ and ‘Frau Freud’ and the deep vulnerability and insecurities of ‘Salome’ and ‘Mrs Quasimodo’. Thus, the audience flitted from hysterical laughter to tense sadness. It was a thrilling and beautiful performance.

Today I went to Stoke Newington Town Hall in Hackney. It has been renewed due to a lottery grant. Last night The Electric Landladies did a gig in celebration of the new hall- a free gig that drew people from all over London and even outside London to attend. From what I’ve heard, they gave a fantastic perfomance and the hall was filled with dancing. The town hall does look very impressive, with a certain optimistic buzz that was exciting.

The main hall has a HUGE disco ball. I thought that was really cool.

There is a exhibition called Seeds of Change, and lots of information and campaigns for helping the environment and poverty all over the world. It cost lotsssss to update the town hall, I hope its used to its maximum potential, as it is very impressive and well designed.

I am watching lots of spanish film at the moment.

Voy a escribir sobre la pelicula espanol en la entrada siguiente. Es importante que vea muchas peliculas antes escribo el articulo. Hasta lluego.

]]> http://marinajgb.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/susie-orbachworldswife/feed/ 1 marina Image336_3 http://marinajgb.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/education-dorian-gray-and-2010/ http://marinajgb.wordpress.com/2010/01/20/education-dorian-gray-and-2010/#comments Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:43:44 +0000 Marina http://marinajgb.wordpress.com/?p=167 ]]> 2010.Most importantly, the devastation of the earthquake in Haiti which took place on the 12th January is absolutely endless. I cant even comprehend how horrendous the impact of the earthquake is, however the strength of the people of Haiti and their spirit to recover is brilliant. Jon Snow of the Channel 4 News has an incredible blog: http://blogs.channel4.com/snowblog/blogs/snowblog/ which is covering the situation.

DONATE: www.dec.org.uk/donate_now/    or    www.oxfam.org.uk/haiti

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So far politics has seen huge and much expected competition between Brown, Cameron and Clegg with their campaigns much under way.

Barack Obama has met his one year anniversary in office, and unfortunately he is under much ridicule.

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For my Spanish speaking exam I have to state my stance on a controversial issue.

I have been looking at the argument for the abolition of private education. Some people are ridiculous! I think this topic is very complicated, however what seems obvious is that the state of education is driven by wealth. In a democratic country like England, why should money be the aid to my academic achievement?

Some parents argue they do not want their children to be educated in environments of crime and bullying. Surely that is not an excuse for private education. Why is this even a reason? If state education has so much crime and bullying, the solution should not be private education, it should be a program of development and progress to decrease the crime and bullying.

It may be an ideal view, but in my opinion, if a child is inspired and motivated by a subject, a teacher, a school or an extra cirricular activity, it seems logical that they will have a sense of pride of their achievment in relation to this factor. Thus, with a sense of pride and responsibility to a subject, teacher or activity, it is possible that the wish to bully or be involved in crime may be decreased.

Also, if problems in school are so horrendous, why should only an elite group be ‘protected’ from this situation as they can afford to go to private school, leaving a majority of students to deal with these problems.

The argument for private education seems to be based on state education lacking things that private education can offer. So imagine private education was abolished, and those future MP’s who were set to attend Eton had to go to the local state school. Would expectations, complaints, support and donations RISE for state education? If state education could offer a hard working environment, a wide variety of resources, and well trained teachers with good salaries, there would be no excuse for the elitist personalities to not want their children to attend state school. In some ways though, one cannot blame the parents personally for their choices. It seems understandable that if there are no good schools available, and one has worked hard for the money, then private education sometimes seems the only option. However, it can also be argued that it should be a top priority of the government to make sure all schools are of high standard. Thus, with all schools meeting a high standard, this would have a ripple effect on the community as (hopefully) the students would be more engaged, higher achieving, and so more likely to go on to further education- thus less likely to be involved in crime and more likely to get a job.

It just seems, in simple terms, that if everyone had to go to state school, there would be a vested interest in making sure the education was excellent, and there would be equality of opportunity.

I definately understand that the ideal of complete state education is far out. But it is not impossible, and optimism of fulfilling, successful state education should not be compromised.

It must also be noted that there are a LOT of very very very fantastic, motivating, successful state schools in England. I find it difficult that such schools and teachers do not receive the same funding and salaries, but produce similar or even replica results to those of private schools.

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On a different note, I am reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, by OSCAR WILDE. It is absolutely beautiful, Wilde’s preface on art is fantastic-

‘the artist is the creator of beautiful things. To reveal art and conceal the artist is the art’s aim…those who find beautiful meanings in beautiful things are the cultivated…there is hope.’

His use of imagery is amazing ‘the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden…’

I love it!

Michael Rosen opened the event, and many amazing and powerful poets such as Brian Patten, Carol Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay, John Agard, Liz Lochhead, John Berger, John Hegley, Michael Horovitz, Patience Agbabi, Roger McGough read their own work, and the inspiring work of Adrian Mitchell. Joining the poets were beautiful singers such as Clive Rowe, Caitlin Stubbs and musicians such as Joanna Macgregor. The artists used work from Adrian Mitchell’s ‘Tell me Lies’ and other collections. Roger Lloyd Pack gave a hilariously wonderful performance of ‘The Plays What I Wrote’ by Shakespeare’. The work of William Blake was also incorporates, with poetry from ‘The Tyger’. The balance of the Mitchell’s work and other writer’s was beautiful.

The collaboration of music, poetry and performance was inspriring, and the tranquil and motivated atmosphere seemed to represent the love and admiration of Adrian Mitchell.

There were readings from the poets, and songs from Sasha Mitchell, Beattie Mitchell, Jonathon Pryce and other musicians. Clive Rowe provided a beautiful acapella rendition of Swing Low. The finale was a very deep emotive performance from all the artists, led by Celia Mitchell and Jonathon Pryce.

The performances of John Agard, John Berger and Jackie Kay left me thinking about the soul of their poetry for hours.

Their powerful, topical and gritty poetry was astounding and emotive. Many of the audience toyed between crying at the poetry of Berger, with a main focus of death, and laughing endlessly along at the ‘vagina monologues’ of Jackie Kay. John Agard stunned the audience with a reading of Mitchell’s work and of his own. His enthusiasm shone through his performance. The juxtaposition of subjects raised on the night was incredible; the poets and singers reflected on death, love, children, family, nature and the cycle of life. Maybe the bonding of these subjects created such a fantastic performance? For me, I admire the way these subjects were conveyed in the most true way. The work was not sensationalised, or scary, or intimidating. Rather, a sense of freedom to get what you wanted out the performance was present, resulting is a productive and joyful evening.

I certainly want to read more and more poetry.

Copenhagan is hosting the 15th United Nations ‘Climate Change Conference’ or ‘Conference of the Parties’, with an ambition of reaching ‘ambitious global agreement’ with the involvment of the whole world.

How will this conference remain carbon neutral? There are approximately 140 flights set over two days for the airport of Copenhagen, however the carbon emissions related to COP15 will be offset via a climate project in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. Also, the bullet-proof limousines tansporting IPs during the conference will run on boi-ethanol and bicycles are free to rent for conference delegates!

President Obama and Prime Minister Rudd met yesterday in Washington, where they discussed Afghanistan’s future in relation to their countries, and also dicussed policies for conference next week.

Rudd: “When it comes to climate change, the clock’s ticking for us all,”

“We’re working closely with our American friends to secure the best possible outcome for an important deal for the planet, for our economies, for jobs, for the environment.”

Rudd and his government want to cut greenhouse emissions by up to 25% below 2000 levels by 2020, hopefully coinciding with the targets to be made next week.However, Australia’s opposition Liberal Party has a newly elected leader; Tony Abbott, a climate-change sceptic; which may affect the government’s carbon-trading law plans. This contrasts to the USA’s idea to slash its greenhouse gas emissions by 17% by 2020. The pledges will be confirmed and stated in the conference next week. Officials say this reflects the broader commitment of the USA to reduce emissions by 83% by 2050.

It seems next week should be a strong and powerful, and hopefully effective, conference that will result in positive change, and brighten the future in aid of the environment.

On a different note, I am going to see Lenny Henry as Othello tomorrow! Hopefully he will rise to the many expecatations and retain the high standard of the powerful dramatic irony and strong themes in Othello.

We found our way to the Old College, and other buildings of the university. Its so beautiful! By this time it was raining and all the students were running inside to their lectures. It felt very traditional but not ‘stuck in the past’, and there was a strong sense of hardwork and focus.

The calm and peaceful feeling of Edinburgh is amazing, the quietness and hushed bustle of the people running around Princes Street is refreshing but also strange for me, as London is so busy and lively. We were walking around, hoping to find a place that sold traditional or in any case real Scottish food. We passed the KFC, Pizza Hut’s and Subway, and came across the restaurant just after Scott Monument, that quoted themselves as ‘real scottish food’, we went inside and had lovely soup, and even lovelier desert. The restaurant is in the National Gallery. The waiter was great, giving our trip a very brilliant beginning.

Afterwards, we went shopping (!), walked around more and more- the fact that transport was not necessary was wonderful- we then walked up the many steps to the castle! A wonderful, haunting, exciting, and thrilling place. Unfortunately it was closing, so we just admired the view, which was as amazing.

The evening was great, and the next day we visited the castle again, and then went to the National Gallery, which was amazing. There was a wide range of work, from El Greco to Poussin to and Raeburn, the gallery holds a Scottish collection, Italian and many other collections.

The tartan, and the bagpipes and the cashmere were brilliant yet simple visual factors that showed the strong feeling of Scottish Identity, even if they are just the surface of this amazing identity.

It was wonderful trip and we had an ace time.

Chakrabarti began her talk in reference to year of 1934, when the organisation Liberty or the National Council for Civil Liberties, was set up, just 75 years ago. She shocked the students as she talked about the similarities of society then and now; the immigration, the worries of money and the abuse of power. This contextual background gave the students a grounding of her work and the importance of Human Rights, and Liberty.

Chakrabarti discussed many issues and reasons behind her work, including the following. She ran through her life with students; her training as a lawyer, and attending London School of Economics, she highlighted her work at the home office, which lead her to join LIBERTY. Chakrabarti outlined a brief history of Liberty,  relaying how its worked and campaigned to help endless amounts of people. Liberty was initially supported by those ‘left of politics’, but currently they seek for it to be ‘championed by all democratic people’, meaning they are not ‘party political’. Chakrabarti states the need for ‘the protection of the law’ and that it is cruical that people ‘don’t just fight for them (their rights) in the court room’. Liberty with its small number of employees, 25 including Shami Chakrabarti, try hard to identify key cases, sometimes with ruthless ‘cherry-picking’, ‘that will help move the law forward for everybody’s benefit’. The inclusive theme that streams through Charkrabarti’s work is outstanding, she doesnt seem ‘dangerous’, but rather unstoppable and true.

‘Human rights mean nothing if we’re not going to distribute them with an even hand.’

Liberty has an annual turnover of 1.5 million a year, definitely not excessive expenses for individuals who try everything extensively to retain fair treatment and rights for individuals. Liberty is a positive, dedicated  group who believe that ‘ordinary people can come together and make a change.’ Liberty is a predominantly publicly funded organisation with approximately 10,000 members. This doesn’t seem many in terms of the (approximately) 67 million people in the UK.

On the BNP, Chakrabarti  stated that we cannot ‘run away from these people’ and ‘they are very dangerous’, referring to them as ‘fascists in suits’. Refreshingly, Chakrabarti relayed that ‘you can only win that argument by having that argument’. So on being asked her view of the controversial attendance of BNP members on Question Time tonight, she said that the BBC have to be a ‘neutral broadcasting company’ and that banning the BNP members from a show, would ‘victimise’ them and that the only option is to ‘take them on and expose them’. This seems a powerful and new thought on how to tackle racism and prejudice in the UK, as avoiding the arguments and banning expression will not destroy racism. Strength and courage is needed to continue the argument and win, instead of avoid it all together.

One student asked Chakrabarti for her views of the G20 protests and the policing method. She reflected on ‘abuse of power’ and how important it is to retain a right to fair treatment. Chakrabarti discussed how due to advance in technology, we can all be ‘walking CCTV’ with our mobile phones, and so unfair police ‘cant get away with it anymore as there is no where to hide’. Issues of policing techniques were discussed such as ‘kettling’, where a group of people are enclosed and ‘trapped’ by police, Chakrabarti relayed her negative attitude to this technique and stated that everyone should ‘exercise their right to peacefull protest’. Then, Chakrabarti enforced the need for accountability, and that the case of the G20 police hiding their identification numbers is a complete abuse of power and limits democratic accountability.

On being asked her views of Obama and the Nobel Peace Prize, the Liberty director said it was ‘premature’ but Obama deserves huge praise as he has managed ‘to capture the imaginations of so many people’. Chakrabarti stressed that the disparaging comments of Obama are ridiculous, and that it is false to  flaw someone who has succeeded in capturing these imaginations. She relayed that many many ‘white presidents and prime ministers’ have failed, and Obama has done great work since being in office. When asked about George W. Bush, Chakrabarti was humorous and serious in her response, talking about the shoe throwing event, saying people don’t have a right to abuse people, but they do have a right of speech. Furthermore, she spoke about how the ex president had abused his power too.

Chakrabarti also discussed the media and its position on the Human Rights Act and Liberty. She told the students about the negativity that tabloid newspapers have against the HRA, as it limits their ability to write ‘kiss and tell’ stories, and invade people’s privacy. It seems outrageous and horrifying that the media who portray news and information to the public, would wish a limitation on the rights of the public.

Overall, it seems Chakrabarti is an optimistic, hardworking, inspiring individual that directs an impressive, dedicated organisation. She ended her talk with reflecting that she ‘fights for hoodies’ and other people who are put down in society, much to the appreciation of the audience. Chakrabarti states that ‘for all the terrible problems of the world, people are slightly better then not’ and she believes that ‘something good can come out of something bad’.

Indefinitely Chakrabarti captured the imaginations of William Ellis School, spreading hope and optimism for positive change in society.

Nevertheless, it was worth watching. It seems to me that Spanish gangster films are much more raw and violent, especially for a ’15′ certificate, then British films. Plus, although Diego Luna was the explicit ‘heart throb’ of the movie, it seemed much less centered around romance and love, and more focused on revenge; also the women were very powerful and strong- which is very refreshing.