Month: January 2016

In this essay I will present my aspect on the issues with the death penalty and how it impacts society.Firstly, the death penalty, formally known as Capital punishment is a legal process whereby a person is put to death as a punishment for a crime. The enforcement of a death sentence is an execution. The most common countries who adopt this procedure are Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, Iraq and the U.S.A. Some question if the agenda is really necessary as there are other methods such as, life imprisonment where a prisoner may die naturally.

The only country that administers this procedure having membership to the G7 is the USA. The United Nations has urged the United States to immediately favour a moratorium on the death penalty. A moratorium is an authorised period of delay of using this procedure.

In some cases such as Clayton Lockett 38,there have been many botched torture executions, a new untested three drug injection had been administered and Clayton had become unconscious after 10 minutes. Three minutes later Clayton had become severely unstable, breathing heavily, he started lifting his head of the pillow after which the blinds were lowered in the viewing area. Thereon Lockett had died of a heart attack.

Capital punishment is truly an inhumane method of death, it is not natural neither lawful but has been accepted in many societies throughout the world. The wrongful execution of an innocent person is an injustice that can never be rectified and in some cases an innocent victim may die. With life imprisonment an innocent will keep their life but will still be punished for life.

The death penalty is much more expensive than life without parole because it requires a long and complex judicial process. This process is needed in order to ensure that innocent men and women are not executed for crimes they did not commit, and even with these protections the risk of executing an innocent person can not be guaranteed.

If the death penalty was replaced with a sentence of life without parole which costs millions less and also ensures that the public is protected while eliminating the risk of an irreversible mistake, the money saved could be spent on programs that actually improve the communities in which we live. The millions of dollars (US CURRENCY)could be used on more conservative categories such as education, roads, public safety programs, drug rehabilitation,mental health services, and services for crime victims and their families.

There are many activists and associations that have formed to abolish the death penalty such as Amnesty International. Amnesty international believe, “The death penalty is cruel, inhuman and degrading”. Since its formation in 1961, Amnesty International have been working to end Executions. Once it had formed, only nine countries had abolished the death penalty. Today, that number has risen to 140. So we can confirm that it has made a large change. Amnesty International believes that, “sentencing someone to execution denies them the right of life this is prohibited in the Universal declaration of human rights”. There had also been a recent case in 2004 for Mr Cameron Todd Willingham, he had been convicted of arson and murder for setting his house on fire with his three  daughters. Although he had appealed and maintained his innocence throughout, he was executed in 2004. Later on in 2009 it had been found that ‘flawed Science’ had been used and therefore it was not arson.

Now to conclude, I would like to justify that I do support the acts of Amnesty International and all other activists to abolish capital punishment.

Firstly, a flaw is having a fundamental weakness or imperfection and in this essay I will compare how character flaws are presented in,’A Christmas Carol’ and ’Macbeth’.

Macbeth is a play written by William Shakespeare in 1606 and is about how Macbeth continues to gain power by inhumane means which inevitably leads to his downfall.

My first impressions of Macbeth are of a highly significant noble, fierce and powerful warrior. Who would sacrifice all to defend his homeland. This is demonstrated through the conversation of Ross and King Duncan, when Macbeth comes back from Norway with a single handed victory, this shows us that there is an aggressive side to Macbeth but he has no intention to use it inadvertently.  

I believe that Macbeth’s flaws are, Ambition because he is driven to kill king duncan to become king and he’ll do anything to become King and keep the crown. Gullibility is another flaw because Macbeth is easily manipulated by the witches into believing that he is due to become king. Inevitably, his ambition drives him to his death.

At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is very highly regarded, as he is described as a ‘valiant cousin’ and a ‘worthy man’ by King Duncan as well as ‘brave’ by captain therefore at the start he is not a flawed character. Throughout the play we can see that Macbeth continues to gain power as Ross is told by King Duncan to commend Macbeth with the late Thane of Cawdor’s title, ‘And with his former title greet Macbeth’. I believe that Macbeth is first introduced into the play in this way for the audience to have respect for him as a character and so we can easily contrast how Macbeth’s flaws had changed.  

A Christmas Carol is a novel written by Charles Dickens about an old greedy, stingy man named,’Ebenezer Scrooge’, who has no intention of doing good for anyone except himself. The novel is about how he is visited by supernatural apparitions and his journey to rehealing to become a normal man.

My first impressions of Scrooge are of a selfish,stingy troublesome man. At the start of the novel we can see that he is rejected by nearly all of society and all those who know of him dare to cross paths. This is demonstrated on page 8 where,’even the blind men’s dogs appeared to know him and when they saw him coming on would tug their owners into doorways and up courts’. As we read on, we can see that he likes his treatment in society.’But what did Scrooge care  It was the very thing he liked’ At this point we can say that Scrooge is very flawed. Later on Scrooge is visited by some charity workers who ask for his donation for the poor Scrooge replies, ‘I wish to be left alone,’ this shows us that Scrooge is very self centered and wishes for only his own well being. As the charity workers are still in his presence,Scrooge says, ‘I can’t afford to make idle people merry’. This response from Scrooge demonstrates a very negative and mean spirited attitude with his use of the adjective ‘idle’.This creates an image of him as a judgmental character who makes extensive generalisations about the poor.

I believe that Dickens introduces Scrooge into the novel in this way to bring attention to the main character and also so we can contrast Scrooge for the start to the end and how he had changed.

At this point in both ‘Macbeth’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’ we can see that Macbeth does not have flaws,but Scrooge is highly flawed. The audience begins to see Macbeth’s character flaws when he hears the witches prediction,’All hail, Macbeth, hail to thee, thane of Cawdor’’ Macbeth is currently the Thane of Glamis and not the Thane of Cawdor. The witches then continue to say ‘All hail, Macbeth, thou shalt be king hereafter’ therefore they predict that Macbeth will become the Thane of Cawdor then he will be the king. We can see that Macbeth is giving in to the temptations of the predictions as he says,’Stay, you imperfect speakers, tell me more’. I believe that at this point Macbeth’s main flaw is gullibility. This is because he is easily deceived in to making decisions based on the prediction of the witches. At the time witches were believed to be demons and in the bible it said,’”Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. This meant that you should not let a witch to live.

The reader begins to notice Scrooge’s flaw on page 2 as he is described as,’a squeezing,wrenching,grasping,scraping,clutching covetous old sinner’. We know from this quote and so far that Scrooge is unpopular in society. Scrooge’s character flaw is that he is a miser and vicious financial operator.

As we continue to read through the novel,just before Scrooge is visited by Marley’s ghost, Meanwhile the fog and darkness thickened’. This is an example of pathetic fallacy where the weather shows character emotions. At the first sight of Marley’s ghost,’ Mercy, why do you trouble me’.This demonstrates that Scrooge isn’t truly how he is portrayed and he does have weaknesses an in this case it is fear.                                                                                                
The presentation of flaws depends on words, spoken by other characters or the narrator and actions during the scene. We hear of Macbeth’s ambition and then we see him commit crimes. In Scrooge’s case we hear that he is a miser and then we see him mistreat his faithful clerk.Scrooge ends the novel a reformed character and a happy man,Macbeth ends the play and unreformed character and dies in battle.

English Coursework

ENTRANCE 07:45 AM

Taking a gander at the grand superstructure that was the Apple Head Quarter’s as I stood a few hundred meters from the entrance. I was privileged to be an element of the Apple squad. Walking In, security thoroughly checked my belongings.

FLOOR 196 8:05 AM

I safely escaped the humidity of the elevator entering a Calm environment. My first assignment was placed to my left it read “Patch Os”; this simply meant “fix an operating system fault”. As I entered my credentials into the system, the System read “deactivated – floor manager credentials required”. Strolling into the information room, the floor manager was not present, his office was empty and he had not been sighted for 2 days. I had been moved to the ‘area’.

DESK 109 8:17 AM

Desk 109 was a small cramped area which had the smell of moldy bread and cheese. The system used was outdated as well as the monitor. My Login was successful, the assignment was an effortless procedure, it took me only 20 minutes to complete.

HOSTAGE 8:42 AM

I felt a strange rattle, it disturbed my usual peace. THREE SHOTS FIRED!! IT WAS A BLUR I HID UNDER THE DESK. THEY RAISED THEIR WEAPONS. “GET DOWN GET DOWN” It took me a few seconds to realise what had happened. I had seen three masked men bursting through the left wing elevator; they were armed with large assault rifles. The men had a signal receiver; a radio, they were trying hard to communicate but faltered to operate the device. They demanded the codes for the safe with Jimmy (the cleaner) at gunpoint. The safe detained Apple product blue prints and also large amount of cash.

DEATH 8:45 AM

Not a single person would give release the codes; Jimmy was no more, his death nothing more than a bullet to the head. The men forced more deaths if the code was not given but a shadow appeared from the right wing elevator. He placed a large flashing device on the ground. I could see the tip of his rifle and a signal receiver, it seemed as though it was, and it couldn’t be, was it? Victor Steiner. IT WAS THE FLOOR MANAGER. I Felt relieved but he didn’t have a clue about the men. He headed straight for the safe greeting all his colleagues without a scratch.

He explained to us in a fluent Russian accent with a mephistophelian tone how he had been manipulated by Apple and was seeking revenge.

We had seen Victor and his ‘comrades’ take the last reserves of cash.

It was the end of the line, all had been stolen and nothing was left.

TO BE CONTINUED

I have extant views when attorning to present phenomenons which fill up a vast majority of life in this day and age. In this essay I will present my aspect on the issues with the death penalty and how it impacts society.

Firstly, the death penalty, formally known as Capital punishment is a legal process whereby a person is put to death as a punishment for a crime. The enforcement of a death sentence is an execution. The most common countries who adopt this procedure are Saudi Arabia, China, Iran, Iraq and the U.S.A. Some question if the agenda is really necessary as there are other methods such as, life imprisonment where a prisoner may die naturally.

The only country that administers this procedure having membership to the G7 is the USA. The United Nations has urged the United States to immediately favour a moratorium on the death penalty. A moratorium is an authorised period of delay of using this procedure.

In some cases such as Clayton Lockett 38,there have been many botched torture executions, a new untested three drug injection had been administered and Clayton had become unconscious after 10 minutes. Three minutes later Clayton had become severely unstable, breathing heavily, he started lifting his head of the pillow after which the blinds were lowered in the viewing area. Thereon Lockett had died of a heart attack.

Capital punishment is truly an inhumane method of death, it is not natural neither lawful but has been accepted in many societies throughout the world

The wrongful execution of an innocent person is an injustice that can never be rectified and in some cases an innocent victim may die. With life imprisonment an innocent will keep their life but will still be punished for life.

The death penalty is much more expensive than life without parole because it requires a long and complex judicial process. This process is needed in order to ensure that innocent men and women are not executed for crimes they did not commit, and even with these protections the risk of executing an innocent person can not be guaranteed.

If the death penalty was replaced with a sentence of life without parole which costs millions less and also ensures that the public is protected while eliminating the risk of an irreversible mistake, the money saved could be spent on programs that actually improve the communities in which we live. The millions of dollars (US CURRENCY)could be used on more conservative categories such as education, roads, public safety programs, drug rehabilitation,mental health services, and services for crime victims and their families.

There are many activists and associations that have formed to abolish the death penalty such as Amnesty International. Amnesty international believe, “The death penalty is cruel, inhuman and degrading”. Since its formation in 1961, Amnesty International have been working to end Executions. Once it had formed, only nine countries had abolished the death penalty. Today, that number has risen to 140. So we can confirm that it has made a large change. Amnesty International believes that, “sentencing someone to execution denies them the right of life this is prohibited in the Universal declaration of human rights”.

Now to conclude, I would like to justify that I do support the acts of Amnesty International and all other activists to abolish capital punishment.

The Secretary
The Guardian
Kings Place,
90 York Way
London N1 9GU

Dear Ms. Taylor,

I am Qasim Hussain, a year 10 student at the London Nautical School. I wish to disagree with your article,’ Clive Thompson says the digital age is making teenagers uniquely shallow and the kids are unable to form meaningful relationships’ and I have to say I think he is right but there are other issues which neither of you address correctly.

I am writing in response to your article explaining how teenagers are indeed addicted to social networks. I will primarily discuss the concept of social media and its importance to society. Next, I will portray how teenagers are portrayed throughout the media. Firstly, social media plays a key part of life; no matter what age you are you are bound browse your Facebook feed on your way to work or school. It connects us with the scenarios in the world and informs us of many things like news, history and entertainment which helps us lot in being a more informed and aware citizen of the world. I have read your article and understand that it outlines teenager’s social means of communication and how you disagree with Clive Thompson’s views. It portrays how teenagers are using social networks. It takes a look at the consequences and impact of teens on the internet and society.

Firstly, I would like to inform you that Franson’s article relates to only a select number of teenagers. It is unjustifiable to see all teenagers as one. For instance, I know many teenagers who are not reprobates but the media fails to take this into account. Teenagers are people just like you and me and come in all shapes and sizes. I believe that it is incorrect to judge a group of people and assume their values through stereotypes. Did somebody once say that you should never judge a book by its cover? Social networking sites and other digital devices such as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox one has taken priority in teenager’s lives over their school work and studies. While this may be true we cannot dramatise and say ‘the world is drifting towards disaster’. That is simply scaremongering.

The article has been concerned with the negative effects of teenagers spending excessive amounts of time on social networking sites. The statistics are very unreliable and one sided as well a conjecture of the amount of teens surveyed was not correct to the millions using social networks. I believe that some of the information written by adults is sometimes too quick to judge, because as a teenager and relating with them I don’t see inappropriate behaviour, they might be performing actions but in a way which doesn’t harm anyone and it’s normally to demonstrate something to their friends. An experience that I have seen is a group of school boys on their way home and they had their hoods up because it was raining but every stranger that walked past seemed afraid of them and gave them dirty looks.

Speaking from my perspective I see a vast majority of teens behaviour appropriately, only communicating with people they know.Nowadays these recent social media sites are all secured and hacking isn’t a problem. I believe that many people who have these sites like Facebook have privacy settings and you can only see certain people’s information. For example,  if you’re a friend with them, then you can see that but they have to accept first. Safety is something in our society that is worrying and that has caught my attention to, similarly adults expose vital information of themselves as well. Is it adults causing the bad habits and presenting wrong ideas to teenagers?

Social Networking is a way of communicating that does not involve a lot of time, it is free and fast. This appeals most to the user’s. I believe that teenagers have grown up in a technologically advanced era, and therefore are making the most of what is available to them. What right minded person wouldn’t do that?

Throughout Franson’s article all I have seen is repetition and exaggeration. I strongly condemn this article for the idiotic ideas suggested.
In the media, all teenagers are portrayed as causing havoc, stress and are regarded as a danger in almost every report or article. Articles such as these damage the morale of teenagers and further reinforce unfair stereotypes which in turn make them more socially inadequate. You need to help to break this vicious cycle, not reinforce it.

Qasim Hussain

It was an early rise at 7:33 am. I could detect a ribbon of sunlight bleeding through the thinnest edges of the blinds. I glanced at the exquisite scenery of Manhattan through the picture window of my top floor apartment. I took a deep breath, for a moment,appreciating the breathtaking mogul views. I had entered through to the balcony with the crisp winds slicing through at an exhilarating speed.

Today was of much importance, as it was my time to appoint a director for my new company named XF Corp. I had to get dressed and after some breakfast I left. Grabbing my keys and heading through the lobby, going down the elevator, I headed into my black SUV to meet my first contender at Madison square park.

Upon arrival, I met my first applicant, ‘John Victor Calvin Morrison’. He had an elegant dress sense, and described himself as, ‘positive,innovative and tenacious’.We walked over to a restaurant nearby.’Eleven Madison’, it was a very well known restaurant renowned for its fine food with an exquisite setting on the fourth floor overlooking the city. As we walked he spoke to me about his life at Harvard and Stanford and his shocking story about how he was abandoned by his parents at the age of five.

We were nearing our destination, the atmosphere had changed, everything seemed to be brighter, the clouds had cleared and the aroma was of brewed coffee. I had told John about how I had started my first business at the age of 24 and how I had lead my company on to the stock exchange.

We had reached our destination and took the elevator to the fourth floor. We could see how lunch on the 4th floor was a necessity. The restaurant had a picturesque,rustic appearance which was lit by 2 spotlights on each table overlooking the rest of the city.

I had asked for the 11:45am booking for two near the window table. We had been led to our table by a uniformed waitress who had provided menu’s. As we had taken our seats, I opted for a mushroom and lentil soup followed by a medium rare chargrilled chicken steak with chips and orange juice. John had chosen a simple salmon sandwich with tea. As we waited, I had asked for John for a history of his past employers and If he had ever been sacked or held a admin role in a corporation. He took a sip of his tea and answered  clearly and composed,’I have not held any admin roles’. I felt as though he lacked any fire and need for the role.

I had reached for my briefcase to reach my invention and blueprints and I elucidated how this semiconductor chip could revolutionise life in the next 5 years. He started tapping and looked side to side, a shroud of nervousness had entered the calm environment.  Midway through our conversation, I felt a rattle, a sonic boom and then a large sound pierced through my eardrums, time seemed to have paused, the bright light of Manhattan had become blurred, suddenly,three men dressed in distinct black clothing covered with balaclavas armed with weapons had stormed in. I tried desperately to grip the table and reach my belongings but, I was in shock to notice that my belongings were not visible, I vigorously tried to clear my vision to reacquire my most prized possession but it obvious that it was not there. A couple of seconds later there was a high presence of police and the road had been closed off to the rest of the public. I had been approached by a senior officer who had told me Manhattan was on high alert because a maniac had broken out of prison and a nationwide manhunt had been launched. After questioning, I was finally allowed to leave.As I left the restaurant, I could see the shattered window, bullet holes on the walls and how the restaurant had been totally destroyed. I exited on to the street and could see how it was pouring down with rain. The street was completely empty, armed guards stood to both sides of the crime scene.

I was at home, when I received a call from an unknown number, I had answered cautiously, ‘Hello’ said a deep voice. I replied, ‘Who Is this’. He then hung up. Sleep had not come easily for me that night, for my greatest invention had been stolen and I was in fear that my invention would be handled incorrectly.

The night had passed and I had woken up in fear. I went on to the balcony and could see that it was an opaque day and the streets were virtually empty. I needed to do something, bring this maniac to justice. I had an idea, it would solve all problems, but it meant the death of John. The day had passed with me in front of the television and my phone lying on the couch. I was inclined to call Damien.