'What More Do They Want' - Service Provision of Refugees and Asylum Essay

'What More Do They Want' - Service Provision of Refugees and Asylum Seekers - Essay Example Accordingly, it is imperative to embark upon an integration project as would successfully lead to the assimilation of this group into the national culture and society. As the research illustrates, integration can best be carried out through the provision of equitable access to public services and the exploitation of these services for the specific purpose of integration. According to the literature on the topic, the education and mental healthcare services are, within the context of the stated, defined as primary integration enablers. Certainly the cost of integration may be quite high but the benefits of successfully integrating refugees and asylum seekers into British society are even higher. Apart from the fact that, as a nation-state, Britain has historically relied on waves of immigration as a means of building itself and, more importantly, strengthening its economy, immigrants bring a wealth of talent, experiences and skills with them as can effectively ensure their functioning as a constructive economic asset (Humphreys, 2001). Despite this, however, Britain’s immigrants, as in her refugees and asylum seekers, are hardly awarded equitable access to essential community services, chief amongst which is education. The implication here is that the country’s refugees and asylum seekers are marginalised and their potential to positively contribute to the nation is severely constrained (Bocker and Havinga, 1998). The consequence, as Hames (2004) notes, is not limited to the fact that asylum seekers and refugees are denied equitable economic, social, political and educational opportunities but, that their marginalisation is leading to the evolution of a  "dual Britannia† (92). Britain’s asylum seekers and refugees, therefore, are not only being denied the realisation of their potential and the country their constructive exploitation as a valuable economic

CASE ASSIGNMENT MODULE 5 MGT 516 Total Rewards Essay

CASE ASSIGNMENT MODULE 5 MGT 516 Total Rewards - Essay Example This paper aims at comparing and contrasting the total rewards system with the traditional approach of compensation. Also, the paper will discuss in detail the advantages and disadvantages of total rewards program from the views of the employees as well as from the perspective of employers. A brief discussion of how total rewards are impacted by the legal environment has also been included. Total Rewards: Rewards have been a common element right from the beginning. Be it the barter systems used in the early years or the various compensation plans used in the current times. These have all been the basis for the motivation of people across the world. It was in 1990 that the system of total rewards was introduced and here people around the world were thinking of newer and more effective ways for compensations and benefits (Chen and Hsieh). Also, it was here that aspects such as tangible and intangible methods of motivating employees were being focused upon. The main aim and intension of the total rewards was mainly to retain the employees within the company (Johnston). The following section will detail a comparison and contrast of the total rewards system with the traditional approach of compensation. ... The traditional method of rewards was the same for all employees within the company, the total rewards system on the other hand is focused on only working towards retaining the best in the company. In the traditional approach, the compensations re generally bargain able and employers have a chance to bargain with the employees based on the job market. On the other hand, the total reward style of remuneration is based more so on the employees and their individual value. Another major difference here is that the total rewards are focused on all aspects of the pay, the entire remuneration, including all the direct as well as indirect wages and also prerequisites likewise (Reference for Business). The traditional system however focuses on the basic pay and the added benefits based on the individuals contracts. The traditional approach is more focused on aspects like the hierarchy of the individual, and the position within the company. On the other hand for the total rewards, the focus is more on the individuals work performance and skills (Reynolds). Here hierarchy does not play a major role. Advantages and Disadvantages: Total rewards system have a number of advantages and disadvantages likewise. The following sub sections will detail the advantages and disadvantages from the view of the employer and the employees. Employer’s Perspective: The total rewards in terms of the employer’s perspective, there are a number of issues. Firstly, this proves to be a more expensive approach. The company can have a much higher level of cost savings if another method of payment is to be used for the employees. Also, this method can lead to a number of additional and unnecessary

The global strategy of french retailer Carrefour

The global strategy of french retailer Carrefour The last four decades has seen the French group Carrefour S.A. become Europes largest and the worlds second-largest retailer. The group presently operates the four major store format categories: hypermarkets, supermarkets, hard discount and also convenience stores. The Carrefour group presently operates more than 15,500 stores which are either company-operated or franchises. The group employs more than 475,000 people and generated sales (including VAT) of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬96.2billion approx. during 2009 (Carrefour Group, 2010, p 1-2). Carrefour was incorporated in Paris by the Fournier and Deoffrey founder families during 1959. It launched its first supermarket during 1960 near a crossroads (Carrefour in French) followed by the first Carrefour hypermarket during 1963. Thereafter, the internationalisation of Carrefour began with the Belgian foray during 1969 (Ki, 2008, p 14-19). Analysis Background Carrefours success was primarily because of its involvement in creating hypermarkets across Western Europe. Carrefour pooled the American approach to supermarkets with the discount stores format by retailing non-food products along with self-service (Jung, 2006, p 1-3). Its hypermarkets success led Carrefour to establish the groups first store in UK and Italy. Its further expansion helped to establish markets in numerous other countries for instance Greece, Turkey, Mexico, China, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Indonesia during the 1970s and the 1980s (Ki, 2008, p 14-19). A ground-breaking entrant in countries exemplified by its Brazilian investment in 1975 and the Chinese entry in 1995, Carrefour presently operates in three major European, Latin American and Asian markets. Present in 34 countries internationally, more than 57 percent of the group turnover is generated from the European markets excluding France. The group perceives strong potential for added international growth in future, principally in large national markets for example China, Indonesia, Brazil, Poland and Turkey (Carrefour Group, 2010, p 1-2). Global Strategy Within France, the group faces an extremely competitive pricing environment. Its hypermarket sales have been declining for a while because of the increasingly popular discount stores. Carrefours hypermarket comparable turnover (including petrol) for the third quarter dropped 8%, with non-food comparable turnover falling 9.5% (Stych, 2010, p 1-2). Perhaps the one way its investors will be truly satisfied is if its French hypermarket division performs better, since it contributes approximately a quarter of Carrefours global sales (Stych, 2010, p 1-2). Unlike some other global retail players like Metro (globally the 3rd. largest) which have financially independent global operations, Carrefours overseas expansion is driven by funding from the French operations. Compared to the Metro Group, Carrefours globalisation policy appears indecisive at the moment. Only time will reveal if the pressure to dispose off its Asian and Latin American businesses proves too hard to resist (Stych, 2010, p 1-2). Carrefour is keenly committed to sponsoring local economic development wherever it is operating globally. Typically, in any country that it operates in, the Carrefour group is the largest private employer. Unsurprisingly, this is true for France, where the group originates from. The same also applies to countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Greece and Italy. The group also strives to sustain local suppliers, with approximately 90 to 95% of its products sourced locally and based on the country of operations (Carrefour Group, 2010, p 1-2). Global markets priority France remains Carrefours recognised home market and also the groups key priority. The Group is taking initiative to reclaim its leadership within France. The aim is to produce growth, firstly through developing further its multi-format model, raising convergence and providing fresh momentum to its hard discount formats, followed by augmenting sales growth, price image and price competitiveness. The groups second priority includes Spain, Belgium and Italy Belgium which, including France, comprises Carrefours G4 countries. In these established European countries, suitable measures will be adopted to sustain growth (in Spain) or improve its performance in Italy and Belgium. Growth markets signify the groups third priority. It will focus its development resources for the most part on countries having stronger growth potential. The Groups progress in these regions will depend on various formats targeted at generating the customer base such as hypermarkets, cash and carry etc. (Carrefour Group, 2010, p 1-2) Successful globalisation Twelve years after incorporation, Carrefour began its internationalisation journey with its Belgian expansion. Its strategy depended on building the groups market share in each market by developing the kind of retailing most suitable to the local market and also by maximising the way the groups formats harmonised one another (ICEP, 2008, p 189-197 ). The companys self-branded products were commenced during the mid-1980s, thus highlighting Carrefours pursuit of in-store market shares. A succession of acquisitions and takeovers during the 1990s culminated in Carrefours 1999 affable takeover of Promodes, its main French competitor, thus crafting Europes largest food retailer (ICEP, 2008, p 189-197). It is seen that Carrefour is able to productively employ its capabilities and resources in creating a persistent competitive advantage with the right use of PESTEL and Ansoff Matrix methodologies to carry on catering to the unpredictable shoppers distinct and localised goods preferences and needs. The macro environment, largely represented as the PESTEL diagnostic framework, typifies the political, economic and societal factors along with the technological, environmental as also the legal factors. It assists in systematically examining and finding the impact of all these criteria on the organisations (Gray, 1999, p12) (Alfino, et al, 1998, p 17-23). The singular differentiator for Carrefours success in China has been its more ingrained adjustment to the local environment and in the appreciation of the local consumer behaviour and culture in terms of the societal and environmental factors in PESTELs framework (Gopalkrishnan, 2009, p 1-9). Further, Carrefour is more successful also because it considers China as a group of local or regional markets whereas Wal-mart considers it as a single large market; Carrefour also has decentralised sourcing and distribution unlike Wal-mart (Mahajan-Bansal, 2010, p 1). The Chinese favour fresh poultry and meat, hence local sourcing results in faster and smarter logistics rather than central sourcing of merchandise (Mahajan-Bansal, 2010, p 1). Another cause of the success of Carrefour is the decentralised organisational configuration, which permits it to continue the focus on local requirements and preferences. The corporate office in Paris is responsible for long-term strategy and policy. It also deals with financial and technical issues and offers advice when requested. It also offers intellectual capital and is responsible for new store locations and capital investments (Lal, et al, 2004, p 289-293). The Ansoff Matrix is a strategic marketing planning tool that connects a firms marketing strategy to its broad strategic direction. It presents four optional growth strategies as a matrix. These strategies look for growth through: (1) Market penetration by driving current products throughout their current market segments (2) Market development through developing new markets for current products (3) Product development through developing fresh products for its current markets and (4) Diversification through developing fresh products for fresh markets. The Ansoff Matrix was named after Igor Ansoff, its inventor and the father of strategic management and initially circulated in The Harvard business review in 1957 (Businessdictionary.com, 2010, p 1.2). Table 1: The Ansoff Matrix (Ansoff, 2010, p 1-2) The Table 1 above illustrates the four optional growth strategies (Ansoff, 2010, p 1-2). It is evident that Carrefour has successfully continued to implement the market and product diversification strategy by localizing its product and service offerings in most of the countries internationally within which it operates. It is also observed that it is able to continuously diversify into new markets based on the expertise gleaned from earlier international forays and localizing their offerings to suit the local requirements and preferences. Modes of entry The Carrefour group appears, through its choice of entry methods, to realise either the necessity or legal compulsion for a partner in nearly all international markets. Managerial control is typically sought after, and this is especially evident for Carrefour as well as for Delhaize, the Belgian retailer (Burt, et al, 2007, p 5-18). Carrefours conventional model of investment involves joint venturing and collaborating followed by either consolidation or divestment depending on whether the performance and market share grows or stagnates, states Burt (1994, p 391-410). Its merger with Promodes initiated broader variations of management control mechanisms leading to franchising and affiliation becoming more widespread than in the past. These mechanisms were actively followed in certain markets (Burt, et al, 2007, p 5-18). It is, however, noteworthy that its core hypermarket operations remain mainly a Carrefour led activity. Carrefour currently controls directly only 58 percent of the approximately 12,000 stores operating under the groups various fronts. Whilst 9 percent of its hypermarket network only is franchised, almost 93% of its convenience stores acquired from Promodes are franchised. Promodà ¨ss origins as a wholesaler are mirrored in the strength of this small store network as well as the management control mechanisms deployed (Burt, et al, 2007, p 5-18). During the subsequent few years post its Belgian expansion, it forayed into Spain and also brought the hypermarket format to Latin America during 1975. In Latin America, it adopted the self-funding model and restricted starting capital for one store and a half only. It only launched its second store once it was able to produce sufficient funds from the first stores operations. This discipline compelled Carrefour to continue experimenting at the first store until its success within the local market (Lal, et al, 2004, p 289-293). The entry and exit activities of three of the major European retail players, Carrefour, Delhaize and Ahold (Dutch), bears observation. Considering that there is a proliferation of individual markets, a possibly astonishing conclusion of the geographical mapping of businesses of these three groups is that, in none of these markets, do they compete directly (Burt, et al, 2007, p 5-18). One result of the recent reconsideration of the retailers market portfolios is the asset swops that are in effect now. Globalising retailers, including the ones that are comparatively new to globalisation have the prospect to obtain chains, stores or sites in other countries from other global retailers instead of local market operators (Burt, et al, 2007, p 5-18). Carrefours experience is that it pays to be the earliest to penetrate the foreign market and also that the entry mode should be via Greenfield operations (Lal, et al, 2004, p 289-293). But, in several foreign markets, there may not be a choice in this regard because of local market regulations and the entrant may be forced to follow a joint venture formula (Lal, et al, 2004, p 289-293). Some Countries exited Carrefour operates 42 stores in Thailand, counting 34 hypermarkets. It is the fifth largest organised food distribution retailer in Thailand with a 6% market share, à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬723m of net sales and EBITDA of à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬67m for the 12 months to 30 June 2010 (Carrefour, 2010, p 1-2). Big C, Groupe Casinos subsidiary, is Thailands second largest hypermarket operator, with 69 hypermarkets generating à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬ 1.7bn net sales over the same period (Carrefour, 2010, p 1-2). Carrefour has recently confirmed an agreement with Big C for the divestment, after 14 years, of its operations in Thailand with the deal valued à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬868million. This valuation amounts to 120% of the net sales of the business being sold with 13.0 x EBITDA multiple. The deal is anticipated to close during the first quarter of 2011 (Carrefour, 2010, p 1-2). Carrefours strategic sale of its operations in Thailand is to enable the group to direct its resources towards the markets where it can occupy or occupies a leadership position and can get the maximum return on its capital employed. The growth prospects for its Thai operations did not permit the Group to envision a leading position either within the medium or short term (Carrefour, 2010, p 1-2). On the back of its successful retail history, Carrefour on its own ventured into South Korea, a completely unknown territory, without a local partner. Due to this reason, it was unable to understand the market. Carrefour deployed most of its top management personnel for South Koreas from France which was not appreciated by the local employees (Khan, 2010, p 7-11). The company did not localise its stores and the products were not stocked as per the requirements and inclinations of Korean consumers. Though bulk purchases were proffered at economical prices, suitable research was not conducted. They did not realise that there were only a few customers that preferred bulk purchases. As such, during April 2006, Carrefour sold its South Korean operations for approximately $1.3billion (Khan, 2010, p 7-11). Carrefours departure from Russia is rather astonishing given that its first store in the country was launched just two quarters earlier. The reason given has been the influence from the key shareholders Bernard Arnault and Colony Capital. These are the same investors pressurising Carrefour to exit its business from the Asian and Latin American markets. These businesses are forecasted to be valued anywhere from $17billion to $20billion. Their sale could shore up Carrefours underperforming share price (Stych, 2010, p 1-2). Conclusions Carrefour has successfully evolved over five decades from being the largest retail player in France to becoming the largest in Europe and the second largest globally in terms of net sales. This has resulted largely from its successful European play and the further globalisation through Latin America and Asia. Its success stems from its relentless quest for localizing its product and service offerings to fulfil the needs and preferences of its local customers in each of the countries that it ventures into. The mode of entry has largely been through the greenfield and joint venture strategies subject to the local legal requirements. The management control has been largely with the parent Carrefour. Yet, there are lessons to be learnt from unsuccessful ventures in certain countries, though the overall strategy of targeting leadership positions wherever it operates has brought success. Due to shareholder pressures to exit Latin America and Asia, it will ultimately either need to aggressively maximise its operations in those countries or redirect their resources as needed in the larger interest of all the stakeholders.

Education Programs Essay -- Adult Education

Educating Adults Education can be defined as a program of instruction of a specified kind or level. In today’s society an education is an essential in order to be successful economically and socially. Most people begin their education early on in life with elementary schools, with the hope or intent to attend and graduate high school, an even furthermore go to college and earn a degree. At the same time, this step by step educational process is a rather new idea, not more than twenty five years ago people needed only education in particular job skills and fields to not only obtain a job, but not have to worry about being laid off two weeks later. With the globalization of the world markets through the introduction of Information Technology, or IT, the educational process has changed drastically. The Baby-Boomer generation was the last generation to experience and believe in the â€Å"American-Dream† way of life. Now many adults of that generation, and of the generation that followed, ar e finding that their level of education will simply not cut it in today’s job-market. The standards and definitions of Adult Education describe that participation in adult educational programs is defined as the â€Å"participation by adults in one or more organized learning events of more than six hours in any area. According to this definition, adults are all persons aged more than 16, except those between 16 and 25 ears of age who are still carrying on their formal initial education full-time and with no interruption at any point† (Belanger ix). No person can become successful through working hard at their job, unless they are working hard to continue their education to keep up with the rapid technological developments an demands of their employer. To th... ..., Florio. You Are Never Too Old to Learn. Memphis, TN: The Academy for Educational Development Inc. 1978. Galbraith, Michael W. Adult Learning Methods: A guide for Effective Instruction. Malabar, Florida: Krieger Publishing Company. 1990. Horrace Mann Neighborhood Center. February 23, 2004. Longworth, Norman. Lifelong Learning in action: Transforming Education in the 21st Century. 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012: Kogan Page Ltd. 2003. More, William S. Emotions and Adult Learning. Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, D.C. Heath Ltd. 1974. Rossman, Mark H. and Elizabeth C., Fisk and Janet E., Roehl. Teaching and Learning Basic Skills: A Guide for Adult Basic Education and Developmental Education Programs. 1234 Amsterdam Ave, New York, N.Y. 10027: Teachers College Press. 1984.

Myth vs. Reality

The Holy Bible has been dubbed as the all-time bestseller and most widely read book, with 2 billion printed copies around the world. It is composed of a collection of ancient manuscripts that served as basis for some of the world’s religions. The Old Testament (OT) of the Bible has twenty-four books written in Hebrew (except for a few passages in Aramaic) and is often called the Masoretic text. At the time of Reformation, the Hebrew books were rearranged and some were divided and so became thirty-nine in all. Roman Catholics, like Protestants, divide the Bible into an Old and a New Testament.The Roman Catholic Old Testament (OT) contains 46 books (most of them from the Hebrew Bible). Some are called canonical or authoritative; others deuterocanonical, secondary, but nonetheless authoritative. Protestants term the deuterocanonical books â€Å"The Apocrypha† and consider them to be outside the Canon of Scripture. For its Old Testament, Catholics follow the list of books i ncluded in the Septuagint, a Greek version that was the source of the Latin Vulgate translation. The following chart lists the agreements and differences between the order and content of the books of the Hebrew Scripture among Jews, Catholics, and Protestants.Some Eastern Orthodox communities include 1 Esdras, the Prayer of Manasseh, Psalm 151, and 3 Maccabees as part of their Old Testament canon. Catholics and Protestants are in virtual agreement on the 27 books of the New Testament (Flinn, 2007). No doubt, the Holy Bible is the foundation many religious doctrines. In fact, the Bible is constantly studied to provide clerics not just with the basis of his doctrine but also with an infinite repertoire of examples which served to illustrate their positions. Since the Bible contains both historical and literary texts, many people have their own interpretation of what they read in the Bible.Not to mention, the Bible has been translated many times from Hebrew and Aramaic to Latin to pres ent-day languages. In view of the discrepancies in interpretation and translation, the veracity of what has been written is constantly debated by many religious pundits. Are words written in the Bible truth or is just a collection of ancient myths? How can people detect truth in the Bible? In this paper, we will try to delve deep into the veracity and authority of the Bible as a factual source of historical and religious events. Baring the Truth in the BibleIn an article, Bob George (2005) proclaimed that the Bible is the â€Å"only source of truth about Jesus Christ and God†. He argued that Christianity is rooted in historical truth because the Bible presents objective, concrete facts—not fanciful tales or mythical legends. George (2005) proved that persons, places, and times has factual basis. For example, he said that when Caesar Augustus â€Å"was governor of Syria† (Luke 2:2) he ordered a census of the empire, â€Å"so Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem† (Luke 2:4).John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, began his ministry â€Å"in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar† (Luke 3:1). All these events can be traced back with historical data available. Trembath (1987) agreed by citing theologian John Warwick Montgomery as he presented a â€Å"deductivist historiography according to which the truth of the Bible can be inferred from the historical accuracy of the gospel authors in recording the life of Jesus†. Another theologian Edward John Carnell understood that the inspiration of Bible is what accounts for its â€Å"systematic consistency† of the Bible.For Carnell, the truth of the Bible rests on the fact that it is God's rendition of both logic and history (Trembath 1987, p. 9). The Bible is a miscellany of genres: story, history, law, prophecy, song, poetry, and letters, making up a sacred ‘encyclopedia’ which has for centuries been a prime source of reading throughout the world. The different genres of the Bible tended to make it into a historical, human document whose truths might be relative rather than absolute. This is why some enlightened scholars began to interpret biblical language as symbol or allegory.They assumed that although the literal meaning of biblical stories might be rooted in historical context, these stories nevertheless conveyed deeper universal truths. However, biblical inspiration has sometimes been misunderstood as simply synonymous with ‘inerrancy’ or immunity from error—a view that creates impossible difficulties for those who cherish the Bible. One should prefer to discuss truth rather than immunity from error and, even more importantly, appreciate that truth is a result or consequence of inspiration.Despite a mechanical view of inspiration that highlighted the role of the Holy Spirit as â€Å"principal author† and hardly allowed for the sacred writers being genuine human authors. This is why, Pope Leo XIII in his 1893 encyclical Providentissimus Deus clarified the distinction between biblical inspiration and truth: the Bible is inspired, and therefore it is true (O’Collins & Farrugia 2005, p. 111). Defending Inconsistencies It cannot be denied that errors and inconsistencies can be found in the Bible. Like for instance, the account of the world’s creation being completed in a week (Gen.1: 1-2; 3) looks incompatible with the findings of cosmology and the theory of evolution. The Psalms and other OT books reflect in places the view that the earth is a flat disc and the sky above is a solid vault supported by columns at the ends of the earth. Add too the fact the Bible gives us conflicting accounts of the same episode. How did the Israelites elude their Egyptian pursuers? In describing the escape through the Red Sea, Exodus 14-15 offers three versions. Moses stretched out his hand and — as in the Cecil B. de Mille mo vie depicted — the waters piled up like walls to let the Israelites pass through.Then the waters flooded back over the Egyptians (Exod. 14: 16, 21, 22, 27, 28). In a second version, an east wind proved decisive. It dried up the sea for the Israelites, while the Egyptian chariots got stuck. Then God stopped the Egyptians with a glance and threw them into the sea (Exod. 14: 21, 25-6). Finally, an angel of the Lord and the column of cloud no longer went in front of the Israelites, but behind them. As a result the pursuing Egyptians could no longer see their quarry, who thus happily escaped (Exod. 14: 19-20). Then who killed Goliath—David or Elhanan (1 Sam.17; 2 Sam. 21: 19)? Did the site of the Jerusalem Temple cost David 50 shekels of silver or 600 shekels of gold (2 Sam. 24: 24; 1 Chr. 21: 25)? In short, factual inconsistencies and errors of a historical, geographical, and scientific nature turn up frequently in the scriptures. Faced with such evident factual, moral, an d religious errors, O’Collins and Farrugia (2005) explained the biblical truth in recalling three interconnected points: the intentions of the sacred authors, their presuppositions, and their modes of expression.Thus, the authors of the opening chapters of Genesis could be defended. They intended to teach a number of religious truths about the power and goodness of the Creator God, about the sinfulness of human beings, and so forth; they did not intend to teach some doctrine of cosmogony and cosmology. They simply did not aim to describe coherently and in â€Å"scientific† detail the origins of the universe, our earth, and the human race. In recalling the second coming of Jesus, Paul did not intend to communicate a timetable of its arrival but to encourage a full and urgent commitment to Christian life.In sum, it is unfair to accuse biblical or any other writers of falling into error by ignoring the difference between the points they really wished to communicate and th ose that lay outside any such intentions. Second, O’Collins and Farrugia (2005) justified that some biblical authors show that they shared with their contemporaries certain false notions about cosmology and astronomy. But, their acceptance of a flat earth, for instance, remained at the level of their presuppositions; it was not the theme of their direct teaching.The Bible was not artificially protected against geographical, cosmological, and astronomical errors to be found in the presuppositions of the sacred authors. Similarly the view that genuine human life ends at death formed a presupposition for the drama of Job and not the direct teaching of that book. At a time when death was believed to end all, how could an innocent person interpret and cope with massive suffering? Job did not debate with his friends whether or not there is life after death, but whether undeserved suffering can be reconciled with the existence of an all-good and all-powerful God.Third, O’Coll ins and Farrugia (2005) cited Pope Pius XII’s1943 encyclical letter that pointed out how alleged errors are often simply no more than legitimate modes of expression used by biblical writers: In many cases in which the sacred authors are accused of some historical inaccuracy or some inexact recording of certain events, on examination it turns out to be nothing else than those customary forms of expression or narrative style which were current among people of that time, and were in fact quite legitimately and commonly used (O’Collins and Farrugia 2005, p.113). Conclusion Bishop J. W. Colenso wrote that â€Å"he did not see any conflict between divine revelation and human reason, and the Bible had to be approached scientifically and logically†. Colenso assumed that â€Å"scientific reasoning is privileged, not in opposition to God’s revelation but as itself a gift of God†. Thus, it depends on the â€Å"reader of the Bible is encouraged to employ what ever resources are available — mathematical skills, history, philosophy and comparative religious texts, in the firm belief that truth is one and belongs to God† (Sugirtharajah 2001, p.144). In detecting the truth in the Bible, we should take into consideration context in which biblical language had been spoken. It was recognized that the meaning of words or stories might depend on the broader cultural environment in which a given text had been produced. Furthermore, it was supposed that meanings might have been lost or blurred in the course of history as cultures changed to make them less apparent. Finally, we should all remember that truth is subjective.When semantic, systemic, logical or empirical truths come into conflict, theorists urge that we believe that truth as such has no cognitive value—that we literally should not care whether our beliefs are true or false, but only whether they enable us to achieve more substantive goals such as happiness and well-b eing. Thus, we should believe that the Bible speaks the truth because it can serve as our moral and spiritual guide to attain a spiritually sound and happy life. References Flinn, F. K. (2007). The Bible. Encyclopedia of Catholicism, Encyclopedia of World Religions. New York: Facts On File, Inc.George, B. (2005). Conservative Christianity Is a Biblical Relationship with God. In M. E. Williams (Ed. ), Opposing Viewpoints: Constructing a Life Philosophy. San Diego: Greenhaven Press. O’Collins, G. & Farrugia, M. (2003). Catholicism – The Story of Catholic Christianity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Sugirtharajah, R. S. (2001). Bible in the Third World : Precolonial, Colonial, Postcolonial Encounters. Port Chester, NY: Cambridge University Press. Trembath, K. R. (1987). Evangelical Theories of Biblical Inspiration : A Review and Proposal. Cary, NC: Oxford University Press, Inc.

Assesing the Goal of Sports Products, Inc

Q d. Does the firm appear to have an effective corporate governance structure? Explain any shortcomings. Ans: They do not have an effective corporate governance structure. The most important shortcoming is the management team who don’t make good decisions for maximizing shareholders’ wealth. They only care for the profit and their bonus related with that. They don’t take any steps to maximize stakeholder’s equity. If this information gets public they might got fired from their job for violating the main goal of a public company â€Å"maximize shareholders wealth† Q e. On the basis of the information provided, what specific recommendations would you offer the firm? Ans: From the information available in the case study, we get a picture that this company has some major problem regarding their top management. We are giving these recommendations to address those issues. 1. Comply with all laws as well as accepted standards of conduct or moral judgment. This will prevent any more environmental hazard caused by dumping waste and its legal and environmental consequence. 2. Establish a corporate ethics policy, to be read and signed by all employees. This will make everyone aware about their specific duties and this will prevent further delinquency by the management. 3. Designing a payment system that ties management team and employees’ salary to share price or a performance based scale. And top management must have a stock based compensation plan which will get rid of the agency problem existing in the company. And buying stocks from the market will create demand for shares thus the stock price may go up for a short session.

Paramagnetism Definition and Examples

Paramagnetism Definition and Examples Paramagnetism refers to a property of certain materials that are weakly attracted to magnetic fields. When exposed to an external magnetic field, internal induced magnetic fields form in these materials that are ordered in the same direction as the applied field. Once the applied field is removed, the materials lose their magnetism as thermal motion randomizes the electron spin orientations. Materials that display paramagnetism are called paramagnetic. Some compounds and most chemical elements are paramagnetic under certain circumstances. However, true paramagnets display magnetic susceptibility according to the Curie or Curies of paramagnets include the coordination complex myoglobin, transition metal complexes, iron oxide (FeO), and oxygen (O2). Titanium and aluminum are metallic elements that are paramagnetic. Superparamagnets are materials that show a net paramagnetic response, yet display ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic ordering at the microscopic level. These materials adhere to the Curie law, yet have very large Curie constants. Ferrofluids are an example of superparamagnets. Solid superparamagnets are also known as mictomagnets. The alloy AuFe (gold-iron) is an example of a mictomagnet. The ferromagnetically coupled clusters in the alloy freeze below a certain temperature. How Paramagnetism Works Paramagnetism results from the presence of least one unpaired electron spin in a materials atoms or molecules. In other words, any material that possesses atoms with incompletely filled atomic orbitals is paramagnetic. The spin of the unpaired electrons gives them a magnetic dipole moment. Basically, each unpaired electron acts as a tiny magnet within the material. When an external magnetic field is applied, the spin of the electrons aligns with the field. Because all the unpaired electrons align the same way, the material is attracted to the field. When the external field is removed, the spins return to their randomized orientations. The magnetization approximately follows Curies law, which states that the magnetic susceptibility χ is inversely proportional to temperature: M χH CH/T where M is magnetization, χ is magnetic susceptibility, H is the auxiliary magnetic field, T is the absolute (Kelvin) temperature, and C is the material-specific Curie constant. Types of Magnetism Magnetic materials may be identified as belonging to one of four categories: ferromagnetism, paramagnetism, diamagnetism, and antiferromagnetism. The strongest form of magnetism is ferromagnetism. Ferromagnetic materials exhibit a magnetic attraction that is strong enough to be felt. Ferromagnetic and ferrimagnetic materials may remain magnetized over time. Common iron-based magnets and rare earth magnets display ferromagnetism. In contrast to ferromagnetism, the forces of paramagnetism, diamagnetism, and antiferromagnetism are weak. In antiferromagnetism, the magnetic moments of molecules or atoms align in a pattern in which neighbor electron spins point in opposite directions, but the magnetic ordering vanishes above a certain temperature. Paramagnetic materials are weakly attracted to a magnetic field. Antiferromagnetic materials become paramagnetic above a certain temperature. Diamagnetic materials are weakly repelled by magnetic fields. All materials are diamagnetic, but a substance isnt usually labeled diamagnetic unless the other forms of magnetism are absent. Bismuth and antimony are examples of diamagnets.

Definition and Examples of Senders in Communication

Definition and Examples of Senders in Communication In the  communication process, the sender is the individual who initiates a message  and is also called the  communicator or source of communication. The sender might be a  speaker, a writer, or someone who merely gestures. The individual or the group of individuals who responds to the sender is called the receiver  or audience. In communication and speech theory, the reputation of the sender is important in providing credibility and validation to his or her statements and speech, but attractiveness and friendliness, too, play roles in a receivers interpretation of a senders message. From the  ethos  of the senders rhetoric to the  persona  he or she portrays, the senders role in communication sets not only the tone but the expectation of the conversation between the sender and the audience. In writing, though, the response is delayed and relies more on the senders reputation than image. Communication Process Every communication involves two key elements: the sender and the receiver, wherein the sender conveys an idea or concept, seeks information, or expresses a thought or emotion, and the receiver gets that message. In Understanding Management, Richard Daft and Dorothy Marcic explain how the sender can communicate by selecting symbols with which to compose a message. Then this tangible formulation of the idea is sent to the receiver, where it is decoded to interpret the meaning. As a result, being clear and concise as a sender is important to start the communication well, especially in written correspondence. Unclear messages carry with them a higher risk of being misinterpreted and eliciting a response from the audience that the sender did not intend. A.C. Buddy Krizan defines a senders key role in the communication process in Business Communication as including (a) selecting the type of message, (b) analyzing the receiver, (c) using the you-viewpoint, (d) encouraging feedback, and (e) removing communication barriers. Senders Credibility and Attractiveness A thorough analysis by the receiver of a senders message is imperative in conveying the right message and eliciting the desired results because the audiences evaluation of the speaker largely determines their reception of a given form of communication. Daniel J. Levi describes in Group Dynamics for Teams the idea of a good persuasive speaker as a  highly credible communicator, whereas a communicator with low credibility may cause the audience to believe the opposite of the message (sometimes called the boomerang effect). A college professor, he posits, may be an expert in his or her field, but the students might not consider him or her an expert in social or political topics. This idea of a speakers credibility based on perceived competence and character, sometimes called an ethos, was developed more than 2,000 years ago in ancient Greece, according to Deanna Sellnows Confident Public Speaking. Sellnow goes on to say that because listeners often have a difficult time separating the message from the sender, good ideas can easily be discounted if the sender does not establish ethos via content, delivery, and structure.

How to Start a New Semester Strongly

How to Start a New Semester Strongly Knowing how to start a semester strongly can be one of the most important skills to learn during your time in college. After all, the choices you make during the first few weeks (and even days) of a new semester can have long-lasting effects. So just where should you focus your efforts? New Semester Basics Get a time management system. Managing your time just may be your biggest challenge while in college. Find something that works for you and use it from day one. (Not sure where to start? Learn tips for managing your time in college.)Take a reasonable course load. Taking 20 units (or more!) this semester may sound great in theory, but it most likely will come back to haunt you in the long run. Sure, it may seem like a good way to improve your transcript, but the lower grades you might get because your course load is too heavy is a sure way to bring your transcript down, not up. If you absolutely must carry a heavy course load for some reason, however, make sure that youve cut down on your other commitments so that you dont put too many unreasonable expectations on yourself.Have your books purchased or at least on their way. Not having your books the first week of class can put you behind everyone else before you even had the chance to start. Even if you have to go to the library for the first week or two to get the reading done, make sure youre doing what you can to stay on top of your homework until your books arrive. Have some but not too much co-curricular involvement. You dont want to be so over-involved that you barely have time to eat and sleep, but you most likely do need to be involved in something other than your classes all day long. Join a club, get an on-campus job, volunteer somewhere, play on an intramural team: just do something to keep your brain (and personal life!) balanced.Get your finances in order. You may be rocking your classes, but if your financial situation is a mess, you wont be able to finish the semester. Make sure your finances are in order when you start a new semester and that theyll still be that way as you head toward finals week.Have your life logistics worked out. These are different for every college student, but having the basics like your housing/roommate situation, your food/dining options, and your transportation worked out in advance is critical to making it through the semester in a stress-free way.Set up healthy outlets for fun and to relieve stress. You dont need to have a Ph.D. to know that college is stressful. Have things already in place like good groups of friends, exercise plans, hobbies, and smart ways to avoid pitfalls (like knowing how to avoid test anxiety) that will allow you to mentally check out and relax when things get intense. Get information on where to go for help you know, just in case. When, and if, you find yourself juggling more than you can handle, trying to find help while under that kind of stress is nearly impossible. Learn where to go for help before your semester begins so that, just in case things get a little rough, your small speed bump doesnt turn into a major disaster zone.

Transportation Planning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Transportation Planning - Essay Example Much emphasis should be placed on the issue of transport planning with a view of expanding the planning boundaries from the conceptual to a practical based perspective. The rational Planning theory was a planning theory propounded after the World War two. It was majored in the core areas of knowledge in planning that were perceived to be essential to practice (Barrett 9). It led to development of the generic planning model in capitalistic democracies and was taken from views from different social disciplines in addition to the political and economic factors. It was used as an approach in solving problems in the public sphere (Brooks 39). Later, it was taken to the public policy due to its guiding principles. The rational planning theory had the following steps; a) the end to reductions and expansion, b) it calculated course of action, c) it evaluated the consequences, d) it provided alternatives to the existing challenge; e) it considered the implications of the existing alternate (J ohnson 67). This theory describes the problem solving mechanism in the transport planning. It was engineered with a view of serving the interest of the public and thus very populous (Brooks 47). Advocate Planner theory is based on the legal advocacy system as an analogy, where a member of a community approaches the planning authority and argues on the behalf of the public interest. Social learning theory puts emphasis on the responsibility of the planning authority to uniting the stakeholders and sharing the information with a view of learning from them (Barrett 22). This helps to develop social structures that meet the social expectations of the stakeholders. Transitive planning theory emphasized that the members of the community and the civic leaders be at the center of the planning process if at all the plan was to be implemented (Brooks 107). Communicative planning theory asserts that planners had to alert the members of the community (Johnson 21). This is believed to encourage

Case Study Ethical Practice Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Case Study Ethical Practice Paper - Essay Example Social therapists and medical practitioners often face the predicament of having to make critical decisions in their experiential practice. Critical scenarios that pit the practitioner's decision making procedures and systems with other factors extrinsic to the logic of the medical and psychological therapy practice often culminate in ethical dilemmas. This paper presents a case study of one such case featuring an ethical dilemma setting characterised by the dissonance between my socio-cultural values and the subject's predicament. The exploration of the ethical dilemma will take the form of a case study. A case study is naturally a qualitative study. A phenomenological study is "the type of research that examines the human experience (Beauchamp, T, & Childress, J, 1983, pp 43). The emphasis is on "experience and interpretation" (Neil T. Anderson 1998). Parton N (1998) continues "In the conduct of a phenomenological study, the focus would be on the essence or structure of an experience (phenomenon)". As such the case study model is perceived to be an ideal study model to meet the core objectives of this paper which entail illuminating the dynamics of an ethical dilemma scenario in a social therapy professional practice setting. The anticipated scenario culminating in dilemma i... The crux of the scenario stems from the fact that I'm strongly against abortion and the client is very dependent on me as her close associate. What characterizes the ethical dilemma is that I need to spell out my values on abortion to her yet for objectivity reasons I must refer her to some one who can take a neutral stand on the issue and yet she views me as her anchor in the predicament that she is facing. Systems Theory Application The featured scenario has entailed the application of the Systems Social Therapy Theory by a practitioner dealing with substance abuse related case. The core tenet and perspective of the Systems Approach; in close relation to the subject of depression related social therapy dwells on that the problem has to be placed within the broader precincts of the factors (social, political, economic, etc) that characterise the environment of the affected individual. The practical application of the model employs among other aspects the thrust of bolstering the subject's morale and self-concepts and recommending perceived solutions and remedies for the client. The external factors surrounding the subject/client are identified and used to map a framework that constitutes the source of the individual's problems culminating in substance abuse. This perspective argues for the interventions that will focus on reducing the environmental and extrinsic stresses and pressures that push people to making certain decisions that may not suffice for the curtailing of ensuing problems and for the objective of coping with external forces. The systems approach strives for the contextualization of the subject's problems within the broader precincts of

Strategic grouping, competition, and consumer behavior Essay

Strategic grouping, competition, and consumer behavior - Essay Example The paper will analyze five sectors that are denoted as follows (with their corresponding NAICS codes): 44812 (women’s clothing), 448310 (jewelry stores), 45391 (pet stores and supplies), 722330 (mobile food services), and 72111 (hotels and motels). Furthermore, the discussion between these five industries will analyze class, category, forms, and brands that exist within each; helping the reader to gain a further level of interpretive understanding that relates to the way in which these entities compete and exist within the current environment. Through an analysis of these metrics, the author will be able to provide the reader with a more in-depth analysis of the way in which the following markets work and the levels of consumer choice, substitutability, and competition that exists within each one of these.   Though it might be understood that competition is guaranteed, the reality of the fact is that differing levels of competition create unique opportunities and help to de fine markets that would otherwise be incorrectly categorized.   The first industry that will be analyzed is that of the NAICs code of 44812, or women’s clothing – listed under the retail trade 44- NAICs category.   Naturally, the class and category of this particular industry are that of consumer goods relating to fashion.   Yet, extreme diversification exists with respect to the forms and brands of actual industries that compete within this sector.   For instance, Forever21 competes alongside the likes of Versace and Prada.

Management 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Management 2 - Essay Example The Chairman outlines the activities and financial conditions of the firm in the previous year followed by his/her discussion on hopes and future plans for the firm. In this part of the annual report, the Chairman attempts to explain why the company’s operations resulted in the results mentioned and why it chooses to advance with new projects or policies. In a nutshell, the statement or report is mainly a promise or explanation for company activities by the Chairman and its Board of Directors to the stockholders. However, the questions are: Why do they need the reports? What do the stockholders do with them? And more importantly, what do they do to deserve an explanation? To answer these questions, one has to firstly understand the concept of stockholder’s equity. When an individual goes to the market and buys stocks, he/she basically buys ownership! A corporation is basically a public-owned enterprise. By declaring itself a corporation, the company or enterprise is selling itself to the public. This is done by the company to essentially generate more money and finances. When it becomes a corporation, the company is actually giving the stockholders a right or privilege to vote for the Board of Directors. The elected Board of Directors is then responsible to make decisions about the company and see where and how the company can maximize the profits. The stockholders then gain from the profits. The stockholders do not directly earn the profit but are given dividends instead. These dividends are paid annually, every year except when the company is going in loss to an extent that it even fails to pay back the liabilities it has borrowed. At such times, the liabilities are preferred and paid first and the remaining is given as dividends to the stockholders. To further understand the relationship between the company and the stockholders, Walt Disney Corporation will be used as a case for analysis and descriptive explanation. But, before

Global community assessment of Haiti Research Paper

Global community assessment of Haiti - Research Paper Example The country is exposed to the impacts of climate change, especially sea level rise. Other overlapping factors affecting the county include high population densities, overstressed water resources, fragile ecosystems, and limited resources. The country is a perfect example of how socioeconomic conditions and physical exposure can cause extreme climate vulnerability. The country is prone to environmental stressors such as droughts, landslides, earthquakes, and hurricanes. The climate change in Haiti increases the likelihood of the occurrence and extreme weather events such as hurricanes. The country is also vulnerable to floods that occur occasionally. Heavy rains have increased the cases of waterborne diseases such as cholera. Such cases have weaken the natural systems such as loses of the protection of trees.Systems  Ã‚   The Haiti’s political system is the presidential-style republic whereby the President of Haiti is usually the Head of State. The majority party in the parli ament and president elects the prime minister, and the government exercises the executive power. The National Assembly of Haiti consists of 30 member of senate elected for 6 years period, with a third of seat contested in every two years. The other assemble consists of 99 members chamber of Deputies. In terms of economic power, Haiti is among the poorest countries in the world where the majority lives in the extreme poverty.   Many people cannot afford the basic commodities and it becomes a challenge to access medical facilities.   As a result, a large segment of people in Haiti are living in extreme conditions, and diseases such as cholera are spreading rapidly because of lack of treatment. The official religion of Haiti is Roman Catholicism while voodoo is the country’s national religion. Most Haitians practice and believe voodoo doctrines. It is important to note that, most voodooists believe in their religion as it is similar to Catholicism. However, most Protestants oppose voodoo since its belief system revolves around family spirits that are inherited through paternal and maternal lines. Unlike Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, Voodoo lacks an organized hierarchy and a fixed theology. Still, there is a small Muslim population in Haiti. Haiti relies more on road transport where the two highways run from one country to the other. The main challenge with healthcare in Haiti is that there is no plan, structure, or system implemented to improve health care sector. There are inadequate healthcare facilities, insufficient medical staff,

Topical Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Topical - Research Paper Example Food security involves a situation whereby all human beings have physical and economic access to enough, safe and nutritious food that can meet their dietary needs and food preference for an active and healthy life. Decision makers, policy makers as well as concerned members of the public have widely discussed issues on how much food the world is growing or is able to grow and whether the production of food involves sustainable management of natural resources. In addition, they have also been discussing how food is distributed at the global, regional, national, and household levels. All these concerns have been crucial in achieving concerted efforts and the international commitment of organizations concerned with world food production such as food and agricultural organization (FAO) (Nicholson, 2009, p14). Emerging acknowledgement of other food problems has placed the concerns of the food system in a much broader context. The concerns include human health closely tied to food safety and the growing cases of nutrition related illnesses such as heart diseases; the commercialization and industrialization of food and agriculture; the emergence of advanced technologies with eminent positive and negative economic and environmental impacts; the emergence of transnational organizations in international food markets; rising concentration in food production, processing, and retail and armed conflicts (McMicheal, 1994, p20). There are environmental challenges facing the global food system. These challenges include climate change, the extortion of natural resources, salinity, increased amount of pesticides, GMO concerns, and biodiversity challenged closely linked to monocropping. Each of these challenges does not cross modern borders, hence making the study of the food system itself a valuable and important experience (McMicheal, 1994, p20). The food challenges being experienced in the world now are both diverse and complex.

Global community assessment of Haiti Research Paper

Global community assessment of Haiti - Research Paper Example The country is exposed to the impacts of climate change, especially sea level rise. Other overlapping factors affecting the county include high population densities, overstressed water resources, fragile ecosystems, and limited resources. The country is a perfect example of how socioeconomic conditions and physical exposure can cause extreme climate vulnerability. The country is prone to environmental stressors such as droughts, landslides, earthquakes, and hurricanes. The climate change in Haiti increases the likelihood of the occurrence and extreme weather events such as hurricanes. The country is also vulnerable to floods that occur occasionally. Heavy rains have increased the cases of waterborne diseases such as cholera. Such cases have weaken the natural systems such as loses of the protection of trees.Systems  Ã‚   The Haiti’s political system is the presidential-style republic whereby the President of Haiti is usually the Head of State. The majority party in the parli ament and president elects the prime minister, and the government exercises the executive power. The National Assembly of Haiti consists of 30 member of senate elected for 6 years period, with a third of seat contested in every two years. The other assemble consists of 99 members chamber of Deputies. In terms of economic power, Haiti is among the poorest countries in the world where the majority lives in the extreme poverty.   Many people cannot afford the basic commodities and it becomes a challenge to access medical facilities.   As a result, a large segment of people in Haiti are living in extreme conditions, and diseases such as cholera are spreading rapidly because of lack of treatment. The official religion of Haiti is Roman Catholicism while voodoo is the country’s national religion. Most Haitians practice and believe voodoo doctrines. It is important to note that, most voodooists believe in their religion as it is similar to Catholicism. However, most Protestants oppose voodoo since its belief system revolves around family spirits that are inherited through paternal and maternal lines. Unlike Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, Voodoo lacks an organized hierarchy and a fixed theology. Still, there is a small Muslim population in Haiti. Haiti relies more on road transport where the two highways run from one country to the other. The main challenge with healthcare in Haiti is that there is no plan, structure, or system implemented to improve health care sector. There are inadequate healthcare facilities, insufficient medical staff,

Ethnic Identity and African Americans Essay Example for Free

Ethnic Identity and African Americans Essay Ethnic identity is the sum total of group member feelings about those values, symbols, and common histories that identify them as a distinct group (Smith 1991). Development of ethnic identity is important because it helps one to come to terms with their ethnic membership as a prominent reference group and significant part of an individuals overall identity. Ethnic reference group refers to an individuals psychological relatedness to groups (Smith 1991). These reference groups help adolescents sense, reflect and see things from the point of their ethnic groups in which they actively participate or seek to participate. What is ethnic identity? The establishment of identity is an important, complex task for all adolescents, and is considered a major developmental task for all adolescents. It is particularly complicated for adolescents belonging to ethnic and minority groups. Ethnic identity of the majority group of individuals is constantly validated and reinforced in a positive manner where as the minority group is constantly ridiculed and punished in a negative manner. What does this say for those adolescents who are the minority and not the majority? It is important to study or research ethnic identity because it provides better knowledge to help one understand striving for a sense of unity and connectivenesss in which the self provides meaning for direction and meaning of ethnic identity (Spencer, 1990). It is also important to study or research the differences between these groups due to beliefs and values. Adolescents that are the minority are confronted with their ethnicity at an earlier age then Caucasian adolescents majority and they are constantly aware of ethnic differences, which means it is of greater importance to understand the development of the minority individual. It should lead to different assessments when it comes to ethnic identity. For example, African American adolescents are psychologically compared to Caucasian American adolescence diagnoses, which are sometimes inaccurately assessed. Bronfenberner explains the theoretical perspective such as the ecological perspective by saying, The implications for clinical treatment of African American adolescents, mental health workers must be sensitive to the ecological context of their clients. Mental Health workers must realize that there is no single entity called the black family . The black families compared to the other families established their American family. He suggests that these families vary dramatically in backgrounds, social economic status, values, and degree of acculturation to the norms and values of mainstream America (1990). There are also, significant differences that may exist in preparation of African American adolescent, at the level of rearing family practices and in schools (1990). That is, schools continue to reflect historical values that deal with racial-stereotypes and prejudice and beliefs. At the same time there are families trying to avoid and make light out of such situations. These families and communities continue to show constancy by instilling their own beliefs and values through child rearing which maybe different from Caucasian Americas. Identity and ethnicity as adolescent issues Identity has been defined in many ways. It is the concept used to describe an individuals sense of who he or she is (Dashefsky and Shapiro, 1976). Changes in identity occur throughout the life cycle, however, the changes in identity are usually most notable during adolescence. Integrating a positive sense of ethnic identity into ones overall personal identity is an important task of late adolescence (Steinberg, 1996). Ethnic identity has been defined as the aspect of ones sense of identity concerning ancestry or racial group membership (Steinberg, 1996). Ethnic identity development is an essential human need because it provides a sense of belonging and historical continuity. Ethnic socialization Minority children are confronted with their ethnicity at an earlier age than their majority counterparts (Smith, 1991). Parents can help to speed up the early stages of ethnic identity development by taking an active approach to ethnic socialization. Ethnic socialization, according to Steinberg(1996), refers to the process through which parents teach their children about their ethnicity and about the certain experiences they may have with the broader society. Ethnic socialization consists of three themes: 1) understanding ones own culture, 2) getting along in mainstream society, and 3) dealing with racism (Steinberg, 1996). Possible outcomes of ethnic identity development. There are four ways to deal with ethnicity (Steinberg, 1996): Â ·Assimilationadopting the cultural norms of the majority while rejecting the norms of ones own culture. Â ·Separationrejecting the majority culture and associating only with members of ones own culture. Â ·Marginalityliving within majority culture but feeling estranged. Â ·Biculturalismmaintaining ties to both cultures. According to Steinberg (1996) many believe that biculturalism is more successful than the other four. With biculturalism minority youth have access to the norms of the majority and minority culture depending on the situation. References. Â ·Smith, Elise J. Ethnic Identity Development: Toward the Development of A Theory within the Context of Majority/Minority Status. Journal of Counseling and Development: JCD. v70. n1. Sept. 1991. p. 181-188. Â ·Spencer, Margaret Beale. Child Development. v61 n2. Apr. 1990. P. 290-310. Â ·Dashefsky, A. (Eds. ). (1976). Ethnic identity in society. Chicago: Rand McNally College Publishing Co. Smith, E. J. (1991). Ethnic identity development: Toward the development of a theory within the context of majority/minority status. Journal of Counseling and Development, 70, 181-187. Â ·Steinberg, L. (1996). Adolescence. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Dual Diagnosis: Eating Disorders and Alcohol/Substance Abuse

Dual Diagnosis: Eating Disorders and Alcohol/Substance Abuse Alcoholism is characterized by a strong craving to drink, an inability to stop drinking once beginning, a physical dependence upon alcohol to prevent symptoms of withdrawal, and a need for greater amounts of alcohol due to increased tolerance. Substance abuse is defined as the routine use of harmful substances for mood-altering purposes and can include illicit drugs, such as cocaine or heroin, prescription or over-the-counter drugs. Because alcoholism and substance abuse are known as co-occurring disorders, it usually develops alongside other illnesses, such aseating disorderor anxiety disorder. Eating disorders have been associated with high risk substance abuse as the individual has extremely low self-esteem and anxiety, to cope with their painful feelings they turn to stimulants like cocaine or meth, alcohol, laxatives, diuretics, emetics and amphetamines with are frequently used to decrease appetite, increase metabolism, promote weight loss or to purge unwanted calories after eat ing. Symptoms that occur with eating disorders vary a lot. You can experience obsessive thoughts about food and body weight can change eating patterns such as dieting, making excuses not to eat, avoidance of social situations involving food, going to the bathroom straight after meals, your mood can fluctuate from feeling depressed, irritable or anxious, daily activities are affected as you don’t want to go out socially, exercising excessively, spending a lot of time talking about appearance or weight or looking in the mirror and appearance such as wearing baggy clothes to disguise their weight, losing or gaining weight, greasy or dry hair and skin. As a result of these symptoms many individuals turn to alcoholism or substance abuse especially when they become stressed, depressed, have anxiety, low self esteem as it can elevate their mood and become more relaxed in their own skin. Especially people with eating disorders can rely heavily on alcohol as they have symptoms that alcohol reduces for that period of binging. It also can eliminate their feelings of worthlessness. It is also used as a hunger suppressant and to lose weight.The coping mechanisms of purging, bingeing, restricting, drinking is used as they have lost their connection with the original problem, in other words to forget about reality.Or alcohol can have the opposite effect on the individual about their lifestyle and it could result in suicide. Diagnosis of condition: there are two ways to find out the diagnosis of eating disorders and they are a physical evaluations and psychological evaluations. The physical evaluations can include recording their weight and height to get their body mass index, check their vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, pulse, temperature. You need to check their skin integrity to see whether there are any skin tears or is dry and flaky. Also need to do an abdomen examination, urinalysis, blood test to check their electrolytes; as theses will show us if the liver, kidney and thyroid functions are healthy or not. Psychological evaluations involves asking questions regarding their eating habits, behavior, purging, bingeing, exercise, self image, alcohol and substance abuse. These questions can be administered by your doctor or a mental health professional. After undergoing both physical and psychological evaluations the doctor will then see if you fit the criteria by reviewing all your sign s and symptoms and then a diagnostic is given. Management of the condition is to be referred to a nutritionist, undergo psychotherapy and be placed on medication to prevent hospitalization. The nutritionist will educate you and get you back to a healthy weight range; psychotherapist will help you exchange your unhealthy habits for healthy ones to ensure you have changed your eating habits and also educate them on the effects that the alcohol is having on their bodies. There is no medication that can cure eating disorders but can assist you with your sudden urges to binge or purge. They can also be given anti-depressants for depression and anxiety as this will most likely occur in eating disorders. Relaxation therapy is also extremely effective such as yoga, acupuncture, and massage and chamomile tea. They can also get counseling about their alcohol and drug addiction and slowly withdraw them off the substances. There are many companies and support groups out now that can help individuals with both drug and alcohol abuse. What is the prevalence of the condition in the Australian population? Eating disorders affect 9% of the Australian population, with up to 20% of females being not yet diagnosed. There has there been an increase in the prevalence in the past decade as it has doubled for both males and females. The reason for this change is that more teenagers are more susceptible to the pressures of social media and self image of being the perfect shape and size. It is becoming easier to access drugs and alcohol off the streets or have connections with individuals that are older and can buy it for them. Bullying in primary, secondary and tertiary schools and workplace related bullying. As a health professional, what could you do to participate in the ongoing education of people in society in relation to mental health and the disorder you have chosen? By going to local primary schools, high schools and tertiary schools to educate the students on the real risk factors of eating disorders drugs and alcohol have on their health and also talk about not falling to the social media pressures of being size 0 and trying to fit in. Place flyers up in local shops/companies/doctors clinic for people to read. Place adds in the news papers and online to spread the awareness of the affects that eating disorders and substance abuse can have on our selves, friends, families, co-workers and communities. How could you improve or maintain the flow of information between service providers and the community in relation to mental health? By running weekly forums on eating disorders and alcoholism to all ages, having various websites that the community can visit at any time, place ads on the TV about the impacts of eating disorders and advise everyone to get regular checkups at their local general practitioner. Dual diagnosis services are to support the development of responses of mental health and drug treatment services to individuals with both mental illness and substance use problems. They strive to develop the potential of hospital and community based alcohol and drug, and mental health treatment and support services to improve health outcomes of individuals with a dual diagnosis. Desiree Wyatt References Sane Australia. 2010.eating disorders. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.sane.org/information/factsheets-podcasts/179-eating-disorder. [Accessed 17 March 14]. The free dictionary. 2013.compulsive eating. [ONLINE] Available at:http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Compulsive+Eating. [Accessed 17 March 14]. Mayo clinic. 2013.eating disorders. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/eating-disorders/basics/tests-diagnosis/con-20033575. [Accessed 17 March 14]. National eating disorders collaboration. 2013.eating disorders in Australia. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.nedc.com.au/eating-disorders-in-australia. [Accessed 17 March 14]. eastern heath great health and wellbeing. 2013.dual diagnosis. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.easternhealth.org.au/services/mentalhealth/adult/dualdiagnosis.aspx. [Accessed 17 March 14]. Integrated Treatment of Substance Abuse Mental Illness. 2014. dual diagnosis, eating disorders. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.dualdiagnosis.org/eating-disorders/. [Accessed 16 July 14].

The Matrix :: essays research papers

The Matrix, The â€Å"Western† Never Known   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As stated by the title, there is great reason why the Matrix should be treated in the same context, although not identified, as a western. This film genre is steeped in tradition and lore. There are many definitions abound as to what may constitute a â€Å"Western film.† The main goal is to see whether or not this paper can illustrate the genre be pushed towards the future. Whether it means the 20th century, the 21st century or the distant future. This genre can grow towards something bigger and more exciting. This paper will attempt to explore this debate and give reasoning’s as to what defines a Western, how the Matrix lives up to and modifies the stated definition, will go into the films background such as director, producer, film reviews, etc. Finally the paper will discuss the theme, tone, setting, characters and casting, acting style, lighting, imagery, musical score, and special effects.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Defining a film genre is in some ways difficult and simplistic. Every genre has stated what would define its boundaries. The difficult part is finding one that is solidified by the movies in the genre. The stated definition that this paper will digest and regurgitate is that a Western is a film which is set in the American frontier west. The typical time setting is somewhere in the mid to late 19th century and early 20th century(Dirks, 1). They glorify the past-fading values and aspirations of the mythical by-gone age of the American West(Dirks, 1). Over time, however, Westerns have been redefined, re-invented and expanded, dismissed, re-discovered, and spoofed. This actually makes the definition more lucid, making other films flexible enough to fit quite nicely into the genre.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Westerns also state that these films represent the ideals of a growing nation. Expanding and maintaining established territories is what is at the heart of older Western films as â€Å"Manifest Destiny† puts up in dialogue constantly. This particular fact is a main point which will be revisited. Dominating the unknown and uprooting natives or peoples who have been established long before the conquerors.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many central conflicts in old westerns. The battle between good and evil is the most common. Others include man vs. man, east vs. west, human vs. nature, or in the Matrix’s case, man vs. machine.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Does the Matrix live up to these ideals of a Western? Yes, in more ways than one.

Silence in Chaim Potoks The Chosen Essay examples -- Potok Chosen Ess

Silence in The Chosen  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the book The Chosen the four main characters have different views on how children should be raised. Danny Saunders was said to be raised in silence. Danny was raised in silence in that communication was cut off between Danny and his father, except when they were studying Talmud. The reason Danny’s father did not speak to his son is because Rabbi Saunders wanted to have Danny think things through himself. Reb Saunders also wanted Danny to grow up in the same manner he himself was raised. Rabbi Saunders tries his hardest to have his son’s soul be ready for taking over the task of leading the Jewish people. The reason that a person must have a strong soul is so that they can handle the burden that Danny’s followers will heap onto him. Rabbi Saunders believes that only speaking to his son in Talmud discussions will enhance his sons soul. That is why Reb Saunders raises his child in silence. It is understandable to raise a son in the way Reb Saunders did, because Danny was destined for such great things. All Reb Saunders wants is that hi...

Chemistry Form 4 Essay

INTRODUCTION All the objects that exist around us are made up of chemical substances. These objects exist an element, compound or mixture. All these objects contribute benefit to human kind. As time goes on, human has done many researches to ensure all these chemical substances will be enough for the use of themselves. Chapter 9 of Form 4 syllabus introduces the students with manufactured substances in industry. This is important for the students to appreciate the knowledge of chemistry that is still new for themselves. Personally, I think that this chapter is an interesting chapter as it revealed the way of scientist produces the material around me. It also gives me new knowledges of the uses of chemical substances that I usually found in the laboratories. I hope, by learning this chapter, I will be more interested in learning chemistry as it will help me in the future. All the equations from this chapter make me more understand of the previous chapters. OBJECTIVES * Understand the manufacture of sulphuric acid. * Synthesise the manufacture of ammonia and its salts. * Understand alloys. * Evaluate the uses of synthetic polymer. * Apply the uses of glass and ceramics. * Evaluate the uses of composite materials. * Appreciate various synthetic industrial materials. ALLOYS ARRANGEMENT OF ATOMS IN PURE METAL * Pure metal is soft and not very strong. * Atoms of pure metals have similar size and shape and are arranged closely but there is still space between the atoms. * When force is applied to pure metals, the atoms slide along one another easily. * This property causes pure metal to be ductile, that is, it can be stretched into a wire. * When knocked or hammered, metal atoms slide along one another to fill spaces between the metal atoms. * This property causes pure metal to be malleable, that is, it can be knocked or pressed into various desired shapes. MEANING OF ALLOYS * An alloy is a mixture of two or more metals mixed in a certain percentage. OR * An alloy is a substance formed from a mixture of metal and other elements. OR * An alloy is a solid solution that contains at least one metal. Most often an alloy will contain only two or more metals, but some alloys contain one or more metals along with a non-metal. * A foreign atom (impurity atom) may be atoms of other metals or non-metals such as carbon and silicon. * The process of mixing atoms of impurities with atoms of pure metal by melting is called alloying. PURPOSES OF MAKING ALLOYS Alloys are made to * Increase the strength and hardness of the metal * Prevent corrosion of the metal * Improve the appearance of the metal so that it is more attractive. ALLOY| PURE METAL ATOM| MAIN FOREIGN ATOM| STEEL| 99% IRON| 1% CARBON| STAINLESS STEEL| 74% IRON| 18% CHROMIUM,8% CARBON| BRONZE| 90% COPPER| 10% TIN| BRASS| 70% COPPER| 30% ZINC| PEWTER| 97% TIN| 2% COPPER1% ANTIMONY| DURALUMIN| 93% ALUMINIUM| 3% COPPER3% MAGNESIUM1% MANGANESE| COPPER NICKEL| 75% COPPER| 25% NICKEL| ARRANGEMENT OF ATOMS IN ALLOYS * Impurity atoms which are mixed may be larger or smaller than atoms of pure metal. * Impurity atoms fill the empy spaces between the atoms in pure metal. * Impurity atoms can prevent the layers of metal atoms from sliding along one another easily. * Due to this, an alloy is harder, stronger, less ductile and less malleable than its pure metal. EXPERIMENT TO COMPARE THE HARDNESS OF AN ALLOY AND A PURE METAL EXPERIMENT TO COMPARE RATE OF RUSTING BETWEEN IRON, STEEL & STAINLESS STEEL SOME EXAMPLES OF ALLOYS, ITS COMPOSITION, PROPERTIES AND ITS USES ALLOYS| COMPOSITION| PROPERTIES| USES OF ALLOYS| CARBON STEEL| 99% IRON1% CARBON| HARDSTRONG| * FRAMEWORK OF BUILDINGS & BRIDGES * FRAMEWORK OF HEAVY MACHINERY & BODY OF VEHICLES| STAINLESS STEEL| 74% IRON18% CHROMIUM8% NICKEL| SHINYSTRONGRESIST RUSTING| * MAKING CUTTLERY & KITCHEN WARE| MAGNALIUM| 70% ALUMINIUM30% MAGNESIUM| LIGHTHARDSTRONG| * MAKING AIRCRAFTS| PEWTER| 97% TIN3% COPPER, ANTIMONY| LUSTROUSSTRONG| * MAKING MUGS, CANDLE STICK & SOUVENIERS| SOLDER| 50% TIN50% LEAD| HARDSHINYLOW MELTING POINT| * MAKING OF SOLDER FOR ELECTRICAL WIRES| CUPRO-NICKEL| COPPER, NICKEL.% ACCORDING TO COLOUR| HARDSHINYRESIST CORROSION| * MAKING COINS| POLYMERS MEANING OF POLYMERS * Polymers are long chains of molecule made from combinations of many small molecules. OR * Polymers can be defined as large molecules composed  of numerous smaller, repeating units known as monomers which are joined by covalent bonds. * Small molecules that combine to form polymers are called monomers. * Polymerisation is a process of combining monomers to form a long chain of molecules. polymerisation polymer monomer * Polymers can be divided into two types: a) Natural polymer b) Synthetic polymer NATURAL POLYMER * A natural polymer is a polymer that occurs naturally. * Natural polymers are normally made by living organisms. NATURAL POLYMER| MONOMERS ( small molecules )| RUBBER| ISOPRENE| CELLULOSE| GLUCOSE| STARCH| GLUCOSE| PROTEIN| AMINO ACID| NUCLEIC ACID| NUCLEOTIDES| SYNTHETIC POLYMERS * Synthetic (artificial) polymers are man-made polymers that are produced from chemical compounds through polymerization. * Synthetic polymers are used widely in daily life. * Some examples of synthetic polymer and their monomer and their uses. TYPES OF POLYMER| MONOMER| USES| POLYTHENE| ETHENE| * MAKE BUCKETS, PLASTIC BAGS, RAINCOATS, FILMS, BOWLS & RUBBISH BINS.| POLYVINYL CHLORIDE (PVC)| CHLOROETHENE ( Vinyl Chloride )| * MAKE WATER PIPES, ELECTRIC CABLES, MATS, VINYL RECORDS & CLOTHES HANGERS| POLYPROPENE| PROPENE| * MAKE ROPES, BOTTLES, CHAIRS, DRINK CANS & CARPETS| PERSPEX| METHYL-2-METHYLPROPENOATE( Methyl methacrylate )| * MAKE CAR WINDSCREENS, AIRPLANE WINDOW PANES & SPECTACLE LENSES (optical instruments)| NYLON| ADIPIC ACID & HEXANEDIAMINE| * MAKE ROPES, CURTAINS, STOKINGS & CLOTHES| POLYSTYRENE| STYRENE| * MAKE PACKING BOXES, BUTTONS & NOTICEBOARDS| EFFECTS OF THE DISPOSAL OF ITEMS MADE FROM SYNTHETIC POLYMERS ON THE ENVIRONMENT 1. Synthetic polymers are not biodegradable (not decomposed by microorganisms ). 2. The careless disposal of items made from synthetic polymers such as plastic causes environmental pollution. 3. The effects of burning & careless disposal of items made from synthetic polymers on the environments are as follows: a) Burning of synthetic polymers * Releases pollutants that endanger health such as smoke, gases that are smelly, poisonous & corrosive such as sulphur dioxide, pollutants that cause acid rain & the greenhouse effect. b) Careless disposal of synthetic polymers * Spoils the beauty of the environment * Causes flash floods during heavy rainfall * Endangers marine life like turtles that accidentally eat polymers such as plastic as its food. 4. The best way to manage used items made from synthetic polymers is to recycle them. 5. Plastics that are biodegradable can be used instead to reduce environmental pollution. GLASS AND CERAMICS * The main component of both glass and ceramic is silica or silicon dioxide, SiO2, which is obtained from sand. * Both glass and ceramic have the same properties as follow a) Hard and brittle b) Inert to chemical reactions c) Insulators or poor conductors of heat and electricity d) Withstand compression but not stretching e) Can be easily cleaned f) Low cost of production * 3 main differences between glass and ceramic: * Glass can be heated until molten repeatedly but not ceramics * Glass is usually transparent whereas ceramics are not * Glass has a lower melting point than ceramics USES OF GLASS USES OF CERAMIC TYPES OF GLASS a) FUSED SILICA GLASS b) SODA-LIME GLASS c) BOROSILICATE GLASS d) LEAD CRYSTAL GLASS COMPOSITE MATERIALS * Composite materials are produced from the combination of two or more different compounds such as alloys, metals, glass, polymers & ceramics. * The characteristics of the produced material are much more superior than those original components. * Several examples of composite materials & their uses are : a) Reinforced concrete * Made from a mixture of cement, gravel, sand, water, iron or steel to produce nets, rods or bars. * Strong, high tensile strength & cheap * Construction material for buildings, bridges, highways & dams b) Fibre glass * Made from silica, SiO2, sodium carbonate, Na2Co3, and calcium carbonate, CaCo3 * Good insulator of heat & electricity * Used to make protective apparel for astronauts & firefighters. c) Fibre optics * Made from glass, copper & aluminium * Enables information to be transmitted in light form at high speeds (speed of light) * Used in the field of communications to make electrical cables and in the field of medicine to observe internal organs without performing surgery. d) Ceramic glass * Produced by exposing glass that contains certain amount of metals to ultraviolet rays & heating it at high temperatures. * Withstand heat * Used to make cooking materials & rocket heads e) Photochromic glass * Produced from molten silica that is mixed with a little silver chloride, AgCl * Dark in colour when exposed to bright light ( ultraviolet ray ) & bright when in the dark. * Used to make opticl lenses & glass windows (windshields) of certain vehicles. Comparing the Properties of Fiber Glass with its original components The process of making glass and fiberglass Most glass is a mixture of a substantial amount of silica that derived from fine white sand or pulverized sandstone, combined with smaller amounts of an alkali like soda (sodium bicarbonate) or potash to decrease its melting point, and lime (from limestone) to help stabilize the mixture and eventually make the glass vigorous and water-resistant Whereas At the most basic level, a strand, or fiber, of glass, can be formed by  taking molten glass (made by melting silica sand, limestone, and soda ash, along with recycled glass) and forcing it through a small hole. Commercial fiberglass production engages a platinum bushing with up to three thousand holes in it, creating three thousand fibers at a time. Even though glass is brittle, these fibers are pretty flexible, because they are so thin. Advantage of using Photochromic glass in the making of spectacles Photochromatic lenses are activated by UV radiation. Thus it will darken up the glasses so that it can prevent our eyes from direct lights which leads to retinal damages or Photophobia. Other than that , Photochromic lenses are great for those that wear eyeglasses, who can not wear sunglasses unless they are prescription. With photochromic lenses, we can carry just one pair of sunglasses or goggles for all day and even night REFERENCE * http://www.chemistrymodule.blogspot.com/ * http://www.ehow.com/facts_5727690_meaning-alloy_.html#ixzz2VQ7Mc4k3 http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=fused+silica+glass&view=detail&id=2D0945BBDD1229AD3B5B4C431D552902CB8C2FB4&first=31&FORM=IDFRIR http://chem2u.blogspot.com/

Part One Saturday

I Every parking space in Church Row was taken by nine o'clock in the morning. Darkly clothed mourners moved, singly, in pairs and in groups, up and down the street, converging, like a stream of iron filings drawn to a magnet, on St Michael and All Saints. The path leading to the church doors became crowded, then overflowed; those who were displaced fanned out among the graves, seeking safe spots to stand between the headstones, fearful of trampling on the dead, yet unwilling to move too far from the church entrance. It was clear to everyone that there would not be enough pews for all the people who had come to say goodbye to Barry Fairbrother. His co-workers from the bank, who were grouped around the most extravagant of the Sweetlove tombs, wished that the august representative from head office would move on and take his inane small-talk and his clumsy jokes with him. Lauren, Holly and Jennifer from the rowing team had separated from their parents to huddle together in the shade of a mossy-fingered yew. Parish councillors, a motley bunch, talked solemnly in the middle of the path: a clutch of balding heads and thick-lensed glasses; a smattering of black straw hats and cultured pearls. Men from the squash and golf clubs hailed each other in subdued fashion; old friends from university recognized each other from afar and edged together; and in between milled what seemed to be most of Pagford, in their smartest and most sombre-hued clothes. The air droned with quiet conversations; faces flickered, watching and waiting. Tessa Wall's best coat, which was of grey wool, was cut so tightly around the armholes that she could not raise her arms above chest height. Standing beside her son on one side of the church path, she was exchanging sad little smiles and waves with acquaintances, while continuing to argue with Fats through lips she was trying not to move too obviously. ‘For God's sake, Stu. He was your father's best friend. Just this once, show some consideration.' ‘No one told me it was going to go on this bloody long. You told me it'd be over by half-past eleven.' ‘Don't swear. I said we'd leave St Michael's at about half-past eleven – ‘ ‘ – so I thought it'd be over, didn't I? So I arranged to meet Arf.' ‘But you've got to come to the burial, your father's a pall-bearer! Ring Arf and tell him it'll have to be tomorrow instead.' ‘He can't do tomorrow. Anyway, I haven't got my mobile on me. Cubby told me not to bring it to church.' ‘Don't call your father Cubby! You can ring Arf on mine,' said Tessa, burrowing in her pocket. ‘I don't know his number by heart,' lied Fats coldly. She and Colin had eaten dinner without Fats the previous evening, because he had cycled up to Andrew's place, where they were working on their English project together. That, at any rate, was the story Fats had given his mother, and Tessa had pretended to believe it. It suited her too well to have Fats out of the way, incapable of upsetting Colin. At least he was wearing the new suit that Tessa had bought for him in Yarvil. She had lost her temper at him in the third shop, because he had looked like a scarecrow in everything he had tried on, gawky and graceless, and she had thought angrily that he was doing it on purpose; that he could have inflated the suit with a sense of fitness if he chose. ‘Shh!' said Tessa pre-emptively. Fats was not speaking, but Colin was approaching them, leading the Jawandas; he seemed, in his overwrought state, to be confusing the role of pall-bearer with that of usher; hovering by the gates, welcoming people. Parminder looked grim and gaunt in her sari, with her children trailing behind her; Vikram, in his dark suit, looked like a film star. A few yards from the church doors, Samantha Mollison was waiting beside her husband, looking up at the bright off-white sky and musing on all the wasted sunshine beating down on top of the high ceiling of cloud. She was refusing to be dislodged from the hard-surfaced path, no matter how many old ladies had to cool their ankles in the grass; her patent-leather high heels might sink into the soft earth, and become dirty and clogged. When acquaintances hailed them, Miles and Samantha responded pleasantly, but they were not speaking to each other. They had had a row the previous evening. A few people had asked after Lexie and Libby, who usually came home at weekends, but both girls were staying over at friends' houses. Samantha knew that Miles regretted their absence; he loved playing paterfamilias in public. Perhaps, she thought, with a most pleasurable leap of fury, he would ask her and the girls to pose with him for a picture on his election leaflets. She would enjoy telling him what she thought of that idea. She could tell that he was surprised by the turnout. No doubt he was regretting that he did not have a starring role in the forthcoming service; it would have been an ideal opportunity to begin a surreptitious campaign for Barry's seat on the council with this big audience of captive voters. Samantha made a mental note to drop a sarcastic allusion to the missed opportunity when a suitable occasion arose. ‘Gavin!' called Miles, at the sight of a familiar, fair and narrow head. ‘Oh, hi, Miles. Hi, Sam.' Gavin's new black tie shone against his white shirt. There were violet bags under his light eyes. Samantha leaned in on tiptoes, so that he could not decently avoid kissing her on the cheek and inhaling her musky perfume. ‘Big turnout, isn't it?' Gavin said, gazing around. ‘Gavin's a pall-bearer,' Miles told his wife, in precisely the way that he would have announced that a small and unpromising child had been awarded a book token for effort. In truth, he had been a little surprised when Gavin had told him he had been accorded this honour. Miles had vaguely imagined that he and Samantha would be privileged guests, surrounded by a certain aura of mystery and importance, having been at the deathbed. It might have been a nice gesture if Mary, or somebody close to Mary, had asked him, Miles, to read a lesson, or say a few words to acknowledge the important part he had played in Barry's final moments. Samantha was deliberately unsurprised that Gavin had been singled out. ‘You and Barry were quite close, weren't you, Gav?' Gavin nodded. He felt jittery and a little sick. He had had a very bad night's sleep, waking in the early hours from horrible dreams in which, first, he had dropped the coffin, so that Barry's body spilt out onto the church floor; and, secondly, he had overslept, missed the funeral, and arrived at St Michael and All Saints to find Mary alone in the graveyard, white-faced and furious, screaming at him that he had ruined the whole thing. ‘I'm not sure where I ought to be,' he said, looking around. ‘I've never done this before.' ‘Nothing to it, mate,' said Miles. ‘There's only one requirement, really. Don't drop anything, hehehe.' Miles' girlish laugh contrasted oddly with his deep speaking voice. Neither Gavin nor Samantha smiled. Colin Wall loomed out of the mass of bodies. Big and awkward-looking, with his high, knobbly forehead, he always made Samantha think of Frankenstein's monster. ‘Gavin,' he said. ‘There you are. I think we should probably stand out on the pavement, they'll be here in a few minutes.' ‘Right-ho,' said Gavin, relieved to be ordered around. ‘Colin,' said Miles, with a nod. ‘Yes, hello,' said Colin, flustered, before turning away and forcing his way back through the mass of mourners. Then came another small flurry of movement, and Samantha heard Howard's loud voice: ‘Excuse me †¦ so sorry †¦ trying to join our family †¦' The crowd parted to avoid his belly, and Howard was revealed, immense in a velvet-faced overcoat. Shirley and Maureen bobbed in his wake, Shirley neat and composed in navy blue, Maureen scrawny as a carrion bird, in a hat with a small black veil. ‘Hello, hello,' said Howard, kissing Samantha firmly on both cheeks. ‘And how's Sammy?' Her answer was swallowed up in a widespread, awkward shuffling, as everybody began retreating backwards off the path: there was a certain discreet jockeying for position; nobody wanted to relinquish their claim to a place near the church entrance. With this cleaving in two of the crowd, familiar individuals were revealed like separate pips along the break. Samantha spotted the Jawandas: coffee-brown faces among all the whey; Vikram, absurdly handsome in his dark suit; Parminder dressed in a sari (why did she do it? Didn't she know she was playing right into the likes of Howard and Shirley's hands?) and beside her, dumpy little Tessa Wall in a grey coat, which was straining at the buttons. Mary Fairbrother and the children were walking slowly up the path to the church. Mary was terribly pale, and appeared pounds thinner. Could she have lost so much weight in six days? She was holding one of the twins' hands, with her other arm around the shoulders of her younger son, and the eldest, Fergus, marching behind. She walked with her eyes fixed straight ahead, her soft mouth pursed tight. Other family members followed Mary and the children; the procession moved over the threshold and was swallowed up in the dingy interior of the church. Everyone else moved towards the doors at once, which resulted in an undignified jam. The Mollisons found themselves shunted together with the Jawandas. ‘After you, Mr Jawanda, sir, after you †¦' boomed Howard, holding out an arm to let the surgeon walk in first. But Howard made sure to use his bulk to prevent anybody else taking precedence over him, and followed Vikram immediately through the entrance, leaving their families to follow on. A royal-blue carpet ran the length of the aisle of St Michael and All Saints. Golden stars glimmered on the vaulted ceiling; brass plaques reflected the glow of the hanging lamps. The stained-glass windows were elaborate and gorgeously hued. Halfway down the nave, on the epistle side, St Michael himself stared down from the largest window, clad in silver armour. Sky-blue wings curved out of his shoulders; in one hand he held aloft a sword, in the other, a pair of golden scales. A sandalled foot rested on the back of a writhing bat-winged Satan, who was dark grey in colour and attempting to raise himself. The saint's expression was serene. Howard stopped level with St Michael and indicated that his party should file into the pew on the left; Vikram turned right into the opposite one. While the remaining Mollisons, and Maureen, filed past him into the pew, Howard remained planted on the royal-blue carpet, and addressed Parminder as she passed him. ‘Dreadful, this. Barry. Awful shock.' ‘Yes,' she said, loathing him. ‘I always think those frocks look comfy; are they?' he added, nodding at her sari. She did not answer, but took her place beside Jaswant. Howard sat down too, making of himself a prodigious plug at the end of the pew that would seal it off to newcomers. Shirley's eyes were fixed respectfully on her knees, and her hands were clasped, apparently in prayer, but she was really mulling over Howard and Parminder's little exchange about the sari. Shirley belonged to a section of Pagford that quietly lamented the fact that the Old Vicarage, which had been built long ago to house a High Church vicar with mutton-chop whiskers and a starched-aproned staff, was now home to a family of Hindus (Shirley had never quite grasped what religion the Jawandas were). She thought that if she and Howard went to the temple, or the mosque, or wherever it was the Jawandas worshipped, they would doubtless be required to cover their heads and remove their shoes and who knew what else, otherwise there would be outcry. Yet it was acceptable for Parminder to flaunt her sari in church. It was not as though Parminder did not have normal clothes, for she wore them to work every day. The double standard of it all was what rankled; not a thought for the disrespect it s howed to their religion, and, by extension, to Barry Fairbrother himself, of whom she was supposed to have been so fond. Shirley unclasped her hands, raised her head, and gave her attention over to the outfits of people who were passing, and of the size and number of Barry's floral tributes. Some of these had been heaped up against the communion rail. Shirley spotted the offering from the council, for which she and Howard had organized the collection. It was a large, round traditional wreath of white and blue flowers, which were the colours of Pagford's arms. Their flowers and all the other wreaths were overshadowed by the life-sized oar, made of bronze chrysanthemums, which the girls' rowing team had given. Sukhvinder turned in her pew to look for Lauren, whose florist mother had made the oar; she wanted to mime that she had seen it and liked it, but the crowd was dense and she could not spot Lauren anywhere. Sukhvinder was mournfully proud that they had done it, especially when she saw that people were pointing it out to each other as they settled themselves in their seats. Five of the eight girls on the team had stumped up money for the oar. Lauren had told Sukhvinder how she had tracked down Krystal Weedon at lunchtime, and exposed herself to the piss-taking of Krystal's friends, who were sitting smoking on a low wall by the newsagent's. Lauren had asked Krystal if she wanted to chip in. ‘Yeah, I will, all righ',' Krystal had said; but she had not, so her name was not on the card. Nor, as far as Sukhvinder could see, had Krystal come to the funeral. Sukhvinder's insides were like lead, but the ache of her left forearm coupled with the sharp twinges of pain when she moved it was a counter-irritant, and at least Fats Wall, glowering in his black suit, was nowhere near her. He had not made eye contact with her when their two families had met, briefly, in the churchyard; he was restrained by the presence of their parents, as he was sometimes restrained by the presence of Andrew Price. Late the previous evening, her anonymous cyber-torturer had sent her a black and white picture of a naked Victorian child, covered in soft dark hair. She had seen it and deleted it while dressing for the funeral. When had she last been happy? She knew that in a different life, long before anyone had grunted at her, she had sat in this church, and been quite content for years; she had sung hymns with gusto at Christmas, Easter and Harvest Festival. She had always liked St Michael, with his pretty, feminine, Pre-Raphaelite face, his curly golden hair †¦ but this morning, for the first time, she saw him differently, with his foot resting almost casually on that writhing dark devil; she found his untroubled expression sinister and arrogant. The pews were packed. Muffled clunks, echoing footsteps and quiet rustlings animated the dusty air as the unlucky ones continued to file in at the back of the church and took up standing room along the left-hand wall. Some hopeful souls tiptoed down the aisle in case of an overlooked place in the crammed pews. Howard remained immovable and firm, until Shirley tapped his shoulder and whispered, ‘Aubrey and Julia!' At which Howard turned massively, and waved the service sheet to attract the Fawleys' attention. They came briskly down the carpeted aisle: Aubrey, tall, thin and balding in his dark suit, Julia with her light-red hair pulled back into a chignon. They smiled their thanks as Howard moved along, shunting the others up, making sure that the Fawleys had plenty of room. Samantha was jammed so tightly between Miles and Maureen that she could feel Maureen's sharp hip joint pressing into her flesh on one side and the keys in Miles' pocket on the other. Furious, she attempted to secure herself a centimetre or so more room, but neither Miles nor Maureen had anywhere else to go, so she stared straight ahead, and turned her thoughts vengefully to Vikram, who had lost none of his appeal in the month or so since she had last seen him. He was so conspicuously, irrefutably good-looking, it was silly; it made you want to laugh. With his long legs and his broad shoulders, and the flatness of his belly where his shirt tucked into his trousers, and those dark eyes with the thick black lashes, he looked like a god compared to other Pagford men, who were so slack and pallid and porky. As Miles leaned forward to exchange whispered pleasantries with Julia Fawley, his keys ground painfully into Samantha's upper thigh, and she imagined Vikram ripping open the navy wrap dress she was wearing, and in her fantasy she had omitted to put on the matching camisole that concealed her deep canyon of cleavage †¦ The organ stops creaked and silence fell, except for a soft persistent rustle. Heads turned: the coffin was coming up the aisle. The pall-bearers were almost comically mismatched: Barry's brothers were both five foot six, and Colin Wall, at the rear, six foot two, so that the back end of the coffin was considerably higher than the front. The coffin itself was not made of polished mahogany, but of wickerwork. It's a bloody picnic basket! thought Howard, outraged. Looks of surprise flitted across many faces as the willow box passed them, but some had known all about the coffin in advance. Mary had told Tessa (who had told Parminder) how the choice of material had been made by Fergus, Barry's eldest son, who wanted willow because it was a sustainable, quick-growing material and therefore environmentally friendly. Fergus was a passionate enthusiast for all things green and ecologically sound. Parminder liked the willow coffin better, much better, than the stout wooden box in which most English disposed of their dead. Her grandmother had always had a superstitious fear of the soul being trapped inside something heavy and solid, deploring the way that British undertakers nailed down the lids. The pall-bearers lowered the coffin onto the brocade-draped bier and retreated: Barry's son, brothers and brother-in-law edged into the front pews, and Colin walked jerkily back to join his family. For two quaking seconds Gavin hesitated. Parminder could tell that he was unsure of where to go, his only option to walk back down the aisle under the eyes of three hundred people. But Mary must have made a sign to him, because he ducked, blushing furiously, into the front pew beside Barry's mother. Parminder had only ever spoken to Gavin when she had tested and treated him for chlamydia. He had never met her gaze again. ‘I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die †¦' The vicar did not sound as if he were thinking about the sense of the words issuing from his mouth, but only about his own delivery, which was sing-song and rhythmic. Parminder was familiar with his style; she had attended carol services for years with all the other St Thomas's parents. Long acquaintance had not reconciled her to the white-faced warrior saint staring down at her, nor all the dark wood, the hard pews, the alien altar with its jewelled golden cross, nor the dirgey hymns, which she found chilly and unsettling. So she withdrew her attention from the self-conscious drone of the vicar and thought again of her father. She had seen him out of the kitchen window, flat on his face, while her radio continued to blare from on top of the rabbit hutch. He had been lying there for two hours while she, her mother and her sisters had been browsing in Topshop. She could still feel her father's shoulder beneath his hot shirt as she had shaken it. ‘Dadiii. Dadiiiii.' They had scattered Darshan's ashes in the sad little River Rea in Birmingham. Parminder could remember the dull clay look of its surface, on an overcast day in June, and the stream of tiny white and grey flakes floating away from her. The organ clunked and wheezed into life, and she got to her feet with everybody else. She caught a glimpse of the backs of Niamh and Siobhan's red-gold heads; they were exactly the age she had been when Darshan had been taken from them. Parminder experienced a rush of tenderness, and an awful ache, and a confused desire to hold them and to tell them that she knew, she knew, she understood †¦ Morning has broken, like the first morning †¦ Gavin could hear a shrill treble from along the row: Barry's younger son's voice had not yet broken. He knew that Declan had chosen the hymn. That was another of the ghastly details of the service that Mary had chosen to share with him. He was finding the funeral an even worse ordeal than he had expected. He thought it might have been better with a wooden coffin; he had had an awful, visceral awareness of Barry's body inside that light wickerwork case; the physical weight of him was shocking. All those complacently staring people, as he walked up the aisle; did they not understand what he was actually carrying? Then had come the ghastly moment when he had realized that nobody had saved him a place, and that he would have to walk all the way back again while everybody stared, and hide among the standees at the back †¦ but instead he had been forced to sit in the first pew, horribly exposed. It was like being in the front seat of a rollercoaster, bearing the brunt of every awful twist and lurch. Sitting there, mere feet from Siobhan's sunflower, its head as big as a saucepan lid, in the middle of a big burst of yellow freesias and daylilies, he actually wished that Kay had come with him; he could not believe it, but there it was. He would have been consoled by the presence of somebody who was on his side; somebody simply to keep him a seat. He had not considered what a sad bastard he might look, turning up alone. The hymn ended. Barry's older brother walked to the front to speak. Gavin did not know how he could bear to do it, with Barry's corpse lying right in front of him beneath the sunflower (grown from seed, over months); nor how Mary could sit so quietly, with her head bowed, apparently looking at the hands clasped in her lap. Gavin tried, actively, to provide his own interior interference, so as to dilute the impact of the eulogy. He's going to tell the story about Barry meeting Mary, once he's got past this kid stuff †¦ happy childhood, high jinks, yeah, yeah †¦ Come on, move it along †¦ They would have to put Barry back in the car, and drive all the way to Yarvil to bury him in the cemetery there, because the tiny graveyard of St Michael and All Saints had been declared full twenty years previously. Gavin imagined lowering the wickerwork coffin into the grave under the eyes of this crowd. Carrying it in and out of the church would be nothing compared to that †¦ One of the twins was crying. Out of the corner of his eye, Gavin saw Mary reach out a hand to hold her daughter's. Let's get on with it, for fuck's sake. Please. ‘I think it's fair to say that Barry always knew his own mind,' Barry's brother was saying hoarsely. He had got a few laughs with tales of Barry's scrapes in childhood. The strain in his voice was palpable. ‘He was twenty-four when we went off on my stag weekend to Liverpool. First night there, we leave the campsite and go off to the pub, and there behind the bar is the landlord's student daughter, a beautiful blonde, helping out on a Saturday night. Barry spent the whole night propping up the bar, chatting her up, getting her into trouble with her dad and pretending he didn't know who the rowdy lot in the corner were.' A weak laugh. Mary's head was drooping; both hands were clutching those of the child on either side. ‘He told me that night, back in the tent, that he was going to marry her. I thought, Hang on, I'm the one who's supposed to be drunk.' Another little titter. ‘Baz made us go back to the same pub the next night. When we got home, the first thing he did was buy her a postcard and send it to her, telling her he'd be back next weekend. They were married a year to the day after they met, and I think everyone who knew them would agree that Barry knew a good thing when he saw it. They went on to have four beautiful children, Fergus, Niamh, Siobhan and Declan †¦' Gavin breathed carefully in and out, in and out, trying not to listen, and wondering what on earth his own brother would find to say about him under the same circumstances. He had not had Barry's luck; his romantic life did not make a pretty story. He had never walked into a pub and found the perfect wife standing there, blonde, smiling and ready to serve him a pint. No, he had had Lisa, who had never seemed to think him up to scratch; seven years of escalating warfare had culminated in a dose of the clap; and then, with barely a break, there had been Kay, clinging to him like an aggressive and threatening barnacle †¦ But, all the same, he would ring her later, because he didn't think he would be able to stand going back to his empty cottage after this. He would be honest, and tell her how horrible and stressful the funeral had been, and that he wished she had come with him. That would surely deflect any lingering umbrage about their row. He did not want to be alone tonight. Two pews back, Colin Wall was sobbing, with small but audible gasps, into a large, wet handkerchief. Tessa's hand rested on his thigh, exerting gentle pressure. She was thinking about Barry; about how she had relied upon him to help her with Colin; of the consolation of shared laughter; of Barry's boundless generosity of spirit. She could see him clearly, short and ruddy, jiving with Parminder at their last party; imitating Howard Mollison's strictures on the Fields; advising Colin tactfully, as only he could have done, to accept Fats' behaviour as adolescent, rather than sociopathic. Tessa was scared of what the loss of Barry Fairbrother would mean to the man beside her; scared of how they would manage to accommodate this huge ragged absence; scared that Colin had made a vow to the dead that he could not keep, and that he did not realize how little Mary, to whom he kept wanting to talk, liked him. And through all Tessa's anxiety and sorrow was threaded the usual worry, like an itchy little worm: Fats, and how she was going to avert an explosion, how she would make him come with them to the burial, or how she might hide from Colin that he had not come – which might, after all, be easier. ‘We are going to finish today's service with a song chosen by Barry's daughters, Niamh and Siobhan, which meant a lot to them and their father,' said the vicar. He managed, by his tone, to disassociate himself personally from what was about to happen. The beat of the drum rang so loudly through hidden speakers that the congregation jumped. A loud American voice was saying ‘uh huh, uh huh' and Jay-Z rapped: Good girl gone bad – Take three – Action. No clouds in my storms †¦ Let it rain, I hydroplane into fame Comin' down with the Dow Jones †¦ Some people thought that it was a mistake: Howard and Shirley threw outraged glances at each other, but nobody pressed stop, or ran up the aisle apologizing. Then a powerful, sexy female voice started to sing: You had my heart And we'll never be worlds apart Maybe in magazines But you'll still be my star †¦ The pall-bearers were carrying the wicker coffin back down the aisle, and Mary and the children were following. †¦ Now that it's raining more than ever Know that we'll still have each other You can stand under my umbuh-rella You can stand under my umbuh-rella The congregation filed slowly out of the church, trying not to walk in time to the beat of the song. II Andrew Price took the handlebars of his father's racing bicycle and walked it carefully out of the garage, making sure that he did not scrape the car. Down the stone steps and through the metal gate he carried it; then, in the lane, he put his foot on one pedal, scooted a few yards and swung his other leg over the saddle. He soared left onto the vertiginously sloping hillside road and sped, without touching his brakes, down towards Pagford. The hedgerows and sky blurred; he imagined himself in a velodrome as the wind whipped his clean hair and his stinging face, which he had just scrubbed clean. Level with the Fairbrothers' wedge-shaped garden he applied the brakes, because some months previously he had taken this sharp turn too fast and fallen off, and had had to return home immediately with his jeans ripped open and grazes all down one side of his face †¦ He freewheeled, with only one hand on the bars, into Church Row, and enjoyed a second, though lesser, downhill burst of speed, slightly checked when he saw that they were loading a coffin onto a hearse outside the church, and that a dark-clothed crowd was spilling out between the heavy wooden doors. Andrew pedalled furiously around the corner and out of sight. He did not want to see Fats emerging from church with a distraught Cubby, wearing the cheap suit and tie that he had described with comical disgust during yesterday's English lesson. It would have been like interrupting his friend having a crap. As Andrew cycled slowly around the Square, he slicked his hair back off his face with one hand, wondering what the cold air had done to his purple-red acne and whether the anti-bacterial face wash had done anything to soothe the angry look of it. And he told himself the cover story: he had come from Fats' house (which he might have done, there was no reason why not), which meant that Hope Street was as obvious a route down to the river as cutting through the first side street. Therefore there was no need for Gaia Bawden (if she happened to be looking out of the window of her house, and happened to see him, and happened to recognize him) to think that he had come this way because of her. Andrew did not anticipate having to explain to her his reason for cycling up her street, but he still held the fake story in his mind, because he believed it gave him an air of cool detachment. He simply wanted to know which was her house. Twice already, at weekends, he had cycled along the short terraced street, every nerve in his body tingling, but he had been unable, as yet, to discover which house harboured the Grail. All he knew, from his furtive glimpses through the dirty school-bus windows, was that she lived on the right hand even-numbered side. As he turned the corner, he tried to compose his features, acting the part of a man cycling slowly towards the river by the most direct route, lost in his own serious thoughts, but ready to acknowledge a classmate, should they show themselves †¦ She was there. On the pavement. Andrew's legs continued to pump, though he could not feel the pedals, and he was suddenly aware how thin the tyres were on which he balanced. She was rummaging in her leather handbag, her copper-brown hair hanging around her face. Number ten on the door ajar behind her, and a black T-shirt falling short of her waist; a band of bare skin, and a heavy belt and tight jeans †¦ when he was almost past her, she closed the door and turned; her hair fell back from her beautiful face, and she said, quite clearly, in her London voice, ‘Oh, hi.' ‘Hi,' he said. His legs kept pedalling. Six feet away, twelve feet away; why hadn't he stopped? Shock kept him moving, he dared not look back; he was at the end of her street already; for fuck's sake don't fall off; he turned the corner, too stunned to gauge whether he was more relieved or disappointed that he had left her behind. Holy shit. He cycled on towards the wooded area at the base of Pargetter Hill, where the river glinted intermittently through the trees, but he could see nothing except Gaia burned onto his retina like neon. The narrow road turned into an earthy footpath, and the gentle breeze off the water caressed his face, which he did not think had turned red, because it had all happened so quickly. ‘Fucking hell!' he said aloud to the fresh air and the deserted path. He raked excitedly through this magnificent, unexpected treasure trove: her perfect body, revealed in tight denim and stretchy cotton; number ten behind her, on a chipped, shabby blue door; ‘oh, hi', easily and naturally – so his features were definitely logged somewhere in the mind that lived behind the astonishing face. The bike jolted on the newly pebbly and rough ground. Elated, Andrew dismounted only when he began to overbalance. He wheeled the bicycle on through the trees, emerging onto the narrow riverbank, where he slung the bicycle down on the ground among the wood anemones that had opened like tiny white stars since his last visit. His father had said, when he first started to borrow the bike: ‘You chain it up if you're going in a shop. I'm warning you, if that gets nicked †¦' But the chain was not long enough to go around any of the trees and, in any case, the further he rode from his father the less Andrew feared him. Still thinking about the inches of flat, bare midriff and Gaia's exquisite face, Andrew strode to the place where the bank met the eroded side of the hill, which hung like an earthy, rocky cliff in a sheer face above the fast-flowing green water. The narrowest lip of slippery, crumbling bank ran along the bottom of the hillside. The only way of navigating it, if your feet had grown to be twice the length they had been when they had first made the trip, was to edge along sideways, pressed to the sheer face, holding tight to roots and bits of protruding rock. The mulchy green smell of the river and of wet soil was deeply familiar to Andrew, as was the sensation of this narrow ledge of earth and grass under his feet, and the cracks and rocks he sought with his hands on the hillside. He and Fats had found the secret place when they were eleven years old. They had known that what they were doing was forbidden and dangerous; they had been warned about the river. Terrified, but determined not to tell each other so, they had sidled along this tricky ledge, grabbing at anything that protruded from the rocky wall and, at the very narrowest point, clutching fistfuls of each other's T-shirts. Years of practice enabled Andrew, though his mind was barely on the job, to move crab-wise along the solid wall of earth and rock with the water gushing three feet beneath his trainers; then with a deft duck and swing, he was inside the fissure in the hillside that they had found so long ago. Back then, it had seemed like a divine reward for their daring. He could no longer stand up in it; but, slightly larger than a two-man tent, it was big enough for two teenage boys to lie, side by side, with the river rushing past and the trees dappling their view of the sky, framed by the triangular entrance. The first time they had been here, they had poked and dug at the back wall with sticks, but they had not found a secret passageway leading to the abbey above; so they gloried instead in the fact that they alone had discovered the hiding place, and swore that it would be their secret in perpetuity. Andrew had a vague memory of a solemn oath, spit and swearwords. They had called it the Cave when they had first discovered it, but it was now, and had been for some time past, the Cubby Hole. The little recess smelt earthy, though the sloping ceiling was made of rock. A dark green tidemark showed that it had flooded in the past, not quite to the roof. The floor was covered in their cigarette butts and cardboard roaches. Andrew sat down, with his legs dangling over the sludge-green water, and pulled his cigarettes and lighter out of his jacket, bought with the last of his birthday money, now that his allowance had been stopped. He lit up, inhaled deeply, and relived the glorious encounter with Gaia Bawden in as much detail as he could ring out of it: narrow waist and curving hips; creamy skin between leather and T-shirt; full, wide mouth; ‘oh, hi'. It was the first time he had seen her out of school uniform. Where was she going, alone with her leather handbag? What was there in Pagford for her to do on a Saturday morning? Was she perhaps catching the bus into Yarvil? What did she get up to when she was out of his sight; what feminine mysteries absorbed her? And he asked himself for the umpteenth time whether it was conceivable that flesh and bone wrought like that could contain a banal personality. It was only Gaia who had ever made him wonder this: the idea of body and soul as separate entities had never once occurred to him until he had clapped eyes on her. Even while trying to imagine what her breasts would look and feel like, judged by the visual evidence he had managed to gather through a slightly translucent school shirt, and what he knew was a white bra, he could not believe that the allure she held for him was exclusively physical. She had a way of moving that moved him as much as music, which was what moved him most of all. Surely the spirit animating that peerless body must be unusual too? Why would nature make a vessel like that, if not to contain something still more valuable? Andrew knew what naked women looked like, because there were no parental controls on the computer in Fats' conversion bedroom. Together they had explored as much online porn as they could access for free: shaven vulvas; pink labia pulled wide to show darkly gaping slits; spread buttocks revealing the puckered buttons of anuses; thickly lipsticked mouths, dripping semen. Andrew's excitement was underpinned, always, by the panicky awareness that you could only hear Mrs Wall approaching the room when she reached the creaking halfway stair. Sometimes they found weirdness that made them roar with laughter, even when Andrew was unsure whether he was more excited or repulsed (whips and saddles, harnesses, ropes, hoses; and once, at which even Fats had not managed to laugh, close-ups of metal-bolted contraptions, and needles protruding from soft flesh, and women's faces frozen, screaming). Together he and Fats had become connoisseurs of silicone-enhanced breasts, enormous, taut and round. ‘Plastic,' one of them would point out, matter of factly, as they sat in front of the monitor with the door wedged shut against Fats' parents. The on-screen blonde's arms were raised as she sat astride some hairy man, her big brown-nippled breasts hanging off her narrow rib cage like bowling balls, thin, shiny purple lines under each of them showing where the silicone had been inserted. You could almost tell how they would feel, looking at them: firm, as if there were a football underneath the skin. Andrew could imagine nothing more erotic than a natural breast; soft and spongy and perhaps a little springy, and the nipples (he hoped) contrastingly hard. And all of these images blurred in his mind, late at night, with the possibilities offered by real girls, human girls, and the little you managed to feel through clothes if you managed to move in close enough. Niamh was the less pretty of the Fairbrother twins, but she had been the more willing, in the stuffy drama hall, during the Christmas disco. Half hidden by the musty stage curtain in a dark corner, they had pressed against each other, and Andrew had put his tongue into her mouth. His hands had inched as far as her bra strap and no further, because she kept pulling away. He had been driven, chiefly, by the knowledge that somewhere outside in the darkness, Fats was going further. And now his brain teemed and throbbed with Gaia. She was both the sexiest girl he had ever seen and the source of another, entirely inexplicable yearning. Certain chord changes, certain beats, made the very core of him shiver, and so did something about Gaia Bawden. He lit a new cigarette from the end of the first and threw the butt into the water below. Then he heard a familiar scuffling, and leaned forward to see Fats, still wearing his funeral suit, spread-eagled on the hill wall, moving from hand-hold to hand-hold as he edged along the narrow lip of bank, towards the opening where Andrew sat. ‘Fats.' ‘Arf.' Andrew pulled in his legs to give Fats room to climb into the Cubby Hole. ‘Fucking hell,' said Fats, when he had clambered inside. He was spider-like in his awkwardness, with his long limbs, his skinniness emphasized by the black suit. Andrew handed him a cigarette. Fats always lit up as though he were in a high wind, one hand cupped around the flame to shield it, scowling slightly. He inhaled, blew a smoke ring out of the Cubby Hole and loosened the dark grey tie around his neck. He appeared older and not, after all, so very foolish in the suit, which bore traces of earth on the knees and cuffs from the journey to the cave. ‘You'd think they were bum chums,' Fats said, after he had taken another powerful drag on his cigarette. ‘Cubby upset, was he?' ‘Upset? He's having fucking hysterics. He's given himself hiccups. He's worse than the fucking widow.' Andrew laughed. Fats blew another smoke ring and pulled at one of his overlarge ears. ‘I bowed out early. They haven't even buried him yet.' They smoked in silence for a minute, both looking out at the sludgy river. As he smoked, Andrew contemplated the words ‘bowed out early', and the amount of autonomy Fats seemed to have, compared to himself. Simon and his fury stood between Andrew and too much freedom: in Hilltop House, you sometimes copped for punishment simply because you were present. Andrew's imagination had once been caught by a strange little module in their philosophy and religion class, in which primitive gods had been discussed in all their arbitrary wrath and violence, and the attempts of early civilizations to placate them. He had thought then of the nature of justice as he had come to know it: of his father as a pagan god, and of his mother as the high priestess of the cult, who attempted to interpret and intercede, usually failing, yet still insisting, in the face of all the evidence, that there was an underlying magnanimity and reasonableness to her deity. Fats rested his head against the stone side of the Cubby Hole and blew smoke rings at the ceiling. He was thinking about what he wanted to tell Andrew. He had been mentally rehearsing the way he would start, all through the funeral service, while his father gulped and sobbed into his handkerchief. Fats was so excited by the prospect of telling, that he was having difficulty containing himself; but he was determined not to blurt it out. The telling of it was, to Fats, of almost equal importance to the doing of it. He did not want Andrew to think that he had hurried here to say it. ‘You know how Fairbrother was on the Parish Council?' said Andrew. ‘Yeah,' said Fats, glad that Andrew had initiated a space-filler conversation. ‘Si-Pie's saying he's going to stand for his seat.' ‘Si-Pie is?' Fats frowned at Andrew. ‘What the fuck's got into him?' ‘He reckons Fairbrother was getting backhanders from some contractor.' Andrew had heard Simon discussing it with Ruth in the kitchen that morning. It had explained everything. ‘He wants a bit of the action.' ‘That wasn't Barry Fairbrother,' said Fats, laughing as he flicked ash onto the cave floor. ‘And that wasn't the Parish Council. That was What's-his-name Frierly, up in Yarvil. He was on the school board at Winterdown. Cubby had a fucking fit. Local press calling him for a comment and all that. Frierly got done for it. Doesn't Si-Pie read the Yarvil and District Gazette?' Andrew stared at Fats. ‘Fucking typical.' He ground out his cigarette on the earthy floor, embarrassed by his father's idiocy. Simon had got the wrong end of the stick yet again. He spurned the local community, sneered at their concerns, was proud of his isolation in his poxy little house on the hill; then he got a bit of misinformation and decided to expose his family to humiliation on the basis of it. ‘Crooked as fuck, Si-Pie, isn't he?' said Fats. They called him Si-Pie because that was Ruth's nickname for her husband. Fats had heard her use it once, when he had been over for his tea, and had never called Simon anything else since. ‘Yeah, he is,' said Andrew, wondering whether he would be able to dissuade his father from standing by telling him he had the wrong man and the wrong council. ‘Bit of a coincidence,' said Fats, ‘because Cubby's standing as well.' Fats exhaled through his nostrils, staring at the crevice wall over Andrew's head. ‘So will voters go for the cunt,' he said, ‘or the twat?' Andrew laughed. There was little he enjoyed more than hearing his father called a cunt by Fats. ‘Now have a shifty at this,' said Fats, jamming his cigarette between his lips and patting his hips, even though he knew that the envelope was in the inside breast pocket. ‘Here you go,' he said, pulling it out and opening it to show Andrew the contents: brown peppercorn-sized pods in a powdery mix of shrivelled stalks and leaves. ‘Sensimilla, that is.' ‘What is it?' ‘Tips and shoots of your basic unfertilized marijuana plant,' said Fats, ‘specially prepared for your smoking pleasure.' ‘What's the difference between that and the normal stuff?' asked Andrew, with whom Fats had split several lumps of waxy black cannabis resin in the Cubby Hole. ‘Just a different smoke, isn't it?' said Fats, stubbing out his own cigarette. He took a packet of Rizlas from his pocket, drew out three of the fragile papers and gummed them together. ‘Did you get it off Kirby?' asked Andrew, poking at and sniffing the contents of the envelope. Everyone knew Skye Kirby was the go-to man for drugs. He was a year above them, in the lower sixth. His grandfather was an old hippy, who had been up in court several times for growing his own. ‘Yeah. Mind, there's a bloke called Obbo,' said Fats, slitting cigarettes and emptying the tobacco onto the papers, ‘in the Fields, who'll get you anything. Fucking smack, if you want it.' ‘You don't want smack, though,' said Andrew, watching Fats' face. ‘Nah,' said Fats, taking the envelope back, and sprinkling the sensimilla onto the tobacco. He rolled the joint together, licking the end of the papers to seal it, poking the roach in more neatly, twisting the end into a point. ‘Nice,' he said happily. He had planned to tell Andrew his news after introducing the sensimilla as a kind of warm-up act. He held out his hand for Andrew's lighter, inserted the cardboarded end between his own lips and lit up, taking a deep, contemplative drag, blowing out the smoke in a long blue jet, then repeating the process. ‘Mmm,' he said, holding the smoke in his lungs, and imitating Cubby, whom Tessa had given a wine course one Christmas. ‘Herby. A strong aftertaste. Overtones of †¦ fuck †¦' He experienced a massive headrush, even though he was sitting, and exhaled, laughing. ‘†¦ try that.' Andrew leaned across and took the joint, giggling in anticipation, and at the beatific smile on Fats' face, which was quite at odds with his usual constipated scowl. Andrew inhaled and felt the power of the drug radiate out from his lungs, unwinding and loosening him. Another drag, and he thought that it was like having your mind shaken out like a duvet, so that it resettled without creases, so that everything became smooth and simple and easy and good. ‘Nice,' he echoed Fats, smiling at the sound of his own voice. He passed the joint back into Fat's waiting fingers and savoured this sense of well-being. ‘So, you wanna hear something interesting?' said Fats, grinning uncontrollably. ‘Go on.' ‘I fucked her last night.' Andrew nearly said ‘who?', before his befuddled brain remembered: Krystal Weedon, of course; Krystal Weedon, who else? ‘Where?' he asked, stupidly. It was not what he wanted to know. Fats stretched out on his back in his funeral suit, his feet towards the river. Wordlessly, Andrew stretched out beside him, in the opposite direction. They had slept like this, ‘top and tail', when they had stayed overnight at each other's houses as children. Andrew gazed up at the rocky ceiling, where the blue smoke hung, slowly furling, and waited to hear everything. ‘I told Cubby and Tess I was at yours, so you know,' said Fats. He passed the joint into Andrew's reaching fingers, then linked his long hands on his chest, and listened to himself telling. ‘Then I got the bus to the Fields. Met her outside Oddbins.' ‘By Tesco's?' asked Andrew. He did not know why he kept asking dumb questions. ‘Yeah,' said Fats. ‘We went to the rec. There's trees in the corner behind the public bogs. Nice and private. It was getting dark.' Fats shifted position and Andrew handed back the joint. ‘Getting in's harder than I thought it would be,' said Fats, and Andrew was mesmerized, half inclined to laugh, afraid of missing every unvarnished detail Fats could give him. ‘She was wetter when I was fingering her.' A giggle rose like trapped gas in Andrew's chest, but was stifled there. ‘Lot of pushing to get in properly. It's tighter than I thought.' Andrew saw a jet of smoke rise from the place where Fats' head must be. ‘I came in about ten seconds. It feels fucking great once you're in.' Andrew fought back laughter, in case there was more. ‘I wore a johnny. It'd be better without.' He pushed the joint back into Andrew's hand. Andrew pulled on it, thinking. Harder to get in than you thought; over in ten seconds. It didn't sound much; yet what wouldn't he give? He imagined Gaia Bawden flat on her back for him and, without meaning to, let out a small groan, which Fats did not seem to hear. Lost in a fug of erotic images, pulling on the joint, Andrew lay with his erection on the patch of earth his body was warming and listened to the soft rush of the water a few feet from his head. ‘What matters, Arf?' asked Fats, after a long, dreamy pause. His head swimming pleasantly, Andrew answered, ‘Sex.' ‘Yeah,' said Fats, delighted. ‘Fucking. That's what matters. Propogun †¦ propogating the species. Throw away the johnnies. Multiply.' ‘Yeah,' said Andrew, laughing. ‘And death,' said Fats. He had been taken aback by the reality of that coffin, and how little material lay between all the watching vultures and an actual corpse. He was not sorry that he had left before it disappeared into the ground. ‘Gotta be, hasn't it? Death.' ‘Yeah,' said Andrew, thinking of war and car crashes, and dying in blazes of speed and glory. ‘Yeah,' said Fats. ‘Fucking and dying. That's it, innit? Fucking and dying. That's life.' ‘Trying to get a fuck and trying not to die.' ‘Or trying to die,' said Fats. ‘Some people. Risking it.' ‘Yeah. Risking it.' There was more silence, and their hiding place was cool and hazy. ‘And music,' said Andrew quietly, watching the blue smoke hanging beneath the dark rock. ‘Yeah,' said Fats, in the distance. ‘And music.' The river rushed on past the Cubby Hole.