Elections in Britain - is it fair?

Elections in Britain - is it fair?

After the 2005 election this was the result:

Party	UK share of vote	Share of seats in the House of Commons
Labour	35.3%	55%
Conservative	32.3%	30.7%
Liberal Democrats	22.1%	9.6%

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The Labour party only got 35,3% of the total votes in the UK. This means that 64,7% of the voters didn’t vote for the Labour party and still they got majority rule in the House of Commons. This is possible in Great Britain because the voters elect one representative from their constituencies. The representative represent his ore here constituencies in The house of commons. The house of commons is almost like the Norwegian Stortinge. They are both their countries budgetary and legislative assembly.

The elected representatives are called Members of Parliament (MPs). When the constituencies elect there Mp the winner takes it all. The votes which the losing parties may get are turn down. That’s why it is possible for parties in Great Britain to get many votes and still get little influence in The House of Commons. Because of the huge difference between the parties’ votes in the national scale and their influence in the House of Commons some people think that Great Britain is undemocratic.

A way to make Great Britain more democratic can be to induce direct democracy. Another solution can be to exchange the voting system with constituencies to one national voting system. However, then it is more likely that the power would be divided onto more parties and it is also likely that parties would be forced to form a coalition government. It is harder for a coalition government to form a clear policy.

The American goverment - A lecture by Lee Ann Potter

Today Lee Ann Potter visited our class and had a lecture about how the government in America is build up. Lee Ann potter is a director of education and volunteer programs at the U.S. National Archives in Washington, DC. Thanks to the Fulbright Commission Potter is working in Norway this year as a Roving Scholar of American Studies. Click here to see here blog. This is my summary of Potters lecture:

The American form of government was written down in a Constitution which was adopted in 1787. The American Constitution is the oldest Constitution still in use and it has only been emended 17 times. The Constitution establishes some main points. They are as follow. The united states of America have a representative democracy to make sure that the powers are in the hands of the people. Every states have only given certain specific powers to a central government. This is known as Federal System ore Federalism. The power in the central government ore the federal government have been divided in three. All the branches keeps track of the other two so none of them grow to powerful ore abuse there power. This system is known as the Seperation of powers. The term Separation of powers is known as Maktfordelingsprinsippet in Norway and was inspired by the French philosopher Charles-Louis Montesquieu (1680 - 1755). Montesquieu’s theory about the Separation of powers was not only a inspiration in the making of the American Constitution , but also in the making of the Norwegian Constitution in 1814. Today, all the modern democratic societies have divided there power in different branches. In America the congress is the legislative power, the president is the executive power and the Supreme Court is judicial power.

The 2009 Nobel peace prize goes to President Barack Obama. "For his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". Together with the prize president Barack Obama will also be given 10 million Swedish Kronor.             The Nobel Peace committee decision to give the 2009 Nobel Peace prize to Obama have been loudly criticizes. One of the main arguments given by those who criticize, are Obama's lack of concrete results in the causes he has focused on. I believe that President Obama should give the Nobel peace prize award money to an international charity organization. The organization should work with a subject were it is easy for people to see concrete results.                                             When President Barack Obama is visiting Norway to collect the Nobel Peace prize he should also visit Sandvika High School. By visiting one of Norway's most modern High schools the president would show his support to the children who once will inherit the earth after his generation.

Does it matter

Maria, Ingrid and I have read the poem «Does it matter» by Siegfried Sassoon and analyzed it:

Does it matter'
by Siegfried Sassoon
DOES it matter?--losing your legs?...
For people will always be kind,
And you need not show that you mind
When the others come in after hunting
To gobble their muffins and eggs.

Does it matter?--losing your sight?...
There's such splendid work for the blind;
And people will always be kind,
As you sit on the terrace remembering
And turning your face to the light.

Do they matter?--those dreams from the pit?...
You can drink and forget and be glad,
And people won't say that you're mad;
For they'll know you've fought for your country
And no one will worry a bit.

The poem touches three effects the war has had on the soldier; social problems, physical damage and psychical damage. "Does it matter? - loosing your legs?" That is in the first verse and it is about physical damage. The second verse covers psychological damage because he looses his sight and he can't see anything, but still he turns his face to the light and trying to be positive. The last verse is about the social problems that fighting a war can give you. You can be mad after experiencing all those horrible things you can experience in a war, but people won't mind, because you have fought a war and it is OK to be mad.

We think the soldier is a working-class man. The rest of the community doesn’t see what he has sacrificed because he did it for the country, so his damages is not that bad. It seems like it is the government saying “Does it matter?” and they don’t really see the individual but try to glorify his actions.

The poem has a newfound popularity and it might be because today we focus more on individual rights, we think it is important to see the individual as a person and not for what they sacrifice in a war. In this poem they put the country above the person which was normal to do in that time period(around 1916). We can also see this trend in the rest of the modern society with less person joining for instance political organizations today than 100 years ago. (source - "Å gjøre en forskjell" Jonas Gahr Støre)

When we started working with the poem analyze the studends in the class could choose between “Does it Matter?” and a poem called "The Soldier" by Rupert Brooke. All the studens chose "Does it Matter"

We believe that "Does it Matter" was the poem that appealed to the most of the students because we found it more direct and easier to understand than "The soldier" We believe that it's because "The soldier" is a very romantic poem and do not describe the reality of the war.

Student From Pocket Valley!

Hello! I am a 18 year old student from Pocket Valley in Norway. This year I am on my last year at Sandvika high school. One of my assignments this year is to create and update a blog.

My first contribution to the blogg will be a short summary of my hometown.
As I mentioned earlier my home town is called Pocket Valley. The area looks like a small valley and perhaps a deserted place, but there are over 10 000 people living there. Pocket Valley is also close to Sandvika Storsenter, which is the biggest shopping mall in Scandinavia.
Pocket Valley has one alpine slope called Krydsby. Duri ng my childhood I spent much of my time in Krydsby as an active skier in Lommedalen IL. Below you can see a picture from Krydsby.

I am not an active skier anymore, but I have taken A, B and C courses in alpine training. The other picture is from the C course which I took in Stryn this summer.

I have trained two slalom groups for almost three years. This weekend I am taking the alpine group to a glacier called Juvass to practice. This is a picture from Juvass:

I am looking forward to ski again!