vrijdag 11 mei 2012
700 riot victims still waiting for compensation
After last year’s riots Prime Minister David Cameron promised businesses to “get up and running quickly.” However, there are still over 700 London victims waiting for their claims for compensation to be looked at. David Lammy, MP for Tottenham in which much of the rioting took place, claims that not much has been done since March. During a debate in the House of Commons next Monday he will call on the government to act. Some people have not been paid at all; people who did get financial compensation often received half the amount they claimed.
In London 707 of 3,427 payments have been passed, but on a national level half of the claimants are still waiting for compensation.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/700-riot-victims-still-waiting-for-compensation-7734774.html
Reaction:
David Cameron promised to help the victims of last year’s riots quickly and because of this promise he should have. In my opinion politicians promise too much and act too little. Cameron should have found out what the costs would and if he was able to get that amount of money on short notice before he promised to get businesses running quickly. Because of his promise people trusted in the government and waited for their help. If Cameron had not expressed this promise, business owners might have searched for other solutions. In the meantime valuable time has passed by and some businesses turned out not to be able to survive both the rioting and the waiting for compensation.
UK's poorest families face tightest squeeze on income, figures show
An analysis conducted by the Trade Union Conference (TUC) showed that he 10% poorest families in the UK face an income squeeze. They will have lower wage increases and higher rates of inflation, compared to the richest UK families. Their wage will rise with only 0.7%, whereas the highest incomes will rise with 1.6%. Next to that these poor families are facing inflation rates of 4.1%, while that rate does not come higher than 3.3% for the richest. Altogether this means that the 10% poorest earners in the UK are 3.4% poorer than last year.
The numbers also showed that all wages had fallen since this coalition came to power. Since the coalition’s motto is: “All in it together” TUC calls for further action to support families.
The income squeeze for UK’s 10% bottom is striking, since before the lower incomes had to do with less inflation than higher incomes, because the price rise of food and utility costs was lower than the price rise of luxury goods. New research by the TUC showed that poorer families spend a larger amount of their income on food and utilities than rich people do.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/11/poorest-families-tightest-squeeze-income
Reaction:
It is striking to read that the less wealthy families have to deal with a greater loss of wage than the richest residents in the UK, especially considering that poor people spend most part of their income on food and utilities. It is harder for them to cut on spending, because they do not buy a lot of luxury goods that the can omit in the future. In fact, this means that those people need to buy less or cheaper food than they used to. Nowadays it is already shown that poorer people have less healthy life styles and are overweight more often than rich people. The reason being that unhealthy food tends to be cheaper than healthy food. Therefore this fall in wage could eventually increase the number of obese people.
The numbers also showed that all wages had fallen since this coalition came to power. Since the coalition’s motto is: “All in it together” TUC calls for further action to support families.
The income squeeze for UK’s 10% bottom is striking, since before the lower incomes had to do with less inflation than higher incomes, because the price rise of food and utility costs was lower than the price rise of luxury goods. New research by the TUC showed that poorer families spend a larger amount of their income on food and utilities than rich people do.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/11/poorest-families-tightest-squeeze-income
Reaction:
It is striking to read that the less wealthy families have to deal with a greater loss of wage than the richest residents in the UK, especially considering that poor people spend most part of their income on food and utilities. It is harder for them to cut on spending, because they do not buy a lot of luxury goods that the can omit in the future. In fact, this means that those people need to buy less or cheaper food than they used to. Nowadays it is already shown that poorer people have less healthy life styles and are overweight more often than rich people. The reason being that unhealthy food tends to be cheaper than healthy food. Therefore this fall in wage could eventually increase the number of obese people.
woensdag 11 april 2012
How two whizz-kids made a billion dollar app in 551 days
Instagram was recently bought by Facebook for 1bn US dollars. That is even more than was paid for MySpace and The Huffington Post and almost as much as was paid for YouTube. Instagram is an app that puts a retro filter on photographs. Its succes grew rapidly after celebrities like Barack Obama and Justin Bieber opened accounts. It is not a total mystery why this app that was released only one and a have year ago, was worth such a big buy-out. The reason probably is the release in the Android App Store that, after an immense popular period in the Apple Store, resulted in 1 Million buyers withing 24 hours.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/how-two-whizzkids-made-a-billion-dollar-app-in-551-days-7631272.html
My reaction
Nowadays it seems like everyone can become rich with just one simple idea. Lots of people are living the Internet dream now, instead of the American Dream. Everyone, anywhere in the world could become successful by using the Net. However, this succes could fade away easily. For instance, Geo Cities and MySpace were huge successes, but nowadays no-one uses those platforms anymore. In that perspective the young men behind Instagram were wise to sell the app while it is so extremely popular.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/how-two-whizzkids-made-a-billion-dollar-app-in-551-days-7631272.html
My reaction
Nowadays it seems like everyone can become rich with just one simple idea. Lots of people are living the Internet dream now, instead of the American Dream. Everyone, anywhere in the world could become successful by using the Net. However, this succes could fade away easily. For instance, Geo Cities and MySpace were huge successes, but nowadays no-one uses those platforms anymore. In that perspective the young men behind Instagram were wise to sell the app while it is so extremely popular.
dinsdag 10 april 2012
Ghana calls an end to tyrannical reign of the Queen's English
More and more Ghanaians choose to be creative with the English language by using their own pronunciation and mixing English with local languages. RP used to be the accent Ghanaians tried to master, but it is lately seen as the former colonist's accent. Ghanaians are starting to feel proud of being and sounding multilingual. One of the most famous Ghanaians who does not try to hide his Ghanaian roots in his speech is Kofi Annan. Moreover, nowadays there are also famous rappers who are proud of their Ghanaian sound.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/10/ghana-calls-end-queens-english
My reaction
Although I am working hard to achieve a British accent, I totally agree with the Ghanaians. They were colonised by the British and used to think sounding like the rulers meant sounding intelligent. I am glad they feel proud of their own roots and their multilangual history. This change in looking at their native languages might even mean that those languages will not go extinct. If this trend broadens, other African countries could also become more proud of their native tongues and that could ultimately save hundreds of languages. Therefore, this trend could not only be a good thing for Ghanaians, but also for linguists.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/10/ghana-calls-end-queens-english
My reaction
Although I am working hard to achieve a British accent, I totally agree with the Ghanaians. They were colonised by the British and used to think sounding like the rulers meant sounding intelligent. I am glad they feel proud of their own roots and their multilangual history. This change in looking at their native languages might even mean that those languages will not go extinct. If this trend broadens, other African countries could also become more proud of their native tongues and that could ultimately save hundreds of languages. Therefore, this trend could not only be a good thing for Ghanaians, but also for linguists.
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