By Charlotte Hayward

Email me at c.hayward@my.westminster.ac.uk

To find out more about the issue of race within the American Election 2008 and its history click here.

Barack Hussein Obama has become the 44th President of America as of November 4th 2008.

Nearly two years of campaigning have led to a moment which brought tears to Jesse Jackson’s eyes. A campaign which was “not hatched in the halls of Washington” but in the “backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston” has resulted on the steps of Washington.

A man from a remote African village will now rule the free world on 20th January 2008.

It seems that Martin Luther King’s dream may have come true. With a black president in the highest office in the land, the doors of segregation are truly shut. Now, anyone can make it. “Yes, we can.”

Obama’s story is America’s story

In the year of Barack Obama’s birth, 1961, black people were born in segregated hospitals, educated in segregated school systems and buried in segregated graveyards.

Fifty years ago Rosa Parks refused to give up her sit on a bus, and forty years since Martin Luther King and others risked their lives in the march for civil rights and the right to vote.

Without them, there would be no Barack Obama.

Obama cited Ann Dixon Cooper in his victory speech. At aged 106 she remembers when women or black people were not allowed to vote.

Talking to the BBC she said, ‘I feel nothing but relief that things have changed as much as they have, so I can’t look for anything better right now…after a while we will be all one.’

A message which echoes Obama’s own ethos, ‘we have never just been a collection of red states and blue states. We are and always will be the United States of America.’

Maya Angelou, American author and poet said she was ’so proud’ of Obama’s victory and America. ‘Look at our hearts, look at our souls, we have elected a black man to speak for us…I am an American.’

Find out more! Click here.

Sainsbury's in Haywards Heath.

By Rachel Wood

rsowood@hotmail.com

Sainsbury’s is the first retailer and largest employer to give its entire workforce of 150,000 the opportunity to gain the equivalent of GCSE qualifications.

This move is in keeping with the government’s skills pledge – which Sainsbury’s signed last June – encouraging employers to invest in the skills and training of their workforce.  See background article for more information.

In Lord Sandy Leitch’s review of the UK’s long term skills needs in 2006, he found “…five million adults lack functional literacy and 17 million struggle with numbers.”

Sainsbury’s chief executive, Justin King, and Skills Secretary John Denham, launched the scheme today that aims to see 25% of its workforce have a nationally recognised qualification within the next five years.

Improving maths and English

The level 1 literacy and numeracy qualification – which is the equivalent to a D grade GCSE – will consolidate employees’s maths and English skills.

It is a web-based programme, so the students can improve their skills at their own pace.  A personal e-tutor is assigned to each employee when they enrol.

Recent research undertaken at RMIT University, highlighted confidence as a real barrier to learning, and so Sainsbury’s has made this training entirely confidential which can be done without any contact with peers and line managers.

Every employee will receive a certificate, and as added incentive to sign up, a £50 voucher will be issued to the first 2000 that complete the course.

Eleanor Davies, an employee at Sainsbury’s Hampton branch, welcomed this opportunity:  “I have worked at Sainsbury’s for twenty years, and think it’s only right they put something back into us”.

Vocational training

The giant supermarket will also be the first retailer to offer its’ staff the chance to gain an NVQ level 2 qualification, equivalent to five good GCSEs.

Sainsbury’s has agreed to work with an existing exam board EDI, to design a qualification that credits store-based skills such as stock control, visual merchandising and health and safety.

Sainsbury’s chief executive, Justin King, said:

 “This launch demonstrates that learning never stops at Sainsbury’s and every one of our colleagues can improve their skills, which not only benefits our customers, but also supports our colleagues to achieve their full potential”.

By Charlene Morgan

US music superstars Jay Z, Mary J Blidge, Beyonce Knowles and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs attend rally in Philadelphia to promote the Barack Obama Presidency campaign.

Hip hop mogul Jay Z, host to the “Promote the Vote Block Party” on the 2200 block of North Broad, Philadelphia, attracts more than four thousand locals to the rally encouraging them to “vote for change, vote Obama”.

As reported by Sky News, Jay Z accompanied by a string of music celebrities, each told the audience why voting for Barack Obama was so important.

“We have a responsibility to ourselves, our children, our country and our new leader, but we have to go out and vote to make the difference,” said Mary J Blidge during the rally.

Jay Z speaks in rhyme when telling the crowd the struggle and history that has led to this very moment.

“Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk. Martin Luther King walked so Obama could run. Obama’s sprinting, so we all could fly.”

BAD BOY records CEO, Sean Combs informs the people of Philadelphia that it may be their vote that make the difference.

“Y’all know that this is a swing state right here,” P.Diddy told the crowd. “This is gonna be the state that decides the election!”

Sean Combs backs up his speech at the rally and votes for Barack Obama the next day. On exiting a voting booth at Coalition High School in Manhattan, he tells New York press how it feels to be apart of history, voting for change.

I felt like my vote was the vote that put him into office. It was down to one vote, and that was going to be my vote. And that may not be true, but that’s how much power it felt like I had.

I’m not trying to be dramatic, but I just felt like, Martin Luther King, and I felt the whole civil rights movement, I felt all that energy, and I felt my kids,” he said. “It was all there at one time. It was a joyous moment.

It seems,  celebrity political pushing has become the rage among Hollywood’s rich and famous, but will it really make a difference? And will it count when it really matters? [Read Background on Obama celebrity endorments]

For further info email: charlene.morgan@my.westminster.ac.uk

Check out my blog! for more entertainment news - Click here!

SHRIMP

This weeks’ most uplifting moment for staff here at Crunch Magazine is the news that scientists at the Pacific University in Oregon have undertaken a study whereby they have placed a number of shrimp on miniature treadmills in order to ascertain the lengths in which the small creatures will go to acquire food.

The findings of the team involved have only just been published. It has been discovered that an average shrimp will ‘jog’ at speeds of up to 66 FOOT PER MINUTE and can continue for up to THREE HOURS before needing a rest.

This is quite possibly the cutest thing staff here at Crunch magazine have seen in our entire lives :

Well, maybe not.

STUDY

Professor David Scholnick was one of the scientists involved in determining the differences between shrimp who are in a healthy condition and those which are ill. The reasoning behind the study is ultimately to aid marine biologists in their attempts to ascertain the affects of different viruses on marine life off the western coast of America.

This is a topic which has been growing in importance over recent years with dwindling fish stocks becoming an increasing issue of concern. Scientists in Europe are also beginning to invest ever increasing amounts of money in the study of the harmful bacterias which attack marine life. A demonstration of some of recent findings can be found here, describing the ‘Cheshire Cat’ anti – bacterial defence mechanism which has altered the way in which the subject is studied.

According to Prof Scholnik : “The situation is much more critical for a sick crustacean where a decrease in performance may mean the difference between life and death,”

“A shrimp dealing with an infection is less active and limited in its ability to migrate, find food, and avoid being eaten.”

He added: “These studies will give us a better idea of how marine animals can perform in their native habitat when faced with increasing pathogens and immunological challenges.”

CRUNCH MAGAZINE’S VIEW

O.k, we will give it to this man on a points victory alone and for one reason only : The taxpayer is not footing the bill for the long hours this man spends in the laboratory passively observing shrimp on a treadmill.

Let us just repeat that…passively observing shrimp on a treadmill.

Please click here and scroll down for background article on marine conservation.

Niall Feiritear : niall.feiritear@my.westminster.ac.uk

Welcome to CRUNCH Magazine!

A weekly magazine discussing everything from World News to Humour and Music.

The magazine is run by seven Journalism students from the University of Westminster, who have only been doing online work for 6 weeks!

Just click on the links below:

• Culture – Charlotte Hayward
• Education – Rachel Wood
• Humour – Niall Feiritear
• Music – Charlene Morgan
  
• Sport – Stuart Mawer
• UK News – Laura Hawkins
• World News – Rose Hawkins
• Special Edition of Crunch – Rose Hawkins,Charlene Morgan, Charlotte Hayward, Laura Hawkins, Rachel Wood

TO READ A GREAT BLOG ABOUT INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS/OPINION/COMMENTARY etc CLICK HERE

Obama and McCain dash through swing states in the last few days before the US presidential election on Tuesday 4th November 2008.

Throughout the weekend, with only a few days before the election Obama and McCain both participated on a USA tour of the swing states; Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Indiana and Ohio to name just a few.

McCain, who is still struggling behind Obama in the polls, hit out at the Democratic presidential candidate concerning taxes and national security and raised the specter of disaster if Democrats were to control Congress and the White House.

Whilst Obama, attempted to increase his lead in the polls, by reassuring America that it needed change and he is the man to enforce this change.

McCain And Obama Still Fighting

Even though McCain is behind Obama by 8 percentage points according to reports from Xinhua, McCain consistently reinforces the fact that the election is not over until the votes have been counted.

Over the weekend in a Philadelphia suburb calling Wallingford, McCain told about 2000 supporters:

“There’s just two days left. We’re a couple of points behind in Pennsylvania. The pundits have written us off just like they’ve done before,”

Below is a video clip of McCain in Wallingford, PA yesterday.

Many pundits believe that McCain could gain a lot of extra voters in the final few hours before the election. this is probably because, many undecided voters may stick with the familiar as change may be a too risky option for them.

Obama’s campaign team have also realised this, during a speech to 60,000 people outside the statehouse in Columbus, Ohio, Obama said:

“Go vote right now…do not be late.”

The video below shows a clip of Obama in Columbus yesterday.

Obama has being trying to get people voting early before the official election day tomorrow, to secure his lead over the Republican candidate.

Dirty Tactics

Both campaign have used dirty tactics over the last few days of the campaigns, some of which have been out of pubic view.

According to reports in the Los Angeles Times, The Republican Party unleashed automated phone calls using the words of Democratic primary opponent Hillary Clinton against Obama, and a GOP (Grand Old Party – Republican) group aired television ads featuring Obama’s former pastor, the controversial Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.

Obama’s campaign also aired television ads tying McCain to the unpopular duo of President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, the Obama campaign also sent mailers highlighting the Republican’s plan to tax health care benefits.

The Election

After one of the most expensive presidential campaigns in the history of the USA, with Obama spending $639 million and McCain $335 million.

McCain or Obama will become America’s 44th President tomorrow.

The latest CNN/Opinion Research Corporation national survey suggests Mr McCain is trailing by seven points, while a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll has Mr Obama widening his lead slightly to 51% to 44%.

Other national polls indicate Mr Obama’s lead over Mr McCain is holding steady at between five to 11 percentage points.

click here to go to the background article

Rose Hawkins – rosehawkins21@hotmail.com

After a statement made by IOC President Jacques Rogge muddied the fate of the London 2012 Olympic Stadium this week, we at Crunch attempt to get underneath the skin of the story.

Ever wondered about where the Olympics will be in London, or where the term ‘White Elephant’ comes from?

If so, read on………

2012 Olympic Stadium, Lower Lea Valley, East London

What will the Olympic Stadium look like?

An 80,000 seat athletics stadium will be converted to a venue over two-thirds smaller than that after the games.

Construction work started in May this year.

A half-mile round, 60 foot high collage will drape the façade of the stadium, on which will be images of past Olympic champions and country flags.

The Olympic Stadium will be on an island site, surrounded on three sides by waterways.

After the Games, the temporary seats will be removed, and it will be transformed into a 25,000 capacity venue that will host a variety of sporting and cultural events.

What is the Olympic legacy?

The plan is to develop the Lower Lea Valley area of inner-London, and in doing so create tens of thousands of new jobs and homes.

Situated three miles from Central London it includes parts of a number of boroughs such as Hackney and Tower Hamlets. With an unemployment rate of 35% on some estates, it is an area of just over two square miles in size, characterised by a large amount of derelict land.

To accommodate the population expansion of the coming decades, and to improve the lives of those already in the area, regeneration of the area has become a priority for a number of authorities.

The London Development Agency, Mayor’s office and the Government are all working on the plan.

There is due to be 50,000 new jobs and up to 40,000 new homes, nine thousand of which will be in the Olympic Park area.

Sporting Legacy

Creating the largest green space in London since Victorian times, one the size of Hyde Park, the games will promote family health.

Many new sporting facilities, including the aquatic centre will be left behind, intended to be used by the public.

The organisers hope to cash in on the tourism boom that hit Sydney post-2000. After the millennial Games, that city benefited from £3.5 billion of new visitor and business interest.

Where does the term ‘White Elephant’ come from?

In some far-Eastern lands the albino elephant was considered holy in ancient times, and they were given as a gift by the King to one of his subordinates. Because the elephant was seen as being sacred it was a great honour to receive one.

White, albino Elephant at Bangkok Zoo

But, to keep a white elephant was a financially crippling experience. The owner had to provide the elephant with special food and provide access for people who wanted to worship it.

It was an executable offence to refuse the gift, or fail to treat the animal in a manner befitting its status. It was not appropriate for a sacred animal to work and earn its keep.

Reference to Indian and Thai veneration of the white elephant was made in early 17^th century literature.  In this, it describes how the King would use the bestowed gift to ruin a courtier he no longer valued.

Rather than banish the man from his court, the King chose ease out the subject with more subtlety. On the face of it, the new addition is a valuable possession, but is one which its owner cannot dispose of, and whose cost (particularly cost of upkeep) exceeds its usefulness.

Stuart Mawer

Crunch Magazine

• Confusion surrounds fate of 2012 Olympic Stadium
  

• Comment with the blog

Olympic photo courtesy of mleroy1986 @ www.flickr.com

Elephant photo courtesy of sftrajan @ www.flickr.com

The fate of the Olympic Stadium after the London 2012 Games has been muddied after a statement given by IOC president Jacques Rogge to the BBC on Thursday.

3D impression of the London 2012 Olympic Stadium

Olympics boss Rogge fuelled further debate, and again exposed old disagreements, with his comment that the games should not leave behind a “white elephant” of a stadium.

In the contract to put on the Olympics, London’s organisers stated that the stadium at Stratford would have athletics at the heart of its post-Games plans.

One of the main factors in London winning the bid was its commitment to provide a legacy for sport and sustainable re-generation in the east of the city. It has been envisaged that long-term tenants will be secured to fill the stadium on a regular basis.

Looking to avoid the ‘legacy’ problems that have been reported with the Athens 2004 games, so far it has been difficult to reconcile the two strands of thought.

Football and rugby teams are the most likely to fill the stadium, but chairman of the football club closest to the site, Barry Hearn seems to sum up a depth of feeling that is across the board. “Leyton Orient……

……will not be going to an Olympic Stadium that has got an athletics track around the middle.”

The presence of the track seems to be the main sticking point, as previous talks with West Ham and Tottenham have broken down. The implications of the proposed athletics legacy have been concerning various organisations since the award of the games three years ago.

Old disagreements

Boris Johnson is said to be in favour of this new thinking from the International Olympic Committee. In a June interview with the London Evening Standard, the new Mayor claimed there was no “convincing” long-term future for the main stadium as a home for athletics.

But according to John Armitt, chairman of the Olympic Development Agency, it is really too late for a Premier League club to move to the stadium.

Responsible for building the Games, he told the BBC “you would have to completely redesign it [the stadium] and I think we have gone past that point.”

The plan of the London organising committee (LOCOG) is to reduce by well over two-thirds its capacity; from 80,000 to a designed-for 25,000.

Lord Sebastian Coe, chairman of LOCOG, and a former Olympic 800m champion, has maintained that the £525m complex would be a “stadium with track and field as its primary legacy”.

Working towards a solution

A respondent for LOCOG was robust in the face of the Rogge comments. Reported in Thursday’s Daily Telegraph, the spokeswoman said “we have always said we would not build white elephants and we are all working towards making the stadium financially viable”

“We are committed however to a multi-sport facility with athletics as a key part of the mix.”

The London Development Agency (LDA), charged with finding a legacy use for the stadium, has already been asked by Mayor Johnson to re-examine available options for the site.

According to Friday’s Guardian though, the LDA are continuing their search for an athletics solution.

Stuart Mawer

Interested further?

• the Crunch low down on the Olympic stadium story

• Comment with the blog

photo courtesy of mleroy1986 @ www.flickr.com

Debbie Purdy, 45 has lost her High Court bid to clarify the law regarding assisted suicide, specifically if her husband would face prosecution if he helped her to commit suicide in Switzerland.

By Laura Hawkins

E-mail me at l.hawkins@my.westminster.ac.uk

Above: A CNN discussion on the UK assisted suicide debate.

Purdy has multiple sclerosis and although she feels well and happy with her life at the moment, she wanted the court to force the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to give his pledge that her husband would not face prosecution if he was to assist her in travelling to a euthanasia clinic in Switzerland at some point in the future.

THE LAW – 14 MONTHS IMPRISONMENT

Currently, the law states that it is an ‘offence to aid, abet, counsel or procure a suicide or a suicide attempt in England and Wales.’ If you are prosecuted for this offence, you could be punishable to up to 14 years imprisonment.

By questioning the law, Purdy was granted judicial review on the matter on the grounds that ‘the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had acted illegally by not providing guidance on how decisions on prosecution are reached’.

Purdy argued that due to the lack of clarification, it breached her human rights. The High Court ruled that the guidelines were adequate and did not infringe her human rights under the European Convention of Human Rights.

Purdy was shocked and upset by the verdict of the High Court and said

‘We still don’t know how we can make sure that we stay within the law because I’m not prepared for Omar to break the law, I’m not prepared for him to risk jail.’

SYMPATHY FOR PURDY

The High Court did express compassion for the position that Purdy and others are in. Lord Justice Scott Baker portrayed his sympathy and said,

‘We cannot leave this case without expressing great sympathy for Ms Purdy, her husband and others in a similar position who wish to know in advance whether they will face prosecution for doing what many would regard as something that the law should permit, namely to help a loved one go abroad to end their suffering when they are unable to do it on their own.’

NOT FOR THE COURTS BUT A MATTER FOR PARLIAMENT

Lord Justice Scott Baker continued to say that the case would need a change in the law and only Parliament could enact this. However, Purdy was given leave to appeal as the case is one of public interest.

Lawyers for the DPP have said that provisions of the 1961 Suicide Act, which make aiding and abetting suicide punishable with a jail term provides sufficient information and that the law does not require a specific policy.

SWISS CLINIC DIGNITAS

Over 100 British citizens have ended their life at the Swiss clinic ‘Dignitas’ although there has not been one prosecution of relatives that may have assisted their loved ones to travel to Switzerland.

Purdy said that she would still consider travelling to the Dignitas clinic in the future but without the help and support of her husband because of the fear of his prosecution, she may need to go earlier than she really wanted to. 

WANT MORE INFORMATION? For more background information – CLICK HERE

By Rachel Wood

rsowood@hotmail.com

The issue of bullying in the workplace has been under the spotlight over the last couple of weeks, as the media, for example, UK newspaper, The Telegraph, have grappled with BBC Radio 2 presenters Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand’s unfeeling behaviour towards Andrew Sachs.

Bullying remains a key issue in schools.

Anti-bullying policies in schools too are continually being re-defined and re-evaluated as the government seeks to wipe out what can be hugely detrimental to a child’s learning and future life.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) supports schools in designing these anti-bullying policies – see background piece for more details.

In 1996, Educational consultant, Dr Carrie Herbert, sought to help the victims of bullying by setting up a charity to educate children who were missing school to avoid the bullies.

The first Red Balloon School 

Dr Herbert told BBC Radio 4’s ‘Midweek’ presenter, Libby Purves, about the story behind the first Red Balloon School.

Click here to listen to the podcast.

‘The Mail’s 2008 Inspirational Woman of the Year’ had been running an educational consultancy in 1995, whilst doing some anti-bullying work in schools, when she “kept coming across stories…of a child who had left a school because they had been bullied”.

Over the course of a year, Dr Herbert grew more frustrated at what she saw as the abandonment of bullied children:

“My rage is at the fact that we live in what is considered to be a first world country and we allow these children to drop through a net and nobody seems to pick them up and they [then] languish in their homes too frightened to leave their bedrooms”.

After giving an anti-bullying lecture, Dr Herbert was visited at her Cambridge home by “two traumatised parents who sat on [her] sofa with their daughter who had attempted suicide” and asked her for help.

The former English teacher immediately agreed to start teaching their daughter, Jenny, from Monday morning, and thus transform her house into a school.

Dr Herbert’s transformed home

In an interview with the UK newspaper, The Mail, Dr Herbert recalls: “Even as I was saying those words, I was wondering how on earth I was going to turn my small Victorian townhouse into a school in less than 48 hours”.

Dr Herbert quickly organised for a friend of hers, who was a teacher, to teach Jenny maths and physics and advertised for an art teacher’s post in the local newsagents.

A desk was placed in the sitting room, and as she told Radio 4 – “…my bedroom became the maths room, and my ensuite bathroom became the science room”. Her attic was then transformed into her bedroom.

Carrie Herbert’s resourcefulness is well-illustrated when she recalls the children coming across a dead mole on a walk, and suggests to the biology teacher to “cut that up and let the children have a look and see”. She laughs saying, “The mole ended up being cut up on the kitchen table”.

Within seven months, Jenny had nine other classmates, all of whom were aged between 12 and 16 years and had been severely bullied at their respective schools.

The school takes up to 15 pupils at one time, and when Radio 4 presenter, Libby Purves, asked Dr Herbert about the relationships between the pupils, she replied: “…they make hugely strong bonds across class, across race, across academic ability…it’s like a family”.

Since the Red Balloon School first started in November 1996, more than a hundred pupils have been helped, before later being reintegrated into mainstream school, in most cases after a year.

Dr Herbert is delighted at how successfully her former pupils have moved on to establish happy lives and budding careers. A former Red Balloon student graduated with a first from a London university last Summer.

Two other Red Balloon schools have been estabished in Norwich and Harrow, North-West London.

Fundraising has begun in order to open a new centre in Liverpool in memory of James Bulger.

Click here to go to the background article on school’s anti-bullying policies.  

Click here to view my blog.

(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)