The following essay was written as part of my AS-Level politics course at Halifax New College (which I’m concerned doesn’t exist any more — I can’t find mention of it on the Calderdale College website any more!).  It dates back to October 2002 and discusses how Politics can be defined.  It’s released here under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales Licence.

How can politics be defined?

Politics has not one meaning, but rather a number of different ones depending on how different perspectives analyse it, however, all different descriptions agree – politics is a social animal, one born out of the interactions between different indeviduals and groups, and how decitions are made.   Politics can be seen to be one of two categorys: conflict resolution or control of power.  The former being that politics is a process of removing conflict to produce harmony, and the latter being the ability to control and direct authority. Read more…

This essay was written for my GCSE Media Studies couse in April 2001, and covers the much debated question of the direction of the internet (or, more correctly, world wide web).  It’s released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales Licence.

Rather than fulfilling its expectations as a place for education and communication, the Internet has become one big advertising channel.

The media hailed the birth of the Internet as a revolution in the way information and education was distributed and shared. A feeling that the Internet was nothing more than a big advertising, moneymaking, opportunity for big business soon superseded this initial reaction. Read more…

The following essay was written for my GCSE English course in June 2000 and relates to the J.B. Priestley play “An Inspector Calls”.  It’s released here under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales Licence.

Who or what is Inspector Goole, and what is his role in the play?

The character of Inspector Goole can be explained in many ways.  It is thought, that he could be a ghost, an angel (sent from God to deliver the truth), a psychic (able to see the future), or simply just a socialist “Crank” – this is what, in fact, the characters in the play believe towards the end, as Mr. Birling says, “That fellow obviously didn’t like us.  He was prejudiced against us from the start.  Probably a socialist or some sort of crank – he talked like one.” Read more…

With the recent upgrade of my computer I had reason to copy a lot of data from an old hard disk to my new computer. While doing this I came across some of my old school work, both from GCSE and A-level. Read more…