National Politics - Elections FACTOIDS

- Parliament can last up to 5 years, although it can be dissolved at any time if the ruling party loses the majority or a vote of confidence. The Queen dissolves parliament before every election, paving the way for a new party to rule if the public chooses so.

- The recent coalition government have set a fixed election date of 7th May every five years. The next one is in 2015.

- Not everyone can vote. To vote you must be under 18, not a convicted criminal/prisoner, a UK citizen and not a member of the House of Lords. If you are eligible to vote you will have to register on the electoral roll. Currently there are 45 million people registered.

- The postal vote accounted for 15% of the total votes in 2010, a steep rise from 2005.

- Representation of the People Act:
          -1918: Men can vote at 21, Women over 30
          -1928: All over 21 can vote
          -1969: All over 18 can vote

- Voting is not compulsory.

- Any citizen over the age of 18 can stand for elections in the local area, providing they pay a £500 deposit.

- To win you must be 'first past the post.' The person with the majority vote in each constituency wins.

- National voting percentages are not reflected in seats in parliament. Labour had 50% of the seats in 2005, although they only held 35% of the overall vote. This leads to tactical voting.

A Brief History of Time (read: Party Politics)

For Vlog Sake: Samantha Brick Response

Well, it's finally here, my first attempt at a video blog!

Hope y'all like it!

Notes on - Nietzsche: The Birth of Tragedy

Source: http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/birthoftragedy/

Chapter 1

• Art progression is bound to Apollonian Dionysian duality
• Apollo: Land of dreams: light filled space, man enjoys "the immediate apprehension of form." Man is healed and shown divine intuition.
• Appearance: Everything we see is a veil over true society
• Aesthetic dreamers are like philosophers, they know that what they are seeing isn't real and is thus, an appearance.
• Dionysus: Principle of Calm Reason: Inability to tell the difference between appearance and reality. Drunkenness.

Chapters 5 & 6

• Homer - Naive Artist [artist completely absorbed in beauty of appearance]
• Archilochus - Subjective poet, linked to Dionysus and drunkenness. Used first person and a lot of emotion.
• 'I' of unified conscious
• Lyricist is from Apollian dream state
• Archilochus is basically writing in a folk style about emotions and life experiences, whereas Homer is based on appearance and the beauty of the surroundings.
• Lyric is passionate through links to music

Chapters 13, 14 & 15

• Socrates - Non-mystic [actions not just based on instinct alone]
• Socrates says that tragedy is not suitable for philosophers as it was aimed at the Common Man and devoid of truth.
• Celebrated the 'Theoretical Man' - someone who always tries to find the truth and report it.

Chapters 20 & 21

• Culture and True-Arts estranged
• Rebirth of Tragedy shouldn't be feared, music powers the German Spirit through renovation and purification
• Key aspects of tragedy are Tragic Hero (takes on the weight of the world, relieves us of the burden, sets example for us) and Music. Makes us feel drunk and Dionysusian.
• Myth is needed to counter this, hero is this and is the Apollion answer so the counter-balance remains.

Chapters 24 & 25

• Music and tragedy are inseparable, and so are Apollo and Dionysus.
• Apollo lacks substance without Dionysus, Dionysus needs Apollo to express. Two sides of the same coin.