The Types of Fallacies Essay Example for Free

The Types of Fallacies Essay * â€Å"Argument† from pity: when feeling sorry for someone drives us to a position on an unrelated matter * We have a job that needs doing; Helen can barely support her starving children and needs work desperately. But does Helen have the skills we need? We may not care if she does; and if we don’t, nobody can fault us for hiring her out of compassion. But feeling sorry for Helen may lead us to misjudge her skills or overestimate her abilities, and that is a mistake in reasoning. * â€Å"Argument† from envy: When we find fault with a person because of envy * â€Å"Well, he may have a lot of money but he certainly has bad manners† would be an example of this if it is envy that prompts us to criticize him. Apple Polishing: Pride can lead us to exaggerate our own accomplishments and abilities and lead to our making other irrelevant judgments * Moore recently sat on a jury in a criminal case involving alleged prostitution and pandering at a strip club; the defendant’s attorney told the members of the jury it would take â€Å"an unusually discerning jury† to see that the law, despite its wording, wasn’t really intended to apply to someone like his client. Ultimately the jury members did find with the defense, but let us hope it wasn’t because the attorney flattered their ability to discern things. Guilt trip: Eliciting feelings of guilt to get others to do or not do something, or to accept the view that they should or should not do it * â€Å"How could you not invite Trixie to your wedding? She would never do that to you and you know she must be very hurt. † The remark is intended to make someone feel sorry for Trixie, but even more fundamentally it is supposed to induce a sense of guilt. * Wishful thinking: when we accept or urge acceptance (or rejection) of a claim simply because it would be pleasant (or unpleasant) if it were true. Some people, for example, may believe in God simply on the basis of wishful thinking or desire for an afterlife. A smoker may refuse to acknowledge the health hazards of smoking. We’ve had students who are in denial about the consequences of cutting classes. * Peer pressure â€Å"argument†: A desire for acceptance can motivate us to accept a claim not because of its merits, but because we will gain someone’s approval (or will avoid having approval withdrawn). Group think: when one substitutes pride of membership in a group for reason and deliberation in arriving at a position on an issue; and let’s include the fallacy in our list of the top ten fallacies of all time, because it is exceedingly common. * involves one’s sense of group identification, which people experience when they are part of a group—a team, a club, a school, a gang, a state, a nation, the Elks, Wal-Mart, the U. S. A. Mauritius, you name it. * Nationalism (a form of â€Å"GROUP THINK†): a powerful and fierce emotion that can lead to blind endorsement of a country’s policies and practices. (â€Å"My country right or wrong† explicitly discourages critical thinking and encourages blind patriotism. ) Nationalism is also invoked to reject, condemn, or silence criticism of one’s country as unpatriotic or treasonable (and may or may not involve an element of peer pressure). If a letter writer expresses a criticism of America on the opinion page of your local newspaper on Monday, you can bet that by the end of the week there will be a response dismissing the criticism with the â€Å"argument† that if so-and-so doesn’t like it here, he or she ought to move to Russia (or Cuba or Afghanistan or Iraq). * Rationalizing: when we use a false pretext to satisfy our own desires or interests * Let’s say Mr. Smith decides to do something really nice for his wife on her birthday and buys her a new table saw. â€Å"This saw wasn’t cheap,† he tells her. But you’re going to be glad we have it, because it will keep me out in the garage and out of your way when you’re working here in the house. † * â€Å"Argument† from popularity: when we urge someone to accept a claim (or fall prey to someone’s doing it to us) simply on the grounds that all or most or some substantial number of people (other than authorities or experts, of course) believe it * â€Å"Argument† from common practice: trying to justify or defend an action or practice (as distinguished from an assertion or claim) on the grounds that it is common. â€Å"I shouldn’t get a speeding ticket because everyone drives over the limit† would be an example. â€Å"Everyone cheats on their taxes, so I don’t see why I shouldn’t† would be another. * â€Å"Argument† from tradition: People do things because that’s the way things have always been done, and they believe things because that’s what people have always believed * The fact that it’s a tradition among most American children to believe in Santa Claus, for instance, doesn’t prove Santa Claus exists; and the fact it’s also a tradition for most American parents to deceive their kids about Santa Claus doesn’t necessarily mean it is okay for them to do so.

Homelessness Act 2002 Analysis

Homelessness Act 2002 Analysis Assessing the new homelessness strategies introduced by the Homelessness Act 2002: are the housing needs of the young homeless in the UK closer to being adequately addressed? Chapters Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ Page 3 Homelessness Act 2002 Young People†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Page 5 Distinctive Qualities of ‘Youth Homelessness’†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Page 10 Local Authorities and Discretion Post-2002:†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..Page 12 Lack of Monitoring Procedures / Inadequacy of Performance Indicators†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.Page 12 Diversity or Chaos under the Homelessness Act 2002†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.Page 15 Priority Need†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Page 18 Conclusion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Page 20 Bibliography†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Page 21 ‘We have weapons of mass destruction we have to address here at home. Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction. Homelessness is a weapon of mass destruction. Unemployment is a weapon of mass destruction.’ Dennis Kucinich[1] Introduction Property, as a jurisprudential concept, holds a lot of sway in liberal philosophical thought. We see property as a central theme for such institutional writers as Locke, Hegel, Kant and Nozick who see Property Rights as going to the centre of ‘sanctioned behavioural relations among men’[2]. Thus in a purely philosophical manner the Homeless are truly disenfranchised from the underlying rationale of law. This pervasive attitude also leads to a disenfranchisement across a number of important social spheres such as voting, raising money and unemployment benefit However, we recognise limits on all property rights in order to help disadvantaged, for example the Family Law Act 1996 recognises rights for a spouse who suffers domestic abuse[3]. This work is concerned to look at the quantitative and qualitative outcomes for young[4] homeless people achieved by the statutory framework, how does this demographic fare given their no-property status? The importance of this review cannot be underestimated. In the U.K. it is a general problem which ‘despite economic prosperity, a private housing market boom, and a raft of legislation and homelessness initiatives, recorded levels of homelessness in the U.K. remain stubbornly high’[5] and in recent years the problem was more prosaically described as ‘taking us back towards the deep social divisions of Victorian society a moment in history than no one wants to see repeated’[6] However, despite it’s persistent nature and damaging social effects there is a dearth of real academic research on the topic as a whole. This work hopes to contribute to an area which desperately needs quality academic attention. Secondly, this review is prompted by similar government observations that suggest a review of the legislative apparatus is timely: ‘It is our view that there should not be homeless people in the UK in 2004. A home is a fundamental right which should not be denied to anyone living in as affluent and ambitious a society as our own.’[7] The Select Committee then goes onto argue that ‘a review of the workings of the 2002 Act would identify the weak spots for the government’[8]. This work will carry out such a review. However, given the limitation of space it focuses on the young homeless. In recent years this demographic has been receiving more academic and media attention than others simply because of the prevalence of youth homelessness within England – in 2004 it was estimated that up to 52,000 young people between the ages of 16-25 were homeless and at any rate that this demographic accounts for a quarter of all the homeless throughout the U.K.[9]. However, whilst there may be a reasonable degree of peripheral awareness of this subject as a social problem which has particular risks and difficulties associated with it there has been no current published research on the effectiveness of the homeless strategies, implemented under the Homelessness Act 2002, as it applies to this demographic. This work will attempt to fill this void and give some guidance on the direction of any review or reform of the legislative apparatus. Homelessness Act 2002 Young People The Homelessness Act 2002 was the culmination of a significant policy from New Labour which, obviously, therefore provides the underlying rationale of the statute. If we are to understand what reforms to the content or rationale are required from our qualitative and quantitative analyses of the operation of the statute we need to first understand what the existing structure represents. Whilst it is fair to say that ‘the UK has a lengthy history of voluntary and statutory provision for homeless people’[10] statutory intervention on a large scale was not comprehensively implemented until the introduction of the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act 1977. However, for many commentators this legislation was seen as ‘an ineffective and inadequate means of resolving the problems of many homeless persons’[11]. There were numerous problems with the legislation which we will briefly prà ©cis so as to provide a comparator to the 2002 Act. A large degree of discretionary decision-making was left in the hands of local housing authorities[12] which meant that groups of homeless people who didn’t satisfy the ‘priority need’ criteria or other statutory requirements for other groups of homeless people had virtually no protection[13]. The 1977 Act setup a two-tiered approach which imposed different duties on the local authority at each level. Its initial duties operated when an individual made an application to the local housing authority which indicated a possibility that the person may either be homeless or threatened with homelessness[14]. Accommodation would then only be provided if the local authority had done an investigation and had reasonable grounds for believing the facts of the application and the person fell into a category of ‘priority need’. Otherwise the duty was one of advice and appropriate assistance[15]. Furthermore, the extent of the duty to provide accommodation only covered a ‘period of time reasonable to enable the applicant to secure housing on his own’[16]. The system setup had a narrowing effect in that there were large groups of people, typically non-parent single individuals[17], who had to rely on charity or voluntary services to provide any kind of accommodation. This system was argued to have lead to ‘an unprecedented increase in street homelessness in the U .K.’[18]. The period between the 1980’s and 1997 was mirrored by an exponential growth in NGO agencies providing support to the homeless in stark contrast to the complete lack of statutory change, although consolidation did occur in the Housing Act 1996. There were Government sponsored programmes such as the ‘Rough Sleepers Initiative’ and ‘Supporting People’ which transcended many professions such as housing, health, social work, education and employment. These multi-agency initiatives have been seen as vital to the ending of homelessness however there was always a fear over the disjointed and inefficient nature of these many statutory and voluntary agencies as well as confusion to the individual faced with homelessness[19]. As of 5th May 2006 there is a new UK government department for Communities and Local Government, taking over from the Homelessness Directorate within the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which is now in charge of overseeing the current framework. The Labour Government came to power in 1997 on the back of a manifesto pledge that they would ‘impose a new duty on local authorities to protect those who are homeless through no fault of their own and are in priority need’[20]. The DETR[21] published the Housing Green Paper in April 2000 which outlined the intention of the government this was then introduced in the form of the Homes Bill which fell because of the proroguement of parliament for the general election. However, this was quickly followed by another bill that in time became the Homelessness Act 2002 that received Royal Assent on 26th February 2002 The 2002 Act made some very significant changes to the pre-existent statutory framework detailed above[22]. The central provision was a requirement placed upon local authorities to carry out a review of homelessness in their area and publish strategies to overcome this within 12 months of the passing of the Act and to be renewed every five years[23]. These included audits of current levels of homelessness, programs for combating, preventing or alleviating homelessness. The information gathered under the review was then to be scrutinised and the strategy would build upon any strengths and remedy weaknesses[24]. This was part of a clearer focus on devolving responsibility for tackling homelessness at a local level however the Act did also modify the pre-existent law by amending the Housing Act 1996. Whilst not implementing a duty it did give local housing authorities the discretionary power to give unintentionally homeless applicants not in priority need accommodation whereas the duty before was advice and assistance. The latter duty still exists but is more clearly defined and requires an investigation into the individual’s circumstances and needs. The hope of the government was that these ‘two provisions combined†¦can be used by applicants to argue that local authorities should consider referrals of applicants not in priority need to registered social landlords’[25]. There was formerly a two year time limit on the duty to provide housing but the Act now requires more than simply time lapsing including refusal of unsuitable accommodation, intentional homelessness or a change in circumstances[26]. This provision will introduce a lot more equity into the law and its arbitrary time limits. The largest change to the law was undoubtedly wrought through ss.13 – 16 which completely change the rules on allocation of a property in particular the power of the local authorities to power to exclude specific groups from priority need and reduce other priority[27]. Exclusion is permitted to individuals subject to immigration control or those deemed unsuitable by reason of their ‘unacceptable behaviour’[28]. Behaviour in general is also permitted as a reason for reducing the priority of an individual[29]. Local Authorities are still provided with discretion to create an allocation scheme but in determining preferences to be given in that scheme the definition of homelessness was widened to include all homeless, even those who are intentionally so or are not in priority need. The idea here is that in allocating available housing to all homeless people, rather than those that the local authority has a pre-existent duty to provide accommodation to, will clearly be more equitable[30]. For the sake of brevity the other main changes are bullet-pointed: Local authorities are able to offer assured tenancies and assured short-hold tenancies provided by private landlords in order to meet their duty to provide accommodation. However, refusal of such an offer doesn’t discharge the duty of the local authority as it normally would. The protections surrounding domestic violence are extended to those not only actually suffering but also those threatened with violence. A requirement that social security services’ cooperate with housing authorities this is to combat those families that are intentionally homeless with children. In summary the 2002 Act placed a much higher emphasis on the responsibility of local authorities through the review and strategy requirements whilst also making relatively minor amendments to the pre-existent structure which were principally designed to extend local authorities duties and powers regarding the homeless. A large part of this work will concentrate on the discretion of local authorities as detailed above in particular looking at whether the Act had created disparity between local authorities and a lack of meaningful monitoring of the operation of discretion or whether the approach by local authorities has lead to more flexibility and choice for individuals. This will be a qualitative assessment of the impact of the Act however we will also have regard to substantive aspects and ask whether the definitions of ‘priority need’ and ‘homelessness’[31] adequately cater for the urgent need of young, 16-25 year old, persons. It is worth just noting at t his point that the Act and the surrounding government publications do not mention youth homelessness as a target but homelessness in general. It is therefore accepted that we may be critiquing the Act for things outside its original remit however given the importance of this demographic any failing will be considered a large one. Distinctive Qualities of ‘Youth Homelessness’ The fundamental question for this work is to assess whether or not the Homelessness Act 2002 has to any degree moved the U.K. closer to addressing the needs of young homeless persons. However, in doing this what we have to be aware of is that ‘homeless people are a heterogeneous group with diverse social, economic and health needs’[32]. The exposition of these particularistic needs has not always been made explicit but to some degree it needs to be done so for this work to be of any importance. In other words, what are the specific needs of the youth homeless demographic? This is a difficult question and in itself could form the basis of a much larger work however it is possible to glean from some sources that there are a few predominant needs of the youth demographic which we can use to evaluate the effectiveness of the measures under the 2002 Act. One clear need is that of information, whilst always important the issue is more acute in youth homelessness given their relative inexperience and lack of social awareness[33]. As a logical corollary to this it would include training staff and volunteers on how to relate such information to children[34]. In general this is necessary because unlike other demographics there is a lack of self-sufficiency or financial resources[35], extremely high emotional and financial exploitability leading to higher risk of mental illness or disease of some form[36]. The problems with self-sufficiency and financial resources are explained because a youth group will tend to have little education, qualifications or job exper ience. This is coupled with the fact that they will have little or no experience of independent living which prevents them from doing even the most basic of things[37]. This has been recognised by a number of commentators who argue that ‘the problems of long term homelessness are to an extent due to lack of skills, knowledge and social development’[38]. Finally, another prominent need for the youth homelessness is not just the provision of accommodation but is the need for further support after the allocation of accommodation, of any kind. It has been argued that this is a particular need of youth homeless and that provision of such support must be ‘flexible, appropriate and geared to need’[39]. The foregoing is not meant to be an authoritative statement but a guide to what we will be analysing in the rest of this work. In order to assess the Homelessness Act 2002 we will be looking at how local authorities and the statute are capable of meeting some of these needs that we have outlined above. Local Authorities and Discretion Post-2002 As we saw, above, the local authorities have a great deal of control and discretion in publishing a strategy and creating there own allocation criteria. The importance of this is that the young homeless tend not to fall into an explicit category of those in ‘priority need’, as we shall see, and therefore the operation of local authorities under the Act become of the utmost importance to assessing the effectiveness of the legislative structure. In determining this we are looking at three separate but inter-related areas that might impact on the effectiveness of providing a coherent approach to youth homelessness. Thus if we look at needs such as information provided to the young – there is a clear danger that if there is a disjointed approach across local authorities then the quality of life enjoyed by those young people who fall into homelessness will become a post-code lottery. Lack of Monitoring Procedures / Inadequacy of Performance Indicators The first specific area that this research wants to uncover is whether or not the lack of monitoring provisions leads to an inconsistent application which consequently fails young homeless people. Furthermore, are the indicators used by government to monitor local authority initiatives helpful? The joining up of local authorities under the 2002 Act was a specific aim and the government stated ‘While the Government will join-up policy at the national level, local authorities will need to do so locally’[40]. This was supposed to be achieved by an alliance between supra-local bodies such as the Housing Corporation, Local Government Association and National Housing Federation[41]. They all recommended the adoption of a partnership between housing associations and local authorities to help implement the strategies required under the 2002 Act. However, with this many bodies involved it is hard to monitor the success of the Act especially as the local authorities are under no d uty to monitor the success. However, in an indirect way a lack of monitoring will cause severe difficulty for the Local Authority in reviewing current and future levels of homelessness in accordance with their strategy. This is because the raw information will not be in an accessible form, it will be spread across many different agencies or it may not be gathered at all[42] Shelter has campaigned for the wider introduction of ‘multi-agency monitoring’[43] which derives from governments ‘Homelessness Strategies: A Good Practice handbook’[44]. The idea of a MAM is that a lead agency, usually a local authority, will take charge of running the scheme and have a department dedicated to the maintenance of it. The scheme operates as follows: ‘All agencies use common forms to collect information, asking the same questions, and using the same data entry codes. A MAM scheme uses a unique identifier for each individual when recording the information onto a central database’[45]. The advantages of this are the ability to identify demographics and look at how policy and initiatives impacts on them. In that way the local authority can look at numerous independent variables such as person of first contact, place of first contact, popularity of various services and many other incredibly important pieces of information. However, th e handbook is a recommendation and is not mandatory by any means and it is therefore unsurprising that the Housing Quality Network Services (HQNS) recommended in 2004 that more guidance on the ‘minimum requirement for monitoring to ensure best practice’[46] be introduced by the government. The HQNS service highlighted that producing an action plan including plans for monitoring and having performance indicators was ‘a weak point in many strategies’[47] who failed to set out in any substantive detail how they were going to go about monitoring homelessness. However, in fairness there are other councils who have mentioned MAM’s[48] in their strategies but even there these are prospective and thin on detail[49]. The difficulty for this work is in assessing the effectiveness and the dedication to these limited stated aims without direct access to primary resources. Thus this work must defer to the conclusions of the quantitative research done by the HQNS that makes explicit that whilst many strategies mention monitoring few have much detail or concrete plans for how a MAM would be set-up The picture that arises, therefore, is that the lack of mandatory minimum monitoring requirement’s is not being counteracted by pro-active councils around the country therefore in that way it fails to achieve the goals of having effective reviews and strategies. As the Bath North East Somerset strategy stated ‘A strategy is only as good as the information that supports it’[50]. The fact that a government produced report which generally heralded the whole process of producing a review and strategy as a success mentioned data collection and monitoring as a problem on several occasions highlights that this could be a significant problem in targeting the strategies in any meaningful sense at youth homelessness. This has a knock-on effect on performance indicators. The government had encouraged local authorities to introduce performance indicators[51] and in 2005 they introduced The Local Government (Best Value) Performance Indicators and Performance Standards (England) Order 2005[52]. This followed a wide consultation on the issue. It applied this to all local authorities and measures performance by reference to five criteria: Average length of stay in bed and breakfast or hostel accommodation by households including dependent children or pregnant women. Number of rough sleepers on a single night within authority’s area. Percentage increase / decrease from year to year of statistic 1. Number of families for which housing advice casework intervention resolved their homeless situation; and Proportion of repeat homeless people.[53] Quite apart from the fact that, on a formal level, none of these mention youth homelessness but at another level the performance indicators will be useless if the monitoring procedures are as inadequate as the HQNS review suggests. Whilst it is impossible to be specific about the impact in quantitative terms we can discuss the issue in qualitative terms. We can see that there is an almost blind-spot by the government of youth homelessness in relation to monitoring information and how that translates into performance indicators. Diversity or Chaos under the Homelessness Act 2002 As we saw in our description of the Act the basic framework set-out is that ‘strategy is led from central government departments†¦but local housing authorities are key to planning and service delivery, irrespective of their political complexion’[54]. The reason for this was made clear in the government green paper which eventually lead to the 2002 Act: ‘Central Government can set the framework for housing policies. But the delivery of those policies must be tailored to a variety of local circumstances.’[55] This devolving of responsibility for implementation of strategy to local authorities is clearly designed to avoid a top-down homogenous approach to community-sensitive issues such as homelessness however the question for this work is how this has worked in relation to young people. It is integral to see whether this devolution has lead to innovative solutions which fit the needs of young people and also to see whether this leads to a post-code lotter y because of regional discrepancies. Primarily, we can draw comparative conclusions from a very useful survey of Scottish Local Authorities carried out in 2004 which looked at which authorities were addressing youth homelessness specifically as a problem[56]. The study was carried out only one year after The Homelessness, etc. (Scotland) Act 2003 and thus many strategies were in draft format and some weren’t available at all but the conclusions are stark. As far as having clear aims and objectives in relation to young people the survey only found one strategy that had these specifically stated. There was a much larger emphasis on prevention rather than aiding those already homeless thus twenty-seven strategies dealt with provision of information on services for homelessness in schools. Worryingly there were no strategies that assessed the general availability of affordable housing for young people but as we mentioned one of the major needs of young homeless people was provision of ongoing support and this was ide ntified as an objective in the strategies of twenty-six of the local authorities however only six took this any further and proposed aid in relation to education, training or employment. We will recall that lack of those skills is seen as endemic to youth homelessness and it seemed it was poorly addressed. The conclusions of the SCSH as a whole were that ‘†¦youth issues are generally not well addressed in the homelessness strategies, aside from one or two exceptions’[57] and worryingly one of the least well addressed issues was having a specific youth homelessness policy within the general homelessness policy. It is hard to make direct generalisations to England with regard to this study but it is suggestive that youth-specific issues are not as high in the list of priorities of many local authorities as perhaps other demographics such as those suffering domestic abuse or pregnant woman. In a similar study, which had a much wider remit, the ODPM had argued that in English Homelessness Strategies ‘†¦Young people, either single or in families, are a key priority in most parts of the country.’[58] However it noticed a disparity in other demographics such as single people and gypsies / travellers. However, what is worrying about this can be highlighted in a study of the strategies of Bromley and Lewisham Councils. In Bromley it is true to say that ‘Vulnerable Young People’ is one of the specific client groups that were included in their strategy and included plans for the development of specific support services[59]. Thus it created a new team within the council to specifically deal with young people and their needs as well as arranging funding for new supported accommodation facilities as a form of initial accommodation for young people[60]. However, the problem is that such services are de-limited and targeted solely at 16 and 17 year old s. However, our review of young people’s needs indicated that 16 – 25 years olds all felt similar disadvantages. This was also the case in Lewisham Council[61] who talk about vulnerable young people as a group including those leaving care and 16 / 17 year olds. This, as we shall discuss below, is largely in response to the government’s widening of ‘priority need’ in the Homelessness Act 2002 to cover 16 and 17 year olds. This is undoubtedly a step-forward but the approach is undermined because it skews focus onto these two age groups. The other thing that is striking about both of these strategies is the lack of plans specifically to provide information to young people[62], statistics about youth homelessness and nothing about education, training or employment opportunities or schemes for young people. Having looked at these two large councils, Scotland and the overall review carried out by the ODPM there are a number of conclusions that we can make. Firstly, disparity between the councils doesn’t seem to be a large problem as far as young people are concerned. However, the approach does seem homogenous and inadequate to cater to the wider 16 – 25 demographic all of whom experience similar needs[63] as well as making up 25% of all homeless rough sleepers in the U.K.[64]. There seems little of this sensitivity to local issues and the government’s focus on 16 and 17 year olds has skewed the debate to a degree and in fact lead to poorer recognition of the needs of 16 – 25 year old homeless people. The major problem with this is that following the abolition of housing lists and the qualifying / non-qualifying groups division that existed pre-2002, above, local authorities have discretion to target groups. Those groups seem unlikely to be a holistic treatment of 16 – 25 year olds. Priority Need The importance of being categorised as homeless and in priority need is extremely high. It is the difference between having the possibility of interim accommodation offered and the council having a duty to provide long-term accommodation, as we saw in the second section. Thus for all demographics qualification into these categories will be keenly contested and we must see to what degree young people are catered for. We don’t have the space to carry out a thorough review of both subjects however a brief prà ©cis will again highlight the impact

Classical Trade Model And Factor Intensity Economics Essay

Classical Trade Model And Factor Intensity Economics Essay The Ricardian models main focus is on comparative advantage, one of the most central ideas in international trade theory. This theory states that countries should specialize in the production of what they produce best, thus completely specializing instead of producing a wide variety of goods. The neo classical model or Heckcher-Ohlin theory differs from this, it stresses that countries should produce and export goods that require factors that are abundantly available. This theory then differs from those assumptions of comparative and absolute advantage since they only focus on the productivity of the production of a good. On the other hand, the Heckcher-Ohlin theory states that a country should concentrate production and exports based on the factors that are abundantly available to them and thus the cheapest to produce. The main idea of the model centres itself around the differences in factor endowment, the variations of factors (Land, Labour, Capital and Entrepreneurship) that a country have and can then make use of for manufacturing. These factors of production determine a countries comparative advantage, so a country then has a comparative advantage in the goods that are richly local and available to them, this then allows for trade flow. A country must also take into consideration costs, if a good requires local inputs that are abundantly available to that country then production is going to be cheaper, rather than engaging in the production of goods that are locally scarce. This introduces the concept of factor intensity, where producers use different ratios of factors of production in order to produce different goods. A country has been seen to use this concept if that country has a comparative advantage in a good whose production is intensive in the factors that are copiously available. To i llustrate an example we could take oil refining for instance, this can be said to be capital intensive as it is expensive to produce, on the contrary if we take the production of clothing as an example this can be said to be labour intensive. To outline this factor abundance theory, and give a better understanding of its main features we can look at its general structure/assumptions made: General Structure/assumptions of Neo Classical Model (Factor Abundance Theory)  [1]   2 x 2 x 2 model (two countries, two final goods, two factors of production capital and labour) This model has variable factor proportions between countries: so that countries which are extremely developed have a comparatively high ratio of capital to labour in relation to developing countries. This then makes the developed country capital intense/abundant relative to the developing country, and makes the developing country labour intense/abundant relative to the developed nation. Constant returns to scale : double input = double output ( X = 2, Y = 4) Identical Production technology everywhere Input factors capital and labour (KL) are mobile between sectors, but not between countries. All markets characterized by perfect competition, no barriers for trade, and no transport costs. Demand structure is the same, homothetic preferences Available amount of factors of production may differ (endowment may differ). These differences in factor abundance will give rise to international trade flows. Main Results of Neo Classical Trade Theory  [2]   These assumptions have given light to certain named conclusions, and have formed the main results of the neo classical trade model. They are as follows: Factor Price Equalization Theorem International trade of goods between two countries leads to an equalisation of the rewards of the factors of production the two countries. E.g. equal in capital rental rate (workers in each country are paid the same) Stopler Samuelson Theorem An increase in the price of a final good increases the reward to the factors of production, used intensively in the production of that good. E.g. if the price of a final good (paper) increases, then the price of wood would also increase Rybczynski Theorem An increase in the supply in a factor of production (K,L) results in the increase in the output of the final good that uses this factor of production relatively intensively. E.g. workers used intensively so will therefore result in an increase of output. Heckscher Ohlin Theorem A country will export the good which intensively uses the relatively abundant factor of production. In tackling this question as to why Marks and Spencer may switch manufacturing to a less developed country, the main focus will be upon the Factor Equalisation Theorem. This theorem suggests that when the prices of the output goods in this case clothing are equalised between countries as they come closer to trade, then the prices of the factors (capital and labour) will also be equalised between nations. This equalisation happens as a result of the countries being price takers due to perfect competition. Ohlin makes it clear that he himself did not actually think that the rewards for the factors of production would b equalised between two countries, just that there is likeliness that they would become more equal.  [3]  This becomes understandable when we know that the factors of production that are in abundance in one country are scarce in the other. Prices are equalised due to the assumption of perfect competition, if markets for clothing were open on the international market, the prices that they charge for clothing will be the same in both countries. Because of this reason, the factors of production will also be the same for both countries. In relation to the question, based on the factor equalisation theorem, production can switch to a different country solely on the concept of factor intensity. Moving production to a less developed country may be because labour is abundant in that country, therefore more efficient in the production of clothing. Even though both countries produce the same output at the same wage rate, there are differing amounts of capital and labour being used. To distinguish the amounts of labour and capital used we use the isoquant/isocost framework that is derived from the Cobb Douglas production function. Cobb Douglas Production Function Y = KyÃŽÂ ±y Ly1-ÃŽÂ ±y Y Production level of output Y K Amount of capital used in manufacturing sector L Amount of labour used in manufacturing sector ÃŽÂ ±y parameters (measure of capital intensity) This equation allows the substitution of one input for another, that is to produce the same level of output with different combinations of inputs, in principle; an infinite number of possibilities are available in order to produce the same level of output. We can also form an Isoquant graphical figure which is derived from this function; in unit terms the Cobb Douglas becomes the isoquant. Figure 1 shows an isoquant, which depicts all possible efficient combination of capital and labour able to produce giving the same level of output. Taking into account the concept of factor intensity, the country wants to produce using the factor that is abundantly available to them giving them leverage and making production more efficient on their part. Figure 2 shows the same isoquant but with the isocost lines added. Because we are looking at the production of clothing, which is labour intensive, we would prefer to be using labour as the main factor of production, meaning we would want a new optimal point (point B) where more labour is used than capital. Figure 2 shows this change in optimality making the isocost line flatter, the first move is that the isocost line pivots/rotates due to a lower wage rate, secondly it moves parallel until intersection point (becomes tangent) and shifts down until new optimal point (point B) at lower wage rate. Point A shows the point where capital is high (capital intensive), and point B is the complete opposite where labour is high (labour intensive). At point B, the production of clothing in the developing country is efficient and best suited as it is a labour intensive country. To conclude I will give the limitations of the model and then go on to relate the question and model in real life terms. Limitations/Criticisms of model Lieontief paradox argues with the main propositions made. Found that the US, despite having a relative abundance of capital, tended to export labour intensive goods and import capital intensive goods. That technology is the same The factor equalization theorem applies only for most advanced countries. Wage discrepancies are not normally in the scope of the H-O model analysis Identical production function The standard Heckscher-Ohlin model assumes that the production functions are identical for all countries concerned. This means that all countries are in the same level of production and have the same technology. This is highly unrealistic. No unemployment Unemployment is the vital question in any trade conflict. Heckscher-Ohlin theory excludes unemployment This question is related to clothing and production, therefore we assume that it refers to labour as its main factor of production, thus taking into consideration the concept of factor intensity we can say that it is labour intensive, furthermore unskilled labour intensive. The majority of exports and main share of production has been found to originate in that of the developing world. The high labour intensiveness of the industry has meant there is very strong encouragement for companies to shift production to a lower labour cost area. These labour costs heavily weigh the choice in which location to manufacture; strong financial incentives push production ideas into relocating this labour intense production process to a low labour cost area. The production of these goods in a developing country would have its competitive advantages for example cheaper raw materials and cheaper labour costs. From this we can build upon the idea of cost minimisation, the main incentive for a country i s to lower its costs and maximise its profits based on production decisions. In reality, the factor equalisation theorem does not hold, wages are not equal between countries. In the UK we have a minimum wage, and if we take a less developed country such as Vietnam this minimum wage is nonexistent and workers in the garment sector are paid as little as 49 cents.  [4]   Companies such as Marks and Spencer are in business to profit maximise through cost minimisation, moving to a less developed country for manufacturing is cheaper for the company itself due to the country being labour intensive and the goods produced need this high labour intensity. Under pressure to keep prices low, most retailers look for cheaper sources of clothes than cut profit margins, therefore relocate and base their relocation on quota allocation, delivery time, infrastructure and most importantly labour costs. So an incentive to relocate to produce goods at a lower cost seems the cheaper, efficient and best move to make.

Confusion and Personal Identity in Rip Van Winkle Essay -- Rip Van Win

   Rip Van Winkle tells the story of a man who, on a trek into the Kaatskill mountains, mysteriously sleeps away twenty years of his life during the Revolutionary War. When he returns home, he finds that things have dramatically changed; King George no longer has control over the colonies, and many of his friends have either died or left town. At this point, the story reaches its climax, where Van Winkle realizes that his life may be forever changed. To this point, Rip Van Winkle has had only to deal with the change in his surroundings. Having no doubts about his personal character, his fears remain singular only briefly, for when the crowd points to a man whom they call Rip Van Winkle, he begins to question his being as well. "I'm not myself-I'm somebody else-that's me yonder-no-that's somebody else, got into my shoes..." Frustration has set in by this point, as our hero Rip cannot explain the events that have happened to him. In one night, his world had drastically changed, and no logical explanation can be found. The larger issue at hand, though, is the identity crisis that Van Winkle is suffering. Upon a detailed analysis of this climactic section, two dominating themes are found: confusion and the issue of personal identity. There are constant references to these ideas throughout the selection. That Van Winkle is confused seems obvious and is quite understandable, but this confusion extends beyond the bizarre sequence of events encountered. When Rip notices the person that the township refers to as Rip Van Winkle, it is as though he is looking into a mirror, for this person portrays a "precise counterpoint of himself." Although Rip visually sees this other person, his examination becomes a personal reflect... ...oncerns over which groups would provide leadership for the masses, and how those masses were to be represented. Men like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin, who had provided great leadership for this fledgling nation, were leaving the fate of America in new hands. The pessimists voiced their opinions, but there was a great feeling off optimism as the Industrial Revolution began to harbor its effects throughout the United States and the world. The issue of identity seemed a pertinent issue at the time. In this story, Rip Van Winkle's search for identity provides, perhaps, the most stimulating aspect of the story. In the selected passage, we see his character go through tremendous emotional changes. In only one paragraph, we watch his life unfold as he searches for the inner truth that he had been denying. In one paragraph, we watched a man find himself.   

memo for motion against summary judgment :: essays research papers

I.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Introduction and Standard for Opposition to Summary Judgment   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Crowell Academy, Inc. and Arturo Gomez, (hereinafter, collectively â€Å"Crowell†) were grossly negligent and used willful misconduct in their responsibilities involving the fencing club. The bargaining power of Crowell was so grossly unequal so as to put Lajuana Barnett at the mercy of Crowell’s negligence. Lastly, the exculpatory clause contained in the release form (see release form) is void as against public policy. Consequently, under Maryland law, it is up to the trier of fact to determine if the exculpatory clause is unenforceable. As such, there is a dispute as to the genuine issue of material fact related to Crowell’s Answer, Crowell can be liable to Lajauna Barnett for negligence, and Crowell is not entitled to Summary Judgment as a matter of law.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Summary Judgment should be granted only upon a showing that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact. Fireman’s Fund Ins. Co. v. Rairigh, 59 Md. App. 305, 313, cert. denied, 301 Md. 176 (1984). If there is a conflict between the inferences which may be drawn from the evidence before the court, summary judgment is not proper. Boucher v. Riner, 68 Md. App. 539, 543 (1986) (quoting Coffey v. Derby Steel Co., 291 Md. 241, 246-247 (1981)). Unless the facts are so clear as to permit a conclusion as a matter of law, it is for the trier of fact to determine whether a defendant’s negligent conduct amounts to gross negligence. Jacob v. Davis, 128 Md.App. 433, 465 (1999) (quoting Artis v. Cyphers, 100 Md.App. 633, 652 (1994)). Generally, exculpatory agreements otherwise valid are not construed to cover the more extreme forms of negligence-wilful, wanton, reckless, or gross. Winterstein v. Wilcom, 16 Md.App. 130, 136 (1972). II.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Statement of Undisputed Material Facts 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Defendant Arturo Gomez is the fencing coach at Crowell and at all times relevant to this matter acted as Crowell’s servant. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Crowell provides weapons and electronic scoring devices for club members; club members provide their own protective equipment, including mask, glove, jacket, and plastron. 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the fencing Club meeting prior to October 16, 2001, Gomez instructed team members in footwork preparatory to allowing them to handle weapons 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the October 16, 2001 club meeting, Gomez instructed club members to don their protective equipment for their initial experience with using their weapons. 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Plaintiff’s nerve was severed under her left arm when an epee sliced through plaintiff’s jacket. 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Plaintiff had put the plastron on her right arm.

Agatha Christie’s “The idol house of Astarte” Essay

The story the â€Å"Idol House of Astarte† is just one of the stories that appeared in Dame Agatha Christie’s â€Å"The Thirteen Problems† (1932, 2000)(also published as â€Å"The Tuesday Club Murders. â€Å") Ms. Jane Marple, one of Christie’s most beloved characters is the village old maid who has a knack for observing parallels between situations (Bargainnier 42). She along with her playwright nephew Raymond West, the artist Joyce Lempriere, Scotland Yard’s Sir Henry Clithering, the elderly clergyman Dr. Pender and the solicitor Mr. Petherick are featured telling accounts of puzzling situations and crimes they have experienced (Christie 1). To each story, the storyteller withholds the solution to the how the crime was solved and how it was committed. The challenge to the listeners is to guess the answers to the question of how the murders or crimes were committed and by whom. (2) â€Å"The Idol House of Astarte† (15-30) is the story shared by Dr. Pender. In it, he recalls the experience he had and the murder he witnessed at a party at the house of a Sir Richard Haydon on Dartmoor. The house itself, while unremarkable in appearance, was said to be built on a location full of history including that of the Neolithic hut dwellers, the Druids, Romans and early Phoenicians. On the grounds is a peculiar piece of land with a dense crop of trees, which Haydon thought to be the sacred grove of a Phoenician goddess of the moon, Astarte. The sight and eerie atmosphere of the grove inspired one of the guests, an actress called Diana Ashley to suggest a Fancy dress or costume party for that evening. In the course of the evening, the house party dressed in their costumes once again venture to the grove and encounter a surprise in the form of a fully costumed Diana Ashley who was acting the part of a priestess at the goddess temple. In excitement, Sir Richard Haydon attempts to approach Diana, stumbles and then falls forward. When he doesn’t get up, his cousin Elliot investigates what happened and announces that Richard was dead apparently from a stab wound. Despite searching for a weapon or possible reason for Haydon’s death, none could be found. The next day, Elliot Haydon was also found stabbed but alive in the same position as Richard was. The difference was that a dagger was left in the wound. According to him, something supernatural happened in the grove and that his wound was inflicted by something he could not explain. The story goes on to detail the many solutions Ms. Marple’s party offers up for the deaths. Most of which considered the supernatural and superhuman. Of them all, only the lawyer Mr. Petherick and Ms. Marple offered solutions that completely discounted the supernatural. In the end, it was Ms. Marple who came upon the correct answer to Dr. Pender’s mystery. There were many factors that made the story mystical. The story itself carries many suggestions of supernatural things such as magic and ghosts. Much mention has also been given to the â€Å"atmosphere† of the grove, which was often described as spooky or creepy. There was also of course the setting, which was in a clearing in a dense crop of trees and the time at which the murder happened which was a night with a rising moon (20). There was also the eerie dark punctuated with whispers and sighs, and the small summerhouse or â€Å"temple† at the clearing itself where a stone statue of the goddess Astarte was enshrined. The atmosphere of evil and foreboding enveloped the characters in the house party. Ms.Marple’s group was also invariably influenced by the eerie nature of the story and Dr. Pender’s description of how he felt on seeing the grove as well as the events as they unfolded. I think this very â€Å"atmosphere† itself plus the mere fact that a clergyman such as Dr. Pender could be affected by such â€Å"evil† atmosphere, hindered the characters in the house party including some members of Ms. Marple’s group in their objective and sober assessment of the facts. In fact, I believe Ms. Marple stated it best when she said: I don’t see how anyone else could have done it†¦I mean if, as Mr. Petherick so wisely says, one looks at the facts and disregards all that atmosphere of heathen goddesses which I don’t think is very nice. (Christie 29) I also found it interesting that the more â€Å"artistic† in Ms. Marple’s group such as Raymond West and Joyce Lempriere, were more susceptible to thinking up solutions of a supernatural nature such as seances and superhuman strength used in throwing a javelin. Sir Henry Clithering, while not completely taken in by the supernatural, did consider the possibility of murder done by a professional and exceptionally talented dagger of knife thrower. (27) Owing to his profession as a solicitor, Mr. Petherick was more trained to evaluate facts without the influence of atmosphere. Ms. Marple, besides being a â€Å"matter-of-fact† sort of person, has the wealth of her experience and observations of living in a village that she can build her judgment on. Profession and experience seem to be used as indicators and measures of each character’s objectivity and imagination. Both Ms. Christie and the character Dr. Pender are wonderful storytellers. The description of the grove and the feelings it created in those who visited it shows just how important atmosphere can be not only in a story (Bargainnier 28) but also in influencing how people think, feel, and view things. Works Cited Bargainnier, Earl F. The Gentle Art of Murder: The Detective Fiction of Agatha Christie. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1980. Questia. 4 Nov. 2007 . Christie, Agatha. â€Å"The Idol House of Astarte. † The Thirteen Problems. New York: Signet, 2000. 15-30.

Metallography Essay

Aims * To obtain experience in the metallographic readying of metallic specimens. * To detect the assorted microstructures in a welded mild steel articulation. Consequences Overview of 5 different microstructures in welded steel Detail microstructures of 5 different zones Discussion and analysis of consequences * The heat affected zone is a composing of parent metal which was heated to a high adequate temperature for a sufficient period but doesn’t thaws so that grain growing occurred. The heat affected zone is besides the part whose mechanical belongingss and microstructure have been altered due to the heat of welding. The heat affected zone undergoes sudden warming followed by rapid chilling. thereby incorporating a series of microstructures. These microstructures within the heat affected zone are fundamentally categorized into three different zones. viz. the grain growing zone. grain polish zone and passage zone. * * The merger zone exists between the grain growing zones. The parent metal in this zone was heated to the thaw point followed by chilling procedure. * The grain growing zone is right adjacent to the merger zone. The parent metal has been heated to a temperature good above the upper critical temperature in this zone. Subsequently. this consequences in the grain growing or coarsening of the construction. Coarse ferrite grains. Widmanstatten ferrite and pearlite are found in this part. * The grain polish zone is following to the grain growing zone. The parent metal has been heated to a temperature which is merely above the upper critical temperature in this zone. where grain polish is finished. ensuing in the being of the finest grain construction. Owing to the comparatively lower temperature. the ferrite and pearlite. which are represented by the white and dark countries severally are both much finer. This shows complete recrystallization. * the passage zone is the part where the metal experienced warming procedure at a temperature scope where partial allotropic recrystallization takes topographic point. This consequences in the coexistence of both ferrite and austenite. thereby doing the transmutation of most pearlite to austenite and by subsequent chilling. pearlite is reformed. * The unaffected zone is the part beyond the heat affected zone where the parent metal that is non sufficiently heated to alter its microstructure. Decision * Under microscopic position. typical zones in the parent metal are found. The alone microstructures in assorted parts are created because during the welding procedure. the parent metal and the dyer's rocket are subjected to different grade of heat intervention. * The difference of warming and chilling procedure every bit good allows the typical zones in the metal to hold their specific order of agreement.