United Kingdom general election of 2015

Hi everybody!

I have heard about the election of GB which was held on 7 May 2015. So I read an article in the online edition of BBC News which talks about the election of UK.

The official result is:

Basically what it says is that the Conservatives win the election with 36.9 % and receive 331 seats in the House of Commons, so a majority government will be formed. A party need to win one more than half to form a majority government. Then the second one is the Labour party with 30.4 %, the third one is the UK Independence Party with 12.6 %. The Liberal Democrats reached 7.9%, the Scottish National Party reached 4.7 and the Green Party of England and Wales 3.8%.

I will give you some information of the three main parties.

Conservative Party

The party was founded in 1834 and stands for free trade, private enterprise, individual liberty. David Cameron is the leader since 2005.

Labour Party

The Labour Party stands for social justice, strong community and strong values and reward for hard work. Since September 2010 Ed Miliband is the leader of the Labour Party.

UK Independence Party

The UK Independence Party was founded in 1993 with the primary objective of securing the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union. Nigel Farage is the Leader.

Regards

Jakob

TTIP

Hi everybody!

I have just read an article in the online edition of the “The LOCAL” and it talks about a activists protest against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), a free trade deal being negotiated between the US and EU countries.

I thought you might be interested, because “Our future is not for sale”!

The TTIP will create the world's largest regional free trade area. The agreement aims at removing trade barriers to transatlantic trade.

The official line is that TTIP will create jobs and increase economic growth.

At first view TTIP will be good for the people of the European Union for the reasons e.g.:

·           TTIP represents a opportunity to expand jobs.

·           TTIP will help to provide better public services.

·           TTIP would create new business opportunities for small and large companies.

I think the proposed free-trade agreement TTIP serves the interests of corporations and not of citizens!

In my opinion the agreement have many negative effects:

·           TTIP gives companies the right to sue governments if they think there was a loss of

        future profits.

·           The agreement will make it easier for companies to earn profits from the public water

        supply, health and education systems.

·           Practices that are legally allowed in the U.S. would legally be permitted in the EU (e.g.

       genetically-modified food).

·           Making fracking legal in Europe.

·           TTIP is practically irreversible.

At the moment the next round of negotiations are in New York.

Nowhere else in Europe is TTIP more hotly debated than in Austria.

A huge alliance of groups have come together to organise protests against the trade deal.

What do you think about TTIP?

 

Regards

Jakob

 

 

 

FAIR TRADE SCHOOL

Hi everybody!

I have just read an article in the online edition of the “Oberösterreichischen Nachrichten” and it talks about a fair trade school in Sattledt.
I thought you might be interested, because I think to change into a fair trade school is a really good idea.

The Fair Trade Project starts, because of the “Agenda21” process in Sattledt. The “Agenda21” is an economic program. The idea of „be fair“ was utilized, “Bewusster Konsum soll mehr Gerechtigkeit bringen”.

Also aid projects in Rwanda were supported since the year 2000 by the school. And once an African priest visits the pupils in the school in Sattledt and told them their situation in their homeland.

The headmaster Alois Schlattner said that it was easy to start the Fair Trade Project at their school because of such initiatives.

There are currently 12 fair trade schools in Austria, the nearest one is located in Linz which has received this label on 23rd March 2015.

There are 5 criteria required for becoming a fair trade school.

1. a fair trade school team

2. a signed plan of campaign form the headmaster

3. in at least two subjects fair trade topics have to be discussed

4. fair trade products must be provided at school

5. as the minimum one project has to be realized every year

What do you think about a school change into a Fair Trade school?

Regards

Jakob

The story of Thanksgiving

Hi everybody!

The other day I was watching a video on YouTube and it talks about “The story of Thanksgiving”

“The story of Thanksgiving”

In 1620 British Pilgrim Fathers from Plymouth reached the USA. They crossed the Atlantic Ocean with a big sailing ship and arrived on the east coast. First the Pilgrim Fathers built wooden houses because they arrived in autumn nearly winter and searched for food, but they didn’t find a lot. The first winter in the new world was very cold and snowy and they had little to eat. In spring the Pilgrim Fathers try to growth something, so they dig holes, but they weren’t experienced farmers. So they Indians helped them out to growth food. They plant potatoes, corn and other vegetables. After a good harvest the invited the Indians and celebrated together the good harvest.

This is the story of Thanksgiving. I thought you might be interested too because Thanksgiving is a very important celebrating in the US and the UK.

Hope you like my new blog entry and enjoy your week.

Regards

Jakob

Entertainment

Hi everybody!

The other day in our English lesson, we spoke about Entertainment and the positive and negative things of being famous.

I think being famous is not just only a wonderful and exciting life, because if you are famous you are very busy and you haven’t got much time for your family and friends. And you also have to behave mannered in public all time. But the other side of being famous is, if you are famous you would most probably be rich and you could buy everything you want. And this is the reason why lots of people want to be prominent, because of the money.

We also have been given in our English lesson the lyric of the song “Entertainment” by Rise Against, which also talks about being famous and standing in the spotlight.

What do you think about being famous? Please write your personally mind in the comments.

Hope you like my new blog entry and enjoy your week

Regards

Jakob

Fat-free and happy

Hi everybody!

Yesterday I was reading an article in the online edition of the Spotlight and it talks about a French journalist which went to America and describes the differences about America and Europe.

I thought you might be interested, too because there are a lot of interesting Clichés about the Americans, for examples

·         In New England people wear striped tennis sweaters and sit on the porches of wooden houses.

·         Americans have a worse education than people from Europe

·         Americans have no culture

·         In America everything is bigger; the shopping malls, the women, the glasses of Coca-Cola and the portions of ice-cream

It also says, that the businesswomen wear sneakers and white tights with elegant dresses when they walk to work. And American men wear long shorts to the beach.

But there aren’t Clichés about Americans, the Americans have also Clichés about the people live in Europe, such as those that French people are arrogant or Germany is a barbaric country.

What do you think about this topic, please let me know and use the comment button!

Regards,

Jakob

Independence of Scotland

Hi everybody!

Yesterday I read an article about the referendum, if Scotland get independent or they will stay by Great Britain. My decision, if I was Scottish: I would have voted against getting independent, because there are some disadvantages. For examples if they are getting independent, they are no longer be a member of the EU and so they have to set a new request if they could enter in the European Union. A second important aspect is, that they have to get their own currency and so maybe they get financial problems. So I think it is better to stay.

What do you think about this topic? Please write your personally mind in the comments.

Hope you like my new blog entry and enjoy your week

Regards

Jakob