What is Cultural Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

What is Cultural Diversity - Essay Example Globalization and culture assorted variety are two distinct marvels, yet these are firmly interlinked with one another as far as prevalence and effects on various social orders of the world. Different researchers and erudite people have given their perspectives about thought of social decent variety. In this paper, we will dissect what social decent variety is about, how it is drilled alongside the musings of Professor Sarat Maharaj, who has featured the idea of culture assorted variety as for his own recognitions. The marvel of social assorted variety isn't easy to comprehend in light of the fact that it includes commitment of many individuals, their regional limits, power, and racial, strict, and ethnical practices (Diller, 2010). Rise of blended convictions, patterns, styles, rehearses, musings, legitimate or unlawful movement and overpopulation are some significant factors behind the idea of culture decent variety. In any case, it is a period of innovation wherein globalization i s the most grounded power that works behind each thought in the present century (Maharaj, 2007). Sarat Maharaj is a visual workmanship educator of Lund University, who has fundamentally clarified thought of social decent variety primarily as far as its connection with craftsmanship culture and history. Sarat Maharaj's talk on social assorted variety depends on the rise of various practices and ideas that in the end became significant piece of differing society with the progression of time. Also, he has featured basic parts of the marvels and practices related with the worldwide assorted variety (Maharaj, 2007). He has centered that social assorted variety has now become a significant term for the administrative bodies so as to run and keep up state framework productively with the updating requests of time and people living in different social period (Maharaj, 2007). His talk is significant as it incorporates understanding with respect to the idea of social assorted variety through m ore extensive range. He has utilized different significant terms to interlink with the idea of social assorted variety, for example, starting point of the decent variety, revisionary ideas, advancement, pilgrim power and distinctive racial and ethnic gatherings other than white individuals (Maharaj, 2007). Further, his talk is viewed as significant on the grounds that he has inspired audience members to comprehend a progressive turn throughout the entire existence of decent variety and has constrained individuals to consider settings of the practices that rose through different culture ideas. Multiculturalism is another term that is utilized to characterize social assorted variety. On a very basic level, it is accepted that culture is a lot of qualities, standards, customs and conventions, which is rehearsed by the gatherings of individuals (Baer, 2004). At the point when individuals having a place with various societies come nearer to one another while living in a particular area, they begin sharing their musings and practices both. This pattern offers ascend to multiculturalism. The word multiculturalism has been related with social decent variety since globalization and innovation have brought different locales and various people nearer to one another (Baer, 2004). Worldwide separations have been abbreviated and correspondence has changed into its quickest conceivable structure. Social decent variety is about moral gauges of social associations with individuals from different social orders. Today, social decent variety is drilled wherever most explicitly in enormous and solid conditions of the world (Diller, 2010). For example, nations like the US and UK, these are two ground-breaking countries of the world with solid economy and all around organized state framework. Individuals over the globe will in general move in these nations in

Environmental Sustainability and Brand Story - MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Examine about the Environmental Sustainability and Brand Story. Answer: Presentation: Patagonia is a USA based dress organization that is wanting to develop out of USA and work in the worldwide attire showcase. The association has first entered the UK showcase through autonomous stores; anyway the store is presently wanting to enter the UK dressing industry with their own stores. For this reason, the association requires to break down the large scale factors that can influence the business exercises and dynamic procedure. This investigation will likewise assist the association with planning its methodologies as per the patterns of serious market. There are different political components that can affect the nearness of Patagonia right now; anyway it can likewise influence the maintainability of the organization sooner rather than later. There are major political reasons that can impact the association, for example, the duty rate that has been imposed by the UK government (Hepburn 2013). The expense rates have the ability of influencing the main concern of the association, thinking about the partnership, yet additionally the capacity of the buyers for spending much for their garments necessities. Anyway it ought to likewise be noticed that there are hardly any geopolitical variables that has affected the style business in UK in a positive way, despite the fact that the vulnerabilities despite everything win. As expressed by Long and Fain (2015) psychological oppression, geopolitical precariousness, slowed down exchange accords, fear mongering will in general increment the obtrusive feeling of vulnerability inside the worldwide economy. Other than fear mongering, there are different sorts of political strains that have continued influencing the business in UK, in this way raise the vulnerability level for the style business (Puustinen 2016). The nonstop political moves in UK and USA have affected the circumstance of style industry. The loan costs have likewise expressed remaining at a low pace throughout the previous hardly any years. In any case, this factor can be valuable for the organization as they can be equipped for obtaining enormous measure of cash for capital developments inside a lower rate that the past. These borrowings can be successful instead of long haul getting and simultaneously, the association may likewise confront issues for picking corporate securities. Current financial condition of UK can severy affect the matter of Patagonia in UK advertise. Since the business makes premium separated system, it very well may be seen the general monetary circumstance has the ability of affecting the fate of the organization to an extraordinary degree than working in the spending plan and need area in the worldwide market. Thinking about the factual point of view, it has been seen that there is a nonstop budgetary rollercoaster in the UK advertise (Myers 2017). After the beginning of the global financial emergency in the year 2007, the GDP development had returned to negative figures in the economy. The next years had given more terrible exhibitions. Notwithstanding, the circumstance began recouping from 2011, anyway the insights despite everything show that the financial state of UK has not been steady yet and it has kept turning into a level line (Bocken et al. 2014). Notwithstanding that, the low work rate and extra cash for the family units can be a disturbing example for the business exercises of Patagonia. Throughout the previous ten years, there are a few social changes that have occurred in UK. These progressions have shown that the millennial is the essential objective for the style business; in this way the associations need to remember that the decisions of this age are a great deal not quite the same as the past ones. There have been tremendous changes in the at the socio-social level which have caused the millennial age to don't simply go for helpful shopping propensities, yet they likewise go for good quality items and low costs (Shih and Agrafiotis 2015). With the segment changes, the associations in design industry are confronting new difficulties. In this manner they need to understand the push and the quick ascent of quick design. The flavor of style has changed; along these lines the associations ought to have adjusted their creations to that. Since Patagonia has been working in the UK showcase for a long while, they may have some thought of the UK advertise patterns, in t his manner this can be a positive side for their business (Johnson 2016). For building up the style retail inside UK advertise, innovation plays a huge factor. With the enhancements of web, IT, globalizations and the amplified use of cell phones are currently changing the client decisions and advertising and deals. The clients are currently very much perused and settle on their decisions in the wake of doing appropriate investigates in regards to the brand and material (Bocken and Short 2016). They additionally share their perspectives via web-based networking media locales. Notwithstanding that, the millennial age likewise shops on the web, thusly Patagonia additionally need an online site for giving adequate client assistance. Innovation has additionally helped the associations in growing their business abroad as it did for this situation (Payne 2014). Thusly the web based business has helped them to go past the national fringes and associate with colossal purchaser section. Both the manageability and condition are noteworthy components for the style business. The association requires being increasingly cautious for their carbon impression which will make them greater condition neighborly. Patagonia should utilize crude materials, assembling and bundling that are condition well disposed. As expressed by Bocken et al. (2014) organizing supportable design would assist the association with working on their change in assembling also. It has additionally been seen that in excess of sixty five percent of the clients are currently selecting maintainable style items. The supportability factor has likewise become a significant influencer for the buying choice of the clients. Accordingly the association needs to chip away at their supportability objectives and accomplish them for pulling in more clients. There are not many legitimate and moral difficulties for the style business. These are the significant center zones for the association and Patagonia needs to deal with that. As this association will likewise go about as a huge boss, hence the work laws alongside the other normal laws will be material for the business exercises (Ward 2017). In the ongoing occasions, the natural laws have created which ought to be dealt with. Different laws identified with worldwide exchange ought to likewise be dealt with as the straightforward and moral picture of the brand can be gainful for the achievement of the business. Openings and dangers for entering UK showcase: The brand offers a few sorts of items that can pull in a gigantic client base in UK. As the brand just focuses on the client base comprising of open air activists and upper working class clients, there is a higher possibility of brand devotion among them (Puustinen 2016). Notwithstanding that, the tough items make more open doors for the brand in UK showcase. The brand can likewise build their image presentation through thorough promoting and advertizing. Through improving their quality on the web based life, Patagonia can improve their introduction on the battles (Song and Lewis 2013). In the wake of entering the UK showcase, the brand can likewise expand the product offering which will assist them with entering the new outside market without any problem. There are other open air garments marks in the market that can go about as an immense danger for the business exercises of Patagonia. These organizations are regularly with all the more sensibly valued product, in this manner there are higher odds of market immersion. The continuous money related questionable circumstance in UK can likewise be a growing danger for the organization (Petrie 2016). Alongside that the unfavorable circumstances in the assembling nations and the supplier of crude material can likewise be a gigantic danger for the matter of this brand. Basic conversation of Patagonias assets and skills There are a few sorts of assets for an organization, for example, unmistakable assets and impalpable assets. Inside the substantial assets, there are two regions: money related assets and physical assets. The budgetary assets allude to the obtaining limit of the organization, close by money and the produced money, though the physical assets allude to building, crude material, hardware, retail outlets, land, distribution centers, stock and so forth. The impalpable assets incorporate the human capital, innovation and social assets (Ward 2017). The HR are the most critical elusive asset of an organization. This segment will talk about the physical, budgetary and human asset of Patagonia. The association sells the open air apparel which is showcased as the supportable items. Patagonia additionally submits 1% of their whole deals or 10% from their benefit for the ecological purposes. The association has been established in the year 1973 and from that point forward the association has cleared its path through the worldwide feasible organizations (Patagonia.com 2017). Other than North America, the association has its essence in Japan and UK; anyway in UK the association works through 24 free stores. There are 68 shops all around the globe, for example, Spain, San Sebastian, Dublin, Milan, and Munich (Patagonia.com 2017). Patagonia has the worldwide turnover of $600m consistently. Thinking about the worldwide ecological emergency, the association gives 1p of its yearly gross incomes to the government assistance of the natural emergency, which was around $6m in the last monetary year (Patagonia.com 2017). The workers of Patagonia are very enthusiastic with respect to their items; generally they themselves utilize these items and attempt to give more contribution as the clients. The authoritative culture in Patagonia has been fruitful in pulling in and holding representatives who have the adaptability and will in general spotlight more on adjusting work and life. The workers assume a significant job in their prosperity (Pal 2017). The adjusting among work and life has likewise played a majo

MIT Gangnam Style

MIT Gangnam Style In case you havent been on the Internet recently, a music video called Gangnam Style was released over the summer by K-pop rapper PSY, and now has the third most views on all of Youtube.  560,719,326 views, as of 8:23am today. 560,719,327 a few minutes later, because a friend came into my room who had never seen it, and I had to educate her. For the rest of this post to make sense, you should probably catch up: Now youre ready.  On September 14, Chris Peterson e-mailed the bloggers, letting us know that the MIT Korean Student Association was filming an MIT Gangnam Style. At the beginning of October, I started seeing notices on the DanceTroupe mailing list about Gangnam Style rehearsals. On Sunday October 21, there was a Gangnam Style flashmob on Killian Court. This morning, the official MIT Gangnam Style music video was released to the public. Only an MIT Gangnam Style video could feature: the MIT Dean of Admissions, one of the principal leaders of the Human Genome Project and co-chair of President Obamas Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the father of modern linguistics, and one of  Times 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2012 for his liquid metal battery research. Without further ado, prepare to be rendered speechless:

Essay on Thomas Morton and the Puritans - 2673 Words

Thomas Morton and the Puritans An anti-city on a hill with a maypole compensating for something? A pleasurable refuge for indentured servants freed from service and respected natives? A place where a man just wanted to annoy his uptight, religious neighbors? Those are the obvious conclusions, but with like most anything in history, theres meaning and significance that we dont catch at first glance. Thomas Morton had an agenda, puritan leader John Winthrop may have had a secret, and there are so many fictions surrounding their whole story, its hard to tell whats reality and whats not. Its time to sift through the parts, and piece together a bigger picture, asking one, main question: Why were Morton and the Puritans engaged in†¦show more content†¦But he became governor of Plymouth Plantation in 1621. He adorned Morton with the derogatory nickname, Lord of Misrule, who ran a School of Atheism (Bradford 321). In 1630, after the first time Morton was sent to England, accused of selling guns to the Indians and then returned (due to a knight, Ferdinando Gorges, who needed someone to spy on the Separatists because he wanted New England as his fiefdom), Governor John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Companys colony, joined with Bradford to keep Morton out of their hair (McWilliams 8-9). They charged Morton with the stealing of a canoe (10) from the Indians, and wrote letters to England accusing him of murder. That didnt work either -- he just told Gorges he was a persecuted Anglican (10). The men never settled their differences; after a third attempt at jailing Morton for a year, Winthrop, urged him to leave Massachusetts (11). He did, and died in 1647, at the age of 67, in Maine. That was only a quick overview of the key players. Since it started with Mare-Mount, lets explore the name itself. McWilliams explains the many, suggestive meanings: By playing upon the double meaning of mount and the four-fold connotations of mare (joyful, Mother of Christ, to join in matrimony, a female horse), Morton may have hoped to provoke his Puritan neighbors... (7). Was this all just to offend a peoples religious sensibilities? Of course not -- it was aShow MoreRelatedWilliam Bradford and Thomas Morton1110 Words   |  5 PagesIn the New World Bradford and Morton were both important men of our history. The stories of both great men give us an insight into the way religion and influence affected Puritan life. William Bradford said he believed, â€Å"Plymouth people were the chosen people to live out their last days in the earthly church† (Daly pg 560). Puritan settlers came to the new world seeking a better life and to get away from the rule of the Catholic Church they wanted to become a primitive Baptist church like in theRead MoreOpposing Views of Early Americans, Thomas Morton and John Winthrop1423 Words   |  6 PagesThere may not be two more contrasting characters of early America then Thomas Morton and John Winthrop. Morton was nicknamed, Leader of Misrule while Winthrop was seen as the model of [a] perfect earthly ruler (147). These two figures not only help settle a new land, they also had firsthand knowledge of each other. They are not two people that lived years apart from each other but rather they lived concurrently. With two such polarizing people living in a small new land, there was bound toRead MoreReaction Toward Natives And Puritans984 Words   |  4 Page sReaction toward Natives Puritans Thomas Morton and William Bradford lives started off very differently, which may indeed be the reason why they have very different views on the Natives and Puritans. Looking into these differences there is a definite reason why they choose the path they did. Morton taking interest in the Natives and disliking the Puritans happened due to his beliefs and his interest in new things. Bradford for intense was a Puritan, and came to dislike the Natives due to the factRead MoreAnalysis Of The Poem Rip Van Winkle 1527 Words   |  7 Pagesshort story as a new genre in American literature, as William Hedges observes, yet I find it surprising that this story could have been taught as utterly original. As Emerson and the Transcendentalists were able to synthesize the mystical aspects of Puritan thought with the rational and secular facets of Enlightenment thinking, so Irving weaves a new tapestry out of many existing threads of American experience. â€Å"Rip Van Winkle† is a mature v ersion of Franklin’s short fictional sketches, such as â€Å"TheRead MoreInterpreting Bias Within Historical Accounts1501 Words   |  7 Pagesopportunity to uncover â€Å"truths† that can be even more meaningful than the unattainable accurate representation of facts. A primary example of how history can be obscured by writers is the way in which two Englishmen, William Bradford (1590-1657) and Thomas Morton (1579-1647), provide two very different accounts of the same events in Of Plymouth Plantation and in New English Canaan respectively. Both men are affected by the desire to promote their beliefs and to make their tales appear authentic; thereforeRead MoreThe American Character Essay1814 Words   |  8 Pagesfreedom. This parallels history in that a monarchy must be extinguished for the colonists to ignite the freedom that a democratic society provides. Irving’s keen writing exemplifies his historical insight in the tale â€Å"Rip Van Winkle.† Strong puritan beliefs are discussed in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s piece of 1835 â€Å"Young Goodman Brown.† An important question rises that ignites more questions on the role of God versus the devil in how we live our lives, the choices we make, and our uncertain salvationRead MoreThe History of American Literature3501 Words   |  15 Pagesbefore settlers arrived in America, explorers reported on their voyages to the continent. Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci provided some of the earliest European descriptions of the American continent. Before 1600 Sir Walter Raleigh, Richard Hakluyt, Thomas Harriot, and John White had published accounts of discoveries. The writings of Captain John Smith, an explorer whose travels took him up and down the eastern seaboard of America, represent a shift from exploration narrative toward early historyRead More Timeline of American Literature and Events Essay3022 Words   |  13 Pageskilled over 300 settlers. Jamestown only survived because of a last minute warning but burned down in 1698. Many colonists that survived celebrated May Day on May 1, 1628 with Thomas Morton dancing around a maypole, but the Plymouth Pilgrims were against this display of celebration, and Captain Miles Standish sent Thomas Morton back to England. Intolerance continued when Anne Hutchinson was forced to leave Boston because of her religious beliefs and influence to help establish Rhode Island in 1638Read MoreNavajo Creation Story Analysis1136 Words   |  5 Pagespleased God to smite this young man† (Bradford A: 131). He then reinforces the notion of God’s intervention when he follows the statement with the assertion that the young man’s friends believed what happened to him was God’s will. New English Canaan Thomas Morton’s book, â€Å"New English Canaan† has several literary figures dispersed throughout the chapters. Most notable is the use of a rhyming scheme in both of the poems, â€Å"The Poem† and â€Å"The Song†. The rhyme in â€Å"The Poem† is an iambic pentameter for exampleRead MoreEssay Utopia4252 Words   |  18 Pagesclarissimi disertissimique viri THOMAE MORI inclutae civitatis Londinensis civis et Vicecomitis’, translated into English would read, ‘ON THE BEST STATE OF A COMMONWEALTH AND ON THE NEW ISLAND OF UTOPIA, by the Most Distinguished and Eloquent Author THOMAS MORE Citizen and Undersheriff of the Famous City of London.’. Utopia (Latin: no-place) is a society of great planning and capability. A community where individuals compromised their rights for the good of the collective and focused on a communal

Whatever They Told You About Professional Academic Writing Services Is Dead Wrong...And Heres Why

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Making a killing Free Essays

In an unfortunate event Blackwater guards killed three civilians of Baghdad who were mistaken as terrorists. What is in the scenario is the strong reaction of the new Iraqi government. The next 24 hours saw the process of deportment of the troop. We will write a custom essay sample on Making a killing or any similar topic only for you Order Now It was reported that there was indiscriminate shooting and this is completely an unfathomable error. According to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki this was a complete criminal act. However there are many allegations against Blackwater and it is believed that they smuggle arms into Iraq. There is enough trouble in the region and it can well be stated that further problems can be avoided to restore peace in the region. (Scahill, 1) It can be remembered that each of the wars included major and minor battles.   They had varying and distinct reasons behind them.   Allies and foes were distinctly different in each case. Each of the wars had a level of analysis.   These levels were individual state, and system.   The levels of war analysis form a hierarchy.   The responsibilities of the hierarchy rely on the scale and nature of the operation. The individual level of analysis in war includes a basic idea of how human traits cause many of the social outcomes in historical instances, including war and peace. From the perspective of sociology it can be stated that there are variations of this idea as listed in a paper written by Wade L. Huntley, Ph.D. titled Causes of War and Paths to Peace written in May of 2004. Those variations include: basic human nature, varying features of human nature and both perception and misperception. His considerations behind this would include that in factoring basic human nature, people are basically aggressive, loving, greedy and fearful and so forth. People would be of all sorts of types, some aggressive, others peaceful, greedy or generous. Perception and misperception can result as bad decisions are made, especially in times of stress, which continually exemplifies the limits of human understanding of more than just human nature. The incident in Iraq, as depicted by Scahill is basically a view that was conducted from the US point of view the views or the sociological parameters of the residents of Iraq are fundamentally overlooked in the article. (King, 145-7) It can well be stated that some analysts argue that democracy in the Middle East will elevate Islamists, including radicals, who will use democratic institutions to gain power but then implement their autocratic agenda. Democracy can also lead to instability. In short, things may get worse before they get better, which may be bad news for the US. Many however believe that in the long run increased democratic governance or the break up of static autocracies will lead to a better outcome than the status quo even if the emerging governments initially oppose U.S. policies. Some furthermore argue that any type of somewhat democratic government would find more common ground with the U.S. than the existing ones even if rapprochement was gradual and difficult. But from the point of view of an Iraqi it can be stated that independence is all that is relevant and it can be mentioned that Scahill was unable to relate himself to this consequence. Traditional security policy emphasizes military means for reducing the risks of war and for prevailing if deterrence fails. Human security’s proponents, while not eschewing the use of force, have focused to a much greater degree on non-coercive approaches. These range from preventive diplomacy, conflict management and post–conflict peace building, to addressing the root causes of conflict by building state capacity and promoting equitable economic development.   The new dimensions of human security are well outlined by the United Nations Development Program in their Human Development Report of 1994. (Lamb, 288-9) Human Security has always been at issue in some format or another. You see it in the methods employed during peacetime and during war time. The methodology utilized might in fact be different from generation to generation, but the concept itself has hardly managed to evolve into something other than what its basics stem from. The pursuits of life and liberty, happiness and peace have been a part of the psyche of humanity since the beginnings of human existence and it would have been much better if the article had developed on these principals. Keeping in mind the developments in Iraq the only solution the USA is left with is one that most people connected to the White House consider absolute anathema. But the truth remains that a military ‘solution’ to the issue is no solution at all but rather a spiralling tunnel leading to a thousand other issues, all of which are far too dangerous to be contemplated. So what can USA do? Well, for starters it can seriously rethink some of its recent policies and shift its focus from military attack to some old fashioned diplomacy instead. But while that sounds simple enough for Washington it is a job unparalleled in its difficulty and, if present indications are anything to go by then, something that is hardly likely to happen and Scahill as a journalist must keep his position as humane and compassionate as possible in this context. Works Cited: Scahill, Jeremy; Making a Killing; The Nation; October 15, 2007 issue; September 27, 2007; retrieved on 24.11.2007 King, Herbert. Middle East Today Vol. IV Plymouth: HBT Brooks Ltd. 2005 Lamb, Davis. Cult to Culture: The Development of Civilization on the Strategic Strata. Wellington How to cite Making a killing, Essay examples

New Labour in the UK Era of Neo-Liberal Consensus on Economic and Social Policy free essay sample

Dhruva Murugasu Christ’s College Part I Economics â€Å"Under New Labour, Britain is witnessing a new era of neo-liberal consensus on economic and social policy. † Discuss The election of Tony Blair in 1997, it is commonly said, brought about a new era in Britain’s Labour party, with the party moving to the centre of the political spectrum and adopting very similar policies to the preceding Conservative government. Tony Blair coined the term New Labour to distinguish his government from the more socialist ones of earlier Labour governments and adopted a largely neo-liberal stance, similar to that of Margaret Thatcher. This ideological shift was actually already in motion after Labour’s heavy defeat in 1983, which was due to their extreme-left manifesto which was later referred to as the longest political suicide note in history. The Labour party more or less accepted that the median voter had shifted to the right, as suggested by Knight, and responded to that by doing the same. We will write a custom essay sample on New Labour in the UK: Era of Neo-Liberal Consensus on Economic and Social Policy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In most senses, there was a neo-liberal consensus, especially outwardly, although this was not always true as close examination of Labour’s policies will reveal. I will approach this essay by first outlining the main characteristics of the Conservative policy during the Thatcher and Major administration and then proceed to point out the similarities and differences between these policies and those employed by New Labour. No particular effort will be taken to discuss the desirability or effectiveness of the policies implemented but rather whether or not there was a consensus and whether it was based on neoliberalism. First, let me deal with economic policy, which can be divided into demand-side and supply-side policy. In terms of demand-side policy, there was a clear shift from Keynesian demand-management to Friedman’s monetarism with the coming to power of Thatcher. This also involved a shift in the focus of economic policy, from full-employment to the maintenance of stable prices according to Knight. A somewhat balanced budget obviously followed on from this and that was the core of the demand-side economic policy. On the whole, there was a consensus with New Labour on these issues. The creation of an independent Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, was, according to Knight, due to the reputation that Labour had for ‘poor economic management’. This act essentially removed monetary policy decision-making from the hands of the government, with the exception that the Chancellor still set the inflation target the MPC had to hit. This move, in my opinion, indicated that the government acknowledged the fact that monetary policy was ‘the principal instrument of macroeconomic policy’ (Knight) as the government saw the need for its determination to be independent and separated from the government’s poor reputation. In terms of fiscal policy, New Labour, outwardly at least, maintained the notion of fiscal prudence, and actually accepted the Conservatives’ spending plan for the first two years in power. The Chancellor’s introduction of the ‘golden rule’ illustrated this. This rule stated that the government’s expenditure, without its capital expenditure, must not be in deficit over an economic cycle. However, the ‘tax and spend’ policy was not fully absent from New Labour’s policies. While they did not raise direct taxes, they did raise indirect taxes in an effort to finance public spending. This was referred to as a stealth tax as it was much more subtle and less often blamed on the government as opposed to direct taxes. The golden-rule was also, as Knight argues, not as it was made out to be. In 2005, Brown extended the business cycle from 7 to 9 years allowing the government to borrow additional sums for current spending without violating the golden-rule. Thus, in terms of demand-side policy, there was some sort of a consensus but it was far from perfect. Next, let me deal with supply-side policy. The Thatcher government, and to a slightly lesser extent the Major government, were both in favour of supply-side policies, which it is argued, can improve productivity. This has the twin benefits of expanding supply allowing the economy to grow while stemming inflation. These policies included restricting the power of trade unions, privatising nationalised industries and reducing the top rate of income tax from the 98% it had been under labour to 40%. All these encourage work effort and remove inefficiencies in the market allowing the economy to become more productive, and are all consistent with a neoliberal stance. From a point of view of the taxation system, New Labour’s policy was widely onsistent with that of the Thatcher government. Brown did not raise the level of direct taxation after the election as promised and in fact cut the income tax and National Insurance Contribution of the lowest paid workers in an effort to encourage employment as opposed to living of security benefits. As mentioned earlier, this did not mean the end of the tax and spend policy as the government did seek to raise taxes through other means including windfall tax on privatised utilities and indirect taxes on consumption (most notably fuel). Nevertheless, what was more important is that these increases had a negligible impact on incentives to work unlike an increase in direct taxes and the increase in indirect taxes was actually undertaken by the Thatcher government as well to finance cuts in direct taxation without requiring additional borrowing. Thus, in terms of taxation policy, it would be quite fair to argue for a neoliberal consensus In terms of the labour market, Labour did maintain most of the policies of the Thatcher government, with a few exceptions. According to Steven Fielding, voters concern was mostly of a repeat of the experience from 1974 to 1979 which were dominated by unions. Blair quickly decided to distance himself from this claiming that his government would not be ‘held to ransom’ by trade unions. He also promised to maintain the legislation he inherited from the Conservative government especially the 1982 Employment Act, in which union funds were liable to sequestration if they undertook any illegal actions during a dispute (Taylor, 2001). Essentially, the Blair government initially adopted all Conservative legislation on this respect which constrained the influence of unions including postal ballots, the abolition of closed shops and secondary picketing. However, the Blair government did have to give in to the pressure of union lobbying and ended up releasing the Fairness at Work White Paper in 1998. This was strongly resisted by employers who had been used to the freedom they enjoyed in the Thatcher government. Nevertheless, after intense lobbying from both employers and unions, the 1999 Employment Regulations Act was passed. The recognition process was made more difficult due to employer lobbying but unions nevertheless were given more power than they were during the Thatcher government. In terms of the EU, one of Blair’s first acts in power was to accept the European Union’s (EU) Social Chapter. The Major government had opted out of this on the grounds that it resulted in labour market regulation (regarding unpaid leave and work councils among others), making it a threat to efficiency. Blair nevertheless promised to oppose any other measures that might undermine the flexibility of the labour market in an effort to assure the employers and opted in to the Social Chapter. New Labour was thus obliged implemented a minimum wage of as part of the Social Chapter, despite initial, opposition from employers who cited the possibility of a higher unemployment. This would clearly be against a Conservative policy of labour market flexibility and could be seen as leading to labour market imperfections as well as structural unemployment. Actual data however, showed there was no appreciable impact on unemployment and in fact, the national minimum wage only involved 4. 5% of the labour force. As a whole, while as a whole we see a policy stance quite consistent with that of a Conservative government, close inspection will suggest that yet again, the consensus was far from perfect. In terms of privatisation, it is a well-known fact that the Thatcher government actively pursued this policy on the grounds of efficiency, arguing that a privately lead company would probably be more efficient as it seeks to maximise its profits, unlike that of a nationalised industry. Thatcher privatised all principal industries except the railways (which were privatised by Major) and the Post Office. Her privatisation policy was thought to be largely successful as it the sale brought about income for the treasury (? 90 billion), most industries went from loss-making requiring subsidies from the government to profit-making ones, consumers benefitted from imported services as well as lower prices and managers were allowed to make investments without the constraints of the Treasury. The Blair government thus made no attempt to renationalise these companies and even privatised the air traffic control system, clearly supporting the privatisation policy of the Thatcher era. Only a series of rail crashes force it to set up ‘Network Rail’ which was a not-for-profit organisation and not a nationalised company to take over from Railtrack. No shift was made back to that of ‘Old Labour’ who sought to nationalise major public utilities. While Labour did accept the notion of the market operating these services better than if they were in public ownership, the Blair government id indeed call for regulation of these industries, which serves again to indicate that while there was a general neoliberal consensus, minor differences did still exist in economic policy as a whole. Next, let me move on to social policy, the first of which will be healthcare. Healthcare in Britain is and has been provided by the National Health Service (NHS) ever since the N ational Health Service Act of 1946, where health care was provided and paid for by the sate being free at the point of delivery. As argued by Knight, the Thatcher government realised that privatising the NHS would have been a highly unpopular policy (it would mean the service would no longer be free at the point of service) and did not seek to do so despite its otherwise neoliberal stance. However, the government did try to improve efficiency of the system by creating quasi- or internal markets, which essentially separated the demand (purchase) and supply (provision) sides of the market for these health services. This meant that District Health Authorities (DHA) would still purchase the health service from the tax pool but with NHS hospitals competing to provide the service. This competition between NHS hospitals as well as the fact that the DHAs were now monopsonies in the market suggested that this would reduce costs. Allowing NHS hospitals to acquire trust statuses (and the fundholder status for GPs) essentially made these hospitals operate like commercial businesses with ‘a high degree of autonomy’ (Knight). While Blair initially opposed these quasi-markets, he did later proceed to extend it. He further decentralised the NHS and had the Department of Health set national standards and undertake inspections. He also introduced the National Institute for Clinical Excellence to ensure cost-efficiency of drugs, set up Primary Care Trusts (in 2002) to replace DHAs and Fundholding practices, introduced foundation hospitals and created league tables for hospitals. The most notable of these is probably the foundation hospital which was accountable to a stakeholder board rather than the government. These hospitals enjoyed much greater flexibility and could raise capital in the financial market, sell land associated with it and retain the revenues as well as set up joint-ventures with the private sector (Knight), thus operating much more like a commercial firm. The main difference between Blair’s and Thatcher’s policy is that Blair’s health policy was designed to be patient-driven, in the sense that patients were given the freedom to choose where they obtained their health services from and the money essentially, followed the patients. All these policies were, in essence, extending and in some cases outdoing Thatcher’s semi-neoliberal policy of quasi-markets and there was a significant consensus on this although this consensus was not fully neoliberal as the NHS was still, in actual fact, not privatised. The only difference in the health policy is the fact that the Thatcher government was very much concerned in balancing the budget and thus sought many cost-minimising measures whereas New Labour, in 2000, did introduce a plan to increase spending on the NHS by 50% within 5 years. In all other aspects, there was a partially neoliberal consensus on healthcare in Britain during the era of Tony Blair and New Labour. A very similar picture appears when we consider education. Again, the Thatcher government, as we shall see, chose not to privatise education as that would mean it was no longer free at the point of delivery, but did implement other measures very similar to those done in healthcare. The Blair government again, chose to maintain these and further them slightly. Thus, it is more important than ever to consider the policies Thatcher implemented as they were subsequently accepted by Blair. The Thatcher government introduced the 1988 Education Reform Act in order to decentralise decision making in education. She created the Local Management of Schools (LMS) which meant that schools could apply to manage their own affairs and removed from the management of local education authorities (Knight). Knight suggested these could also have had political purposes rather that one purely for the sake of a better education system (local education authorities had become increasingly controlled by the Labour Party) but he also agrees that this policy was intended to improve the efficiency with which education could be delivered. The fact is that the LMS turned schools into quasi-businesses, just as Thatcher had done with the trust status for hospitals, and this meant that each school had a decentralised decision-making process, leading to what was believed to be better efficiency. Thatcher also removed the spatial monopolies of schools allowing parents to choose which school they wanted their children to attend, which would probably be those schools with the best reputation for education and discipline (Knight). The money then followed the demand, with funding being provided based on pupil numbers, similar to Blair’s healthcare policy. This competition it was suggested, encouraged schools to become more efficient in providing education and the less-efficient schools would probably end up closing. School league tables as well as a national curriculum both served to further this objective. The Blair government, while at first opposed these policies, basically eventually accepted almost all the policies of the Thatcher/Major government and this says a lot about New Labour’s stand on the issue. At first, Labour abolished the LMS or grant-maintained schools on the grounds that it was divisive and against the desire for social inclusion. Labour nevertheless eventually reversed this decision to improve the standard of schools and once again made decentralised decision-making a key characteristic of education policy (Knight). In facts, Blair even sought to further these policies of Thatcher. He introduced the City Academies which were well-resourced schools with partially private sponsorship and the rest from the state. These schools were allowed to set their own curriculum, pay scale as well as controlled the school’s assets, further reducing the influence of local authorities and continuing the de-centralisation process (Knight). On the whole, they seemed an extension of Thatcher’s City Technology College which were based on a similar principle (which Labour opposed on the grounds of its divisiveness) and the Labour Party had more or less embraced the policies of the Thatcher government. As Knight argued, in 2005, the Labour Party went a step further announcing that all secondary schools were to become independent, self-governing academies or trust schools by 2010. Parents were given the power to determine the curriculum of the school, to dismiss the head teacher if the school under-performed and even create a new school if they wished. Local authorities’ power was reduced further and the Blair government had essentially gone significantly further than the Thatcher government in this respect despite the initial opposition. In terms of higher education, both the Conservatives and New Labour sought to increase the proportion of children in higher education with the Blair government setting a target of 50% of young people to move on to higher education, and encouraged that through the system of university top-up fees. As a whole, it would be quite safe to conclude that there was a consensus on education policy which was mainly neoliberal with the exception of the fact that it was financed out of the tax pool so that education was free at the point of delivery. Lastly, let me discuss the policy on social security and pensions. Here, the Thatcher government was unable to reform the social security budget much as there was very high unemployment in the 1980s and more people thus claimed social security benefits. It did however, make several changes. Firstly, benefits and pensions were indexed to the inflation rate rather than the rate at which averaged earnings increased, which was the higher rate. This obviously widened the gap between the employed and the unemployed (and those on pension) but it did provide an incentive to search for employment as well as reduced the necessary government’s expenditure on this service. The Thatcher government also changed the basis on which these benefits were provided, from a more universal one to a means-tested one (Knight) and private pension schemes were encouraged as a result as opposed to the State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme. Major introduced a jobseekers allowance, a flat-rate benefit for single people above the age of 25 actively seeking work, to replace unemployment benefits, probably in an effort to encourage an incentive to work. He did however; introduce statutory sick pay, maternity pay and an incapacity benefit (for long-term illnesses) all of which are hardly consistent with a neoliberal stance. The Blair government, in essence, made not many changes to this. There was an acceptance of a shift from the socialist ‘equality of outcome’ idea to ‘equality of opportunity’, where inequalities on the basis of effort applied were justified (Knight). The indexing of benefits and pensions to inflation remained although it was promised that pensions will be indexed to earnings by 2012. The jobseekers allowance was maintained as it was very much consistent with New Labour’s stakeholder notion (people should have an obligation to contribute to society rather than just take what they could get from it). Jobseekers had to attend an interview to determine they were indeed actively-seeking jobs and had to sign an agreement they would continue to actively seek employment in the specified sector with the help of the Employment Service. The New Deal was also introduced where people who had been claiming jobseekers allowance for 6 months had to accept a job subsidised by the state, work in a voluntary organisation or attend a training course or else, have their benefit cut. Again, this was very much consistent with the partly neo-liberal stance of Thatcher, although this policy was of limited success as many people chose to accept the reduced benefits. Similar encouragements were made to encourage single parents and the disabled to do the same but this was even less effective as there was no reduction in benefit for those who ignored it. Tax credits were introduced for those with children and those in employment but in low pay. In terms of pension schemes, the Turner Report suggested raising the age of pension entitlement to 68 by 2050, thus encouraging the people to work longer and reducing the cost of the pension scheme (people paid more contributions as well as received benefits for a slightly shorter period of their life). The National Pension Scheme was also introduced for those without secure private pensions or those ineligible for pensions at all. As a whole, the social benefit and pension policy was largely similar between the two partied. The consensus however, does a slight hint of socialism about it although many efforts were made where possible by both the Thatcher/Major and Blair governments to apply neoliberalism to it so as to reduce the overall cost of maintaining the system and to ensure there was minimal disincentive to work. In conclusion, in terms of economic policy, there was a consensus, although it was far from perfect, based on mostly neoliberalism between the Thatcher and Major governments with that of Tony Blair. In terms of social policy, the consensus was, it appears, slightly stronger, but this was based on partial neoliberalism in order to maintain the fact that health and education was free at the point of delivery as well as to maintain the benefit and pension system. As a whole, there definitely was a consensus to quite an extent over social and economic policy based on neoliberalism. Bibliography Knight, Governing Britain since 1945, 2006 Fielding, The Labour Party; continuity and change in the making of ‘New’ Labour, 2003 Powell, New Labour, New Welfare State? , 1999