Part One Saturday

I Every parking space in Church Row was taken by nine o'clock in the morning. Darkly clothed mourners moved, singly, in pairs and in groups, up and down the street, converging, like a stream of iron filings drawn to a magnet, on St Michael and All Saints. The path leading to the church doors became crowded, then overflowed; those who were displaced fanned out among the graves, seeking safe spots to stand between the headstones, fearful of trampling on the dead, yet unwilling to move too far from the church entrance. It was clear to everyone that there would not be enough pews for all the people who had come to say goodbye to Barry Fairbrother. His co-workers from the bank, who were grouped around the most extravagant of the Sweetlove tombs, wished that the august representative from head office would move on and take his inane small-talk and his clumsy jokes with him. Lauren, Holly and Jennifer from the rowing team had separated from their parents to huddle together in the shade of a mossy-fingered yew. Parish councillors, a motley bunch, talked solemnly in the middle of the path: a clutch of balding heads and thick-lensed glasses; a smattering of black straw hats and cultured pearls. Men from the squash and golf clubs hailed each other in subdued fashion; old friends from university recognized each other from afar and edged together; and in between milled what seemed to be most of Pagford, in their smartest and most sombre-hued clothes. The air droned with quiet conversations; faces flickered, watching and waiting. Tessa Wall's best coat, which was of grey wool, was cut so tightly around the armholes that she could not raise her arms above chest height. Standing beside her son on one side of the church path, she was exchanging sad little smiles and waves with acquaintances, while continuing to argue with Fats through lips she was trying not to move too obviously. ‘For God's sake, Stu. He was your father's best friend. Just this once, show some consideration.' ‘No one told me it was going to go on this bloody long. You told me it'd be over by half-past eleven.' ‘Don't swear. I said we'd leave St Michael's at about half-past eleven – ‘ ‘ – so I thought it'd be over, didn't I? So I arranged to meet Arf.' ‘But you've got to come to the burial, your father's a pall-bearer! Ring Arf and tell him it'll have to be tomorrow instead.' ‘He can't do tomorrow. Anyway, I haven't got my mobile on me. Cubby told me not to bring it to church.' ‘Don't call your father Cubby! You can ring Arf on mine,' said Tessa, burrowing in her pocket. ‘I don't know his number by heart,' lied Fats coldly. She and Colin had eaten dinner without Fats the previous evening, because he had cycled up to Andrew's place, where they were working on their English project together. That, at any rate, was the story Fats had given his mother, and Tessa had pretended to believe it. It suited her too well to have Fats out of the way, incapable of upsetting Colin. At least he was wearing the new suit that Tessa had bought for him in Yarvil. She had lost her temper at him in the third shop, because he had looked like a scarecrow in everything he had tried on, gawky and graceless, and she had thought angrily that he was doing it on purpose; that he could have inflated the suit with a sense of fitness if he chose. ‘Shh!' said Tessa pre-emptively. Fats was not speaking, but Colin was approaching them, leading the Jawandas; he seemed, in his overwrought state, to be confusing the role of pall-bearer with that of usher; hovering by the gates, welcoming people. Parminder looked grim and gaunt in her sari, with her children trailing behind her; Vikram, in his dark suit, looked like a film star. A few yards from the church doors, Samantha Mollison was waiting beside her husband, looking up at the bright off-white sky and musing on all the wasted sunshine beating down on top of the high ceiling of cloud. She was refusing to be dislodged from the hard-surfaced path, no matter how many old ladies had to cool their ankles in the grass; her patent-leather high heels might sink into the soft earth, and become dirty and clogged. When acquaintances hailed them, Miles and Samantha responded pleasantly, but they were not speaking to each other. They had had a row the previous evening. A few people had asked after Lexie and Libby, who usually came home at weekends, but both girls were staying over at friends' houses. Samantha knew that Miles regretted their absence; he loved playing paterfamilias in public. Perhaps, she thought, with a most pleasurable leap of fury, he would ask her and the girls to pose with him for a picture on his election leaflets. She would enjoy telling him what she thought of that idea. She could tell that he was surprised by the turnout. No doubt he was regretting that he did not have a starring role in the forthcoming service; it would have been an ideal opportunity to begin a surreptitious campaign for Barry's seat on the council with this big audience of captive voters. Samantha made a mental note to drop a sarcastic allusion to the missed opportunity when a suitable occasion arose. ‘Gavin!' called Miles, at the sight of a familiar, fair and narrow head. ‘Oh, hi, Miles. Hi, Sam.' Gavin's new black tie shone against his white shirt. There were violet bags under his light eyes. Samantha leaned in on tiptoes, so that he could not decently avoid kissing her on the cheek and inhaling her musky perfume. ‘Big turnout, isn't it?' Gavin said, gazing around. ‘Gavin's a pall-bearer,' Miles told his wife, in precisely the way that he would have announced that a small and unpromising child had been awarded a book token for effort. In truth, he had been a little surprised when Gavin had told him he had been accorded this honour. Miles had vaguely imagined that he and Samantha would be privileged guests, surrounded by a certain aura of mystery and importance, having been at the deathbed. It might have been a nice gesture if Mary, or somebody close to Mary, had asked him, Miles, to read a lesson, or say a few words to acknowledge the important part he had played in Barry's final moments. Samantha was deliberately unsurprised that Gavin had been singled out. ‘You and Barry were quite close, weren't you, Gav?' Gavin nodded. He felt jittery and a little sick. He had had a very bad night's sleep, waking in the early hours from horrible dreams in which, first, he had dropped the coffin, so that Barry's body spilt out onto the church floor; and, secondly, he had overslept, missed the funeral, and arrived at St Michael and All Saints to find Mary alone in the graveyard, white-faced and furious, screaming at him that he had ruined the whole thing. ‘I'm not sure where I ought to be,' he said, looking around. ‘I've never done this before.' ‘Nothing to it, mate,' said Miles. ‘There's only one requirement, really. Don't drop anything, hehehe.' Miles' girlish laugh contrasted oddly with his deep speaking voice. Neither Gavin nor Samantha smiled. Colin Wall loomed out of the mass of bodies. Big and awkward-looking, with his high, knobbly forehead, he always made Samantha think of Frankenstein's monster. ‘Gavin,' he said. ‘There you are. I think we should probably stand out on the pavement, they'll be here in a few minutes.' ‘Right-ho,' said Gavin, relieved to be ordered around. ‘Colin,' said Miles, with a nod. ‘Yes, hello,' said Colin, flustered, before turning away and forcing his way back through the mass of mourners. Then came another small flurry of movement, and Samantha heard Howard's loud voice: ‘Excuse me †¦ so sorry †¦ trying to join our family †¦' The crowd parted to avoid his belly, and Howard was revealed, immense in a velvet-faced overcoat. Shirley and Maureen bobbed in his wake, Shirley neat and composed in navy blue, Maureen scrawny as a carrion bird, in a hat with a small black veil. ‘Hello, hello,' said Howard, kissing Samantha firmly on both cheeks. ‘And how's Sammy?' Her answer was swallowed up in a widespread, awkward shuffling, as everybody began retreating backwards off the path: there was a certain discreet jockeying for position; nobody wanted to relinquish their claim to a place near the church entrance. With this cleaving in two of the crowd, familiar individuals were revealed like separate pips along the break. Samantha spotted the Jawandas: coffee-brown faces among all the whey; Vikram, absurdly handsome in his dark suit; Parminder dressed in a sari (why did she do it? Didn't she know she was playing right into the likes of Howard and Shirley's hands?) and beside her, dumpy little Tessa Wall in a grey coat, which was straining at the buttons. Mary Fairbrother and the children were walking slowly up the path to the church. Mary was terribly pale, and appeared pounds thinner. Could she have lost so much weight in six days? She was holding one of the twins' hands, with her other arm around the shoulders of her younger son, and the eldest, Fergus, marching behind. She walked with her eyes fixed straight ahead, her soft mouth pursed tight. Other family members followed Mary and the children; the procession moved over the threshold and was swallowed up in the dingy interior of the church. Everyone else moved towards the doors at once, which resulted in an undignified jam. The Mollisons found themselves shunted together with the Jawandas. ‘After you, Mr Jawanda, sir, after you †¦' boomed Howard, holding out an arm to let the surgeon walk in first. But Howard made sure to use his bulk to prevent anybody else taking precedence over him, and followed Vikram immediately through the entrance, leaving their families to follow on. A royal-blue carpet ran the length of the aisle of St Michael and All Saints. Golden stars glimmered on the vaulted ceiling; brass plaques reflected the glow of the hanging lamps. The stained-glass windows were elaborate and gorgeously hued. Halfway down the nave, on the epistle side, St Michael himself stared down from the largest window, clad in silver armour. Sky-blue wings curved out of his shoulders; in one hand he held aloft a sword, in the other, a pair of golden scales. A sandalled foot rested on the back of a writhing bat-winged Satan, who was dark grey in colour and attempting to raise himself. The saint's expression was serene. Howard stopped level with St Michael and indicated that his party should file into the pew on the left; Vikram turned right into the opposite one. While the remaining Mollisons, and Maureen, filed past him into the pew, Howard remained planted on the royal-blue carpet, and addressed Parminder as she passed him. ‘Dreadful, this. Barry. Awful shock.' ‘Yes,' she said, loathing him. ‘I always think those frocks look comfy; are they?' he added, nodding at her sari. She did not answer, but took her place beside Jaswant. Howard sat down too, making of himself a prodigious plug at the end of the pew that would seal it off to newcomers. Shirley's eyes were fixed respectfully on her knees, and her hands were clasped, apparently in prayer, but she was really mulling over Howard and Parminder's little exchange about the sari. Shirley belonged to a section of Pagford that quietly lamented the fact that the Old Vicarage, which had been built long ago to house a High Church vicar with mutton-chop whiskers and a starched-aproned staff, was now home to a family of Hindus (Shirley had never quite grasped what religion the Jawandas were). She thought that if she and Howard went to the temple, or the mosque, or wherever it was the Jawandas worshipped, they would doubtless be required to cover their heads and remove their shoes and who knew what else, otherwise there would be outcry. Yet it was acceptable for Parminder to flaunt her sari in church. It was not as though Parminder did not have normal clothes, for she wore them to work every day. The double standard of it all was what rankled; not a thought for the disrespect it s howed to their religion, and, by extension, to Barry Fairbrother himself, of whom she was supposed to have been so fond. Shirley unclasped her hands, raised her head, and gave her attention over to the outfits of people who were passing, and of the size and number of Barry's floral tributes. Some of these had been heaped up against the communion rail. Shirley spotted the offering from the council, for which she and Howard had organized the collection. It was a large, round traditional wreath of white and blue flowers, which were the colours of Pagford's arms. Their flowers and all the other wreaths were overshadowed by the life-sized oar, made of bronze chrysanthemums, which the girls' rowing team had given. Sukhvinder turned in her pew to look for Lauren, whose florist mother had made the oar; she wanted to mime that she had seen it and liked it, but the crowd was dense and she could not spot Lauren anywhere. Sukhvinder was mournfully proud that they had done it, especially when she saw that people were pointing it out to each other as they settled themselves in their seats. Five of the eight girls on the team had stumped up money for the oar. Lauren had told Sukhvinder how she had tracked down Krystal Weedon at lunchtime, and exposed herself to the piss-taking of Krystal's friends, who were sitting smoking on a low wall by the newsagent's. Lauren had asked Krystal if she wanted to chip in. ‘Yeah, I will, all righ',' Krystal had said; but she had not, so her name was not on the card. Nor, as far as Sukhvinder could see, had Krystal come to the funeral. Sukhvinder's insides were like lead, but the ache of her left forearm coupled with the sharp twinges of pain when she moved it was a counter-irritant, and at least Fats Wall, glowering in his black suit, was nowhere near her. He had not made eye contact with her when their two families had met, briefly, in the churchyard; he was restrained by the presence of their parents, as he was sometimes restrained by the presence of Andrew Price. Late the previous evening, her anonymous cyber-torturer had sent her a black and white picture of a naked Victorian child, covered in soft dark hair. She had seen it and deleted it while dressing for the funeral. When had she last been happy? She knew that in a different life, long before anyone had grunted at her, she had sat in this church, and been quite content for years; she had sung hymns with gusto at Christmas, Easter and Harvest Festival. She had always liked St Michael, with his pretty, feminine, Pre-Raphaelite face, his curly golden hair †¦ but this morning, for the first time, she saw him differently, with his foot resting almost casually on that writhing dark devil; she found his untroubled expression sinister and arrogant. The pews were packed. Muffled clunks, echoing footsteps and quiet rustlings animated the dusty air as the unlucky ones continued to file in at the back of the church and took up standing room along the left-hand wall. Some hopeful souls tiptoed down the aisle in case of an overlooked place in the crammed pews. Howard remained immovable and firm, until Shirley tapped his shoulder and whispered, ‘Aubrey and Julia!' At which Howard turned massively, and waved the service sheet to attract the Fawleys' attention. They came briskly down the carpeted aisle: Aubrey, tall, thin and balding in his dark suit, Julia with her light-red hair pulled back into a chignon. They smiled their thanks as Howard moved along, shunting the others up, making sure that the Fawleys had plenty of room. Samantha was jammed so tightly between Miles and Maureen that she could feel Maureen's sharp hip joint pressing into her flesh on one side and the keys in Miles' pocket on the other. Furious, she attempted to secure herself a centimetre or so more room, but neither Miles nor Maureen had anywhere else to go, so she stared straight ahead, and turned her thoughts vengefully to Vikram, who had lost none of his appeal in the month or so since she had last seen him. He was so conspicuously, irrefutably good-looking, it was silly; it made you want to laugh. With his long legs and his broad shoulders, and the flatness of his belly where his shirt tucked into his trousers, and those dark eyes with the thick black lashes, he looked like a god compared to other Pagford men, who were so slack and pallid and porky. As Miles leaned forward to exchange whispered pleasantries with Julia Fawley, his keys ground painfully into Samantha's upper thigh, and she imagined Vikram ripping open the navy wrap dress she was wearing, and in her fantasy she had omitted to put on the matching camisole that concealed her deep canyon of cleavage †¦ The organ stops creaked and silence fell, except for a soft persistent rustle. Heads turned: the coffin was coming up the aisle. The pall-bearers were almost comically mismatched: Barry's brothers were both five foot six, and Colin Wall, at the rear, six foot two, so that the back end of the coffin was considerably higher than the front. The coffin itself was not made of polished mahogany, but of wickerwork. It's a bloody picnic basket! thought Howard, outraged. Looks of surprise flitted across many faces as the willow box passed them, but some had known all about the coffin in advance. Mary had told Tessa (who had told Parminder) how the choice of material had been made by Fergus, Barry's eldest son, who wanted willow because it was a sustainable, quick-growing material and therefore environmentally friendly. Fergus was a passionate enthusiast for all things green and ecologically sound. Parminder liked the willow coffin better, much better, than the stout wooden box in which most English disposed of their dead. Her grandmother had always had a superstitious fear of the soul being trapped inside something heavy and solid, deploring the way that British undertakers nailed down the lids. The pall-bearers lowered the coffin onto the brocade-draped bier and retreated: Barry's son, brothers and brother-in-law edged into the front pews, and Colin walked jerkily back to join his family. For two quaking seconds Gavin hesitated. Parminder could tell that he was unsure of where to go, his only option to walk back down the aisle under the eyes of three hundred people. But Mary must have made a sign to him, because he ducked, blushing furiously, into the front pew beside Barry's mother. Parminder had only ever spoken to Gavin when she had tested and treated him for chlamydia. He had never met her gaze again. ‘I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die †¦' The vicar did not sound as if he were thinking about the sense of the words issuing from his mouth, but only about his own delivery, which was sing-song and rhythmic. Parminder was familiar with his style; she had attended carol services for years with all the other St Thomas's parents. Long acquaintance had not reconciled her to the white-faced warrior saint staring down at her, nor all the dark wood, the hard pews, the alien altar with its jewelled golden cross, nor the dirgey hymns, which she found chilly and unsettling. So she withdrew her attention from the self-conscious drone of the vicar and thought again of her father. She had seen him out of the kitchen window, flat on his face, while her radio continued to blare from on top of the rabbit hutch. He had been lying there for two hours while she, her mother and her sisters had been browsing in Topshop. She could still feel her father's shoulder beneath his hot shirt as she had shaken it. ‘Dadiii. Dadiiiii.' They had scattered Darshan's ashes in the sad little River Rea in Birmingham. Parminder could remember the dull clay look of its surface, on an overcast day in June, and the stream of tiny white and grey flakes floating away from her. The organ clunked and wheezed into life, and she got to her feet with everybody else. She caught a glimpse of the backs of Niamh and Siobhan's red-gold heads; they were exactly the age she had been when Darshan had been taken from them. Parminder experienced a rush of tenderness, and an awful ache, and a confused desire to hold them and to tell them that she knew, she knew, she understood †¦ Morning has broken, like the first morning †¦ Gavin could hear a shrill treble from along the row: Barry's younger son's voice had not yet broken. He knew that Declan had chosen the hymn. That was another of the ghastly details of the service that Mary had chosen to share with him. He was finding the funeral an even worse ordeal than he had expected. He thought it might have been better with a wooden coffin; he had had an awful, visceral awareness of Barry's body inside that light wickerwork case; the physical weight of him was shocking. All those complacently staring people, as he walked up the aisle; did they not understand what he was actually carrying? Then had come the ghastly moment when he had realized that nobody had saved him a place, and that he would have to walk all the way back again while everybody stared, and hide among the standees at the back †¦ but instead he had been forced to sit in the first pew, horribly exposed. It was like being in the front seat of a rollercoaster, bearing the brunt of every awful twist and lurch. Sitting there, mere feet from Siobhan's sunflower, its head as big as a saucepan lid, in the middle of a big burst of yellow freesias and daylilies, he actually wished that Kay had come with him; he could not believe it, but there it was. He would have been consoled by the presence of somebody who was on his side; somebody simply to keep him a seat. He had not considered what a sad bastard he might look, turning up alone. The hymn ended. Barry's older brother walked to the front to speak. Gavin did not know how he could bear to do it, with Barry's corpse lying right in front of him beneath the sunflower (grown from seed, over months); nor how Mary could sit so quietly, with her head bowed, apparently looking at the hands clasped in her lap. Gavin tried, actively, to provide his own interior interference, so as to dilute the impact of the eulogy. He's going to tell the story about Barry meeting Mary, once he's got past this kid stuff †¦ happy childhood, high jinks, yeah, yeah †¦ Come on, move it along †¦ They would have to put Barry back in the car, and drive all the way to Yarvil to bury him in the cemetery there, because the tiny graveyard of St Michael and All Saints had been declared full twenty years previously. Gavin imagined lowering the wickerwork coffin into the grave under the eyes of this crowd. Carrying it in and out of the church would be nothing compared to that †¦ One of the twins was crying. Out of the corner of his eye, Gavin saw Mary reach out a hand to hold her daughter's. Let's get on with it, for fuck's sake. Please. ‘I think it's fair to say that Barry always knew his own mind,' Barry's brother was saying hoarsely. He had got a few laughs with tales of Barry's scrapes in childhood. The strain in his voice was palpable. ‘He was twenty-four when we went off on my stag weekend to Liverpool. First night there, we leave the campsite and go off to the pub, and there behind the bar is the landlord's student daughter, a beautiful blonde, helping out on a Saturday night. Barry spent the whole night propping up the bar, chatting her up, getting her into trouble with her dad and pretending he didn't know who the rowdy lot in the corner were.' A weak laugh. Mary's head was drooping; both hands were clutching those of the child on either side. ‘He told me that night, back in the tent, that he was going to marry her. I thought, Hang on, I'm the one who's supposed to be drunk.' Another little titter. ‘Baz made us go back to the same pub the next night. When we got home, the first thing he did was buy her a postcard and send it to her, telling her he'd be back next weekend. They were married a year to the day after they met, and I think everyone who knew them would agree that Barry knew a good thing when he saw it. They went on to have four beautiful children, Fergus, Niamh, Siobhan and Declan †¦' Gavin breathed carefully in and out, in and out, trying not to listen, and wondering what on earth his own brother would find to say about him under the same circumstances. He had not had Barry's luck; his romantic life did not make a pretty story. He had never walked into a pub and found the perfect wife standing there, blonde, smiling and ready to serve him a pint. No, he had had Lisa, who had never seemed to think him up to scratch; seven years of escalating warfare had culminated in a dose of the clap; and then, with barely a break, there had been Kay, clinging to him like an aggressive and threatening barnacle †¦ But, all the same, he would ring her later, because he didn't think he would be able to stand going back to his empty cottage after this. He would be honest, and tell her how horrible and stressful the funeral had been, and that he wished she had come with him. That would surely deflect any lingering umbrage about their row. He did not want to be alone tonight. Two pews back, Colin Wall was sobbing, with small but audible gasps, into a large, wet handkerchief. Tessa's hand rested on his thigh, exerting gentle pressure. She was thinking about Barry; about how she had relied upon him to help her with Colin; of the consolation of shared laughter; of Barry's boundless generosity of spirit. She could see him clearly, short and ruddy, jiving with Parminder at their last party; imitating Howard Mollison's strictures on the Fields; advising Colin tactfully, as only he could have done, to accept Fats' behaviour as adolescent, rather than sociopathic. Tessa was scared of what the loss of Barry Fairbrother would mean to the man beside her; scared of how they would manage to accommodate this huge ragged absence; scared that Colin had made a vow to the dead that he could not keep, and that he did not realize how little Mary, to whom he kept wanting to talk, liked him. And through all Tessa's anxiety and sorrow was threaded the usual worry, like an itchy little worm: Fats, and how she was going to avert an explosion, how she would make him come with them to the burial, or how she might hide from Colin that he had not come – which might, after all, be easier. ‘We are going to finish today's service with a song chosen by Barry's daughters, Niamh and Siobhan, which meant a lot to them and their father,' said the vicar. He managed, by his tone, to disassociate himself personally from what was about to happen. The beat of the drum rang so loudly through hidden speakers that the congregation jumped. A loud American voice was saying ‘uh huh, uh huh' and Jay-Z rapped: Good girl gone bad – Take three – Action. No clouds in my storms †¦ Let it rain, I hydroplane into fame Comin' down with the Dow Jones †¦ Some people thought that it was a mistake: Howard and Shirley threw outraged glances at each other, but nobody pressed stop, or ran up the aisle apologizing. Then a powerful, sexy female voice started to sing: You had my heart And we'll never be worlds apart Maybe in magazines But you'll still be my star †¦ The pall-bearers were carrying the wicker coffin back down the aisle, and Mary and the children were following. †¦ Now that it's raining more than ever Know that we'll still have each other You can stand under my umbuh-rella You can stand under my umbuh-rella The congregation filed slowly out of the church, trying not to walk in time to the beat of the song. II Andrew Price took the handlebars of his father's racing bicycle and walked it carefully out of the garage, making sure that he did not scrape the car. Down the stone steps and through the metal gate he carried it; then, in the lane, he put his foot on one pedal, scooted a few yards and swung his other leg over the saddle. He soared left onto the vertiginously sloping hillside road and sped, without touching his brakes, down towards Pagford. The hedgerows and sky blurred; he imagined himself in a velodrome as the wind whipped his clean hair and his stinging face, which he had just scrubbed clean. Level with the Fairbrothers' wedge-shaped garden he applied the brakes, because some months previously he had taken this sharp turn too fast and fallen off, and had had to return home immediately with his jeans ripped open and grazes all down one side of his face †¦ He freewheeled, with only one hand on the bars, into Church Row, and enjoyed a second, though lesser, downhill burst of speed, slightly checked when he saw that they were loading a coffin onto a hearse outside the church, and that a dark-clothed crowd was spilling out between the heavy wooden doors. Andrew pedalled furiously around the corner and out of sight. He did not want to see Fats emerging from church with a distraught Cubby, wearing the cheap suit and tie that he had described with comical disgust during yesterday's English lesson. It would have been like interrupting his friend having a crap. As Andrew cycled slowly around the Square, he slicked his hair back off his face with one hand, wondering what the cold air had done to his purple-red acne and whether the anti-bacterial face wash had done anything to soothe the angry look of it. And he told himself the cover story: he had come from Fats' house (which he might have done, there was no reason why not), which meant that Hope Street was as obvious a route down to the river as cutting through the first side street. Therefore there was no need for Gaia Bawden (if she happened to be looking out of the window of her house, and happened to see him, and happened to recognize him) to think that he had come this way because of her. Andrew did not anticipate having to explain to her his reason for cycling up her street, but he still held the fake story in his mind, because he believed it gave him an air of cool detachment. He simply wanted to know which was her house. Twice already, at weekends, he had cycled along the short terraced street, every nerve in his body tingling, but he had been unable, as yet, to discover which house harboured the Grail. All he knew, from his furtive glimpses through the dirty school-bus windows, was that she lived on the right hand even-numbered side. As he turned the corner, he tried to compose his features, acting the part of a man cycling slowly towards the river by the most direct route, lost in his own serious thoughts, but ready to acknowledge a classmate, should they show themselves †¦ She was there. On the pavement. Andrew's legs continued to pump, though he could not feel the pedals, and he was suddenly aware how thin the tyres were on which he balanced. She was rummaging in her leather handbag, her copper-brown hair hanging around her face. Number ten on the door ajar behind her, and a black T-shirt falling short of her waist; a band of bare skin, and a heavy belt and tight jeans †¦ when he was almost past her, she closed the door and turned; her hair fell back from her beautiful face, and she said, quite clearly, in her London voice, ‘Oh, hi.' ‘Hi,' he said. His legs kept pedalling. Six feet away, twelve feet away; why hadn't he stopped? Shock kept him moving, he dared not look back; he was at the end of her street already; for fuck's sake don't fall off; he turned the corner, too stunned to gauge whether he was more relieved or disappointed that he had left her behind. Holy shit. He cycled on towards the wooded area at the base of Pargetter Hill, where the river glinted intermittently through the trees, but he could see nothing except Gaia burned onto his retina like neon. The narrow road turned into an earthy footpath, and the gentle breeze off the water caressed his face, which he did not think had turned red, because it had all happened so quickly. ‘Fucking hell!' he said aloud to the fresh air and the deserted path. He raked excitedly through this magnificent, unexpected treasure trove: her perfect body, revealed in tight denim and stretchy cotton; number ten behind her, on a chipped, shabby blue door; ‘oh, hi', easily and naturally – so his features were definitely logged somewhere in the mind that lived behind the astonishing face. The bike jolted on the newly pebbly and rough ground. Elated, Andrew dismounted only when he began to overbalance. He wheeled the bicycle on through the trees, emerging onto the narrow riverbank, where he slung the bicycle down on the ground among the wood anemones that had opened like tiny white stars since his last visit. His father had said, when he first started to borrow the bike: ‘You chain it up if you're going in a shop. I'm warning you, if that gets nicked †¦' But the chain was not long enough to go around any of the trees and, in any case, the further he rode from his father the less Andrew feared him. Still thinking about the inches of flat, bare midriff and Gaia's exquisite face, Andrew strode to the place where the bank met the eroded side of the hill, which hung like an earthy, rocky cliff in a sheer face above the fast-flowing green water. The narrowest lip of slippery, crumbling bank ran along the bottom of the hillside. The only way of navigating it, if your feet had grown to be twice the length they had been when they had first made the trip, was to edge along sideways, pressed to the sheer face, holding tight to roots and bits of protruding rock. The mulchy green smell of the river and of wet soil was deeply familiar to Andrew, as was the sensation of this narrow ledge of earth and grass under his feet, and the cracks and rocks he sought with his hands on the hillside. He and Fats had found the secret place when they were eleven years old. They had known that what they were doing was forbidden and dangerous; they had been warned about the river. Terrified, but determined not to tell each other so, they had sidled along this tricky ledge, grabbing at anything that protruded from the rocky wall and, at the very narrowest point, clutching fistfuls of each other's T-shirts. Years of practice enabled Andrew, though his mind was barely on the job, to move crab-wise along the solid wall of earth and rock with the water gushing three feet beneath his trainers; then with a deft duck and swing, he was inside the fissure in the hillside that they had found so long ago. Back then, it had seemed like a divine reward for their daring. He could no longer stand up in it; but, slightly larger than a two-man tent, it was big enough for two teenage boys to lie, side by side, with the river rushing past and the trees dappling their view of the sky, framed by the triangular entrance. The first time they had been here, they had poked and dug at the back wall with sticks, but they had not found a secret passageway leading to the abbey above; so they gloried instead in the fact that they alone had discovered the hiding place, and swore that it would be their secret in perpetuity. Andrew had a vague memory of a solemn oath, spit and swearwords. They had called it the Cave when they had first discovered it, but it was now, and had been for some time past, the Cubby Hole. The little recess smelt earthy, though the sloping ceiling was made of rock. A dark green tidemark showed that it had flooded in the past, not quite to the roof. The floor was covered in their cigarette butts and cardboard roaches. Andrew sat down, with his legs dangling over the sludge-green water, and pulled his cigarettes and lighter out of his jacket, bought with the last of his birthday money, now that his allowance had been stopped. He lit up, inhaled deeply, and relived the glorious encounter with Gaia Bawden in as much detail as he could ring out of it: narrow waist and curving hips; creamy skin between leather and T-shirt; full, wide mouth; ‘oh, hi'. It was the first time he had seen her out of school uniform. Where was she going, alone with her leather handbag? What was there in Pagford for her to do on a Saturday morning? Was she perhaps catching the bus into Yarvil? What did she get up to when she was out of his sight; what feminine mysteries absorbed her? And he asked himself for the umpteenth time whether it was conceivable that flesh and bone wrought like that could contain a banal personality. It was only Gaia who had ever made him wonder this: the idea of body and soul as separate entities had never once occurred to him until he had clapped eyes on her. Even while trying to imagine what her breasts would look and feel like, judged by the visual evidence he had managed to gather through a slightly translucent school shirt, and what he knew was a white bra, he could not believe that the allure she held for him was exclusively physical. She had a way of moving that moved him as much as music, which was what moved him most of all. Surely the spirit animating that peerless body must be unusual too? Why would nature make a vessel like that, if not to contain something still more valuable? Andrew knew what naked women looked like, because there were no parental controls on the computer in Fats' conversion bedroom. Together they had explored as much online porn as they could access for free: shaven vulvas; pink labia pulled wide to show darkly gaping slits; spread buttocks revealing the puckered buttons of anuses; thickly lipsticked mouths, dripping semen. Andrew's excitement was underpinned, always, by the panicky awareness that you could only hear Mrs Wall approaching the room when she reached the creaking halfway stair. Sometimes they found weirdness that made them roar with laughter, even when Andrew was unsure whether he was more excited or repulsed (whips and saddles, harnesses, ropes, hoses; and once, at which even Fats had not managed to laugh, close-ups of metal-bolted contraptions, and needles protruding from soft flesh, and women's faces frozen, screaming). Together he and Fats had become connoisseurs of silicone-enhanced breasts, enormous, taut and round. ‘Plastic,' one of them would point out, matter of factly, as they sat in front of the monitor with the door wedged shut against Fats' parents. The on-screen blonde's arms were raised as she sat astride some hairy man, her big brown-nippled breasts hanging off her narrow rib cage like bowling balls, thin, shiny purple lines under each of them showing where the silicone had been inserted. You could almost tell how they would feel, looking at them: firm, as if there were a football underneath the skin. Andrew could imagine nothing more erotic than a natural breast; soft and spongy and perhaps a little springy, and the nipples (he hoped) contrastingly hard. And all of these images blurred in his mind, late at night, with the possibilities offered by real girls, human girls, and the little you managed to feel through clothes if you managed to move in close enough. Niamh was the less pretty of the Fairbrother twins, but she had been the more willing, in the stuffy drama hall, during the Christmas disco. Half hidden by the musty stage curtain in a dark corner, they had pressed against each other, and Andrew had put his tongue into her mouth. His hands had inched as far as her bra strap and no further, because she kept pulling away. He had been driven, chiefly, by the knowledge that somewhere outside in the darkness, Fats was going further. And now his brain teemed and throbbed with Gaia. She was both the sexiest girl he had ever seen and the source of another, entirely inexplicable yearning. Certain chord changes, certain beats, made the very core of him shiver, and so did something about Gaia Bawden. He lit a new cigarette from the end of the first and threw the butt into the water below. Then he heard a familiar scuffling, and leaned forward to see Fats, still wearing his funeral suit, spread-eagled on the hill wall, moving from hand-hold to hand-hold as he edged along the narrow lip of bank, towards the opening where Andrew sat. ‘Fats.' ‘Arf.' Andrew pulled in his legs to give Fats room to climb into the Cubby Hole. ‘Fucking hell,' said Fats, when he had clambered inside. He was spider-like in his awkwardness, with his long limbs, his skinniness emphasized by the black suit. Andrew handed him a cigarette. Fats always lit up as though he were in a high wind, one hand cupped around the flame to shield it, scowling slightly. He inhaled, blew a smoke ring out of the Cubby Hole and loosened the dark grey tie around his neck. He appeared older and not, after all, so very foolish in the suit, which bore traces of earth on the knees and cuffs from the journey to the cave. ‘You'd think they were bum chums,' Fats said, after he had taken another powerful drag on his cigarette. ‘Cubby upset, was he?' ‘Upset? He's having fucking hysterics. He's given himself hiccups. He's worse than the fucking widow.' Andrew laughed. Fats blew another smoke ring and pulled at one of his overlarge ears. ‘I bowed out early. They haven't even buried him yet.' They smoked in silence for a minute, both looking out at the sludgy river. As he smoked, Andrew contemplated the words ‘bowed out early', and the amount of autonomy Fats seemed to have, compared to himself. Simon and his fury stood between Andrew and too much freedom: in Hilltop House, you sometimes copped for punishment simply because you were present. Andrew's imagination had once been caught by a strange little module in their philosophy and religion class, in which primitive gods had been discussed in all their arbitrary wrath and violence, and the attempts of early civilizations to placate them. He had thought then of the nature of justice as he had come to know it: of his father as a pagan god, and of his mother as the high priestess of the cult, who attempted to interpret and intercede, usually failing, yet still insisting, in the face of all the evidence, that there was an underlying magnanimity and reasonableness to her deity. Fats rested his head against the stone side of the Cubby Hole and blew smoke rings at the ceiling. He was thinking about what he wanted to tell Andrew. He had been mentally rehearsing the way he would start, all through the funeral service, while his father gulped and sobbed into his handkerchief. Fats was so excited by the prospect of telling, that he was having difficulty containing himself; but he was determined not to blurt it out. The telling of it was, to Fats, of almost equal importance to the doing of it. He did not want Andrew to think that he had hurried here to say it. ‘You know how Fairbrother was on the Parish Council?' said Andrew. ‘Yeah,' said Fats, glad that Andrew had initiated a space-filler conversation. ‘Si-Pie's saying he's going to stand for his seat.' ‘Si-Pie is?' Fats frowned at Andrew. ‘What the fuck's got into him?' ‘He reckons Fairbrother was getting backhanders from some contractor.' Andrew had heard Simon discussing it with Ruth in the kitchen that morning. It had explained everything. ‘He wants a bit of the action.' ‘That wasn't Barry Fairbrother,' said Fats, laughing as he flicked ash onto the cave floor. ‘And that wasn't the Parish Council. That was What's-his-name Frierly, up in Yarvil. He was on the school board at Winterdown. Cubby had a fucking fit. Local press calling him for a comment and all that. Frierly got done for it. Doesn't Si-Pie read the Yarvil and District Gazette?' Andrew stared at Fats. ‘Fucking typical.' He ground out his cigarette on the earthy floor, embarrassed by his father's idiocy. Simon had got the wrong end of the stick yet again. He spurned the local community, sneered at their concerns, was proud of his isolation in his poxy little house on the hill; then he got a bit of misinformation and decided to expose his family to humiliation on the basis of it. ‘Crooked as fuck, Si-Pie, isn't he?' said Fats. They called him Si-Pie because that was Ruth's nickname for her husband. Fats had heard her use it once, when he had been over for his tea, and had never called Simon anything else since. ‘Yeah, he is,' said Andrew, wondering whether he would be able to dissuade his father from standing by telling him he had the wrong man and the wrong council. ‘Bit of a coincidence,' said Fats, ‘because Cubby's standing as well.' Fats exhaled through his nostrils, staring at the crevice wall over Andrew's head. ‘So will voters go for the cunt,' he said, ‘or the twat?' Andrew laughed. There was little he enjoyed more than hearing his father called a cunt by Fats. ‘Now have a shifty at this,' said Fats, jamming his cigarette between his lips and patting his hips, even though he knew that the envelope was in the inside breast pocket. ‘Here you go,' he said, pulling it out and opening it to show Andrew the contents: brown peppercorn-sized pods in a powdery mix of shrivelled stalks and leaves. ‘Sensimilla, that is.' ‘What is it?' ‘Tips and shoots of your basic unfertilized marijuana plant,' said Fats, ‘specially prepared for your smoking pleasure.' ‘What's the difference between that and the normal stuff?' asked Andrew, with whom Fats had split several lumps of waxy black cannabis resin in the Cubby Hole. ‘Just a different smoke, isn't it?' said Fats, stubbing out his own cigarette. He took a packet of Rizlas from his pocket, drew out three of the fragile papers and gummed them together. ‘Did you get it off Kirby?' asked Andrew, poking at and sniffing the contents of the envelope. Everyone knew Skye Kirby was the go-to man for drugs. He was a year above them, in the lower sixth. His grandfather was an old hippy, who had been up in court several times for growing his own. ‘Yeah. Mind, there's a bloke called Obbo,' said Fats, slitting cigarettes and emptying the tobacco onto the papers, ‘in the Fields, who'll get you anything. Fucking smack, if you want it.' ‘You don't want smack, though,' said Andrew, watching Fats' face. ‘Nah,' said Fats, taking the envelope back, and sprinkling the sensimilla onto the tobacco. He rolled the joint together, licking the end of the papers to seal it, poking the roach in more neatly, twisting the end into a point. ‘Nice,' he said happily. He had planned to tell Andrew his news after introducing the sensimilla as a kind of warm-up act. He held out his hand for Andrew's lighter, inserted the cardboarded end between his own lips and lit up, taking a deep, contemplative drag, blowing out the smoke in a long blue jet, then repeating the process. ‘Mmm,' he said, holding the smoke in his lungs, and imitating Cubby, whom Tessa had given a wine course one Christmas. ‘Herby. A strong aftertaste. Overtones of †¦ fuck †¦' He experienced a massive headrush, even though he was sitting, and exhaled, laughing. ‘†¦ try that.' Andrew leaned across and took the joint, giggling in anticipation, and at the beatific smile on Fats' face, which was quite at odds with his usual constipated scowl. Andrew inhaled and felt the power of the drug radiate out from his lungs, unwinding and loosening him. Another drag, and he thought that it was like having your mind shaken out like a duvet, so that it resettled without creases, so that everything became smooth and simple and easy and good. ‘Nice,' he echoed Fats, smiling at the sound of his own voice. He passed the joint back into Fat's waiting fingers and savoured this sense of well-being. ‘So, you wanna hear something interesting?' said Fats, grinning uncontrollably. ‘Go on.' ‘I fucked her last night.' Andrew nearly said ‘who?', before his befuddled brain remembered: Krystal Weedon, of course; Krystal Weedon, who else? ‘Where?' he asked, stupidly. It was not what he wanted to know. Fats stretched out on his back in his funeral suit, his feet towards the river. Wordlessly, Andrew stretched out beside him, in the opposite direction. They had slept like this, ‘top and tail', when they had stayed overnight at each other's houses as children. Andrew gazed up at the rocky ceiling, where the blue smoke hung, slowly furling, and waited to hear everything. ‘I told Cubby and Tess I was at yours, so you know,' said Fats. He passed the joint into Andrew's reaching fingers, then linked his long hands on his chest, and listened to himself telling. ‘Then I got the bus to the Fields. Met her outside Oddbins.' ‘By Tesco's?' asked Andrew. He did not know why he kept asking dumb questions. ‘Yeah,' said Fats. ‘We went to the rec. There's trees in the corner behind the public bogs. Nice and private. It was getting dark.' Fats shifted position and Andrew handed back the joint. ‘Getting in's harder than I thought it would be,' said Fats, and Andrew was mesmerized, half inclined to laugh, afraid of missing every unvarnished detail Fats could give him. ‘She was wetter when I was fingering her.' A giggle rose like trapped gas in Andrew's chest, but was stifled there. ‘Lot of pushing to get in properly. It's tighter than I thought.' Andrew saw a jet of smoke rise from the place where Fats' head must be. ‘I came in about ten seconds. It feels fucking great once you're in.' Andrew fought back laughter, in case there was more. ‘I wore a johnny. It'd be better without.' He pushed the joint back into Andrew's hand. Andrew pulled on it, thinking. Harder to get in than you thought; over in ten seconds. It didn't sound much; yet what wouldn't he give? He imagined Gaia Bawden flat on her back for him and, without meaning to, let out a small groan, which Fats did not seem to hear. Lost in a fug of erotic images, pulling on the joint, Andrew lay with his erection on the patch of earth his body was warming and listened to the soft rush of the water a few feet from his head. ‘What matters, Arf?' asked Fats, after a long, dreamy pause. His head swimming pleasantly, Andrew answered, ‘Sex.' ‘Yeah,' said Fats, delighted. ‘Fucking. That's what matters. Propogun †¦ propogating the species. Throw away the johnnies. Multiply.' ‘Yeah,' said Andrew, laughing. ‘And death,' said Fats. He had been taken aback by the reality of that coffin, and how little material lay between all the watching vultures and an actual corpse. He was not sorry that he had left before it disappeared into the ground. ‘Gotta be, hasn't it? Death.' ‘Yeah,' said Andrew, thinking of war and car crashes, and dying in blazes of speed and glory. ‘Yeah,' said Fats. ‘Fucking and dying. That's it, innit? Fucking and dying. That's life.' ‘Trying to get a fuck and trying not to die.' ‘Or trying to die,' said Fats. ‘Some people. Risking it.' ‘Yeah. Risking it.' There was more silence, and their hiding place was cool and hazy. ‘And music,' said Andrew quietly, watching the blue smoke hanging beneath the dark rock. ‘Yeah,' said Fats, in the distance. ‘And music.' The river rushed on past the Cubby Hole.

Marketing Parker Pen Strategy

Parker Pen HistoryGeorge Safford Parker, the founder, had previously been a sales agent for the John Holland Gold Pen Company. He received his first fountain pen related patent in 1889. In 1894 Parker received a patent on his â€Å"Lucky Curve† feed, which was claimed to draw excess ink back into the pen body when the pen was not in use. The Lucky Curve feed was used in various forms until 1928. a Parker Frontier Ball-point Pen From the 1920s to the 1960s, before the development of the ballpoint pen, Parker was either number one or number two in worldwide writing instrument sales.In 1931 Parker created the Quink (â€Å"quick drying ink†) which eliminated the need for blotting. In 1941 the company developed the most widely used model of fountain pen in history (over $400 million worth of sales in its 30 year history) theParker 51. Manufacturing facilities were set up over the years in Canada, United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Mexico, USA, Pakistan, India, Germany (Osmia-P arker) and Argentina. Parker pens were frequently selected (often as favorite pens of the signers) to sign important documents such as the World War II armistices, and commemorative editions were sometimes offered.Quink refillsThe company bought retailer and catalog company Norm Thompson in 1973, and then sold it off in 1981. In 1976 Parker acquired Manpower just as the temporary staffing market was surging. In time Manpower provided more revenue than the pen business. A 1982 spinoff, Sintered Specialties, Inc., became SSI Technologies, a manufacturer of automotive sensors. A management buyout in 1987 moved the company headquarters to Newhaven, East Sussex, England which was the original location of the Valentine Pen Company previously acquired by Parker. In 1993 Parker was acquired by the Gillette Company, which already owned the Paper Mate brand, one of the best-selling  disposable ballpoints.Gillette sold the writing instruments division in 2000 toNewell Rubbermaid, whose own S tationery Division, Sanford, became the largest in the world owning such brand names as Rotring, Sharpie, Reynolds as well as Parker, PaperMate, Waterman and Liquid Paper. In July 2009 the 180 workers at Parker Newhaven got notice that the factory was to be shut down and the production moved to France.On 18 August 2009 Newell Rubbermaid Inc. announced that Janesville Wisconsin would close the remaining operations tied to Parker Pen and eliminate 153 jobs. The company said: â€Å"This decision is a response to structural issues accelerated by market trends and is in no way a reflection on the highly valued work performed by our Janesville employees over the years.† Newell Rubbermaid stated it will offer transitional employment services as well as severance benefits. More recently, Parker has abandoned traditional retail outlets in North America. While some Jotter pens may be found in retailers such as Office Depot, what little remains of the Parker line has been moved into ups cale â€Å"luxury† retailers, abandoning the entry level market.SWOTSWOT analysis is a structured planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. A SWOT analysis can be carried out for a product, place, industry or person. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective. The technique is credited to Albert Humphrey, who led a convention at the Stanford Research Institute in the 1960s and 1970s using data from Fortune 500 companies. The degree to which the internal environment of the firm matches with the external environment is expressed by the concept of strategic fit.Mission statementA mission statement is a statement of the purpose of a company, organization or person, its reason for existing. The mission statement should guide the  actions of the org anization, spell out its overall goal, provide a path, and guide decision-making. It provides â€Å"the framework or context within which the company's strategies are formulated.† It's like a goal for what the company wants to do for the world.For most of a century we will design the world's most diverse and innovative range of pens. We shall engineer the most innovative and unique pen the world has ever seen (thus irritating hell out of Sheaffer). Then, decades later, while the Chinese are still making are still making the an authentic version of the pen and selling it for $30, we'll sell a copy of the cheap copies that people made back in the forties and sell it for hundreds of dollars.Vision StatementsVision Statements also define the organizations purpose, but this time they do so in terms of the organization's values rather than bottom line measures (values are guiding beliefs about how things should be done.) The vision statement communicates both the purpose and values of the organization. For employees, it gives direction about how they are expected to behave and inspires them to give their best. Shared with customers, it shapes customers' understanding of why they should work with the organization.Marketing Process Parker Pen selling product: Duofold Premier Sonnet Ingenuity UrbanDuofoldEmblem of excellence Since, 1921 Duofold has been iconic of the stunning craftsmanship and  heritage of Parker. Finished in precious metals, Duofold offers an exceptionally comfortable and luxurious writing experience thanks to its durable solid gold nib. Parker Duofold – the reference in fountain pen.PremierPrestige personified Flawlessly crafted using precious metals and a solid gold nib, Parker Premier is a prestigious, yet still contemporary choice with its modern, all-black design. Comfortable, precise and hand-assembled,Parker Premier offers an exclusive fine writing experienceSonnetPoetry in motion Timeless and elegant, Sonnet is hand assembled a nd checked for flawless quality. The solid gold nib gives high precision and exceptional writing comfort for every occasion, coupled with a stylish and classic design. Available in a range of finishes, the Sonnet  is a work of beauty, emblematic of Parker craftsmanshipInqenuityInnovative design Welcome to the new generation in pens. Innovative and modern, Parker Ingenuity intuitively adapts to your writing style in seconds for an effortlessly smooth, easy glide feeling, thanks to the latest Parker 5THTM Technology. The dynamic, standout design is right on-trend, making it  the perfect accessory to travel with you anywhereUrbanRewriting the RulesUrban's dynamic curved design offers a bold modern look that dares to be noticed. With a stainless steel nib, designed for both left and right hand writers, and Rollerball FreeInk Technology for an effortlessly smooth and confident writing experience, your inspiration is never cut short with Urban.

Teaching and presentation skills FOR NURSING AND SOCIAL WORK SKILLS Assignment

Teaching and presentation skills FOR NURSING AND SOCIAL WORK SKILLS - Assignment Example I will evaluate and analyse my teaching practice using SWOT analysis in order to understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of my teaching practice. The first stage of Gibbs Model is description which requires me to describe the situation or event I dealt with. I was required to deliver a lesson using teaching and presentation skills. The lesson I selected for this purpose was on Direct Payments. The aim of my lesson was to enable the students to explore the idea of Direct Payments and to provide them a guideline about how payments are arranged and supported within councils. The experience of teaching was quite new to me yet I decided to work hard. To build up confidence for the task I studied extensively and prepared attractive teaching aids. I studied all the important aspects of Direct Payments and prepared my notes for the lesson. Using these notes I made some colourful slides containing all the important points of the lesson and some diagrams showing the direct payment procedures. In order to make my teaching effective I also prepared the case study notes and handouts. I presented well to my peers, but I was very nervous due to stage fright. The first two minutes of the presentation were really hard since I was feeling anxiety. I was conscious about the facial expressions of my students who were in reality my peers. However, to hide my nervousness I kept my voice a bit loud and held my hands on the dais in order to appear calm and confident. In the beginning I was not quite sure about how the students and my evaluators felt about my lesson but with the passage of time I became more confident and delivered the whole lesson within the prescribed time. The response of my peers or students was quite encouraging which was evident from their high level of interest and good class participation. Their positive response made me feel more confident and self-assured. The third stage in Gibbs (1988) model of reflection is evaluation in which I am

See below Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

See below - Coursework Example Bait and switch becomes unlawful when the seller is not able to or declines to offer the advertised commodity to the buyer, does not avail required quantity of the commodity to the customer, or fails to deliver or commit to deliver the commodity within a reasonable time after an order is placed. In the case however, there is no sale of goods scenario between the shop and the sales personnel and no advertisement at a low price with the aim inducing the other party to a more expensive product. Further, the commission rate does not relate to customers. The situation, therefore, does not identify an unlawful bait and switch (Emerson 253). Set 2- b The case involves a college scenario in which a worker discovered money during a mass clean up. The college offered lockers to students but decided to do a clean up before changing its allocation arrangement for efficient record keeping. Students were asked to clear their property from their respective lockers but cleaners found some things, ma inly old and discarded items, in the lockers. While cleaning, Frank, one of the workers, discovered a small paper bag and found cash amounting to $ 10000 in bills. The college has demanded for the money while frank claims right over the cash and it is believed that the cash could be related to drug sales. The matter to be determined in the case is potential issues for identifying the party with a right over the money and involves whether the money is lost, mislaid, or abandoned property, and the difference between the concepts. The concept of lost property is identifiable and offers a solution to the rightful owner of the money. A property is termed lost if the owner â€Å"negligently, carelessly, or inadvertently leaves it† at a place (Cheeseman 792). In the case, the owner of the cash, presumably a student, was negligent because the institution adviced students to clear all their property from the lockers. Even though owners of some lockers could not be identified, the scho ol is not the owner because it did not know of the property’s existence and could have removed it of notified cleaners of its existence. The concept of lost property that confers ownership rights to whoever discovers a lost property. The money is therefore a lost property and Frank gains ownership (Cheeseman 792). Set 3- a Jake and Kate are members of a limited liability company that is member managed. Jake is a member of a three-person management team while Kate is not. The two are however actively involved in the management and entered into a contract on behalf of the company, each placing $ 1000 as deposit but the management team refused to ratify the contract. Members of a limited liability company have rights and obligations of the members. As a member of the management team, Jake has a right to operate and create contracts on behalf of the company while Kate has no right to engage in any activity on behalf of the company. The two members however have rights to be indemn ified for payments made on behalf of the company. Both members have obligations to be loyal to the company, and to ensure duty of care to the company. In addition, Jake had an obligation to perform fiduciary duties (Cheeseman 662-665). Set 4- a Lorna operates a sole proprietorship business but the enterprise has a separate name, telephone numbers, and account number. She operates the business as a separate entity from her personal life and has stated that the business

Types of Divorce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

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Coping with Change at the Workplace Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Coping with Change at the Workplace - Essay Example Some of the different kinds of changes that characterize most professional organizations are changes in systems, processes, and people. Resistance is a natural by-product of change and it is important to understand the various causes of resistance so as to be able to cope with it and overcome it effectively. The actual process of managing change can be divided into three phases: unfreezing change, and refreezing. First, one needs to accept the need for change and also have a desire to bring about the change. In the second phase, the actual implementation of the change can take place. In the final phase, review and reinforcement of the change takes place.Any business is characterized by change. In the course of a professional career, an individual is likely to encounter change very often. In some instances, individuals may also be called upon to predict the occurrence of change and initiate steps to deal with it. Individuals who are change-oriented are likely to gain professional succ ess and a competitive edge over their competitors. Thus a person's success at the workplace is often tied to his or her readiness to act as an agent of change.This report begins by detailing out the various kinds of change that an individual is likely to face in an organization. Resistance is an inevitable aspect of change and therefore the next section of the report highlights the reasons behind resistance to change and the steps that can be taken to overcome it. Having detailed out the types of change and the barriers to change, the next section of the report logically deals with out how change can be dealt with systematically and effectively. Understanding the Kinds of Change Change in any organization is generally triggered by certain key business drivers. So, to start with, it is important to understand the different kinds of change that one is likely to face in an organization. Some of the kinds of changes that an individual is likely to encounter are: Changes in systems Changes in processes Changes in people These different kinds of change have been detailed out below along with examples of each kind. Change in systems: This kind of change generally signals a modification in technology or products. It includes "enhancements to an existing product or the development of completely new systems" (Bal 115). A change in systems is generally made in an attempt to ensure that the "right kind of technology, systems, and machinery are in place to meet the needs of customers" (Ibid). Change in processes: This kind of change entails the way in which an organization operates to meet the needs of its customers. Here the various processes involved in getting products or services to customers are critically examined and changes are initiated to add value to every step of the process. Internal processes are aligned with the needs of customers so that there is a dramatic improvement in the overall efficiency of the organization. Process changes include both people and technology so that products are delivered more effectively and efficiently to customers. Change in people: Change in people can refer to any number of things. It may refer to a change in the management of a company as may happen in the case of mergers and acquisitions. It can also refer to providing "technical training to ensure changes in systems can be managed by operators" (Bal 115). People are the driving forces that dictate the success of an organization. While systems and processes may provide "incremental change" (Bal 116), a motivated and efficient workforce can bring about "sustained improvement" (Ibid). While processes and technologies may become obsolete after a period of

Auditing Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Auditing - Coursework Example The last day of business came during 1998. During that period, Enron diversified its operation by taking part in the water sector that culminated in the creation of the Azurix Corporation. The business had part of its stocks floated in the NYSE during June 1999. a) They established numerous limited liability special purpose entities and allowed Enron to transfer the liability to their target so that it would not appear in its accounts. The decision enabled Enron uphold a sophisticated and robust stock price that kept increasing therefore maintaining its essential investments rating and credit grade. Such a fraudulent approach ensured that Enron did not report its losses and debts, besides its financial statements did not report losses and debts. Enron used a number of fraudulent accounting malpractice, bewildering, and deception to cover frauds that were supposed to be reported on their financial information. The entries depicted Enron as the most profitable organization contrary to the truth of the matter. In fact, that built the pressure to maintain the trend of profitability as earlier portrayed. For this reason, it meant that corporate officers were required to perform more financial fraud each quarter to retain the illusion The hiring of Andrew Fastow as the Chief Financial Officer by Jeffrey Skilling who was the Chief Operating Officer played a significant role in the crafting and implementation of the entire scheme. The CFO had a good understanding of burgeoning deregulated market, which the COO had the thirst to exploit. Therefore, Andrew Fastow began the establishment of several limited liabilities with the special purposes entity. Although Andrew Fastow was the chief architect in the execution, other people individual who collaborated in hiding offshore losses were instrumental in the execution as well. Yes, I think that Enron manipulated the prices and the availability of power in the state of

Western civilization.The political theory of John Locke and Jean Essay

Western civilization.The political theory of John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau - Essay Example This is a study about the political theory of John Locke and the political theory of Jean Jacques Rousseau. In addition, the study will highlight and discuss how the thinking of Locke and Rousseau fit into the period of Enlightenment. The study will start with a discussion of the political theory of Locke, followed by a discussion of Rousseau’s political theory, and then end with how their thinking fits into the period of enlightenment. The political theory of John Locke John Locke can be regarded as one of the founding fathers of liberal philosophy, which lays emphasis on limited government and individual rights. In his arguments about the state of nature, Locke noted that nature is characterized by scarcity of things to eat or wear. Therefore, human beings must work extremely hard to get food to eat and other necessities. Two things happen as a result of this hard work; first, a person survives. Secondly, a person creates property by mixing labor with the natural resources t o create food, shelter, and cloth (Bode 4). Locke argued that problems might arise with property since it can be detached from the individual. In the state of nature, many people may be willing to solve the problem of scarcity by snatching a person’s property. Through this struggle, the idea of government comes into being. Locke hypothesized that men entered the society with the ultimate aim of preserving their property. People sacrifice their freedom in the state of nature and join others in a protective government... God does not choose kings; people invent kings to protect property. On the limitations of government, people have the authority to replace leaders if they fail to perform their duties as expected (Bode 6). The political theory of Jean Jacques Rousseau Jean Rousseau can be regarded as a significant figure in the development of philosophical thought in the eighteenth century. He was one of the scholars who developed the political theory, which would later influence the age of revolutions, especially the French and American Revolutions. On the nature and society, Rousseau noted that man’s natural state could be more preferred than the civil or social state. In his Discourse on equality, Rousseau argues that man tends to appear as the solitary salvage and lives a carefree life (Qvortrup 76). In his classical work on political theory, The Social Contract (1762), Jean notes that ‘Man was born free, but is everywhere in chains’. This expressed his belief that the society has corrupted man. He argues that people recognize a general will, which is collective (Qvortrup 78). This general will should represent the common good or the interest of the public. All citizens should take part and show commitment to the general good. This should happen even if it means that people should act against their personal or private interests. For example, people may support a political party that proposes to impose heavy taxes if they have high income. This would not hurt as the taxation will bring considerable benefits to all persons. To Rousseau, therefore, a loyal citizen should not put their private interests first. He argued that when people do not put their personal interests first, equality and

History of scientific method Essay Example for Free

History of scientific method Essay Francis Bacon was born in London in 1561 and died 1626. He ended up being a great philosopher, an author, and the inventor of the inductive method, also known for advancing the scientific method. He was the second son of Sir Nicholas Bacon and Lady Anne Cooke Bacon. Lady Anne was the second wife of Sir Nicholas. Sir Nicholas was also the Lord Keeper of the Seal at the time, which is a job that would eventually be held by his son, Francis Bacon. Bacon started going to Trinity College in Cambridge in 1573, when he was only 11 years old. He completed his course of study there only two years later. After that he went to the school that his older brother, Anthony, went to which was Grey’s Inn, where he studied law after his father died in 1579. Bacon’s involvement in high politics started in 1584. He always aimed to change the thoughts of natural philosophy and tried to get himself in high political offices. However, Queen Elizabeth tended not to trust him very much especially he refused to agree to her request of funds for the Parliament. He decided to vote to allow the subsidies but to double the amount of time it takes to deliver them. â€Å"Bacon had emphasized the necessity of scientific improvement and progress. Since he failed to secure for himself a position in the government, he considered the possibility of giving up politics and concentrating on natural philosophy. It is no wonder, then, that Bacon engaged in many scholarly and literary pursuits in the 1590s†(Klein). In 1597, he published his first book, the seminal version of his Essays, though his income was still fairly unstable. I find it fairly humorous that Bacon planned to marry a rich widow named Lady Hatton, but was unable to because a man named Sir Edward Coke was courting her. In 1617, Francis Bacon was made the new Keeper of The Seal, and was made lord chancellor the next year and received the title of Baron Verulam. In 1620, Bacon wrote the book â€Å"Novum Organum,† which means â€Å"New Method. † He was the leading advocate of the inductive reasoning method. Inductive reasoning is the process that draws on the particulars of sensory evidence to form general principles(Fiero). He used inductive reasoning in attempts to improve the errors made by both Plato and Aristotle. â€Å"Aristotelian philosophy was based on a set of rules that governed the consistency between conclusion and a foundation that was accepted as unquestioningly true; Bacon’s philosophy was the opposite†(Soibelman). Bacon turned his back on Aristotle and Classical science. He looked to remove errors by blind obedience of religions and traditional authorities(Fiero). Bacon was also warned against four â€Å"Idols† that make clear and objective thoughts difficult. The first he called The Idols of the Tribe, which are deceptive things inherent in the mind of man, and so the entire human race has it. These may include that people always try to fit things into patterns, even if it isn’t actually in a pattern. They see what they want to see according to their beliefs because their six senses are flawed and are able to fool them(Terry). The next he called The Idols of the Cave, which are in the minds of each individual and are based on the individual education and background of each person. The â€Å"Cave† represents the mind. The person’s thoughts wander, some peoples thoughts wander more than others, through the cave of the mind. They can be changed by the person’s mood, education, background and habit. People will usually look back on conclusions they have learned before or come up with themselves and they will tend to favor the ideas that support those previous ideas. Individuals also tend to favor different things because of their background or education. For example, some will favor differences, while others favor similarities. People will see different things depending on their interests as well. The mathematician will see math and numbers in all things, like the T. V. character Charlie Eppes from the show Numb3rs. The chemist will see chemistry in all things and the architect tends to see shapes in all things. The third he called The Idols of the Marketplace, and that one was based on the verbal communication of people. It is based primarily on bad word choices and misunderstanding of others. He believed that, though people like to think they use words to express their thoughts on a subject, the words would replace thoughts all together. â€Å"†¦Words arise as substitutes for thoughts and men think they have won an argument because they have out-talked their opponents†(Hall). Words can have several different meanings. For example, the word light could mean the opposite of heavy or it could mean something that illuminates, such as the sun, a lamp, fire, or a beacon. Another example of this is the word like. Like could mean to be similar to, or it could mean to have a preference for something. Words can frequently work against what the speaker is really trying to say. They can make things seem different than what was really intended. The last was known as The Idols of the Theatre, which are hindrances caused by philosophy, tradition, theology, and science. Since these idols are practiced and defended by the well-educated people, the less-educated people tend to just accept their validity without question. This is how cults and even some religions have started. A person will take a single verse or small group of verses out of the Bible completely out of context and build a whole religion off of it. Using that method, a person could make the Bible say whatever they wanted it to say. The really sad part about that is that those cults will often still see themselves as, and call themselves Christians. People who follow these ways of thinking have children and grandchildren who just accept it as truth because it’s all they’ve known, so it becomes part of their way of life and influences their way of thinking. In 1626, Francis Bacon decided to try an experiment on how the cold would affect the decay of meat. So he bought a chicken and stuffed it with snow. Unfortunately, he caught a cold, which developed into pneumonia, and he died on April 9th. Bacon was the man that set up the basis that let people like Galileo come up with the theories that they did. Before this peoples’ philosophies were based on pure faith and, actually, had very little to do with logical reasoning. He was the guy that disagreed with the way things were and pointed them out. Descartes probably would not have gotten along with him very well. Even today, we base the majority of our philosophies on reasoning rather than just human belief. Actually, Bacon’s Four Idols are, even still, good things to watch out for and avoid. They do pose serious problems even if you aren’t a philosopher. There is a lot to be learned from the way Bacon looked at the world. Works Cited

How Technology Advancement has influenced Computer Ethics Essay Example for Free

How Technology Advancement has influenced Computer Ethics Essay The 21st century has been dubbed †the digital age† because of the monumental achievements witnessed in the Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) fields, which have impacted every aspect of human life. The internet has become one of the most lucrative Information Technology (IT) tool which has made communication and exchange of information faster and efficient. Consequently, it has transformed how people consume information. In spite of its benefits, the internet has led to a severe decline in ethics among internet users (Salman, Saad Ali, 2013). The widespread use of internet has led to increased and sophisticated crimes, terrorism and wars (May, 2004). This essay will be based on a case involving hackers who hold Personal Computers (PC) hostage. It will outline the potential computer ethics issues associated with holding computers hostage. It will also highlight methods that computer users could use to prevent this type of attack. Moreover, it will highlight governmental legislations that could be enacted against this type of attack. Ethics is defined as the principles governing both right and wrong among free humans (free moral agents), whose actions are influenced by their freedom of choice (Soskolne, n.d). Advancement of technology presents both positive and negative impacts to a society. Technological advancements have led to a rapid decline in social and ethical issues regarding to security and privacy of personal information (Shieh Tanthuwanit, 2004). One of the major forms of social ethic violation includes hackers holding personal computers hostage, and hence infringing on both privacy and security of targeted computer users. This in turn compromises information security concerned with the protection of information confidentiality, availability  and integrity (Gordon Loeb, 2002) According to Perlroth (2014), cyber criminals have devised a new mechanism of freezing computers through malwares, and then demanding a steep ransom pay before unlocking them. Perlroth (2014) adds that computer owners throughout the world have fallen victims of this malicious attack, which denies them access to their personal computers and files stored on them. The hackers instead serve them with a â€Å"pop up† message demanding some ransom payment before their computers could be unlocked. Hackers holding computers hostage infringe on personal privacy, and gain access to sensitive information regarding online bank accounts, security passwords and other highly private information (Perlroth, 2014). Security systems and other general-purpose computers are also vulnerable to this kind of attack because, if these hackers can break into users’ accounts even from [GoDaddy] domains to create malicious subdomains through which they send mails to target clients (Perlroth, 2014), then every computer system is vulnerable to such attacks. This means that not only is the privacy of the computer users compromised, but also the security of their data and the general security of their computer systems (The Canadian Press, 2014). In order to prevent hackers from holding computers hostage, computers users should double check their domain names, user accounts or web addresses before responding to any email clicks. In line to this, Perlroth (2014) observes that: Hackers were breaking into GoDaddy users’ accounts with stolen passwords and setting up what is known as a subdomain †¦ hackers would set up the Web address†¦ then send emails to customers †¦ because it appeared to come from a trusted source – was more likely to lure clicks. Likewise also, users should either contact an IT professional to help them remove the ransomware incase infected, or they can wipe their computers clean through formatting them and reinstalling new Operating system as well (Perlroth, 2014). In addition, professional network security personnel should be consulted in order to ensure that passwords, firewalls, authentications and proxy servers among other security utilities are properly set and enhanced to fortify system security (French, 2012) Although the hunting, catching and eventual convicting of these hackers has not yet achieved substantial success (Perlroth, 2014), the government should enact privacy laws that pronounce higher penalty for perpetrators of personal privacy and security infringement so that their benefit is less in value when compared to pending punishment. Some of the active laws that have been enacted to curb this tragedy include the Computer Fraud and Abuse Acts which cover the use of malicious codes including worms, viruses, and other malicious programs intended to alter or damage data in a user’s computer (Title 18 U.S.C Section 1030). Another legislation that could counter this attack is the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act (NIIPA) which criminalizes the transmission of a command, program, or code with malicious intentions [like holding a compute hostage] (Colombell, 2002). In conclusion, when hackers hold computers hostage, they infringe on the personal privacy and security of personal information. During the period when the computers are held hostage, computer users not only risk having their sensitive information accessed and sometimes damaged, but they are also financially exploited in order to have their computers unlocked. Some of the feasible strategies of avoiding this attack include exercising a lot of care regarding the types of sites visited and clicked, and avoiding sending payments to hackers whenever a computer is hacked. Instead seek immediate assistance from a professional who will help you to manually get rid of the ransomware without paying the hackers off. References Colombell, M., R. (2002). The Legislative Response to the Evolution of Computer Viruses. 8 RICH. J.L. TECH. 18. Retrieved from http://jolt.richmond.edu/v8i3/article18.html French, A., M. (2012). A Case Study on E-Banking Security – When Security Becomes Too Sophisticated for the User to Access Their Information. Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce, 17(2). Gordon, L., Loeb, M. (2002). The Economics of Information Security Investment. ACM Transactions on Information and System Security, 5 (4), 438–457. May, M. (2004). Federal Computer Crime Laws. SANS Institute. Retrieved from http://www.sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/legal/federal-computer-crime-laws-1446? Show=federal-computer-crime-laws-1446cat=legal Perlroth, N. (2014, April 22). Hackers holding your PC to ransom. Deccan Herald. Retrieved from http://www.deccanherald.com/content/297460/hackers-holding-your-pc-ransom.html. Salman, A., Saad, S., Ali, M., N. (2013). Dealing with Ethical Issues among Internet Users: Do We Need Legal Enforcement? Asian Social Science, 9(8): 3-8. Shieh, M., Tanthuwanit, K. (2004). Privacy and Security: Internet Hacking and Surveillance. Retrieved from http://www.ethicapublishing.com/CH16.pdf Title 18 U.S.C Section 1030, internet, http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/1030.html Soskolne, C., L. (n.d). Workplace Health and Safety Information: Ethical Issues. Retrieved from http://ilocis.org/documents/chpt19e.htm The Canadian Press (2014, April 14). Computer hacking expert says more bad news to come from Heartbleed. Edmonton Journal. Retrieved from

Original Aims of the European Community

Original Aims of the European Community This paper considers the original aims of the European Economic Community on its formation under the Treaty of Rome 1957 as a background to the transformation of the EEC into the European Community. A discussion of the subsequent development of the EC thereafter forms the main body of this work and the staged development of the EC through subsequent amending treaties provides the focus of the analysis offered. A brief historical survey of the European Economic Community The European Community of 2008 sees its origins in the six member European Economic Community formed by the ratification of the Treaty of Rome in 1957. The signatory member states were France, Germany, Italy and the Benelux states. It is submitted at the outset that the EEC was founded largely on fear. It is hard to appreciate from the perspective of 2008, exactly what motivated the founding fathers of the Treaty of Rome to pursue integration because the world has moved on, but in the 1950s the base motivation was manifest and pressing. The continent of Europe had endured two catastrophic World Wars in the space of one generation. War had ravaged each and every country of Europe, and in particular the founding member states. The architects of the Treaty of Rome, including Italian Prime Minister Antonio Segni, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman and French civil servant Jean Monnet, while undoubtedly harbouring in the back of their minds lofty notions of improving the economic and social conditions of European citizens, were above all preoccupied with the goal of reducing the chances of a third world war starting on the continent. As stated, this fear is difficult to understand in the context of the early twenty first century and this is a testament to the greatest achievement of the European Economic Community and its successor organisations. The political and economic worlds of the major European powers are now so inextricably linked and integrated within the European Union that the notion of armed conflict between those powers has become almost unthinkable. It is argued that this is precisely what Segni, Schuman and Monnet were striving for above all other considerations. All the architects of European integration had suffered great personal and family losses as a result of the two most appalling wars ever to be fought in the modern world. Their most important and profound legacy is that their grandchildren and great grandchildren have been spared a similar experience. The substance of the integrationist treaty that preceded the Treaty of Rome is certainly no coincidence. The European Coal and Steel Treaty was signed in 1951. Why? Because coal and steel were the two great industries of twentieth century war. On the same day as the Treaty of Rome was signed, EURATOM was also signed, and the European Atomic Energy Community was created in order to institute cooperation and joint research that would presumably avoid an imbalance and power and knowledge which could threaten an unthinkable atomic war in Europe. The preamble to the Treaty of Rome sets out a broad range of aims and objectives cast in terms of political, economic and social goals, but make no mistake, the raw, basic and original aim of the European Economic Community was the avoidance of future war in Europe. At a certain level, buried deep in the political and institutional foundations of the European Community since its foundation under the Treaty on European Union (popularly known as the Treaty of Maastricht), the overarching goal of the avoidance of conflict and preservation of harmony in Europe remains to this day. The fear that proved the overwhelming catalyst for European integration underwent a metamorphosis over the latter decades of the twentieth century. The fear of conflict between Western European powers was replaced by a fear of the threat from behind the Iron Curtain and the spectre of the Soviet Union. The desire to bind together and integrate more fully came to be fuelled by the challenge presented by the Soviet Bloc, and one of the reasons why the Soviet threat dissipated with the break up of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s was because the citizens of Eastern Europe looked at their counterparts in the West and became dissatisfied with their own lot in life. By the time of the break up of the Soviet Union, the fear that held the European Community together had changed again. Now the preoccupation was binding together for strength and protection against the rising â€Å"Tiger Economies† of Japan and the Pacific Rim. Today, the EC is concerned with maintaining and enhancing its position with an increasingly competitive global economy. ‘Fear therefore, in the form of pragmatic reactions to political and economic conditions around the world, has held the European Community together, and motivated to bind and integrate itself ever more closely, since the day the Treaty of Rome was signed on 25 March 1957. Seven years earlier on May 9 1950 Robert Schuman declared: Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements, which first create a de facto solidarity.† It is submitted that Schuman would be content with the European Union of 2008. It has bumped through various potholes and progress has not been either smooth or rapid, but it has fulfilled its original and overwhelmingly most important objective in exemplary fashion. Just to prove the thrust and theme of this introduction, the point that Schuman chose to make immediately following the above statement is reproduced below: The coming together of the nations of Europe requires the elimination of the age-old opposition of France and Germany. Any action taken must in the first place concern these two countries.† From the European Economic Community to the European Community Steiner succinctly describes the development of the European Community in her text, EU Law. The EEC enlarged in stages over the decades after its creation. The United Kingdom, Denmark and Ireland joined in 1973, Greece joined in 1981 and Spain and Portugal acceded to membership in 1986. Austria, Finland and Sweden joined in 1995. This was the size and state of the European Economic Community when it underwent transition to the European Community under the superstructure of the European Union in 1992. Ten further states, mainly from Central and Eastern Europe (including Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic) joined in 2004 and the last states to join were Bulgaria and Romania in 2007. In the 1980s there was consistent pressure to embark on moves towards deeper and closer integration in Europe. The signing of the Single European Act in 1986 saw the Community reform and improve its institutions and decision making processes with a view to supporting such deeper integration and in 1989 two intergovernmental conferences were held (under procedures established by the Single European Act) to consider the issues of political union and economic and monetary union respectively. These conferences resulted in a new treaty, the Treaty on European Union (The Maastricht Treaty), which was signed on 7 February 1992. The 1992 TEU introduced substantial reforms and amendments to the original EEC Treaty and created the legal and political entity of the European Union. Perhaps one of the most profound, but simple and easily overlooked changes instituted by the Maastricht Treaty, was the renaming of the ‘European Economic Community as the ‘European Community. This small change had massive implications. It signalled the Communitys intention to move on from its original exclusively economic boundaries and develop far reaching new competencies in other socio-economic, social, cultural and political spheres. Building on the EEC: The original aims of the new European Community With specific reference to the title to this work, the preamble to the Treaty on European Union sets out the basic aims and objectives of the European Community at the point of its creation. These aims, which are formally summarised as stated objectives in Article B of the TEU, include in particular: attachment to the principles of liberty, democracy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and of the rule of law† to deepen the solidarity between their peoples while respecting their history, their culture and their traditions† These fundamental objectives underpin the legal order and socio-political foundations of the European Union and have been articulated in EC law and in the judgments of the European Court of Justice in seminal cases such as C11/70 Internationale Handelsgesellschaft mbH v Einfuhrund Vorratsstellle fur Getreide und Futtermittel8 since the creation of the European Economic Community. The preamble to the 1992 Treaty also pledged: to enhance further the democratic and efficient functioning of the institutions so as to enable them better to carry out, within a single institutional framework, the tasks entrusted to them† It is clear that the architects of the nascent European Community realised that the modus operandi of the EC, its institutions and legal and political processes would need to be extensively reformed and refined, even beyond its new constitution, if it was to be capable of functioning effectively to administrate and govern a more deeply integrated union of states (which was anticipated to grow rapidly, and of course did grow rapidly, over the following years). The 1992 preamble also pledged: to achieve the strengthening and the convergence of their economies and to establish an economic and monetary union including, in accordance with the provisions of this Treaty, a single and stable currency† This objective sees the EC articulate its specific aims in regard to the economic integration of the member states and confirmation of the ECs intention to take this integration to a new and deeper level in the shape of monetary union and the creation of a single currency, the Euro, which has of course now been achieved. Other pledges stated in the TEU preamble include: to promote economic and social progress for their peoples, within the context of the accomplishment of the internal market and of reinforced cohesion and environmental protection, and to implement policies ensuring that advances in economic integration are accompanied by parallel progress in other fields† to establish a citizenship common to nationals of their countries† It is submitted that progress has been made on each of these aims to a greater or lesser extent. For example, the Single Market project has been assiduously protected and the concept of EU citizenship and the rights attached thereto have been advanced by the European Community and it has received cogent support in this regard from the European Court of Justice in proactive rulings that have put flesh on the bones, and in some purposive decisions a few more bones on the flesh, of EC law: see inter alia, C- 46 48/93 Brasserie du Pecheur SA v Germany and R v Secretary of State for Transport ex parte Factortame (and for comment see Contravening EC law: The liability of the Member State (1996)). As the Court of Justice held in Rudy Grzelczyk v Centre Public dAide Sociale dOttignes-Louvain-la-Neuve, the status of citizenship of the European Union: is destined to be the fundamental status of nationals of the member states, enabling those who find themselves in the same situation to enjoy t he same treatment in law irrespective of their nationality, subject to such exceptions as are expressly provided for†. Other pledges made by the European Community on its creation include commitments: to implement a common foreign and security policy including the eventual framing of a common defence policy, which might in time lead to a common defence, thereby reinforcing the European identity and its independence in order to promote peace, security and progress in Europe and in the world† to facilitate the free movement of persons, while ensuring the safety and security of their peoples, by including provisions on justice and home affairs in this Treaty† to continue the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe, in which decisions are taken as closely as possible to the citizen in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity† Again, some progress has been made on all these fronts, although advances on the CFSP have proved unsurprisingly controversial and difficult to achieve, certainly in comparison with development in the free movement of persons, which has grown from strength to strength after the marriage of the concepts of EC workers and EC persons within the unified legal status of EU citizen. Successive Treaties It is true to say that the EC lost momentum after the Treaty on European Union. The subsequent Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) and thereafter the Treaty of Nice (2001) added layers of reform designed to expedite progress towards the achievement of the ECs aims, but did so only in a piecemeal and relatively half-hearted fashion in comparison to the giant leap forward taken by the Maastricht Treaty and even in comparison to the advances of its predecessor the Single European Act. The Amsterdam Treaty made some innovative changes and improvements in the EU fields of the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Justice and Home Affairs but its substantive amendments of the Treaty of Rome and EC law were lacklustre and minimalist. The Treaty of Nice was forced on the member states, reorganising and rationalising the EC/EU institutions to facilitate their more efficient administration and operation after the Unions contemplated enlargement to 27 member states, but the Nice Treaty fell short of achieving its full range of proposed substantive reforms of the Treaty of Rome because they proved too controversial. Political development became patchy, sporadic and hesitant as a Euro-sceptical agenda gained influence and support within Europe. This culminated in the rejection of the draft Constitutional Treaty in 2005. Although the integrationist lobby has since gained the upper hand again in the form of the Lisbon Treaty. This issue is discussed in more detail in the fol lowing section. The Development of the European Community: An Overview The European Community has come a long, long way since its beginnings as the European Economic Community, which saw the introduction of a common market and free movement of goods between six Western European states in the 1950s. In 1992, when the European Community was formed from the member states of the EEC and took its place under the superstructure implemented by the Treaty on European Union, various aims and objectives were set out and progress has been made in the intervening years towards the fulfilment of all of these aims to some extent. This progress has come in the form of the staged, incremental development of the Community by means of the Treaties that followed Maastricht. Many of the reforms introduced have been forced upon the Community by its growth from 15 largely homogenous Western European member states when the Community was created in 1992 to a sprawling organisation of 27 member states, including many from Eastern Europe by 2007. That is not to say the picture is entirely positive however, The Treaties of Amsterdam and Nice and now the Lisbon Treaty, have one thing in common and that is that none of them went as far or as deep as the integrationists within the Community wanted. The effect of this has been to slow the progress of convergence within Europe and such was inevitable given the strong Euro-sceptic lobby in various parts of the Community. One manifestation of this was the failure of the Constitutional Treaty, which was rejected by France in May 2005 at a national referendum by a 54.68 per cent majority, and by the Netherlands just days later by a 61.6 per cent majority. The United Kingdoms shadow Foreign Secretary of the day, the Conservative Dr Liam Fox, offered an unequivocal opinion as to the fate of the draft Constitutional Treaty: I may no longer practice medicine, but I can tell a corpse when I see one and this constitution is a case for the morgue if ever I saw one this is a dead constitution.† It is a testament to the commitment, drive and determination of those seeking the fulfilment of the European Communitys base objectives that Dr Foxs confident predictions ultimately turned out to be false. The Lisbon Treaty represents the reincarnation of the draft Constitutional Treaty in all but name, disposing only of peripheral matters such as the Union anthem and flag but retaining almost all the crucial institutional and legal process reforms in word for word, line by line form. Moreover, given that the European Community and its supporters are now wise to the folly of actually allowing national populations to decide on their own future (a lesson that UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is learning the hard way), it is submitted that the Lisbon Treaty will not meet the fate of its almost identical predecessor. The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty will constitute another significant step towards the achievement of the ECs goals. In addition to political reluctance to invest more and more power centrally in the European Community body, the expansion of the Community has itself acted as a brake on further and deeper integration, as new challenges and issues relating to the accession of so many disparate and in some cases fragile new member states have fallen to be confronted. The expanding membership of the EC has thus frustrated the aims of the most passionate integrationists. Time will tell whether this proves to be a temporary effect or a permanent obstacle to the goal of a federal United States of Europe, which is not so proudly or overtly promulgated in 2008 as it was in the early 1950s, but which has been reflected in the Treaty of Rome and the Treaty on European Union by direct implication if not express commitment. Concluding Comments In closing, it is appropriate to refer back to the title to this work, which asked for a critical analysis of the development of the European Community since its creation in 1992 in terms of the degree of achievement of its original aims. The fact is that the EC remains ‘work in progress. While progress has been certainly made almost across the board to a greater or lesser extent, the institution still falls short of the ultimate fulfilment of those objectives set out in the Treaty on European Union. This is unsurprising, given the sheer enormity of the task and the difficulties that have confronted integrationists have also proved entirely predictable. It remains to be seen whether the European Community will ever achieve the complete satisfaction of its ambitious agenda, but one thing is certain. The European Community continues to fulfil its first, most fundamental and overwhelmingly most important role and that is the preservation of peace and stability between its member states. For this reason and this reason alone, the European Community has proved a great success, despite its many detractors.