Pream: BBC summary

Summary of BBC article

“The app that lets you pay to control another person's life”, Will Smale reports that in the present age, social media applications have been developed gradually such as Facebook, TikTok and Twitter. Unlike other apps, NewNew offers consumers a chance to control a person's life by making decisions and watching the consequences. Developed by Los Angeles-based Courtne Smith, NewNew is currently in pre-full release stage. This app is designed to create a special bond between content creators and their followers. NewNew creators may post their question with an option of two answers via video clips. Then, their followers will pay to vote as many times as they want. Although NewNew is supported by many investors, its pros and cons are still a controversial topic. While this app may create a strong connection between creators and their followers, it is possible that some bonds can be toxic as the NewNee creator may go to extreme lengths to attract votes from their followers. 

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Response to BBC article

Nowadays, there are many social media apps for people to choose such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. All of them provide different features in order to attract app users’ attention. Unlike other apps, NewNew offers its users a special opportunity to make a decision for their favourite content creators. In my opinion, NewNew is a good platform for content creators and their followers as its advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

          One of the good things about NewNew is that it allows the followers to give their opinions on the aspects of work or personal life by voting. For example, writers can post a question about what genre they should write about and ask their followers to make a decision. Participating in making these votes may strenghten the connection between followers and their favourite figures. As a result, it is likely to increase the support for NewNew creators from their fans.

          Moreover, NewNew is a new option for creators to introduce themselves and their works to the social media community. The more questions they post, the more interested they become in person. By using this social media platform, they are able to promote their work and get more income from their followers’ votes and NewNew’ s commission. So, NewNew may encourage creators to continue their works as they get more support financially and emotionally.

         However, there are some possibilities that creators may do extreme things to get more votes. Some posts may be inappropriate for users as the creators may do extreme things to get more votes from their followers. Unless all posted contents are reviewed thoroughly by the company, it may lead to many problems in the future.

          In conclusion, NewNew is like other applications where users have to weigh up pros and cons before using it. For me, I believe that NewNew will be the best app which connects the bond between creators and their followers in the aspect of work and lifestyle in the future. 

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Question for readers 

Do you think NewNew will be a popular app among content creators and their followers? 

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Reference 

Smale, W. (2021). The app that lets you pay to control another person's life. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57085557 .[ accessed 21 May 2021]

Nam: BBC summary

Summary of BBC article

            In “Indonesia: Climate change destroying world's oldest animal painting”(2021), it is reported that the ancient painting in a cave has been damaged by world’s climate change. This ancient painting , which can confirm the settlement of humans of the region, is 45,500 years old and is found on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. Damage happens when the temperature is increasing and weather patterns are changed such as many days for the dry season more than normal or heavy monsoon. Climate change affects salts in the cave. When the weather is hot, salts will be bigger on the cave wall and make some parts of the painting disappear. Now, a team of Australian and Indonesian researchers are trying to research the best way to save the painting urgently because the painting is getting worse everyday due to the increasing temperature. Maybe this painting will disappear with others.

 

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Response to BBC article

After I read the article, I realized that global climate change is still happening all the time. It’s a prolonged problem that our world has been facing for a long time. Many ways have been offered to solve  this problem like reducing our private car use and using clean energy. Clean energy is natural energy that can be renewable such as solar, wind and water energy. Everyone is trying to save our world from the global warming problem in different ways, but some ignore this problem too. I think If they realize the effects of the climate change problem, they will do something to fix this problem. Doing little things is better than doing nothing.

Unfortunately, the climate change problem is affecting our 45,500 years-old historical painting on the Island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. It shows that the climate change problem is coming closer and closer to human life. This ancient painting is important because it is the world’s oldest art depicting a figure. It shows the history of humanity. It helps us know what happened in the past. Humans like to research our origin and want to know where we came from and the daily life of humans in the past. We want to know the past to study things that happened and learn what we should do in the present. Sometimes the past is the best lesson that makes us better. This painting is invaluable and irreplaceable. It was drawn by humans since the settlement of humans in this region. That’s why we must protect this painting. We must maintain the painting for the next human generation. Our offspring should know and see history. In the future, the painting will be more invaluable than the present. 

Now, a team of Australian and Indonesian researchers are still finding the best way to preserve the painting urgently because the temperature is higher every single day and that can cause more damage to the painting. It is a challenging problem that is hard yet crucial to save the historical painting immediately. Hopefully, they can conserve the painting as soon as possible. 

           Lastly, everyone can help them to save the painting by doing something that can reduce the climate change problem. Although, the little things that we can do are tiny in the big world. If everyone does it, they will become the big thing that can affect the big world.

 

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Question for readers 

There are many ways to reduce the climate change problem. What is the way that you think that you can do in your daily life?

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Reference 

Indonesia: Climate change destroying world's oldest animal painting. (2021, May 20). BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57166995  

Emma: BBC summary

Summary of BBC article

According to “NFTs: Are they the future of the music industry?” by Alex Taylor (2021), NFTs (non-fungible tokens) have been increasing in popularity among musicians and fans. The technology enables the musicians to create more rare digital works and to claim full ownership on their creations, allowing them to sell their music for millions of dollars directly to their fans without sharing the profits with intermediaries such as distributors and publisher rights. While musicians enjoy higher earnings from their works, fans enjoy making profits from reselling NFTs to other fans as well. As NFTs are available online, fans must use crypto currency to buy it. However, some of them have complained about the inconvenient way of buying NFTs, and the selling practice permits fans who own more crypto currency to enjoy the rare music while preventing those who own less to afford it.

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Response to BBC article

While reading the news article, I got the idea on selling my artworks and songs through NFTs, because the technology is very promising. Although many people do not like new disruptive technologies, I am in favor of such innovations as they can improve our life. According to the news, I understand how hard those musicians are trying to make a living through what they love to do. As mentioned in the news, some of them used to be paid under what they could get. I think this is unfair for them as it was their talents and their efforts—without them we will not have good songs to make us feel better when we are sad or happy. I also love music, and I am thinking about turning my love of music into my second career. However, before reading about NFTs, I used to be hesitant about making a living through music as I did not know how to make enough profit to support my life.

I think that the problems about  copyright and ownership over musicians and artists’ works have been around since I was at school. At that time, a cassette tape was the piece of music that I could own and I bought lots of music albums of my favorite musicians. For a school student like me, 99 bath for a cassette tape was a bit expensive and it had taken me three months before I could save some money to buy a cassette tape. My friends would also experience the same thing, so sometimes we would make copies of our music albums and share in our group--that helped us save a lot of money. However, we changed our attitude  after we went to a live concert of our most favorite music band. During the concert, while we enjoyed they performance, the vocalist of the band asked his fans to stop copying their music albums and buying from unauthorized dealers. He said “If you love us and want us to make good songs for you guys, please buy our albums from authorized dealers. We have worked extremely hard to entertain you! By the time we released our albums, we had done lot of things for two years at least. We have done this because it is our intention to produce good music.” After the concert, I felt ashamed every time I wanted to copy their songs.

 

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Question for readers 

If you could create an innovation, what would it be?

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Reference 

Taylor, A. (2021, May 21). NFTs: Are they the future of the music industry?. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-57164487 

Jam: BBC summary

Summary of BBC article

In “Plastic bag charge to double to 10p in all shops in England” by BBC news (2021), it is reported that the price of plastic bags will be increased from 5p to 10 p for all businesses in the UK beginning on 21 May 2021. The rules which have to pay 5p to buy plastic bags was introduced in England in 2015, and this rule has proven very successful, which has reduced the number of plastic bags by around 95%. For this reason, the government wants to reduce the use of single-use carrier bags more in small and medium-sized businesses, so they will raise the prices of them. The main reason why the government extends the charge is protecting our natural environment and oceans. Therefore, customers will be asked to bring their own bags or buy a reusable bag made from 100% recyclable material.

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Response to BBC article

After I read the article “ Plastic bag charges double to 10p in all shops in England”,  I thought that this article is very interesting for me because I will study in the UK for the next year. Another reason this article is useful for many people in many countries.

Nowadays, many countries want to reduce the number of plastic bags because they want to protect the natural environment like the UK. The method which the government of the UK chose to follow is getting good results because the customer has to buy plastic bags for around 5p per bag. They want to reduce the number of single-use plastics more so, they will increase the prices of it, and they expect that it will reduce around 70% -80% in the future. I think that this method can be a role model for many countries because in the present the number of single-use plastics is increasing, which can damage the natural environment and resources. Plastic bags take a very long time to decompose, so the amount of trash in the world increases. And some trash was thrown into the river or the ocean, which can affect natural animals and it can affect humans in the future. 

In Thailand, the method which reduced the number of plastic bags was launched two years ago and the results of it tend to be good. People try to use their own bag to collect their products from shops. However, somebody who forgot to bring their own bag for shopping can buy plastic bags for around 1 baht or recycle bags to collect their products. For all of this, I think that it is a good idea to reduce the use of plastic bags to protect the environment and I think that people will recognize the natural problem and will decrease the use of single-use plastic which can damage the environment in the future.

 

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Question for readers 

Do you think it is a good method for reducing the use of plastic bags? 

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Reference 

Plastic bag charge to double to 10p in all shops in England. (2021, May 7). BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57014762

Pingpong: BBC summary

Summary of BBC article

    According to “Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire comes into effect” (2021), after 11 days conflict between Israel and Palestine which cause tragidy in which more than 250 people have lost their life in this conflict between two religions and nationality.  Finally, both agreed to a ceasefire on last Friday the 21th. The reporter revealed that fighting had started in Gaza city on 10 May after long head tension on both sides about East Jerusalem which is the holy land of Muslims and Jews. The news said Hamas began firing  after warning Israel. However Israel also fought back with more than 4,000 rockets fired to Gaza. After fighting between both Israel and Palestine. More than 200 civilians were killed.   
 

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Response to BBC article

Regarding the conflict between Palestine and Israel that just happened a week ago, from my perspective, it is about the religions and races by Palestinians who had been forced to live in Gaza, where most are Moslems  and Jews or Hebrews who live in the majority of the country and follow Judaism.  All of these  parties are trying to claim the Holy Land.  

Why does it matter? “Jeruzalem”, The Kingdom of Heaven and the land of  religions. The only one in the world if I could say.  Jeruzalem is not only the city of the Christians where Jesus lived and many people believe, with some scientific evidence, to keep the body of Jesus, but also the Jews also claim it is a land that was given them  by their god and it is called The Promised Land.  More than that, Moslems also believes that Jerusalem is the third most important city of their religion after Mecca and Madina in Saudi Arabia. This city has a very long history and is very unique unlike other cities in the world. For this reason, the land is always wanted and occupied by all of those three religions. 

My point of view is that the war and conflict would happen again and continue like the history of the Crusades war  in the part 1000 years ago that two major religions, which is when Christianity  and Islam were fighting and it was the longest war in mankind’s history.  I personally believe faith and believing are the most powerful motivations that could drive people to sacrifice their life for their god or fight for their belief whether it is right or wrong. For instance, there were many terrorist events in the US that they claimed the mission was do it for god (Allah). Anyways, all of these I just say it as a person from outside who might have many factors that could cause conflict and war. However, I hope and I wish that peace will be with all of Palestine and Israel soon.

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Question for readers 

What do you think about the future relationship between Israel and Palestine? 

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Reference 

Israel-Gaza ceasefire holds despite Jerusalem clash (2021, May 23). BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57195537 

Pueng : How overwork is literally killing us

Summary of BBC article

According to “How overwork is literally killing us” by Christine Ro (2021), long working hours have become global health crisis that causes health issues and dying. Overwork is defined by researcher of the journal Environment International as working 55 hours or more per week. The number of overworking people has increased since 2000. The trend is predicted to rise in the future. It affects differently on genders which male and Southeast Asia have the largest hours working. There are two impacts. One impact of overworking is chronic stress that affects health negatively. Then, it changes the behaviour and leads to decreasing quality of life. Ro suggested that the solution is balancing working time. It requires attention from the government , companies and workers to change the attitude as well as take an action in this crisis.

 

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Response to BBC article

    Overwork is one of the problems that affect people’s lives these days. It is defined as working more than 54 hours per week. The research shows that the number of overwork deaths has reached three-quarters of a million. It is caused by ischaemic heart disease,which is recognized as coronary heart disease involves narrowed arteries. Most people will not notice the problem until they suffer from the diseases. I believe that work is one part of our life. People should balance their time of working and living. I believe that the overwork issue could be solved by cooperating on many levels. I will discuss the cause, effect and possible solution of overwork.

Overwork causes different results and also affects different groups of people. The place and cultural working are important to understand. For instance, people in Southeast Asia have workers who work long hours. The major populations are in the low-middle income who need to work many hours and multiple jobs to cover their expenses. On the other hand, people in Europe seem to be the workers with the shortest hours. It is the impact of attitudes and the laws of lengthy holidays and rest periods. Although there is a law of working hours in Thailand, which is 48 hours per week, people still overwork. They believed that overwork could increase the work quality. It also shows that they are delicate and hardworking people.. Also the cost of living in Thailand is expensive compared to salary. People have to work long hours and several jobs to cover it. 

The main effect of overwork is clearly on mental and physical wellbeing. First of all, working for long hours can cause chronic stress. People who work for long hours regularly face pressure and stress. It leads to chronic stress and a range of health problems, including diabetes and heart disease. Next, overwork also changes the behaviour. It is important to maintain a good quality of life by eating healthy food such as good protein and vegetables, exercising, and having sufficient rest. Overwork will reduce all activities because of the lack of time. People tend to sleep less and eat unhealthy food. It also leads to health issues as well. For example, overworked people have little time to sleep and exercise then they would risk heart disease. I used to work late at night and eat frozen food from convenience stores. That also affects my sleeping routine that I have insufficient time to sleep.  It also leads to health issues as well. For example, overworked people have little time to sleep and exercise then they would risk heart disease. 

In my opinion, overwork is a large scale problem that needs several levels for a solution. The important key is work-life balance. It is a balanced schedule between work and life.  As individuals, workers need to change their attitude of working. People do not need to work long hours followed the traditional culture. People need to work smart and manage their work-life balance. There are many possible ways such as set work goal to finish each day and separate work from private life. Companies are also an important key aspect. The culture of working should consider flexible time and sharing work tasks with a team. Government should take responsibility for this issue. Some countries have limits on working hours by the laws. Government could provide infrastructure to support all people such as healthcare, education fees and pension. People would not need to work long hours and multiple jobs to cover their expenses. 

 

 

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Question for readers 

How do you know you are overworking?

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Reference 

Ro ,C. (2021, May 22). How overwork is literally killing us. BBC https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210518-how-overwork-is-literally-killing-us

Aom Tongchatra: Long working hours killing 745,000 people a year, study finds

Summary of BBC article

According to “Long working hours killing 745,000 people a year, study finds” (2021), working continuously for long hours can undermine our health mentally and physically. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that long working hours was one of the main causes for occupational disease. Further analysis suggested that these hard-working people could feel stressed, depressed, and anxious together with the development of unhealthy lifestyles such as poor-nutritious eating, lack of exercise and sleeping difficulty. Workers even experienced heart attacks or strokes due to the imbalance of working hours as the companies want greater performances from their employees. Working-from-home is encouraged, especially during the pandemic, but the past statistics showed that people were working overtime in a longer period compared to office-based. The trend would continue as the pandemic continues.
 

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Response to BBC article

I never realized that working hard for long hours would affect my life until I graduated and started my first job. When I was a student, my schedule was fixed. I knew which classes I had to attend and assignments I needed to complete. I could manage my time and coped with stress as I prepared myself for the upcoming examinations in advance. Reading until four a.m. and submitting the final project a minute before the deadline were one of the most stressful moments. However, when I started to work full-time as a business analyst, I worked for almost twelve hours a day, which harmed my physical and psychological health.

At eight a.m. in the morning, I turn on my computer and check email to see whether I have any meetings. Then I update the data and make a presentation. Throughout the day, any ad hoc work must be completed and my phone often rings. At the end of the day, I report the results to my boss. This is a routine of my working life. I usually eat breakfast and lunch next to my computer as I need to finish up all the work. I do not have time to exercise because I am already exhausted in the evening. Some nights I cannot even sleep because my brain is still thinking about the unfinished tasks and worrying about tomorrow's presentation. Even on Sunday, there is a report that I have to process and update to the team. The physiatrist, dermatologist, and psychiatrist are my favorite doctors. My work-life balance is ruined and I cannot re-balance by myself. Accepting the truth that I cannot handle the stress and seeking help from the doctors and colleagues, helps me pass the truma. I now realize the importance of work-life balance and the reason why we work as a team. 

I have learned how to work as an adult unlike a student. I learned that I should not sit in front of the computer for too long because my back and eyes will hurt. Physical exercise is necessary otherwise my muscles will be too weak, especially during this work-from-home period. Scheduling a time to rest is essential for a salarywoman like me because I do not want to take medicine for the rest of my life. Nevertheless, I appreciate all the work and projects I have done and experience I have received.  I believe that my effort will pay off in the future.

 

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Question for readers 

Does hard work lead to success ?

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Reference 

Long working hours killing 745,000 people a year, study finds. (2021,May 18). BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57139434 

Aom Nicha: UK's measurement for this holiday

Summary of BBC article

According to “We’ve booked two summer holidays for the same time” by Colletta Smith (2021), due to the Covid-19 situation, low and no-deposit booking have been offered by the hotels to make flexibility for the customers. As a consequence, plenty of customers booked two holidays for the same time. Lee and Louise Chambers, for example, will take their children on holiday to either Norfolk or the Canary Islands. They booked both destinations to ensure that they will go out for holiday. This causes many problems to the hotels. One chief commercial officer  encourages customers to give the hotel as much notice as possible while a general manager says that if customers cancel with notice, the hotel should be able to deal with it. This is considered a win-win situation. Additionally, the bigger challenge for the hotels is to impress  the customers so they come back the next year.

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Response to BBC article

The article ‘We've booked two summer holidays for the same time' reports about the strategies of hotels and customers for holidays. I am going to talk about my three reasons why I am interested in the article.

First of all, this article shows what is going on in other parts of the world. The measures of allowing people to travel on holiday with  low or no-deposit booking. Unlike Thailand at this moment, where the Thai population has to stay home as much as possible since there are more than 2000 new covid-19 cases daily this week.

 Secondly, this reminds me of my last New Year holiday. My family planned to go to Phetchaburi for the holiday. My dad booked the hotel through ‘rao tieow duay gan’ which is the application launched by the government to help the hotels and tourists by paying 40 percent of the hotel's price and the tourists pay 60 percent of it. As a result, the tourists will go for a holiday because of the discount and the hotel will get more bookings and sales. By the New Year, there was a second wave in Thailand so we decided not to go on New year. However, we either had to cancel the booking and lose our deposit or postpone and pay the full-price. Finally, we decided to cancel the trip with no refunds. As a consequence, there is some ambiguity of this campaign that cannot really help the population and businesses. As you can see, Thailand’s government has a different measure compared to the UK's.

Lastly, I like how the hotels offer the flexibility of booking for the customers. I think this is good for the customers that do not have to take risks since no one can predict whether on the holiday there will be a lockdown or they can travel normally.

 

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Question for readers 

Do you think this is the best strategy to stimulate the economy?

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Reference 

Smith, C. (2021, May 19th). ‘We’ve booked two summer holidays for the same time’. BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57155307 

Yo: The spread of scams during the COVID-19 outbreak

Summary of BBC article

In “Pet and shopping scams surge during pandemic” (2021), it is reported that many people were defrauded for the first time during the lockdown, leading the number of online scams to increase dramatically. As the article states, frauds from online shopping rose over 44 percent in a year. Similarly, romance scams increased almost 15 percent. Several victims were defrauded by scammers who pretended to be good lovers with poor financial condition. Moreover, the “advance fee fraud” became another popular scheme: sending a message to targets’ phones and asking for a delivery fee. Before realizing the facts, the targets would mistakenly pay such a fee. Since these types of scams can target people of all ages, the National Cyber Security Centre recommends using a strong password, enabling two-factor authentication, and regularly backing up data to will enhance the device’s security and reduce the risks of being scammed.

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Response to BBC article

Following the growth of the internet in recent years, online platforms and social media have become a significant part of human lives, especially during the current pandemic. Several things that people used to do face-to-face, such as shopping, dating, and studying, have become socially distanced activities. Technology, on the other hand, does not only help people, but it also has the potential to harm them. 

People of all ages can be the victim of fraudsters. You might receive a text message from someone in your message box. It looks like a regular thing, but it is not. Only one mistaken click on a link in that message will steal your money or data before you realize what has happened. A few months ago, some messages appeared on my phone. They wanted me to invest in a particular company that could make a lot of profit. Because several articles had warned me about online and phone fraud, I deleted these texts immediately. The messages were related to online gambling. Perhaps, the scammer obtained my phone number from a public source, such as leaked data from some websites, and then sent me this text to lure me in. As experts suggest, I spent a few days changing my passwords in many accounts and enabled 2FA to ensure that my online life was safe. I’m not sure if it is secure enough or not, but I'm hoping that no other odd messages arrive in my phone or email box.

I agree with the National Cyber Security Centre that people should use a separate password for each account they have. However, if I have several accounts and each of them requires different passwords, it is difficult to remember all of them. Although I tried to note the passwords, I could not find them when I needed them. I swear that clicking the “Reset your password” button is my regular habit. Additionally, while a strong password and effective protection system will plausibly secure your account, it does not guarantee that you will not be hacked or scammed. 

Last but not least, the fast-paced and convenient life of social activities can bring both advantages and drawbacks to anyone who uses social media. Several types of online scams are ready to attack any target, regardless of whether or not the victims are familiar with online platforms. To reduce the chances of being scammed, please keep up to date on new technologies and new forms of fraud, both physical and online.

 

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Question for readers 

Do you or anyone you know have experience of online frauds in your life? 

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Reference 

Pet and shopping scams surge during pandemic. (2021, May 12). BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57070589

Peter: To kill or not to kill, that is the question

Summary of BBC article

The Supreme Court of the United States

In “Mississippi abortion: US Supreme Court to hear major abortion case” (2021), we read that both sides of the long-running debate on the legality of abortion in the United States consider it significant that the Supreme Court of the United States has decided to rule on a law by the Mississippi government that challenges the status quo established by the court’s 1973 ruling on Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed the right to abortion on request throughout the US for at least the first three months of a pregnancy. Opponents of abortion hope that in its ruling on whether "all pre-viability prohibitions on elective abortions are unconstitutional," the more conservative Supreme Court created by three appointments made by Donald Trump will undo much of the legal precedent set by Roe v. Wade, in which the question of whether a foetus could live outside of the mother’s womb was made central. 

If you look at my Google Doc where I wrote this summary paragraph, you will see that this is the 2nd version. It's 150 words. The first draft was too long, at 169 words. Because I had already spent 39 minutes planning, and read the article again before writing, it took me 10:00 minutes to write my first draft, and another 6:00 minutes editing to get it down to the maximum of 150 words. The total time taken to plan, write and edit this one, short paragraph was 55:00 minutes, or a little more really including the initial time spent reading my chosen article.

Version 3, about an hour after I had published version 2: I wasn't happy with some of the language, so I've revised again by moving a chunk of words to a different position in the second sentence, and in the process reducing the word count to 149 words. I'm happy with this draft. 

 

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Response to BBC article

When I saw this article, my initial thought was: “Oh, no. Here we go again.” As the article notes, abortion has been a major controversy in the US for the 50 years since the SCOTUS (Supreme Court of the United States - it’s a standard abbreviation) decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973. But when I thought about it more, it really wasn’t a surprise. Donald Trump was elected president in 2016 thanks in part to promising the Christian conservatives that he would work to overturn the settled legal precedent, and that is exactly what he did with the three appointments he got to make to SCOTUS. If only Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg could have lived for a few more months! 

One of the things that I enjoy reading is the opinions that SCOTUS hands down. Some are on boring issues, but many have substantial implications for society. Roe v. Wade is one of the most famous, but the court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, for example, resulted in same-sex marriage immediately becoming legal throughout the United States. The nine justices of the court all write very well. And it’s fascinating to read as they develop their arguments for or against a position that must ultimately be tied back to the articles of the very short Constitution of the United States of America, which has now guided that nation for almost 250 years. It’s been amended, as all such creations should be, but has without interruption guided the functioning of the liberal democracy it founds. 

Roe v. Wade, however, is not one of my favourite opinions. The justices reasoning is as solid as always as they argue that the the provisions of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution require that abortion not be restricted by state law until the fetus becomes increasingly viable, or able to live, outside of the mother’s womb. Naturally, there are dissenting opinions from a couple of justices, it being rare for all nine to agree on any controversial issue; in this case, I’m more inclined to agree with the dissenting opinions. 

Because this new case, Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization, threatens to greatly revise the legal basis for abortion laws by individual US states, I will be keen to read the judges’ opinions, although they probably won’t hand it down before the middle of next year. (It’s scheduled to be heard during the 2021-22 term.) 

Although I think a better solution to the abortion controversy would be an explicit constitutional amendment, I favour the right of women to have an abortion on request. The constitutional amendment I would like to see is one that defines a person as an entity that has to some degree a mix of the characteristics that we normally associate with being a person: self-awareness, desires and preferences, plans, feelings, an ability to reason, emotional bonds, and so on; and which amendment further stipulates that only human persons can have human rights protected by law, including the right to life. 

This would protect the right of women to abortion. Every human fetus is a human being, but no unborn baby is a person. When they are born, human babies do not have the defining  characteristics of a person, which only come over the following months and years as the brain develops. It seems to me that it cannot, therefore, be wrong to kill an unborn baby. It is certainly killing a living human being, but since it’s being a person that matters, I’m hoping that SCOTUS might greatly revise the legal foundations of abortion in the US by putting the focus more strongly on whether the fetus is a person, and thus make abortion much easier for women to receive than it currently is. The conservative Christian law makers of Mississippi who deliberately wrote a law that conflicts with previous SCOTUS rulings are, of course, hoping for a very different outcome. 

Whatever the US Supreme Court decides in this case is unlikely to end the controversy surrounding this issue.

As with my summary, you can also see the Google Doc where I wrote this response before copying and pasting it in here. I am a bit worried about the length, but decided to publish this version anyway. After pasting in here, I also read it again and made a few more small edits.

 

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Question for readers 

What do you think? Is an unborn human baby a human being, or a person, or both, or neither? 

Although it is two sentences, this only asks one question.

______________________

Reference 

Mississippi abortion: US Supreme Court to hear major abortion case. (2021, May 17). BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57148278  

Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, page 71 - Critical thinking

What is it?

page 69

In their critical thinking exercise that concludes the reading "Risk-takers: Who are they?", Warwick and Rogers (2018, pp. 69-71) invite us to discuss a series of four follow-up questions related to the causes of risk-taking behaviour.  

We will discuss the four questions in two sets of pairs. 

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Questions

First, Warwick and Rogers' questions 1 and 4. 

• Do you agree that young people take more risks than older people? 
  Why / why not?
   and 
• How do you assess risk in your own life? 
• Do you think you do this successfully, or are there things you should do differently? If so, what are they?

You have 10:00 minutes to plan and write a response to these two questions. I suggest you divide your time roughly as:

• planning = 3:00 minutes (Choose your topic. Get ideas. Organize your ideas.)
• writing = 5:00 minutes, and 
• editing = 2:00 minutes.

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Second, Warwick and Rogers' questions 2 and 3. 

• How do parents, schools, the government, etc., try to minimize the risk that young people take in your country? 
• Is it their responsibility to do so? Why / why not?
 and 
• Whose responsibility is it to teach children how to calculate risk so they make safer decisions in their lives? 
• Why? How can they do it?

You have 12:00 minutes to plan and write a response to these two questions. I suggest you divide your time roughly as:

• planning = 3:00 minutes (Choose your topic. Get ideas. Organize your ideas.)
• writing = 7:00 minutes, and 
• editing = 2:00 minutes.

 

A useful strategy - as usual 

Imagine you are writing for someone who has not read the question you have chosen to answer or the article that the question follows up. Your aim is to clearly communicate your response to that reader, so it might help to paraphrase the chosen question at the start of your response to it. 

This is also a useful strategy in exams such as IELTS and TOEFL, where it's important that your independent writing response makes sense independently of the question to which it must respond.  

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Reference

• Warwick, L. & Rogers, L. (2018). Skillful 4: Reading & Writing, Student's Book Pack (2nd. ed.). London: Macmillan Education