Valuing Companion Animals: Alternatives to Market Value

This article explores how the lives of companion animals – pets by another name – are valued in negligence actions when they are wrongfully killed, and the justifications underlying the current approach of market value. Because Canadians welcome companion animals into their families for reasons that go beyond economics, this paper argues that a proposition of law that values them based only on market value fails accurately to identify and compensate for the loss suffered when a companion animal is wrongfully killed. Compensating a plaintiff for either mental distress or loss of companionship appears, initially, to be an attractive alternative to the market value approach; however, because of the cautious manner with which psychological injuries have been approached in Canada, and the common law position that loss of companionship is non-compensable, these alternatives are impracticable means by which the present legal position could be modified. While compensation for mental distress can respond to some situations involving the wrongful death of a pet, it cannot provide redress in all such actions. A solution to the challenges posed by the present legal position lies in valuation by reference to the investment made by animal guardians during the course of a companion animal’s lifetime. This method would allow for a companion animal’s value to be accurately measured, thereby permitting compensation that adequately reflects the entirety of the loss suffered. Legislative change, creating a statutory cause of action for the attendant non-pecuniary loss, would be the most effective way of achieving this proposed change

Myths of merit. Judicial diversity and the image of the superhero judge

This thesis is a critical analysis of reforms of the judicial appointments process which are designed to encourage judicial diversity. It does so by applying the concept of myth to law, and argues that because the judge is understood as a superhero, the definition of judicial merit has come to reflect this ideal, which is neither accurate nor sufficient. It neither reflects what judges do, nor adequately describes what it is that judges should do. Therefore it is argued that attempts to diversify the judiciary are limited by the image of the superhero judge, which, in this thesis, is described as myth, with distinct socio-cultural effects. It is argued that there are two potential methods of approaching judicial diversity. The first is diversity of form, which focuses on gender, ethnic background, different levels of physical ability and economic status of the individual. The second is diversity of thought, which focuses on achieving a judiciary diverse in terms of its experience of and approaches to the law. In order to argue that diversity of thought is preferable to diversity of form, this thesis discusses in depth the decision making processes of the most 'different' law lord, namely Baroness Hale, who, as the first female and the first academic law lord, represents both diversity of form and diversity of thought. This thesis argues that her difference is not a result of her gender, but a result of her different experiences with and approaches to the law. The argument put forward in this thesis is that in understanding the judge as superhero, identified in this thesis as the Herculean image of the judge, the role of the judiciary is limited. This thesis argues that the role of the judge has changed in the wake of the Human Rights Act 1998. The role of the judge has become more politicised, and as such it is necessary to revisit popular understandings of the judge. It is argued that the reforms to the judicial appointments process confirm the ideal of the superhero judge and reflect an expectation that the 'different’ judges, that is, judges from different backgrounds, will simply confirm to the superhero or Herculean ideal. This thesis then puts forward the image of Loki, the trickster god of Norse mythology, as a more attractive judicial image, arguing that the changes in the judicial role require an image of the judge which is more flexible and able to accommodate different experiences, understandings and approaches to the law

Grotesque Inversions On Stage, In Film: Horrid Yet Curious, Fascinating Yet Alarming

Grotesque theatre is not a genre but a style of theatre made up of many strands which has been employed over many centuries beginning in Ancient Greece, particularly with Aristophanes and moving through time to the present. François Rabelais recognised the grotesque in Church Feasts, Festivals, Guild performances, sotties and farces. This thesis investigates through theatre and film the seven strands Bakhtin identifies: grotesque image, abusive language, grotesque madness, scatalogical humour, light, reversals and the lower bodily stratum (1984, pp. 24-41). In particular the thesis traces inversions in both theatre and film. These two mediums have been selected to compare and contrast the use of the grotesque in each, as they share two strong commonalities in acting and the requirement of scripts. Each chapter of this thesis deals with a script, and the last two chapters incorporate the use of a movie for contrast. The Introduction introduces the grotesque, offering an explanation of the styles of the grotesque as defined by Mikhail Bakhtin and Philip Thomson. Examples are shown in pictures. Chapter one explores two plays written by Eugene Ionesco: Amedée or How to Get Rid of It, and Rhinoceros. Chapter two moves back through time to Aristophanes' Lysistrata and explores the power women's bodies might have when men are in need. The third chapter investigates The Roaring Girl, written by Middleton and Dekker. This delves into the life of the character Moll Cutpurse and shows why Moll chose to dress as a man. Chapters four and five deal with the fantasy and the gothic elements in Frankenstein and Dracula respectively: focusing on bodily transformations; as well as the treatment of the monster and Dracula by society, and their treatment in turn of society. The grotesque is an intriguing style of theatre because it deals essentially with human nature and the human body in its imperfect and ever-changing form. The grotesque therefore lends itself to horror, comedy and exaggeration making it a style which does not have to be limited by strict parameters. The grotesque can be successfully woven into other genres such as the gothic or the absurd giving it even greater dimensions in storytelling, staging and special effects. Human beings are often torn between the gory or visually disturbing whilst needing the safety of the normal and acceptable. The grotesque offers both, which can make a scintillating piece of entertainment by fulfilling our needs at both ends of the emotional spectrum. Grotesque theatre therefore by its very nature is a style which will continue to exist so long as it keeps its patrons in suspense

‘Fiddlers’ Tunebooks’ - Vernacular Instrumental Manuscript Sources 1860-c1880: Paradigmatic of Folk Music Tradition?

Fiddlers’ Tunebooks are handwritten manuscript books preserving remnants of a largely amateur, monophonic, instrumental practice. These sources are vastly under-explored academically, reflecting a wider omission in scholarship of instrumental music participated in by ‘ordinary’ people in nineteenth-century England. The tunebooks generate interest amongst current folk music enthusiasts, and as such can be subject to a “burden of expectation”, in the belief that they represent folk music tradition. Yet both the concepts of tradition and folk music are problematic. By considering folk music from both an inherited perspective and a modern scholarly interpretation, this thesis examines the place of the tunebooks in notions of English folk music tradition. A historical musicological methodology is applied to three post-1850 case-study manuscripts drawing specifically on source studies, archival research and quantitative analysis. The study explores compilers’ demographic traits and examines content, establishing the existence of a heterogeneous repertoire copied from contemporary textual sources directly into the tunebooks. This raises important questions regarding the role played by publishers and the concept of continuous survival in notions of tradition. A significant finding reveals the interaction between aural and literate practices, having important implications in the inward and outward transmission and in wider historical application. The function of both the manuscripts and the musical practice is explored and the compilers’ acquisition of skill and sources is examined. This results in the ‘re-discovery’ of Musical Circulating Libraries, and identifies a binary route to skill acquisition, largely defined by environment. Acknowledging the contention surrounding terms such as folk, popular and tradition, and the subtle interaction of aurality and literacy, this study concludes that the manuscripts contribute to wider historical discourse and do have a place in notions of folk music tradition, moreover that their textual nature provides a unique perspective from which to observe the process

Kultur till vilket pris som helst? - En undersökning av hur besökare och aktörer i Malmös kulturliv ser på fenomenet gratiskultur

This thesis: Culture at any price? A study of how visitors and producers in Malmö think of free culture is about professional free culture in Malmö and how it affects other kinds of culture in the city. My main research questions are: How do people value culture? How much and what are they willing to pay for it? And does free culture change the way people think of other kinds of culture? How do different culture businesses understand free culture and the effect it might have on other kinds of culture? The main method for this thesis is interviews, which I have conducted with three types of culture businesses, one offering free culture, one offering culture for paying customers and one business that’s offering free culture to some extent. The thesis is also based on interviews with people living in Malmö, some with a great interest in culture and some people that rarely take part in different culture events. Theoretical standpoints are mainly Chris Anderson and his book Free, where he explains the phenomenon and the different types of free

RadioActive101-Learning through radio, learning for life: an international approach to the inclusion and non-formal learning of socially excluded young people

This article describes an original international approach to inclusion and non-formal learning of socially excluded young people, through participatory internet radio - RadioActive101. First, we critically discuss the social and digital exclusion of young people. We then describe our approach - that includes participatory action research methods that are influenced by the work of Dewey and Freire, and operate as a process of complex intervention. This supports the inclusive co-production of radio content in ways that support non-formal learning in two EU contexts–the UK and Portugal. We then summarise and compare a qualitative investigation of RadioActive101. This showed positive results, with important similarities and differences between the two contexts. Participants reported that RadioActive101 was motivating and contributed to the development of contemporary skills, and also stimulated improvements in psychosocial dimensions such as confidence (self-efficacy) and self-esteem. This investigation informed the development of an original recognition system for non-formal learning that maps EU Key Competences for Lifelong Learning to radio practices and activities that are recognised through electronic badges. Our reflections emphasise that in order to support the non-formal learning of socially excluded young people we must foreground our attention to fostering psychosocial dimensions alongside developing contemporary competences.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Deep Learning Design for Social Innovation: Participatory Radio for Developing 21C Skills with Disenfranchised Learners

Deep Learning Design has been proposed as an approach to Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) that foregrounds principles of learning and con-text over simply extrapolating the affordances of new technologies. An original application of this approach has been within contexts necessitating social innovation to promote the inclusion, non-formal learning and employability of disenfranchised learners across Europe – RadioActive101. This approach has actively developed, implemented and evaluated five radio hubs with at-risk young people and other disenfranchised groups to develop digital competencies and employability skills for the 21st Century. This Learning Design and associated competencies are mapped to a progression and accreditation model linking EU key competencies to RadioActive101 activities and performances that are recognised through open electronic 'badges'. Evaluation findings showed particularly positive results, and impact and value beyond the non-formal learning of technical and employability skills, such as improvements in confidence, self-esteem and general self-efficacy of individuals and organisational learning and development. We conclude this article by asking how and whether current approaches to learning design can accommodate such essential psychosocial dimensions of learning

RadioActive101: Using internet radio to break-down the boundaries for inclusion into smart cities

Although ‘Smart Cities’ is an enticing and progressive concept and metaphor for conceiving and designing socio-technical educational systems in the 21C, clear examples of how this might be realised in practice are only just emerging. Similarly, although few would disagree with the desire to incorporate into our ‘learning designs’ notions such as ‘person in place’, ‘smartness and well-being of communities’ and the need for 21C thinking and literacy skills, where these concepts are located and where they are actualised is often opaque. This article presents a clear and somewhat radical example of how ‘smart city’ notions can be articulated and also used to challenge conventional norms about ‘who is smart’. It does this through describing the implementation and evaluation of RadioActive101, an international internet radio hub that is an educational intervention which gives a voice to disenfranchised groups in mostly urban areas throughout Europe, with a particular focus on at-risk and unemployed young people. This paper will describe this project along with its strikingly positive evaluation so far, which questions, in our digital age, some of the tenets of traditional education, and the boundaries for who can become agents of positive social change within our developing smart cities