Perceptual Maps in Marketing Simulation Summary Essay

Perceptual maps help to improve a company’s current product on the market by mapping consumer expectation of the product. The motorcycle company Thorr Motors perceptual maps were used to create a marketing plan to aid in maintaining a high brand image of their motorcycles. The Marketing Dictionary defines perceptual maps as a â€Å"process by which consumers’ perceptions of an existing product are charted† (n.d., para. 1). In this paper the three phases of the simulation, the situation, recommended solution, and results will be discussed. In addition there will be a discussion on relationship between differentiation and positioning of products or services and the impact of the product life cycle on marketing. Phase I (2Ãâ€"01)Sales of the Cruiser Thorr are decreasing. This is so because the Cruiser Thorr’s target consumers are aging and their tastes have begun to outgrow the lifestyle that Cruiser Thorr symbolizes. In addition to this issue, younger consumers are more interested in lower priced motorcycles due to their lower personal disposable incomes and they do not indentify with Cruiser Thorr’s lifestyle image. This scenario wanted to determine the Cruiser Thor’s position in the market by choosing four relevant parameters that will reflect the highest potential. For phase I the parameters that were chosen were lifestyle image, services offered, price, and quality engineering. Lifestyle image was chosen since the image for the Cruiser Thorr was being outgrown by the aging target audience and was not identifiable with younger consumers. Since the Cruiser Thorr’s lifestyle image is set very high any vital information gathered will be highly useful to maintain that level of image so that it satisfies both an older and younger audience. Services offered was another parameter chosen because compared to their competitors the services offered by the Cruiser Thorr are limited. The more frills a product comes with, the more it may heighten the desire for it. The third parameter that was chosen was price. Price was chosen because for many consumers price is one of the most important factors in making a buying decision. Furthermore, it was stated earlier that younger consumers were more interested in lower priced motorcycles. Finding out how much is too much as well as how low can you go without diluting brand image will be important in determining the  appropriate price tag to spark consumer interest. The last parameter chosen was quality engineering. This was chosen because of the fact that the Cruiser Thorr will not be able to maintain a high brand image without this feature (University of Phoenix, 2004). The decision to use lifestyle image, services offered, price, and quality engineering were the appropriate parameters to use. The parameters that were chosen were fundamental to the perceptual map and gave the best perspective as opposed to the other options. Phase II The position of the Cruiser Thorr is determined by the perceptual map and this position has not helped sales. This scenario calls for the marketing manager to create a marketing plan that will either reposition the Cruiser Thorr or launch a new motorcycle. Upon researching threats and weaknesses of Thorr Motorcycles, the decision was made to launch a new motorcycle, the RRoth, which will grab the attention of younger consumers. With the new launch the marketing mix needed to be determined. The price for the new RRoth was set between $13,000 and $15,000. This price range was chosen because earlier surveys conducted showed that the younger consumers were more interested in lower priced motorcycles. The types of promotions chosen were sponsored events at Daytona, offering insurance and protection plans, free test rides, publicize through Hollywood films, and providing giveaway merchandise. These were all chosen because of the high amount of appeal these types of promotional methods would have on younger consumers. The places chosen to promote the RRoth were the internet (Manufacturer’s Web site), Dealers, and Distributors. These options were chosen because of the accessibility to younger consumers, especially the internet. The services chosen were training to dealers, customization options, and financial services. Training to dealers was chosen so that the dealers can provide detailed and accurate information about the products sold. Customization options were chosen because this would add to the cool and youthful image of the RRoth. Financial services were chosen because the younger consumers indicated an interest in financing options. Choosing to launch a new motorcycle turned out to be a good decision. The marketing mix options chosen were the most optimal for the formulation of a differentiation strategy. Phase III It has been a year since the marketing plan was implemented and it is now time to determine if the plans have or have not been a success. Consumer perceptions of the Cruiser Thorr and the RRoth have been surveyed and a perceptual map will show whether or not the marketing activities have been a success. The marketing manager has to interpret market research to plot brand attributes of Cruiser Thorr. In addition, attributes relevant to the RRoth need to be chosen and interpreted to create RRoth’s perceptual map. The Cruiser Thorr was rated in lifestyle image at 9 because initially this was rated very high. A nine would be most appropriate. For price a rate of 4 was chosen because consumers saw this particular motorcycle as pricey compared to other brands. A rating of 4 or 5 would be appropriate. Services offered are rated at a 7 because services for the Cruiser Thorr is limited compared to competitors but were revamped because of consumer response. A rating of 7 is most appropriate. Quality engineering was rated at 8 because consumers think that Cruiser Thorr’s engine is the best. A rating of 8 is very appropriate. The RRoth was rated at a 7 for lifestyle image because like other Thorr motorcycles consumers are already considering it a status symbol. The rating chosen was the appropriate choice. Price was rated at 8 because the RRoth is cheaper than the Cruiser Thorr in order to target a younger consumer. An 8 rating is appropriate. Cool was chosen for the RRoth because of the younger audience and a rating of 8 was chosen. A rating of 8 was most appropriate. Relationship between differentiation and positioning of products or servicesDifferentiation of product is according to Investopedia â€Å"a marketing process that showcases the differences between products† (Investopedia, .n.d., para. 1). Positioning of products is â€Å"the consumer perception of a product or service as compared to its competition† (Lake, n.d., para. 1). The relationship is that in order for a company to be a leader in that particular industry not only do they have to differentiate themselves from  the competition, but they must also secure a position in the market that when consumers needs need to be met, that company will be number one on the list in consumer’s minds. The repositioning of the product in the simulation is what I had expected. It was expected because one of the main issues was the changing perceptions of the consumers and there was nothing wrong with the physical product. Tastes were changing but the product was still of high quality. Like many companies they offered a fresh new product and for Thorr Motorcycles this attracted younger consumers. But they did not totally scrap efforts on the Cruiser Thorr and worked on revamping the image. Product Life Cycle The impact the product life cycle has on marketing is that business need to plan their products around the product life cycle. Knowing where the product is on the cycle, marketing strategies can be adjusted to maintain profitability. â€Å"A particular firm’s marketing mix usually must change during the product life cycle† (Perreault et al, 2004, pg. 270). In the simulation the Cruiser Thorr was in the decline stage of the life cycle as their sales were declining rapidly. The declining sales were because the older audience’s tastes were outgrowing the Cruiser Thorr and younger consumers were put off by the high price. Because Cruiser Thorr was in decline stage, a new motorcycle, the RRoth was introduced to the life cycle and aimed at a different target group to revamp sales and consumer perception. ConclusionThe perceptual map helped to determine consumer expectations for Thorr Motorcycles. Precise parameters were determined to hone in on exactly what they wanted and expected from the company. This ultimately is what enabled Thorr Motorcycles to reposition consumer perceptions back to where Thorr motors wanted. In this paper the three phases of the simulation, the situation, recommended solution, and results were discussed. In addition there was a discussion on relationship between differentiation and positioning of products or services and the impact of the product life cycle on marketing. References: Differentiation. (n.d.). Definition. Retrieved on February 16, 2008  from,http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/product_differentiation.aspLake, L. (n.d.). Product Positioning Definition. Retrieved on February 16, 2008 from,http://marketing.about.com/od/marketingglossary/g/prodpostdef.htmPerceptual mapping. (n.d.). Dictionary of Marketing Terms. Retrieved February 16,2008, from Answers.com Web site:http://www.answers.com/topic/perceptual-mappingPerreault, W.D., & McCarthy, E.J. (2004). Basic Marketing: A Global-ManagerialApproach. McGraw-Hill CompaniesUniversity of Phoenix. (2006). General Marketing. Retrieved February 16, 2008, fromUniversity of Phoenix, Resource, Simulation, MKT421-Marketing Web site:https://mycampus.phoenix.edu/secure/resource/vendors/tata/UBAMsims/general_marketing/general_marketing_perceptual_maps_simulation.html

How does Arthur Miller present the flaws and limitations of the American Dream in ‘Death of a Salesman’ Essay

The American Dream is an object of desire for many Americans as it is what they strive for their whole life. The American Dream is based mainly on wealth and materialism. The sense of freedom is what people are striving for. Freedom from bills and debt is what Willy Loman is striving for in ‘Death of a Salesman’. The American Dream is seen as a perfect life, which consists of a house with a white picket fence and perfect family: husband, wife, two children and a dog all living happily and comfortably without any financial troubles. But very few Americans achieve that goal in their lifetime, because there’s also competition if everyone’s aiming for it. Every person is competing with their friends and neighbours. These flaws show through in ‘Death of a Salesman’ as Willy tries to get to grips with his life and trying to pay off his house. ‘Death of a Salesman’ has been used by Arthur Miller to show what the American Dream is really like. The play is based around an average family man, Willy Loman, who has struggled all his life to make something of it; to strike it lucky, but his chance never came. He is presented as a ‘normal’ character; the average ‘middle American’, who wants to pay off all his debts and bills. This shows the lack of contentment in his life. He’s not content having a roof over his head, or having a job, because he wants more. Willy wants to achieve more, just like his brother, Ben, who struck it lucky, because he happened to get lost and stumble upon some diamond mines, but Willy blames himself for not going to explore the world with him, ‘There’s just one opportunity I had with that man†¦Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ Willy regrets not going with his brother, but what he doesn’t realise is that he was too young to go with him; he was only 3 years old, when his brother left, whereas Ben was 17. But, despite this fact, he still admires his brother. Yet, there’s barely any mention of his father, who earned his living and fulfilling the American Dream by working hard. Willy has a very flawed way of trying to fulfil the American Dream. He does everything the wrong way and what he doesn’t realise is that it takes some hard work. This may be the reason as to why there’s a feeling of failure in the play. Both, Willy and his sons Biff and Happy are failures in achieving in what they wanted and this shows how Arthur Miller is presenting the flaws of the American Dream, because it can really take its toll on people’s lives and practically ruin their relationships with other people, such as their friends and neighbours. Willy has constantly been competing with his neighbour, Charley. However, Charley is running his own business, whereas Willy is still in the same job that he’s been in for years. Selling. The character of Willy Loman is perfect for presenting the flaws of the American Dream, because he’s just an average man; an average ‘Joe Bloggs’ and basically a nobody, because he hasn’t achieved the things that he wanted to achieve. He continues dreaming of making it big and he keeps on chasing this dream, because there’s a feeling of hope in him, everytime his sons go for a job interview or have an appointment with their boss. He refuses to listen to what his sons have to say, because it’s not what he wants to hear. So, instead he just fills their mouth with words or keeps on interrupting them. Willy holds a lot of false hope of something that he won’t be able to achieve and this is reflected within the play and its setting. The play is set in Willy’s house and this is one of the main reasons as to why there is a lack of contentment in the play, because he hasn’t been able to pay off his mortgage for the house. The setting gives off a boxed in feeling, because of the towering apartment buildings and the lack of greenery is a representation of a metaphor, as nothing can flourish or grow. This is why it is regarded as a limitation of the American Dream, which Arthur Miller presents in the play and through Willy. The lack of contentment is also shown through both sons. Happy’s name is pretty ironic, because his life doesn’t seem to be happy, even though he pretends to be. Both, Biff and Happy have a vengeful streak in them as they both take revenge on their bosses in one way or another. Happy has a tendency to sleep with his boss’s girlfriends/fiancà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½s/wives, whereas Biff steals from his boss. But the reason they are like this is because their father has made them think they can do anything and get anywhere without qualifications, ‘You filled us up with hot air!’ however, Biff seems to go against his father, probably due to the fact that he knows about his father’s affair. He has always gone against his father’s wishes, such as wanting to work with his hands rather than work in an office job. But, Willy is still very stubborn and proud. He doesn’t realise his children are happy doing what they want. This is why his pride has got in the way of him not being able to achieve anything. He has also made his sons proud; too, by making them think that it’s their personalities that will get them a successful job. This represents another limitation of the American Dream; people have to work hard to get where they want. Bernard, Biff’s high school friend, is an example of a hard working person because he worked hard to get where he wanted and yet he never mentioned it to Willy, ‘The Supreme Court! And he didn’t even mention it!’ This shows that Bernard isn’t the type to boast about how well he’s doing even though he climbing the ladder towards the American Dream. He’s overtaken Biff and Willy regrets that, but isn’t quite sure who to blame. Himself or Biff? Willy is blinded by false hope and great aspirations of striking it rich, but he’s doing all this for his children, so that they don’t have to struggle the way he did. But Bernard and Charley show that people have to do things themselves to achieve what they want to achieve, because Bernard is a top lawyer and he did this without anyone’s help. He doesn’t need Charley to provide for him, nor is he working for him either. The only things that Willy has ever been able to achieve in his life are solid material goods, such as his house, fridge, car and vacuum cleaner. But he doesn’t think that it’s enough, so he decides to go and crash the car and kill himself, just because he wants his children to lead a comfortable life. His death brings in money for his children, but it shows what lengths Willy went to just so that his children could lead the perfect life of an American Dream.

Dbq Regarding the Literary Responses to World War 1 from 1914 to 1928 Essay

Historical Context: World War 1 (1914-1918) was a war that was inevitable, but almost entirely underestimated. As the war dragged on for four years and millions of lives were expended in the name of victory, many were greatly impacted culturally, mainly Europeans and Americans. In what was known as the lost generation, many poets and writers developed new forms of literature in response to the devastating consequences of the war. DBQ Prompt: Identify and analyze the various European and American literary responses to World War 1 created during the war and in the decade after the end of World War 1. Document #1 ————————————————- Source: Paul Valà ©ry, French poet and critic, â€Å"The Crisis of the Mind,† evaluation of European mind and civilization (1920). ————————————————- ————————————————- The storm has died away, and still we are restless, uneasy, as if the storm were about to break. Almost all the affairs of men remain in a terrible uncertainty. We think of what has disappeared, and we are almost destroyed by what has been destroyed; we do not know what will be born, and we fear the future, not without reason†¦ Doubt and disorder are in us and with us. There is no thinking man, however shrewd or learned he may be, who can hope to dominate this anxiety, to escape from, this impression of darkness. ————————————————- Document #2 ————————————————- Source: Roland Leighton, British soldier serving in France, letter to fiancà © Vera Brittain (1915). ————————————————- ————————————————- Among this chaos of twisted iron and splintered timber and shapeless earth are the fleshless, blackened bones of simple men who poured out their red, sweet wine of youth unknowing, for nothing more tangible than Honour or their Country’s Glory or another’s Lust of Power. Let him who thinks that war is a glorious golden thing, who loves to roll forth stirring words of exhortation, invoking Honour and Praise and Valour and Love of Country. Let him look at a little pile of sodden grey rags that cover half a skull and a shine bone and what might have been its ribs, or at this skeleton lying on its side, resting half-crouching as it fell, supported on one arm, perfect but that it is headless, and with the tattered clothing still draped around it; and let him realise how grand and glorious a thing it is to have distilled all Youth and Joy and Life into a foetid heap of hideous putrescence. ————————————————- Document #3 ————————————————- Source: Ernest Hemingway, American author and expatriate, â€Å"The Sun Also Rises,† expatriate character adventure (1926). ————————————————- ————————————————- You’re an expatriate. You’ve lost touch with the soil. You get precious. Fake European standards have ruined you. You drink yourself to death. You become obsessed with sex. You spend all your time talking, not working. You are an expatriate, see? You hang around cafes. ————————————————- Document #4 ————————————————- Source: F. Scott Fitzergerald, American writer, â€Å"This Side of Paradise,† examines post-war morality with fictional love plot (1920). ————————————————- I simply state that I’m a product of a versatile mind in a restless generation-with every reason to throw my mind and pen in with the radicals. Even if, deep in my heart, I thought we were all blind atoms in a world as limited as a stroke of a pendulum, I and my sort would struggle against tradition; try, at least, to displace old cants with new ones. I’ve thought I was right about life at various times, but faith is difficult. One thing I know. If living isn’t seeking for the grail it may be a damned amusing game. ————————————————- Document #5 ————————————————- Source: Eleanor Chaffer, French woman, poem â€Å"Lost Generation† published in a newspaper (1921). ————————————————- ————————————————- Look not for the flower of innocence in these eyes, ————————————————- Gravely and silently they have looked on death, ————————————————- Seen terror rain down from unfriendly skies, ————————————————- Learned while yet infants how frail is man’s breath. ————————————————- They have turned from a landscape where the ground ————————————————- Is poisoned and destroyed: give them a toy ————————————————- And it is held in their hands with no sound ————————————————- Of childish mirth. This solemn-faced small boy ————————————————- Is older than his father: in his face, ————————————————- Wisdom is the ghost that will not leave; ————————————————- The world to him is a wild and dangerous place; ————————————————- No covert here where he may hide and grieve. ————————————————- Look well on these, and on the world we made ————————————————- As heritage for them — and be afraid! Document #6 ————————————————- Source: Wilfred Owen, English poet and soldier, Dulce et Decorum Est, addressed to his mother, written 1917, published later (1920) ————————————————- ————————————————- If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues, My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory That old lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori ————————————————- Document #7 ————————————————- Source: D.H. Lawrence, English novelist and poet, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, fictional protagonist has a love affair, examines structural morale (1928). ————————————————- ————————————————- Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We’ve got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen. ————————————————- Document #8 ————————————————- Source: Kathe Kollwitz, German expressionist artist, The Survivors (1922), by Kathe Kollwitz ————————————————- .

Branding for Starbucks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Branding for Starbucks - Essay Example The need is to comprehend how Starbucks can reflect a positive demeanor about its own self and how this shall happen within the related settings, as are available to Starbucks at the present. Since I am heading the brand development concerns at Starbucks, I will make sure that the values upon which Starbucks was initially formed are adhered to at all times, and that there are no exceptions to this ideology under any circumstance or situation that arises whatsoever (Marques, 2008). I will ensure that its values are clearly spelled out to its employees, located all over the world so that their attitudes and actions are in line with what the business expects of them. Also, these will be communicated to the customers globally since Starbucks’ management regimes will keep on telling the world through their actions and behaviors. When these values will be communicated, a sense of optimism shall come about with Starbucks which remains a significant proposition, and more so within the changing dynamics of the business world today. The core messages that shall be sent from the realms of Starbucks remain strongly attached to its philosophy of coming about with something solid for the sake of the company. This means that the selling propositions will be based on what Starbucks is offering all over the world as a whole and the different regions in meticulous. It will give a good idea as to what the Starbucks’ customers can expect in the form of end user satisfaction (Rippin, 2007).

Patient-centric healthcare Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Patient-centric healthcare - Coursework Example e has become of great help to most people since people can choose to receive medical help even outside hospital; for instance for outpatient services. However, patient-centric healthcare may not be supported by all healthcare organizations hence the need for public awareness whereby the public is reminded of the need to decide their healthcare services. The clinical decision support system (CDSS) as explained by Rick Mansour and Martha Thorne in another Case Study is most essential in the patient-centric healthcare (Mansour & Thorne, 2014). This is because it is a strategy that upgrades the quality of services offered to the patient’s right from diagnosis to prescription. The system accomplishes its tasks through collection of data from various hospital departments and also analysing the satisfaction of the patient with the services offered. Therefore the CDSS is very important in ensuring that all patients are attended to in the best way possible and given the best healthcare ever. The CDSS has also helped hospitals to make meaningful conclusions on the various kinds of data it collects. The data can be narrowed down into reports which will be later used to provide the best guidelines of handling specific conditions in the report e.g. a report written about asthma will indicate the successes and failures encountered when handling the condition and the various reactions to treatment by patients. Some countries e.g. the United States have created a forum whereby the data is exchanged through various healthcare centres for better services and also for brainstorming purposes (Wilkerson, Henricks, Castellani, Whitsitt, & Sinard, 2015). However CDSS has a task of collecting only viable and useful data and this involves very sophisticated techniques. The data should be highly filtered and gotten from various sources so that irrelevant data is avoided hence it is a very tedious activity and it also involves high risks. Another negative effect of CDSS can be the

Legal and Practical Aspects of Islamic Securitisation Essay

Legal and Practical Aspects of Islamic Securitisation - Essay Example The term â€Å"Islamic finance† is a recent invention having only appeared in the middle of the 1980s. Previously, any commercial activities that complied with Islam was referred to as â€Å"interest free† or â€Å"Islamic banking†. The impetus for establishing Islamic financial systems grew out of perceptions on the part of many Muslims that they existed in an essentially hostile â€Å"non-Muslim environment.† Spurred by the increase in rich oil resources during the 1973 – 1974 after a global oil crisis, oil producing Muslim countries were encouraged to implement innovative financial tools that closely resembled those used by Western businesses. In more recent times, Islamic Banking and Finance initiatives have expanded at a rapid rate throughout Muslim countries and in non-Muslim countries with large Muslim populations. As a result, Islamic Banking and Finance is gaining currency in significant Western businesses. This is an interesting and unique development given that Islamic finance is governed by the Shariah and as such is not a universal concept. The fact is the Shariah or Islamic law governs all daily activities of Muslims. From a financial perspective, the Shariah governs not only how capital can be acquired but also how it can be discharged. While wealth may be acquired, it may only be acquired by methods that are fair to all participants.

Working capital trade-offs of. Porsche AG, Daimler AG, and BMW Coursework

Working capital trade-offs of. Porsche AG, Daimler AG, and BMW - Coursework Example This section would be discussing the working capital trade-offs of three luxury car manufacturing companies Porsche AG, Daimler AG, and BMW. Porsche AG is a German luxury car company which was established in the year 1931. The company generated â‚ ¬10,928 million in the year 2011 as revenue. The working capital of the company was estimated to be around â‚ ¬65.8 billion in 2011, which was derived from the receivable from the customers, increasing leasing and renting charges of assets, etc (Volkswagen AG, 2011). Porsche AG met its working capital requirement through credit from banks when they were in Volkswagen Group (Porsche Automobil Holding SE, 2013). However, now the net liquidity position has improved with a 15 percent rise in sales and about 21 percent rise in the return on equity. So it can be said that Porsche no more has to rely on bank credits for working capital, but the company in 2011 negotiated with banking syndicate for extending a credit of â‚ ¬2.5 billion. This reveals that Porsche AG has to trade profitability for liquidity because the working capital requirement for running operational function is more important than investing the working capital. The company was running short of cash or cash equivalents due to which they had to keep provisions for credit from banks (Porsche SE, 2011). Daimler AG another luxury car company which has many luxury car brands under its business, such as Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, Mitscubishi Fuso, and many more. The company was established in 1998 in Stuttgart, Germany. Revenue generated by Daimler AG in 2011 was â‚ ¬106.54 billion, and it was able to earn a profit of â‚ ¬5.667 billion in 2011, during the ongoing economic slowdown. The liquidity amounted to â‚ ¬11.9 billion in 2011, while the same was â‚ ¬13 billion in 2010. The decreasing liquidity is due to the extensive cash outflow for the pension plan assets, and also for the acquisition of the share of Tognum AG. Daimler AG is defensive in this regard, as it chooses to maintain liquidity and control credit risk exposure (Daimler, 2011). The company traded liquidity for profitability and for this Daimler AG also raised funds to finance the cash requirements of the company (Daimler, 2011). BMW is a German automobile company which was established in 1916. BMW stands for Ba yerische Motoren Werke AG. BMW is also the parent company of the most luxurious car called Rolls Royce and it also produces Mini marquee. The revenue earned by the company in 2011 was â‚ ¬68.82 billion and the operating income was about â‚ ¬8.006 billion. The net profit of the company increased in 2011 by â‚ ¬4,907 billion, which lead to increased cash inflow of the company by â‚ ¬1,664 billion. However, the changing working capital has decreased the cash flow from the operating functions by â‚ ¬1,212 million. This is because of increase in stock and introduction of new models of cars. So the working capital trade-off of BMW revealed that liquidity was traded for profitability. The company minimized the amount of working capital in order to invest them for launching new models of cars, after

Land law problem question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Land law problem question - Essay Example The three of you were pursuing an accountancy course at the time and hoped to establish the accountancy firm as soon as you completed the course and in the event employ other relatives. However, since Ben and Clare realized they could not raise enough money to complete their course after the purchase they acquired a mortgage of ?250,000 from Macau Bank against the property. You, Amy, signed a waiver form of the bank to enable the loan application to go through, though you may not have sought legal advice before doing so. Ben subsequently died in 2010 and Clare re-mortgaged the house for ?50,000 to Taiwan Bank in order to take additional training in order to cover for the loss of Ben’s expertise. This she did acting as the sole owner of the property without you being consulted. Now in 2011 Clare has decided that she is no longer interested in the accountancy firm and has fallen behind on mortgage repayments. You, Amy, on the other hand is still interested in pursuing the origin al objective of starting the family accountancy firm. Your Current Situation Your first challenge as Amy is to prove ownership of the property even though you were not registered as the owner having entrusted the registration to your older cousins Ben and Clare. ... to register a registrable disposition of a registered estate must provide to the registrar such information as the rules may provide about any unregistered interest affecting the estate which— (i) falls within any of the paragraphs of Schedule 3, and (ii) is of description specified by the rules (Land Registration Act, 2002, 6 (71) (a-b). What all this means is that in your case, you do have an interest in the property that was registered and that was supposed to be stated out-rightly at the time that your two cousins were getting registered in trust to own the property that your interests are included. Whether this was done or not should be confirmed by you. However, given the events that subsequently took place, it is quite clear that your interests were catered for during this registration. A look at the mentioned Schedule 1 and Schedule 3 shows that the interest of a person in actual occupation of the property is catered for (Land Registration Act, 2002, Schedule 1(2). Sin ce you have an interest in the house and the land on which it sits, and you actually occupy it, this provision covers persons such as yourself. Considering the evidence that your interests were included I glean as follows. First of all, you were asked to sign the waiver form when your two cousins were applying for the mortgage from Macau bank. Signing the waiver basically means that in case of failure to repay the mortgage, then the entire house, including your share of it, could be attached to recover the outstanding dues (Degeling & Edelman, 2008, 31). The second indicator was that when Clare sought a second mortgage from Taiwan Bank you should have been consulted save for the pain you were in. This means that your interest was taken into consideration even at this point. That being the case

Write a research paper on Confucianism Proposal

Write a paper on Confucianism - Research Proposal Example In fact he almost always avoided being drawn into discussions dealing with God and the supernatural. His theories tried to steer clear from any involvement with any supernatural being. For instance, when one disciple queried him about the afterlife, he quickly retorted that because man does not yet fully understand the mortal world, it is very unlikely that he can contemplate on such concepts as heaven and god (The Analects). He did also express the notion that men do not need any god because men are capable of living a harmonious existence without any help from any supernatural being The Confucian Analects, which is a document comprising all his sayings and discourses, conversations and travels, is no Bible or Koran or any kind of scripture (Legge 2006, p. 1). There is nothing in it that makes reference to revealed teachings. It is neither a religious nor a political treatise but instead, it is just a record of his conversations with his disciples as well as narrations of Confucius’ deeds during particular occasions. In the Analects, nowhere did Confucius teach the people to believe in a higher being or power. If Confucianism is tinged with a patina of religion, it is because his zealous disciples and admirers deified him after his death. They constructed a temple in his honor and refurbished his tomb in Chu-fou (Kufow), Shantung province, his birthplace and made this a mecca for all educated Chinese. They replicated the Analects and distributed them all throughout China after his demise. They reprinted his Classic series i.e. Classic of Poetry, Classic of Historical Documents, Classic of Changes, Record of Rites and Classic of Spring and Autumn Annals, which are not religious books at all but mere literary collections cum history (Legge 2006, p. 1). Because of these publications, his teachings soon electrified citizens all over the country with his words of

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING 3 - Essay Example Due to the intervention of numerous regulatory bodies and the outbreak of various accounting standards which guide the management in their financial reporting and disclosure requirements, the length of the financial statements has drastically increased. The accounting policies, treatments and disclosures are being formulated in order to meet the requirements of modern accounting and to provide the shareholder and other users a better understanding. (Li, 2005) It has been observed that the public companies, as compared to private companies, extend the size of the annual reports beyond the regulatory and other standard requirements as the standards do not provide the maximum limit for any particular disclosure. The annual report includes certain areas which are purely judgmental and are left for the directors to comment such as the area of â€Å"Going Concern assumption†. The directors use this are to comment on the going concern of the company and illustrate the going concern by shedding light on numerous reasons why they assume the company is a going concern. (Holmes 2008) One of the foremost causes of the detailed and lengthy annual report is the demand for detailed and lengthy information set forth by the requirements of the Accounting standards and the regulatory bodies. These disclosures include the detailed disclosure of the remuneration of directors, pattern of shareholding and structure of committees. International Accounting Standard I requires a disclosure of the summary of significant accounting policies. These disclosures usually remain untouched year after year, including the copying of policies from the IFRS or descriptive financial statements. These disclosures easily take up to eight pages or even more. There is a regulatory requirement for the company to include a directors’ report based on their view on the financial statements of the company. This report is used by the directors to shed some light on the

Virtue - Plato Essay Example for Free

Virtue Plato Essay And others who are mute auditors. The scene is laid in the house of Cephalus at the Piraeus; and the whole dialogue is narrated by Socrates the day after it actually took place to Timaeus Hermocrates, Critias, and a nameless person, who are introduced in the Timaeus. I WENT down yesterday to the Piraeus with Glaucon, the son of Ariston, that I might offer up my prayers to the goddess; and also because I wanted to see in what man- ner they would celebrate the festival, which was a new thing. I was delighted with the procession of the inhabitants; but that of the Thracians was equally, if not more, beautiful. When we had finished our prayers and viewed the spectacle, we turned in the direction of the city; and at that instant Polemarchus, the son of Cephalus, chanced to catch sight of us from a distance as we were starting on our way home, and told his servant to run and bid us wait for him. The servant took hold of me by the cloak behind, and said, Polemarchus desires you to wait. I turned round, and asked him where his master was. There he is, said the youth, coming after you, if you will only wait. Certainly we will, said Glaucon; and in a few minutes Polemarchus appeared, and with him Adeimantus, Glaucons brother, Niceratus, the son of Nicias, and several others who had been at the procession. Polemarchus said to me, I perceive, Socrates, that you and your companion are already on your way to the city. You are not far wrong, I said. But do you see, he rejoined, how many we are? Of course. And are you stronger than all these? for if not, you will have to remain where you are. May there not be the alternative, I said, that we may per- suade you to let us go? But can you persuade us, if we refuse to listen to you? he said. Certainly not, replied Glaucon. Then we are not going to listen; of that you may be assured. Adeimantus added: Has no one told you of the torch-race on horseback in honor of the goddess which will take place in the evening? With horses! I replied. That is a novelty. Will horsemen carry torches and pass them one to another during the race? Yes, said Polemarchus; and not only so, but a festival will be celebrated at night, which you certainly ought to see. Let us rise soon after supper and see this festival; there will be a gathering of young men, and we will have a good talk. Stay then, and do not be perverse. Glaucon said, I suppose, since you insist, that we must. Very good, I replied. Accordingly we went with Polemarchus to his house; and there we found his brothers Lysias and Euthydemus, and with them Thrasymachus the Chalcedonian, Charmantides the Paeanian, and Cleitophon, the son of Aristonymus. There too was Cephalus, the father of Polemarchus, whom I had not seen for a long time, and I thought him very much aged. He was seated on a cushioned chair, and had a garland on his head, for he had been sacrificing in the court; and there were some other chairs in the room arranged in a semicircle, upon which we sat down by him. He saluted me eagerly, and then he said: You dont come to see me, Socrates, as often as you ought: If I were still able to go and see you I would not ask you to come to me. But at my age I can hardly get to the city, and therefore you should come oftener to the Piraeus. For, let me tell you that the more the pleasures of the body fade away, the greater to me are the pleasure and charm of conversation. Do not, then, deny my request, but make our house your re- sort and keep company with these young men; we are old friends, and you will be quite at home with us. I replied: There is nothing which for my part I like better, Cephalus, than conversing with aged men; for I regard them as travellers who have gone a journey which I too may have to go, and of whom I ought to inquire whether the way is smooth and easy or rugged and difficult. And this is a question which I should like to ask of you, who have arrived at that time which the poets call the threshold of old age: Is life harder toward the end, or what report do you give of it? I will tell you, Socrates, he said, what my own feeling is. Men of my age flock together; we are birds of a feather, as the old proverb says; and at our meetings the tale of my acquaintance commonly is: I cannot eat, I cannot drink; the pleasures of youth and love are fled away; there was a good time once, but now that is gone, and life is no longer life. Some complain of the slights which are put upon them by relations, and they will tell you sadly of how many evils their old age is the cause. But to me, Socrates, these complainers seem to blame that which is not really in fault. For if old age were the cause, I too, being old, and every other old man would have felt as they do. But this is not my own experi- ence, nor that of others whom I have known. How well I remember the aged poet Sophocles, when in answer to the question, How does love suit with age, Sophocles — are you still the man you were? Peace, he replied; most gladly have I escaped the thing of which you speak; I feel as if I had escaped from a mad and furious master. His words have often occurred to my mind since, and they seem as good to me now as at the time when he uttered them. For certainly old age has a great sense of calm and freedom; when the pas- sions relax their hold, then, as Sophocles says, we are freed from the grasp not of one mad master only, but of many. The truth is, Socrates, that these regrets, and also the complaints about relations, are to be attributed to the same cause, which is not old age, but mens characters and tempers; for he who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden. I listened in admiration, and wanting to draw him out, that he might go on — Yes, Cephalus, I said; but I rather suspect that people in general are not convinced by you when you speak thus; they think that old age sits lightly upon you, not because of your happy disposition, but because you are rich, and wealth is well known to be a great comforter. You are right, he replied; they are not convinced: and there is something in what they say; not, however, so much as they imagine. I might answer them as Themistocles answered the Seriphian who was abusing him and saying that he was famous, not for his own merits but because he was an Athenian: If you had been a native of my country or I of yours, neither of us would have been famous. And to those who are not rich and are impatient of old age, the same reply may be made; for to the good poor man old age can- not be a light burden, nor can a bad rich man ever have peace with himself. May I ask, Cephalus, whether your fortune was for the most part inherited or acquired by you? Acquired! Socrates; do you want to know how much I acquired? In the art of making money I have been midway between my father and grandfather: for my grandfather, whose name I bear, doubled and trebled the value of his patrimony, that which he inherited being much what I possess now; but my father, Lysanias, reduced the property below what it is at present; and I shall be satisfied if I leave to these my sons not less, but a little more, than I received. That was why I asked you the question, I replied, because I see that you are indifferent about money, which is a characteristic rather of those who have inherited their fortunes than of those who have acquired them; the makers of fortunes have a second love of money as a creation of their own, resembling the affection of authors for their own poems, or of parents for their children, besides that natural love of it for the sake of use and profit which is common to them and all men. And hence they are very bad company, for they can talk about nothing but the praises of wealth. That is true, he said. Yes, that is very true, but may I ask another question? — What do you consider to be the greatest blessing which you have reaped from your wealth? One, he said, of which I could not expect easily to convince others. For let me tell you, Socrates, that when a man thinks himself to be near death, fears and cares enter into his mind which he never had before; the tales of a world below and the punishment which is exacted there of deeds done here were once a laughing matter to him, but now he is tormented with the thought that they may be true: either from the weakness of age, or because he is now drawing nearer to that other place, he has a clearer view of these things; suspicions and alarms crowd thickly upon him, and he begins to reflect and consider what wrongs he has done to others. And when he finds that the sum of his transgressions is great he will many a time like a child start up in his sleep for fear, and he is filled with dark forebodings. But to him who is conscious of no sin, sweet hope, as Pindar charmingly says, is the kind nurse of his age: Hope, he says, cherishes the soul of him who lives in justice and holiness, and is the nurse of his age and the companion of his journey — hope which is mightiest to sway the restless soul of man. How admirable are his words! And the great blessing of riches, I do not say to every man, but to a good man, is, that he has had no occasion to deceive or to defraud others, either intentionally or unintentionally; and when he departs to the world below he is not in any apprehension about offerings due to the gods or debts which he owes to men. Now to this peace of mind the possession of wealth greatly contributes; and there-fore I say, that, setting one thing against another, of the many advantages which wealth has to give, to a man of sense this is in my opinion the greatest. Well said, Cephalus, I replied; but as concerning justice, what is it? — to speak the truth and to pay your debtsno more than this? And even to this are there not exceptions? Sup- pose that a friend when in his right mind has deposited arms with me and he asks for them when he is not in his right mind, ought I to give them back to him? No one would say that I ought or that I should be right in doing so, any more than they would say that I ought always to speak the truth to one who is in his condition. You are quite right, he replied. But then, I said, speaking the truth and paying your debts is not a correct definition of justice. Quite correct, Socrates, if Simonides is to be believed, said Polemarchus, interposing. I fear, said Cephalus, that I must go now, for I have to look after the sacrifices, and I hand over the argument to Polem- archus and the company. Is not Polemarchus your heir? I said. To be sure, he answered, and went away laughing to the sacrifices. Tell me then, O thou heir of the argument, what did Simonides say, and according to you, truly say, about justice? He said that the repayment of a debt is just, and in saying so he appears to me to be right. I shall be sorry to doubt the word of such a wise and inspired man, but his meaning, though probably clear to you, is the re- verse of clear to me. For he certainly does not mean, as we were just now saying, that I ought to return a deposit of arms or of anything else to one who asks for it when he is not in his right senses; and yet a deposit cannot be denied to be a debt. True. Then when the person who asks me is not in his right mind I am by no means to make the return? Certainly not. When Simonides said that the repayment of a debt was jus- tice, he did not mean to include that case? Certainly not; for he thinks that a friend ought always to do good to a friend, and never evil. You mean that the return of a deposit of gold which is to the injury of the receiver, if the two parties are friends, is not the repayment of a debt — that is what you would imagine him to say? Yes. And are enemies also to receive what we owe to them? To be sure, he said, they are to receive what we owe them; and an enemy, as I take it, owes to an enemy that which is due or proper to himthat is to say, evil. Simonides, then, after the manner of poets, would seem to have spoken darkly of the nature of justice; for he really meant to say that justice is the giving to each man what is proper to him, and this he termed a debt. That must have been his meaning, he said. By heaven! I replied; and if we asked him what due or proper thing is given by medicine, and to whom, what answer do you think that he would make to us? He would surely reply that medicine gives drugs and meat and drink to human bodies. And what due or proper thing is given by cookery, and to what? Seasoning to food. And what is that which justice gives, and to whom? If, Socrates, we are to be guided at all by the analogy of the preceding instances, then justice is the art which gives good to friends and evil to enemies. That is his meaning, then? I think so. And who is best able to do good to his friends and evil to his enemies in time of sickness? The physician. Or when they are on a voyage, amid the perils of the sea? The pilot. And in what sort of actions or with a view to what result is the just man most able to do harm to his enemy and good to his friend? In going to war against the one and in making alliances with the other. But when a man is well, my dear Polemarchus, there is no need of a physician? No. And he who is not on a voyage has no need of a pilot? No. Then in time of peace justice will be of no use? I am very far from thinking so. You think that justice may be of use in peace as well as in war? Yes. Like husbandry for the acquisition of corn? Yes. Or like shoemaking for the acquisition of shoes — that is what you mean? Yes. And what similar use or power of acquisition has justice in time of peace? In contracts, Socrates, justice is of use. And by contracts you mean partnerships? Exactly. But is the just man or the skilful player a more useful and better partner at a game of draughts? The skilful player. And in the laying of bricks and stones is the just man a more useful or better partner than the builder? Quite the reverse. Then in what sort of partnership is the just man a better partner than the harp-player, as in playing the harp the harp- player is certainly a better partner than the just man? In a money partnership. Yes, Polemarchus, but surely not in the use of money; for you do not want a just man to be your counsellor in the purchase or sale of a horse; a man who is knowing about horses would be better for that, would he not? Certainly. And when you want to buy a ship, the shipwright or the pilot would be better? True. Then what is that joint use of silver or gold in which the just man is to be preferred? When you want a deposit to be kept safely. You mean when money is not wanted, but allowed to lie? Precisely. That is to say, justice is useful when money is useless? That is the inference. And when you want to keep a pruning-hook safe, then justice is useful to the individual and to the State; but when you want to use it, then the art of the vine-dresser? Clearly. And when you want to keep a shield or a lyre, and not to use them, you would say that justice is useful; but when you want to use them, then the art of the soldier or of the musician? Certainly. And so of all other things —justice is useful when they are useless, and useless when they are useful? That is the inference. Then justice is not good for much. But let us consider this further point: Is not he who can best strike a blow in a boxing match or in any kind of fighting best able to ward off a blow? Certainly. And he who is most skilful in preventing or escaping from a disease is best able to create one? True. And he is the best guard of a camp who is best able to steal a march upon the enemy? Certainly. Then he who is a good keeper of anything is also a good thief? That, I suppose, is to be inferred. Then if the just man is good at keeping money, he is good at stealing it. implied in the argument. That is Then after all, the just man has turned out to be a thief. And this is a lesson which I suspect you must have learnt out of Homer; for he, speaking of Autolycus, the maternal grand- father of Odysseus, who is a favorite of his, affirms that He was excellent above all men in theft and perjury. And so, you and Homer and Simonides are agreed that justice is an art of theft; to be practised, however, for the good of friends and for the harm of enemies — that was what you were saying? No, certainly not that, though I do not now know what I did say; but I still stand by the latter words. Well, there is another question: By friends and enemies do we mean those who are so really, or only in seeming? Surely, he said, a man may be expected to love those whom he thinks good, and to hate those whom he thinks evil. Yes, but do not persons often err about good and evil: many who are not good seem to be so, and conversely? That is true. Then to them the good will be enemies and the evil will be their friends? True. And in that case they will be right in doing good to the evil and evil to the good? Clearly. But the good are just and would not do an injustice? True. Then according to your argument it is just to injure those who do no wrong? Nay, Socrates; the doctrine is immoral. Then I suppose that we ought to do good to the just and harm to the unjust? that better. I like But see the consequence: Many a man who is ignorant of human nature has friends who are bad friends, and in that case he ought to do harm to them; and he has good enemies whom he ought to benefit; but, if so, we shall be saying the very op- posite of that which we affirmed to be the meaning of Simonides. Very true, he said; and I think that we had better correct an error into which we seem to have fallen in the use of the words friend and enemy. What was the error, Polemarchus? I asked. We assumed that he is a friend who seems to be or who is thought good. And how is the error to be corrected? We should rather say that he is a friend who is, as well as seems, good; and that he who seems only and is not good, only seems to be and is not a friend; and of an enemy the same may be said. You would argue that the good are our friends and the bad our enemies? Yes. And instead of saying simply as we did at first, that it is just to do good to our friends and harm to our enemies, we should further say: It is just to do good to our friends when they are good, and harm to our enemies when they are evil? Yes, that appears to me to be the truth. But ought the just to injure anyone at all? Undoubtedly he ought to injure those who are both wicked and his enemies. When horses are injured, are they improved or deteriorated? The latter. Deteriorated, that is to say, in the good qualities of horses, not of dogs? Yes, of horses. And dogs are deteriorated in the good qualities of dogs, and not of horses? Of course. And will not men who are injured be deteriorated in that which is the proper virtue of man? Certainly. And that human virtue is justice? To be sure. Then men who are injured are of necessity made unjust? That is the result. But can the musician by his art make men unmusical? Certainly not. Or the horseman by his art make them bad horsemen? Impossible. And can the just by justice make men unjust, or speaking generally, can the good by virtue make them bad? Assuredly not. Any more than heat can produce cold? It cannot. Or drought moisture? Clearly not. Nor can the good harm anyone? Impossible. And the just is the good? Certainly. Then to injure a friend or anyone else is not the act of a just man, but of the opposite, who is the unjust? I think that what you say is quite true, Socrates. Then if a man says that justice consists in the repayment of debts, and that good is the debt which a just man owes to his friends, and evil the debt which he owes to his enemies — to say this is not wise; for it is not true, if, as has been clearly shown, the injuring of another can be in no case just. I agree with you, said Polemarchus. Then you and I are prepared to take up arms against anyone who attributes such a saying to Simonides or Bias or Pittacus, or any other wise man or seer? I am quite ready to do battle at your side, he said. Shall I tell you whose I believe the saying to be? Whose? I believe that Periander or Perdiccas or Xerxes or Ismenias the Theban, or some other rich and mighty man, who had a great opinion of his own power, was the first to say that justice is doing good to your friends and harm to your enemies. Most true, he said. Yes, I said; but if this definition of justice also breaks down, what other can be offered? Several times in the course of the discussion Thrasymachus had made an attempt to get the argument into his own hands, and had been put down by the rest of the company, who wanted to hear the end. But when Polemarchus and I had done speaking and there was a pause, he could no longer hold his peace; and, gathering himself up, he came at us like a wild beast, seeking to devour us. We were quite panic-stricken at the sight of him. He roared out to the whole company: What folly, Socrates, has taken possession of you all? And why, sillybillies, do you knock under to one another? I say that if you want really to know what justice is, you should not only ask but answer, and you should not seek honor to yourself from the refutation of an opponent, but have your own answer; for there is many a one who can ask and cannot answer. And now I will not have you say that justice is duty or advantage or profit or gain or interest, for this sort of nonsense will not do for me; I must have clearness and accuracy. I was panic-stricken at his words, and could not look at him without trembling. Indeed I believe that if I had not fixed my eye upon him, I should have been struck dumb: but when I saw his fury rising, I looked at him first, and was therefore able to reply to him. Thrasymachus, I said, with a quiver, dont be hard upon us. Polemarchus and I may have been guilty of a little mistake in the argument, but I can assure you that the error was not in- tentional. If we were seeking for a piece of gold, you would not imagine that we were knocking under to one another, and so losing our chance of finding it. And why, when we are seeking for justice, a thing more precious than many pieces of gold, do you say that we are weakly yielding to one another and not doing our utmost to get at the truth? Nay, my good friend, we are most willing and anxious to do so, but the fact is that we cannot. And if so, you people who know all things should pity us and not be angry with us. How characteristic of Socrates! he replied, with a bitter laugh; thats your ironical style! Did I not foresee — have I not already told you, that whatever he was asked he would refuse to answer, and try irony or any other shuffle, in order that he might avoid answering? You are a philosopher, Thrasymachus, I replied, and well know that if you ask a person what numbers make up twelve, taking care to prohibit him whom you ask from answering twice six, or three times four, or six times two, or four times three, for this sort of nonsense will not do for me — then obviously, if that is your way of putting the question, no one can answer you. But suppose that he were to retort: Thrasymachus, what do you mean? If one of these numbers which you interdict be the true answer to the question, am I falsely to say some other number which is not the right one? — is that your meaning? — How would you answer him? Just as if the two cases were at all alike! he said. Why should they not be? I replied; and even if they are not, but only appear to be so to the person who is asked, ought he not to say what he thinks, whether you and I forbid him or not? I presume then that you are going to make one of the interdicted answers? I dare say that I may, notwithstanding the danger, if upon reflection I approve of any of them. But what if I give you an answer about justice other and better, he said, than any of these? What do you deserve to have done to you? Done to me! — as becomes the ignorant, I must learn from the wise — that is what I deserve to have done to me. What, and no payment! A pleasant notion! I will pay when I have the money, I replied. But you have, Socrates, said Glaucon: and you, Thrasyma- chus, need be under no anxiety about money, for we will all make a contribution for Socrates. Yes, he replied, and then Socrates will do as he always does — refuse to answer himself, but take and pull to pieces the answer of someone else. Why, my good friend, I said, how can anyone answer who knows, and says that he knows, just nothing; and who, even if he has some faint notions of his own, is told by a man of authority not to utter them? The natural thing is, that the speaker should be someone like yourself who professes to know and can tell what he knows. Will you then kindly answer, for the edification of the company and of myself? Glaucon and the rest of the company joined in my request, and Thrasymachus, as anyone might see, was in reality eager to speak; for he thought that he had an excellent answer, and would distinguish himself. But at first he affected to insist on my answering; at length he consented to begin. Behold, he said, the wisdom of Socrates; he refuses to teach himself, and goes about learning of others, to whom he never even says, Thank you. That I learn of others, I replied, is quite true; but that I am ungrateful I wholly deny. Money I have none, and therefore I pay in praise, which is all I have; and how ready I am to praise anyone who appears to me to speak well you will very soon find out when you answer; for I expect that you will answer well. Listen, then, he said; I proclaim that justice is nothing else than the interest of the stronger. And now why do you not praise me? But of course you wont. Let me first understand you, I replied. Justice, as you say, is the interest of the stronger. What, Thrasymachus, is the meaning of this? You cannot mean to say that because Polyd- amas, the pancratiast, is stronger than we are, and finds the eating of beef conducive to his bodily strength, that to eat beef is therefore equally for our good who are weaker than he is, and right and just for us? Thats abominable of you, Socrates; you take the words in the sense which is most damaging to the argument. Not at all, my good sir, I said; I am trying to understand them; and I wish that you would be a little clearer. Well, he said, have you never heard that forms of govern- ment differ — there are tyrannies, and there are democracies, and there are aristocracies? Yes, I know. And the government is the ruling power in each State? Certainly. And the different forms of government make laws demo- cratical, aristocratical, tyrannical, with a view to their several interests; and these laws, which are made by them for their own interests, are the justice which they deliver to their subjects, and him who transgresses them they punish as a breaker of the law, and unjust. And that is what I mean when I say that in all States there is the same principle of justice, which is the interest of the government; and as the government must be supposed to have power, the only reasonable conclusion is that everywhere there is one principle of justice, which is the interest of the stronger. Now I understand you, I said; and whether you are right or not I will try to discover. But let me remark that in defining justice you have yourself used the word interest, which you forbade me to use. It is true, however, that in your definition the words of the stronger are added. A small addition, you must allow, he said. Great or small, never mind about that: we must first inquire whether what you are saying is the truth. Now we are both agreed that justice is interest of some sort, but you go on to say of the stronger; about this addition I am not so sure, and must therefore consider further. Proceed. I will; and first tell me, Do you admit that it is just for sub- jects to obey their rulers? I do. But are the rulers of States absolutely infallible, or are they sometimes liable to err? To be sure, he replied, they are liable to err? Then in making their laws they may sometimes make them rightly, and sometimes not? True. When they make them rightly, they make them agreeably to their interest; when they are mistaken, contrary to their in- terest; you admit that? Yes. And the laws which they make must be obeyed by their sub- jectsand that is what you call justice? Doubtless. Then justice, according to your argument, is not only obedience to the interest of the stronger, but the reverse? What is that you are saying? he asked. I am only repeating what you are saying, I believe. But let us consider: Have we not admitted that the rulers may be mistaken about their own interest in what they command, and also that to obey them is justice? Has not that been admitted? Yes. Then you must also have acknowledged justice not to be for the interest of the stronger, when the rulers unintentionally command things to be done which are to their own injury. For if, as you say, justice is the obedience which the subject renders to their commands, in that case, O wisest of men, is there any escape from the conclusion that the weaker are commanded to do, not what is for the interest, but what is for the injury of the stronger? Nothing can be clearer, Socrates, said Polemarchus. Yes, said Cleitophon, interposing, if you are allowed to be his witness. But there is no need of any witness, said Polemarchus, for Thrasymachus himself acknowledges that rulers may some- time command what is not for their own interest, and that for subjects to obey them is justice. Yes, Polemarchus — Thrasymachus said that for subjects to do what was commanded by their rulers is just. Yes, Cleitophon, but he also said that justice is the interest of the stronger, and, while admitting both these propositions, he further acknowledged that the stronger may command the weaker who are his subjects to do what is not for his own interest; whence follows that justice is the injury quite as much as the interest of the stronger. But, said Cleitophon, he meant by the interest of the stronger what the stronger thought to be his interest — this was what the weaker had to do; and this was affirmed by him to be justice. Those were not his words, rejoined Polemarchus. Never mind, I replied, if he now says that they are, let us accept his statement. Tell me, Thrasymachus, I said, did you mean by justice what the stronger thought to be his interest, whether really so or not? Certainly not, he said. Do you suppose that I call him who is mistaken the stronger at the time when he is mistaken? Yes, I said, my impression was that you did so, when you admitted that the ruler was not infallible, but might be sometimes mistaken. You argue like an informer, Socrates. Do you mean, for example, that he who is mistaken about the sick is a physician in that he is mistaken? or that he who errs in arithmetic or grammar is an arithmetician or grammarian at the time when he is making the mistake, in respect of the mistake? True, we say that the physician or arithmetician or grammarian has made a mistake, but this is only a way of speaking; for the fact is that neither the grammarian nor any other person of skill ever makes a mistake in so far as he is what his name implies; they none of them err unless their skill fails them, and then they cease to be skilled artists. No artist or sage or ruler errs at the time when he is what his name implies; though he is commonly said to err, and I adopted the common mode of speaking. But to be perfectly accurate, since you are such a lover of accuracy, we should say that the ruler, in so far as he is a ruler, is unerr- ing, and, being unerring, always commands that which is for his own interest; and the subject is required to execute his com- mands; and therefore, as I said at first and now repeat, justice is the interest of the stronger. Indeed, Thrasymachus, and do I really appear to you to argue like an informer? Certainly, he replied. And do you suppose that I ask these questions with any de- sign of injuring you in the argument? Nay, he replied, suppose is not the word — I know it; but you will be found out, and by sheer force of argument you will never prevail.

The Effect of a Global Oil Shortage on the US Economy Essay Example for Free

The Effect of a Global Oil Shortage on the US Economy Essay Oil is a very important 21st century product. It is a vital source of energy, an irreplaceable transport fuel, and an essential raw material in many manufacturing processes. Crude oil is a source of great economic power. Since its production cost in many places is far below its selling price in world markets, the ownership and control of oil reserves have been a means by which great wealth has been earned and lost (Deffeyes, 2001). Oil has become the world’s most important internationally traded item in both volume and value terms and changes in this trade have had enormous financial, political and socio-cultural repercussions on the parties involved. Wars, revolutions and mass migrations are perhaps only the most visible manifestation of oil shortages. The purpose of this study is to explore what implications a global oil shortage would have for the US economy. Toward this end we will scrutinize the economic valuables being influenced by oil supply, analyze the ability of the US to meet domestic demand as well as extent of oil–dependence of the country, and make the conclusion. There are three major players in the global oil marketplace – the consuming countries, the producer countries and the international oil industry which mediates between them (Cleaver, 2002). The three biggest consumers in 2000 were: the United States (18. 7 million barrels per day), the European Union (13. 3 million barrels per day) and Japan (5. 5 million barrels per day). As a group the OECD countries exert most pressure on world markets, since they have the highest incomes yet produce insufficient oil to satisfy their own needs. OECD countries consume 62. 4 per cent of the world’s oil, yet produce only 28. 1 per cent (Cleaver, 2002, p. 169). Could the US Produce Oil Supply Sufficient to Satisfy Own Needs? The US has always been a significant producer but its mature oilfields have been in slow, steady decline since the mid-1980s. But perhaps of greater importance is that the country holds some 2. 8 per cent of the world’s reserves volume and, in addition, its oil is not cheap to produce. For instance, in 1985 Saudi oil was estimated to cost less than US$1 a barrel to extract, compared with $7-$8 for Alaska and the North Sea (Cleaver, 2002, p. 181). Thus, the US cannot drill its way to petroleum self-sufficiency in the long run, or to lower gas prices in the short run. Even if Congress opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling tomorrow, the oil would not begin to flow very soon. The US Geological Service estimates 3. 2 billion barrels of economically recoverable oil lie beneath the refuge – enough to meet the nations current demand just for six months. At peak production, the refuge would meet about 2 percent of the nations projected petroleum demand (Stanke, 2002, p. 912). Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or bringing a new arctic field on line, would not change the US fundamental energy outlook: continuing growth in demand, declining domestic production and increasing dependence on imported oil (Chapman Khanna, 2000). What Implications the Global Oil Shortage Would Have on the US Economy The implications of oil shortages spread throughout the industrialized world, causing classic microeconomic reallocation of resources. Oil supply and prices affect decisions to invest billions of dollars in different industrial projects: whether to build major highways or rail networks trains or electric cars; offshore drilling platforms or nuclear power stations. Oil shortages also affect macroeconomic variables such as the levels of national incomes, aggregate spending and the balance of payments. The enormous sums involved affect countries’ rates of economic growth, levels of international debt and the overall functioning of the world’s financial system (Hunt, Isard Laxton, 2002). As Deffeyes (2001) ascertains, the coming oil shortage cannot be avoided. He suggests that U. S. political leaders, the news media, and the public are either unaware of or uninterested in the problem, although detailed reports forecasting the peak in world oil production have appeared in many scientific journals. The US oil industry itself maintains its focus on such issues as improving technology, drilling deeper for oil, finding new reserves, and accelerating production. None of these measures can have a significant impact on the coming oil shortage, argues Deffeyes (2001). He forecasts that a permanent drop in oil production will begin within current decade. Deffeyes (2001) argues that the list of fundamental activities is short: agriculture, ranching, forestry, fisheries, mining, and petroleum (p. 159), thus, a permanent drop in oil production will pull one of the blocks out from underneath the pyramid. If Deffeyes is right, the implications are enormous. He anticipates that sharply higher oil prices will bring difficult economic, social, and political passages for those societies most dependent on oil, especially on imported oil (Deffeyes, 2001), as the US is. Exporters will charge top dollar: a gigantic windfall for the Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other big oil producers. He implies that the tumult will be greater than that occasioned by the oil price hikes of 1973 and 1979 (Kohl, 2005). Three things could upset Deffeyes prediction: the discovery of huge new oil deposits, development of drilling technology that could squeeze more oil from known reserves, and a steep rise in oil prices, which would make it profitable to recover even the most stubbornly buried oil (Cleaver, 2002). Previous oil shocks have all followed periods of strong economic demand, accelerating inflation from higher levels than prevail currently, a weak dollar at least in terms of the major foreign currencies, actual or threatened cuts or disruptions in oil production, and hostilities in the Middle East. Yet each episode also exhibited some unique features that aggravated the oil price increases (Little, 2001). For instance, an examination of the US postwar quarterly GNP data shows a slowdown in GNP growth after the oil crisis in 1973. Scholars consider the slowdown in growth after the 1973 oil crisis as an event external to the domestic economy (Zivot Andrews, 2002, p. 25). But, it seems reasonable to regard the formation of the OPEC as an exogenous event, there were other big events such as the 1964 tax cut, the Vietnam War, and the financial deregulation in the 1980s that could also be viewed as possible exogenous structural breakpoints (Zivot Andrews, 2002). Nevertheless, the financial world has reorganized since 1980. Effects of oil shortages and subsequent price rises, during the late 1970s, took months to years to spread from industry to industry; from price increases to wage demands. In the new economy, the shock of an oil price rise will spread in milliseconds (Deffeyes, 2001). Moreover, recent rising gas prices are a signal that the consequences of relying on imported oil will become harder to bear (Tonn, 2004). Petroleum is priced in dollars, and the value of the dollar has declined steeply against major currencies If oil were priced in euros or yen, the price per barrel would appear more stable. The American appetite for imported oil may end the dollars privileged status as the leading currency of trade (Kohl, 2005). The great oil dependence of the US economy could be shortened by means of more extensive use of nuclear energy, but unfortunately the US failed to take full advantage of this kind energy for political reasons. While nuclear-power plants are large capital investments, once those costs are sunk the marginal cost of nuclear fuel is very low-currently corresponding to about $4 per barrel of oil (Miniter, 1991, p. 37). Volatility of oil prices during the oil shortage will be aggravated by the unusually large imbalances between the US supply and demand associated partly with the recent unexpectedly rapid global growth. Over the medium term, moreover, the long lag times between decisions to drill new wells or build new refineries and increased supplies of petroleum products can amplify these instabilities (Cleaver, 2002). For instance, recent estimates by the OECD suggest that even a $10 increase in the price of oil maintained for a year is likely to add 0. to 1 percentage point to overall consumer price inflation and to cut 0. 2 to 0. 5 percentage point from output growth in the major industrial countries within two years after the oil shock (Little, 2001, p. 6). Economists have proposed a variety of mechanisms linking oil price increases with economic downturns. These include terms-of-trade shocks, negative productivity shocks, shifts in relative prices that may induce a costly reallocation of resources across sectors, and the monetary policy response to the increased price pressures. In the case of a terms-of-trade shock, an oil price increase acts like an excise tax – with a major part of the income gains going to foreign oil producers (Cleaver, 2002). The global oil shortage also would have an impact on the wages in all the US industries. Economists propose an efficiency-wage model in which an increase in the real price of oil resulting from oil shortage, as an important input price, leads to a decline in real wages as firms seek to avoid losses. They find that real oil prices and real interest rates explain the overall path of U. S. nemployment from 1979 to 1995 reasonably well (Hunt, Isard Laxton, 2002). Rotemberg and Woodford in 1996 presented related evidence that introducing a modest degree of imperfect competition in product markets considerably magnifies the impact of oil price changes on real wages and output beyond what might have been expected given oils relatively small role in the US economy (as cited in Little, 2001, p. 9). This would have an enormous negative impact especially on the small and medium–sized enterprises which contribute largely to the US GNP and are major contributors of new jobs using more labour-intensive production. They will have to shut manufacturing units and discharge workers because of the surging costs of electricity. But some factors testify that the picture is not despairing. Thus, increased energy efficiency, robust economic conditions, enhanced central bank credibility, and stable inflation expectations in the US suggest that the impact of possible global oil shortage in the nearest future will be more muted and manageable than in previous oil shocks (Tonn, 2004). Conclusion The discussed above demonstrates that the implications of the global oil shortage for the US would be very negative in many sectors of its economy due to substantial dependence of the country on the oil import, impossibility to satisfy domestic demand by own oil resources, recent weakening of the US dollar and poor progress in developing alternative sources of energy. The United States can restrain oil demand as a matter of public policy, or wait for rising prices to force consumers to cut back. Now the country has chosen the latter course by default. The efforts of the US public to swing energy policy in the direction of renewable kinds of energy are blocked by the Bush Administration and its fossils fuel industry supporters. Thus, the USA remains vulnerable to oil supply and price shocks. One implication is that current US policy, in promoting still heavier investment in fossil fuels, is misguided. If we dont shift away from oil, we may as well gift-wrap the entire budget surplus and send it to the oil producing countries – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other. As Deffeyes (2001) reasonably ascertains, rather than have the crisis sneak up on us, we can see it coming and initiate some of the long lead-time projects in advance. Forewarned is forearmed (p. 187).

UK Legislation on Maritime Cultural Heritage

UK Legislation on Maritime Cultural Heritage How does current UK legislation define and value maritime Cultural heritage? Abstract The paper investigates UK maritime law with regards to its definition of maritime cultural heritage and the value placed upon this issue. Acts such as the 1973 Shipwrecks Act and the 1996 Treasure Act show that there are large gaps in UK maritime law and that the value placed upon maritime cultural heritage protection in the UK is lower than that placed upon commercial salvage concerns. In addition, international law has had little effect due to the UK rejection of the 2001 UNESCO Convention. Current events also show that the UK government is prepared to put commercial concerns before maritime cultural heritage protection. A survey is conducted to show the lack of knowledge in the UK regarding maritime law, but the desire from society for increased protection. Recommendations are made to scrap current legislation in order to put in new, unified legislation that offers blanket protection for wrecks. The proposal is similar to the current Swedish model of maritime cultural law. Historically, as one of the world’s foremost shipping and naval countries, Great Britain has a huge amount of maritime culture and heritage. In order to protect this heritage, there are a large number of laws in place. However, there is much discussion as to whether or not these laws adequately protect and value maritime cultural heritage above other concerns such as economics, politics, and land protection. The aim of this essay is to look at the current UK legislation and see how it defines and values maritime cultural heritage. This subject is important, because maritime cultural heritage is an important part of our society, and can give us a sense of pride in our nation’s achievements. Maritime cultural heritage is part of our national pride and identity – part of what it means to be English. With this in mind, it is important that this heritage is protected. The first section will consist of a literature review of UK maritime law and how it values maritime heritage. This will involve looking at a wide variety of government legislation from both the UK and worldwide law. The second section will continue a review of literature regarding how best to protect and guard maritime cultural heritage, and how these theories interplay with the law in practice. In order to gain an understanding of how the UK legislation compares to other maritime laws worldwide, there will be a comparison of UK law and policy with the policies of Australia and Sweden. These countries have been chosen along with the UK because of their significant maritime heritage. A news and views section will outline some of the recent issues and developments in maritime cultural heritage to show how legislation is currently being used in practice. This will include a look at the recent Spain vs. Odyssey conflict and its significance to the protection of maritime cultural heritage. The next section will include a survey so as to determine the public’s knowledge of current affairs within the UK regarding maritime cultural heritage. This will be a chance to understand the problems and advantages of maritime cultural heritage protection and law in today’s Britain. The penultimate section will outline recommendations on how, in light of the literature review findings and survey results, the current legislation could be changed to further protect maritime cultural heritage in the UK and worldwide. This may involve the changing of current laws or the creation of new laws with regards to maritime heritage protection. The last section will conclude all of the findings of the paper. Before the literature review begins, it is important to give a basic definition of what is meant by maritime cultural heritage, so that it can be understood what the protection of it means. This will also be useful to compare with how the UK and worldwide legislation defines maritime cultural heritage. One good definition of so-called ‘underwater cultural heritage’ is put forward by Sokal, who says that underwater cultural heritage: â€Å"†¦Refers to all remains of human activities lying on the seabed, on riverbeds, or at the bottom of lakes. It includes shipwrecks and other objects lost at sea, as well as prehistoric sites, sunken towns, and ancient ports that were once on the dry land and were eventually submerged due to climatic or geological changes.†[1] However, this does not fully cover maritime cultural heritage that has since been salvaged or put on display, as many of the most precious items have already. The reason for this is that it is generally understood that once artefacts are salvaged they are then governed under usual artefact and heritage law. The protection of the maritime heritage is to do with the maintenance and protection of relics that are underwater rather than those that have already been retrieved. [2] Although there is no standard definition of cultural heritage, many of the UN drafts and resolutions include terms such as â€Å"Objects of an archaeological and historical nature found at sea†. Although it is hard to fully decide what this should include, it is fairly clear that in the most basic sense underwater cultural heritage has to do with historical remains or evidence of human existence in any body of water around the world, particularly if that evidence is of cultural significance.[3] In the next section this definition can be compared to the definition of maritime cultural heritage put forward in UK legislation. The problem at present is that our maritime cultural heritage is protected by an assortment of UK legislations, none of which were specifically designed or created for the sole purpose of protecting and conserving our maritime cultural heritage. This means that only around sixty sites have been protected of an estimated thirty or forty thousand in the UK. This is because the laws are heavily value laden, and this diminishes any powers of protection offered. One of the earliest laws related to cultural heritage is the Ancient Monuments Act of 1882. This act was put in place so that ancient monuments could be ‘guarded’ or looked after by the people who own them, and also so that the government could potentially buy monuments that they felt needed better protection. Although this act sets a good early example in that it lists punishments for potential defacers of such monuments, there is a significant loophole. Anyone who owns such a monument but has not been given the title of ‘guardian’ of that monument is not liable to such punishments. This means that anyone who takes possession of or owns a piece of heritage or monument could in fact use it for commercial purposes or sell its valuable parts without punishment, so long as they had not been officially labeled as a guardian of the monument. This is significant because it is likely that anyone who was labeled a guardian would have been given this title because of their commitment to the monument. Those unlabelled owners would be perhaps more likely to deface or use the monument, yet could escape punishment for doing so.[4] Another problem with this act is that it does not specifically mention maritime cultural aterfacts as being monuments, and talks more about land-based monuments and their maintenance. Although the act was updated in 1979, it still retained the core problem of determining what ‘monuments’ were in fact Only those monuments listed on a ‘schedule’ were truly protected by this law, meaning that thousands of locations of maritime cultural heritage were left out and exposed to harm.[5] One of the next acts to be created with regards to maritime cultural heritage is the 1949 Coastal Protection Act. This act is concerned with the maintenance and protection of land that is being encroached upon by the sea, to stop valuable pieces of land being destroyed by coastal erosion. The way in which this act helps to protect underwater cultural heritage is that permission is required in tidal waters to dredge or remove objects. This means that underwater heritage sites cannot be touched without permission. However, it also means that any works for maintenance of these sites requires permission, and may be refused if this work interferes with navigational safety in any way. Also, the main point of this act is to stop land destruction, and the prohibition of removal of materials does not specifically mention cultural artefacts. It also says that removal of minerals more than fifty feet below the surface is allowed. The act also offers no protection to artefacts or wrecks in non-tidal or inland waters, as these are not considered part of the realm of ‘coastal protection’. Again, whilst the Coastal Protection Act does make it harder for some artefacts to be removed, it also has many flaws because the act is not targeting cultural heritage protection.[6] Perhaps the first real attempt to create a law that takes into account cultural heritage sites is the 1973 Protection of Wrecks Act. This act when combined with the Ancient Monuments Act has helped at least 15 wrecks to be protected in parts of Scotland.[7] It has in total protected around 60 wrecks under section 1 of the Act. This act is an improvement on the Ancient Monuments Act because it does need have the requirement of scheduling a monument. Rather, for a wreck to be protected it needs to be of historical, archaeological or artistic value. The problem here of course is defining this ‘value’, and this is why so many wrecks have been ignored. There is no specific definition of what constitutes this artistic, historical or archaeological value, and in fact 2 items on the original list of 60 have been removed. This law is helping to protect culturally significant wrecks, but with its vague definition of what this means there are countless other wrecks not being protected. Another problem is that with the correct licenses people are still allowed to regularly dive with these wrecks, although not take anything away. The problem here is that there is potential for damage or removal of objects without the knowledge of those charged with guarding the wrecks if anyone with a correct license can b e allowed access to the wreck.[8] Another issue is that whilst the act stops designated wrecks being unduly disturbed, it does not mention anything with regards to the maintenance of such wrecks and how they are to be preserved for future generations – an integral part of maritime cultural heritage. In 1986 there came the Protection of Military Remains Act. The primary goal of this act is to prevent disturbance of human remains that are still present in military aircraft or vessels. This is an act that applies both to UK and international waters, although vessels of foreign origin only count within UK waters. The act categories places as either ‘protected’, where diving is allowed with a license, or ‘controlled’, where no-one is allowed to visit. The historic significance of a site is one of the most important criteria when deciding if a site is eligible for protected or controlled status under the law. Although there are currently 16 vessels protected by this law in UK waters and at least 5 more in international waters as of 2001, the major loophole is obviously that the sites are only being protected whilst the human remains stay at these locations. Once these remains are gone then under this law the vessels will not be offered protection. Also, the definition of what constitutes historical significance is not clear.[9] The Merchant Shipping Act of 1995 is somewhat different, and is based upon the 1989 International Convention on Salvage. This Shipping law states that all items of wreck found in UK waters must be reported to the Receiver of Wreck – an official of the British government. Once reported the person who finds the wreck then has rights of salvage. These rights of salvage mean that once reported, the wreck is to be detained by the Receiver until a valuation is completed, at which time the individual(s) who salvaged the wreck will need to pay up to  £5,000 to release the wreck into their custody. The government can then hold the vessel until an owner is established. However, the problem with this legislation is again that it was not designed with the protection of maritime cultural heritage at its core. Although it means that all wrecks, no matter their significance are reported, it also means that if no owner comes forward or is found the person who found the wreck has rights to it once the salvage costs are paid. Although the Receiver has the rights to refuse this salvage right, this has been rarely carried out in the UK, if at all. Another factor is that the entire legislation is concerned with property ‘value’ in money terms rather than any cultural or historical significance. Whilst a wreck may appear of little monetary value, it may be of significant cultural or historical interest. This law only helps maritime cultural heritage in the sense that more wrecks need to be reported. However, it does not help wrecks from being removed or taken into possession by those who salvage them, whatever their intentions are for the wreck.[10] However, the Treasure Act of 1996 is a law created to deal with artefacts collected or found, and has more significance for maritime cultural heritage protection. This act creates a legal obligation for anyone who finds an object of ‘treasure’ as defined in the act to report it to their local coroner within fourteen days. The coroner will then determine whether or not the item constitutes treasure. If the item is seen as treasure then the person who found it must offer to sell it to a museum at a price set by an independent board of antiquities experts. If the item is found to not be treasure or the museum does not want to purchase it, then the finder may retain the object. In this law, the definition of treasure is generally set out to deal with items that are gold or silver of at least ten per cent and precious coins that are at least 300 years old. Items that are older than 200 years and are deemed by the State to be of historical or cultural value are also included. The problem with this is that any item outside of the usual scope of ‘treasure’ can only be classed as treasure through a special order. This sort of order may only be granted in circumstances where significant cultural value is identified. Another problem with this law is that it does not really preserve heritage directly. It demands that any treasure found be valued and that a museum have to pay the full price for such treasure. This means that for extremely valuable items it may be beyond the means of museums to purchase everything. This leaves maritime cultural heritage in the hands of people who may only be interested in the monetary value of an item and have no desire to preserve the item beyond this. However, most significantly the law focuses on metallic items of over 300 years old and any other culturally significant items of over 200 years old. This means items under 200 years old may not be protected, and the wrecks where the treasure is found may be damaged or discarded in favour of collecting the treasure itself. It must be said that this law, like the Merchant Shipping Act, does mean that more treasure and historical items are reported and discovered, allowing museums the opportunity to collect more material than might be possible otherwise. However, it does also encourage those who actively seek treasure of value, for they know a price will be set for it. More emphasis in the law should be put upon the cultural and historical significance of the item. The flipside of this is of course that people are more likely to report treasure knowing they will get money for it, rather than just keep it for themselves.[11] The most important of recent UK laws in this field though is the National Heritage Act of 2002, which is an update of the 1983 Act. This act is important because it includes UK heritage agencies in the protection of ancient monuments in or under the seabed within the territorial sea adjacent to England. Wales and Scotland have similar administrative responsibilities in their devolved administrations under Cadw and Historic Scotland respectively.[12] This is a welcome law as it enables English Heritage to take over responsibility for maritime cultural heritage protection from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport.[13] This means that the protection of monuments and promoting the public’s enjoyment and awareness of such monuments is all handled by one agency. Whilst there was obviously a transition period to move control from one agency to another, it has meant that archaeological sites from low water to the 12 nautical mile territorial limit around England are all dealt with by English Heritage.[14] Whilst this law is a step in the right direction by attempting to join up the laws governing maritime cultural heritage protection, the Acts themselves have too many gaps and too little direct focus on heritage protection to adequately protect our maritime cultural heritage. In addition to these UK laws however, cultural protection and heritage is governed by the UNESCO laws of 1972, 1981 and 2001. These laws have a significant influence on how cultural heritage is protected. The World Heritage Convention was adopted by UNESCO in 1972 and links nature conservation and preservation of cultural heritage. It helps to define the sort of sites that can be considered for the World Heritage List, and any country that signs the list pledges to protect not only their World Heritage Sites in their territory but their national heritage as a whole. By signing this list the UK has pledged to protect our national heritage, a large part of which is our maritime cultural heritage. However, it is the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention that really began to create a universal concept and law of maritime cultural protection. It is Articles 303 and 149 of this law that are of most interest. Article 303 says that ‘States have the duty to protect objects of an archaeological and historical nature found at sea and shall co-operate for this purpose’. [15] One problem with this part of the law is that it does not give any details of what these duties might involve. The law also says that it is not in contradiction or prejudice to any other international agreements on cultural protection, thus leaving the way open for future laws such as the 2001 convention. Article 149 says that: â€Å"all objects of an archaeological and historical nature found in the Area [that is, on the seabed underneath the high seas] shall be preserved or disposed of for the benefit of mankind as a whole, particular regard being paid to the preferential rights of the State or country of origin, or the State of cultural origin, or the State of historical and archaeological origin†. The problem with this is that the law is limited to the high seas, and there is a large gap between the high seas and the zones such as the contiguous zone closer to territorial waters.[16] As the most comprehensive of all the international maritime laws, it is a surprise that only two sections are linked to cultural protection. The problem is that these issues were only discussed at a late stage and the primary focus of the law is on fishing, the environment and trade. This law was ratified by 146 nations and came into effect in 1994. Of those nations that did not accept initially such as the USA, much of this was to do with deep seabed mining and other natural resource management concerns rather than with the issue of underwater cultural heritage – most likely because the Convention had so little in it about this topic.[17] However, it wasn’t long after this that new draft resolutions began to deal with the future of underwater cultural heritage, as it was felt that not enough was being done to deal with this issue. There was to be a look at cultural management, and these draft resolutions culminated in the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage.[18] This law was certainly needed, for the 1982 law was an ambiguous and rushed attempt to deal with underwater cultural heritage protection. The problem is that past 24 nautical miles there is little protection for cultural heritage in the 1982 law, and the protection of cultural heritage is then left up to the freedom of the open seas.[19] The 2001 Convention was adopted by 87 votes for to 4 against, with 15 abstentions. However, in these 15 abstentions were the UK, and at the time the US was not part of UNESCO and so could not vote. This immediately causes problems, as although the UK has adopted the 1989 Salvage Convention, they have not adopted the 2001 Underwater Cultural Heritage Convention. The reason for this is that the 2001 Convention actually attempts to provide blanket protection for all maritime cultural heritages, and the way in which State vessels and warships were to be protected was different to the plans of the UK. Britain has such a huge amount of wrecks that it has been felt that only those of the most significance should be focused on. If this Convention were signed then all wrecks of any historical or cultural significance would need to be protected. Britain believes that diverting resources to the most important wrecks and then educating people about maritime cultural heritage is more important. [20] However, this is not a view that the researcher ascribes to, as it seems extremely important that we preserve our entire maritime cultural heritage so that we may understand both the good and bad events that Britain has been a part of. Funding is obviously integral to this, and perhaps at this time it has not been possible for Britain to offer such large resources to the protection of all wrecks. Whilst this may be monetarily prudent, it may prove to be a costly mistake in the future as wrecks continue to be salvaged without consideration for the protection of cultural heritage. The law itself is having an effect on our cultural heritage protection though as the UK becomes increasingly pressured to meet the demands of this convention and give blanket protection to historical wrecks. The problem with this though is obviously providing resources to meet these demands, which may result in protection resources being spread too thin. Also, blanket protection of all wrecks may result in us being too nostalgic about certain aspects of our maritime cultural heritage, in particular the perspective our Britain’s associations with the sea during times of conflict. It is questionable as to whether significant amounts of money should be spent on protecting all historically significant wrecks, even if these wrecks were associated with darker activities and times in our history.[21] However, the 2001 convention doesn’t offer nearly as much protection as it first seems. The fact that there is a 100 year minimum time limit on artefacts excludes a lot of more recent wrecks that may be historically or culturally significant, such as the Titanic and wrecks from World War 1 and World War 2. This fact was made abundantly clear when the wreck of the Titanic was uncovered in 1985 and it became apparent that there was no way to protect it from salvage. With more advanced equipment today the problem is even greater, and anything under 100 years old is simply not adequately protected by the law. [22] Despite this, the law does have some good points. It aims at a universal plan of in situ preservation of wrecks, meaning they are less open to invasive procedures that would damage their condition and prevent us studying them in detail in the future. Another very important aspect of the Convention is in Article 4 which declares that the rules of salvage and finds will not be applicable to underwater cultural heritage. Although salvors do not obtain ownership rights, they gain the right to large compensation. This means that anything labeled as underwater cultural heritage cannot be sold commercially or traded. [23] Of course, the major problem with this law is its ineffectiveness unless more nations sign onto it. With the UK not accepting its terms it means that whilst the UNESCO Convention is good in principle, it cannot particularly influence UK law at this stage. The UK still looks to the Protection of Wrecks Act as the way to preserve cultural heritage. However, should more nations accept the Convention then this would surely be a major step towards further protecting the maritime cultural heritage of all countries. Just like the 1982 Convention, acceptance of this Convention would help reduce piracy and crime that damages maritime cultural heritage.[24] The problem with all of the laws in the UK and the rejection of the 2001 UNESCO Convention is that there is a lack of value placed upon maritime cultural heritage. The next section will briefly examine how, despite efforts to promote maritime cultural heritage protection, the UK laws still place little value on this concept above financial concerns and traditional property rights and salvage law. An example of how maritime law in the UK fails to focus on maritime cultural heritage preservation can be found in a study conducted by Mike Williams, a senior law studies lecturer at Wolverhampton University. Williams found that in places like the south-west of England, the rights to a wreck were based upon non-law conventions such as rights based on being able to see out to the distance that the wreck is from the shore. Although Williams show that Britain does know the importance of underwater cultural heritage and that is why it adopted the Valetta Convention, the Shipwrecks Act of 1973 has many flaws. It does not include protection for items that are not ships such as wrecks of Warplanes, and it stops people from having access to historical sites, which almost defeats the point of protecting them. The problem is that salvors can still claim possession of such historical wrecks, as seen by the 1990’s case of the Hanover, which was designated a wreck after discovery because it was supposed to carry gold. The salvors took the government to court and won the right to salvage. This shows the law is does not value cultural heritage as much as the traditional rights of salvage.[25] The fact is that when on land, historical artefacts are protected much better than those in the water. Although there have been a number of shipwrecks or maritime archaeological remains found on land, this is rare and the core of our maritime cultural heritage is beneath the water.[26] The problem can be seen in the cases where politicians get involved to try and protect wrecks or bring them to the attention of the public. This is necessary because the law itself, or at the very least the application of the law, is not focused on maritime cultural heritage. A case in 2002 was highlighted when Baroness Blackstone called for protection from the law for the 18th century warship the Bonhomme Richard. Although this wreck was eventually protected thanks to an urgent Designation Order under the Protection of Wrecks Act, it is only because of quick work by the Baroness that this occurred. The issue was that if salvors had got to the wreck first there was little the law could have done to prevent their rights of possession. If more value was placed upon cultural heritage protection in the law, then these temporary emergency measures would not be needed to protect important historical sites such as that of the Bonhomme Richard.[27] Another problem occurring in the UK system is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find new and profitable uses for the port system. This means it is becoming harder to maintain these avenues of maritime cultural heritage, an example of which can be seen in the collapse of the coal ports in South Wales. The problem is that a balance between economic viability and cultural heritage is trying to be created. With architecturally important yards such as the Royal William Yard in Plymouth being left unused, it is becoming hard to see how economics can mix with cultural heritage. At the moment it seems that the force of economics is winning out. [28] The state of law at the moment is that cultural heritage is still put behind economic concerns of both salvors and the government. The law still favours salvors, and the government is unwilling to change laws to protect all wrecks because it would be too costly at this time. Therefore, by protecting a small number of high-profile wrecks it can be seen that something is being done. However, this is not enough and until these laws are changed it is clear that protection for maritime cultural heritage in the UK will remain inadequate.[29] To show how the UK maritime laws compare to other countries in terms of valuing cultural heritage, the next section will look at the legislation on maritime heritage in Sweden and Australia against that of the UK. Australian maritime law is perhaps more focused on maritime boundary zones than on preserving cultural heritage.[30] After ratifying the 1982 UNESCO Law of the Sea in 1994, they also put in a 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone to help protect their interests around their complex shoreline.[31] However, this is not to say that Australian law doesn’t take into account maritime cultural heritage. The 2001 UNESCO Convention has had an effect on Australian law, although policies to protect cultural heritage in Australian waters have been in place for around 25 years. However, the problem in Australia is that only the Federal Government can help to initiate such changes as put forward by the Convention. This is difficult because it is the Territories who often put in practice many of the initiatives regarding cultural heritage protection. Despite this, in 2001 a promise to review the 1976 Commonwealth Historic Shipwrecks Act would be put in place, although this has taken some time to complete. The Historic Shipwrecks Act works very much like the UK Shipwrecks Act in that it protects historic shipwrecks rather than other relics. The review since the 2001 UNESCO Convention would aim to change this so that all historical artefacts would be preserved. However, like the UK there is opposition to this from salvors as well as divers, with Australia being particularly popular with wreck divers. They believe that new laws would limit the access to wrecks for the general public. In truth, these ‘concerned’