Overpopulation

Transcript

Overpopulation

by John Kuti (written in 2003)

I come from the south of England, in the most densely-populated corner of a small island, which, you might think, is full of people. (The UK as a whole has 2.4 people per hectare.) I have never gone hungry. The only time when I wish there were less people is on rush-hour trains. However, one of the most interesting findings of the census of 2001 was that a million people were missing. Or at least there were a million people less than the authorities expected. Should we be happy that we have more space and less mouths to feed? I don’t know.

As I start writing this article the world population (according to the Office of Population Research at Princeton University) stands at 6,315,850,431.

Doom, version 1

In 1798 Robert Malthus wrote an essay which got economics the name of the dismal science. It was called “The Principle of Population”. He said that it was impossible for the number of people to increase, and even worse, it was impossible for the standard of living to rise. The argument went like this:

1. population naturally increases geometrically: 2, 4, 8, 16…

2. food production increases arithmetically 2, 4, 6, 8…

3. so, population will be controlled by lack of food, the same as it is for animals. Some people will always be starving.

A lot of people disliked Malthus’ point of view. Often, because it seemed to go against the idea of progress, which was so important for other social theories of the time. Anyway, the experience of the next two centuries shows that something must be wrong with the theory. In the 19th century world population rose from 1 to 1.7 billion. In the 20th, it increased to about 6 billion.

Doom, version 2

In 1961, J.G. Ballard wrote a story called Billenium. It’s about a world where the population has gone on increasing at 3% a year to reach a figure of at least 20 billion, although the true number is kept secret. To make space for growing food, everyone lives in giant cities where the buildings are divided into little cubicles. A single person can have 4 square metres and a married couple six. Everyone has enough to eat, but life is certainly very inconvenient. People spend most of the time waiting in queues for the bathroom or anywhere else they want to go.

Reality

The real situation is not as bad as these alarming predictions. A very surprising and dramatic change is happening in the world, but it is not what Malthus or Ballard predicted. To understand the statistics, we need first to think about the two ways the number of people can go up.

The Fertility Rate

The most obvious way to increase population is for more babies to be born. If the population is exactly constant, the average woman has 2.1 children. This number is called the "replacement rate". These rates are going down very fast. The peak was in the period 1965-75 at 4.9, now the rate for the world as a whole is 2.8. However, there is still a big difference between the developed countries, where the rate is 1.6 and poor countries where it is 3. To quote some extreme examples, in Italy the figure is 1.2 and in Zambia 5.6.

Life expectancy

The other reason why there are more people now is that we live longer. This figure also shows a dramatic change. The people born in 1950 could expect, on average, to live 45 years. Now the world life expectancy at birth is 65, and the United Nations predicts this will increase to 76 in the next 50 years.

Predictions of doom

Malthus and Ballard were still right about some things. The dismal picture painted by Malthus is still true in poor countries where 18 million people starve every year, and more than a billion people don't have a supply of clean drinking water. Ballard is right about the trend towards city life. By the year 2006, the United Nations predicts that more than 50% of people will live in cities.

City life in the developed world

At least in the rich countries, the move into cities seems to be connected with falling fertility rates. It is more expensive to have a child in the city, and children are less useful as workers. Women receive a better education and are able to work – so they have more to lose by becoming mothers. City life seems to encourage individualism – people become more interested in getting an education and a career. They marry later in life, and divorce more often, so producing smaller families.

At the moment, it seems quite possible that the same pattern will be repeated everywhere. One UN forecast now foresees a world population of about 5 billion in 2100. But, the more time you spend looking at predictions the more you realise that the human race is a surprising phenomenon. It looks like we will have a clearer idea of what will happen in ten or twenty years time when the present generation of parents moves beyond child-bearing age.

Now there are 6,318,042,422 people.

Glossary

average (n): the figure you get if you add together a set of numbers and divide that total out equally.

census (n): the official procedure for counting all the people in a country.

constant (adj): staying the same, not changing.

cubicle (n): a very small closed off space, e.g. a shower cubicle.

densely-populated (adj): with a lot of people living close together.

dismal (adj): dark, sad and depressing.

encourage (v): to make something happen or increase.

figure (n): number.

foresee (v): to predict, to see something that might happen in the future.

go on –ing (v): continue.

hectare (n): the size of a square 100 metres by 100 metres.

lack (v): not having something.

peak (n): the highest point.

predictions (n): things people say about what they think will happen in the future.

starving (adj): dying from lack of food.

Instructions

Do the Preparation task first. Then go to Text and read the article (you can also listen to the audio while you read). Next go to Task and do the activity.

Water sports

by Mike Rayner

We'll all be planning that route
We're gonna take real soon
We're waxing down our surfboards
We can't wait for June
We'll all be gone for the summer
We're on surfari to stay
Tell the teacher we're surfin'
Surfin' U. S. A.

(Chuck Berry, Brian Wilson)

All over the world people head for oceans, lakes, pools and rivers in search of fun, freedom and excitement. On the water, in the water or under the water, there are a huge range of sports and activities available to lovers of H2O. Let’s take a look at some of the more colourful and adventurous water sports.

Surfing

When Captain James Cook landed in the Polynesian islands of Hawaii in 1778, he was surprised to find the native men and women, both royalty and ordinary citizens, riding waves standing on wooden boards. Despite being centuries old, surfing only really took off in the rest of the world from the 1950s, starting with the southwest coast of the USA. Nowadays surfing is enjoyed by surfers wherever there are waves, in Bali, Australia, Japan, France and even Britain.

Contemporary surfers use lightweight fibreglass boards to catch waves of varying shapes and sizes as they roll in towards the beach. One of the main attractions of the sport is its simplicity – all a surfer really needs is a surfboard, a wetsuit and a way of getting to the beach.

Although there has been a fiercely competitive professional tour since the 1970s, surfing traditionally appeals to young people with a relaxed outlook on life. A whole lifestyle has built up around the sport, and movies like Big Wednesday, Point Break and Blue Crush have popularised surf culture. Surfing also has its own language – an excited surfer is ‘stoked’, a surfer who falls off their board ‘wipes out’, and something a surfer really likes is ‘awesome’. The heroes of the surfing community are the soul surfers – surfers who live only to travel and surf.

Windsurfing and kiteboarding

Both close cousins of surfing, windsurfing and kiteboarding use the wind to propel modified surfboards at high speeds across the surface of the water.

Windsurfing is a hybrid of sailing and surfing invented by sailor Jim Drake, and surfer Hoyle Schweiter in South California in the late 1960s. Windsurfing has become a hugely popular outdoor activity, and made its first appearance at the Olympics in LA in 1984. There are many different styles of windsurfing which include ‘freestyle’, where windsurfers do tricks, ‘bump-and-jump’ in which surfers use waves to take to the air, and ‘slalom’.

Kitesurfing is an even more recent development; it has only been around since the 1980s, and is only recently becoming an established watersport. As the name of the sport suggests, kitesurfers are towed along by large kites, allowing them to pull-off incredible tricks in the air. The names of the tricks give an idea of how exciting the sport is; the ‘heart-attack’, ‘boneless’ and ‘slim chance’ are among the most exhilarating to watch.

SCUBA diving

Just as mankind has always had a desire to fly, the human race has wanted to swim under the water since prehistoric times. Pictures of primitive devices to enable people to breathe underwater have been found dating from 3000 years ago, but our dream of moving freely beneath the ocean waves for long periods of time was only realised about 60 years ago, when French diving legend Jacques Cousteau developed the first practical Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA). Since then the sport of SCUBA diving has gone from strength to strength.

Lovers of SCUBA diving rave about the feeling of weightlessness, the peace and quiet under the water, the ability to move in three dimensions and the sense of adventure they get while on a dive. SCUBA divers often travel to some of the most beautiful and remote places in the world in the search for rare underwater flora and fauna. Palau, The Red Sea, The Maldives and Hawaii have many of the most popular diving sites, but recreational divers often have to make do with less exotic local destinations, like the North Sea in Britain.

SCUBA diving is not without its dangers, however. The mixture of nitrogen and oxygen divers breathe underwater, combined with the pressure under the water can be deadly if a diver rises too quickly to the surface, causing a condition called ‘the bends’. Divers can also get lost or trapped when diving on wrecks, and fatalities are particularly common in cave diving, where divers add to the dangers of diving by swimming through underground caves filled with water. Diving can also be harmful to the underwater environment – in the past irresponsible divers have caused a great deal of damage to coral reefs. However with proper precautions diving can open up a whole new world, far from the stresses of daily life.

So what are you waiting for? Get your wetsuit on, strap your board to the roof rack, throw your SCUBA gear in the boot and head for the beach. I’ll see you there.

Glossary

contemporary (adj): existing or happening now.

coral reef (n): a bank of coral, the top of which can sometimes be seen just above the

sea.device (n): an object or machine which has been invented to fulfill a particular purpose.

establish (v) (established adj): to cause to be accepted in or familiar with a place, position, etc.

exhilarating (adj): making you feel very excited and happy.

fatality (n): a death caused by an accident or by violence, or someone who has died in either of these ways.

fibreglass UK, US fiberglass (n): a strong light material made by twisting together small fibres of glass and plastic, used especially for structures such as cars and boats.

flora and fauna (n): the flora and fauna of a place are its plants and animals.

hybrid (n): a plant or animal that has been produced from two different types of plant or animal, especially to get better characteristics, or anything that is a mixture of two very different things.

modify (v): to change something such as a plan, opinion, law or way of behaviour slightly, usually to improve it or make it more acceptable.

precaution (n): an action which is done to prevent something unpleasant or dangerous happening.

prehistoric (adj): describing the period before there were written records.

primitive (adj): relating to human society at a very early stage of development, with people living in a simple way without machines or a writing system.

propel (n): to push or move something somewhere, often with a lot of force.

rave (v): to praise something greatly.royalty (n): the people who belong to the family of a king and queen.

slalom (n): a race for people on skis or in canoes (= long light narrow boats) in which they have to follow a route that bends in and out between poles.

tow (v): to pull a car, boat, etc. along, using a rope or a chain attached to another vehicle or boat.

wetsuit (n): a piece of clothing covering the whole body that keeps you warm and dry when you are under water.

Goodbye Great Auk

by John Kuti

In those days, people still lived on the islands of Saint Kilda. Two men from the village went out on the rock. They found a big strange bird. It was sleeping. They decided to bring it home to the village.

Far out into the ocean to the north and west of Britain are the cold wild islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. They make a line of beautiful beaches 150 miles long. Further west is the small group of islands called Saint Kilda. They are cold and wild too, but without beaches. The islands are tall volcanic rocks hundreds of metres high.

For thousands of years, people lived on these islands. In 1930 the last people, there were only 36 of them, had a meeting and decided to leave. The biggest island in the group is called Hirta. Sheep still live there without any people. When you arrive by boat, you see very tall black rocks all around. Some big rocks make their own small islands. This true story happened on the tallest of the rocks – “Stac An Armin” in 1840.

In those days, people still lived on the islands of Saint Kilda. Their stone houses were all in one village by the ocean at the bottom of a tall dark hill. The houses only had one room – for people and sheep, which used to live with them in the winter and spring. Two men from the village, McDonald and McKinnon, were on the rock. It was their work to collect birds – some for food, some to make shoes or hats with. Some dead birds they put in the earth to help their vegetables grow. They found one strange big bird. It was sleeping. They decided to bring it home to the village.

I think people in the village were interested in the bird. We now know that this was a Great Auk, a kind of swimming bird that lived in many parts of the North Atlantic. It was big and strong and had a loud cry. They began to talk with the other people in the village about what they should do with it. After two days, the weather got worse and then there was a terrible storm. The people in the village decided that this was because of the bird and they killed it. This was the last example of the Great Auk in Britain. Four years later, the last Great Auk in the world died in Iceland.

We know the Great Auk died out because of people. But where did the people of Saint Kilda go? This is more difficult to explain. Some say that they were bored living on the island so far from modern cities. Other people think that the problem was tourists, who began to visit Saint Kilda at the end of the 19th century. A new theory says that using too many dead birds as fertilizer made their food unhealthy. I think it was a mistake to kill the auk.

Water sports

by Mike Rayner

We'll all be planning that route
We're gonna take real soon
We're waxing down our surfboards
We can't wait for June
We'll all be gone for the summer
We're on surfari to stay
Tell the teacher we're surfin'
Surfin' U. S. A.

(Chuck Berry, Brian Wilson)

All over the world people head for oceans, lakes, pools and rivers in search of fun, freedom and excitement. On the water, in the water or under the water, there are a huge range of sports and activities available to lovers of H2O. Let’s take a look at some of the more colourful and adventurous water sports.

Surfing

When Captain James Cook landed in the Polynesian islands of Hawaii in 1778, he was surprised to find the native men and women, both royalty and ordinary citizens, riding waves standing on wooden boards. Despite being centuries old, surfing only really took off in the rest of the world from the 1950s, starting with the southwest coast of the USA. Nowadays surfing is enjoyed by surfers wherever there are waves, in Bali, Australia, Japan, France and even Britain.

Contemporary surfers use lightweight fibreglass boards to catch waves of varying shapes and sizes as they roll in towards the beach. One of the main attractions of the sport is its simplicity – all a surfer really needs is a surfboard, a wetsuit and a way of getting to the beach.

Although there has been a fiercely competitive professional tour since the 1970s, surfing traditionally appeals to young people with a relaxed outlook on life. A whole lifestyle has built up around the sport, and movies like Big Wednesday, Point Break and Blue Crush have popularised surf culture. Surfing also has its own language – an excited surfer is ‘stoked’, a surfer who falls off their board ‘wipes out’, and something a surfer really likes is ‘awesome’. The heroes of the surfing community are the soul surfers – surfers who live only to travel and surf.

Windsurfing and kiteboarding

Both close cousins of surfing, windsurfing and kiteboarding use the wind to propel modified surfboards at high speeds across the surface of the water.

Windsurfing is a hybrid of sailing and surfing invented by sailor Jim Drake, and surfer Hoyle Schweiter in South California in the late 1960s. Windsurfing has become a hugely popular outdoor activity, and made its first appearance at the Olympics in LA in 1984. There are many different styles of windsurfing which include ‘freestyle’, where windsurfers do tricks, ‘bump-and-jump’ in which surfers use waves to take to the air, and ‘slalom’.

Kitesurfing is an even more recent development; it has only been around since the 1980s, and is only recently becoming an established watersport. As the name of the sport suggests, kitesurfers are towed along by large kites, allowing them to pull-off incredible tricks in the air. The names of the tricks give an idea of how exciting the sport is; the ‘heart-attack’, ‘boneless’ and ‘slim chance’ are among the most exhilarating to watch.

SCUBA diving

Just as mankind has always had a desire to fly, the human race has wanted to swim under the water since prehistoric times. Pictures of primitive devices to enable people to breathe underwater have been found dating from 3000 years ago, but our dream of moving freely beneath the ocean waves for long periods of time was only realised about 60 years ago, when French diving legend Jacques Cousteau developed the first practical Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA). Since then the sport of SCUBA diving has gone from strength to strength.

Lovers of SCUBA diving rave about the feeling of weightlessness, the peace and quiet under the water, the ability to move in three dimensions and the sense of adventure they get while on a dive. SCUBA divers often travel to some of the most beautiful and remote places in the world in the search for rare underwater flora and fauna. Palau, The Red Sea, The Maldives and Hawaii have many of the most popular diving sites, but recreational divers often have to make do with less exotic local destinations, like the North Sea in Britain.

SCUBA diving is not without its dangers, however. The mixture of nitrogen and oxygen divers breathe underwater, combined with the pressure under the water can be deadly if a diver rises too quickly to the surface, causing a condition called ‘the bends’. Divers can also get lost or trapped when diving on wrecks, and fatalities are particularly common in cave diving, where divers add to the dangers of diving by swimming through underground caves filled with water. Diving can also be harmful to the underwater environment – in the past irresponsible divers have caused a great deal of damage to coral reefs. However with proper precautions diving can open up a whole new world, far from the stresses of daily life.

So what are you waiting for? Get your wetsuit on, strap your board to the roof rack, throw your SCUBA gear in the boot and head for the beach. I’ll see you there.

Glossary

contemporary (adj): existing or happening now.

coral reef (n): a bank of coral, the top of which can sometimes be seen just above the

sea.device (n): an object or machine which has been invented to fulfill a particular purpose.

establish (v) (established adj): to cause to be accepted in or familiar with a place, position, etc.

exhilarating (adj): making you feel very excited and happy.

fatality (n): a death caused by an accident or by violence, or someone who has died in either of these ways.

fibreglass UK, US fiberglass (n): a strong light material made by twisting together small fibres of glass and plastic, used especially for structures such as cars and boats.

flora and fauna (n): the flora and fauna of a place are its plants and animals.

hybrid (n): a plant or animal that has been produced from two different types of plant or animal, especially to get better characteristics, or anything that is a mixture of two very different things.

modify (v): to change something such as a plan, opinion, law or way of behaviour slightly, usually to improve it or make it more acceptable.

precaution (n): an action which is done to prevent something unpleasant or dangerous happening.

prehistoric (adj): describing the period before there were written records.

primitive (adj): relating to human society at a very early stage of development, with people living in a simple way without machines or a writing system.

propel (n): to push or move something somewhere, often with a lot of force.

rave (v): to praise something greatly.royalty (n): the people who belong to the family of a king and queen.

slalom (n): a race for people on skis or in canoes (= long light narrow boats) in which they have to follow a route that bends in and out between poles.

tow (v): to pull a car, boat, etc. along, using a rope or a chain attached to another vehicle or boat.

wetsuit (n): a piece of clothing covering the whole body that keeps you warm and dry when you are under water.

Water sports

by Mike Rayner

We'll all be planning that route
We're gonna take real soon
We're waxing down our surfboards
We can't wait for June
We'll all be gone for the summer
We're on surfari to stay
Tell the teacher we're surfin'
Surfin' U. S. A.

(Chuck Berry, Brian Wilson)

All over the world people head for oceans, lakes, pools and rivers in search of fun, freedom and excitement. On the water, in the water or under the water, there are a huge range of sports and activities available to lovers of H2O. Let’s take a look at some of the more colourful and adventurous water sports.

Surfing

When Captain James Cook landed in the Polynesian islands of Hawaii in 1778, he was surprised to find the native men and women, both royalty and ordinary citizens, riding waves standing on wooden boards. Despite being centuries old, surfing only really took off in the rest of the world from the 1950s, starting with the southwest coast of the USA. Nowadays surfing is enjoyed by surfers wherever there are waves, in Bali, Australia, Japan, France and even Britain.

Contemporary surfers use lightweight fibreglass boards to catch waves of varying shapes and sizes as they roll in towards the beach. One of the main attractions of the sport is its simplicity – all a surfer really needs is a surfboard, a wetsuit and a way of getting to the beach.

Although there has been a fiercely competitive professional tour since the 1970s, surfing traditionally appeals to young people with a relaxed outlook on life. A whole lifestyle has built up around the sport, and movies like Big Wednesday, Point Break and Blue Crush have popularised surf culture. Surfing also has its own language – an excited surfer is ‘stoked’, a surfer who falls off their board ‘wipes out’, and something a surfer really likes is ‘awesome’. The heroes of the surfing community are the soul surfers – surfers who live only to travel and surf.

Windsurfing and kiteboarding

Both close cousins of surfing, windsurfing and kiteboarding use the wind to propel modified surfboards at high speeds across the surface of the water.

Windsurfing is a hybrid of sailing and surfing invented by sailor Jim Drake, and surfer Hoyle Schweiter in South California in the late 1960s. Windsurfing has become a hugely popular outdoor activity, and made its first appearance at the Olympics in LA in 1984. There are many different styles of windsurfing which include ‘freestyle’, where windsurfers do tricks, ‘bump-and-jump’ in which surfers use waves to take to the air, and ‘slalom’.

Kitesurfing is an even more recent development; it has only been around since the 1980s, and is only recently becoming an established watersport. As the name of the sport suggests, kitesurfers are towed along by large kites, allowing them to pull-off incredible tricks in the air. The names of the tricks give an idea of how exciting the sport is; the ‘heart-attack’, ‘boneless’ and ‘slim chance’ are among the most exhilarating to watch.

SCUBA diving

Just as mankind has always had a desire to fly, the human race has wanted to swim under the water since prehistoric times. Pictures of primitive devices to enable people to breathe underwater have been found dating from 3000 years ago, but our dream of moving freely beneath the ocean waves for long periods of time was only realised about 60 years ago, when French diving legend Jacques Cousteau developed the first practical Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA). Since then the sport of SCUBA diving has gone from strength to strength.

Lovers of SCUBA diving rave about the feeling of weightlessness, the peace and quiet under the water, the ability to move in three dimensions and the sense of adventure they get while on a dive. SCUBA divers often travel to some of the most beautiful and remote places in the world in the search for rare underwater flora and fauna. Palau, The Red Sea, The Maldives and Hawaii have many of the most popular diving sites, but recreational divers often have to make do with less exotic local destinations, like the North Sea in Britain.

SCUBA diving is not without its dangers, however. The mixture of nitrogen and oxygen divers breathe underwater, combined with the pressure under the water can be deadly if a diver rises too quickly to the surface, causing a condition called ‘the bends’. Divers can also get lost or trapped when diving on wrecks, and fatalities are particularly common in cave diving, where divers add to the dangers of diving by swimming through underground caves filled with water. Diving can also be harmful to the underwater environment – in the past irresponsible divers have caused a great deal of damage to coral reefs. However with proper precautions diving can open up a whole new world, far from the stresses of daily life.

So what are you waiting for? Get your wetsuit on, strap your board to the roof rack, throw your SCUBA gear in the boot and head for the beach. I’ll see you there.

Glossary

contemporary (adj): existing or happening now.

coral reef (n): a bank of coral, the top of which can sometimes be seen just above the

sea.device (n): an object or machine which has been invented to fulfill a particular purpose.

establish (v) (established adj): to cause to be accepted in or familiar with a place, position, etc.

exhilarating (adj): making you feel very excited and happy.

fatality (n): a death caused by an accident or by violence, or someone who has died in either of these ways.

fibreglass UK, US fiberglass (n): a strong light material made by twisting together small fibres of glass and plastic, used especially for structures such as cars and boats.

flora and fauna (n): the flora and fauna of a place are its plants and animals.

hybrid (n): a plant or animal that has been produced from two different types of plant or animal, especially to get better characteristics, or anything that is a mixture of two very different things.

modify (v): to change something such as a plan, opinion, law or way of behaviour slightly, usually to improve it or make it more acceptable.

precaution (n): an action which is done to prevent something unpleasant or dangerous happening.

prehistoric (adj): describing the period before there were written records.

primitive (adj): relating to human society at a very early stage of development, with people living in a simple way without machines or a writing system.

propel (n): to push or move something somewhere, often with a lot of force.

rave (v): to praise something greatly.royalty (n): the people who belong to the family of a king and queen.

slalom (n): a race for people on skis or in canoes (= long light narrow boats) in which they have to follow a route that bends in and out between poles.

tow (v): to pull a car, boat, etc. along, using a rope or a chain attached to another vehicle or boat.

wetsuit (n): a piece of clothing covering the whole body that keeps you warm and dry when you are under water.

Water sports

by Mike Rayner

We'll all be planning that route
We're gonna take real soon
We're waxing down our surfboards
We can't wait for June
We'll all be gone for the summer
We're on surfari to stay
Tell the teacher we're surfin'
Surfin' U. S. A.

(Chuck Berry, Brian Wilson)

All over the world people head for oceans, lakes, pools and rivers in search of fun, freedom and excitement. On the water, in the water or under the water, there are a huge range of sports and activities available to lovers of H2O. Let’s take a look at some of the more colourful and adventurous water sports.

Surfing

When Captain James Cook landed in the Polynesian islands of Hawaii in 1778, he was surprised to find the native men and women, both royalty and ordinary citizens, riding waves standing on wooden boards. Despite being centuries old, surfing only really took off in the rest of the world from the 1950s, starting with the southwest coast of the USA. Nowadays surfing is enjoyed by surfers wherever there are waves, in Bali, Australia, Japan, France and even Britain.

Contemporary surfers use lightweight fibreglass boards to catch waves of varying shapes and sizes as they roll in towards the beach. One of the main attractions of the sport is its simplicity – all a surfer really needs is a surfboard, a wetsuit and a way of getting to the beach.

Although there has been a fiercely competitive professional tour since the 1970s, surfing traditionally appeals to young people with a relaxed outlook on life. A whole lifestyle has built up around the sport, and movies like Big Wednesday, Point Break and Blue Crush have popularised surf culture. Surfing also has its own language – an excited surfer is ‘stoked’, a surfer who falls off their board ‘wipes out’, and something a surfer really likes is ‘awesome’. The heroes of the surfing community are the soul surfers – surfers who live only to travel and surf.

Windsurfing and kiteboarding

Both close cousins of surfing, windsurfing and kiteboarding use the wind to propel modified surfboards at high speeds across the surface of the water.

Windsurfing is a hybrid of sailing and surfing invented by sailor Jim Drake, and surfer Hoyle Schweiter in South California in the late 1960s. Windsurfing has become a hugely popular outdoor activity, and made its first appearance at the Olympics in LA in 1984. There are many different styles of windsurfing which include ‘freestyle’, where windsurfers do tricks, ‘bump-and-jump’ in which surfers use waves to take to the air, and ‘slalom’.

Kitesurfing is an even more recent development; it has only been around since the 1980s, and is only recently becoming an established watersport. As the name of the sport suggests, kitesurfers are towed along by large kites, allowing them to pull-off incredible tricks in the air. The names of the tricks give an idea of how exciting the sport is; the ‘heart-attack’, ‘boneless’ and ‘slim chance’ are among the most exhilarating to watch.

SCUBA diving

Just as mankind has always had a desire to fly, the human race has wanted to swim under the water since prehistoric times. Pictures of primitive devices to enable people to breathe underwater have been found dating from 3000 years ago, but our dream of moving freely beneath the ocean waves for long periods of time was only realised about 60 years ago, when French diving legend Jacques Cousteau developed the first practical Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA). Since then the sport of SCUBA diving has gone from strength to strength.

Lovers of SCUBA diving rave about the feeling of weightlessness, the peace and quiet under the water, the ability to move in three dimensions and the sense of adventure they get while on a dive. SCUBA divers often travel to some of the most beautiful and remote places in the world in the search for rare underwater flora and fauna. Palau, The Red Sea, The Maldives and Hawaii have many of the most popular diving sites, but recreational divers often have to make do with less exotic local destinations, like the North Sea in Britain.

SCUBA diving is not without its dangers, however. The mixture of nitrogen and oxygen divers breathe underwater, combined with the pressure under the water can be deadly if a diver rises too quickly to the surface, causing a condition called ‘the bends’. Divers can also get lost or trapped when diving on wrecks, and fatalities are particularly common in cave diving, where divers add to the dangers of diving by swimming through underground caves filled with water. Diving can also be harmful to the underwater environment – in the past irresponsible divers have caused a great deal of damage to coral reefs. However with proper precautions diving can open up a whole new world, far from the stresses of daily life.

So what are you waiting for? Get your wetsuit on, strap your board to the roof rack, throw your SCUBA gear in the boot and head for the beach. I’ll see you there.

Glossary

contemporary (adj): existing or happening now.

coral reef (n): a bank of coral, the top of which can sometimes be seen just above the

sea.device (n): an object or machine which has been invented to fulfill a particular purpose.

establish (v) (established adj): to cause to be accepted in or familiar with a place, position, etc.

exhilarating (adj): making you feel very excited and happy.

fatality (n): a death caused by an accident or by violence, or someone who has died in either of these ways.

fibreglass UK, US fiberglass (n): a strong light material made by twisting together small fibres of glass and plastic, used especially for structures such as cars and boats.

flora and fauna (n): the flora and fauna of a place are its plants and animals.

hybrid (n): a plant or animal that has been produced from two different types of plant or animal, especially to get better characteristics, or anything that is a mixture of two very different things.

modify (v): to change something such as a plan, opinion, law or way of behaviour slightly, usually to improve it or make it more acceptable.

precaution (n): an action which is done to prevent something unpleasant or dangerous happening.

prehistoric (adj): describing the period before there were written records.

primitive (adj): relating to human society at a very early stage of development, with people living in a simple way without machines or a writing system.

propel (n): to push or move something somewhere, often with a lot of force.

rave (v): to praise something greatly.royalty (n): the people who belong to the family of a king and queen.

slalom (n): a race for people on skis or in canoes (= long light narrow boats) in which they have to follow a route that bends in and out between poles.

tow (v): to pull a car, boat, etc. along, using a rope or a chain attached to another vehicle or boat.

wetsuit (n): a piece of clothing covering the whole body that keeps you warm and dry when you are under water.

Water sports

by Mike Rayner

We'll all be planning that route
We're gonna take real soon
We're waxing down our surfboards
We can't wait for June
We'll all be gone for the summer
We're on surfari to stay
Tell the teacher we're surfin'
Surfin' U. S. A.

(Chuck Berry, Brian Wilson)

All over the world people head for oceans, lakes, pools and rivers in search of fun, freedom and excitement. On the water, in the water or under the water, there are a huge range of sports and activities available to lovers of H2O. Let’s take a look at some of the more colourful and adventurous water sports.

Surfing

When Captain James Cook landed in the Polynesian islands of Hawaii in 1778, he was surprised to find the native men and women, both royalty and ordinary citizens, riding waves standing on wooden boards. Despite being centuries old, surfing only really took off in the rest of the world from the 1950s, starting with the southwest coast of the USA. Nowadays surfing is enjoyed by surfers wherever there are waves, in Bali, Australia, Japan, France and even Britain.

Contemporary surfers use lightweight fibreglass boards to catch waves of varying shapes and sizes as they roll in towards the beach. One of the main attractions of the sport is its simplicity – all a surfer really needs is a surfboard, a wetsuit and a way of getting to the beach.

Although there has been a fiercely competitive professional tour since the 1970s, surfing traditionally appeals to young people with a relaxed outlook on life. A whole lifestyle has built up around the sport, and movies like Big Wednesday, Point Break and Blue Crush have popularised surf culture. Surfing also has its own language – an excited surfer is ‘stoked’, a surfer who falls off their board ‘wipes out’, and something a surfer really likes is ‘awesome’. The heroes of the surfing community are the soul surfers – surfers who live only to travel and surf.

Windsurfing and kiteboarding

Both close cousins of surfing, windsurfing and kiteboarding use the wind to propel modified surfboards at high speeds across the surface of the water.

Windsurfing is a hybrid of sailing and surfing invented by sailor Jim Drake, and surfer Hoyle Schweiter in South California in the late 1960s. Windsurfing has become a hugely popular outdoor activity, and made its first appearance at the Olympics in LA in 1984. There are many different styles of windsurfing which include ‘freestyle’, where windsurfers do tricks, ‘bump-and-jump’ in which surfers use waves to take to the air, and ‘slalom’.

Kitesurfing is an even more recent development; it has only been around since the 1980s, and is only recently becoming an established watersport. As the name of the sport suggests, kitesurfers are towed along by large kites, allowing them to pull-off incredible tricks in the air. The names of the tricks give an idea of how exciting the sport is; the ‘heart-attack’, ‘boneless’ and ‘slim chance’ are among the most exhilarating to watch.

SCUBA diving

Just as mankind has always had a desire to fly, the human race has wanted to swim under the water since prehistoric times. Pictures of primitive devices to enable people to breathe underwater have been found dating from 3000 years ago, but our dream of moving freely beneath the ocean waves for long periods of time was only realised about 60 years ago, when French diving legend Jacques Cousteau developed the first practical Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA). Since then the sport of SCUBA diving has gone from strength to strength.

Lovers of SCUBA diving rave about the feeling of weightlessness, the peace and quiet under the water, the ability to move in three dimensions and the sense of adventure they get while on a dive. SCUBA divers often travel to some of the most beautiful and remote places in the world in the search for rare underwater flora and fauna. Palau, The Red Sea, The Maldives and Hawaii have many of the most popular diving sites, but recreational divers often have to make do with less exotic local destinations, like the North Sea in Britain.

SCUBA diving is not without its dangers, however. The mixture of nitrogen and oxygen divers breathe underwater, combined with the pressure under the water can be deadly if a diver rises too quickly to the surface, causing a condition called ‘the bends’. Divers can also get lost or trapped when diving on wrecks, and fatalities are particularly common in cave diving, where divers add to the dangers of diving by swimming through underground caves filled with water. Diving can also be harmful to the underwater environment – in the past irresponsible divers have caused a great deal of damage to coral reefs. However with proper precautions diving can open up a whole new world, far from the stresses of daily life.

So what are you waiting for? Get your wetsuit on, strap your board to the roof rack, throw your SCUBA gear in the boot and head for the beach. I’ll see you there.

Glossary

contemporary (adj): existing or happening now.

coral reef (n): a bank of coral, the top of which can sometimes be seen just above the

sea.device (n): an object or machine which has been invented to fulfill a particular purpose.

establish (v) (established adj): to cause to be accepted in or familiar with a place, position, etc.

exhilarating (adj): making you feel very excited and happy.

fatality (n): a death caused by an accident or by violence, or someone who has died in either of these ways.

fibreglass UK, US fiberglass (n): a strong light material made by twisting together small fibres of glass and plastic, used especially for structures such as cars and boats.

flora and fauna (n): the flora and fauna of a place are its plants and animals.

hybrid (n): a plant or animal that has been produced from two different types of plant or animal, especially to get better characteristics, or anything that is a mixture of two very different things.

modify (v): to change something such as a plan, opinion, law or way of behaviour slightly, usually to improve it or make it more acceptable.

precaution (n): an action which is done to prevent something unpleasant or dangerous happening.

prehistoric (adj): describing the period before there were written records.

primitive (adj): relating to human society at a very early stage of development, with people living in a simple way without machines or a writing system.

propel (n): to push or move something somewhere, often with a lot of force.

rave (v): to praise something greatly.royalty (n): the people who belong to the family of a king and queen.

slalom (n): a race for people on skis or in canoes (= long light narrow boats) in which they have to follow a route that bends in and out between poles.

tow (v): to pull a car, boat, etc. along, using a rope or a chain attached to another vehicle or boat.

wetsuit (n): a piece of clothing covering the whole body that keeps you warm and dry when you are under water.

Goodbye Great Auk

by John Kuti

In those days, people still lived on the islands of Saint Kilda. Two men from the village went out on the rock. They found a big strange bird. It was sleeping. They decided to bring it home to the village.

Far out into the ocean to the north and west of Britain are the cold wild islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. They make a line of beautiful beaches 150 miles long. Further west is the small group of islands called Saint Kilda. They are cold and wild too, but without beaches. The islands are tall volcanic rocks hundreds of metres high.

For thousands of years, people lived on these islands. In 1930 the last people, there were only 36 of them, had a meeting and decided to leave. The biggest island in the group is called Hirta. Sheep still live there without any people. When you arrive by boat, you see very tall black rocks all around. Some big rocks make their own small islands. This true story happened on the tallest of the rocks – “Stac An Armin” in 1840.

In those days, people still lived on the islands of Saint Kilda. Their stone houses were all in one village by the ocean at the bottom of a tall dark hill. The houses only had one room – for people and sheep, which used to live with them in the winter and spring. Two men from the village, McDonald and McKinnon, were on the rock. It was their work to collect birds – some for food, some to make shoes or hats with. Some dead birds they put in the earth to help their vegetables grow. They found one strange big bird. It was sleeping. They decided to bring it home to the village.

I think people in the village were interested in the bird. We now know that this was a Great Auk, a kind of swimming bird that lived in many parts of the North Atlantic. It was big and strong and had a loud cry. They began to talk with the other people in the village about what they should do with it. After two days, the weather got worse and then there was a terrible storm. The people in the village decided that this was because of the bird and they killed it. This was the last example of the Great Auk in Britain. Four years later, the last Great Auk in the world died in Iceland.

We know the Great Auk died out because of people. But where did the people of Saint Kilda go? This is more difficult to explain. Some say that they were bored living on the island so far from modern cities. Other people think that the problem was tourists, who began to visit Saint Kilda at the end of the 19th century. A new theory says that using too many dead birds as fertilizer made their food unhealthy. I think it was a mistake to kill the auk.

Goodbye Great Auk

by John Kuti

In those days, people still lived on the islands of Saint Kilda. Two men from the village went out on the rock. They found a big strange bird. It was sleeping. They decided to bring it home to the village.

Far out into the ocean to the north and west of Britain are the cold wild islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. They make a line of beautiful beaches 150 miles long. Further west is the small group of islands called Saint Kilda. They are cold and wild too, but without beaches. The islands are tall volcanic rocks hundreds of metres high.

For thousands of years, people lived on these islands. In 1930 the last people, there were only 36 of them, had a meeting and decided to leave. The biggest island in the group is called Hirta. Sheep still live there without any people. When you arrive by boat, you see very tall black rocks all around. Some big rocks make their own small islands. This true story happened on the tallest of the rocks – “Stac An Armin” in 1840.

In those days, people still lived on the islands of Saint Kilda. Their stone houses were all in one village by the ocean at the bottom of a tall dark hill. The houses only had one room – for people and sheep, which used to live with them in the winter and spring. Two men from the village, McDonald and McKinnon, were on the rock. It was their work to collect birds – some for food, some to make shoes or hats with. Some dead birds they put in the earth to help their vegetables grow. They found one strange big bird. It was sleeping. They decided to bring it home to the village.

I think people in the village were interested in the bird. We now know that this was a Great Auk, a kind of swimming bird that lived in many parts of the North Atlantic. It was big and strong and had a loud cry. They began to talk with the other people in the village about what they should do with it. After two days, the weather got worse and then there was a terrible storm. The people in the village decided that this was because of the bird and they killed it. This was the last example of the Great Auk in Britain. Four years later, the last Great Auk in the world died in Iceland.

We know the Great Auk died out because of people. But where did the people of Saint Kilda go? This is more difficult to explain. Some say that they were bored living on the island so far from modern cities. Other people think that the problem was tourists, who began to visit Saint Kilda at the end of the 19th century. A new theory says that using too many dead birds as fertilizer made their food unhealthy. I think it was a mistake to kill the auk.

Goodbye Great Auk

by John Kuti

In those days, people still lived on the islands of Saint Kilda. Two men from the village went out on the rock. They found a big strange bird. It was sleeping. They decided to bring it home to the village.

Far out into the ocean to the north and west of Britain are the cold wild islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. They make a line of beautiful beaches 150 miles long. Further west is the small group of islands called Saint Kilda. They are cold and wild too, but without beaches. The islands are tall volcanic rocks hundreds of metres high.

For thousands of years, people lived on these islands. In 1930 the last people, there were only 36 of them, had a meeting and decided to leave. The biggest island in the group is called Hirta. Sheep still live there without any people. When you arrive by boat, you see very tall black rocks all around. Some big rocks make their own small islands. This true story happened on the tallest of the rocks – “Stac An Armin” in 1840.

In those days, people still lived on the islands of Saint Kilda. Their stone houses were all in one village by the ocean at the bottom of a tall dark hill. The houses only had one room – for people and sheep, which used to live with them in the winter and spring. Two men from the village, McDonald and McKinnon, were on the rock. It was their work to collect birds – some for food, some to make shoes or hats with. Some dead birds they put in the earth to help their vegetables grow. They found one strange big bird. It was sleeping. They decided to bring it home to the village.

I think people in the village were interested in the bird. We now know that this was a Great Auk, a kind of swimming bird that lived in many parts of the North Atlantic. It was big and strong and had a loud cry. They began to talk with the other people in the village about what they should do with it. After two days, the weather got worse and then there was a terrible storm. The people in the village decided that this was because of the bird and they killed it. This was the last example of the Great Auk in Britain. Four years later, the last Great Auk in the world died in Iceland.

We know the Great Auk died out because of people. But where did the people of Saint Kilda go? This is more difficult to explain. Some say that they were bored living on the island so far from modern cities. Other people think that the problem was tourists, who began to visit Saint Kilda at the end of the 19th century. A new theory says that using too many dead birds as fertilizer made their food unhealthy. I think it was a mistake to kill the auk.

Goodbye Great Auk

by John Kuti

In those days, people still lived on the islands of Saint Kilda. Two men from the village went out on the rock. They found a big strange bird. It was sleeping. They decided to bring it home to the village.

Far out into the ocean to the north and west of Britain are the cold wild islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. They make a line of beautiful beaches 150 miles long. Further west is the small group of islands called Saint Kilda. They are cold and wild too, but without beaches. The islands are tall volcanic rocks hundreds of metres high.

For thousands of years, people lived on these islands. In 1930 the last people, there were only 36 of them, had a meeting and decided to leave. The biggest island in the group is called Hirta. Sheep still live there without any people. When you arrive by boat, you see very tall black rocks all around. Some big rocks make their own small islands. This true story happened on the tallest of the rocks – “Stac An Armin” in 1840.

In those days, people still lived on the islands of Saint Kilda. Their stone houses were all in one village by the ocean at the bottom of a tall dark hill. The houses only had one room – for people and sheep, which used to live with them in the winter and spring. Two men from the village, McDonald and McKinnon, were on the rock. It was their work to collect birds – some for food, some to make shoes or hats with. Some dead birds they put in the earth to help their vegetables grow. They found one strange big bird. It was sleeping. They decided to bring it home to the village.

I think people in the village were interested in the bird. We now know that this was a Great Auk, a kind of swimming bird that lived in many parts of the North Atlantic. It was big and strong and had a loud cry. They began to talk with the other people in the village about what they should do with it. After two days, the weather got worse and then there was a terrible storm. The people in the village decided that this was because of the bird and they killed it. This was the last example of the Great Auk in Britain. Four years later, the last Great Auk in the world died in Iceland.

We know the Great Auk died out because of people. But where did the people of Saint Kilda go? This is more difficult to explain. Some say that they were bored living on the island so far from modern cities. Other people think that the problem was tourists, who began to visit Saint Kilda at the end of the 19th century. A new theory says that using too many dead birds as fertilizer made their food unhealthy. I think it was a mistake to kill the auk.

Wales and St. David

by John Russell

Gwnewch y pethau bychain -Do the little things (that you have seen me do and heard about)

(Famous saying by St. David)

March 1st is St. David's Day. In this article we look at who St. David was, and the country of his birth over 14 centuries after he lived - the great country of Wales - Cymru in Welsh.

Who was St. David?

St. David (Dewi Sant in the Welsh language) was the grandson of Ceredig, King of Ceredigion and son of Non, who was said to be King Arthur’s niece. In his life he was a Celtic monk who helped to spread Christianity through the West of Britain. He founded many religious centres in Wales and even travelled on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where he was made an Archbishop.

Why was he famous?

He and his followers were famous for being ascetics – which meant they abstained from any pleasures to help make themselves closer to God. He was given the name Dewi Ddyfrwr (David the Water Drinker) because of this – it was said that he only ate simple food and drank only water all his life. Although he lived in the 6th Century most stories about him were written over 500 years later. One famous story describes when he was speaking to a large crowd in Llandewi Brefi and he made the ground rise up so everyone could see him.

Where was he buried?

He was made a saint in 1123 and St. David’s day has been celebrated in Wales since this point. St. David is the patron Saint of Wales and the monastery he founded in Glyn Rhosyn is now the site of Saint David’s Cathedral (in the modern City of St. David’s), which was begun in 1181. Bones found in the Cathedral recently are thought by some to be those of the Saint.

Are there other Welsh icons?

Wales has many historical stories and traditions; the legend of St. David; the original Celtic tribes; even King Arthur and Merlin are linked to the history of Wales. The Welsh language is also one of the oldest languages in Europe; some people claim it is the true language of the Britons, as it existed in Britain long before the Romans arrived.

Is Wales only famous for its history and tradition?

Although the leek and daffodil (traditional national vegetables and flowers) are both linked with Wales and the Welsh celebrate St. David’s Day every year, it is not a country set in the past. Wales is a country that celebrates its past but looks to the future. Education, Sport, and Tourism are just three important aspects of modern Wales and after the creation of a National Assembly for Wales in 1999 the country’s international reputation is growing.

Education

Some of the best educational centres in the UK can be found in Wales. With over fourteen Universities and Higher Education Institutes students can study many different subjects: from Business Management at the University of Wales in Aberystwyth, to Japanese Business Etiquette at the University of Cardiff. The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama is one of the UK’s leading centres for students wishing to follow a career in the performing arts. Future doctors, dentists and nurses can study at the University Of Wales College Of Medicine – based at the third largest hospital in the UK in Cardiff. A large number of students at Welsh Universities are also from overseas.

Sport

Ever since the first match was played in 1850, rugby has been associated with the country and the Welsh national team is one of the best in the world. One recent development was the building of a new national stadium, the Millennium Stadium, which can seat over 72,000 people. Athletics, football, cricket, angling and many other sports are also very important and popular across the country. The Ryder cup, a famous golfing competition, is being played in Wales in 2010.

Tourism

Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Wales every year for its countryside, historic buildings or its famous cities. If you enjoy the outdoors, Wales has over 700 miles of beautiful coastline, or you can go climbing in Snowdonia or in the Brecon Beacons. If you are interested in history, there are many castles in Wales - one special castle in Llangollen in the north, is said to be the resting place of the Holy Grail. From the large cities of Cardiff or Swansea, to the seaside towns of Llandudno or Prestatyn, there is something for everyone - even an entire Italian style village built in Portmeirion in Gwynedd.

Why don’t you find out more about the country of St. David? Maybe you could come and see it for yourself!

Wales and St. David

by John Russell

Gwnewch y pethau bychain -Do the little things (that you have seen me do and heard about)

(Famous saying by St. David)

March 1st is St. David's Day. In this article we look at who St. David was, and the country of his birth over 14 centuries after he lived - the great country of Wales - Cymru in Welsh.

Who was St. David?

St. David (Dewi Sant in the Welsh language) was the grandson of Ceredig, King of Ceredigion and son of Non, who was said to be King Arthur’s niece. In his life he was a Celtic monk who helped to spread Christianity through the West of Britain. He founded many religious centres in Wales and even travelled on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where he was made an Archbishop.

Why was he famous?

He and his followers were famous for being ascetics – which meant they abstained from any pleasures to help make themselves closer to God. He was given the name Dewi Ddyfrwr (David the Water Drinker) because of this – it was said that he only ate simple food and drank only water all his life. Although he lived in the 6th Century most stories about him were written over 500 years later. One famous story describes when he was speaking to a large crowd in Llandewi Brefi and he made the ground rise up so everyone could see him.

Where was he buried?

He was made a saint in 1123 and St. David’s day has been celebrated in Wales since this point. St. David is the patron Saint of Wales and the monastery he founded in Glyn Rhosyn is now the site of Saint David’s Cathedral (in the modern City of St. David’s), which was begun in 1181. Bones found in the Cathedral recently are thought by some to be those of the Saint.

Are there other Welsh icons?

Wales has many historical stories and traditions; the legend of St. David; the original Celtic tribes; even King Arthur and Merlin are linked to the history of Wales. The Welsh language is also one of the oldest languages in Europe; some people claim it is the true language of the Britons, as it existed in Britain long before the Romans arrived.

Is Wales only famous for its history and tradition?

Although the leek and daffodil (traditional national vegetables and flowers) are both linked with Wales and the Welsh celebrate St. David’s Day every year, it is not a country set in the past. Wales is a country that celebrates its past but looks to the future. Education, Sport, and Tourism are just three important aspects of modern Wales and after the creation of a National Assembly for Wales in 1999 the country’s international reputation is growing.

Education

Some of the best educational centres in the UK can be found in Wales. With over fourteen Universities and Higher Education Institutes students can study many different subjects: from Business Management at the University of Wales in Aberystwyth, to Japanese Business Etiquette at the University of Cardiff. The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama is one of the UK’s leading centres for students wishing to follow a career in the performing arts. Future doctors, dentists and nurses can study at the University Of Wales College Of Medicine – based at the third largest hospital in the UK in Cardiff. A large number of students at Welsh Universities are also from overseas.

Sport

Ever since the first match was played in 1850, rugby has been associated with the country and the Welsh national team is one of the best in the world. One recent development was the building of a new national stadium, the Millennium Stadium, which can seat over 72,000 people. Athletics, football, cricket, angling and many other sports are also very important and popular across the country. The Ryder cup, a famous golfing competition, is being played in Wales in 2010.

Tourism

Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Wales every year for its countryside, historic buildings or its famous cities. If you enjoy the outdoors, Wales has over 700 miles of beautiful coastline, or you can go climbing in Snowdonia or in the Brecon Beacons. If you are interested in history, there are many castles in Wales - one special castle in Llangollen in the north, is said to be the resting place of the Holy Grail. From the large cities of Cardiff or Swansea, to the seaside towns of Llandudno or Prestatyn, there is something for everyone - even an entire Italian style village built in Portmeirion in Gwynedd.

Why don’t you find out more about the country of St. David? Maybe you could come and see it for yourself!

New Zealand: two islands where old meets new

By Claire Powell

Talking to friends from New Zealand while writing this article confirmed New Zealand’s place at the top of my ‘Must Visit’ list! Tucked away in the Pacific Ocean, here the sun seems to slip more slowly across the sky, perhaps thanks to Maui, a legendary Maori demi-god, whose magic fishing net caught the sun, allowing Maui to ask it to make the days longer.

The first New Zealanders were the Maoris, who travelled there by boat about ten thousand years ago. Maori legend has it that Maui magically fished New Zealand’s north island up out of the sea. The south island was his canoe. When you look at a map of the north island, it looks like a fish.

With Maui were his brothers, who promised to stay on the canoe while Maui dived down into the sea to thank the gods for his discovery. While waiting, the brothers got greedy, and started trying to divide up the land by beating the fish. When Maui came up and stopped them, the fish had changed shape – which is how the north island got its valleys and mountains.

‘New Zealand’ in Maori is ‘He Aoteroa’ which means ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’. When the Maoris travelled by boat to the islands, they crossed what must have seemed like a never-ending ocean. The first thing they saw for a long time was a long white cloud on the horizon, over New Zealand, hence the name.

Centuries later, Europeans arrived. Unfortunately, the relationship between these settlers and the Maoris was difficult. In 1840, the British and the Maoris signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which detailed land and fishing rights. Poorly translated into Maori, the Treaty was misinterpreted, often unfairly for the Maoris.

In 1975, the government established the Waitangi Tribunal, to clarify the Treaty and honour it as a relevant and living document. Now the New Zealand government has a large Maori representation, and Maori rights have been recovered.

A few years ago, in the north island, a road was being built. Maoris objected to the road going through a lake, where there was a ‘taniwha’ (a legendary water monster). The government bent the road around the lake, preserving not only the ‘taniwha’ but also a stunning natural area.

Traditionally community-minded, Maoris lived close together, with extended family living nearby. Now, many Maoris are again buying houses together to recreate these communities. The houses may not be old, but they are decorated with traditional paintings and carvings, and in front of the ‘marae’ (meeting house) is a space where visitors can be welcomed into the house traditionally.

A visitor is ‘sung’ onto the ‘marae’, clearing a spiritual pathway for a peaceful meeting between host and guest. The Maori greeting is a ‘hongi’, where, as well as holding hands, you press noses together – meaning you share breath, and, if your foreheads are also pressed together, you share minds as well.

New Zealand is a very developed, industrialised country, where western and Maori cultures and peoples have integrated so much that Maori traditions were in danger of dying out.

Both Maoris and non-Maoris realised the importance of preserving Maori culture. Maoris began re-teaching their children traditional Maori crafts. Recently, Maori language became a core school subject. Many New Zealanders encourage this development, recognising that Maori language is an integral part of New Zealand’s culture.

The Maoris probably originated from around Japan, as the pronunciation of the Maori language is very similar to Japanese, and the Japanese can often say Maori words more convincingly than the average non-Maori New Zealander.

Interestingly, New Zealand English also has its’ own vibrant language! New Zealand slang is different to British and American slang, and even different to Australian. My favourites are ‘chilli bin’; nothing to do with spicy food, but New Zealand slang for a cool box, and ‘give it some jandal’, meaning ‘put your foot down on the accelerator and speed up’ (‘jandals’ are plastic shoes -‘flip flops’ in the UK and ‘thongs’ in Australia!). Now I must rattle my dags (hurry up) because today I’m off tramping (walking) in the bush (countryside). See you later! And in Maori – Aroha nui!

New Zealand: two islands where old meets new

By Claire Powell

Talking to friends from New Zealand while writing this article confirmed New Zealand’s place at the top of my ‘Must Visit’ list! Tucked away in the Pacific Ocean, here the sun seems to slip more slowly across the sky, perhaps thanks to Maui, a legendary Maori demi-god, whose magic fishing net caught the sun, allowing Maui to ask it to make the days longer.

The first New Zealanders were the Maoris, who travelled there by boat about ten thousand years ago. Maori legend has it that Maui magically fished New Zealand’s north island up out of the sea. The south island was his canoe. When you look at a map of the north island, it looks like a fish.

With Maui were his brothers, who promised to stay on the canoe while Maui dived down into the sea to thank the gods for his discovery. While waiting, the brothers got greedy, and started trying to divide up the land by beating the fish. When Maui came up and stopped them, the fish had changed shape – which is how the north island got its valleys and mountains.

‘New Zealand’ in Maori is ‘He Aoteroa’ which means ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’. When the Maoris travelled by boat to the islands, they crossed what must have seemed like a never-ending ocean. The first thing they saw for a long time was a long white cloud on the horizon, over New Zealand, hence the name.

Centuries later, Europeans arrived. Unfortunately, the relationship between these settlers and the Maoris was difficult. In 1840, the British and the Maoris signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which detailed land and fishing rights. Poorly translated into Maori, the Treaty was misinterpreted, often unfairly for the Maoris.

In 1975, the government established the Waitangi Tribunal, to clarify the Treaty and honour it as a relevant and living document. Now the New Zealand government has a large Maori representation, and Maori rights have been recovered.

A few years ago, in the north island, a road was being built. Maoris objected to the road going through a lake, where there was a ‘taniwha’ (a legendary water monster). The government bent the road around the lake, preserving not only the ‘taniwha’ but also a stunning natural area.

Traditionally community-minded, Maoris lived close together, with extended family living nearby. Now, many Maoris are again buying houses together to recreate these communities. The houses may not be old, but they are decorated with traditional paintings and carvings, and in front of the ‘marae’ (meeting house) is a space where visitors can be welcomed into the house traditionally.

A visitor is ‘sung’ onto the ‘marae’, clearing a spiritual pathway for a peaceful meeting between host and guest. The Maori greeting is a ‘hongi’, where, as well as holding hands, you press noses together – meaning you share breath, and, if your foreheads are also pressed together, you share minds as well.

New Zealand is a very developed, industrialised country, where western and Maori cultures and peoples have integrated so much that Maori traditions were in danger of dying out.

Both Maoris and non-Maoris realised the importance of preserving Maori culture. Maoris began re-teaching their children traditional Maori crafts. Recently, Maori language became a core school subject. Many New Zealanders encourage this development, recognising that Maori language is an integral part of New Zealand’s culture.

The Maoris probably originated from around Japan, as the pronunciation of the Maori language is very similar to Japanese, and the Japanese can often say Maori words more convincingly than the average non-Maori New Zealander.

Interestingly, New Zealand English also has its’ own vibrant language! New Zealand slang is different to British and American slang, and even different to Australian. My favourites are ‘chilli bin’; nothing to do with spicy food, but New Zealand slang for a cool box, and ‘give it some jandal’, meaning ‘put your foot down on the accelerator and speed up’ (‘jandals’ are plastic shoes -‘flip flops’ in the UK and ‘thongs’ in Australia!). Now I must rattle my dags (hurry up) because today I’m off tramping (walking) in the bush (countryside). See you later! And in Maori – Aroha nui!

New Zealand: two islands where old meets new

By Claire Powell

Talking to friends from New Zealand while writing this article confirmed New Zealand’s place at the top of my ‘Must Visit’ list! Tucked away in the Pacific Ocean, here the sun seems to slip more slowly across the sky, perhaps thanks to Maui, a legendary Maori demi-god, whose magic fishing net caught the sun, allowing Maui to ask it to make the days longer.

The first New Zealanders were the Maoris, who travelled there by boat about ten thousand years ago. Maori legend has it that Maui magically fished New Zealand’s north island up out of the sea. The south island was his canoe. When you look at a map of the north island, it looks like a fish.

With Maui were his brothers, who promised to stay on the canoe while Maui dived down into the sea to thank the gods for his discovery. While waiting, the brothers got greedy, and started trying to divide up the land by beating the fish. When Maui came up and stopped them, the fish had changed shape – which is how the north island got its valleys and mountains.

‘New Zealand’ in Maori is ‘He Aoteroa’ which means ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’. When the Maoris travelled by boat to the islands, they crossed what must have seemed like a never-ending ocean. The first thing they saw for a long time was a long white cloud on the horizon, over New Zealand, hence the name.

Centuries later, Europeans arrived. Unfortunately, the relationship between these settlers and the Maoris was difficult. In 1840, the British and the Maoris signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which detailed land and fishing rights. Poorly translated into Maori, the Treaty was misinterpreted, often unfairly for the Maoris.

In 1975, the government established the Waitangi Tribunal, to clarify the Treaty and honour it as a relevant and living document. Now the New Zealand government has a large Maori representation, and Maori rights have been recovered.

A few years ago, in the north island, a road was being built. Maoris objected to the road going through a lake, where there was a ‘taniwha’ (a legendary water monster). The government bent the road around the lake, preserving not only the ‘taniwha’ but also a stunning natural area.

Traditionally community-minded, Maoris lived close together, with extended family living nearby. Now, many Maoris are again buying houses together to recreate these communities. The houses may not be old, but they are decorated with traditional paintings and carvings, and in front of the ‘marae’ (meeting house) is a space where visitors can be welcomed into the house traditionally.

A visitor is ‘sung’ onto the ‘marae’, clearing a spiritual pathway for a peaceful meeting between host and guest. The Maori greeting is a ‘hongi’, where, as well as holding hands, you press noses together – meaning you share breath, and, if your foreheads are also pressed together, you share minds as well.

New Zealand is a very developed, industrialised country, where western and Maori cultures and peoples have integrated so much that Maori traditions were in danger of dying out.

Both Maoris and non-Maoris realised the importance of preserving Maori culture. Maoris began re-teaching their children traditional Maori crafts. Recently, Maori language became a core school subject. Many New Zealanders encourage this development, recognising that Maori language is an integral part of New Zealand’s culture.

The Maoris probably originated from around Japan, as the pronunciation of the Maori language is very similar to Japanese, and the Japanese can often say Maori words more convincingly than the average non-Maori New Zealander.

Interestingly, New Zealand English also has its’ own vibrant language! New Zealand slang is different to British and American slang, and even different to Australian. My favourites are ‘chilli bin’; nothing to do with spicy food, but New Zealand slang for a cool box, and ‘give it some jandal’, meaning ‘put your foot down on the accelerator and speed up’ (‘jandals’ are plastic shoes -‘flip flops’ in the UK and ‘thongs’ in Australia!). Now I must rattle my dags (hurry up) because today I’m off tramping (walking) in the bush (countryside). See you later! And in Maori – Aroha nui!

New Zealand: two islands where old meets new

By Claire Powell

Talking to friends from New Zealand while writing this article confirmed New Zealand’s place at the top of my ‘Must Visit’ list! Tucked away in the Pacific Ocean, here the sun seems to slip more slowly across the sky, perhaps thanks to Maui, a legendary Maori demi-god, whose magic fishing net caught the sun, allowing Maui to ask it to make the days longer.

The first New Zealanders were the Maoris, who travelled there by boat about ten thousand years ago. Maori legend has it that Maui magically fished New Zealand’s north island up out of the sea. The south island was his canoe. When you look at a map of the north island, it looks like a fish.

With Maui were his brothers, who promised to stay on the canoe while Maui dived down into the sea to thank the gods for his discovery. While waiting, the brothers got greedy, and started trying to divide up the land by beating the fish. When Maui came up and stopped them, the fish had changed shape – which is how the north island got its valleys and mountains.

‘New Zealand’ in Maori is ‘He Aoteroa’ which means ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’. When the Maoris travelled by boat to the islands, they crossed what must have seemed like a never-ending ocean. The first thing they saw for a long time was a long white cloud on the horizon, over New Zealand, hence the name.

Centuries later, Europeans arrived. Unfortunately, the relationship between these settlers and the Maoris was difficult. In 1840, the British and the Maoris signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which detailed land and fishing rights. Poorly translated into Maori, the Treaty was misinterpreted, often unfairly for the Maoris.

In 1975, the government established the Waitangi Tribunal, to clarify the Treaty and honour it as a relevant and living document. Now the New Zealand government has a large Maori representation, and Maori rights have been recovered.

A few years ago, in the north island, a road was being built. Maoris objected to the road going through a lake, where there was a ‘taniwha’ (a legendary water monster). The government bent the road around the lake, preserving not only the ‘taniwha’ but also a stunning natural area.

Traditionally community-minded, Maoris lived close together, with extended family living nearby. Now, many Maoris are again buying houses together to recreate these communities. The houses may not be old, but they are decorated with traditional paintings and carvings, and in front of the ‘marae’ (meeting house) is a space where visitors can be welcomed into the house traditionally.

A visitor is ‘sung’ onto the ‘marae’, clearing a spiritual pathway for a peaceful meeting between host and guest. The Maori greeting is a ‘hongi’, where, as well as holding hands, you press noses together – meaning you share breath, and, if your foreheads are also pressed together, you share minds as well.

New Zealand is a very developed, industrialised country, where western and Maori cultures and peoples have integrated so much that Maori traditions were in danger of dying out.

Both Maoris and non-Maoris realised the importance of preserving Maori culture. Maoris began re-teaching their children traditional Maori crafts. Recently, Maori language became a core school subject. Many New Zealanders encourage this development, recognising that Maori language is an integral part of New Zealand’s culture.

The Maoris probably originated from around Japan, as the pronunciation of the Maori language is very similar to Japanese, and the Japanese can often say Maori words more convincingly than the average non-Maori New Zealander.

Interestingly, New Zealand English also has its’ own vibrant language! New Zealand slang is different to British and American slang, and even different to Australian. My favourites are ‘chilli bin’; nothing to do with spicy food, but New Zealand slang for a cool box, and ‘give it some jandal’, meaning ‘put your foot down on the accelerator and speed up’ (‘jandals’ are plastic shoes -‘flip flops’ in the UK and ‘thongs’ in Australia!). Now I must rattle my dags (hurry up) because today I’m off tramping (walking) in the bush (countryside). See you later! And in Maori – Aroha nui!

New Zealand: two islands where old meets new

By Claire Powell

Talking to friends from New Zealand while writing this article confirmed New Zealand’s place at the top of my ‘Must Visit’ list! Tucked away in the Pacific Ocean, here the sun seems to slip more slowly across the sky, perhaps thanks to Maui, a legendary Maori demi-god, whose magic fishing net caught the sun, allowing Maui to ask it to make the days longer.

The first New Zealanders were the Maoris, who travelled there by boat about ten thousand years ago. Maori legend has it that Maui magically fished New Zealand’s north island up out of the sea. The south island was his canoe. When you look at a map of the north island, it looks like a fish.

With Maui were his brothers, who promised to stay on the canoe while Maui dived down into the sea to thank the gods for his discovery. While waiting, the brothers got greedy, and started trying to divide up the land by beating the fish. When Maui came up and stopped them, the fish had changed shape – which is how the north island got its valleys and mountains.

‘New Zealand’ in Maori is ‘He Aoteroa’ which means ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’. When the Maoris travelled by boat to the islands, they crossed what must have seemed like a never-ending ocean. The first thing they saw for a long time was a long white cloud on the horizon, over New Zealand, hence the name.

Centuries later, Europeans arrived. Unfortunately, the relationship between these settlers and the Maoris was difficult. In 1840, the British and the Maoris signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which detailed land and fishing rights. Poorly translated into Maori, the Treaty was misinterpreted, often unfairly for the Maoris.

In 1975, the government established the Waitangi Tribunal, to clarify the Treaty and honour it as a relevant and living document. Now the New Zealand government has a large Maori representation, and Maori rights have been recovered.

A few years ago, in the north island, a road was being built. Maoris objected to the road going through a lake, where there was a ‘taniwha’ (a legendary water monster). The government bent the road around the lake, preserving not only the ‘taniwha’ but also a stunning natural area.

Traditionally community-minded, Maoris lived close together, with extended family living nearby. Now, many Maoris are again buying houses together to recreate these communities. The houses may not be old, but they are decorated with traditional paintings and carvings, and in front of the ‘marae’ (meeting house) is a space where visitors can be welcomed into the house traditionally.

A visitor is ‘sung’ onto the ‘marae’, clearing a spiritual pathway for a peaceful meeting between host and guest. The Maori greeting is a ‘hongi’, where, as well as holding hands, you press noses together – meaning you share breath, and, if your foreheads are also pressed together, you share minds as well.

New Zealand is a very developed, industrialised country, where western and Maori cultures and peoples have integrated so much that Maori traditions were in danger of dying out.

Both Maoris and non-Maoris realised the importance of preserving Maori culture. Maoris began re-teaching their children traditional Maori crafts. Recently, Maori language became a core school subject. Many New Zealanders encourage this development, recognising that Maori language is an integral part of New Zealand’s culture.

The Maoris probably originated from around Japan, as the pronunciation of the Maori language is very similar to Japanese, and the Japanese can often say Maori words more convincingly than the average non-Maori New Zealander.

Interestingly, New Zealand English also has its’ own vibrant language! New Zealand slang is different to British and American slang, and even different to Australian. My favourites are ‘chilli bin’; nothing to do with spicy food, but New Zealand slang for a cool box, and ‘give it some jandal’, meaning ‘put your foot down on the accelerator and speed up’ (‘jandals’ are plastic shoes -‘flip flops’ in the UK and ‘thongs’ in Australia!). Now I must rattle my dags (hurry up) because today I’m off tramping (walking) in the bush (countryside). See you later! And in Maori – Aroha nui!

The Olympic Games - then and now

by Craig Duncan

In 2004 the Olympic Games returned to its home in Greece, where it began around 3000 years ago. The first recorded Olympic festival took place in 776 BC. Similar festivals had been organised for at least two or three centuries prior to this, but 776 BC saw the start of a regular festival which was to take place every Olympiad, or four year period.

In ancient Greece citizens of different city states could not always travel freely around the country, but during the Olympics the various rulers agreed truces so as that their citizens could attend the Olympics without problems. Sport was only one part of the festival; there were also ritual sacrifices, poetry readings, exhibitions of sculpture and trade fairs. It was a festival which celebrated on the one hand the Greek gods, and on the other hand the abilities of the Greek people.

The early athletic competitions were only running races, but later other sports such as boxing and wrestling came to be included. It was not simply a matter of professional athletes arriving and entering the competitions; for one thing, there were no professional athletes! All the competitors were ordinary Greek citizens who felt that they were among the best in their chosen sports. Anyone wishing to compete had to arrive four weeks early, and undergo a full month of training. It wasn’t only physical training, either: would-be competitors had to prove that they were morally and spiritually suitable to compete. Even if someone was physically fit enough, they couldn’t compete unless the judges thought they were of the right moral fibre. Curiously, all sportsmen competed nude – it was widely believed that wearing clothes slowed an athlete down!

At the start of the games, every competitor had to swear an oath that they were a free citizen of Greece who had committed no sacrilege against the gods. In today’s Olympics, one athlete takes an oath on behalf of all the competitors, although of course it is a little different to the ancient Greek oath. Today, competitors promise that they shall abide by the rules of the games, will act in an honourable and sportsmanlike manner, and not use any performance-enhancing drugs. Cheating, though, is almost as old as the games itself: records of the ancient Greek games are riddled with tales of athletes paying off their competitors, and of boxers fixing the results of their fights. In ancient Greece, though, there weren’t many ways an athlete could cheat in a race: maybe take a shortcut, or borrow a horse.

By the time of the St Louis Olympics in 1904, more modern means were available. The original “winner” of the 1904 Olympic marathon, Fred Lorz, was disqualified after it was revealed that he had travelled half the distance in a car. The man later declared the official winner, Thomas Hicks, wasn’t much better: he was carried across the finishing line by two of his trainers. Hicks’s trainers had tried to enhance his running ability by feeding him a mix of egg whites, strychnine and brandy. This early attempt at a performance-enhancing drug was rather unsuccessful, as it left Hicks drunk and incapable. The trick of having two men carrying him, though, seems to have worked.

The motivation for cheating hasn’t changed much at all. Today, athletes compete primarily for the honour of being awarded a gold medal, but also for the enormous amounts of lucrative corporate sponsorship bestowed upon top sportspeople. Similarly, while ancient Greek athletes were officially only competing for the honour of being awarded a symbolic olive branch, winners were usually sponsored by their city state, receiving a large sum of money, or a new home, or a lengthy tax holiday.

As mentioned earlier, the connection between sport and business hasn’t changed much. Even in the earliest Olympics, sporting competition went alongside trade fairs and business deals. This was acknowledged in 19th century Greece when the first modern attempts were made to revive the Olympics. The “Zappian Olympics”, as they became known after wealthy organiser Evangelos Zappas, were the bridge between the ancient and modern Olympics, and took place in Greece between 1859 and 1875. It was the first real international sporting competition, but officially it was about far more than sport. Greek politicians of the time felt that nations were no longer competing primarily in sport, but in agriculture and manufacturing. It was decided, then, that these new Olympics ought to be as much about competing in industry as in sport. The sports events were highly popular, but in terms of funding and regularity were of a lower priority than the commercial side, which concentrated on the demonstration of agricultural and industrial inventions.

However, the sporting side of the games were hugely popular with the public, and the level of support meant that, in Athens in 1896, the Olympics as we know them began. Despite the occasional shambles of the sort we saw in St Louis in 1904, it has continued from strength to strength since then.

The Olympic Games - then and now

by Craig Duncan

In 2004 the Olympic Games returned to its home in Greece, where it began around 3000 years ago. The first recorded Olympic festival took place in 776 BC. Similar festivals had been organised for at least two or three centuries prior to this, but 776 BC saw the start of a regular festival which was to take place every Olympiad, or four year period.

In ancient Greece citizens of different city states could not always travel freely around the country, but during the Olympics the various rulers agreed truces so as that their citizens could attend the Olympics without problems. Sport was only one part of the festival; there were also ritual sacrifices, poetry readings, exhibitions of sculpture and trade fairs. It was a festival which celebrated on the one hand the Greek gods, and on the other hand the abilities of the Greek people.

The early athletic competitions were only running races, but later other sports such as boxing and wrestling came to be included. It was not simply a matter of professional athletes arriving and entering the competitions; for one thing, there were no professional athletes! All the competitors were ordinary Greek citizens who felt that they were among the best in their chosen sports. Anyone wishing to compete had to arrive four weeks early, and undergo a full month of training. It wasn’t only physical training, either: would-be competitors had to prove that they were morally and spiritually suitable to compete. Even if someone was physically fit enough, they couldn’t compete unless the judges thought they were of the right moral fibre. Curiously, all sportsmen competed nude – it was widely believed that wearing clothes slowed an athlete down!

At the start of the games, every competitor had to swear an oath that they were a free citizen of Greece who had committed no sacrilege against the gods. In today’s Olympics, one athlete takes an oath on behalf of all the competitors, although of course it is a little different to the ancient Greek oath. Today, competitors promise that they shall abide by the rules of the games, will act in an honourable and sportsmanlike manner, and not use any performance-enhancing drugs. Cheating, though, is almost as old as the games itself: records of the ancient Greek games are riddled with tales of athletes paying off their competitors, and of boxers fixing the results of their fights. In ancient Greece, though, there weren’t many ways an athlete could cheat in a race: maybe take a shortcut, or borrow a horse.

By the time of the St Louis Olympics in 1904, more modern means were available. The original “winner” of the 1904 Olympic marathon, Fred Lorz, was disqualified after it was revealed that he had travelled half the distance in a car. The man later declared the official winner, Thomas Hicks, wasn’t much better: he was carried across the finishing line by two of his trainers. Hicks’s trainers had tried to enhance his running ability by feeding him a mix of egg whites, strychnine and brandy. This early attempt at a performance-enhancing drug was rather unsuccessful, as it left Hicks drunk and incapable. The trick of having two men carrying him, though, seems to have worked.

The motivation for cheating hasn’t changed much at all. Today, athletes compete primarily for the honour of being awarded a gold medal, but also for the enormous amounts of lucrative corporate sponsorship bestowed upon top sportspeople. Similarly, while ancient Greek athletes were officially only competing for the honour of being awarded a symbolic olive branch, winners were usually sponsored by their city state, receiving a large sum of money, or a new home, or a lengthy tax holiday.

As mentioned earlier, the connection between sport and business hasn’t changed much. Even in the earliest Olympics, sporting competition went alongside trade fairs and business deals. This was acknowledged in 19th century Greece when the first modern attempts were made to revive the Olympics. The “Zappian Olympics”, as they became known after wealthy organiser Evangelos Zappas, were the bridge between the ancient and modern Olympics, and took place in Greece between 1859 and 1875. It was the first real international sporting competition, but officially it was about far more than sport. Greek politicians of the time felt that nations were no longer competing primarily in sport, but in agriculture and manufacturing. It was decided, then, that these new Olympics ought to be as much about competing in industry as in sport. The sports events were highly popular, but in terms of funding and regularity were of a lower priority than the commercial side, which concentrated on the demonstration of agricultural and industrial inventions.

However, the sporting side of the games were hugely popular with the public, and the level of support meant that, in Athens in 1896, the Olympics as we know them began. Despite the occasional shambles of the sort we saw in St Louis in 1904, it has continued from strength to strength since then.

The Olympic Games - then and now

by Craig Duncan

In 2004 the Olympic Games returned to its home in Greece, where it began around 3000 years ago. The first recorded Olympic festival took place in 776 BC. Similar festivals had been organised for at least two or three centuries prior to this, but 776 BC saw the start of a regular festival which was to take place every Olympiad, or four year period.

In ancient Greece citizens of different city states could not always travel freely around the country, but during the Olympics the various rulers agreed truces so as that their citizens could attend the Olympics without problems. Sport was only one part of the festival; there were also ritual sacrifices, poetry readings, exhibitions of sculpture and trade fairs. It was a festival which celebrated on the one hand the Greek gods, and on the other hand the abilities of the Greek people.

The early athletic competitions were only running races, but later other sports such as boxing and wrestling came to be included. It was not simply a matter of professional athletes arriving and entering the competitions; for one thing, there were no professional athletes! All the competitors were ordinary Greek citizens who felt that they were among the best in their chosen sports. Anyone wishing to compete had to arrive four weeks early, and undergo a full month of training. It wasn’t only physical training, either: would-be competitors had to prove that they were morally and spiritually suitable to compete. Even if someone was physically fit enough, they couldn’t compete unless the judges thought they were of the right moral fibre. Curiously, all sportsmen competed nude – it was widely believed that wearing clothes slowed an athlete down!

At the start of the games, every competitor had to swear an oath that they were a free citizen of Greece who had committed no sacrilege against the gods. In today’s Olympics, one athlete takes an oath on behalf of all the competitors, although of course it is a little different to the ancient Greek oath. Today, competitors promise that they shall abide by the rules of the games, will act in an honourable and sportsmanlike manner, and not use any performance-enhancing drugs. Cheating, though, is almost as old as the games itself: records of the ancient Greek games are riddled with tales of athletes paying off their competitors, and of boxers fixing the results of their fights. In ancient Greece, though, there weren’t many ways an athlete could cheat in a race: maybe take a shortcut, or borrow a horse.

By the time of the St Louis Olympics in 1904, more modern means were available. The original “winner” of the 1904 Olympic marathon, Fred Lorz, was disqualified after it was revealed that he had travelled half the distance in a car. The man later declared the official winner, Thomas Hicks, wasn’t much better: he was carried across the finishing line by two of his trainers. Hicks’s trainers had tried to enhance his running ability by feeding him a mix of egg whites, strychnine and brandy. This early attempt at a performance-enhancing drug was rather unsuccessful, as it left Hicks drunk and incapable. The trick of having two men carrying him, though, seems to have worked.

The motivation for cheating hasn’t changed much at all. Today, athletes compete primarily for the honour of being awarded a gold medal, but also for the enormous amounts of lucrative corporate sponsorship bestowed upon top sportspeople. Similarly, while ancient Greek athletes were officially only competing for the honour of being awarded a symbolic olive branch, winners were usually sponsored by their city state, receiving a large sum of money, or a new home, or a lengthy tax holiday.

As mentioned earlier, the connection between sport and business hasn’t changed much. Even in the earliest Olympics, sporting competition went alongside trade fairs and business deals. This was acknowledged in 19th century Greece when the first modern attempts were made to revive the Olympics. The “Zappian Olympics”, as they became known after wealthy organiser Evangelos Zappas, were the bridge between the ancient and modern Olympics, and took place in Greece between 1859 and 1875. It was the first real international sporting competition, but officially it was about far more than sport. Greek politicians of the time felt that nations were no longer competing primarily in sport, but in agriculture and manufacturing. It was decided, then, that these new Olympics ought to be as much about competing in industry as in sport. The sports events were highly popular, but in terms of funding and regularity were of a lower priority than the commercial side, which concentrated on the demonstration of agricultural and industrial inventions.

However, the sporting side of the games were hugely popular with the public, and the level of support meant that, in Athens in 1896, the Olympics as we know them began. Despite the occasional shambles of the sort we saw in St Louis in 1904, it has continued from strength to strength since then.

The Olympic Games - then and now

by Craig Duncan

In 2004 the Olympic Games returned to its home in Greece, where it began around 3000 years ago. The first recorded Olympic festival took place in 776 BC. Similar festivals had been organised for at least two or three centuries prior to this, but 776 BC saw the start of a regular festival which was to take place every Olympiad, or four year period.

In ancient Greece citizens of different city states could not always travel freely around the country, but during the Olympics the various rulers agreed truces so as that their citizens could attend the Olympics without problems. Sport was only one part of the festival; there were also ritual sacrifices, poetry readings, exhibitions of sculpture and trade fairs. It was a festival which celebrated on the one hand the Greek gods, and on the other hand the abilities of the Greek people.

The early athletic competitions were only running races, but later other sports such as boxing and wrestling came to be included. It was not simply a matter of professional athletes arriving and entering the competitions; for one thing, there were no professional athletes! All the competitors were ordinary Greek citizens who felt that they were among the best in their chosen sports. Anyone wishing to compete had to arrive four weeks early, and undergo a full month of training. It wasn’t only physical training, either: would-be competitors had to prove that they were morally and spiritually suitable to compete. Even if someone was physically fit enough, they couldn’t compete unless the judges thought they were of the right moral fibre. Curiously, all sportsmen competed nude – it was widely believed that wearing clothes slowed an athlete down!

At the start of the games, every competitor had to swear an oath that they were a free citizen of Greece who had committed no sacrilege against the gods. In today’s Olympics, one athlete takes an oath on behalf of all the competitors, although of course it is a little different to the ancient Greek oath. Today, competitors promise that they shall abide by the rules of the games, will act in an honourable and sportsmanlike manner, and not use any performance-enhancing drugs. Cheating, though, is almost as old as the games itself: records of the ancient Greek games are riddled with tales of athletes paying off their competitors, and of boxers fixing the results of their fights. In ancient Greece, though, there weren’t many ways an athlete could cheat in a race: maybe take a shortcut, or borrow a horse.

By the time of the St Louis Olympics in 1904, more modern means were available. The original “winner” of the 1904 Olympic marathon, Fred Lorz, was disqualified after it was revealed that he had travelled half the distance in a car. The man later declared the official winner, Thomas Hicks, wasn’t much better: he was carried across the finishing line by two of his trainers. Hicks’s trainers had tried to enhance his running ability by feeding him a mix of egg whites, strychnine and brandy. This early attempt at a performance-enhancing drug was rather unsuccessful, as it left Hicks drunk and incapable. The trick of having two men carrying him, though, seems to have worked.

The motivation for cheating hasn’t changed much at all. Today, athletes compete primarily for the honour of being awarded a gold medal, but also for the enormous amounts of lucrative corporate sponsorship bestowed upon top sportspeople. Similarly, while ancient Greek athletes were officially only competing for the honour of being awarded a symbolic olive branch, winners were usually sponsored by their city state, receiving a large sum of money, or a new home, or a lengthy tax holiday.

As mentioned earlier, the connection between sport and business hasn’t changed much. Even in the earliest Olympics, sporting competition went alongside trade fairs and business deals. This was acknowledged in 19th century Greece when the first modern attempts were made to revive the Olympics. The “Zappian Olympics”, as they became known after wealthy organiser Evangelos Zappas, were the bridge between the ancient and modern Olympics, and took place in Greece between 1859 and 1875. It was the first real international sporting competition, but officially it was about far more than sport. Greek politicians of the time felt that nations were no longer competing primarily in sport, but in agriculture and manufacturing. It was decided, then, that these new Olympics ought to be as much about competing in industry as in sport. The sports events were highly popular, but in terms of funding and regularity were of a lower priority than the commercial side, which concentrated on the demonstration of agricultural and industrial inventions.

However, the sporting side of the games were hugely popular with the public, and the level of support meant that, in Athens in 1896, the Olympics as we know them began. Despite the occasional shambles of the sort we saw in St Louis in 1904, it has continued from strength to strength since then.

The Olympic Games - then and now

by Craig Duncan

In 2004 the Olympic Games returned to its home in Greece, where it began around 3000 years ago. The first recorded Olympic festival took place in 776 BC. Similar festivals had been organised for at least two or three centuries prior to this, but 776 BC saw the start of a regular festival which was to take place every Olympiad, or four year period.

In ancient Greece citizens of different city states could not always travel freely around the country, but during the Olympics the various rulers agreed truces so as that their citizens could attend the Olympics without problems. Sport was only one part of the festival; there were also ritual sacrifices, poetry readings, exhibitions of sculpture and trade fairs. It was a festival which celebrated on the one hand the Greek gods, and on the other hand the abilities of the Greek people.

The early athletic competitions were only running races, but later other sports such as boxing and wrestling came to be included. It was not simply a matter of professional athletes arriving and entering the competitions; for one thing, there were no professional athletes! All the competitors were ordinary Greek citizens who felt that they were among the best in their chosen sports. Anyone wishing to compete had to arrive four weeks early, and undergo a full month of training. It wasn’t only physical training, either: would-be competitors had to prove that they were morally and spiritually suitable to compete. Even if someone was physically fit enough, they couldn’t compete unless the judges thought they were of the right moral fibre. Curiously, all sportsmen competed nude – it was widely believed that wearing clothes slowed an athlete down!

At the start of the games, every competitor had to swear an oath that they were a free citizen of Greece who had committed no sacrilege against the gods. In today’s Olympics, one athlete takes an oath on behalf of all the competitors, although of course it is a little different to the ancient Greek oath. Today, competitors promise that they shall abide by the rules of the games, will act in an honourable and sportsmanlike manner, and not use any performance-enhancing drugs. Cheating, though, is almost as old as the games itself: records of the ancient Greek games are riddled with tales of athletes paying off their competitors, and of boxers fixing the results of their fights. In ancient Greece, though, there weren’t many ways an athlete could cheat in a race: maybe take a shortcut, or borrow a horse.

By the time of the St Louis Olympics in 1904, more modern means were available. The original “winner” of the 1904 Olympic marathon, Fred Lorz, was disqualified after it was revealed that he had travelled half the distance in a car. The man later declared the official winner, Thomas Hicks, wasn’t much better: he was carried across the finishing line by two of his trainers. Hicks’s trainers had tried to enhance his running ability by feeding him a mix of egg whites, strychnine and brandy. This early attempt at a performance-enhancing drug was rather unsuccessful, as it left Hicks drunk and incapable. The trick of having two men carrying him, though, seems to have worked.

The motivation for cheating hasn’t changed much at all. Today, athletes compete primarily for the honour of being awarded a gold medal, but also for the enormous amounts of lucrative corporate sponsorship bestowed upon top sportspeople. Similarly, while ancient Greek athletes were officially only competing for the honour of being awarded a symbolic olive branch, winners were usually sponsored by their city state, receiving a large sum of money, or a new home, or a lengthy tax holiday.

As mentioned earlier, the connection between sport and business hasn’t changed much. Even in the earliest Olympics, sporting competition went alongside trade fairs and business deals. This was acknowledged in 19th century Greece when the first modern attempts were made to revive the Olympics. The “Zappian Olympics”, as they became known after wealthy organiser Evangelos Zappas, were the bridge between the ancient and modern Olympics, and took place in Greece between 1859 and 1875. It was the first real international sporting competition, but officially it was about far more than sport. Greek politicians of the time felt that nations were no longer competing primarily in sport, but in agriculture and manufacturing. It was decided, then, that these new Olympics ought to be as much about competing in industry as in sport. The sports events were highly popular, but in terms of funding and regularity were of a lower priority than the commercial side, which concentrated on the demonstration of agricultural and industrial inventions.

However, the sporting side of the games were hugely popular with the public, and the level of support meant that, in Athens in 1896, the Olympics as we know them began. Despite the occasional shambles of the sort we saw in St Louis in 1904, it has continued from strength to strength since then.

Building Bridges

By Linda Baxter

Being old is when you know all the answers, but nobody asks you the questions. (Anonymous)

Six months before she died, my grandmother moved into an old people's home and I visited her there when I was in Britain. She was sitting in the living room with about fifteen other residents, mostly women, half of them asleep. The room was clean and warm, with flowers and pictures, and the care assistants were kind and cheerful. 'The Weakest Link' was on the television ('to keep their brains active' one of the assistants said), and the only other sound was snoring and embarrassing digestive noises. People only moved when they needed to be helped to the bathroom. It was depressing. Gran talked a lot about how much she missed seeing her grandchildren (my nieces, aged 7 and 5), but I knew from my sister that they hated going to visit her there and, to be perfectly honest, I couldn't wait to get away myself.

So I was interested to read a newspaper article about a new concept in old people's homes in France. The idea is simple, but revolutionary: combining a residential home for the elderly with a crèche/nursery school in the same building. The children and the residents eat lunch together and share activities such as music, painting, gardening and caring for the pets which the residents are encouraged to keep. In the afternoons, the residents enjoy reading or telling stories to the children and, if a child is feeling sad or tired, there is always a kind lap to sit on and a cuddle. There are trips out and birthday parties too.

The advantages are enormous for everyone concerned. The children are happy because they get a lot more individual attention and respond well because someone has time for them. They also learn that old people are not different or frightening in any way. And of course, they see illness and death and learn to accept them. The residents are happy because they feel useful and needed. They are more active and more interested in life when the children are around and they take more interest in their appearance too. And the staff are happy because they see an improvement in the physical and psychological health of the residents and have an army of assistants to help with the children.

Nowadays there is less and less contact between the old and the young. There are many reasons for this, including the breakdown of the extended family, working parents with no time to care for ageing relations, families that have moved away and smaller flats with no room for grandparents. But the result is the same: increasing numbers of children without grandparents and old people who have no contact with children. And more old people who are lonely and feel useless, along with more and more families with young children who desperately need more support. It's a major problem in many societies.

That's why intergenerational programmes, designed to bring the old and the young together, are growing in popularity all over the world, supported by UNESCO and other local and international organisations. There are examples of successful initiatives all over the world. Using young people to teach IT skills to older people is one obvious example. Using old people as volunteer assistants in schools is another, perhaps reading with children who need extra attention. There are schemes which involve older people visiting families who are having problems, maybe looking after the children for a while to give the tired mother a break. Or 'adopt a grandparent' schemes in which children write letters or visit a lonely old person in their area. There are even holiday companies that specialise in holidays for children and grandparents together. One successful scheme in London pairs young volunteers with old people who are losing their sight. The young people help with practical things such as writing letters, reading bank statements and helping with shopping, and the older people can pass on their knowledge and experience to their young visitors. For example, a retired judge may be paired with a teenager who wants to study law. Lasting friendships often develop.

But it isn't only the individuals concerned who gain from intergenerational activities. The advantages to society are enormous too. If older people can understand and accept the youth of today, and vice versa, there will be less conflict in a community. In a world where the number of old people is increasing, we need as much understanding and tolerance as possible. Modern Western society has isolated people into age groups and now we need to rediscover what 'community' really means. And we can use the strengths of one generation to help another. Then perhaps getting old won't be such a depressing prospect after all.

Building Bridges

By Linda Baxter

Being old is when you know all the answers, but nobody asks you the questions. (Anonymous)

Six months before she died, my grandmother moved into an old people's home and I visited her there when I was in Britain. She was sitting in the living room with about fifteen other residents, mostly women, half of them asleep. The room was clean and warm, with flowers and pictures, and the care assistants were kind and cheerful. 'The Weakest Link' was on the television ('to keep their brains active' one of the assistants said), and the only other sound was snoring and embarrassing digestive noises. People only moved when they needed to be helped to the bathroom. It was depressing. Gran talked a lot about how much she missed seeing her grandchildren (my nieces, aged 7 and 5), but I knew from my sister that they hated going to visit her there and, to be perfectly honest, I couldn't wait to get away myself.

So I was interested to read a newspaper article about a new concept in old people's homes in France. The idea is simple, but revolutionary: combining a residential home for the elderly with a crèche/nursery school in the same building. The children and the residents eat lunch together and share activities such as music, painting, gardening and caring for the pets which the residents are encouraged to keep. In the afternoons, the residents enjoy reading or telling stories to the children and, if a child is feeling sad or tired, there is always a kind lap to sit on and a cuddle. There are trips out and birthday parties too.

The advantages are enormous for everyone concerned. The children are happy because they get a lot more individual attention and respond well because someone has time for them. They also learn that old people are not different or frightening in any way. And of course, they see illness and death and learn to accept them. The residents are happy because they feel useful and needed. They are more active and more interested in life when the children are around and they take more interest in their appearance too. And the staff are happy because they see an improvement in the physical and psychological health of the residents and have an army of assistants to help with the children.

Nowadays there is less and less contact between the old and the young. There are many reasons for this, including the breakdown of the extended family, working parents with no time to care for ageing relations, families that have moved away and smaller flats with no room for grandparents. But the result is the same: increasing numbers of children without grandparents and old people who have no contact with children. And more old people who are lonely and feel useless, along with more and more families with young children who desperately need more support. It's a major problem in many societies.

That's why intergenerational programmes, designed to bring the old and the young together, are growing in popularity all over the world, supported by UNESCO and other local and international organisations. There are examples of successful initiatives all over the world. Using young people to teach IT skills to older people is one obvious example. Using old people as volunteer assistants in schools is another, perhaps reading with children who need extra attention. There are schemes which involve older people visiting families who are having problems, maybe looking after the children for a while to give the tired mother a break. Or 'adopt a grandparent' schemes in which children write letters or visit a lonely old person in their area. There are even holiday companies that specialise in holidays for children and grandparents together. One successful scheme in London pairs young volunteers with old people who are losing their sight. The young people help with practical things such as writing letters, reading bank statements and helping with shopping, and the older people can pass on their knowledge and experience to their young visitors. For example, a retired judge may be paired with a teenager who wants to study law. Lasting friendships often develop.

But it isn't only the individuals concerned who gain from intergenerational activities. The advantages to society are enormous too. If older people can understand and accept the youth of today, and vice versa, there will be less conflict in a community. In a world where the number of old people is increasing, we need as much understanding and tolerance as possible. Modern Western society has isolated people into age groups and now we need to rediscover what 'community' really means. And we can use the strengths of one generation to help another. Then perhaps getting old won't be such a depressing prospect after all.

Building Bridges

By Linda Baxter

Being old is when you know all the answers, but nobody asks you the questions. (Anonymous)

Six months before she died, my grandmother moved into an old people's home and I visited her there when I was in Britain. She was sitting in the living room with about fifteen other residents, mostly women, half of them asleep. The room was clean and warm, with flowers and pictures, and the care assistants were kind and cheerful. 'The Weakest Link' was on the television ('to keep their brains active' one of the assistants said), and the only other sound was snoring and embarrassing digestive noises. People only moved when they needed to be helped to the bathroom. It was depressing. Gran talked a lot about how much she missed seeing her grandchildren (my nieces, aged 7 and 5), but I knew from my sister that they hated going to visit her there and, to be perfectly honest, I couldn't wait to get away myself.

So I was interested to read a newspaper article about a new concept in old people's homes in France. The idea is simple, but revolutionary: combining a residential home for the elderly with a crèche/nursery school in the same building. The children and the residents eat lunch together and share activities such as music, painting, gardening and caring for the pets which the residents are encouraged to keep. In the afternoons, the residents enjoy reading or telling stories to the children and, if a child is feeling sad or tired, there is always a kind lap to sit on and a cuddle. There are trips out and birthday parties too.

The advantages are enormous for everyone concerned. The children are happy because they get a lot more individual attention and respond well because someone has time for them. They also learn that old people are not different or frightening in any way. And of course, they see illness and death and learn to accept them. The residents are happy because they feel useful and needed. They are more active and more interested in life when the children are around and they take more interest in their appearance too. And the staff are happy because they see an improvement in the physical and psychological health of the residents and have an army of assistants to help with the children.

Nowadays there is less and less contact between the old and the young. There are many reasons for this, including the breakdown of the extended family, working parents with no time to care for ageing relations, families that have moved away and smaller flats with no room for grandparents. But the result is the same: increasing numbers of children without grandparents and old people who have no contact with children. And more old people who are lonely and feel useless, along with more and more families with young children who desperately need more support. It's a major problem in many societies.

That's why intergenerational programmes, designed to bring the old and the young together, are growing in popularity all over the world, supported by UNESCO and other local and international organisations. There are examples of successful initiatives all over the world. Using young people to teach IT skills to older people is one obvious example. Using old people as volunteer assistants in schools is another, perhaps reading with children who need extra attention. There are schemes which involve older people visiting families who are having problems, maybe looking after the children for a while to give the tired mother a break. Or 'adopt a grandparent' schemes in which children write letters or visit a lonely old person in their area. There are even holiday companies that specialise in holidays for children and grandparents together. One successful scheme in London pairs young volunteers with old people who are losing their sight. The young people help with practical things such as writing letters, reading bank statements and helping with shopping, and the older people can pass on their knowledge and experience to their young visitors. For example, a retired judge may be paired with a teenager who wants to study law. Lasting friendships often develop.

But it isn't only the individuals concerned who gain from intergenerational activities. The advantages to society are enormous too. If older people can understand and accept the youth of today, and vice versa, there will be less conflict in a community. In a world where the number of old people is increasing, we need as much understanding and tolerance as possible. Modern Western society has isolated people into age groups and now we need to rediscover what 'community' really means. And we can use the strengths of one generation to help another. Then perhaps getting old won't be such a depressing prospect after all.

Building Bridges

By Linda Baxter

Being old is when you know all the answers, but nobody asks you the questions. (Anonymous)

Six months before she died, my grandmother moved into an old people's home and I visited her there when I was in Britain. She was sitting in the living room with about fifteen other residents, mostly women, half of them asleep. The room was clean and warm, with flowers and pictures, and the care assistants were kind and cheerful. 'The Weakest Link' was on the television ('to keep their brains active' one of the assistants said), and the only other sound was snoring and embarrassing digestive noises. People only moved when they needed to be helped to the bathroom. It was depressing. Gran talked a lot about how much she missed seeing her grandchildren (my nieces, aged 7 and 5), but I knew from my sister that they hated going to visit her there and, to be perfectly honest, I couldn't wait to get away myself.

So I was interested to read a newspaper article about a new concept in old people's homes in France. The idea is simple, but revolutionary: combining a residential home for the elderly with a crèche/nursery school in the same building. The children and the residents eat lunch together and share activities such as music, painting, gardening and caring for the pets which the residents are encouraged to keep. In the afternoons, the residents enjoy reading or telling stories to the children and, if a child is feeling sad or tired, there is always a kind lap to sit on and a cuddle. There are trips out and birthday parties too.

The advantages are enormous for everyone concerned. The children are happy because they get a lot more individual attention and respond well because someone has time for them. They also learn that old people are not different or frightening in any way. And of course, they see illness and death and learn to accept them. The residents are happy because they feel useful and needed. They are more active and more interested in life when the children are around and they take more interest in their appearance too. And the staff are happy because they see an improvement in the physical and psychological health of the residents and have an army of assistants to help with the children.

Nowadays there is less and less contact between the old and the young. There are many reasons for this, including the breakdown of the extended family, working parents with no time to care for ageing relations, families that have moved away and smaller flats with no room for grandparents. But the result is the same: increasing numbers of children without grandparents and old people who have no contact with children. And more old people who are lonely and feel useless, along with more and more families with young children who desperately need more support. It's a major problem in many societies.

That's why intergenerational programmes, designed to bring the old and the young together, are growing in popularity all over the world, supported by UNESCO and other local and international organisations. There are examples of successful initiatives all over the world. Using young people to teach IT skills to older people is one obvious example. Using old people as volunteer assistants in schools is another, perhaps reading with children who need extra attention. There are schemes which involve older people visiting families who are having problems, maybe looking after the children for a while to give the tired mother a break. Or 'adopt a grandparent' schemes in which children write letters or visit a lonely old person in their area. There are even holiday companies that specialise in holidays for children and grandparents together. One successful scheme in London pairs young volunteers with old people who are losing their sight. The young people help with practical things such as writing letters, reading bank statements and helping with shopping, and the older people can pass on their knowledge and experience to their young visitors. For example, a retired judge may be paired with a teenager who wants to study law. Lasting friendships often develop.

But it isn't only the individuals concerned who gain from intergenerational activities. The advantages to society are enormous too. If older people can understand and accept the youth of today, and vice versa, there will be less conflict in a community. In a world where the number of old people is increasing, we need as much understanding and tolerance as possible. Modern Western society has isolated people into age groups and now we need to rediscover what 'community' really means. And we can use the strengths of one generation to help another. Then perhaps getting old won't be such a depressing prospect after all.

Building Bridges

By Linda Baxter

Being old is when you know all the answers, but nobody asks you the questions. (Anonymous)

Six months before she died, my grandmother moved into an old people's home and I visited her there when I was in Britain. She was sitting in the living room with about fifteen other residents, mostly women, half of them asleep. The room was clean and warm, with flowers and pictures, and the care assistants were kind and cheerful. 'The Weakest Link' was on the television ('to keep their brains active' one of the assistants said), and the only other sound was snoring and embarrassing digestive noises. People only moved when they needed to be helped to the bathroom. It was depressing. Gran talked a lot about how much she missed seeing her grandchildren (my nieces, aged 7 and 5), but I knew from my sister that they hated going to visit her there and, to be perfectly honest, I couldn't wait to get away myself.

So I was interested to read a newspaper article about a new concept in old people's homes in France. The idea is simple, but revolutionary: combining a residential home for the elderly with a crèche/nursery school in the same building. The children and the residents eat lunch together and share activities such as music, painting, gardening and caring for the pets which the residents are encouraged to keep. In the afternoons, the residents enjoy reading or telling stories to the children and, if a child is feeling sad or tired, there is always a kind lap to sit on and a cuddle. There are trips out and birthday parties too.

The advantages are enormous for everyone concerned. The children are happy because they get a lot more individual attention and respond well because someone has time for them. They also learn that old people are not different or frightening in any way. And of course, they see illness and death and learn to accept them. The residents are happy because they feel useful and needed. They are more active and more interested in life when the children are around and they take more interest in their appearance too. And the staff are happy because they see an improvement in the physical and psychological health of the residents and have an army of assistants to help with the children.

Nowadays there is less and less contact between the old and the young. There are many reasons for this, including the breakdown of the extended family, working parents with no time to care for ageing relations, families that have moved away and smaller flats with no room for grandparents. But the result is the same: increasing numbers of children without grandparents and old people who have no contact with children. And more old people who are lonely and feel useless, along with more and more families with young children who desperately need more support. It's a major problem in many societies.

That's why intergenerational programmes, designed to bring the old and the young together, are growing in popularity all over the world, supported by UNESCO and other local and international organisations. There are examples of successful initiatives all over the world. Using young people to teach IT skills to older people is one obvious example. Using old people as volunteer assistants in schools is another, perhaps reading with children who need extra attention. There are schemes which involve older people visiting families who are having problems, maybe looking after the children for a while to give the tired mother a break. Or 'adopt a grandparent' schemes in which children write letters or visit a lonely old person in their area. There are even holiday companies that specialise in holidays for children and grandparents together. One successful scheme in London pairs young volunteers with old people who are losing their sight. The young people help with practical things such as writing letters, reading bank statements and helping with shopping, and the older people can pass on their knowledge and experience to their young visitors. For example, a retired judge may be paired with a teenager who wants to study law. Lasting friendships often develop.

But it isn't only the individuals concerned who gain from intergenerational activities. The advantages to society are enormous too. If older people can understand and accept the youth of today, and vice versa, there will be less conflict in a community. In a world where the number of old people is increasing, we need as much understanding and tolerance as possible. Modern Western society has isolated people into age groups and now we need to rediscover what 'community' really means. And we can use the strengths of one generation to help another. Then perhaps getting old won't be such a depressing prospect after all.

Overpopulation

by John Kuti (written in 2003)

I come from the south of England, in the most densely-populated corner of a small island, which, you might think, is full of people. (The UK as a whole has 2.4 people per hectare.) I have never gone hungry. The only time when I wish there were less people is on rush-hour trains. However, one of the most interesting findings of the census of 2001 was that a million people were missing. Or at least there were a million people less than the authorities expected. Should we be happy that we have more space and less mouths to feed? I don’t know.

As I start writing this article the world population (according to the Office of Population Research at Princeton University) stands at 6,315,850,431.

Doom, version 1

In 1798 Robert Malthus wrote an essay which got economics the name of the dismal science. It was called “The Principle of Population”. He said that it was impossible for the number of people to increase, and even worse, it was impossible for the standard of living to rise. The argument went like this:

1. population naturally increases geometrically: 2, 4, 8, 16…

2. food production increases arithmetically 2, 4, 6, 8…

3. so, population will be controlled by lack of food, the same as it is for animals. Some people will always be starving.

A lot of people disliked Malthus’ point of view. Often, because it seemed to go against the idea of progress, which was so important for other social theories of the time. Anyway, the experience of the next two centuries shows that something must be wrong with the theory. In the 19th century world population rose from 1 to 1.7 billion. In the 20th, it increased to about 6 billion.

Doom, version 2

In 1961, J.G. Ballard wrote a story called Billenium. It’s about a world where the population has gone on increasing at 3% a year to reach a figure of at least 20 billion, although the true number is kept secret. To make space for growing food, everyone lives in giant cities where the buildings are divided into little cubicles. A single person can have 4 square metres and a married couple six. Everyone has enough to eat, but life is certainly very inconvenient. People spend most of the time waiting in queues for the bathroom or anywhere else they want to go.

Reality

The real situation is not as bad as these alarming predictions. A very surprising and dramatic change is happening in the world, but it is not what Malthus or Ballard predicted. To understand the statistics, we need first to think about the two ways the number of people can go up.

The Fertility Rate

The most obvious way to increase population is for more babies to be born. If the population is exactly constant, the average woman has 2.1 children. This number is called the "replacement rate". These rates are going down very fast. The peak was in the period 1965-75 at 4.9, now the rate for the world as a whole is 2.8. However, there is still a big difference between the developed countries, where the rate is 1.6 and poor countries where it is 3. To quote some extreme examples, in Italy the figure is 1.2 and in Zambia 5.6.

Life expectancy

The other reason why there are more people now is that we live longer. This figure also shows a dramatic change. The people born in 1950 could expect, on average, to live 45 years. Now the world life expectancy at birth is 65, and the United Nations predicts this will increase to 76 in the next 50 years.

Predictions of doom

Malthus and Ballard were still right about some things. The dismal picture painted by Malthus is still true in poor countries where 18 million people starve every year, and more than a billion people don't have a supply of clean drinking water. Ballard is right about the trend towards city life. By the year 2006, the United Nations predicts that more than 50% of people will live in cities.

City life in the developed world

At least in the rich countries, the move into cities seems to be connected with falling fertility rates. It is more expensive to have a child in the city, and children are less useful as workers. Women receive a better education and are able to work – so they have more to lose by becoming mothers. City life seems to encourage individualism – people become more interested in getting an education and a career. They marry later in life, and divorce more often, so producing smaller families.

At the moment, it seems quite possible that the same pattern will be repeated everywhere. One UN forecast now foresees a world population of about 5 billion in 2100. But, the more time you spend looking at predictions the more you realise that the human race is a surprising phenomenon. It looks like we will have a clearer idea of what will happen in ten or twenty years time when the present generation of parents moves beyond child-bearing age.

Now there are 6,318,042,422 people.

Glossary

average (n): the figure you get if you add together a set of numbers and divide that total out equally.

census (n): the official procedure for counting all the people in a country.

constant (adj): staying the same, not changing.

cubicle (n): a very small closed off space, e.g. a shower cubicle.

densely-populated (adj): with a lot of people living close together.

dismal (adj): dark, sad and depressing.

encourage (v): to make something happen or increase.

figure (n): number.

foresee (v): to predict, to see something that might happen in the future.

go on –ing (v): continue.

hectare (n): the size of a square 100 metres by 100 metres.

lack (v): not having something.

peak (n): the highest point.

predictions (n): things people say about what they think will happen in the future.

starving (adj): dying from lack of food.

Overpopulation

by John Kuti (written in 2003)

I come from the south of England, in the most densely-populated corner of a small island, which, you might think, is full of people. (The UK as a whole has 2.4 people per hectare.) I have never gone hungry. The only time when I wish there were less people is on rush-hour trains. However, one of the most interesting findings of the census of 2001 was that a million people were missing. Or at least there were a million people less than the authorities expected. Should we be happy that we have more space and less mouths to feed? I don’t know.

As I start writing this article the world population (according to the Office of Population Research at Princeton University) stands at 6,315,850,431.

Doom, version 1

In 1798 Robert Malthus wrote an essay which got economics the name of the dismal science. It was called “The Principle of Population”. He said that it was impossible for the number of people to increase, and even worse, it was impossible for the standard of living to rise. The argument went like this:

1. population naturally increases geometrically: 2, 4, 8, 16…

2. food production increases arithmetically 2, 4, 6, 8…

3. so, population will be controlled by lack of food, the same as it is for animals. Some people will always be starving.

A lot of people disliked Malthus’ point of view. Often, because it seemed to go against the idea of progress, which was so important for other social theories of the time. Anyway, the experience of the next two centuries shows that something must be wrong with the theory. In the 19th century world population rose from 1 to 1.7 billion. In the 20th, it increased to about 6 billion.

Doom, version 2

In 1961, J.G. Ballard wrote a story called Billenium. It’s about a world where the population has gone on increasing at 3% a year to reach a figure of at least 20 billion, although the true number is kept secret. To make space for growing food, everyone lives in giant cities where the buildings are divided into little cubicles. A single person can have 4 square metres and a married couple six. Everyone has enough to eat, but life is certainly very inconvenient. People spend most of the time waiting in queues for the bathroom or anywhere else they want to go.

Reality

The real situation is not as bad as these alarming predictions. A very surprising and dramatic change is happening in the world, but it is not what Malthus or Ballard predicted. To understand the statistics, we need first to think about the two ways the number of people can go up.

The Fertility Rate

The most obvious way to increase population is for more babies to be born. If the population is exactly constant, the average woman has 2.1 children. This number is called the "replacement rate". These rates are going down very fast. The peak was in the period 1965-75 at 4.9, now the rate for the world as a whole is 2.8. However, there is still a big difference between the developed countries, where the rate is 1.6 and poor countries where it is 3. To quote some extreme examples, in Italy the figure is 1.2 and in Zambia 5.6.

Life expectancy

The other reason why there are more people now is that we live longer. This figure also shows a dramatic change. The people born in 1950 could expect, on average, to live 45 years. Now the world life expectancy at birth is 65, and the United Nations predicts this will increase to 76 in the next 50 years.

Predictions of doom

Malthus and Ballard were still right about some things. The dismal picture painted by Malthus is still true in poor countries where 18 million people starve every year, and more than a billion people don't have a supply of clean drinking water. Ballard is right about the trend towards city life. By the year 2006, the United Nations predicts that more than 50% of people will live in cities.

City life in the developed world

At least in the rich countries, the move into cities seems to be connected with falling fertility rates. It is more expensive to have a child in the city, and children are less useful as workers. Women receive a better education and are able to work – so they have more to lose by becoming mothers. City life seems to encourage individualism – people become more interested in getting an education and a career. They marry later in life, and divorce more often, so producing smaller families.

At the moment, it seems quite possible that the same pattern will be repeated everywhere. One UN forecast now foresees a world population of about 5 billion in 2100. But, the more time you spend looking at predictions the more you realise that the human race is a surprising phenomenon. It looks like we will have a clearer idea of what will happen in ten or twenty years time when the present generation of parents moves beyond child-bearing age.

Now there are 6,318,042,422 people.

Glossary

average (n): the figure you get if you add together a set of numbers and divide that total out equally.

census (n): the official procedure for counting all the people in a country.

constant (adj): staying the same, not changing.

cubicle (n): a very small closed off space, e.g. a shower cubicle.

densely-populated (adj): with a lot of people living close together.

dismal (adj): dark, sad and depressing.

encourage (v): to make something happen or increase.

figure (n): number.

foresee (v): to predict, to see something that might happen in the future.

go on –ing (v): continue.

hectare (n): the size of a square 100 metres by 100 metres.

lack (v): not having something.

peak (n): the highest point.

predictions (n): things people say about what they think will happen in the future.

starving (adj): dying from lack of food.

Overpopulation

by John Kuti (written in 2003)

I come from the south of England, in the most densely-populated corner of a small island, which, you might think, is full of people. (The UK as a whole has 2.4 people per hectare.) I have never gone hungry. The only time when I wish there were less people is on rush-hour trains. However, one of the most interesting findings of the census of 2001 was that a million people were missing. Or at least there were a million people less than the authorities expected. Should we be happy that we have more space and less mouths to feed? I don’t know.

As I start writing this article the world population (according to the Office of Population Research at Princeton University) stands at 6,315,850,431.

Doom, version 1

In 1798 Robert Malthus wrote an essay which got economics the name of the dismal science. It was called “The Principle of Population”. He said that it was impossible for the number of people to increase, and even worse, it was impossible for the standard of living to rise. The argument went like this:

1. population naturally increases geometrically: 2, 4, 8, 16…

2. food production increases arithmetically 2, 4, 6, 8…

3. so, population will be controlled by lack of food, the same as it is for animals. Some people will always be starving.

A lot of people disliked Malthus’ point of view. Often, because it seemed to go against the idea of progress, which was so important for other social theories of the time. Anyway, the experience of the next two centuries shows that something must be wrong with the theory. In the 19th century world population rose from 1 to 1.7 billion. In the 20th, it increased to about 6 billion.

Doom, version 2

In 1961, J.G. Ballard wrote a story called Billenium. It’s about a world where the population has gone on increasing at 3% a year to reach a figure of at least 20 billion, although the true number is kept secret. To make space for growing food, everyone lives in giant cities where the buildings are divided into little cubicles. A single person can have 4 square metres and a married couple six. Everyone has enough to eat, but life is certainly very inconvenient. People spend most of the time waiting in queues for the bathroom or anywhere else they want to go.

Reality

The real situation is not as bad as these alarming predictions. A very surprising and dramatic change is happening in the world, but it is not what Malthus or Ballard predicted. To understand the statistics, we need first to think about the two ways the number of people can go up.

The Fertility Rate

The most obvious way to increase population is for more babies to be born. If the population is exactly constant, the average woman has 2.1 children. This number is called the "replacement rate". These rates are going down very fast. The peak was in the period 1965-75 at 4.9, now the rate for the world as a whole is 2.8. However, there is still a big difference between the developed countries, where the rate is 1.6 and poor countries where it is 3. To quote some extreme examples, in Italy the figure is 1.2 and in Zambia 5.6.

Life expectancy

The other reason why there are more people now is that we live longer. This figure also shows a dramatic change. The people born in 1950 could expect, on average, to live 45 years. Now the world life expectancy at birth is 65, and the United Nations predicts this will increase to 76 in the next 50 years.

Predictions of doom

Malthus and Ballard were still right about some things. The dismal picture painted by Malthus is still true in poor countries where 18 million people starve every year, and more than a billion people don't have a supply of clean drinking water. Ballard is right about the trend towards city life. By the year 2006, the United Nations predicts that more than 50% of people will live in cities.

City life in the developed world

At least in the rich countries, the move into cities seems to be connected with falling fertility rates. It is more expensive to have a child in the city, and children are less useful as workers. Women receive a better education and are able to work – so they have more to lose by becoming mothers. City life seems to encourage individualism – people become more interested in getting an education and a career. They marry later in life, and divorce more often, so producing smaller families.

At the moment, it seems quite possible that the same pattern will be repeated everywhere. One UN forecast now foresees a world population of about 5 billion in 2100. But, the more time you spend looking at predictions the more you realise that the human race is a surprising phenomenon. It looks like we will have a clearer idea of what will happen in ten or twenty years time when the present generation of parents moves beyond child-bearing age.

Now there are 6,318,042,422 people.

Glossary

average (n): the figure you get if you add together a set of numbers and divide that total out equally.

census (n): the official procedure for counting all the people in a country.

constant (adj): staying the same, not changing.

cubicle (n): a very small closed off space, e.g. a shower cubicle.

densely-populated (adj): with a lot of people living close together.

dismal (adj): dark, sad and depressing.

encourage (v): to make something happen or increase.

figure (n): number.

foresee (v): to predict, to see something that might happen in the future.

go on –ing (v): continue.

hectare (n): the size of a square 100 metres by 100 metres.

lack (v): not having something.

peak (n): the highest point.

predictions (n): things people say about what they think will happen in the future.

starving (adj): dying from lack of food.

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