For all student’s like myself this is the business end of the year.
In the past I would have been of the mindset that there is still a couple of months before deadline and I could carry on plodding along with little if any worry about what’s to come.
Those were the days when I could pull all nighters, then sleep for three days. Unfortunately these days that would probably kill me. The important thing is that it’s in my awareness so I can do something to change it.
In what feels like another life I went to catering college in Scarborough. A phrase was drilled into us which I will never forget. The phrase is called the 5 P’s and goes something like this:
Perfect Preperation Prevents Pisspoor Performance
Earlier this year I asked myself several questions:
What do I really want?
What do I need to do? – this included things like work and work experience as well as uni
What are my limitations? – this included time constraints
What are my strengths?
How can I make positive changes to make things happen?
Some of the finding took me by surprise others not so much.
The outcome was simple(ish) I need to be really organised and disciplined. There must be balance, and the acceptance that not all planning goes to plan. If it doesn’t, make adjustments and don’t give up.
The one thing that I have found is by being brutally honest with myself I have been able to make lots of little changes that have made a world of difference.
At the moment I am as organised as I can be for the mayhem that is coming, and that is a great place to be.
Under the current structure the city is divided into twenty-three section which are run by fifty-nine councillors’. Under the revised proposals the number of wards and councillors will both be reduced by two.
Every ward in the city will be affected by the change.
When looking into adjusting ward boundaries there are many things a council must take into consideration including:
The number of electors per polling station which currently stands at 2500.
The accessibility to the station for people with disabilities is also of great importance.
Members of the electorate are encouraged to vote on the newly proposed ward’s with suggestions for improvement welcome. The process is overseen by the Acting Returning Officer who will present the results once the consultation period has closed on Friday 17th November 2017.
The restructuring of ward boundaries form part of a greater parliamentary constituency reform which will see the number of MP’s across Yorkshire and Humberside reduced from fifty four to fifty.
Electorates are encouraged to express their opinions and suggested amendments. The Acting Returning Officer will present the findings once the consolation period has ended on Friday 7th November 2017.
The below image demonstrates the current council wards – click on image.
This image demonstrates the proposed council ward’ – click image
The council ward restructure is linked to a Parliamentary constituency reduction seeing the number of MP’s in Yorkshire and the Humber being reduced from 54 to 50.
The map of Hull Council’s wards are in the process of changing, Sarah Oughtibridge has been looking at what is happening and what it actually means for the people of the city.
The plan to change Hull City Council wards is entering the final stages of negotiations.
Between October 2016 and August 2017 three rounds of negotiations took place allowing both political parties and individuals the chance to make proposals for the change.
The outcome was an agreed reduction in the number of wards from 23 to 21, and a reduction in the number of Councillors from 59 to 57.
In a previous article Sarah looked into the final round of public consultations on polling districts.
The next stage is for the proposals to go before parliament for final approval.
Leader of the Council Stephen Brady said: ‘The Local Government Boundary Commission have made some significant recommendations regarding the wards in the city which are largely, but not wholly, based upon proposals drawn up by the Labour Group on Hull City Council’.
The video below shows the three phases boundary change process in Hull
This makes sense if you are familiar with local politics, but for the everyday Jackie or Joe on the street what does it all mean?
Every town and city across the United Kingdom is broken down into council wards.
‘A division or district of a city or town, as for administrative or political purposes’
Each ward is usually the same size and allocated three councillors, except in mixed urban and rural locations where there may only be one or two.
The councillor’s role is to represent that area within the council. They are in many respects a performer who spins plates. Each plate is a different section of the community: residents, businesses, and community groups. There is also the political party to which they belong, and the council. Each of these entities is a plate and in-order to keep each spinning there are tweaks and adjustments which need to be made. If one was to fall the result could be a knock-on effect from one to the other each landing in a broken mess on the floor.
When proposing changes it was important for the council to demonstrate to Parliament that ‘a good balance between community identity and electoral equality’ and been taken into account.
In other word’s the council need to show that they recognise that Hull is becoming more and more diverse in its communities, and each has its own identity. This need to be carefully balanced with the number of people in an area that are able to vote.
Like the councillor’s who spin the plates, the City Council leaders are also playing a balancing game but this time it’s even more tricky. They have a set amount of resources which need to be shared between the ward, and the trick is to get the balance right. Some area’s need help with housing, some need help with crime, whilst for others its the roads or community projects.
By reducing the number of councillors that wages bill will be eased allowing that extra money to be re-allocated to other area’s which may be the little extra they need to help increase a much needed service.
Like most I like to think that being half way through my second year, I’m pretty confident in finding the what I need.
Last week however out tutor arranged a specialist session with Chris out librarian. I went asking myself “is this really needed?”
The simple answer is yes! He explained that research is not just about knowing where to look for information, its about the way you think about what you look for.
Lateral thinking is key, along with organising what you find.
After the class session I booked for a one and one meeting. I came out not only feeling positive about going forward, but excited.
Here are some tips on starting the planning and organisation process.
One Note: I love one note! It’s a one spot shop for keeping notes on everything
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It allows you to keep your research organised. You can easily copy links of articles that interest you or quickly note a thought.
Apps are available for all devices and online which sync up so no matter where you are, you can access what you need.
Key Words
Make a note of key words to search for.
This list should expand as your research grows.
If there are words which keep coming up make a note of it.
References
When using e-resources in the Uni library there will be the official Harvard citation available.
If you find something of interest dont just note the article note the citation as well. It will save time later
Keep an open mind
At this early stage don’t dismiss anything. We are told time and time again that our initial idea and final piece of work will probably be quite different.
Think Laterally
The key will be to think laterally not literally. In reality there may not be exactly what you need, so break it down into sections then try and join the dots. It will also help with analysis.
Give Yourself Plenty of Time
After seeing how much time my other half has given to his research, and speaking to my tutors start the research as soon as you can. There’s not way it can be done with only weeks to spare.
It seems almost surreal but instantly put a smile on the face of everyone buying it.
Each coloured sections has been given a theme, for example the Pink section is for the three main sports teams Hull City AFC, Hull FC and Hull Kingston Rovers. Other themes include museums and festivals. The sought after blue tiles are reserved for The Humber Bridge and Hull City Hall.
The main challenge when re-branding, is the ability to keep the identity and integrity of the original, but add something special to it that is different form the one’s which have gone before.
The Hull version provides a familiarity with iconic landmarks from around the city. It has the potential to give a sense of ownership to the people playing it.
Jayne Watts from Old Town said: i’m so excited, but it is a bit strange. I once got excited being at Kings Cross Station as a kid because the original”
The news room has made a video to allow you to see the potential of what is in store. It is a look at what is another big moment, in a big year for Hull.
Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu blessed the new nursery building of the Minster School. The building known as the ‘White House’ has been renovated and given a new lease of life.
I attended the opening whilst on work experience at That’s York TV.
The first edit is my preferred version which is a little longer with dissolve transitions
The copy below is the edit I made with white flash transitions which was requested by the station
As a student in the second year of my degree one of the scariest pieces of work we were told about at the start of the year was our dissertation statement of intent.
The word ‘dissertation’ is enough to scare the daylights out of most people and quite rightly so, its the single biggest piece of work that any of us will do.
When I started thinking about it, it was a pure rabbit in the headlights moment.
The first thing I did was go online and using everyone’s best friend Google I entered in Journalism Dissertation Topics. A list of sites appeared and feeling quite optimistic I began looking through the list.
The first that came up was Dissertation Monster it offered a list of 20 varied suggestions which include:
Will journalism a largely freelance industry in the near future
What is the future of newspapers
Is the nightly news relevant
Is the internet more important in terms of mass communication that the invention of the printing press
Though all the questions listed have importance and relevance, non really shouted at me. One thing which stuck in my head was that it needs to be something that interests me enough to keep me ploughing through the hours of research that will be needed to do a decent job.
The answer for me actually came on the back of another piece of work.
We had been set a research assignment which was to be hand after the Christmas holidays.
We were given a list of seven questions, told to pick on and answer it.
The questions covered things like:
freedom of information requests,
the relationship between the press and emergency services,
or do we really have a free press
English and Welsh Court systems.
The decision was easy,. Court reporting has always interested me . There was lots to learn between the two court systems. Criminal Court is quite easy to understand but Civil Court, that’s a beast on its own.
I realised this was a subject which I not only found fascinating, but I enjoyed spending the time doing the research.
After a few tweaks I’ve finally come up with a working title:
The Decline of Court Reporting in England and Wales: ‘Justice Must Be Seen To Be Done’ But is it? and if not why?
