Representation of London through 'Diverse Cultures'

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london-is-capital-of-diverse-cultures-6981114.html

There are three particular boroughs in which white people are in the minority - Tower Hamlets, Newham and Brent. London is more diverse than any other parts of the country but this can make London seem more attractive to people because of this vast diverse culture.

The society is very diverse, with people from different classes and ethnic origins. There are more than 300 languages that are spoken by more than 8 million people that are currently living in London. You will certainly meet people of different races and faiths while being here. Although within class you will see that a lot of the time upper, middle and working class people don't tend to mix that much, although they could be living in the same area it is not seen as the 'norm' to be associated with other classes. London's young and diverse population can be seen a huge strength but some children are prevented from taking part in this success by the pressures of living in poverty.

Walking out your door and seeing so many different races, religions and nationalities just shows how London has come together and brought people from around the world together into one place. Yes some people have a lot of bad things to say about the multicultural London but i don't. London strives and gets its popularity from not only the amazing sites but the people within it.

Chloe O'Brien

Words - 

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Representation of London Through the Public Transport

   Millions of Londoners use public transport everyday and it plays a major role in their day to day travel experiences in such an enormous city. No doubt, the commuters of this major city are dependent on the public transport as it provides them with the quickest or cheapest ways of getting from A to B. Particularly when it comes to traveling to work or school and in order to be punctual they have to plan their journey well and in advance, think of all alternative routes and calculate the time carefully as many unexpected situations happen in London underground and buses every day: from traffic on the road to traffic light failure in the tube.  
   Unfortunately, unsatisfied staff members of the public transport go on strike from time to time causing a great disruptions in Londoners daily routines. Video footage and images of the crowded bus stops and underground stations shown on the news proved how someone's ordinary day can easily turn into the most chaotic and stressful part of their travel experience in London. Everything gets affected: people spend hours queuing for the train or the bus, they are late to work, school etc, or have to miss it and stay at home as there are almost no alternatives. These incidents show how important public transport is to the commuters of this city and how quick and calm journey can turn into the worst nightmare for every travelling Londoner.
   In conclusion, we can now say that public transportation is a vital resource of which us as commuters need in order to reach our destinations.

Ieva Kaleininkaite

1307775

265 words.

Representation of London through 'Rising Child Obesity' (2014)

The telegraph reported in 2014 that there is a serious rise in childhood obesity with one in ten children being extremely over weight by the age of five years old. This epidemic is not just one that is isolated to London it is a world wide issue, London however has had a continuously increasing case of childhood obesity it has one of the highest percentages of childhood and adult obesity in Europe. This type of problem is causing the NHS Billions of pounds every year as people are submitted to hospital everyday with weight related issues. Most of the children that suffer from obesity come from the lower classes and this can have major consequences.

Many children act out when they don't feel as if they are being listened to and heard and obesity could possibly be one of the contributing factors that are causing youths to act out and this feeds into the discourse that long is a dangerous place due to the youth and gang cultures that have subsequently taken over the streets of London. This connotes that not only the children but their parents in the poorer areas of London are not being properly educated about their health and the results of such obesity problems.

News Report Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/11271032/Warning-over-rising-child-obesity.html

Tylar Gilbert

Student Number: 1310195

Word Count:  212

Represntation of West London though 'Heathrow's Flight Boost' (2015)

There is latest news that Heathrow airport is beginning to boost flights to and from Scotland. This then encourages people to travel to London, as well as Scotland, which then generate more tourism within London. Then with the increase of tourism it will the help generate more income within the city of London. This hasn’t come into action yet but it just a trail, so audiences know what is coming up.

Within the article I looked at where a business editor called Douglas Fraser talks about his view on the boosting of flight to and from Scotland to London. ‘they look to London as a key business centre and world wide connecting hub’ this just outlines the fact that London is known as being a great place to connect business and generate money, giving London a great representation when it comes to it business.

This is a great representation of London because it shows that not only does look out for other counties and help build them opportunities they are also the place that business can go to help broaden their business. Therefore the boosting of flight from Scotland to London will be very beneficial on the behalf of both areas. But not London will it extend these flights at Heathrow but they are looking to also extend the flight runway at Gatwick airport.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-32000618

Armani Moffatt

1203387

225 Words

Representation of London through 'Alcohol Related Incidences' (2014)

A News report suggests that it cost the London's emergence services £60million-a-year to deal with alcohol related incidences, the statistics showed that the London ambulance service is called around 200 times a day to deal with such incidents. its suggested that there should be more drunk tanks and booze buses to help deal with public drinking instead of the emergence services. This article suggest that a huge number of people are unable to handle their drinking and are causing a lot of trouble for the emergency services, which in turn causes a wider issue as the emergency services are not able to deal with more serious problems.

This report feeds into the stereotypes of the young dangerous youths that many people have due to incidences such as the London riot's. This representation of people cements that London of a night time is very much a dangerous and violent place as there are a continuous amounts of drunk people causing mayhem.

Link:
http://www.london24.com/news/health/london_needs_more_drunk_tanks_and_booze_buses_to_deal_with_public_drinking_1_3654314

Tylar Gilbert

Student Number: 1310195

Word Count: 160

Representations of London through 'Proposed Terrorist Attacks on London's Shopping Districts' (2015)

On 22^nd February 2015 ‘The Telegraph’ reported that a video had been released by Somalia-based terrorist organization al-Shabaab calling for terrorist attacks on London’s premiere shopping district Oxford Street along with both of London’s Westfield shopping centers.

The Islamist terrorist group was previously responsible for the attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Kenya in 2013 where 63 people where killed and over 100 had been injured. In the video, discovered by US homeland security, a masked terrorist states that attacks should be made against shopping centers in America, Canada and London with accompanying coordinates to each of the locations. In the video the masked man urges supporters on the terrorist group local to the shopping locations to carry out the attacks.

This new story gives London a very negative representation to the world. The fact that the video says for supporters local to the supposed attacks to carry them out feeds into the growing anxiety’s around Londoners and visitors to the capital about the possibility of being involved in a terrorist attack. It also gives connotations that there are lost of people in London who have been radicalized by these groups.

The news of these suggested attracts could also add to the growing sense of ‘Islamaphobia’ that may be present among some people in London. With hate crimes on the rise it’s hard not to worry about the fact that other Muslims may feel threatened or isolated when visiting these places as everyone visiting is extra vigilant about the present terrorist threats.

This news story, much the same to other stories on this nature in the press, feed into the theory of ‘Moral panics’ among society. In his work Kenneth Thompson (1998) tells us that “The rapidity of social change and growing social pluralisms creating increasing potential for value conflicts and lifestyle clashes between diverse social groups, which turn into moral enterprise to defend or assert their values against those of other groups. They do this within a public arena which offers many media outlets for amplifying their fears and articulating demands for social control and regulation to defend values.” (1998:11) This quote above relates perfectly to this story and many others like it. Although journalist try to report from a neutral standpoint one sided reports like these have the ability to create a divide in society isolating a certain group of people and creating a ‘them and us’ situation.

Story source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11428309/Al-Shabaab-calls-for-attacks-on-Oxford-Street-and-Westfield-centres-in-new-terror-threat.html

Thompson, K. (1998) Moral Panics. London: Routledge

Alice Davies
1304964

401 Words

Representation of London through 'Football Fans' (2015)

Football in London like in the rest of the country is a big thing. Thousands of fans gather to watch the games and support their favourite team. For them it is like a second religion and they take their role of being a fan very seriously, unfortunately, sometimes too seriously. Recent events where the fans of Chelsea - London football club, racially abused black man in the Paris underground were shocking. It was followed by the fans of the same football club shouting racial chants in the London train station. It was covered in the news and caused the disappointment and anger of other fans and Chelsea football club itself. According to the Guardian the club declared that anyone who was involved will be banned for life.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/feb/21/chelsea-fans-who-shouted-racist-chants-at-london-station-sought-by-police

Fans that represent their football club represent their city. The disgraceful behaviour of these London football fans made the city to be seen as very racist, full of aggressive, abusive fans. It gives a negative impression of London and the football club whose fans misbehaved, to people from all over the world.


Similar unapproprate behaviour of London football fans who shouted anti-semitic chants before West Ham match was filmed, posted in the internet and recently covered in the news:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-31586198

Ieva Kaleininkaite 1307775

223 words

Representation of South-East through 'The London Stabbings' (2013)

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/1000-knife-crime-victims-in-london-each-month-shocking-new-figures-show-8681511.html

‘1,000 knife crime victims in London each month’ even that title is enough to make your toes curl. Why does this happen so much in London? You can blame some of it on the media; they use crime extensively in their war with other papers for profits. All that’s shown in London newspapers are crimes that go on, we always read about it we are bombarded with it every single morning we jump on the jump and grab the paper to read on the way to work.

Then we question why are so many people in London stabbing one another? We can look into the social disorganization theory, which is where a person’s physical and social environments are primarily responsible for the behavioral choices that person makes. Like a neighborhood that has fraying social structures is more likely to have high crime rates. London is represented to be shown in such a bad way with people growing up in a lower class family and in council estates that they get themselves into these situations. Not all of this can be true, some people who are from lower class families reach their goals and don’t go down the crime route.

One story that I wanted to look at was the stabbing in` Woolwich South East London, two Muslim men hacked at and stabbed a British solider in front of dozens of people in the middle of the day. The reason being as one of them stated, “we swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone. Your people will never be safe. The only reason we have done this is because Muslims are dying by British soldiers every day..."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/10073910/Woolwich-attack-terrorist-proclaimed-an-eye-for-an-eye-after-attack.html

One women has stated through a tweet 'dunno why I find it so surprising that someone has been stabbed in woolwich, but its a bit shocking seen a person on the floor bleeding'. How she can say its not surprising? Because it seems to be happening all the time here and its becoming a norm. Woolwich can be classed as one of the poorest postcodes around. This is where the social disorganization theory comes in.

Chloe O'Brien

Words -  361

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