DD306 : Living Political Ideas - Week 9

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  Room 2: Political AnimalsURL
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  Room 2 direct accessURL
• Week 1: Humans and Non-humans: Boundary Disputes?

The last week has been extremely relaxed and stress free having submitted my TMA a week early.

This would seem to be an ideal situation in which to make head start on this section of the course, but life just doesn't work like that.

It has however allowed me the time I needed to work on another project - a project that is also taking up a huge amount of my time.

Hopefully, I can delay the start of this Room until Wednesday when I hope that my tutor will return my marked TMA - having had it for a week -  and I can then devote myself more fully to Room 2 and a subject I think I am going to find difficult to connect with.

DD306 : Living Political Ideas - TMA02 Finished

Wow, that feels unbelievable. The weekend has been spent pretty much doing this TMA but it is finished and with over a week to go. 

I could keep reading and adjusting, ad reading and editing, but the law of diminishing returns means that I would be wasting my time. I have simply got too much else going on in the next week to spend additional time on this. How good is it, well good enough, and I'll accept the mark and move on.

Firstly, try and get ahead on the next room which is going to be a real challenge. Whereas Representation and Legitimacy was interesting and relevant, I think I will have difficulty engaging fully with the next Room and the political rights of animals.

Secondly, I have anther project on the go which requires a lot of time and rewriting, I will devote tomorrow to that.

Thirdly, family visiting this week, make time for them.

Fourthly, extension progressing, furniture and flooring to be sourced.

I will re-read it tonight for spelling error and then it is gone.......

DD306 : Living Political Ideas - Great start to TMA02 - Pt 2

Ah, the dissection of Dahl and Madison did not go well. Couldn't get a thread of legitimacy from Madison, which is a shame as he has a lot to say and was well covered in the on-line texts and exercises, but I just wasn't feeling it from him.

Machiavelli on the other hand practically writes itself. It won't be particularly original as I think it has all been covered before, but Machiavelli makes many points on legitimacy, and makes them well.

So, I am now committed to Machiavelli and Dahl, and currently at 1800 odd words, which is a real surprise as I still have the summary and conclusion to write.

This will be done by end of play Monday and will be my earliest ever TMA submission..... maybe :-)

DD306 : Living Political Ideas - Great start to TMA02

So, spent most of this afternoon devoted to TMA02.

Introduction and definition of legitimacy covered, and covered very well. Maybe too well.

Anyway, that's 25% of TMA completed, hopefully this will be cracked by end of play on Monday.

So, now to dissect Dahl and Madison.

DD306 : Living Political Ideas - Week 8

TMA week

Room 1: Representing the PeopleRepeat

Week 5: Assessment

TMA 02Repeat

OK TMA02, I'm coming to get you, slightly unprepared...........but very determined.

DD306 : Living Political Ideas - Second Online Tutorial

Another useful online tutorial this week, and it will certainly help me sort the wheat from the chaff for the forthcoming TMA.

Luckily, I have been able to take a days holiday(TOIL) in respect of travelling last week and hope that this will allow me to break the back of the TMA this coming Monday, as the coming week is another nightmare of evenings committed to other interests and then family birthdays at the weekend, so this is looking like another rushed TMA one way or another. But if I can replicate the mark I got on the last one that would be absolutely fine.

DD306 : Living Political Ideas - Week 7

• Room 1: Representing the PeopleRepeat

  
  
• Week 4: Review week                                                                               
• Room 1: Representing the PeopleReat

  
  
• Room 1: Extra readingsSubpage

  
  
  

Still a bit behind having been away from a week, and the events in Paris on Friday have meant that with one thing an another studying doesn't seem that important at the minute.

Senseless acts of violence

I was just boarding a plane home when the breaking news of attacks in Paris was reported on the BBC News website with initial deaths being less than 20, although the reports stressed that this was an on-going situation.

9 hours later when I arrived in the UK and could get internet on my phone the news that the death toll had risen above 120 was difficult to comprehend. On the taxi ride home we all listened to BBC Radio 5 in complete silence, there was simply nothing to be said and no way of explaining this atrocity away. It just leaves you numb.

How do you rationalise such a senseless and pointless loss of life in attacks against seemingly random targets, what has it achieved? How has it furthered their goal?

When acts like this are religiously motivated, or at least done to further a religious ideology, it is time for the rational governments and institutions of the world to have the moral strength to say that religion has out lived its usefulness.

Technology and society, and indeed science, has relegated religion to a social and cultural position only - religion no longer explains anything and as has been shown this week lacks the universal moral code to allow it to have a seat at the top table.

It is time for rational governments and the UN to say that everyone can follow whatever superstitions they wish, but that there is no basis to believe that any supernatural beings exist, and can everyone please stop killing in the name of non-existent entities.

Until the world becomes rational these sorts of horrendous events are unlikely to stop.

DD306 : Living Political Ideas - Week 6

• Room 1: Representing the PeopleRepeat

  
  
• Week 3: A Crisis of Representation?

The second tutorial this weekend and again another very interesting and enjoyable couple of hours talking politics.

I am away from home this coming week and with little chance of getting on local internet I looked at OU Anywhere and have downloaded all of the course videos to my iPad which should make keeping up with the course a lot easier.

DD306 : Living Political Ideas - TMA01 Marked and Returned

Well I have had my first TMA for DD306 marked and returned, and without a doubt this TMA has received the most thorough tutor scrutiny and advice of any course I have done so far.

It was a high Pass2, which I am very pleased with considering this has been the most disorganised and panicked approach to a TMA I have ever attempted. Most importantly it keeps me on track for an overall Pass2 which is my target for this course.

The assessment summary filled most of the space available and was full of good points, encouragement and advice, I usually just get a couple of lines saying 'good essay, but you could have brought in such and such a theory or  mentioned so and so an author', so this amount of feed back is a real step change.

Also, the actual essay was full of comments and suggestions, every paragraph was commented on and my tutor appears to have gone through the essay with a  fine tooth comb.

It has changed my opinion of the amount of time tutors should take to mark TMAs and I can see how if he has devoted this amount of time to every student that we can not expect to get them back within 48 hours.

So all in all a good first result, happy with the TMA mark and extremely happy with the input from my tutor - motivation has been restored, lets get reading.......