ODosta's Village

New Apps for Improving Literacy Skills in Pak

2012-07-03T11:49:00.000-07:00

Nokia and UNESCO Pakistan today announced the launch of a basic literacy application named eTaleem for Nokia phones. eTaleem will allow users to easily access lessons for Urdu reading, phonetics, word synthesis, sentence making, and basic math.
eTaleem app has been developed by Lakson Business Solutions for Nokia as a component to the UNESCO Project “Mobile Literacy training for Literacy Training of Rural Female Adults”. The application can be downloaded on most Nokia S40 devices.
According to the latest Pakistan Social and Living Standards Measurement (PSLM) Survey 2010-11, the literacy rate across the country is 58 percent, with lower rates in rural areas for women. Using mobile phone as a learning tool via UNESCO project can accelerate the literacy level country wide.
The learning content to Nokia’s eTaleem app is based on UNESCO’s learning DVDs designed and tested in community learning centers all over Pakistan. By enabling access to the high quality educational material via affordable mobile phones, Nokia broadens the reach of the UNESCO trainings to rural areas, supporting continued learning after the community classes’ attendance comes to an end.
“We are really appreciative of Nokia enabling access to our contents of basic literacy via a modern mobile phone application. It is a great opportunity for our post literate learners, as using this application on mobile phone and in Urdu language, will keep them intact with reading and writing skills and making literacy skills relevant to 21^st century life demands,” said Kozue Kay Nagata, Director and Representative of UNESCO Pakistan.
With the implementation of mobile learning component, the programme gained the Government Sectors’ support, with the Literacy Department of Punjab and the Education Department of Ministry of Capital Administration Development as new partners to the endeavor for higher literacy penetration in Pakistan. “To institutionalize our literacy project in the system, we must scale up our project to government sector, so that a larger number of users can benefit from the project in the future”, added the Director of UNESCO Pakistan.
“Mobile learning can enrich and enhance learning opportunities for all. In remote areas or places where accessing education materials can be difficult, Nokia tools such as eTaleem or Nokia Education Delivery – which are both, used within the UNESCO project – can bridge the digital divide. These mobile learning tools host a great potential to make a real difference in people’s lives, giving them easy access to quality education” says Ulrike Vott, Nokia’s Regional Sustainability Manager for Middle East and Africa.
Presently, 2500 adult female learners in rural districts of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa are using the eTaleem application as part of their 6 months literacy training. During the past few months, the UNESCO Project used another Nokia solution – the Nokia Education Delivery to train 70 teachers in 7 districts supporting their professional development. Nokia is providing the mobile learning innovations to UNESCO as part of the organizations’ global partnership: UNESCO and Nokia joined hands to progress towards meeting one of the United Nation’s Millennium Goals -“Education for All”.
Installing eTaleem on your Nokia Phones:
Following is the procedure for installation of eTaleem application on Nokia devices:
Prerequisites for Installation:

eTaleem.zip – can be downloaded from this link (The file size is 8 MB)
Nokia phone (Please check below compatibility list)
Memory Card
Memory Card Reader
Computer or Laptop

Instructions for Installation:

Put the memory card in the memory card reader.
Connect the memory card reader to the system (Computer).
Unzip the contents of eTaleem.zip. It contains two files: ETaleem.jad and ETaleem.jar.
Copy both files (ETaleem.jad and ETaleem.jar) onto the memory card.
Eject memory card from the card reader.
Insert the memory card in Nokia phone.
Turn on the phone and go to Menu.
Select Applications.
Select My Apps.
Select Memory Card.
Select ETaleem to launch the application

Compatible Devices:
The eTaleem application is compatible with following devices:

Nokia S40 6th Edition Devices (Display Resolution: 240×320 pixels)
- Nokia C2-01
- Nokia C2-05
- Nokia X2-00
- Nokia X2-02
- Nokia X2-05
- Nokia X3
Nokia S40 6th Edition Devices (Display Resolution: 320×240 pixels)
- Nokia 2010
- Nokia 3020
- Nokia Asha 200
- Nokia Asha 201
- Nokia Asha 302
- Nokia C3-00
- Nokia X2-01
Nokia S40 6th Edition FP1 Devices (Display Resolution: 128×160 pixels)
- Nokia 110
- Nokia 111
- Nokia 112
- Nokia 113
Nokia S40 6th Edition FP1 Devices (Display Resolution: 240×320 pixels)
- Nokia 2020
- Nokia 2030
- Nokia 3000
- Nokia 3030
- Nokia Asha 202
- Nokia Asha 203
- Nokia Asha 300
- Nokia Asha 303
- Nokia C2-02
- Nokia C2-03 / C2-06
- Nokia C2-07
- Nokia C2-08
- Nokia C2-09
- Nokia C3-01
- Nokia X3-02

www.odosta.com

Heapy Birthday to Google Adsense

2012-07-02T12:26:00.001-07:00

AdSense is turning eight years old tomorrow! Growing to over two million publishers worldwide since our launch in 2003, we want to thank all of you for helping us expand and thrive.

As we celebrate AdSense, we want to share our appreciation for all the AdSense publishers whose innovation has made the last eight years so successful. The Google Display Network is comprised of many AdSense publishers like you: those who offer useful and engaging content for your community and serve as an effective channel for advertisers to connect with audiences.

For the last eight years, we’ve relied on your product feedback to help us improve, your success stories to inspire us, and your content to enhance the ecosystem of the world wide web. We look forward to growing older and wiser with all of you for many more years to come!

For More: www.odosta.com

Out of Dreams Or A Site Of Technical Art

2012-04-10T12:52:00.001-07:00

Odosta is a Pakistani Site to share data to all.It mean's "Out of Dreams or a Site of Technical Arts".
Technical Arts comprises some of the most technical and artistic minds in the leisure, exhibition and retail businesses, all of whom are committed to ensuring that your company has the best application of entertainment technology suited to it’s requirements.
Our aim is to deliver to your company the most impressive performance of technology possible.
Technical Arts specialises in creative lighting applications, state of the art video installations and professional audio. We can create the ultimate installation from conceptual design to a turn-key solution and provide a full after sales service.
The team of dedicated and enthusiastic technicians and designers collectively have over 80 years experience in repeatedly delivering the most visually spectacular installations seen in the Pakistan & UK whilst collecting more awards for their work than any comparable venture.
Technically able to create the most innovative installations, whilst ensuring they fully comply with all technical and health & safety standards now, and through their working life.
Uniquely artistically biased these technical wonders are merged seamlessly into any interior or exterior scheme, often surpassing expectations.
Being multi-disciplined we analyse your needs from many angles and perfect a solution tailored to producing jaw-dropping and entertaining technical installations that will be the envy of your competitors.
We co-ordinate all aspects from design, through to installation not forgetting the most important of all after sales care, be it service, upgrading existing systems or updating content.
We realise what is important to you and to that end we do not employ technology for technology’s sake. We focus on what is important and deliver it in the most cost effect manner possible.
As well as being the most innovative company in our field we are heavily focused on producing cost efficient solutions to our designs.
Our value for money approach does not stop at installations as we offer extremely competitive rates on service and inspections.
All too often we come across installations which have been designed by one contractor, installed by another and have never worked to their full potential. A multi-contractor based approach often produces a false economy and false performance promises. With Technical Arts you appoint a single contractor who will ensure that your system will perform as the design intended on the date agreed and reliably thereafter. You will be assigned a personal project manager as your contact for your project. They will ensure that you are kept informed at all stages of the realisation of your system.
All of our systems are warranted for twelve months after which after sales can be either contracted on a maintenance agreement basis or an individual call-out basis, which ever is more suited to your business.
Delivering tomorrow’s entertainment technology today.
For More: www.odosta.com

Geo TV Live

2012-03-16T04:17:00.002-07:00

Geo TV (trademarked GEO TV) or Geo Television is a Pakistani television network, founded by Mr. Mir Shakil ur Rehman in May 2002 and owned by Independent Media Corporation. The channel began test transmission on 14 August 2002, with regular transmission beginning 1 October 2002. Geo is an Urdu word meaning live on.
Geo News online is a Pakistani News Channel. Geo News Online free Streaming is totally owned by Jang Group start its transmission in November 2005.
latest geo news urdu has millions of viewer known Urdu all over the world.
Since its Operation Geo News live tv channel faces many up and down. Geo News online was banned in 2007 during emergency period. Some of its famous program as Capital talk was also banned by Dubai Government on Pakistani government request.
Geo News free online telecast wide range of programs as
Capital Talk
Aaj Kamran Khan Kay Sath
Aik Din Geo Kay Sath
Match Box
Geo FIR
Geo Kitab
Bachey Man Key Sache
Hum Sub Umeed Say Hein
Voice of America
Geometry
So tuned to Geo News online free streaming and enjoy its wide range of programs...

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For More: www.odosta.com

Neo Cricket Live Streaming

2012-03-16T03:46:00.005-07:00

NEO Prime (formally called NEO Cricket) is a channel dedicated to sports entertainment. Launched as NEO Cricket on April 2, 2008 this channel was dedicated to cricket. It is a part of Nimbus Communications Limited and is headquartered in Mumbai, India and broadcasts to 30 countries. Nimbus has the exclusive broadcast rights for all International cricket played in Bangladesh and New Zealand. This channel also broadcast Asia Cup cricket. In 2008 NEO Cricket did broadcast a minimum of 6 International cricket series including 4 featuring India, adding up to nearly 200 days of live cricket.
This channel airs 3 daily shows such as Dial C for Cricket, Sportszone and Encounter. It also hosts shows like Balebaaz, Baat Aur Bowl, Jaya He, The Great Indian Run Chase, Tour Diary and a few more. One reason behind Neo Cricket's success could be the fact that India has the highest number of cricket viewers compared to any other country. Mostly people watch the events live on their television sets.
NEO Cricket was to rebrand as NEO Prime starting from June 3, 2012. This decision was taken due to increasing contract of sports taken by Nimbus Communications Limited. This will allow more sports to be broadcast on this channel other than Cricket.Neo Cricket live is an exclusive addition to sports world. Channel is mainly based and operated in India , Neo channel Live online started his transmission in 2008. Neo Cricket puts himself on top sports channels rank in limited time in comparison to Ten sports and Star Cricket. Neo cricket has been witnessed as main distributor of cricket in subcontinent with major views in India. Neo cricket excellence in attracting audience lies in cricket legendary commentary team which mainly revolves around Aamir Sohail Mark Nicoles and Azher Ali, Micheal Holding.

Neo cricket live streaming keeps people updated with latest cricketing updates and latest players profiles. .Neo cricket live free streaming exclusively covers all the cricket played through the world and runs cricketing featured programs. Overall Neo sports is a divine gift for cricket lovers .So keep watching Neo cricket and keep yourself updated.

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For More: www.odosta.com

World's Most Strange & Haunted Places

2012-03-14T01:25:00.004-07:00

Some people believe on paranormal and supernatural existence and some not. Both school of thoughts are here. There are many haunted places in the world that are proved haunted places because of the personal experiences of the people living around. So here we have made up a list of some really haunted places of the world. Next time you travel there, think twice.

Hotel Chelsea

The hotel is known as an American cultural icon as many of the artists, musicians and writers created pieces of their art here. Evidences have been found of the presence of ghosts of writers Dylan Thomas and Eugene O'Neill.

Paris Catacombs

At the end of 18th century, the remains of Parisian generations were stored here to lessen the overcrowding of cemeteries in Paris. Paris catacombs have a human skull lining. Shrieks and other strange kind of voices have been reported by visitors.

Inveraray Castle

In 1644, a Harpist was hanged who was accused of peeping at the lady of the house. It is now said that the castle is haunted by that harpist as a mysterious sound of harp playing is heard in the castle.

Bran Castle

Bran Castle is known to the world due to the legend of dracula. Here 20,000 Ottoman attackers were impaled from rectum to sternum in the near forest. The castle is still a sign of horror and is considered to be haunted by the ghosts of its inhabitants.

Hotel Del Coronado

There is a story about the hotel, of a lady, who came here to meet her husband who didn't arrive. Later she was found dead on the door steps after few days. After that visitors report to have seen a pale figure in black lace dress on the door step.
Alcatraz
The island has an infamous but most strictly secured prison in the world. Here are kept the high risk convicts. Visitors have reported to hear footsteps and slamming doors in the priso

Amityville Horror House

The Lutz family reported to have experienced numerous paranormal activities in the house. The former residents of the house, DeFeo family had lost six of their family members in this house a year before they left it.

New Orleans

The beautiful city has a dark region in it. The region although covered between buildings but still it is haunted enough to overcome city's beauty.

Eastern State Penitentiary

The prison's intention was to reform the prisoners which often get failed, resulting in making the prisoners insane. After long time of closure of this prison, still people hear screaming voices like of mad persons.

Sleepy Hollow

Many people have seen a Horseman beheaded by a cannonball from the Revolutionary war in the sleepy hallows.

Edinburgh Castle

The castle is said to be haunted by a large number of ghosts who are seen roaming about in it.

Stanley Hotel

The Overlook Hotel of ‘The Shining' was the inspiration from this Hotel. If that was scary for you, never visit this hotel. It is said to be haunted by its founder but voices of children have also been heard at times when there were no children in the hotel.

Petzow Castle

The castle has a cruel history of Communist apparatchiks and murderous barons.

The Myrtles Plantation

the house was given the title of America's Most Haunted Home as it is haunted by at least 11 spirits. There is a portrait in it whose features become animated at times. Moreover, bloody handprints and doors opening on their own have also been seen.

The White House

well, world's most famous building is also haunted. Shocked? It is said that the ghost of Abigail Adams is seen cleaning the laundry there.

Pfister Hotel

The hotel has the privilege to have many celebrities here but what no one of them knew is that it is haunted by hotel's founder.

Salem, Massachusetts

The museum contains the witch legend of this town from 1692 and is claimed to be the most visited spot of the town.

Tower of London

It is the most haunted and scaring building of England. A guard in 1816 died of horror in it. Many ghosts walking there have been witnessed by visitors.

Point Hicks Lighthouse

after the completion of this lighthouse, its keeper disappeared. Later people have seen him polishing the door knobs to keep it perfect.
There are many other places in the world,
see pictures...

www.see4ever.webs.com

Usa Fashion Show

2012-03-13T02:02:00.000-07:00

You can always find out where the moment is ordered via the Internet clothing. USA Post allows you to track the path of any postal item (status and location of the parcel), it uses "Post ID". The identifier is assigned to the post office in the administration of a parcel of clothes (printed on the check), through the Internet to track the path can make, enter the ID on the page tracking mailings Site USA Post.

FLANMARK reports on the expulsion ordered by the fashionable youth clothes by mail. The notification that comes to your specified e-mail, contains the e-mail ID and a direct link to a page to track a parcel with your order.
Pleasant online fashion store experience you want online fashion store women's fashion clothing FLANMARK!
Perhaps now is not so difficult to find a girl who has in the locker room will be at least one thing from a USA designer, it is no secret that the exclusivity of trendy women's fashion clothing and its originality will always be appealing against the backdrop of massive objects.
Poison & Pinky - designer clothing for modern and intelligent gentlemen. This attractive fashionable women's fashion clothing is unique for the USA market, as combines exclusivity, quality and accessibility.
Creative director and designer brands POISON & PINKY - Victoria Smolyanitsky (www.flanmark.com) creates its own special character of the individual brands and recognizable style of clothing. In its present models restrained sexuality and elegance. Style in this trendy women's fashion clothing incredibly feminine and seductive. Dresses created by her, not go out of fashion a few seasons. This trendy designer clothing can fall in love a long time.

Ads by Google

These fashionable women's fashion clothing is made in small batches and is updated every month, which guarantees the existence of a diverse selection of clothes from our brand. If you have a online fashion store you can order a woman's fashion clothing wholesale.
Designer Clothing from Poison & Pinky finds a place in the wardrobes of fashionable women, among the things famous designers and clothing obscure brands. These fashionable women's fashion clothing - a poisonous contagious saturation of colors, shapes and variety of images, causing a storm of positive emotions. This stylish women's fashion clothing, which allows you to try on different characters and be different. This women's fashion clothing from USA designer brands Poison & Pinky is so diverse that every woman of fashion will find a suitable model.
You can visit our showroom of designer clothes in Washington and to appreciate our collection, as well as stylish clothes to order wholesale for your online fashion store or buy your favorite model at retail at our online women's fashion clothing online fashion store. You can also make reservations for dresses, blouses, tunics, suits, coats wholesale / purchasing women's fashion clothing wholesale from Poison & Pinky you will be able to fully present the collection in the online fashion store. The main range of collections of fashionable women's fashion clothing from the P & P are designer dresses. This knitted, daily and cocktail dresses. The collection also contains various cut skirts, blouses, coats and raincoats. In the autumn season, the basis of our collection is feminine coats and cloaks, interesting in its cut and with the unusual idea. And in the New Year - of course, incredibly beautiful and alluring cocktail dresses.
If you decide to buy these dresses wholesale, you will receive a complete consultation in our show room of designer clothes on the availability and variety. Stylish women's fashion clothing designer Victoria Smolyanitsky USA is the epitome of the individual, sexual image and not the usual view of things, which is reflected in a cut, the selection of fabrics and the very design of things. Images of this stylish women's fashion clothing can combine character as the 20's and 30's, and trendy trends this season.
Whichever style you may choose, fashionable women's fashion clothing by USA designer always be filled with a combination of exclusivity and chic, which attracts lovers of fashionable clothes for all ages. This designer clothing is the perfect shade of your personality.

www.see4ever.webs.com

Crawl Errors: The Next Generation

2012-03-13T01:49:00.000-07:00

Crawl errors is one of the most popular features in Webmaster Tools, and today we’re rolling out some very significant enhancements that will make it even more useful.

We now detect and report many new types of errors. To help make sense of the new data, we’ve split the errors into two parts: site errors and URL errors.

Site Errors

Site errors are errors that aren’t specific to a particular URL—they affect your entire site. These include DNS resolution failures, connectivity issues with your web server, and problems fetching your robots.txt file. We used to report these errors by URL, but that didn’t make a lot of sense because they aren’t specific to individual URLs—in fact, they prevent Googlebot from even requesting a URL! Instead, we now keep track of the failure rates for each type of site-wide error. We’ll also try to send you alerts when these errors become frequent enough that they warrant attention.

View site error rate and counts over time

Furthermore, if you don’t have (and haven’t recently had) any problems in these areas, as is the case for many sites, we won’t bother you with this section. Instead, we’ll just show you some friendly check marks to let you know everything is hunky-dory.

A site with no recent site-level errors

URL errors

URL errors are errors that are specific to a particular page. This means that when Googlebot tried to crawl the URL, it was able to resolve your DNS, connect to your server, fetch and read your robots.txt file, and then request this URL, but something went wrong after that. We break the URL errors down into various categories based on what caused the error. If your site serves up Google News or mobile (CHTML/XHTML) data, we’ll show separate categories for those errors.

URL errors by type with full current and historical counts

Less is more

We used to show you at most 100,000 errors of each type. Trying to consume all this information was like drinking from a firehose, and you had no way of knowing which of those errors were important (your homepage is down) or less important (someone’s personal site made a typo in a link to your site). There was no realistic way to view all 100,000 errors—no way to sort, search, or mark your progress. In the new version of this feature, we’ve focused on trying to give you only the most important errors up front. For each category, we’ll give you what we think are the 1000 most important and actionable errors. You can sort and filter these top 1000 errors, let us know when you think you’ve fixed them, and view details about them.

Instantly filter and sort errors on any column

Some sites have more than 1000 errors of a given type, so you’ll still be able to see the total number of errors you have of each type, as well as a graph showing historical data going back 90 days. For those who worry that 1000 error details plus a total aggregate count will not be enough, we’re considering adding programmatic access (an API) to allow you to download every last error you have, so please give us feedback if you need more.

We've also removed the list of pages blocked by robots.txt, because while these can sometimes be useful for diagnosing a problem with your robots.txt file, they are frequently pages you intentionally blocked. We really wanted to focus on errors, so look for information about roboted URLs to show up soon in the "Crawler access" feature under "Site configuration".

Dive into the details

Clicking on an individual error URL from the main list brings up a detail pane with additional information, including when we last tried to crawl the URL, when we first noticed a problem, and a brief explanation of the error.

Details for each URL error

From the details pane you can click on the link for the URL that caused the error to see for yourself what happens when you try to visit it. You can also mark the error as “fixed” (more on that later!), view help content for the error type, list Sitemaps that contain the URL, see other pages that link to this URL, and even have Googlebot fetch the URL right now, either for more information or to double-check that your fix worked.

View pages which link to this URL

Take action!

One thing we’re really excited about in this new version of the Crawl errors feature is that you can really focus on fixing what’s most important first. We’ve ranked the errors so that those at the top of the priority list will be ones where there’s something you can do, whether that’s fixing broken links on your own site, fixing bugs in your server software, updating your Sitemaps to prune dead URLs, or adding a 301 redirect to get users to the “real” page. We determine this based on a multitude of factors, including whether or not you included the URL in a Sitemap, how many places it’s linked from (and if any of those are also on your site), and whether the URL has gotten any traffic recently from search.

Once you think you’ve fixed the issue (you can test your fix by fetching the URL as Googlebot), you can let us know by marking the error as “fixed” if you are a user with full access permissions. This will remove the error from your list. In the future, the errors you’ve marked as fixed won’t be included in the top errors list, unless we’ve encountered the same error when trying to re-crawl a URL.

Select errors and mark them as fixed

We’ve put a lot of work into the new Crawl errors feature, so we hope that it will be very useful to you. Let us know what you think and if you have any suggestions, please visit our forum!

Written by Kurt Dresner, Webmaster Tools team

Keeping your free hosting service valuable for searchers

Tuesday, March 06, 2012 at 11:23 AM

Webmaster level: Advanced

Free web hosting services can be great! Many of these services have helped to lower costs and technical barriers for webmasters and they continue to enable beginner webmasters to start their adventure on the web. Unfortunately, sometimes these lower barriers (meant to encourage less techy audiences) can attract some dodgy characters like spammers who look for cheap and easy ways to set up dozens or hundreds of sites that add little or no value to the web. When it comes to automatically generated sites, our stance remains the same: if the sites do not add sufficient value, we generally consider them as spam and take appropriate steps to protect our users from exposure to such sites in our natural search results.

We consider automatically generated sites like this one to be spammy.

If a free hosting service begins to show patterns of spam, we make a strong effort to be granular and tackle only spammy pages or sites. However, in some cases, when the spammers have pretty much taken over the free web hosting service or a large fraction of the service, we may be forced to take more decisive steps to protect our users and remove the entire free web hosting service from our search results. To prevent this from happening, we would like to help owners of free web hosting services by sharing what we think may help you save valuable resources like bandwidth and processing power, and also protect your hosting service from these spammers:

Publish a clear abuse policy and communicate it to your users, for example during the sign-up process. This step will contribute to transparency on what you consider to be spammy activity.
In your sign-up form, consider using CAPTCHAs or similar verification tools to only allow human submissions and prevent automated scripts from generating a bunch of sites on your hosting service. While these methods may not be 100% foolproof, they can help to keep a lot of the bad actors out.
Try to monitor your free hosting service for other spam signals like redirections, large numbers of ad blocks, certain spammy keywords, large sections of escaped JavaScript code, etc. Using the site: operator query or Google Alerts may come in handy if you’re looking for a simple, cost efficient solution.
Keep a record of signups and try to identify typical spam patterns like form completion time, number of requests sent from the same IP address range, user-agents used during signup, user names or other form-submitted values chosen during signup, etc. Again, these may not always be conclusive.
Keep an eye on your webserver log files for sudden traffic spikes, especially when a newly-created site is receiving this traffic, and try to identify why you are spending more bandwidth and processing power.
Try to monitor your free web hosting service for phishing and malware-infected pages. For example, you can use the Google Safe Browsing API to regularly test URLs from your service, or sign up to receive alerts for your AS.
Come up with a few sanity checks. For example, if you’re running a local Polish free web hosting service, what are the odds of thousands of new and legitimate sites in Japanese being created overnight on your service? There’s a number of tools you may find useful for language detection of newly created sites, for example language detection libraries or the Google Translate API v2.

Last but not least, if you run a free web hosting service be sure to monitor your services for sudden activity spikes that may indicate a spam attack in progress.

For more tips on running a quality hosting service, have a look at our previous post. Lastly, be sure to sign up and verify your site in Google Webmaster Tools so we may be able to notify you when needed or if we see issues.

Written by Fili Wiese (Ad Traffic Quality Team) & Kaspar Szymanski (Search Quality Team)

Safely share access to your site in Webmaster Tools

Monday, March 05, 2012 at 4:45 PM

Webmaster Level: All

We just launched a new feature that allows you as a verified site owner to grant limited access to your site's data and settings in Webmaster Tools. You've had the ability to grant full verified access to others for a couple of years. Since then we've heard lots of requests from site owners for the ability to grant limited permission for others to view a site's data in Webmaster Tools without being able to modify all the settings. Now you can do exactly that with our new User administration feature.

On the Home page when you click the "Manage site" drop-down menu you'll see the menu option that was previously titled "Add or remove owners" is now "Add or remove users."

Selecting the "Add or remove users" menu item will take you to the new User administration page where you can add or delete up to 100 users and specify each user's access as "Full" or "Restricted." Users added via the User administration page are tied to a specific site. If you become unverified for that site any users that you've added will lose their access to that site in Webmaster Tools. Adding or removing verified site owners is still done on the owner verification page which is linked from the User administration page.

Granting a user "Full" permission means that they will be able to view all data and take most actions, such as changing site settings or demoting sitelinks. When a user’s permission is set to "Restricted" they will only have access to view most data, and can take some actions such as using Fetch as Googlebot and configuring message forwarding for their account. Restricted users will see a “Restricted Access” indicator at various locations within Webmaster Tools.

To see which features and actions are accessible for Restricted users, Full users and site owners, visit our Permissions Help Center article.

We hope the addition of Full and Restricted users makes management of your site in Webmaster Tools easier since you can now grant access within a more limited scope to help prevent undesirable or unauthorized changes. If you have questions or feedback about the new User administration feature please let us know in our Help Forum.

Written by Jonathan Simon, Webmaster Trends Analyst

Using schema.org markup for videos

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 2:00 PM

Webmaster level: All

Videos are one of the most common types of results on Google and we want to make sure that your videos get indexed. Today, we're also launching video support for schema.org. Schema.org is a joint effort between Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and Yandex and is now the recommended way to describe videos on the web. The markup is very simple and can be easily added to most websites.

Adding schema.org video markup is just like adding any other schema.org data. Simply define an itemscope, an itemtype=”http://schema.org/VideoObject”, and make sure to set the name, description, and thumbnailUrl properties. You’ll also need either the embedURL — the location of the video player — or the contentURL — the location of the video file. A typical video player with markup might look like this:

<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/VideoObject">

  <h2>Video: <span itemprop="name">Title</span></h2>

  <meta itemprop="duration" content="T1M33S" />

  <meta itemprop="thumbnailUrl" content="thumbnail.jpg" />

  <meta itemprop="embedURL"

    content="http://www.example.com/videoplayer.swf?video=123" />

  <object ...>

    <embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" ...>

  </object>

  <span itemprop="description">Video description</span>

</div>

Using schema.org markup will not affect any Video Sitemaps or mRSS feeds you're already using. In fact, we still recommend that you also use a Video Sitemap because it alerts us of any new or updated videos faster and provides advanced functionality such as country and platform restrictions.

Since this means that there are now a number of ways to tell Google about your videos, choosing the right format can seem difficult. In order to make the video indexing process as easy as possible, we’ve put together a series of videos and articles about video indexing in our new Webmasters EDU microsite.

For more information, you can go through the Webmasters EDU video articles, read the full schema.org VideoObject specification, or ask questions in the Webmaster Help Forum. We look forward to seeing more of your video content in Google Search.www.see4ever.webs.com

An Astronaut’s Experience in Space

2012-03-13T01:45:00.000-07:00

Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor is the Malaysian astronauts who spent 11 days on the International Space Station in October 2007. He has been on a tour, giving presentations and promoting the idea of Muslims or people from the developing nations going to space.

A few weeks ago, he was in Turkey as the guest of Turksat Corporation, and the high-circulation Hurriyet newspaper, published a short article based on an interview it conducted with him. Our friend Gary, who picked up the piece (thanks for the tip), was struck by the fact that most of it was devoted to how he prayed (in which direction, how frequently and at what times), whether he fasted (he fasted two days, he said, as his trip was during Ramadan), and that the scientific goals of the mission were, as Gary put it to me, “almost an afterthought at the end of the article.” (After all, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor is an orthopedic surgeon, and he did conduct experiments on bacteria, cancerous cells, and protein crystals.) Even more striking was the following statement he made: “Everyone who goes to space feels a miracle. During my trip in space that took place in the holy month of Ramadan, I heard a ‘call to prayer’ in the Space Station…” No probing on this was done by the reporters.

I was puzzled by this, not expecting it from Hurriyet, which is, after all a strongly secularist paper, I went to the web and searched for articles and videos on Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor’s space journey and his ‘call to prayer’ reference, which I was not sure I understood. After all, perhaps he meant that he had a cosmic/religious experience and was drawn (“called”) to prayer.

First, no, the ‘call to prayer’ was stated in several interviews and articles, and indeed it was made quite explicit in a long piece in SingaporeScene, relayed by Yahoo News, in which he stated: “"During my time in space, I heard the azaan (Islamic call to prayer) and it was the most magical sound I've heard in my life." He did also refer to a cosmic/religious experience: "In space, you just feel closer to the Creator". In Turkey, he was also reported to have explained that he has become a better Muslim now, having felt that God had purposefully chosen him for that mission.

The Malaysian astronaut has explained in several interviews that the purpose of his space trip, granted by Russia as a bonus for the purchase by Malaysia of a number of Sukhoi fighter jets, is in fact to encourage youngsters to pursue science and math careers. It is thus greatly disappointing to see so much focus (on the part of everyone) on what are in the end rather trivial issues (how many times and in which direction he prayed, etc.).

Indeed, before his trip, Malaysia's space agency, Angkasa, organized a conference with no fewer than 150 Islamic scholars for the purpose of answering the religious questions (prayer time and direction, fasting, etc.). The result was a document titled “A Guideline of Performing Ibadah (worship) at the International Space Station (ISS)”, which was approved by Malaysia's National Fatwa Council. So much effort, when the Qur’an simply says “To Allah belong the east and the West: Whithersoever ye turn, there is the presence of Allah.” (2:115) And there are similar principles to allow every Muslim to solve such “problems” in unusual situations. But that requires a minimum of intelligent understanding of Islam and of personal decision-making, which the ulamas are often reluctant to grant to people.

And so trivial issues become the core of the topic, and the exotic aspects eclipse the main goals.

A “Muslim in Space” DVD has been made to chronicle the space journey of Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor. YouTube, on can find five clips of it (here): one is a 4.5- minute video about the whole trip (occasionally showing the astronaut doing some experients), one shows him praying in the space station, and another one shows him singing the chants of Eid, one has him playing with a bubble (in zero gravity) and uttering something about “surface tension”, one shows how he sleeps, and . Guess which one has the highest number of views?!

While I have no doubt that the Malaysian had the right intentions and objectives for this space trip project, it is quite disconcerting to see it to a large extent wrongly considered and hence missing its main goals.

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2012-03-12T04:54:00.000-07:00

Nowadays, we can easily find countless numbers of fast food restaurants in all over the world. As a matter of fact, fast food originates from America and definitely reflects the attitudes of American. It is a convenient, fast, tasty as well as inexpensive food to serve. Doesn't it awesome that only within about 30 seconds you will be served with a tasty, hot as well as cheap food called as fast food? Unfortunately, fast food contains too much fat, calories, saturated fat, salt and sugar. Therefore, such fast food is considered as junk food or unhealthy one. But sometimes the problem is not fast food, the problem is people who eat too much of it too often.
Is there any possible way to get healthy fast foods as our meals alternative? By ordering the right kinds of fast food, you will be able to eat your healthy fast foods while enjoying its great taste and inexpensive price. Moreover, a lot of fast food restaurants and chains have made a good effort in responding the public's awareness on nutrition by making their menu's nutrition along with its ingredients available on the particular menu. Still, you do have to choose your healthy fast foods in order to maintain your own health.

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Healthy Fast Foods Tips
Fortunately, you can freely eat your healthy fast foods in certain restaurants since they are already modified their fast foods due to the consumer's concern on the fat content of the particular food they eat.
Beef tallow or lard is switched to hydrogenated vegetable oils used to fry. Low calories choices on foods such as low-fat milkshakes, lean meats, salad bars with low calorie dressing, grilled chicken items and whole grins buns are available for those who would like to have their healthy fast foods as their menu. Despites of those modifications, you still have to carefully choose your fast foods especially when you suffer from diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure since such particular fast food contains high sodium, sugar and fat.
For your best healthy fast foods, choosing soups, a variety of salads or vegetables are recommended. Nutritious options like yogurt, vegetables and fresh fruits could be your chosen menu to help balance and supplement your fast food meal. However, if you do want to eat a hamburger, you can choose a single hamburger with plain meat patty, no cheese and sauce. Asking for extra tomatoes, onions and lettuce would be best. Limit your French fries’ eating. For your healthy fast foods, consider to order grilled, toasted, broiled or baked meat, fish and chicken. Avoid thick dressing and sauces would be better.
Finally, Healthy fast food is that it depends on your choices. We have already known that traditional fast food is lacking all important minerals and vitamins.

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The Beautifull Houses in the World

2012-03-12T04:44:00.000-07:00

1) Unique Beach and Lake Houses: What could be more relaxing and peaceful than an extended stay at a house on the water? How about: a stay in one of these architecturally amazing beach and lake houses that defy conventions, buck traditions and in one case represents the realization of an amazing designer’s lifelong engineering aspirations.

2) Dizzying Cliff and Mountain Houses: If beach houses are relaxing these precarious structures are anything but. Perched on the edges of daunting precipices these cliff and mountain homes are some of the scariest places you could possibly think to live. Some have survived for centuries while others are (quite literally) on the brink of destruction.

3) Crazy Condos and Townhouses: Of course, not everyone can afford an extra lake house or to live with an amazing view from a mountain home. While condos and townhouses may have the reputation of being small, secondary and boring these awesome examples defy conventions and embody both brilliantly creative and livable design concepts.

4) Absurdly Cramped and Crowded Houses: OK, so some of us can’t even afford a condo per say but don’t dismay – there is certainly a strange and small house somewhere with which you can make your mark. Whether you want to live on a bus, in the skinniest house in the world, a tiny cabin on wheels or an airlifted box is a question only you can answer.

5) Glittering Greenhouses and Glass Houses: Many of us value our privacy and make it a priority when seeking out the perfect house – but some people do the opposite. Ranging from glass shacks to beautiful greenhouses here are some great examples of extremely extroverted designs revolving around openness, transparency and visual clarity.

6) Haunted Houses and Hotels: For the more adventurous homeowner and intrepid traveler there are a number of places where you might pay far less (or significantly more) because of rumors of hauntings. These notorious structures have been the subjects of speculation and in some cases filming by paranormal enthusiasts and thrill seekers.

7) Historic and Beautiful Lighthouses: There is something compelling about lighthouses, literal beacons in the night from days gone by when they served vital functions. As a building type light houses have become virtually extinct. Most of those that still exist have been converted to other functions such as cozy little hotels or even conventional homes.

8) Uncanny Dollhouses and Doghouses: Of course not every house is built or fit for human occupancy – and these miniature structures represent some particularly engaging designs at a much smaller scale. These crazy dog and doll houses range from inexpensive, humorous and endearing to costly, glamorous and downright disturbing.

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Marvels of mechanical ingenuity

2012-03-12T04:04:00.000-07:00

Marvels of mechanical ingenuity

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Snow Falling In Winter

2012-03-12T03:20:00.001-07:00

With the UKs roads, rail network and airports all struggling to compete with the persistent ice and snow, this December threatens to be a torrid time for British businesses. Despite the lesson taught by the prolonged cold snap which hit the country in January, it seems that preparations have been somewhat lacking with regard to the transport infrastructure and the chilly white flakes have had more of an impact than they need have. Whilst those countries who are accustomed to snow for a large proportion of the year appear to make us look foolish for our apparent collapse in the face of a few inches of snow- it is important to bear in mind that with the myriad governmental and council cuts, the country just can't afford to invest in the equipment and labour to facilitate a seamless continuation of transport services when the ice and snow hit.

Supposing that this weather continues, many businesses face a series of problems, most notably high street retailers. Staff absences are likely to increase, whilst retailers will suffer a shortfall in footfall and increasing numbers of businesses will consequently experience plummeting revenue during the historically rich Christmas shopping period. In stark contrast to the potential pitfalls facing high street retailers, online commerce could well experience a noticeable upturn at the expense of their rivals who rely upon physical locations. With many consumers reluctant to brave the elements in order to purchase their Christmas gifts, online shopping is likely to build upon its already growing popularity and pick up the slack from the high street slump. This activity mirrors the year-round shift towards online purchase in areas such as office supplies, books and travel.

Many other businesses who do not operate in the retail sector are also finding ways around the transport problems posed by the current weather. Allowing staff to work from home (provided they can perform their role remotely) is a highly effective means of bypassing the absenteeism issue. Not only does it mean that staff members who would otherwise have been unable to make it into the office are still able to work, having staff work from home is also a great exercise in trust building. Furthermore, studies have demonstrated that those who work from home are often more productive than their office based counterparts as they are able to create the work environment which best suits them, do not waste time commuting and often work extra hours. Through email, Skype and remote desktop function it is as though the remote worker is several desks away as opposed to many miles.

Although the snow may be wreaking havoc on commuters right now, if the business landscape changes to embrace the growth in online activity and the opportunities presented by allowing staff to work from home, then maybe next time there will be fewer commuters to affect.

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Hollywood Full Movies

2012-03-11T11:31:00.007-07:00

45 (2006) Hindi Dubbed Movie Watch Online

List of World Heritage Sites

2012-03-07T06:57:00.000-08:00

A World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as of special cultural or physical significance.
For a list of World Heritage Sites, see:

Africa

List of World Heritage Sites in Africa
- List of World Heritage Sites in Madagascar

Americas

List of World Heritage Sites in the Americas

Asia

List of World Heritage Sites in Northern and Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and the Asian part of Russia)
List of World Heritage Sites in Western Asia (Armenia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, and United Arab Emirates)
List of World Heritage Sites in Eastern Asia (China, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea and Japan)
- List of World Heritage Sites in China
- List of World Heritage Sites in Japan
List of World Heritage Sites in Southern Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka)
- List of World Heritage Sites in India
List of World Heritage Sites in Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam)

Europe

List of World Heritage Sites in Northern Europe (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, and Sweden)
- List of World Heritage Sites in Sweden
List of World Heritage Sites in Western Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, United Kingdom)
List of World Heritage Sites in Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the European part of Russia)
List of World Heritage Sites in Southern Europe (Albania, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, and Spain)

Oceania

List of World Heritage Sites in Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, other Pacific islands)

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Historic Buildings of London

2012-03-07T06:45:00.001-08:00

Explore the best historic buildings in London for free with The London Pass!
Historic sights included on the London Pass are world famous 'must sees' such as the Tower of London, Windsor Castle, St Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge and many more landmarks that are certain to fascinate any visitor.
Visiting London is an unforgettable experience and there is a true breadth of history going back hundreds of years. Round almost every corner there are landmark sights with their own story, and architectural style.
Paying a visit to many historic places would normally be expensive, but whilst you are here you really shouldn’t pass on London greatest landmarks. The London Pass will guide you round everything you wish to see with free entry and fast track admission at so many amazing sights.

You can discover so much history with The London Pass and save money at the same time!

Places where London Pass will get you in for Free		Normal Gate Entry
Tower of London	The Tower of London is one of the world’s most famous fortresses and has seen service as royal palace, prison, armoury and even a zoo.	£18.00
Westminster Abbey	This beautiful gothic church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site popular with many visitors to London.	£16.00
St. Paul’s Cathedral	Experience the glory of St. Paul’s Cathedral and see how it’s iconic dome dominates the London skyline.	£14.50
Windsor Castle	Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world, and it's the official residence of her majesty the Queen.	£17.00
Tower Bridge Exhibition	Tower Bridge in London has stood over the River Thames since 1894 and is one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world.	£8.00
Hampton Court Palace	Hampton Court Palace is the former home of the flamboyant King Henry VIII, he extended and developed this grand palace after acquiring it in the 1520's.	£14.50
Kensington Palace	Kensington Palace has been shaped by generations of royal women from Queen Mary to Victoria and, more recently Diana, Princess of Wales.	£12.50
Royal Albert Hall	The Royal Albert Hall London is one of the capital’s most prestigious historic buildings and tourist attractions.	£8.50
The Monument	The Monument is one of the best ways to enjoy the spectacular views of London.	£3.00
Southwark Cathedral	Located in the historic Bankside area and adjacent to London Bridge, Southwark Cathedral is London’s oldest Gothic building.	£2.50
Eton College	Eton College is one of the most exclusive educational establishments in the world.	£6.50
Benjamin Franklin House	The residence of Benjamin Franklin in London between 1757 and 1775, during which time this extraordinary man was involved with mediation between America and Britain as well as his groundbreaking scientific studies.	£7.00
Royal Mews	One of the finest working stables anywhere in the world and home to the royal collection of historic coaches and carriages, the Royal Mews is still to this day responsible for all road travel arrangements for Her Majesty The Queen.	£8.25
Jewel Tower	The Jewel Tower was originally built to house the King’s personal treasures – hence the name – and had a moat dug around it for extra protection.	£3.20
Eltham Palace	Eltham Palace is an impressive historical site that has been linked with a distinguished line of Royal figures since its construction in the 1300s.	£9.30
Wellington Arch	The Wellington Arch is one of the most viewed London landmarks thanks to its proximity to the busy traffic interchange at Hyde Park Corner.	£3.90
The Banqueting House	The Banqueting House is the only complete surviving building of Whitehall Palace, the sovereign’s principal residence from 1530 until 1698 when it was destroyed by fire	£5.00
Apsley House	Designed by Robert Adam and built between 1771 and 1778, Apsley House on Hyde Park Corner is one of the most magnificent of London’s grand houses.	£6.30
Wernher Collection at Ranger’s House	Built in 1723, Ranger’s House is an elegant redbrick Georgian villa on the edge of Greenwich Park with the Meridian Line passing through its grounds.	£6.30
All Hallows by the Tower	All Hallows by the Tower is the oldest church in the City of London.	£0.00

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History of the United Kingdom

2012-03-07T06:39:00.001-08:00

The history of the United Kingdom as a unified sovereign state began with the political union of the kingdoms of England, which included Wales, and Scotland. On the new kingdom, the historian Simon Schama said, "What began as a hostile merger would end in a full partnership in the most powerful going concern in the world... it was one of the most astonishing transformations in European history."^[1] A further Act of Union in 1800 added the Kingdom of Ireland to create the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The early years of the unified kingdom of Great Britain were marked by Jacobite risings which ended with defeat for the Stuart cause at Culloden in 1746. Later, in 1763, victory in the Seven Years War led to the dominance of the British Empire, which was to be the foremost global power for over a century and grew to become the largest empire in history. As a result, the culture of the United Kingdom, and its industrial, political, constitutional, educational and linguistic legacy, is widespread.
In 1922, following the Anglo-Irish Treaty, Ireland effectively seceded from the United Kingdom to become the Irish Free State; a day later, Northern Ireland seceded from the Free State and became part of the United Kingdom. As a result, in 1927 the United Kingdom changed its formal title to the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,"^[2] usually shortened to the "United Kingdom", the "UK" or "Britain". Former parts of the British Empire became independent dominions.
In the Second World War, in which Britain joined the U.S. and the Soviet Union as an allied power, Britain and its Empire fought a successful war against Germany, Italy and Japan. The cost was high and Britain no longer had the wealth or the inclination to maintain an empire, so it granted independence to most of the Empire. The new states typically joined the Commonwealth of Nations.^[3] The United Kingdom has sought to be a leading member of the United Nations, the European Union and NATO, yet since the 1990s large-scale devolution movements in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have brought into question the future viability of this constantly evolving political union.

[hide]

[edit] 18th century

Main article: 18th century Britain

[edit] Birth of the Union

Main articles: Treaty of Union and Acts of Union 1707

"Articles of Union with Scotland", 1707

The united kingdom of Great Britain came into being on 1 May 1707, as a result of the political union of the Kingdom of England (which included Wales) and the Kingdom of Scotland. The terms of the union had been agreed in the Treaty of Union that was negotiated the previous year and then ratified by the parliaments of Scotland and England each approving Acts of Union.^[4]
Although previously separate states, England and Scotland had shared monarchs since 1603 when James VI of Scotland become James I of England on the death of the childless Elizabeth I, an event known as the Union of the Crowns. The Treaty of Union enabled the two kingdoms to be combined into a single kingdom with the two parliaments merging into a single parliament of Great Britain. Queen Anne, who reigned from 1702 to 1714, had favoured deeper political integration between the two kingdoms and became the first monarch of Great Britain. The union was valuable to England from a security standpoint, since it meant that Scotland lost the possibility to choose a different monarch on her death, reducing the chance of a European power using Scotland as a route to invading England.
Although now a single kingdom, certain aspects of the former independent kingdoms remained separate, in line with the terms in the Treaty of Union: Scottish and English law remained separate, as did the Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Anglican Church of England. England and Scotland also continued to have divergent systems of education.
The creation of Great Britain happened during the War of the Spanish Succession, in which just before his death in 1702 William III had reactivated the Grand Alliance against France. His successor, Anne, continued the war. The Duke of Marlborough won a series of brilliant victories over the French, England's first major battlefield successes on the Continent since the Hundred Years War. France was nearly brought to its knees by 1709, when King Louis XIV made a desperate appeal to the French people. Afterwards, his general Marshal Villars managed to turn the tide in favour of France. A more peace-minded government came to power in Great Britain, and the treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt in 1713–1714 ended the war.

[edit] Hanoverian kings

George I in 1714, by Godfrey Kneller

Queen Anne died in 1714, and the Elector of Hanover, George Louis, became king as George I (1714-27). He paid more attention to Hanover and surrounded himself with Germans, making him an unpopular king, However he did build up the army and created a more stable political system in Britain and helped bring peace to northern Europe.^[5]^[6]; Jacobite factions seeking a Stuart restoration remained strong; they instigated a revolt in 1715–1716. The son of James II planned to invade England, but before he could do so, John Erskine, Earl of Mar, launched an invasion from Scotland, which was easily defeated.^[7]
George II (1727-1760) enhanced the stability of the constitutional system, with a government run by Sir Robert Walpole during the period 1730-42.^[8] He built up the first British Empire, strengthening the colonies in the Caribbean and North America. In coalition with the rising power Prussia, defeated France in the Seven Years War (1756-1763), and won full control of Canada.^[9]
George III reigned 1760-1820; he was born in Britain, never visited Hanover, and spoke English as his first language. Frequently reviled by Americans as a tyrant and the instigator of the American War of Independence, he was insane off and on after 1788 as his eldest son served as regent.^[10] The last king to dominate government and politics, his long reign is noted for losing the first British Empire with a loss in the American Revolution, as France sought revenge for its defeat in the Seven Years War by aiding the Americans. The reign was notable for the building of a second empire based in India, Asia and Africa, the beginnings of the industrial revolution that made Britain an economic powerhouse, and above all the life and death struggle with the French, the French Revolutionary Wars 1793-1802, ending in a draw and a short truce, and the epic Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815, ending with the decisive defeat of Napoleon.^[11]

[edit] South Sea Bubble

The era was prosperous as entrepreneurs extended the range of their business around the globe. The South Sea Bubble was a business enterprise that exploded in scandal. The South Sea Company was a private business corporation set up in London ostensibly to grant trade monopolies in South America. Its actual purpose was to renegotiate previous high-interest government loans amounting to ₤31 million through market manipulation and speculation. It issued stock four times in 1720 that reached about 8000 investors. Prices kept soaring every day, from ₤130 a share to ₤1000, with insiders making huge paper profits. The Bubble collapsed overnight, ruining many speculators. Investigations showed bribes had reached into high places—even to the king. Robert Walpole managed to wind it down with minimal political and economic damage, although some losers fled to exile or committed suicide.^[12]^[13]

[edit] Warfare and finance

From 1700 to 1850, Britain was involved in 137 wars or rebellions. It maintained a relatively large and expensive Royal Navy, along with a small standing army. When the need arose for soldiers it hired mercenaries or financed allied who fielded armies. The rising costs of warfare forced a shift in government financing from the income from royal agricultural estates and special imposts and taxes to reliance on customs and excise taxes and, after 1790, an income tax. Working with bankers in the City, the government raised large loans during wartime and paid them off in peacetime. The rise in taxes amounted to 20% of national income, but the private sector benefited from the increase in economic growth. The demand for war supplies stimulated the industrial sector, particularly naval supplies, munitions and textiles, which gave Britain an advantage in international trade during the postwar years.^[14]^[15]^[16]

[edit] British Empire

Main article: British Empire

Lord Clive meeting with Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, by Francis Hayman (c. 1762).

The Seven Years' War, which began in 1756, was the first war waged on a global scale, fought in Europe, India, North America, the Caribbean, the Philippines and coastal Africa. The signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763) had important consequences for Britain and its empire. In North America, France's future as a colonial power there was effectively ended with the ceding of New France to Britain (leaving a sizeable French-speaking population under British control) and Louisiana to Spain. Spain ceded Florida to Britain. In India, the Carnatic War had left France still in control of its enclaves but with military restrictions and an obligation to support British client states, effectively leaving the future of India to Britain. The British victory over France in the Seven Years War therefore left Britain as the world's dominant colonial power.^[17]
During the 1760s and 1770s, relations between the Thirteen Colonies and Britain became increasingly strained, primarily because of opposition to Parliament's repeated attempts to tax American colonists without their consent.^[18] Disagreement turned to violence and in 1775 the American Revolutionary War began. In 1776 the Patriots expelled royal officials and declared the independence of the United States of America. After capturing a British invasion army in 1777, the U.S. formed an alliance with France (and in turn Spain aided France), evening out the military balance. The British army controlled only a handful of coastal cities. 1780-81 was a low point for Britain. Taxes and deficits were high, government corruption was pervasive, and the war in America was entering its sixth year with no apparent end in sight. The Gordon Riots erupted in London during the spring of 1781, in response to increased concessions to Catholics by Parliament. In October 1781 Lord Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown, Virginia. The Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, formally terminating the war and recognising the independence of the United States.^[19]

British general John Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga (1777), painting by John Trumbull 1822

The loss of the Thirteen Colonies, at the time Britain's most populous colonies, marked the transition between the "first" and "second" empires,^[20] in which Britain shifted its attention to Asia, the Pacific and later Africa. Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, published in 1776, had argued that colonies were redundant, and that free trade should replace the old mercantilist policies that had characterised the first period of colonial expansion, dating back to the protectionism of Spain and Portugal. The growth of trade between the newly independent United States and Britain after 1783^[21] confirmed Smith's view that political control was not necessary for economic success.
During its first 100 years of operation, the focus of the British East India Company had been trade, not the building of an empire in India. Company interests turned from trade to territory during the 18th century as the Mughal Empire declined in power and the British East India Company struggled with its French counterpart, the La Compagnie française des Indes orientales, during the Carnatic Wars of the 1740s and 1750s. The British, led by Robert Clive, defeated the French and their Indian allies in the Battle of Plassey, leaving the Company in control of Bengal and a major military and political power in India. In the following decades it gradually increased the size of the territories under its control, either ruling directly or indirectly via local puppet rulers under the threat of force of the Indian Army, 80% of which was composed of native Indian sepoys.

Voyages of the explorer James Cook

On 22 August 1770, James Cook discovered the eastern coast of Australia^[22] while on a scientific voyage to the South Pacific. In 1778, Joseph Banks, Cook's botanist on the voyage, presented evidence to the government on the suitability of Botany Bay for the establishment of a penal settlement, and in 1787 the first shipment of convicts set sail, arriving in 1788.
At the threshold to the 19th century, Britain was challenged again by France under Napoleon, in a struggle that, unlike previous wars, represented a contest of ideologies between the two nations.^[23]

British Empire in 1921

The British government had somewhat mixed reactions to the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, and when war broke out on the Continent in 1792, it initially remained neutral. But the following January, Louis XVI was beheaded. This combined with a threatened invasion of the Netherlands by France spurred Britain to declare war. For the next 23 years, the two nations were at war except for a short period in 1802–1803. Britain alone among the nations of Europe never submitted to or formed an alliance with France. Throughout the 1790s, the British repeatedly defeated the navies of France and its allies, but were unable to perform any significant land operations. An Anglo-Russian invasion of the Netherlands in 1799 accomplished little except the capture of the Dutch fleet.
It was not only Britain's position on the world stage that was threatened: Napoleon threatened invasion of Britain itself, and with it, a fate similar to the countries of continental Europe that his armies had overrun.

[edit] 1800 to 1837

Main article: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Further information: Georgian era, British Regency, Victorian era, British Empire, and History of British society#Georgian society

[edit] Union with Ireland

The Flag of the United Kingdom is based on the flags of England, Scotland and Ireland

Main article: Act of Union 1800

On 1 January 1801, the Great Britain and Ireland joined to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Events that culminated in the union with Ireland had spanned several centuries. Invasions from England by the ruling Normans from 1170 led to centuries of strife in Ireland and successive Kings of England sought both to conquer and pillage Ireland, imposing their rule by force throughout the entire island. In the early 17th century, large-scale settlement by Protestant settlers from both Scotland and England began, especially in the province of Ulster, seeing the displacement of many of the native Roman Catholic Irish inhabitants of this part of Ireland. Since the time of the first Norman invaders from England, Ireland has been subject to control and regulation, firstly by England then latterly by Great Britain.
After the Irish Rebellion of 1641, Irish Roman Catholics were barred from voting or attending the Irish Parliament. The new English Protestant ruling class was known as the Protestant Ascendancy. Towards the end of the 18th century the entirely Protestant Irish Parliament attained a greater degree of independence from the British Parliament than it had previously held. Under the Penal Laws no Irish Catholic could sit in the Parliament of Ireland, even though some 90% of Ireland's population was native Irish Catholic when the first of these bans was introduced in 1691. This ban was followed by others in 1703 and 1709 as part of a comprehensive system disadvantaging the Catholic community, and to a lesser extent Protestant dissenters.^[24] In 1798, many members of this dissenter tradition made common cause with Catholics in a rebellion inspired and led by the Society of United Irishmen. It was staged with the aim of creating a fully independent Ireland as a state with a republican constitution. Despite assistance from France the Irish Rebellion of 1798 was put down by British forces.
Possibly influenced by the War of American Independence (1775–1783), a united force of Irish volunteers used their influence to campaign for greater independence for the Irish Parliament. This was granted in 1782, giving free trade and legislative independence to Ireland. However, the French revolution had encouraged the increasing calls for moderate constitutional reform. The Society of United Irishmen, made up of Presbyterians from Belfast and both Anglicans and Catholics in Dublin, campaigned for an end to British domination. Their leader Theobald Wolfe Tone (1763–98) worked with the Catholic Convention of 1792 which demanded an end to the penal laws. Failing to win the support of the British government, he travelled to Paris, encouraging a number of French naval forces to land in Ireland to help with the planned insurrections. These were slaughtered by government forces, but these rebellions convinced the British under Prime Minister William Pitt that the only solution was to end Irish independence once and for all.

Henry Gratton, an Irish politician who opposed the union with Britain

The legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland was brought about by the Act of Union 1800, creating the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland". The Act was passed in both the Parliament of Great Britain and the Parliament of Ireland, dominated by the Protestant Ascendancy and lacking representation of the country's Roman Catholic population. Substantial majorities were achieved, and according to contemporary documents this was assisted by bribery in the form of the awarding of peerages and honours to opponents to gain their votes.^[25] Under the terms of the merger, the separate Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland were abolished, and replaced by a united Parliament of the United Kingdom. Ireland thus became an integral part of the United Kingdom, sending around 100 MPs to the House of Commons at Westminster and 28 representative peers to the House of Lords, elected from among their number by the Irish peers themselves, except that Roman Catholic peers were not permitted to take their seats in the Lords. Part of the trade-off for the Irish Catholics was to be the granting of Catholic Emancipation, which had been fiercely resisted by the all-Anglican Irish Parliament. However, this was blocked by King George III, who argued that emancipating the Roman Catholics would breach his Coronation Oath. The Roman Catholic hierarchy had endorsed the Union. However the decision to block Catholic Emancipation fatally undermined the appeal of the Union.

[edit] Napoleonic wars

Main article: Napoleonic wars

During the War of the Second Coalition (1799–1801), Britain occupied most of the French and Dutch colonies (the Netherlands had been a satellite of France since 1796), but tropical diseases claimed the lives of over 40,000 troops. When the Treaty of Amiens ended the war, Britain was forced to return most of the colonies. The peace settlement was in effect only a cease fire, and Napoleon continued to provoke the British by attempting a trade embargo on the country and by occupying the German city of Hanover (a fief of the British crown). In May 1803, war was declared again. Napoleon's plans to invade Britain failed due to the inferiority of his navy, and in 1805, Lord Nelson's fleet decisively defeated the French and Spanish at Trafalgar, which was the last significant naval action of the Napoleonic Wars.

The British HMS Sandwich fires to the French flagship Bucentaure (completely dismasted) into battle off Trafalgar. The Bucentaure also fights HMS Victory (behind her) and HMS Temeraire (left side of the picture). In fact, HMS Sandwich never fought at Trafalgar, it's a mistake from Auguste Mayer, the painter.^[26]

The series of naval and colonial conflicts, including a large number of minor naval actions, resembled those of the French Revolutionary Wars and the preceding centuries of European warfare. Conflicts in the Caribbean, and in particular the seizure of colonial bases and islands throughout the wars, could potentially have some effect upon the European conflict. The Napoleonic conflict had reached the point at which subsequent historians could talk of a "world war". Only the Seven Years' War offered a precedent for widespread conflict on such a scale.
In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of Berlin Decrees, which brought into effect the Continental System. This policy aimed to eliminate the threat of the United Kingdom by closing French-controlled territory to its trade. The United Kingdom's army remained a minimal threat to France; the UK maintained a standing army of just 220,000 at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, whereas France's army exceeded a million men — in addition to the armies of numerous allies and several hundred thousand national guardsmen that Napoleon could draft into the military if necessary. The Royal Navy, however, effectively disrupted France's extra-continental trade — both by seizing and threatening French shipping and by seizing French colonial possessions — but could do nothing about France's trade with the major continental economies and posed little threat to French territory in Europe although the dominance of the Royal Navy dispelled any threat of an invasion by Napolean from across the channel. In addition France's population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of the United Kingdom.
However, the United Kingdom possessed the greatest industrial capacity in Europe, and its mastery of the seas allowed it to build up considerable economic strength through trade to its possessions from its rapidly new expanding Empire. That sufficed to ensure that France could never consolidate its control over Europe in peace or threaten British colonies outside the continent thanks to Britain's naval supremacy. However, many in the French government believed that cutting the United Kingdom off from the Continent would end its economic influence over Europe and isolate it. Though the French designed the Continental System to achieve this, it never succeeded in its objective.
The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent. The Duke of Wellington and his army of British and Portuguese gradually pushed the French out of Spain and in early 1814, as Napoleon was being driven back in the east by the Prussians, Austrians, and Russians, Wellington invaded southern France. After Napoleon's surrender and exile to the island of Elba, peace appeared to have returned, but when he escaped back into France in 1815, the British and their allies had to fight him again. The armies of Wellington and Von Blucher defeated Napoleon once and for all at Waterloo.

Signing of the Treaty of Ghent (1812), by A. Forestier in ca. 1915

Simultaneous with the Napoleonic Wars, trade disputes and British impressment of American sailors led to the War of 1812 with the United States. A central event in American history, it was little noticed in Britain, where all attention was focused on the struggle with France. The British could devote few resources to the conflict until the fall of Napoleon in 1814. American frigates also inflicted a series of embarrassing defeats on the British navy, which was short on manpower due to the conflict in Europe. A stepped-up war effort that year brought about some successes such as the burning of Washington D.C., but many influential voices such as the Duke of Wellington argued that an outright victory over the US was impossible.
Peace was agreed to at the end of 1814, but not before Andrew Jackson, unaware of this, won a great victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815 (news took several weeks to cross the Atlantic before the advent of steam ships). The Treaty of Ghent subsequently ended the war. As a result, the Red River Basin was ceded to the US, and the Canadian border (now fixed at the 49th parallel) completely demilitarised by both countries, although fears of an American conquest of Canada persisted through the 19th century.

[edit] George IV and William IV

Britain emerged from the Napoleonic Wars a very different country than it had been in 1793. As industrialisation progressed, society changed, becoming more urban and less rural. The postwar period saw an economic slump, and poor harvests and inflation caused widespread social unrest. Europe after 1815 was on guard against a return of Jacobinism, and even liberal Britain saw the passage of the Six Acts in 1819, which proscribed radical activities. By the end of the 1820s, along with a general economic recovery, many of these repressive laws were repealed and in 1828 new legislation guaranteed the civil rights of religious dissenters.
A weak ruler as regent (1811-20) and king (1820-30), George IV let his ministers take full charge of government affairs, playing a far lesser role than his father, George III. The principle now became established that the king accepts as prime minister the person who wins a majority in the House of Commons, whether the king personally favors him or not. His governments, with little help from the king, presided over victory in the Napoleonic Wars, negotiated the peace settlement, and attempted to deal with the social and economic malaise that followed.^[27] His brother William IV ruled (1830-37), but was little involved in politics. His reign saw several reforms: the poor law was updated, child labour restricted, slavery abolished in nearly all the British Empire, and, most important, the Reform Act 1832 refashioned the British electoral system.^[28]
There were no major wars until the Crimean War of 1853-56.^[29] While Prussia, Austria, and Russia, as absolute monarchies, tried to suppress liberalism wherever it might occur, the British came to terms with new ideas. Britain intervened in Portugal in 1826 to defend a constitutional government there and recognising the independence of Spain's American colonies in 1824.^[30] British merchants and financiers, and later railway builders, played major roles in the economies of most Latin American nations.^[31] The British intervened in 1827 on the side of the Greeks, who had been waging a war of independence against the Ottoman Empire since 1824.

[edit] Whig reforms of the 1830s

The Whig Party recovered its strength and unity by supporting moral reforms, especially the reform of the electoral system, the abolition of slavery and emancipation of the Catholics. Catholic emancipation was secured in the Catholic Relief Act of 1829, which removed the most substantial restrictions on Roman Catholics in Britain.^[32]
The Whigs became champions of Parliamentary reform. They made Lord Grey prime minister 1830–1834, and the Reform Act of 1832 became their signature measure. It broadened the franchise and ended the system of "rotten borough" and "pocket boroughs" (where elections were controlled by powerful families), and instead redistributed power on the basis of population. It added 217,000 voters to an electorate of 435,000 in England and Wales. The main effect of the act was to weaken the power of the landed gentry, and enlarge the power of the professional and business middle-class, which now for the first time had a significant voice in Parliament. However, the great majority of manual workers, clerks, and farmers did not have enough property to qualify to vote. The aristocracy continued to dominate the government, the Army and Royal Navy, and high society.^[32] After parliamentary investigations demonstrated the horrors of child labour, limited reforms were passed in 1833.
Chartism emerged after the 1832 Reform Bill failed to give the vote to the working class. Activists denounced the 'betrayal' of the working class and the 'sacrificing' of their 'interests' by the 'misconduct' of the government. In 1838, Charists issued the People's Charter demanding manhood suffrage, equal sized election districts, voting by ballots, payment of MPs (so poor men could serve), annual Parliaments, and abolition of property requirements. Elites saw the movement as pathological, so the Chartists were unable to force serious constitutional debate. Historians see Chartism as both a continuation of the 18th century fight against corruption and as a new stage in demands for democracy in an industrial society.^[33]
In 1832 Parliament abolished slavery in the Empire with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. The government purchased the slaves for ₤20,000,000 (the money went to rich plantation owners who mostly lived in England), and freed the slaves, especially those in the Caribbean sugar islands.^[34]

[edit] Leadership

Prime Ministers of the period included: William Pitt the Younger, Lord Grenville, Duke of Portland, Spencer Perceval, Lord Liverpool, George Canning, Lord Goderich, Duke of Wellington, Lord Grey, Lord Melbourne, and Sir Robert Peel.

[edit] Victorian era

Main article: Victorian era

Queen Victoria (1837-1901)

The Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's rule between 1837 and 1901 which signified the height of the British Industrial Revolution and the apex of the British Empire. Scholars debate whether the Victorian period—as defined by a variety of sensibilities and political concerns that have come to be associated with the Victorians—actually begins with the passage of Reform Act 1832. The era was preceded by the Regency era and succeeded by the Edwardian period.
Victoria became queen in 1837 at age 18, after a difficult childhood under the control of her mother. Her long reign saw Britain reach the zenith of its economic and political power. Exciting new technologies such as steam ships, railroads, photography, and telegraphs appeared, making the world much faster-paced. Britain again remained mostly inactive in Continental politics, and it was not affected by the wave of revolutions in 1848. The Great London Exhibition of 1851 clearly demonstrated the country's preeminence in the world. However, by the middle of the 19th century, the British became fixated on trying to preserve the declining Ottoman Empire. It was well understood that a collapse of that country would set off a scramble for its territory and possibly plunge Europe into war.
Most importantly, Britain wanted at all costs to keep the Russians from occupying Constantinople and taking over the Bosporous Straits. In 1853, war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire broke out (the Crimean War), and under the label of preserving the balance of power, Britain and France intervened. Despite mediocre generalship, they managed to capture the Russian port of Sevastopol, compelling Tsar Nicholas I to ask for peace. A second Russo-Ottoman war in 1877 led to another European intervention, although this time at the negotiating table. The Congress of Berlin saw Russia give up the harsh Treaty of San Stefano it had tried to impose on the Ottoman Empire. Despite its alliance with the French in the Crimean War, Britain viewed the Second Empire of Napoleon III with some distrust, especially as the emperor constructed ironclad warships and began returning France to a more active foreign policy. But after Napoleon's downfall in the Franco-Prussian War, he spent his last years exiled in Britain.
During the American Civil War (1861–1865), British leaders widely favoured the Confederacy, as it had been a major source of cotton for textile mills, but Prince Albert was effective in defusing the Trent episode, and the British people, who depended heavily on American food imports, generally favoured the United States. What little cotton was available came from New York, as the blockade by the US Navy shut down 95% of Southern exports to Britain. In September 1862, during the Confederate invasion of Maryland, Britain (along with France) contemplated stepping in and negotiating a peace settlement, which could only mean war with the United States. But in the same month, US president Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation. Since support of the Confederacy now meant support for slavery, there was no longer any possibility of European intervention.
Meanwhile the British sold arms to the Americans (most notably the Enfield rifle; the Confederates also acquired breech-loading cannons) built blockade runners for a lucrative trade with the Confederacy, and surreptitiously allowed warships to be built for the South. The warships caused a major diplomatic row that was resolved in the Alabama Claims in 1872, in the Americans' favour.

[edit] Empire expands

In 1867, Britain united most of its North American colonies as the Dominion of Canada, giving it self-government and responsibility for its own defence, although Canada did not have an independent foreign policy until 1931. Several of the colonies briefly refused to join the Dominion despite pressure from both Canada and Britain; Newfoundland held out until 1949.
The second half of the 19th century saw a huge expansion of Britain's colonial empire in Asia and Africa. In the latter continent, there was talk of the Union Jack flying from "Cairo to Cape Town", which only became a reality at the end of World War I. Having possessions on six continents, Britain had to defend all of its empire with a volunteer army, for it was the only power in Europe to have no conscription. Some questioned whether the country was overstretched, and in 1905 the British foreign minister said that the "empire resembles a huge, gouty giant with its fingers and toes extended all over the globe, which cannot be approached without eliciting a scream." The rise of the German Empire since 1871 posed a new challenge, for it (along with the United States) threatened to take Britain's place as the world's foremost industrial power. Germany acquired a number of colonies in Africa and the Pacific, and when William II became emperor in 1888, he began using bellicose language, talking of building a navy to rival Britain's.
Ever since Britain had taken control of South Africa from the Netherlands in the Napoleonic Wars, it had run afoul of the Dutch settlers there, which led to the Boer (farmer in the Afrikaner language) War in 1899–1902, when the British attempted to consolidate all the local republics into a single colony. The Boers waged a guerilla war, which gave the British regulars a difficult fight, although weight of numbers, superior equipment, and often brutal tactics eventually brought about victory. The war had been costly in human life, and was widely criticised in Europe, the French being among the loudest opponents of Britain's war effort. The Boer republics were thus unified, and in 1910 gave way to the self-governing Union of South Africa.

[edit] Ireland and the move to Home Rule

Main articles: History of Ireland (1801–1922) and Great Famine (Ireland)

Part of the agreement which led to the 1800 Act of Union stipulated that the Penal Laws in Ireland were to be repealed and Catholic Emancipation granted. However King George III blocked emancipation, arguing that to grant it would break his coronation oath to defend the Anglican Church. A campaign under lawyer and politician Daniel O'Connell, and the death of George III, led to the concession of Catholic Emancipation in 1829, allowing Catholics to sit in Parliament. O'Connell then mounted an unsuccessful campaign for the Repeal of the Act of Union.
When potato blight hit the island in 1846, much of the rural population was left without food because cash crops were being exported to pay rents.^[35]^[36] British politicians such as the Prime Minister Robert Peel were at this time wedded to the economic policy of laissez-faire, which argued against state intervention of any sort. While enormous sums were raised by private individuals and charities (American Indians^[who?] sent supplies, while Queen Victoria personally gave the present-day equivalent € 70,000), lack of adequate action let the problem become a catastrophe. The class of cottiers or farm labourers was virtually wiped out in what became known in Britain as 'The Irish Potato Famine' and in Ireland as the Great Hunger.
Most Irish people elected as their MPs Liberals and Conservatives who belonged to the main British political parties (note: the poor didn't have a vote at that time). A significant minority also elected Unionists, who championed the cause of the maintenance of the Act of Union. A former Tory barrister turned nationalist campaigner, Isaac Butt, established a new moderate nationalist movement, the Home Rule League, in the 1870s. After Butt's death the Home Rule Movement, or the Irish Parliamentary Party as it had become known, was turned into a major political force under the guidance of William Shaw and in particular a radical young Protestant landowner, Charles Stewart Parnell. The Irish Parliamentary Party dominated Irish politics, to the exclusion of the previous Liberal, Conservative and Unionist parties that had existed. Parnell's movement proved to be a broad church, from conservative landowners to the Land League which was campaigning for fundamental reform of Irish landholding, where most farms were held on rental from large aristocratic estates.
Parnell's movement campaigned for 'Home Rule', by which they meant that Ireland would govern itself as a region within the United Kingdom, in contrast to O'Connell who wanted complete independence subject to a shared monarch and Crown. Two Home Rule Bills (1886 and 1893) were introduced by Liberal Prime Minister Ewart Gladstone, but neither became law, mainly due to opposition from the House of Lords. The issue divided Ireland, for a significant unionist minority (largely though by no means exclusively based in Ulster), opposed Home Rule, fearing that a Catholic-Nationalist parliament in Dublin would discriminate against them and would also impose tariffs on industry; while most of Ireland was primarily agricultural, six counties in Ulster were the location of heavy industry and would be affected by any tariff barriers imposed.

[edit] Leadership

Prime Ministers of the period included: Lord Melbourne, Sir Robert Peel, Lord John Russell, Lord Derby, Lord Aberdeen, Lord Palmerston, Benjamin Disraeli, William Ewart Gladstone, Lord Salisbury, and Lord Rosebery.

[edit] Queen Victoria

The Queen gave her name to an era of British greatness, especially in the far-flung British Empire with which she identified. She played a small role in politics, but became the iconic symbol of the nation, the empire, and proper, restrained behaviour.^[37] Her strength lay in good common sense and directness of character; she expressed the qualities of the British nation which at that time made it preeminent in the world. As a symbol of domesticity, endurance and Empire, and as a woman holding the highest public office during an age when middle- and upper-class women were expected to beautify the home while men dominated the public sphere, Queen Victoria's influence has been enduring. Her success as ruler was due to the power of the self-images she successively portrayed of innocent young woman, devoted wife and mother, suffering and patient widow, and grandmotherly matriarch.^[38]

[edit] Disraeli

Disraeli

Disraeli and Gladstone dominated the politics of the late 19th century, Britain's golden age of parliamentary government. They long were idolized, but historians in recent decades have become much more critical, especially regarding Disraeli.^[39]^[40]
Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), prime minister 1868 and 1874-80, remains an iconic hero of the Conservative Party. He was typical of the generation of British leaders who matured in the 1830s and 1840s. He was concerned with threats to established political, social, and religious values and elites; he emphasized the need for national leadership in response to radicalism, uncertainty, and materialism.^[41] He is especially known for his enthusiastic support for expanding and strengthening the British Empire in India and Africa as the foundation of British greatness, in contrast to Gladstone's negative attitude toward imperialism. Gladstone denounced Disraeli's policies of territorial aggrandizement, military pomp, and imperial symbolism (such as making the Queen Empress of India), saying it did not fit a modern commercial and Christian nation. Disraeli drummed up support by warnings of a supposed Russian threat to India that sank deep into the Conservative mindset. Disraeli's old reputation as the "Tory democrat" and promoter of the welfare state fell away as historians showed he that Disraeli had few proposals for social legislation in i874-80, and that the 1867 Reform Act did not reflect a vision Conservatism for the unenfranchised working man.^[42] However he did work to reduce class anatagonism, for as Perry notes, "When confronted with specific problems, he sought to reduce tension between town and country, landlords and farmers, capital and labour, and warring religious sects in Britain and Ireland—in other words, to create a unifying synthesis."^[43]

[edit] Gladstone

Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898) was the Liberal counterpart to Disraeli, serving as prime minister four times (1868–74, 1880–85, 1886, and 1892–94). His financial policies, based on the notion of balanced budgets, low taxes and laissez-faire, were suited to a developing capitalist society but could not respond effectively as economic and social conditions changed. Called the "Grand Old Man" later in life, he was always a dynamic popular orator who appealed strongly to British workers and lower middle class. The deeply religious Gladstone brought a new moral tone to politics with his evangelical sensibility and opposition to aristocracy. His moralism often angered his upper-class opponents (including Queen Victoria, who strongly favoured Disraeli), and his heavy-handed control split the Liberal party. His foreign policy goal was to create a European order based on cooperation rather than conflict and mutual trust instead of rivalry and suspicion; the rule of law was to supplant the reign of force and self-interest. This Gladstonian concept of a harmonious Concert of Europe was opposed to and ultimately defeated by the Germans with a Bismarckian system of manipulated alliances and antagonisms.^[44]

[edit] Salisbury

Historians portray Conservative prime Minister Lord Salisbury (1830-1903) as a talented leader who was an icon of traditional, aristocratic conservatism.^[45] Robert Blake considers Salisbury “a great foreign minister, [but] essentially negative, indeed reactionary in home affairs".^[46] Professor P.T. Marsh’s estimate is more favourable than Blake's, he portrays Salisbury as a leader who "held back the popular tide for twenty years."^[47] Professor Paul Smith argues that, "into the ‘progressive’ strain of modern Conservatism he simply will not fit."^[48] Professor H.C.G. Matthew points to "the narrow cynicism of Salisbury."^[49] . One admirer of Salisbury, Maurice Cowling largely agrees with the critics and says Salisbury found the democracy born of the 1867 and 1884 Reform Acts as "perhaps less objectionable than he had expected—succeeding, through his public persona, in mitigating some part of its nastiness."^[50]

[edit] World Wars

Queen Victoria died in 1901 and her son Edward VII became king, inaugurating the Edwardian Era, which was characterised by great and ostentatious displays of wealth in contrast to the sombre Victorian Era. With the advent of the 20th century, things such as motion pictures, automobiles, and aeroplanes were coming into use. The new century was characterised by a feeling of great optimism. The social reforms of the last century continued into the 20th with the Labour Party being formed in 1900. Edward died in 1910, to be succeeded by George V. The Edwardian Era barely lasted longer than its namesake, for it all came crashing down in the summer of 1914, just as Europe was at the zenith of its power in the world.
The era was prosperous but political crises were escalating out of control. Dangerfield (1935) identified the "strange death of liberal England" as the multiple crisis that hit simultaneously in 1910-1914 with serious social and political instability arising from the Irish crisis, labor unrest, the women's suffrage movements, and partisan and constitutional struggles in Parliament. At one point it even seemed the Army might refuse orders dealing with Northern Ireland.^[51] No solution appeared in sight when the unexpected outbreak of the Great War in 1914 put domestic issues on hold. After a rough start Britain under David Lloyd George successfully mobilised its manpower, industry, finances, Empire and diplomacy, in league with the French and Americans, to fight off the Germans and Turks.
Lloyd George said after victory that "the nation was now in a molten state", and his Housing Act 1919 would lead to affordable council housing which allowed people to move out of Victorian inner-city slums. The slums, though, remained for several more years, with trams being electrified long before many houses. The Representation of the People Act 1918 gave women householders the vote, but it would not be until 1928 that equal suffrage was achieved. Labour did not achieve major success until the 1922 general election.
Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom from 1900 to 1945: Marquess of Salisbury, Arthur Balfour, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Herbert Henry Asquith, David Lloyd George, Andrew Bonar Law, Stanley Baldwin, Ramsay MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin, Ramsay MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill.

[edit] World War I

Further information: History of the United Kingdom during World War I

In June 1914, the Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist, leading to war between those two countries. The system of alliances caused a local conflict to engulf the entire continent. The United Kingdom was part of the Triple Entente with France and Russia, while the German Empire, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, so-called Central Powers, were allied. Following the death of the Austrian archduke, the Austrian-Hungarian Empire attacked Serbia allied to Russia. Russia then declared war on the Austrian-Hungarian Empire leading Germany to enter into war against Russia. The western democracy Great Britain and France being allied with Russia, were to be dragged into the war with the German Empire. As the tension was rising, the German Empire first declared war on France. Britain did not enter at first, but in August the Germans invaded Belgium, and as Britain was still bound by an 1839 treaty to protect that country, it declared war on Germany and its allies. The romantic notions of warfare that everyone had expected faded as the fighting in France bogged down into trench warfare.
Along the Western Front the British and French launched repeated assaults on the German trench lines in 1915–1916, which killed and wounded hundreds of thousands, but failed to accomplish anything significant. By 1916, with few still willing to volunteer for the army, the British Army during World War I had to introduce conscription for the first time. The navy continued to dominate the seas, fighting the German fleet to a draw in the great 1916 Battle of Jutland. But a sensational defeat inflicted on a British squadron off the coast of South America by the Germans in November 1914 (battle of Coronel) marked the first time since the War of 1812 that Britain had lost a naval engagement outright. Germany tried basically the same thing as Napoleon a century earlier, which was to break Britain's economy, only they now had submarines for this task rather than privateers and unreliable allies. The waters around Britain were declared a war zone where any ship, neutral or otherwise, was a target. After the liner Lusitania was sunk in May 1915, taking many American passengers with it, protests by the United States led Germany to abandon unrestricted submarine warfare for a while (it was resumed in 1917 after the US entry into the war). A British blockade of Germany also caused widespread food and fuel shortages there.
On other fronts, the British, French, Australians, and Japanese occupied Germany's colonies and Britain fought the Ottoman Empire in Palestine and Mesopotamia. An Allied attempt to capture Constantinople in 1915 (the Gallipoli Campaign) ended in disaster, costing the lives of over 200,000 men. Exhaustion and war weariness were becoming noticeable in 1917, as the fighting in France continued with no end in sight. But that spring, the United States entered the war, and this influx of manpower finally broke the deadlock that had existed since 1915. Meanwhile, Russia's participation in the war was ended by economic turmoil and revolution. In the spring of 1918, Germany could now devote most of its resources to the Western Front. But by then, American troops were pouring into France and throughout the summer and autumn, the Germans were forced back. Germany surrendered on November 11, 1918. The war had been won by Britain and its allies, but at a terrible cost, creating a sentiment that wars should never be fought again. The League of Nations was founded with the idea that nations could resolve their differences peacefully, but these hopes were unfounded. The harsh peace settlement imposed on Germany would leave it embittered and seeking revenge.
Victorian attitudes and ideals that had continued into the first years of the 20th century changed during World War I. The army had traditionally never been a large employer in the nation, with the regular army standing at 247,432 at the start of the war.^[52] By 1918, there were about five million people in the army and the fledgling Royal Air Force, newly formed from the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) and the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), was about the same size of the pre-war army. The almost three million casualties were known as the "lost generation," and such numbers inevitably left society scarred; but even so, some people felt their sacrifice was little regarded in Britain, with poems like Siegfried Sassoon's Blighters criticising the ill-informed jingoism of the home front.
Following the war, the UK gained the German colony of Tanganyika and part of Togoland in Africa. It also was granted League of Nations mandates over Palestine, which was turned into a homeland for Jewish settlers, and Iraq, created from the three Ottoman provinces in Mesopotamia. The latter became fully independent in 1932. Egypt, which had been a British protectorate since 1882, became independent in 1922, although the British remained there until 1952.

[edit] Irish independence and partition

Main articles: Irish Home Rule bills, Partition of Ireland, and Irish War of Independence

In 1912, the House of Lords managed to delay a Home Rule bill passed by the House of Commons. It was enacted as the Government of Ireland Act 1914. During these two years the threat of religious civil war hung over Ireland with the creation of the Unionist Ulster Volunteers opposed to the Act and their nationalist counterparts, the Irish Volunteers supporting the Act. The outbreak of World War I in 1914 put the crisis on political hold. An disorganized Easter Rising in 1916 was brutally suppressed by the British, which had the effect of galvanizing Catholic demands for independence. Prime Minister David Lloyd George failed to introduce Home Rule in 1918 and in the December 1918 General Election Sinn Féin won a majority of Irish seats. Its MPs refused to take their seats at Westminster, instead choosing to sit in the First Dáil parliament in Dublin. A declaration of independence was ratified by Dáil Éireann, the self-declared Republic's parliament in January 1919. A Anglo-Irish War was fought between Crown forces and the Irish Republican Army between January 1919 and June 1921. The war ended with the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921 that established the Irish Free State.^[53] Six northern, predominantly Protestant counties became Northern Ireland) and have remained part Britain ever since, despite demands of the Catholic minority to united with Eire.^[54] Britain officially adopted the name "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland" by the Royal and Parliamentary Titles Act 1927.

[edit] Politics and economics of 1920s

Conservative Prime Minister 1923-1924, 1924-1929 & 1935-1937, Stanley Baldwin

The Lloyd-George coalition fell apart in 1922. Conservative Stanley Baldwin as as leader of the Conservative Party (1923-37) and as Prime Minister in 1923–4, 1924–9, and again in 1935–7 dominated British politics.^[55] His mixture of strong social reforms and steady government proved a powerful election combination, with the result that the Conservatives governed Britain either by themselves or as the leading component of the National Government. He was the last party leader to win over 50% of the vote (in the general election of 1931). Baldwin's political strategy was to polarize the electorate so that voters would choose between the Conservatives on the right and the Labour Party on the left, squeezing out the Liberals in the middle.^[56] The polarization did take place and while the Liberals remained active under Lloyd George, they won few seats and were a minor factor until they joined a coalition with the Conservatives in 2010. Baldwin's reputation soared in the 1920s an d 1930s, but crashed after 1945 as he was blamed for the appeasement policies toward Germany, and as admirers of Churchill made him the Conservative icon. Since the 1970s Baldwin's reputation has recovered somewhat.^[57]
Labour won the 1923 election, but in 1924 Baldwin and the Conservatives returned with a large majority. Chancellor of the Exchequer Winston Churchill put Britain back on the gold standard in 1925, which some economic historians blame for the mediocre performance of the economy. Other point to a variety of factors, including the inflationary effects of the World War and supply-side shocks caused by reduced working hours after the war.^[58] Baldwin resolved the General Strike of 1.5 million workers 1926 without violence after nine days.^[59]
By the late '20s, economic performance had stabilised, but the overall situation was disappointing, for Britain had clearly fallen behind the United States and other countries as an industrial power. There also remained a strong economic divide between the north and south of England during this period, with the south of England and the Midlands fairly prosperous by the Thirties, while parts of south Wales and the industrial north of England became known as "distressed areas."^[60]

[edit] Great Depression

Main article: Great Depression in the United Kingdom

Particularly hardest hit by economic problems were the north of England and Wales, where unemployment reached 70% in some areas. The General Strike was called during 1926 in support of the miners and their falling wages, but little improved, the downturn continued and the Strike is often seen as the start of the slow decline of the British coal industry. In 1936, 200 unemployed men walked from Jarrow to London in a bid to show the plight of the industrial poor, but the Jarrow March, or the 'Jarrow Crusade' as it was known, had little impact and it would not be until the coming war that industrial prospects improved. George Orwell's book The Road to Wigan Pier gives a bleak overview of the hardships of the time.

[edit] World War II

Main articles: Home front during World War II#Britain, Timeline of the United Kingdom home front during World War II, and Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II

Britain, along with the dominions and the rest of the Empire, declared war on Nazi Germany in 1939, after the German invasion of Poland. As France collapsed under German onslaught in spring 1940 the British with the thinnest of margins rescued the main British army from Dunkirk (as well as many French soldiers), leaving their munitions and supplies behind. Winston Churchill came to power, promising to fight the Germans to the very end. The Germans threatened an invasion—which the Royal Navy was prepared to repel. First the Germans tried to achieve air supremacy but were defeated by the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain in late summer 1940. Japan declared war in December 1941, and quickly seized Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, and Burma, and threatened Australia and India. Britain formed close bonds with the Soviet Union (starting in 1941) and the United States (starting in 1940), with the U.S. giving $40 billion in munitions through Lend Lease; Canada also gave aid. (The American and British aid did not have to be repaid, but there were also loans that were repaid.)

The war years saw great improvements in working conditions and welfare provisions, which arguably paved the way for the postwar welfare state. Infant, child, and maternity services were expanded, while the Official Food Policy Committee (chaired by the deputy PM and Labour leader Clement Attlee) approved grants of fuel and subsidised milk to mothers and to children under the age of five in June 1940. A month later, the Board of Education decided that free school meals should become more widely available. By February 1945, 73% of children received milk in school, compared with 50% in July 1940. Free vaccination against diphtheria was also provided for children at school.^[61] In addition, the Town and Country Planning Act 1944 gave consideration to those areas damaged in bombing raids ad enabled local authorities to clear slums, while the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act passed that same year made £150 million available for the construction of temporary dwellings.^[62]
The media called it a "people's war" -- a term that caught on and signified the popular demand for planning and an expanded welfare state.^[63] The Royal family played major symbolic roles in the war. They refused to leave London during the Blitz and were indefatigable in visiting troops, munition factories, dockyards, and hospitals all over the country. Princess Elizabeth joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS—a part of the army) and repaired trucks and jeeps.^[64] All social classes appreciated how the royals shared the hopes, fears and hardships of the people.^[65]

[edit] Postwar: Age of Austerity

The end of the war saw a landslide General Election victory for Clement Attlee and the Labour Party. They were elected on a manifesto of greater social justice with left wing policies such as the creation of a National Health Service, an expansion of the provision of council housing and nationalisation of the major industries. Britain faced severe financial crises, and responded by reducing her international responsibilities and by sharing the hardships of an "age of austerity."^[66] Large loans from the United States and Marshall Plan grants helped rebuild and modernize its infrastructure and business practices. Rationing and conscription dragged on into the post war years, and the country suffered one of the worst winters on record.^[67] Nevertheless, morale was boosted by events such as the marriage of Princess Elizabeth in 1947 and the Festival of Britain.^[68]
As the country headed into the 1950s, rebuilding continued and a number of immigrants from the remaining British Empire were invited to help the rebuilding effort. As the 1950s wore on, Britain lost its place as a superpower and could no longer maintain its large Empire. This led to decolonisation, and a withdrawal from almost all of its colonies by 1970. Events such as the Suez Crisis showed that the UK's status had fallen in the world. The 1950s and 1960s were, however, relatively prosperous times after the Second World War, and saw the beginning of a modernisation of the UK, with the construction of its first motorways for example, and also during the 1960s a great cultural movement began which expanded across the world.
The postwar period also witnessed a dramatic rise in the average standard of living,^[69] as characterised by a 40% rise in average real wages from 1950 to 1965.^[70] Those in traditionally poorly-paid semi-skilled and unskilled occupations saw a particularly marked improvement in their wages and living standards. As summed up by R. J. Unstead,
“Opportunities in life, if not equal, were distributed much more fairly than ever before and\ the weekly wage-earner, in particular, had gained standards of living that would have been almost unbelievable in the thirties.”^[71]
The significant real wage increases in the 1950s and '60s led to a rapid increase in working-class consumerism, with British consumer spending rising by 45% between 1952 and 1964.^[72] In addition, entitlement to various fringe benefits was improved. In 1955, 96% of manual labourers were entitled to two weeks’ holiday with pay, compared with 61% in 1951. By the end of the 1950s, Britain had become one of the world's most affluent countries, and by the early Sixties, most Britons enjoyed a level of prosperity that had previously been known only to a small minority of the population.^[73] For the young and unattached, there was, for the first time in decades, spare cash for leisure, clothes, and luxuries. In 1959, Queen magazine declared that “Britain has launched into an age of unparalleled lavish living.” Average wages were high while jobs were plentiful, and people saw their personal prosperity climb even higher. Prime Minister Harold Macmillan claimed that “the luxuries of the rich have become the necessities of the poor.” Levels of disposable income rose steadily,^[74] with the spending power of the average family rising by 50% between 1951 and 1979, and by the end of the Seventies, 6 out of 10 families had come to own a car.^[75]
As noted by Martin Pugh,
“Keynesian economic management enabled British workers to enjoy a golden age of full employment which, combined with a more relaxed attitude towards working mothers, led to the spread of the two-income family. Inflation was around 4 per cent, money wages rose from an average of £8 a week in 1951 to £315 a week by 1961, home-ownership spread from 35 per cent in 1939 to 47 per cent by 1966, and the relaxation of credit controls boosted the demand for consumer goods.”^[76]
Between 1950 and 1970, however, Britain was overtaken by most of the countries of the European Common Market in terms of the number of telephones, refrigerators, television sets, cars, and washing machines per 100 of the population (although Britain remained high in terms of bathrooms and lavatories per 100 people). Although the British standard of living was increasing, the standard of living in other countries increased faster.^[77] In addition, while educational opportunities for working-class people had widened significantly since the end of the Second World War, a number of developed countries came to overtake Britain in some educational indicators. By the early 1980s, some 80% to 90% of school leavers in France and West Germany received vocational training, compared with 40% in the United Kingdom. By the mid-1980s, over 80% of pupils in the United States and West Germany and over 90% in Japan stayed in education until the age of eighteen, compared with barely 33% of British pupils.^[78]

[edit] Empire to Commonwealth

Britain's control over its Empire loosened during the interwar period. Nationalism strengthened in other parts of the empire, particularly in India and in Egypt.
Between 1867 and 1910, the UK had granted Australia, Canada, and New Zealand "Dominion" status (near complete autonomy within the Empire). They became charter members of the British Commonwealth of Nations (known as the Commonwealth of Nations since 1949), an informal but close-knit association that succeeded the British Empire. Beginning with the independence of India and Pakistan in 1947, the remainder of the British Empire was almost completely dismantled. Today, most of Britain's former colonies belong to the Commonwealth, almost all of them as independent members. There are, however, 13 former British colonies, including Bermuda, Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, and others, which have elected to continue rule by London and are known as British Overseas Territories.

[edit] From the Troubles to the Belfast Agreement

Main article: The Troubles

In the 1960s, moderate unionist Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Terence O'Neill tried to reform the system and give a greater voice to Catholics who comprised 40% of the population of Northern Ireland. His goals were blocked by militant Protestants led by the Rev. Ian Paisley.^[79] The increasing pressures from nationalists for reform and from unionists for No surrender led to the appearance of the civil rights movement under figures like John Hume, Austin Currie and others. Clashes escalated out of control as the army could barely contain the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Ulster Defence Association. British leaders feared their withdrawal would give a "Doomsday Scenario," with widespread communal strife, followed by the mass exodus of hundreds of thousands of refugees. London shut down Northern Ireland's parliament and began direct rule. By the 1990s, the failure of the IRA campaign to win mass public support or achieve its aim of a British withdrawal led to negotiations that in 1998 produced the 'Good Friday Agreement'. It won popular support and largely ended the Troubles.^[80]^[81]

[edit] The economy in the late 20th century

Main article: History of the United Kingdom (1945–present)

After the relative prosperity of the 1950s and 1960s, the UK experienced extreme industrial strife and stagflation through the 1970s following a global economic downturn. A strict modernisation of its economy began under the controversial leader Margaret Thatcher during the 1980s, which saw a time of record unemployment as deindustrialisation saw the end of much of the country's manufacturing industries but also a time of economic boom as stock markets became liberalised and State-owned industries became privatised. However the miners' strike of 1984–1985 saw the end of most of the UK's coal mining. The exploitation of North Sea gas and oil brought in substantial tax and export revenues to aid the new economic boom. This was also the time that the IRA took the issue of Northern Ireland to Great Britain, maintaining a prolonged bombing campaign on the British mainland.
After the economic boom of the 1980s a brief but severe recession occurred in 1992 following the economic chaos of Black Wednesday under the John Major government. However the rest of the 1990s saw the beginning of a period of continuous economic growth that lasted over 16 years and was greatly expanded under the New Labour government of Tony Blair following his landslide election victory in 1997. From 1964 up until 1996, income per head had doubled, while ownership of various household goods had significantly increased. By 1996, two-thirds of households owned cars, 82% had central heating, most people owned a VCR, and one in five houses had a home computer.^[82]

[edit] Common Market (EEC), then EU, membership

Britain's wish to join the Common Market (as the European Economic Community was known in Britain) was first expressed in July 1961 by the Macmillan government, was negotiated by Edward Heath as Lord Privy Seal, but was vetoed in 1963 by French President Charles de Gaulle. After initially hesitating over the issue, Harold Wilson's Labour Government lodged the UK's second application (in May 1967) to join the European Community, as it was now called. Like the first, though, it was vetoed by de Gaulle in November that year.^[83]
In 1973, as Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister, Heath negotiated terms for admission and Britain finally joined the Community, alongside Denmark and Ireland in 1973. In opposition, the Labour Party was deeply divided, though its Leader, Harold Wilson, remained in favour. In the 1974 General Election, the Labour Party manifesto included a pledge to renegotiate terms for Britain's membership and then hold a referendum on whether to stay in the EC on the new terms. This was a constitutional procedure without precedent in British history. In the subsequent referendum campaign, rather than the normal British tradition of "collective responsibility", under which the government takes a policy position which all cabinet members are required to support publicly, members of the Government (and the Conservative opposition) were free to present their views on either side of the question. A referendum was duly held on 5 June 1975, and the proposition to continue membership was passed with a substantial majority.^[84]
The Single European Act (SEA) was the first major revision of the 1957 Treaty of Rome. In 1987/7, the Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher enacted it into UK law.^[85]
The Maastricht Treaty transformed the European Community into the European Union. In 1992, the Conservative government under John Major ratified it, against the opposition of his backbench Maastricht Rebels.^[86]
The Treaty of Lisbon introduced many changes to the treaties of the Union. Prominent changes included more qualified majority voting in the Council of Ministers, increased involvement of the European Parliament in the legislative process through extended codecision with the Council of Ministers, eliminating the pillar system and the creation of a President of the European Council with a term of two and a half years and a High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy to present a united position on EU policies. The Treaty of Lisbon will also make the Union's human rights charter, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, legally binding. The Lisbon Treaty also leads to an increase in the voting weight of the UK in the Council of the European Union from 8.4% to 12.4%. In July 2008, the Labour government under Gordon Brown approved the treaty and the Queen ratified it.^[87]

[edit] Devolution for Scotland and Wales

Main articles: Scottish devolution and Welsh devolution

On 11 September 1997, (on the 700th anniversary of the Scottish victory over the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge), a referendum was held on establishing a devolved Scottish Parliament. This resulted in an overwhelming 'yes' vote both to establishing the parliament and granting it limited tax varying powers. Two weeks later, a referendum in Wales on establishing a Welsh Assembly was also approved but with a very narrow majority. The first elections were held, and these bodies began to operate, in 1999. The creation of these bodies has widened the differences between the Countries of the United Kingdom, especially in areas like healthcare.^[88]^[89] It has also brought to the fore the so-called West Lothian question which is a complaint that devolution for Scotland and Wales but not England has created a situation where all the MPs in the UK parliament can vote on matters affecting England alone but on those same matters Scotland and Wales can make their own decisions.

[edit] 21st century

[edit] War in Afghanistan and Iraq, and terrorist attacks at home

In the 2001 General Election, the Labour Party won a second successive victory, though voter turnout dropped to the lowest level for more than 80 years.^[90] Later that year, the September 11th attacks in the United States led to American President George W. Bush launching the War on Terror, beginning with the invasion of Afghanistan aided by British troops in October 2001. Thereafter, with the US focus shifting to Iraq, Tony Blair decided to support the United States in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, despite huge anti-war marches held in London and Glasgow. Forty-six thousand British troops, one-third of the total strength of the British Army's land forces, were deployed to assist with the invasion of Iraq and thereafter British armed forces were responsible for security in southern Iraq in the run-up to the Iraqi elections of January 2005.
The Labour Party won the 2005 general election and a third consecutive term in office despite support dropping to just 35% of those who voted.^[91] However the effects of the War on Terror following 9/11 increased the threat of international terrorists plotting attacks against the UK. On 7 July 2005, a series of four suicide bombings struck London's public transport system during the morning rush hour. The four incidents killed a total of 52 commuters, in addition to the four bombers. Later in 2007, Muslim extremists drove a Jeep Cherokee, loaded with propane canisters, into the glass doors of Glasgow International Airport, setting it ablaze. The intention was to drive the vehicle into the airport and have the car explode inside the terminal, but the car was hindered by security bollards, causing no civilian deaths.

[edit] Nationalist government in Scotland

2007 saw the first ever election victory for the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) in the Scottish Parliament elections. They formed a minority government with plans to hold a referendum before 2011 to seek a mandate "to negotiate with the Government of the United Kingdom to achieve independence for Scotland."^[92] Most opinion polls show minority support for independence, although support varies depending on the nature of the question. The response of the unionist parties was to establish the Calman Commission to examine further devolution of powers,^[93] a position that had the support of the Prime Minister.^[94]
Responding to the findings of the review, the UK government announced on 25 November 2009, that new powers would be devolved to the Scottish Government, notably on how it can raise tax and carry out capital borrowing, and the running of Scottish Parliament elections.^[95] These proposals were detailed in a white paper setting out a new Scotland Bill, to become law before the 2015 Holyrood elections.^[95] The proposal was criticised by the UK parliament opposition parties for not proposing to implement any changes before the next general election. Scottish Constitution Minister Michael Russell criticised the white paper, calling it "flimsy" and stating that their proposed Referendum (Scotland) Bill, 2010, whose own white paper was to be published five days later, would be "more substantial".^[95] According to The Independent, the Calman Review white paper proposals fall short of what would normally be seen as requiring a referendum.^[96]
The 2011 election saw a decisive victory for the SNP which was able to form a majority government intent on delivering a referendum on independence.^[97] Within hours of the victory, Prime Minister David Cameron guaranteed that the UK government would not put any legal or political obstacles in the way of such a referendum.^[98] Some unionist politicians, including former Labour First Minister Henry McLeish, have responded to the situation by arguing that Scotland should be offered 'devo-max' as an alternative to independence,^[99] and First Minister Alex Salmond has signalled his willingness to include it on the referendum ballot paper.^[100]

[edit] The 2008 economic crisis

In the wake of the global economic crisis of 2008, the United Kingdom economy contracted, experiencing negative economic growth throughout 2009. The announcement in November 2008 that the economy had shrunk for the first time since late 1992 brought an end to 16 years of continuous economic growth. Causes included an end to the easy credit of the preceding years, reduction in consumption and substantial depreciation of sterling (which fell 25% against the euro between January 2008 and January 2009),^[101] leading to increased import costs, notably of oil.
On 8 October 2008, the British Government announced a bank rescue package of around £500 billion^[102] ($850 billion at the time). The plan comprised three parts.: £200 billion to be made available to the banks in the Bank of England's Special Liquidity Scheme; the Government was to increase the banks' market capitalization, through the Bank Recapitalization Fund, with an initial £25 billion and another £25 billion to be provided if needed; and the Government was to temporarily underwrite any eligible lending between British banks up to around £250 billion. With the UK officially coming out of recession in the fourth quarter of 2009 - ending six consecutive quarters of economic decline - the Bank of England decided against further quantitative easing.^[103]

[edit] The 2010 coalition government

The United Kingdom General Election of 6 May 2010 resulted in the first hung parliament since 1974, with the Conservative Party winning the largest number of seats, but falling short of the 326 seats required for an overall majority. Following this, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats agreed to form the first coalition government for the UK since the end of the Second World War, with David Cameron becoming Prime Minister and Nick Clegg Deputy Prime Minister.
Under the coalition government, British military aircraft participated in the UN-mandated intervention in the 2011 Libyan civil war, flying a total of 3,000 air sorties against forces loyal to the Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi between March and October 2011.^[104]^[105] 2011 also saw England suffer unprecedented rioting in its major cities in early August, killing five people and causing over £200 million worth of property damage.^[106]
In late October 2011, the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations voted to grant gender equality in the British royal succession, ending the male-preference primogeniture that was mandated by the 1701 Act of Settlement.^[107] The amendment also ended the ban on the monarch marrying a Catholic.

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Historical Places of Usa For Tourism Guide

2012-03-07T06:14:00.002-08:00

Historical Places of Usa:

Arizona

Grand Canyon National Park

California

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park

Hawaii

USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor

Illinois

Indiana

Abraham Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial, Lincoln City

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Mississippi

Missouri

Nevada

Hoover Dam

New Hampshire

Museum of New Hampshire History, Concord

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

South Carolina

Fort Sumter

Ohio

United States Air Force Museum, near Dayton

Oklahoma

Oklahoma City National Memorial

Oregon

Lewis and Clark National and State Historical Parks

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Vermont

Virginia

Washington D.C.

Washington State

Wyoming

Yellowstone National Park

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History of the United States

2012-03-07T06:01:00.000-08:00

The history of the United States traditionally starts with the Declaration of Independence in the year 1776, although its territory was inhabited by Native Americans since prehistoric times and then by European colonists who followed the voyages of Christopher Columbus starting in 1492. The largest settlements were by the English on the East Coast, starting in 1607. By the 1770s the Thirteen Colonies contained two and half million people, were prosperous, and had developed their own political and legal systems. The British government's threat to American self-government led to war in 1775 and the Declaration of Independence in 1776. With major military and financial support from France, the patriots won the American Revolution. In 1789 the Constitution became the basis for the United States federal government, with war hero George Washington as the first president. The young nation continued to struggle with the scope of central government and with European influence, creating the first political parties in the 1790s, and fighting a second war for independence in 1812.
U.S. territory expanded westward across the continent, brushing aside Native Americans and Mexico, and overcoming modernizers who wanted to deepen the economy rather than expand the geography. Slavery of Africans was abolished in the North, but heavy world demand for cotton let it flourish in the Southern states. Through shipping, manufacturing and supplies, major northern cities were closely tied to the Southern cotton economy and slavery as well. For 50 of the 72 years between the election of George Washington and that of Abraham Lincoln, a slaveholder served as president of the United States and, during that period, only slaveholding presidents were re-elected to second terms.^[1]
The 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln, who called for no more expansion of slavery, triggered a crisis as eleven slave states seceded to found the Confederate States of America in 1861. The bloody American Civil War (1861–65) redefined the nation and remains the central iconic event. The South was defeated and, in the Reconstruction era, the U.S. ended slavery, extended rights to African Americans, and readmitted secessionist states with loyal governments. The national government was much stronger, and it now had the explicit duty to protect individuals. Reconstruction was never completed by the US government and left the blacks in a world of Jim Crow political, social and economic inferiority. The entire South remained poor while the North and West grew rapidly.

Thanks to an outburst of entrepreneurship in the North and the arrival of millions of immigrant workers from Europe, the U.S. became the leading industrialized power by 1900. Disgust with corruption, waste, and traditional politics stimulated the Progressive movement, 1890s-1920s, which pushed for reform in industry and politics and put into the Constitution women's suffrage and Prohibition of alcohol (the latter repealed in 1933). Initially neutral in World War I, the U.S. declared war on Germany in 1917, and funded the Allied victory. The nation refused to follow President Woodrow Wilson's leadership and never joined the League of Nations. After a prosperous decade in the 1920s the Wall Street Crash of 1929 marked the onset of the decade-long world-wide Great Depression. A political realignment expelled the Republicans from power and installed Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt and his elaborate and expensive New Deal programs for relief, recovery, and reform. Roosevelt's Democratic coalition, comprising ethnics in the north, labor unions, big-city machines, intellectuals, and the white South, dominated national politics into the 1960s. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the U.S. entered World War II alongside the Allies and helped defeat Nazi Germany in Europe and, with the detonation of newly-invented atomic bombs, Japan in Asia and the Pacific.
The Soviet Union and the U.S. emerged as opposing superpowers after the war and began the Cold War confronting indirectly in an arms race, the Space Race, and intervention in Europe and eastern Asia. Liberalism reflected in the civil rights movement and opposition to war in Vietnam peaked in the 1960s–70s before giving way to conservatism in the early 1980s. The Cold War ended when the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, leaving the U.S. to prosper in the booming Information Age economy that was boosted, at least in part, by information technology. International conflict and economic uncertainty heightened by 2001 with the September 11 attacks and subsequent War on Terror and the late-2000s recession.

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One more hurdle in Afghanistan: Justice

2012-03-07T05:05:00.000-08:00

PAKTIKA PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Ahmad Jan lives just a few miles from the capital of this restive province and its government-sanctioned court.

Even so, if he or his neighbors have a legal matter, they prefer to go to the Taliban or tribal elders for a ruling.

"The Taliban courts don't disturb people and tell them to wait for a long time before hearing a case, or demand bribes," says Jan, an out-of-work laborer. "When you go to the Taliban and ask them for help, they tell you that they need a certain amount of time to study your case, and then they will tell you to come on a special day."

STORY: U.S. drawdown in Afghanistan on target

NATO and Afghan forces have had success this past year pushing Taliban forces out of rural areas, especially in southern Afghanistan. These military wins are considered key milestones on the long and daunting road out of Afghanistan — with a targeted withdrawal of U.S. combat forces by the end of 2013.

But the reluctance of everyday Afghans like Jan to embrace a pillar of the Western-backed government — its judiciary — shows the limits of a decade of U.S. nation-building efforts in a country with deeply rooted traditions and a citizenry with fluid allegiances.

"The limited, unresponsive, and unreliable nature of the Afghan justice system is a central source of Afghans' grievances with their government and has opened the door to Taliban shadow governance," according to the U.S. State Department's Afghanistan and Pakistan Regional Stabilization Strategy. "As long as the population views the government as weak or predatory, Taliban approaches to security and justice will continue to be accepted."

Establishing effective, impartial courts and other government services in rural areas like Paktika is considered critical to shifting Afghan loyalty to the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai. Coupled with the buildup of Afghan army and police forces, the Obama administration hopes that Afghans will be able to maintain security in regions cleared of Taliban by NATO troops in time for the U.S. exit.

But the uneven court system is just one of the many obstacles facing allied forces. Taliban loyalists remain in hide-outs and might be simply waiting out the U.S. withdrawal. Pakistan's military has not moved against militant groups, such as the Haqqani network, which is based on its soil and causing chaos south of Kabul. Doubts have risen about the vetting of Afghan security forces, some of whom killed NATO troops following the accidental burning of some Qurans that led to violent protests over the past couple of weeks.

Yet the justice system is still held out as perhaps the best hope for stabilizing the Afghanistan government while depriving the Taliban of a necessary road back to power.

The Taliban's way

Afghanistan's court system had for centuries consisted of tribal elders hearing complaints and making swift decisions. The rulings were based partly in Islamic law and also Pashtunwali, a code of conduct developed by the indigenous people of Afghanistan known as the Pashtuns. The law became much harsher in the mid-1990s after a group of Pashtun clerics trained in fundamentalist Islamic schools in Pakistan emerged as victors in a civil war following the collapse of a Marxist government in Kabul. Known as the Taliban, the clerics brought order to strife-ridden parts of the country but under a mix of Pashtunwali and strict Islamic law, or sharia.

"We cannot change the Taliban," says Sami Yusufzai, an independent analyst in Islamabad, Pakistan. "The Taliban is a really religious force. They don't believe they can adjust with society."

The world first learned of the harshness of the Taliban's sharia system when a secret video was smuggled out of the country in 1999 showing a woman dragged before 30,000 people at a soccer match and shot in the head for adultery. Reports from Amnesty International and others said children were being forced to testify against their parents for moral crimes, and then made to witness their executions.

"Administration of justice was swift and harsh," according to the International Crisis Group, an independent organization that advises the United Nations on conflict resolution.

New crimes included not wearing a full burqa or a full beard, listening to music, sending girls to school and having sex outside of marriage — the penalty for which could be death by stoning.

Rights groups — having documented these abuses for years — saw the overthrow of the Taliban as an opportunity for an impartial and fair justice system. Indeed, the U.S. military's counterinsurgency doctrine called for the creation of institutions that would address people's grievances and thus turn their allegiance to the pro-Western government of Afghanistan.

Since the regime overthrow in 2001, the United States has spent $70 billion on the reconstruction of Afghanistan and developing government institutions. Hundreds of millions of dollars have gone toward establishing provisional courts in cities and providing training for lawyers and judges. The fiscal year 2011 request alone set aside $250 million to improve the justice system, but problems persist.

"Despite the significant resources devoted to the security sector and a greater focus on the police in recent years, the U.S. and its NATO allies have failed to help build a functioning justice system that can enforce the rule of law," according to a 2011 report by the International Crisis Group. "Strengthening formal judicial institutions is at least if not even more vital to restoring state legitimacy as building the national security forces."

Where the U.S. can't lead

Paktika has fewer than 10 judges when it needs closer to 70, according to the International Security Assistance Force, the U.S.-led command that oversees military operations in Afghanistan. Efforts are underway to bring in more, but in their absence even locals not loyal to the Taliban will use its expedient but controversial courts.

"They've got to come up with a way that's acceptable to them to resolve conflict," said U.S. Army Maj. Eric Noble, the 172ⁿ^d Infantry Brigade's judge advocate in Paktika province. "We're not looking for the U.S. solution to Afghan conflict resolution and rule of law. We're looking at what do they find as acceptable."

Many people in rural areas like Paktika have shunned government justice because they consider it unfair and corrupt. According to the State Department's strategy report, the Karzai government needs to create "predictable and fair dispute resolution mechanisms to eliminate the vacuum that the Taliban have exploited with their own brutal form of justice."

But half the Afghan population sees courts as the most corrupt government institution in the country, according to a 2010 Integrity Watch survey of Afghan perceptions of corruption. Only two-thirds of Afghans said they have access to courts, and a full quarter said they "felt deprived of justice" because of corruption and a system fed by bribes.

Mohammed Wali, a student in Kabul, says he wound up in the court system after he got into a fight with a cousin. He said his cousin took his case to the district courts and bribed the police to have Wali, his father, and one of his uncles arrested. The men then had to pay a $250 bribe to be released, an enormous amount considering per capita income is $502 per year.

"We cannot say that there is no corruption in the courts and justice system," said Abdul Wakail Omari, the head of public affairs for the Afghan Supreme Court. "We cannot deny it, but the problems are not as much as people are saying."

Over the past 10 years, Omari says, 50 to 60 judges have been arrested and disbarred for taking bribes, along with dozens of other court employees, prompting the formation of a special commission to investigate corruption.

The State Department agrees that courts in the capitals of many Afghanistan provinces have improved, with better-trained judges and lawyers who do not demand bribes.

But most of Afghan justice takes place not in the cities but in the hinterlands, where tribal elders oversee laws and where Taliban insurgents continue to mete out sentences in villages where Afghan and U.S. troops lack a strong presence. So the State Department has been focusing on improving these informal courts convened by tribal elders.

Even the most optimistic analysts won't dispute that after more than a decade in Afghanistan, the allied-directed court system is at best a work in progress. At worst, experts say, it's a serious impediment to the survival of the current government.

"You would not find any other example in Afghan history of a court system that is as corrupt and untrustworthy as the courts are right now," said Hassan Walasmal, an independent analyst in Kabul.

One obstacle to improving rural justice, though, is that well-educated lawyers and judges are seldom interested in moving to rural areas where Taliban justice has held sway. The pay is poor; running water and smooth dirt roads are rare. Lawyers who take the postings must often work with illiterate government officials and, in a place like Paktika, insecurity and violence.

Informal justice has often arisen as a concern for human rights groups. The United States Institute for Peace points out that judges sometimes settle matters by awarding women as compensation or forcing them to marry. Women are also excluded from decision-making. And justice is often not final, as shoddy record-keeping means the same disputes can resurface.

"Traditions control life in Afghanistan more than the laws or rules," says Rohullah Qarizada, head of Afghanistan's Bar Association. But locals say tribal justice is improving.

"There is a change in their decisions, and now tribal courts mostly fine people money," said Nadir Khan Katawazai, a member of parliament from Paktika province. "These tribal justice systems get good results, and it doesn't create problems that could last well into the future."

Amnesty International's Asia Pacific director, Sam Zarifi, said the Taliban is already taking advantage of power vacuums in areas like Kunduz province, with disturbing results.

A cellphone video last year in Kunduz showed a woman standing in a 4-foot hole in the ground, her face hidden by a blue burqa. A Taliban leader read off the charge of adultery, and men then rushed forward and pelted her with rocks. After a large rock hit her head she fell over, her burqa red with blood. A man then walked up and shot her with an AK-47.

"Anyone who knows about Islam knows that stoning is in the Quran, and that it is Islamic law," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid explained at the time. "There are people who call it inhuman, but in doing so they insult the prophet. They want to bring foreign thinking to this country."

www.see4ever.webs.com

Single Mom Makes $7,487/Mo Without Selling Anything

2012-03-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

Kelly Richards of Brooklyn, NY was tired of worrying all the time where the next dollar is coming from. Life seemed merely a succession of bills and worrying about how to pay them. One late night while surfing the internet, her long hours of research had finally paid off and she discovered her tight lip secret to getting a break in life and beating the recession. She was finally able to provide for her three children while staying home with them.
I read Kelly's blog last month and decided to feature her story in our local job report. In our phone interview she told me her amazing story. "I basically make about $6,000-$8,000 a month online. It's enough to comfortably replace my old jobs income, especially considering I only work about 10-13 hours a week from home.
Working online has been a big break for Kelly, who struggled for months going from one dead end job to another. "I lost my job shortly after the recession hit, I needed reliable income, I was not interested in the "get rich quick" scams you see all over the internet. Those are all pyramid scams or stuff where you have to sell to your friends and family. I just needed a legitimate way to earn a living for me and my family. The best part of working online is that I am always home with the kids, I save a lot of money."

"I basically make $6,000-$8,000 a month online."
- Kelly Richards

I asked her about how she discovered her tight lip secret. "Honestly, it is easier than you would think, all I did was fill out a simple form to get front line access to the Home Profit System. I got the instructions kit and within a month I was making over $4,000 a month. The instructions are pretty simple, I am not a computer whiz, but I can use the internet. I fill forms and surf sites, I don't even have to sell anything and nobody has to buy anything. It's as easy as being on facebook."

Online giant Google, worth over 100 billion dollars is the most used search engine and internet market place. Google is the #1 internet site in the world, over 50 percent of all internet traffic flows through them everyday. Using Google and the other search engines to make money online has been a eye-opener for Kelly. There are plenty of scams on the internet claiming you can make $50,000 a month, but that is exactly what they are scams. From my conversation with Kelly, "I am making a good salary from home, which is amazing, under a year ago I was jobless in a horrible economy. I thank God every day I was blessed with these instructions and now it's my duty to pay it forward and share it with you."
Quickly, Kelly Richards was able to use the simple Home Profit System to make it out of the recession.
www.see4ever.webs.com

Hey It's OK...

2012-03-03T00:44:00.000-08:00

To buy a new album purely for two songs, which you repeat over and over (and over) again

...to be that person who laughs way too loudly during speeches

...to take a break from painful brow-plucking and call it your 'spring 2011 catwalk thing'

...to be vegetarian 99% of the time. What happens at 2am stays between you and that, er, bacon sandwich

...if the 'emergency' that made you late for your friend had less to do with an actual emergency and more to do with getting your roots done

...if the only added 'extra' you use on your phone is the calculator

...to tell your friend that her boyfriend is horrible, if he is

...if your biggest achievement on a hungover Sunday is having a shower. Ten minutes' standing upright = Serious. Effort

...to only delete a guy's number if you know you have it written down somewhere. Or memorised

www.see4ever.webs.com

Celebrities At Fashion Week AW12

2012-03-03T00:08:00.005-08:00

A perfectly manicured, tousle-headed Kristen Stewart took her place next to Charlotte Gainsbourg and Anna Wintour on Balenciaga’s front row wearing a printed silk top and high waisted leather trousers. It’s the Twilight star’s first on-duty appearance for the label since being named the face of its perfume – nice work if you can get it!

www.see4ever.webs.com

Monkees Singer Davy Jones Dead at 66 From Heart Attack

2012-03-01T00:28:00.001-08:00

Davy Jones -- lead singer of The Monkees -- died after suffering a heart attack this morning ... TMZ has learned.

An official from the medical examiner's office for Martin County, Florida confirmed with TMZ they received a call from Martin Memorial Hospital informing them that Jones had passed away.

We're told Davy suffered the heart attack at a ranch near his Florida home, where he was visiting his horses. Davy began experiencing distress while he was sitting in his car, and that's where a ranch hand found him.

The ranch hand told Sheriff's detectives ... the singer began to complain that he was not feeling well and was having trouble breathing. Paramedics were called and Jones was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. Authorities say there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.

Jones is survived by his wife Jessica and 4 daughters from previous marriages. He was 66-years-old. Jones was married to Jessica Pacheco -- his 3rd wife.

Jones joined The Monkees in 1965 ... along with Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork ... and together they churned out a bunch of hugely popular songs including 3 number 1 hits -- "Daydream Believer," "Last Train to Clarksville" and "I'm a Believer."

The group was initially cast by TV producers who wanted to create a scripted series about an actual rock n' roll band. But the group exploded, and Jones in particular became a Beatles-caliber heartthrob.

The Monkees songs were covered by huge bands like Coldpay, and Smash Mouth's version of "I'm a Believer" was famously featured in "Shrek."

Davy's last performance was on February 19th in Oklahoma -- the night before, he performed "Daydream Believer" and "It's Nice to Be with You" at the BB King Blues Club in NYC ... and he looked totally fine (video below).

How to decor your entrance door

2012-02-29T02:36:00.000-08:00

The entrance door of a house matters the most when you are doing the interior. The entrance can be the most important part of the home in a way that it’s the first part of your home that anybody sees when they come over. The entrance door needs to go out with the main theme of the house. If it is a huge mansion then the entrance needs to be grand and the door needs to be huge as well.

The exterior entrance matters a lot while you are doing the décor of your entrance. Depending on the theme of your house you can put plants outside they give a very welcoming feeling to the house. Secondly you can put different things outside such as lights and lamps. You can also get wall hangings which look incredible on the door and around it.

While doing the entrance doors what you can do it that you can put a console inside the house as soon as you enter. You can also put decoration pieces on the console or photo frames also look lovely. They also show your personality. On the walls around the entrance you can put up your favorite paintings or the ones you think will go with the theme. Framed mirrors also look incredible at the entrance door.

You can also put a flower arrangement on the console. Make sure you do an elegant décor of your entrance door as it will have a huge impact on the entire décor of the house. Also you can place a nice carpet at the entrance to give a warm and welcoming feeling inside the entrance door.

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[edit] Postwar: Age of Austerity

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[edit] The economy in the late 20th century