The Looking Glass

HAMISH STARLING Français English Le concept de «l'exception culturelle française», pose une question qui se soulève quasi continuellement en sujet de contention parmi les académiques et les hommes politiques internationaux. Pour le gouvernement c'est une ressource critique dans la lutte contre l'américanisation du pays, et dans la protection des artistes, réalisateurs, et auteurs qui créent le tissu culturel de l'Hexagone. Toutefois, pour les anglophones notamment, c'est une attaque perpétuelle envers l'expansion de leurs idées et de leurs œuvres en France. Dans cet essai je me pencherai sur la question de si la politique de l'exception culturelle est justifiée, et en considérant plusieurs exemples de son implantation actuelle, on verra son impact sur les arts issus de la France. Je conclurai en faisant une recommandation pour l'avenir de la politique, et comment on devrait continuer à poursuivre ses objectifs. Tout d'abord, comment défi...

SUBHAN ASLAM The basis for much of modern pirate literature comes from the 1724 collection of biographies A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates written by Captain Charles Johnson. Novelists such as Robert Louis Stevenson and J.M Barrie both cite Johnson’s work by name as a major influence in their creations of Treasure Island and Peter Pan respectively. [01] His influence is undeniable, as the Naval Historian David Cordingley confirms: “It has been said, and there seems no reason to question this, that Captain Johnson created the modern conception of pirates” [02]. Many notable characters, however, when gaining their notoriety become caricatures of themselves; time and popular culture often remove layers of nuance. Captain Charles Johnson’s pirates are no different. Perhaps the most famous pirate in the Western world is the English pirate Edward Teach, who on his ship Queen Anne’s Revenge was more commonly known as Blackbeard: a pirate greatly ...

[This essay is from the school's Witold Pilecki history essay competition in the KS4 category, where the prompt  was: 'History is shaped just as much by chance as it is by long-term social and economic trends’ To what extent do you agree with this claim? In contrast to Esa Brister's classics-inspired interpretation of the topic, here Adam investigates the example laid down by Russian history. ] ADAM HASAN The Tsarist period was a time frame (1462-1917) in which Russia was ruled by Tsars of the House of Romanov, who believed - and made sure that it was believed - that they validated the theory of the Divine Right of Kings over their people. After over four hundred years of absolute sovereignty, the revolution of 1917 deposed the Tsar, Nicholas II, from power and thereby ended the reign of the Tsars. In this essay I will argue that although poor decisions and unlucky happenstance played a part in the revolution, the poor social and economic conditions of the time seeded the...

SANKIT SUCHAK Every country has a type of economy, be it market, mixed or command, and each one of these economies has a different level of government involvement.  In a free market economy there is little to no government involvement; the economic fluctuations are primarily based on supply and demand. One benefit to a market economy is that there is a lot of competition so prices are continually dropping as firms compete to find ways to improve their technology and efficiency, and to increase incentives for consumers to buy their products. In a purely economic system, consumers care about two things: prices and quality. This means that in a free market companies lower their prices and try to make the best quality products available at the lowest possible prices to satisfy consumers' needs. Market economy is based on the idea that people make their own choice about what products or services to buy, so in theory there should be no waste as producers are producing the goods that cons...