A Level Government and Politics Bridging Work

YOUR NAME:

COMPLETE YOUR WORK IN THIS BOOKLET – THERE IS SPACE AT THE BACK. IF YOU NEED EXTRA PAPER, USE YOUR OWN AND ATTACH IT BEFORE YOU HAND IN THE WORK TO MR ALDRIDGE/MR GILLESPIE. ______

As strange as it might sound, the purpose of your Government and Politics bridging work is not to begin covering the content you will be studying in Year 12. Instead, it is to help you to start thinking like an A Level Politics student should, by utilising the wide range of resources available to us as students of politics today, and developing key skills.

You should see Government and Politics as a subject that is constantly discussed and debated, and staying up to date with what’s going on in the UK and the US is essential to succeeding at A Level. Hopefully these tasks will help you to start to do that!

TASK 1: KEEPING UP WITH NEWS

It is hugely important that you stay up to date with the news. Below are a few things you should consider doing to help you to do this.

• Download a newspaper app and get into the habit of keeping up to date every day with breaking news. Many newspapers use a paywall but some (like The Guardian) are still free. Even paywall websites often allow a couple of free articles per week. The BBC news website is certainly free and is also an essentials source of news. • Newspapers often have their own political slants which may affect what you like to read. The Guardian tends to be more left-wing, whereas the Mail, Telegraph and Express are right-wing. The Times is somewhere around the middle. Try to avoid tabloids like the Sun and Mirror at least for academic study! • Twitter is the most effective way of keeping up with the news – if you have a Twitter page, begin to follow political journalists as they often use this medium to break new stories. If you don’t have a Twitter page, consider setting one up to help with your Politics studies (you don’t need to tweet!). • Below are some useful journalists and commentators to follow from a wide array of publications and political views: Laura Kuenssberg Robert Peston Alex Wickham Julia Hartley Brewer Page 1 of 19

John Crace Marina Hyde Jonathan Freedland Dan Hodges Owen Jones Ash Sarkar Marie Le Conte Hadley Freeman Lewis Goodall

TASK 2: PODCAST REVIEW

Select one episode of a political podcast to listen to. There are hundreds of excellent podcast series available on Politics. Below are a few, but you are welcome to choose a different one of your own.

• The Political Party with Matt Forde • Reflections with Peter Hennessy • Political Thinking with Nick Robinson • The Guardian Politics Weekly • The Economist Radio • Reasons to Be Cheerful with Ed Miliband • Pod Save America • Hacks On Tap with Axe and Murphy • KCRW’s Left, Right and Center

When you’ve listened to the episode, write a summary of it. Within this, consider the following:

• Your thoughts on the episode – what topic it covered and what specific aspects of that topic it focused on • Your own opinion of the topic covered (ie: Brexit, Donald Trump) and the argument put forward • The tone of the podcast and how it conveyed the political issue • How effective you felt the episode was • Whether podcasts are effective ways of relating politics to wider audiences

You should aim to write at least a page of A4.

TASK 3: ANALYSING POLITICAL OPINION Read the two articles attached about the Trump impeachment, and highlight key points as you go. When you’ve finished, look to make notes on the two articles under the following headings.

• What are the key messages of each article? Include at least 4 points here • What opinion does each article have of the Trump impeachment process and how do you know? Refer to specific phrases from each column here • What does this tell us about studying politics? Do articles containing opinion help or hinder us?

In total, notes for both articles should amount to about a page of A4

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TASK 4: WRITING A POLITICAL ESSAY

Essay Title:

“The Conservative Party won the 2019 UK General Election due to the failings of the Labour Party” To what extent do you agree?

A political essay should include:

1. A very short introduction that states clearly whether you agree with the question or not 2. AT LEAST TWO – and USUALLY THREE paragraphs. Each paragraph will have a clear theme (I.E. Labour failings) 3. In each paragraph you should follow this structure: • Outline theme • Make a point that supports the theme • Then add an example that backs up the point • Then explain WHY the point was so important. “This was important because…” • Then look to state why perhaps the theme was LESS IMPORTANT “However perhaps Labour failings were less significant because…” • Add an example to back up your however point • Then explain why the point was perhaps less important

THIS WILL MEAN YOU ARE ANALYSING IN EACH PARAGRAPH!

4. You end your essay with a short conclusion that sums up what you feel was the most important reason for the Conservative election victory and why you think as you do.

Here is part of a paragraph to give you an idea as to how it will look:

How far has the modern Conservative Party retained basic conservative principles?

One way that the modern party is still traditional is in its continued support for Tradition and Preservation. Traditional conservatives highlight the need to support traditional institutions such as the monarchy, church, marriage and political institutions. The Modern Party still supports this to a great extent. This has been seen recently in the Parties opposition to attempts to change the voting system for UK General elections from FPTP to AV in the Referendum of 2011 as well as their campaign to persuade the people Scotland to reject independence in 2014. Both of these policies clearly highlight the support of tradition and traditional institutions (namely retaining the current voting system as well as keeping the United Kingdom in one piece). However, in other ways the modern party seems to have slightly stepped away from tradition in other areas. For example, in 2013 the Party Leadership introduced legislation in support of Gay Marriage which clearly counters the idea of traditional values and perhaps suggests that in some ways the Party is less traditional to an extent as it has been seen to be supporting alternative lifestyles rather than traditional family values

Potential paragraph themes for your essay:

1. Failures of the Labour Party (ie: Corbyn, the manifesto, Brexit referendum) 2. The strengths of the Conservative Party (simple message, Brexit) 3. Other Factors (Brexit could come in here as well, as could a paragraph on Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn (i.e. the party leaders or something on the other parties)

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There are some resources for you to use at the back - you can also find other information that might help you!

What to do now:

1. Read each article and highlight key points 2. Re-read the articles and make notes that link to each section in the planning grid (final page) 3. Complete essay planning sheet 4. Write the essay

RESOURCES

Task 3 – Article 1 from National File LIBERAL TEARS: Leftists Rage Online Over Failed Impeachment Of President Donald Trump

Biden voters have taken to Twitter en masse to express their frustrations with the Senate's decision to acquit the former President.

by ANDREW WHITE

February 13, 2021

Liberals all across the internet are expressing their grievances after the Senate voted 57-43 to acquit President Donald Trump from his second impeachment trial.

President Trump was the first President in the history of the United States to be impeached and acquitted twice. He is also the first President in history to be tried by the Senate after already leaving office, a manoeuvre that many argued was unconstitutional.

Following the final Senate vote, liberals were quick to take to the internet to rage over the latest Trump victory.

One notable account on Twitter known as “Biden Voters Posting Their L’s Online” tweeted out screenshots of liberals on Reddit complaining about the impeachment failure.

Some liberals are so upset that they are utilizing the notorious “all caps rage” format to drive their point across.

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However, it is unclear how acquitting the former President of impeachment charges relating to the Capitol Hill incident on January 6 has anything to do with white supremacy. That has not stopped liberals from making similar false claims online.

The Washington Post’s Karen Attiah, the so-called NABJ “Journalist of the Year,” tweeted this:

Ironically, liberals were counting on Senator Mitch McConnell to vote to convict President Trump, given that the Republican senator played a major role in launching the impeachment procedures.

Senator Mitch McConnell reportedly utilized the impeachment process as means to pressure President Trump to not pardon Edward Snowden or Julian Assange in the final days of his term. One could argue that this decision to vote for Trump’s acquittal could partially be because the looming threat of a Snowden or Assange pardon is no longer on the table, now that Biden has assumed the Presidency.

Among the overwhelming majority of Democrats in the Senate, 7 establishment Republicans sided with their Democrat counterparts to convict President Trump. As National File reported, the 7 Republican senators include: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT)

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE)

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC)

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA)

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)

President Trump released a statement regarding the historic acquittal through the Office of the Former President, as National File reported. “I want to first thank my team of dedicated lawyers and others for their tireless work upholding justice and defending truth,” wrote President Trump. “My deepest thanks as well to all of the United States Senators and Members of Congress who stood proudly for the Constitution we all revere and for the sacred legal principles at the heart of our country.”

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Article 2 from Fox News

Senate impeachment trial was 'dramatic success' despite Trump acquittal: Raskin

Lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin touted the number of Republicans who voted against Trump

By Evie Fordham | Fox News

Democrats touted the Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump as a big win despite his acquittal. "It was a dramatic success in historical terms," lead impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "It was the largest impeachment conviction vote in U.S. History."

DEMS 'CAVED' ON WITNESSES IN TRUMP IMPEACHMENT TRIAL, DRAWING CONDEMNATION FROM LEFT AND RIGHT "It was by far the most bipartisan majority that's ever assembled in the Senate to convict a president, which has traditionally been a kind of partisan thing in American history," Raskin continued. "We got seven Republicans, and if you look at the ten Republicans in the House who joined us, it was by far the most bipartisan decision and a complete repudiation of the president's conduct."

Raskin and his fellow Democrat impeachment managers on Saturday drew harsh criticism from both the left and the right after their stark reversal on whether to call witnesses in Trump's Senate trial. Critics said Democrats "caved" for having a press release from Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., read into the record after initially asking to depose her -- a move that could have potentially brought in many more witness and extended the trial by weeks.

"We were going to proceed to do it," Raskin said. "Then the Republicans stipulated to allow the evidence to come into the record. You asked about some other people who might have gotten up there and lied. We don't know what Kevin McCarthy would have said."

"We could have had 1,000 witnesses, but that could not have overcome the kinds of silly arguments that people like McConnell and [Sen. Shelley Moore] Capito were hanging their hats on," he continued.

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REPUBLICANS WHO VOTED TO CONVICT TRUMP FACE BACKLASH AT HOME Raskin's fellow House impeachment manager, Democratic Delegate Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands, echoed his sentiment during an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union." "Just so the American public is aware, witnesses in a Senate hearing do not come and stand before the senators and make any statements. It's a deposition. It's videotaped and that is brought before the Senate," Plaskett said. "So I know that people are feeling a lot of angst and believe that maybe if we had this the senators would have done what we wanted, but, listen, we didn't need more witnesses, we needed more senators with spines."

Plaskett, a former Republican, accused Trump of trying to "assassinate" former Vice President Mike Pence.

"We knew that these were hostile witnesses. They were not going to testify," she said. "Has anybody even heard from Vice President Pence? The man tried to assassinate him and he still hasn't come forward."

Plaskett also told CNN's Jake Tapper that she was aware some Republican senators may have pulled their "guilty" votes if witnesses had been called and the trial had been extended.

"I heard from a Democratic senator that there was word going around that if you guys don't wrap you're going to lose senators, like Richard Burr from North Carolina," Tapper said.

"We heard that," Plaskett responded.

"Was that part of the decision-making?" Tapper asked.

"No, I think we wanted to get in what we wanted and we did," Plaskett said. "We believed that we proved the case. We proved the elements of an article of impeachment. It's clear that these individuals were hardened, that they did not want to let the president be convicted or disqualified. They are afraid of his base. They are afraid of losing power, of losing their seats."

Task 4: Article 1 from The Guardian

Five reasons the Tories won the election

A focused campaign, the promise to ‘get Brexit done’ and playing it safe helped Tories to victory Page 7 of 19

Rowena Mason

Boris Johnson took a huge gamble by calling a December general election for the first time in almost a century. But he was celebrating on Friday morning after the Conservatives scored one of their biggest general election victories in recent years, telling party activists: “We broke the gridlock, we ended the deadlock, we smashed the road block.” The prime minister’s victory rests on a number of factors, which included:

Brexit

Boris Johnson’s message that he would “get Brexit done”, repeated over and over again, appears to have resonated with a public weary of the lack of resolution over the UK leaving the EU.

He stressed throughout the campaign that he would sort out the issue quickly with his “oven-ready” deal, even though the UK is heading for years of trade negotiations and uncertainty at the end of next year when the transition period comes to an end. And he repeatedly stressed the prospect of a Labour government leading to another referendum.

'We smashed the roadblock': Boris Johnson's election victory speech in full – video

Simplicity of message

The Tories’ message was much more focused than Labour’s. Johnson focused relentlessly on the “get Brexit done” slogan as well as pledges about more police officers and nurses. In contrast, Labour had a multiplicity of huge policy offers from mass nationalisation to free broadband and compensating women born in the 1950s for the rise in the pension age. Ultimately, concentrating on a small number of core pledges seems to have given Johnson the cut-through he needed.

A safety-first strategy

The Conservatives launched a manifesto that was short on eye-catching policy offers, beyond a small tax cut to national insurance and a very modest increase in public spending. The party was keen to avoid the disaster of Theresa May’s 2017 manifesto when she unveiled an unpopular policy on social care that was soon dubbed a “death tax” by Labour. This time, the party steered clear of any controversial pledges. The manifesto was so cautious it even contained promises not to do things, such as a pledge not to bring back fox-hunting.

Labour’s weakness

The Labour vote dropped dramatically in many areas. In some places, the Conservative vote did not go up hugely but Johnson’s candidate came out on top because traditional Labour voters appeared to have stayed at home or voted for the Brexit party. Defeated MPs have variously blamed the party’s Brexit position and Corbyn’s leadership for the suppression of the Labour vote.

Boris Johnson

Candidates said throughout the election that while Jeremy Corbyn was unpopular on the doorstep, there was little enthusiasm for Johnson either. However, he was clearly a stronger candidate throughout the campaign than May in 2017, submitting to two head-to-head leadership debates in which he made no major slip-ups. The gaffe-prone prime minister also stayed on message until almost the end of the campaign, when he was pilloried for refusing to look at a picture of a small boy on a hospital floor and hiding in a fridge to escape a TV interviewer. Throughout, his leadership ratings were substantially higher than Corbyn’s

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Task 4: Article 2 from BBC

Durham North West: The 'no-hope' seat the Tories won By Francesca Williams and Lucy Moody BBC News

14 December 2019

Among the Conservative Party's haul of astonishing election scalps was Durham North West - a seat the party was not targeting and one it once discounted as impossible to win. What happened?

There are safe seats where favoured candidates can be assured of an easy victory.

And then there are places where rookies have to do their best, hoping to prove their worth for a better seat next time. For the Conservatives, Durham North West was always the latter.

Labour since 1950, it was where Theresa May was sent to cut her parliamentary teeth. As expected, she lost to Labour incumbent Hilary Armstrong by a margin of nearly 14,000 votes.

Richard Holden's victory on Thursday was less dramatic. He beat Labour's Laura Pidcock - once tipped as potential party leader or, at least, successor as deputy - by a more modest 1,144.

The table below shows the full result.

Vote share Party % share

CON Conservative 41.9% LAB Labour 39.5% BRX The Brexit Party 6.7% LD Liberal Democrat 5.9% IND Independent 2.6% GRN Green 2.5% Vote share change since 2017 Lost

Gained

CON Conservative+7.5Gained BRX The Brexit Party+6.7Gained IND Independent+2.6Gained GRN Green+1.4Gained LD Liberal Democrat-1.2Lost LAB Labour-13.3Lost

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So, what happened?

Jeremy Corbyn did, thinks Anne-Marie Kennedy, back home visiting her mother in Lanchester.

"[He] now needs to go," she says. "He needs to get someone in the Labour Party that can run the party properly."

Her mother, Pauline Harrison, is equally unimpressed with the Labour leader, who she believes does not want to unify people or get Brexit done.

"The result is brilliant," she says.

But, if Boris Johnson might find these comments reassuring, Mrs Kennedy has a message for him too.

"I think, Boris, you need to be true to your word for the people," she says.

Matthew Young, from Consett which saw its steelworks close a year into Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, says Brexit was "the crux" of the election.

"There's a man in power now who has promised to do that and I hope he does it," he says.

But Baroness Hilary Armstrong, who held Durham North West from 1987 until she stood down at the 2010 election, does not believe this was the deciding factor.

She thinks voters were more concerned about Labour's "competence".

"They quite liked some of the promises but they never believed we could deliver them," she says.

"Ordinary working people feel let down. They just feel that the Labour Party has lost touch with them - and I agree with them."

Even the constituency's first Conservative MP, Richard Holden, sees his win in terms of a Labour loss.

"This wasn't a result which was really even about me," he says.

"This was, particularly from a lot of Labour voters spoken to on the doorstep, a real rejection of the way Jeremy Corbyn has been leading the Labour Party."

Among the voters who are shocked at the result, there are plenty looking forward to an emboldened Boris Johnson government.

Brenda Spelman, from Medomsley, is "delighted" with the Conservative win.

"Onwards and upwards," she says. "It can only get better. I think under Labour it would have got worse."

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Task 4: Article 3 – follow this link for a visual guide

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2019/dec/13/boris-johnson-achieves-landslide- victory-visual-guide

Task 4: Article 4 from The Daily Express

John Curtice reveals why the Tories stormed to victory – and what Labour did wrong

POLLING guru John Curtice has revealed why Tory leader Boris Johnson scooped the biggest election victory since Margaret Thatcher in 1987 and how Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suffered losses worse than his left-wing hero Michael Foot in 1983 - and it has everything to do with Britain’s geography.

Mr Curtice, a frequent pollster in the run-up to yesterday’s general election ballot, gave his in-depth analysis to UK think tank The UK in a Changing Europe and said the swing of the Labour heartlands was also down to Brexit, voted for overwhelmingly in the north - and subsequently rejected by Mr Corbyn’s remain party. He said: “Labour’s vote fell on average by more than 10 points in the most pro-Leave areas. “Its vote fell by more than six points in the most pro-Remain ones.

“This pattern had a clear impact on the geography of the election.

“Support for the Conservatives rose by four points in the Midlands, the North East and Yorkshire – the regions of England that voted most heavily in favour of Leave.

“In contrast, the party’s vote fell back by a point in London and the South East.

“And in Scotland, the party’s vote fell by as much as four points.

“Conversely, Labour saw its vote fall by 12 to 13 points in the North East and Yorkshire, while it fell by only six or seven points in London and the South of England.

“The result also saw Labour lose ground heavily in its traditional working-class heartlands.

“The bond between Labour and its traditional working-class base is now badly strained.

“In the EU referendum working-class voters voted heavily to leave the EU.

“These voters had already swung quite strongly to the Conservatives in 2017. Labour tried to retain their support – remaining ambiguous about whether it was a pro-Remain or a pro-Leave party.

“But this election simply saw the pro-Conservative trend continue yet further.

“As a result, Labour dramatically lost many a seat in the North of England and the Midlands – places such as Ashfield, Bishop Auckland, and Workington – that had never previously elected a Conservative MP in a general election.”

This afternoon, Mr Johnson also thanked Remain voters for supporting him in the polls yesterday during a statement outside Downing Street after he won 365 seats in a huge 80-seat majority.

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Boris Johnson vowed to repay Brexiteers trust after being re-elected as Prime Minister with a 365-seat Government. The Prime Minister went on to plead with Remainers to “find closure” with Brexit in a hope to unite the UK.

In a statement, Mr Johnson said: “This morning I went to Buckingham Palace and I am forming a new Government and people will arrive at Westminster to form a new Parliament.

“I am proud to say that members of our One Nation Government, a people’s Government, will set out plans for constituencies who have never returned a Conservative MP for 100 years.

“We will have an overwhelming mandate because of this election to get Brexit done and we will honour that mandate by January 31.

“In this moment of national resolution I want to speak to those who voted for us for the first time.

“They have waivered over the ballot and they heard the voices of their parents and their grandparents whispering in their ears.

“I say thank you for the trust you have placed in us and in me.”

Mr Johnson urged “everyone to find closure and to let the healing begin”, adding that “the overwhelming priority of the British people is that we should focus above all, on the NHS”.

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YOUR WORK

Task 2: Podcast Review

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Task 3: Analysing political opinion

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Task 4: Writing a political essay

Planning grid

Introduction argument:

Theme Point and examples Explanation However, and Explanation examples

Failures of the Some parts of their Labour manifesto were seen campaign as very popular with the public. For example: The nationalisation of the failing railway system

Strengths of Their manifesto the focused upon a few Conservative simple messages. campaign For example…

Overall judgement:

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Your answer:

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