Slam

These questions are related to the novel called, Slam, written by Nick Hornby (1957-)

Why does he hope it could be anything?

Sam hopes that Alicia is crying because of something completely different than a positive pregnancy test. I think he hopes that, because he's just not ready for a baby, and to enter the parenthood at the age 16. 

What is not quite right about what Alicia is saying?

I don't think that Alicia is very wrong,I think she is just confused. She says two different things. Alicia wants Sam to stay with her, and that they figure out everything together. "We. When we are going to tell my mum and dad." She obviously doesn't want to be alone in the whole situation alone which is quite understandable, but she also says that SHE is going to keep the baby. " Because while the baby's in there, it's my body." This argument doesn't really seem right, since it's Sam's child too. It's something they should have at least discussed together, but it looks like Alicia already decided.

How does Sam feel? Have you ever felt like this? When?

How does Sam feel?! This is probably a nightmare for him. He is on the edge, he is desperate but he seem still pretty calm and he hasn't lost his sense of responsibility either. No matter how much he doesn't want this baby, he says that he's not going to leave Alicia in this alone. He could just dump Alicia or he could have disappeared for weeks in Hastings, but he didn't. He understands that they are in this together, so they have to stay togehter. He tries to avoid the ominous conversation with Alicia's parents of course, but he knows that this is something that needs to be done anyway, so I think he's going to be ready for it soon.

I personally feel like this with every single presentation or home assigment. Not that I'm proud of it, but I procastinate every single thing I have to do. I know, this is a bit different than Sam´s situation but, serously, you could give me like 30 years to make a presentation and I still wouldn't do it until the night before. I know that I have to do it, but I try to avoid it as much as I can. That's a bad habit tho', and I should really get rid of it!

Multicultural Britain

Research and Discover

1. Find information about immigration in Norway.

The immigrant population make up 15.6 per cent of the population in Norway. This number includes children who was born in Norway with immigrant parents. The first immigrant flee started around 1950, when the Norwegian economy improved, and there was a need for more workers. Mostly Europeans came to seek for job, but from around 1970 the immigration from Asia, Africa and Latin-America increased as well. Today there are more than 200 different nations represented here! Most of the immigrants are Swedish, Somali, Lithuanian and Pakistani.

2. Compare Norwegian immigration to the British experience! Are the same groups represented? In which parts of the countries do we find immigrants how large are immigrant groups in the two countries? Which groups immigrate today?

The immigration in the two countries are very similar. Both countries have great economy so they need new workers all the time. That’s why most of the immigrants move to bigger (such Oslo, Trondheim, London, Cardiff etc.): To seek for a new job. The immigrants come from all around the world. In England, most of the migrants come from Asia and Africa, whereas in Norway most migrants have European background. Maybe the number of polish and swedish immigrants are not as high in the UK as in Norway, but it’s a fact, that more than 200 nations are represented in both countries. In Britain, 8% of the population defines itself as mixed race or belonging to an ethnic minority, while this number is around 16% in Norway.

Who are the British?

Discussion

1. What do you think the last sentence means?

2. Does devolution strengthen or weaken England's position in the UK?

3. Do you think the Scots and the Welsh will settle for home rule or will they go for total independence?

Writing

1. Write a short creative story based on one of the pictures in this article, e.g. A day at the golf course.

2. Use the last sentence as the starting point for a short text (3 paragraphs) about devolution.




Discussion

1. What do you think the last sentence mean?

I think the last sentence «The United Kingdom is less united than ever, but that may also prove to be its strength.» means that all 4 nations in the UK has its own parliament, where their take serious decisions, so England, Welsh, Northern Ireland and Scottland are today way more independent than they were before. And the second lead of the sentence, “that may also prove to be its strength” refers to that the these nations work completely great together. Everyone has its job and everyone does what it supposed to do.



2. Does devolution strengthen or weaken England's position in the UK?

I would say it does both. It mostly weakens England’s power over the small nations, but it also strengthens England, because devolution makes them to concentrate a bit more on themselves. They get also a lot more independent from the others. Yes, it weakens the “big” “king” position of England, but it has its benefits as well!



3. Do you think the Scots and the Welsh will settle for home rule or will they go for total independence?

I think that England’s power will lessen over the years and at the end, the Welsh and the Scots get completely independent from them.