Summer Work

Intro to Context:

Big News and Current Events:

• United Kingdom European Union and Gibraltar Referendum occurred on 23rd June 2016. 51.9% to leave whilst 48% wanted to stay.  Overall the Conservatives wished to remain, as did Labour, SNP, Liberal Democrats and many more (MP's).

Politics:

• Cameron, who supported Britain's continued membership of the EU, announced his resignation on 24 June, saying that he would step down by October. Theresa May won the contest on 11 July 2016, after the withdrawal of Andrea Leadsom left her as the sole candidate.
• Theresa May has bowed to intense pressure from her own party and named 7 June as the day she will step aside as Conservative leader. The general membership of the party elected the leader by postal ballot with the result announced on 23 July, with Boris Johnson being elected as leader with almost twice as many votes as his opponent Jeremy Hunt.
• Corbyn's popularity has suddenly risen within the UK due to citizens wanted a good deal with Brexit when we eventually leave creating a minimal effect of our economy and everyday lives therefore Labour with to delay Brexit and remove some of Johnsons power. On the other hand, most of the Tory's and Johnson wish for a no deal or minimal unknown deal with Brexit to try and build our country isolated and with minimal guidance as the country first voted and with this a general election would allow him the power to do so over labour do to the vaster popularity of labour currently. 

Royals events:

• 21st April was the Queens 90th Birthday however it was celebrate on the 10-12th June due to Kate and Williams wedding happening only a week after her actual Birthday.
  
• 26th April 2011 Prince William and Kate had their royal wedding, it occurred at West minster Abbey.
• Kate gave birth to George on July 22nd 2013, Charlotte on May 2nd 2015 and Louis on 23rd April 2018.

Terrorism and Hatred:

• On 22 March 2017, a terrorist attack took place outside the Palace of Westminster in London, seat of the British Parliament. The attacker, 52-year-old Briton Khalid Masood, drove a car into pedestrians on the pavement along the south side of Westminster Bridge and Bridge Street, injuring more than 50 people, four of them fatally. He then crashed the car into the perimeter fence of the Palace grounds and ran into New Palace Yard, where he fatally stabbed an unarmed police officer. He was then shot by an armed police officer and died at the scene.
• At 21:58 BST, a van with the three attackers inside drove onto London Bridge from the north side of the river. The vehicle crossed over, before returning in the opposite direction six minutes later. When it reached the northern end of the bridge, police said it made a U-turn and mounted the pavement. It then crossed the bridge again, ploughing into pedestrians, including three of those killed.
• The Finsbury Park attack was a vehicle-ramming attack in Finsbury Park, London, England, on 19 June 2017. A van was driven into pedestrians in Finsbury Park, London, by Darren Osborne, causing one death and injuring at least nine people.
• 22 people died - including a number of children - after an explosion tore through a pop concert at Manchester Arena. More than 800 other people received physical or psychological injures in the blast at an Ariana Grande concert on May 22 2017. Terrorist Salman Abedi was named as the suicide bomber who carried out the attack. 
• On 16 June 2016, Cox died after being shot and stabbed multiple times in Birstall, where she had been due to hold a constituency surgery. Thomas Mair, who held far-right views, was found guilty of her murder in November and sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order.

Syrian War:

• It is a conflict between forces of the Ba'ath government and forces who want to remove this government. The conflict began on 15 March 2011, with demonstrations. In April 2011, the Syrian Army fired on demonstrators across the country. After months of military battles, the protests turned into an armed rebellion.

Specific UK issues:

• Mays fall was several factors such as saying 'Brexit means Brexit' insisting that no soft deal was created leaving clients in various markets preventing it to effect our country as a whole. Also triggering article 50 without a proper plan led to a downfall as her MP's also didn't agree with her policy's and thoughts.
• On 14 June 2017, a fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in North Kensington, West London just before 1:00 am BST; it caused 72 deaths, including those of two victims who later died in hospital. More than 70 others were injured and 223 people escaped. It was the deadliest structural fire in the United Kingdom since the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster and the worst UK residential fire since the Second World War. The fire is currently being investigated by the police, a public inquiry, and coroner's inquests. 
• The Windrush scandal is a 2018 British political scandal concerning people who were wrongly detained, denied legal rights, threatened with deportation, and, in at least 83 cases, wrongly deported from the UK by the Home Office. Many of those affected had been born British subjects and had arrived in the UK before 1973, particularly from Caribbean countries as members of the Windrush generation.
• The 2016 junior doctors strikes in England had a ‘significant’ impact on the provision of healthcare, with thousands of appointments cancelled, and significantly fewer admissions and A&E attendances than expected. 
• The Charlie Gard case was a best interest’s case in 2017 (4 August 2016 – 28 July 2017), an infant boy from London, born with mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome (MDDS), a rare genetic disorder that causes progressive brain damage and muscle failure. MDDS has no treatment and usually causes death in infancy. The case became controversial because the medical team and parents disagreed about whether experimental treatment was in the best interests of the child.
• Johnson, now 31, grew up in County Durham and was a youth player at Newcastle United and Middlesbrough. In 2010, he was snapped up by Manchester City for a rumoured £7million, signing a lucrative four-a-half-year contract. The next year he helped City win the FA Cup and the following season was part of the squad that won the club's first Premier League trophy in 2012. He also earned 12 senior caps for the England national team. After struggling for game time in City's star-studded squad, Johnson signed for Sunderland for £10million in 2012 and continued playing after his arrest and charge. At the start of his trial in February 2016 he was earning £60,000 a week playing for the Black Cats. He was finally sacked by the club after he pleaded guilty to grooming and sexual activity with a child.
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