Abingdon News No.54

www.abingdon.org.uk 9 History and Politics magazine – a preview Third to fifth year boys in the History and Politics Society are busy working on articles for the soon to be published History and Politics Magazine which will be sent electronically to all parents. Below is a taster by third year, Dhruv Hegde, on newspaper bias in the UK press and there are some other gems on the website about Donald Trump and Norse mythology. They offer an interesting preview of content to come when the magazine is published online. Do newspapers really tell the truth? Many newspapers have a view and will support different governments and political parties. They also create hype around certain things such as the coronavirus. This means that they can sway the mood of the population and hijack their views. In this article I will highlight which UK newspapers support which parties and how they stir up the population. Labour – The Guardian, The New Statesman, The Daily Mirror Conservative – The Financial Times, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Sun, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express Lib Dems – The Economist Neutral? – London Evening Standard Here we can clearly see that the Conservative party has the most press backing. The newspapers also tend to stir up the population by putting half-truths on their papers. For example, all newspapers will make a problem seem much bigger than it really is. Another thing that newspapers tend to do is put negative news on their papers as the reader will then take more interest in the news. We find negative news more compelling without even realising it. This is called the ‘negativity bias’, the term used for our hunger to hear negative news. This is what draws the reader in. Newspapers are a lot like books in the sense that they have to draw the reader in in order to gain their attention. As a result I believe that it is better if you take in a wide range of views on a certain topic and create your own conclusion rather than theirs. Lower School Public Speaking The final rounds of the annual Lower School Public Speaking Competition took place via Zoom culminating in the Grand Final between first year winners 1C, and second year champions 2G. 1C (Charlie Taylor, Sam Wormald and Barnaby Hill) spoke about environmental issues and, in particular, the dangers caused by bushfires, while 2G (Sam Siriwardene, Alexander Woolmer, and Henry Drake) spoke against animal testing. All the speakers did a great job, especially given the fact everything was happening remotely. Mr Hindley had a difficult time separating the two teams but, by the narrowest of margins, he declared 2G the victors for 2020. Abingdon News Practical physics at home The Physics department challenged the fourth year boys to apply the ideas they had been learning about in remote lessons and to video the results of their investigations as a prep task. The topic they had been covering was Forces and Momentum which asks them to explain the principles behind crumple zones, air bags and other safety features designed to reduce impact forces. Watch the video . Tutor group breakfast Fourth years from Pygott’s House enjoyed a virtual tutor group breakfast. There was an eclectic range of foods from Mr Bignell’s full English, prepared live on camera, to a bowl of popcorn!