power walking essay

The Window Seat: Notes from a Life in Motion by Aminatta Forna

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FLIGHT, MOVEMENT FROM place to place, past to present, border-crossings real and philosophical are central to award-winning Sierra Leonean novelist Aminatta Forna’s new essay collection, The Window Seat: Notes from a Life in Motion , which opens, fittingly, with an ode to the joys of commercial flight. “I love the drama of the take off. The improbability of the whole endeavour . . . the plane rises, dips and turns in a new quiet.” Forna’s collection glides between memoir, history, and literary theory and navigates topics as varied as memories of flying as an unaccompanied minor, to living in Tehran during Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979, to Forna’s family ties to the Shetlands and Sierra Leone. During this year of being grounded by the Covid-19 global pandemic, a year without passports, window seats, or the embrace of beloveds in faraway places, Forna’s Notes from a Life in Motion gorgeously enlarges the reader’s world.

Born in Scotland and raised in Sierra Leone and Great Britain, Forna spent periods of her childhood in Iran, Thailand, and Zambia, and her essays explore themes of identity and belonging in the vastly different places she’s called home. In “Obama and the Renaissance Generation,” she writes about the ways Obama’s family story mirror her own father’s and traces the differences and nuances between an African and US narrative about Obama’s personal history. She locates this history in its political context: “In the second half of the twentieth century, geopolitical events—the end of empires, the rise of nationalism in African countries, the Cold War, communism, and the second ‘Red Scare’—would see an exponential rise in the number of Africans sent to study overseas.” Forna’s father and Obama’s were born one year apart and were among a generation of young Africans who studied in the United Kingdom and the US and were then expected to apply what they had learned in their home countries. Celebrated African novelists of the day—Ayi Kwei Armah, Chinua Achebe, and Ama Ata Aidoo—wrote of this generation’s experiences. “The challenges of both leaving the motherland for the West and of return.” Forna ties the meeting of Obama’s parents and her own to “the unintended consequence of political policy.” Here as elsewhere throughout her collection, she is an expert synthesizer, linking varied topics from family history to literary theory to the rise and fall of empire with her intimate and conversational prose style.

Longer essays are interspersed with brief works: a three-page piece on a childhood memory about a production of Disney on Ice at Wembley Stadium gone wrong; a lyric on lionesses hunting at the edges of the herd to feed their young; in an upscale US grocery store bulk section, a man palms peanut butter into his mouth, which leads the author to reflect on the high cost of groceries in America.

“Power Walking” is an expansive and stunning essay about the politics of moving through the world as a Black woman. “Walking, for a woman, can be an act of transgression against male authority,” Forna writes as she details her own experiences navigating the intersecting violence of racism and misogyny in public spaces. The essay is a vital contribution to the literature of the female flâneur, what Lauren Elkin calls the Flâneuse in her book by the same title. I read Forna’s essay with psychogeography in mind, the theory coined by Guy Debord in 1955 as a way to understand how physical environments impact the emotions of individuals moving through them. Psychogeography values the experience of walking and is influenced by Marxist and anarchist theory. It can be a useful affect theory to probe power relations in public spaces, though most psychogeography isn’t authored by women of color but white men, who have vastly different experiences of their bodies in the world. Forna’s work is an excellent contribution to discourses on women’s embodied experiences of public space, centering an intersectional, Black feminist perspective.

In essays that turn to the nonhuman world, Forna’s prose is vivid and lush. She writes about foxes in her London garden. Her friendship with Dr. Jalloh, the only veterinarian in Sierra Leone, who works with the street dogs of Freetown. In “Wilder Things,” humans fall away but not deer. In an imagined future without us: “Gardens would grow fallow, borders cede to wildflowers, herds would gather on the overgrown lawns . . . and the injured doe, made anew, would walk the same tracks through the woods as deer have for hundreds of years.”

From a 2018 essay published by this magazine, Forna discusses writing about life’s complexities, traumatic events, and the role of empathy in literature. Reflecting on the danger of “empty empathy,” which she calls a condition “where we just look and listen and nothing comes out of it,” Forna offers prose writers an alternative craft. The most important thing in writing about trauma and pain is to center those experiences of pain beside the agency people have, Forna says, “to reflect people’s trauma in a way that makes sense of what has happened to them in the wider picture of the world and doesn’t leave them feeling like an exhibit of damage.”

In this time of global pandemic, climate catastrophe, and international protests against racism and police brutality, Forna’s seventeen essays center the myriad complexities and traumas of the day. They are equally joyful, tender, and brimming with affection. I was reminded, while reading her important contribution to the global literature of today, of Gwendolyn Brooks writing on commitment to collective care and social justice in her poem “Paul Robeson”: “We are each other’s / harvest: / we are each other’s / business: / we are each other’s magnitude and bond.” Forna’s essays are works of magnitude and bond, in allegiance with her vast beloved community.

Kathryn Savage Tulsa, Oklahoma

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Power Walking

Aminatta forna on the streets of london, freetown, and nyc.

Yet when I have talked to straight men about what happens to me on the streets I have consistently been met with looks of blank innocence. They insist they know nothing of it. I have seen the same conversation played out extensively on social media where the men most devoted to the use of the hashtag #notallmen always claim ignorance, are “surprised,” so “surprised” they’ll go as far as to insist that what women are telling them cannot possibly be true, that invention or exaggeration on a global scale must surely be in play. Talking to a straight man about street harassment can be, as many black folk including black men have pointed out, like talking to some white people about the daily indignities of racism.

Somehow something enacted in broad daylight thousands of times in the lifetime of virtually every woman has gone entirely unnoticed by most straight men. At some point you have to ask: How can it be so?

How can it be so?

On Matriarchy

I am driving down the road from my home in Freetown when a youth makes a kissing noise at me. I brake hard, bringing the car to a halt. “Did you hear that?” I ask the friend I have with me. She says she did. “I don’t believe it,” I tell her. To the young man I say: “Come here!” I expect this kind of behavior in many places, but I have not experienced it in the city where I spent many of my formative years. The youth, in his late teens or early twenties, is leaning against a wall in the company of four or so friends. One of them nudges him and points to me, telling him he is being called. He pushes off the wall and approaches the car; he saunters over but his cockiness has already lost its edge. People are watching, not just his mates but the women stallholders on the other side of the road. A couple of  passersby, too, have stopped.

As I have said, I grew up in several countries in the world and as an adult I have traveled much of it. In every city and country I have ever visited I make tactical decisions before I step out of the door. Time of day, clothing, route: these things must be considered. Often this is done at a subconscious level; at other times advice might be sought or given. There is a constant tension between the desire to look one’s best, to be noticed, and the price that will exact. I want to dress for my destination, the person or people I am going to meet or the event I am headed for, but I must also dress for the men I do not know who I will encounter along the way. Anonymity is something I can only imagine, to walk unguarded an impossibility. Certain places, though, are better or worse than others.

When I start in on the young man in Freetown he apologizes almost at once. “My name is Aminatta,” I tell him. “And the next time you see me you will remember that and you will use it when you greet me.”

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes Aminatta.”

“No!”

The youth looks startled.

“Yes, Aunty Aminatta.”

Sierra Leone is what some anthropologists have called a “matriarchy posing as a patriarchy.” It is also a gerontocracy, and deference is expected of anyone younger towards anyone older, even if only by a few years. Over lunch I tell my stepmother what has happened and she laughs. “Oh, it’s those little dresses you wear. They think you’re younger than you are.” My mother, sitting sideways on her chair like a Victorian lady riding side-saddle, is dressed in robes arranged in swathes around her. I am wearing a cotton shift dress and sandals. Then: “Anyway the NGOs brought all that here with them.” She waves a hand as she sips her ginger beer. Freetown then was home to hundreds of Western aid workers, newly arrived in the wake of war. There’s a tendency to blame unpalatable social behavior on outsiders—and yes, everything about those young men (the sagging jeans, the backwards-turned baseball caps, the sullen expressions) spoke of an enthusiasm for American rap—but my stepmother is saying something different. She is saying that they were treating me as if I were a Western woman.

On my first visit to Ghana a couple of years later I have a series of similar encounters: In a hotel a young man in baseball clothes murmurs suggestively as I pass by. I stop and I yell at him. His companion, an older man in a business suit, turns and looks at the young man open-mouthed and orders him to apologize. As they walk away he continues to gesture angrily. The porter with my suitcase asks me what the young man said. He shakes his head: “They send them to America, you see.” A few days earlier I had taken a walk down the beach at another hotel. There were men working on the scaffolding of a building, and one of them called out to me. I stopped and shouted at him: “Is that how you talk to your mother?” A local friend who I tell later on will smile at this point in my story. “So they realized you are an African.” On my way back I had to pass the men again and I was a little concerned about how the next encounter might go, but the men were silent.

I won’t make a host of claims about the position of women in West African society and nor will I say that a man will never speak or behave insultingly to a woman in a public space. But I will say this: if he does and if she makes it her business to reply, she can expect the crowd to have her back.

Whose Space? Loos, Queues, And Other Places

When I was still at college I read in a newspaper of a study purporting to show that when a man and a woman are walking towards each other on the sidewalk, the woman invariably steps aside for the man. I told my flatmate about it, and the next time we went  out she announced gleefully: “You’re doing it! You’re doing it!” Ever since then, whenever I think about it, I try to hold my ground and have often found myself nose-to-nose with men who are evidently so used to the path clearing ahead of them they can’t figure out where I have come from. In the last year or so the discussion has resurfaced and now the behavior being described has its own portmanteau, “manslamming.”

In July of 2017 New York Times reporter Greg Howard, a black man, accused white women of doing exactly the same, writing: “When white women are in my path, they almost always continue straight, forcing me to one side without changing their course. This happens several times a day; and a couple of times a week, white women force me off the sidewalk completely.”

Earlier in the same year I was standing in line for the ladies’ in a theater in Baltimore. The theater was under renovation, some of the facilities were closed and the line was about 50 people long. Women were making way for very old women and women with disabilities, allowing them to jump the queue. The crowd that night was mostly white and by chance I found myself standing next to the only other woman of color in the line. A white woman, older (but not so old she might have skipped the queue) and evidently wealthy, walked down the line, stopped halfway and inserted herself just in front of me. I looked at her. I looked around. I caught the eye of the African American woman next to me. “Did that just happen?” I asked. She raised her eyebrows: “Don’t say anything,” she mouthed. But I did, I said: “Do you just do that then? Stand wherever in the line you want?” and eventually the white woman slipped out of the line and walked to the back. I asked the African American woman: “Was it just a coincidence that she stood in front of us ?” And she replied: “I’m saying nothing,” and gave me a look like I had been born yesterday.

I return to Helen Moffett, who pointed to how, during apartheid in South Africa, the dominant group, whites, had used methods to regulate blacks in public spaces in ways which reminded them of their subordinate status. It’s all about power, people endeavoring, consciously and subconsciously and through myriad daily encounters, to establish dominance over those they consider less worthy. During the Jim Crow era in the United States, white Americans forced upon African Americans the same ignominies as white South Africans did upon their black populations, reserving certain public spaces and privileges for whites. When black people challenged this orthodoxy, it’s no coincidence they did it, just as black South Africans did, by walking, by marching, by crossing into those spaces barred to them.

Greg Howard asked an Asian friend, a man, whether he was forced off the sidewalk by white women on the streets of New York. The answer was no. It was the white men who plowed through him.

Many months ago at a friend’s book launch I was standing talking to a man I always liked to talk to whenever we met. He was tall, six foot two or three, and still broad shouldered though he was then in his eighties. We were standing close to the bar, and I was telling a story and turned at one point to find his face suffused with rage. I wondered what could possibly have happened, and I asked him if he was all right. “He would never, ever have done that 30 years ago,” he eventually said in a low voice. A man on his way to the bar had shouldered him. “As if I wasn’t there.” He’d been manslammed. I am as certain as I can possibly be that this man had never cat-called a woman, probably was even the kind of person who stepped aside for other people on the sidewalk. By the same token I am equally certain he has never endured a carload of women hurling obscenities at him, heard a woman hiss filth into his ear as he waited to cross a road, or seen a woman waggle her tongue and clutch at her crotch. I remember his face, the mix of fury and frustration, how taken aback I was that he could be so angry, because worse  happened to me on any given day.

As I write this I wonder about all those guys, of every class and color, who have interrupted my thoughts in order to remind me of my place. For whom it was fun to try to unnerve or to humiliate me. To them I say, Just wait. It’s coming. Too late for me. Too late for you to learn much except a mote of what it might be like to be treated as if you don’t matter. But it’s coming.

I’d like to say I wish I were a better person than to feel that way.

I wish I could. But I can’t.

The preceding is from the  Freeman’s  channel at Literary Hub, which features excerpts from the print editions of  Freeman’s , along with supplementary writing from contributors past, present and future. The latest issue of  Freeman’s , a special edition gathered around the theme of power, featuring work by Margaret Atwood, Elif Shafak, Eula Biss, Aleksandar Hemon and Aminatta Forna, among others, is published  October 17th .

Aminatta Forna

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Here's what 30 minutes of power walking can do to your body

Here’s what you need to know

Walking workouts are becoming more popular as people look for accessible ways to clock up steps, burn calories and build strength. And with walking workouts like the Hot Girl Walk blowing up socials, we wondered what 30 minutes of power walking could do to your body.

Power walking requires a faster speed and increased arm movement compared with the average stroll and can be done on a treadmill or outdoors. Plus, there are several health benefits in return for cranking up the speed, and it’s free. 

According to the breast cancer organization Walk the Walk , power walking means ‘walking with a speed at the upper end of the natural range… typically this is around 4-5.5 mph.’ That’s roughly 7-9km/h. 

So, is it time to lace up a pair of the best running shoes and get power walking? We decided to find out what 30 minutes of power walking can do and answer if power walking is good for weight loss.  

What muscles do you work power walking?

The main muscles at work during a power walk are the glutes, hip flexors, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves. Your quads at the front of the legs comprise the rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius and vastus medialis.

The hamstrings are located at the back of your legs between your knees and glutes and comprise the semitendinosus, semimembranosus and biceps femoris. Then there’s the gluteus medius, gluteus minimus and maximus that make up the glutes. 

During a power walk, you’ll also engage the upper body muscles like your arms, shoulders and core to help drive movement.

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Is power walking good for weight loss?

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity and several days of muscle-strengthening activities that ‘involve all major muscle groups on two or more days.” 

Walking strengthens the muscles, joints and ligaments and ticks boxes for cardiovascular training, especially when you add speed. If your goal is to lose weight, aim to include activity at least five days per week and add intensity (like power walking) where you can. Power walking also engages many major muscle groups while adding intensity to your aerobic activity. Tick, tick, tick.

It’s worth remembering that the basics of fat loss are calories in versus calories out — you’ll need to consume fewer calories than you expend. Increasing your daily activity (a process called NEAT ) and managing your diet can help tip the scales in your favor, but we don’t recommend counting calories too stringently for any length of time. Power walking is a brilliant way to increase activity levels while remaining low-impact and accessible for most people.

But we want to know what 30 minutes of power walking does to your body. Power walking is an effective weight loss method for several reasons:

• It’s low-impact
• Power walking is accessible
• You don’t need to walk for hours to see benefits
• You can easily increase and decrease the intensity and duration of your power walk.
• It’s free.

What can 30 minutes of power walking do to your body? 

There are several benefits of power walking. In fact, studies show just 30 minutes of walking a day could have some of these benefits: 

Burns calories

We put running vs power walking head to head to find out which burns more calories, and the results were closer than we anticipated. But it’s hard to know which wearables report the most accurate calorie burn, as we found out during this 500-calorie HIIT workout wearing the Apple Watch .

METs are another way to find averages using a standardized system and data like activity, heart rate and other personal information. Unless you visit a sports lab, estimating calorie burn is just that — an estimate. Calorie burn varies from person to person, and intensity, workout length and biological factors like age, weight, sex, hormones, stress and sleep matter.

We used the Omni Calculator , which uses the 2011 Compendium of Physical Activitie s to measure average calorie burn while power walking. For example, a 32-year-old female weighing 120lbs, with a resting heart rate of 21 beats per 20 seconds, could burn 232kcal briskly walking a 5K at 0% gradient and 4mph (the lowest end of the power walking scale). 

That’s versus 250kcal at a 1% gradient and upward of 315kcal at a faster 5.5mph speed. The same calculator estimates calorie burn could hit 300kcal when walking at 5.5mph for 30 minutes. Gradient, intensity and duration can determine calorie burn while power walking. One study also found that brisk walking could help you lose abdominal fat. 

Builds strength

Power walking is a full-body workout and could help build lower-body strength, particularly when walking uphill or on uneven terrain. Walking also promotes the bone-building process called bone loading . The speed of power walking also engages your upper body to help forward propulsion, strengthening muscles all over. 

Improves cardiovascular fitness

A regular power walk of just 30 minutes could build cardiovascular fitness, stamina and endurance. Brisk walking raises the heart rate, improves blood flow, oxygen and nutrient delivery to your muscles, and strengthens your heart and lungs.  

Boosts wellbeing and brain function

Some research shows power walking could boost wellbeing, mood and cognitive function. Walking, particularly in nature, can improve feelings of connectedness and reduce stress levels, helping to ease feelings like anxiety and releasing those happy hormones — endorphins. Other studies suggest exercise could also be beneficial for hormone regulation. 

Improves sleep

One 2012 study on sleep data suggested that participating in a regular exercise training program could positively affect sleep quality. Here’s the best time to exercise if you want to schedule your power walks accordingly. Best of all, walking can be done anywhere, any time and doesn’t need to be vigorous to pack benefits in just 30 minutes.

How to burn more calories power walking

There are a few ways to increase calorie burn while power walking. Here are a few tips to help:

Choose uneven terrain

Getting outdoors, especially tackling hilly terrain, requires more energy, effort and air resistance. You could also switch between inclines and declines to target the muscle groups differently. For example, walking on an incline emphasizes the posterior chain muscles located down the back of the body and decline walking loads the quads more.  

Try interval training

During the exercise bike vs. walking debate, our expert advises power walking, which allows you to turn over longer distances in a shorter time. Add interval training to power walks by alternating between slower and faster paces using Tabata (20 seconds on and 10 seconds off), for example. HIIT — in this case, power walking and slow walking — requires more effort and could switch the body into its fat-burning state. Add bodyweight exercises like push-ups or burpees to increase your heart rate and build strength. Try power walking while holding light weights, or use a weighted vest.

Schedule morning power walks

Some research shows that fat oxidation increases during morning workouts in a fasted state. When the carb source runs out, your body will turn to fat next for fuel.  

Who should avoid power walking?

There aren’t many out-and-out contraindications when it comes to power walking, but if you have an injury or are pregnant, first clear exercise with your physician. According to Barclay Physical Therapy , the most common walking-related injuries include plantar fasciitis, iliotibial band syndrome, ankle sprains, shin splints and Achilles Tendonopathy. 

Although walking strengthens the lower body muscles, be sure to wear a pair of the best walking shoes , keep your form strong and don’t increase duration or intensity too quickly, making sure to schedule recovery days. Some signs of overtraining include pain, stiffness and decreased exercise performance or tolerance. 

If you don’t enjoy power walking, there are plenty of other ways to introduce cardio into your workout routine. Here’s what 30 minutes on an exercise bike can do to your body , and we break down the treadmill vs exercise bike debate here to see which exercise is best for you.  

More from Tom's Guide

• Forget dumbbells, five yoga block exercises that sculpt your quads, glutes and hamstrings
• Here's what 30 minutes of running does to your body
• Swimming vs running: Which burns more calories?

Sam Hopes is a level III qualified fitness trainer, level II reiki practitioner, and senior fitness writer at Future PLC, the publisher of Tom's Guide. She is also about to undertake her Yoga For Athletes training course. Having trained to work with mind and body, Sam is a big advocate of using mindfulness techniques in sport and fitness, and their impact on performance. She’s also passionate about the fundamentals of training and building sustainable training methods.  When she's not writing up her experiences with the latest fitness tech and workouts, you’ll find her writing about nutrition, sleep, recovery, and wellness.

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Essay on Walking

Students are often asked to write an essay on Walking in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Walking

The joy of walking.

Walking is a simple yet powerful activity. It not only helps us to move from one place to another but also keeps us healthy. It is an exercise that anyone can do, regardless of age or fitness level.

Walking and Health

Walking regularly can improve our heart health, reduce the risk of disease, and strengthen our muscles. It also helps in maintaining a healthy weight.

Walking and Environment

Walking is eco-friendly. It doesn’t produce any harmful gases like cars do. By walking, we contribute to a cleaner and greener planet.

Walking and Mental Health

Walking can also improve our mood and reduce stress. It’s a chance to enjoy nature, clear our minds, and feel more relaxed.

250 Words Essay on Walking

The art and science of walking.

Walking, a seemingly simple act, is a profound manifestation of human locomotion. It’s a practice that transcends the boundaries of age, culture, and geography, serving as a fundamental aspect of our daily lives.

The Biomechanics of Walking

From a scientific perspective, walking is a complex biomechanical process. It involves the coordination of multiple muscle groups, the skeletal system, and the nervous system. The act of walking is a delicate balance of stability and motion, where the body’s center of gravity shifts with each step.

Walking as a Cognitive Exercise

Beyond the physical, walking stimulates the brain. It fosters creativity, problem-solving, and memory retention. Stanford University research suggests that walking boosts creative inspiration, with the act of walking itself, and not the environment, being the main factor.

Walking for Well-being

Walking is not just a mode of transportation or exercise; it’s a pathway to mental and emotional well-being. It offers a break from our fast-paced lives, providing an opportunity for introspection, mindfulness, and stress relief.

Walking also fosters a connection with our environment. Whether it’s a walk in the park or a stroll down a bustling city street, walking allows us to engage with our surroundings in a way that other forms of transportation do not.

In conclusion, walking is an intricate blend of science, art, and well-being. It’s a testament to our capacity for movement, cognition, and connection with the world around us.

500 Words Essay on Walking

Walking, an activity often taken for granted, is a profound human experience that integrates physical, psychological, and sociocultural dimensions. While it is a simple, natural form of locomotion, walking is a complex phenomenon that intersects with various domains of human life and knowledge.

Physical Benefits of Walking

The physical benefits of walking are numerous and well-documented. It is a low-impact form of exercise that can be performed by individuals of all ages and fitness levels. Walking improves cardiovascular health, strengthens bones, enhances muscle endurance, and aids in weight management. It also promotes better sleep and boosts the immune system. The act of walking engages multiple body systems, fostering a holistic sense of well-being.

Psychological Impact of Walking

Walking also has significant psychological benefits. It has been linked to improved mood, reduced stress, and enhanced cognitive function. The rhythmic, repetitive nature of walking can have a meditative quality, promoting mindfulness and mental clarity. Moreover, walking outdoors exposes individuals to natural light and environments, which can elevate mood and alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Walking as a Social and Cultural Practice

The philosophy of walking.

Philosophically, walking can be seen as a metaphor for life itself. Just as we navigate physical landscapes, we navigate the landscapes of our lives, encountering challenges, making decisions, and moving forward. Walking embodies the fundamental human condition of being in the world, of being on a journey. It encapsulates the human experience of movement, change, and progression.

Walking and Sustainability

From an environmental perspective, promoting walking as a primary mode of transportation can contribute to sustainability. Walking produces no greenhouse gas emissions, requires no fossil fuels, and contributes to less traffic congestion and air pollution. It is an environmentally friendly, sustainable mode of travel that aligns with global efforts to combat climate change.

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The Life-Changing Power of a Daily Walking Habit

5 ways walking may be a perfect exercise for boosting creativity, health, and mood..

Lauren Johnson Gonzales

Rain or shine, in sickness and in health, I walk my dog. In cities and on trails, on pavement and on dirt, we walk. Every single day.

But even if I didn’t have a dog, I would be out there. Because I enjoy it. Walking…

Written by Lauren Johnson Gonzales

Aiming to live life as fully as my dog does: run often, be curious, be kind. Each day is full of tiny joys when you nose around for them.

Text to speech

Model Answers ( AQA GCSE English Literature )

Revision note.

• Model Answers

Below you will find a full-mark, Level 6 model answer for a poetry anthology comparison essay. The commentary below each section of the essay illustrates how and why it would be awarded Level 6. Despite the fact it is an answer to a specific Power and Conflict question, the commentary below is relevant to any poetry anthology question.

As the commentary is arranged by assessment objective, a student-friendly mark scheme has been included here:

Model Answer Breakdown

The commentary for the below model answer as arranged by assessment objective: each paragraph has commentary for a different assessment objective, as follows:

• Introduction includes commentary on all the AOs
• Paragraph 1 includes commentary on AO1 (answering the question and selecting references)
• Paragraph 2 includes commentary on AO2 (analysing poets’ methods)
• Paragraph 3 includes commentary on AO3 (exploring contextual ideas)
• Conclusion includes commentary on all the AOs

The model answer answers the following question:

Level 6, full-mark answer:

In London, William Blake is concerned with how human power can be used to control and oppress both people and the natural world, whereas Robert Browning in My Last Duchess presents power through the individual character of the Duke, who uses his position of authority to control women. Both poets perhaps do this to criticise inherited or institutional power over ordinary people.

Commentary:

• The introduction is in the form of a thesis statement
• It includes a central argument based on my own opinions
• " Blake is concerned with how human power can be used to control and oppress people…"
• "Whereas” ; “Both "
•   "Both poets perhaps do this to criticise…
• " It includes modal language to show a conceptualised approach

Both William Blake and Robert Browning present the control institutions or powerful figures hold over women as leading to violence (either committed against, or by these women) to highlight the disastrous effects of female oppression in their respective societies. Both Blake and Browning hint at the destructive and violent consequences of the oppression of women through the use of (voiceless) female characters in their poems. While Blake’s “youthful harlot” takes out her desperation on her own “new-born infant” (a symbol of perfect innocence) by blasting it with curses, Browning implies a more direct violence against women through the sinister presentation of his persona, the Duke, who seems to wield ultimate control over his wife: the ability to take her life if he so chooses. Blake’s presentation of a seemingly immoral “harlot” presents readers with a moral dilemma: it is clear that her behaviour towards her infant is wrong, but - given the oppression and control the institutions of power have over her (and thus her limited freedom) - perhaps Blake is asking the reader to apportion blame instead to the systemic failures of a society that leads women to be in such desperate, impoverished, situations. Indeed, the fact that these “harlots” - young women forced into prostitution by an unsupportive state - are walking the “midnight streets” suggests that their plight is endless, that the oppression of people, and especially women, is round-the-clock. Browning also hints at the total and all-consuming nature of the oppression of women when he has his persona suggest that his “last” duchess suffered the ultimate price for disobeying his wishes: she paid with her life. With his implied power over life and death, Browning presents the Duke as having the arrogant and hubristic desire to have God’s power, but unlike God, man does not have the moral capacity to wield that much power. Like Blake, Browning is suggesting that when people assume too much power they end up controlling and mistreating those without power: here, powerful men oppressing women.

• Paragraph begins with a topic sentence
• Topic sentence directly addresses the question (answer always address the idea of “control”)
• Topic sentence has a narrower focus than the thesis statement (focus is on “women”)
• The whole paragraph is related to the topic sentence
• Paragraph includes multiple relevant references to both poems
• All references are linked to the question, and support the argument of my topic sentence

Both Blake and Browning use their poems as criticisms of inherited power: while Blake takes his aim at institutional power systems, including the monarchy, Browning suggests that the inherited wealth and prestige of the aristocracy leads to an abuse of power, and an attempt to control those who do not inherit power. Robert Browning in My Last Duchess inhabits the perspective of the landed classes in order to open a window into the aristocracy’s ideas about power and control. By choosing to write his poem in the form of a dramatic monologue, and with an invented persona in the form of a wealthy Duke, Browning is able to present the point of view he is criticising. Indeed, his use of the first-person point of view gives a vivid and direct sense of the power and control that the Duke wields: we do not get the perspective of his interlocutor, or his last wife’s side of the story, only the Duke’s words and his version of events. As such, Browning chooses to have the Duke command and control the conversation much like he commands and controls his personal fiefdom, and the people in it. Similarly, Blake presents those with inherited power as wielding control over those who don’t. His “palace walls” are covered in soldiers’ blood, suggesting that the monarchy is responsible for the deaths of those who serve it. Like the Duke’s power over his wife in My Last Duchess, Blake suggests the British monarchy has absolute control over those in their power: the power over their lives. Both poets are challenging - Browning indirectly via his persona, and Blake directly through his visceral imagery - the control inherited power has over the less fortunate in society.

• Analysis provides evidence for the points in the topic sentence (all evidence relates to inherited power and the control it has over others)
• Whole-text analysis of the poems (focus on overarching poetic choices like perspective)
• Not just analysis of the language, but also:
• Imagery and symbolism
• Perspective
• The poets’ ideas
• All analysis explained fully in terms of the question and my own argument
• Analysis explained in terms of the poets’ overall message (“Both poets are challenging … inherited power…”)

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Author: Nick

Nick is a graduate of the University of Cambridge and King’s College London. He started his career in journalism and publishing, working as an editor on a political magazine and a number of books, before training as an English teacher. After nearly 10 years working in London schools, where he held leadership positions in English departments and within a Sixth Form, he moved on to become an examiner and education consultant. With more than a decade of experience as a tutor, Nick specialises in English, but has also taught Politics, Classical Civilisation and Religious Studies.

Morning Walk Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on morning walk.

The modern-day world is full of psychological disorders, poor health, mental tension , and many more problems. Likewise, the life of some people is like a mad rush from one work to another without any break.

Besides, there are very few people in the world that care about their health more than their work or daily tasks. But, there are ways by which we can restore our healthfully and morning walk is one of them. Additionally, it is so effective that it can reduce the amount of health disorder from the world.

The Best Time for a Walk

Most people believe that rising up early as 4 am and going on a walk at that time is more healthy . But, the best time of marooning walk is as soon as one gets up. Also, it is very important that you do not drink or eat anything before going for a morning walk.

Moreover, the place of the walk should be an open ground with a lot of fresh air and greenery. But, the best place for a walk in a garden, green belts, and parks, etc. are the most brilliant places. Bides, the pace of the walk should neither be too fast nor too slow. Conversation during walk should be avoided as it distracts the person from the walk.

It is helpful in vitalizing the health of the vital organs of the body. Additionally, it improves the functionality of the different system of the body. It is so because during sleep most of the organs of the body are at rest and a morning walk helps to revitalize them. In addition, it removes tiredness and the feeling of fullness from the body. The fresh air of the open area refreshers our body and mind.

That’s why many doctors advise their patients to start morning walk because of their incredible result.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Importance of Morning walk

From childhood, we have heard that “early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” This is not just a saying because morning walks make a man healthy and wise.

Moreover, it improves the physical shape and state of the body which protects us from many diseases. Besides, all this morning walks create a sense of equality among the people.

Above all, morning walk gives you energy, motivates you to avoid laziness, creates a positive mindset, it is good for your organs especially heart, and it gives you time to plan your schedule. According to research, the best time for a morning walk is in the latter part of the afternoon between 3 pm to 7 pm.

To sum it up, we can say that, Morning walk is very important for the body. Also, it helps to keep the body and mind healthy. Besides, everyone whether kids or elders should try to make a morning walk a part of their daily routine. As it is seen that the life span of people who walk daily is more in comparison to those who do not do morning walk.

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Healthy Lifestyle — The Positive Effects of Walking

The Positive Effects of Walking

• Categories: Healthy Lifestyle

About this sample

Words: 370 |

Published: Feb 12, 2019

Words: 370 | Page: 1 | 2 min read

Table of contents

Facts on walking:, physical benefits of walking:, mental benefits of walking:, research on walking:.

• Walking for extra 20 minutes per day regularly will burn off seven pounds of fat per year.
• Longer and moderately-paced daily walks for 40 mins at 60% maximum heart rate are best for losing weight.
• Shorter and Faster walks for 20 mins at 80% maximum heart rate are best in maintaining good heart and lungs condition.
• Increase in body metabolism
• Improves flexibility and posture
• Reduces the risk of cancers
• Helps in controlling and preventing diabetes
• Strengthen the bones and muscles
• Helps in relieving chronic back pain
• Improves the sleep quality
• Improves the cognitive functions
• Reduces anxiety due to some minor stress
• Increase in the size of Hippocampus and prefrontal cortex benefits the memory potentially

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The Motivated Ignorance of Trump Supporters

They can’t claim they didn’t know.

Listen to this article

Produced by ElevenLabs and News Over Audio (NOA) using AI narration.

O n the morning of August 8, 2022 , 30 FBI agents and two federal prosecutors conducted a court-authorized search of Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, estate. The reason for the search, according to a 38-count indictment , was that after leaving office Trump mishandled classified documents, including some involving sensitive nuclear programs, and then obstructed the government’s efforts to reclaim them.

On the day before the FBI obtained the search warrant, one of the agents on the case sent an email to his bosses, according to The New York Times . “The F.B.I. intends for the execution of the warrant to be handled in a professional, low key manner,” he wrote, “and to be mindful of the optics of the search.” It was, and they were.

Over the course of 10 hours, the Times reported, “there was little drama as [agents] hauled away a trove of boxes containing highly sensitive state secrets in three vans and a rented Ryder box truck.”

On the day of the search, Trump was out of the state. The club at Mar-a-Lago was closed. Agents alerted one of Trump’s lawyers in advance of the search. And before the search, the FBI communicated with the Secret Service “to make sure we could get into Mar-a-Lago with no issues,” according to the testimony of former Assistant FBI Director Steven D’Antuono. It wasn’t a “show of force,” he said. “I was adamant about that, and that was something we all agreed on.”

The search warrant itself included a standard statement from the Department of Justice’s policy on the use of deadly force. There was nothing exceptional about it. But that didn’t prevent Trump or his supporters from claiming that President Joe Biden and federal law-enforcement agents had been involved in a plot to assassinate the former president.

In a fundraising appeal, Trump wrote,

BIDEN’S DOJ WAS AUTHORIZED TO SHOOT ME! It’s just been revealed that Biden’s DOJ was authorized to use DEADLY FORCE for their DESPICABLE raid in Mar-a-Lago. You know they’re just itching to do the unthinkable … Joe Biden was locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger.

On May 23, Trump publicly claimed that the Department of Justice “authorized the use of ‘deadly force’ in their Illegal, UnConstitutional, and Un-American RAID of Mar-a-Lago, and that would include against our Great Secret Service, who they thought might be ‘in the line of fire.’”

Read: The two-time Trump voters who have had enough

Trump supporters echoed those claims, as he knew they would. Steve Bannon, one of the architects of the MAGA movement, said , “This was an attempted assassination attempt on Donald John Trump or people associated with him. They wanted a gunfight.” Right-wing radio hosts stoked one another’s fury, claiming that there’s nothing Trump critics won’t do to stop him, up to and including attempting to assassinate him and putting the lives of his Secret Service detail in danger.

The statement by Trump went beyond inflaming his supporters; it created a mindset that moved them closer to violence, the very same mindset that led thousands of them to attack the Capitol on January 6 and threaten to hang Vice President Mike Pence. Which is why Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a motion asking the judge overseeing Trump’s classified-documents case to block him from making public statements that could put law enforcement in danger. “Those deceptive and inflammatory assertions irresponsibly put a target on the backs of the FBI agents involved in this case, as Trump well knows,” he wrote.

M otivated ignorance refers to willfully blinding oneself to facts. It’s choosing not to know. In many cases, for many people, knowing the truth is simply too costly, too psychologically painful, too threatening to their core identity. Nescience is therefore incentivized; people actively decide to remain in a state of ignorance. If they are presented with strong arguments against a position they hold, or compelling evidence that disproves the narrative they embrace, they will reject them. Doing so fends off the psychological distress of the realization that they’ve been lying to themselves and to others.

Motivated ignorance is a widespread phenomenon; most people, to one degree or another, employ it. What matters is the degree to which one embraces it, and the consequences of doing so. In the case of MAGA world, the lies that Trump supporters believe, or say they believe, are obviously untrue and obviously destructive. Since 2016 there’s been a ratchet effect, each conspiracy theory getting more preposterous and more malicious. Things that Trump supporters wouldn’t believe or accept in the past have since become loyalty tests. Election denialism is one example. The claim that Trump is the target of “lawfare,” victim to the weaponization of the justice system, is another.

I have struggled to understand how to view individuals who have not just voted for Trump but who celebrate him, who don’t merely tolerate him but who constantly defend his lawlessness and undisguised cruelty. How should I think about people who, in other domains of their lives, are admirable human beings and yet provide oxygen to his malicious movement? How complicit are people who live in an epistemic hall of mirrors and have sincerely—or half-sincerely—convinced themselves they are on the side of the angels?

Throughout my career I’ve tried to resist the temptation to make unwarranted judgments about the character of people based on their political views. For one thing, it’s quite possible my views on politics are misguided or distorted, so I exercise a degree of humility in assessing the views of others. For another, I know full well that politics forms only a part of our lives, and not the most important part. People can be personally upstanding and still be wrong on politics.

But something has changed for me in the Trump era. I struggle more than I once did to wall off a person’s character from their politics when their politics is binding them to an unusually—and I would say undeniably—destructive person. The lies that MAGA world parrots are so manifestly untrue, and the Trump ethic is so manifestly cruel, that they are difficult to set aside.

If a person insists, despite the overwhelming evidence, that Trump was the target of an assassination plot hatched by Biden and carried out by the FBI, this is more than an intellectual failure; it is a moral failure, and a serious one at that. It’s only reasonable to conclude that such Trump supporters have not made a good-faith effort to understand what is really and truly happening. They are choosing to live within the lie, to invoke the words of the former Czech dissident and playwright Vaclav Havel.

One of the criteria that need to be taken into account in assessing the moral culpability of people is how absurd the lies are that they are espousing; a second is how intentionally they are avoiding evidence that exposes the lies because they are deeply invested in the lie; and a third is is how consequential the lie is.

It’s one thing to embrace a conspiracy theory that is relevant only to you and your tiny corner of the world. It’s an entirely different matter if the falsehood you’re embracing and promoting is venomous, harming others, and eroding cherished principles, promoting violence and subverting American democracy.

I n his book The Bible Told Them So: How Southern Evangelicals Fought to Preserve White Supremacy , J. Russell Hawkins tells the story of a June 1963 gathering of more than 200 religious leaders in the White House. President John F. Kennedy was trying to rally their support for civil-rights legislation.

Among those in attendance was Albert Garner, a Baptist minister from Florida, who told Kennedy that many southern white Christians held “strong moral convictions” on racial integration. It was, according to Garner, “against the will of their Creator.”

“Segregation is a principle of the Old Testament,” Garner said, adding, “Prior to this century neither Christianity nor any denomination of it ever accepted the integration philosophy.”

Two months later, in Hanahan, South Carolina, members of a Southern Baptist church—they described themselves as “Christ centered” and “Bible believing”—voted to take a firm stand against civil-rights legislation.

“The Hanahan Baptists were not alone,” according to Hawkins. “Across the South, white Christians thought the president was flaunting Christian orthodoxy in pursuing his civil rights agenda.” Kennedy “simply could not comprehend the truth Garner was communicating: based on their religious beliefs, southern white Christians thought integration was evil.”

A decade earlier, the Reverend Carey Daniel, pastor of First Baptist Church in West Dallas, Texas, had delivered a sermon titled “ God the Original Segregationist ,” in response to the 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education . It became influential within pro-segregationist southern states. Daniel later became president of the Central Texas Division of the Citizens Council of America for Segregation, which asked for a boycott of all businesses, lunch counters included, that served Black patrons. In 1960, Daniel attacked those “trying to destroy the white South by breaking the color line, thus giving aid and comfort to our Communist enemies.”

Now ask yourself this: Did the fierce advocacy on behalf of segregation, and the dehumanization of Black Americans, reflect in any meaningful way on the character of those who advanced such views, even if, say, they volunteered once a month at a homeless shelter and wrote a popular commentary on the Book of Romans? Readers can decide whether MAGA supporters are better or worse than Albert Garner and Carey Daniel. My point is that all of us believe there’s some place on the continuum in which the political choices we make reflect on our character. Some movements are overt and malignant enough that to willingly be a part of them becomes ethically problematic.

Read: The voters who don’t really know Trump

This doesn’t mean those in MAGA world can’t be impressive people in other domains of life, just like critics of Trump may act reprehensibly in their personal lives and at their jobs. I’ve never argued, and I wouldn’t argue today, that politics tells us the most important things about a person’s life. Trump supporters and Trump critics alike can brighten the lives of others, encourage those who are suffering, and demonstrate moments of kindness and grandeur.

I understand, too, if their moral convictions keep them from voting for Joe Biden.

But it would be an affectation for me, at least, to pretend that in this particular circumstance otherwise good people, in joining the MAGA movement, in actively advocating on its behalf, and in planning to cast a vote for Trump, haven’t—given all we know—done something grievously wrong.

Some of them are cynical and know better; others are blind to the cultlike world to which they belong. Still others have convinced themselves that Trump, although flawed, is the best of bad options. It’s a “binary choice,” they say, and so they have talked themselves into supporting arguably the most comprehensively corrupt man in the history of American politics, certainly in presidential politics.

Whichever justification applies, they are giving not just their vote but their allegiance to a man and movement that have done great harm to our country and its ideals, and which seek to inflict even deeper wounds in the years ahead. Many of them are self-proclaimed evangelicals and fundamentalists, and they are also doing inestimable damage to the Christian faith they claim is central to their lives. That collaboration needs to be named. A generation from now, and probably sooner, it will be obvious to everyone that Trump supporters can’t claim they didn’t know.

Election latest: Rishi Sunak warns voters not to 'let Labour waltz into office'; Jeremy Corbyn tells Keir Starmer to 'own' his time in his top team

Rishi Sunak helps launch the Welsh Tories' manifesto, as Welsh Labour also sets out its plans for voters; Jeremy Corbyn responds to Sir Keir Starmer's comments about his time in his predecessor's shadow cabinet.

Friday 21 June 2024 11:42, UK

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Rishi Sunak is now making a speech before his Q&A session takes place.

The PM starts by saying that Wales have been let down by Labour, with poorer NHS waiting lists than England and poorer education records. He also makes a jibe at Vaughan Gething for ignoring the vote of no confidence in him.

The PM then tells the audience to scrutinise Labour's policies and admits the Conservatives' shortcomings.

"I know you're frustrated with our party, frustrated with me," he says. "But do not let Labour waltz into office without scrutinising them.

"Without seeing what their policies would mean for country and your family security. Do you know what you're really going to get with Labour?"

Mr Sunak says he understands the frustrations of the public, but warns that "this isn't a by-election" and that a Labour government will do what they can to stay in power for longer than a single term.

He said: "Don't sleepwalk to 4 July. I know you want to send us a message, but this isn't a by-election. 

"This will determine who governs our country for the next five years and potentially much longer. If Labour get in, they'll change the rules so it's much harder to get them out."

The PM talks about defence and security next, arguing that Labour cannot guarantee the safety of the country when both shadow deputy prime minister Rachel Reeves and shadow foreign secretary David Lammy voted against the UK Nuclear Deterrent Bill in 2016.

"It's clear that it's only we Conservatives, with our iron resolve, that you can trust to keep us safe," he added.

We're about to hear from the Welsh Conservatives as they launch their manifesto.

We'll be hearing from David TC Davies and prime minister Rishi Sunak.

Stay tuned for the latest updates from north Wales.

Watch live on Sky News, in the stream above, at the link below - and follow live updates here in the Politics Hub.

Jeremy Corbyn has told Sir Keir Starmer to "own" the fact that he helped design the former Labour leader's 2019 manifesto.

Sir Keir was a key figure in My Corbyn's team five years ago, but now says he "never thought they would win" the 2017 or 2019 elections.

During last night's Question Time election special, Sir Keir claimed that Mr Corbyn would have been a better prime minister than Boris Johnson, had he been elected.

When asked about Sir Keir's claims, Mr Corbyn told the Evening Standard: "He didn't say that at the time. He never hinted at that, or intimated that at any stage to me. 

"We did press conferences and events together in the 2019 election. 

"He was part of the shadow cabinet that agreed the manifesto, and part of the Clause V who agreed the manifesto. Own it. I was there, he was there… and there were witnesses."

Last week, Mr Corbyn accused Sir Keir of trying to rewrite history with his comments on the pair's working relationship.

"You have to be honest about what you said, what you did in the past, and carry on from there," Mr Corbyn added. 

"I think it's a bit sad really. Why doesn't he just say 'Well, this is what I did at the time'?"

Our live poll tracker collates the results of opinion surveys carried out by all the main polling organisations - and allows you to see how the political parties are performing in the run-up to the general election.

It currently shows a drop in support in recent days for Labour and the Tories - with a jump for Reform and the Liberal Democrats.

Read more about the tracker here .

Our deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico's Jack Blanchard are back with their guide to the election day ahead.

This is day 30 of the campaign. Jack and Sam discuss the betting scandal clouding the Tory campaign, last night's Question Time and Labour's Rachel Reeves opening up.

👉 Tap here to follow Politics at Jack and Sam's wherever you get your podcasts 👈

 The Conservative Party is seen as "tawdry", Ruth Davidson has said, as two of its candidates are being investigated over alleged bets placed on the election date.

The Gambling Commission is looking into two Tory candidates over alleged wagers on the date of the 4 July election.

An industry source has told Sky News that "more names" are being looked into, but police are so far "not involved".

Speaking on the  Electoral Dysfunction podcast with Sky News political editor Beth Rigby, and former broadcaster and presenter Carol Vorderman, the former leader of the Scottish Tories waded into the fallout of the alleged betting scandal.

"What an absolute shit show. Firstly, I mean, how tawdry is it?" she said.

She described it as akin to "insider trading" and criticised Rishi Sunak's response, saying he had repeatedly failed to get out in front and take control of events.

👉 Click here to follow Electoral Dysfunction wherever you get your podcasts  👈

Welsh Labour's manifesto launch kicks off in Wrexham with words from the party's former leader Neil Kinnock.

Mr Kinnock is welcomed with a warm round of applause and he wastes little time attacking the Conservatives on their economic policy and "crashing the economy" with a "mad budget".

"That's not national prudence," Mr Kinnock says, "that's national pillage".

Introducing Rachel Reeves, Mr Kinnock says he understands why the shadow chancellor can't make economic promises without saying where the money is coming from.

"Her caution is not fear or lack of ambition," he says.

"In the conditions that Labour will inherit in our country right now, caution is common sense. Caution is the truth. Caution is honesty, not fear."

Ms Reeves starts by telling the crowd about her connections to Wales and the family she has living in the country.

She says: "I love Wales (..) but I know that, to really prosper, Wales needs to change."

Ms Reeves says Labour has a costed plan for Wales, unlike the Conservatives who "disrespect devolution and disregards Welsh interest".

She says that Britain, and Wales, faces a "simple choice" in less than two weeks.

"[You face] five more years of Tory chaos and the decline it brings or a changed Labour Party, restoring stability and fighting every day for the interests of working people," she says.

Shadow secretary of state for Wales Jo Stevens follows, telling those in attendance that the foundation of Welsh Labour's offer to voters "is a changed relationship between Wales and Westminster".

She says: "We'll enhance protection for Welsh devolution, so no UK government can ride roughshod over it in the way that the Conservatives repeatedly have. 

"We'll explore new powers over youth justice and probation, and decisions about structural funds spent in Wales will be made in Wales once again."

Ms Stevens also reaffirms Welsh Labour's commitment to the steel industry in Wales. 

She says she will not allow Port Talbot Steelworks to close, avoiding the "decades of scarring" caused by the closure of Shotton steelworks in 1980.

Vaughan Gething then takes to the stage and speaks about the Llay Miners Welfare Institute building that Welsh Labour have launched their manifesto in this morning.

"The history of this building and the mining community that it once served, goes to the very core of the promise being made to the people of Wales today," he says.

"The institute was built through miners contributions. A penny a week. A proud community investing in their future."

Mr Gething goes on to talk about Gwaith Tech, Welsh Labour's work plan for the country that, he says, "will help us to deliver better pay, protection and progression for Welsh workers to build on the best practices of our best businesses".

"And this is personal to me," Mr Gething adds. "As a shop steward and as a trade union lawyer, I've seen the damage that is done to people and to our nation's prosperity, to bad working cultures, unfair practice and discrimination."

The First Minister ends by saying the phrase we've heard a few times already this morning: "Two Labour governments working for Wales, replacing rivalry with respect."

We're about to hear from Welsh Labour as they launch their manifesto.

We'll be hearing from Neil Kinnock, Rachel Reeves, Jo Stevens and Vaughan Gething.

Stay tuned for the latest updates from Wales.

An audience member from last night's Question Time election special has once again accused Rishi Sunak of putting words in her mouth.

Lateisha Holland drew praise on social media for standing up to the PM after his answer on whether the Conservatives would consider leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.

"You and I disagree on that," said Mr Sunak. "You think it's fine for people to come and they shouldn't be removed - that's your decision.

"I don't think that's right for our country and that's why I'm prepared to do what it takes it get this problem resolved."

Host Fiona Bruce then gave Ms Holland the chance to respond to the PM's claims.

She responded: "I said 'are you considering leaving the ECHR?'

"You're just putting words in my mouth there."

By Alix Culbertson , political reporter

The Gambling Commission has said it is looking into allegations around bets made on the date of the election.

The commission is looking into Laura Saunders, the Conservative candidate for Bristol North West.

It comes after Rishi Sunak's close parliamentary aide Craig Williams, the Tory candidate for Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr, was revealed to have placed a bet on a July election date three days before it was announced.

And the prime minister's close protection officer has been arrested and suspended over alleged bets about the timing of the election.

There are strict rules around gambling, with the latest laws updated in the Gambling Act 2005.

Gamblers are not allowed to use inside information to place a bet or to instruct someone else to do so on their behalf.

They are also not allowed to pass inside information on to someone else which they use for betting.

Section 42 of the act deals with cheating and says a person commits an offence if they cheat at gambling or do "anything for the purpose of enabling or assisting another person to cheat at gambling".

It adds: "It is immaterial whether a person who cheats improves his changes of winning anything, or wins anything."

Someone found guilty of cheating can be imprisoned for a maximum of two years and/or fined, or six months in prison for a lesser offence.

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• The exponential growth of solar power will change the world
• China’s giant solar industry is in turmoil
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↓ Here comes the sun

The past and a possible future.

Global useful energy consumption*

Traditional

Terawatt hours, ’000

Sources: Rupert Way; Our World in Data

*Primary energy adjusted for waste-heat losses

†From Way et al. (2022)

‡Electricity-conversion technologies (eg green hydrogen)

terawatt hours, ’000

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Gigawatts, Q1 2024

*Total within 8,500km 2 grid cell

Sources: Global Solar Atlas; TransitionZero

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Guest Essay

What Happens When You Knock on 8,000 Doors

By Lea Page

Ms. Page is a writer in Roberts, Mont.

In 2018, the district judge for our area of south-central Montana was retiring and encouraged my husband, Ray, to run to fill his seat. Ray, a lawyer with 30 years of experience in civil and criminal practice, was new to politics. He expected to be the underdog. While all judicial races in the state are nonpartisan, we were not members of the dominant Republican Party. And we had lived in Montana for only 20 years, long enough to know we would still be considered newcomers.

I told Ray: “They just need to get to know you. Then they’ll love you.”

The district covers three rural counties, too big to gather all those voters together at a campaign event, so wooing them with Ray’s barbecued brisket was out. We would, we decided, go to them.

Over six months, we knocked on the doors of over 8,000 registered voters from across the political spectrum. We didn’t know what to expect, but we certainly didn’t anticipate how eager people were to share very personal stories — not just eager, but, it seemed, compelled.

There’s an immediate intimacy in having a conversation on someone’s doorstep. It is, after all, a threshold between public and private, but who would have thought that political canvassing would be so conducive to such unvarnished honesty? Perhaps because of the fracturing of our communities, we encountered an almost universal need to be witnessed and validated, to trust.

Listening will not, alone, alleviate suffering; it has to be accompanied by, as a start, better access to public services. Neither is listening a magic cure for our political divisions. But I believe that any system in which some people feel they don’t matter is doomed to fail. I have no idea what it will take to heal our divisions, but I believe it will have something to do with sharing stories.

Instead of talking about ourselves, we focused on the people we met. We would take note of some detail around the house, most often their gardens or their dogs — there were always dogs, big dogs and little dogs, an abundance of old and cherished dogs.

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San Diego Padres | Jake Cronenworth’s walk-off home run pushes…

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San Diego Padres

San diego padres | jake cronenworth’s walk-off home run pushes padres past brewers, jake cronenworth’s 11th homer of the season delivers a walk-off, 7-6 win over the brewers after the padres cough up 3 late runs.

The only question was if the ball would stay fair and he wasn’t quite so sure as he began to walk up the first base line.

In fact, Cronenworth stopped in his tracks in foul territory, crouched down with his bat in his left hand, aligned his eyes with the foul line and, quite frankly, began to stress as the ball approached the pole.

“I thought it was a homer to begin with,” Cronenworth said, “and then I saw it hooking and kind of panicked for a second.”

The panic passed in a flash, replaced with pandemonium as Cronenworth flung his bat toward the dugout to set off a wild celebration of a 7-6 walk-off win on Thursday over the Milwaukee Brewers, the Padres’ third in their last three home games and all of them on homers.

Kyle Higashioka started that string on the previous homestand.

Then Jackson Merrill took his turn to complete a sweep of the Athletics.

On Thursday, in front of a sell-out crowd of 42,644, Cronenworth’s ninth-inning blast saved an overtaxed bullpen that allowed three runs over the final two innings after home runs from Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr. and Merrill had put the Padres in position to open this homestand with a win over the NL Central-leading Brewers.

“It’s kind of the identity and the resiliency that we show,” Cronenworth said. “Have the lead there late in the game and we’re up 6-3, 6-4, then we lose it and we’re tied going into the (bottom of the) ninth. I think that’s just who we are. We’ve shown that over the last three home homes. We’ve shown it all year but three walk-offs in a row is pretty awesome.”

They needed it, too, after a 1-5 road trip thrust the team from the second wild-card spot to a half-game out of playoff position.

And Adam Mazur’s exit in the fifth inning was just the start of stressful finish, as only Adrián Morejón’s four outs were easy.

Wandy Peralta had to bail Yuki Matsui out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh and Enyel De Los Santos had to help Peralta out of the eighth after Peralta allowed a run-scoring single.

Then it was Jeremiah Estrada called on for the ninth to work a third day in a row — instead of Robert Suarez working a third day in a row — and he blew a two-run lead with a walk and two hits allowed, including Rhys Hoskins’ game-tying double over left fielder Jose Azocar’s head.

A half-inning later, the Padres were an out away from extra innings when Cronenworth fouled off two pitches during a seven-pitch at-bat that ended on a slider that broke into the middle of the plate.

The ensuing drive left his bat on a 107 mph, 29-degree drive to right that sailed past the foul pole, landing 401 feet from the plate to send the Padres to a third straight walk-off win via a home run, a first in franchise history.

For Cronenworth, it was the second walk-off homer of his career and his first since 2021.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Cronenworth said. “One of the best parts is coming home and everybody’s there. Your teammates are waiting for you and celebrating you. It’s a team effort. An awesome win tonight.”

It should have been easier, what with the Padres answering the Brewers’ first-inning run with a three-run homer from Machado and a blast from Merrill, Tatis adding the team’s longest homer of the year at 446 feet in the fifth and the Padres turning Jurickson Profar’s misplayed “double” in the seventh into a 6-3 lead for the bullpen to protect.

That long night for the bullpen began with Willy Adames chasing Mazur in the fifth inning with a home run that cut the Padres’ lead to 4-3. Mazur allowed three runs on five hits and three walks in 4⅔ innings.

“We got a little cleaned up yesterday with (Matt Waldron’s) seven innings, but before that we haven’t gotten anybody out of the fifth in a while, and so it just adds up,” Padres manager Shildt said. “And so we were a little dirty today and we got through it.”

Two first-inning, one-out grounders set the tone for both teams on Thursday.

The Padres, after all, were already down 1-0 with the bases loaded when Hoskins sent a bouncer to the right of Machado at third. He gobbled it up and a threw a short-hopper to second base, where Cronenworth picked it and whirled to first base, where Luis Arraez picked another throw in the dirt to complete an inning-ending double play.

A half-inning later, Cronenworth looked like he’d sent an inning-ending, double-play ball to second baseman Brice Turang with runners on first and second, but Turang booted the ball enough for Cronenworth to beat out the throw to first after Turang flipped to second to get the lead runner.

Three pitches later, Machado lofted an 0-2 fastball on the outside corner over the wall in right, his first opposite-field homer of the season. Merrill’s sixth blast in his last eight games immediately followed to open a 4-1 lead.

“I think that’s probably the difference in the game,” Cronenworth said of the first-inning double play that the Padres turned and the Brewers didn’t. “It happened in the first inning but that was a huge play because if that goes one way or another, you never know what happens. That was incredible all the way round.”

He added: “We talk about it, especially here at our park, pitching and defense is at a premium and when we can play defense at the level we know we can and minimize the inning, especially there when they’ve already scored a run, they got bases loaded with one out, that’s huge.”

More in San Diego Padres

San Diego Padres | Jurickson Profar just wants Padres to ‘play better’

San Diego Padres | Padres notes: Why Robert Saurez’s unique usage is workable; injury updates

San Diego Padres | Padres pregame: Jackson Merrill coming into his power

San Diego Padres | Padres on deck: Slipping in wild-card race as Brewers arrive at Petco Park

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Rays find 10th-inning run to escape with win over Twins

Nolan o'hara | jun 19, 2024.

• Minnesota Twins
• Tampa Bay Rays

The Twins put themselves in position for another walk-off win, but they couldn't find more late magic Wednesday night in a 3-2 loss in 10 innings to the Tampa Bay Rays at Target Field in Minneapolis.

With two outs and Randy Arozarena at second base in the 10th inning, Jonny DeLuca hit a chopper to third base, but Royce Lewis' throw to first baseman Carlos Santana was off the mark, and he was charged with an error as DeLuca reached and Arozarena scored to give the Rays a 3-2 lead.

That proved to be enough of an advantage as Rays reliver Phil Maton sent Lewis, Max Kepler and Carlos Correa down in order in the bottom of the 10th to close out the game.

"I don't like pointing to the one play that's the difference in the game because if you score a few runs, like those things, you're not as concerned about those things," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "I think (Wednesday) was just kind of one of those days."

The Twins (41-33) led 2-1 until the seventh inning when Cole Sands came on in relief of Joe Ryan. While Sands quickly got the first out of the inning, he then surrendered a single to Ben Rortvedt, issued a walk to Taylor Walls and gave up an RBI infield single to Yandy Diaz that knotted the game.

Steven Okert then came on in relief of Sands and escaped the inning without allowing any additional damage despite issuing a walk to Isaac Paredes that loaded the bases.

The Twins found themselves in a jam again in the eighth inning when Josh Staumont issued back-to-back walks to Arozarena and Richie Palacios. After striking out DeLuca and getting Rortvedt to ground into a fielder’s choice, he then issued a walk to Walls that loaded the bases.

But Staumont got Diaz to fly out to left field to get out of the inning. 

The Rays (35-39) struck first during the third inning when Ryan had his only blemish of the day, giving up a 359-foot solo homer to Paredes. Ryan gave up six hits in all while fanning five in his six innings.

"I felt better initially, but I think kind of worse as it went on," Ryan said. "(Rays starter) Taj (Bradley) was just digging a freaking crater out there, and yeah, that's kind of annoying. But yeah, really solid defense ... when you have that you can just fill it up."

Bradley gave up seven hits and two runs while fanning three across six innings.

The Twins quickly knotted the game back up at 1-1 during the bottom of the third when Austin Martin led off the frame with a single, Willi Castro followed up with another single to advance him to third base and Trevor Larnach grounded into a 3-6 double play that allowed for Martin to score.

Lewis plated the go-ahead run during the fifth inning with a 410-foot solo homer to left field that bounced off the second deck videoboard, causing portions of it to go dark.  Lewis remained lights out — literally — at the plate, going 3 for 4 with the homer, two singles and an intentional walk.

But in the end, the error proved costly as the Twins didn't give themselves enough breathing room.

The Twins and Rays meet for the finale of their three-game series at 12:10 p.m. on Thursday.

NOLAN O'HARA